Disclaimer: I own nothing

-.-

It has been two years since the end of the greatest war ever fought in the magical world and the resulting death of the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort. In the years since then, the world, both magical and Muggle alike has seen relative peace. Little has changed in the lives of the inhabitants of the Halliwell manor.

Harry acquired a job at Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hermione continued her work as headmistress of Magic School, along with her new Whitelighter duties. Ron, strangely enough, went to work for the Ministry of Magic. He rose quickly, soon becoming the Minister's right hand man. Luckily, the Minister was his own father, Arthur Weasley.

Ginny became an Auror and continued hunting down Death Eaters still at large. Luna took over the running of the Quibbler after her father retired to hunt exotic, and non-existent, magical creatures. Each of them settled into their new lives, lowering their guard, not seeing the looming threat approaching until it was too late...

A NEW POWER

THE BEGINNING

-.-

Chapter 1

The Beginning, Part Two

-.-

Monday morning dawned bright and hot in San Francisco, California. The sun peeked slowly over the bay, giving small amounts of warmth to the chilled citizens of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge was clogged with traffic as was usual on a Monday morning as people hurried to work.

The world had become a semi-peaceful place since the end of Lord Voldemort's reign. So much so that often people forgot that such an evil could easily return. Two days from now, Hogwarts would be hosting a party in honor of the two year anniversary of the defeat of Lord Voldemort.

Hermione awoke to find the house warm and cozy as it usually was. She rolled over to face her husband, Harry Potter, expecting him to still be sleeping. Instead, he lay there, watching her and lazily curling a strand of her hair around his finger.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Hermione asked sweetly. Harry kissed her and smiled.

"I'd rather watch you sleep." Harry told her, grinning.

"Enjoy that, do you?"

"Well, there's something else I'd rather be doing, but..." Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Is that all you think about?"

"I'm a guy, what'd you expect?"

"Well, I would have hoped that you would be sweet and understanding."

"I'm sweet and understanding!" Harry exclaimed, adopting an expression of incredible hurt. "But I'm also charming and irresistible." Hermione rolled her eyes and made to climb out of bed, but Harry pulled her back.

"Don't go..." Harry whispered, drawing her closer to him.

"Sorry, but I've got to get to Magic School. And you, mister, have a class to teach at Hogwarts."

"One of the other teachers can cover for me..." Harry muttered, slowly kissing down her neck.

"Perhaps, but I don't have anyone to cover for me. You're teaching one class. I'm running an entire school." She attempted to pull away again, but Harry was ready. Harry pulled her back, spun them both around, and pinned her to the bed.

"Now," Harry said firmly "Where are you going to be spending the morning?"

"Magic School," Hermione said, orbing out from under him. Harry floated in midair for a moment and then fell onto the mattress.

"Hey, no fair!" Harry called in the direction of the bathroom. "You didn't say we could use our powers!"

"No, but I didn't say we couldn't either!" Hermione told him, her voice full of mischief.

Harry fell back on the bed and sighed. Two years ago, he wouldn't have believed that this life would ever be possible. In Harry's opinion, everything was perfect. He was married to the most gorgeous witch on Earth; he was the father of three beautiful daughters. He lived in a wonderful city, full of life and happiness. Harry couldn't possibly be happier. And even though Hermione was often away at Magic School or dodging energy balls and poison arrows to save her charges, he accepted it as part of the package.

Hermione stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and exited the bathroom. Harry, being the playful person he'd always been known to be, tackled her as she left the bathroom, pinning her to the bed once again.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed as he removed her towel. With a wave of his hand he magicked the blankets on top of them. Harry gently ran his fingers through her dripping wet hair. Her slick body slid against his as she struggled to escape.

"Harry, I... ohh... ohhh... oooooh." Harry softly rubbed a spot on her lower back, knowing that this simple action could make her do anything he wanted. She instantly stopped fighting and relented to him

"You're evil..." Hermione managed to mutter.

"I know." Harry responded with a smile as Hermione let out a pleasured sigh.

-.-

"Mione?"

"Hmm?"

"You're late for work."

"I'm aware."

"And you don't care?"

"Not really."

"Since when?"

"Since I realized sleeping in was far more fun." Harry laughed and wrapped his arms around her slender form. Hermione rolled over to face him. She whimpered slightly as she shifted her position. Harry frowned.

"I still can't believe vanquishing Voldemort didn't reverse that spell he put on you." he muttered. "And then there's the fact that, technically, you're dead."

"Whitelighters can have spells put on them, Harry." Hermione reminded him. "I've lived with it this long; I think I can handle it."

"It's still not fair." Harry said.

"Perhaps not..." Hermione agreed, glancing sleepily at the clock.

"What time is it?" Harry asked, stretching his arms over his head.

"Almost ten," Hermione told him. Hermione climbed out of bed, pulled her nightgown back on and was just reaching for her bathrobe when a demon shimmered into the room and hurled a fireball at Hermione. It struck her in the right shoulder and simply disappeared. She blew him up with a wave of her hand.

"Come on!" she screamed, gesturing wildly at the scorch mark on the carpet. "Don't they know who lives here? I would think that by now they'd have learned attacking like that doesn't work!"

"What do you think that was about?" Harry asked curiously. "They usually don'tjust show up like that." Hermione considering him for a moment, then grinned.

"Why don't we ask him?" Harry's eyes widened and he stared at her with an expression of complete confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, seeing as I can blow things up, I figured... why can't I bring them back as well? It's called Regeneration and I've been practicing." Hermione made a sort of flicking motion with her hand, and the demon reformed. With another wave, she froze him and then unfroze his head.

"What...?" The demon said, attempting to free himself. 'Unfreeze me, witch."

"No." Hermione said brightly. "Instead, you can tell me who sent you and I might decide to not blast you into atoms... again"

"Heh... like I'd tell you anything." Hermione blew the demon's arm into bloody tatters. The demon roared with pain and rage.

"Want to reconsider?" Hermione asked, still in that pleasantly bright voice.

"I was sent to you to give you a warning," the demon said at last. "He is making his move. You won't even see him coming. You won't know that Gri... ahh!" Fire engulfed the demon.

"Okay... I didn't do that," said Hermione, backing away nervously. "Someone else did that, I didn't do that."

"Whoever sent him must not have wanted us to know who he was." Noticing the look on Hermione's face, Harry added, "There's nothing we can do without more information. Even the Book of Shadows won't help. Let's go down and get some breakfast." Hermione nodded.

"Fine." she said, clearly unhappy. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and together they headed downstairs toward the kitchen.

-.-

"Is that bacon almost done?"

"Hey, you can't rush perfection, Ron."

"I'm not rushing perfection, Gin. I'm rushing you." Ginny glared at her brother as Harry and Hermione entered the kitchen

"Morning, you two." Luna said, looking up from her copy of the Quibbler. "Have a good night?" she asked with a smirk. Hermione gave her a playful smile.

"And morning." she said, taking a seat at the table.

"I don't want to hear about this." Ron said.

"And we're not going to tell you about it," Harry said, laughing. "But we are going to tell you about the demon that tried to kill Hermione this morning."

"Err... Harry," Ginny said, dumping a load of bacon onto a plate into front of them. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but she's already dead."

"That's notthe point." Harry growled. "It was what happened after Hermione reformed him. He told us... he said that someone was about the make their move against the Ministry. We didn't get a chance to get a proper name. Someone else vanquished him before he could say anything."

"What me to check the Book?" Ginny asked with a shrug.

"It wouldn't help," said Harry. "It was just an lower level demon and without a name there's no way we'll be able to ID his boss."

"So... what should we do?" Luna asked.

"Wait it out," Harry replied. "If anything else comes up, we'll look into it. Otherwise, I don't think there's anything else we can do."

-.-

"His powers vanished after the Charmed Ones vanquished him two years ago. How do you plan to acquire them?"

"His powers still exist even though Lord Voldemort himself was vanquished, Draco. In two years, I had expected you to have learned at least that much."

"I'm sorry, Zankou. I..."

"I haven't the time to listen to your sniveling apologies," Zankou growled. "The Source is preparing to make a move, and I can only suspect that Grindelwald is behind it. Grindelwald mustnot complete his plan. If he does, we are alldoomed. Good and evil alike."

-.-

"I haven't seen her in years, Dumbledore saw to that. In fact, I thought she was dead for quite some time. Just what is it you propose I do now? She has far more power now than she had as a child."

"I need you to break her, Daniel. Attacking the Charmed Ones in a straight exchange of fire doesn't work, that's how demons die! I need you to break her spirit. Remind her of the endless torment you put her through in her childhood. Hermione Granger is the heart and soul of the Charmed Ones. Destroy her spirit and the Charmed Ones will be broken."

"My daughter is not the little girl I once held in thrall," said Daniel. "She's strong. She'll fight."

"I am Lord Grindelwald, Daniel. Even she cannot stand against me."