Prologue
"I'm going back," Harry Potter announced quietly to his two best friends while in the Weasley's garden, the day before Bill and Fleur's wedding, in early August, "to Hogwarts. I'm not prepared enough yet, to face the most evil wizard in the world. I'm going back, but I will be training ferociously. I will learn everything I can, be it from books, teachers, tutors, whatever I need to. Dumbledore left me a lot of his books, and I have all of Sirius' too. Professor Lupin will probably lend me some too." Pausing for a moment, the brunette continued. " Are you two still going to go after him when I do?" At their emphatic nods, he said, "Then I suggest we all work hard this year. I know it's NEWT year, and we'll have tons of classwork, and Hermione'll have rounds, as she's Head Girl," the badge had arrived the day before "but I think we need to spend every possible moment on this."
"I agree, Harry. And I'll see which books in the library will help, as soon as we get back to school. I do know the library pretty well, as I'm there so often."
"My family might also have some good ones that can help. I'll talk to my dad about it. We're with you to the end, mate, so don't be trying to give us the slip this year, and go off by yourself. We want to help. But, why'd you change your mind? I mean, you said we we're going after him this summer."
"Yes, and at the time, I honestly thought I would. But I realize now, I let my grief and anger make that decision. I thought about it hard at the Dursley's, and I realized that I wasn't prepared. So next summer, we will be prepared. Not to mention, if we finish our schooling, and come out of this war alive, we'll have something to fall back on." The other two nodded, somewhat relieved to be going back.
Hermione was browsing quickly through the books in the Restricted section of the library. She needed some books that could help Harry with his mission. She'd been in the library almost every spare minute, ever since she'd come back to Hogwarts more than a week ago. She pulled several likely-sounding ones from the shelves, and stacked them on a nearby table. Then something caught her eye. A book without a title on the spine. How odd, she thought, picking it up. She meandered back to the table, completely forgetting her mission.
She opened the book. No title page, either. She shut it again, afraid to read on. After all, this book wouldn't be in the Restricted section for nothing. It could be dangerous. She tried to stand up, to return it to it's shelf. She couldn't. She was too curious. Her curiosity wouldn't let her put this book away. She opened it again, to the middle. Maybe just a glimpse at what it's about will satisfy me, she thought. At the top of the page she'd opened to was the heading Find Your True Love, the One You Are Destined to Marry!
Hermione, despite how anti-romance she seemed, couldn't help but wonder. What would it be like to know who I'm going to marry? Although, it'll probably be Ron, she thought, thinking of her boyfriend of 3 months, and the three non-magic, but still magical words he had said to her the day before. She skimmed down the page until she came to the words:
This simple, but almost unheard-of spell will allow you to see into the mind of the one you will eventually marry, for a full 6 months! Ideal before your marriage, as it helps you understand each other better. Unfortunately, once you have cast the spell, it is unremovable, although it does fade as the time gets closer.
Skipping down some, Hermione saw the words:
Lectito Amator.
Suddenly, the bell rung, announcing that her "free" time was over. It was dinner time. She quickly checked out the book, shoved it into her already crammed book bag, and walked towards the Great Hall. Before she could get very far, however, she crashed into someone, just as her stuffed book bag split along the seam, spilling it's contents.
Hermione said, "Oh, I'm sorry," while falling to her knees to collect the books. Then she looked up at the silently sneering blond boy who she'd run into. Despite having turned into a double agent for the Order after being found beaten nearly to death for not finishing off Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy still maintained his hatred for the Gryffindor Trio. This year however, he seemed to think that giving them the silent treatment would be the best tactic.
"Oh, good evening, Malfoy." Hermione was the only one who had tried to forgive him and be polite to him when he was found almost dead, and later joined the Order. Harry still blamed Malfoy for Dumbledore's death, and Ron wasn't about to let go of the hatred formed by 6 years' worth of Malfoy's tormenting.
Malfoy gave a polite nod in response to her statement, as he gently kicked one of the farther books closer to Hermione, so she could reach it.
"Th-, Thanks," stuttered Hermione only a little confused by his odd behavior. Again, that nod. She repaired her bag, then enlarged it a bit, so she could fit all of the books without a repeat. She shoved her stacked books into her bag, and stood up.
"Well, bye." she said to Malfoy. She walked away, before Malfoy decided that his silent treatment was a bad idea.
Finally, Hermione made it to the Great Hall, where she of course sat next to Harry and Ron.
"Hey, where were you?" Harry asked after swallowing.
Hermione smiled, "At the library, of course." Ron groaned at her response, but shut up when he was given a reproachful look by Harry who then turned back to Hermione.
"Thanks. All this research is really helping." Hermione smiled. They'd stayed up late several times taking notes on anything they could find that would be useful. After seacrhing through many of Harry's newly acquired books over the summer, they had started on the library books. Harry had sent owls to Professors Lupin ( who Harry kept forgetting to call Remus or Moony) and Moody, both of whom had sent some books they thought might help. He'd also asked Professors McGonagall, Slughorn (who decided to stay on another year to help put the school to rights after Dumbledore died), and Flitwick, although the new Headmistress was the only one he'd told why he needed them. Everyone thought the Gryffindor Trio was just buckling down this year for NEWTs. They were buckling down, but not always on the upcoming exams.
Their faces showed their hard work and long hours. Harry and Hermione had extremely dark circles under their eyes, and were often more pale than usual. Ron, however, always managed to fall asleep around 10 o'clock, usually using books for pillows. Harry, being Quidditch captain once again, had decided that the team, which was pretty good this year, only needed one or two practices per week, instead of the four or five of last year.
Suddenly Harry's voice broke into Hermione's thoughts.
"Hermione, are you okay? Okay, you're focused again. You scared me for a minute there. So, are you going?"
"I'm sorry, Am I going where?" Hermione asked, confused.
Harry answered as Ron sniggered, "To the Room of Requirement this evening. Ron and I figured tonight we can take a break from bookwork and work on the practical aspect of it all."
"Yeah, I'll go. 8, right?"
"Yes, of course."
Hermione was sitting on her stomach under the covers of her bed that night, poring over books. She needed to find more stuff to help Harry with. Their "practical aspect" session hadn't turned out very well. Altogether they only had gathered five new spells, none of which were good for much. A new shield spell, only slightly more powerful than Protego; a spell that conjured up chairs; one that produced a thick rolling fog, that spread more the longer you held the spell. Another which they hadn't figured out quite what it did, but the spell was "salveamor" They'd taken turns learning to master them, until finally Harry and Hermione both had them all down, and Ron almost did, although he lacked their consistency at it.
Hermione picked up the book that she had seen the "true love" spell in. She'd wanted to look at this earlier, but she'd decided to wait until the other girls were asleep. Finding the right page, she turned to it, picked up her wand and quietly said the spell that would allow the mind-reading of Ron, presumably.
"Lectito Amator!"
She waited a few minutes, to see if she would be able to see Ron's thought's right away. She didn't and after almost half an hour, she checked the book again. There, in the section she had skipped over in the library earlier, were the words:
Be aware, caster, that this spell will take one full day to activate completely. However, you may receive flashes of "insight" more and more often as the day continues. This insight may at first make it seem like you are the person whose mind you are reading.
A full twenty four hours?! Wow, what am I allowed to do during that time? Will it be safe to continue with my normal activities? Hermione wondered, groaning aloud. She should have read it all first. Well, maybe that mistake could be corrected. After scouring a couple of pages on either side of the text for any warnings and finding none, the bushy-haired Gryffindor finally fell asleep.
When Hermione woke up the next day, she had the biggest headache of her entire life. She tried to sit up, but everything started spinning when she did, so she laid back down, and tried to sleep. But before she could, Lavender and Parvarti came up, chattering and gossiping as usual. They saw Hermione, and stopped.
"What's wrong with you? Usually you're up before us, but breakfast is over and you're just barely awake." Parvarti asked. "If you're sick, go to the hospital wing, because I don't want to get sick."
"Me either," Lavender said.
"I don't think I'm sick, I just have a headache. Maybe all those nights of studying caught up to me today. Would you two mind writing down assignments today, so I can do them later?" Waiting until they reluctantly nodded, Hermione continued, "Thanks. Tell my friends I'll be okay. They'll be worried." and with that she flipped carefully, so she was faced away from the strong seeming light, and started to sleep.
But her sleep wasn't very restful. She dreamt strange things, things that she normally didn't dream.
She was in Potions, but instead of her usual friends, she was surrounded by Slytherins. She did see her friends, but suddenly she hated them. Lucky Potter, who had somehow been saved from death, and the Weasel, his pathetic sidekick!
Then the "dream" abated, and she woke up. The dormitory was empty now. What was that?! It was like I was drawn into Malfoy's perception of them! Wait a second... that spell... no, surely not. I love Ron and he loves me. Surely it was just an odd dream.
Thus reassured, she drifted back off to sleep. Not that it helped much. For after a couple of hours, though it seemed like no time at all, she dreamed again.
She was walking to Charms, alone, although there were other people nearby. Her face contorted in a smirk, as she thought about how powerful she was. Everyone listened to her, because her father was powerful and rich. No one got in her way or distracted her. But also, she had no real friends in the world. She had a group of people who respected her, but no friends.
Then she woke again. What is going on?! Dad isn't powerful, or rich. He'd just a dentist. I very rarely smirk and I do have real friends.. maybe not many, but I have Harry and Ron. That was so weird! Hermione couldn't help but think. She knew now that that wasn't her. It couldn't be Ron either, because Ron wasn't powerful and also had good friends. Not to mention, the Gryffindors weren't headed to Charms. They were headed to... Transfiguration! The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were the ones heading to Charms. Surely that spell was wrong. She would never consider DATING a Slytherin, much less marrying one, and Hufflepuffs didn't have that type of attitude. So the spell must be wrong... right?