"You are so much like Harry," Hermione stared into Calvin Alexander's eyes, hoping he would somehow transform into Harry Potter himself.
Calvin didn't know what to say, so he half-smiled and looked down.
"She's right, Harry would have wanted to fight to keep Hogwarts open," Ron put his arm around Hermione reassuringly.
"But with twelve dark lords out there, Hogwarts would be a very easy and prime target," Hermione laced her fingers with Ron's, thinking about Harry was difficult.
"I understand that, but how are the kids going to learn anything? Besides, isn't Hogwarts supposed to be the safest place in England… the world even?" Calvin banged his fists on the table causing everyone else in the Leaky Cauldron to turn to stare at his table.
Hermione smiled apologetically to the rest of the customers then turned toward Calvin, "Yes, but we don't know what these dark lords look like, we don't even know their names," Hermione pushed forward. "And Dumbledore's gone… we don't know exactly how safe Hogwarts will be. Especially since we don't know how much power the twelve new dark lords manifest."
"If you're going to carry on talking about the twelve dark lords that no one knows about except for a special few, I'm going to ask that you take it to 12 Grimmauld Place." Remus Lupin said in a hushed tone. He sat down at the table with a cup of water in hand.
Hermione relieved herself from Ron and hugged Remus, he had been through so much these last few months, he took losing Harry harder than she had; he had been Harry's father figure after Sirius fell through the veil.
"Sorry, Remus," Calvin looked at his fists on the table. Was he really so much like Harry?
"You okay, Calvin?" Ron leaned forward, concerned.
"I'm fine. Yeah guys, come on, let's go to Headquarters," Calvin jumped out of his chair as if it was electrocuted, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, and apparated.
Remus sighed, "You really need to stop telling him he's like Harry, it really bothers him."
"But, Remus, have you seen him? It's like Harry's soul transferred to Calvin," Hermione honestly hoped with her whole being that that was true. As much as she enjoyed Calvin, Harry would be ten times better, she missed her older brother.
"You know as much as I do, Hermione that once a person dies, they can't be brought back," Remus narrowed his eyes, ever since the Final War, Hermione lost a lot of her wisdom and cleverness.
"I know," Hermione stood up and apparated to Headquarters with Ron.
Remus sighed and followed the new trio.
iIi
Hermione and Ron found Calvin in the room with the Black Family Tree.
Calvin's fingers were tracing around the scorch mark where Sirius's picture should have been, "I wish I could have met them… Sirius, Harry, Dumbledore…"
"You would have gotten along with them swimmingly," Ron put a hand on Calvin's shoulder, shaking it slightly.
"Yes, you would have. And all three of them would have loved you," Remus chimed in.
Calvin smiled at the support that he was getting, "Thanks."
Hermione started tearing up, "Come on, let's go discuss in the kitchen." Anything to get me from thinking about Harry.
The three guys followed Hermione to the kitchen and sat down at the table. The stain from when Fred and George slid the pot across the table was still there, as were the punctures from the knives.
"There's gotta be a way we can find out the names of the lords… I mean we know they exist," Ron ran his fingers through his hair.
"Yes, but that's only because of Trelawney's prediction. And real ones only come once in a blue moon, so the chances of us getting another prediction soon are slim to none," The tone in Remus's voice was harsher than he expected which caused him to flinch.
"Twelve dark lords, twelve long months," Hermione repeated part of Trelawney's prediction.
Everyone at the table sat in silent contemplation. Remus traced the marks on the table, Hermione stared out into space, Ron held his face in his hands, elbows on the table, and Calvin stared at his hands.
"Didn't she say something about space?" Calvin asked, not taking his focus from his hands.
"Yeah, "Follow the space in between"." Remus placed his chin on his now clasped hands.
"Space…. Space…. Space…" Hermione tapped on the table.
"Well, let's see… there are twelve hours on a clock. Twelve days of Christmas…." Calvin thought aloud.
"Yes, but, do those mean anything?" Remus asked.
Calvin shrugged unknowingly.
Then, Minerva McGonagall burst into the kitchen, "We've figured out who the twelve lords are."