Supernova I: September Sky
Hidden completely from Muggle eyes, not very noticeable even for wizards, and completely Unplottable, the headquarters of the Department of Mysteries were security piled on security. The hassled woman with the curly brown hair, however, didn't have anything to worry about – in fact, she was so well known that she barely had to flash an ID at the security guard before he smiled and opened the door for her. Shooting him a grateful look, she rushed in and hurried to the debriefing for the last spying she had been doing against the Death Eaters.
"Am I late?" she gasped as she stumbled in.
"What do you think, Mudblood?" an all-too-familiar voice drawled off to her left. "Of course you're late, Granger."
Hermione glared at Draco Malfoy, bitterly cursing the fate that had landed them in the same branch of the Ministry.
"Draco - watch your mouth. Hermione - be on time next time," Percy Weasley intervened, trying to stop their bickering before it began. "Have a seat, both of you." He held out two chairs at opposite ends of the tiny table and took a third for himself. "Speaking of being on time, where's Adalia? Last I heard from her she was just leaving her parents' house."
Right on cue, Adalia Fawcett burst in, panting and clutching a small purse, the silver engagement ring on one finger identical to the one Draco wore. Aside from that, she could have been Hermione's double, and indeed they had both used the likeness between them to their own ends, many times. However, they couldn't have been more opposite if they tried - although sometimes, Hermione thought irritably, she did try. Unlike neat-as-a-pin Hermione, Adalia was the most disorganized person on the face of the earth, and with an odd memory to go with it - she could remember anything word for word as long as it was written down, but no matter how many times she heard a thing aloud she'd forget it - and her sense of humor was more than a little twisted.
"So," Adalia began with a grin, after she'd taken the fourth and last seat, "did you run into any P.O.ed Death Eaters on your way here? No dementor or giant attacks? Nope? Life is so dull."
"Let's start the meeting, shall we?" Hermione asked exasperatedly – Adalia had that effect on people.
Percy nodded importantly. "Yes, we should get started. Draco, how long can you be away before the Death Eaters start to suspect?"
Malfoy propped his chin lazily on his hand, revealing the Dark Mark where the sleeve of his robe fell down. "Long enough," he said carelessly. "But if me and Adalia are going to keep on posing as Death Eaters –"
"- then you'll get even more information, Malfoy. Stop complaining," Hermione snapped. "Just because you're on our side doesn't mean we have to like you."
"Oh, stop it already," Adalia sighed. "This is getting old, and I'm getting a headache." She coughed a couple times, sighing.
"Are you all right, Adalia?" Hermione asked concernedly. "Here – let me feel your forehead – my goodness, you're burning up. Are you sure you can make it through the meeting?"
"Of course," she murmured distractedly. "I just have a little headache, that's all. Probably just need to lie down when I get home…"
Percy cleared his throat loudly. "If we can get on with the meeting…" Everyone looked up at him. "Right, now, what news do we have?"
"Another dementor attack on a Muggle town," Hermione offered grimly. "No survivors that we know of, and no property damage. They left it intact, except of course –" Her voice broke slightly, but she hitched it up again. "Except that every last person got the Dementor's Kiss."
Draco whistled. "Again? They have quite a racket going there. Better be careful, Mudblood – next time you could be in the way and it'd be bye-bye."
"Draco. Enough," Adalia snapped, her brown eyes flashing. "That's not even the worst of it," she continued, facing Percy. "From our spying in the Death Eater circles, we've learned that the Dark Lord considers these attacks to merely be a diversion and a way of keeping the dementors happy. While the Ministry rushes around trying to protect the Muggles, then he's going to put some master plan in action. We don't know what it is. Only the inner circle knows."
"It's all right," Percy said. "But what are we going to do? We can't not protect the Muggles."
"I beg to differ on that opinion," Draco sneered.
"Look, Draco, I love you to death," Adalia said, exasperated, "but would you PLEASE shut up?"
"As you wish, you warthog-faced buffoon."
Adalia rolled her eyes. "So now you're reduced to quoting Princess Bride –" she began to say, but was interrupted by a fit of hacking coughs.
"Are you contagious?" Draco wanted to know. "No, wait, you're always contagious." He flashed her a rare smile, albiet a sarcastic one.
"Adalia, if there's nothing else of importance, you can go home," Percy said in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Go on, you need the rest."
"Thanks," she coughed, and she grabbed her purse, exited the room, and closed the door behind her.
"Well, I think we can all leave too," Percy said, glancing at his watch. "Barely ten minutes…"
Outside the building, Hermione found Adalia just as she was about to get into a Muggle car – no one could Apparate to the Department of Mysteries.
"Want a ride? You probably walked again, didn't you?" Adalia asked.
"Yep. Thanks." Hermione climbed into the passengers' seat next to her, and Adalia took the car out onto the road. They had been sitting together in silence for about five minutes when Hermione spoke suddenly.
"How can you stand him?"
"Who? Draco?"
"No, Father Christmas. Of course Draco. He's such a –"
"Don't, Hermione. You just have to get to know him."
"Get to know him?" Hermione nearly screeched. "We went to Hogwarts together, had Care of Magical Creatures and Potions together for seven years, and now you've been working with him barely a year, and you two are going to be married in January!"
"You might consider, Hermione, that you were enemies when you were at Hogwarts," said Adalia irritably. "He may be sarcastic, and maybe he's changed from when he was in school or maybe he was nice underneath all along, but either way, he's really a good person."
"And I suppose the fact that he still hates Muggles and calls me a Mudblood doesn't put any stain on his character?"
"He was raised to hate Muggles, you forget. You don't know how hard it is to go against the beliefs you've been raised with."
"I suppose that's true, but still…"
More silence, until Adalia turned the car into the neighborhood where Hermione lived.
"No," said Hermione firmly. "We're going to your house, not mine. You're sick, and you could get worse, so you might need me."
"Oh, fine. Honestly, it's just a little cough, though, I won't need help." Nevertheless, she turned into her own suburb and moments later they were slamming the car doors shut in Adalia's garage.
Hermione shivered. "D'you want me to make some hot chocolate? It's freezing out there."
"That'd be nice."
While Hermione bustled about heating things up, Adalia wrapped a blanket around herself, shivering, and stared out the window where the cold chips of icy stars shone through a veil of black while a sliver of a moon glimmered against the heavens. She picked out the constellations: the W-shape of Cassiopeia; Orion's belt, with the Dog Star trailing close behind the hunter; Polaris, the North Star.
She didn't even see Hermione sit down next to her until she felt a mug of steaming cocoa pressed into her hand. Adalia looked up from trying to number the infinite stars, staring at the liquid chocolate as if she didn't know what to do with it.
"Look at the stars," she murmured to Hermione. "So many of them, so many patterns. Constellations. Shining in the sky since what seems like the dawn of time…"
"A long time," Hermione agreed. "And stars never die, do they? They'll be there till the end of time as well."
Adalia shook her head. "No, the stars die. Over millions of years, to be sure. Some fade out, getting dimmer and dimmer until they're gone. The big ones explode. Supernovas, they're called. They explode and leave behind a black hole that not even light can escape…"
"They must be rare," Hermione whispered. "Do you know when the last one happened?"
Adalia laughed quietly. "One could be happening right now, for all we know. The stars are so far away that it takes centuries for the light to reach us. So the light you're seeing now was actually given off back in the time of cavemen. In fact, once someone saw a supernova in the 1800s that had really happened during the Stone Age. It takes the light so long for us to be able to see that we don't see any of it until it's too late, and the star is long gone."
"You know a lot about stars and astronomy in general," Hermione commented. "More than we ever learned at Hogwarts."
"You learned the constellations, though, didn't you? Look," said Adalia, pointing. "There's Draco. The largest constellation."
"They're so beautiful," Hermione murmured, almost to herself. "And we'll never see them die."
"You never know," Adalia breathed. "You never know…"
A/N: Well, would you look at this. I swear, the moment I start a series I lose interest in it and abandon it. But here this one is. I think I'll stick with it. 'Course, that's what I thought about "Always and Forever" and "Nightmare Come True." But anyway, we've been studying viruses and bacteria in science, so I guess that could be behind the return of mutated… never mind. You'll see. I will try and see this through to the finish for a change. And why is this thing called Supernova? Well, the stargazing scene holds some significance. You'll see. I seem to be saying that a lot, don't I? And, I must emphasize, this is not a romance, much less a H/D. I plan to have Draco remain his snotty self through most of the story. I also have… not exactly a challenge… more an invitation. I'm starting a collection of Harry Potter holiday stories, and I'd appreciate if you could send them in to me. Get more info at http://www.geocities.com/ann_riddle/hpholidays.html
Well, as long as you review, I promise to shut up and continue this. Less than 15 reviews, no continuation. That's the deal.