Chapter One
"Hermione? Hermione!"
Crap, she thought and quickly ducked behind a bush.
"Are you hiding in that tree again?" her mother practically shouted for all and sundry to hear. "When I find you, girl…"
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as her mother's voice moved off into the distance, thankful for the new hiding spot she had found under a hedge bush that grew next to the cottage.
Although she would not like the beating waiting for her later on tonight, Hermione thought it was worth it to skip out on her mother. It wasn't that her mother was so terrible to her. Hermione just needed a break from her "education" in the proper behavior expected of her as the soon-to-be wife of the grandson and someday-heir to the chief of the village.
At age twenty-six, everyone could already tell that William Weasley would make an excellent chief someday, but Hermione had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. He was practically a sibling of hers because she had grown up with his youngest brother Ronald since infancy.
Ronald was another problem she had developed with this whole betrothal thing. Although they had been playmates and friends their whole lives, Hermione felt nothing more affectionate for him than friendship. After her engagement was announced and the wedding date set for late this autumn, however, Ron had made it known that he was in love with her and that he wanted her to marry him instead. Hermione had tried to explain that she had no interest in his brother but she couldn't just break off an arranged engagement, and even if she could, she had no interest in marrying anyone at the age of sixteen, let alone him. All Ron could understand, though, was that Hermione wouldn't break the engagement with his older brother. So now Ron wasn't talking to her because he was both upset and jealous over something that none of them had control over.
But what she loathed even more than the decorum lessons and her impending nuptials were the lessons in domestic magic. It wasn't that she didn't see the value of being able to wash and fold the laundry or fix dinner with a flick of her wand. If nothing else it would free her to do something she actually enjoyed. But she wished she wasn't limited to just domestic magic simply because she was born a witch instead of a wizard.
She was one of the most powerful witches the village had ever seen, easily learning every spell taught to her. Even the chief said so. But even more surprising and impressive was that her parents were Muggles. It was rare for a child of non-magical parentage to have magic of his or her own, regardless of whether the child was male or female. And witches were highly sought as wives by the village's wizards because many non-magical women feared the magic, despite having lived in its presence their whole lives, and would not marry a wizard.
Deciding she was safe from discovery, Hermione crawled out from hiding and hurried to the meadow. The blue and purple heather was nice and high this summer, providing the perfect cover from prying eyes if she lay down. She laid there for a while, staring at the clouds and listening to the birds sing songs to each other, musing over the unfairness of being born a magical girl instead of just an ordinary one. Yet she couldn't bring herself to resent her magic. It was too much a part of her.
After a while, she got up, made sure no one was in sight, and trotted off to yet another hiding place. Unbeknownst to the village elders or her parents, Hermione had taken to spying while they taught the young wizards the defensive spells protecting the valley. She would carefully listen to and observe everything said or done during the lesson, then creep away to a cave she had found where she would practice the same defensive spells using the mouth and walls of the cave as her borders. The only problem was she could never be sure if they were working properly because she was, of course, immune to her own spell.
Hermione reached the cave and pulled out her wand. Made of vine wood, it was ten and three-quarter inches long and had a dragon heartstring as its core. Hermione remembered well the day she went to the village's wandmaker to receive her wand. When he placed it in her hands and she gave it a flick, the magic that coursed through her body filled a part of her that she had never realized was empty. The wandmaker had looked at her appreciatively and told her two things. First, that such a match suggested that she was very powerful and, as such, she had a responsibility to use that power very wisely. Second was that she was extremely lucky to have found a wand that matched her so well. With the limited resources coming into the valley from the outside world, he was only able to do so much in the way of wandmaking and therefore had a limited supply and variety of wands. Often times young wizards had to settle for something only second best.
Hermione raised her wand and concentrated on the boundary spell. First she had to define the boundaries for the spell, which was fairly easy since she was using the walls and mouth of the cave. The trickier part came when she had to build a magical shield along the lines of the walls and make them meet in a dome over the cave, as well as tell the walls who to keep out. She had to concentrate really hard on that part of the spell because I was fueled almost completely by the intentions of the person casting it. The spell was completed with a swish of her wand and the incantation "scutum tutelage".
Once it was completed, Hermione could see the faint glimmer of magic around and above her, indicating she had succeeded in creating the walls. She could never be certain, however, that they would keep anyone out because her instructions were so vague: keep out people who mean me harm. She was never able to test her walls because no one within the valley would ever harm her, and anyone from without with those intentions was already blockaded by the chief's protection spells.
Oh well, Hermione thought to herself. If practice makes perfect, I should have nothing to worry about. She then proceeded to take down the spell and rebuild it several times before calling it quits and rushing back to the village green to observe the wizards' lesson for the day. Yesterday she had heard one of the elders say something about learning a new spell today, and she didn't want to miss it.
Hermione hurried to the green where the elders were still putting the young wizards through the warm-up exercises. She hurried around to the back of the town hall where bales of hay conveniently provided an easy climb onto the roof, which was the perfect place to observe and hear the lesson below. With a quick glance around to be sure no one was watching, she quickly scrambled onto the roof with a practiced ease that would have scandalized her mother and the other ladies of the village.
"Alright, lads, gather round," Elder Dumbledore said to the practicing wizards. "You know how to do the shield spell, and most of you are fairly proficient at it. Those who are not just need to practice more and concentrate harder. You'll master it in no time, I'm sure. Now, today we are going to learn the memory component that goes with the shield spell protecting our valley. This spell is only temporary, merely diverting their attention away from us until they are out of range of the spell."
Hermione crept a little closer to the edge of the roof. This was even better than she had hoped for.
Dumbledore continued. "Now, this spell is all about intention. If you are not confident when setting it, it can cause serious damage to a person's memory when they encounter it. You will all learn how to set it, however, only those among you deemed the most proficient will be allowed to cast the spell in defense of our people. We do not wish to draw undue attention to ourselves with malfunctioning memory spells.
"Now, for practice, you will be casting the spell on the town hall, which I have already cast the shield spell upon. Your goal is to prevent your fellow wizards from getting within five strides of the door before they are diverted by the spell. As you can see, we have healers watching in case any of you should need your memory restored."
Hermione looked over at Healer Derwent, startled to realize she had missed noticing the diminutive wizard from her perch. The fact that a Healer was on standby for this spell made her nervous. How would she be able to practice casting it if it was dangerous enough to others to warrant a Healer?
"Before I show you how to merge the spell with the shields, let us practice the correct wand movement and incantation. Move your wand as such, and say 'Dediscite hoc locum'." Dumbledore dipped his wand under, brought it high, and then gave it a sharp flick.
Hermione watched avidly as the wizards below attempted the same movements and muttered Dumbledore's words. A few did it almost perfectly, at least in Hermione's opinion, but most of them were sloppy in their wand movements and showed no confidence at all.
Dumbledore smiled indulgently and said, "Not bad, not bad, for a first attempt, lads. Shall I show you again?"
Before he could raise his wand, however, there came a commotion from th road leading to the valley's entrance. Hermione raised up just enough to see a crowd of people surrounding who was presumably a wizard, since anyone else would have been deterred from approaching the valley by the spells. She turned to scurry down from her perch; with a visitor in the village, he elders, and her mother, would be looking for her to be presented during introductions. She would also be expected to dine at the chief's table tonight.
Oh the joys of being engaged to leadership, Hermione thought with an internal groan.