The Time Traveller
Chapter three: A prank, accidental magic and a goat
Storming down the hallways of Hogwarts you would find Arlette dragging a tired and worn out looking Hermione. 'Does she even know where we are going?' Hermione thought. "Yes, We are going to use one of the guest quarters, Hogwarts had it built for the headmasters guest if he chose to invite any." Arlette said quietly dragging Hermione up a few more flights of stairs. After storming down multiple corridors, tripping over missing stairs and almost falling off some of the moving staircases, the two girls arrived at their assigned room.
Arlette stopped at a picture of a sailboat floating near a dock, there seemed to be no wind and the sails drooped sadly. Hermione was confused when she saw Arlette blow the picture but quickly realised that to open the door, you must blow the ship to the docks. "how much for a quintal of cod?" Arlette asked the miniature sailors.
"After we split, salt, dry and weigh it, I'm sure we can sell ya a quintal or two for 7 galleons." Said a sailor with a toothy grin. "Ah, better not be from the madeira john or by the lord dying, there'll be a hell to pay." Arlette said before shoving Hermione inside and onto the couch.
"Pumpkin juice Hermione?" Arlette offered. Hermione shook her head no. "Butterbeer?" She tried again, but hermione still refused. "Well, more for me then." Arlette said happily. "Now, I guess you have some questions to ask me. So, fire away. But be careful, the walls have ears." She whispered staring at the many portraits that seemed to be interested in the two girls.
"So you're not an actual student at Beaux Batons?" Hermione questioned. "Ah, Five points to my little Gryffindor, yes I am not currently enrolled in Beaux Batons. I am a spy for the order of the phoenix, I'm sure you've heard of it in the future. I guess you could say I was once homeschooled, and when I was extremely young, took my final examinations at not Beaux Batons but Durmstrang. I was fifteen, youngest person in wizarding Britain to graduate, although it's not that big of a deal." Arlette explained as if commenting on the weather.
"So, you already know about my accident.?" Hermione whispered, not trusting any of the nosy potraits. "Hermione, The first thing I read on my letter from Dumbly, was your story. What he knew of it so far, that is. He said it was so urgent that I must come quickly, so I did. I only knew the basics, who you are, from minerva's little stunt, how you got here, with the time turner Madam Pomfrey found." Hermione then remembered she didn't have her time turner on her. "That's basically it, Oh, and a list of all your injuries. I must say, for someone who fell off the astronomy tower, your lucky to be alive. Broken ribs, cracked skull, fractured neck, shattered pelvis and most of your other bits and peices were injured too. Both of your lungs had puncture wounds, you suffered bruised kidneys, slashed intestines from your shattered pelvis's peices. I'm even surprised were having this conversation, You're lucky we have a mediwitch like Poppy." Arlette commented.
"Arlette, not to be rude but, why are you here? I mean I'm grateful that you are but," Hermione had extreme difficulty putting this in a pleasant way. "Oh Hermione, It's ok, It's not like I had anything better to do, not that you aren't great. What I meant is that, in the few years I've trained to be an auror, the most exciting mission I've been on was a raid with moody that included a prank, accidental magic and a goat. You would see why when Dumbledore contacted me saying he had a mission for me, I was jumping up and down. It's been literally forever since I've had any actual human contact that didn't include crazy old men, Don't look at me that way!" Arlette warned when Hermione heard Arlette's older men problem. "Plus when I heard about you're case, I realised that this was something I couldn't miss. Now go on to bed, I can see I'm boring you Mione. Oh, and for now on, Call me Lette." She said with a wink while a drowsy Hermione lugged herself to her room.
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The next morning Hermione woke up to the smell of French vanilla lattes, 'I could of sworn I've had the strangest dream, I wonder what Ginny is up to.' Hermione got dressed for the day, choosing to wear a pair of jeans with a white shirt and lilac coloured sweater. Hermione heard Ginny knock at the door, "Come in!" she answered before tying her shoelaces. "I made you breakfast 'Mione" A soft voice called out. Hermione turned to not find Ginny but a similar looking female. Hermione screamed in shock of not seeing her best friend and ended up spilling the lattes on Arlette.
"I could have sworn it was a dream." Hermione gasped. Looking down at the mess she made. "Are you ok Arlette?" She asked, when she saw her reveling in the fiery warmth of the spilt lattes. "Arlette? Did I burn you?" She said worriedly, startling Arlette from her trance. "What? Oh, no I'm fine but, my shirt isn't. I'll have to wash it now." She said taking of her shirt in front of Hermione. Hermione on the other hand was stunned, not even Ginny had ever stripped in front of her. "What?" Arlette asked "We all have the same bits and pieces Mione, I swear you're acting as if it's the most scandalous thing ever, just think of it as a bikini." Arlette said while walking to her closet. "Oh and Hermione, soon we have to go shopping. We do have our covers to maintain, but before that, you need to learn our family tree." She said, leaving Hermione gaping behind her.
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"So, Hermione. Where was our mother born?" Arlette quizzed Hermione.
"Our mother was born in Paris France, her name was Cendrille Seraphine, she was born on February fifth, 1937." Hermione answered.
"Good, now, Where was our father born?" Arlette asked. "Our father, Hinrich Aden was born in Berlin Germany on November 21st, 1936. His name means Ruler of fire." Hermione answered again. "Great. Now answer me this, what schools did they go to, and how did our parents meet?" Arlette asked.
"Our mother, Cendrille went to Hogwarts as a child while our father went to Durmstrang. Mama wanted to go on an exciting adventure after she graduated, and decided to be a dragon tamer in Romania although that didn't go too well. It was while she was in Romania she met papa who was on summer vacation with a few of his friends, Uncle Vladimir and Uncle Sasha. They met while she was supposed to be training. One of the dragons wasn't behaving properly and almost killed her, if it wasn't for papa and his friends who stunned it. 'He literally took my breath away, when he jumped on top of me of course' Mom used to say. Dad said it was 'Like a fire lit between us'" Hermione explained.
"An Outstanding for my little sis. Now, were going to move on to occlumency, do you know what that is Hermione?" Arlette asked. "Occlumency is when you build a mental wall around your thoughts. It is used to prevent possible legilimens from entering or invading your mind and divulging your secrets. The secret is to keep a clear mind and to act as if you have nothing to hide. Sometimes, it also helps to create new memories, so if they do get through your barrier or, if you're in a situation where a barrier would arise suspicion, they would find themselves satisfied with what they had found." Hermione explained. Arlette smiled warmly at Hermione. "It seems you really are a know it all." She said
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"Legilimens!" Arlette shouted loudly at Hermione. Hermione tried to block Arlette out of her mind but was failing miserably, already Arlette had viewed Hermione's first day at Hogwarts, Her mortification at becoming a cat, Hermione's walrus-like teeth and her first kiss with Viktor, which was a sloppy wet mess.
"Hermione, what did I tell you?" Arlette shouted chastising her. "You said that until I block my mind, anybody could use this information against me." She replied bored. "Why does this even matter Lette?" Hermione said foolishly.
"Why does this matter? Why does this matter? Hermione, outside of Hogwarts, probably while we are speaking, there are many men and women who work for the dark lord. There are spies and informants, and many who wish or have to please lord Voldemort. You and I are fresh faces, we're the shiny new toys here, just by being here many people are going to take an interest in us. We aren't safe from the outside world anymore Hermione, and with the information you are carrying inside of your pretty little head, the wizarding world as we know it will be changed forever and seeing as we are foreigners, we might not know how things are doing here politically. By getting us, they think they are getting a portal to the rest of great britain, and that means both sides will be after us. We need to keep that information locked up in that huge brain of yours, and if you can't conceal it. Consider all of your friends dead." Arlette answered fiercely.
This brought on bad thoughts for hermione. 'my friends aren't here anymore. There as good as dead now, and if i can't do this, Harry won't even be born." Hermione thought miserably. "Now I'm going to the kitchens, do you want anything." Arlette said agitatedly. "No." Hermione said meekly, sitting down on the couch, the exhaustion from her training overcoming herself. "I'll be gone for a while so I'll have the elves send you something later." Arlette said before leaving.
" I have to nail this, if not for everyone, then for you Harry." Hermione whispered in the dark before letting the darkness wash over her.
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