Ohh my! Can you believe school has started once again?! Arggh, summer why'd you have to go? Anyways, so happy I got back to you guys! So much work nowadays... PACE English is insane! SO many essays and assignments to do.
Disclaimer: HP is not mine.
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." ~Lao Tzu
~OoOoO~
It only seemed like minutes of peace and calm when she felt someone else's presence in her room. Lazily opening an eye, she noticed unfamiliar bedsheets and a vast room in front of her. Terrified, she jumped up, searching her pyjamas for her wand, but then remembered the crazy day already behind her, and fell back in her bed, shutting her eyes once again.
A small cough was heard from the doorway, and Hermione raised her head and opened one eye, trying to make out the tiny figure standing at the door.
Groggily, she finally asked. "Who's there?"
"It is Flipsy, Missus!" a high-pitched voice sounded out, which Hermione immediately recognized as the voice of a house elf. "Masters and Missusses ordered Flipsy to come get Missus for a special welcoming breakfast!" she squeaked out.
"Please, Flipsy, Call me Hermione." Hermione smiled kindly, even though her hair was still mussed up from her long sleep and might've set a horrifying image to her straight teeth and smile.
"Oh," Flipsy started, staring at her feet, smoothening out her small dress, which at least served as a small level of equality, unlike the way other wizards dressed their house elves. "It is a great honour, Miss Hermione! You see, Flipsy is new here. Yes, very new! Flipsy has only been here for ten whole years, and not once did Masters and Missusses have a guest staying, except for frequent guests they have on New Years and other times." Flipsy mumbled, still fiddling with her dress.
"Well, it's an honour to meet you. Tell them I'll be down in a minute or two." Hermione smiled again, rolling out of bed, as Flipsy nodded and dissaparated on the spot, as Hermione headed towards the bathroom.
Her body was still very warm from her sleep, and the cool marble tiles seemed to cool her down by a couple degrees. She walked over to the mirror, and as soon as she looked in the mirror, she gasped, horrified. Her hair was a complete mess, much worse than she expected, and she expected it worse!
Luckily it had smoothened out the last year, and her unbrushable bushy hair was tamed, turning into long chocolate locks falling down to nearly reaching her waist. Nevertheless, every morning Hermione woke up in the morning, it was equally as messy as it had been her whole life.
Quickly, she brushed her teeth using her favourite spearmint toothpaste, which someone had luckily decided to leave in her bathroom along with a toothbrush. Hermione also managed to find a large hairbrush, as she ran it through her long locks, finally taming them and brushing out the knots. When she exited the bathroom, she found a pair of jeans and tight cotton red t-shirt with a golden lion design on the front and on the back "GRYFFINDOR" written in gold letters, as well as a pair of sneakers and other garments lying on her bed.
Snorting at what seemed to be Godric's choice of clothes, she quickly got dressed, pocketed her wand, and left the room, struggling to pull on the second sneaker, and somehow managed to hop across the whole hall on only one foot. After finally getting it on, she grinned proudly and started walking forward.
"You would've become the champion at the Wizarding Olympics if there was an event called one legged balance race." Someone smirked from behind Hermione, who jumped, clutching her chest and turned around to face a grinning Luna. Who was dressed in the same style clothes, only blue with an eagle and the name "LOVEGOOD" spelt out on the back.
"Blimey, Luna! You scared the hell out of me! How do you do that?" Hermione gasped, her heart still racing, as Luna looked at her with an amused expression lurking her face.
"Do what?"
"Sneak up on me without me noticing!"
"I guess I'm light on my feet. Like the fairies flying around you." She said dreamily, as Hermione snorted at Luna's imagination, but soon did realize that the ceiling looked like a magical forest roof, with vines, leaves and a couple of berries. There were large morning glory flowers hanging from the top and small fragile multicoloured fairies were flying to and fro, giggling and laughing, twirling and dancing, flying around the two girls.
As always, Luna laughed at Hermione's astonished face, the same one she wore the previous day when saw the starry enchanted ceiling.
"Magic doesn't seem to end amazing me." Hermione mumbled, examining the actions of the fairies, who were blushing and dancing, giggling and shying away from Hermione, covering their mouths and whispering to each other. "I wonder what their whispering about."
"You're probably scaring them. Or maybe you look like an enlarged fairy!" Luna smiled dottily, as Hermione rolled her eyes happily, still thankful Luna was with her and the same old Luna. "Let's go to breakfast! I hope there's pudding..." Luna giggled, as she poked Hermione's stomach and ran off in the direction of the staircase, and she chased after her.
When they finally got down to the floor where the hall was located, they ran into nearly empty hall, where a long table with eight chairs around, Rowena and Helga already sitting down and whispering about something, Slytherin and Gryffindor dueling again, which seemed like an everyday ritual since the moment they got to the castle.
When the founders noticed Hermione and Luna, they stopped, Slytherin and Gryffindor even stopped dueling, and the two girls walked in. The big golden rimmed table was covered in all sorts of morning delicatessens, ranging from a typical English breakfast to exotic fruits not found anywhere in Europe. There was pudding (to Luna's satisfaction), toast, boiled eggs, jam, peanut butter, sausages, fruits, oatmeal and so much more, which seemed to extremely weigh the table down.
"Good morning everyone!" Luna said cheerily, jumping to the table, sitting down beside Hufflepuff, who beamed at her cheeriness.
"Morning," Hermione smiled plainly, as everyone else murmured in unison. There were three spots left – two in between Luna and Slytherin and one at the head of the table, with the highest chair.
Charitably for Ginny, Hermione sat down beside Luna, deciding to leave the redhead the pleasure of sitting beside her least favourite founder. Once everyone was seated, there were only two vacant spots; Helga and Rowena continued in what seemed like an intelligent argument as the two males stared the food down.
"You know, Uncle Salazar, you might as well burn a hole in the pudding. And I don't think Luna would like it at all." Hermione smirked, earning a howl from Gryffindor and a scowl from Slytherin.
"No one and I say no one touches the pudding." Luna said dead seriously, holding up her spoon and glaring at Slytherin, who even sunk back in his chair under the blonde's glare. Luna had the lightest feet and most effective glare in the wizarding world. No one could beat her in those two things, as well as an argument about magical creatures.
Suddenly, the doors slammed open, and a tired looking Ginny dragged herself in, her usually perfect red hair messed up, eyes partially opened and she fell into her chair gazing at her surroundings. After smiling sheepishly at Hermione, she turned to her right and yelped at Slytherin who was eyeing her curiously.
"Merlin, not you again." She grumbled, as she picked up her fork and started playing with it, attempting to puncture holes in the table, which obviously didn't work.
"Sorry, but who are we waiting for?" Luna asked, not taking her eye off of the pudding, as Ravenclaw quickly turned and responded.
"Someone who visits us daily. He has a habit of eating with us every morning even though he doesn't need food." She laughed chipperly, fixing her diadem in her midnight black hair, then nodded to the door, which opened again. "Ah, here he comes right now,"
And as the doors opened, in stepped a tall wizard in light grey robes, striding elegantly across the floor. His long beard and half-moon spectacles seemed to bring out his twinkling blue eyes more. Hermione, Luna and Ginny nearly fell out of the chairs when they realized who they were facing – it was Dumbledore! The same one who had died in their sixth (and fifth) year. It looked as he had the last time they saw him, remove the bad condition and burnt hard.
His eyes twinkled, scanning each of the girls, whose mouth practically unhinged and were lying somewhere on the floor.
"Hello, my dear ladies! It's lovely to see you again!" He smiled cheerfully, sitting down at the head of the table. "And good morning to you too, Rowena, Helga, Godric, Salazar! Oh my! Pudding! My favourite, except for Sherbet Lemons, of course! In fact, where are my Sherbet Lemons?" he asked curiously.
"Sir, you are most affectionately addicted to them, I don't think eating them at breakfast would improve any of your sugar levels." Godric smirked, falling back in his seat, as Dumbledore nodded cheerfully.
"Oh, wise of you, Godric. You are, perhaps, right. At afternoon tea then. I'll have some of them and maybe will even share with someone my friends!"
"Dumbledore sharing Sherbet Lemons?" Luna smirked.
"Never," The three of them said all together.
"You look... In good shape, Dumbledore. Taking fitness classes? Maybe a little zumba?" Ginny laughed, as Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"A little stretch at times. But that is a good idea – I would most certainly like to try that one out!" He smiled, his blue eyes still twinkling as Ginny reddened and mumbled something, which seemed like "It was only a joke..." but good old Dumbledore took it quite seriously.
Why was Dumbledore here? Didn't he die a while back? If he could be here, why couldn't he return to England and help the three of them on the horcrux hunt of during the war? All of these questions were racing through Hermione's mind and for once, she wanted someone to answer the questions for her.
"Sir?" She couldn't take it anymore. "How come you're... well... alive?" she asked unsurely, as Dumbledore smiled at her.
"That is a question to be answered at a later time." A smile played across his lips. "But now, we eat!" he said cheerfully, as Hermione rolled her eyes. Everything always waited till the end to be answered and sometimes wasn't answered at all. But now, all that was awaiting her was food – oh glorious food!
Helga and Rowena being real ladies took small portions of everything, eating less than the others, but the men and travelers couldn't help but eat more and more and more. Hermione felt like Ronald on a typical morning, and sadness hovered over her, but what soon eaten along with her food.
After piles of delicious food and many servings of the Hogwarts pudding Luna missed so much, the plates and food disappeared and Dumbledore faired them all farewell, retreating out the doors and into an unknown direction. "So much for getting her questions answered..." Hermione thought angrily, but was interrupted by everyone getting up.
"So today we will start on the easiest thing for the week." Rowena Ravenclaw started, looking at the three girls, who were lined up in front of her. "Making your wands. You will have to dispose of your wands right now." She said strictly, opening her hand, as the girls looked at each other, but the founders took no notice of their confusion.
"But Miss—erm—Mum? Why do we need new wands? Our old wands are completely satisfactory for each of us and we know how to use them properly." Hermione gripped her wand, and Luna and Ginny nodded in agreement doing the same.
"Hermione, dear," She hesitated on the word dear, even though her voice softened up a little bit, as she talked to her own daughter. "Your wands are powerful, we have seen them. But to face Voldemort in the past, you will have to make your wands more powerful – most likely with a double or even triple core."
The three girls gapped at her. They had never heard of such a thing. A wand with more than one core – impossible!
"I've never heard of it before," Ginny said stubbornly. "And how will we make our own wands? It takes lots of skill and stuff..."
"And that is a skill, which you will learn today, girl. Get with the program!" Slytherin snapped her, as Ginny glared at him, astonished, and the staring contest began.
"You will craft your own wand from the wood you choose, add the cores of your choice, as well as some other factors..." Helga trailed off, leaving the 'surprise' for the actual lesson. "Rowena and I will be teaching you. Follow us right now."
Ginny and Slytherin broke off their contest as the girls gave their wands in and followed the two women a couple of flights of stairs and into a room directly on the second floor. Even though they were probably a thousand years old each, they were very quick and the three girls had to keep a pacing jog to follow them and stay at least to meters in distance.
The room they walked into seemed like a muggle workshop – there were different machines, all sorts of tables set out with different materials placed out, ready to be picked. The sun pitched through the glass door, which led out into a beautiful garden with different flowers, trees and plants.
As Hermione had guessed, these were items picked from the garden, specifically on the castle grounds. There was so much to choose from, her eyes couldn't find a concentration point. An assortment of tools – small and large, were placed along one long table, probably for cutting up pieces or something on the basis.
"So here we are!" Helga said cheerfully, smoothening out her dress. "The wand room. So, firstly, each one of you will have to pick the wood you will use for your wand. You will be able to find them in the far back corner of the room. Then, choose your cores, and as you can see, there are a variety of different cores, from whichever you desire. So you can do that right now, and we will give you further instruction, once you're done." She smiled kindly, as the girls set to work.
The three of them walked over to where the different pieces of wood were located. There was practically everything you could ever dream of: pine wood, ebony, hawthorn, willow, rosewood, elder, birch, mahogany, holly, ash, elm, cedar, rowan, vine, and many, which Hermione could not identify.
"I thought the wands would choose us, like they did in Ollivander's shop when we were eleven." Ginny grumbled, looking through the different pieces of wood, placing each one she picked up aside.
"Same here. But this makes it much more exciting, doesn't it? I mean we get to create something powerful that only we can control!" Luna's eyes were shining as she picked up a piece of wood, examined it and threw it aside.
Hermione murmured in agreement, looking through all the pieces of wood, finally settling down with holly wood, partially because it reminded her of Harry, which represented and reminded her of hope, and partially because she loved Christmas and even her name seemed to agree with it – a white Christmas, as well as her new White surname.
Ginny also seemed to choose her wood, as she proudly made her way to the core section, puffing out her chest, holding what seemed like a strip of evergreen close to her body. Who would've known Ginny knew her plants and trees.
Luna also finished choosing her wood, as all three of them moved on. Luna obviously chose something only a person like Luna would choose – she chose condensed and dried mistletoe as her wood, taking note to ask the two founders whether or not the mistletoe she chose was "nargle-free? Because if my wand hand nargles in it, I don't think that will be the best of luck. At least that's what dad used to say." Hermione couldn't help, but smile at Luna's behaviour.
In no less than twenty minutes, the girls were done choosing their cores; Ginny stuck to the classic dragon heart-string and unicorn hair, Luna chose thestral and kelpie hair, and Hermione chose the phoenix and Pegasus feather. Then, the three of them approached the two founders, who were once again in a deep conversation.
They presented their wands, placing them on the table and Rowena started to explain what was going to happen next.
"Now that you've chosen what exactly your wands will be made of, there is one more step. You can do it if you want, but if you don't you don't have to; it's your choice, although I am telling you right now, with this step, your will be even more so connected than you are right now." She said, looking at the girls for an answer.
"What is this additional step? What exactly does it consist of?" Hermione asked curiously, thoroughly absorbed and interested, and Helga smiled warmly, immediately taking all the worry away from the room, leaving only cheer.
"Just a piece of your hair and a drop of blood for each wand." Helga smiled warmly.
Ginny raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "A drop of blood and a piece of hair? How would that exactly help or strengthen us?"
This made Rowena roll her eyes, and turn to face the wall, but Helga chided her. "The girl is just interested, Rowena. This rudeness isn't necessary." She said in a motherly voice, but Rowena didn't turn back.
"Each one of you will have your own hair and blood in your wand, as well as your two other companions'. Firstly, the hairs will connect you once again and will act like another core. The blood shows it can only be your or their property. So I believe you're familiar with the Tale of the Three Brothers?" she asked, as the girls nodded. "Well, there, the Elder wand was passed on once the owner was killed, but in your case even if you get killed, the wand, as powerful as it may be will always rest as yours or your friends'."
"And also, your wand cannot be broken or used against you." Ravenclaw added, coming back from her brooding in the corner.
"That is very smart. Hermione, do you believe we should complete this step?" Luna smiled kindly, nudging Hermione, who was absorbed in her thoughts.
"Yes, I think we should. It guarantees so much and in difficult times we are going to be going back to we have to be better safe than sorry." She nodded in agreement.
"Ginny?" Luna asked, and Ginny nodded. "We'll do it." She said, as the three of them each pulled out three pieces of their hair, placing one of each into the pile where their wood and cores were. Then, Helga handed each of them a needle.
Ginny looked at the girls unsurely, and muttered "this is crazy..." under her breath, and each of them pricked their fingers, squeezing out droplets of blood on each other materials. Luna started sucking on it, claiming that she could get an infection from all the materials she touched, and said that nargles could be dangerous, following with a question about her mistletoe.
"Rowena?" Helga asked, looking at the intelligent woman cheerily. "You're the best at this part."
Rowena huffed a little bit, and took out her wand, muttering an enchantment under her breath on each one of the wands, and suddenly the cores, hair and blood disappeared. The girls looked at each other curiously, and then looked at the founders.
"The cores are now inside the wands. It's a simple inversing spell." Ravenclaw said proudly, backing away and adding. "I made it myself, because it only works for wand making and—"
"You're the best at it. Don't need to brag about it." Helga laughed and the three girls joined in, taking their wands in hand, but Helga stopped them, just as they were about to test a spell on their newly-made wands. "Not yet. Not here at least. For now, we have to do the most, erm—well what can I say? Muggle aspect of wandmaking – carving out your designs." She pointed to the table closest to them with a variety of tools on it.
Hermione grinned, examining her wand. "Wicked."
"Wait... so we just carve in whatever we want?" Ginny exclaimed, eyes wide and sparkling with awe, like Fred and George's would sparkle when they were up to no good. "Like, we can carve anything? Anything at all?"
"Yes, anything. That's the best part of wandmaking isn't it?" Helga giggled, winking at the girls, as Ravenclaw rolled her eyes again. Then the chuckling Hufflepuff leaned in close to the girls and whispered. "Well someone's in a bad mood today," And the girls laughed in agreement, when Raveclaw yelled from across the room.
"Hey! I resent that!"
The three of them got to work, not slowing down a minute. Hermione decided to stick to a pretty plain design, just as she thought Ginny and Luna would. She really liked her previous wand with small vine designs going from the handle, covering a bit more than half of the wand. Carefully carving everything out, and shaking her hand from time to time, so that the blood didn't drip on her new wand. Obviously, it wouldn't make a difference if there was, but her whole concentration was on the carving. She didn't notice the time or the pain, partially because after the war she barely felt any small scratches.
Finally, she was done! Victoriously, she held up her wand to examine it carefully. It was almost the same as the one she had since she was eleven, but she decided to add three different flowers near the handle, a Lunar flower for Luna, a Ginny Gee for Ginny and a gentle Hermione Rose for herself. In neat cursive underneath, she wrote each one of their names.
When the others were done, she decided to go and examine theirs. It seemed as if they all had the same idea to include each other on their wand. Ginny's looked a lot like it had been before, only instead of multiple swirls near the beginning of her wand, she had three, on each one she carefully carved out each of their names, and as she had in her previous one six small circles going down.
"To represent my brothers." She noted, when Hermione asked her about the significance. "I've always been the only girls and longed for sister, but now I have two and no brothers..." she trailed off.
Luna's wand was most interesting. Around her wand, she neatly carved out three mistletoe berries, their vines going in a pattern around her wand and stopping with a small swirl a bit past the middle, just like in Hermione's. Hermione laughed when she saw what was carved out on each of the berries – there was a dog print on one, a fox print on the other and a horse print on the last.
"Quite witty, Luna." Hermione giggled, at the prints, and was about to comment something else, when the founders got up from reading books and instructed them the rest.
"You will be able to test the wands out tomorrow or later today, but for now, it's already dinner time!" Rowena said, finally a little bit more cheered up than she was while they were making their wands.
Dinner passed by well, and Dumbledore once again joined them for dinner, which completely didn't make sense in Hermione's opinion. It only seemed like they were crafting their wands for maybe a few hours, but by the end it ended up being half a dozen hours right up to dinner.
After dinner, they had a little relaxation time, which consisted of playing Quidditch. Hermione and Ginny were pleased and excited when Luna made the excuse of sitting down and watching because she didn't feel safe on a broom – only on a thestral or maybe a Pegasus. The two lady founders also sat aside along with Dumbledore, and a couple of ghosts joined the game to make an even amount of players. The first day went by brilliantly.
The whole week went by with the same type of schedule – one day it was dueling for six hours straight, where they finally got to test out their wands, and there was a completely different effect than the ones they used their whole lives. Their old wands had more of a... calm effect, but these ones were indeed more powerful. Their duels were practiced with Gryffindor and Slytherin while the ladies sat and roared in laughed when they got beaten by a bunch of eighteen year olds.
And Gryffindor, out of 'courtesy' to Slytherin was the one teaching them, while Slytherin was the one getting hit by spells and used as the target. The girls were taught different spells made by the founders themselves.
"And now, raised your wand, and do an eight motion." He directed Ginny, who did as he instructed and whipped her wand and yelled the incantation at Slytherin, who suddenly blew up like a helium balloon, flying up to the ceiling.
The watching founders burst out in laughed, as he floated up to the ceiling. They didn't see how Gryffindor whispered something to Ginny, who giggled and tapped her wand against the palm of her hand. Quickly, she swished her wand and yelled "Resilio Militus!" as Slytherin got thrown against the opposite wall, creating a huge dent, as the ruins fell over him.
Hermione stared horrified. "You should help him! What if he's—"
"He's fine, Mione. Don't worry about it." Gryffindor dusted off his hands and walked over to the ruins, stepping a couple meters in so he was engulfed by darkness. In a couple of seconds he returned with a miniature battle statue of Slytherin.
After the lesson, once Slytherin was turned back into his own size, he claimed that he would never again help teaching teenagers dueling.
The following day, they brewed a variety of different potions they would require in the past. There were some potions they brewed in school, and some which they hadn't even tried – Veritaserum, Everlasting Elixirs, different antidotes, Felix Felicis, the complicated wolfsbane potion, as well as the newly invented Lupin's Drops, which was a potion which turned a werewolf back into a human for the rest of their days... Each one of the girls brewed their own set of around twenty potions, as well as a copy of different ones they might need.
The sequent day was Luna's favourite because it was their turn to study magical creatures, plants and berries. This consisted of actual physical interaction, testing, defence and protection. Ginny was the one at the bottom of their 'class', struggling the most, but Luna and Hermione claimed that they would help her if she ever asked for it.
Transfiguration and Charms followed, as they tested different spells, which could also help them and also tried a couple of things in their animagus forms. Obviously, each one of the founders had their own animagus form which was their house emblem. They taught the girls how to take lighter steps and transform into smaller versions of their animals for (as Gryffindor hinted in) "sneaking around, if you really need to."
The second last day was probably the most boring one they had. They had a woman equivalent to Professor Binns teaching History of Magic and important milestones of the 70s and 80s, which they would need to know in order to blend in as orphaned purebloods. Whilst they would sleep in class in Professor Binns' class, there were only three of them, so there was no chance of falling asleep there or doing anything mischievous, except for listening to the boring lecture.
They woke up early the next day and headed down to the hall, rubbing their eyes and yawning as they sat down for breakfast, eating their everyday specially prepared meals, and once they finished, they were all ready to go to classes, when Rowena announced that this day was only going to be for exploring and packing, because they were leaving that evening.
"Wow, explore the bigger version of Hogwarts! What about that?" Ginny laughed as they left the hall, going up stairs to just talk and hang around.
"Yeah, that's awesome! I can't believe we're actually here!" Hermione agreed, grinning.
"But... we're leaving this wonderful place to lay behind us. And returning to a world of darkness and evil." Luna said in a low voice a smile tugging at her lips, as everyone started laughing.
Hermione noticed Gryffindor leaving and going off to some place off the grounds. She glanced at her father, then at her friends, and decided to go after him.
"I'll be back. Don't worry about me, because I just need to do something..." she muttered, running back down the stairs following her father, and the other two girls looked at each other and shrugged.
She ran down the stairs and out the doors into the orchard where she first woke up. She saw him wander off to a crystal roofed pavilion, which seemed a little bit like a greenhouse, but more of a pavilion.
"Hey, dad!" she finally caught up to him, when he sat down on a bench to rest a little bit.
"Hello, Mione. So you're leaving today, huh? Can't believe it – my small girl is so grown up now!" he pretended to brush away tears, while holding her face and pinching her face, and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm not that little girl anymore. And I wasn't yours then either."
"Mione, love, you wound me."
"Sorry dad." She snickered, as he smiled as well. "So I have a question. A couple of questions actually. Two."
"One at the time." He said, leaning back and closing his eyes, but carefully paying attention to what she was saying. He was still a loving father, even though he was never there physically, but... mentally.
"Okay, first question – you know everything around, right? You watched me all this time."
"Yes, that is correct."
"So you saw that Rowena's diadem was destroyed."
"Mmm..."
"So, why does she have it? And why are there another Sorting Hat and Sword of Gryffindor. I know they belong to you, and they are your property, but the Sword of Gryffindor is with the Sorting Hat in the headmaster's office. Or supposed to be. The diadem is supposed to be in the Room of Requirements and everything else should be in other places. Why is that?" she asked curiously, as he opened one eye, the chocolate brown examining her closely.
There was a small silence, as he tried to compose an answer in his head, but for some reason Hermione couldn't hear his reasoning. Finally he spoke up. "It's because there's a double for any magical item. It means pretty much being in two places at one."
"Like time travel?"
"Yes and no. Time travel is when you actually go back in time and your present self is in that time. But in this case you are actually present in both places and can control and change whatever you do. So the diadem of Ravenclaw is actually worn by her in this place, but back in the 90s it's destroyed." He finished as Hermione looked a little confused.
"I still don't really understand."
"Okay, think of it like this. This is the eternal world, which consists of only the grounds, the castle, the forest and some other places. This is like an eternal village and everything in this village has its own double on earth." he explained to her. "Understand now?" he asked, paying close attention to her, as she nodded.
They sat in their places for a while, Hermione processing over what she just learned, as a couple of people passed them. Hermione looked at them strangely, because she hadn't seen them at all in the castle. Then she noticed that there were actually more than just them in the garden.
"It's so weird..." she thought.
"What exactly is?"
"The thing that—"she started, but then understood what just happened. "OI! Dad get out of my head. Honestly, is there a way to stop you and mum from getting in, because it's honestly very annoying!"
"There is..." he started, watching her, as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. She did her famous puppy dog face, her eyes watering and pleading for him to tell her the answer.
"Come on daddy!" suddenly, she sounded too much like a six year old begging for a bundle of cookies. "Please! You do know I'm very responsible and you love me very much, don't you? You told me yourself that you were very proud of me, and you only wanted the best! Right?" she smiled at him pleadingly, as he rolled his eyes.
"I can't resist." He smirked at Hermione, who silently thanked Merlin for it. "But you can't use it all the time, or else I'll disown you."
"Like you did the last eighteen years?" she smirked, as he raised up a finger to protest.
"That was not disowning. That was simply... Deserting,"
"Thanks dad." Hermione said dryly, falling back in her seat, but then sitting back up like an excited five-year-old begging for a toy. "Can you tell me? Please?"
"Sure. I love you too much." He rolled his eyes are Hermione grinned, with a mischievous glitter in her eye. So there's a spell you have to cast. It's called Intersaepio Salus. Whenever you're done doing whatever secret things you're doing, you cast the same spell and your mum will probably bombard you with questions about, why she couldn't hear you, why you broke the connection, etcetera, you get my point, don't you?"
"Right!" Hermione grinned, kissing Gryffindor on the cheek. "Thanks dad."
"Alright, and no telling mum, okay?"
"Okay."
"Not telling me what?" came a voice from beside them, as Ravenclaw magically appeared there.
"Blast! Hermione, darling, you know that super, super secret meeting I told you about?" he winked at her, and she started playing along. "Well I'm very, very late! Gotta go, see you sometime Ravenclaw!" and he darted from the green house, with Ravenclaw hot on his heels.
The brunette fell back and started laughing and thinking of how hilarious the messed up relationship between her biological parents was, especially since they were only friends and co-founders before her birth. But then a simple loss in a bet changed everything and baby Hermione née Gryffindor, was born.
Through her laughter she didn't even notice someone approach her. "Never thought I'd ever hear that laugh again. What do you say, Mione? Did you miss me?" a cheery, sarcastically friendly and familiar voice sounded out.
At the sound of it, Hermione's heart stopped and she was sure it skipped a couple of beats. When she looked up, and saw the face she had loved as a brother. The face everyone missed even though they saw it every day. But not the same one. Her eyes started prickling with tears, and it was true, he hadn't heard her laugh for a very long time.
"F—Fred!" she gasped through her tears, jumping up and attacking him in a big hug, as he chuckled and pulled her in. Her slender fingers brushed through his hair, as red as it had been the last time she saw him. "H-h-how? W-w-what? I don't underst-st-stand." She managed through sobs, gripping him tightly.
"I didn't expect to see you here either. You know, the last time I saw you was actually a couple of hours before my death. How was Georgie fairing? How was he the last time you saw him? Was he alright?"
"Oh, Fred, it was horrible after your death. George has never been the same. H-he doesn't do anything anymore. I-I-I couldn't b-bear watching him. It was too s-s-sad." She stuttered, tears still streaming down her pale face, as he rubbed small circles on her back.
"No need for the tears, Mione. You're gonna change everything now. I've heard from Godric that you're gonna be one of the Girl Marauders in the school. I congratulate you." He smirked his famous Weasley smirk, and Hermione giggled, wiping her eyes, and finally letting go of him.
"I won't let it happen. You won't die. I won't let you. And you'll have your prankster uncles too, and there'll still be James and Lily, and the rest of the Marauders, and everything will be alright." She sniffled, settling down on the bench, as he sat down beside her. "In any case, how the heck did you get here?" she asked finally.
"Well, you see, when I was getting sorted to either heaven or hell, I was giving the 'guard' or whoever the hell he is a very hard time, and when he heard that times were gonna change, he released me way before time, so I've been hanging out here for the past month..."
"Wow that's—"
"Mione? Mione, where are you?" Ginny's voice sounded out somewhere in the garden, as Hermione bit her lip and Fred perked up at the sound of his sister's voice. "There you are! I've just cursed Slytherin with that hex Gryffindor taught us before and he's very pissed right now. I've been looking all—" she cut herself off when she saw who Hermione was sitting with.
That familiar red hair, those twinkling blue eyes, that permanent smirk on his face. Ginny put her hands on her mouth, her lips trembling severely. Her sky-blue eyes were rimmed with large, hot tears, which were threatening to pour out any second. She tried to speak, but her voice didn't come. Fred got up as well, and the two of them ran into a brotherly sisterly embrace.
Hermione didn't feel... completely comfortable intruding on a family moment, so she left the two reunited Weasleys, Ginny speaking through sobs about everything that happened, and Fred trying to calm her down and tell her it's okay, as they remembered happy memories. The saddest part was that Fred would not remember Ginny and wouldn't know that he had any relation to her.
Pushing the sad thoughts away, Hermione continued walking through the garden, seeing many people who looked very familiar. She walked around one of the edges to find a small waterfall and a tall handsome boy with brown-ish hair and in a Hufflepuff jersey, sitting in front of the fountain. His high cheekbones and elegant jaw gave him more of a higher pureblood status, and he continued sitting and staring at the pouring water. His jersey was torn and muddy with even some stains of blood on it. He looked very familiar...
Hermione gasped. "Cedric!" she exclaimed, as his grey eyes switched his concentration from the water to Hermione, their eyes locking.
"Sorry, who are you? You look very familiar, as if I've seen you before, but not here. In my life. Please tell me your name." Hermione was about to open her mouth, when he raised a finger, showing her to stop. "No, tell me from where you know me first. I need some entertainment for my last day here." He smirked, as Hermione gulped.
"At Hogwarts. We went to Hogwarts together, but you were a couple years my senior."
"Did I know you? Personally?" he asked, raising an arched eyebrow, as Hermione blushed.
"Not really... Many people knew me for hanging out in the library a lot and going to the Yule ball with a famous Quidditch player..." She blushed, muttering off, averting her eyes. Even though she was a year older than him now, he was still as handsome as ever and still made her blush like a Hufflepuff. (HA! Didn't notice that coincidence!)
"Is that really you? Hermione Granger? My, my. You've really grown up into a fine young lady." He crossed his arms and leaned back, giving her a winning smile. "I heard rumours that you and two other girls were coming, so we would be free, but I never believed it. I thought Weasley was just trying to pull another prank on me." He smirked, as Hermione laughed cheerfully, sitting down beside him.
"So Fred does get around here?"
"Oh, yes. Pranks everyone, has the time of his life. Obviously, he's not the same without his twin, but he's particularly happy about going back now."
"And you," Hermione looked at him curiously. "Aren't you happy? Everything's going to change now! You're going to live a peaceful life now, nothing haunting you! Everything will change." Hermione soothed him.
At this, Cedric gave out a ringing laugh, as clear as a waterfall, with even slight bitterness. "Peaceful now? Granger, don't forget, half the school was haunting me down since third year. It's impossible. So I enjoy this as much as I can. You're lucky – you're going to see my father young. That will be a pleasant surprise for you."
"Why?" Hermione grinned at him, while he tried to hide his smile.
"No reason at all." He smirked, as the brunette pouted. Now, it was much comfortable to talk to Cedric Diggory, in comparison to how it was like in her fourth year, when at the slightest compliment she would flush crimson. But now, she had grown up and everything was completely different.
"So what exactly is this place?" she asked curiously, looking at a couple of people walking by.
"This is more of the prep place for going back. There're loads of people here, but you just haven't seen them. Some of us have been released earlier, I have no idea why. But here you will find all the deceased dating back to '77." He told her, as she nodded and a boy who looked like a sixth year ran by them, snapping a picture of them.
"Here you go! No taxes at all." He said, shoving the photo in Hermione's arms, who opened her mouth in shock, and before she could say anything he cut her off again. "Blimey! You're Mione Granger! Happy to see you Mione! I'm Colin Creevey – remember me? Heard you're saving the world, only without Harry now. Still didn't get his signature. Pitty about that. Well, best be going! Still have lots of orders to make!" he exclaimed, as he ran off leaving a shocked Hermione and snickering Cedric.
"Wow. He's still the same, isn't he?"
"Oh yes." Cedric smirked, nodding his head. "He's bouncing around everywhere, taking pictures. Remember him in only his first year? Adorable kid he was."
"He's still adorable." Hermione cooed, as Cedric snorted.
"Hello, Hermione. Hello Cedric." An airy voice said, and Hermione knew who it belonged to.
"Hello." Cedric said politely, bowing his head.
"Hey Luna." Hermione said, looking at her expectantly. "Oh, Merlin, is it that time already? We still need to get packed. Lord what am I going to do? It was nice seeing you, Cedric. See you in... around, I guess..." she smiled, as he gave her a hug and said his goodbyes to the two girls and they ran off.
They ran past various people, Ginny and Fred talking intently about something, but Luna tugged her along. "We haven't got much time! Soon we'll be sent back. We need to pack. Our things are already on our beds. We need your bags and then we'll be able to sort everything out when we get there." She spoke smoothly, but urgently.
So this is how the tables were arranged starting from the top going clockwise – Dumbledore, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw.
Okaay, and I've always actually wanted Hermione to be together with Cedric, when I read the fourth book, so I included this part here too. I remember I started writing a Cedmione fic two years ago out on paper and found it a month ago :P hahaha it was hilarious.
Also, I'm sure that a lot of you do too, but I feel REALLY bad for Colin Creevey, because he still didn't get a signature from Harry, and died in the Deathly Hallows.
Spells:
Resilio Militus – shrunken soldier
Intersaepio Salus – block off safety
Thanks SO much for the reviews again :) to TsukiyoTenshi, loves2readalways, lovinxoxo, BrightestWitchOfHerAge16, Terrence Rogue, and Shalala.
Remember reviews are highly appreciated! :)))
Love to everyone everywhere!x
Girl . x . Marauder
(Daria)