Muddy brown eyes blinked slowly as they searched the room around them. The pale skin surrounding the eyes led to thin lips and bushy brown hair. The hair, at the moment, was more bushy than it usually was, though it hadn't moved in the past months. Her lips were dried and cracked. The girls body was tired and aching as she tried to sit up. After finally succeeding with the help of those around her, she looked at those said, helping people.
Directly beside her was Madame Pomphrey, a flask in hand. Professor Snape stood directly behind the mediwitch, watching the girl as she looked around. Standing at the foot of the bed was Professor Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling happily. And lastly, on the opposite side of the bed, was Professor Sprout, whom was nervously watching Hermione. Finally, the young girl smiled.
"How are you, dear?" She looked to the worried mediwitch standing beside her. The girl cleared her throat before answering.
"Other than everything being stiff, I feel perfectly fine." The woman still looked worried, murmuring to herself that maybe she should get some pain relief potion. Hermione looked away as her Headmaster spoke up.
"Miss Granger, if everything is feeling alright, why don't I walk you down to the Great Hall? I know two boys that have been waiting for you to wake up." She smiled happily to the positively glowing Headmaster and nodded, quickly swinging her legs off of the bed and standing up on wobbly legs. Her potions professor caught her elbow as she nearly fell, the mediwitch already having left by this time. She smiled and mumbled a 'thank you' before following the Headmaster slowly from the room.
=^.^=
Rose watched as the young girl relaxed in her seat as the plane started to take off. She had heard about Hermione being petrified by a basilisk. She was furious beyond belief that she hadn't even learned about it until after Hermione had come back and mentioned it. Rose was sorely tempted to give the old Headmaster a piece of her mind.
Hermione, on the other hand, was perfectly happy. The night after being unpetrified had been perfect when she went to check on her garden. Someone had, apparently, come by and continued to take care of it. They even left directions to an abandoned classroom where her blooms had been properly harvested and stored. And, somehow, they had also gotten around her wards. And she had, luckily, also created another spell that night, adding to the two that she had already made. She only hoped that Adelais would understand why she couldn't complete all five. She hoped he wouldn't be to disappointed.
=^.^=
Hermione walked calmly from the massive garden, the night air around her. Adelais had let his gardeners stop coming a week ago, again, so as to give her plenty of work. He had also, luckily, understood that she could not have completed the five new spells. He expected her to present them to him the next day. She would also be creating two more during the summer so as to complete expanding her magic to where Adelais wanted it.
When she had told him that she couldn't do magic outside of school he had explained that she could, in fact, do so. Seeing that she was out of the country and in the presence of a professor and member of the Wizengamot, she was allowed to use magic as long as she was in his presence. Also, seeing that he had the authority, he temporarily removed the Trace.
The girl was shook from her thoughts as she finally arrived at the large mansion. She smiled happily and walked in after removing her shoes. She walked quietly up to her room, regretting that she didn't grab dinner when it was served. But, she figured, it was of no consequence now. There would be breakfast in the morning.
=^.^=
"Hermione, huc." The bushy haired teen looked up from her recently finished meal to the tall man standing in the door. She nodded and quickly followed him to the sitting room in which her Latin lessons were once held. She sat down and waited for him to once more speak, listening as Rose spoke to a few of the workers in the next room over.
"I wish to see the spells you created, and I want an explanation for each." The girl nodded and stood, quickly removing her wand from the waistband of her pants, missing the disapproving look on Adelais's face.
"Cor Flammis!" She brought her wand from pointing to the floor to pointing directly in front of her, then moved it in a slash to her right. Immediately, the flames once more leaped forth and danced about her. Adelais watched on in curiosity as Hermione began her explanation.
"I'm not sure exactly what this does. The colors seem to replicate what I feel. I created it as a protection charm and a charm to keep me warm. I haven't seen them do to much protection, except against the cold." Adelais nodded in curiosity, still watching the flames as they seemed to dance around the girl in front of him. He motioned for her to continue with her creations. She cancelled the flames and performed the next one.
"Accipitri Oculus!" The girl waved her wand in front of her eyes. Adelais watched as her eyes turned completely brown, the same as her normal eyes, and her pupil grew in size and narrowed into a large slit. He awaited her explanation. "It gives the caster the sight of a hawk. I created it so that it would help me find harmful creatures in my garden." He nodded and once more motioned for her to move on to her last spell, which she did so after cancelling the charm.
"Vespertilio Auris!" He watched as she waved her wand over each ear, nothing seemed to change. He figured she messed up until she explained. "It is an undetectable spell that allows the caster to have the hearing of a bat. I created it so that I could maybe hear what Harry was talking about when he spoke of things talking in the walls." Adelais nodded and motioned for her to sit. After doing so, Adelais spoke after seeing her cancel her charm.
"I'm impressed with what you have done. You're last two spells, the only thing I n=know that is similar is the sensory enhancement spell and the sensory enhancement potion. But neither rise the senses to the level you have done so. I have also never seen anything like the first spell you showed me. I'm interested in seeing what you can do with it." The girl was positively beaming when he finished his miniature speech. Adelais gave a small smile before continuing. "Now, go work on the garden. We have another lesson when you are done." She nodded and quickly ran from the room.
=^.^=
"On top of making you physically strong, expanding your knowledge of spells, and growing your magic, you must not forget the noble art of potions." Hermione tilted her head, a smile on her face. That was what Professor Snape had said about potions. Adelais glanced over to see her face. "Don't expect me to slack off on potions, that is, after all, the class I teach at Transfiguratio Schola et Lenociniis. Unfortunately, potions is not a core class." He looked away for a moment, angrily, before looking back at the curious girl beside him. "Let us begin your lesson."
Hermione looked around herself curiously, they were currently standing by the ocean. It was an area that Adelais privately owned an protected with many wards against muggles and wizards alike. She tilted her head, curious as to what they were doing. Adelais, once more, decided to explain.
"We will be going into the ocean to gather ingredients. You already know many ingredients outside of water, but you can learn of those when you go home. Right now, I need to teach you of the ones underwater. Especially ones that are underwater in salt water. Shall we begin?" The girl nodded and the two entered the water, Adelais performing the bubble-head charm on them both.
=^.^=
It was again a week before school began and Rose and Hermione were once more leaving. Hermione had learned more than she had last summer. She had learned so much about potions and the creatures that harm them. She had also created two more spells: Naso Cani, which heightened the sense of smell to that of a dogs, and Salutem Domus Sub, which creates a large underground chamber, the opening to get to it only visible to the caster, who can then reveal to others.
But at the moment, the only thought going through Hermione's mind was the fact that she was once more leaving the mansion, and Adelais. She had grown even closer to him. She liked him very much. He taught her so many things, things she doubted her teachers would let her learn because they thought her to be inexperienced. But he wanted her to go back to Hogwarts, so she would.
"Hermione, cheer up. You will be here next year." the girl looked up to Rose and nodded. Though she was sad, she knew it was true. She smiled and continued walking with Rose to the cab. They had already said their good byes. As they sat down, Hermione turned and watched the mansion. As the cab moved away, she saw Adelais standing in a window on the second floor, waving. Hermione grinned and turned to sit forward in her seat, knowing Adelais wouldn't see her wave.
=^.^=
"Hermione? Is that really you?" The girl smiled and nodded once more, slowly stroking the orange fur ball in her lap. She had changed over the summer. Her skin was even more tan than it was last summer, and her hair had random blonder curls from being in the sun so much and now reached just below her shoulder blades. She had more freckles decorating her arms and face and back of her neck. She was also more lean, more toned. She was filling into her body more than when she had before school had ended.
"Yes, Ron, it is me." She smiled at him and he smiled back, giving her a pat on the back as they waited for their best friend Harry Potter to arrive.
=^.^=
The girl walked quickly into the hall after her class and hid in an alcove. She pulled an odd object from her shirt, the object hanging on a gold chain. It looked like an hourglass. She grabbed the knob on the side and twisted, making the hourglass move. The scenery around her changed and she charged to her next class, Potions. She tucked the Time-Turner back into her shirt and hoisted her bag higher onto her shoulder.
=^.^=
The large man stood silently in the water of the Black Lake, looking out at the dark waters. He occasionally threw large rocks, attempting to fight off the sadness settled deeply in his soul. He didn't turn as he heard three sets of feet approach. He threw another rock before answering.
"Buckbeak, they…" He paused and took a deep gulping breath, trying to fight off the weight clenching his lungs. "They've sentenced him to death!" A sob finally escaped him, ripping itself from his throat. He could hold them back no longer. The rock he held clenched in his hand fell to the water with a splash. All through the grassy hills of the Hogwarts school and over the waters of the dark lake and far into the dangerous paths of the Forbidden Forest, the cries of the half giant were heard. The three students behind him could only watch on in sadness as their friend's heart ripped itself to shreds.
=^.^=
Hermione slowly walked out of the castle, being careful to avoid the patrolling teachers, her Vespertilio Auris spell in effect. She was in a sort of daze, thinking about the Fat Lady and how she ran from her post as the guard of the Gryffindor House. She wondered if it was really Sirius Black that attacked her. She was worried that her dear friend came so close to death, if he hadn't been with Professor Lupin…she shuddered at the thought.
She forced herself from the thoughts and ran to her garden. Pushing through the foliage that had started springing up around her garden area, she saw her little garden had actually grown quite large. She hadn't thought of it in a while, but it really had grown large, growing even more since she had started a garden underwater.
She now had Dittany - though in short supply - , Venomous Tentacula, Mimbulus Mimbletonia, Dirigible Plum, Shrivelfig, Roses, Angel's Trumpet, Sneezewort, Lovage, Hellebore, cherry trees, Arnica, Moly, and Asphodel. She smiled at her growing garden and began to water it, weeding as she went.
Severus, whom had watched the girl sneak out of the castle, stood Disillusioned by a tree as he watched the fourteen year old girl work. He still questioned himself on why he continued to let her wonder about when she shouldn't and why she was even wandering about and taking care of a garden. Though, he had to admit that it was nice to collect some of the ingredients. He watched as she stood, and with a glance around herself, walked to a tree and slowly disappeared into the ground.
He leaped from his spot and ran to the spot she disappeared in. He dropped to his knees and began searching the ground for whatever she had fallen in. He paused when his hands sunk into the ground. With a glance around himself and after checking that the Disillusionment was still in place, he descended into the dark, unknown depths of the hole.
He opened his eyes and stood in a tall chamber, lit by many floating candles of different sizes, shapes, and colors. Standing at the other end of the large chamber was the girl he had been following, Hermione Granger. He narrowed his eyes at her and walked forward to see what she was doing.
She seemed to be assembling something together, something that looked like the concoctions Hagrid created to feed his creatures. He tilted his head and turned from her to observe the chamber they were in.
There were shelves lining each wall, all strongly supported. On the shelves were cages, or tanks, with plenty of space between each one. Inside each one were creatures, all obviously still hatchlings. He recognized many, though a few he was sketchy on his knowledge of. Each holding was equipped with the proper equipment to make each creature as comfortable as possible. Each holding was also designed and outfitted with proper props to make each creature seem at home.
He turned back to the girl as she moved from the table she had previously been standing at to the first holding. Opening the top, she slipped the food inside. Severus watched as a Diricrawl walked forward and happily began eating the food. He realized that each holding must have the same extension charm as Wizard tents as four more Diricrawls walked forward.
Hermione, unaware of her visitor, continued to feed the creatures until she came upon a personal favorite. The jobberknolls. Three small, blue speckled birds came into sight and stared up at the bushy haired girl as she opened the holding and slowly lowered the food inside their home. She gently rubbed one on the head, the bird only closing it's eyes in contentment before the girl retreated her hand and moved onto the fairies.
Severus only leaned against an empty wall as the girl continued to move about the large underground chamber. He observed a few of the creatures and wondered where she had received them from. And where she had received the seeds for her garden. He narrowed his eyes at the curiosity named Hermione Granger.
=^.^=
A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Ok, had to get that out of the way. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's not as long as I would like, but it was a good enough stopping place. I believe the next chapter will be much longer.
Spells that I didn't already describe:
Salutem Domus Sub: As stated, this spell creates a large underground chamber, in which anyone inside can do as they wish. The opening to get inside is narrow and only visible to the caster and any the caster wishes to see it. Also, the chamber is impenetrable by magic.
Naso Cani: As stated, this charm heightens the effected's sense of smell to that of a dogs. Side effect is that smells may become overwhelming and make them nauseous.
Creatures/Beings:
Diricrawls: They are magical creatures with the ability to disappear and reappear in a new place to escape danger. Muggles know them as Dodo birds, though they are unaware of their magical properties. Wizards and witches did not let the muggles know of the continued existence of the birds so that the muggles will learn from their mistakes of killing a creature they live with.
Fairy: A magical creature that is not really that harmless. They have limited brain function and no ability to communicate with humans. They communicate only with other fairies via a high pitched noise.
Jobberknoll: Blue speckled birds that never make a sound until the moment before they die. They let out a long scream that repeats every sound they ever heard backwards.
Note: If anyone has any questions they would like answered, tell me and I will address the question and answer at the end of chapters. If a question is asked that will spoil something later, I will state that so the question is not left unanswered.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR IT'S CHARACTERS.
