CHAPTER TEN: CIRCLE OF PROTECTION.
That night Hermione dreamt of various things. There were people who spoke different languages, and they were wearing very old sort of clothes but the spooky thing was that she understood each and every dialogue. But the main thing was that there were the five people who appeared in each and every scene.
A tall handsome man with a mane of untamable golden brown hair, a very pretty lady with blue eyes and golden hair, a tall dashing man with long black hair and grey eyes, a tall lady with black hair and same grey eyes, and at last a smiling plump short lady with a very soft amethyst eyes and golden locks.
The flashes were of all of them interacting. Hermione was confused as the scenes were changing with rapidity and then she saw something familiar; the Malfoy pair. She marched up to them and glared at them. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done to me" she said and both of them looked at her with sympathy.
"It's your destiny my dear" a voice said and she turned and saw the five people standing behind her. She had to admit that they made one very strong front standing there together. It was impressive but she was would not bow down to it.
"No. this is not my destiny. I refuse to accept it." She retorted and the man with untamable mane guffawed a laugh.
"That is very brave of you to say, child."
"Nonetheless, it's her kismet." Said the lady with black hair, smiling down at her.
"Who do you think you are to govern my life? God?" Hermione was literally bubbling with anger. "My destiny is to be Hermione Granger, and I will not be sucked into this whole weird and senseless plot of reforming the evil lord."
The people who were smiling till now adopted a more grave expression. Hermione knew that they were about to preach her to sacrifice herself for the greater good so she did the only thing she could; she ran away. She ran away from the corridor which eerily reminded her of Hogwarts, and she kept on running. Her heart was beating a tattoo and except for the thumping of it she could not hear anything else.
At a far distance she stopped to take a break clutching her side, and closed her eyes. 'I will never let this happen' she pledged.
She opened her eyes and found a white ceiling above her, and the smell of disinfectant made her realize that she was in the Hospital Wing. Sheets were tangled at the base of the bed with her legs, and a hand to her face confirmed that she was drenched in sweat. Her heart was still beating furiously and Hermione realized that her dream was very real.
Utterly and disgustingly real.
She slowly sat up and looked around. On cue the nurse came out of her office, and Hermione stifled her groan.
After much fussing on nurse's side, and cussing on Hermione's side, a verbal fight, an ointment and a scourgify later, Hermione was ready to leave the infirmary and prepared never to come back.
Hermione wished that Madam Pomphrey could take over soon, from this irritating and meddling nurse. As she was exiting the door her robe got caught in the hinge of the door and she tumbled but caught herself just in time.
"For the love of everything that's Holy" she hissed and realized that recently, she was the object of wrath of a certain god or goddess. After taking several deep breaths, she inspected the damage and realized that her robe had a long gash. This was a new robe since the battle left her previous robe to rags.
She quickly muttered a spell and it was back in its pristine condition. As she made to leave a new voice caught her attention,
"Human girl is very aggressive. But she is no match for me." What the hell, thought Hermione. Here was something non-human keeping an eye on her.
She whirled around and looked but found nobody. Non-human beings in abundance in castle were only elves, but aren't they supposed to be humble? Hermione wondered and a new apprehension made its way into her mind.
"Who is there?" she asked and flicked her wand.
"The human girl heard. She speaks our tongue?" the voice wondered and Hermione suppressed a shiver. The voice was very weird and cold. If she did not investigate, she once again would be in danger. So she called her magic and felt a presence in the corner behind the open doors.
Before the creature could escape, Hermione quickly cast a shield which would not let it go, and slowly opened the door.
She was so shocked that she did not even realize her utter fear for the species. It was a snake; a very minute brownish black snake. It was so small that it could have easily fit in her palm. It was the size of an earthworm.
"Hisss…. The human girl trapped Cyrene." And that made the highlights of the day. Hermione was flabbergasted that she could understand the snake.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, because that is what made sense in her scrambled brain right now.
"Cyrene was keeping watch on you." Immediately, survival instincts kicked in.
"Who made you?" she asked in a very frightened voice, already knowing the answer.
"My master, Tom." The snake replied hissing now and then in frustration.
Hermione went cold. He was having her watched! Did that mean that the others were also being watched? It was such a clever plan, as it suited both the roles perfectly. He could listen and also kill. How Hermione hated him right now.
Still in the cold, frightened and angry state Hermione decided to take some action.
"Listen to me. Do not follow me, because if I catch you again, I will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand? And tell your master that I know what he is up to."
"The human girl is lethal but not more than Cyrene." The snake hissed and Hermione wanted to stamp it to pulp then and there but decided not to.
When she reached the end of the corridor, then only she removed the shield from the snake and quickly hurried to the Great Hall all the way wondering how in the name of Hades could she understand a snake?
There were only five or six students present in the Great Hall and Hermione after consulting her watch realized that it was only seven thirty. Nevertheless, she moved to the Gryffindor table and poured herself some tea, and pondered over the new information.
Salazar Slytherin was a nice guy, he was in love with a women who was a Silverstone, there was a promise that the founder's line would merge and a Silverstone heiress will be born who will fall in love with the Slytherin heir hell bent on conquering the world, and then there was the fact that the Slytherin heir was Tom Marvolo Riddle aka Lord Voldemort, and now the new people in her dream telling her destiny and lastly the fact that she could understand Parseltongue.
Wasn't time travel and Grindelwald enough? She thought angrily, as the Great Hall filled up.
Students were smiling at her, waving, and some who were in her year came to have words with her. Hermione was smiling, nodding but only very few could tell that she was somewhere else.
Then the door opened and the Silverstone males were revealed, and to Hermione's chagrin the entire hall burst into applause.
Sirius was smiling smugly, Draco was smirking and Harry was looking serious but he was not looking self conscious. Hermione was surprised to see Harry not shying away. Maybe not being the Boy-Who-Lived helped.
All three of them started towards the Gryffindor table and as soon as they spotted Hermione, they quickly made their way.
"Hermione, what are you doing here so early?" Harry asked taking a seat beside her and the other two right in front of her.
"Hey Mione. How are you now?" Sirius asked smiling at her, and she gave him a rueful smile.
"Fine. Been loads better." She said and saw Draco narrow his eyes.
"What are you implying?" Was he mad? Was he not there yesterday?
"Implying? What do you think? Let me see…. We are founder's heir, and a promise has been made that the Silverstone heiress will fall in love with Slytherin heir, and unfortunately that is me, as none of you is a girl, but I cannot say that I have been better. How dare you?" she hissed at him venomously.
Draco went a delicate shade of pink, and he had the grace to look shameful. Sirius and Harry were both trying to soothe her and glare at Draco in intervals.
After a few minutes, Hermione calmed down as Draco apologized. Well, apologized as a Malfoy did.
"What I don't understand is, that how can we be Silverstone" Hermione asked them, "I mean the blood was only a drop, but Harry and I, we both are not purebloods so how?"
"Actually, it has nothing to do with being pureblood." Draco said sharing a glance with Sirius. This had Hermione's ears perked.
"What do you mean?" she asked
"Actually, there is no muggleborn. Every muggleborn comes from a long line of squibs, who intern was purebloods or half-bloods. The squibs went to live in the muggle world, because frankly they were looked down upon in the magical world. So if you track down your family line then you will find out someone or the other who must have been a squib in your line." Sirius explained.
"So you mean I'm not a muggleborn?" Hermione frowned.
"Yes. The Squibs were so mingled in the muggle world that they lost contact of the magical one at some point of time." Harry nodded slowly but Hermione frowned.
"That's good but this doesn't explain why I was chosen as the heiress."
"Hermione, you are missing the vital point. You must have had someone in your family decades or even centuries back who must have had Silverstone blood, and somehow entered the muggle world." Sirius explained. Hermione was suddenly angry.
"Are you telling me that what Lucius told last night was a lie? Yesterday I was told that I was made a Silverstone and now you tell me that I have Silverstone blood in me?" this time Harry spoke,
"Hermione last night we all researched after the rest of them left. What was done to us was called the invoking ceremony."
"I've never heard of that." Hermione told them racking her brain for the term and coming up empty handed.
"Well that's because this was prohibited in the sixteenth century, as many people stole blood samples and tried to magically adopt the bloodline. It was a state of chaos, as people started popping up every now and then. The original and genuine bloodlines, were very protective of their fortunes and didn't want strangers sharing it, so somehow a spell was crafted to find the frauds and a decree was passed to ban the ceremony." Sirius told her and before she could open her mouth, Draco continued.
"Now, the ban stated that nobody could forge their way into a family unless they were a long lost relative. The ban also decreed that the family name could be succeeded if only the original family was entirely wiped out, but only by blood relatives no matter how distant." Hermione frowned.
"But this means only relatives are allowed."
"Exactly…" Harry exclaimed "… in those times proper pureblood families were huge, with many cousins in different families. This ban ensured that strangers were kept out. So now the only living relatives of the Silverstone family are the Malfoys and Blacks."
"But isn't that supposed to be Abraxas and Cygnus and thier parents?" she enquired and a bemused Draco answered.
"Hermione, present or future, my blood has the Malfoy magic which in turn makes me the distant relative of the Silverstone clan. Now, my Great grandfathers on both the sides could have had the invoking ceremony, but unfortunately for them, we reached there first. As my mother was a Black and so was Harry's grandmother, it connects all of us. Sirius, Tonks and Harry are my cousins on mother's side and Lupin on fathers. Lupin was a second cousin twice removed, of the Malfoy clan."
"Carry on" she said and Sirius continued.
"Now, as the Silverstone family was dead and Lucius decided to take the name, we all were bound as the Silverstone blood entered in our veins. We all knew that we were cousins before hand, but remember the ceremony will only allow a relative to enter, and since it was established that you were a Silverstone, it means that you are either related to any of us, or the Silverstone clan, or the founder's clans."
She was related to them! This brought a genuine smile to her face for the first time.
"This means that my one of my parents had magical ancestors." She said in wonder.
"Or could be both." Harry told her. Her smile widened as she looked at her cousins. She was related after all.
But as her dream and encounter with the snake came back in her mind floating, a horrified face replaced the smile.
She quickly searched for the snake in her mind and to her relief found that it was with Tom Riddle.
She immediately told the guys about it and was rewarded with scandalized faces.
"You mean you saw people speaking different languages and you understood them? Funny, I saw them too." Sirius told her and the other two agreed. But they were boiling mad after listening that Tom had a snake keep an eye on her.
"That slimy snake."
"That filthy rotten git."
"What do you mean you understood it?" Harry asked her and she told him word by word of their conversation.
"The you understood a snake and he understood you back."
"Yes Harry."
"Impossible. Snakes only understand Parseltongue, nothing else."
"But he understood me clearly, and I spoke in English." Hermione replied, somewhat agitated and irritated. Harry looked at her for one whole minute and then suddenly he waved his wand.
"Notice-me-not charm. Now, I will summon a snake and you will talk."
"Are you bloody insane?" Sirius demanded.
"Don't worry, I'll have it in a magical cage and it will be small." And without further ado, a much bigger than Tom's snake was floating in the air between them.
"It's loud in here." The snake hissed.
"I know, but don't worry we will send you back in just a moment." Hermione said and looked at Harry with raised eyebrows proving her point. But something in his widened eyes and slack jawed face told her that something was wrong.
"I can't believe I understood the snake, and Hermione, you spoke parseltongue." Sirius said, except he hissed and Hermione just stared.
"Me too." They all turned and looked at a wide eyed Draco. After a second Harry vanished the snake and they all sat in stunned silence.
"How is this possible?" asked a shaken Sirius.
"My only guess is that Silverstone magic has parseltongue in it." Harry replied. Hermione groaned.
"I can't believe it. People would have a field day if they came to know that there are five parselmouth in the school considering that we are supposed to be rare." This resulted in laughs from the three albeit shaky ones.
Harry took off both the muffiliato and other spells and all of them were left to ponder the same thing: what else were they going to discover?
OoOoOoO
Day passed and the quartet discovered a few more interesting things. They could speak different languages and not just any different language; ancient European languages. They could speak and write in Armenian, Welsh, Gaelic, Anglo-Frisian, Dutch, German, Latin, Spanish, French and many more. They had quite fun among people and besides it gave them a sort of privacy.
They recieved vast knowledge on runes, wards, wandless magic, dueling, sword fighting, archery and weapons.
Each night their dreams showed them various things and the next day they found that they really could do that stuff.
Hermione pondered that why were they getting all these dreams now because the invoking ceremony took place during the Christmas time. So why so late?
And she found her answer in the restricted section by Dumbledore's permission of course. The book said that 'until each and every family member becomes aware of the fact, the wisdom of the family will not be departed'.
During mid April they received a note telling that Tonks had given birth to a baby boy, and they named him after Tonks father; Theodore Remus L Alexander or fondly called Teddy. They got the permission to visit home, and they all discovered how small a baby actually was at birth.
Harry was named the Godfather and Hermione Godmother. It really was an honor. During the whole time Hermione didn't even sent the Malfoy couple a single glance. She was still very angry with them but now she could really not justify her anger.
Another thing that Hermione researched with frenzy was her heritage. She spent days after days, pouring through the books; courtesy the Black library and the space in her beaded bag. It was the seventh day where she found out that her magical ancestor was Eugene Black- a squib, who married her great great great grandfather Andrew Granger.
Her response was to hug her three brothers, who really were by some way or the other, her cousins. Hermione really felt happy. Her wish came true and now she really had a family. Hermione was beyond ecstatic. She was so happy that she even forgave the Malfoy couple.
Life was good, but important things could not be overlooked. They still had an Order to form.
OoOoOoO
Hogwarts was a very safe place with all those impenetrable wards and various other magic. Which now the four of them clearly understood but no one knew that there was a loophole. There was a room which presented the desired room if the person walks three times wishing, in front of it. Many people were not aware of it, and many didn't know that it was a place for the Silverstone family to meet.
Hermione was sitting in the Great Hall with Harry and Draco, having breakfast when suddenly the doors to the hall opened with a bang, and they all turned to look at Sirius standing there.
"Mi, Ferret, and Prongslet!" he beckoned them with one hand.
"What now?" Draco asked with a roll of his eyes. He didn't mind getting called Ferret as long as he gets to call Sirius, dog. Hermione was actually intrigued by a gang of girls who were eyeing Sirius speculatively.
"He might have something important." Harry said standing up, and the other two followed him without asking questions. They exited quickly and Hermione was glad that her gaze didn't stray to the Slytherin table. She really didn't want to even think about Lord Voldemort.
They quickly reached the Room of Requirement, and it was already crowded. Lucius, Narcissa and Remus were already waiting.
"Hey everyone. Where is Tonks?" she asked closing the door behind her. She quickly sat down on her favorite chair.
"Teddy is suffering from a mild cold. So we thought it might not be best of her to come." Remus replied.
"So why are we here again?" Lucius asked sitting on the winged chair, as if he was a royalty.
"We finally decided what we are going to do." Sirius announced and the kids understood. Sirius motioned to Hermione.
"Well, what was the Order's motive?" she asked and immediately frowns marked the adult's faces.
"To protect the innocent and defeat Voldemort." Remus answered.
"Right and what did we do to ensure that?" she asked.
"We tried to uh…ensure that Voldemort didn't get what he wanted and…uh…fought whenever there was a death eater attack and ….uh…"
"Admit it Moony. It was hard for me but when Mi brought out the truth it was kind of shocking." Sirius admitted to a lame Moony.
"You did nothing except for attempt to fight and watch Harry." Lucius spoke up arrogantly. Remus looked at the original order members and sighed when they shrugged.
"Now, no need to rub it in. here is our chance that we can change that." She said.
"What do you mean?" Narcissa enquired.
"Well, this won't be about me but the entire wizarding race." Harry told her and Hermione continued.
"Listen we decided that we have two obstacles in our way towards peace; Grindelwald and Ministry."
"Ministry?" Lucius asked.
"Well yeah. Ministry and its prejudices. Ministry thinks that werewolves are harmful and dark prohibiting them from a normal life. Ministry banned Vampires from ever entering our British Isles… even the native vampires, alongside barring the giants… well the giants can be argued over but the main thing is that Voldemort gave them all that the Ministry didn't. Ministry in short made them angry, revengeful and dug up a deep enough holes for everyone to celebrate doomsday." The adults looked thoughtful.
"That is what the Dark Lord said except he counted it as a blessing to gather forces for his side." Lucius commented nonchalantly and Hermione lost a few shades of pigmentations. Voldemort thought like her? It was sickening! After some deep and calm breaths she calmed down from her evident break down, but you had to give it to all of them that no one batted an eyelid. A sort of truce was called that no one would link Hermione to Lord Voldemort.
"So what exactly are you suggesting?" Remus asked intrigued.
"The only way to defeat Grindelwald is by unity. I know that he was already supposed to be in Nurmengard but the year is same so I guess we all could prepare beforehand entering the battlefield." Harry told this to the very surprised adults.
"And we have already mapped out what exactly we will do this time." Hermione said with an evil grin.
"Don't keep us waiting." Was all Lucius said and Hermione swore she saw a glint in his eyes which often said that he definitely was up for the challenge.
"Let's start with smaller steps. We really don't want a new Voldemort and Harry Potter…"
"Hey" Harry glared at her.
"Well what I mean is that Harry had to live with his muggle relatives. While all muggles are not like that but believe me that they indeed were a piece of work. Voldemort and we can say that after viewing Harry's memories, was made like that because of the place he was left in. He was treated like scum and was neglected right from the beginning. Though I'm not saying that he wasn't evil from the starting but the consequences enabled that evil to rise."
"What Mi wants to say is that we open orphanage for the magical kids who stay in the muggle world, so that they can be under a watchful eye." Draco explained.
"And along with this we give them a basic magical education so that they develop better." She finished and watched the adults who were watching them with raised eyebrows.
"Go on" Lucius said.
"Now, it's not just orphanage. Many werewolves in this time are either killed or left somewhere. So we make a safe house for them along with vampires, and then we can maybe persuade them to make the choice of fighting with us or just be there." Hermione was getting nervous by the silence that the adults were depicting.
"Well here is where the next step comes in. we just don't keep the werewolves, but give them the wolfsbane potion."
"Do you even realize what are you saying Mione?" Remus said in such a low voice that was bordering on whispering.
"Yes Remus. We have changed the entire timeline so let's tweak it a bit more. It will only help and what harm would it do if we introduced the entire wizarding world to a bit of relief? Imagine the reaction of the parents who will not watch their child go through immense pain? Imagine how much more bearable will it be for wolves to become healthy and fit just with wolfsbane!" again silence. Lucius motioned with his hand to carry on and by now Hermione was literally shaking with nerves. It was as if she was giving an oral exam.
"This is not just about werewolves. We have thought about sensuality-dimming potion for Veela, and potions that could ensure vampires can move freely in the sunlight." Draco drawled. Hermione noticed that all four of them were wound tight with nerves but were somehow showing a relaxed front.
"Now the Goblins. Wizards have literally treated them like dirt and that's why the goblins have never have taken sides. We propose them with our business and try to win their trust back."
"What exactly is this business?" Lucius asked with narrowed eyes.
"Hmm… I was thinking that we should go as a warding company. You know start small but underneath it we will be a grand organization. We could approach and make a network of people who will help us in the fight. You know like aurors and healers, and others." Sirius said.
After intense silence and a bit fidgeting on the kid's part, Lucius spoke up.
"That's quite a thought. It's like we will be gaining a lot more than just allies. I second it." Hermione let out a sigh of relief.
"I think that this time we will win." Remus said with conviction.
"I'm in." Narcissa said and that marked the approval. After a few more discussions a new question rose up.
"I don't think that this is the Order of Phoenix, since it doesn't resemble any of the activities. It's doing so much more, I think we should call it something else." Narcissa suggested.
"She is right. We are so many things now." Sirius said.
"It could be classified as guardian, watchman, keeper, spy, guard, or something else." Remus mused while everyone gave him an amused glance.
"How about just guardian?" Narcissa mused.
"Guardians sound just fine…hmm… but let's just say it some other language?" Hermione suggested.
"Tutelle? Its Latin for guardian" Sirius suggested,
"Or custosae? Again Latin" Draco.
"We man boundaries, and in both the worlds; the one where we came from and here. We make a protective circle. So I think our name should be 'ORBIS DE CUSTODE' – circle of protection." Lucius offered and everyone was stunned. It was just the name for them, and just like that Orbis de Custode came into being.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: DON'T KILL ME FOR BEING LATE. I REALLY WAS STUCK BETWEEN RECUPERATING, REJOINING MY COLLEGE AND THE PENDING STUFF.
THANKS GUYS FOR THE REVIEWS. THEY DO PUT A SMILE TO MY FACE. ALSO THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO MARKED ME FOR ALERTS AND FAVORITES. THANKS A BUNCH GUYS.
SOME ANSWERS:
LUCIUS ACTING SOFT: MALFOYS ALWAYS WERE PROUD, AND THEY VALUED THEIR FAMILY BEFORE ANYTHING BUT WHEN DRACO WAS THREATENED, AND LUCIUS CAME TO REALISE THAT VOLDEMORT WAS HALF BLOOD AFTER THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES INCIDENT, HIS LOYALTY WAVERED. BESIDES HE NEVER LIKED FOLLOWING, AND WITH HERMIONE AND KIDS IT WAS DIFFERENT. SINCE THIS IS MY PLOT, HERE HE LIKES HERMIONE BECAUSE SHE WAS AMONG THOSE WHO STOOD UP FOR THE MALFOYS.
NARCISSA ACTING LIKE MOLLY WEASLEY: WHEN KREACHER WENT OUT IN OOTP, HE WENT TO NARCISSA AND SHE MILKED HIM OF THE INFORMATION. RESULT: SIRIUS DIED. SHE ALWAYS BLAMED HERSELF FOR IT. AND PLEASE DON'T FORGET SIRIUS AND SHE DID SPEND THEIR CHILDHOOD TOGETHER. AND PEOPLE… THEY ARE IN DIFFERENT TIMES. NOBODY KNOWS THEM HERE. THEY GET A NEW START. AND FOR LIKING A MUDBLOOD… ACCORDING TO MY PLOT THE INVOKING CEREMONY PROVES THAT HERMIONE IS A HALF BLOOD, AND NARCISSA ALWAYS WANTED A DAUGHTER. (MIND YOU, IN THIS BLOND DISGUISE HERMIONE LOOKS LIKE HER.)
HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE DO REVIEW!
IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS REGARDING THE STORYLINE…. PLEASE DO SHARE. I TEND TO FACE WRITER'S BLOCK MORE THAN OFTEN.