A/N: I am enjoying this Charmed story more then the previous one. And well… I like Lavender, but I am the writer, so I should like her! Thanks for the reviews!

DISCLAIMER: Check Chapter Nine for this!

Chapter Ten: The Journal

Hermione sighed with annoyance and headed to the front door. She was the only one home with Ginny gone to inform her parents of her pregnancy before heading to work, Draco at work with Harry and Lavender also at work. She opened the door and raised her eyebrows at the sight of Bradley Leigh.

"Don't tell me," sighed Hermione, "You lost your way back to America?"

Bradley just replied with a charming smile and Hermione felt a wave of hate wash over her. She looked at Bradley in confusion as the urge to vomit came over her. Hermione took a quick deep breath and clutched the door tightly.

"Is Lavender home?" he asked.

"No. Why can't you just leave her alone? I'm pretty sure she has made it clear she wants nothing to do with you," said Hermione calmly, though she wanted nothing more then to scratch his eyes out, 'Whoa… where did that feeling come from?'

Bradley gave Hermione what seemed to be a strained pleasant look, "Tell her I came around."

"I will," smiled Hermione before shutting the door and finishing her sentence, "Not."

Frowning she headed to the lounge room and sat on the lounge as the feeling of vomiting left her. Bradley's emotions seemed rather extreme. He seemed to hold a huge burning desire to kill her and his hate towards her was over whelming.

"Merlin's beard," whispered Hermione.

Bradley was not a stable man.

CO

"Find anything?" asked Ron entering Harry's office with a stack of files.

"Yeah," nodded Harry, "Bradley Artimus Leigh. Born in America. His parents are Geoff Leigh and Henrietta Baldwin. He has two older sisters- Wendy and Jenny and also a younger brother – Geoff Junior. Funny thing is, Bradley was born in 1234. He died at the age of 12 from Dragon Pox."

"So this man… is a fraud?" concluded Ron with a frown.

"I guess so."

"Blimey. I wonder who he really is then?"

"Not someone good," said Draco walking in, "I just went and saw the Heads. They don't like this Bradley person. Something is up with him and while I was there Hermione got a visit from him."

"How do they know Hermione got a visit?" asked Harry.

"They know everything. They have constant surveillance on everyone connected to the extreme magic strand. Anyway Hermione's empathy powers went into overdrive. Whatever he felt when he was in Hermione's presence nearly drove her to being sick and harming him."

"Well what do we do?" asked Ron with a frown, "This person means no good to any of them."

"I say we let the Heads do their research," said Harry, "From what Draco says they obviously know what they are doing."

Draco nodded and Ron gave a shrug and turned to his files.

CO

"Oh Ginny this is wonderful!" cried Molly hugging her daughter, "I'm sure this is the one! Ah, I will have to start knitting booties and cardigan robes again!"

Ginny smiled, "Harry wants a girl. We still want to use the name Bronwyn-Lily."

"That is a pretty name. What if it is a boy though?"

Ginny shrugged, "Jake James Potter."

Molly smiled and nodded as she handed Ginny a juice, "No caffeine during pregnancy."

Ginny gave a sigh and nodded, "I know. But it was the drink they got me through work."

"You will find an alternative. I did. Turned out to be hot chocolates but by the end of my first pregnancy I never wanted to see another hot chocolate again."

Ginny chuckled, "Let me guess it was what you drank when you had the rest of us?"

Molly nodded, "But I haven't had one since having you."

Ginny smiled, "Well they say daughters generally take after their mothers, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is what I choose to drink."

"True, true. I haven't heard from Lynette in a while. Has Hermione?"

"I don't know. Hermione was really upset about something yesterday and this morning. Maybe a family member died?"

Molly frowned, "I might give her a visit today sometime. You should be getting to work young lady."

Ginny glanced at the time and gave a sigh with a nod, "I suppose I should."

Standing up, she hugged her mother goodbye and left with a crack.

CO

"It's all over the paper's," said Jerry showing Lavender five different newspapers, "Three mysterious women destroy unknown evil doers."

Lavender looked at the blurred photos of her, Hermione and Ginny on the stage before the curtains came down, "No one knows who the women are though. How was I to know they would throw me on stage?"

"Obviously you weren't to know. But people are wondering why we didn't have a story seeing as you were there last night."

Lavender bit her lower lip, "Because we were going to interview the star of the night to get a better inside scoop."

Jerry smiled and nodded, "I like your thinking. Will Oliver fake the interview?"

Lavender nodded and grabbed her pad and Constantly Filled Ink Quill. She apperated from her office and arrived at the training pitch for the English Quidditch Team. She could see the players coming in to land for the end of morning training. Lavender ran up the stand steps and sat in the first row as Oliver and his teammates were talked to by their coach.

"Hello you!" called Oliver seeing Lavender as the team meeting ended. He ran up to the stand and jumped the railing and walked over to Lavender greeting her with a long kiss, "Couldn't stay away?"

"After last night how could I?" winked Lavender earning a raised eyebrow look from Oliver, "Coming over tonight?"

Oliver gave her a curious look, "What do you have in mind?"

"More than your mind will manage to contain all day. But I came here for work purposes. All papers have blurred pictures of Hermione, Ginny, and myself battling the Evillians. We are the only paper not running the story, so to cover up we thought that interviewing you would be the way to go. Get a supposed insider scoop, seeing as you were behind stage the entire time."

"Make up crap that sounds real?" asked Oliver.

"Well, yeah. If you don't want to, its okay I will think of something else."

"No, no, I love making up bull crap stories."

Lavender grinned and pulled out her quill and parchment, "Alright. First question: Can I get one more kiss before we start?"

"Well," sighed Oliver looking serious, "That's a really hard question and I can't really find the right answer, but I hope this satisfies you."

Lavender chuckled as Oliver leaned closer, silencing her with his lips as they indulged in a long kiss.

CO

"Are you serious?" cried Hermione as Jerry showed her the latest poll results, "Ahead by ten percent?"

Jerry nodded, "The gap has been growing day by day. You appeal to the people, Hermione."

Hermione gave a sigh, "Scrimgeour won't be pleased, will he? No doubt they will try to bring up old things to use against me from my school days. After all, in forth year I was labelled a scarlet woman."

"You'd just best hope Rufus doesn't go digging too deep into your life," said Jerry firmly, "Merlin knows what he could find out."

Hermione nodded as Jerry packed up the papers, "We are pretty much front page news today anyway. Three mystery women… why didn't the Quibbler do an article?"

Jerry grinned, "We are getting the inside scoop from the star of the night himself."

Hermione smiled, "Smart Lavender thinking?"

Jerry nodded and after a few more minutes left. Hermione headed upstairs to her room but frowned as she passed Luna's bedroom. The door was opened a crack when normally it was firmly shut. Hermione walked over and pushed the door open to find the bedside draw open. Hermione frowned and peered in seeing a few sheets of parchment and bottles of ink beside a variety of quills. Hermione slid the draw closed and looked around in confusion. Maybe someone went looking for ink and quills, knowing Luna always had a constant supply. Hermione backed out of the room and shut the door, tapping her finger on the handle. She heard the click of the door locking and walked away into her bedroom. She sat on her bed and fell back against the pillows and looked over at her bedside photo. Luna, Ginny, and herself smiled at her waving and laughing without a care in the world. Hermione rolled onto her stomach and reached out. As soon as her hand touched the frame her mind was thrown forwards.

The woman sat on the bed clutching a leather bound book, tracing her fingers over the letters. Sadness swam through her as her blue eyes watered. Gone was the bitter woman and in replacement was the real Luna Lovegood, the one longing to pass over…

Hermione let go of the photo frame and sat up frowning. That wasn't a premonition. That was real. Hermione remembered Luna talking about her mother's journal. She stood and hurried out of her room. Tapping her finger on the door handle to unlock it, she ran in and opened the bedside draw and riffled through it. Nothing. She stood and searched the entire room, including under the mattress and bed. Twenty minutes later nothing had turned up. Hermione stood up and looked around the room. It was nowhere to be found… unless Ron had it.

CO

"What are you doing here?" cried Ron as Hermione entered his and Harry's office, "Draco's gone to lunch if you're looking for him."

"I actually came to ask you something," replied Hermione sitting in the seat in front of his desk, "About something of Luna's."

Ron lowered his quill and looked at Hermione silently, "What?"

"Did Luna ever mention a journal her mother left for her?"

Ron nodded.

"Did Luna take it to Egypt with her?"

"I don't know. I remember her holding it before we left. Why?"

"Just something I saw," said Hermione looking down at her hands with a frown.

"Did you see Luna?"

Hermione nodded and explained her vision. Ron listened intently, clutching his quill so tightly it snapped in two startling him as Hermione finished speaking of the vision.

"It was the Spitster Luna but she was almost human," said Hermione, "What if the human side of her is trying to battle this polar opposite side of her and having that journal is helping… maybe happy, human emotions weakens the Spitster side."

Hermione wasn't looking at Ron as she spoke. If anything Ron thought she was talking to her self, if that were so, it wouldn't surprise him. He'd seen her do it before.

"Does that make any sense?" asked Hermione looking at Ron as she stood up but she answered the question before Ron had a chance to speak, "No, no it's insane."

"If you say so," said Ron with a shrug.

Hermione adjusted her bag strap, "If you remember anything about the journal let me know. Bye Ron."

Ron gave a wave as Hermione left lost in thought once more. As Ron turned back to his work Harry arrived.

"I just saw Hermione," said Harry, "She didn't see me… she looked to deep in thought actually."

"She was just here," Ron explained, "Something to do with Luna."

"Oh, she made some progress?"

"I don't really know. She was practically talking to her self."

CO

Ginny gave a yawn and looked at the coffee machine longingly. She gave a sigh and looked down at her glass of water. She picked up her chicken burger and took a bite and looked up almost chocking on the bite. There she was standing behind Dean, the haunted look in her eyes, her dress moving with an invisible breeze as her hair was.

She glinted her eyes in Ginny's direction her hands drawing closer to Dean's neck. Ginny stood up frantically and hurried forward startling those around her as Luna vanished.

"Are you okay, Ginny?" asked Dean as Ginny came to a halt.

Ginny looked away from the spot in which Luna was just at and down at Dean, "Err… yeah. Leg cramp… killer things."

Ginny went and sat down and picked up her burger and taking another bite, glancing around for any more Luna sightings.

Finally her shift ended and she headed home, finding Hermione in the kitchen grilling some chicken breasts as Lavender organised a salad.

"I saw her again," said Ginny instantly, "Luna. She was standing behind Dean at work taunting me that she would kill him."

"Seems to be a day for Luna related things," said Lavender looking at Hermione who nodded.

"Who else saw her?"

"I had a vision," said Hermione before explaining her vision to Ginny, "So we need to find that journal."

"Hang on," said Ginny frowning, "You think that happy human emotions weaken Spitsters?"

Hermione nodded, "I'm not entirely sure but what I saw… Luna seemed pretty much human."

"Well if that is the answer," said Lavender as Harry, Draco and Oliver entered the kitchen without being noticed, "Then how do we use that to our advantage? How can we weaken her with it?"

Hermione sighed with a shrug, "I don't know. That's the answer we need to look for now. But there could be a bad side to all of this as well."

"Is it always like this?" murmured Oliver watching the three women have their serious discussion.

Draco and Harry nodded with Harry answering, "You get used to it. Believe me."

"What do you mean?" frowned Ginny.

"Well if the human side of Luna is gaining some power over the Spitster side, her Spitster side could come back twice as bad and powerful. Not to mention she will be angrier," explained Hermione seriously.

Ginny frowned and bit her lower lip as a thought occurred to her, "If Luna does get more angry… wouldn't she want to release that?"

Hermione turned the chicken breasts over as Lavender looked at Ginny with a frown obviously having the same train of thought as Ginny was.

"Ron," Lavender said, "She'd go for Ron wouldn't she? We know she is determined to kill him."

Ginny nodded as Hermione turned to look at them with worry, "We need to get Ron here so he is safe," Ginny turned to Harry, startling him, Oliver and Draco, "Harry can you go get Ron? Tell him to bring enough clothes for a few days. Don't explain anything to him, just make up some excuse… you got tickets to an exclusive Quidditch match or something random and believable."

Harry nodded and left with a crack. Draco looked serious seeing as he practically knew what was going on, but Oliver looked lost.

"Lavender," said Hermione seeing Oliver's confused face, "You might want to explain everything to Oliver. I might go see Jerry about Luna's journal, keep me some dinner."

"I'll come with you," said Draco following Hermione out of the kitchen and up stairs as she went to collect her cloak and shoes.

"You don't have too," replied Hermione glancing over her shoulder, "Maybe you could go see the Heads. Find out if they know anything about the journal."

"You sure you will be fine on your own?" asked Draco as Hermione turned to face him in the bedroom.

She stepped forward and kissed him briefly on the lips and nodded, "I'll be fine. You go see the Heads."

CO

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" asked Jerry as Hermione stood at his office doorway, "I thought you would be at home."

"I was. But… there is something I should have told you ages ago," said Hermione walking in and sitting in the chair in front of the desk, "About Luna."

Jerry frowned seeing Hermione's serious expression mingling with a look of guilt.

"Luna… Luna has been possessed so to speak. She is dead but… she has become a Spitster. Do you know what they are?"

Jerry nodded, "Willow told me about them one time. What do you mean Luna is a Spitster?"

Hermione took a deep breath and explained everything to Jerry about Ron's promise and how Luna had died remembering it and was now out to kill Ron in revenge for lying to her. Jerry paled greatly as Hermione explained everything to him. By the end, he looked ready to faint.

"I didn't want to have to tell you," said Hermione, "No father needs to know something like this."

Jerry nodded, "It explains my dreams then. Willow comes to me every night asking where Luna is."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic look before continuing, "I also have something I need to ask you. Do you have the journal Willow left for Luna?"

"I did but I returned it at the house a few weeks ago. I placed it in her bedside draw."

Hermione nodded and gave a small smile, "Thanks… I really am sorry for not telling you sooner though."

"It's okay, honestly. I'm not mad."

Hermione nodded and stood up. She said goodbye and headed home, arriving just as Ron did with Harry.

"Some surprise party," said Ron looking around the empty house before a smile spread on his face, "Wait! Everyone is out the back!"

"Ron," said Hermione glancing at Harry half amused, "There is no surprise party. If there was, why would we require you to bring extra clothes?"

"I dunno. Jelly wrestling maybe?"

Hermione would have laughed at the suggestion had not the coming conversation been so serious. Ginny appeared at the top of the staircase and came running down looking serious as Lavender and Oliver exited the kitchen. Draco, however, wasn't back yet.

"Is this an intervention or something?" frowned Ron looking around, "Doesn't the person generally need to be on drugs or something?"

"I wish it were an intervention," muttered Ginny, though everyone heard her, "Lets go sit at the dining room table, shall we?"

The group moved to the dining room and sat around the table. Ron was looking more confused by the minute and frowning at everyone's either serious or grim faces.

"So when can I know what's going on?" asked Ron, "Seems Oliver even knows before I do."

Hermione, Ginny, and Lavender swapped looks before Ginny took up the talking role.

"Ron… we have pretty much had a development on the Luna thing," said Ginny.

"Hermione told me today," frowned Ron.

"We're more certain about it now Ron," said Hermione.

Ginny nodded, "Someone has taken Luna's journal. We think it may have been Luna her self. It is possible that the human half of Luna is fighting against the Spitster side."

"That's good isn't it?" said Ron looking confused.

"I guess it shows that she still has some control," said Lavender looking at Hermione and Ginny, though Ron casted her a dirty look. He still hadn't taken to the fact Lavender had stepped forward into Luna's place.

Ginny nodded, "But Ron it could make Luna's Spitster side even more powerful. Angrier even… can you see what we are getting at?"

Ron looked at them blankly and Hermione gave a frustrated sigh.

"Don't you see?" cried Hermione leaning forward towards Ron, "She will come after you! To kill you! You have to stay here until we have dealt with her."

"What kill her again?" snapped Ron angrily.

"No dammit," said Ginny furiously, "Help her pass over to the other side."

"And to do that," said Draco walking in, "The Head Unknowns say you will have to battle her. Kill the Spitster side to free her human side."

Everyone looked at Draco stunned. Ron slammed his fist on the table shooting daggers at his sister, Hermione, and Lavender. Ginny placed a hand over her mouth as Hermione leant back in her seat unsure of what to say. Lavender looked around the room awkwardly while Oliver and Harry remained silent.

"She has got the journal. She came for it when the real Luna had control over her self," said Draco, "And the Heads agree. Human, happy emotions weaken her Spitster side… before the side reverses their meaning and feeds upon it."

"So what do we do?" asked Lavender quietly.

Hermione shot Ron a warning look as he opened his mouth to retort angrily. In return, Ron glared at Hermione and stood, walking into the lounge room with Harry and Oliver following silently. Draco sat across from Hermione as the three witches sat silent in thought.

"Well… the only known weakness is happy emotions," said Ginny, "But how can we fight her with those?"

Hermione rapped her nails on the tabletop with a furrowed brow, "A combination of things. But we will also need someone there at the time."

"Who?" asked Draco.

"Ron himself," said Hermione earning wide-eyed looks from Ginny and Lavender, while Draco just frowned in thought, "Look we will need a few weeks to prepare. We will need to work on strengthening our cheer charms to the extreme level. And we will have to brew love potions, bliss potions… all sorts of good feeling potions."

"What will we need Ron for?" asked Lavender.

"When the affects start taking a toll on Luna, Ron will need to remind her of the happy times they shared before she died. He will also need to remind her that she loved him and that he loved her. The ultimate feeling is love and-"

"- if Luna feels it the Spitster side will simply be destroyed," said Ginny looking at Hermione in amazement, "Its brilliant…there are flaws but its all we've got."

Lavender nodded, "It really is."

"So what do we do with Ron now?" asked Draco.

"Protect him all we can."

"I'm always home," said Hermione, "He can help me out with my campaign and well you and Harry are with him at work. Just mention it to Pryce."

Draco nodded.

CO

"Why didn't you tell her the real truth?" cried Molly looking at Lynette desperately, "She thinks you are dying now Lynette!"

"How could I possibly tell her that though, Molly?" said Lynette her hands tightly holding her coffee cup with as she looked at her dearest friend with red puffy eyes, "It would break her heart."

"Ginny said Hermione has been upset since yesterday. You need to tell her the truth and so does Michael!"

"Oh, if Hermione found out she would be furious… furious… it would kill Michael as well!"

Molly gave Lynette a stern look, "Now see here, Lyn! Michael did the dirty on you with your sister! Not the other way around! He needs to face his daughter's fury! You cannot lie to her telling her you have cancer!"

Lynette wiped away a few tears and pushed her coffee away, "He's coming to get some things tonight," she said standing up and walking to the kitchen bench, "My sister has taken him in out of love."

"Oh come and stay at the Burrow. You could do with getting away from all of this. I will help you prepare to tell Hermione the truth."

Lynette nodded and headed to her room to pack a bag of gear for the Burrow.

CO

Her cold blue eyes glared at the journal and a wave of fury swept through her like never before. Now was the time. Now she would kill him and any who dared stand in her way. With a raging scream she left, followed by three other Spitsters. When Luna opened her eyes she found her self-standing in a high walled backyard. The herb garden was full of dark green plants with the smell of basil in the air. The kitchen was well lit with two people moving about the room cleaning up silently. The longhaired brunette turned to the red haired woman; whos hair was pulled back into a long ponytail.

Yes, this was definitely the place. With a smirk of a grin, Luna walked forward, the three Spitsters following. However, their shadows against the windows gave them away, alarming the brunette.

"Ginny, get Ron to safety now!" she cried, "Quickly!"

The red head ran and the brunette turned to Luna as she entered glaring coldly around the room.

"Ah yes, the old catch up kitchen," smirked Luna, "And you, the chef."

"What do you want Luna?"

"What do I want, Hermione? My ex-lover would be a perfect start. If you would kindly step aside, your life and that of your own lover will be spared."

"I wouldn't let you pass me even if you did the killing curse on me," snapped Hermione angrily, "You want Ron, you are going to have to fight me for him!"

"Have it your way then," Luna turned to her Spitsters with a nasty grin on her face, "Keep the other two witches back."

Hermione held back her look of surprise as the other three left. Voices rose from the lounge room but Hermione kept her attention solely on Luna.

"Well, you wanted to fight," said Luna with a mock bow, "Let us fight then."

"You don't want to fight me, Luna," said Hermione hastily, "You know you would never do anything to harm your friends, your family. This isn't you!"

Luna flung Hermione across the room, so she crashed into the wall beside the swinging door, more so out of annoyance. Hermione slid down the wall and looked up at Luna cringing a little from a pain in her leg. Luna merely looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Who are you? That muggle Doctor, Doctor Phil?" snapped Luna, "I didn't come here for a pep talk. I came here to seek revenge!"

Luna swooped down on Hermione, dragging her up by her hair and slamming her against the wall, moving her hand to Hermione's throat, "So quit with the 'I know who you really are talks' and fight me!"

"I don't want too!" screamed Hermione desperately, "I would never hurt you!"

"And you blasting me with your special affect powers was an illusion?"

Luna flung Hermione across the room once more, into the cupboards. A terrified cry of Hermione's name came from the lounge room with Ginny and Lavender demanding to be let go to see Hermione.

"Now, will you stand up and fight me?" snarled Luna.

Hermione pushed her self up. Her ankle was throbbing from pain and blood was dribbling down her face from a cut above her eye. She looked at Luna breathing deeply. Luna wanted a fight, fine, Hermione would give her one. Without hesitation, Hermione jumped in the air, spinning, knocking Luna back with a kick to the face. Landing on the ground, unsteadily, she looked up to see Luna stumbling backwards with a cold chuckle.

"Half-bloods got some guts," smirked Luna, "Well you fought me, now I can have Ron."

Hermione widened her eyes and ran forward but Luna vanished. Hermione half ran through the dining room and into the lounge room, in time to see Ginny blast Luna with a chain of fire. The fire whipped around Luna's throat, yanking her away from a terrified Ron. Luna using her bare hands to snap the chain in half, turned to Ginny looking furious. She stepped forward when Lavender shot shards of ice at her, stabbing her in the chest. All watched in horror as Luna stumbled back in surprise. A flash of the real Luna shone through, before the cold one returned before vanishing, followed by the other Spitsters.

"You murdered her!" roared Ron looking at Lavender.

"She saved your life!" cried Hermione startling everyone, as they only realised just then that she was there, "Look at what she did to me, Ron!"

Ron fell silent as Draco hurried over, healing Hermione's wounds.

"She isn't dead," said Ginny quietly, "Just injured. She'll be back. We don't know when but she will be. We need to stop her before she murders you Ron."

A/N: Well… more next chapter! Will they succeed in defeating Luna? How will Hermione take to the real truth about her parents? Will The Great Evil make yet another appearance to try and ruin Oliver and Lavender's relationship? Review to find out!

Until next time…

Love yas!

Love Coz!