Ch 26 Capabilities
The next morning Hermione woke up feeling warm and safe. She realized why when she felt a strand of hair tickling her nose, she opened her eyes and turned to a sleeping Draco. She smiled softly and tried to move out of his grasp, but he moaned and pulled her closer.
"Draco get up what if my Gram walks in?" she said trying to wake him up. It worked because he let her go and rolled out of bed searching for his boxers.
"She hasn't come in yet has she?" he asked sleepily.
"No I just said that to get you up. She is actually gone until this afternoon. So how about we take a shower?" Hermione asked suggestively. He smirked and closed in on her.
"I'd love a shower." he said and dragged her into the adjoining bathroom. They had a quickie before they went downstairs to get some breakfast. When breakfast was finished Hermione turned on the tube for Draco and she started on the book Dumbledore had given her.
It was actually insightful and Hermione couldn't tear her eyes away. The very beginning was written by the muggle mother of Morgana. She wrote of all the things Morgana had done as a child. Then she wrote about her trip to the sorceress who had repressed the magical gene. The next writing was from Morgana herself describing dreams she had of her real mother, Morgan le fey and even some of her father Merlin. She also described some magical attributes that were unable to be repressed, mainly when she was at a high emotion. It later spoke of her first born daughter Helena Morgana.
Nothing further was said on them until a century later when Hamada Morgana described strange powers that she had grown into. She wrote about the war she was in and one power in particular that she used to help win the war. It was her ability to control the weather, her strongest suit. She brought fog and rain coverage for her soldiers aiding them in their fight and they prevailed. She then described that her powers began fading again when all was right again and she too recorded having a daughter which she named Hermes Morgan.
Next to come along was Hara Morgana. She came during a world war and she aided the fight for good with her ability to control all elements, her strongest suit. Her favorite was her control over fire. She held prisoners within cages of fire that could only be extinguished by her. She seemed so far the most powerful. The list went on most with the same attributes until Havanta Morgana.
She used her ability to sense people and read their thoughts to win a political war. She also used her ability to plant false images to bring down the other party. Hermione found her most interesting because her abilities were nearly the same as Hermione's. Havanta had a daughter called Harris who had similar abilities but she used hers to win a war against a dark wizard who in sending him false images made him fall in love with her before she killed him.
The next famous witch was Heather Morgana. This woman's talent was unusual because she could stop death. She stopped the death of a very wealthy and well respected king. His son was trying to over throw him and attempted to poison his father. The son was later hanged. The list went on all holding a different history and at the back was a sort of catalog of different spells they had invented or used to help control and refine their magic. Hermione went over them a few times each before deciding to see if she was as talented as the others.
She held out her hand before her and cupped it slightly then she thought of fire. She pictured it and a second later it appeared in her hand. Hermione jumped slightly and she felt Draco leap away from her too.
"What the hell are you doing Hermione! You'll burn yourself" he said reaching for his wand. Hermione closed her hand and the flame disappeared.
"Draco I am trying to explore the depths of my new magic and I can hardly do it with you distracting me" she said concentrating again on her hand but this time thinking of water. A puddle appeared in her hand a second later, she closed it and it was gone. She tried wind next then earth or dirt was more how she pictured it before she went on to test her other talents. She tried to control the weather but she couldn't. She tried bigger things with the fire air and water things but only fire wanted to do anything bigger then a puddle in her hand. She practiced with the fire some more figuring when the time came she could lock away the Deatheaters in a cage of flames. Draco just watched her like she was some kind of loon so she went to try her mind talents on him. He was reluctant to comply but she got him to in the end.
She stood in front of him eyes locked together. She sent him a false memory of how Professor Deimos died.
He was walking along the hall before curfew when he saw Deimos charming the suits of armor. He looked up as Draco approached when a suit of armor came crashing down the blade removing his head completely. Draco heard a scream and turned around to see Hermione walking along the hall with Professor McGonagall. He was soon joined in the hall by other students then he felt himself being ushered away in crowd of sickly looking students.
Hermione drew out of his mind and looked at him expectantly.
"What is that what happened to Deimos?" he asked with a shrug. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"That is what I say happened to Deimos and that is what the Dark Lord will see happened to Deimos you know the truth as well as Harry. I think we need to work on your Occlumency skills Dragon. We can't have the Dark Lord Figuring us out before we even begin. Lets get some lunch shall we?" she said and Draco followed her into the kitchen. She made something that she called a chorizo quesadilla, another Spanish food clearly one of Hermione's favorites. Draco enjoyed it and he was starting to grow as fond of Spanish cuisine as Hermione was. He was a little disappointed when Hermione continued to read after lunch. As much as this muggle television amused him he was still feeling a little put out. He was happy when Hermione's gram appeared shortly after lunch. Hermione closed her book and jumped up hugging the older woman, Draco felt a pang of jealousy, if he ever even tried to do that with his family he would be Avada'd of the spot. His jealousy vanished however when the old woman embraced him as well.
"Well darlings how about we go and catch that movie" she said and once again Draco found himself in the back of the car with Hermione driving. He hated how slow muggle travel was if it was up to him they would have been there already. They entered a large building in which Hermione told him was called a 'Mall' and she led him to the 'cinema'. Hermione purchased them pieces of paper and they went to walk around and glance into various shops. Draco actually found some of the stuff pretty amusing and Hermione had to drag him out of a store which harbored a type of device that Hermione told him was called a 'video game' She had then mumbled a bunch of stuff about how guys would always find 'those stupid games more important then there girlfriends' Draco laughed in amusement. They walked around for a bit more before returning to the cinema to watch a rather large television. Draco actually found it quite impressive and was anxious to watch the 'movie.' He was disappointed however when it turned out to be some sad sap love story. He gritted his teeth through most of the movie and eventually fell asleep. He awoke sometime later to Hermione shaking him awake and he noticed her tear stained face. He was about to question when he noticed her gram held the same look a glance around the now dimly lit room showed that most of the female occupants held the same kind of face. Happy but tear stained.
"Why is everyone crying" he asked a look of disgust starting to creep onto his features.
"Oh don't be a prat if you had watched the movie you would understand." Hermione said shoving him toward the exit, he just shrugged and led the way out. When they arrived back home Draco felt exhausted traveling into a foreign world sure took its toll on a guy.
"When Hermione's gram told them it was poker night and asked if they wanted to join Hermione readily agreed but Draco declined he said he was tired and that maybe after he rested a bit he would come down and perhaps join them.
Hermione rolled her eyes as she watched Draco's retreating form. He did seem tired but it still annoyed her that he was a spoiled little brat. It wasn't his fault though so Hermione forgave him and helped her gram set everything up. Hermione thought that it was going to be just a few old women but she was surprised when the old women brought around a couple of their granddaughters, which also happened to be Hermione's old childhood playmates when she would spend portions of her summer there with her gram.
"Hermione! I don't believe how different you look!" a girl who was just slightly older then Hermione screeched. She had blonde hair and brown eyes and she was slightly pregnant. Hermione hugged her and smiled lightly.
"Me look at you!" she said indicating her growing belly. The girl just beamed
"I know right" she said with a grin before letting another girl envelope her into a hug. This girl was Hermione's age and she had short brown hair and light green eyes.
"Its lovely to see you again" she said to Hermione who hugged her back. Hermione and this girl had had a fall out the summer before she left to Hogwarts never to return to her grams during the summer holidays. They had been inseparable during summer months until a guy came between them. His name was Luke and she had the biggest crush on him. Hermione personally didn't think he was all that handsome but Laura did. The problem came when Luke asked Hermione to the cinema on a date. Laura would not speak to her even when she knew she had turned Luke down. She accused Hermione of stealing her boyfriend.
"Its lovely to see you too Laura. I must admit I am most pleasantly surprised" she said and she led the crowd of women into the dinning room where they had more space. The evening was going most pleasantly and Hermione felt herself happily enjoying the company of people she grew up with. Somehow the conversation turned to Draco and she was glad he was upstairs.
"Oh he is a most handsome man" her gram was saying and Hermione blushed.
"Is he now! Hermione we must meet him!" Julie Hermione's other childhood friend said.
"You will, he will join us later. He is resting a bit he had a long day" she said smiling.
"Tell us more what is he like?" Julie said dreamily staring off.
"Well he is smart he is second only to me at the boarding school we go to" she said
"Boarding school huh. I bet you have fun with that one" Laura said with a smirk. Hermione blushed slightly but shrugged her shoulders.
"He comes from a rich family so he can be a spoiled little brat sometimes, but nothing to major" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Yes and he absolutely loves Hermione!" her gram said and Hermione blushed.
"How can you tell" one of her grams old woman friends asked.
"Oh they way he looks at her and the things he does for her. He practically has to fend beautiful women off of him but her only has eyes for her-" her gram had been saying when she was cut off by the object of their gossip.
"That is because she is the most beautiful woman to ever grace this earth" he said walking over and placing a kiss on Hermione's cheek. The other women all blushed from the embarrassment of being caught as well as the sexy man in their presence.
"Felling better Dragon" Hermione asked with a smirk. She knew he loved the attention he was receiving from the other women. His smirked matched hers
"Much better" he said. He pulled up a seat between Hermione and her gram and stared back at the women that were staring at him.
"Draco these to young ladies are old childhood playmates of mine. This Laura and Julie" Hermione said introducing them. He took each of their hands and placed a kiss on the back of the hand.
"It's a pleasure" he said and Hermione could tell they wanted to faint.
"Oh tell us how you fell in love" Julie said dreamily sometime later.
"Oh that's quite a story. You see Hermione and I used to be somewhat of enemies when we first began school. They split us into separate houses and the houses we split into happened to be the ones that had the most rivalry. It only added to the competition that Hermione was first in our class and me second always trying to prevail over her. Her friends didn't help either seeing as we were sworn enemies. Eventually I began to see her in a different light and she became the object of my desire and what a Malfoy wants a Malfoy gets. Mind you it was hard to get what I wanted this time but I prevailed" he said with a cocky smirk.
"You are such a cocky prat. I'm going to have to deflate that head a bit. It was actually I that made the first move on him. He was rather intimidated of me" Hermione said her eyes narrowing but the smile never leaving her face. He smiled in return and through his arms up in mock defeat.
"Alright I admit it she prevailed over me once again, but a least I can still say that I got what I wanted even I what I wanted came to me." he said and the women at the table started laughing.
Later that night Hermione saw her guests out of the house and Laura and Julie were beaming.
"Oh Hermione you are so lucky! He is so handsome and charming I envy you so much right now!" Julie said beaming. Hermione just laughed.
"You have to invite us to your wedding!" she continued on and Hermione nodded that she would.
"It was good seeing you again and when I come back to town I promise to get back in touch. And when that baby is born give some pictures to my gram she will know how to get in contact with me." Hermione said beaming at the pregnant woman.
"It was good seeing you again Hermione" Laura said jealous rage shown through the girls smile. Hermione just smiled back.
"You always did get the good ones" she said when she reached down to hug her. Hermione felt the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she shrugged and waved them off before closing the door. She leaned back against the door frame and closed her eyes.
She felt something lurking off into the dark recesses of her mind. It was like a warning bell flashing off back and forth. Hermione bit down on her lip and thought for a few moments before running upstairs and grabbing her wand. She ran back into the kitchen to see her startled gram and a questioning Draco.
"Draco go back our things we need to leave tonight. Gram I am going to put heavy protection spells on this house. As long as you are near nothing will happen to you alright." Hermione said as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate creating her own spell of protection. She made it anti apparation and no one with a dark mark could ever enter this house. She stretched the protection to the two neighboring houses that her grams old women friends lived as well as to the orphanage down the street. She would have done the entire town but she knew she wouldn't be able to explain her reasoning in protecting an entire village. She sealed the protection spell and opened her eyes. She could feel the strong wards around and from the looks on her gram and Draco's faces they could feel it too.
"What's going on Hermione?" Draco questioned.
"The Deatheaters are going to come soon." she saw her grams face pale as well as Draco.
"As long as you stay within your house, your two friends, or the orphanage at night they can not touch you. The only people that can enter your house uninvited are me and Draco. You do not invite anyone into your house gram not even your friends. If they wish you no harm then they will be allowed passed the front garden and to your door. If they wish you harm then they cannot set foot on this property. Do not be frightened you are safe. Just at night you have to promise to be in one of the safe places I have told you. I will see you soon gram I love you" Hermione said embracing her gram tightly in her arms. Her gram only nodded and before Draco could ask anything she apparated them both to Hogwarts gates.
"What's going on Hermione?" Draco asked quietly.
"They are planning an attack on my gram's town. I can explain off the protection spells on the chosen locations but we couldn't be there or we would be caught up and I would probably end up killing them all and that would not go down well with the Dark Lord. Draco we need to start are method of attack in destroying him. We need to pick out a few individuals that we can pin spy incidents on. I will plant false images in their minds and when the Dark Lord looks it will not come back to us. We need to build up a mental block for you. I have been thinking it up for a while and I think that I can make it work. You will only have to trust me inside of your mind and trust that I will not damage you in anyway. I have already started doing these techniques in my own mind. We will see Dumbledore right now and explain the situation I also want to test if my wall is strong enough to hold out a master legilimens." she said taking his hand and wishing not to be seen. I really need to think up a spell for that one, she thought as she led Draco into the almost empty castle. Most students had gone to bed but there were still a few milling about conversing before they had to retire because of curfew.
They walked past unseen and made it to Professor Dumbledore's office without a hitch. She knocked on his door once before they were admitted.
"Is something the matter?" he asked a little surprised when he seen the two of them.
"Nothing to be concerned of too quickly. My Grams village is going to be attacked soon, I don't know when I just know it will happen. I can only protect my gram as well as a few others. If I defend the whole village it can not be explained off to the Dark Lord. Me and Draco are already working on which Deatheaters we will pin being spies on and I also wanted you to try something." Hermione said pausing in her speech. Dumbledore looked pleased.
"What would you like to try?" he asked curiously.
"I have put up a wall with all my memories of my recent change of sides. I want you to go into my mind and try to break the wall I will not resist" she said Dumbledore looked uncertain.
"I don't know Miss Granger I could damage you permanently." he said slouching down a bit.
"No You won't. It is imperative that we test this because Draco will not stand a chance if the Dark Lord was to use Occlumency on him." Hermione said trying to express the necessity in the tone of her voice, which was coated with desperation. Dumbledore sighed and walked around his desk conjuring a chair in front of Hermione.
"Alright Miss Granger what will I be looking for?" he asked.
"A wall with the Dark Mark on it" she said blinking once before staring unblinkingly into his blue eyes. She felt him delve into her mind searching she noted that he poked around a bit probably trying to find some of the horrors she had done as A faithful servant. He wouldn't find them, they were all behind the wall. Finally he found the wall at the very back of her mind. It was tall and a formidable black stone, at the very center was the Dark Mark etched in silver. She felt as he tried to pass the wall, to break it down to through it, but after about ten minutes of trying he retreated from her mind a look of proud astonishment on his old face.
"I congratulate you Miss Granger that is quite a wall.!" he said.
"Thank you sir. I am going to help Draco put up his own wall and hopefully Harry he has our secret and he isn't the most skilled at Occlumency and I will not be revealed as a spy neither will Draco." Hermione said smiling slightly at the end.
"Not a problem how long does it take to put up these walls?" he asked.
"A few hours if we are lucky. I wish to do it on Draco first and if you wouldn't mind excusing Harry a bit early from his classes, when I am finished with Draco I would like to do him. It is Friday tomorrow and we will most likely be summoned to the Dark Lord he always has revels planned on the weekends and we will make our first moves as spies tomorrow as well as planting false information." she said. The way she said it made Draco stare. She said it in a way that said they were conducting regular business and not a ploy to over throw the Dark Lord. They left the office soon after and ventured to the Room of Requirements where they spent the night together.
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