Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, locations or prior storylines associated with it. That is all the intellectual property of the wonderful JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, nor am I making any money from this story. I am just playing in her world.
The Four Horsemen © The Sexy Muggle Librarian
Chapter 28: Was that a dream?
One moment they were looking at the icy walls of a cave and the next they were looking at the familiar walls of Grimmauld Place sometime around midnight. As they looked at each other, in varying degrees of disbelief, Hermione looked down at the worn, hand-bound book she was still holding. "It wasn't a dream," she muttered.
"Are you sure? It certainly felt like a nightmare to me," Draco snorted.
Hermione shook her head as she opened the book gingerly, afraid that it would be too fragile to handle, but she knew that she was just being alarmist. Merlin had spelled it to be impervious to any wear and tear. Eagerly, she began to read and within a few seconds, she was gasping.
"What? What is it?" Harry asked her urgently.
"It says here that to activate our elemental powers, we must complete the ritual during a total lunar eclipse."
"So?" Draco said.
"That's tonight! We are going to have no time to study, plan, or figure out how in the bloody hell we are supposed to control these powers."
Ginny snickered. "Really, Hermione. Sometimes you can be too rigid. We'll complete the ritual and I'm sure between the four of us, we can figure it out."
Draco and Harry chuckled once they realized that she was panicking over the loss of time to study, but Harry knew that it was one thing that kept her safe. "Mione, really. I know that you always feel better having a plan before you do anything, but embrace your inner Gryffindor and just go with the flow. Between Draco's library and the library here, we will be able to put our hands on any information that we need."
Draco nodded as he draped his arm across her shoulders. "Yes, love. Why don't you go through the book today and tell us if there is anything we need specifically for the ritual."
Hermione breathed deeply. "All right, I can do that. Please don't interrupt me," she said as she turned and headed to the library.
Draco just looked at Harry and Ginny, who both held up their hands. "You are seeing her going into full Hermione-study mode," Harry said simply. "For the love of Merlin…wow, it's very strange to say that phrase now…don't interrupt her unless you want to have your bollocks hexed off."
Draco remembered hearing her berate Harry and Ron during their school years and decided to take the advice to heart. "In that case, I believe I'll go scour my library for any books pertaining to elemental magic." He turned to leave, but stopped briefly. "Please make sure that you make her eat."
Ginny laughed. "That is something that we are used to doing. We'll make sure that she takes regular breaks as well. Meet back here around six tonight?"
With a nod, Draco spun on his heel and was gone with a soft pop.
H~P
Hermione yawned and stretched, feeling her back pop in several places as she finally changed positions from being hunched over a series of books. On the bright side, she discovered that they needed nothing more than candles and something that represented the elements. That in itself was fairly easy; she knew that they should have candles that represented each element along with the element itself, but she was not sure what she could use to represent air.
A knock on the door interrupted her stretching and she looked up to see Ginny carrying a tray of food. "Oh, good. You have already decided on a break," the red-head said as she settled the tray on a table.
"I needed to stretch and I just realised that I'm famished," Hermione responded.
Ginny laughed. "I had a feeling that it was just about time for that."
"Where are the guys?" Hermione asked before she tucked into the bowl of stew that Ginny had brought in.
"Harry is off to the Auror's office to update his team on what you guys found in South Africa. Draco is scouring his library for any books on elemental magic. What have you found?"
Hermione bought time by eating a couple more bites of the stew before she answered. "It looks as if the ritual in itself is simple. Just a chant while we are standing on a Celtic Compass Rose, outdoors of course, and we will need to have something that represents each element. Water, earth and fire are easy, but what can we use to represent air?"
"I don't know. This isn't magic that has been practiced in a thousand years."
They lapsed into silence as Hermione finished the food. Hermione quickly waved her wand and sent the dirty bowl and utensils to the kitchen with a sigh. "Oh well. Back to the books now. Thanks for making sure I eat, Gin."
Ginny laughed. "Who better than me to keep you in line? Harry and Ron were always too terrified of you to make sure you took care of yourself."
Hermione laughed along with her. "True," she said as she turned her attention back to the books in front of her.
Ginny just giggled as she made her way out of the library and back to the kitchen.
Ginny puttered around the kitchen for a few hours, before she began to yawn. Realising that it was close to sunrise, she made her way back to the library to see if she could convince Hermione to sleep for a few hours, but found the witch fast asleep, her head pillowed on her hair.
Shaking her head, she quickly roused her to get some sleep in a real bed, knowing that a few hours would probably bring some sort of revelation from Hermione.
Hermione opened her eyes briefly as she felt Ginny shaking her awake. "Hermione, go to bed. The books will still be here when you wake up."
Hermione just yawned and without an argument found her way to bed.
H~P
Draco looked at the clock as he awoke from his sleep. Noticing that he had a few hours before meeting the rest of the group, he decided to indulge in a long shower before grabbing the books that he had gathered from the extensive Malfoy library. He was more than a little surprised at the sheer amount of books that actually dealt with Elemental Magic. He also gathered a few essentials, knowing that they would be needed to represent the elements.
Once he was ready, he went to the Floo and through the powder in before announcing "Grimmauld Place". A few dizzying seconds later, he was calmly brushing the ash off his robes.
"Draco!" Hermione squealed.
He turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "Hello," he said cautiously as he eyed the seemingly hyper witch.
"I am so glad that you are here. The sunset is in less than an hour and there is so much to do!"
"Hermione? Why are you so hyper? Have you taken an energy potion?"
Hermione giggled. "Well, yeah. I was too tired when I got up from my nap and I knew that I had to be well rested and coherent for the ritual, so I drank one." His eyebrow raised and she flushed. "All right, I had three energy potions. In my defence the first two really didn't do anything for me."
Merlin help me, Draco thought as he signed. "Did you think that maybe that was because it takes a bit of time for them to work? No matter, it will wear down before the ceremony. How did you get on researching the ritual?"
Hermione bounced on her toes as she began to ramble at warp speed. "Well….It seems really simple, but I'm not sure what we can do to represent our elements when we cast. The only one that I'm having trouble with is Air. Really? What can represent air? A feather?"
Draco held his hands out in front of him. "Slow down! I managed to do some research in my library. The Malfoy's seemingly have always been drawn to elemental magic. I have the representations covered. Anything else?"
"There is a cantrip and we do need to be outside, surrounded by the elements if possible," Hermione chattered on. "I've already filled in Ginny and Harry, so let me tell you what we need to do."
Draco just shook his head as he carefully steered her towards the kitchen, intent on making some camomile tea to calm her down as she told him about the ritual.
An hour later, they were all gathered in kitchen. Draco looked around at them. "All right. First, we all need to change into these robes," he said pulling them out of a bag that he had brought with him. "From my reading it is best to do rituals in natural, non-dyed fabrics. I also brought these pieces of jewellery to represent the elements and our cardinal direction." He smiled. "For Hermione, representative of the north and Earth, according to your birth sign, an emerald necklace."
Hermione accepted the pendant necklace gingerly, staring in awe at the flawless cabochon emerald set in a simple platinum setting. As she clasped it behind her neck, she saw a flash of heat in Draco's eyes from seeing her wear his house colour.
"For Ginny, representative of the west and Water, a blue topaz necklace."
Ginny was in as much awe as Hermione over the gem. It was round cut, set in silver with ornate pattern of s's.
"For Potter, representative of the south and Fire, a red garnet ring," Draco continued as he handed Harry the simple ring set in silver. "And finally, for me, representative of the east and Air, an Imperial topaz ring."
Hermione nodded, much calmer after two cups of tea. "We need to go outside, under the light of the full moon."
As they stepped outside, they immediately found a problem. There was no where in the garden of Grimmauld Place that the moon shone fully upon. Draco shook his head. "This won't work. Everyone take hold of my arms, I'll Apparate us to the Malfoy estate."
Once they were settled in the middle of an open field, Hermione nodded. "Much, much better." She looked at everyone. "Please stand in a circle in your cardinal direction, please. Once we are situated, we can begin."
Quickly, they sorted themselves out and with a nod from Hermione, they began to chant. "We call upon the Elements."
"Earth. Terra," Hermione said calmly as she conjured a large rock.
"Air. Aer," Draco continued as he whipped up a wind around them.
"Fire. Ignis," Harry responded as a column of flame rose up in the middle of the circle.
"Water. Aqua, Ginny said clearly as water joined the fire in the centre of the circle.
"Spirit. Spiritus," they said together. "As the descendants of Merlin, our birthright is clear. To harness our power to protect those who are dear."
Hermione raised her eyes to the moon, its glow reflecting in her eyes. "Protego populus, ego recipero vox orbis terrarium."
Draco followed her example and raised his eyes. "Protego populus, ego recipero box Aer."
Harry continued, "Protego populus, ego recipero box Incendia."
Ginny's voice rang out, "Protego populus, ego recipero box aequora."
They concluded together, "Protego populus, nos mos concateno in Phasmatis! We call upon the Elements! Grant us the power of protection against the dark. As we will it, so mote it be."
A wild wind began to swirl around them, starting from the north until each of them was caught in a mini-whirlwind. The moon's light seemed to seep into the wind, turning it a blind bright white before exploding, cocooning each in a different colour. Hermione was surrounded by green, Draco in silver, Ginny in blue and Harry in red. Time seemed to standstill until the winds stopped, magic making the air hum with power.
As they blinked to clear the stars out of their eyes, Draco's voice called out ironically. "I hope that worked. If it didn't, we are screwed as the amount of power that has been laid at our feet is sure to bring attention upon us."
The group laughed as they sank to the ground, exhausted.
H~P
AN:Yay! The long awaited explanation of why I changed Ginny's birthday. If I hadn't, she would have had a fire sign as well and then, well that wouldn't have worked! As always, this is only beta'd by myself, so if you see any mistakes, let me know and I will correct them! Thanks for all the faves, follows and reviews. They really make my day!
Okay, Translations:
Terra = Earth
Aer = Air
Ignis = Fire
Aqua = Water
Spiritus = Spirit
Protego populus, ego recipero vox orbis terrarium = To protect the people, I accept the power of the Earth.
Protego populus, ego recipero vox Aer = To protect the people, I accept the power of the Air.
Protego populus, ego recipero vox Incendia = To protect the people, I accept the power of the Fire.
Protego populus, ego recipero vox aequora = To protect the people, I accept the power of the Water.
Protego populus, nos mos concateno in Phasmatis = To protect the people, we will bind together in the Spirit.
I apologize to anyone who actually speaks Latin for any grammatical errors. I used an online Latin translator.
