Hermione awoke the next morning to Lisa's squeals of delight, "Only two weeks until Christmas!"
"Too early, Lisa," Daphne groaned from her own bed. The former-Slytherin slid her pillow over her ears to block out the piercing noise.
Lisa paid her dorm-mate no mind, instead gesturing out onto the Hogwarts grounds from the window by her bed. "Look!"
Curious, Padma padded over to the Lisa's window and observed, "Ah yes, Professor Hagrid is bringing up evergreens from the Forbidden Forest."
Hermione sat up in bed and felt all of her bones and joints creak ominously; she was growing used to having Draco's arthritis during the day, but mornings remained a daily challenge. She had gone to the Hospital Wing twice for pain potions, but dared not do it more frequently for fear of building up a reliance on them.
Glancing from her bedside window, she noted the fresh quilt of snowfall cloaking the grounds. Hagrid could indeed be seen trudging through the sea of white and pulling three enormous evergreens behind him.
"The Great Hall will be decorated for breakfast!" Lisa crowed, flopping backward onto her bed and giggling. She sighed dreamily, "I love Christmas…"
"That means only one more week of classes until break," Sue piped up optimistically. "Thank Merlin, I need some time off from Alchemy – it makes my brain hurt."
"Some Ravenclaw you are," Padma teased, throwing her pillow playfully at her friend's head.
"Oh, you did not just do that…" Sue challenged with a grin, gathering several pillows and standing up on her rumpled sheets and sky-blue quilt so that her head almost touched the canopy of her four poster.
With a war cry, the Quidditch player jumped from her bed onto Padma's and began pummeling the Head Girl with multiple pillows. Lisa joined in with glee, while Daphne finally gave up on attempting a few more minutes of sleep and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Hermione was strongly reminded of Ginny's legendary pillow fights - though comparatively, this one was quite tame.
Only two weeks until Christmas!
Just like that, Hermione's stomach dropped into her feet. How could there only be two weeks left until the holiday? She had agreed to marry Draco on the sole condition that she had not found an alternate solution by Christmas. It had seemed like plenty of time when she had agreed…
...But now?
You are infuriating, Draco Malfoy!
Now she wanted to smother him with one of Sue's war pillows. Not enough to murder him perhaps… but enough to give him cause for alarm… maybe make him flail a bit…
She imagined this and stifled a small snigger, somehow feeling ever-so-slightly better.
The five Ravenclaw girls presently gathered their things for class and made their way down to breakfast in a timely manner. When they came upon the Great Hall, they discovered Lisa had indeed been right: it was half-decorated for the upcoming holiday.
A trail of slush, pine needles, and humongous muddy footprints that could only belong to Hagrid, led up to the hall, and were causing Filch go ballistic in the corridor. The caretaker could be seen angrily mopping the Entrance Hall whilst muttering murderously under his breath.
Meanwhile, Hogwarts' customary twelve evergreens were stationed enormously around the cavernous hall; Professor Flitwick had begun the process of levitating many sparkling ornaments onto their boughs. The smell of fresh balsam permeated.
"Hermione!" Ginny called from across the hall. She, Harry, Ron and Luna were sitting at the Hufflepuff table today.
A quick glance around the Great Hall confirmed Draco's absence (she had not really expected him to be there, as she knew he liked to break his fast early), before Hermione turned to Daphne and muttered, "Come on."
"Good morning, beautiful," Ron greeted, leaning over to peck his girlfriend on the cheek as she sat down beside him.
Daphne looked pleased and genially answered, "Good morning."
"Eugh," Ginny effused, wrinkling her nose.
"Oh, love of my life," Harry pronounced theatrically, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders beside him and emulating Ron, "I thank you for blessing me with your honorific presence on this fine December morning…"
"Shut it, will you?" Ginny protested, shoving his arm away, though she seemed to enjoy the attention.
"You're all pathetic," Hermione determined pointedly, helping herself to some eggs and toast.
"Oh, go away, you're getting bitterness and jealousy all over my morning," Ginny retorted.
Ron remained silent - he had not been able to look Hermione in the eye ever since he and Harry had stumbled upon her and Draco in the empty classroom...
"Hermione doesn't need to be jealous, Ginny," Luna spoke up for the first time. The Gryffindor was arranging the eggs, tomatoes and kippers on her plate into a design that seemed to be of her own creation. "She's in love."
It was almost comical, Hermione decided, how fast her friends' heads whipped around to stare critically at her: Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Daphne all looked in unison. The difference was, while Ginny's and Harry's lips curled somewhat and Ron looked borderline green, Daphne looked pleased.
"Is she?" she pressed eagerly.
Certainly not, Hermione inwardly thought. Not with the Great Bouncing Ferret...
"Oh, yes," Luna replied, turning her large, pale eyes to Daphne. "If you look closely, you can see a little bit of sadness in the set of her mouth… but there's also a kiss on the very corner of her lips, and she treasures it." *
Ron squinted hopelessly, "I don't see it."
Daphne's pleased expression morphed into a toothy grin, "I'm sure you're right, Lovegood."
Just Luna being Luna, Hermione told herself firmly, stabbing at her egg rather harder than necessary. Still, she really shouldn't make assumptions about people.
Ginny was eyeing her friend with a guarded expression, the brunt of which Hermione was only saved from when the post arrived. They were all successfully distracted when a regal-looking Brown Fish-Owl with enormous feathered tufts landed in front of Hermione. Shortly after, a tiny Whiskered Screech Owl followed, twittering energetically. The Fish-Owl peered down at the smaller owl disdainfully.
"Two letters today," Harry observed to Hermione, catching the smaller of the owls and removing the attached letter to hand it over.
The larger owl stuck out his leg professionally, as if determined to show the smaller mail-carrier how it was done. Hermione removed the curled parchment and took the second letter from Harry. Both birds left for refreshment at the owlery.
"What do they say?" Ron demanded impatiently. Daphne and Luna, who were unaware of Hermione's mandala predicament, both looked curious.
The first letter, much smaller than the other, Hermione tore open and scanned over quickly. Her face fell as she was swiftly disappointed; the New Zealand alchemist's response was the suggestion of repeating the performance using an animal representing the number two.
Having already done significant research on runic lore, Hermione knew that graphorns were the creatures representing the number two. Unlike the friendly and docile unicorns, graphorns were dangerous and aggressive creatures. Additionally, it was not definite that the use of a graphorn in an identical mandala would split her and Draco properly, especially considering the unicorn had done it imperfectly to begin with – mirroring their scars and aches, sharing them instead of lessening them.
"Did you get bad news?" Ginny demanded, eyeing the letter in Hermione's hands cuttingly.
"Not bad news," she answered quietly, "just not very useful news…"
She turned her attention to the second letter, noting it was an entire two pages of parchment. It was a response to a query she had sent to India, where a set of twins practiced their craft together.
The response was written in two different hands, but flowed seamlessly as if it were from a single mind:
Good day, Ms. Granger,
We have read your request for help many times and apologize for our late reply. Your situation is something we have had the need to puzzle over for more than a moment before responding.
When you wrote to us, what you may or may not be aware of, is our particular branch of alchemy delves into how such primal magic relates to the primal in humans – in how we trade sexual energies – for we believe these two things are more greatly intertwined than humankind is willing to admit.
If you have already conducted study into how the kundalini and the alchemy of the body are connected, forgive us while we recant the basics…
The kundalini is a powerful, serpentine energy located at the base of the spine. In many humans, it is a dormant energy and can only be awakened by ascent through the spinal canal, vertebra by vertebra. Through this, it is possible to harness our inner power – the only inner power humans have by nature, other than magic, of course.
It seems to us, since your unique situation was achieved using Salt (which, as you know, is the Body of alchemy), an equivalent reversal could be achieved through the use of energy from the Body, using the only natural alchemical power it has: the kundalini.
The gnosis to achieve the high awakening of the kundalini's power is obtained through sexual energy. You may be reluctant to hear this – especially as we can assume a unicorn was only attracted to your mandala in the first place, as one or both of the participants are (or were at the time) virgins.
You must remember, sex is a sacred act – a gateway – capable of reminding us that our bodies are vessels of immense power and love. The energy of sexuality is a wonderful source of primal magic of the same sort that makes up the ancient science of alchemy. Because we can assume bodily virginity of one or more parties involved, a sexual awakening on your mutual behalf goes hand-in-hand with magical prowess.
Bearing that in mind, channelling a sexual awakening inside an identical mandala may be the answer to your situation.
Every major religion and philosophy has a mystical aspect devoted to understanding and exploring the deeper concepts behind the kundalini - therefore, it is not only magical understanding you would be blessed with, but spiritual awareness as well.
While we hope you are also consulting others who study the ancient religion of alchemy in hoping to rectify your situation, it is our wish that this response aids you in some way. We would be interested in making a study of your situation, if you do decide to act on our recommendation.
Please write us back if you have further questions,
Priya & Indra Upadhyaya
"Everything alright, Hermione?" Harry questioned.
Hermione could feel that her face had heated exponentially; she was sure she was now glowing at least as red as Ginny's hair. Hurriedly, she folded up the letter and stuffed it into her bookbag. "Yes, fine… er, I've got to go – library."
None of her friends questioned this, as it was a very Hermione thing to do.
"I'll see you later," she bid, abandoning her breakfast and taking off to re-read the second letter in peace. It was proving very difficult to keep everything a secret with so many friends in the know.
For once, Hermione was not actually seeking the library, but rather a few moments alone to clear her thoughts. When she reached one of the first-floor corridors, and was sure she was by herself, she ducked into an empty classroom and re-read the letter twice more.
This is exactly the opposite of what McGonagall's alchemy contact warned us against, she decided.
She flushed again, thinking of what the advice was suggesting: that she have sex with Draco inside a mandala in order to harness an inner power. It seemed fantastical – not to mention extremely presumptuous. How could that possibly fix their accident?
She recalled the day Draco had slipped into the prefects' bathroom tub with her and massaged her aching, arthritic hands and feet. While she had mostly looked away as he stripped, she could easily recall the way his body was formed. He was lithe instead of muscular, except perhaps in his legs, likely from walking up and down so many stairs in the castle. There was a trail of blond hair – a mere shade darker than the platinum hair on his head – that ran from a small collection on his chest down his stomach in a line and disappeared into his shorts…
Then there were the two separate incidents in the trophy room. It still seemed surreal to Hermione that she had taken him in her mouth while she was supposed to be on prefect patrol. His manhood was long and thick and foreign-looking… at least to her. She had never seen another penis up close before. Maybe that was what they all looked like? The most she had ever seen were brief flashes of nudity, with only him as an exception.
Setting her wandering thoughts aside for the moment, she decided, I need to re-read that initial response to McGonagall's inquiry. See what exactly was said about why we should refrain from sex while looking into reversing the bond...
As Draco had the response in his possession, she would have to ask him for them… not that she was considering having sex with him because some strangers from India wrote her that she should, of course. Still, it was always better to over-research than under-research…
"You alright?"
Her head whipped up; she had been so engrossed in the letter, she had not heard anyone enter the abandoned classroom. Theo was leaning in the doorway of the unused classroom and regarding her with a very calculating, Slytherin look.
She quickly folded up the already-worn sheafs of parchment. "Theodore."
He smirked, "Hermione."
"What brings you here?"
"The state of your mental health," he answered, standing from where he leaned and walking over to where she sat at one of the desks. Instead of taking the chair beside or opposite her, he planted himself on the top of the desk. "You've just got news that upsets you. Also, Draco's avoiding you."
She turned away and coldly replied, "I don't want to see him anyway."
"Bet you don't. He was pretty dismissive of you last night, especially after the trophy room escapade."
Horrified, Hermione's jaw slowly dropped, "Theodore, you…! You are a total menace to personal privacy!"
He snickered at her.
"You have no right…!"
"Calm yourself, love," he soothed. "No need to get your knickers in a bunch. I don't get my jollies off on stuff like that, I just stop looking."
She glared at him suspiciously.
"Really," Theo stressed, "I don't get off on watching my best mate get lucky. Not really my bag. Still – there's the issue of what you're going to do to get back on speaking terms with him."
"That is not my responsibility. He was dismissive of me."
"Let me tell you some things about Draco, darling," Theo began. "He's an only child…"
She interrupted hotly, "So am I!"
He held up his hand to stop her, "Let me finish. He's an only child and the sole heir of an estate I don't think you're entirely comprehending the enormity of – and he was basically raised by nannies. You think Narcissa Malfoy was going to mother a child herself? Of course she didn't; she wasn't raised to believe it was proper. Then, themselves not being the Lady of the Manor, nannies can do nothing but their job – and their job was to provide care, not to discipline. A job made significantly easier through indulgence. Why do you think he was always such a twat before? Whenever Malfoy wanted a problem to go away… it did."
"I hope you aren't implying I should be treating him like the spoiled brat he is, just because he's used to it."
Theodore shook his head, "Not at all. You see, Malfoy recently learned on his own that, that wasn't how the world actually operates. The war put things into perspective for him. The problem is, he's taking his relationship with you very seriously. When things go wrong for him, he overthinks and gets anxiety attacks." Hermione's mouth opened but Theo stopped her again, "They're not like your panic attacks – that's different. But I know you've noticed his hands start to shake before he becomes more irritable than an animal interrupted from hibernation."
Hermione had indeed noticed this.
"It makes him unable to think straight. He hates it and the spoiled little shite he's always been sneaks back out."
In her mind, Hermione flashed back to the first time they had come upon Ravenclaw's study. They both scrubbed furiously at the truth-compelling powder on their arms and Draco had affirmed: My anxiety really bothers me. Malfoys are supposed to be calm, cool, collected! I have a really hard time being that way, ever since the war.
"So what are you saying? That he considers me a problem and nothing more?"
...It makes me feel like I'm not the son and heir I was expected to be.
"I'm just saying, Hermione, that maybe Draco's trying much, much harder than you think he is."
Hermione fell silent. For the first time since Theo's sudden appearance, she had nothing to say.
"He's not perfect…"
She snorted.
"…But neither are you."
"And neither are you," she retorted pointedly.
"Truer words have never been spoken," he agreed easily.
"And Pansy Parkinson?"
"What about her?" Theo asked.
"How does she factor into all this?"
Theo sighed, looking torn. "Don't be jealous of Parkinson, she just hasn't come to terms with a post-war reality yet. She probably never will."
"It doesn't bother me that she and Draco were together once," Hermione admitted, "just that Draco still took her side." Disdainfully, she sniffed once. "He dismissed me. As if I were a servant of his."
"Trust me, Draco is very aware that you are not a servant."
Suddenly suspicious, she narrowed her eyes and queried, "Did he send you here to speak to me?"
In his best highly offended expression, Theo mocked, "Did Lord Malfoy send his vassal to win back his Lady's affections?" He snorted loudly. "Certainly not."
A smile twitched at the corner of Hermione's lips, "You're something else."
"As are you," he acceded. Then, closing his eyes a moment and re-opening them, he said, "I shan't keep you any longer, or you'll be late for your adventure."
"Adventure?" she repeated, puzzled.
"Yes, a friend is looking for you," he explained cryptically, "with something important and most interesting to discover with you."
"But we have Alchemy in fifteen minutes…"
Theo shushed her and held out a hand to lead her to the door of the unused classroom they currently occupied. "I will take notes for you and explain to McGonagall that you're in the Hospital Wing…"
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.
"…With lady problems."
She hit him with her hand. "I don't have time for an adventure just now, Nott."
"Oh, McGonagall's not even assigning homework this week."
"How do you know?"
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her.
"Oh. Right."
"Let's go, princess. Don't forget your quill."
"My...? I am not going on an adventure!"
"Mouthy little thing, aren't you?" Theo teased as they shut the unused classroom door behind them and spilled into the corridor. "Wonder what Draco sees in you…"
.
.
Author's Note: Somewhere in there, I hid a * which notates a remark made by Luna during breakfast, which is a modified quote from James Barrie's Peter Pan. Love.
Thank you, as always, to all those who took the time to leave a review. To say I am consistently overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I have received on this fic, is an understatement.
I did not use a beta on this chapter, so any mistakes are my own.