Hermione Granger and the Quest for the Binding Stones

Part 2

The Gathering

Chapter 14

The Burrow. Hermione was always happy to see the listing structure again. It was different from the first time she had seen it all those years ago, and it was the same. The damage that had been done during the war had been repaired, but there were the inevitable scars. A replaced section of wall told of a giant hole blasted in the side of the house, newer windows had replaced the old ones that had been smashed by the Death Eaters in their rage, the entire porch had been rebuilt, the kitchen restored after the fire the Death Eaters had set was smothered by Molly's fire extinguishing ward, and the attic roof still looked new eighteen years later.

She chuckled to herself. None of them had known what a fully roused ghoul was capable of, but the Death Eaters had found out. When Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, Harry, and Ron had come to take down the wards and curses they were certain the Death Eaters had left behind Bill had found him calmly sitting in the kitchen surrounded by candy wrappers. Then Percy had found two of the death Eaters impaled on branches of the treehouse tree, having been ejected from the house, thrown wholesale through the roof by the ghoul.

Hermione remembered coming here two weeks after the battle. Those first weeks had been so rushed and occupied with Lavender's healing that she hadn't had time to reflect on what had happened. That following week it had hit her. She'd been numb, sleepwalking through a dimly lit reality of grief and sorrow. There was one bright spot in all of that, and he had saved her. Ron, her knight, had shown his true valor. He was her rock during that time, hers and everyone else's, and she was certain he was responsible for her preserved sanity. It had all come down as a single weight on that first night.

She and Ron had been sharing a bed since the night of the battle, but they had feared his mother's reaction when they arrived at his home, and so they had attempted to sleep apart. It had been a horrible idea. She had awoken on the cot in Ginny's room shrieking, clawing at anyone and anything that came near. Only when Ron had burst through the door and enveloped her in his arms had she quieted. He still had three small scars on his neck where she had scratched him, but he hadn't even flinched.

Without a backward glance he had carried her up the stairs to his room, and that had been that. Molly hadn't said word one since. Harry and Ginny were furious when it turned out that they were not to be extended the same privilege.

And then Ron had outdone himself. With help from his father, Madam Maxime, Hagrid, and the Minister he had arranged for him and Hermione to travel to Australia, in the Beauxbatons Carriage, to retrieve her parents. She had done such a thorough job of hiding them she wasn't certain if they could be found, but he knew. He knew they could because she was with him, and his confidence in her was far greater than her own. Harry and Ginny had forgiven everything when they learned Ron had made arrangements for them to tag along. Bill and Fleur had come with them as chaperones, but they had hardly seen them.

The Carriage had a small hotel's worth of rooms, and Bill and Fleur had made certain Harry and Ginny had separate ones, but they had never checked how those rooms were being used. It didn't matter, they had all held to the pact they had made. They would wait. It was too soon, Ron was right, it was too soon, and making that leap would have caused more stress in their lives. Stress they didn't need on top of everything else.

She was shaken from her reverie when the door flew open, and her nephews stormed from the house to run to their cousins and sister. The gang of five was together again. She was amazed at how well they got on. James thought he was the leader, but everyone knew the actual leader was Rose. Her brilliant girl kept them upright and in a minimum of trouble given their nature.

James got to Rose first. "Did it again, did you?" he said as he hugged her.

"Yes," she said as she released him and drew Albus into her arms.

"Missed you, cous," Albus said, emotion roughing his voice.

"Bout time you got yourselves home," Seamus said as he stepped from the kitchen door. "We've been doing all the work while you've been galivantin round the world." He was met with laughter that turned to shouts of joy from Hugo and Rose as Jean and Daniel Granger appeared behind Seamus.

"Grandmum! Ganddad!" they shouted as they ran to Hermione's parents.

Hermione had to momentarily choke back her burst of emotion. Every time she was away from her parent for more than a few weeks she got an enormous rush of dejavu when she saw them again. The memory of the overwhelming relief and joy she had felt when they opened the door to their tiny cottage was right there in a little box in her heart. They had been confused at the appearance of a weeping girl and her boyfriend on their doorstep. Luckily Bill and Fleur had been there to smooth things and help Hermione remove the layers of charms she had laid on Jean and Daniel. When Fleur had seen the light of recognition in Jean's eyes she and taken Bill's hand and apparated them back to the carriage on the beach.

The ensuing eighteen Christmases had all been here. Molly and Arthur would not hear any objection, Jean and Daniel would be staying the holidays in Bill's old room and that was the end of it. It had taken them a few months to fully embrace Floo travel, but they were old hands at it now. Hermione smiled at the memory of all the times she had entered the kitchen of her own home to find her mother making breakfast, or opened the Burrow door to find both her mothers laughing at some antic of their grandchildren.

"How was Australia?" Jean asked Molly.

"Wonderful," Molly told her as she hugged her. "You and Daniel must come with us soon. You'll love the place," she smiled. "And Carla."

"She must be an amazing woman," Jean said with a smile. "Hugo and Rose certainly do love her."

"You'll see," Molly said as she and Jean made their way into the house.

"Ah, me beautiful wife," Seamus said as he drew Lavender into his arms. "Good to have you back," He said in a low husky voice.

"It's good to be back," she said and kissed him.

"We'll see you all tomorrow," Seamus called, and he apparated away with his smiling wife.

Ron chuckled and took Hermione's hand. "Come on," he said. "Let's see how Ginny's got on."

(*)

"They are back in England."

"Yes, and now we know where thanks to that Falmouth."

"We move?"

"Soon, soon."

(*)

Hermione stood next to her mother in the Burrow kitchen, both of them sipping their tea. They were essentially an audience watching a well running machine. Ginny and Molly bustled around the kitchen, chatting and preparing the elements of the next few meals. The old cast iron and enamelware pots, trenchers, and Dutch ovens were filled to the brim with cheesy potatoes, vegetables in garlic sauce, stuffing, and a host of other side dishes. The roast beef and goose were waiting their turn for the oven in the cooling cabinet. Hermione and her mother occasionally handed Molly or Ginny a pot or serving dish, but other than that they were just watching.

Jean Granger looked to her right at her brilliant daughter, as Hermione watched her sister in law finish the decoration on the plum pudding. "Rose and Hugo are doing well," she said. "Seamus tells us Rosie is accomplishing amazing feats of magic."

"She is," Hermione answered. "She's also scaring me witless."

Jean chuckled. "Is she now?"

Hermione turned to her. "It's so hard, Mum," she said. "Watching her walk away alone into some unknown place full of danger."

Jean looked at her with a slight smirk. "I wouldn't know anything about how that feels," she deadpanned at her daughter.

"Ha, ha," Hermione said. "Seriously, Mum, I don't know if I can do it again."

"Rose told us all about the keep in Australia," Jean said. "Even demonstrated the technique she used to retrieve the stone. This "Dreaming" magic she learned there is a very interesting skill. Very much different from what you were taught."

"It is," Hermione said. "But it's still rooted in the same thing."

"What did she have to do this time?"

"Climb up a hundred meter cliff," Hermione said and shivered. "And pass through a room full of rattlesnakes," she added offhandedly.

Jean smiled and brushed her hand down Hermione's hair. "Still a little touchy about heights, are we?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "Not as much, but still… It's good she's not."

"And you know where the next one is?" Jean asked.

"Two, maybe three actually," Hermione replied. "There's one in South America that No'Oma can lead us to we hope, there's one on the island of Hawaii, and I'm more and more convinced there is one at Kilimanjaro in Africa."

"And four in your study already," Jean said with a smile. "You were so worried you couldn't do it in your lifetime."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, but even if they are there that's still only half of them," she said. "There'll be one, maybe two in Asia, but after that I haven't a clue where to go next."

"How much do you remember of your great grandmother Whitaker?" Jean asked.

"Some," Hermione said. "I remember being five. Sitting on her lap." She closed her eyes and smiled at the memory. "She was the best."

"Ellen is where you got it from, we think," Jean said. "She had… insight. She believed in 'helping hands'." Jean smiled herself. "She always said Dan and I were put together just to have you. It'll come, Hermione, when you need it, help will come."

"I hope so, Mum," Hermione said and contemplated her tea. "I wish I had more faith."

Jean chuckled. "Don't worry, dear," she said. "We all have enough faith to make up for it, and ours is in you."

(*)

Rose watched from the stool as her grandfathers fiddled with the various broken and disassembled appliances and devices in Arthur's shed. None of the boys seemed to have inherited Arthur's love of Muggle objects, but Rose had. She had spent so many weekends and holidays with her Muggle grandparents that she knew what most of the things in Arthur's shed did, and more importantly, how they did it. Jean and Daniel had made a point of answering any question she had with as thorough explanation of the mechanics, math, and science involved as they could manage. They had even bought several texts on mechanics, math and physics for Rose and Hugo, plus being university graduated dentists, they had more than a little background in the subjects themselves.

"How's the practice going, Dan?" Arthur asked.

"It's doing well," Daniel Granger replied. "We've been half time for over a year now, and our partners have picked up the extra very well."

"Ready to join Molly and me as pensioners?" Arthur asked.

"Nearly," Daniel said. "You and Molly had a bit of a head start."

Arthur nodded. "We did, but you've earned it."

Daniel nodded to himself. "Thanks for having us again."

"Molly wouldn't have it any other way," Arthur said. "Neither would Hugo and Rosie here."

"James, Al, and Lilly feel the same," Rose said. "James has called you 'Pa Pa Grainger' his whole life."

Daniel smiled fondly and stroked his granddaughter's hair. "Thought he was going to be the substitute grandchild for a while, Jean and I spoiled him just a bit before you came along

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Hermione had told her everything. Over the course of her life, as she had matured, her mother revealed more and more of what had happened before Rose had been born. She was called "Hermione's Wonder Girl" not for her intellect, but for her very existence. Ten times, ten times she had been held under the Cruciatus by one of the most effective casters ever, and it had left damage behind. Hermione had miscarried three times before Ginny had carefully, with wary eyes, told Hermione she was pregnant. Rose remembered the way her mother had smiled sadly recounting that day.

"She took me aside in the Burrow kitchen," Hermione had told her. "Ginny is so direct and to the point, but that day she stammered. 'I… I um… I need to tell you something. You'll be the first.' I suspected right then. 'Harry and I… we… Oh god. Hermione, I'm pregnant.' She looked at me like I was so fragile, like I would shatter at the news. I won't lie and say it didn't hurt, but I told her the truth. I was happy, really very happy, and a little sad for your dad and me, and a little angry, not at Ginny but at the world." Then she had hugged Rose fiercely. "But then not a year later I got to corner her in the kitchen."

Daniel saw that look in his granddaughter's eyes. He'd seen it so often in his own little girl's, that faraway look that said she was revisiting an important memory. He gathered Rose in his arms and hugged her powerfully. "I was never so happy to spoil anyone as I was you," he said and kissed the top of her head.

"Now you spoil all five of them," Arthur laughed.

"Granddad!" Daniel said proudly. "Comes with the title."

(*)

Hermione looked up at the ceiling. The outline of the Cannons poster was still there, but the poster itself was on the back of their closet door in Feniton. Ron hugged her in his sleep and she smiled. Her knight. He'd gained a little weight after leaving the Aurors, but she still found him as handsome and attractive as ever. Snuggled in his old bed under the same blankets that had always been there, she was reminiscing about all the events that had led her here. The meeting on the train, the years of adventure that gradually turned to horror, the actual horror, the cost, the recovery, and the new reality that she was helping to shape. She was coming to grips with what everyone had been saying for the past few years. Allen was going to hand the gavel to her.

She was ready. Hermione knew the players, and she knew the game, but they weren't ready for her yet. Allen knew that too. He knew that Hermione, principled, disciplined, forthright, and incorruptible, was going to be a difficult fit for some in the Wizengamot. He'd laughed when they had discussed it recently. "Some of them are coming to me worried," he'd told her. "They think you, Potter and the rest of the D.A. are intent on remaking the world, and they like it how it is, and even better how it was."

"We are going to remake the world, Allen," She'd told him flatly, and then she smiled. "But don't worry, we'll go about it gently."

Well, maybe not so gently she thought to herself. If she succeeded in the quest she'd change the world dramatically in a single night. First, though there was the small matter of nine more stones. All four of them that they had now sat in the case in her study, and three more would join them soon she hoped, but that left six. One or two in Asia, she had told her mother, and she hoped that was true. Rose had suggested the horrible idea that there could be one at each of the poles. Frighteningly that fit with the magical theory she was working on as to how the stones accomplished the binding. They would go to the poles if that's what was required, but she desperately hoped they wouldn't have to.

Her mind went to Rose, as it always did now when she contemplated the mission. Her heart sped up and she flushed as her breathing became rapid. Nine more times she'd have to watch her daughter walk away into the unknown. She was angry at Merlyn for that. Why her, why her little girl? Well, not so little anymore, she thought. She was seeing the unmistakable signs that her daughter was on the verge of becoming a young woman, and that scared her too. They'd talked about the biology of being female, and Rose understood it well, but the emotional big dipper that was puberty was something that could only be experienced.

And in nine months she and Ron would put Rose on the train.

Hermione had looked forward to that day with joy and trepidation for almost eleven years. Rose and Albus would board the train and head off to seven years of adventure. Hermione prayed that they would be a bit less adventurous than her seven years, but the last name Weasley came with a lot of expectations, and adding a hyphenated Grainger doubled it. James was already a minor celebrity at the school, so much so that Albus, always in his brother's shadow, stammered and looked away when Hogwarts was mentioned.

She worried more about Albus than any of the rest of them. He was the sensitive one, the one that wore his heart on his sleeve, just like his uncle in the bed next to her. Hermione had spoken with Harry at length about it, and Harry had understood as much as he was able, but Harry had blinders when it came to family. Hermione held no illusions, she knew how cruel children could be. Harry and Ron had hurt her deeply in those early weeks before their friendship was forged, but those long ago slights had been made up for a forgiven a thousand times. Still, she was very concerned for her nephew. She decided she would speak to Rose about it.

All that was in the more distant future though, and she was concerned with the next few weeks. Tomorrow would be Christmas, then Boxing Day, and Rose was insistent that they retrieve William and leave for Hawaii and South America immediately after the New Year. She'd already been making plans for what to pack. Seamus and Lavender were trading places, and he would accompany them on this leg of the quest. She wasn't certain if Ginny would allow Lilly to join them again, but Hermione hoped she would. Lilly had proven a valuable asset, much more so than Hermione had expected, although as she thought about it, she should not have been surprised.

And then there was Luna.

How could she drag her pregnant, endangered friend across the world on this uncertain adventure? It was obvious they needed her, and keeping Luna from coming was out of the question, but keeping her safe was a constant concern for Hermione. She wasn't worried that Lavender wouldn't be with them, Seamus was even more lethal if that was possible, and he loved Luna as much as any of them. No, it was being in uncharted waters, places they had never been, with people they didn't know. Almost everyone they had met on the quest had been more than helpful, and several had become fast friends. She smiled to herself and one is now part of the family, but there were other people interested in them, and Luna in particular.

Harry had said they had some good leads on her attackers, on Rotfang, but he was closed mouthed about the particulars. It didn't matter, Parvati would fill her, Luna, and Lavender in on the details mid-week when the Sisters met. Hermione also had an idea or two on that front, and she needed to have a chat with Pansy again. The Ravens, Pansy's coven, where somewhat less constrained than the Sisters, and that less constrained attitude could be very useful if it came to a fight. She smirked in the dark. Over the years she had come to admire her dark haired friend in ways that she wouldn't have imagined when they were teenagers. Yes, she would have a chat with her Slytherin friend.

She sighed, sleep wasn't coming easy tonight. Shrugging to herself she reached over Ron, laying on his chest, and shoved her hand into her bag. After a few moments, as Ron's eyes fluttered open, she drew out the little tin of breath mints.