As I saw myself walk down the corridor I tried not to think about what had happened last week. I had a son with Harry. Ever since George had showed me that picture he had made me promise him that I wouldn't talk about it with anybody, not even him. It seemed a very sensitive topic of discussion and I had been told about it by George who wouldn't then answer any of my questions related to it.
"So you just hand me the picture of a baby and say he's my son and now you won't answer me where he is?" I had asked him that day.
"I told you I won't answer your questions unless you've gone through the remaining of your memories," he had replied and since then he would simply ignore the question. I didn't ask about it to anyone else. I knew that George was the most supportive of them all towards me and if he was not going to answer my questions regarding the boy then the others definitely won't.
I brought myself back into what was happening in front of me as I was watching my first memory after the revelation that I was actually a parent. The place was Potter Manor where I was since all of this had started. "Good morning," I heard Harry say as I found him in the living area. He got up and kissed me on my lips, or rather my past self. We both seemed very content and happy in each other's presence and embrace as the kiss went on for quite some time. From what I had known it had been over two months since we'd both married. As I watched myself kissing Harry we broke it and he looked me in the eyes.
"Hermione Granger, are you hiding something from me?" he asked.
"I might be," I saw myself reply with a smile as I moved my hand over my belly. He looked down, his eyes widened in surprise as he enveloped me close to him and we kissed again, this time with much more love and affection. The scenery changed and I found us in the living area. It was evening time and the prophet's evening edition had come in. we both looked pretty shocked from our expressions as the fire place in our living are flared a vibrant green and someone stepped out. I recognized him immediately from my past memories. He was Kingsley Shacklebolt, the minister of magic and also a close friend to us all.
"I thought I'd give the news in person," he said walking towards us as I saw us stand up.
"How much of it is true?" Harry asked.
"I am sorry to say the Prophet isn't exaggerating this time, Harry," Kingsley replied. "I with that was the case but it isn't."
I could see the color on our faces drain away. I wondered what the news was. "How many aurors are on this and how many have we lost?" Harry asked. He, too, was an auror, a senior auror to be exact and from what I'd known from watching my memories he had refused to be the head of DMLE even though Kingsley himself had offered him the post. There was no objection from anyone on this regard but Harry just didn't want it.
"Over a hundred of our men are killed," Kingsley replied. "We have confirmed that even though we'er still counting. We don't know how many are missing though."
"And what about the mark?" I asked him this time as Harry sat back on the couch, his head in his hand.
"It matches the caster," Kingsley said. "Your theories were correct. I am afraid he did leave someone behind after all."
"Who's the mother?" Harry asked slowly.
"We don't know yet," Kingsley replied. "We are doing everything can in our power but it just doesn't seem enough. What would you suggest?"
"I would suggest we call back every one of our men," Harry said. "It's foolish and stupid to just let them die and go missing when we aren't getting anything from this. I know it sounds harsh but…" he paused. "What are the chances that we can send a covert team on this one?"
"None of them are ready as per the new plan structure," Kingsley said. "This is the first time we've done something like this. People need time to get trained in something like that."
"The special Forces aren't enough?" I asked. "I thought we were clear in our conversation with the Queen herself on this one. All those muggle-born who worked in MI6 were requested to assist us in training our own covert teams."
"Hermione, even after all this the discrimination still exists in a good number of the magical population," Kingsley said. "And I know we've made a law to stop it but when it comes to a unanimous democratic vote there are people who don't want to be trained by muggle-borns."
"And that has cost us time," Harry said. "What's their status, though?"
"I'd say we've trained them near enough but they still lack real field work as all of this is new to them so I wouldn't trust them entirely," Kingsley said.
"Let's send a small team and see how it goes," Harry said.
"You want to experiment with the lives of innocent people?" I had said.
"I know it sounds bad but what choice do we have?" Harry said. "Voldemort has a child. We only know about it now and who knows how powerful she is. We've had enough loss for one lifetime. I don't think we can take another hit like that and recover the way we did after the battle of Hogwarts ended."
We all quieted down. No one spoke for over ten minutes. "I'll assemble a team," Kingsley said. "Would you like to recommend anyone?"
"Let's take five people, two of them who knows what they are doing," Harry said. "Richard and Aaron."
"Are you suggesting we send two of our instructors?" Kingsley asked.
"It will reduce the chances of them getting in trouble," Harry said.
"If they all listen to the two of them," I said.
"And which three from the newbies?" Kingsley asked.
"Peter, Oliver and Jacob," Harry said. "They aer the best three newbies we have right now and they seem to hold their own."
"I'll get to it," Kingsley said before looking at us. "You two be extra careful though," he said. "She might have come to exact revenge."
"She will have to make a lot of effort," I heard myself say. Harry looked at me and smiled.
"A special occasion?" Kingsley asked looking at us.
"Parenthood," Harry said hugging me from my waist. Kingsley's face lit up.
"Congratulations you two," he said hugging us both. "How long?"
"About two weeks," Harry said.
"And I am knowing about this now?" he said.
"We haven't told anyone," I said. "You are the first on to know beside us. We would really appreciate it if you kept it under wraps."
"You can count on me," he said preparing to leave. "Just let me know if you two need anything. You have my personal contact."
We nodded as he left using the floo. The scenery changed once more and I found myself looking at a battered Harry. I was crying as I saw him on the hospital bed barely breathing. I saw my face looked tired and old somewhat. I was lacking enough sleep as there were bangs under my eyes and stress wrinkles on my forehead and on the side of my eyes. I also looked thin and my bulged belly clearly showed that I was nearing my due date. There were a lot of other familiar faces inside the room and two doctors who were doing everything they can to keep him alive.
Kingsley was standing beside me as I was standing taking his support. I was barely able to stand by myself in that situation. "Don't take too much stress. It's not good for the baby," he said.
"What if he doesn't make it?" I asked.
"He will," he said. "He's one of the strongest wizards known. Just trust him."
The scenery changed when I realized I was being pulled back up. The memory was over. I found myself in the inventory room again. I wanted to know what had happened next but the cupboard was locked. I couldn't have another memory until it was time. I felt frustrated knowing what happened after that as he door opened and in walked Luna. She was here to take me away from the room as part of the deal. I couldn't be left alone for too long inside the inventory room. They had cast sensory charms that alerted them once I had finished with my memory. It was frustrating but I couldn't help it.
I didn't say anything to anyone about the memories. They let me be me and didn't bother me. I glanced at George who shifted his gaze when he saw me looking at him. I knew he might get in trouble if everyone came to know he showed me that picture.
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I sighed in frustration as my spell didn't come out of the wand as it should've. I looked at Luna who was standing thinking about something very deeply. The room was heavily fortified using elf magic and runes to hide the incantations we did with our wands. She walked towards me and grabbed my wand arm, lifting it up to her eye level as she took my wand from me and eyed it closely. She then cast a simple lumos spell and it glowed bright.
"We need to get you a new wand," she said simply as she handed me mine.
"What?" I said. "I thought wands chose their master and this wand chose me when I first came to the magical world."
"There are a lot of things a wand considers before choosing its master," she said. "Two of them are the person's character or nature and the other one is the person's memories or ability to understand."
"And my memories have been wiped out," I said nodding my head. "But I am getting them back through watching them using the pensive."
"Not entirely," she said. "Not all of your memories are back and we did keep your wand away from you during the time you led a normal muggle life so that adds to the fact that your wand isn't recognizing you anymore."
"So what I just have to get a new wand?" I asked. "You're the wandlore expert."
"Wandlore is a growing and expanding research study and not proper, definite understanding," she said. "Yes, wandlores know a great deal about the nature and behavior of wands but there are still a lot of things that we don't know about them. After seeing what has happened all I can tell is you need a new wand that would recognize you from your current state but I would still suggest you keep your old wand with you just in case you regain all of your memories back."
I nodded as I looked at my wand. "So when are we going to get me a new wand?" I asked.
"We need to consult with everyone else first," she said. I sighed as I sat down on the floor. "It's not safe outside in the magical world anymore."
"So how the shops are open?" I asked. She looked a bit confused. "Wands are sold in shops. You say it's not safe out there so how would we get me a new wand?"
"You just have to know the right place and the right person," she said.
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I didn't know what I was doing but it felt good. It wasn't that I hadn't killed before but it felt better than before as I finished taking the life out of a muggle child and looked at the neighborhood park where I had killed everyone who lived in this neighborhood. It felt good. I stepped on to the head of the three year old whom I had just killed and crushed his head with my weight. I liked the sound of bones cracking, crushing and breaking. I cleaned myself with a flick of my wand as I turned around and apparated away.
"How was it?" she asked.
"Indescribable, my lady," I said. "I feel a new me has been reborn. I feel much stronger than before, much more confident than before."
"I am glad you feel that way," she said as she approached me. "Now give me half of it." I looked at her for a moment. Did I hear that right? "You surely didn't expect that I would be doing this just for you, right? You hold a special ability because of which I chose you to do this task. Now that you have all of the life energy of those fifty six muggle people I want you to give half of it to me."
"But how will I do it, my lady?" I asked. She smiled.
"Leave that to me, Weasely," she said as the floor beneath my feet glowed bright orange and a rune appeared out of nowhere. I felt being pushed down on the floor as my body felt like it would crush any moment now. I definitely broke a few of my ribs and one of them poked painfully and dangerously into my right lung. My heart stopped for a while as I felt I would die. My vision became blurry and I don't remember when I lost consciousness.
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"We understand that," Harry said as others nodded, too. "But we need a plan to make sure we don't make any mistakes. We're being hunted right now outside the walls of this place. If they find us out there they will come with everything they have."
I sat in the corner, quite far from where they were but I could hear them discuss this new situation – get Hermione a new wand. I was watching them chatter, discuss how they were going to pull this off. It was somewhat irritating but they all seemed very serious about going outside. I didn't know how bad things were but looking at their faces I could tell they weren't joking about not wanting to go out.
"What about a sister wand?" I said and they all stopped and looked at me. "Like it was with Harry and Voldemort's wand. since I have a part of Voldemort's daughter inside me the type of wand she uses would work for me as well."
"She's not wrong," Luna said.
"Will it work?" asked Harry looking at her.
"She uses Voldemort's wand out of respect for him," said Luna.
"How sure are you?" Draco asked.
"I've seen it with my own eyes," she said. "I don't know if she changed it but that wand definitely worked for her as if it had chosen her to be its new wielder."
"But if that is correct then…" George said.
"Then Harry's original wand would work for Hermione," Neville said. "You still have it?" he asked looking at Harry who nodded.
"We can give it a try," Luna said. "If it doesn't work then we'd either have to get her a new wand or let her regain her lost memories so that her own wand can work with her properly."
"What happened to your original wand?" I asked Harry.
"I replaced it with a more powerful one," he replied. "Somehow after Voldemort had died that wand had stopped working for me."
"It was because that wand actually recognized you as Voldemort since you had a part of his soul inside you," Luna said. "Once the horcrux inside you was destroyed you became a stranger to your own wand."
"It might be," he said as he waved his hand and a box came flying into his palm out of nowhere. I was shocked to see him perform a wandless spell. He opened it and took out his original wand. It had many rough spots and scratches a result of years of use especially since when we were on the run while hunting the horcruxes back in the day. He held it and walked towards me. I stood up and took the wand as he gave it to me and I immediately felt a warm rush over me as the tip of the wand glowed a warm yellow for a moment before going quiet.
"How does it feel?" asked Luna.
"Definitely better than my own wand," I said.
"We'll give it a try," she said. "Come with me." And we headed towards the training room.
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Kingsley Shacklebolt was one busy minister of magic ever since Scrimgeour had been murdered. Ever since he had sat in the office he had worked non-stop to bring everything to a balance and under regulations so that the ministry could function properly. If the ruling body failed to act like it then a non-functional society couldn't be blamed for that.
He had a LOT to do and a lot of damages that Fudge had made to make up for. Since Rufus was the shortest minister ever in the history of magical Britain his term could be ignored. He had hardly attended any of his own meetings since the nation was under Voldemort's terror.
So he had begun by using the entire auror force the ministry had available at that time to arrest any and possibly all the remaining death eaters who had managed to escape after Voldemort's death. It wasn't an easy task to accomplish as they were already low on force as compared to the death eaters who everyone was sure were a lot more in number than compared to the working aurors. And so a recruit for aurors also went on simultaneously. It gave those a reason to fight who had lost someone or something in the last war. It wasn't surprising that the runaway death eaters who had been caught were so high in numbers that the prisons were incapable of handling them. New prison system was constructed. Azkaban was demolished and was re-built with even higher security and lots more prisons.
The dementors were removed as they posed threat for the future. If Voldemort was able to control them then someone else will, too. The new security measures that were followed ensured many steps of verifications and re-checks to make sure no spot was left undefended. The new convicts, the death eaters, people who had helped Voldemort in his crusade were all brought down hard by the newly implemented justice system. A thorough clean-up of the entire ministry was made to happen and lots and lots of moles were pulled out of their nests. Kingsley went down hard on those responsible for any and all sorts of aids towards Voldemort or his allies.
It took quite some time to bring everything back to normal per say. Things could never be back to normal after everything that had happened. There were hardly any people who could go back to lie a normal life because everyone had lost someone in the last battle.
Then came peace time. Everything had been settled. New laws had been formed, everything and everyone had been searched thoroughly so that no weak end was left unchecked and un-altered. People celebrated their victory over the terror reigned by Voldemort for over a decade. Heroes were celebrated, funerals were serviced for those they had lost. Some had been wiped out entirely.
Then came her.
It was a normal day in the small town of Potterville, a small magical village named after Harry's family, a way to thank him for defeating Voldemort. When Harry had come to know about it he had been more shocked than surprised and it had taken a lot of convincing to make him understand that it was alright and that the people wouldn't listen if he asked them to change the name back to something else. Finally he had let it go. He hated attention of any sort but he understood there were things he couldn't control.
A very normal morning in Potterville and out of nowhere a black cloud came over the village. The residents saw it as any other black cloud expecting little lightning and thunder and if possible rain although the climate wasn't of any but then before they knew it was all over.
The alarms that rang all throughout the ministry building almost deafened everyone. Kingsley stood off of his chair in surprise when all the monitoring trinkets in his office went haywire. A group of very high ministry officials barged into his office and before he could understand he had been showed the report of the most terrible incident that even Voldemort had not been able to achieve.
Almost two thousand villagers – the entire population of Potterville – dead.
The report had been made in a hurry because there was obviously no time for them to go through all the details. But whatever it was it was alarming and dangerous. There was no time for any meeting. Kingsley knew that but he had to or else things would go haywire without proper communication.
Under his direct command he had closed off all public communication portals be it floo or owl postal services. Groups of highly trained and skilled curse breakers were dispatched to ensure no one could apparate in and around the village of Potterville. He then turned around once he had been left alone in his office and took out his personal communicator – a cellphone, courtesy of Hermione Granger – and dialed Harry's number.
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I didn't know what to say. Every spell I cast hit on point. It was as if I was doing something I had done my entire life. It didn't feel strange at all. All those complicated spells, those complicated castings, and it all came like that as if it was just yesterday that I'd been casting these spells.
I stopped, took a breather and looked. All four target dummies were lying on the ground, smoking and on fire, obliterated by my spells. I looked at Luna. She smiled at me. So did Neville and Draco who had a smirk rather than a smile. It seemed to be more of pride than the realization that I had actually cast spells. Then I looked at Harry. He had a neutral face. There was nothing on his face that could tell me anything as to what he was thinking. Then he turned around and walked out of the room. Everyone looked at him and then back at me. I looked at Luna questioningly. She just smiled sadly at me. I didn't understand what his problem was.
"We'll go tomorrow to get you an untraceable wand," she said as she followed him out.
"That was great, Hermione," said Neville who then followed her out along with Draco.
I watched them leave the room and then turned to look at the dummies and then the wand in my hand. It felt a little warm to the touch and also I, too, felt a bit exhausted. Perhaps it was because of the strain on my core. I had come to know about it from my memories – that every magical being had a core of raw magical power which they manipulated using the wands. A very skilled and trained witch or wizard would use his or her core very efficiently unlike me.
I sighed. I was thirsty and tired. I pocketed the wand which belonged to Harry previously and then walked out of the room. It was already evening so I guess I wouldn't have to wait long enough to get a new wand. I knew we'd be going to the Knockturn Alley because that was the only place that dealt with anything less legal although the ministry wasn't as functioning as it should've been so there was hardly any line between legal and illegal works. I had been reading the Prophets ever since we'd come here and news weren't good at all. The fact that there were still some auror securities at some places was the only good thing about a functioning ministry and even that wasn't convincing. The aurors on duty were living in constant fear when they'll be attacked.
Dinner was a quiet deal as no one spoke about what was going on or what was happening. Harry wasn't present at the table. Luna whispered to me that he was having his dinner in his room. I wondered if he was angry or upset with me. I dint ask about it to Luna or anyone else. I didn't have any problems with him that I could think of anymore. If he had some with me then he should've come straight to me and talk it out. I'd had enough of his weird behavior towards me.
Apparently we were married and also we both had a son together. Who knows what happened to him and why wouldn't he talk to me about that or why he was being so cold towards me. I had thought about it the whole evening and couldn't come up with anything to deal with it so I let it happen as it was going on. I saw no gain or meaning in pushing for answers. If it was through voting that one got their ideas pitched before others then that's how I will play it, too. Luna, Neville and George were already more supportive of me. To put Harry in the corner alone I needed Draco on my side as well.
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What I saw was something I thought I would never see. After all the memories I had watched of myself which showed those lively streets of the Diagon Alley this was nothing like it.
We apparated as quietly as magically possible for the eleventh time to avoid being tracked by anyone who was interested in us which was an understatement according to Luna and others. Harry said he would follow from behind, make sure to clear our tracks in case anyone had decided to follow us today.
I looked around the place inside which we had apparated and after a minute or so I realized where we were. Since George had also pleaded to tag along even in his current state as an injured person I could already see a glint of moisture in his eyes as he looked at everything inside that shop. The ginger-red color of the walls, the many, many small trinkets and potion packets along with prank candies that now lay to waste was once the most popular joke shop of all time that had ever been opened in Diagon Alley.
Fred and George's joke shop.
It made sense that we had to immediately leave the place not even a minute later after our arrival but even in that little time from what I had observed I could say that George hadn't been to this place in a long time and a big part of him wanted to stay here and look at it some more. But he understood the gravity of the situation we were in and acted like a professional while ignoring everything around him and taking the lead with Draco as we walked out of the shop. It didn't', however, stopped him from picking up some stuff and putting them in one of his bottomless pouches. I knew from watching my memories how many of the wins' jokes and prank products had helped them and many a students during the battle of Hogwarts.
We waked out on the deserted streets of the alley and covered our faces with hoods of our cloaks. We each had our separate invisibility cloaks enchanted with notice-e-not charms and a variety of other security and privacy charms. They were also laced with a very specific identification charms keyed to the rune stones that each of us carried o spot each other when we were under our cloaks.
Armed with everything we had Draco and Neville took the front while Luna and George took the back. I was made o walk in the middle of them all as I was the least experienced among us all. It made me feel embarrassed to be that weak and powerless amongst us all but I was the most unskilled and inexperienced magic user of us all. Even a first year Hogwarts student was better than me.
We walked through the broken and burnt down shops. The air was still rich with the smell of death and decay. There were a lot of dead bodies around us, some lying on the streets, some handing off of the broken windows of the houses and shops while some impaled on the walls, stripped completely naked, skinned, cut at every joint of the human body and then sewed back again to hang as if it was some sort of decorative. The scenery around me was sickening and I did my best to ignore them. There was no one but us on the streets as we headed towards that unknown place where I was to get my wand from.
After about twenty minutes of walking once we had entered the Knockturn Alley and taking numerous turns through is narrow streets we now stood in front of a rundown shop. It hardly looked to be conducting business but looks could be deceiving. I saw them enter the shop and I as nudged by Luna to follow in. once inside Draco and Neville took care of doing their best to cast layers of privacy and security charms in and around the place and after we'd got the signal we removed our cloaks.
"Now what?" I asked whispering as I didn't see anyone who was supposed to sell wands.
"Now we let her do her work," said George and I turned to look at Luna who was already going through the broken and rundown racks and storages of the shop looking for wands. She already had at least ten wands under her arms. Ten minutes later she came and stood at the counter, laid all the wands that she had found on the top of the counter and looked at me.
"Pick each one individually and don't stop unless you've tried them all," she said looking at me.
I looked at her but then went on to what she'd asked me to do. I felt three wands that felt as if they'd chosen me once I was done with the small pile. She separately kept the three wands from the rest and then went inside and brought another pile of wands. We stayed there for over two hours and a he end I had in front of me eight wands that had apparently chosen me. She grabbed them all, placed them in her pouch and then we apparated back at Grimmauld Place.
I looked around. I saw him in one of the adjacent rooms. Harry was back as well. Or he hadn't left. I ignored him as I walked inside with the rest of them towards the training room. I looked on the floor as we walked. My mind was on fire. Thoughts were rampaging around inside my head. I pressed my lips together. I couldn't hold it anymore. I stopped. Neville who was right in front of me stopped and turned to look at me. "I'll be right back," I told him and turned around, walking towards the Room Harry was in.
He looked up when I opened the door and entered inside. I closed the door behind me and turned the knob, locking it from the inside. I didn't know what was going to happen but here I was. I took in a deep breath and sighed as I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. That didn't happen. I walked towards him as he now stood and looked at me with a neutral expression.
"Where is he?" I asked as I stopped about a foot form him and looked him in his eyes. "Where is our son?"
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Thanks for reading…
