.26.
The next fortnight was an incredibly busy one. Not only was everyone busy sitting their end of year exams, studying for exams that they were still to sit, or grading exams, they were also being constantly bormbarded by the interdimensional students, who were urging them to sign their petition to the Minister for Magic.
One of the most annoying things about trying to get as many signatures for their petion as possible, was that many of the students that they approached seemed irritated by the interruption, claiming that they needed to study for the exams that they were sitting. Not that any of the students for Erilea or Prythian cared. They had decided to abstain from sitting those very exams by unanimous decision, as part of their silent protest.
Eventually many people just signed the petition "just to shut them up and keep them quiet." The majority of the students who actually signed the petition willingly and happily were the Slytherins. Sure, there were a heap of students from the other houses that signed willingly, believing it to be the right thing to do. But it was the Slytherins who wanted the interdimensional students gone the most. It was the Slytherins that had hated them the most, and had stayed truest to their feelings throughout the school year. It wasn't that the rest of the school had a grudge against them, or anything, it was just that they already had enough on their plates to deal with without worrying about them as well.
If one of the worst things about fighting for their petition was the indifference and apathy of their fellow students, it was the nothing compared to the coolness and disinterest of the staff – the lack of concern. The very people who were meant to look out for them as their students. They had been so sure of the support of the staff, that it was their apparent lack of sympathy hit them all the hardest. It was almost as though Headmistress McGonagall had coerced them to come round to her way of thinking overnight. It was heartbreaking to think that all the hard work they'd done that year to ensure that the staff came to accept them had all been for nothing.
So far, the only staff member who had happily and willingly signed their petition was the Magical Creature professor Hagrid. And as Nesryn later sourly commented Hagrid probably didn't even realise what he was signing. The only other professors they had managed to convince to sign it were the Defence against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin and the Transfiguration Professor, Lillian Kowalski.
Alone out of all the dozens of staff members, these two were the only ones who felt sorry for them, who understood their desire to return to their real homes, understood that they had responsibilities there. This was something that Headmistress McGonagall would always fail to understand. In a strange way McGonagall had come to resent them just for being at Hogwarts, blame them for the tragedies that her students had endured during the war. For minor irritant or for anything that had gone wrong for her that year, Headmistress McGonagall had dishonestly and deceitfully blamed on any and all of the interdimensional students.
Anyone with any sense could tell that Headmistress McGonagall's actions were wrong – not to mention immoral – but she felt that she had been tried beyond the point of endurance and that she had no other choice. Somehow over the past year, Headmistress McGonagall had taken all of her anger and rage, and had mistakenly shoved it onto the students from Erilea and Prythian, blaming them all for her pain and grief. Then when they had proved to be better people than she was and rose above her pettiness and her ire, she had grown to resent them bitterly. And now she had somehow gotten it into her head that she should make them feel as maddened, aggravated and as exasperated as they had made her feel all year.
And forcing them all to stay here against their will was her way of doing that. It was stupid and illogical, but in her frustrated rage there was to be no reasoning with her. Several staff members had already attempted to convince her to let them return home instead of holding them hostage – to no avail. The longer that Headmistress McGonagall clung to her hostage situation plan, the more the staff swore that she was off her rocker. And as they grew more wary of the Headmistress the more likely they became to sign their names to the stundents' petition. And the more staff members that signed, the more crazed McGonagall became, a circle of vicious repetition.
But surprisingly enough, there was still one staff member that believed that Headmistress McGonagall was doing the right thing by holding all twenty-eight of the interdimensional students captive. And that single staff member was Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. It was weird, but no matter how many times they told her that what the Headmistress was planning to do was wrong, it made no difference. Madam Pomfrey had become as every bit as stubborn and hard-hearted as the Headmistress, and there was no stopping them.
The rest of the staff had had quite a serious chinwag about what plans the Headmistress and the nurse could be planning in regards to the interdimensional students. There after all, twenty-eight interdimensional students, and only two of the staff members who were plotting against them. Not to mention the fact that the interdimensional students were quite considerably more powerful than the two of them put together.
The fire magic gift of Aelin Galathynius alone… The thought made them all shudder. They all knew by now that Aelin had a terrible temper and she would most definitely not hesitate to use her fire magic against them if angered. Not to mention that the cold-blooded brutality and cruelty of Manon and Petrah could likely destroy them all within a couple of minutes. And whatever Headmistress McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were planning was certainly going to be more than enough to enrage them all.
And with the combined mighty fire magics of Aelin Galathynius and Eris and Lucien Vanserrra combined with the immense magical gifts and the physical strength of the rest of the students from Erilea and Prythian, you had to admit, it certainly did look good for any of them. Their wrath was going to destroy them all.
In fact, the staff were definitely beginning to fear the confrontation that was to come in the near future.
Most of the students may have been willing to help the students in their petition to go home, but there was one student who was not. Hermione Granger was absolutely spitting mad when she found out Tamlin was among the interdimensional students campaigning the hardest to go home. In a way, it was as though she had expected him to just give in to Headmistress McGonagall's demands and just stay there for eternity. It also made Tamlin wonder, in the back of his mind, if she was in on the Headmistress's plans. And if she was involved, to what extent was she involved? The thought of Hermione being involved made Tamlin's heart contract in pain. He couldn't even bear the thought.
"I just don't understand why," Hermione persisted stubbornly. "I just don't understand why you're so intent on going back to that weird land you came from. I would have thought that you would prefer to stay here. By going back, it's like you're saying you don't love me."
Tamlin groaned quietly. He'd been having this exact same conversation with Hermione for days now. He couldn't understand why Hermione thought that he would ever want to stay in this ghatly world, when it had been nothing but horrendous to him. Hermione refused to understand his yearning for his own world. He'd been intending to ask Hermione if she would come to live with him in Prythian, but seeing as she was so displeased – almost angry – at the mere fact that he actually wanted to go back, that he hadn't yet been able to bring himself to.
"Hermione, we've been through this before," He said tiredly. "I have to go back to Prythian because I have a responsibility to my Court, to my people. I have so much to make up for when it comes to my people. I will not abandon them now."
"From what little I've heard from the rest of the pupils from Prythian, your Court and your people aren't exactly your biggest fans," Hermione said coolly. "They don't want you, so you have no need to hurry back."
"That's true," Tamlin said quietly, hating himself more in that moment than he ever had before. "My people don't exactly like me—"
"I'm not saying that I can fault your logic," said Hermione, interrupting him loudly, almost hysterical. "But if your people don't need you, why go back at all? You can have a normal life here."
"But I am the last of my family line. I have obligations, Hermione," Tamlin said in a faux calm voice. "Surely even you understand the meaning of duty."
At this, Hermione was so furious it looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. "I realise that you feel you have obligations in the place you come from," Hermione whispered. "But I love you, and your choices are going to take you away from me."
"Nothing is going to take you away from me," Tamlin said more calmly than he'd been before. He felt like he was starting to understand why Hermione was objecting so vehemently to the mere idea of his going back to Prythian. In a way, it seemed like she was worrying about the status of their relationship, when they were in two different worlds. But it almost seemed like she was fretting about something else as well. It was quite perturbing to him. Hermione's sudden possessiveness unnerved him.
"But how can you be so sure of that, Tamlin?" Hermione asked, whimpered softly. "I don't ever want to lose you. I love you so much."
Tamlin smiled at that. Was that all she was worried about – losing him? Perhaps it was time for him to ask her the most important question. "I love you too, Hermione," he said, smiling. "And I can promise you that I will never leave you."
"Oh, are you staying here with me after all?" Hermione asked, perking up right away. Her excitement and pleasure at the idea were immediately obvious.
"No, Hermione," Tamlin said, making Hermione's face fall. "I'm asking you to come back to Prythian with me, and I'm asking you to marry me."
"Of course I'll marry you!" Hermione squealed excitedly, running forward to kiss him hard on the lips.
"Looks like that's one of my questions answered," Tamlin said, smiling happily as Hermione finished kissing him. "But it looks like you've left my other question unanswered. Moving to Prythian, to live with me forever? What about it?"
Hermione frowned slightly. "Well, I never imagined that other worlds existed before this year. When I learned that there really were other worlds, I imagined that you would all be monsters. But then I met you."
By now Tamlin was barely breathing. "And now?"
"And now, I've actually met you," Hermione smiled. "And you're not a monster at all. I think you already know how much I love you. I just agreed to marry you. Yes, I will move to Prythian for you."
"You have no idea how much I was hoping you'd say that," Tamlin breathed, pulling Hermione into his arms, making her giggle uncontrollably. After a few minutes of silence, Tamlin hesitantly posed another question to Hermione. "When are you – we, going to tell your family and friends?"
"Don't know, don't care," Hermione said blithely, shrugging.
"I wonder how they're going to react," Tamlin said nervously.
"My father and brother never wanted me, and have never cared about me," Hermione said in an off-handed tone. "And as for the people I called my friends for nearly eight years, who were practically my family, after the way they've treated me the past few months, I could really care less about what they think. It's my life, what I do with it is my choice."
Tamlin nodded thoughtfully at this. He now realised that this had been the root of his relationship problems with Feyre. He hadn't allowed her a choice – about anything, at all. He'd refused to see that his own sense of what was right for Feyre was killing her slowly. His own stubbornness had destroyed their relationship. He wasn't going to let it happen again.
Hermione, however, seemed to sense where Tamlin's thoughts had drifted. "At least if I'm by your side I'll be able to keep an eye on that bitch Feyre," Hermione said rather smugly.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Tamlin groaned, pushing Hermione away from him slightly so that he could look her in the eye. "Hermione, Feyre doesn't want me. Feyre hasn't loved or wanted me in years. Her love for me died when I locked her up in the mansion. In my obsessiveness and possessiveness, I didn't realise that it felt as though she felt suffocated. When she told me that it felt like I were drowning her myself, I exploded in rage, and I never listened. She does not love me."
"How can you be so sure about that?" Hermione pouted.
"Feyre quite happily married to Rhysand now," he said firmly, yet tiredly. He was tired of Hermione constantly badmouthing Feyre. He was tired of her questioning his love for her. He had just proposed to her, after all. What greater proof of his love could he give her? "She doesn't want me. I'm willing to bet that she'd prefer to die rather than come back to me."
"I'll take your word for it," Hermione said simply. "For now. I love you so much."
"Well, that's good," Tamlin teased, "because I love you too. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else before. I love you. Now can we start planning for our wedding day?"
Hermione giggled. "I would love to. Hopefully planning my own wedding will be more fun than planning Harry and Ginny's wedding."