Chapter 39

Present Day

One week, Hermione's schedule took a bit of a hit. Suddenly, instead of training with only one of the others at a time, Hermione was bombarded from every direction by all three, expected to implement all of their lessons at once as they threw everything they could at her.

"Faster!" Dìona shouted, adding more speed to the automatic ball launcher so that the tennis balls flew at her with more frequency. "You have to move faster, Herms!"

"Don't…call me…Herms." Hermione panted, scrunching up her forehead in concentration as she fought to stop all the balls from hitting her at the same time as she combatted the spells Amaya was firing at her. Meanwhile, Chester was busy bombarding her mind with a legimency attack.

There was a sharp pain in her side as one of Dìona's tennis balls got through. Amaya called the others off with a sharp, "Enough!"

Hermione dropped her hands and took a deep breath. "So," She began, collapsing on the ground with a wry smile, "Which one of you is gonna tell me what we're preparing for, exactly?"

The three beings shared a glance. Amaya sighed, "We should have known you'd figure out something was up. I just hoped you wouldn't get there for a while."

Hermione frowned, wiping sweat from forehead and trying to get her breathing under control, "Why? Is it something bad?"

Dìona laughed, strolling over to drop next to her and stretching out her legs, "It's always something bad, Herms." She patted the ground next to her and gestured to Amaya and Chester. "Might as well take a seat, guys. She's not going to rest until she gets answers."

Hermione scoffed, dropping back onto her palms and stretching out. "I'm not that bad."

Chester laughed, deep and booming, Dìona squinted at her, and even Amaya looked sceptical.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fine, maybe I am." She pointed an accusing finger at them. "I wouldn't have to be though, if you would just come out and say things."

"She does have a point." Amaya said consideringly.

Dìona laughed and reached out to clap Hermione's shoulder. "What's life without a little confusion now and again?"

Hermione shrugged her hand off. "Easier?" She suggested.

Dìona just shook her head and leaned back on her hands, crossing her legs at the ankles. She didn't have a single hair out of place, and almost glowed where she rested. Hermione was absolutely not jealous.

Chester cleared his throat and produced a crinkled piece of parchment out of thin air. He flattened it on the ground in front of him. Hermione leaned forward curiously, peering at it in interest. "What's this?" She asked.

"This," Chester said, "Is where we're going next week."

"Another training exercise?" Hermione asked, turning the parchment around to face her. Detailed on it was a map of some sort of labyrinth or complex cave system with twisting passageways and interlocking chambers. The map looked ancient, and was faded in places – part of it had disappeared entirely from the top right corner.

Hermione frowned at it, gently folding a tear back into place. "Are you sure this place is still around? This map is pretty old."

Dìona yawned loudly and sat up. "Chester's just being dramatic," She said, pulling a rolled scroll out from behind Chester and dumping it in front of Hermione. The parchment still smelt new. "This is the map we're using."

Hermione looked questioningly at Chester, who didn't look even the least bit contrite, before rolling her eyes and unravelling the scroll. The same map, inked in sharp black lines, marked the parchment.

"So, what's the exercise?" Hermione asked as she studied the map.

There was silence.

Hermione looked up.

"About that." Amaya said. "It's not a training exercise."

"Congratulations, Herms." Dìona clapped her on the shoulder again. "Welcome to your first field test."

A/N: Here we go...