Chapter 36
Present Day
Hermione was thrown backwards into a rack of medicine balls, sending them scattering across the floor with a clatter. She landed heavily on her left shoulder and could immediately tell it was dislocated. Footsteps running towards her told her that she didn't have time to worry about that now, and she hurried to haul herself to her feet, adrenaline rushing through her veins.
Too late, she felt the pressure of a wand against her neck.
"You're dead."
Hermione dropped down onto her elbows. "Ow," She said, peering up at the form towering over her. "Did you have to throw me so hard?"
The fake wand fell away from her skin and Dìona sat down next to her, tossing the piece of wood carelessly to the side. She shrugged. "Nope, but I enjoyed it."
Hermione rolled her eyes and lay back, resting her head on one of the loose medicine balls. "Of course you did." She stared at the ceiling of the gymnasium for a moment before turning her head to look at Dìona. "Why did we come to a muggle school, again?"
Dìona shuffled back to rest against the wall. Her legs stretched out in front of her as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. "More space." She said flippantly.
"More muggles." Hermione countered, turning back to the ceiling and closing her eyes. Her shoulder twinged lightly, but she couldn't be bothered to do much about it.
A slam echoed through the gym, reverberating off the vaulted ceiling. Neither Hermione nor Dìona reacted much to the sound, or to the sound of footsteps coming towards them.
"You finished, then?" Amaya asked as she got closer. Hermione cracked her eyes open just as Amaya appeared on the edge of her vision. She could tell the moment she noticed Hermione's shoulder as Amaya gave a double take, turning admonishingly to look at Dìona. "You let Hermione go around with a dislocated shoulder? Dios mio, of all the–"
Amaya cut herself off and crouched on her knees next to Hermione, taking her shoulder gently in her hands. A whispered word, and the pain leeched away from her shoulder, replaced with a gentle warmth. Amaya stood up.
She gestured at Dìona to stand. "Come on. Time for meditation."
Recently, Hermione's days had started to fall into a routine. Taking class of a morning, then going off-grounds with one of the three Essences to whichever location they deemed necessary that day. She had had to get special consideration from Professor Dumbledore, but that had turned out to be easy once she had told him that she would be going to discover more about her arrival into this time. He had taken care of it all, and ensured that she could come and go as she pleased (Hermione rather thought that Dumbledore was under the impression that he had 'collected' her quite successfully, and as such, was rather pleased with anything Hermione did that seemed to be furthering his own plans. Not that Hermione had put much thought into Dumbledore's reasoning for anything…).
Her afternoons now consisted of rigorous training regimes, run by the three elder Essences. Dìona was in charge of her combat training, Amaya, her time and spatial manipulation, and Chester with channelling her magical core.
Basically, Dìona gave her bruises, Amaya gave her headaches, and Chester gave her sleepless nights.
No matter who she was training with, the day always ended with a group meditation to 'get used to finding each other's Essence', as Chester put it.
Dìona groaned, rolling onto her side in protest. "Do I have to?"
Amaya nudged her leg insistently. "Yes, you do."
Hermione snorted as Dìona let out a long whine, but slowly pulled herself to her feet using the wall as leverage. "But Maaaiiiii."
"No." Amaya said firmly, reaching out a hand to Hermione. "You are going, and that is final."
Hermione grinned, and grabbed onto Amaya's hand, using it to haul herself upright. She dusted herself off once standing, and Dìona peeled away from the wall reluctantly. Amaya nodded to herself, satisfied that they were coming, and turned on her heel for the exit. Dìona stuck her tongue out at her retreating back.
"If I have to," Hermione told her, "Then so do you."
Dìona pulled a face. "Yeah, but Chester loves you. He lets you leave early."
Hermione snorted, moving to follow Amaya out of the gym. "You'll live."
A/N: Again, apologies if the back and forth is a bit seasickness inducing, but I'll put little notices to tell you where we're at. I'm making the chapters small cause I'm trying to post everyday. A warning; it might not work out like that as we move forwards, just cause I have sooo many wip's atm, and I'm also working like, full time, so there's only so much writing I can stomach before succumbing to exhaustion. But yeah, enjoy, and I hope you are liking these characters as much as I am :)