Chapter 6

Hermione

It was usually Harry that had the weird dreams. He would dream of Voldemort and long halls of glass globes, Ron would dream of winning the Quidditch World Cup. My dreams were of books and toothpaste, books I wanted to read and toothpaste because... well, my parents were dentists. I would never really know why I dreamed about toothpaste.

Tonight I dreamed of being in a large open field on a bright summer day. There was a big river behind me, a mile or so in the distance, and on its far banks a small town. Nearer, at the top of a hill no more than one hundred feet away was an ancient oak tree and under a gathering of people. Four of the women were older, but all were beautiful. One though shown like the sun, everything about her was perfect and feminine. Seated in an arc around them was a likewise beautiful girl, she seemed vaguely familiar, three other girls who were in their own right stunning, and an older man. All except the man and one girl were dressed in flowing white gowns with gold belts, arm bands and earrings. The girl that was different also wore white and gold embellishments, but also had a long purple robe or cape laying over it. All the women, the man and one of the teen girls just glowed with radiance. No matter, the man seemed out of place. He was wearing workman's cloths, was covered in soot and appeared to have smoke coming from his beard and hair as if it were smoldering with fire. I realized I was wearing my school robes and felt out of place as well.

"Oh good!" One of the women spoke. "Our last guest is here. Ladies this is Hermione!" she announced, before adding "Hephaestus, you may go now."

"What? I can't have tea with my son's girlfriend? I suppose I will just have to meet you later Miss Jennifer. Oh, and Miss Chase, I took the liberty of working on that sword of yours, but as it turns out Nico's father has found your knife, and this thing." He said giving the girl what appeared to be a laptop case with a large blue triangle on it. "Oh, and Reyna, Hazel, since you like fighting on horseback so much I sharpened up these cavalry swords I gave under this tree 150 or so years ago to some guys Athena wants to talk to you about. I added silver, celestial bronze and that imperial gold Reyna likes so much, so you're ready for everything too." The smoldering man said as he handed weapons to the girls."

"Oh! You found my knife!" Thank you!" She shouted as she swung first the knife and then the sword around like a maniac, albeit a maniac skilled with sharp instruments.

"Uh, actually Hades went through hell to find them. Said it was the least he could do for you and Jackson looking after Nico. He sent this too." the smoldering man said as he handed her the laptop case. I thought she would pass out when he gave her this. "The sword I balanced," he continued, "straightened, and plated with celestial bronze, imperial gold and silver. Oh, and all of them got stygian iron just to be safe. Then I sharpened it and re-balanced it and I worked the other two for Reyna and Hazel just the same. If you cut something with it, it will bleed."

"Yes yes Hephaestus, we're all sure you did your usual excellent job, now please let us have some time for the girls." One of the women said.

"Ladies" He said as he gave us all a slight wave before fading out.

"So, where were we?" The previous woman asked.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Oh! Right! Hermione!"

"You mean Helen and Menelaus's daughter?"

"Oh heavens no, Hermione Grainger of the London Graingers. She attends Hecate's school with our girls."

"No, I go to Hogwarts... who are you people?"

"Same thing, and as to who we are, I am Athena, commonly known as the Goddess of Wisdom, this crazed muse with blades is my daughter, Annabeth. This is Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and Love, and her lovely daughter, Piper. And finally this is Bellona, she is the Roman Goddess of war and diplomacy and her daughter Reyna.."

"Wait, I thought Mars was the Roman god of war." I said.

"Romans like war." Bellona smiled.

"Oh mother! That's not true!" Reyna exclaimed, before turning to look at me and adding "We're just very, very good at it."

"Finally" Athena spoke "this is Hazel and Jennifer. Their godly parents are male and won't be joining us today."

"But where am I? Is this real or a dream?"

"Well to answer your first question, that town is Savannah, Tennessee in the United States, and this is..."

"Shiloh" I answered.

"Oh very good Hermione! None of our girls guessed it!"

"What is Shiloh?" Piper asked.

"Its a battle field from the American Civil War, we learned about it in history of magic. The union army was led by two powerful wizards, Sherman and Grant, and the southern army had just the one really strong wizard, Johnston. Sherman and Grant had broken the southern army at Donelson, up the river near the Kentucky border and drove them south. They took Nashville and Murfreesboro before coming here. They planned to march into Corinth, Mississippi from here and cut the south in half, but were over confident and did not deploy any defenses around their camp or even protective charms. Johnston moved his troops under a powerful concealing charm and surprised the unprepared Union Army, almost driving them back into the river, however Johnston was killed and the south was left without a wizard in command, and the few witches and wizards in the confederate army were no match for Grant and Sherman. The next day Union reinforcements helped Sherman push back the confederates and win the battle, but his army was too weak to continue to press and the invasion of the Tennessee River Valley stalled. Is this the tree?" I asked, referring to the oak we were under.

"Indeed it is Hermione. It was here that after the first day's loss Grant comforted his friend Sherman when he hinted at resignation by ordering him instead to "lick 'em tomorrow." Bellona said.

"Now, can any of our girls guess why we brought you here for tea today?" Aphrodite asked.

No one spoke.

"Herminone, is there anything else special about the Battle of Shiloh, other than in your wonderful retelling of the facts?" Bellona asked.

"Well, as I understand it, more soldiers were killed, north and south, than had died in all the other wars America had been in to that time combined. It foretold what would happen over the next several years as both sides committed to the complete destruction of the other army. When news of the numbers were reported it shocked the world, and all because Sherman got over confident."

"Well put. I do wish my daughter were as studious as you." Athena said as Annabeth cringed.

"So the point of bringing you here" Bellona said again, "is?"

"To remind us to not get cocky?" Hazel replied.

"Exactly. You have recently won a great victory over the worst foe imaginable, but you must not rest on your laurels. There are things before you on this quest that can and will kill you if given an opportunity. Your worst enemy is your over confidence. Oh, and don't let your men get over confident either. It is our duty as women to keep the grounded as your generation says." Athena spoke, and all absorbed her wisdom. She stressed the word "grounded" and stared at her daughter as she did, though I doubt if anyone other than myself and her daughter noticed.

There was a long silence and I finally asked again, "So, is this real or a dream?"

"Why not both dear?" said Aphrodite. "When you wake you will remember everything, or most everything. In the mean time, lets chat. Your going to be spending quite a bit of time with our daughters this year, and perhaps next, so we thought it would be a good idea to meet before they left. We won't be able to see them except under unusual circumstances while at school you see."

Athena served me tea and we talked about everything and nothing. Athena and Aphrodite gave us advice on everything from boys to selecting the right college. Bellona was by far the most down to earth and even sarcastic at times. Annabeth was swearing she would get Jennifer back for convincing her boyfriend that Annabeth was pregnant and Jennifer just laughed on and on about it like she hadn't had any fun in a hundred years.

"Like I can grow a baby from my brain like you mother! Geez! And she just left him hanging there, now I can't convince him otherwise!

The girls asked me about Hogwarts but seemed to be interested in different things. Annabeth mostly wanted to know about the building itself, while Piper wanted to know about the social life there. Hazel was sort of creepy, asking if there were ghosts or if a lot of people had died there. Reyna and Jennifer wanted to know about classes and studying. I explained what I could about the classes and professors, and pointed out that most studying was done in the house commons rooms, which were noisy or the library, which was also noisy. Truthfully there were no good places to study where a group could work by themselves or together undisturbed."

"Oh! I can have Leo fix that!" Jennifer said, and all the other girls agreed.

The goddesses all asked about school supplies and when I told them about Diagon Ally they announced that they would have Hades establish an account for each at Gringotts. Athena also mentioned that she had discussed Hazel's situation with Zeus and Hades and it was ruled that her findings would not longer be cursed so long as it was for necessities for her or her allies. Piper and Jennifer became fascinated with House colors and robes and decided that they simply must make some as they traveled.

Like I said, it was a weird dream. I was just starting to get to know the girls when I woke.

Mrs Weasley was calling us down to breakfast.