"The owls can get in," said Tom, "because they've never been a sentient being that's banned from entering the castle due to the wards. They have exceptions. If I can possess them..."

Hermione watched as he possessed the owl. He explained he was quite skilled with legimacy and then there was nothing to do but wait as he controlled the owl to the owlery and attempted to communicate with the other owls through this owl. Tom usually kept his face blank and devoid of most emotions, but there was a little bit of strain upon his features so Hermione looked away and busied herself with rearranging the items in her moleskin pouch for something to do. He seemed quite busy.

It took him several hours. Hermione yawned, she felt tired. She didn't usually stay up this late but she reasoned this was something of an exception; running around wild on these summer nights and adventures. Sometime in the early hours of the morning Tom had finished and Hermione spied a team of six large owls including the one that delivered the letter to Hermione (whom she hadn't given her response back yet) swooping down towards them with the pensieve. There was a faint gap in the trees that they were visible through. Hermione raised her wand and blasted away some of the tree branches, Tom dropped the enchantments and the owls placed the pensieve in. Then Tom obliviated all of them one by one and possessed them to fly back to the castle, leaving the last owl. He looked quite pale in the moonlight but satisfied.

"Take it away where it can't see the pensieve and send of your reply. I've possessed this one differently so that it won't remember a thing once it's all over," he said.

"It was the imperius wasn't it?" asked Hermione when she returned with the owl having fluttered away, "you used legimacy on all the other owls, but the imperius on that one and made it forget it once it was all over as a part of the imperius?"

Tom smiled, "it was a mastermind of an idea," he told her, "because both the imperius and legimacy work to allow that combination. I'm glad you've figured it out."

He set up the wards again, "I'm going to side-appariate this to East Lothian. Can you appariate there by yourself or do you want me to appariate you there and back. Both appariation and apparation can be used by the way," he said, "but I prefer appariation. It sounds more magical."

"That's interesting, agreed," said Hermione. She was learning a lot about the wizarding world from him, including multiple words for the same thing.

After Tom disappeared with the pensieve Hermione followed suit.

They both arrived at nearly the same time.

"I'll store them in the woods," he said, walking over.

Hermione watched as his solitary figure cut a path through the grass, the ghost boy practically swooped in a loop through the trees in delight at the news of the successful pensieve, and permitted Tom to hide it within the forest at once.

Afterwards Tom came back and when they looked at each other, twin glances of tiredness dripped from both of them. They both unanimously agreed it was time to sleep.

They woke up in mid-morning and after going through a magical morning routine, Hermione and Tom had a rather large 'brunch' as they decided to do.

"What will happen when Dumbledore realises the pensieve is missing?" asked Hermione.

"He won't have a clue most likely," said Tom, "Dumbledore is alerted that items are missing from Hogwarts if they exited the wards when they weren't supposed to be. However, there is no rule saying owls can't carry important objects in Hogwarts past the wards. Most likely because witches and wizards overlook animals sometimes. They didn't even think of someone possessing an owl or several to steal items from Hogwarts. They always imagine some grand wizard or witch using magic to steal something. Witches and wizards like to imagine theft like that you know? Grand. So Dumbledore will likely not know, and neither will the owls. He will simply come to find out that the pensieve has mysterious disappeared. Why, he might even believe it disappeared for a good reason, or that magical items pop in and out of existence somehow, and that maybe it's some hidden message from the castle. Of course, there's no knowing what he thinks, but that is a possibility."

"So you're saying because of Hogwart's stupidity and gulliability this doesn't look like the crime it is and there is a chance no one will notice it's been stolen and life will just move on?" asked Hermione.

"I know so," said Tom, "I have never exactly liked Hogwart's running, and it's only gotten worse when Dumbledore became headmaster. Anyway, if Dumbledore does notice he won't tell the ministry because he won't trust them, so he'll be all up to his eyeballs figuring it out. Knowing Dumbledore he can suspect lots of reasons, different types of magic, and with any luck it will be time before he uncovers what really happened to it. As long as we have a few more months we will have achieved enough of our goal that Dumbledore can't really stop us."

"It sounds unbelievable...but also like it makes sense," admitted Hermione.

They spent the few hours after brunch making potions to accelerate the growth of the new yew shoots in the forest. It typically took 1-2 years but with a few dark potions could be accelerated to half a year. They would have to make a lot of the potion and routinely water it every day. Tom explained that there were runic enchantments that could charm liquid from a pitcher to splash in certain places that had a circle drawn around them at the same time every day. Hermione begged him to tell her and in the space of a few short hours she had learned more about ancient runes than she'd known before. It felt nice to simply talk about knowledge that wasn't so directly related to their task at hand, and just bask in it for the sake of it. Tom taught her more than she needed to know to appreciate how he was using the runic enchantments to make sure they were watered.

Tom had given Hermione some instructions with their dark potion, but he did the more intricate spellcasting himself. It wasn't actually a herbology potion at all, but rather a general birth, regeneration, and life essence one that was reserved for humans and animals, but there had been a version of it compatible with plants. They didn't have all the ingredients yet, they would need to go to obscure locations to gather some of them, but they were able to begin making the potions on that day.

By the early afternoon Tom touched his dark mark and soon Draco, Nott, Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, Astoria and Luna all appeared.

It was a sunny Thursday, the beginnings of sunset had just begun, the grasses were tinged slightly blood-orange with the fading light, and the serene summer wind fluttered all over them. How beautiful it was. Standing there, atop the slightly sloped hilly patch near the forests, the church and the graveyard which was at the highest point of the land, the nine of them felt big, bold and powerful, with the wind gently buffeting their clothes.

"Hello," said Tom softly, "I see we've all arrived."

"You're lucky I just about finished getting permission from my parents before you called us," said Draco, "I was waiting in my room with the door lock on, to be summoned. My parents believed I had already left."

"I didn't really finish convincing my parents," admitted Theo, "but I told them enough of it that I reckon with my actual disappearance and the fact I'm not back, they will have gotten the message. I think they'll come around."

"I was with my parents when I disappeared. They don't mind but they were probably surprised I was summoned via portkey," said Blaise, "it's a common enough way of summoning people in wizarding organisations, just most people don't join one that has it so young."

"We sort of waited together at an ice-cream parlour, that we will never leave through the front doors of," said Pansy with a glance at both Daphne and Astoria who had arrived beside her. They giggled to each other.

"It was a small and shabby place. They don't have the care to notice we didn't come out," said Daphne, "we chose it well."

All three of them were dressed in expensive and well-suited cloaks and travelling gear. They were in dark velvet colours that still looked rich and ancient whilst being lowkey all at the same time. Pansy wore a dark velvet one, Daphne wore an emerald green velvet one, and Astoria a dark golden velvet cloak. It seemed the rich had the best of everything.

Draco, Nott, Blaise, were all dressed in similar thick, expensive, travelling gear, but they were slightly less attention-drawing than the girls.

"I was in my room when I disappeared," sighed Luna, "I wanted to see it one last time before I knew I'd be gone in a long time. Father was happy of course, he had a feeling something big like this was going to happen in my life soon and only wished I learned a lot from it."

She was dressed in what looked like a muggle zoo outfit, a tan coloured t-shirt with lots of pockets, and shorts with similar ones. A belt with many loops and some instruments and trinkets attached to them. Luna wore a large wide-brimmed sunhat that also had many interesting metal gadgets to them Hermione didn't know the name nor function of. She had several glasses hung in strings around her neck, was currently wearing one that appeared to be mere sunglasses, and sticking out of some open pockets but still tucked comfortably inside so they would never even dream of falling out, were a variety of odd objects that looked like only Luna could find some crazy but ingenius function for them on this adventure. She wore knee-high socks and sturdy boots. She was the only one that carried a backpack on her back, with many charms and trinkets hanging of it. Hermione had a feeling she simply liked carrying around a backpack for adventures like this sometimes, but she also had the feeling Luna likely had some expendable compartments within them that could fit more than it seemed.

All the other Slytherins had some form of a moleskin pouch, or purse, or trunk probably, but not all of them wore it visibly around themselves. Hermione's was usually kept on a string on a necklace she wore around her neck tucked underneath her clothes.

"Excellent, you are all well suited for this type of adventure. The first thing we shall do is gather ingredients for a potion in the making. I shall slowly let you know everything as we work for I don't want to suddenly dump all of it on you now. Don't wonder of when we appariate to the new area, it's quite a dangerous area," said Tom, "I shall have no choice but to take you one by one. Who wants to go first?"

Hermione saw the eyes widen of most of the purebloods. Appariating this many times in a row meant one was going overboard recommendations for the maximum amount of times to appariate. It meant someone was serious about their work and quite possibly liable to be injured as well. Tom however, seemed to think he didn't need any extra precautions as he didn't take any potions or medicines people usually took to protect themselves from appariating too much.

"I'll go," said Luna, raising her hand.

Tom took her hand in his and with a pop they disappeared. About seven seconds later he reappeared again.

"We'll go," offered up Daphne and Astoria. As Astoria was the only one who hadn't been to Hogwarts or done any magic, it seemed Daphne had some motivation for suggesting the two of them at once. They clung onto Tom on either side of his arms. Perhaps Daphne didn't want Astoria to accidentally be frightened and volunteered to go with her for this reason. Tom nodded and disappeared with them. In about ten seconds he reappeared again.

"We don't mind," offered up Malfoy and Nott at the same time. Zabini was already quite a bit taller than them so it was probably easier to appariate Malfoy and Nott at the same time, then Zabini and one of them simultaneously.

Tom disappeared with them then appeared with a pop in about five seconds.

"I'm getting a bit sick of this," he said.

"You're awfully good at it," assured Hermione.

"Zabini," said Tom, "I'll appariate the two of you at the same time."

And with that he disappeared with Zabini. All of his appariations were effortlessly silent, he was very skilled with these things.

"That's good, because I don't want to be alone here..." said Pansy, looking around.

Hermione didn't blame her. Even though they were in the summer countryside they were by a creepy yew forest, a church with a graveyard, and deadened trees all around them and the sparse nature of this patch of wilderness stretched on for a long way all around them. It didn't look very friendly at a glance. The first town they had arrived at looked more friendly by comparison, that hadn't a graveyard nor forest by it. It wasn't really a graveyard, just a memorial, but Hermione felt sure there had probably been bodies of those witchhunted buried beneath the grounds at some point.

In another three seconds Tom appeared back, took their hands and in a sensation that felt like Hermione was being compressed and compressed, tighter and tighter, before she suddenly sprung back up again, she found herself in a beautiful stretch of woods.

Broad leafy ferns sprawled all around her. Thick deciduous trees grew high into the sky. A few interesting kinds of ivy trailed their way up the trees, and beautiful flowering shrubs of orange and purple dotted the clearings. Birdsong was in the air, butterflies chased each other lazily around the dappled sunlight falling through, and the swift darting of rabbits or voles rustled through the undergrowth in the distance. Thick vines hung from tree to tree.

Malfoy, Nott, Blaise, Pansy, Daphne, Astoria and Luna were spread out a little around the space of the clearing, each engrossed in checking out a different feature of the landscape. They looked like they had made themselves comfortable there for a while.

"This is Lake Lethe," said Malfoy the moment Hermione and Pansy arrived, "the lake whose mist if we breathe in makes us forget. A bubblehead charm is most appropriate for when we're travelling in areas like these. It's exceeding dangerous but mostly the lake, anything else around here is fine if we don't disturb it first."

"It is not the most appropriate charm for breathing in dangerous mists but it will do because it is the most appropriate for what you can all cast. I want you all to have mastered whatever magic it is we are using because I will not do with witches or wizards making do with half hearted charms that don't fully work under my goal. That is not how things get done," said Tom decisively. He was a good leader for this seemed to settle well with everyone else and they put up the bubblehead charm with less fuss than if Tom had suggested something not all of them could do.

"Astoria, you will stay by side as I personally give you my attention and teach you new things. You are the most vulnerable and I shall not have a valuable and important member of my party threatened. Everyone is important and needed here," he said, solving the problem of Astoria.

"Daphne, you will spend the second most time with me. And for this time...Blaise," he said. It seemed he had no particular opinion on who a third member might be except that he didn't seem to want Hermione (she was more magically advanced at the moment and therefore more useful), and Luna because he seemed to trust her on dangerous missions or new places by herself for some reason.

"Draco, Theo, Pansy, you will be together. Hermione and Luna, you will be together. Now, we are making a potion that is usually used on people and animals but we need to grow special plants for this adventure, and this potion allows it's effects on people and animals to be transferred to plants. It takes several potent ingredients to gather which are only found in magical places and Lake Lethe as you'll see, has more magic to it besides just the Lake. Daphne and Astoria, I shall teach you survival spells because I think it shall be most comforting that you shall know how to survive on the run like this. I will never leave you but it must be in your greatest comforts to learn these first," he said, looking at the two girls.

They both nodded, Astoria looked eager and happy. She was the youngest but being well cared for by Tom in all of this.

"Blaise as well. Draco, Theo and Pansy. You'll need to get 12 kgs of Roseleech. Use a measuring scale to get the right amount," he said.

Draco's face grew pale and his eyes wide. "I know what it is," he exclaimed, "and I think I can get it, no problem."

He looked instinctively at Nott, who seemed to also possess some knowledge of it, his dark eyes flashing as he crackled his knuckles and drew his wand closer to himself. Pansy looked like she had some idea but was probably going to find out more about it later. She had a 'this is unappetising' look to her the entire time.

"Excellent. I shall waste no more of my breath in explaining. Hermione and Luna, you shall set up camp here for all of us. I believe you possess just enough knowledge of the spells to make it all work. We shall stay at Lake Lethe for some time gathering all the ingredients at once before we leave for some more potion brewing. I shall expect you to teach Luna the survival magic I know you are very capable of teaching. I will gather 7 kgs of Gillyweed. Only me for it is too dangerous for Astoria and Daphne to travel near the water's edge. When we come back I shall teach Draco, Theo and Pansy the survival spells. And then we shall gather some other ingredients," he said, "is everyone clear? I want us all back before darkness falls."

That gave them somewhere near two hours.

They all nodded.

Draco and Theo then bounded away with a great degree of fearlessness through the forest, a bubblehead charm around them, Pansy had casted one and followed suit. She was a great deal faster than she looked. It was only her face that bore the appearance of a pug's but the rest of her was no less slender than the average girl for her age and she could scamper fast when she wanted to get from one place to another quickly. Tom turned and with a royal wave swept away with both Astoria and Daphne and soon it was just Hermione and Luna that were alone.

"You look scared," said Luna, as she cast a bubblehead charm for Hermione and then herself, "but there's less to be frightened of than you think. Lake Lethe is a common tourist hotspot for pureblood families who want a bit of a thrill. It's one of the wizarding spots everyone knows. Malfoy and Nott shall be alright, I bet they heard more about it than I did, my dad's not interested in it too much so it's not one of the big topics in my family. They'll guide Pansy around. If this was a really unfriendly place Tom wouldn't want us here, he doesn't want to lose us too early. Tom's alright and we're in the safest spot out of this entire place if I had to pick a spot as the safest."

Luna began casting some protective charms about. She casted all the ones Hermione knew and then some more that had such flowery names Hermione didn't think she would be worried about whatever they likely protected against and saved herself from asking.

"I suppose you're right. I'm still the muggleborn in all of this. Tom's the closest, he's a halfblood but even then..."

"It's not exactly a normal halfblood is he?" said Luna, finishing of Hermione's thought for her, "I suppose you might still feel out of place, but you'll find your groove eventually amongst a group of pureblood witches and wizards in a giant adventure like this. I suppose I'm not thought of as a pureblood much, especially in comparison to the Slytherins, but my family's fairly magical through the generations too. I don't suppose I'll be unfamiliar with most things."

"A pureblood pureblood?" asked Hermione, aware that the technical definition was having all magical ancestors 4 generations back.

"Not quite, but I don't know all of my ancestors across the last 4 generations so it's all still a bit of a mystery to me. We're fairly into odd witch and wizard things though. But we're not involved in politics much for we didn't live in England within all 4 generations. We sort of travel from magical country to magical country and pick up languages and lose them as we go. My grandparents from my mother's side came from France. I've lived there for a bit but my family ultimately chose England to settle down into and raise me. We might go to a new country next, I don't know, wherever the wind blows," she said.

"We went to France on holiday last summer," said Hermione and she found herself chatting pleasantly with Luna about that for a while. Luna spoke a little bit of French but mostly English. It turned out France was one of the biggest centre's of magic and many enchanting spells had come from that region. One of the only other and largest magical schools in Europe was in France, and if one wanted to learn more magic or enlighten themselves they'd learn french. It was interesting news to Hermione, and she marvelled at how little she got to know Luna until now.

"It's my life's dream to go exploring when I'm older," said Luna, "my dad's fascinated with animals. He took me on expeditions to spot some of them but we've never completed the hikes. When I'm older I want to go alone. My dad will retire at some point and sometimes the old soul just wants to stay at home. I think I have a bit more travel left in me though, I want to complete my dad's hikes and see the animals he was waiting to see his whole life and bring back souvenirs and things like that for him. But I'm lacking a partner. You have to register with the ministry or international organisations if you want to travel to certain regions, mostly because they're so dangerous or obscure with so few people travelling through them they have no idea what the place is really like since the last time it was mapped or someone travelled through it. You have to pass some magical tests to get clearance for it, but otherwise you're on your own. Typically a crew of interested people go. I want someone to go with so bad..."

She sighed, closing her eyes and then opening them again, staring straight at Hermione, who was starting to get the feeling she was being considered.

Hermione panicked and changed the subject. Luna chattered obliviously along with her.

Moments later when they fell into a silence and Hermione was busy clearing away spots for tents (she'd realised that Luna went camping quite regularly so she knew a lot of spells for it of by heart) and magically charming them to stay dry, be unable to be lit by flames, and things like that, she realised she didn't know why she had not wanted to spend her adult years trepidiasing across the countryside with Luna, seeing all the fantastical animals that had been her life's dream. But she had just not wanted to.

This discrepancy between them always existed from that point on. Of Luna with her biggest dream to have Hermione go with her on these wild hunts, and Hermione finding herself just unable to easily say yes despite how much she adored and loved Luna, and the discrepancy they shared on this topic that never seemed to change everytime it came up.

Why are things so complicated?

Author's Note: Thanks for the review, the review glitch kind of gave me unnecessary angst because it didn't show up for a day and a bit (maybe 2?) and I felt dragged through the muck waiting for it to show up, not knowing when. I sort of wanted to post up the last chapter, read any reviews as they appeared, and then left it until Saturday but I didn't really get that nice clean continuity so I felt like posting a chapter now to cheer me up cause it does. There'll be another one posted on Saturday as normal.

There's a review glitch at the end/start of every month for a few days I think, but I didn't know about it until now.

Rowling did a degree in French and teaches it as well, she also has some French ancestry so there's some French themes in the books. I wanted to stick to canon as much as possible with the worldbuilding (only the plot changes) so there are nods of that in this fanfiction.

If you've read up to this chapter, enjoyed it and want to read more please review, it'll make my day! :)