Pandora's Box

Kneazle

DC: I do not own Harry Potter or afflictions to Warner's Bros. or J.K. Rowling's. I merely use the characters for entertainment purposes only. Anything mentioned in this story is afflicted only to its rightful produces. I own nothing but the plot.

AN: Prefer listening to "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter" soundtracks or songs which lyrics have been inserted while reading. Also, later on, the Renaissance become teachers. Think of this story to be like X-Men: they fight and teach!  [Feb. 10, 02]

**-**

Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me – Marilyn Manson

 "Tainted Love"

**~**

Chapter Three

The group soared high above the clouds as they spotted Ottery St. Catchpole once again in the distance. It had been months since the elder Weasleys had been home, but years for the youngest.

Arthur and Molly Weasley spent each night staring out the window facing the street until well past midnight, hoping for news about their sons and daughter. They had received word from one of the professors at Hogwarts under Voldemort's reign that Percy and Fleur had been captured but were only locked away in a cell, as they both seemed not to remember what they were looking for.

Arthur stared out the window, looking at the horizon for some familiar broomsticks.

"Anything?" whispered Molly Weasley. She had aged considerably since she had last seen her younger, as wisps of gray had somehow managed to find its way in her hair. Worry lines creased around her eyes and mouth.

"No," sighed Arthur. He too, had aged. As he turned away from the window, he blew out a single candle in the window still. Its wispy smoke formed swirls up against the windowpane.

Molly sniffed. "At times, I believe I can almost hear them."

"MUM! Mum, we did it! They're home!"

"So can I, dear, so can I," gently said Arthur, placing a hand on her shoulder. They turned away from the window, only to look up when a louder, "MUM!" was shouted.

"What?" they lit the candle again, and there, soaring down and out of some clouds were seven broomsticks.

Arthur ran outside, staring up at the figures, his wand out and ready to protect his home. However, the closer the brooms got, the more his grip loosened. Finally, as the riders swept through the streets of Ottery, they appeared from the town, zooming up the walkway.

"Dad! Mum!" shouted one, a familiar voice.

"Molly!" shouted Arthur, barely glancing back. Molly ran out of the house and stood beside her husband.

"Arthur? Is it… is it really them?" she sobbed, as they neared. There, on the first few brooms, were Ron, Ginny, Fred and George. As they came closer, these four Weasleys jumped off the brooms, letting the ones behind them guide it. Fred and George's, however, kept going until it bumped into the Burrow's door.

Molly grabbed Ron and Ginny and hugged them tightly to her as she allowed herself to cry. Ginny and Ron were both sniffing, clinging to their mother.

"Mum!" whispered Ginny, never wanting to let go. Ron had broken away and was now hugging his father. Ginny turned and saw Arthur and was soon in his embrace too.

The rest of the crew looked on happily as the youngest Weasleys were all reunited. Ginny then sniffed, wiped the back of her hand against her nose and laughed shakily, "Where are the others?"

Molly and Arthur shared a glance, and looked back at the rest of the crew. "Why don't you all come inside?" she asked, softly. The group obliged, wondering what was going on.

**~**

            While Molly busied herself in the kitchen, creating this magnificent feast, Arthur filled them in on Percy and Fleur.

            Oliver, their new leader, sat on the couch with Hermione still passed out on his shoulder. Harry was on the other side, also taking care of her.

            "What about Charlie and Bill? How are they? Is there any way to make a renaissance?" he asked. Arthur shook his head.

            "Many wizards and witches were captured while your lot had been off traveling to find our heroes. Even we were taken to have our powers striped of us," sighed Arthur. "However, we still have most of our powers. Magic is a funny thing, really."

            "What? Stripped?" asked Blaise, "How?"

            "Voldemort feared somewhere there would be another Harry Potter to rival him, so he sent his Death Eaters out around the world and found all the witches and wizards and magical beings they could," explained Molly as she walked in from the kitchen to the living room where everyone was cramped around. "They would point their wands at you, say something along the lines of an ancient song, and"—

            "Goodbye powers. However…" Arthur stopped talking when Hermione stirred.

            Hermione's eyes opened. The room was slightly dark and she wondered where she was when she saw Harry a few feet away from her.

            "How are you?" he asked.

            "Got a killer headache," she mumbled. "Where are we?"

            "The Burrow," said Ron. He kneeled at Hermione's side. "Feeling better? We can give you some Muggle pills."

            "Of course dear," inserted Molly. Hermione smiled warmly up at her. "Please. Advil."

            Molly nodded and disappeared.

            "What's this that I heard about stripping powers?" yawned Hermione, sitting upright. She had been leaning against Oliver Wood, and she smiled warmly up at him as she straightened herself up.

            Before anyone answered, Molly appeared with Hermione's painkiller and announced dinner was ready. They talked over dinner.

            "So what's the deal, that you guys can still do magic?" asked Dean, munching thoughtfully on his beef roast.

            "Magic isn't something we're born with and then use up, Dean," interrupted Hermione. Ron, Harry, Draco, Dean, Seamus and Ginny all groaned. Padma hid a smile and Cho outright laughed.

            "There she goes again, Professor Granger," laughed Blaise. He, Padma and Cho were the only ones who could really rival her brains.

            Glaring at them, Hermione continued, "Magic comes from the Earth itself – it's not something we own or have to control. In essence, magic controls us. We were gifted with a way to channel the energy so we can use it. However, the larger the channel the more powerful we become.

            "Now, let's take Voldemort for example. Think of channels like holes in your body. The large the hole is, the more energy or magic can pass through. The lesser the hole, the more Muggle you become. So, if you take in the factor of how strong and powerful Voldemort is, then you are safe to assume that his channel is very large." Hermione took a deep breath, explaining it all very fast, but nonetheless, everyone was listening to her.

            "Can we make the holes larger?" asked Fred, waving a drumstick in the air.

            "Of course. Now, since the ten of us weren't stripped of any power, magic still flower through us while we were frozen. Hard to believe, but while we were frozen, our magical abilities grew along with our physically bodies. Our psyche became aware of this power, but we consciously have not notice any radical changes. I believe that we – as we posed threat to Voldemort – have increased out magical 'hole' to be quite large." Hermione grinned at the group, while spooning up some peas. "Now… to test this, I would like each of us in turn try to move the salt shaker to one's self. I believe that any witch or wizard given time would be able to do this. This is my theory as magic itself will forever flow through you, and only if you embrace it will it be welcomed into your life as we were blessed.

            "Even thought witches and wizards were stripped of power, it will be slowly returning to them, everyday, like a faucet dripping water. The bowl below will collect this water, and over a longer period of time that empty bowl will be filled. We can increase our magical abilities, I know we can," said Hermione, looking around the table. "We just have to will it to happen. We can beat Voldemort. We can."

            The people at the table, moved by her explanation and speech, nodding and soon were clapping. Hermione blushed and ducked her head. She then placed her wand down on the tabletop and stretched her hand out. Narrowing her eyes, she focused solely on the saltshaker and within seconds it was in her hand, and she had sprinkled salt over her mashes potatoes.

            Harry then did the same thing; only he wrenched it from her hand. Hermione gasped and pulled it mentally back. They then became engrossed in a mental game of tug-of-war until it flew out from both of their mid-mind battle. Both turned and saw Draco calmly shaking it in his hands.

            Molly and Arthur laughed. "Bravo, bravo," said Molly, clapping. "Unbelievable. Ginny? Ron? Why don't you try?"

            "Don't need to Mum," replied Ginny. She winked and showed off by her plate lifting itself off the table and the mashed potato scooped had scooped out more servings on her plate.

            Ron laughed and muttered an, "oh yeah?" and soon had Ginny's plate contents on his. Laughing, the whole table of the ten renaissances had things flying everywhere.

            The laughter stopped when a calm Oliver Wood had looked up to see a whack of mashed potatoes land on his face. Someone gasped while someone next to him giggled.

            Turning, Oliver tried to keep a straight face as he wiped the potatoes off. "And who did that?"

            Nearly every finger pointed to Fred and George Weasley who had disappeared from the table. The giggling got louder. Oliver turned to see Hermione trying to cover her mouth with her hand.

            "Are you laughing at me?" asked Oliver, mock horror. "Are you? Hermione Granger… laughing at me?"

            Hermione shook her head, but the giggles became louder. He placed his fork underneath some potatoes on his plate and held it up, his index finger ready to flick it back; the contents faced Hermione.

            "I think this is a fashionable look, don't you say?" he asked. Hermione shook her head. "Perhaps you'd like to wear it?" again she shook her head, but he flicked the potatoes. Hermione's pretty face was pasty and lumpy with potatoes.

            Molly groaned. "My dinner!"

            Hermione stopped laughing. She wiped the lumpy food off her face and blinked at Oliver. Then next two words she said shocked and made the renaissance fighters laugh.

            "FOOD FIGHT!" she screamed, mentally shooting bowls and plates at the people. The only two people not engaged in the fight were Molly and Arthur who watched from their end of the table while the others stood and hid behind people.

            "It's good for them to be back," Molly whispered, wiping a tear away. Arthur placed a hand on her shoulders and squeezed gently.

            "I know. I know," he whispered back.

**-**

            Night welcomed and embraced the ten renaissance fighters as they sat in a row behind the Weasley house. They sat on the grass, staring up at the sky.

            No stars shined, though the sky was clear of any cloud or shadow.

            "It seems odd, doesn't it?" mused aloud Lavender. "No stars to guide one's way at night."

            "Well, who would it guide?" asked Ron, rhetorically. "The Muggles are in hiding, knowing that we wizards are strong and in power."

            "So? What about a few plain wizards out there… the ones who eluded capture?" snapped back Dean. If one were to hear the group, it would seem as if they were fighting, but the silly banters they threw at one another was a simple game of quick-thinker.

            "Perhaps there are a few out there. We should find them," supplied the quiet Hermione. After her speech and surprise "food fight" declaration, she had toned down to somber, wearing black for her parents.

            Harry glanced over at her, barely seeing her. Her black pants, shoes, and gothic-style web shirt meshed easily in the darkness of the night.

            "And how would we go around finding them? It's a sure bet that Voldemort knows we are free now," said Harry.

            "Is it? When we left, I checked for wire trips and magical trips," jumped in Draco. "I found none."

            Back by the Burrow, Fred, George and Oliver stood just outside but far enough to watch them carefully.

            "Any idea as to what they're talking about?" Fred asked.

            "None," sighed George. "We're talking about a bunch of twenty year olds. I doubt we'll ever reckon what they're thinking."

            "I know," came Oliver's Scottish voice. Fred and George turned to him.

            "Well?"

            "They're talking about saving us all. They're not teenagers or normal young adults," he began. "They're weighing a burden much heavier than we can ever imagine. The fate of the world is in their hands, and they need all the luck they can get from fate right about now."

            "They're wise beyond their years," said George, catching on. Oliver nodded, and Fred's own eyes widened.

            "So what can we do?" asked Fred softly.

            "We believe in them. We have hope," replied Oliver, before turning and disappearing into the Burrow.

**-**

            In the morning, the whole group, minus Molly and Arthur, sat around the Burrow's magically large kitchen table. They had pieces of parchment in front of them, ideas scribbled quickly down. It was a meeting to decide their next course of action.

            Harry began, as their leader, "what we need, Renaissance, is to establish what new powers we have, how we can go around to find Death Eaters and attack them, and how we can help wizards and witches receive their powers again. We asked one another these questions last night and you all had the night to think your answers though. Oliver's group will listen in and object or add to anything that we do not know of. The table is open for suggestions now."

            Blaise stood. "As for helping magical folk, finding them without magical ministry maps are nearly impossible. Even if this were possible, how would we find near-Muggles now? Wouldn't the map be confused with regular Muggles? I don't believe we have the technology for that objective yet."

            Harry nodded and pointed at Ginny, who had her hand raised. "Right. To find the Death Eaters and attack methodically… I can only think of one technique. It's where we find out what we can about every Death Eater; study them until our brains hurt. Once we know their daily routines down to knowing what they'll do before they do it, then we attack. We can take out the forces one by one, without knowing what hit them. They can go down within a week."

            Harry thought about this and nodded. "Good. Compose a team and we'll start right away."

            Ginny nodded, gathered her papers together and wrote on them in messy chicken scratch. She then did her hair quickly up with an empty Muggle pen in a messy make-sift bun.

            "And our powers?" asked Harry. A few members shifted in their seats. "Nothing? Hermi?"

            Hermione, seated next to Oliver (all in black again), shook her head. "There's no way to know what powers we have, what mutations, Harry. Only if we test them out can we know."

            "And how can we do this?" asked Draco. Seamus nodded from Hermione's other side, leaning over her shoulder to peek at her notes. There were at least ten pages in small writing.

            She swatted Seamus away, and Oliver felt a pang in the lower regions of his stomach. "Seamus, Draco… I have no idea what powers we have. Just because our channel has widened doesn't mean we're superheroes or anything."

            "But your theory at dinner…" Ron trailed off.

            "A plain theory that I guessed and got correct," sighed Hermione, running a hand through her messy hair. "I can only say we watch X-Men, read Marvel comics and then do some of the stuff they do."

            Harry and the other Muggleborns in that group (meaning Lavender, Seamus and Padma) laughed whole-heartedly. "All right, Wonder Woman, what do you suggest we do?"

            Hermione looked up and smiled. "What else, Harry? Practice, practice, practice."

            Harry nodded and then shuffled his parchment. "Well, then the last issue is as so: where are we going to set up HQ?"

            The group shifted. Molly and Arthur, who had walked in at that moment, asked, "what? You're leaving already?"

            Ron shook his head. "No, no, Mum. We're coming up with plans, but sooner or later, to not endanger you, we'll be leaving."

            "And where are you going to go?" Arthur asked, seating himself in a vacant chair.

            Harry shrugged, "no idea yet. Any ideas, Renaissance?"

            No one murmured anything.

            "Ideas, people," sighed Oliver, asking his own group to come up with ideas. He rubbed his temples and proceeded to look at his group all in the eye. They squirmed but finally, Fred suggested.

            "Well, we need it somewhere where we can zip place to place, don't we?" he asked. Harry nodded. "Preferably far enough away from Voldemort that he doesn't know where we are, but someone close enough to know where all his men are."

            "Well," piped up Cho, coughing into her hand. "There is this one place…"

**-**

            Days later, the Renaissance and Oliver's group arrived on the ground in Northern England, bordering Scotland. Though Voldemort's HQ was Hogwarts, known to be in Northern Scotland, Harry figured they were relatively half-way between his Death Eater HQ in London to his own main HQ at Hogwarts, where he taught younger Slytherins and changed Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs the way of a Death Eater.

            "Can you believe there is actually a code?" asked incredulously, Lavender, telling them on their way to the new location.

            Hermione hoped that they would be able to locate a near by lake, possibly one near a bog, so they could use the foggy landscape to hide their headquarters. This would provide visual distortion, so no one would be able to see them. Hermione and the other Renaissance would then cast powerful concealing, protection, alarm, invisible and other charms to protect their new investment.

            But first, they had to build this HQ.

            "What?" asked Ron, one of the only few listening. The others were intent on flying straight to their destination without Death Eater alerts. Fred, George, Dean and Seamus flew low to the ground, ready to spring up and alert the others, high above in the clouds, of any news.

            So far, they were safe.

            At this thought, Oliver licked his lips and flew over to where Hermione flew gracefully, one hand on the broom's handle and the other resting on her right knee. She rode sidesaddle, her scarf billowing out behind her. She was still dressed in black, and Oliver overheard her talking to Ginny, asking how long she would wear it. "Until I die or someone who loves me and I love back asks me to marry them," she replied. Oliver swung up beside her.

            "Hey," he said quietly.

            "Hullo," she replied. She glanced over at him. "Is there…?"

            "Oh, no, actually, I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk," he blurted, then added, "you seemed a bit sad and you looked like you wanted to talk so I came here to ask if you wanted to talk 'cause you looked like it…"

            "Oliver?"

            "Yes?"

            "It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself," smiled Hermione. She glanced quickly over at him, smiling sweetly. "Anyway. It'll… be interesting… re-doing some of the old castles and manors in the older regions."

            "Hmm."

            "A lot of wonderful Renaissance architecture, actually," supplied Hermione. Oliver glanced curiously over at her.

            "And you know how…?" he asked.

            She grinned at him sheepishly. "I ran out of books at Hogwarts by my sixth year. I had to buy books in Hogsmeade and stock them in my dorm room. Parvati and Lavender were so mad."

            She sighed, smiling back at the memory. "OH! Where is Parvati now?"

            Oliver paused; should he tell her the truth? "She's… she joined the Death Eaters a while back as a spy. A few months later, she was convicted as a traitor and killed."

            Hermione gasped. "Oh no!" She glanced over at Padma. "Does… Padma know?"

            "Yes. She knew since the moment Parvati died." Oliver looked sad, and Hermione wondered if he harbored any feelings for Parvati. "She saved a lot of us, stopping many Death Eater attacks before many wizards and witches were stripped."

            "I see," whispered Hermione. "All more a reason to wear black."

            Oliver said nothing, but the two continued to fly next to each other in a comfortable, sad, silence.

            Harry glanced over his shoulder, from flying next to Draco and laughed quietly.

            "What's so funny, Potter?" sneered Draco. It seemed that old habits were hard to break.

            Harry grinned at him, "Look over your shoulder," he advised.

            Draco did, and let his eyes roam over the groups – Lavender, Ron, Ginny, Cho and Padma flying in a clump together, Blaise a few paces behind them and Oliver and Hermione flying relatively close – wait, Wood and Granger? Draco's head snapped around to face Harry.

            "Wood and Granger?" he gaped. Blaise flew up to join the two.

            "What??" he asked, butting in.

            "They've been around each other since Oliver thawed her out of her cage," informed Harry. "I've been watching them from afar, every day. They grow closer and stronger together every minute."

            "Jealous?" Draco smirked.

            "No. I think of Hermione like a brother would a sister. But… if that's the case, I won't let Oliver hurt her," replied Harry. Draco and Blaise nodded.

            No one did want to mess with an angry Harry Potter. Not unless they had a death wish.

**-**

            The group landed safely and without any interruptions by nightfall, in what they hoped was still England or Scotland. The Renaissance had been informed of all changes, and Muggle compasses were useless to find magnetic north.

            The building they hoped to occupy, Bingingham Castle, was more run down than Cho had remembered, and the group suddenly realized they had a lot of work cut out for them.

            That night, they set a fire up, making a Muggle campsite. They sat in a circle, and Harry asked, "What does everyone want to do once we defeat Voldemort?"

            The group stirred a little, but thought it over, nevertheless. Hermione, lying on the ground on her stomach, picked at the grass and whispered, "I want to avenge my parents and all those who Voldemort killed. Bring him to justice… but afterwards… I want to study the history of magic and magical creatures… by traveling around the world, save creatures that way."

            Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling gently down at her. "I, too, want to avenge those who have been killed or taken."

            Draco, Blaise and Harry shared a look, and Ron, sitting next to Harry, only smirked. It's too obvious, he thought.

            Lavender sighed. "I want to get married to the guy I love and just stay at home, acting out the role of a housewife. Or become a fashion designer." She laughed. "I doubt that will come in handy during our battles."

            Ginny: "I want to go into the Ministry of Magic," she sighed dreamily, placing her head in her hands as she rested her elbows on her knees. "I want to organize pep rallies, fund-raisers. Oh God, I want to be a PTA-Mom."

            Draco laughed at her and kissed her on the temple. "Anything you want and I'll give it to you."

            Ginny blushed scarlet and Draco endured Ron, Fred and George's glares. According to those three, they wanted to go together as partners and increase WWW's sales tenfold, coming up with new ideas, and Ron being their designer.

            Blaise wanted to write for the Daily Prophet, and Dean and Seamus wanted to play professional Quidditch.

            Padma wanted to start her own business in perfumes and colognes for wizards and witches. Cho wanted to join the London's Witches and Wizards Orchestra. No one guessed that.

            Draco wanted to be wherever Ginny was, and at that remark he was nearly murdered by the Weasley brothers.

            Neville just wanted to teach at a wizardry school or teach science or biology to Muggles.

            "Harry?" inquired Seamus. "How about you?"

            "I want to avenge my parents… Cedric… the teachers who died at Hogwarts, the students whose blood and bodies lay on the ground at Hogwarts…" his eyes went dark, his face shadowed and only lighted up by the flickering of the fire. "I will do anything and everything to murder Voldemort. And if that means dying along with him I will… after that…" He looked up at the group, smiling softly with tears in his eyes. "Who knows?"

            Hermione regarded him curiously, and Ron stared at his friend. He's not telling us something. Hermione pondered, but didn't dwell on the thought.

            "We have a long day tomorrow," said Dean. "We need to work on our HQ. Let's sleep."

            The group complied and soon the sizzling of the fire being put out was the only sound they heard, falling into a dreamless state.

**-**

            Albus Dumbledore looked around the overcrowded classroom he was teaching Defense Against the Good Arts to. He sighed when he thought of how the name had changed; he sighed deeper when he realized he was teaching promising good students to become evil.

            "Professor Dumbledore, sir, I don't understand this question," said a fifth year. She was bright, just as much as Hermione Granger herself had been all those years ago.

            Are she and the others still alive? Or are their icy graves only showing what's left of them? He wondered, walking towards the girl.

            She was Amanda Andrews, a Ravenclaw whose parents had turned Dark and wanted her enrolled in Voldemort's dark plans. "Yes, Amanda? What is the question?"

            She nodded, and said, "it's number ten, sir. 'If a good wizard has cornered you and taken your only source of magic need, what shall you do? A, call for help, B, attack without magic, C, Disparate, or D, none of the above'?"

            Dumbledore thought about it, thinking if he had cornered a Dark Wizard, what would he do? "The answer would be C, you would disparate. Save yourself for another day."

            "Very good," hissed a voice from the doorway. Dumbledore turned to glare at the new Headmaster, Lord Voldemort.

            Instead of glaring at the tall man, he glared at the young adult beside him. He had messy black hair, was on the scrawny but muscular, and had unusual red eyes.

            "Lord," replied Dumbledore, bowing as he was instructed to do. His eyes never left the boy.

            "Rise Dumbledore," hissed the tall man. His gaze swept the room at the students still working, unaffected by their Headmaster's arrival in their classroom. "You teach them well. How do you do it?"

            Dumbledore answered coolly, "I only teach them what I know. And I know that if I had cornered a Dark Wizard, he would have saved his skin first before dying at the hands of the enemy. Rather die facing… Lord Voldemort I suppose."

            The Voldemort man snarled. "Crucio!"

            Dumbledore's face twisted as the pain rippled upon him. His bony hands gripped the edge of Amanda's desk. He stared into her shocked and scared eyes, wondering if he'd live.

            "I'll be fine," he mouthed to her. She said nothing, as she feared what would happen to her if she did. But Dumbledore say it – she wasn't evil. She was doing this because her parents wanted her to. It was to save her.

            The spell was taken off Dumbledore and he panted heavily, standing tall and straight in front of his class.

            "You shall not speak of your 'good' days, old man!" sneered the Voldemort. Dumbledore's gaze swept over the young adult. He stood, unaffected and calm throughout the whole scene.

            And the puppet performs the puppet master's plan, he thought.

            Of course, replied the young adults voice. Why should it be any other way? Isn't it a scream if Potter was ever released and he saw Lord Voldemort back to his younger self with all the powers of his 60 years?

            Not much of a scream except yours, snapped Dumbledore in his mind, before facing the fake Lord Voldemort.

            "I will," he said indifferently. "And I know that Harry Potter and the others will rise to defeat you… all of you," he said, his eyes sweeping over the room. "Good always prevails!"

            Lord Voldemort's eyes narrowed, and with a quick glance and nod from Tom Riddle, his wand was pointed at Dumbledore.

            "Avada Kedavra!"
            Albus Dumbledore, true wizard to the end, died that chilly January night.

**-**

            Following the months after the release of their icy cages, the Renaissance had completed their castle, using Muggle architecture designs by Hermione, Lavender and Padma to create a roomy and spacious yet dangerous home. While Oliver, Harry, Ron, Draco, and Dean had done most of the labor, the others had set up wards around the castle, protecting it from unseeing eyes and seeing eyes.

            The Renaissance's HQ was up and running a cold, winter night. March came in with a roar; a snowstorm outside had been going on for two days straight, and the snow began to pile up.

            The group seated in what they called the King Arthur room: it had been designed as the fifth-teen's main discussion room. No one else could enter it, as Hermione had used a charm out of her Great-Grandmother's BOS to allow only those fifthteen to be emitted.

            "What's our status?" asked Harry; looking around the round table they sat at.

            "Nearly complete the Bingingham Castle," smiled Hermione proudly. She had decided the past month to stop wearing black, but ever since Oliver said it looked good on her, she decided to make it her permanent wardrobe.

            "What's left?" asked Draco.

            "The interior rooms on the top floors," answered Padma. She levitated a 3-D layout of the castle to the center of the table and rotated it. "You see, there was a problem with the roof above rooms 5A and B. We have to wait until spring to fix it, unfortunately, so those rooms are out of service."

            "And as for recruits?" asked Ron, leaning forward. Lavender looked at him funny.

            "Are you crazy, Ron? We just finished building this place!" she looked around the room. "I suppose we can take on some witches and wizards – even Muggles – who haven't been stripped low of their powers… but mostly… should we allow families here?"

            "No," said Hermione, shaking her head. "Too… emotional attached, I think. Besides, the Weasleys, Patils, and Changs are the only wizardring families out there that are left that we can trust – we need their ties outside the HQ to find out information."

            "True," sighed Neville. "But… what about family friends, Hermione? Like Sirius Black and Remus Lupin? Arabella Figg? Bill and Charlie Weasley?"

            Hermione brightened up. "Brilliant, Neville – Brilliant!"
            "Sorry, what's brilliant?" asked Ron, staring at crazily.

            "It's perfect… Harry's parent's old crowd – they lived through the first Dark Wave and now the Second… if we can find them – and I know how – we can have an institute here!"

            "Meaning…?" Fred asked, waving her on.

            "Meaning we can have another Hogwarts here!" she said excitedly. "We'll find students and young wizards and Muggles alike who can help us. We teach them the magic, teach them our mutated version of magic, and we'll have a force of our own!"

            Everyone at the table dropped their jaws.

            "Are you crazy?"

            "What are you thinking?"

            "Hermione, what did you just say?"

            "That's suicide!"

            "We can't do that!" Sprang up around the table. Only Harry, Draco, Oliver and Hermione were silent.

            "Why not?" asked Harry, still standing. He was after all, unanimously the leader. Draco and Oliver were second in commands, forced to think of everything as a good something.

            The table turned to listen, still muttering.

            "Voldemort has a dark force, why shouldn't we have a good force? It makes sense, right?" he began, walking around the table. "Light and dark. One can't exist without the other. It makes sense… in so many ways… but Herm, you've been reading too many X-Men comics, haven't you?"

            She grinned sheepishly at him, confirming it. "It worked for them, didn't it? X-Men, X-Men: Evolution, X-Men: A New Generation, yada… yada… yada."

            He smiled back at her, and Oliver growled slightly under his breath. "It's a great idea, now that you think about it… Our own force! What do you say? We vote."

            Hermione, not allowed to vote, waited patiently the answer. Everyone – but Harry – pointed his or her wands upright, and the Renaissance raised a finger.

            Five green blasts erupted, signaling 'yah'. From the Renaissance, there was a pause, but then another set of green blasts came from the fingers.

            "It's settled." Harry said. "We take in students. We all become teachers here, at our post-Hogwarts." Harry turned to Hermione, "Now, Hermione. Where will we be able to find information out about Sirius and the others?"

            She grinned at him and threw an arm around Oliver's shoulders. "Leave that to us."

            "What?" Oliver squeaked.

**-**

A/N: Stoneheart, I think you might be flying away on your Firebolt about now – this is my only Oliver Wood/Hermione Granger. However, I am writing other H/Hr stories… so no fear! I happen to have a nice mystery/romance centered on Harry and Mione ready to pop out once Come To Dust is near its end – so even if you don't like Pandora's Box, keep steady, there's more to come!

G*Ness, wow! You like my story! Wow!! Thanks – I love yours, though!! It's great!! How do I do it? Lol, I really don't know – plots just jump into my head… especially after watching Disney movies! O.o right…

To everyone else: thanks!! I love reading your reviews, so keep them coming!! ^_^