For the Love of the Land
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part Sixteen
Harry, for the first time, was not staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Ron had written home and asked if Harry could come to the Burrow for holidays. So, Harry would be staying with the Weasleys, and he was thrilled. He and Ron were doing the rest of their last minute packing. They would be eating breakfast at school before embarking on the trip back home a few hours later. Hermione was also going home for the holidays, obviously.
Ron and Harry were eagerly discussing their plans for Christmas at breakfast, but both were feeling rather uneasy. Hermione was not at breakfast. They found it rather strange that Hermione was not sharing her last meal at Hogwarts with them. Ron cracked a joke about her spending her last, desperate moments in the Library, but for some reason they both knew this wasn't true.
Suddenly, two owls flew to them. Most of the Hall blew it off as stragglers who hadn't come in with all the others. However, the boys knew otherwise as two of the little red summons cards were dropped into their pancakes.
"Whoa, aren't these those things Hermione always gets?" Ron asked, grabbing it and eagerly performing a spell to clear it of syrup.
"Yeah," Harry replied, doing the same. "Professor Starlight," He read.
"You know, Harry, I think there's a lot more to this woman than we thought," Ron said, staring at the card. It seemed that Starlight had come up often recently.
"I think you're right," Harry replied. "C'mon, let's go." The boys made their way to the Professor Starlight's office, pondering the possible reasons why they would be wanted there. They cautiously opened the door and looked around. They were not expecting what they saw.
Starlight herself was sitting at the desk, waiting patiently for them. Standing behind her, from left to right, were Sirius, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, and Cho Chang. There were two chairs on the other side of Starlight's desk, obviously for them. They walked in reluctantly, uneasy by the intimidating silence in the room. Six pairs of eyes were watching their every move.
"Welcome to your first meeting as Defenders of Hogwarts." Starlight said as they took their seats.
"What?" Harry replied, confused. Ron was looking at the lot of them as if they were stark raving mad, which indeed he was convinced they were.
"No, Ron, we're not crazy," Hermione said, smiling at Ron's face. Her words lightened the mood of the room ever so slightly.
"What's going on here?" Harry demanded. Ron nodded in agreement. Starlight sighed.
"The Defenders," She explained. "Are seven students chosen by the Golden Book of Acceptance. They have qualities of all four houses. Six of the Defenders control an element of either Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Earth or Lightening. The seventh is a Divinator. Never are all seven Defenders together allowed to be trained, because their powers combined could not be controlled and would end in disaster. However, during dire circumstances, four, five, or even six Defenders can be used as the castle's last resort of defense.
"I myself was a Defender of Lightening during the first rise of Voldemort. Sirius here was the Water Defender. We were trained with James Potter, Lily Evans, and Peter Weasley."
"My parents..." Harry whispered. Starlight nodded.
"James, that is your father, was Water and Lily was fire. It was quite interesting actually, what with their little lover's spats..."
"What was my uncle?" Ron interrupted fiercely. Harry suddenly comprehended that the last person that Starlight had mentioned was a Weasley.
"He was a Divinator..." Starlight replied, looking sideways at him. Harry gave Ron a curious look, and was surprised to see the his best friend looked furious! Harry wondered what was going on.
"Anyway," Starlight continued. "At the beginning of this year the Defenders were reinstated to help cope with the second rise of Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore hired me to teach because I could coach them. Since he was cleared, Sirius has been acting as my second-in-command, in a sense. Dumbledore told me to chose five of the seven Defenders. I chose Hermione Granger, the Water Defender; Ginny Weasley, the Fire Defender; Neville Longbottom, the Earth Defender; Cho Chang, the Wind Defender; and Draco Malfoy, the Ice Defender."
"You're a Defender?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione incredulously. She smiled slyly. "And you?" He asked, staring at his baby sister, who nodded. Harry could only stare. So THAT'S how Ginny and Draco met...
"We are grieving the loss of Draco," Starlight continued, emotion entering her voice for the first time. The Defenders behind her looked away, and Ginny hung her head. It seemed the mere mention of his name pained them. "However, we cannot afford to have only four Defenders. So, I have decided that when classes resume, I will begin instructing the Lightening Defender and the Divinator." She looked pointedly at Harry and Ron.
"US?" Ron asked, his mouth opening slightly. Starlight nodded.
"Don't look so surprised, Ron," Neville said.
"Yeah, you have dreamt about the future before," Hermione pointed out.
"It was your dream that warned us about the Death Eaters." Cho explained.
"But, I never told any of you about that dream!" Ron exclaimed in frustration. "Unless one of you...okay, who was eavesdropping?" He looked at each of them, and found Hermione giving him that same sly smile. "Why Hermione, you little..." He said teasingly. She winked at him.
"I'm a Defender?" Harry interrupted, looking at Starlight in shock.
"As you're parents were before you." She nodded. "This is actually how they met."
"And how we met too, right Luna?" Sirius said, winking at Harry and Ron.
"I didn't ask you, Sirius!" Starlight cried in exasperation, turning around to glare at the grinning man who was about a foot taller than her when she was standing, let alone sitting.
"Sorry," He replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. Harry and Ron noticed Cho and Hermione snickering.
"So I will be training you when term starts." She said, choosing to ignore Sirius and turning to look at Harry and Ron again. "I suggest you talk with your fellow Defenders. They can probably answer your questions much better than I can."
"You flatter us, Luna," Ginny said jokingly. The Defenders laughed and beckoned the bewildered boys out of the office.
"Well," Cho said once they were outside. "That went better than I thought it would."
"You can say that again!" Hermione said, laughing. "I expected Harry to go on about saving the world again!"
"And Ron to explode because 'we've been putting ickle Ginny in danger'!" Neville teased, tugging Ginny's hair playfully.
"Ummm..." Harry said, interrupting them. The four spun around guiltily. They had completely forgotten Harry and Ron were there. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Where's Draco when you need him?" Neville sighed. "He'd have something witty to say right now."
"And probably rude to," Hermione added fondly.
"You can say that again," Ginny said, smiling sadly.
"C'mon guys," Hermione said, motioning to Ron and Harry. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions."
"To the Library!" Cho exclaimed. The six students walked to library, with Harry and Ron rolling off an infinite number of questions, and one of the other Defenders answering promptly. The uncomfortable setting soon gave way to eager curiosity and bonding friendship. Ron and Harry were glad they finally knew what Hermione had been up to all this time.
"Geez, I'm surrounded by Gryffindors," Cho rolled her eyes as Ron said something about Gryffindor leading the race for the House Cup for the sixth year running. "I need Draco!"
Eventually, Cho made an excuse to go pack. Ginny and Neville left shortly, and it was just the three friends together again, with no secrets between them. Hermione was thrilled that she was going to share everything with them next term. However, through all their joking had been an underlying grief for the loss of Draco. All four, even Hermione, were a bit reluctant to allow Harry and Ron, Draco's worst enemies, to take his place. However, they had convinced themselves that Harry and Ron were simply joining them, and Draco still held his special place. It was true.
"How can you do it, Hermione?" Ron asked, impressed.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb." Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "I mean, this sounds really dangerous and like a lot of work. Why do you do it? Is it for revenge?"
"No," Hermione replied, trying to find the words to answer their question. "It's not like that."
"They what keeps pushing you?" Harry asked. "What keeps you from giving up."
"The love of the land, Harry," Hermione replied simply. "It's all for the love of the land."
THE END!!!
A/N WOW! Can you guys believe it! I FINISHED A STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm so happy! Yes, there will be a sequel: A Glimpse of the Hidden. I'll start working on that after I get over the ecstasy of actually having finished a story. I love you all so much!
Okay, here's the part where I leave a HUGE AND REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY long thank you list to EVERYONE who has reviewed my story.
People who get a thank you:
KellyBee
L-Dog
Jade Potter
Captain Antilles
Phoenixgirl
Cthomes
Nuts
Rheanna
Katy713
Crissa
Shayla Black
Emerald Star
Damiean Leoka Cardoza
Sarah Fellowrighter
Jabroniette
Kanielle
Snidget
Omniotence
Key
Lily Vance
Nycgal
Aquria
Chaos Kid
Debra
~Lisa~
Rosandra May aka Lillian
Bon
Lily Ayl
Blaque faerie
Rose
Wolfgirl
Goddess of Fire
Mark
Daydreamer
Hiasobi
Kat
DarkWolf24
Lord Amber
Lavender
Spunky
Surferchick
Jfox
Cho
Sassinak
EvillyInsaneGirl
Jace
Em
People who are loved because they reviewed more than once:
Fairydust816
NightMistress
Li-chan
Triggy
Bery1196
Kay
Rayven Blackwood
Kiara
People who deserve flowers and kisses and chocolate chip cookies for reviewing more than five times:
Chrissy
Freyda
ILOVELINKENPARK222
Girlies I love! This story's for you!
Diana Snape-My very best friend in the whole wide world! SPORK!!!!!
Silverphoenixwings-I love you girlie!
Star*dust-hello blonde fruit! I'm mentioning you! Don't you feel loved.
THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO BRITZ!!!!!!!!!!
Britz is my beta and a great friend! She deserves every word in this story. She had reviewed, like, eleven times. I love you, chica!
I love you all! Mwaz!
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~
Part Sixteen
Harry, for the first time, was not staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Ron had written home and asked if Harry could come to the Burrow for holidays. So, Harry would be staying with the Weasleys, and he was thrilled. He and Ron were doing the rest of their last minute packing. They would be eating breakfast at school before embarking on the trip back home a few hours later. Hermione was also going home for the holidays, obviously.
Ron and Harry were eagerly discussing their plans for Christmas at breakfast, but both were feeling rather uneasy. Hermione was not at breakfast. They found it rather strange that Hermione was not sharing her last meal at Hogwarts with them. Ron cracked a joke about her spending her last, desperate moments in the Library, but for some reason they both knew this wasn't true.
Suddenly, two owls flew to them. Most of the Hall blew it off as stragglers who hadn't come in with all the others. However, the boys knew otherwise as two of the little red summons cards were dropped into their pancakes.
"Whoa, aren't these those things Hermione always gets?" Ron asked, grabbing it and eagerly performing a spell to clear it of syrup.
"Yeah," Harry replied, doing the same. "Professor Starlight," He read.
"You know, Harry, I think there's a lot more to this woman than we thought," Ron said, staring at the card. It seemed that Starlight had come up often recently.
"I think you're right," Harry replied. "C'mon, let's go." The boys made their way to the Professor Starlight's office, pondering the possible reasons why they would be wanted there. They cautiously opened the door and looked around. They were not expecting what they saw.
Starlight herself was sitting at the desk, waiting patiently for them. Standing behind her, from left to right, were Sirius, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, and Cho Chang. There were two chairs on the other side of Starlight's desk, obviously for them. They walked in reluctantly, uneasy by the intimidating silence in the room. Six pairs of eyes were watching their every move.
"Welcome to your first meeting as Defenders of Hogwarts." Starlight said as they took their seats.
"What?" Harry replied, confused. Ron was looking at the lot of them as if they were stark raving mad, which indeed he was convinced they were.
"No, Ron, we're not crazy," Hermione said, smiling at Ron's face. Her words lightened the mood of the room ever so slightly.
"What's going on here?" Harry demanded. Ron nodded in agreement. Starlight sighed.
"The Defenders," She explained. "Are seven students chosen by the Golden Book of Acceptance. They have qualities of all four houses. Six of the Defenders control an element of either Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Earth or Lightening. The seventh is a Divinator. Never are all seven Defenders together allowed to be trained, because their powers combined could not be controlled and would end in disaster. However, during dire circumstances, four, five, or even six Defenders can be used as the castle's last resort of defense.
"I myself was a Defender of Lightening during the first rise of Voldemort. Sirius here was the Water Defender. We were trained with James Potter, Lily Evans, and Peter Weasley."
"My parents..." Harry whispered. Starlight nodded.
"James, that is your father, was Water and Lily was fire. It was quite interesting actually, what with their little lover's spats..."
"What was my uncle?" Ron interrupted fiercely. Harry suddenly comprehended that the last person that Starlight had mentioned was a Weasley.
"He was a Divinator..." Starlight replied, looking sideways at him. Harry gave Ron a curious look, and was surprised to see the his best friend looked furious! Harry wondered what was going on.
"Anyway," Starlight continued. "At the beginning of this year the Defenders were reinstated to help cope with the second rise of Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore hired me to teach because I could coach them. Since he was cleared, Sirius has been acting as my second-in-command, in a sense. Dumbledore told me to chose five of the seven Defenders. I chose Hermione Granger, the Water Defender; Ginny Weasley, the Fire Defender; Neville Longbottom, the Earth Defender; Cho Chang, the Wind Defender; and Draco Malfoy, the Ice Defender."
"You're a Defender?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione incredulously. She smiled slyly. "And you?" He asked, staring at his baby sister, who nodded. Harry could only stare. So THAT'S how Ginny and Draco met...
"We are grieving the loss of Draco," Starlight continued, emotion entering her voice for the first time. The Defenders behind her looked away, and Ginny hung her head. It seemed the mere mention of his name pained them. "However, we cannot afford to have only four Defenders. So, I have decided that when classes resume, I will begin instructing the Lightening Defender and the Divinator." She looked pointedly at Harry and Ron.
"US?" Ron asked, his mouth opening slightly. Starlight nodded.
"Don't look so surprised, Ron," Neville said.
"Yeah, you have dreamt about the future before," Hermione pointed out.
"It was your dream that warned us about the Death Eaters." Cho explained.
"But, I never told any of you about that dream!" Ron exclaimed in frustration. "Unless one of you...okay, who was eavesdropping?" He looked at each of them, and found Hermione giving him that same sly smile. "Why Hermione, you little..." He said teasingly. She winked at him.
"I'm a Defender?" Harry interrupted, looking at Starlight in shock.
"As you're parents were before you." She nodded. "This is actually how they met."
"And how we met too, right Luna?" Sirius said, winking at Harry and Ron.
"I didn't ask you, Sirius!" Starlight cried in exasperation, turning around to glare at the grinning man who was about a foot taller than her when she was standing, let alone sitting.
"Sorry," He replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. Harry and Ron noticed Cho and Hermione snickering.
"So I will be training you when term starts." She said, choosing to ignore Sirius and turning to look at Harry and Ron again. "I suggest you talk with your fellow Defenders. They can probably answer your questions much better than I can."
"You flatter us, Luna," Ginny said jokingly. The Defenders laughed and beckoned the bewildered boys out of the office.
"Well," Cho said once they were outside. "That went better than I thought it would."
"You can say that again!" Hermione said, laughing. "I expected Harry to go on about saving the world again!"
"And Ron to explode because 'we've been putting ickle Ginny in danger'!" Neville teased, tugging Ginny's hair playfully.
"Ummm..." Harry said, interrupting them. The four spun around guiltily. They had completely forgotten Harry and Ron were there. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Where's Draco when you need him?" Neville sighed. "He'd have something witty to say right now."
"And probably rude to," Hermione added fondly.
"You can say that again," Ginny said, smiling sadly.
"C'mon guys," Hermione said, motioning to Ron and Harry. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions."
"To the Library!" Cho exclaimed. The six students walked to library, with Harry and Ron rolling off an infinite number of questions, and one of the other Defenders answering promptly. The uncomfortable setting soon gave way to eager curiosity and bonding friendship. Ron and Harry were glad they finally knew what Hermione had been up to all this time.
"Geez, I'm surrounded by Gryffindors," Cho rolled her eyes as Ron said something about Gryffindor leading the race for the House Cup for the sixth year running. "I need Draco!"
Eventually, Cho made an excuse to go pack. Ginny and Neville left shortly, and it was just the three friends together again, with no secrets between them. Hermione was thrilled that she was going to share everything with them next term. However, through all their joking had been an underlying grief for the loss of Draco. All four, even Hermione, were a bit reluctant to allow Harry and Ron, Draco's worst enemies, to take his place. However, they had convinced themselves that Harry and Ron were simply joining them, and Draco still held his special place. It was true.
"How can you do it, Hermione?" Ron asked, impressed.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb." Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "I mean, this sounds really dangerous and like a lot of work. Why do you do it? Is it for revenge?"
"No," Hermione replied, trying to find the words to answer their question. "It's not like that."
"They what keeps pushing you?" Harry asked. "What keeps you from giving up."
"The love of the land, Harry," Hermione replied simply. "It's all for the love of the land."
THE END!!!
A/N WOW! Can you guys believe it! I FINISHED A STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm so happy! Yes, there will be a sequel: A Glimpse of the Hidden. I'll start working on that after I get over the ecstasy of actually having finished a story. I love you all so much!
Okay, here's the part where I leave a HUGE AND REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY long thank you list to EVERYONE who has reviewed my story.
People who get a thank you:
KellyBee
L-Dog
Jade Potter
Captain Antilles
Phoenixgirl
Cthomes
Nuts
Rheanna
Katy713
Crissa
Shayla Black
Emerald Star
Damiean Leoka Cardoza
Sarah Fellowrighter
Jabroniette
Kanielle
Snidget
Omniotence
Key
Lily Vance
Nycgal
Aquria
Chaos Kid
Debra
~Lisa~
Rosandra May aka Lillian
Bon
Lily Ayl
Blaque faerie
Rose
Wolfgirl
Goddess of Fire
Mark
Daydreamer
Hiasobi
Kat
DarkWolf24
Lord Amber
Lavender
Spunky
Surferchick
Jfox
Cho
Sassinak
EvillyInsaneGirl
Jace
Em
People who are loved because they reviewed more than once:
Fairydust816
NightMistress
Li-chan
Triggy
Bery1196
Kay
Rayven Blackwood
Kiara
People who deserve flowers and kisses and chocolate chip cookies for reviewing more than five times:
Chrissy
Freyda
ILOVELINKENPARK222
Girlies I love! This story's for you!
Diana Snape-My very best friend in the whole wide world! SPORK!!!!!
Silverphoenixwings-I love you girlie!
Star*dust-hello blonde fruit! I'm mentioning you! Don't you feel loved.
THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO BRITZ!!!!!!!!!!
Britz is my beta and a great friend! She deserves every word in this story. She had reviewed, like, eleven times. I love you, chica!
I love you all! Mwaz!