* * * *
Hermione sat in one of the huge armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, huddled over her Potions homework, trying to ignore the thoughts that were flying through her mind. She didn't want to understand all the things that were going on at Hogwarts and all she wanted to do was her homework but her mind kept wandering back to the connection Kendra had with all of them. It was obviously hard on the other girl to relive the memories and pain of the others, especially Snape's memories of the time he had spent as a Death Eater.
"But what does it all mean?" she mused aloud.
She was alone in the common room, Harry and Ron were serving a detention with Professor McGonagall, Parvati had gone somewhere with her sister from the Ravenclaw house and Kendra had disappeared after their Transfiguration class that afternoon and hadn't reappeared since.
Knowing it was useless to try and continue to copy the notes she had missed in Potions, Hermione closed the notebook she had borrowed from Harry and leaned back in her chair. Nearby her pile of textbooks look unusually high, even for her. There was one book in particular that Hermione didn't recognize. It was thick and covered with dark leather, almost black in colour. With a frown, Hermione reached for it and dragged it into her lap, staring at the cover.
"Wizard lineage," she murmured, remembering now that Professor Snape had given her the book earlier that very same day. Looking back now that class seemed ages ago and Hermione had to struggle to remember what Snape had said to her about the book.
She flipped open to the first page, a list of common Wizarding families. The name Malfoy was near the top, as Hermione had expected and she skimmed the first page quickly for the name Granger. Flipping to the next page she found that there were still many more names listed and she scanned these as quickly as she could trying to find her family. Her finger stopped briefly on the name Potter, then shrugged and continued. The next name was Weasley, then Patil, a name she didn't recognize, then Rayne.
Hermione frowned thoughtfully, tapping her finger on the unfamiliar name. Haley . . . she had heard it somewhere before, but wasn't sure where.
With a shrug she flipped to the page where she wound find information about the Potter family. A beautifully drawn scene was featured on the page just before the story began and Hermione stared at it, wondering who could have drawn it. It showcased five youths, two girls and three boys hovering together over an unseen light source. The light was surrounding all of them and though the scene looked serene, all five youths looked utterly terrified. In the top left corner of the page there was a deep shadow, clawed fingers reaching out of the shadows toward the children.
She cast a final glance at the picture, then turned her eyes to the information on Harry's family. Most of it was just boring family history, nothing that Hermione was particularly interested in, but something at the bottom of the page caught her eye. It was just a tiny blurb, barely even a sentence, informing her that Harry's great, great, great aunt had been one of 'The Five'. Hermione frowned at this revelation. She studied Wizard history like no one else and she had never heard of 'The Five' before.
Still frowning, Hermione turned to the next page and quickly scanned Ron's history. Much to her surprise the same information was found at the bottom of his page that was at the bottom of Harry's. Five generations ago, Ron's great, great, great grandfather had been part of this organization called 'The Five', as well. Hermione flipped to the page on Parvati's family and found the same blurb at the bottom of her page, only Parvati's uncle had been involved with the group.
Hermione skipped the page on Haley and turned to Rayne, ignoring all the information on the page. Her eyes went immediately to the bottom and found that the cousin of Kendra's great, great, great grandmother had been in 'The Five' as well.
"The Five?" she murmured, wondering what the title could possibly mean. She'd never heard of any such group before.
Hermione turned his eyes back to the page on the Haley family and scanned it for any new information. The name Granger appeared halfway down the page causing her to stop and re-read the entire paragraph. The meaning was apparent, but Hermione had to read over it more than once in order to accept what it was telling her. Years ago, her great, great, great grandmother had been part of the 'The Five', before marrying a Muggle by the name of Henry Granger. They had only Muggle children and each child had gone on to marry and give birth to Muggles. Hermione's father had been the only child of her grandparents and, as the book explained, the last hope for a witch or wizard in the family. That was when Hermione had been born. Hermione Granger, descendant of a very powerful wizarding family. A family with more influence than the Malfoys or the Potters, or any other family combined.
"The Five," she whispered again, flipping back to the picture she had studied earlier. Tracing her fingers lightly over the drawing, Hermione smiled slightly. One of those kids was her ancestor, a real witch that she was related to.
"I'm not a mudblood," she said, then laughed. "Malfoy's been wrong all these years. I'm no mudblood."
Staring at the picture, Hermione recalled Harry's words from months earlier when they had first discovered the powers of Kendra and Parvati.
~"Maybe together we can fight him. Or we're stronger against him when we're together. It's really very simple."~
Maybe it was as simple as Harry made it out to be, their families had all been drawn together hundreds of years earlier to fight against what looked to be another dark force. They had been stronger when they were together and the drawing depicted them defeating whatever it was they were fighting. They were teenagers, no older than Hermione was now, but together they had created something great. The terrified faces of their ancestors told Hermione all she needed to know. Their ancestors had been The Five, now they were The Five.
"Oh Merlin," Hermione breathed, staring down at the picture. The thought overwhelmed her and her mind began to fight against it. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she was just reading into things far too much, maybe she was just a regular kid. Her heart told her otherwise, she was part of The Five and together they would finally stand a chance against Voldemort.
Hermione stood quickly and picked up the book. She had to see Dumbledore.
With the heavy book in her arms, Hermione opened the portrait hole and slipped into the hall. It wasn't so late that she would get in any trouble for being out of her common room, but most of the teachers were known to frown upon the students that liked wandering the castle.
Her feet barely made any noise as she darted down the hall toward Dumbledore's office, but she was so concerned with being quiet herself that she didn't hear Parvati and Kendra coming down the hall together. Hermione slammed into Kendra's shoulder, sending them both to the floor and the book flying.
"Don't talk," Hermione said, getting to her feet and grabbing the book. "Just follow me."
"Where are you going?" Kendra asked, hoisting her bag to her shoulder as she stood.
"I have to find Dumbledore."
"Well, you're not going to find him in his office," Parvati said. "He's in the Great Hall, we just came from there."
Hermione turned in the other direction and disappeared. Kendra and Parvati exchanged a quick glance before they ran after her, wondering why she needed to see Dumbledore right away. On the way Hermione nearly had another accident, but quickly sidestepped Harry and Ron, who were coming out of their detention, and sprinted past them in the direction of the Great Hall.
"What-" Harry began to ask, but Kendra grabbed his arm and forced both boys to follow them before he had a chance to finish.
"Professor!" Hermione yelled as they entered the Hall, her breathing ragged from all the running she'd done around the school. "Professor Dumbledore, I have something to show you."
Dumbledore glanced up from his conversation with Snape, then smiled at the Potions Master.
"What did I tell you Severus?" he asked.
Snape inwardly sighed. He had to admit that the sight of The Five running toward them with the book was a great relief.
"What is it Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked.
She slammed the book down on the head table, then winced apologetically in Snape's direction. He waved his hand dismissively and Hermione flipped the book open to the picture she had spent a good part of the night studying.
"We're them, aren't we?" she asked.
Dumbledore stared down at the picture. "If I'm not mistaken, Miss Granger, those are your ancestors. Not you and your friends."
She groaned. "You know what I mean Professor. My family was part of this group, so was Harry's family. Ron's too, and Kendra's and Parvati's. They were all part of 'The Five' and now that's what we're meant to be part of."
Dumbledore smiled. "I do believe you have it all figured out, Miss Granger."
Harry frowned and stepped forward to look at the picture. "So, what I said in September was the truth?" he asked. "We're meant to . . . stop Voldemort somehow."
Behind them Parvati moaned, "Oh no."
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I think all of you should come with me," he said, standing and motioning them. "You too Severus."
Without another word, Dumbledore led them from the Great Hall and up the stairs toward his office. Pausing for only a brief second, Dumbledore murmured, "Bluegrass." The door to his office opened smoothly, then shut again once they were all inside the office.
"I need you to take this book Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, handing her one of the books on his desk. "I would like you to open it to page one hundred and thirty three, then read the entire page aloud for us."
"A Dissection of Wizarding Prophecies; Volume Seven?" Hermione asked, incredulous. "You always tell us how vague the prophecies are Professor."
"Please read the page Miss Granger," Snape said sharply.
She nodded, then opened the book and began to read aloud. "As mentioned in Volume Four of our set, a great wizard rose above all others in the late 1740's. A great, but very terrible wizard. His reign was powerful and awful, death falling over all those who opposed him, but a group of children were built to stop him. As the prophecy has already been examined in Volume Four, the only mention of it from hereon will be the relations and similarities to another prophecy.
"The Five; an ominous name that has stirred faith within wizards for many years. The Order of the Five, as some historians have called it, originated from a mythical tale told in Wizarding families dating back as far as the 1200's. The tale was that every time a dark energy rose in the world of magic there would always be five young men and women, descendants from the same families each time, that would be stronger and would defeat the evil.
"The first instance of this tale proving to be true occurred in 1749, the year that brought together Patricia Potter, Jonathan Weasley, Anastasia Haley, Gregory Rayne and Harold Patil. Though very young at the time, the five came together to form one of the most powerful magic beings history has ever witnessed. They defeated a very powerful dark wizard, Kedavra, who took his name from the forbidden killing curse. His birth name is still unknown.
"It is said that every time The Five are called upon one will sense it all. One wizard in the group of five will be connected to every other wizard in the group and to the guardians protecting them as well. This powerful connection was bestowed upon Jonathan Weasley when The Five first came together. One can only guess which family it will appear in next.
"Since the defeat of Kedavra many seers have claimed that another dark wizard will rise above all others and it will once more be up to The Five to stop him. Only when the time comes will we know if it is true. Will the descendants of Potter, Weasley, Rayne, Patil and Haley once again overcome evil?"
Hermione stopped reading and glanced up slowly.
"The memories of one shall lead them all," Dumbledore murmured, quoting the footnote that Hermione had not read.
She nodded slowly, staring at the book, then looking around the room. The looks on the faces of her friends were probably very similar to the one she wore on her own face. She had known what they were required to do, but it still shocked her. The seriousness of the situation was immense, according to the book they were the only five people in the world who could stop Voldemort.
* * * *
Hermione sat in one of the huge armchairs in the Gryffindor common room, huddled over her Potions homework, trying to ignore the thoughts that were flying through her mind. She didn't want to understand all the things that were going on at Hogwarts and all she wanted to do was her homework but her mind kept wandering back to the connection Kendra had with all of them. It was obviously hard on the other girl to relive the memories and pain of the others, especially Snape's memories of the time he had spent as a Death Eater.
"But what does it all mean?" she mused aloud.
She was alone in the common room, Harry and Ron were serving a detention with Professor McGonagall, Parvati had gone somewhere with her sister from the Ravenclaw house and Kendra had disappeared after their Transfiguration class that afternoon and hadn't reappeared since.
Knowing it was useless to try and continue to copy the notes she had missed in Potions, Hermione closed the notebook she had borrowed from Harry and leaned back in her chair. Nearby her pile of textbooks look unusually high, even for her. There was one book in particular that Hermione didn't recognize. It was thick and covered with dark leather, almost black in colour. With a frown, Hermione reached for it and dragged it into her lap, staring at the cover.
"Wizard lineage," she murmured, remembering now that Professor Snape had given her the book earlier that very same day. Looking back now that class seemed ages ago and Hermione had to struggle to remember what Snape had said to her about the book.
She flipped open to the first page, a list of common Wizarding families. The name Malfoy was near the top, as Hermione had expected and she skimmed the first page quickly for the name Granger. Flipping to the next page she found that there were still many more names listed and she scanned these as quickly as she could trying to find her family. Her finger stopped briefly on the name Potter, then shrugged and continued. The next name was Weasley, then Patil, a name she didn't recognize, then Rayne.
Hermione frowned thoughtfully, tapping her finger on the unfamiliar name. Haley . . . she had heard it somewhere before, but wasn't sure where.
With a shrug she flipped to the page where she wound find information about the Potter family. A beautifully drawn scene was featured on the page just before the story began and Hermione stared at it, wondering who could have drawn it. It showcased five youths, two girls and three boys hovering together over an unseen light source. The light was surrounding all of them and though the scene looked serene, all five youths looked utterly terrified. In the top left corner of the page there was a deep shadow, clawed fingers reaching out of the shadows toward the children.
She cast a final glance at the picture, then turned her eyes to the information on Harry's family. Most of it was just boring family history, nothing that Hermione was particularly interested in, but something at the bottom of the page caught her eye. It was just a tiny blurb, barely even a sentence, informing her that Harry's great, great, great aunt had been one of 'The Five'. Hermione frowned at this revelation. She studied Wizard history like no one else and she had never heard of 'The Five' before.
Still frowning, Hermione turned to the next page and quickly scanned Ron's history. Much to her surprise the same information was found at the bottom of his page that was at the bottom of Harry's. Five generations ago, Ron's great, great, great grandfather had been part of this organization called 'The Five', as well. Hermione flipped to the page on Parvati's family and found the same blurb at the bottom of her page, only Parvati's uncle had been involved with the group.
Hermione skipped the page on Haley and turned to Rayne, ignoring all the information on the page. Her eyes went immediately to the bottom and found that the cousin of Kendra's great, great, great grandmother had been in 'The Five' as well.
"The Five?" she murmured, wondering what the title could possibly mean. She'd never heard of any such group before.
Hermione turned his eyes back to the page on the Haley family and scanned it for any new information. The name Granger appeared halfway down the page causing her to stop and re-read the entire paragraph. The meaning was apparent, but Hermione had to read over it more than once in order to accept what it was telling her. Years ago, her great, great, great grandmother had been part of the 'The Five', before marrying a Muggle by the name of Henry Granger. They had only Muggle children and each child had gone on to marry and give birth to Muggles. Hermione's father had been the only child of her grandparents and, as the book explained, the last hope for a witch or wizard in the family. That was when Hermione had been born. Hermione Granger, descendant of a very powerful wizarding family. A family with more influence than the Malfoys or the Potters, or any other family combined.
"The Five," she whispered again, flipping back to the picture she had studied earlier. Tracing her fingers lightly over the drawing, Hermione smiled slightly. One of those kids was her ancestor, a real witch that she was related to.
"I'm not a mudblood," she said, then laughed. "Malfoy's been wrong all these years. I'm no mudblood."
Staring at the picture, Hermione recalled Harry's words from months earlier when they had first discovered the powers of Kendra and Parvati.
~"Maybe together we can fight him. Or we're stronger against him when we're together. It's really very simple."~
Maybe it was as simple as Harry made it out to be, their families had all been drawn together hundreds of years earlier to fight against what looked to be another dark force. They had been stronger when they were together and the drawing depicted them defeating whatever it was they were fighting. They were teenagers, no older than Hermione was now, but together they had created something great. The terrified faces of their ancestors told Hermione all she needed to know. Their ancestors had been The Five, now they were The Five.
"Oh Merlin," Hermione breathed, staring down at the picture. The thought overwhelmed her and her mind began to fight against it. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she was just reading into things far too much, maybe she was just a regular kid. Her heart told her otherwise, she was part of The Five and together they would finally stand a chance against Voldemort.
Hermione stood quickly and picked up the book. She had to see Dumbledore.
With the heavy book in her arms, Hermione opened the portrait hole and slipped into the hall. It wasn't so late that she would get in any trouble for being out of her common room, but most of the teachers were known to frown upon the students that liked wandering the castle.
Her feet barely made any noise as she darted down the hall toward Dumbledore's office, but she was so concerned with being quiet herself that she didn't hear Parvati and Kendra coming down the hall together. Hermione slammed into Kendra's shoulder, sending them both to the floor and the book flying.
"Don't talk," Hermione said, getting to her feet and grabbing the book. "Just follow me."
"Where are you going?" Kendra asked, hoisting her bag to her shoulder as she stood.
"I have to find Dumbledore."
"Well, you're not going to find him in his office," Parvati said. "He's in the Great Hall, we just came from there."
Hermione turned in the other direction and disappeared. Kendra and Parvati exchanged a quick glance before they ran after her, wondering why she needed to see Dumbledore right away. On the way Hermione nearly had another accident, but quickly sidestepped Harry and Ron, who were coming out of their detention, and sprinted past them in the direction of the Great Hall.
"What-" Harry began to ask, but Kendra grabbed his arm and forced both boys to follow them before he had a chance to finish.
"Professor!" Hermione yelled as they entered the Hall, her breathing ragged from all the running she'd done around the school. "Professor Dumbledore, I have something to show you."
Dumbledore glanced up from his conversation with Snape, then smiled at the Potions Master.
"What did I tell you Severus?" he asked.
Snape inwardly sighed. He had to admit that the sight of The Five running toward them with the book was a great relief.
"What is it Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked.
She slammed the book down on the head table, then winced apologetically in Snape's direction. He waved his hand dismissively and Hermione flipped the book open to the picture she had spent a good part of the night studying.
"We're them, aren't we?" she asked.
Dumbledore stared down at the picture. "If I'm not mistaken, Miss Granger, those are your ancestors. Not you and your friends."
She groaned. "You know what I mean Professor. My family was part of this group, so was Harry's family. Ron's too, and Kendra's and Parvati's. They were all part of 'The Five' and now that's what we're meant to be part of."
Dumbledore smiled. "I do believe you have it all figured out, Miss Granger."
Harry frowned and stepped forward to look at the picture. "So, what I said in September was the truth?" he asked. "We're meant to . . . stop Voldemort somehow."
Behind them Parvati moaned, "Oh no."
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I think all of you should come with me," he said, standing and motioning them. "You too Severus."
Without another word, Dumbledore led them from the Great Hall and up the stairs toward his office. Pausing for only a brief second, Dumbledore murmured, "Bluegrass." The door to his office opened smoothly, then shut again once they were all inside the office.
"I need you to take this book Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, handing her one of the books on his desk. "I would like you to open it to page one hundred and thirty three, then read the entire page aloud for us."
"A Dissection of Wizarding Prophecies; Volume Seven?" Hermione asked, incredulous. "You always tell us how vague the prophecies are Professor."
"Please read the page Miss Granger," Snape said sharply.
She nodded, then opened the book and began to read aloud. "As mentioned in Volume Four of our set, a great wizard rose above all others in the late 1740's. A great, but very terrible wizard. His reign was powerful and awful, death falling over all those who opposed him, but a group of children were built to stop him. As the prophecy has already been examined in Volume Four, the only mention of it from hereon will be the relations and similarities to another prophecy.
"The Five; an ominous name that has stirred faith within wizards for many years. The Order of the Five, as some historians have called it, originated from a mythical tale told in Wizarding families dating back as far as the 1200's. The tale was that every time a dark energy rose in the world of magic there would always be five young men and women, descendants from the same families each time, that would be stronger and would defeat the evil.
"The first instance of this tale proving to be true occurred in 1749, the year that brought together Patricia Potter, Jonathan Weasley, Anastasia Haley, Gregory Rayne and Harold Patil. Though very young at the time, the five came together to form one of the most powerful magic beings history has ever witnessed. They defeated a very powerful dark wizard, Kedavra, who took his name from the forbidden killing curse. His birth name is still unknown.
"It is said that every time The Five are called upon one will sense it all. One wizard in the group of five will be connected to every other wizard in the group and to the guardians protecting them as well. This powerful connection was bestowed upon Jonathan Weasley when The Five first came together. One can only guess which family it will appear in next.
"Since the defeat of Kedavra many seers have claimed that another dark wizard will rise above all others and it will once more be up to The Five to stop him. Only when the time comes will we know if it is true. Will the descendants of Potter, Weasley, Rayne, Patil and Haley once again overcome evil?"
Hermione stopped reading and glanced up slowly.
"The memories of one shall lead them all," Dumbledore murmured, quoting the footnote that Hermione had not read.
She nodded slowly, staring at the book, then looking around the room. The looks on the faces of her friends were probably very similar to the one she wore on her own face. She had known what they were required to do, but it still shocked her. The seriousness of the situation was immense, according to the book they were the only five people in the world who could stop Voldemort.
* * * *