Hey! Sorry for not writing for so long but this whole fan fiction problem, well, I hope they can fix it! *Being desperately optimistic* Anywho, I hope you're all ready for a fairly exciting chapter. And, by the way, the whole time that you've been waiting for chapter 10, I've been writing notes for the next chapters, and I've been busy. I helped with a camp two weeks ago and this past week I was in Chicago,(Very Lovely City!) and this week I helped at my church's Vacation Bible School and had to keep track of thirty 1st and 2nd graders. I did change the pairing and this will be very exciting in the end (and hopefully in the middle as well). All the reminders are for your benefit. I've just realized that I don't remember a lot of details that I have in here, so little reminders are scattered throughout the chapter. I recommend reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Both are fantastic books! So, try to enjoy and envelop my way of how things went and are. START ENVELOPING!!!
Disclaimer: I hope everyone's having a pleasurable summer vacation! Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and Marion Zimmer Bradley, everything except my plot. (Pretty sad, huh?)
Useless Information: I just realized that people probably speed through this without any thought of it at all. But for those people who don't, a lovely quote is coming your way! "My books are water; those of great authors are wine. Everybody drinks water." - Mark Twain
If Time is All We've Lost
Chapter 10 - Pearly Splash
'There have been times in my life,
I've been wondering why.
Still somehow I believe,
we always survive.
Now I'm not so sure,
that you're waiting here.
One good reason to try,
But what more can I say,
was left to provide.
You think that maybe it's over;
Only if you want it to be.
How are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle,
Stand up and fight!
This is it.
Make no mistake where you are.
This is it.
Your back's to the corner.
This is it.
Don't be a fool anymore.
This is it.
The waiting is over.
No room to run,
No way to hide,
No time for wondering why.
It's here, the moment is now,
About to decide.
Let them believe.
Leave them behind,
But keep me near in your heart.
Know whatever you do,
I'm here by your side.
You said that maybe it's over,
But if you don't want it to be.
For once in your life, here's your miracle,
Stand up and fight!
This is it.
Make no mistake where you are.
This is it.
You're going no further.
This is it.
Until it's over and done.
/~\ Kenny Loggins / 'This is it' /~\
The start of school was heaving itself upon Avalon, as it usually did. This meant that Minerva could only come at odd times during the year, until summer had finally arrived. But there were more absences than usual this year.
First there was little, now eleven year old, Hermione Granger. Smarter than anyone could have ever perceived, she still was very secretive of her character to those she didn't know. She was learning the Herb Lore that was usually reserved for the older priestesses, only because she had simply run out of things to learn.
Yet, not only Avalon would be suffering; Dragon Isle would feel the blow as well, not that losing the Merlin for nine months was enough. Draco would also be leaving for Hogwarts. Although he was somewhat of a brat because of his father and his ideals, Draco was as bright as was really expected of him, but he had logic and memory, gifts that one could only be thankful enough for, but Draco wasn't.
Another important addition to Hogwarts was Harry Potter. Famous as he was in the wizarding world, Hogwarts had been awaiting his coming since he was born. Harry had unknowingly become a point of tension between the God and Goddess, which is never good. The Goddess favored Harry, for she had highly favored his mother, but the God saw no reason to. He was also a point a tension for all the witches and wizards that worked so hard to have Harry be safe from Voldemort and from any remaining death-eaters.
In other words, the three most influential, essential, and fortunate children were being sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Influential because of their prominent roles in both Avalon's and the wizarding world's futures. Essential because of everyone's need of an heir and a hero. Fortunate because of their prolonged existence thus far.
No doubt that each of them had turned their fair share of heads, but Harry would be, by far, the most famous of the trio, for he was known in all of the wizarding world, not just on Avalon.
Minerva and the Merlin had both seen the eminent enmity when Hermione and Draco had just met for a few minutes, but spending a whole school year, seven times, well, no one really knew what would ever come of that.
Even though Draco was a spoiled brat, he adored his mother. During his childhood, his father had been away much of his life (until recently) and he had spent countless hours around his mother and around Avalon and Dragon Isle, since his mother was a priestess. He especially loved his mother's singing, and also the beautiful way in which she played her harp. The harp in itself was beautiful, made of solid mahogany wood, yet engraved with delicate Celtic symbols. But it was also historical and very unique. It had once belonged to Kevin the Bard, famed Merlin hundreds of years ago. The harp could only be played by a true priest or priestess of Avalon or Dragon Isle, for if played by any other person, magic or unmagic, it would burn and sear their fingers before their eyes and emit no sound at all.
In August, Hermione and Draco had met for a few moments, but when they saw each other on the train, they made a silent agreement that they would never talk to one another again, and each of them was forgotten in the other's minds. Getting Hermione and Draco to agree once again would take more than five years, so it was a monumentous, even if nobody took note.
Hermione made few friends on that first day. She did meet Harry, as well as Ron Weasly, soon to be Harry's best friend. Hermione was shocked to find out how many people still put so much importance in what type of blood a person had. There were lots that dismissed Hermione from their compartment when they found out she was a muggle-born, especially those that were Slytherins, or soon-to-be Slytherins. This really hurt and angered Hermione because she had never been in a situation where people disliked her, no, hated her because her parents were muggles. In fact, no one on the Isle of Avalon minded whether you were muggle-born, full blood, or half blood, just as long as you showed promise for the work of the Goddess.
Draco also met Harry that day, but he already knew about Ron and his family. Draco and Ron had always extremely abhorred each other because their fathers didn't see eye to eye. Arthur Weasly, on one hand, was a kind, generous man who was permanently fascinated with muggles and their way of life. On the other hand, Lucius Malfoy came across as very cool and even cold at times, and he severely disliked muggles, as he had been a muggle torturer for Voldemort at one time.
Draco had found his place surrounded by Slytherins, which meant being surrounded by many of the same morals as his, with the occasional exceptions.
True to their character, Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor and Draco into Slytherin. Hermione loved all the different types of people that she would be around for the next seven years of her life. There were people from all walks of life, different cultures, different parentages, and religions that it was very hard not to fit into the group of Gryffindor first years. Hermione particularly liked her house because they, unlike most of the Slytherins, didn't put a lot of faith or trust in the "purity" of blood.
Draco knew he had found his home the moment that he met his fellow members of house. True, Draco was very well known among his peers and most of his older classmates as well because of his father. Most of the people in Slytherin house had either ex-death eater parents or were closely related to the dark arts, with the occasional one or two odd people.
Both Draco and Hermione kept in close contact with Minerva and the Merlin, although now Hermione and Draco had to refer to them as Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. Hermione even more than Draco. Minerva listened to all of Hermione's thoughts about how some people don't even seem to realize that wizards and witches are the minority to the muggles, but Hermione moved on, despite all her frustrations, and, later on in first year, she became an invaluable friend of Harry and Ron, making quite the Dream Team.
Draco mostly hung around the people he already knew, like Crabbe and Goyle, whose fathers had both been death-eaters during Voldemort's regime. He became as infamous as he was famous in his first years at Hogwarts, becoming seeker for the Slytherin team in his second year. Draco and Harry couldn't stand each other. Their unknown relation was kept secret from the both of them, and only four people at Hogwarts knew the real truth.
Snape was now a professor at Hogwarts, teaching the same class as his uncle had done so long ago. Snape had made himself out to be severely unpopular with his students, well, all except those who aren't in his house, Slytherin. He favored all Slytherins, and showed less respect to any other student in the school. But, in the Gryffindors' opinion, Snape gave them the barest minimum of respect and tolerance, and even less to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Ron wasn't that bad in Snape's eyes. Snape just disliked him more because he was friends with Harry and Hermione. Snape hated Harry because of primarily two things, if not many, many more.
First, there was the prank. Snape despised Harry's father because of a "joke" that he, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin played on him in their last year at Hogwarts. Early in the year, Sirius had almost tried to kill Snape by allowing him to see Remus in his werewolf form. Thankfully for Snape, James had got cold feet at the last minute, and saved Snape, but that wasn't enough for Snape. He was sure that they would all get expelled at the very least, and their wands snapped in half.
But then there was Lily. From the first moment that he saw her, he fell in love. Lily is the reason that Snape no longer believes in love at first sight, or really in love at all. And especially since James married Lily, it gives Snape only more excuses to detest James. But once he learned the truth that Voldemort wanted to have Lily as his wife and now to kill Harry, Snape began to edge away from Voldemort, eventually renouncing all he had to do with him and becoming a spy for the other side.
All this hate and anger was channeled into Harry when James died. In Harry's first year, Snape was very aware that Voldemort was lurking near, and that Quirrel had something to do with it. So, as a promise to himself, he decided to protect Harry as well as he could, without being suspicious. Over the years he had turned over in his head the fact that James had saved his life, and Snape could find no other way to put it, so, as a sort of salvation and pay back to James, Snape guarded Harry, the boy that could have been Snape's child, and then went back to hating both Harry and James in peace.
But the real test to Snape's character came in Harry's fourth year, when the Triwizard Tournament came to Hogwarts. Along with this three tasked, three participant challenge came the delegates from the other most prominent schools of magic in Europe and their Headmaster and Headmistress.
Although it wasn't the half-giant of a Headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime, from Beauxbatons Academy in France, or her Veelan delegate. But rather from the other school, Durmstrang Institution from Germany, and from its delegate, Viktor Krum, and Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff.
First, Karkaroff knew Snape as a Death-Eater, as was he, and since the dark mark on their upper arms were growing darker, they both were apprehensive to admit the fact that Voldemort was growing stronger as well.
And as if that weren't enough, Viktor was Snape's very own cousin, sharing many of the same physical qualities as Snape himself. Viktor was Snape's cousin on his father's side, being the "forgotten" branch of the Snape family. Snape's grandmother and grandfather gave birth to a girl that was a sqiub (muggle child born of wizard parents). She was felt more with shame to the family, so she married a wizard to compensate, and gave birth to two sons, the younger of those being Viktor.
And in the middle of this entire mental mess was a new job from Dumbledore and McGonagall. Snape was allowed to know that Hermione was the heir to position of the Lady of the Lake and Draco to the position of Merlin, for one reason; to observe Draco and to make sure that he was not becoming overly involved in the dark arts. Now Snape accepted because he had been a friend of Narcissa's, and now since Snape saw the dark mark growing more clear, he knew that Lucius would be even more radical about making his son a death-eater.
In Snape's reality, this was one of the worst years at Hogwarts he had ever had. But a scare did come on Christmas, one that Karkaroff wasn't ready for.
"Severus, you can't keep putting off the fact that you-know-who's coming back!" Igor Karkaroff said frantically, vigorously twirling his finger around his goatee. "Or at least getting stronger!"
"Igor, I know what Voldemort wants to do to me, but can't you see we are safe if we stay within the castle and it's grounds. Voldemort would never come near here." Snape said rationally. Igor was completely losing his mind with fear because the mark on his upper arm had glowed almost a deep purple, when it had remained dormant for the past few weeks.
"But how many of us will be delighted when You-know-who comes back?" Karkaroff whispered and then swallowed a lump in his throat. "How many will be happy to kill you or me for betraying them?"
"If you mean you would have rather stayed on Voldemort's side, then you must beg for mercy, which doesn't always come naturally to the dark lord." Snape said coldly, but he sighed heavily afterwards. "We are as safe as we could ever be here."
"That is what you believe, Severus," Karkaroff said swiftly, and he turned on his heel and started out, but had only reached the threshold of the dungeon door before turning around. "Tell old Dumbledore that he needs to keep that Hermione Granger safe. I've talked to her at the ball, and believe me, it was not only Viktor who was impressed. Voldemort will find out she's powerful and intelligent, a rival to even he. She reminds me of the girl that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ranted about, what was he name? …Ah yes, it was Lily Evans, I do believe." And with that he left through the door, his footsteps resounding off the walls for quite some time.
Karkaroff's final words echoed over and over again in Snape's brain. Hermione…, remind him of…of…Lily? But the more he thought about it, the more rational the idea became. Voldemort had chosen his heir, and the heir's potential wife, but Snape didn't that think Voldemort could have chose a more unlikely pair. I mean, come on, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger?
Draco was going through some pretty hard times himself. But the more he heard about being a death-eater, the more it appealed to him. He found it much more exciting than being the future Merlin. But every time this battle would go on in his head, he would begin to think of his mother, and slowly edge back toward being the Merlin.
The climax came on June 24th, the day of the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament. In all actuality, the signs that June 24th would not be a good day started early that morning, when Hermione woke up and drug herself out of bed to get something to drink. The night had been filled with anxieties about Harry and Viktor, but mostly more for Harry she had slept less than two hours and when she stared hazily at her bedside clock it read 3:24 A.M. Hermione got herself a glass of water and stared out the window as she started to drink it, but what she saw in the sky almost made her wish she hadn't woke up at all.
The moon was as near to a full moon than it could be, but it wasn't the size of the moon that startled Hermione so bad, it was it's color. The moon's glow was blood red, only to her really, as it was meant for her eyes only because it was a warning from the Goddess that something bad was going to happen. Hermione could never get to sleep now, so she sent herself to Professor Dumbledore and Professor MeGonagall.
Now, usually, only full priestesses can do this, but Hermione was quite dynamic. She sends an apparition to whoever she wanted to and tells them the message.
Dumbledore was awoken by an unearthly touch on his arm, and opened his eyes to see a white, but almost golden outline of a person. He put on his spectacles to find that it was a specter of Hermione Granger, waiting for him to wake up. "Be on the alert today, Professor," it murmured, hardly recognizing the surprise on the Merlin's face. "The Goddess sends her worst messenger, a red moon, to warn everyone today. Be prepared for the most awful of news and the most evil of actions." And with that the specter melted away. Minerva received the same message.
Hermione had a sleepless night, but Professor Dumbledore waited until morning to talk to Minerva about the whole thing. At breakfast, Dumbledore was the first to open up the subject.
"Minerva, how long has Hermione been able to make herself a messenger?" Dumbledore asked quietly, making sure no one else but Minerva hear.
"Since she was ten," Minerva answered simply, but all of the sudden she became suspicious. "Why do you ask, Albus?"
"Miss Granger came to me last night as a misty courier, saying that the Goddess had given her a sign of utmost caution." Dumbledore looked at McGonagall very seriously as he finished her sentence.
"The girl is trustworthy enough, she came to me as well, but I hope it is not needed. The Goddess has given us unusual signs before, but I pray that it is not as grave as Hermione made it out to be." Minerva said, very sure of her answer.
"Only time will tell," Dumbledore sighed, and he turned back to his scrambled eggs.
Unfortunately for everyone, the warning did prove to be true. Voldemort had had a secret servant at the school, pinned to make Voldemort's plan work. Voldemort did rise again and Harry's protection was demolished by an ancient dark magic rebirth potion. The worst thing was that Karkaroff fled that night, hoping to save himself, but only to put more people in the path of Voldemort's wrath.
When Dumbledore heard the news, well, the first hand account from Harry, Dumbledore was actually glad that Voldemort had made the mistake of choosing Harry to provide the "Blood of the enemy" in his rebirthing process.
You see, Voldemort made his last mistake in getting his own revenge. Since Harry had saved Wormtail's life in his third year at Hogwarts, and since Voldemort used Wormtail as his "Flesh of the Servant", there is something wrong with his triumph. Wormtail was in Harry's debt, meaning that the potion did not have complete effect. So, right now Voldemort can touch Harry, but year after year, the power will deteriorate, unlike with any other witch or wizard. Another mistake that could have been prevented would, once again make Voldemort eat his words.
That night, Dumbledore had seen that Fudge was not ready to believe that Voldemort had come back and that all they had tried to rebuild in the past fourteen years. Fudge would not accept that they had to get rid of the dementors because of the threat they now posed, as they would rejoin Voldemort as soon as he asked them. As the guards of Azkaban (wizard equivalent to Alcatraz), they would set all of Voldemort's followers free. Fudge also didn't want to believe that they needed to make allies with the giants, which is unheard of for wizards.
No one ready to believe it all, not even Harry, who had seen it all happen. Snape was reunited with Sirius, one that was hostile, but one that could definitely improve with time, and when I say with time, I mean with time. But Severus knew what he had to do, and it put himself and others in danger, may it be present or future peril.
"Severus," said Dumbledore, turning to Snape. He had already sent Bill Weasly to his father, Arthur Weasly, to warn him about the recent happenings, and Sirius Black to hide out at Lupin's for awhile. "You know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready…If you are prepared…"
"I am," said Snape.
"Then good luck," said Dumbledore. And Snape left through the door looking slightly pale. He half-ran through the front doors and pelted into the Forbidden Forest, tearing through the underbrush that threatened to slow him down.
Snape's challenge was to find Karkaroff, before Voldemort caught him and used him for information, telling all he knew about Snape, Hermione, and Harry. But Snape was now putting himself in unimaginable danger. If Voldemort knew, if he somehow found out that Snape had gone away from the school grounds, he would be on him like a duck on a June bug. (I need to thank my grandmother for that one!) But by the time he had gotten anywhere, Karkaroff was far away and it was unknown if he had been captured already or not. Snape apparated as close as he could to Hogwarts, so he wouldn't have to run so much to relay information back to Dumbledore, information that was not welcome to the present situation.
"Go on, go on," said Voldemort, growing a bit impatient with this former death-eater and waving his hand to show his feeling. Karkaroff cowered even more towards the floor.
"Hermione Granger, sir," sputtered Karkaroff, bruised and battered because of the many times he had suffered through the Cruciatus Curse. "She is special, Dumbledore is hiding something about her."
"That old fool," Voldemort almost seemed to laugh to himself, almost. There was at least an evil smirk rising on his lips, but in a second, it had disappeared. "What's Dumbledore got up his sleeve this time?"
"I know not much more," Karkaroff awaited the flash of pure pain, but was happy that he didn't feel it. "My Lord, Hermione reminds me of that woman you always used talk about, Master, Lily Evans."
At that moment, Karkaroff knew he had said something that Voldemort didn't want to hear. Maybe it was the fact that Voldemort's face had contorted into a look that showed both his anger and annoyance at the same time, or maybe it was merely the fact that Karkaroff's own face gnarled with agony as he once again felt pure, undiluted pain.
"We all know what happened to Miss Evans," Voldemort looked around at all of his followers. "And I'm sure you do not want that to happen to you. So, Hermione Granger reminds you of Lily…Lucius!" Mr. Malfoy scuttled foreword from the circle of cohorts that surrounded both Voldemort and Karkaroff.
"Yes, Master?" Lucius muttered from beneath his mask, which muffled his voice greatly.
"Do you know anything about this Hermione Granger character?" said Voldemort, evidently interested in Dumbledore's new "Secret Weapon". "How old she is, what house she's in, what makes her so special, and the like…"
"Miss Granger is in my son's year and is in Gryffindor house," Lucius said, and Voldemort looked as if he winced at those words. "She extraordinarily smart, and is a mudblood," Voldemort could tell that Lucius hated her.
"Lucius, I'm sure you remember how you loved the jog I provided for you," Voldemort said.
"Yes, my Lord, you were and are always so merciful and generous to me," Lucius replied.
"I should think that it would be your desire to torture Miss Granger?" Voldemort hinted. Lucius fell to the ground and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes. "Lucius, get up!" Voldemort said, almost annoyed.
"I am sorry, Master, but you are so charitable," Lucius flattered, picking himself off the ground.
"How is your son by the way, keeping him as far away from Avalon, I presume?" Voldemort eyed Lucius closely as if to say 'or else'.
"Yes, yes, my Lord," said Lucius, rather quickly, which made Voldemort a little skeptical about Lucius's truthfulness. "But Narcissa is having some effect on the boy. It's not that he wants to be the Merlin," Lucius added quickly, finally noticing a look of subtle, yet clear skepticism from Voldemort, which isn't good. "It's as if he feels sorry for her."
"You have got to keep the boy under your influence and not let his mother get to him," Voldemort now turned to speak to all of the death-eaters. "Once we have gotten rid of Avalon upon this Earth, our path to victory and to dominance will be clear!"
They continued to question Karkaroff, but never let him be a regular death-eater again. Once they had extracted all the information they could from him, he had had so many memory charms placed upon him, poor Karkaroff didn't even remember his own name, so the death-eaters, including Voldemort, decided to dispose of him.
The word of Karkaroff's death spread to Dumbledore's ears by means of his allies and spies. Dumbledore went to Snape at once.
"Severus," Dumbledore said, entering Snape's office, where Snape sat behind his desk, but almost at once he stood up, as if his seat had spontaneously combusted.
"What is it Dumbledore? Is everything all right? Is everyone all right?" The tense nature of the current times had caused any small action, any tiny misconduct was regarded with the utmost care.
"It seems that all of our precautions have gone to waste," Dumbledore said, and then he sighed, very heavily. "Karkaroff has been captured and, after revealing what must have been the jackpot of information about us…"
Even though Dumbledore continued to talk, Snape heard no other word after that. It struck him what Karkaroff would have told Voldemort under Imperius Curse (Unforgivable curse of total control of a another person) or under Veritaserum (Strongest known truth serum known to date). Snape mind finally found what it was looking for, what Karkaroff had said about Hermione. 'I've talked with her, and believe me, Viktor was not the only one that was impressed.'… "My God," Snape whispered, now speaking with bated breath. "Dumbledore, I think I know who Voldemort wants to kill…"
"Who, Severus?" Dumbledore said, with a fire in light blue eyes.
"Miss Granger," Snape said, and he looked up at Dumbledore, trying to believe it wasn't true. "Voldemort already knows that she's intelligent from Lucius, and now Voldemort knows there's more about her than there seems to be."
The fire in Dumbledore's eyes had gone out and now were replaced with a quite urgent blaze that let you know something was wrong. "We must alert Minerva," said Dumbledore quickly, "and Durmstrang, their search for a new headmaster is for certain now, Karkaroff is never coming back, he's most likely already been killed by Voldemort, since Karkaroff really doesn't know that much, not at all what Voldemort wished he knew. This changes everything, Severus, we need to put Hermione under higher protection immediately, and Draco, well, I just hope we can keep him on the right path, how persistent will Lucius be? You know him better than I do."
Snape thought hard. True he did know Severus well, but it had been so long when they were friends. Now, Lucius heavily disliked Snape, thinking him a betrayer to the brotherhood of being a death-eater.
"Well," Snape hesitated, still trying to remember. "It depends on what Lucius is fighting for, but fighting for control over his son's future, I would think that he would be very enduring in making sure he made Draco a death-eater."
"Severus, I trust you to tell Narcissa about the recent happenings, I must talk to Minerva," Dumbledore said quickly, and then he swept out of the door. But he needn't have started towards Minerva's office so fast, Dumbledore met Minerva three staircases out of Snape's office.
"Merlin," said Minerva, trying to catch her breath. By the color of her cheeks, she had sprinted as fast as she could to get to the Merlin. "Don't worry, I have Kenda telling Hermione and her parents the news. Hopefully we can arrange something that would allow Hermione and her parents to stay in close contact."
"Perhaps," said Dumbledore, looking extremely worried. "But we need her as safe as she can be, now that Voldemort's back, there's no doubt that his followers will do anything to please him, and getting a hold of Hermione would be the best thing a death-eater could do to have total redemption."
A/N: I hope you guys liked it, I don't think I could have done it any better…well, it's up to you. For the delay I give you bandannas, blue ball point pens, and trailers of the second Harry Potter movie. I hope you all are enjoying summer and I promise, chapter 11 will be information you don't know. Thank you soo much! Epequa.
Disclaimer: I hope everyone's having a pleasurable summer vacation! Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling and Marion Zimmer Bradley, everything except my plot. (Pretty sad, huh?)
Useless Information: I just realized that people probably speed through this without any thought of it at all. But for those people who don't, a lovely quote is coming your way! "My books are water; those of great authors are wine. Everybody drinks water." - Mark Twain
If Time is All We've Lost
Chapter 10 - Pearly Splash
'There have been times in my life,
I've been wondering why.
Still somehow I believe,
we always survive.
Now I'm not so sure,
that you're waiting here.
One good reason to try,
But what more can I say,
was left to provide.
You think that maybe it's over;
Only if you want it to be.
How are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle,
Stand up and fight!
This is it.
Make no mistake where you are.
This is it.
Your back's to the corner.
This is it.
Don't be a fool anymore.
This is it.
The waiting is over.
No room to run,
No way to hide,
No time for wondering why.
It's here, the moment is now,
About to decide.
Let them believe.
Leave them behind,
But keep me near in your heart.
Know whatever you do,
I'm here by your side.
You said that maybe it's over,
But if you don't want it to be.
For once in your life, here's your miracle,
Stand up and fight!
This is it.
Make no mistake where you are.
This is it.
You're going no further.
This is it.
Until it's over and done.
/~\ Kenny Loggins / 'This is it' /~\
The start of school was heaving itself upon Avalon, as it usually did. This meant that Minerva could only come at odd times during the year, until summer had finally arrived. But there were more absences than usual this year.
First there was little, now eleven year old, Hermione Granger. Smarter than anyone could have ever perceived, she still was very secretive of her character to those she didn't know. She was learning the Herb Lore that was usually reserved for the older priestesses, only because she had simply run out of things to learn.
Yet, not only Avalon would be suffering; Dragon Isle would feel the blow as well, not that losing the Merlin for nine months was enough. Draco would also be leaving for Hogwarts. Although he was somewhat of a brat because of his father and his ideals, Draco was as bright as was really expected of him, but he had logic and memory, gifts that one could only be thankful enough for, but Draco wasn't.
Another important addition to Hogwarts was Harry Potter. Famous as he was in the wizarding world, Hogwarts had been awaiting his coming since he was born. Harry had unknowingly become a point of tension between the God and Goddess, which is never good. The Goddess favored Harry, for she had highly favored his mother, but the God saw no reason to. He was also a point a tension for all the witches and wizards that worked so hard to have Harry be safe from Voldemort and from any remaining death-eaters.
In other words, the three most influential, essential, and fortunate children were being sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Influential because of their prominent roles in both Avalon's and the wizarding world's futures. Essential because of everyone's need of an heir and a hero. Fortunate because of their prolonged existence thus far.
No doubt that each of them had turned their fair share of heads, but Harry would be, by far, the most famous of the trio, for he was known in all of the wizarding world, not just on Avalon.
Minerva and the Merlin had both seen the eminent enmity when Hermione and Draco had just met for a few minutes, but spending a whole school year, seven times, well, no one really knew what would ever come of that.
Even though Draco was a spoiled brat, he adored his mother. During his childhood, his father had been away much of his life (until recently) and he had spent countless hours around his mother and around Avalon and Dragon Isle, since his mother was a priestess. He especially loved his mother's singing, and also the beautiful way in which she played her harp. The harp in itself was beautiful, made of solid mahogany wood, yet engraved with delicate Celtic symbols. But it was also historical and very unique. It had once belonged to Kevin the Bard, famed Merlin hundreds of years ago. The harp could only be played by a true priest or priestess of Avalon or Dragon Isle, for if played by any other person, magic or unmagic, it would burn and sear their fingers before their eyes and emit no sound at all.
In August, Hermione and Draco had met for a few moments, but when they saw each other on the train, they made a silent agreement that they would never talk to one another again, and each of them was forgotten in the other's minds. Getting Hermione and Draco to agree once again would take more than five years, so it was a monumentous, even if nobody took note.
Hermione made few friends on that first day. She did meet Harry, as well as Ron Weasly, soon to be Harry's best friend. Hermione was shocked to find out how many people still put so much importance in what type of blood a person had. There were lots that dismissed Hermione from their compartment when they found out she was a muggle-born, especially those that were Slytherins, or soon-to-be Slytherins. This really hurt and angered Hermione because she had never been in a situation where people disliked her, no, hated her because her parents were muggles. In fact, no one on the Isle of Avalon minded whether you were muggle-born, full blood, or half blood, just as long as you showed promise for the work of the Goddess.
Draco also met Harry that day, but he already knew about Ron and his family. Draco and Ron had always extremely abhorred each other because their fathers didn't see eye to eye. Arthur Weasly, on one hand, was a kind, generous man who was permanently fascinated with muggles and their way of life. On the other hand, Lucius Malfoy came across as very cool and even cold at times, and he severely disliked muggles, as he had been a muggle torturer for Voldemort at one time.
Draco had found his place surrounded by Slytherins, which meant being surrounded by many of the same morals as his, with the occasional exceptions.
True to their character, Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor and Draco into Slytherin. Hermione loved all the different types of people that she would be around for the next seven years of her life. There were people from all walks of life, different cultures, different parentages, and religions that it was very hard not to fit into the group of Gryffindor first years. Hermione particularly liked her house because they, unlike most of the Slytherins, didn't put a lot of faith or trust in the "purity" of blood.
Draco knew he had found his home the moment that he met his fellow members of house. True, Draco was very well known among his peers and most of his older classmates as well because of his father. Most of the people in Slytherin house had either ex-death eater parents or were closely related to the dark arts, with the occasional one or two odd people.
Both Draco and Hermione kept in close contact with Minerva and the Merlin, although now Hermione and Draco had to refer to them as Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. Hermione even more than Draco. Minerva listened to all of Hermione's thoughts about how some people don't even seem to realize that wizards and witches are the minority to the muggles, but Hermione moved on, despite all her frustrations, and, later on in first year, she became an invaluable friend of Harry and Ron, making quite the Dream Team.
Draco mostly hung around the people he already knew, like Crabbe and Goyle, whose fathers had both been death-eaters during Voldemort's regime. He became as infamous as he was famous in his first years at Hogwarts, becoming seeker for the Slytherin team in his second year. Draco and Harry couldn't stand each other. Their unknown relation was kept secret from the both of them, and only four people at Hogwarts knew the real truth.
Snape was now a professor at Hogwarts, teaching the same class as his uncle had done so long ago. Snape had made himself out to be severely unpopular with his students, well, all except those who aren't in his house, Slytherin. He favored all Slytherins, and showed less respect to any other student in the school. But, in the Gryffindors' opinion, Snape gave them the barest minimum of respect and tolerance, and even less to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Ron wasn't that bad in Snape's eyes. Snape just disliked him more because he was friends with Harry and Hermione. Snape hated Harry because of primarily two things, if not many, many more.
First, there was the prank. Snape despised Harry's father because of a "joke" that he, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin played on him in their last year at Hogwarts. Early in the year, Sirius had almost tried to kill Snape by allowing him to see Remus in his werewolf form. Thankfully for Snape, James had got cold feet at the last minute, and saved Snape, but that wasn't enough for Snape. He was sure that they would all get expelled at the very least, and their wands snapped in half.
But then there was Lily. From the first moment that he saw her, he fell in love. Lily is the reason that Snape no longer believes in love at first sight, or really in love at all. And especially since James married Lily, it gives Snape only more excuses to detest James. But once he learned the truth that Voldemort wanted to have Lily as his wife and now to kill Harry, Snape began to edge away from Voldemort, eventually renouncing all he had to do with him and becoming a spy for the other side.
All this hate and anger was channeled into Harry when James died. In Harry's first year, Snape was very aware that Voldemort was lurking near, and that Quirrel had something to do with it. So, as a promise to himself, he decided to protect Harry as well as he could, without being suspicious. Over the years he had turned over in his head the fact that James had saved his life, and Snape could find no other way to put it, so, as a sort of salvation and pay back to James, Snape guarded Harry, the boy that could have been Snape's child, and then went back to hating both Harry and James in peace.
But the real test to Snape's character came in Harry's fourth year, when the Triwizard Tournament came to Hogwarts. Along with this three tasked, three participant challenge came the delegates from the other most prominent schools of magic in Europe and their Headmaster and Headmistress.
Although it wasn't the half-giant of a Headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime, from Beauxbatons Academy in France, or her Veelan delegate. But rather from the other school, Durmstrang Institution from Germany, and from its delegate, Viktor Krum, and Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff.
First, Karkaroff knew Snape as a Death-Eater, as was he, and since the dark mark on their upper arms were growing darker, they both were apprehensive to admit the fact that Voldemort was growing stronger as well.
And as if that weren't enough, Viktor was Snape's very own cousin, sharing many of the same physical qualities as Snape himself. Viktor was Snape's cousin on his father's side, being the "forgotten" branch of the Snape family. Snape's grandmother and grandfather gave birth to a girl that was a sqiub (muggle child born of wizard parents). She was felt more with shame to the family, so she married a wizard to compensate, and gave birth to two sons, the younger of those being Viktor.
And in the middle of this entire mental mess was a new job from Dumbledore and McGonagall. Snape was allowed to know that Hermione was the heir to position of the Lady of the Lake and Draco to the position of Merlin, for one reason; to observe Draco and to make sure that he was not becoming overly involved in the dark arts. Now Snape accepted because he had been a friend of Narcissa's, and now since Snape saw the dark mark growing more clear, he knew that Lucius would be even more radical about making his son a death-eater.
In Snape's reality, this was one of the worst years at Hogwarts he had ever had. But a scare did come on Christmas, one that Karkaroff wasn't ready for.
"Severus, you can't keep putting off the fact that you-know-who's coming back!" Igor Karkaroff said frantically, vigorously twirling his finger around his goatee. "Or at least getting stronger!"
"Igor, I know what Voldemort wants to do to me, but can't you see we are safe if we stay within the castle and it's grounds. Voldemort would never come near here." Snape said rationally. Igor was completely losing his mind with fear because the mark on his upper arm had glowed almost a deep purple, when it had remained dormant for the past few weeks.
"But how many of us will be delighted when You-know-who comes back?" Karkaroff whispered and then swallowed a lump in his throat. "How many will be happy to kill you or me for betraying them?"
"If you mean you would have rather stayed on Voldemort's side, then you must beg for mercy, which doesn't always come naturally to the dark lord." Snape said coldly, but he sighed heavily afterwards. "We are as safe as we could ever be here."
"That is what you believe, Severus," Karkaroff said swiftly, and he turned on his heel and started out, but had only reached the threshold of the dungeon door before turning around. "Tell old Dumbledore that he needs to keep that Hermione Granger safe. I've talked to her at the ball, and believe me, it was not only Viktor who was impressed. Voldemort will find out she's powerful and intelligent, a rival to even he. She reminds me of the girl that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ranted about, what was he name? …Ah yes, it was Lily Evans, I do believe." And with that he left through the door, his footsteps resounding off the walls for quite some time.
Karkaroff's final words echoed over and over again in Snape's brain. Hermione…, remind him of…of…Lily? But the more he thought about it, the more rational the idea became. Voldemort had chosen his heir, and the heir's potential wife, but Snape didn't that think Voldemort could have chose a more unlikely pair. I mean, come on, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger?
Draco was going through some pretty hard times himself. But the more he heard about being a death-eater, the more it appealed to him. He found it much more exciting than being the future Merlin. But every time this battle would go on in his head, he would begin to think of his mother, and slowly edge back toward being the Merlin.
The climax came on June 24th, the day of the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament. In all actuality, the signs that June 24th would not be a good day started early that morning, when Hermione woke up and drug herself out of bed to get something to drink. The night had been filled with anxieties about Harry and Viktor, but mostly more for Harry she had slept less than two hours and when she stared hazily at her bedside clock it read 3:24 A.M. Hermione got herself a glass of water and stared out the window as she started to drink it, but what she saw in the sky almost made her wish she hadn't woke up at all.
The moon was as near to a full moon than it could be, but it wasn't the size of the moon that startled Hermione so bad, it was it's color. The moon's glow was blood red, only to her really, as it was meant for her eyes only because it was a warning from the Goddess that something bad was going to happen. Hermione could never get to sleep now, so she sent herself to Professor Dumbledore and Professor MeGonagall.
Now, usually, only full priestesses can do this, but Hermione was quite dynamic. She sends an apparition to whoever she wanted to and tells them the message.
Dumbledore was awoken by an unearthly touch on his arm, and opened his eyes to see a white, but almost golden outline of a person. He put on his spectacles to find that it was a specter of Hermione Granger, waiting for him to wake up. "Be on the alert today, Professor," it murmured, hardly recognizing the surprise on the Merlin's face. "The Goddess sends her worst messenger, a red moon, to warn everyone today. Be prepared for the most awful of news and the most evil of actions." And with that the specter melted away. Minerva received the same message.
Hermione had a sleepless night, but Professor Dumbledore waited until morning to talk to Minerva about the whole thing. At breakfast, Dumbledore was the first to open up the subject.
"Minerva, how long has Hermione been able to make herself a messenger?" Dumbledore asked quietly, making sure no one else but Minerva hear.
"Since she was ten," Minerva answered simply, but all of the sudden she became suspicious. "Why do you ask, Albus?"
"Miss Granger came to me last night as a misty courier, saying that the Goddess had given her a sign of utmost caution." Dumbledore looked at McGonagall very seriously as he finished her sentence.
"The girl is trustworthy enough, she came to me as well, but I hope it is not needed. The Goddess has given us unusual signs before, but I pray that it is not as grave as Hermione made it out to be." Minerva said, very sure of her answer.
"Only time will tell," Dumbledore sighed, and he turned back to his scrambled eggs.
Unfortunately for everyone, the warning did prove to be true. Voldemort had had a secret servant at the school, pinned to make Voldemort's plan work. Voldemort did rise again and Harry's protection was demolished by an ancient dark magic rebirth potion. The worst thing was that Karkaroff fled that night, hoping to save himself, but only to put more people in the path of Voldemort's wrath.
When Dumbledore heard the news, well, the first hand account from Harry, Dumbledore was actually glad that Voldemort had made the mistake of choosing Harry to provide the "Blood of the enemy" in his rebirthing process.
You see, Voldemort made his last mistake in getting his own revenge. Since Harry had saved Wormtail's life in his third year at Hogwarts, and since Voldemort used Wormtail as his "Flesh of the Servant", there is something wrong with his triumph. Wormtail was in Harry's debt, meaning that the potion did not have complete effect. So, right now Voldemort can touch Harry, but year after year, the power will deteriorate, unlike with any other witch or wizard. Another mistake that could have been prevented would, once again make Voldemort eat his words.
That night, Dumbledore had seen that Fudge was not ready to believe that Voldemort had come back and that all they had tried to rebuild in the past fourteen years. Fudge would not accept that they had to get rid of the dementors because of the threat they now posed, as they would rejoin Voldemort as soon as he asked them. As the guards of Azkaban (wizard equivalent to Alcatraz), they would set all of Voldemort's followers free. Fudge also didn't want to believe that they needed to make allies with the giants, which is unheard of for wizards.
No one ready to believe it all, not even Harry, who had seen it all happen. Snape was reunited with Sirius, one that was hostile, but one that could definitely improve with time, and when I say with time, I mean with time. But Severus knew what he had to do, and it put himself and others in danger, may it be present or future peril.
"Severus," said Dumbledore, turning to Snape. He had already sent Bill Weasly to his father, Arthur Weasly, to warn him about the recent happenings, and Sirius Black to hide out at Lupin's for awhile. "You know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready…If you are prepared…"
"I am," said Snape.
"Then good luck," said Dumbledore. And Snape left through the door looking slightly pale. He half-ran through the front doors and pelted into the Forbidden Forest, tearing through the underbrush that threatened to slow him down.
Snape's challenge was to find Karkaroff, before Voldemort caught him and used him for information, telling all he knew about Snape, Hermione, and Harry. But Snape was now putting himself in unimaginable danger. If Voldemort knew, if he somehow found out that Snape had gone away from the school grounds, he would be on him like a duck on a June bug. (I need to thank my grandmother for that one!) But by the time he had gotten anywhere, Karkaroff was far away and it was unknown if he had been captured already or not. Snape apparated as close as he could to Hogwarts, so he wouldn't have to run so much to relay information back to Dumbledore, information that was not welcome to the present situation.
"Go on, go on," said Voldemort, growing a bit impatient with this former death-eater and waving his hand to show his feeling. Karkaroff cowered even more towards the floor.
"Hermione Granger, sir," sputtered Karkaroff, bruised and battered because of the many times he had suffered through the Cruciatus Curse. "She is special, Dumbledore is hiding something about her."
"That old fool," Voldemort almost seemed to laugh to himself, almost. There was at least an evil smirk rising on his lips, but in a second, it had disappeared. "What's Dumbledore got up his sleeve this time?"
"I know not much more," Karkaroff awaited the flash of pure pain, but was happy that he didn't feel it. "My Lord, Hermione reminds me of that woman you always used talk about, Master, Lily Evans."
At that moment, Karkaroff knew he had said something that Voldemort didn't want to hear. Maybe it was the fact that Voldemort's face had contorted into a look that showed both his anger and annoyance at the same time, or maybe it was merely the fact that Karkaroff's own face gnarled with agony as he once again felt pure, undiluted pain.
"We all know what happened to Miss Evans," Voldemort looked around at all of his followers. "And I'm sure you do not want that to happen to you. So, Hermione Granger reminds you of Lily…Lucius!" Mr. Malfoy scuttled foreword from the circle of cohorts that surrounded both Voldemort and Karkaroff.
"Yes, Master?" Lucius muttered from beneath his mask, which muffled his voice greatly.
"Do you know anything about this Hermione Granger character?" said Voldemort, evidently interested in Dumbledore's new "Secret Weapon". "How old she is, what house she's in, what makes her so special, and the like…"
"Miss Granger is in my son's year and is in Gryffindor house," Lucius said, and Voldemort looked as if he winced at those words. "She extraordinarily smart, and is a mudblood," Voldemort could tell that Lucius hated her.
"Lucius, I'm sure you remember how you loved the jog I provided for you," Voldemort said.
"Yes, my Lord, you were and are always so merciful and generous to me," Lucius replied.
"I should think that it would be your desire to torture Miss Granger?" Voldemort hinted. Lucius fell to the ground and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes. "Lucius, get up!" Voldemort said, almost annoyed.
"I am sorry, Master, but you are so charitable," Lucius flattered, picking himself off the ground.
"How is your son by the way, keeping him as far away from Avalon, I presume?" Voldemort eyed Lucius closely as if to say 'or else'.
"Yes, yes, my Lord," said Lucius, rather quickly, which made Voldemort a little skeptical about Lucius's truthfulness. "But Narcissa is having some effect on the boy. It's not that he wants to be the Merlin," Lucius added quickly, finally noticing a look of subtle, yet clear skepticism from Voldemort, which isn't good. "It's as if he feels sorry for her."
"You have got to keep the boy under your influence and not let his mother get to him," Voldemort now turned to speak to all of the death-eaters. "Once we have gotten rid of Avalon upon this Earth, our path to victory and to dominance will be clear!"
They continued to question Karkaroff, but never let him be a regular death-eater again. Once they had extracted all the information they could from him, he had had so many memory charms placed upon him, poor Karkaroff didn't even remember his own name, so the death-eaters, including Voldemort, decided to dispose of him.
The word of Karkaroff's death spread to Dumbledore's ears by means of his allies and spies. Dumbledore went to Snape at once.
"Severus," Dumbledore said, entering Snape's office, where Snape sat behind his desk, but almost at once he stood up, as if his seat had spontaneously combusted.
"What is it Dumbledore? Is everything all right? Is everyone all right?" The tense nature of the current times had caused any small action, any tiny misconduct was regarded with the utmost care.
"It seems that all of our precautions have gone to waste," Dumbledore said, and then he sighed, very heavily. "Karkaroff has been captured and, after revealing what must have been the jackpot of information about us…"
Even though Dumbledore continued to talk, Snape heard no other word after that. It struck him what Karkaroff would have told Voldemort under Imperius Curse (Unforgivable curse of total control of a another person) or under Veritaserum (Strongest known truth serum known to date). Snape mind finally found what it was looking for, what Karkaroff had said about Hermione. 'I've talked with her, and believe me, Viktor was not the only one that was impressed.'… "My God," Snape whispered, now speaking with bated breath. "Dumbledore, I think I know who Voldemort wants to kill…"
"Who, Severus?" Dumbledore said, with a fire in light blue eyes.
"Miss Granger," Snape said, and he looked up at Dumbledore, trying to believe it wasn't true. "Voldemort already knows that she's intelligent from Lucius, and now Voldemort knows there's more about her than there seems to be."
The fire in Dumbledore's eyes had gone out and now were replaced with a quite urgent blaze that let you know something was wrong. "We must alert Minerva," said Dumbledore quickly, "and Durmstrang, their search for a new headmaster is for certain now, Karkaroff is never coming back, he's most likely already been killed by Voldemort, since Karkaroff really doesn't know that much, not at all what Voldemort wished he knew. This changes everything, Severus, we need to put Hermione under higher protection immediately, and Draco, well, I just hope we can keep him on the right path, how persistent will Lucius be? You know him better than I do."
Snape thought hard. True he did know Severus well, but it had been so long when they were friends. Now, Lucius heavily disliked Snape, thinking him a betrayer to the brotherhood of being a death-eater.
"Well," Snape hesitated, still trying to remember. "It depends on what Lucius is fighting for, but fighting for control over his son's future, I would think that he would be very enduring in making sure he made Draco a death-eater."
"Severus, I trust you to tell Narcissa about the recent happenings, I must talk to Minerva," Dumbledore said quickly, and then he swept out of the door. But he needn't have started towards Minerva's office so fast, Dumbledore met Minerva three staircases out of Snape's office.
"Merlin," said Minerva, trying to catch her breath. By the color of her cheeks, she had sprinted as fast as she could to get to the Merlin. "Don't worry, I have Kenda telling Hermione and her parents the news. Hopefully we can arrange something that would allow Hermione and her parents to stay in close contact."
"Perhaps," said Dumbledore, looking extremely worried. "But we need her as safe as she can be, now that Voldemort's back, there's no doubt that his followers will do anything to please him, and getting a hold of Hermione would be the best thing a death-eater could do to have total redemption."
A/N: I hope you guys liked it, I don't think I could have done it any better…well, it's up to you. For the delay I give you bandannas, blue ball point pens, and trailers of the second Harry Potter movie. I hope you all are enjoying summer and I promise, chapter 11 will be information you don't know. Thank you soo much! Epequa.