A/N Okay, here it is! I know I said it would be up yesterday, but that was before I knew my sympatico was going to break. I swear, I want to throw this computer in the wall! Anyways, that's all I have to say! Enjoy! Adrianna
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Hermione and Penelope had been in the study all night long. Ginny, after Harry had told her what was going on, had promptly come over and shut herself in there too, leaving their two children with Harry and Ron. At the moment, they were at the park, probably being laughed at by all the nannies and mums, but Hermione, Ginny, and Penelope were too busy and couldn't laugh about it. The spell was almost finished. With Ginny's help, they had found information twice as fast. Ginny, who was good at Charms, had made the name, Lacrima Abegere, which, considering its translation, should work she said. All they needed was to put the finishing touches on the map, and then they could test it. So they continued, bent over the desk, looking longingly out the window, at the sun and the crocuses starting to bloom, and broke their fourth quill.
" Darn!" said Hermione, the quill snapping in half after she pressed too hard on the end. "That's the fourth quill we've broken!" Beside her, Penelope sighed.
"And I must have used three packages of parchment already…" and all three of them turned their heads to look at the wastebasket, having long ago overflown.
" Just think of the coffee we've been through," Ginny added, and all three of them sighed again. They sat in silence and Penelope passed Hermione another quill. Hermione set forth to continue the mapping of the spell and Penelope and Ginny sat and closed their eyes for a minute.
"How much longer do we have?" Ginny asked, not even opening her eyes.
" I don't know, maybe eight hours," said Penelope, her eyes staying closed as well.
" More like nine," Hermione said. Ginny hummed in response, too tired to do anything else.
"But we'll make it," said Hermione, smiling and setting her quill down and looking over their handiwork. The two other girls opened their eyes and leaned over.
" Is it finished?"
" What do we do now?"
"My, that's complicated, isn't it?"
They all stopped chattering and looked at each other excitedly. Hermione grinned.
"We did it. We invented a spell," she said proudly, tracing her fingers over the parchment.
"I just hope it works," Penelope said. She looked over the mapping and grinned.
"The Ministry won't be able to refuse you when you show them this.
"It has to work first," Hermione said humbly. Ginny rolled her eyes behind the other two's back.
" Would you stop saying that! If, if, if, if if! Of COURSE it'll work. And even if it doesn't, we can fix it. And we can't just sit around and see what happens, we need to do something. Here, give me the parchment, I'll do the spell. I'm best in Charms, and you know it." Ginny said, sounding altogether much too like Mrs. Weasley as she took the parchment Penny handed her. She pulled her wand from behind her ear and looked at the other two as if to say, this is it. She tapped her wand on the parchment twice. The room was completely silent. Outside, the cars seemed to stop, and the birds quieted. Not a sound came from anywhere. BOOM!
"AUGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" they all screamed as the door flew open. A moment of silence as the three, sorry, seven people were too stunned to speak. Standing in the doorway were Ron, Harry, Lily, and Andre looking at Ginny, Penelope and Hermione, who were looking at them. Ron cleared his throat.
"Um- did we interrupt something?"
" Yes, you most certainly did!" Hermione said, looking at him with disdain. The other two glared back.
"I was JUST going to do the spell Ron!" Ginny said, looking at Harry.
"Well, can we watch?" Harry asked. Silence.
"I suppose so…" said Penelope, looking at the other two.
"Fine," nodded Hermione. "But you can't make any noise. Ginny needs to concentrate."
Ron and Harry carried the two kids in and sat down on chairs, with the kids in their laps. Andre giggled and Ron covered the boy's mouth with his hand. Ginny resumed her position, and it became quiet again. She tapped the parchment twice and raised her wand.
"Creare Magica!" she said, with a swish above her head. She pointed her wand at the parchment and all the colours of ink, all the layers of the spell rose out of it, swirling in the air and making her hair blow around her face. It suddenly became white and a whooshing sound came as the spell dissolved, and Hermione could feel the wind on her face. It was silent again, and they were all quite stunned by the powerful magic they had just experienced.
"That was cool Mummy! Can you do that again?" piped up Andre, breaking the tension at last. Ron snorted and soon they all laughed, and the world felt good again.
"I think you did it, 'Mione," said Ron, looking at her in a very impressed manner. She smiled and he looked at her proudly, kissing her on the cheek. She looked down at the floor, amazingly happy that she had finally finished it. They all looked around at each other happily, none of them really knowing what to say, until Ginny picked up her wand, which had fallen to the floor and pushed it behind her ear again. She picked up her cloak and tossed everyone else's to the owner and looked excited.
"Well? Should we try it?" she asked, and held the door open for everyone.