Disclaimer and author's note:
I do not own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or the Potter universe. They are the
sole property of J.K. Rowling.
This story is mostly about Hermione and my own character, Morgana. Sorry to
all Harry's fans, but she is my favourite character.
The original characters are mine. I would like them to stay mine, in
particular Morgana. However, I would be very honoured if you think that
this story is good enough to print and give to your friends.
And I would like to thanks the people who are 'working' for the Harry
Potter Lexicon. Thanks to you, I was able to make a believable timeline for
my story.
Another thing: as I hate that, I will not write the disclaimer again. Just don't sue me.
~~**~~**~~
Prologue 12 July 1995
Everything was rather quiet tonight and Hermione was happy as she was coming back to her home, having spent the day in the library. She was walking up the street when she saw something strange. As a matter of fact, it was very strange to see several Ministry of Magic cars in front of her house. She walked a bit faster, wondering why they had come here. She hadn't done anything illegal, not any she knew about anyway. As she could see no one outside, she supposed that her parents had let the Ministry in. As she was taking her first step on the path leading to her front door, Hermione saw Remus Lupin coming to greet her.
"Remus! What are you doing here? I'm so happy to see you."
Hermione hugged her friend tightly. However, she broke away when she didn't feel Remus hugging back. As a matter of fact, he was clearly avoiding her eyes. Hermione frowned and took a step back, wondering what bothering him. At that same moment, Mad-Eye Moody came out of the house. He was too avoiding looking at her eyes, both her real and magical eyes looking at the ground.
"What's the matter, guys?"
The two men exchanged a glance before sighing, neither of them answering her question, still avoiding looking at her.
"You're beginning to worry me." Hermione said with a fake laugh in her voice. "Nothing happened to Harry or Ron, right?"
"They're fine." Remus whispered softly.
Hermione's mind quickly jumped to the conclusion. She tried to walk past the men but Mad-Eye grabbed her.
"Let me go." Hermione shouted. "Let me go! Where are my parents? Mum? Dad? You can come out now, that's not funny. Mum!"
And the next thing Hermione knew was darkness.
~~**~~**~~
Hermione opened her eyes to see the face of Albus Dumbledore hovering above her. She looked deep inside his blue eyes to see their trademark twinkle gone. And she knew that she hadn't been dreaming.
"What happened?" she asked in a cold and uncaring voice that both frightened and comforted her.
Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head.
"Voldemort." Hermione said this single word with such a hate that Dumbledore bore his eyes into her own.
"You will not go after him, child."
Hermione didn't even asked how Dumbledore knew that it was what she had been thinking. After, it was a very well-known fact that the Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had something of a telepath. Hermione sat up and looked around her, not really surprised to see that she was in the Hospital Wing of her school. Professor McGonagall was here, looking at her student with something looking like pity in her eyes. And for that, Hermione hated her.
"Minerva, could you go in my office and asked Fawkes to come down?"
Minerva McGonagall shot a look at Dumbledore before obeying. Once she stepped outside, Dumbledore turned his eyes back on Hermione. Hermione gasped a bit as she saw that all sadness was gone from those eyes, living them as cold and uncaring as Hermione's voice had been moment ago. Like ice, thought Hermione for a second.
"You will not go after him for you're not ready to do so, Hermione. But you are the most powerful witch Hogwarts has ever seen since Tom Marvolo Riddle. And I do think that you're even better than he ever was at school."
Dumbledore earned Hermione's undivided attention with those few words. She could see the twinkle back in his eyes, but in his now icy stare, it seemed malevolent. But Hermione was feeling even more willing to slip away from the Light if it could allow her to destroy Voldemort. Again, Dumbledore seemed to read her thoughts, for he smiled, a smiled that could have made shiver a Dementor. Before any of them spoke, the door reopened and Fawkes flew in, closely followed by Minerva McGonagall. The golden phoenix stopped in mid-air as he seemed to feel his master and Hermione's state of mind. The bird was now about the size of small owl, instead of his full-grown swan-sized self. He flew toward Dumbledore and landed on his shoulder.
"Minerva, could you take care of everything for Hermione's stay with us?"
Again, Gryffindor Head of House shot a death glare at her superior, not really understanding why Dumbledore was trying to keep her away from her top student. But again, she obeyed the order. Once the door was closed once more, Hermione looked straight at Dumbledore.
"What do I have to do?"
"First, you will remain in Hogwarts and study here. I have many things to take care of before being ready. During this time, you will pass your N.E.W.Ts. I will hopefully have an answer before you're done." Dumbledore said these last words while looking at Fawkes.
The phoenix stared back at his master before nodding and disappearing in a burst of golden flames.
"What has he gone to do?"
"Warn someone that it is time." Dumbledore said cryptically. "Now, I want you to rest. You have loads ahead of you."
Hermione nodded and closed her eyes, setting her mind on the task ahead: achieving top marks at all her NEWTs so Dumbledore would not back down from what seemed to be her way to have her revenge.
~~**~~**~~
For the following month, all that Hermione did was studying. She turned down all her friends when they asked for seeing her. Each night, she was dreaming about how the Death Eaters had killed her parents. She could very well imagine, she had read so much about them. These dreams made her hate for Voldemort rise to new levels each morning. And she used this hate to sustain her during her long hours of studies. She categorically refused to go to the funerals, setting herself even more work to do. The whole staff soon learnt not to bother her when she was in the Library. Even Snape left her alone, both because he knew the feeling and didn't want to be snapped at. When came the first few days of August, Dumbledore allowed Hermione inside the Restricted Area of the library, to the horror of the rest of the staff. From this moment, Hermione became even more silent, and didn't turn up at lunch anymore. She was awake at 6 a.m., had taken her breakfast by 6.30 and in the Library by 6.45. She worked all day long, came down for dinner with the others and went back to work till often past midnight.
On the 25th of August, Dumbledore took his student to London and the Ministry of Magic, where Hermione successfully pass all her N.E.W.Ts with outstanding grades, as well as her Apparating Licence. Dumbledore and Hermione stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for the night. They ordered a very light dinner and sat in the shadows, in a corner of the room, where they ate silently at first. After taking a few bites out of her piece of chicken, Hermione finally looked up at her now former Headmaster.
"Now what, Professor?"
"Well, first I think that you can stop to call me Professor and settle for my first name. You're not my student anymore."
Hermione smiled slightly to that, knowing very well that she had not smile to anyone else for more than a month. Oddly enough, Albus Dumbledore had become the one with whom she was nearly able to forget about the day when her childhood ended, as she had come to call it.
"Very well, Albus. So.?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow in question.
"We will go back to Hogwarts tomorrow and meet with. a friend of mine. She will take care of you for the next year."
Hermione frowned at these words.
"I thought that you were preparing me to fight Lord Voldemort."
Hermione spat out this name with so much disdain that it brought a smile on Dumbledore's lips. It also brought this icy stare that Hermione had learnt to know.
"That's exactly what you will do, dear. My. friend had been training to fight against Voldemort since childhood. She is delighted to now have a student."
Hermione gave an odd look to Dumbledore. She hadn't thought that people had been training to fight Voldemort. Now that she was thinking of that, it made sense. Voldemort and his Death Eaters had killed so many people that she was certainly not the first to hate him. Just look at Harry. The dinner was finished quickly and Hermione wished a good night to Dumbledore before going to her room and taking some deserved rest. The both of them woke up at dawn to be back as soon as possible at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall greeted them with impatient questions and showed off proudly all of Hermione's NEWTs, saying that to anyone who was nearby that I was the first time in Hogwarts history that a student passed her NEWTs two whole years before the time.
~~**~~**~~
It was now 22.00 and Hermione was waiting impatiently for Dumbledore's friend to arrive. In front of her, Dumbledore was busying himself writing, preparing the now very near return of the students. At this thought, Hermione felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She hadn't talked or written to any of them during the whole holiday. She knew they were worried about her because she had received loads of letters. But she hadn't answer to any of them. And now, she was about to leave without saying good bye.
"You can use the Floo Powder if you wish so."
"Albus, are you really sure that you aren't a telepath?"
The blue eyes of Dumbledore twinkled joyfully above his half-moon spectacles. Then, he went back writing. No, Hermione would not contact her friends. First off, she didn't want them bursting in Dumbledore's office the very next second. And it was already planned that she would come back, in exactly one year and six days. The roar of a motor shattered Hermione's thoughts and Dumbledore sighed as he put down his quill and stood up, waving for Hermione to follow him. They quickly went down the stairs and to the Entrance Hall. There was standing a woman, wearing black leather jacket and gloves, dark blue jeans, and black motorbike boots.
"Morgana! I thought that you would make the effort to come via wizarding ways."
"Dad, you know very well that my flat isn't equipped with a fireplace."
"You could have Apparate."
Morgana Dumbledore just stuck her tongue out to her father before throwing herself into his arms. Hermione was looking at them, puzzled. Morgana was tall, true, as was Dumbledore. But that was about the only thing they had in common. Morgana had long dark and curly hair, a deep chocolate skin and brown eyes, while Dumbledore had been a young redhead, with white skin and blue eyes. Finally, Morgana broke away from the hug to look at Hermione. She said nothing at first, staring at Hermione. Then she held out a hand.
"I'm Morgana Dumbledore."
"Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you."
"Same here. And no, he isn't my real father." Morgana added with a smile.
Hermione found herself smiling back. Dumbledore nodded knowingly at that before waving his wand so that Hermione's things appeared next to them.
"Have a nice trip. And please, do call me when you arrive."
With that Dumbledore hugged Hermione, then his daughter before going back to his office.
"He has never been very good at saying 'good bye'." Morgana said fondly as she gazed at the retreating form of her father. Then she turned toward Hermione. "Shall we?"
Again, Hermione couldn't help but smile. She followed Morgana outside and felt her jaw drop as she saw the motorbike waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. Morgana took Hermione's suitcases, reducio-ed them and put them safely in the inside pocket of her jacket.
"How have you done that?" Hermione gasped.
"What?"
"Wandless magic."
"I've never had the use of one." Morgana said, shrugging as she nearly jumped onto her bike. "Now, I have something to ask you: how much do you hate Voldemort?"
"He ordered the murder of my parents." Hermione answered. If her word didn't give a straight answer to Morgana's question, her tone of voice however did.
Morgana nodded and motioned Hermione to take place behind her. Morgana started the motor of her bike before giving a helmet to Hermione and put another one on her black-haired head. Then, Morgana began to drive them toward Hogsmeade. As they were speeding away from Hogwarts, Hermione threw a last look at the castle. When she would come back, she would be strong enough to destroy Voldemort. She swore it by the Founders.
~~**~~**~~
So, tell me what you think of this prologue, please.
The first chapter should be up tomorrow.
Another thing: as I hate that, I will not write the disclaimer again. Just don't sue me.
~~**~~**~~
Prologue 12 July 1995
Everything was rather quiet tonight and Hermione was happy as she was coming back to her home, having spent the day in the library. She was walking up the street when she saw something strange. As a matter of fact, it was very strange to see several Ministry of Magic cars in front of her house. She walked a bit faster, wondering why they had come here. She hadn't done anything illegal, not any she knew about anyway. As she could see no one outside, she supposed that her parents had let the Ministry in. As she was taking her first step on the path leading to her front door, Hermione saw Remus Lupin coming to greet her.
"Remus! What are you doing here? I'm so happy to see you."
Hermione hugged her friend tightly. However, she broke away when she didn't feel Remus hugging back. As a matter of fact, he was clearly avoiding her eyes. Hermione frowned and took a step back, wondering what bothering him. At that same moment, Mad-Eye Moody came out of the house. He was too avoiding looking at her eyes, both her real and magical eyes looking at the ground.
"What's the matter, guys?"
The two men exchanged a glance before sighing, neither of them answering her question, still avoiding looking at her.
"You're beginning to worry me." Hermione said with a fake laugh in her voice. "Nothing happened to Harry or Ron, right?"
"They're fine." Remus whispered softly.
Hermione's mind quickly jumped to the conclusion. She tried to walk past the men but Mad-Eye grabbed her.
"Let me go." Hermione shouted. "Let me go! Where are my parents? Mum? Dad? You can come out now, that's not funny. Mum!"
And the next thing Hermione knew was darkness.
~~**~~**~~
Hermione opened her eyes to see the face of Albus Dumbledore hovering above her. She looked deep inside his blue eyes to see their trademark twinkle gone. And she knew that she hadn't been dreaming.
"What happened?" she asked in a cold and uncaring voice that both frightened and comforted her.
Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head.
"Voldemort." Hermione said this single word with such a hate that Dumbledore bore his eyes into her own.
"You will not go after him, child."
Hermione didn't even asked how Dumbledore knew that it was what she had been thinking. After, it was a very well-known fact that the Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had something of a telepath. Hermione sat up and looked around her, not really surprised to see that she was in the Hospital Wing of her school. Professor McGonagall was here, looking at her student with something looking like pity in her eyes. And for that, Hermione hated her.
"Minerva, could you go in my office and asked Fawkes to come down?"
Minerva McGonagall shot a look at Dumbledore before obeying. Once she stepped outside, Dumbledore turned his eyes back on Hermione. Hermione gasped a bit as she saw that all sadness was gone from those eyes, living them as cold and uncaring as Hermione's voice had been moment ago. Like ice, thought Hermione for a second.
"You will not go after him for you're not ready to do so, Hermione. But you are the most powerful witch Hogwarts has ever seen since Tom Marvolo Riddle. And I do think that you're even better than he ever was at school."
Dumbledore earned Hermione's undivided attention with those few words. She could see the twinkle back in his eyes, but in his now icy stare, it seemed malevolent. But Hermione was feeling even more willing to slip away from the Light if it could allow her to destroy Voldemort. Again, Dumbledore seemed to read her thoughts, for he smiled, a smiled that could have made shiver a Dementor. Before any of them spoke, the door reopened and Fawkes flew in, closely followed by Minerva McGonagall. The golden phoenix stopped in mid-air as he seemed to feel his master and Hermione's state of mind. The bird was now about the size of small owl, instead of his full-grown swan-sized self. He flew toward Dumbledore and landed on his shoulder.
"Minerva, could you take care of everything for Hermione's stay with us?"
Again, Gryffindor Head of House shot a death glare at her superior, not really understanding why Dumbledore was trying to keep her away from her top student. But again, she obeyed the order. Once the door was closed once more, Hermione looked straight at Dumbledore.
"What do I have to do?"
"First, you will remain in Hogwarts and study here. I have many things to take care of before being ready. During this time, you will pass your N.E.W.Ts. I will hopefully have an answer before you're done." Dumbledore said these last words while looking at Fawkes.
The phoenix stared back at his master before nodding and disappearing in a burst of golden flames.
"What has he gone to do?"
"Warn someone that it is time." Dumbledore said cryptically. "Now, I want you to rest. You have loads ahead of you."
Hermione nodded and closed her eyes, setting her mind on the task ahead: achieving top marks at all her NEWTs so Dumbledore would not back down from what seemed to be her way to have her revenge.
~~**~~**~~
For the following month, all that Hermione did was studying. She turned down all her friends when they asked for seeing her. Each night, she was dreaming about how the Death Eaters had killed her parents. She could very well imagine, she had read so much about them. These dreams made her hate for Voldemort rise to new levels each morning. And she used this hate to sustain her during her long hours of studies. She categorically refused to go to the funerals, setting herself even more work to do. The whole staff soon learnt not to bother her when she was in the Library. Even Snape left her alone, both because he knew the feeling and didn't want to be snapped at. When came the first few days of August, Dumbledore allowed Hermione inside the Restricted Area of the library, to the horror of the rest of the staff. From this moment, Hermione became even more silent, and didn't turn up at lunch anymore. She was awake at 6 a.m., had taken her breakfast by 6.30 and in the Library by 6.45. She worked all day long, came down for dinner with the others and went back to work till often past midnight.
On the 25th of August, Dumbledore took his student to London and the Ministry of Magic, where Hermione successfully pass all her N.E.W.Ts with outstanding grades, as well as her Apparating Licence. Dumbledore and Hermione stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for the night. They ordered a very light dinner and sat in the shadows, in a corner of the room, where they ate silently at first. After taking a few bites out of her piece of chicken, Hermione finally looked up at her now former Headmaster.
"Now what, Professor?"
"Well, first I think that you can stop to call me Professor and settle for my first name. You're not my student anymore."
Hermione smiled slightly to that, knowing very well that she had not smile to anyone else for more than a month. Oddly enough, Albus Dumbledore had become the one with whom she was nearly able to forget about the day when her childhood ended, as she had come to call it.
"Very well, Albus. So.?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow in question.
"We will go back to Hogwarts tomorrow and meet with. a friend of mine. She will take care of you for the next year."
Hermione frowned at these words.
"I thought that you were preparing me to fight Lord Voldemort."
Hermione spat out this name with so much disdain that it brought a smile on Dumbledore's lips. It also brought this icy stare that Hermione had learnt to know.
"That's exactly what you will do, dear. My. friend had been training to fight against Voldemort since childhood. She is delighted to now have a student."
Hermione gave an odd look to Dumbledore. She hadn't thought that people had been training to fight Voldemort. Now that she was thinking of that, it made sense. Voldemort and his Death Eaters had killed so many people that she was certainly not the first to hate him. Just look at Harry. The dinner was finished quickly and Hermione wished a good night to Dumbledore before going to her room and taking some deserved rest. The both of them woke up at dawn to be back as soon as possible at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall greeted them with impatient questions and showed off proudly all of Hermione's NEWTs, saying that to anyone who was nearby that I was the first time in Hogwarts history that a student passed her NEWTs two whole years before the time.
~~**~~**~~
It was now 22.00 and Hermione was waiting impatiently for Dumbledore's friend to arrive. In front of her, Dumbledore was busying himself writing, preparing the now very near return of the students. At this thought, Hermione felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She hadn't talked or written to any of them during the whole holiday. She knew they were worried about her because she had received loads of letters. But she hadn't answer to any of them. And now, she was about to leave without saying good bye.
"You can use the Floo Powder if you wish so."
"Albus, are you really sure that you aren't a telepath?"
The blue eyes of Dumbledore twinkled joyfully above his half-moon spectacles. Then, he went back writing. No, Hermione would not contact her friends. First off, she didn't want them bursting in Dumbledore's office the very next second. And it was already planned that she would come back, in exactly one year and six days. The roar of a motor shattered Hermione's thoughts and Dumbledore sighed as he put down his quill and stood up, waving for Hermione to follow him. They quickly went down the stairs and to the Entrance Hall. There was standing a woman, wearing black leather jacket and gloves, dark blue jeans, and black motorbike boots.
"Morgana! I thought that you would make the effort to come via wizarding ways."
"Dad, you know very well that my flat isn't equipped with a fireplace."
"You could have Apparate."
Morgana Dumbledore just stuck her tongue out to her father before throwing herself into his arms. Hermione was looking at them, puzzled. Morgana was tall, true, as was Dumbledore. But that was about the only thing they had in common. Morgana had long dark and curly hair, a deep chocolate skin and brown eyes, while Dumbledore had been a young redhead, with white skin and blue eyes. Finally, Morgana broke away from the hug to look at Hermione. She said nothing at first, staring at Hermione. Then she held out a hand.
"I'm Morgana Dumbledore."
"Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you."
"Same here. And no, he isn't my real father." Morgana added with a smile.
Hermione found herself smiling back. Dumbledore nodded knowingly at that before waving his wand so that Hermione's things appeared next to them.
"Have a nice trip. And please, do call me when you arrive."
With that Dumbledore hugged Hermione, then his daughter before going back to his office.
"He has never been very good at saying 'good bye'." Morgana said fondly as she gazed at the retreating form of her father. Then she turned toward Hermione. "Shall we?"
Again, Hermione couldn't help but smile. She followed Morgana outside and felt her jaw drop as she saw the motorbike waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. Morgana took Hermione's suitcases, reducio-ed them and put them safely in the inside pocket of her jacket.
"How have you done that?" Hermione gasped.
"What?"
"Wandless magic."
"I've never had the use of one." Morgana said, shrugging as she nearly jumped onto her bike. "Now, I have something to ask you: how much do you hate Voldemort?"
"He ordered the murder of my parents." Hermione answered. If her word didn't give a straight answer to Morgana's question, her tone of voice however did.
Morgana nodded and motioned Hermione to take place behind her. Morgana started the motor of her bike before giving a helmet to Hermione and put another one on her black-haired head. Then, Morgana began to drive them toward Hogsmeade. As they were speeding away from Hogwarts, Hermione threw a last look at the castle. When she would come back, she would be strong enough to destroy Voldemort. She swore it by the Founders.
~~**~~**~~
So, tell me what you think of this prologue, please.
The first chapter should be up tomorrow.