Chapter Nine

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

Severus looked like he had aged five years in the past few weeks. At 45, he still had yet to show any silver in his raven black hair. He was still reed thin regardless of Hermione's attempts to keep him well fed. All in all, the past 10 years had been kind to him in more ways than just having Hermione in his life. He had not changed physically a great deal over that period but now, he looked white-faced and worried.

It didn't help that he and Hermione had been fighting about her role in the up-coming battle against Voldemort. They had not really had a serious argument in the 10 years they had been together. They had always fought of course, they were both too opinionated not to but there had not been serious disagreements. Hermione's silence and her withdrawal from him was painful to say the least. He simply didn't understand why she avoided him when she was angry.

As for Hermione, she did not remember ever being so angry with Severus and it hurt her even while she couldn't let go of it. She stayed away from him some days so she didn't say things that she'd later regret. It wasn't the type of anger than could be released by pegging a few heavy books in his general direction either. She knew she was sulking and she hated herself for doing it but she was so furious with him that she could barely look at him without resentment burning in her eyes some days. At the same time she was avoiding him, she missed him desperately; she missed his scent, the feel of his lean frame, his deep voice right next to her ear, the silky fall of his hair against her cheek.

One Saturday when Severus, Ron and Harry were out together on Ministry business, Ginny and Padma asked her to baby-sit their children so they could go into London to do some shopping. Hermione didn't mind baby- sitting once in a while and Luna had volunteered to come over and give her a hand as well as keep her company.

Little Lily was in a new set of bright orange Chudley Canon overalls. Hermione looked at this with amusement. "I know," Ginny sighed. "But whenever we go clothes shopping, she has a tantrum unless I buy her a new set." Luna giggled at this piece of information.

Molly was in a cute denim pinafore and her dark curls, so like her mother's, were tied in two fetching pigtails. "So cute!" Hermione murmured affectionately at her. Molly grinned. She liked her Aunty Hermione.

The twin boys, Albert and Eddie, were in jeans with a sweater Granny Molly had insisted on knitting for them. "I hate purple," Eddie said mournfully to his Aunty Luna.

"I hate purple too," she replied reassuringly.

"We'll be back by 4pm," Padma said.

"Thanks for taking them off our hands today," Ginny added gratefully.

"They're no trouble at all," Hermione said, looking dubiously at Lily who was already speeding up and down the hallway on her baby broom.

"Do you need anything from London?" Padma asked, as they were leaving.

"Nah. Do you Luna?" Hermione replied.

"Nah. Pandora and I are going in next weekend anyway," Luna said cheerfully.

Albert and Eddie disappeared into the library almost immediately. "Well, that's them taken care of for the day," Hermione remarked, looking after them. "We just need to remember to feed them."

"I hope they don't get into any of Severus' really valuable books," Luna said anxiously.

"The really valuable ones are kept locked up," Hermione replied matter-of- factly, still eyeing Lily on her broom whizzing up and down, dodging furniture. She frowned suddenly. "Luna, does it seem odd to you that Lily is already so well co-ordinated for a 2 year old?" she asked.

"It is amazing how she handles that broom but don't forget, her father is a national Quidditch star and is now coaching the national Quidditch team. She must have got that ability from him," Luna mused.

"Yes but. at just 2; to have that kind of speed and agility? She's better on that thing than some of the 7th years at Hogwarts were in our year," Hermione said, frowning.

"Well, my guess is that she's going to follow her father's footsteps as a Seeker on the national Quidditch team," Luna observed lightly.

Hermione grinned. "She'd love that and so would he!"

"Ginny wouldn't!" Luna said, then laughed out loud. Hermione joined in.

Mid-morning saw them drinking a cup of Orange Pekoe tea in the main sitting room where Molly was watching the antics of her friend Lily and Lily was playing with her toy wand that could perform up to fifty harmless spells. Luna suddenly put down her teacup and looked seriously at Hermione.

"Hermione, can I tell you something in confidence and ask your opinion?" she said quietly.

Hermione frowned at Luna's grave tone. "Of course," she replied, concerned.

"This is going to sound stupid but," she paused and lowered her dark green eyes for a second. "I keep having these dreams. Growing up, I had lots of dreams that came true. Not just ordinary day to day stuff but major events in the wizarding world," she glanced at Hermione who was listening earnestly. "They stopped for a long time but just recently I've been dreaming a lot. I don't know if the content of my dreams are true or whether it's just my subconscious making up nightmarish rubbish. I know that you had a lot to do with Voldemort's downfall 10 years ago so you might have a better insight into what these dreams mean, if they mean anything at all," she concluded.

Hermione nodded solemnly and said, "why don't you tell me about them?" So Luna did. Hermione's face went white and she put her teacup down before she dropped it.

"Do you understand any of this?" Luna asked the unnaturally pale-faced Hermione.

"Luna, you've just described the memories of the people who were captured by Voldemort. Just in the past week or so, I've been speaking to them about their experiences in the camp and what Voldemort did to them and why. You could have been describing any of the contents of the pensieves I filled with their memories," Hermione said shakily. Somehow, Luna's descriptions of her dreams had brought the memories the victims had shared with Hermione to searing life.

"So, it is true?" Luna said, hardly believing it herself.

"Oh yes," Hermione breathed.

Hot, silent tears ran down Luna's cheeks. "I so hoped you were going to tell me I was just crazy," she said honestly. "I didn't want it to be true." Her small, slender hands were shaking and she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "Draco will be horrified," she murmured.

"You've told him?" Hermione asked gently.

Luna nodded. "I've told him every time I've had one of these dreams. Each time, he's seen it happen in the newspapers months or years down the track."

"But this dream is of the past," Hermione said questioningly.

"I've had dreams about past tragedies too and some have been able to be confirmed via historical record but not all," Luna replied tiredly, mopping her cheeks with a tissue.

"What does Draco make of it?" Hermione asked. She knew Draco was bright and she tended to trust his opinions.

"He doesn't know what to make of it. It's hardly something that fits into an empirical, scientific mold," Luna replied wryly.

"Precognition is a well known magical ability Luna," Hermione said comfortingly.

"But it's not a well-respected one. It's too inconsistent," Luna muttered, shredding her damp tissue.

"It's not just precognition though. You must be tapping into people's memories of great historical tragedy too - memories of those both alive and dead," Hermione postulated, interested in how it all would work.

"Maybe," Luna said. "I read that the electro-magnetic fields all over the earth trap the emotions and thoughts of those who suffer enormously and sometimes it's possible to tap into them," she explained in a subdued voice.

"If you have a gift for it," Hermione added meaningfully. "Not just anyone could."

"I wonder if you could develop a charm or something that could tap into those trapped emotions and thoughts in those electro-magnetic fields," Luna wondered aloud.

"It might be worth getting a research and development team together to try and experiment," Hermione said, her dark eyes suddenly gleaming as her brain ran through the possibilities. "In any case, you're coming with me to see Dumbledore once Ginny and Padma get back from London. I think he will want to hear these dreams too."

Just then, there was an explosion to one side of them. They both started and looked at Lily sitting covered in soot in the middle of the sitting room floor. At the end of her toy wand, her rubber baby dragon was scraping the carpet with its claws and breathing smoke down its snout. "She's animated that toy," Hermione said incredulously.

"Yes, she has," Luna said, wide-eyed.

"How the hell did she know how to do that? That's advanced magic! We didn't cover that until our N.E.W.T.s year," Hermione said under her breath.

"I know," Luna replied in disbelief.

Lily crowed in delight. "Isn't he cute?" she said in her high-pitched, baby girl voice.

"And she's talking in complete sentences," Luna added. "I don't remember her ever using baby talk," she pondered.

"This kid is weird," Hermione said flatly.

"Not weird! Clever," Lily said firmly, waving her wand at the dragon again. The dragon immobilized into rubber once more.

Hermione and Luna's eyes widened. "This is creeping me out," Luna muttered.

* * *

At 4pm on the dot, Ginny and Padma arrived back to pick up their children.

"Do you know that your child can speak in complete sentences?" Hermione asked Ginny.

Ginny frowned. "No. She has never spoken except to crow when she's pleased. Harry was getting worried about it," she said.

"No need to panic there," Luna said significantly. "That child is talking like a ten year old." Ginny looked shocked.

"Did you know that your child also has bizarrely advanced co-ordination?" Hermione questioned.

"Oh yes. The doctors say it is unusual but nothing to panic about," Ginny said, looking at her young daughter doubtfully.

"Hmmm. What about the fact that she can do advanced magic? Like animating toys into fire-breathing dragons?" Luna said pointedly.

Ginny's mouth dropped open and she stared at them both with wide brown eyes. "I've never seen her do that," she whispered.

"Yeah? Well, she can," Hermione said flatly.

Ginny stared at her child and Padma looked at her thoughtfully too. "There must be a reason for it," Padma said finally.

"Of course but what is it?" Luna asked with raised eyebrows.

The three adults stood there and stared at Lily. Molly was clinging to her mother's leg. The two boys came out of the library clutching a book. "May we borrow this?" Albert asked politely, holding out a magnificent tome of unusual magical animals.

"Of course, honey. I know you'll take good care of it," Hermione said with a smile at the boy so reminiscent of their uncles Fred and George.

"We'd better be off. I need to speak to Harry tonight. Is it okay if we drop round sometime if Harry wants to ask you some more questions?" Ginny asked quietly.

"Of course," Hermione said. "Would you like a cup of tea before you go?" she offered.

"No, we'd better get home. Harry will be home from coaching his under 10s team soon," Ginny replied softly and picked Lily up who proceeded to poke her mother in the eye. Harry did volunteer coaching on a Saturday afternoon with the local under 10s team.

Padma ushered her boys out of the door and picked up the placid, smiling Molly. With a smile of gratitude to Hermione and Luna, Padma followed Ginny out.