To live happily ever after?

--

Chapter 5: First day

--

A loud pop woke Hermione up. Her hand shot under her pillow for her knife but she relaxed as she saw that it was only Dobby.

'Good morning, Miss. The Headmaster would like to see you.'

'What time is it Dobby?'

'It's just 7 am.'

Hermione moaned as she pulled her blankets over her head. She would have loved staying in bed for the day, but she really needed to talk to Albus. In fact, if he hadn't asked for her, she would have gone to his office anyway. There was things that needed sorted out quickly, in particular if what she had seen in the Forest was true.

'Tell him that I'm coming.'

Another pop let Hermione know that Dobby was gone on his errand and the young woman dragged herself out of her bed. She quickly grabbed clean underwear and went for a morning shower. Brushing her teeth, tying her hair and putting on a T-shirt, pair of jeans and her boots, Hermione was ready in less than 15 minutes.

She wasn't too surprised to see Dumbledore waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs leading to his office.

'Do you mind walking with me at this morning staff meeting Hermione?'

The young woman smiled, knowing that there was probably another reason to this early call.

'I have several questions for you.'

'If I have the answers, I'll give them to you gladly.'

'You went in the forest last night. Did you find anything interesting?'

'Yeah. That no one was watching it.'

Hermione said that with quite a meaningful look at her ex headmaster. He just sighed as he shook his head.

'I was afraid of that. The Ministry doesn't seem to believe that Voldemort would try to come this way. Can I ask you to patrol there?'

'I was going to anyway. I have a question myself. What exactly are doing the Ministry's security officers?'

'They patrol the castle and the Grounds, up to the Quidditch pitch. We're lucky enough that the Merpeople and the Giant Squid guard the lake for us. But the forest is left alone.'

'Well then, my team and I are going to take care of the edge of the lake and the Forest. The Centaurs shouldn't be too much of a problem, and once I've set some security on Hogsmeade's side, we shouldn't even need to go there every night.'

Dumbledore kept walking for a few minutes without talking. Hermione kept silent as well, knowing when someone was thinking hard.

'So you did come with more people allied to our cause.'

'Not exactly,' Hermione said with a smile.

The pair was now in front of the staff room door. Dumbledore put his hand on the handle but waited there, watching Hermione through his spectacles, his eyes twinkling. Hermione returned the gaze, her own brown and silver eyes not wavering. Dumbledore finally smiled and slightly shook his head. He then tapped slightly Hermione's cheek, just under her right eye. Hermione smiled up at him and winked. When her eye opened again, it was exactly the same shade of chocolate brown as her left one. Albus finally opened the door and the both of them stepped in the staff room.

'Sorry for the delay.' Albus said with his usual merry voice.

Hermione quickly looked around to see that all the staff was here. She opened the door of her sixth sense and got a quick Feeling of all of them and stored the information in a corner of her mind. She then stayed standing next to the door, her back against the wall. The Headmaster was already telling the others of their decision.

'Hermione nicely agreed to extend her duties to patrol the Forest.'

Even with her mind tightly close, Hermione could feel the relief washing through the room. But one didn't seem too happy. And the young woman didn't need the use of her powers to know who it was.

'It is unwise to split our forces.'

'Well, I don't believe that we're splitting anything here. Or do I have to remind you that I am not working for the Ministry.'

Hermione sneered at Umbridge, glad to see the face of the old witch ablaze with anger.

'I also have to ask another favour of you Hermione.'

As the young woman turned to the wizard, the twinkling of his eyes warned her that he had another trick up his sleeve.

'Last night, it seems that several students thought they should try to find out more about you and went in search of you. They found Mr Filch instead. It is five sixth years and I would be grateful if you would be the one watching their detention.'

Hermione was about to protest violently when she realised who had tried to contact her. Her mind went overdrive for a second or two as a very mischievous idea formed itself in her head.

'I don't mind, but I'm patrolling the Forest tonight. I don't mind sending a team or two to take care of Hogsmeade and I could stick to the very near neighbourhood of the castle.'

Hermione shrugged and looked at Albus. Her smile was mirrored on the lips of the old wizard and he nodded slightly at her.

'That would be perfect. Well, let's all go to breakfast. Hermione, just remember to tell the students about their detentions.'

Hermione nodded and was the first out of the room. Without losing time, she went for the main door leading to the Great Hall, to wait for the five. It was no surprise for her to see them coming together down the stairs. Just to remind herself, Hermione associated their faces with the names they had given her yesterday: Elena Doge was the Gryffindor, Alberik Ollerton the Slytherin and the three siblings, Hilda, Siegfried and Merak Alderton, the Ravenclaw and the two Hufflepuffs.

'Learn that you were caught yesterday.'

The five smiled, looking somewhat sheepishly at her.

'It's because of Mrs Norris. I swear that this cat could see through an Invisibility Cloak.'

'Oh, I'm pretty sure that she can. I'll tell you of some of my adventures at school later. Just be here at seven tonight. And wear warm clothes, we're going in the Forest.'

'We're to serve detention with you?'

Hermione nodded and smiled at the exuberant reaction of the Gryffindor of the group. They walked through the door and Hermione quickly went to take her place at the staff table.

--

The day went quickly by for Hermione after that. She spent her morning re-arranging her rooms and the afternoon planning her trip in the Forest. She arrives at seven sharp in the Entrance Hall to see her five charges already waiting for her.

'Well, let's go then.'

The group left the castle and walked straight for the Forest. Hermione took a quick look at the moon, happy to see that it was still at least one week till full moon. The trip would be far easier that way: having to look out for the Centaurs and the Death Eaters was bad enough; she didn't want to have to mind for werewolves as well. The five students were keeping pace with her with quite some difficulty and Hermione decided to walk a bit slower.

Once the trees hid the castle from their sight, Hermione called for a halt.

'Tonight, we're to look for any sign that humans are coming in there. You most probably know that the Centaurs aren't too happy with Hogwarts right now, so keep quiet and stick together.'

The five nodded and Hermione led them deeper in the Forest. After two more hours walking, they came across a clearing, where Hermione suddenly stopped. The five were about to ask what the matter was when they saw what Hermione had Felt. In the clearing was standing a group of Centaurs.

'You stay here and you listen.'

The five nodded and Hermione walked swiftly in the clearing, affecting that the Centaurs' presence was nothing out of ordinary. The Centaurs spotted her but, quite to Hermione's surprise, they didn't charge or anything, obviously waiting for her to speak first. It is when the young witch realised that these were young adults. Hermione walked over to them while keeping all her senses on the look out for a trap or the coming of reinforcement.

'Good evening,' she said pleasantly.

'Good evening to you as well Valiele.'

Hermione stopped in her tracks at the mention of her other name. Sure, it was no secret among Nature's children, but to use it meant friendship. And in the particular of Hermione, it could mean far more…

'Felaol told us that you would probably start patrolling tonight. But I must admit that you were hard to find.'

'My brother followed me here? Why am I not that surprised?'

Hermione signalled the five students still hiding that it was safe to come out. The five walked swiftly up to the group, watching quite warily the Centaurs.

'So, are you joining?' Hermione asked with a smile.

'If by that you're meaning, are we joining the Ministry, the answer's no. We're joining you. And sadly enough, we're the only Centaurs doing so for the moment.'

'Well, I'm still grateful for the help. We really need to establish some kind of patrol in the Forest, just to make sure that we don't have any unwanted visitors. My teams are probably still on the way. You won't have any trouble to recognise them as they all sport the Mark. Would you mind patrolling up to Hogsmeade tonight and tell me if you see anything out of ordinary?'

The Centaurs nodded and turned round to gallop through the Forest. Hermione checked the time and sighed.

'Okay guys. Detention's over. Let's go back.'

'Aren't Centaurs with Voldemort?' 'Why did they call you Valiele?' 'Who's Felaol?' 'What did they mean by we're joining you?' 'And what did you mean by your teams sporting the Mark?'

Hermione burst out laughing under the barrage of questions. She started walking and, when she was sure that the five were calm enough to listen, she decided to partially answer their questions.

'Let's say that the Centaurs are supposed to be neutral in this war. Valiele is also my name, although few people know it. Felaol is my brother. Those Centaurs are allied with the Order of the Phoenix but not the Ministry, like me. And the teams working for me have a symbol to recognise one another without need for talk. And no, I will not tell you anything more about it apart from stay well clear of the Forest.'

Hermione smiled above her shoulder to the five to take the sting off her last words. They didn't seem to take offence anyway, too busy whispering among themselves and looking around for more Centaurs.

Finally, they stepped once more on the Grounds. It was now well past 11pm and Hermione made a point to walk the five in turn to their dormitories. The last was Hilda, as the Ravenclaw Tower wasn't too far from the Astronomy Tower, where Hermione was sleeping. But before the young girl stepped in her common room she turned to look at Hermione.

'From what I've understood, you're here to help and you don't like the Ministry very much, do you?'

Hermione just looked back at the Ravenclaw girl, letting work her way through her thoughts and the situation, inviting her to continue with a smile.

'I can tell you that most of the students aren't really happy with the Ministry either. In fact, what we don't really like is that they treat us like babies when we could help to fight. We have formed a group by ourselves as well, to protect the youngest among us. And what we were talking about in the Forest was that, if you'll have us, I think our group would like to join you as well.'

'How many students are you talking about?'

'16, all in their seventh or sixth year.'

'And are you talking for the whole of them?'

'Not right now. But the others are actually talking with each House representatives and we will have a meeting tomorrow.'

'Let me have a think about the idea as well. If the lot of you wants to, you're welcome to join me. But keep it quiet if possible. I'd like to avoid fighting too much with Umbridge and keep my attention and my powers to track the Death Eaters.'

Hilda smiled, nodded and walked in her common room.

On her way back to her own rooms, Hermione thought through the facts that she was about to enlist students in a war where both sides would loose a lot of people. Sadly enough, there was no real way to prevent any death. Not until Harry played his part in this and killed Voldemort.

Once in her rooms, Hermione quickly got ready for bed. Before falling asleep, she called for an owl, scribbled down a message for her brother and sent the bird away. With a bit of luck, Felaol would be able to council her.

--

A/N

Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I sadly have health problem and have just spent a month in the hospital. Now, the doctors have ordered at least another month of rest and my parents think that the best way is to go on holiday in the South of France. It means another long wait for the next chapter. I just hope that it will be worth for you guys.

Anyway, I hope that this chapter will please all my reviewers.

Thanks for all your nice reviews, it keeps me going