Flora And Fauna (And the Three Little Wizards)
Chapter Two: Insight and Assignments
Ron swore under his breath.
"Bloody Hell! Hermione, why'd you say that to Harry? Don't you think he knows about the war, and Voldemort, and all the people dying?" Ron's ire died when he saw how close to tears Hermione was. She sat heavily on the couch before speaking quietly.
"I know Ron. I'm- I'm sorry… I don't know why I snapped. I guess that between having to console classmates, my HeadGirl duties, doing homework and studying for NEWTS, not to mention constantly having to worry about Harry's safety, and now having to worry about whether or not Harry's getting visions from Voldemort…It was too much when Harry laughed. I guess I thought that he of all people should realize the severity of the situation and that he shouldn't… have anything to laugh about?" Hermione sighed again. I don't know why I said that to Harry, Ron, I know that he understands, but…" she trailed off. "God Ron, I just don't know!!" Hermione put her head in her hands and Ron stood silent feeling awkward.
"'Mione, when's the last time you had a full nights sleep?" Hermione looked up, startled.
"What?" She looked confused and Ron thought that perhaps his wild stab in the dark might have actually been right on track.
"Sleep 'Mione. It's when people aren't awake and rest their bodies and minds."
"I know what sleep is Ron, I'm the one who gave you that definition!" Hermione snapped. Ron frowned.
"Well?" He looked at her expectantly.
"Well what?" Hermione asked crossly. Ron just crossed his arms and looked at her. Finally she threw up her hands and stood up.
"I don't remember, okay?" Ron nodded slowly.
"Alright. No sleep, huh?" Hermione nodded and Ron finally noticed the dark circles under her eyes, which were more or less covered by some well-applied makeup. Ron nodded slowly again and walked to where Hermione was standing and grabbed her arm. He pulled her towards the common room's door with Hermione protesting the entire time.
"Wha…? Ron!! What are you doing? Where are we going?" Hermione kept a steady stream of remarks and questions all the way through the halls of Hogwarts until Ron pulled her right up to the Hospital Wing floor. Hermione stood in front of it with her mouth open.
"Ron…What are we doing here?" Ron looked at Hermione incredulously.
"Honestly Hermione! What do you think we're doing here?" Hermione pursed her lips.
"I have no clue Ronald Weasley. YOU'RE the one who's dragging me all over the school. Don't you know that this is the Hospital Wing floor?" Ron just looked at her. For the second time in 15 minutes Hermione threw up her hands.
"I'm not sick!! I'm just tired, and last time I checked that was neither a crime nor a sickness." Ron rolled his eyes.
"Right Hermione, because you've read 'Hogwarts: A History' you would know, right?" Ron proceeded to drag Hermione to the hospital wing.
"Rooooooon!!" Hermione screeched, resisting his relentless pulling. She dug her feet into the ground.
"This is for your own good Hermione. You obviously need some sort of help. You randomly snap at Harry and even YOU can't say why, you even said that you're being overwhelmed by your schedule. Madam Pomfrey can give you a sleeping potion and you can sleep until you're better. THEN you can apologize to Harry for blowing up in his face for laughing at US bickering. We do it all the time, just like he laughs at it all the time. In fact, more than once, me and you-" Hermione interrupted him.
"You and I." She stated. Ron continued as if he didn't hear her.
"Me and you have bickered on purpose to break him out of those moods he gets into whenever the pressure of Vol- You-Know-Who gets to him. I absolutely refuse to have you snapping at Harry or Harry being mad at you because you think that everyone should be as cross at the world as you are in your delirious state from the lack of sleep. -ESPECIALLY when this can easily be fixed by Madam Pomfrey and a sleeping potion." Hermione forgot to resist momentarily after hearing Ron's little speech and by the time she had realized what had happened Ron and Hermione were in the Hospital Wing. While Ron called for Madam Pomfrey, Hermione looked at Ron strangely.
"Ron…" Hermione said cautiously. He looked at her while waiting for Madam Pomfrey to finish up with a student who apparently was at the receiving end of a misfired spell.
"What?" Hermione shook her head and he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Whaaat?" This time his tone was clearly confused. Hermione was looking at him strangely again.
"It's just that… Ron, when did you get so insightful and, well, clever?" Ron blushed a fiery red from the bottom of his shoes to the tip of his ears. He could feel his neck burning. He found himself staring at the ground and scuffling his shoes.
"Oh… well… um… that is… I just… don't like to… to well, see you and Harry fighting and all… and… it's supposed to be your job to make sure me and Harry don't get into rows and stuff… so I thought I ought to do the same thing for you that you would do for me." Ron mumbled so fast that Hermione barely had time to catch it before Madam Pomfrey was bustling into the room.
"Well now, what seems to be the problem here?" Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Ron beat her to it.
"Hermione hasn't gotten much- if any- sleep lately and I'm very worried about her Madam Pomfrey. I know how unhealthy that must be and since she started picking fights with Harry for no reason…" He shrugged and trailed off. "I thought you might give her a sleeping potion and keep her here until she's rested.
"I did NOT start picking fights with Harry for no reason!!" Hermione shrieked. Madam Pomfrey looked at Hermione enquiringly.
"Oh Miss Granger? Tell me, why did you start picking fights with Harry?" Hermione's jaws moved but nothing came out. She couldn't come up with a reason. Madam Pomfrey nodded.
"I see." She said. She was entirely business now. "Please sit on the bed Miss Granger."
"But, but I'm not sick!"
"Sit!!" Hermione sat. Madam Pomfrey passed her wand over Hermione and said something. Hermione watched at the air around her turned a deep purple color.
"Uh-huh." Madam Pomfrey frowned slightly and then pointed her wand at Hermione's face before saying,
"Revealus!" All of Hermione's carefully applied makeup and spells disappeared, leaving Hermione looking as tired as she felt. Madam Pomfrey scoffed.
"Just as I thought! Miss Granger you are far beyond the point of exhaustion, if you were any other student I'd say that you should have fallen unconscious long before this point. May I ask how you've been staying awake?" Hermione looked at her feet before muttering something intelligible.
"Would you repeat that a little louder Miss Granger?" Hermione scowled but did so.
"I SAID, I've been using Exhaustion Energy Brew." At Madam Pomfrey's deep frown Hermione added, "I've been using it in controlled doses Madam Pomfrey. I made sure I researched this potion very thoroughly before I used it." Madam Pomfrey said nothing but instead walked over to her potions cabinet and took a dreamless sleep potion off the fist shelf. She came back to where Hermione was sitting.
"Drink this Miss Granger- ALL of it. It's enough to make you sleep for the next 11 hours. Don't worry; you will be excused from all your classes today, and possibly tomorrow too. When you awaken we will discuss your sleeping habits- or lack thereof with your Head of House." Hermione opened her mouth, only to shut it with a snap when Madam Pomfrey raised her hand in front of her.
"Not a word Miss Granger. Now drink that potion before I'm forced to make you drink it." Hermione pulled out the stopper from the vial and downed the contents. Madam Pomfrey gently pushed Hermione down onto the bed and pulled the covers over her.
"Sleep Miss Granger, we have much to discuss in the morning." Hermione closed her eyes and slept. As soon as Madam Pomfrey was sure Hermione was asleep she turned to Ron.
"Mister Weasley, what were you doing, waiting until she was that bad until you brought her in?" Ron became indignant and defensive.
"Madam Pomfrey, neither Harry or I knew that Hermione was taking Exhaustion Energy Brew. She probably knew we would have made her stop taking it and brought her here if we had known." Madam Pomfrey sighed.
"Of course, you are correct Mister Weasley. This is not your fault. It seems that Miss Granger is too smart for her own good. Most people can't brew that particular potion until well out of school." She glanced at Hermione's now sleeping figure. "Ah, well, I suppose there was no help for it. If you would please take this note to Professor McGonagall, Mister Weasley, before class starts." Ron took the note and glanced at Hermione. Madam Pomfrey followed his gaze and her eyes softened.
"Do not worry Mister Weasley. The potion she's been using is not the worst one she could have been taking. She will need quite a bit of sleep and rest, but other than that it will just be waiting for the potion to work itself out of her system. And making sure she doesn't try a stunt like this again. Now hurry along before class starts, I'm sure you don't want to be late to your first class." Ron slowly nodded and left to go find Harry and give the note to McGonagall.
Flora sighed as she lowered herself into a sitting position on the ground. As she moved her hands through the earthy dirt surrounding her, she thought about the irony of feeling at home in a greenhouse full of plants and being named Flora. Of course, she realized, when your mother gets a prediction from HER mother about twins that aren't even born, let alone conceived, well, you tend to take her advice on what to name them.
Flora looked around her personal greenhouse. She had a wide variety of plants stored there. Some were rare, while others were useful, she even had a few hybrid plants- the only of their kind. And now she could even say she kept extinct plants in her greenhouse. A Socius-excedo plant. Great Ceres what a find! Flora still remembered the folk tale about it.
'Once upon a time, when Witches and Wizards had just started to become more and more frequent, there was a powerful Witch. Her name was Helana Morgianna and she was the most powerful witch of her time.
When she became the age to marry, many men, muggles and wizards alike, asked for her hand in marriage, but none could convince Helana to give up her power and independence for marriage.
But one day a traveling Alchemist came to her village. Many people went to see the alchemist for help or advice, but Helana went to him for a potion. She wanted him to make a potion that would stop men from asking for her hand in marriage. -And he agreed, but for a price.
I am old, and far too weary to be teaching a young sprout of a boy the ways of wizards and witches. Teach my apprentice the ways of Magick and in return I will give you a potion so strong, none will ever ask for your hand again.
Helana agreed. For the next two years, the alchemist and his apprentice lived with Helana in her home. And for two years, Helana taught the alchemist's apprentice the ways of magick. The boy, only a few years younger than Helana, learned quickly and surprised Helana more than once on his grasp of his own powers. The alchemist, true to his word, worked on a potion all the while, to make a potion so strong that none would ever ask the drinker's hand in marriage.
On the eve before the two years were up, Helana discovered the alchemist dead in his bed. He had died in his sleep. The apprentice who was sleeping on a pallet on the floor, woke up to the sound of despair which was Helana mourning the death of the alchemist, and with him, the only solution to her never ending problem. When he found out the reason of her distress, he consoled her.
Never fear Lady. You were kind to me and my Master and have taught me the ways of magick. Even though I am no where near as good as my Master, I will try and finish the potion he had been constructing for you, and with it, I will pay mine and his debt.
Helana told him he was kind, but it was not his debt to pay and she would not hold him to it. The apprentice protested and swore it was his duty.
The apprentice worked long and hard on the potion, struggling to finish what his Master had started, but it was long and arduous work and he spent many a long night working on it. Soon, the men in the town were angry with Helana. She had refused every man in town. Helana thought that would be the end of it, but the townspeople demanded that she must marry someone or be cast out. Helana didn't know what to do. Not all the magick in the world could fix her problem.
She told the apprentice that he must hurry with the potion because she must marry by the end of the next full moon and he redoubled his efforts. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to finish it in time and even Helana could see that. She resigned herself to her fate.
Then the apprentice had an idea. If she were to pretend to marry him, the townspeople would leave her alone until he could finish the potion. Helana scoffed at such a silly idea, but what other choice did she have? On the full moon, her and the apprentice went out into the town to show their tied hands to the people and satisfy them. The townspeople were satisfied, and the apprentice finished the potion.
But Helana had a problem. With the townspeople thinking she was married to the apprentice, she didn't have to worry about other men asking for her hand in marriage. What would be the point to drinking the potion now? And furthermore, after being in the company of the apprentice of three years, she had grown fond of him.
Fate had decided to pity Helana. Before she could protest the usefulness of the potion, the apprentice voiced the very same thoughts she had about it too! He had grown just as fond of Helana as Helana had grown fond of him. And so they made their marriage real and lived happily together for many years.
Fate, it seemed, was not done playing with Helana and her husband, for he got into a terrible accident that left him mortally wounded. When Helana found him, he was barely alive. As she cried over his now dead body, she didn't notice the small plant that creeped to where her husband lay. Nor did she notice when the plant twined a vine around the apprentice's and her hands.
Suddenly, she wasn't in a field, where her husband had collapsed, instead, she was in a bright circle of light, and ahead of her was her husband. Without thinking, Helana grabbed his hand and felt a tug around her own. Then she was back in the field, huddled over her husband, who was now breathing. Helana was able to save him. Fate seemed to be done playing with the mortals, because the apprentice lived and he lived happily with Helana for the rest of his days.
Helana dubbed the plant that brought her husband back from the dead, Socius-Excedo. Which means Partner Pass Beyond. Never again could she find the plant, but she always remembered what the afterlife felt. Legend says that a socius-excedo plant has appeared through out history, especially when a loved one has been taken, and when the people who love them enough would willingly follow them into the afterlife to bring them back.'
Fauna would think I'm silly to remember that story, thought Flora. She took a deep breath and breathed in the smell of damp soil and fragrant plants. Maybe I am. But the story seemed to do the trick. I came out here to relax and think. And obviously, I did. Flora stood up and brushed the dirt off her robes. Work time. These plants aren't going to water themselves.
She moved between the rows of potted plants on tables, pointing her wand at each plant and saying, "Aqua". Water squirted out of her wand each time and gave the plant a healthy drink of H2O. She then moved to the rows of plants that were planted directly into the ground and said, "Aqua Continuus". Water sprayed from her wand endlessly and she moved between the plants, wetting the ground thoroughly.
When she was done, Flora said, "Finite" and the water stopped. Flora went on to check each plant individually and make sure that each was healthy and flourishing, including her socius-excedo plant, which was recovering nicely. With her green house all taken care of, Flora reluctantly walked back to the main part of the house with her head much clearer than when she had left.
Fauna watched her sister retreat to her greenhouse. Now would be the perfect time to ask Doug for an extension to their original three-week leave.
Doug was a short, lean man that was the head of Fauna and Flora's Auror Division. Apparently, in his day and age, he had been the best Auror in the biz. Now he was just a sour, middle-aged man who constantly smoked cigars and barked at everyone to 'Stay on their toes at all times.' He had lost an arm to a severing curse at the height of his career, the AGOM kept him on the Auror division and had him direct and train the rest of them.
Fauna and Flora would be the only people who can stand being in Doug's presence for more than two minutes. The fact of the matter was Flora and Fauna were probably the only Aurors around that Doug could stand too. Even de-armed, he was still a good teacher and an even better head of command. Fauna and Flora had grown to respect and admire their ex-teacher.
And now, for the Million Dollar Question of the Day, will Doug actually give us the extra time off or will he bark at us to get our butts back to the office before he personally comes over to escort us? Fauna was still contemplating the answer when she walked into the living room to floo Doug himself. She went over to the large mantle fireplace and pointed her wand at the kindling inside the fireplace.
"Incendio." The logs immediately caught on fire. After making sure that the logs were properly on fire, Fauna reached up on top of the mantle still staring into the flames to have her hand close over… nothing?
Waitaminute… Fauna looked where her hand was reaching. Where was the floo jar? Fauna's eyes scanned the entire length of the mantle and noted that the jar was definitely NOT on the mantle. Where did her floo jar go? Fauna turned around and looked over the entire living room. Nope, no jar.
Faintly, Fauna heard the wafting sound of Country from her stereo. NOW she knew what happened to her jar of floo powder. She stomped into the kitchen, fully intending to give that wannabe phantom-of-the-opera a piece of her mind. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen, the music switched off and Fauna noticed a large package on the table, right next to her floo jar. Damn ghost, couldn't just be corporeal and speaking, now could it? Oh no, it has to be a shy lil ghostie and has to steal stuff and play with the wind to get our attention, not to mention MY stereo. Rearranging the kitchen at it's whim and all that good rot…
Fauna approached the package with her wand drawn. After being Doug's trainee for 6 years, you tend to be wary of unexplained packages that may or may not be one of Doug's 'surprise pop quizzes' to see how much you're on your game when you're not at the office. Fauna had gotten into the habit of checking the entire house when Doug came to visit. More often than not, after he left you found out that your sock drawer was rigged to explode the next morning.
Smug bastard would have a grin on his face the next morning when you walked in with frizzy hair and blackened tips. Wouldn't say a word either, just take a sip of that disgusting coffee he likes and puff on his ever-present cigar. Fauna pointed a wand at the package and muttered a few choice spells and counter curses to make sure the package wasn't booby-trapped or that the contents inside weren't going to explode or anything. When the package glowed green Fauna knew it was safe and 'all clear.'
She walked over to the table and picked up the package. It said, 'To the K-Pack Twins. By Order of D-Bomb.'
Fuck.
It was an assignment. The 'K' stood for Karithisis, '-Pack' stood for 'Come packing' or 'Bring your Wand'. 'Twins' was obvious. It meant for both Fauna and Flora to come. 'Order' meant that 'D', or Doug, was giving them an assignment. '-Bomb' meant 'stay on your toes' and 'come to be de-briefed'. This was an important assignment. Double-Fuck.
(AN:: 'Revealus' is SUPPOSED to be latin for Reveal, but I'm not sure my beta was right about that one. 'Socius-excedo' roughly translates to Partner-Pass Beyond. A bad translation at best, but it's the best I could do. 'Aqua' means Water and 'Continuus' means Continuous. 'Finite' means End. 'Incendio' means Ignite. If anyone sees an error with my translation, put it in a review and I'll fix it. Promise!!
I'd say thanks to a person who reviewed this, but I'm not sure they deserve a thanks- especially since their comment was neither constructive nor appreciated.
Thanks to:
Larka Avilak: "not that good. could work on names, hm, they need to be more realistic, not so mary sue. and why would they say "dear phoebus"? that's lame."
My response: I chose Flora and Fauna as their nams on purpose. It was supposed to be a joke and it's going to have special meaning later in the story. I'm sorry if my characters seem a little Mary Sue- I really AM trying to make them flawed... it's always hard to do for the first couple of fics. And thirdly, I have them say the names of Roman Gods on purpose- they like saying that better than 'Dear Merlin, or Dear God'. Personally, I was going for uniqueness. Pheobus is the Roman god of Sun and Ceres is the Roman god of Plants/Earth AKA Gaia.
I hope to get the next chapter up in about 2 weeks or so, but since school has started and I have a Karate Competition soon, I might not. Thanks to all the reviewers, I love your comments!)