Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. JKR owns the characters.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Hermione stared at the Quidditch Pitch, doubt clouding her cinnamon eyes. Skylar had told her, after her History of Magic class, to meet the Quads there after dinner that night, for the first night of her training to begin. She almost wished Rohan was there, she had come to rely on the leader of the Storm Magi when it came to her magical training, but he had the annoying habit of pushing her to her limit, and then some, milking all her energy and leaving her depleted for days on end, barely able to sit up in a bed, let alone train some more.

Four shadowy figures stood in the entrance to the Pitch, and Hermione could identify them as her cousins, no one else would be fool enough to actually be outside in the biting early October wind. She tugged her cloak more firmly about her, then set off at a brisk walk towards the opening and her cousins.

"Mione!" Elizabeth exclaimed, catching sight of the girl first. Hermione noticed that she looked much healthier, her cheeks rosy from the wind, and her eyes shining in the starlight. "We thought you'd gotten lost or something."

"No, just had to reassure Harry, Ron, Draco, and George that I wasn't going out to raise trouble without them." Hermione rolled her eyes, as if SHE raised trouble. She almost snorted at the thought.

Danielle actually did snort. "You, a rabble rouser?!" The dark haired girl grinned, "That'll be the day! When you go breaking the rules."

Hermione blushed, thinking of her first year, setting Snape's cloak aflame, and her second year, stealing from Snape's store of potion ingredients. "Yeah." She agreed weakly.

"So, are we going to do this or what?" Skylar shifted eagerly from foot to foot, her excitement barely contained.

"What exactly are we doing tonight?"

"Well," Raya started, and Hermione noticed they had the strange way of speaking in turn. "We thought it would be prudent to introduce you to the elements through meditation. Earth first, considering it seems to be your best element, the one that reacts the most to your volatile moods."

Hermione nodded, then glanced at Elizabeth, "So, my first lesson will be with you?"

"No, it's going to be with all of us, but, they'll get you into the meditation, and then I'll take over. We have to walk you through the first few times any way, meditating becomes easier with practice, but for now, you'll need someone to help you clear your mind, give you some direction before you can focus. Now, Rohan didn't teach you how to meditate did he?"

"No. . ." Hermione trailed off.

"Well, that was his first problem, in order to learn control, you first need to learn to focus. Much like your first year here, you had to learn to focus your abilities with your wand, and then you could do spells. But with meditation, your body, in essence, becomes your wand. You learn to control your Power and focus it to where it's not so sporadic and can be called at will. As of now, you have to wait for an emotional conflict, one that leaves you either angry or scared, before you have the full effect of what you're capable of." Danielle replied.

"So, let's get started!" Skylar all but bounded out into the sand-filled arena, picking a spot directly in the center, then dropping to the ground. Raya sat gingerly beside her, and Danielle directly in front of Raya, gesturing for Hermione to complete the circle.

"Isn't Elizabeth going to join us?"

"No, she has to prepare herself to take hold of your Earth Power so we'll take you through the guided meditation, and she'll take over from there." Raya replied.

"Okay then." Hermione hesitantly sat on the sand, noting that it seemed more comfortable than it looked.

"Alright, Hermione, I want you to close your eyes." Danielle instructed, her voice soft, barely distinguishable from the gentle breeze. Hermione complied, darkness enveloping her senses as she allowed her eyes to drift closed. "Good. Now, I want you to take a deep breath through your nose. . .and let it all out through your mouth, allowing all of your stress, anger, pain, sadness, all to seep out of your body with that breath, leaving you clear of emotions, clear of all thought. Just concentrate on deep, even breathing, in your nose and out your mouth."

Hermione felt herself relax a little as her body adjusted to the breaths, concentrating on just the intake and expelling of the air, letting the stress from the past few days just flush out of her system. After about five minutes, Hermione was lost in the world of her breathing, her mind almost completely blank as she sank even deeper into the darkness of her senses.

"Good." Skylar breathed, the cadence of her voice matching Hermione's breathing, deep and slow. "Now, I want you to feel the wind against your face, feel it blowing gently about you, calling you."

Hermione breathed, a slight breeze tugging gently at her mass of hair, playing about her, pulling at her clothes. Her senses heightened so that she could taste the tang of autumn in the air, hear the sighing of the wind in the trees of the Forbidden forest, feel the gentle pulse of life as every gust just pushed her deeper into the darkness.

"Now." Raya said after a while had gone by. "Concentrate on the warmth of your own body, the fire that burns within your veins, that warms you inside and out. Let your fire cleanse you of your pain."

Hermione could feel the heat, her blood almost boiled, her body becoming superheated as she concentrated on the heat and warmth that she generated. Moisture suddenly began trickling in between her shoulder blades, and beading up on her face, but she ignored the strange sensation, as the gentle breeze now did nothing to cool her overheated skin. Her eyes practically burned in their sockets, and her breathing became ragged, as she eagerly drew cold breaths of air.

"Calm down." Danielle commanded, and Hermione immediately felt her body relax once more, sinking deeper into the sand as her muscles loosened. "Now, I want you to feel the moisture that coats your skin, taste it in the air."

Hermione complied, the slight sheen of moisture on her skin now cooled her, it felt as if she were immersed in a pool of water. She could taste the rain on the air, feel the subtle change in temperature that warned of a brewing storm. Hermione felt herself pulled into the darkness even as the rain splashed about her body. Idly, she heard one of the girls about her murmur a covering spell that repelled the rain, but she was intent on listening to the pattering of each individual drop as it struck the soft sand about her.

"Good, Hermione." Elizabeth's soft voice broke into her concentration, momentarily causing her to surface from the calming darkness that enveloped her. "No, don't open your eyes. I want you to let your awareness seep into the earth beneath you, I want you to feel the rain beating into the sand. Feel the air, as it sweeps torrents across the landscape, feel the fire in the very core of the earth. Connect yourself to the elements, put yourself into their circle, into the Earth."

Hermione allowed her awareness to focus on the shifting sand beneath her until she could distinguish each individual grain, and slowly she broadened her awareness until she was no longer Hermione Granger, but she was indeed, the very earth beneath the girl she was. She wasn't confined to her body anymore, but she could feel the pulsing heartbeat of the ground below her. She felt as if she were stretched thinly across the landscape. She knew the very insects that burrowed within the ground of the Forbidden Forest, felt the Earth shift and move around her. It was strange to be so interwoven into the very ground. She WAS rolling hills, WAS each grain of sand, WAS each blade of grass, every tree that grew, every rock, every mountain, the very earth. It was if she couldn't distinguish where she began and the ground ended.

"Hermione?" Elizabeth shook the girl gently, noting the odd coolness of her body. "Hermione, c'mon, get up."

Hermione shook her head, suddenly snapping back into her body, even as her brain was still assimilating the odd feeling of BEING the Earth. Her awareness was still so connected that she could almost feel her cousins as they began shifting and moving, like they were sitting on HER.

Hermione's eyes fluttered open, and Elizabeth almost stumbled back as the usual cinnamon was now such an emerald green that it was blinding. Elizabeth stared into her eyes, seeing the reflection of mountains and forests, even though they were only in the Quidditch Pitch. "Hermione!" Elizabeth all but shook the girl, "Hermione. . ."

Hermione blinked sluggishly, and Elizabeth watched as her eyes returned to their natural cinnamon, but there was still an emerald corona about the girl's pupil.

***

A/N: And there ends chapter thirty-five. How'dja like it? I think it's okay, but I don't really like the meditation parts. But, oh well. RR.

Love,

~Me~