Chapter 6- A Meeting With The Divine
"Hermione!" Whispered a distant voice far beyond the red light. "Hermione! Wake up!" Hermione swam in the warming light that surrounded her. She felt a soothing feeling surround her. She felt comfortable and protected. She didn't want to go back.
"I don't want to." Hermione whispered back to the voice. "I want to stay here." She couldn't explain why she had said that but her heart wanted so much to stay inside the red light. She swam some more not caring about anything. She drifted more than her mind did. For the first time in her life, she felt at peace: the worries of life no longer bothering her.
"Priestess." This time it was another voice: it was deep and clam. Hermione jerked her head upward upon hearing this call. She wondered where the voice came from. It resonated with the same soothing, caring feeling that she felt all around her. "Priestess," it called again. Hermione could see a figure coming closer to her. Then the figure swam into full view.
Hermione saw a beautiful man with a flawless face. He had soft red hair that flowed in an invisible wind, and a pair of big red wings with feathers that ruffled softly. He wore a flowing silken robe of red and white with a pure white silk sash that tied the cloth to his waist. Hermione felt a warming sensation around her as the man placed his arms under her and carried her off.
"Priestess, lend me your power." The man said calmly. Hermione gazed at him intently: he looked so familiar. At the back of her mind, she could remember a red-haired boy he had met somewhere but the memories were vague. "Priestess, lend me your power," the man continued. "I am Suzaku, the God-Beast you are trying to summon," he began, "That demon you are trying to vanquish has drained much of my power, priestess." Suzaku looked down at Hermione, she gasped. Hermione felt the pain of every single person that Voldemort had slain. Many of them felt like a small spasm in an area of the body, which Hermione guessed was the force of the killing curse as it hit them. Others felt more painful, making Hermione yell in pain once in a while. The most distinct feeling was a sudden chill that pierced her heart, followed by an intense pain in the chest. Hermione screamed. "This demon has planted so much hatred into the hearts of many. He must be vanquished," Suzaku continued. "Your task is not only to find the power of the stars but to fill your world with love again," he looked back down at Hermione, comfort in his eyes, "and my power shall be restored."
Suzaku let go of Hermione and bid her farewell. Hermione was still looking at him as he shrank back to the red light. She squinted her eyes to see the last tuff of red hair that had vanished back into the glaring light.
Red hair, Hermione thought to herself. She knew someone who had red hair but she could only remember faintly. Red hair... She closed her eyes and thought hard Red hair... Rod? Ren? She still couldn't remember. She swam about in the light thinking for a while. Once in a while she thought that she might as well drift and forget about the red-haired man he once knew but there was something in her heart that told her to remember. Her heart squealed, and shrieked, and yelled at her to keep on remembering. She couldn't understand why it was but it pushed her to try. Rom... Rong... Ro... Ro... Ro... It was no use.
"Oh, Ron, where are you? Hermione needs your help right now." said a panicky and gloomy voice in the distance.
Suddenly Hermione felt a strange surge in her thoughts. Ron! Of course, Ron! She thought to herself. She remembered. She and Ron had met on the Hogwarts Express eleven years ago. At first, she had hated him but as time went on she had grown to love him. They were about to get married when Voldemort destroyed their lives. He killed their best friend, Harry Potter, and took over the wizarding community of England and began a reign of terror that forbid Hermione from marrying Ron. She remembered it all: the resistance, her discovery of the legend. She had to summon Suzaku to defeat Voldemort and restore peace to England! She remembered her friends and Dumbledore. Her sacrifice will bring peace to everyone, especially her Ron. Then she remembered Ron's kiss, his warm embrace, his humor. She didn't want to leave Ron. She wanted to go back so badly and hug him; tell him what she was about to do. She wanted to let him know that she was still there, that she would love him forever. She felt really bad that she hadn't told Ron about all that would happen to her. She felt her whole body twinge as her need to go back to Ron became stronger and stronger.
"Ron!" Hermione shouted emptying the air out of her lungs. She opened her arms as she saw a figure coming closer and the red light fading away. She clung on Ron tightly feeling his warm body. "Oh, Ron! I'm not leaving you." Tears traveled down her cheek and gathered on the floor. She kissed him all over his face. "Ron, I love you. I'll never leave you." She hugged him tighter feeling as though she might lose him.
"Hermione, you're going to kill me." Ron choked. Hermione loosened her grip on him realizing she had squeezed him so tight he couldn't breathe. She blushed smiling. "I'm glad... you're back," said Ron between gasps of air, "but how... how in bloody hell?"
"I don't care, Ron. I love you and that's all that matters." Hermione continued to kiss Ron. She couldn't believe that at one point in time she didn't think of him. She hated herself a bit for that.
"Well, I love you too, Hermione but where's Cho and Dean?"
Hermione gasped. She snapped out of her love spell remembering that she, Cho and Dean had been stuck in a building by an ancient spell on the door. The expression on her face changed from passion to horror as she remembered Dean lying on the floor with his back broken and Cho out there all alone with the sun rising down slowly and darkness creeping in.
"We have to save them!" Hermione said with urgency in her voice.
Luna stepped out of the secret door in the wall her face set, "I'm coming too."
"Alright, but we have to hurry!" Hermione turned to Ron apologetically, "I'm sorry, I forgot." She held on to Ron and Luna. "You guys ready?"
"Wait!" Ron blurted out nervously. "You're not going to do that red flash thing are you? I mean," He fumbled about for words, "the Death Eaters might detect us."
"It is quite alright Ronald," Dumbledore said in a calm voice. As always, Dumbledore's voice gave a soothing effect to its listeners. Ron looked at him and nodded in accordance. "I'm sure this magic is too old for the Death Eaters to know about."
Luna, Ron, and Hermione gave a last farewell to the people in the tunnel then with a burst of red light were gone. They arrived a second later at where Hermione had left Dean lying helplessly on the ground. Luna fell to the floor with a thud while Hermione and Ron landed softly, being carried by the orb of red light. They broke from their kiss and looked around for Dean and Cho.
It was already dark inside the building. There were no windows that allowed the orange rays of the setting sun to come in. The chamber was so dark that it was impossible to see beyond an inch of their eyes. Ron, Hermione, and Luna felt their ragged clothes for their wands. Finding them, they lit up their wands chanting in unison, "Lumos!" Three small spots of light flashed. Delicately, they revealed the shiny floor below them. They started walking slowly, squinting their eyes to try to see a little further than the light could enable them.
"Where exactly are we, Hermione?" Ron whispered nervously to his side.
"I'm Luna," answered Luna feeling irritated.
"Oh!" Ron looked to his other side "So where are we?"
"I don't really know what this place is," answered Hermione- the uncertainty in her voice evident, "but that old woman I told you about... she told me I could find the first jewel here." She quickly jerked her head to the right, hearing the sound of tapping in the distance. Her two companions had heard the tapping noise too.
"Maybe it is them," suggested Luna then whispered, "Nox!" Brandishing her wand she told her buddies confidently, "I'll cast the spell." She thrust her wand upward and a fiery red bird flew from its tip. The phoenix flew upward, flapping its crimson wings in a steady pace. It flew up a good distance before bursting into a shower of red sparks. Luna smirked proudly to herself as the dancing red lights fell on their untidy hair.
The signal was instantly recognized. The three could hear the tapping of footsteps speed up and Cho shouting excitedly, "Guys!" She entered the small radius of Lumos light panting. Her tired face was brightened a little bit at the sight of the three standing there to rescue her. "I'm so glad you came!" She looked at Hermione darkly. "And where have you been? I had been so worried about you! And..." her face brightened unexpectedly, and her eyes gleamed with sudden enthusiasm, "Hermione you missed it!"
Hermione leaned back in surprise as Cho jumped closer to her looking ecstatic. She wondered what she had just missed and thought back to the events that had happened before she found herself clinging to Ron's strong and faithful arms: The doors magically sealed them from the outside, Dean got blasted by a curse, and a strange monster almost killed her. She stared at Cho with a queer eye, examining her fully to see if something was wrong with her. However, she looked as mental as she had been, jumping about in unknown glee in a still potentially dangerous area. Hermione thought for a second that Cho would've been a good Griffyndor, with this much bravery and all, but it seemed a little too much like ignorance than sheer courage. Then Hermione thought that it had been a while since Cho had anything magical done, not counting magically making her bed or anything like that. Cho must be just really happy to be outside again doing some, and seeing some, (what most of the wizarding community call) real magic.
"Hermione, it was so strange! I am a full-fledged believer now. This could actually work!" Cho was still hopping about insanely. She was shivering with glee and Hermione, Luna, and Ron couldn't help but want to hear what she had seen. Whatever it was, it was surely out of what some wizards would call "ordinary". They stared at her intently, waiting for he to tell her story. Minutes passed, she was still overcome with joy (or it could've been madness).
"Say it already! We don't have all day!" Ron blurted out suddenly, filling with impatience. Curiosity had cast a spell on the three listeners; their eyes were transfixed on Cho, who was still a little out of her mind at the moment.
"Well, we honestly have got to get moving," said Luna worriedly. "Dean is still out there..." she was also filled with curiosity but she swallowed it up to think of more important things," can we talk about this while we walk."
"Sure!" replied Cho cheerfully.
"So..." Ron was at a loss for words, "Cho, what did you see?"
"You know, honestly, Cho, I think someone must've cast an extremely powerful cheering charm on you." Luna interrupted. "Are you sure you're okay?" She turned to Cho apprehensively.
Cho instantaneously stopped her over cheery behavior and smiled at Luna, "Don't worry, Luna. It's not that." She looked forward again, peering beyond the small radius of light. "I was just excited, that's all. I mean if you've seen it..."
"What exactly did you see?" asked Ron hurriedly, overcome with curiosity.
"It was the most amazing thing... a beautiful man... dark hair... he came out of nowhere... magic I've never seen before... it's actually hard to explain now that I think about it."
Ron laughed. "Now that's something."
"But it was so surreal!" Cho insisted. "He came in a burst of red light." Ron looked darkly at Hermione. "His face was undeterred. He blasted that monster to oblivion with life force blasts..." Cho's face had a hint of nostalgia. "He was exactly like my grandmother told me."
"You're grandmother?" Luna asked. Somehow, every time Luna spoke, everyone would jump like they had just known she was standing there.
"Yeah... I can't believe I almost didn't believe her... and I was a witch too. But she told me stories. You know, like every grandmother does. She told me all about the seven celestial warriors, and their quest to bring peace to the earth with the priestess. It was an amazing story. There was a demon that tried to conquer all of Japan... Dean!"
The faint light from Ron and Hermione's wands had illuminated a dark figure in the distance. Dean was lying on the floor exactly where Hermione had left him, but in a worse condition. He was breathing heavily. All of them could see that he was making an effort to move but the pain stopped him from even getting an inch of motion. Luna shook her head disapprovingly and hurried to Dean's aid.
"Dean, you'll be alright now." Luna examined Dean thoroughly with her hands then concluded, "The curse was very powerful but it didn't do any lasting damage. If I were a muggle doctor, he wouldn't survive." She pulled out her wand smiling and said, "but I'm certainly no muggle doctor."
