Everyone please raise your wands. Standing, they all did. In silence they looked at each other. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, they were drawn toward the center of the room. Every face was a mask of tension. Hermione began an invocation that cut through the centuries, It is time. The runes call us. The times call us. And we have come. We stand ready for what is and for what is to be. Now we call on you, the ancient ones of lost time and forgotten wisdom. Your enemies have returned. You cannot. We know this, yet we call on the old magic of your works. If it still burns, we call on it. She paused, shivered, and seemed to shrink somehow.

Nothing happened. A minute passed.

Snape said, we should try another way.

echoed Isabelle.

I suggest, he went on, that each of us must speak, in our own way, for the return of the runes' full powers.

Slow nods and eyes agreed.

A small black witch, one of the new arrivals, began. She threw back her deep red hood and looked, not into the vague distance as Hermione had, but into each of the others' faces. I ask the rune magic to awaken. The first circle time is here. We will meet whatever is in the wind without aid, but I ask help from all who would give it. We will be grateful for it.

Johann was pale; his voice lacked its usual shades of humor. I do not understand the ways of the runes. I am frightened of what such things can mean. Yet here we are: this way, the only way. I ask the runes' return with a free heart.

A solid looking man, unknown to most in the room, shifted his feet. He glanced at those who had spoken. I can't talk like these guys have, He said. But that doesn't mean I don't care. I ask for the return, he finished with dignity.

Remus spoke softly, Fear, fear is our enemy. So I ask for the return in the name of joy. He took Hermione's hand.

The return, Isabelle breathed. I ask for it, and I trust in it.

Snape's mood was not easily guessed: I hope that some of the lessons have been learned and that wizards can again be trusted. He looked at Remus, who had seen something amazing on his face and nodded. The choice is beyond our power. Only the past can determine the future, but the past is not the future. . . I ask for the return.

Hermione was slightly startled, Is anyone else's wand. . .

Vibrating? yes, said Johann.

No, mines telling me something. It's saying, wait one hour and you will know.

One hour. echoed Snape. The room's charged atmosphere failed suddenly. A few extra chairs were conjured, and everyone fell into them. It was almost as if they'd all sat a four hour history of magic exam.

Remus suggested.

said Johann, his hands full of them. Can't help it. Always end of with piles of them at odd moments. He offered one to Snape, who amazingly took it. Everyone was now acting a bit strangely in fact. . . .

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author's notes: I know. I know: Longer chapters. The next one will be simply enormous to make up for all the shoddy ones.