DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Characters of Harry Potter ( © JKR ). I just borrow them and play a bit...
A/N: First and Foremost, this Fic is dedicated to Lord Elrond of Hogwarts, for her wonderfully enlightening reviews, and her equally wonderful writing skills. Now, I know I said I didn't think I'd be doing a Double Trouble sequel, but I put my heart and soul into the Fic, so I couldn't just let my characters rest. So here it is. The sequel to Double Trouble...
TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET WE GO
Chapter One
Taking a sip of the chamomile tea laced with a generous portion of kava, Hermione Granger rolled her shoulders, making a face as sore muscles protested the raw movement. Rohan's extensive physical regime should be outlawed, she thought viciously, biting her lower lip to keep herself from whimpering at the onslaught of pain.
Leaning against the doorway, she stared out over the rolling green hills surrounding Rohan's and Caralynn's gorgeous estate, given to them by Albus Dumbledore as a Wedding Gift.
"Hermione?"
Turning, Hermione smiled at Caralynn, glancing pointedly at her protruding tummy. "How are the triplets?"
Caralynn made a disgusted face. "They're practicing gymnastics, I believe." The skin on her stomach rippled, proving her statement true as one of the triplets performed a series of cartwheels and somersaults.
"You'll have your hands full." Hermione giggled, "What with Rohan and those three, it'll be like a nursery in here in no time."
"You're just saying that because you're jealous of me." Rohan answered her, coming up behind Caralynn and wrapping his arms about his wife.
"Oh yes, Rohan." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I am just so jealous of you I can't stand it." Her dry reply caused the older two to chuckle as she arched her back. "I don't understand why physical fitness is on the agenda. What has that to do with me controlling my Magick?"
Caralynn grinned at the rebellious eighteen-year-old. "It really has nothing to do with your Magick, except for giving you the focus you'll need."
"I don't understand, I've already learned how to focus, isn't that what we've spent the last year on?"
"Yes, but you need to be able to physically protect yourself, even as you mentally distance yourself from your situation to use the Magick." Rohan responded, sitting down on a wicker lounge, pulling Caralynn into his lap and massaging her lower back with care.
"Mmmm, that's heavenly." Caralynn purred, a hand resting on her swelled stomach, her eyes drifting closed. "And he's right, Hermione. You know, as well as I do, that there's been disturbances in the fabric of Magick that surround us. The Void has been opened, and the rift is ever widening." She opened her eyes, locking them with Hermione's cinnamon. "Ron and Harry are coming to visit."
Hermione grinned. She hadn't seen her friends in over a year. They had all been whisked away before seventh year started to begin intensive training with each of their newfound strengths.
It wasn't long after Harry defeated Voldemort that someone had managed to rip away the lining of Magick that protected the Staff of Merlin, which stood at the head of the Emerald Isle, showing the road that led into the deep abyss of the ocean, down to what might be the lost continent of Atlantis, or the lost isle of Tir Na Nog.
Now, with the Staff gone missing, more and more different religious and magical Artifacts had gone missing... including the Shroud of Turin, the Lance of Longinus, the Golden Arches of Shangri-La, Morgan Le Fay's Book of Shadows and Light.
It had been decided that the Golden Trio would be trained separately and taught to work as a unit, for they were the only ones possessing the skills it would require to find the perpetrator and recover the stolen items.
Hermione sighed softly. They had each been allowed to visit their family, significant others, and other friends during the year they were gone, but never allowed to see each other, by order of Albus Dumbledore. She still didn't understand why. Weren't they always better as a team?
"Here, Hermione, you have to give these to them." Rohan held out three signet rings. "The purple one is yours." She stared at them. All three set in silver, one amethyst, one jade, and one a deep dark onyx. Each was etched with something. On Harry's was a small pentagram, on hers was the runic symbol for protection, and on Ron's was a spitting cobra. She blinked.
"What are they for?" She slid hers onto her finger, shivering as a strange tingling feeling prickled all the hairs on her body.
"They are amulets. You each have been given an amulet to give to your friends. You will be giving the signet rings, Harry will be giving the necklaces, and Ron, the charm bracelets."
"Why?" She asked softly, she didn't want to sound uneducated, or uncouth, but she just didn't understand.
"You'll understand when you give them." Rohan replied rather cryptically.
"When will they be here?" She couldn't keep the excitement contained in her voice.
"Actually, they will be arriving in less than two hours." Caralynn replied, unperturbed.
"What?!"
XXX
Laying his head against the glass, Harry Potter stared out of the train window as the landscape surrounding him passed at a surreal speed. He gently fingered the two amulets he held in his hand, a feeling of nervous excitement knotting his stomach.
He allowed his emerald eyes to drift closed for a moment as he smiled broadly. He was finally going to get to see Ron and Hermione again. The year they had been apart had passed painfully slow for him. Especially since he was in the care of none other than Professor Severus Snape. While they hadn't gotten along famously, Harry had developed a grudging sort of respect for the Potions Master, but that could be only because they had to live in close quarters without killing, maiming, or seriously injuring one another.
The fact that he had survived the year in relatively decent health had surprised him immensely. He knew for a fact he had been getting on Snape's last nerve, Tonks had had to step in between them a few times in the last week.
Enough about that. He shook his head. You're going to get to see Ron and Hermione again!
The pure excitement of the thought overwhelmed him, and he glanced down at the amulets he had been given to give the two. He was already wearing his, a jade pentagram hung about his throat on black cording.
Hermione's was made of amethyst, shining dimly in the light, and was simply the runic symbol for protection. Ron's, on the other hand, was a deep onyx stone etched with a rather vicious looking cobra. Dumbledore had told him it had come straight from Africa, after steeping a bit in the voodoo and black witchcraft, then laid in cobra's poison for a fortnight.
He wondered how much his friends had really changed in the year, and suddenly, he felt ill. He didn't want them to change, he wanted them just as he remembered them.
XXX
Shouldering his pack, Ron Weasley stepped off the platform, tucking an errant lock of longish red hair behind one of his ears. He stared about him, admiring the rugged beauty of nature.
He was leaner than he was when he had left, his arms scarred and his hands roughened by pure physical labor. He was dark, his cerulean blue eyes shining out of his tanned face as he glanced about, his expression carefully neutral.
He had spent his year with Liberty Houseman, the foremost expert on snakes in all the Wizarding World. She was parselmouth as well, and was quite a taskmaster when it came to caring for her precious serpents. Not that he minded in the least. They were entertaining.
Nagini wound herself about his throat, her tail caressing his cheek as he jumped from the second part of the platform to land in a crouch on the ground. Africa had been interesting, to say the least. Libby lived with a tribe of Africans right in the bush, and he had learned a bit more of what exactly he was.
"What do you think, Mother?"
Nagini hissed in pleasure. "It's quite beautiful." Lifting her head, she flicked her forked tongue out to taste the air. "Pure and unadulterated, and pleasantly warm, not boiling hot." The snake had had to take cover for the hottest part of the days in Africa.
"As I thought." Ron allowed his eyes to linger on a beautiful willow tree, smiling. "I've so missed this."
"As have I."
The voice caused Ron to jerk about, a broad smile plastered across his face. "Harry!" He dropped his pack, rushing to embrace his friend, crushing him in a powerful hug. "Oh Gods, have I missed you so!"
"Calm down." Harry wheezed, laughing. "Lemme go!"
Ron dropped him, stepping back to survey his shorter buddy. "You have changed." He let out a low whistle of approval as his eyes took in the man before him. Harry laughed, flexing his newfound muscles. He was only shorter than Ron by an inch, and definitely broader in the shoulder. His unruly dark hair was swept away from his face and tied back in a tail. Ron smiled.
"So, how have you been?"
"Alright, and you?"
"Damned infernal...." Both boys whirled about as they spotted the last third of the trio, trudging up the hill to them, tripping over her shoes.
"Hermione!" Both of them bellowed, rushing down the hill to pounce on their friend, bags laying forgotten up at the platform as they slid, slipped, and rolled all the way to the foot of the hill.
Enveloped in a two-fold bear hug, Hermione could do naught but cooperate and hug right back, giggling and laughing. "I've missed you two!"
Their words were lost in a rush of emotion as they settled back, just observing each other for the moment.
"Wow." Hermione was the first to speak after several minutes of silence stretched between them.
"You can say that again." Harry intoned.
"Wow."
"Cheeky." Harry rolled his eyes, laying back to look up at the cloudless blue sky. "Can you believe it? It's been a whole year."
"No, actually it's been a year, three months, one day, twelve hours, and exactly two minutes, forty five seconds...forty six...forty seven..."
"Still ever the Know-it-all, eh Harry?" Ron laughed, elbowing his dumbfounded friend.
"Yes, she is. I think she deserves a tickling, what about you, Ron?"
"Oh, yes, I do. Good suggestion, by the way."
"Thank you..."
"Don't you dare..." Hermione scooted back, staring at both boys in a mixture of horror and hilarity. "I mean it...I'll...I'll..."
"What? Laugh us to death?"
XXX
"Oh, gods, Caralynn, that was fantastic."
"Thank you, Ron." Caralynn flushed a light pink, pleased with herself. "It was nothing, really."
"You took time to cook for us, that isn't nothing." Ron replied seriously, remembering back to when he'd had to Kill his own food.
"Now, if you are all finished..." Rohan stood, "I believe it is time we talked of the matters at hand. Please bring your amulets with you, as you will be exchanging them shortly."
All three rose, smiling their thanks at Caralynn and following Rohan to the study.
"So, what're we really here for? I'm sure they didn't train us for a year just to reunite us without purpose." Harry lounged against the doorway, perusing the shelves of the study with his eyes, carefully keeping his awareness broadened for any change in the atmosphere.
Rohan bristled slightly, and Harry smiled, feeling the shift of power. "I would have thought that would be painfully obvious, Mister Potter."
"Please, call me Harry." Harry intoned, laughing.
"Harry then. Anyway, as you well know, more and more of the Artifacts are disappearing, even as the rift grows wider. We need to find out who is doing this."
"And why do you require us?" Ron asked this time, scratching the underneath of Nagini's chin.
"Because...you know very well why!"
"Rohan." Hermione sighed. "Boys, stop toying with him, please. Rohan, look, we've been separated for a year, no form of contact at all between the three of us. Of course we're not going to be happy about it. Look, we know we've been trained to stop whoever is doing this, but would it not have been simpler to just gather together a band of Aurors and do the job up properly?"
"Excellent suggestion Miss Granger." All three stiffened in their seat as Dumbledore idled into the room. "But, as you know, none of our Aurors are equipped to be handling Void magicks, as we were made painfully aware when Voldemort was killed. Now, I have some interesting news that we didn't tell you. Lucius Malfoy has been resurrected."
"What?!" All three sat aghast.
"He had his loyal followers among the ranks of the Deatheaters, and it is my belief that Narcissa Malfoy began studying Void Magick as a way to bring her dead husband back to life. It would explain why she had the Shroud of Turin taken, because of the healing properties still left in it."
"That makes no sense." Hermione replied.
"Ah, but it does, Miss Granger. You see, Lucius Malfoy, resurrected, is bad news for anyone, but especially bad news for yourself, since he most undoubtedly remembers his death. I believe he is gathering all the objects and feeding them to the Void so he can command the sort of power that was denied him when he served Voldemort."
"What has this to do with us?" Ron pondered aloud.
"Draco and Melody are missing. They were taken from their home last night, while they were sleeping. I do not believe them to be harmed, Lucius is an evil bastard." An intake of breath from the trio when Dumbledore cursed, "But he would not harm his own flesh and blood, just because he does not wish to mar the beauty of the Malfoy family."
Hermione bit her lower lip. "I can't believe this! We're gone for a year and the whole world goes to hell in a handbasket!"
A/N: So, there's the first chapter. Please review, it would be greatly appreciated. More to come about Lucius, Draco, Melody, and of course, the Quads!
Love,
Me