Empowering

"Hermione where are we going?"

"We're going to find something Ginny, something important."

"Do you think you could tell me what we are trying to find?"

"You two will know it the minute we see it."

Ginny shook her head in dismay. "Luna do you know what we are looking for?"

"No sorry Ginny, I only came because I wanted to get out of the castle."

Hermione looked cross at Luna's last statement but was forced to concede that she hadn't told the two girls anything and yet they had both come with her.

Hermione knew she had to be close to the site so she stopped and took a moment to look around. Noticing a thick grove of trees just ahead she motioned for the two girls to follow her towards them. This grove was strangely lacking in the normal undergrowth that usually made walking through forested areas so hard. As soon as Hermione passed through the outer ring of oak trees she saw them. Thirteen large stones forming a circle on the crest of this hill.

"This is what we have been looking for Ginny."

"I admit this is impressive Hermione but why are we looking for it in the first place?"

"This is a Circle of Power Ginny, everybody knows that." Luna said in that sing song voice of hers.

"You know about Circles Luna? Most of what I've read said they had fallen out of use."

"My Mum used to tell me all about them before she died. She said that too many women had forgotten their innate power."

"Do you know how they work then?"

"Mum said they were all different and some of them had purposes but in general they can be used to magnify power and covens of witches can use them for ritual magic."

"So a certain number of witches could cast the same spell and have it be greatly more powerful?"

"Something like that, the magic of circles is different than normal magic though. It's not the magic of formulas and wand movements. It's power by the sense of sharing and openness between the member's of the coven"

"So that's why it has to be women only then?"

Luna nodded "According to what Mum said men aren't comfortable enough with opening themselves up to a large number of people. Because of that the magic won't work for them."

"Seems a bit odd that someone could do a kind of magic merely because of their gender doesn't it Hermione?" Ginny remarked.

Hermione nodded and then pulled a face "It doesn't seem normal from what we've learned in all of our classes but men and women are different. Not just biologically either so I guess it could all be true."

Luna had walked over to one of the stones and put her hand on it. Her face lit up with a smile and she looked over at the others. "Touch one of the stones."

Both Hermione and Ginny moved over to touch one of the standing stones. As soon as she touched it she could feel the power pulsing through it. Not only that, she could also feel knowledge being imparted to her. Images of how the stones had been used in the past and too what effect flashed through her mind. She staggered a bit when she realized that the stones were far older than Hogwarts. The school might have even been built here because of the proximity to the stones. She could also sense both Luna's and Ginny's responses to the stones and through this could see them for who they really were.

Hermione gasped as she was the power and wisdom that Luna managed to hide with a few silly smiles and odd statements. She was equally impressed with the raw power and passion that seemed to be shining from Ginny. Then the power of the stones pulled her even deeper into the other girls. She saw how fiercely Ginny cared for Harry despite their claims that they were trying to not get too attached to quickly. She saw how Luna had fallen for Ron during last year and despite how happy she was with Neville she still carried just a tiny torch for Ron. Hermione knew the other two were seeing into her as well and she could hear Ginny's teasing laugh when Ginny discovered how aroused Hermione got when Ron got protective of her. She felt Luna's sympathetic sigh when Luna saw just how crazy Hermione was for Ron.

The three of them had lost all sense of time and when they finally pulled apart from the stones Hermione discovered that at least three hours had passed.

"You want to know something amazing?" Luna said into the silence.

Ginny and Hermione both nodded.

"It's going to be even more powerful at night."

"Hermione, can we tell the boys about this?" Ginny asked softly.

Hermione paused for a moment and bit her bottom lip "Eventually we will but right now I think we should keep it to our selves for just a bit. Only until we understand exactly what we are going to be able to do with the new power."

"We also need to gather a few more people for this, girls who are better at certain types of magic than we are, maybe someone who is good at Divination." Luna suggested.

Hermione looked at Luna for a moment "That's a really good idea, why don't you see who we can get to join us and I'll start to work on finding out what all we can do with this type of power."

Luna nodded and then Ginny spoke up "What would you like for me to do Hermione?"

"I need you to do something important but I have to tell you Ginny you aren't going to like it."

"Then I'll deal with it but you have to at least tell me what it is don't you?"

Hermione nodded "I need you to keep Harry and Ron away from me for a couple of weeks until I get this figured out. I'm already up to my neck in work and I won't be able to do this unless I'm left alone."

Ginny looked at Hermione for a long time "Ok Hermione I'll do it but are you certain you want me keeping Ron away from you?"

"Of course not but it's the only way I'll get all of this taken care of."

"I take it you will want to wait until after this weekend?"

"Why would I want to wait?"

Ginny rolled her eyes "Because this is the Hogsmeade weekend, you know Valentines day. I'm pretty sure you don't want me to keep him away from you then right?"

Hermione thought for a moment "Alright you can start the Monday after this weekend but you are going to have to keep him busy."

"Can I tell Harry so he can help me?"

"You can get Harry to help you but you can't tell him exactly why."

"These secrets may turn around to bite us on the arse you know Hermione."

Hermione whirled around at Ginny "Do you think I like keeping these bloody secrets? Well I don't I hate it. It kills me when I look up into your brother's eye and I know he's telling me everything he possibly can while I am keeping things a secret I may not even think is important. Then there's Harry who thinks I am so naïve and innocent that he needs to protect me from everybody, even Ron sometimes. While I'm at it let's talk about your prat of a brother again, did you know that all of them in that little training class of their have been keeping track of Death Eater movements?"

"Why are they doing that?"

"Those idiots are planning on attacking Death Eater safe houses. They think they need to take the fight to the Death Eaters."

"They are right about that you know." Luna said with a distinct focus in her eyes.

"Of course they are right but that's not the point. The point is that Ron is going to go put his brave arse in danger again and I'm going to have to sit and wait to find out if my boyfriend is going to come back in one piece again. Well sod that, if I have to do a little extra work or a little extra research to keep those morons safe then so be it and you two are going to help me."