Chapter Three
"We can rest here for a few minutes if you want." Usagi said, smiling in sympathy as Hermione struggled to catch her breath.
"How…did…you…?"
"I've been running up and down these stairs since I was sixteen." Usagi explained. "Rei likes everyone to be on time, so when there's a meeting…" She shrugged. "I must spend an hour every week climbing the darned things."
When she could finally breathe normally again Hermione took the opportunity to glance around. They were standing on an open, tiled patio area surrounded by trees. At the end of the patio sat the small, delicate framework that made up the Shinto Temple. It was a peaceful scene, all gleaming pillars and intricate scrollwork set beneath the angled shingles of the roof. Hermione thought it looked rather like something she had seen in one of her books on world cultures.
"It's so…" She began, but was promptly cut off as the peace of the temple was shattered by a blood-curdling scream.
"Yuuichirou!"
A shaggy-haired man with a grizzly beard and wide, terrified eyes came tearing out from behind the dainty building. He was running as though his very life depended upon it and as he ran he was howling out apologies and excuses in Japanese so quickly that Hermione couldn't even catch all of the syllables.
"Oh dear." Usagi said with a soft sigh.
"Who…?"
Then a beautiful woman with long, black hair and pale skin darted out into the open, wielding a broom like a Japanese sword. Her violet eyes were almost black with anger, her lovely face contorted with pure rage.
"I'm going to smack you silly you little worm!" She declared. "I'll hit you so hard the next time you wake up your hair will have grown three inches! If you ever see the light of day again why I'll…" Her expression changed when she caught sight of Usagi and her charge. Suddenly she stopped, a smile transforming her face. "Usagi! I wasn't expecting you for at last another ten minutes."
"I left early.' Usagi explained solemnly. Then she glanced over at the man, who was leaning against one of the trees, still muttering incoherently. "Should we come back later?"
"Oh no." The woman waved a hand dismissively. "He just forgot to chop wood for the baths yesterday, that's all.' She smiled at the man. "Maybe if he does it now I'll forget all about it."
With a tiny yip the man disappeared behind the temple once more, and a few minutes later Hermione could hear what had to be the sound of someone chopping wood. Then Usagi was speaking again and she turned her attention to the two women once more.
"Rei, this is Hermione Granger. She is staying with me for a while. Hermione, this is my friend and the priestess of this temple, Hino Rei."
"Oh dear, you must forgive me." Rei exclaimed. "I forgot Usagi was bringing you this morning. Please, just ignore my husband. Yuuichirou has a tendency to…well, slack off I guess you'd say." She smiled. "Why don't the two of you come on inside and I'll make some tea."
They followed Rei inside and Hermione couldn't help but stare around her as they moved through the interior of the building. It was very plain, mostly unadorned save the elegantly painted screens found throughout the rooms. They depicted quiet mountainsides and birds in flight, cranes arching their necks as they scooped fish from the river.
"Please, makes yourselves comfortable." Rai said as they entered what appeared to be a sitting room. "I'll be back in just a moment." She left them, sliding the door closed behind her.
"This place is amazing." Hermione murmured.
'It is beautiful." Usagi agreed. "I'll have Rei give you a tour a little later if you like. There are extensive grounds in the back and a small pond as well."
"That would be wonderful."
Rei returned a few moments later bearing a tray. She set out cups and saucers and began pouring the tea, speaking as she did so.
"You may not like the tea. I'd imagine that it's rather different than what you're used to."
When they were all drinking and Hermione had discovered that she did like the tea, Usagi began to explain the reason for their visit.
"Over the next few weeks Rei is going to be teaching you to mediate, how to utilize your powers for wandless magic, and even a little bit about elemental magic." The blonde woman made a face. "She's much better at wandless magic than most of the rest of us and she's a wonderful teacher. I will be dropping you off here for a few hours a couple of afternoons a week. Then you can practice what you've learned at home with Hotaru."
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand the theory behind wandless magic." Hermione admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Very few people do." Rei replied soothingly. "That's why there are several departments worldwide who are doing research on it even now. The idea behind doing magic without a wand or a tool of any kind is mostly just being able to connect your own natural abilities with the strength and the direction of your will."
"Kind of like 'where there's a will, there's a way'?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Exactly. If you can touch the power within yourself and channel it using your will, you can do just about any kind of magic without having to pick up your wand. It's very handy in situations where you've been disarmed, or you don't want to show yourself to a Muggle crowd."
"Most wizards and witches can do it before they ever go away to school." Usagi broke in. "Then they get their wands and learn spells and they never have a reason to do it again. For instance, I believe your friend Harry blew up his aunt a few years ago?"
"Yes." Hermione stifled a laugh. "She made him angry and he made her puff up like a balloon."
"That would be an example of wandless magic. He was angry with his aunt and he wanted something bad to happen to her. No doubt he was thinking about how fat and full of hot air she was and…poof! She begins to fill with actual air and she ends up to be ten times as fat as she was before."
Rei was nodding her agreement, an amused light dancing in her eyes.
"Actually, Harry is a very strong candidate for wandless magic. Most students lose their aptitude as soon as they begin learning spells but Harry has had several occurrences since he began attending school."
Suddenly Usagi let out a wail, scrambling to her feet.
"I'm sorry Rei, Hermione. I completely forgot, I'm supposed to pick up Hotaru and Chibi-Usa from study group." She scrambled toward the door. "I'll be back in an hour or so to pick you up Hermione." Then with a loud –Pop!- she Disapparated.
Rei shook her head, reaching out to put Usagi's empty teacup back onto the tray.
"She hasn't changed very much since we were young; she's still always running late." She finished clearing the table and stood up, her hands disappearing into the sleeves of her robe. "If you like I'll give you a tour now. Then we'll sit for a little while and I can begin teaching you how to draw upon your power."
Hermione nodded and followed the dark-haired woman out of the tearoom and along a winding pathway through the temple. Most of the rooms, as Hermione had already seen, were very plain and held very little ornamentation. Rei explained that the lack of décor was to encourage those staying in the temple to pursue things within their own minds.
"Do you often have guests?" Hermione inquired when Rei showed her the guest chambers.
"Mostly just traveling Order members." Rei replied. "Though every now and then we have scholars, or priestesses from other temples." She opened the back door, walking out onto a narrow wooden porch. "Our lands stretch for quite a distance." She explained waving a hand at the trees that surrounded the yard and the distance liquid shimmer of the pond. "We need plenty of room for meditation, and the trees give us firewood."
"It really is a very beautiful place." Hermione commented softly. Her eyes settled on the glittering waters of the pond and she smiled, feeling a measure of peace stealing over her as she gazed at it. Then she caught sight of a strange tree off to one side. It was hung with hundreds of charms and pieces of paper. "What's that?"
"Oh." Rei moved toward the tree. "A prayer tree. People buy charms and write prayers and hang them from the tree."
Fascinated, Hermione drifted closer.
"What do they ask for?"
"Luck mostly. Maybe love, or forgiveness from those they might have hurt in the past. A few ask for peace or rest after a particularly difficult time. I know Usagi asked for peace when she came back to Japan."
After she was raped, like me. Hermione thought sadly.
"May I write a prayer?" She asked suddenly.
"Of course." Rei disappeared for a moment before returning with a slip of paper and a quill. "You can write it here, and then choose any branch on the tree to hang it."
Hermione took the paper, staring at it for a few moments in silence as she considered what she wanted to ask for. Then she wrote a few words on the paper, folded it in half, and tied it to one of the lower branches of the tree. As she moved away to regard it from the porch she felt a smile grace her lips.
I just want an end to it. She thought. I want us all to be able to laugh again.
Rei watched her with a sad smile thinking that, despite the obvious personality differences between the two, the girl standing before her reminded her a great deal of another girl who had stood in a very similar position sixteen years before.
Then Hermione was walking towards her once again, and Rei remembered what she was supposed to be teaching the girl.
"Why don't we go inside now?" She asked. "There are mats in the storage area, and if I'm going to teach you how to draw on your power I'm going to have to begin by teaching you how to meditate."
A sudden image of sitting in Professor Trelawney's tower classroom as she struggled with Divination came to mind. Trelawney had always said things like 'learn to draw on your inner psychic strength' and 'see with your mind's eye…' Hermione stifled a groan and Rei laughed out loud.
"I know what you're thinking." She said, clearly amused. "Don't worry, what I'm going to teach you is nothing like the crap that Trelawney tried to batter you with. That woman may be naturally clairvoyant but I swear, she doesn't have an ounce of sense in her entire body."
Feeling somewhat relieved Hermione followed Rei inside. As they took bamboo mats from one of the storage areas she though that, maybe, this might be a little more interesting than Divination. And, she thought idly as Rei began to explain meditation to her, she thought that her new teacher looked rather like Hotaru when she smiled.
Anthony Voss's eyes never left the computer screen as he groped about the desk, hand searching instinctively for his coffee mug. Finding it, he raised it to his face and cursed under his breath when he found it empty. He slammed it down where he'd found it, never once looking away from the screen. If he didn't get some more coffee, he would crash in less than an hour. It was currently almost three in the morning, and the only thing keeping him awake was the caffeine rushing through his system.
He couldn't afford to stop now though. He'd been entering arithmantic equations into a database since after lunch and he was almost done. No sense in going to bed and waiting until later when he could finish it all right now. He just needed to remain conscious for another fifteen or twenty minutes…
He stared at the screen for a moment, eyes wide and blank. Then, he shook his head, raised one hand from the keyboard to push his glasses up and wipe at his eyes, and went back to typing. Just a little more…
Half an hour later, Michael Bauer returned home, stumbling slightly through the door. Glancing into the study, he saw Anthony bent over the computer, snoring softly. Three empty coffee mugs sat next to him, and a screensaver flashed pictures from various computer games of which the owner was quite fond. Michael giggled drunkenly at his predictable friend. He'd come home from his late-night barhopping more than once to find his work-obsessive companion passed out and drooling on his keyboard.
Sober, he knew trying to wake the computer-nerd was completely hopeless. However, being quite smashed, previous experience did not lend him wisdom, and he spent the next ten minutes poking, shaking and smacking his friend, all to no avail. Then, he was struck with a drunkenly brilliant plan and staggered his way into the kitchen. Preparations for this plan took another ten minutes, which was just silly since he was simply filling a plastic bowl with warm tap water.
On the way back to the den, he spilt the water and had to return to get more. The second attempt was successful, though, and he smirked as he set the precious bowl down on the desk. Then, giggling, he grabbed Anthony's limp wrist and set his hand into the water. The sleeping man didn't move a muscle as Michael tried to creep from the room. Creeping is an especially difficult task for the drunk.
He continued to creep as he made his way up the stairs, only running into the wall twice and managing not to fall to his death. However, at the top of the stairs stood certain doom, manifesting itself in the form of his dear big sister. Really, he loved her, but she did not seem to find his frequent drinking binges very amusing, and never ceased to tell him so. She also never slept. Ever. She was awake when he went to bed every night, and she was awake when he got up in the morning.
She was awake now, at three thirty in the morning, wearing sweat pants and an oversized T-shirt, arms crossed angrily over her chest. Her cobalt blue eyes, nearly identical to his, glared furiously. He smiled and waved at her, not trusting himself to speak.
"You realize we have a meeting in less than seven hours," she said coolly. He nodded, but had no idea what she was talking about. She huffed. "Cooan and Beruche will be here at nine for reports, and you'll be so hung over you won't be able to sit straight."
Michael giggled. "You said straight..." he mumbled, apparently amused about something. She hung her head and thrust a small vial at him.
"Drink this and go to bed," she instructed. He dared not argue and downed the vial. His foggy head cleared immediately.
"Thanks, Debs." He pecked her cheek like an obedient little brother and trotted off to bed for a few hours of sleep. He would definitely be needing a shower in the morning, as he reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. Deborah would never let him in front of guests smelling like a bar.
The woman in question stood at the top of the stairs for another minute, shaking her head in disbelief. Michael was thirty-eight years old, and she had hoped that at some point he would grow out of his childish behaviors, but that didn't seem likely. She was stuck with a teenage-acting boy until she could dump him off onto some unsuspecting woman thinking he was "cute." Finally, she sighed and went downstairs to check on Anthony.
She found him exactly as Michael had left him, sleeping on his keyboard with one hand in a bowl of warm water. She removed said bowl, along with all three coffee mugs and set them in the sink in the kitchen. Then, she returned to the office and propped Anthony back in his chair. She exited the database program and shut the computer down before levitating Anthony and setting him down on the couch in the next room. She removed his shoes, found him a blanket, and then left him to get some rest.
She did not sleep that night, though it wasn't really unusual. She had far too much work to do, and not nearly enough time. The entirety of her work revolved around finding cures and counter-curses to Unforgivables, and the benefits of any real solutions in her research far outweighed the negative of her being sleep deprived. So, she pushed, staying up all night reading, working every second of the day, pausing only for an hour nap here, a quick sandwich there.
She'd lost nearly twenty pounds in the last two years, and she didn't really have that much to lose. At forty, her dirty blond hair was getting lighter and lighter every year, and she was starting to get wrinkles, despite the cosmetic potions Anthony brewed for her. She had never really cared that much about how she looked, since looks were good for nothing other than attracting boys and she disliked boys as a general rule, but seeing her age in the mirror wasn't something anyone wanted.
In her room, she picked up the book she had set down earlier when she'd heard Michael stumble in and turned to the marked page. The book was a history documenting various efforts made throughout the ages to diminish the effects of the Cruciatus curse. Granted none had really been successful, thus giving the curse it's place as an unforgivable, but knowing what doesn't work eliminates things and makes ones own research more effective. There's no use in repeating past experiments that have failed. It was a waste of time Deborah simply could not afford.
So...it's been awhile, I know. But after book six came out, I had to think things out. I have decided that, since I don't want to give up on this story quite yet and because this story does not fit with book six at all, I will simply have to ignore book six. Therefor, no spoilers. Please don't put spoilers in your reviews, since some people haven't read the book yet. Thanks.
Now, reviews!
Hoshiko Megami-I'm glad my character intrigues you. Hopefully, characters will all stay good, since I hate OOC and bad original characters. Thanks for the review.
TheMello-Thank you much for giving the OC's a chance. You are a good reviewer, and I would hate to lose your comments. As for the rainbow crystal stuff...it probably isn't going to end the way you think. (If I'm thinking the way you're thinking...) We'll just have to see.
Usagi Asia Maxwell-It's very easy to use rape as a plot device and treat it as though it were only a minor problem to be dealt with in a few days. I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far and thank you for the review.
Healer-:blushes: You're quite right. When I said Bogota, I was thinking in my head BogotaSouth America team, but the way I wrote it was not clear at all. Thank you for pointing out my blunder.
Crescendo-Thank you for the review, and I will hopefully add some stories of Usagi at Hogwarts later in the fic.
Silver Moon Goddess1-Thanks for the review!
samisweet-I'm sorry I haven't had time to read your story. My job's been nuts...I have to work on my eighteenth birthday because we're so short staffed...anyway, I'll be quitting my job soon in preparation for going to college, so in a few weeks I might have some time.
Now, if anyone has a problem with the way this story goes (especially after book six came out), feel free to let me know. I may be able to work it all in if anyone feels it is necessary, but for now I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it yet.
New characters-Anthony Voss, computer nerd who drinks way too much coffee
Michael Bauer-prankster who drinks way too much alcohol
Deborah Bauer-Michael's elder sister who works way too much...and never sleeps