Felix Danell briefly considered being the responsible teacher he was paid to be, but then decided against it. For all the situation seemed horribly inappropriate, he knew without a doubt that the couple sleeping on his sofa had a completely platonic relationship. Well, platonic in the fact that they didn't have sex, anyway. They were definitely romantically involved, but would not take 'the leap' any time in the near future. Ares Danell, his twenty-seven-year-old son, did not fancy ending up in Azkaban for having sex with a fourteen-year-old. Never mind that said witch was the most brilliant student at Salem Academy with an intellect and maturity to rival the average middle-aged wizard.
That recently turned fourteen-year-old was Jess Flynn, a student who had just finished her fifth year at Salem Academy. She was the youngest student to ever sweep straight Outstandings in twelve OWL subjects, the limit one was allowed to take. She'd been thirteen at the time and had scared the officials administering her tests. Her sarcastic, condescending attitude had not helped her, but they saw quickly just how brilliant she was and could not fault her for being mean to them.
As her Arithmancy professor, he really shouldn't allow his son to cuddle on her like that, but they were just too cute to disturb. Her flaming red hair obscured both their faces, and he had an arm thrown lazily across her stomach. An old issue of Ars Alchemia had fallen on the floor next to them, along with a pencil and a scrap of paper with random notes scribbled on it hastily. They had apparently been working on something and had fallen asleep.
Sighing, he went to the hall closet and pulled out a blanket for them. It always got cold on the ground floor at night, and they would probably not be getting up any time soon. Settling the blanket across them, he smiled and went into the kitchen, hoping he could find himself some chocolate before he had to call Jess's father and explain to him that she had, again, fallen asleep on his couch.
Jess Flynn's father was a stereotypical Irish-American with a tendency to drink and get angry. He was a good father, though, and always got understandably upset when his daughter spent the night and the Danell house. However, as a Muggle raising a precocious witch, he understood that she would benefit greatly from spending more time with her own kind. As much as he wanted her home with him where he knew she was safe, he let her come and go pretty much as she pleased just so long as he knew where she was and who she was with.
The phone call was less stressful than Felix had expected. The man on the other end sounded a bit dejected and more than a bit drunk, but he gave his permission without too much complaint. As Felix returned the handset to its cradle, he noticed the owl at the kitchen window, staring intently at him. He opened the window and took the letter, patting the bird's head. It hooted happily and took off.
The note was short and to the point. There's been news from Bogota and England both. Meet tomorrow afternoon at two, and bring the kids. GL
News came fairly often from England, but the mention of Bogota was rare and exciting. The kids mentioned were Ares and Jess, though both would kill Augustus 'Gus' LaRue for insinuating that they were children. Of course, compared to the eighty-two year old leader of Salem's branch of the Order of the Phoenix, they were just children. Respectively the greatest dueler the American continent had ever seen and the genius witch who was an unheard of two years ahead in school, they were still only children and impetuous ones at that. Especially Ares, who quite lived up to his namesake God of War.
He had really tried to raise his son properly, but something about the boy just hadn't been wired properly. Both Felix and his wife were mellow, generally kind and intelligent people, so why their son was so antisocial was beyond them. He was admittedly a brilliant man, and the intelligent often had problems with those who were not quite so intelligent, but he was nowhere near Jess's level of insane brilliance. He just didn't like people. Except his parents and Jess, of course.
Jess had worked wonders on the young man. He'd met her two years ago, when she'd insisted on visiting Felix to discuss the finer points of Arithmancy. She could have taken her OWLs then and there and passed every one of them, but she wasn't interested in tests or grades. She wanted knowledge, and continually read and discussed things with both Felix and Ares. At the time, Ares had noticed her brilliant mind and had grudgingly engaged in a few conversations with her.
By the next summer, he was totally crazy about her, though they had waited to embark on their strange little relationship until around the time of her fourteenth birthday. Ares may not have cared what the rest of the world thought about the fact that he was madly in love with a girl thirteen years younger than him, but he wasn't an idiot and he didn't really want to go to prison.
Felix couldn't help but smile at the thought of their relationship. He himself was seven years older than his squib wife, though she had been sixteen when he began courting her. Just thinking about his wife made him stupid-happy. He had been crazy about her from the moment he saw her, and he would do anything for her to be happy. Including putting up with her insane parents, both of who still wanted to kill him, even to this day.
Shuddering, he made his way upstairs. His in-laws terrified him more than any Dark Wizard in the history of magic. But, she was worth it. Maybe she would be changing for bed and he could catch her naked. He smirked at the thought, finding it silly that after twenty-eight years of marriage she was still shy about nudity.
Meditation turned out to be a lot harder than Hermione thought it was going to be. While she could fairly easily sit still and control her breathing, she could not completely focus her mind. She felt the faint stirrings of her magic, pooled behind her navel and coursing through the rest of her body, but she could not control it in any way. She was also easily distracted. Yuuichirou came in at one point to tell Rei he'd finished with the wood, and Hermione's eyes snapped open immediately and she'd had to start all over again.
She was also unable to drive the events of the past week from her mind. She could push the attack to the back of her mind, and feel almost safe again for a brief time. But the memories would come surging back with frightening clarity, threatening to bring tears to her eyes. She managed to keep from bursting into a sobbing wreck, which was a positive, but all the self-reflection was emotionally draining. She was silently thankful when Rei told her it was time to quit, though admittedly she did feel more in touch with her magic than she ever had before.
"You really are doing very well," Rei complimented her as she led the girl back into the sitting room. "Most Muggleborns have an especially hard time because they do not become aware of their magic until they go to school. Their only experiences actively using magic are with wands. Pureblood children may not have wands, but they are at least aware that what they are doing is magic and not some freak accident. They are better able to understand what it is within them that helps them perform spells. Of course, in the end there are very few that can do wandless magic at all. You're picking it up very quickly."
"It's just so hard to concentrate..." Hermione admitted dejectedly. She sank onto the sofa and sighed. Rei sat down next to her and took her hand.
"Honey, considering everything you've been through, you've shown a considerable amount of discipline and courage. Usagi was a sobbing wreck for weeks. I don't really know if you being so calm about it is for the best or not, but I'm quite impressed." Hermione shrugged noncommittally and Rei patted her hand. "Anyway, we're having a meeting here over lunch, and Makoto is bringing the food. She's a fantastic cook, you'll love it."
"An Order meeting?" Hermione asked, surprised that she would be allowed to participate. Before, she had been considered too young, the information too dangerous.
"Yes. Helios is in town to give a report, not just to fawn all over Chibi-Usa. We're going to be discussing the strategy for certain members here in Japan to return to England. There are a number of complications to take into account, mostly involving you and Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. We also have to decide who stays in Japan to keep up operations here. You've inadvertently become involved, and need to be kept in the loop."
Neither spoke for some time. Hermione sat hunched over, hands clasped between her knees and her bushy hair hiding her face from view. Rei glanced at her every minute or so, wishing there were something she could say to console the girl. Things were so different than they had been with Usagi, and Rei felt helpless.
She had been able to point out positives for Usagi, had convinced her that the unexpected pregnancy was a blessing. Usagi had been very vocal with her grief and had been able to move on as the bulge in her stomach had become increasingly noticeable. She had focused her energy on loving her girls, and Hotaru's dark hair had been even more of a blessing. There was no way the blond Lucius Malfoy could have sired a dark-haired child with the equally blond Usagi. There were still a few rules of genetics that applied to the Wizarding world, Chibi-Usa's pink hair aside.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, Hermione had received treatment immediately and was not pregnant. She was left with no family, and had been injured in one of the most despicable ways possible. And Rei really didn't know how she was feeling, other than the generic 'bad.' Usagi had told Rei everything she felt, had openly cried on her shoulder more times than she could count, but Hermione just sat there quietly, thinking.
Finally, the awkward silence was broken by the arrival of the first guests. Hermione recognized Setsuna Meioh, the owner of the clothing boutique Usagi and Minako had taken her to the day before, but the other two she did not recognize. One was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, even prettier than Fleur Delacour who was part-Veela. Her longish aquamarine hair seemed perfectly natural, and as a witch, Hermione knew better than to suspect a dye-job. Her blue eyes gazed kindly around the room, and her yellow kimono offset her skin-tone nicely. Very few people looked that good in yellow.
The other had short, sandy-blond hair and deep blue eyes, one of which was winked in Hermione's direction in a playful manner. Hermione had thought at first that it was a man, especially after the wink, but at second glance it appeared that the blond was indeed female. She wore a dark blue kimono and gray hakama, though at the time, Hermione did not know the proper name for the garment.
Rei introduced them as Michiru Kaioh and Haruka Tenoh, and the boyish one felt it necessary to kiss her hand and call her "cutie." Seeing that the girl was uncomfortable, Michiru smacked Haruka's shoulder and told her to "leave the poor girl alone." As they bickered, more guests joined the group. Minako arrived with a brunette in tow, both chatting animatedly about some "gorgeous" male and wearing Quidditch practice robes. The brunette turned out to be the Makoto Rei had spoken of earlier, and she had indeed brought a scrumptious looking lunch.
The next couple to enter did so with much less fanfare. The man Hermione did not recognize, but the woman was a personal hero. Ami Mizuno frequently had theories and articles published in the magazine Ars Alchemia, and had written two books on Arithmancy. Hermione wanted to be Ami Mizuno when she grew up.
"This is Ami Mizuno and Ryo Uwara," Rei said in introduction, and Hermione hardly listened.
"I got a perfect score on my Arithmancy OWL because of your books," she blurted out, blushing. That wasn't entirely true, but Hermione liked to convince herself it was. In truth, the only OWLs she had not received perfect scores on were Astronomy and Defense against the Dark Arts, though she had still easily managed to obtain Outstandings on both. Ami stared at her, stunned.
"You understood those books? How old are you?"
"Fifteen..."
"Fantastic," Ami said, suddenly excited. "Though, if you were intelligent enough to understand the books, you certainly would have gotten a perfect score without them. They're beyond NEWT level, really."
She seemed prepared to explain further, and would probably have spent the next five hours or so in intense discussion with the younger girl on various theories, but Minako interjected. "No more of your nerdy Arithmancy talk," she insisted. "Tell us about that ring on your finger." The blond smiled wickedly, and both Ami and Ryo blushed.
Ryo chuckled nervously. "We were going to wait until everyone was here before we announced it. We're getting married."
There was a general cheer and a very noticeable excited squeak from Usagi, who had just entered with her daughters, Helios, and an extremely handsome dark haired man by the name of Mamoru Chiba, and who immediately tackled the blue-haired woman. The next ten minutes were full of hugs and chatter, everyone offering the two congratulations and saying that it was damn well about time. Hermione found herself caught up in the good cheer and for those ten or so minutes she didn't think about what had happened to her once. She was genuinely happy that her hero was so happy, and that she was allowed to be apart of the joy.
However, it was a business meeting, and they could not spend the entire time discussing Ami's upcoming nuptials. Makoto unpacked the lunch she had prepared, and as Rei had said, it was delicious. Hermione wasn't really sure what some of it was, but it all tasted good and she didn't ask questions. Throughout the meal, Helios and Usagi explained the discovery of the nijizuishou, much to everyone else's delight. After the meal, things got more serious.
"Alright, we need to discuss our plan of action for the next six months or so," Rei said, taking charge. "Some of us will need to go to England, and some of us will need to stay in Japan. All of those going to England will need legitimate reasons for doing so. We also need to decide what to do about Hotaru and Chibi-Usa."
"Well, I'll be going to teach Defense against the Dark Arts for sure, and you can always use the excuse of wanting to see your family again," Usagi said, directing her comments to Rei. "Ryo will be taking over the Divination job, and bringing his fiancée along won't be suspicious." She winked at Ami.
"Wait, Divination? What about Professor Trelawney?" Hermione asked. In truth, if the woman were really leaving, she wouldn't mind a bit. The woman was the biggest fraud since Gilderoy Lockheart.
"Yes. She refuses to work with the centaur, Firenze, so she retired. I think it will be fascinating to work with him. They don't usually like humans, so it'll be a rare opportunity," Ryo explained.
"Oh," Hermione said. That was fine with her. If this guy was going to marry Ami Mizuno, he must be intelligent to some degree, and he seemed like a nice man. She would still not be taking Divination, but Trelawney being gone from Hogwarts was a definite plus.
"I think it would be wise for myself, Haruka and Michiru to go as well. We are completely unknown in England and will not raise suspicion. I can open a new boutique in London," Setsuna suggested. Haruka and Michiru nodded.
"We'll find something. Michiru can return to performing, start touring Europe by the end of summer and end in England by early winter. We'll like the place and get a flat in London, help Setsuna with her real work."
At Haruka's suggestion, Michiru blushed. "I haven't performed except in small recitals for years," she stammered. "I'll hardly be good enough." Everyone in the room glared at her except Hermione, who didn't really know what was going on.
"Anyway, Minako and I will have to stay here for Quidditch. We can hold down the fort," Makoto said enthusiastically.
"Well, I guess that was settled easily enough," Rei said with a grin. "I just wish I didn't have to leave Yuuichirou to take care of the shrine. He'll make a sure mess of the place, but someone has to be here who knows how to run everything."
"Now we need to figure out what to do with Chibi-Usa and Hotaru," Usagi said.
"What exactly do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't they just go with you to England and go to Hogwarts?" She had assumed from the beginning that this would be the case. They knew English, and Usagi was insisting they use it so that they would be prepared for going to England.
"If only it were that simple," Usagi said wistfully. "If...people see that they are twins, they will know immediately who their father is." Hermione was still confused.
"I know they're twins, and I don't know who their father is..."
"You haven't told her!" Rei shouted, sounding rather upset. "Usagi..."
Usagi blushed. "She's been through so much. I didn't want to terrify her unnecessarily..."
"My brother is NOT terrifying!" Rei retorted angrily. She stood, and Hermione was almost afraid she was going to whack Usagi in the head. However, a familiar voice from the doorway interrupted the whole scene.
"While I am glad to know you still stick up for me, I believe most of my students would disagree with you on that."
As Hermione turned and saw the speaker, all the missing pieces fell into place.
Cliffie...my second ever. Though, I assume you are all clever enough to figure it out. At least, I hope so. It seems terribly obvious. Anyway, on to reviews!
Hoshiko Megami-Yeah, Michael is an idiot in an obnoxiously loveably sort of way. Thank you for your review.
TheMello-Overall, I really liked the sixth book. It was really intense, though I didn't like all the making out or the end. I can't really explain, because I don't want to spoil stuff for people, but the end was bad news, and I think JKR's just going to cop out in the next book. Which sucks, but isn't surprising. As for physically being able to live on an hours sleep...probably not, but she's a witch, and it's only been for the past year-ish. Anyway, thanks for the review.
Serenity Black-I've already made my decisions on all pairings in this story, and your comments will not change my mind. Not that dislike the pairing, but Sirius is kinda...dead. Just a bit dead. But, thanks for the review anyway. It's good to know you at least read the story, instead of just saying "great, update more."
Airlady-Thanks. I was a bit worried that Hermione wasn't being very emotional, but all people react to rape differently. As for Lucius, I don't think there's any sort of symbolic reason behind rape. It's just terribly humiliating and cruel. And, the Death Eaters would have killed Hermione, had Draco not saved her. And, Lucius is really just evil. Thanks for the review.
lily ponds-Yeah, background is an important part in understanding character motivations and plot. Leaving it out is a big mistake, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story so far. Mamoru will be in the story some, but he isn't a major character. Personally, I think he's adorable and I don't know why so many people dislike him. He's a hottie, really, and a nice guy.
Everyone else, thanks for the reviews, but more depth would be greatly appreciated.
Now, OCs in this chapter
Felix Danell-Age 54, Arithmancy professor at Salem Academy. He's a loveable family man, adores his wife and son.
Ares Danell-Age 27, incredibly talented duelist. Antisocial, hates people except his parents and Jess. Intelligent, but not crazy smart like Jess.
Jess Flynn-Age 14, brilliant at everything. Also antisocial, hates people except her parents and Ares. Lives with her dad, but spends a lot of time at Danell home.
Gus LaRue-Age 82, leader of Salem's OotP. Not much else known.
Alright, first of all, I'd like to say this to all the young ladies in the audience. If you are fourteen-ish, and a twenty-seven year old man shows an interest in you, run the fuck away. I am absolutely NOT condoning such relationships. This is just a story. In real life, said twenty-seven year old man just wants in said girl's pants. Which is rape.
Now, I'm a little worried about my character Jess. She more than any other character might become Mary-Sue like, in that she's a teenager and she's ridiculously smart. Please warn me if she gets out of hand.
I think that's all, folks!