A/N: Sorry to all my loyal fans of Draconus, but the plot has bottlenecked a bit in chapter five. In a feeble attempt to apologize for this little snag in my otherwise well thought-out plot, I'm giving you another Fourth power chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 22: Bad News and Plan B

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Hermione still had her eyes closed, reveling in the feeling of freedom. "Yes, I do feel different. I don't feel like I have to kill people anymore. Harry, this is wonderful!"

That obviously was not the answer Harry was looking for, and his face showed it. "No, Hermione." He said. "I know that part. I meant do you feel any different physically? Do you feel normal, or could you still pick Hagrid off his feet one handed?"

Hermione thought about it for a second, then her eyes shot wide in horror. "I still feel the same! What happened to us, Harry? We didn't change back!"

"I had a thought about this just after my awakening, and I was hoping it wasn't going to happen" Harry said. "Our bodies couldn't handle the demons' magical structure, so they altered them, right?"

Hermione's brain put the pieces together quickly. "But, when they left, they were forced out by their summoner's death, and couldn't change our bodies back to the way they were. So, we can still do all the special things that we could do before." As if to emphasize the point, she stuck her hand right into the wall, sinking into the shadow made by her hand. From the wall, she pulled one of her coal-black swords, and threw it at Voldemort's throne. The rapidly spinning blade sliced right through the throne, without even slowing down, and then disappeared into nothingness again.

Harry was amused by her antics. "I must admit, Blade, that I'm still jealous of the ease with which you can use your special ability. Mine is more powerful," He said, making a tiny ball of fire in his hand, about the size of a marble, "but it takes me so long to gather enough fire to affect things properly, that it's almost useless."

"I don't know, Flame. It certainly worked on our esteemed host, didn't it?" Hermione teased. "That's my job, after all. I give you the time you need, and you obliterate the target when you're ready. Have you figured out how to stop it yet?"

"Nope" Harry said. "Anything you throw at it just intensifies it. It will only stop when it eats up all the magic it touches. I can keep working on it, but I won't use it too much anymore. Especially with how powerfully magical we are now."

Hermione closed her eyes, and sought her center. What she found surprised her beyond belief. "What happened?" She yelled. "We weren't this strong before the demons, and especially not during the demons. How did we get so strong?"

"I have a theory, but without my demon to confirm it, it's just a theory." Harry said. "The demons were a constant draw on our energy reserves, so we got used to it. Kind of like wearing twenty-five pound gloves, then trying lift weights. After a while, our magic started to grow to compensate for the draw, until we didn't really notice the draw anymore. Now, without the draw, we get all that energy back. So, it's like taking the gloves off, then lifting the same weights. It's much easier than it was, because our magic has become stronger."

"That's a good theory." Hermione said. "It seems to fit what my center says, so we'll take that as the best explanation." Hermione's face turned serious. "Now, we have a new problem, though. We are far stronger than we were ten minutes ago. Without the demons to help us control our power flows, we have to work on it, so everyone is going to be suspicious of us."

"You're forgetting the biggest problem, Hermione." Harry said. "We are the Imperial Dragon Circle. We're demons now, even if it's only in body. Everyone in the wizarding world will hate us out of fear. It's very possible that the Ministry will even send out teams to destroy us. We can't be members of wizarding society anymore."

"Well, at least we're not alone in that, are we? We have that in common with werewolves, vampires, drow, elementals, and necromancers." Hermione said. "Each and every one of those peoples is treated with disdain and outright fear by wizarding society. They can't even get proper magical training, thanks to the Ministry!"

Suddenly, Harry's eye lit up with something. Hermione couldn't tell if he was preparing for battle, or meaning to make mischief. "Hey Hermione," he began, "is all the Shadow Master information still in your head?" Hermione thought, then nodded. "Well, how much extra knowledge would we need to train any one of those peoples?"

Hermione's eyes lit up with a mixture of anticipation and worry. "Harry, are you thinking about moving on to plan B?" Harry smiled, and nodded. "Why? Plan B was our fallback scenario if Riddle went to ground. He didn't go to ground, we put him in the ground. So, why start the backup?"

"Simple, Hermione." Harry said. "We need something to do with ourselves since we can't be normal wizards anymore, and all those peoples need proper magical training. If we provide them with said training, we'll keep ourselves busy, won't we?" Hermione was dumbfounded, and just nodded. "Ok then, the plan B scenario is officially begun. What do we do first?"

Hermione shook herself, and got down to business. "We need a location. Somewhere that is easy to defend, and big enough to house a population of at least five hundred." Harry made the note on a conjured piece of paper. "Next, we need a few aides. I don't think we can do this without help."

"Remus will help, if we can separate him from Dumbledore." Harry said. "I have the utmost respect for Albus, but he's always trying to control every situation, and it's very annoying."

"Next," Hermione continued, "we'll need to organize defenses for the compound, both above ground, and below. The last thing we need are a bunch of wizards disturbing our training facilities."

Hermione thought of something. "Harry, do you realize that, if we do this, we'll have to miss our N.E.W.T.s, right?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter much. Our magical core structure is too different from normal wizards for the tests to be accurate anyway." Harry said.

"I suppose you're right." Hermione said, just a bit dejected. "Still, it would have been nice to have the credentials."

"Yeah, but we can't have everything." Harry said. "So, what else?"

Hermione got back to business. "We'll need books, and lots of them. We'll need a library that rivals the one at Hogwarts. Only a few of the peoples will be able to learn from the spell books, but we can help the rest adapt the magic."

"Anything else?" Harry asked. "The list is a bit small. I can't believe that this list is everything."

"Well, I can't think of anything right now, but if something else comes up, we'll just add it later." Hermione said brightly. "Now, the big question. Harry, do we tell the world that Voldemort is gone for good, or do we let them wallow in their fear for a while longer?"

"Well, the Death eaters already know that he's dead. When he was bluffing me with your safety earlier, he wasn't lying when he said the marks were connected to him. Right now," Harry said, "every one of those marks is trying to re-establish its bond with the master." Hermione winced. "Yeah, every living Death Eater is in quite a bit of pain right now. They won't be hard to identify. Most of the Order, since they know that only I can kill him, will believe that Voldemort is simply punishing them for something."

"Ok, that's the plan so far. Any location ideas?" Hermione asked.

"One, and I think it might be perfect. Have you ever been to Azkaban, Hermione?" Hermione shook her head. "I went there once, just to make sure my dementor problems were really solved. The Prison is huge, easily capable of housing 500 people. We can re-fit the cells with bunk beds and real doors. They're big enough, if we combine two cells to make one room. The best part about Azkaban is the grounds though. The island is small enough to defend, but large enough to sustain plant life and food enough to support all the occupants. We'll need to enlist some help from the elementals to make the island able to grow anything, and to tend our food supply, but I'm sure we can work it out."

"Ok, so we need to talk to Remus about helping with the wolves, we'll handle the Vampires, Drow, and Necromancers, and we'll help the elementals." Hermione said. "I know that they have a system of training for their children, but I think they stay on the safe side, so they don't draw attention to themselves from the wizarding governments. We'll offer our help, in exchange for theirs."

"Perfect." Harry said. "So, plan B is off the ground. Now, we need to keep our profiles low for a while. Use a dampening crystal on your wand, so it mutes the spell effects. We don't want your stunner to make the entire school pass out."

"But first, we're going to celebrate the fall of Voldemort in a much more cozy environment." Hermione said, just before she caught Harry's mouth in a kiss to take his breath away. Harry returned the favor, and began to slide into the shadow at his feet, taking Hermione with him. There was nothing more intimate than sharing themselves in the shadows.

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A/N: Well, there you go. I know, it's a little bit shorter than you wanted, but it is a rather necessary chapter. I promise you this, though. It gets a lot more exciting in the next few chapters. Just in case you were wondering, this story is far from over. I've got at least ten more chapters plotted out, and I might have to add more. Oh well, I'll see you all soon!

Coming soon: Preparations, Negotiations, and a Jump