Wizards, it seemed, celebrated Yule on the actual day of the winter solstice, so she could celebrate Yule with them, then Christmas with her family. They also lumped the new year in with Yule, or perhaps more accurately they didn't celebrate New Year as they did use the Roman Calendar, so the actual day of the event was the same.
She spent New Years with her family at a friend's party. They all snuck into their bathrooms to find makeup, then when the party started, retreated to Penny's room to try it out. Hermione unfortunately held no lead here, but some well placed words about 'less is more.' Kept her position as the grown up, even if her application of blush was perhaps a little heavy and her right eye kept watering where she'd poked it with the mascara wand.
She welcomed in the new year surrounded by muggle friends and feeling a little like she was pretending to be cleopatra with her black, bold eyeliner, delicate blue eyeshadow and bold red lips. She suspected the effect wasn't quite as professional as she felt, considering most of the other girls looked like Picassos.
So, it was on the first of January that she woke up to a distinctly different atmosphere in Castle Grindelwald. The jangle of harness was loud even from her lofty window and when she peered out she could see a huddle of witches and wizards talking. She reckoned she could see the red hair of Herr Tunninger, and perhaps the blonde of his wife, but mostly they all wore dark, practical cloaks with hoods drawn up against the cold.
She hurried down, finding the entry hall door open, and peered around it. She could see closer now that the mounts were also clothed in strange outfits, like medieval battle cloths, but in plain dark colours. The fabric practically hummed with protective enchantments, as did the matching cloaks the witches and wizards wore.
Lady Grindelwald stood in the centre of the group, a deep grey-blue cloak cinched around her waist by a belt with both her wand and a long, wicked knife hanging off it. Herr Tunninger stood nearby in brown and he too was armed with a wand and knife. The adults she was familiar with spoke in low, urgent tones with a slight, mousy man who wore a khaki robe, embroidered with an black eagle perched on a black cross.
'Hermione?' Called Frau Grindelwald. Hermione jumped, then sheepishly stepped out into plain view. She was mortified to have been caught eaves dropping, but at least the circle of adults didn't seem to angry. Instead their faces were tight with concern, although not directed at her. She felt a thrum of fear deep in her belly.
'We have been called away. I expect we will be gone for several days.' She was informed smartly. There was no more explanation than that as the adults turned away and swung up onto their mounts. Hermione was buffeted by gusts of wind as three winged mounts took off and the others escorted the man with the embroidered clothing out of the gates.
Silence reigned again.
She turned and headed upstairs to find Gellert. He was awake, watching through the window as the speck that was his mother on her Granian faded into the distance, disappearing towards the portal.
'She said she'd be gone for several days.' Hermione told him. He nodded, seeming unsurprised. 'What is going on, Gellert?' She asked, sitting carefully on the edge of his bed. The young wizard finally looked away from the window.
'With power comes responsibility.' He answered cryptically.
'What responsibility?' She demanded, failing in her attempt to moderate her voice.
'Much of Europe hasn't banned dark magic, unlike many other countries. It is why the old ways are still so alive here, but there is an understanding that there are boundaries that still should not be crossed. When someone starts to cause problems, the old families must step in to eliminate the issue.'
'So it's like a self regulation?' Hermione asked, already pondering how such an arrangement could be fair.
'Yes, raising the dead, murder or torture of wixen or muggles. Violations of the statute of secrecy. Those are lines that should not be crossed, perhaps with the exception of Samhain because that is voluntary for the dead. Usually the fear of the families keeps people from crossing lines, but occasionally someone does and they must be stopped.'
'Who decides who needs to be stopped?'
'The chancellor.'
'Chancellor?'
'The leader of the magical government.' Gellert answered. He knotted his fingers together. 'Warnings are given, then the chancellor may call for assistance from the old families. Sometimes, there is a majority agreement from the old families that a chancellor had become corrupted.'
Hermione pondered this for a moment.
'Is it dangerous?' She asked
'Mother and the coven are strong, but anyone can be unlucky.' He replied, his shoulders slightly tense. His rarely showed much affection for his mother, but now his fingers were tensed around his wand.
'She is strong, besides, they had some pretty good kit.' Hermione agreed, remembering the thick enchantments on the clothing worn by both mounts and wixen. 'You'll be doing that someday, right?'
She could imagine him, he would wear black and Kelpie would be fearsome. They would charge into battle in a shower of brightly coloured magic.
'You too - you'll be with me.' Gellert added. A second figure joined the imaginary Gellert. She was tall, finally proportionate to her Longma. Long, wavy hair spilled down her stormy robe, her own wand flashed with light in synchronisation with the wizard beside her. They were invincible, protecting the rest of civilisation from evil wizards (who looked significantly like her PE teacher...).
She glanced out of the window. The riders had disappeared by now, carried away by the speed of wings and magical hooves. In the time it took them to return, Hermione decided it was her job to distract Gellert. So she pulled the book his mother had bought him for Yule off the shelf and pestered him to help her create space for her Longma to stretch his wings in his stall.
The extension charm was rather basic, although Gellert assured her there was a version that was significantly more tricky that couldn't be detected. Once the stall was the size of a large football field - or quidditch pitch (Gellert vowed to teach her the game), they consulted a book to find that Longma were usually found on mountains. So Hermione enlarged pebbles into boulders whilst Gellert created a ledge out of the walls. Then Hermione added a river and waterfall instead of the trough. They foraged around the gardens for several hours after lunch to find plants - grasses, moss and lichen, then brewed them into the potion from the day of the snowball fight. By night fall, the stall was a lush mountainside.
The next day Hermione finally acquiesced to learn quidditch. So she learned all about the balls, two black bludgers that Gellert promised to keep within their straining leather confines, a tiny gold snitch and a crimson quaffle. That was the ball they used, wizzing around on their brooms about a meter off the ground and trying to pass it between them. Hermione's coordination was so bad that she was bowled off her broom twice and dropped it almost without fail. The one time she did catch the ball and manage to stay on her broom, she crashed into the tower and spent the next hour being patched up by Gellert whilst the elves tutted and passed them cookies.
Having decided she clearly didn't have the makings of a chaser, the next day was spent with the tiny gold ball. It moved unbelievably fast, remaining invisible but for the shortest glimpses. The Grindelwalds had a quidditch pitch - three stone hoops, rising out of the forest just beyond the castle walls and in a spot where the unsightly feature wouldn't be as visible. Even still, the hoops were mossy green and ivy wound thickly up the posts. Until Gellert had pointed them out, she hadn't even realised they were there against the irregularity of the forest background. The enchantments were incredibly clever, keeping the game concealed from muggles yet allowing wixen to spectate. It also kept the balls in a bubble of space, not allowing them to escape or hide among the trees. There was also, Gellert assured her, a cushioning charm for if she did fall, just below the top branches of the trees.
They spent the afternoon constantly renewing warming charms as they hunted the little tiny ball. Gellert assured her that this was common and some professional games lasted up to three days. She found the whole thing slightly boring, but persisted just to keep the wizard distracted.
Fortunately they finally caught it after lunch, then came the bludgers. Gellert handed her something that looked like a cross between a cricket and rounders bat and conjured a ball of similar size to the bludgers. Standing on the front lawn, he tossed it as her and she swung her bat like a sword. It connected with the ball with a thud and a cry of effort, sending the ball soaring over the nearest hedge. Gellert nodded appreciatively. They spent an hour tossing 'bludgers' at each other, then took to the air to perform the same exercise.
It was, she decided as she collapsed to the chair of their rooms, exhausting yet great for relieving stress. Flighty popped in with warm cocoa and the paper which Gellert had begun requesting since his mother had left. She let him read it whilst she read up weather spells so that she could make rain to water the plants in Katana's stall. A sudden intake of breath interrupted her reading and she glanced up to see Gellert reading intently. She walked behind his chair to peer over his shoulder.
The picture that took up the page was mostly dark but for a man. He was pale, wearing a dark muggle suit that blended into the grainy background. He walked away from the photographer, then, seemingly noticing them, lashed around, his black braid spinning. His angular chin and jutting cheekbones made his face look long and narrow, the effect made worse by the thin line of black hair that curled around his jaw. He arm swung up and over his head, fast as a snake, and a flash of light filled the image. The loop played again and again.
"Lucan slips from Grindelwald Coven's Grasp." The headline declared. The article below was sensational, describing a duel of epic proportions where Livius Lucan and his necromantic wife sent an army of skeletons at the coven as a diversion whilst they escaped. Lady Grindelwald herself had brought down Lucan's wife, but the dark wizard had somehow broken the anti-apparition jinx and fled.
From the sounds of it, nobody from the coven had been injured, aside from magical exhaustion for whomever had cast the anti-apparition.
Even as they sat, she heard faint voices from outside. She hurried to the window and peered down to see a witch light glowing as a huddle of figures dismounted. The massive doors opened, casting light across the group and elves appeared to take the mounts into the stables.
Gellert stepped up beside her and together they breathed a sigh of relief.