The summer solstice was a very special event for Hermione. Not only was it another one of the annual celebrations that she would be attending, it was also the day that Lady Grindelwald had chosen to incorporate her into the family. The matriarch had spent the last week preparing her, and Gellert had been excused from lessons to lecture her in the customs and words that she must speak.
On the morning of the big day, she woke to find three elves waiting for her. The head elf; Klein, her personal elf; Flighty and a middle aged female elf that she didn't know. They dressed her in silence in light, white robes that drifted around her ankles. The whole assemble was fastened by a single ribbon that wound around her waist and shoulders and it took all three elves to force her hair to fall in waves down her back.
They then led her down the stairs to where Katana was already saddled. Gellert was mounted on Kelpie in Grindelwald blue and his mother rode her Granian in a matching dress, also secured with a single ribbon.
They rode down the lawns, past the grottos and stables, down through the paddock and out through the back gates. They followed the track along the top of the hill, but several hundred meters before the portal, they turned left and down a steep track. It was overgrown and tangled with wild thorn bushes. They dismounted as the track steepened and continued on foot, Hermione struggling to keep her loose white dress from getting dirtied on the ground as she clung onto roots and rocks to keep her balance.
The sound of rushing water met her ears and a moment later the path stopped descending and began instead to wind along the top of a gorge. It became slightly easier to follow, ascending between trees glowing with bright leaves and the sweet summer dew. The sun glittered, reflecting off the rushing water and casting silvery ghostlike ripples across the mossy dark stone that towered above the crystalline stream.
The earthy path stopped at a set of worn, damp stairs that were carved into the wall of the gorge. Silver haired fairies waved to them as they climbed down, the thunder of a waterfall making anything more impossible, then, walking right along the banks of the stream, they turned a corner into the most magical place Hermione had ever seen.
The waterfall was two or three stories tall, thundering from above and misting rainbows through the air before plunging into a dark pool. Ferns and moss draped the rocky walls in a tapestry of green, speckled with little white flowers. The pool was ringed with dark boulders that glittered slightly with some crystalline residue and sparkled almost as brightly as the clusters of fairy eggs that glittered on ledges all around them.
Hermione and the two Grindelwalds took off their shoes on the beach, leaving pieces of soft, sugary bread as an offering to stop the fairies stealing them, then waded into the pool. The water was bitterly cold despite it being mid summer and goose bumps instantly sprung out over her whole body. Her light, white dress tangled around her legs and was swept backwards by the surprisingly strong current. Gellert offered his arm and she took it, both of them wading after Lady Grindelwald towards the waterfall.
The water didn't get higher than their waists, but it was such hard work fighting against it to reach the waterfall that they were both warm when Lady Grindelwald disappeared into the waterfall ahead of them. Hermione swallowed and followed, the water pummelling painfully against her head and almost driving her to the ground. A moment later the light faded and the pounding stopped. She opened her eyes, blinking to adjust, but couldn't see further than a couple of meters. Behind her, the water formed a thundering curtain between them and the outside world. Gellert tugged her hand, pulling her up a gentle slope and deeper into the cave. The light from outside faded, but glowing markings on the wall began to light the way.
The drawings covered every vertical surface and a significant portion of the floor. They were like cave drawings - crude dragons and figures casting magic. Four legged creatures that really could have been anything being ridden by winged people. Runes, squiggles that might have been a map, a skull, a bird, more squiggles that might have been water. Lit by the glowing blue images, Hermione could see they were in a narrow tunnel which climbed gently. Stalactites and stalagmites speared the air like dark swords and a smooth, well worn path wound between them. Lady Grindelwald's dark silhouette moved ahead of them, her soft footsteps echoing with theirs as the waterfall faded behind them.
The tunnel yawned suddenly into a massive cave whose walls glowed an eerie blue, more dense with markings than anywhere else in the cave. Lady Grindelwald stood in the middle on a large slab of rock, just before the floor tumbled away in an untidy mess of boulders. The boulders too glowed blue with markings, but Hermione couldn't look at them more closely.
Lady Grindelwald beckoned her closer. Gellert hovered at the back edge of the slab.
Hermione knelt at Lady Grindelwald's feet, the stone gritty and biting at her knees through the sodden fabric of her dress.
'Lady Katerina, Matriarch of House Grindelwald. I am Hermione, a witch with no house to call my own. Should you take me in, I swear to be an asset to House Grindelwald, to adhere to your values and to bring glory to the name.' She recited the words, carefully enunciating the German and making sure she had this important ritual absolutely perfect.
'The house will have you, bring us strength.'
Lady Grindelwald passed her an athame, already glittering with her blood. Hermione cut her own hand, wincing as the sharp blade sliced her skin. They both held their bleeding hands over a slight depression in the rock and allowed their blood to mingle, pitch black in the dim cave.
'As our blood mixes here, let it flow in you. Become my daughter in name and magic.' Lady Grindelwald intoned.
'Esto Perpetua.' The three of them murmured. The mixed blood in the bowl sank into the stone slab which glowed slightly, casting them in a ghostly light. Then Lady Grindelwald told her to rise, and Hermione rose obediently. She followed the older witch, stepping off the stone slab and down the difficult descent behind it.
She realised suddenly that the markings that lit the wall were handprints - hundreds, thousands of prints, every one different in size and shape. They crammed every spot, the walls, the ceiling and the boulders, lighting the room with a soft glow. Each hand was edged in angular runes. Once of twice they passed one that was darkened, the glow dimmed by a smear of some unknown substance.
Lady Grindelwald stopped at the end of the light. The cavern reached further but was plunged into inky darkness. The handprints had stopped. Her attention was drawn to two of the brightest prints, which glowed brighter than every one near them and seemed to pulse to some mighty heartbeat. She stepped forwards, raising her bloodied hand and pressing it against the wall.
A shock of electricity jolted through her hand, pulsing like that heartbeat. Around her the cave seemed to stir to life. Silvery apparitions appeared - knights in armour, witches in robes, a roman soldier, a bearded Druid, a viking, a cavewoman, a noble lady in a conical hat. The ghosts of the family crammed every space, one for every print in the huge room. With a roar like the waterfall outside, a hundred voices welcomed her to the family. The stone under her hand glowed brightly blue and when she pulled her hand away, the shape remained, glowing next to the countless others.
'I am Hermione, of house Grindelwald.' She informed the ghosts. Again, hundreds of voiced greeted her. They spoke different languages - Latin, Gothic, German. The roar was indecipherable but welcoming and she felt the warmth of the family magic pulsing up from the rock beneath her feet and filling her with it's power. It was dark and wild, ancient beyond belief. Her own magic melded with it, adding to it and was added to in return.
Gellert and his mother embraced her and as they walked back up through the cave the ghosts reached out and brushed her shoulders and arms.
It was done. She was a part of a magical family, a heritage more ancient that anything that remained. It was older than the castle, older than stone henge, centuries of Grindelwalds had come to this place and joined their magic with it's.
They made their way slowly up the cavern, the whispering of the ghosts following them.
They stepped back through the waterfall and Hermione gasped. The walls of the gorge were lined with fairies, all of whom held a blue flower. As they waded through the water, the fairies flew over and dropped their flowers, which rained down around them and spotted the water. One particularly bold fairy tucked one of the flowers into her hair and Hermione smiled at it.
When they reached the shore, Gellert embraced her warmly, bouncing slightly on his toes. This one was far warmer and more meaningful than the one in the cave, and he pulled back and grinned at her.
'Welcome to the family, Hermione.' He said.