Chapter Thirty-Two

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"Never seen anything like it in my life!" Flitwick exclaimed, bouncing on his pile of books. "The audacity! And the skill."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably, the rest of the seventh years sending her sidelong glances. It had been two days since the tournament and the entire school was treating her with wariness, as though she was a ticking bomb.

"Thank you, Professor."

"You must tell me what charm you used to transfigure your shoes," Flitwick continued. "Ice skates, but they were different, were they not? The blades were…"

"Hot," Hermione supplied. "The metal was heated so that the blades glided over the ice more easily."

She suppressed a yawn. Teachers had been interrogating her on her techniques. Professor McGonagall had kept Hermione after class and demanded that she explain where she had learned the sand-water transfiguration from.

James Potter coughed. "Professor, what charm were we learning today?" he asked pointedly, folding his arms. Hermione couldn't blame him. James had performed well in his dueling match, but nobody seemed to remember.

To top the matter off Hermione had received a small scroll that morning summoning her to see Professor Dumbledore. The headmaster, who had been unavailable to talk over the past few weeks, was summoning her.

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"We need to talk," Hermione said, marching into Dumbledore's office.

Professor Dumbledore looked up from a pile of papers on his desk.

"Indeed we do Miss Black, which is why I requested you join me tonight. How did you get past the...never mind."

"Bellatrix Lestrange is impersonating the defense professor," Hermione said. "As I have been trying to tell you since the first week."

Breathing hard from the stairs, she eyed Dumbledore, waiting for him to react. His expression didn't change.

"Yes, I am aware of that fact. I am, however, curious as to how you know. I was under the impression that Lord Voldemort had placed her here to keep an eye on you, so undoubtedly he did not tell you of her presence."

Hermione gaped at Dumbledore.

"You know?"

Dumbledore looked exasperated. "You will find that although I am not omnipotent, there is still very little that goes on in my school that I am not aware of, particularly when it concerns my staff."

"But why didn't you tell me?" Hermione exclaimed. "I could have made mistakes! I could have slipped up in front of her."

Dumbledore shuffled his papers together and set them in a stack to the side of his desk.

"Miss Black if you were likely to let your cover fall in front of a member of staff, death eater or not, then you would not be fit for the role you play. I have a little more faith in you than that."

Hermione supposed she wasn't supposed to feel gratified at those words.

"So how did you find out?" she asked.

"The same way you did I suppose," Dumbledore said. "Her glamours are excellent, but magic always leaves traces. And concealment was never her best subject, to tell you the truth."

"I just saw her wand," Hermione admitted. "I was polyjuiced to be Bellatrix once, and I had to use her wand as well. I could never forget it."

Dumbledore started. "Circles within circles," he murmured.

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing, nothing. Now -" Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I didn't call you in here to discuss Bellatrix. I think you perhaps know why I asked to see you?"

Hermione sighed and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.

"Yes. Ivan. Is he really Grindelwald's grandson?"

Watching, Hermione saw how Dumbledore's lips tightened for a moment, and a shadow passed over his face.

"He is, to the best of my knowledge. Gellert Grindelwald claims to have fathered a child with Erga Scamander shortly before his incarceration, and -"

"Wait, what, Scamander?" Hermione said, the story sounding stranger by the minute.

"Indeed. The sister of the famous magizoologist who wrote the care of magical creature textbook."

Hermione blinked, trying to process all the implications of this. "And Ivan is... "

"The grandchild of that union."

"But in my time nobody had ever heard of him!" Hermione protested. "And the only union Grindelwald had was with -"

Hermione stopped speaking. Her cheeks grew warm and she stared at the desk. Dumbledore coughed and drummed his fingers on the wood.

"How interesting," he said. "I wonder what became of Ivan in your time."

"No," Hermione protested. "He didn't exist in my time. Believe me Professor Dumbeldore, I know my history. Grindelwald never married, never produced an heir, and certainly didn't have a grandchild who went to Durmstrang."

Professor Dumbledore waved a hand. "No no, you misunderstand. Grindelwald and Erga Scamander never formalized their union. They never married, and the child was a bastard who bore the Scamander name. Ivan himself is a Scamander but petitioned for the right to lay claim to the Grindelwald line. His petition was reluctantly granted."

"So Ivan isn't really a Grindelwald?"

"No. It is Ivan himself who has laid claim to the name of his Grandfather, and for what purpose I do not like to think."

They sat in silence, the implications of such a decision clear.

"But he's been banned from the tournament," Hermione clarified. "So he'll be going back to Durmstrang now?"

Professor Dumbledore shook his head. "No. Ivan will not face formal charges for his actions, he is merely forbidden to compete. He will stay and cheer for his teammates."

"But it was a laceration net," Hermione protested. "He was trying to kill me. Me, not anyone else. Why?"

The portraits shifted and muttered to one another at those words, and the weary lines on Professor Dumbledore's face grew pronounced.

"I cannot say for certain," he said. "But I do believe that we may find out before this year is through."

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Hermione didn't return immediately to the Slytherin dormitories after this conversation. Her feet carried her down the corridors, wandering. The school was beautiful in the darkness, echoing and empty.

A light flared.

"Got her," a familiar voice said with satisfaction. Hermione turned and sighed.

"Rabastan, really? You don't think I can make it back to the common room by myself?"

Rabastan grinned and stepped from the shadows. Severus, Regulus, Arabel, and Alecto followed.

"We're not going back to the common room," Regulus said.

Arabel was carrying a leather satchel. She shook the bag, and bottles clinked.

"We're celebrating!" Arabel said. "You all made it through to the next round. We haven't had a chance all week, with everybody following you around."

"Drinking in the corridor?" Hermione said to Severus, lurking at the back. "Couldn't you have done something about this?"

He smiled wryly at her and shrugged. Rabastan slung an arm over his shoulders.

"You two can't lock yourself away together tonight," he said. "Because we're going ice-skating to celebrate our victory!"

Hermione groaned.

"I don't suppose I can say I'm tired?"

"Nope," Rabastan crowed.

"Severus, did you have to let them do his?" Hermione muttered as they headed towards the front doors, but all she got in return was laughter.

It was a winter's night of the sort written in poetry, the wide-open grounds resonating with the echoing silence that ice brought. Their breath clouded the air, and icicles hung in trembling rows beneath the windows. High up in the towers warm candlelight showed here and there, and Hermione tipped her head back to see. The castle was stone by stone, from the pages of a fairytale.

"Come on, race you to the lake!" Rabastan said. Slipping and sliding in the snow they ran, and Hermione realized that she was enjoying it - it was exhilarating to push yourself so fast, to risk falling. Stumbling towards the lake, snorting with laughter they tumbled in a heap at the edge of the frozen expanse of water. Hermione cast warming and drying charms over them all.

"So," Regulus said breathlessly. "We want to know how you cast that ice skating spell."

Then, another voice came from through the trees.

"The ice-skating spell? We'd like to learn that as well, wouldn't we lads?"

"You can't call us lads," a female voice objected. "I'm here."

"We were lads before you ever graced the edges of our holy quartet," A third voice chimed in.

Hermione and her friends groaned simultaneously.

"Please tell me one of you didn't invite the fucking marauders," Hermione said.

"We didn't, I swear!" Rabastan protested.

"Why would we invite them?" Arabel said, curling her lip.

James emerged from the trees first, shaking the snow from his hair. Lily followed, cheeks flushed pink, and then Remus and Sirius pushed their way past the snow-laden branches.

"Well, just look at what we have here," Sirius said. "Six Slytherin's out for a midnight skate. House bonding exercise?"

Hermione ignored his words. "Where's Peter?" she said, staring hard into the trees.

"Asleep," Remus said mildly. "He was exhausted after someone hit him with a tiredness charm from behind eight times in class today."

"Well I didn't think I'd get away with a bludgeoning curse in front of Flitwick," Hermione said. Severus scowled in agreement, fixed on Lily and James. Hermione gave a deep sigh and poked him until he turned to look at her.

For fuck's sake Sev, we're engaged and we have a baby on the way. Stop being such a prat, she pushed into his mind. Severus blinked a few times.

Sorry.

"So you're ice-skating?" Lily said into the sudden awkwardness. "I love ice-skating."

The silence hung for a moment and Hermione realized that all eyes were on her. Lily, hopeful. Arabel and Rabastan horrified, Severus amused. Hermione wished that she was, like Peter, tucked up asleep in bed at this moment. Finally, she gritted her teeth.

"Fine," she said. "Everybody cast a tightening charm on your shoes, and then the standard skate transfiguration spell. Then you need to cast a heating charm on the metal, but modify it slightly so it remains hot…"

Within ten minutes everybody had added the finishing touches to their ice skates. Arabel had conjured elegant, lethal-looking figure skates, with blades protruding from the heels. James and Sirius had gone for hockey skates, whilst most made serviceable versions of their shoes.

"Well come on then," Lily said and clambered to her feet. As she stepped on the ice however, all awkwardness vanished, and she began to move.

The full moon above lit the ice with an unearthly glow, but Hermione sent several globes of light floating up into the air to provide extra illumination.

"My god she can skate," Regulus said, half-irritated, as he watched Lily all but disappearing into the distance. He set off across the ice without confidence, and the rest of them made their way. It was immediately clear that Sirius and Regulus had skated before, while Rabastan and James struggled to stay on their feet.

"You need to learn the cushioning charm," Hermione said, pulling Rabastan up as he went skidding to the ground. He laughed, shaking his wet hair.

"Takes some of the danger away though doesn't it?"

"You need more danger in your life?"

Rabastan snickered. "I like to keep it interesting."

Across the ice Lily had taken pity on James and was skating backward in front him, guiding his steps. Alecto was standing by the edge of the ice watching them, something wistful in her face.

"Alex looks nervous," Rabastan said, following Hermione's look.

He skated jerkily over to Alecto. Her face changed as he began to speak to her, and lit up when he took her hand and pulled her onto the ice. Neither could skate and they skidded across the ice unsteadily, but Alecto was looking at Rabastan like he had hung the moon.

"You shouldn't have gotten her betrothed to Regulus," Severus observed, appearing at Hermione's shoulder.

"Has anyone told you how annoying it is when you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Read my mind."

Severus laughed, lacing their fingers together.

"All the time."

"But you're right, I was thinking that. But I just wanted…"

"To protect them from any other plans," Severus finished. "I know. Imagine if Alecto had been betrothed to fucking Avery or Rosier or someone."

"But I could have gone for Rabastan," Hermione said. "He and Regulus are both the second sons of important families, and Alecto is the only daughter from a semi-prominent one. It could have been either."

"Betrothals doesn't matter," Severus said. "You're not going to marry Rabastan, so there's no reason Alecto should end up with Regulus. This whole thing is about to turn into a shit show anyway."

Hermione snorted. "It's not funny at all, but it is."

Severus laughed too, and Hermione had a fit of giggles with a hysterical edge.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just…"

"I know," Severus said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "I know."

Hermione stared across the ice. Above them, the stars spread like a blanket, the occasional clouds scudding across the moon. The occasional laugh or shriek came from the skaters, and the ice creaked

"Race?" Hermione said, crooking a smile at Severus. "First to catch up with everyone?"

Severus's smile turned predatory. "You know the river used to freeze every winter up at Spinners End. Lily used to lend me skates and we used to race there."

"Did you ever win?"

"Once or twice."

"You're on."

Severus didn't get out another word. Hermione leaped forward, digging her blades into the ice to push herself into a sprint. She kept low, forcing herself to move faster, but she could hear Severus coming. He hadn't been lying; he could skate.

They were getting closer to the lake center, and Hermione risked a glance over her shoulder to see how much Severus had caught up. That was her downfall.

The surface wasn't smooth. Ripples of frozen water and the drifting snow had created pocked, uneven ice, and as Hermione turned, her skate caught in a rut and sent her tumbling. Her head collided with ice so hard that all went black.

Hermione was aware of cold wetness seeping into her robes.

"Fucking hell," she groaned, rolling over. Her head throbbed painfully, and her ankle sent shooting pains up her leg when she tried to move it. She reached for her wand instinctively, the first response to mobilize, to get ready to keep moving.

"Hermione!" Severus shouted, and he was on his knees. "Don't move. Oh god, are you okay? Your head!"

Hermione began to laugh weakly, struggling to sit up. "I can't believe," she snorted, "that you ever managed to beat Lily Potter in a skating race. I call bullshit, Sev."

Severus opened his mouth to reply, but Lily's voice cut across him, sharp as a razor.

"What did you just call me?"

Dead silence. The eerie sound of the wind blowing across the ice, and Severus muttering under his breath: "For fuck's sake Hermione."

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This one is short and sweet. Life, however, is not short and sweet. I'd love to spend more time writing, but every last hour feels accounted for at the moment. BUT we carry on, and writing this story is a wonderful opportunity to dip into a world of magic when sometimes a little sprinkling of it is all that's needed.

Thanks for reading,

Cas