Charming
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.

Chapter Twenty Four : Just Communication

A long while later, Harry found himself clutching Hermione's hand tightly as they both walked up the steps to Professor Flitwick's office. It had been a very pleasant interlude the two of them had had – and something that he wished would occur more often, but he didn't want Hermione to feel as though he was pushing her. He couldn't say that he was content with how open she was with him. He was so greedy when it came to her, he always wanted more. But it made him happy to be with her as much as he was. Very happy. So happy that the detour had taken them much longer than either of them had expected, especially when one considered that they had to make themselves presentable afterwards. And that there were lots of opportunities to be naughty when they were trying to help each other dress. Not that Harry had his heart set on Hermione getting dressed. Quite the opposite in fact.

Thinking on that only made it hard on Harry to control himself. Literally. So Harry devoted himself to studying the path they were taking to the Charms professor's office. He hadn't really ever been this way before. Harry had tended to stay amongst the Gryffindors while he was still in school. He didn't have any real reason to explore the other Houses. His best friends were in the same House as he, and members of other Houses tended to look upon him with more suspicion than those in his own. Of course, he occasionally had an interest in a member of another House – always female and never for long enough for him to actually visit their dorms. Harry found himself wondering how well Hermione knew people outside Gryffindor. There were plenty of times that he and Ron had left her alone, so perhaps she had made friends outside their House.

That would certainly explain why she knew the way to Professor Flitwick's office so well. Or maybe that was because she had spent more time with other professors. Harry had been so busy during his years that he never really thought about asking for them for help. Besides, he had Hermione. She was better than them all.

To Harry's surprise, Hermione stopped at a full-size door. He had been entertaining notions that Professor Flitwick's room would be tiny, requiring students to be constantly on guard that they not knock their heads against the ceiling. Hermione caught his look and raised an eyebrow. "Professors do open their offices to students, Harry," she said. "So it makes sense that Professor Flitwick's office is of normal size. Besides, there is more room for books that way."

That made sense. He should have thought of that before. Especially in light of the fact that Professor Flitwick was one of their kinder professors. He wasn't like Snape, who might have had a small room just for the pleasure of watching all the students who came to see him bump their heads time and time again. Not that Harry thought that anyone ever saw Snape. Who would want to see that greasy git, who wouldn't be any help anyway?

Hermione rapped sharply at the door, and a muffled voice told them to come in. Hermione opened the door and stepped inside, with Harry following. He blinked a couple of times. It was incredible how many books were stored in this room. The shelving that lined the walls was almost completely full, and the floor was strewn with piles of books that never made it to those shelves.

"Ah! Miss Granger! Mr. Potter! This is a pleasant surprise," the Charms professor greeted them. He was seated at a table in the middle of the room, drinking a cup of tea. "Would you like some tea?" Hermione nodded, and gracefully navigated her way around the room, leading Harry to believe that she had been here before. Certainly, she avoided all the book piles as though she was used to doing so. Harry followed after, but more slowly so he could avoid all the obstacles in his path.

"How are you, professor?" Hermione asked politely as she sat down.

"Good, good. Better now that you came to see me." He beamed at them. "I always thought, Hermione, that you were more in love with Mr. Potter than you cared to admit . . . and I'm glad to see that your feelings are returned." Flitwick caught Harry gaping at him, astonished that Hermione had fancied him during Hogwarts and that the professor had known. "And just because I am not the tallest professor in residence, does not mean that I do not have eyes to see with. On the contrary, it can be easier to observe things from my sight because people don't expect you to do so. It was obvious that Hermione had lost her heart to you long ago." He smiled. "Now, it seems you have done the same. Which is very good. I like seeing happy endings when it comes to my favorite students."

"Thank you," said Hermione.

"Don't mention it," said Flitwick. "Though I suspect your ending would have come sooner if you only had a bit more courage about the whole deal."

"More proof that the Sorting Hat made a mistake when it put me in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked wryly.

"That? No! There are very few who are able to be brave in love. The man who fears not to risk his life may fear speaking to the one he loves." The professor sighed. "It's one of the saddest things about human nature."

"Yeah," Hermione said. "To be brave and tell the one you love about your love—that's scary because you're putting yourself on the line with no guarantee that your love will be returned. But few things in life are guaranteed, so maybe I should've been . . . ."

"No, Hermione," said Harry, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "No regrets, love. It might not have worked. I might not have been ready. Just be happy that we have what we have right now."

"That may be one of the wisest things you ever said, Mr. Potter," said Flitwick. "But I suppose we have fulfilled the requirements of small talk by now. So tell me, Hermione, what brings you here? I've heard that you've been locked up in the library again, so I know it cannot be pleasure." He tilted his head to one side, as though considering what he had just said. "Though if it were only you, maybe it would be for pleasure. But it can't be with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley around. Mr. Weasley in particular seeing how he managed to get you kicked out."

Harry's jaw dropped yet again. "You know about that?"

"The walls have eyes and ears, Harry," Hermione reminded him with a roll of her eyes. "She told you about it, didn't she?" Hermione stated more than asked.

"Yes, she does prefer the library. She was much amused to see you there again—reminded her of old times, she said—and was laughing her head off when the three of you got kicked out." It took Harry a moment to realize that Hermione and Flitwick were talking about the Gray Lady, Ravenclaw's resident ghost.

"Please tell her I am most sorry about the disturbance, when you see her again," Hermione was saying. "It certainly wasn't my intent to be a nuisance to everyone in the library."

"Hermione, I hardly believe that any students were getting any work done as it was. They were all too busy staring at you and Mr. Potter here. You have made the papers as of late," said Flitwick. "And is that why you're here? To look up Concealment Charms? As I thought you knew all about them."

"Oh I do. Well, I wouldn't say I know everything about them, but I know a fair deal. I spent a good bit of my last year studying them," said Hermione. "We were researching another spell. The Enchantus charm."

Flitwick almost fell backwards out of his chair. Harry rose from his seat to help him, but the professor righted himself and waved Harry off. "I'm fine. Just a little shocked." He gazed sternly at Hermione. "That's more of an enchantment proper than a charm, Hermione. Hence its name."

"Yes, yes. But its component parts are essentially charms," Hermione argued.

"Component parts?" Harry asked. This conversation was rapidly going over his head. "Anyone mind slowing down for the Charms dunce here?" he asked.

Hermione sighed. "You're hardly a dunce, Harry. You simply never applied yourself as much as you should. And before you say anything, I know perfectly well that you had to worry about staying alive and all that. But you have to admit, you slacked off plenty of times."

"That is why he wasn't threatened with being placed in Ravenclaw," Flitwick said mildly. "But to answer your question, Mr. Potter, the Enchantus spell is a hybrid charm. If you want to call it one, but I shall save that argument for another day."

"And that means?" Harry was still confused.

"That means that it's kind of made up of a set of different charms," Hermione told him. "For Enchantus, it consists of a harmonization charm, a transportation charm, and a binding charm to be very general."

"All of those are quite powerful as well," said Flitwick. "Which makes that particular charm quite difficult to create."

"Is that why you made it, Hermione?" Harry regretted saying those words when he saw the reaction of his companions. Hermione winced, and this time around, Flitwick did fall out of his chair.

"You made that enchantment, Hermione?" Flitwick asked sharply. "Don't tell me you didn't research how dangerous it is!"

"I did! I know how dangerous it is. And I know its drawbacks. But I thought I could work my way around it."

"So you did make it." Flitwick frowned. "I must say that I am not surprised you were able to accomplish that—I never saw a student with a better head for Charms than you—but I am disappointed that you did so. That is a strong enchantment, Hermione. It's not to be messed with."

"I know," said Hermione. "I know I shouldn't have made it and I know I shouldn't have tried it but—"

"You cast that charm." All traces of levity were gone from Flitwick now. "On who, might I ask?"

"Myself," Hermione said, as though insulted. "I wouldn't want to try it out on anyone else. Especially as I had modified it."

"Merlin! I thought you were smarter than that! To cast a dangerous charm with untested modifications on yourself?" Flitwick shook his head in disbelief. "If you were still a student here, that confession would land you a month's worth of detentions. But enough. I am glad you came to see me about the subject. Did it work?"

Hermione nodded. "I thought so. I was transported to where Harry was right away."

"I see." Flitwick scratched his chin. "Did you use Richenda's shortcut for the harmonization?"

"Yes. Not that one has much choice."

"Care to explain why?" Harry asked wearily. He was beginning to feel out of place here, but he wasn't about to leave. He wanted to know everything about this charm that Hermione cast on herself. That way maybe he could be of some help when it came to ridding her of it.

"Oh. Sorry about that, Mr. Potter," said Flitwick. "As Hermione said before, part of the charm is a harmonization one. Basically, the stated purpose of the charm is to take you where you are most needed. For that to occur, the charm must harmonize itself with different individuals to determine their need for the bearer of the charm. In theory, this harmonization should occur with everyone in the world for the charm to take you where you are most needed."

"Really?" Harry's mind boggled at the thought of how much magic that would require.

"Yes, really," said Hermione. "And you can see the problem already. It's not very practical, because it takes too much power to harmonize a single charm with every breathing person. You'd die of the magical drain before harmonizing with even all of London. So Richenda's shortcut is used instead. It . . . well, basically, we all have ties—bonds if you will—to other people. The closer we are to them, the stronger those bonds are. So Richenda's shortcut says that for a general harmonization like this one, you should take advantage of those bonds."

"So the charm harmonizes with the people closest to its bearer first. It then harmonizes with the people closest to those people. And so on and so forth. Theoretically, this should reach everyone in the world, but that never happens in real life. How far one can bounce the harmonization off the bonds is based on the strength on those bonds. Hermione is very close to you, so probably her charm can reach your friends' friends' friends. For those she's not as close to, the charm might stop with them," Flitwick said, finishing up the explanation.

"Oh." Harry sat back to digest this. Everything was starting to make sense. "Is that why it took her to Malfoy?" he asked. "Because eventually her bonds to him became strong enough that he was included in the harmonization."

The professor looked sharply at him and then at Hermione. "I thought you said that the charm took you to Harry," he said.

"It did," she replied.

"Then why . . . ?"

"Because I think just recently it took me to Malfoy. And then back to Harry again," Hermione said quickly.

"Hermione, it's a one time use charm. Once it takes you to Harry, that's the end of it. Well, the end of the harmonization and transportation parts. The binding portion is still in effect."

Hermione looked down at her hands, which was never a good sign. Harry braced himself for the bad news that he knew was coming. "Well, I did say I changed the charm. I didn't like the binding portion—I wanted to go where I was needed, but I didn't like the idea of always having to be with the one who the charm took me to. So I changed that part."

"How? That was an integral part to the charm," said Flitwick. "Others have tried it in the past, but Enchantus just doesn't work unless you have a hybrid of all three." He sighed. "There are just so many things we do not understand yet. It should work with just two, but it does not. There appears to be an extra factor that we do not know about. But I should stop before I go off on a tangent. Did you take it completely out?"

"No," said Hermione. She bit her lip. "I realize now how stupid this was, but I changed the target of the binding charm. Instead of binding myself to the person found by the harmonization charm, I bound myself to the charm."

This time Harry wasn't the only person in the room whose jaw dropped. "Hermione," said Flitwick, "I'd have to look into this more closely, but I think that would create a permanent charm on you."

"It can't be, professor!" Hermione said, her voice rising with panic. "There's always a counterspell. Always!"

"Yes. There has to be," Harry added.

Flitwick sighed. "Of course, there ought to be a counter. There ought to be a counter to every spell and hex out there. Every action has its reaction, if you want to put it in those terms. But that doesn't mean we know all the counters. Hermione here should know better that than most."

"I do," she said. "I do know that. And I know I shouldn't have cast that charm . . . but I just wanted to have a place where I was needed. And that charm seemed like the perfect solution."

"I guess we should just be grateful that you never cast it while you both were in school," Flitwick stated. "For while Hogwarts' wards ought to block most transportation charms . . . between your bond with Mr. Potter and how strong that charm is in life-and-death situations . . . well, best not to think of that," he said as he caught the look on Harry's face. "It did not happen, so let us not linger on all the unpleasant things that might have been."

That's easy for him to say, Harry thought. If Hermione had . . . while I was fighting . . . . Harry suddenly found it hard to breathe. She could have died. And I would've been able to do nothing.

This time, it was Hermione reaching for his hand to comfort him. "I didn't, Harry. And I knew better. I knew that you didn't need any surprises or distractions. Though I'd like to think I wouldn't have been either," she said.

"I . . . I . . . . " Merlin, I must sound so stupid! I can't even speak right.

"I'm here, Harry," Hermione said emphatically. "With you. And if I have it my way, I never want that to change."

"But to have it that way," said Flitwick, "you need to find that counter. You are certainly welcome to peruse my personal library. There are some books that I have here that may be of use. Let me get them for you." He got up and walked to the shelves, with both Harry and Hermione following after. Hermione took the books from the professor as he took them down from their places, and Harry promptly took the books away from Hermione to carry them. She smiled at him in thanks, as it turned out that Professor Flitwick handed her almost a dozen books. Harry was having trouble carrying everything around, before Flitwick gave Hermione permission to cast a shrinking spell on them.

"That's all I have here," said Flitwick. "But I think it's a good start. Were you thinking of going elsewhere?"

"I was thinking I should check out the library at Longbourne," said Hermione.

"No, no," said Flitwick slowly. "I don't think they'd have anything that would help you there. If you had a problem with Transfiguration, that would be the first library to visit, but not with an advanced charm and borderline enchantment like this one. I think, if you're not going to go outside Britain, that our own library will best suit your needs." Flitwick paused, his face wrinkling up as though he had just had an idea. "Come here tomorrow. I might be able to help you then with a temporary fix."

"But I—" Hermione stopped herself before she could finish. Harry knew that she was going to say that she had work tomorrow, but he thought she could owl in sick instead. This was more important than anything else. At least he thought so. And he hoped Hermione did as well.

"I'll be here," Hermione said finally. "And thank you for all your help." Harry barely held in a sigh of relief. For a minute there, he thought that she wouldn't leave off work to try and find a counterspell. Harry knew Hermione took her work seriously, but getting herself free of this charm was more of a priority. Because he would have trouble sleeping at night if it was on her as he would always be wondering if she would be there when he woke, if she would be safe when he woke.

Hermione flashed a small smile at him. "I know," she said. "We both need me to find a counter. Because you'll worry about me and I'll worry about you worrying about me and . . . we both need the counter. And I intend to find one."

Author's note: I hope everyone liked this week's installment. The next one should be up on Friday once again. I'd appreciate it if you could take the time to leave me a review. And I'd like to thank danielerin, lynn joe, Shawn Pickett, Leah6, Fatima, ExalibursZone (there will be more on the charm at Hogwarts in the next chapter), Erik MacRorie, Sheilalein, maverick, Amynoelle (I should update Seasons tomorrow), SilverFoot, juliet's rose, malu, LeslieGlady, lee74, Star19 (well, I can't think anyone would try to keep the Trio from visiting their old haunts), HermionePotter17, Rincewind, Hermione2567, paochicute, ravenclaw's heir (getting to that part might take some time), Bladefanatic, PoTtErSPaYnE, bishtawiman, myman-harry526, Jabba1, hpfanmelissa, Jenna Kathleen (well, those hints were a bit obvious), Fire-bound heart, Izabel, RogueBHS, Irish Dancing Girl, Falling, Siriusgalforever, Ramy (she can't literally be split in two, if that makes you feel better), I-Love-Logolas, NellasLissesul (no, this one still has a little way to go before being completed), casey windsor, goldenphoenix217 (then someone will get an eyeful) and Mark Turnlach (he doesn't know about the charm right now so it'd be hard for him to manipulate it) for their reviews of the last chapter.