A/N: I am so glad that there are so many of you who share the same interest in this pairing as we do. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please let us know what you think.
Chapter 4: Into the Fold
He gathers everyone who witnessed the discovery of Alina Starkov as the Sun Summoner into a tent. Hermione moves around them having silenced her heartbeat and footsteps, half-listening as the General talks. It takes immense focus to enact this plan on this many people. She whispers the spell as she passes them, adjusting the memories in their minds. The only Sun Summoner they saw was Maya Grankova. The other, this Alina whom she is replacing, is displaced in their memories. She was revealed to be an Inferni.
When Hermione finishes, she feels ill. The last memories she modified were her parents. It was for their safety but she never recovered them. They were still unaware that they had a daughter. She had never managed to heal them and the Ministry or St. Mungo's did not care for some muggles, despite their relation to the Brightest Witch of the Age.
As planned, she drops the concealments on her and walks back into the tent with one of the General's men at her side. She was assured that he could be trusted. The General turns towards her and she feels all of their eyes on her. It reminds her of those moments after they won the war. When people would stop them on the street, thanking them. Hermione always had to curb her tongue in asking what role they themselves had played.
This is not the same. The people here have trained since childhood to fight in this war. While the cheering does not sit well, this is more like returning home, back to the castle, and joining the war on familiar ground. This feels like the moment where things seem like they will start to turn around in their favour. The memory tastes like ash in her mouth.
At that moment, she regrets this choice. She has never been jealous of Harry or the attention that he commands, but she knew how to use it, more than he ever wanted to. She knows how easy it is to rally behind a figure.
She nods at the others before looking at the General in front of her. She's never seen him look so pleased...and relieved of a tension she had not noticed him carrying until now.
She accepts the people that walk up to her as gracefully as she can. Thankfully, Kirigan keeps her close. A look from him ensures that others do not encroach too much upon her space or good nature. She wonders if it will be nearly as effective anywhere else.
"How long until our return?"
"We leave tomorrow."
"Then we have time to enter the Fold."
He looks at her. "That is not wise."
"Wise or not, it needs to be done. Now you can come with me or I will go myself."
"If the Sun Summoner goes to the Fold, we will draw a crowd," he says simply.
"I will be unnoticed. Now, are you joining me or not?"
"I will not be unnoticed and there are already enough rumours of myself and the Fold."
Hermione sighs and tries to hide her smile. She should remember that while there is much she does not know of this world, there is also much he does not know about her. She pulls out her wand. "If you wish to join me, we can both go unnoticed."
That intrigues him. "Very well."
"This may feel...odd." She mutters the spell as she taps her wand on his head. She can see him tense as it sets in and he melts into the background. She sees the way he shifts, letting her know his position. She repeats it on herself. She watches the area where she knows he is. She touches his arm. "Shall we?"
He takes her hand. While she can't see him, she can feel the warmth of his touch.
"We must not be separated. Allow me to offer my arm, Ms. Granger."
"Of course, General." Her hand is tucked into his arm and she whispers another spell, silencing their hearts and feet.
She can practically feel his interest grow as they walk past his guards and then others in the camp. Even the Heartrenders do not notice them.
Once they are far enough away from the encampment. He speaks.
"Does your magic always work in such a fashion?"
"What do you mean?" she asks quietly. Despite the sun having set, the Fold seems to draw in the darkness around it, making it look more foreboding than it already was.
"It felt...cold. Is your magic only used for fighting or spying?"
She pauses, thinking about it. "No," she says softly. "Magic is...wonderous. There are a few limits to it. You can't conjure food for example. It is one of Gamp's laws. You cannot create something out of nothing, but you can make more of what you have or change objects into something else. The handful of limits is only if one is willing to work at it and learn. It can create beautiful things...but it can also destroy them. Magic is a tool, at the end of the day. One that is part of me and those like me. It all depends on how one uses it."
"Your kind are not bound by one element."
"No."
They stop at the edge of the Fold.
"Are you certain of this?" he asks again. "It is dangerous inside."
"It always is," she says softly. She takes the first step into the darkness, Kirigan at her side. She pulls him forward, deeper into the Fold. She can feel him tense under her arm.
"We should not go far."
"Where was the Sun Summoner revealed? You said she demonstrated her powers inside the fold. I need to see the area. There might be remnants that remain that will help me replicate it." She can sense his hesitation. "Is the mighty General afraid of the Fold?"
"More like justifiably cautious to test your protections. The volcra are drawn to me by my link with their creator. I am not able to enter the fold without attracting them in large numbers."
Hermione acknowledges his point but teasing his fear works, as she knew it would. Men were always quick to agree once you questioned their bravery.
He pulls her in a direction and they move further in, following the drag marks in the white sand. Finally, after walking in silence for what feels like an hour, they stop.
He is thankfully quiet as she looks around. The ground under their feet is dead, which logically makes sense. Nothing can grow when there is no sun. It is a stark contrast to the area outside. Even the air smells different. She lifts the spell that conceals them. Kirigan looks at her in surprise as she lets go. She opens the beaded bag she has on her and whispers an accio. She catches the bottle as it pops out. She bends down and scoops some of it in.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a sample. I will test it later."
"Test it?"
"For magical properties. I want to know if the soil is dead merely due to the lack of light or if it is poisoned or changed by the same thing that turned the volcra. Perhaps your own people might wish to experiment to see if the land can bear crops once the Fold is gone? An effort like that could hardly fail to endear the Grisha to the common people if it means more food and prosperity." She fills the bottle. She's not sure if it'll be enough, but it is a start. She tucks the bottle back into her bag before drawing her wand again.
She whispers the spells, casting detection spells on the area. She wants to see if it works and if it reacts to her magic.
"What are you doing now?" he asks.
"Trying to concentrate," she says, her tone slightly harder than she intended. The tests do not reveal much. "You said they are attracted to light?"
"Yes."
"Prepare yourself then." She casts lumos. She keeps it small. It lights a small area, more than she expected and reveals the desolate landscape clearly. A swift nox extinguishes it. She pauses for a moment, expecting something else to jump out of the shadows.
It is not until she casts homenum revelio that she finds something.
Kirigan lights up...but so does something in the air above them. It's not the same as how he is revealed, flickering like a candle faced with a small wind, but she watches it. There is some part of the volcra that remains human. The light twists suddenly and dives. Hermione cancels the spell instantly "Protego maxima!" A dome of light surrounds both her and the General, just in time to prevent the creature from reaching them.
She ignores whatever Kirigan says to her, focusing only on her next move. They are creatures of shadow and darkness. She feels the clash against her shield. There is more than one now. She casts what is becoming her most familiar spell. She adjusts it quickly, based on her calculations and shouts while throwing her power into it. "Lumos Solem Maxima!"
The light that emerges is blinding. She hears something shriek above them as she holds the spell for several long minutes. Something burns, giving off a foul odour, and Hermione passes out.
She is beginning to dislike waking up after passing out in this place.
It is a familiar feeling of exhaustion. Her muscles burn in overexertion. Her heart starts to race as she mentally goes over any possible injuries. The last time she had burned herself to overexertion had been in the war. She listens, trying to sense what enemies are near. There is a growing ominous presence close to her. Her wand is not in her hand.
Her magic is not completely back, but it should be enough to get her out. She opens her eyes slightly, trying to gain stock of where she is.
"She's awake."
"Leave us." The voice giving the demand was so familiar that suddenly Hermione remembered what had led her here. She hears footsteps that fade out. "Open your eyes."
"If it was that easy, don't you think I would?" she groans. Her head feels as though it is stuffed with nargles, as Luna would have liked to say. She covers her eyes with one hand before opening them, trying to get them to adjust to the light. "What happened?"
"What happened?" His voice is flat. She peers through her fingers to see the General standing by her bed. "You drew us into the Fold and risked our lives to look at scenery and gather sand. You ignored my advice and endangered us both by pushing past limits I was not informed of beforehand. Whereafter, I was forced to carry you back out of the Fold and pass unseen into the heart of our camp. I sought help from our healers that I had no guarantee would be effective. That is what happened, Ms. Grankova."
"I did not anticipate the power needed for the final spell. Did it work? What happened to the volcra? Did the magic leave anything behind?" She pushed herself up to a sitting position. "How did you arrive without anyone seeing you?"
The shadows around them increase. "Have you heard nothing of what I said?"
She waves it off. "I'll have to build my reserves and work on my sustained casting. Lesson learned. Are you going to answer my questions?"
"Tell me , do you normally disregard the safety of yourself and others in the pursuit of your own interests? Our bargain is to return you home and secure the safety of my Grisha. Neither of these things are possible if you ignore my advice in areas I have experience!"
"General," her tone is hard. "I understand our bargain perfectly, but I cannot play my part without the knowledge I need. I assumed you were capable enough of dealing with any problems that arose without needing my magic. Or are you not one of the more powerful Grisha in your world?"
She does not take kindly to being treated like a child. Hermione has never allowed someone to talk down to her once she grew out of her admiration for adult authority figures and started fighting in the war. It was one of the things that had put her at odds with Mrs. Weasley. It also was the reason she and Ron never worked out.
He inhales sharply through his nose. "That is my point exactly . Your assumptions. You assumed much and communicated very little, preventing me from being an effective partner. We do not know enough about each other to estimate anything about our abilities or limits. We cannot continue on like this, too much depends on our success."
Unfortunately, he has a point. "If you expect communication, it will have to be reciprocated. I cannot work off of subpar knowledge."
"That is all I ask. Preferably to share this data before we engage with an enemy, or commit to any course of action in front of witnesses."
"That is acceptable," she says slowly. "I need unrestricted access to the library and to sit in on your meetings with the king or any military strategy meeting that concerns action on my part to know everything you do. I can do so without being seen or heard so we need not worry about gaining anyone's approval or trust."
"You will grant me some secrets," he replies. "I am a General of the army. I cannot give state secrets. You will also have to acquiesce to guards at all times you are not in my company. I will not risk the information being compromised through any threat to your safety."
"That's fine as long as you accept that I keep my own secrets and that I approve of the bodyguards. "
"Very well. We have another deal. I pray this one rests on a stronger foundation than the last."
"Indeed. Now if you don't mind, I would like to rest and regain my strength."
"You won't have long I'm afraid, we will need to return to Os Alta and prepare for your presentation to the king."
"I will take what I can get. When do we leave?"
[tbc]
