Disclaimer : I don't own anything in the world of Harry Potter, that's J.K.Rowling's job. The plot is mine though.

Chapter 10 : Welcome Back

As she had done now for nearly two weeks, Hermione entered the training room. The changes that had affected her during that time had been outstanding. She looked like she had grown a few inches, but that could be because she now walked without slouching forwards or lowering her eyes in nervousness. Her hair had straightened slightly, and had grown to below her shoulders. It still contained some of the bushiness it had before, but it looked much more formal and refined.

It didn't take long for the two of them to begin a mock fight against each other. Hermione had found that on raw power alone she had Ilana beat, but up till now she had been lacking the experience necessary to win any of the fights. Ilana had to transfigure herself for these fights into an older, and taller, person; if not the fights would have been very awkward.

Hermione wheeled the Sword of Light round straight at Ilana, who blocked the blow with her own sword, but after a few moments apperated away, leaving Hermione's blade to swing harmlessly through the air. She sensed a strong spell coming at her from behind, and only just about had enough time to raise a shield, to deflect it away from her. She swung her sword once again, but Ilana was already gone. Anticipating where she would end up, Hermione shot off a few spells of her own with her left hand, in the hope one of them would find their target. This time however Ilana appeared back in the same place she has apperated from, so the spells missed by a long way. As Hermione raised her sword for the third time, Ilana pointed her hand towards the wall, and one of the swords held on it flew out of its holder and headed for Hermione like an arrow.

She had been caught out by this a few times in the past week, but it didn't faze her this time. She took one quick step backwards, and leaned back slightly, allowing the sword to whistle past her face and embed itself in the opposite wall, humming softly as it vibrated there. At that point Hermione had an idea, and was shocked that it hadn't occurred to her before. She cast a quick spell silently to herself, and then swung her sword again. For an instant Ilana didn't move. She just stood there and blinked a few times, before finally raising her sword at the last moment.

The two swords struck one another and sparks began to shoot off from where they met. Slowly, the swords got closer and closer to Ilana, and as they reached her she announced, "Yield," and they both took a step back.

After bowing to each other, Hermione slipped her sword into the holster across her back, and the two of them walked around the room to cool down. She had taken to wearing the sword across her back as she found it the quickest place she could get at it when she needed to.

"That was great work back there," said Ilana, gradually turning back into the familiar little girl, "I wondered how long it would be before you thought of using anti-apparition spells. Next time I'll have to think of a way round that one. I don't think your training will take more than another week maximum, then you'll be ready to return home. Only a few days will have passed in total by then, so I don't think too much trouble will have been caused."

Hermione had been told in their first fight, that she would be expected to eventually win every time, but she was secretly very pleased that she had finally managed to get the better of her teacher. She had found herself lying on the floor for most of the first week.

"Now," said Ilana, after they had both sat down to rest, "I think it's about time we found out what happened to Christin so you can be ready for whatever is down there. Just try it like I showed you. Concentrate, and try to reach out with your mind to where he is. If you guessed correctly, he could still be lying in your Hospital Wing."

Hermione did this and it wasn't long before she could see a rather fuzzy image of Hogwarts. She tried to focus it down further, and eventually she could just make out the Professor lying on one of the beds in the Hospital Wing, unconscious. Even with this unclear image, she was able to tell that something was wrong with his shoulder. It seemed to be darker than all the rest of him, as if light was being drawn towards it. She ended her concentration and told Ilana what she saw.

"Well if you're right," Ilana replied, "and he does indeed have something wrong with his shoulder then that could have been why he had to give you his magic. There is a sword similar but opposite to your own; it is made of pure darkness. If it cuts a Guardian even slightly, the darkness works away at them, and it will end up being fatal. Now he has given the magic over to you, he should make a full recovery eventually."

"Does it work the other way around as well?" Hermione asked, "Can my sword be fatal?"

"Not to you. You might have noticed actually that you feel stronger when you are holding it. That's why you should try and be with it for as much as you can. If you manage to injure the Destroyer with it though, it will have a similar effect on them. They will be forced to give up their power."

Hermione didn't like the sound of that at all. "What's a Destroyer?"

"Not 'A'. 'The'. There is only ever one of them, same as there is only ever one Guardian. They are basically the complete opposite to what you are. They bring fear and destuction and seek power above all else, and will stop at nothing to get it. It all depends on if Christin managed to injure him before getting hurt. I'm fairly sure he must have, or the Destroyer would have finished him while he had the chance, which means it could be anyone now."

"How do I tell who it is?"

"There isn't really any definite way of telling. They would have to quite evil to start with or they wouldn't be chosen. They would have to crave power, and then the magic would help them along even further. The best thing to do, is be wary of anyone, and see who packs the hardest punch."

Hermione thought to herself about who could be evil enough but she kept coming back to the same name…"Voldemort."

"It's possible. From what you have told me of him he does seem to fit. You will have to be careful when you go back, look out for anything suspicious." Ilana quickly changed the subject, "I think that will be enough for today, go and get some rest. We will be taking the training up to the next level tomorrow. Obviously just fighting me has become a little too easy for you."

Hermione couldn't understand how the training could get even harder, but she didn't disagree. Ilana had already found plenty of different ways to catch her off guard, so she would just have to try and take whatever it was as well as possible. She quickly thanked Ilana and headed back to her room. She picked up one of the many books she had lying around in her room and lay down on her bed, taking her sword off her back and placing it down next to her. Before reading it, she decided to find out what she could see of Hogwarts again, to see if her friends were all right.

She closed her eyes and spent a few minutes searching all the likely places for them to be. Great Hall, Dormitories, Common Room, and Classrooms… she was just giving up hope and viewing the whole castle again, when she caught sight of a bright light in the distance. As her mind drifted closer she could see that the light was coming from some of the burning buildings in Hogsmeade. Due to how fast her time was travelling relative to the flames, they were almost motionless.

As she took in the scene around her she could see teachers crouched down at the end of the street, defending themselves as best they could. What looked like around a hundred Death Eaters were facing them, pointing their wands, and a few looked like they had just cast spells. Many different coloured streaks of light littered the street as she could see each spell very slowly edging its way along. It was then she saw Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort had his wand pointed straight at him, the tip of his wand bathed in green light.

With a yelp Hermione grabbed her sword and rushed back into the training room, explaining hurriedly to Ilana what she had seen.

"I have to go back! I can finish my training afterwards. I have to go and help him!" she shouted frantically. "There is a killing curse heading straight for him, I can't stand by and do nothing."

"But Hermione, your training hasn't finished. It could be dangerous for you to leave here so soon. Once you leave here you can't come back. This place will only exist once for you."

"But Voldemort is there," Hermione countered, "If he is who we think he is, he must have finished his training. I'm the only one who can stop him."

Ilana stopped to think for a moment but Hermione carried on.

"And if I am supposed to be the Guardian, what better way than to start by protecting my friends. I wouldn't be the sort of person I need to be if I just stand by and let him die."

Reluctantly Ilana agreed, "Ok, go then. When all this is over, go and find the professor. He won't have anywhere near the same levels of magic any more, but he should still be able to teach you a thing or two. Be careful Hermione, I would hate to be training someone else here in just a few more days."

"How?" asked Hermione urgently, "How do I get back?"

"Just close your eyes and imagine where you want to be, and I'll give you a push. It's been fun working with you Hermione."

Hermione closed her eyes, and with a quick word of thanks to Ilana, was gone.

Even before Harry could react to what was happening he saw the bright green light from the curse cracking towards him, and he knew there was no way he could get out of the way in time. This was it. He closed his eyes, and braced himself.

Suddenly there was the commanding voice of a woman shouting, "No!" and he opened his eyes. Standing in front of him with her back towards him was a fairly tall woman, with long wavy hair, dressed completely in white and bare footed. For a few moments she was completely engulfed in the green light of the curse but was still moving slowly towards Voldemort. Her right hand was stretched towards him, and it was holding a dazzlingly bright sword.

A large number of foolish Death Eaters decided to approach her, throwing all sort of curses and hexes in her direction, but one by one they dissipated harmlessly a few meters away from her. She turned her head and waved her left arm towards a few of the most energetic of them, and two of them flew backwards and collided heavily with one of the buildings that was still standing. Voldemort took this moment of distraction to fire one of his own powerful curses that hissed and spat a deep red colour as it flew towards her. She bent her knees slightly and brought her sword up to meet the curse.

For an instant the sword glowed red, but it quickly returned to its original colour, and Hermione frowned slightly. She took a few more steps forward and let loose with a curse of her own, but Voldemort took a single step backwards and disapperated, leaving the curse to fly through the air and hit another Death Eater who was still focusing on the teachers. He flew through the air and landed with the other two who had been hit with Hermione's spells. With their leader now gone, most of the Death Eaters lost their stomach for battle, and also apperated out, leaving the ruins of Hogmeade behind.

As the woman turned around, Harry thought for a moment that he recognised her, but she couldn't be. Could she?

"Hermione?" he asked.

At hearing her name the woman before him smiled slightly. Her hair was blowing about slightly in the light breeze and her eyes burned with a fire that Harry had never seen there before. In a few moments it was gone, and replaced with her usually brown eyes. She took a step towards him and seeing he wasn't hurt smiled even more.

"Harry!" she said, "It's good to be back."

A/N – The word "No" in the last scene is dedicated to clueless33396. As always, thanks for the reviews everyone. In case you were wondering, there is a reason why I wrote about Hermione having four genes, only to have them taken away. You just don't know what it is yet.