Chapter 2 - Tide
With Gabby's help, things progressed quickly, and the two of them finished packing within a couple of hours. They were just talking about this and that when Hermione's wards on the house began to vibrate. She realized Sybelle must have arrived. Hermione walked to the foyer with her magical bag containing her supplies and suitcase. Upon opening the door, she saw Sybelle standing exactly one foot away from the trigger for her protection ward. Clearly the older Veela knew exactly where it was.
"Hello, Madame Delacour," Hermione smiled and approached her.
"Hello, Miss Granger. Are you ready to go?" Sybelle smiled back and offered her arm.
"Bye Grand-mère. I'll see you tonight!" Gabby called from inside the house, with the door open. Hermione grasped Sybelle's arm and with a pop, she felt the usual pulling in her belly caused by apparition.
Suddenly she was in a completely different place, and found herself standing near a line of dense woods. Immediately, she felt a large amount of magic almost overwhelming her. Feeling somewhat dizzy, she pushed the sensation off of her with her own magic, stabilizing her perception of the area.
"Impressive, Miss Granger," Sybelle observed, pleased.
"Just call me Hermione? I feel like I'm in school again."
"Of course, Hermione."
"Thank you, Madame Delacour."
"Sybelle. That makes me feel older," They smiled at each other, and Sybelle started to walk towards the woods. "We are actually relatively close to the coastline, but the Veela settlement is nestled within this forest."
It wasn't too far of a stroll, and more forested areas were hidden between a few buildings. With clean lines, square structures, pastel colors, polished stone sidewalks, and a lot of vegetation - including trees, flowers and shrubs, the area was a beautiful place.
It was almost like a small town, and Hermione heard some horses neighing. It was rather picturesque, and the buildings were beautiful. The houses were grand, made of stone painted in various light colors; yellow, pink, light blue, lilac and green. The roads were narrow, but wide enough for a group of four to walk side by side, with gray stones of varying shades. She heard her own footsteps echoing through the streets. The Veela village was surrounded by several trees, and in a quick scan, Hermione was able to identify ash, maple, and oak trees. Several flowers adorned the flowerbeds of the houses, and in various parts of the settlement, Hermione saw yellow gentian, wild narcissus, lavender, multi-colored orchids, daisies and wild anemone. The homes had large windows, and in almost all she saw curtains of strong colors fluttering.
They walked a little between the structures, and Hermione noticed a lot of blonde women around, many of them looking back at her. Some with curiosity, others with just a quick glance, trying to be respectful with Sybelle about, and keeping their heads down.
The elder woman eventually guided Hermione to the rear of a nearby edifice, where she felt her jaw drop. She found herself gazing upon an enormous stone and wood clock. It was 32 feet in diameter, made of beautiful white stone and white oak, with black text. It had a base 50 feet long and 3 feet wide. And as she had been warned, the clock had stopped. It had eight partitions for eight clans, which were then divided into another three panels. Those sections were marked with three categories. North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Nomads were registered for the continents. Next, each of the clans also had a city labeled, which were New York, São Paulo, Guatemala, Marseille, Bloemfontein, Xangai, Melbourne and Atacama. The last section of each partition reported the clan's status condition, which at this moment was tagged as "Unknown" for all. Hermione presumed the clock would probably shift colors with a given status condition. Sybelle had given her a brief rundown of status rankings, which included Secure, Danger levels 1 to 3, Under Attack, Death, and Unknown.
"Now you see," Sybelle said dismally. "This is why we need to fix it as soon as possible. We also need to perform a small ritual, which will give you more liberty to ask about it. Also, as you were told, Luna and Gabby are temporarily bound. This means Gabby has become Luna's Keeper. Being someone's keeper requires this person to be responsible for you, answering your questions, helping you with anything you need, and especially being liable for any action you make."
"And who will be assigned to me?"
"I will bind to you myself." Hermione was taken aback.
"Madame Delacour, I suspect you are a busy woman, you should not have to be responsible for me," Sybelle quickly interrupted.
"Call me Sybelle, and you are my responsibility. I hired you. And I don't trust anyone to handle this. Apolline cannot be bound with anyone since she is already bound to her soulmate. I lost mine a long time ago, during the first war, so I can do it," She explained simply. "It's a simple blood ritual. I'll give you one drop of my blood every week, and this will temporarily give you the status of a Veela as acknowledged by our law."
"How similar is it to the true bonding with a mate?"
"I will be able to explain more about that after the ritual." With a light movement of her wand, Sybelle made a small puncture on her finger. She repeated the action toward Hermione's hand, then placed their fingertips together and Hermione felt a warm wave reach her magical core, which was quite pleasant. "This that you sense now is a mere fraction of how good it would feel to be bound with a mate. The true bonding is like being consumed by fire, warm, intense, amazing. It is feeling complete for the first time in your life. For me, it was the epitome of happiness," Sybelle elaborated, as Hermione absorbed the information.
"Okay. May I begin, or is there anything else I need to know?"
"For now, I suppose we are set. But if you need me, I'll be around," She pointed to a massive building. "That is the Delacour House. There you will easily find myself, Apolline or Lira - my daughter's mate. I understand that you are a proponent of the rights of house elves. Ours are free and officially employed, with benefits, wages, a private home, clean clothes and respectful treatment. Galan, come please," She called. An elf appeared with a pop; he was short, with big green eyes, pale skin, wearing a t-shirt, pants and flip-flops.
"Did you call Galan, ma'am?" He said, a bit anxiously.
"Yes, thank you, Galan." The elf flushed. "This is Hermione Granger, she will be with us for a while. Can you please get a suite prepared and notify the kitchen about another person being present for mealtimes? Also, if she calls for you, do assist her please."
"Of course ma'am! Galan is glad to help! Miss Hermione will have a suite and good and warm meals in her belly!" He declared, pop-ing away.
"He is very anxious, as you can see." Sybelle said, amused. "If you need me, ask Galan to call me. I'll allow you to get to work now. Do anything necessary to repair it, all right?"
"Certainly." Hermione turned back towards the clock, slipped off her jacket, and rolled up her sleeves. First, she removed all of her work supplies from her magical bag. She pulled her suitcase out next, and with a wave of her wand, an office materialized, looking very much like the one she had at home. Finally, she transfigured a few objects into woodwork and stonework stations.
Hermione then sat in front of the clock for a long while, examining it. She pushed her magic towards it, until she could touch the clock's own magic gently and attentively. She felt its magic warm around her own, like a friendly greeting. The magic seemed inherent to the clock, so this was one less problem. Repairing its magic would be harder than fixing its physical structure. Her eyes closed as she continued to get a feel for the essence around her. She wasn't sure how long she remained sitting there, but when she opened her eyes she saw a child's face just a few inches from her own. Hermione leaped up off her chair.
"For Morgana's sake!" The young girl just grinned.
"Qu'est-ce que tu fais?" [What are you doing?] She asked, with that mischievous smile still on her lips.
"J'essaie juste de réparer l'horloge." [I'm just trying to fix the clock.] Hermione answered, trying to calm her startled heartbeat.
"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec ça?" [What's wrong with it?]
"Je ne sais pas encore." [I don't know yet.]
"Madeline, laisse-la tranquille et rentre à la maison. Maintenant!" [Madeline, leave her alone and come home. Now!] Hermione heard a shout from not too far away and turned towards the voice, seeing a red-haired woman.
"Oops, ma maman m'a trouvée! Au revoir!" [Oops, my mom found me! Goodbye!] Hermione just stood in the same position, watching the girl run off. The sun was setting, and she had made very little progress with the clock. Even its magic, she, not "it," her mind supplied, was like a living creature. Hermione moved towards the clock and put her open hand on her.
"I will fix you." She promised to herself, and to the clock. Instantly, a little wave of magic, warm and loving, crossed from her hand to her magical core.
"Miss Granger?" Galan popped into view a few feet away from her. With uncertain steps, he came closer. "Galan is very sorry for the interruption. But dinner will be served in an hour, and Galan thought that Miss Ganger would like a bath. Bad Galan, interrupting the guest!" He explained his appearance while simultaneously reprimanding himself.
"Hey, it's ok, Galan. You didn't do anything wrong. Please, for future reference, I don't mind you calling me for meals." The nervous elf blushed, and stretched his hand out to Hermione. After she took it, he apparated the two of them into a beautiful cream colored room, with a large bed, desk, spacious wardrobe, and two adjoining doors. One that Hermione assumed led to the bathroom, and the other to the hallway. Galan, with wide eyes, started to describe rapidly how to get to the kitchen. Hermione just agreed, and the elf left her alone to bathe. She noticed the clothes that Gabby promised to bring were already in her wardrobe.
Despite the calm after the war, she was never able to take long baths again. Trained by their time in the forest, when the trio would move swiftly from place to place, she had learned to bathe quickly whenever they had access to water. Hermione was ready in only fifteen minutes. After dealing with her hair, she used Accio to grab her notebook and started recording everything she had learned about the clock.
It was a long road of therapy and recovery for Hermione to be able to deal with her PTSD. There were countless nights of terrifying dreams that ended with her sharing bed with Harry, Ginny or Luna. She was able to recuperate with the help of her psychiatrist-mediwitch, who became a true blessing in her life. They healed the wounds and curses on her body, but also her mind. She truly felt at peace.
She went down the stairs for dinner expecting silence, but instead heard a soft kind of French jazz playing. When she arrived at the kitchen, she saw Apolline Delacour in conversation with Gabby. Sybelle was near the window with a glass of wine, her body in a pensive posture. The person who spotted her appearance was the only one in the room she had never met before. Hermione assumed this woman was Lira.
"Hey, you there," She called. "Come on in, I'm Lira Delacour." Suddenly Hermione was pulled in a sweet hug.
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am." Hermione returned the impromptu hug. "I'm Hermione Granger." Lira Delacour was, like all veela, beautiful, though maybe one of the few brunettes within the clan. She had dark brown chocolate hair, green eyes and an amazing smile. Hermione immediately felt relaxed in her presence.
"Ma belle!" Gabby cried flirtatiously.
"Hi, beautiful." Hermione replied, and instantly blushed.
"Oh, I didn't know you were together! You should have brought her home earlier, Gabby!" Lira said excitedly.
"We are not together," Gabby corrected, "She is my friend. Only my friend," She pouted dramatically.
"But Gabby…" Lira started, though Apolline didn't let her finish.
"My love, Gabriella is clearly in love with Luna." Hermione's eyes got wide. She had always suspected, but since Gabby never talked about it, she hadn't wanted to pry. "Right, Miss Granger?"
"Please, don't make me take a position. Gabby is smart and a big girl, she can deal with her romantic life on her own," Hermione responded diplomatically, and went close to Sybelle, trying to avoid being put in an awkward conversation. Heroically coming to her rescue, the older Veela started a random discussion with Hermione. They kept talking, and after a few moments, Apolline joined in. Lira and Gabby however, kept arguing about whether or not the younger was in love with Luna until dinner was finally ready.
"So Hermione, how is it going?" Surprisingly, Gabby brought up the topic of the clock. Hermione had been expecting Sybelle to ask about the progress she'd made as soon as possible.
"Well, it's been a slow start…" Hermione looked at her plate. "Her magic is intact, but she is too weak to fix the issue by herself."
"She?" Gabby asked, confused, and when Hermione looked up, she saw a mysterious expression Sybelle's face. It morphed into a proud smile.
"The clock, it's a she…" Hermione trailed off, still looking at Sybelle. "Though you already knew that, didn't you?"
"She is not very talkative with anyone, which I've known for a while," Sybelle replied.
"What does this mean? Her 'talking' to me?" Hermione asked, making quotation marks with her fingers.
"She will tell you eventually, or you will find out by yourself. This is your journey to track."
After talking over dinner, Gabby asked Hermione to chat over at one of the nearby balconies. Hermione sat in an armchair, while Gabby sat on the floor in between her legs. Hermione began to run her fingers through Gabby's hair, who relaxed against her. She sighed after a long moment.
"Aren't you going to ask about what my mother said?"
"Hmm?" Hermione said distractedly, still playing with her friend's hair.
"Luna."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Gabby just shrugged. "Gabby, we don't need to discuss it if you don't want to," Hermione assured her, moving off the armchair and wrapping her arms around her friend from behind. She felt the younger woman crying silently. Neither of them noticed Lira watching, waiting, and wondering if she could help. Apolline approached from behind her wife, both observing the two young women on the balcony.
"Are you two just going to stay over there?" Gabby's tremulous voice sounded suddenly, breaking the silence. Both women moved closer, and Lira knelt and hugged Gabby hard.
"I'm sorry, mon bébé. I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm so sorry." Lira was speaking very quietly, and Hermione just listened, as she was still very close to Gabby. Apolline was watching with worried eyes.
The comfort session was interrupted when a small, white, red, and blue feathered owl appeared. Hermione carefully disentangled herself from Gabby, and held out her arm. The owl landed, and hooted a small 'hello.'
"Itean, it's a pleasure see you again." She stroked the owl's feathers. "Do you have something for me?" The owl stretched out a leg, and Hermione untied the letter in a pocket. "Here, little one." Hermione unholstered her wand and conjured a strip of bacon. "Your favorite." The owl hooted happily, and started to eat. Hermione read the letter and smiled.
"Good news?" Apolline asked gently. Lira and Gabby had moved to the armchair, sharing the seat, and were looking at her curiously.
"Pansy finished her mastery in potions."
"Pansy Parkinson? The pure-blood fanatic who was ready to hand Harry over to the Death Eaters?" Apolline asked incredulously.
"Yup, that's her."
"And you speak to her?" The older Veela inquired, still shocked.
"She is my friend," Hermione shrugged. "It's been a long time."
"Yes, but…" Apolline was confused.
"She spoke with Harry, you know. He forgave her after she confessed what happened to her family." Hermine paused to gather her thoughts. "During the first war, Pansy's father was a strong supporter of Voldemort, but during the few years of peace that followed, he decided that his family was more important than blood ideologies. When Pansy was in her fourth year of school, her younger sister Patricia was born. To force her father's hand, Voldemort kidnapped Patty and coerced the Parkinsons to help in the war. That day, in the great hall, Pansy handed Harry over in an attempt to show that her family was willing to protect Patty by serving Voldemort."
Hermione sighed. "I became her friend while continuing my studies. Her mentor is married to my mistress of Magical Architecture, and we spent almost two years in close proximity. Eventually we became friends, she met with Harry, and I found out that Pansy was a good person." Apolline relaxed for a second. "And also we had a good time dating for a while, but we chose to remain friends." Hermione smiled.
"She! She was the first girlfriend!" Gabby announced very loudly. "Who knew?" And giggled.
"'Girlfriend' is a bit of a strong word. We had only gone on two dates, and we discovered friendship worked better. But yes, she was the first to show me that I liked women. She has been in an amazing and loving monogamous relationship for a few years now," Hermione reminisced fondly.
"Hermione, tomorrow we will have a Veela meeting, regarding mates and mates-to-be; do you want to learn more perhaps?" Apolline asked after considering for a moment.
"Sure, though I will need to begin disassembling the clock. That is, to start doing so, because it's probably going to be quite a process." Hermione responded agreeably, "But do let me know what time it will take place, and the dress code, if any." Apolline assured her that she would, and after that Hermione said her goodbyes and went to the bed.
HGFDHGFDHGFD
The next morning she woke up early, just before seven o'clock, and proceeded down the stairs. She went directly to the kitchen, conjured a silencing charm, and began to make breakfast for herself. In a few minutes, she had a nice plate of pancakes with strawberries and a big mug of coffee.
"Good morning, Hermione." Lira's sudden appearance and greeting nearly caused Hermione to spill her coffee on herself. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice the silencing charm." She smiled sheepishly.
"Good morning, Madame Delacour." Hermione replied, blushing. After the war, it was very common to find Hermione lost in her own thoughts.
"Call me Lira, please." Apolline's mate was sincere and gentle, and Hermione suspected she knew from whom Fleur inherited her caring personality. "Are you looking forward to working on the clock today?"
"Yes. It's only been one day, but it feels like things are already going too slow. I know you all need it resolved as soon as possible, but…" She hesitated for a moment. "This clock is a relic; ancient, special, almost with sentience. Whatever happened to it was a sacrilege. Almost an unforgivable sin in my line of work."
"What do you mean?" Lira asked curiously.
"I'm a Magical Architect. To be called a Magical Architect, you need to become proficient in certain areas, which are Spells, Charms, Rituals, Enchantments and the Creation/Development of Magical Objects. Everyone learns the two first in school, while rituals are more of a specialization, but Magical Objects...this is a dying art. I'm quite adept at spells and charms, but creating something with magical properties was something I was especially interested in. I created the coins for our secret defense against the dark arts club in my fifth year of school, as well as an undetectable extension charm on a bag for our gear while we were on the run during the war. These items were necessary, but I also enjoyed the process of creating them. To be able to see something you imagined, there, existing, real, and tangible in your hands, is so very gratifying." Hermione was speaking with so much passion, Lira quickly found herself enthralled just listening to her. "This clock, it...She… She is a beauty. The way her magic was cast and molded, how the stone and wood components were connected to become this beautiful object. Its state now, this frozen limbo, hurts my heart quite a bit, actually." Lira smiled softly at her, reached for one of Hermione's hands, and squeezed it comfortingly.
"You will fix it. It's impossible for someone with so much passion to leave it the way it is. Do you mind if I watch you work today?"
"Of course not, I just, I must apologize in advance. I'll probably not talk much when I get focused." She smiled shyly.
Her morning certainly started in a different way than she expected, Hermione thought. But she wouldn't complain if Lira wanted to observe her working. In all honesty, it was likely she'd quickly forget about the older woman's presence. They left the Delacour manor together, and made their way over to the clock. Hermione drew her wand, and methodically started to disassemble the clock with short and precise movements of her wand. She felt the object's magic react to her own in a confused way, almost as if startled. She began to whisper, trying to relax the magic around her. After a few moments, the clock seemed to understand her intent and ceased fighting her actions.
"I know you are hurting, I know… But I'm doing everything I can to make this process painless for you. I need to find what is broken, the parts you showed me yesterday, they need to be fixed. To be able to do this, I need to take you apart. However, I swear on my own soul and mind that your magical core will be protected and no harm will come to it." Hermione floated all the clock's pieces safely to the ground, every item stripped from its original shape, and carefully separated the stone, wood, and metal.
Once that was done, Hermione took a deep breath and prepared herself for a complex piece of magic. She looked for a moment at the pieces from the clock on the ground, mentally steadying herself for her next task.
"Raspars" Hermione whispered, and with a long vertical movement of her wand, she summoned seventy-seven protection stones from her suitcase. They floated swiftly into a giant circle around all the clock's pieces. "Dreuchd." Hermione suddenly moved her wand down abruptly, and all the stones hit the ground. Meanwhile, Lira had been watching the whole spectacle, fascinated. "Tòisich" Her eyebrows lifted as she next observed a purple dome growing from the placement of the stones around the clock pieces. "Sgiath" A second dome, blue this time, began to form two inches from where the purple dome started.
Hermione executed a triangular gesture with her wand "Dhìon," and a deafening sound split the air. "Àireamh" Red lines emerged from the ground until they hit the apex of the domes, at which point Hermione held her wand out horizontally, and placed her other hand open at the tip. "Geall!" She shouted, and a golden net encapsulated the domes until they slowly vanished, the net also diminishing into a thin golden tinge above the ground. The protection stones descended into the ground and disappeared.
"How in the name of heaven does this work?" Lira was impressed, the whole process was a very hard sequence of magic. She reached her hand out to touch the area where she saw the domes vanish.
"Do not touch. It will hurt you as much as a Crucio. And will mark you with an Appare Vestigium, as well as many other spells and charms for protection." After Hermione's stern warning, Lira froze where she was. "Step back please, the shields are fluttering with your magical energy being so close." Lira automatically obeyed, took two large steps back, and stared at the magic before her. "This is a very old, very difficult, and complicated protection ritual." Hermione sat on the ground and took a deep breath. "I have a question about Veela magic." Lira turned to look at her.
"I'm not the best person to answer a question about that, as I'm not a born Veela…" She said, sitting next to Hermione. "But, I can try."
"After the ritual yesterday with Sybelle...my magic feels a little uncertain." Hermione explained.
"How so?" Lira turned to face Hermione directly.
"My magic, and my magical core, have been very stable for years now. You can't do any kind of magical architecture without stable magic. But now I feel as though my core has grown a little, like I have more magic in reserve." Lira frowned for a moment.
"Galan." She called in a calm voice, and with a pop the elf appeared and bent his head very low.
"Lady Delacour, what Galan can do for you?"
"Dear, can you please see if Sybelle, my wife, or any of my daughters are free for a moment, and bring one of them here? Hermione has a question that I myself cannot answer." Hermione looked at her confused, and wondered if she heard correctly. Galan nodded quickly and popped away.
"Wait, so Fleur is here?" She asked, surprised. "Oh, of course, the meeting." The same moment she had that realization, Galan materialized again, accompanied by Apolline.
"Lady Delacour is here, Madame." Apolline looked at her wife sitting on the ground with Hermione next to her, and immediately did a quick scan for injuries or a sign that something was wrong.
"So… What has happened?" Apolline asked uncertainly. "Galan was adamant that I should go with him immediately to your location. I had feared the worst." The older woman began to relax, not having noticed anything amiss. With a flick of her hand, she summoned a chair, placed it, and sat in front of the other two women. "Also, what are you both doing on the ground?" She smiled and almost laughed when both of them flushed.
"The lack of decorum is my fault." Lira said. "I never had your elegance, my love." Apolline just rolled her eyes.
"Don't confuse my distaste for being dirty with elegance, mon amour." Apolline replied, looking lovingly at Lira. "So, Miss Granger, how can I help?"
"Since the temporary bond with Madame Delacour was enacted, I feel that my magic reserves have grown. My magic is still stable, ...but I suddenly feel the capacity to do more," Hermione said awkwardly, struggling to verbalize the changes she felt.
"What you are experiencing is in fact because of the temporary bond. This is not typical, but it can happen. Veela magic is very strong, Miss Granger, since we mate for life, and the life of a Veela is long. Our magic pushes the limits of wizard magic a little bit," Apolline responded patiently.
"What does it mean to be a born veela?" Hermione was naturally curious, so if she had someone with the time to answer her questions, she'd take the opportunity.
"That means people like me, my mother and my daughters; we are born with magical Veela blood in our veins. However, when a Veela mates with a human, as has happened with Lira and I, our magic alters this person, making her Veela by bonding. This person becomes Veela; not only in appearance, but also in blood." Apolline could tell that Hermione had more questions, which she'd gladly answer, but anything further was interrupted by Galan, popping in again and bowing very low.
"Galan was requested to inform the ladies that the meeting will begin in half an hour." He announced squeakily, bowing and flushing.
"Calm down, Galan, it is okay. Thank you for letting us know." Apolline said gently, and Hermione and Lira stood up. "Well, we must be going. Delacours are never late. But first!" She pointed her wand at the two of them." Tergeo. "Off we go now, all cleaned up."
They walked towards a building that Hermione saw was crowded with Veela. She heard a lot of accents, but one in particular caught her attention. One she hadn't heard for a long time. She approached the person, a growing smile on her lips.
"Sallam Aleikum, Al-Sayyida Al-Amari." [Peace be upon you, Madam Al-Amari] The woman turned around in surprise, and upon seeing Hermione, opened her arms and pulled the young woman into a strong hug.
"Wa ʿalaykumu salam, Mistress Granger!" Her accent was strong, but Hermione understood her just fine, teeming with joy at seeing her friend again. "Oh, you are gorgeous like always, my friend!" She pushed Hermione back slightly by the shoulders and examined her, then pulled her back for another hug. "What are you doing here, my friend? And more importantly, how are you?"
"Mistress Al-Amari-"
"I've already told you to call me Laila!"
"Uh-Laila… I'm doing well, and you? I just can't really speak about the reason I'm here."
"I'm the same-old. And I suppose the reason for the non-disclosure is that you are not a Veela mate or bonding with a Veela, hm?" She smiled again. Sybelle watched the exchange with interest from a few paces away, and approached.
"I didn't know you two have met, Laila." She greeted, looking at the women curiously.
"Oh, Hermione here is an Executive Member of Babylon's Magic Library." As soon as Laila had made her pronouncement about Hermione's coveted position in a famous magical library, she could almost see the ripple of attention passing through those nearby like wildfire, and the closest conversations suddenly went silent. She rapidly became the subject of many stares.