Chapter 3 - Balance
"She is what?" Gabby's voice cut through the silence.
"A member of Babylon's Magic Library, you know that." Luna pointed out very calmly, and that was the moment Hermione realized her friends were also present.
"Yes, but 'Executive?' Isn't that, well, extremely exclusive?" Gabby commented loudly. Hermione just wanted to melt into the ground at all the sudden attention. "Wait…so, you've acquired this membership for writing your book?" Gabby asked Hermione. Apolline gave her younger daughter a pointed look, and Gabby flinched briefly. "Sorry maman…" She muttered.
"Well, Hermione is clearly not inexperienced. We all know our leader wouldn't bring just anyone to our home, and moreover, to see about fixing our clock. So come on Hermione, Laila, I want to talk to you both." Lira said with finality, and every Veela in the room knew not to protest. She walked away and both women followed, talking for a few minutes, and when Lira was called over by another Veela, she left them to speak on their own.
"I didn't know you are a member of a Veela clan…" Hermione said quietly.
"Well, my friend, it's not something I can go around discussing readily." She smiled, Hermione just nodded, understanding her meaning. "But, since you are here in this nice meeting, you can of course learn. I'm in the process of bonding with Natalie. Nat, my dear, come here please, I want you to meet someone." Hermione noticed a woman mingling with Veela nearby. She was not close enough to overhear the conversation, but close enough to hear her mate calling her. "This beautiful woman is Natalie D'Santini. Nat, this is Mistress Hermione Granger."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Granger." Laila certainly was accurate in calling her mate beautiful. In the muggle world, Hermioned suspected that Nat could easily find work as a supermodel. She was tall, thin, had sky-blue eyes, and auburn hair. She extended her hand to Hermione with a big smile.
"Just Hermione please, Miss D'Santini," she said, taking the woman's hand in a firm shake.
"Then do call me Natalie, or Nat."
"You really should be proud of your title, Hermione." Laila said, squeezing Hermione's forearm.
"I am, I just don't want people calling me 'mistress.' I'm practically still a child on this career path, it feels a bit disrespectful around people like you, Laila. You've worked all your life to own it," Hermione blushed.
"And you have also worked very hard for your own title," Laila countered.
"Laila said your book is very interesting, when will the hardcopy be released?" Natalie asked, changing the subject.
"It will be printed within a few weeks," Hermione responded, and suddenly felt the air around her change. She was overwhelmed by the unexpected smell of lilies and chocolate. She blinked for a moment, and refocused on the conversation. "I can give you a quick summary, if you like."
"Well, I would like that," A familiar voice declared. Hermione turned, and for the first time in almost eight years, she saw Fleur Delacour Weasley, beautiful as always with long blonde hair and sweet, clear blue eyes. "It's good to see you again, Hermione." She smiled, and Hermione was sure her insides were melting.
"Hi, Fleur! It's good to see you too." The two felt a brief flash of awkwardness, until Fleur stepped up and pulled the younger woman into an embrace.
"I'm glad to see you, I've only had a bit of news here and there from Gabby."
"Well, Gabs can be talkative." Hermione remarked, stepping out of the hug, uncertain how to act around Fleur, since Hermione herself was no longer welcome with the Weasley family. "And how are you?" Fleur only gave a half-shrug and nod, as if to say that everything was the same. Hermione turned toward Nat and Laila again. "Sorry about that."
"Oh no problem, everyone wants a piece of your beautiful mind," Laila teased, throwing her arm around Nat, and pulling the taller woman into her side.
"My research should not be called a 'book.' It talks about Magical Natures."
"Magical Natures?" Nat asked, with wide eyes.
"Yes, you see, when I was only a student, I wondered how magic really worked, on the most fundamental level. So I started with some basics, finding a way to 'see' magic, and when my mistress learned about my interest in this, she made the subject the topic of my thesis. Almost a year later, I found a way to manipulate the spell Revelio to work according to my wishes. That is how Essentia Revelare was born. Not the most inventive words for the spell, but it worked."
Hermione had been explaining her research while looking at Natalie, and thus had not noticed the little crowd forming around her. She paused to gather her thoughts for a second, and abruptly realized she had an audience. She froze momentarily, and then cleared her throat.
"So, this is what I discovered." She took her wand and pulled out a small coin that she had created and charmed a long time ago for everyone she loved. The coin served as a distress signal and was very useful since it could also be utilized as a Portkey. "Using that Spell… Essentia Revelare," Hermione made a long, downward spiraling motion, and with a blink, she heard everyone around her gasp. "Now we can see the natures of magic contained within this coin."
She cut the spell effects and said, "I can show you some examples one at a time." Hermione summoned a glass orb, and put the tip of her wand against its surface. "This orb can hold a given magical nature for a few seconds. I will use simple unspoken spells just for visualization; we'll start with Fire." The orb was filled with red lines. "Water." The red vanished and blue appeared. "Air." White lines were now floating around inside the orb. "Earth." Brown overtook the white. "Light." A silver group of lines materialized, slightly emitting light. "Shadow." Gray, almost black lines formed inside the orb. "And a difficult one to show, Willing." Golden boundaries spread like lines of longitude and latitude inside the orb. "So we come back to the coin." Hermione cast the original spell again and everyone watched tidier lines form around the coin, where it was easy for everyone to see each type around it. "This coin possesses Air, Water, Light and Earth magical natures, for there are several spells and enchantments here. My book has my speculations, and uh, possibly ramblings about this phenomenon."
"I would not call your findings mere ramblings, Hermione," Laila said, almost disappointed. "Your book is one of the rare tomes on modern magical theory we have now. One of the reasons you were chosen to take over Dumbledore's place with the other executive members. We don't have a lot of knowledge regarding this aspect of magic; it is so rare and so advanced that even now, we have what, how many books on the topic are being printed?" Hermione blushed hard.
"A little over thirty copies, which was the most I could push to be printed," She answered quietly.
"Your book covers a rare topic, and I do know you campaigned very hard for every magical school to have a copy. If the International Committee Of Magical Research didn't step in, I bet only Babylon's library would have a physical copy of it. I heard you had to threaten to publish an article in the papers about how stubborn they were being." Hermione blushed harder.
"If only one copy could be accessible for everyone… if it were possible, my book would not be sold or exclusive to magical institutions of learning. I would freely give it to anyone interested. Anyone ought to be able to try their hand at transmutation theory, and spell balance too, which is definitely part of it. My profession is not the most popular or well-known, since we are very few." Hermione said with a long sigh.
"How many Magical Architects are still around?" Lira asked.
"Not counting myself and my Mistress..." Hermione thought for a second. "Ten or fifteen at most. And within that number, those capable to teach new students? Probably three…" Hermione swallowed and felt tears come to her eyes.
"My mistress and only one other person have the teaching experience. Anyone interested mostly tries to learn by themselves, and this is almost impossible. I was lucky she accepted me. I have been only her second student in her whole career. I said to you, Lady Delacour, this kind of magical art is dying. Dying little by little, and suffocating more and more every second." Lira smiled sadly at her and touched her shoulder in consolation.
"So in the future, perhaps you can teach, and help keep this art alive, Hermione." They talked for a few minutes more, and Hermione ducked away when all the Veela started discussing political concerns. She went outside and enjoyed the evening sun as she made her way back to the clock, her magic reacting when she stepped within the barriers. She looked around for a second, allowing her magic to expand and touch every piece on the ground.
One in particular called her attention, which she approached. She realized the Gathering Pallet Wheel was broken. She mentally ran through a process to fix it, but got distracted thinking of the elder Delacour sister back at the Veela gathering. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the piece, trying to determine what kind of effect caused the damage. Likely, she'd need the tools at her woodworking station, and walked over, beginning to disassemble the wheel from the support. Hermione let out a deep sigh.
"Having trouble?" She felt herself tense when the voice rang out behind her. Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw Fleur standing a respectful four feet away. Her brain helpfully reminded her of Fleur's question, and the brown eyes came back to the wheel support in front of her. It was cracked in the middle. Hermione felt that its magical energy was almost nonexistent, which was definitely a problem.
"Bad news." She put the piece on the table, and turned back to the clock components. She identified a few other wood and stone parts that were broken. She would just have to make new ones, which would be long and exhaustive work. Hermione dumped five wooden wheel supports, two broken stone wheels, and one bent Spring Pin onto her workstation. "Fuck," she muttered to herself.
Fleur, looking worried, debated on whether to move closer to the other witch. But the brunette stepped further away and kept her distance. She knew she was being rather unfriendly to Fleur, but not only did she have a major and complex problem on her hands, she also didn't want to hear anything about the Weasleys. "Galan." She called, running her hands over her face. With a pop, the house elf appeared.
"Did you call Galan, mademoiselle Granger?" He answered excitedly. It was the first time Hermione had called for him, and he was anxious to please.
"Yes, I did. Can you please bring Madame Delacour over here? If she is occupied with the meeting, please just notify her that I need to talk to her today, if possible."
"Of course." He left and Hermione gazed back at the clock.
"What happened to you?" She mused to herself.
"What do you mean?" Fleur asked, finally deciding to stand next to Hermione.
"I'm afraid I really can't discuss this with anyone other than Madame Delacour," Hermione responded firmly. Consciously, she knew she was being completely unfair and a bit childish towards Fleur.
"I'm the chosen heiress," Fleur contested, with a frown.
"Unfortunately, that does not count for anything as my contract is strictly with your grandmother," Hermione replied, growing frustrated. She was thrown by suddenly seeing and speaking to Fleur after so many years, and her feelings were all jumbled. Fleur opened her mouth to answer when Sybelle and Galan appeared.
"Hermione, Galan said you asked for me," She said worriedly. Hermione stepped away from Fleur and approached Sybelle. She gave a concise summary of the damage she found in the physical parts of the magic clock.
"I'll need to build entirely new parts to replace these ones. This…" She hesitated. "This will cause more delays."
"Why?" Fleur asked, and Hermione looked to Sybelle.
"You will need new materials," The older Veela deduced. "Not even close to good news, Hermione," Sybelle remarked bluntly.
"The problem isn't exactly the materials. I will need to consult some friends about those parts. This means I'll need to take them off the village premises."
"They cannot leave the village!" Fleur interjected.
"They need to, otherwise I won't be able to truly determine the correct materials to recreate these broken parts," Hermione insisted, aggravated with Fleur, which was unlike her. Sybelle could easily envision the two of them at each other's throats for hours, arguing about taking the pieces away.
"That's enough," She proclaimed. "Fleur, I understand your hesitation about this, but I do trust Hermione to do this job. Let me remind you, ma petite fille, that Hermione is here at the recommendation of you and your sister. I thought you trusted her," Sybelle said pointedly.
"Bien sûr que oui, mais je ne fais pas confiance à d'autres personnes avec nos artefacts." ´[Of course I do, but I don't trust other people with our artifacts.] Fleur answered.
"Je n'apporterais jamais les artefacts à des gens en qui je n'ai pas confiance, Fleur. Si vous êtes si douteux, laissez un Veela venir." ´[I would never take the artifacts to people I don't trust, Fleur. If you are so doubtful, let a Veela come along.] Hermione cut in quickly, before Fleur could protest further. The younger Veela glanced at her in surprise.
"Well, that's that. Since you are so concerned Fleur, you shall accompany Hermione." Sybelle ordered sharply, her tone indicating no further deliberation was welcome.
"But, grand-mère, my training?" Fleur asked, looking for an excuse.
"Consider this part of it. If you want to be able to run in an election at some point in future and win, this will be easy." Sybelle said firmly. Fleur opened her mouth to reply, but Sybelle just raised an eyebrow, and the younger remained silent with her head down. "I would like to believe you two are grown up enough to find a compromise regarding details. Let me know how things go, Fleur." Sybelle turned around briskly and began walking home.
"Why do I feel like this is a punishment to you?" Hermione commented dryly.
"Because it is," Fleur snapped. "Call me when you decide when you want to leave." The blonde turned on her heel, and stalked away towards the beach.
Unfortunately, Hermione realized that if she wanted to confer with one of her most obscure contacts, they needed leave within the hour. She summoned her suitcase and put the pieces inside, and quickly scurried after Fleur. The blonde had her arms crossed, standing at the beach watching the sunset. Hermione approached cautiously and stopped next to her.
"We will need to visit three places: Musée de Minéralogie in Paris, Alloa in Clackmannanshire in Scotland, and Acadia National Park in Maine. Clackmannanshire is our first stop, otherwise I'll need to look for Atticus at his favorite pub."
"It will be well into the night by the time we get to the other places," Fleur pointed out.
"Bastien and Mia are always available to me," Hermione answered, without looking at Fleur. She reached her arm out to the heiress. Fleur turned to look at her, and seeing Hermione avoiding her gaze, just grasped the brunette's arm. Hermione apparated them just outside a small house situated near a mine entrance. The house was decrepit, which Fleur thought was a rather generous description, as she examined it dubiously.
"Here? Really?" The blonde asked.
"I never said Atticus lived in a mansion," Hermione said nonchalantly, and walked over to the door. She didn't have to knock, as the door suddenly opened and Hermione was pulled into a big hug. Fleur immediately went for her wand, but when Hermione laughed and hugged the man back, she relaxed. "For Morgana's sake big guy, Feuch an leig mi anail!" [Please let me breathe!] She cried, laughing hard. "Oh my, it's been so long!"
"Hermy! I was so happy when I sensed you arrive! Come in my friend, come in! How can this old man help you?" Atticus Holligan was an old man, in fact, he was almost to his 80th birthday, with a long white beard and a few teeth missing. He was bald but for a few strands of white hair next to his ears. Atticus was dressed simply; worn pants with some holes and a shirt stained with something that resembled oil. He and Hermione talked for a few minutes, before Hermione realized Fleur had just been standing there staring at the two catching up. She quickly introduced her to Atticus, who gave her a warm smile and a 'hello.' Hermione then placed the spring pin clock piece on his table. Atticus performed a quick spell, as she waited quietly.
"How much will it cost me, Atti?" Hermione asked gently, looking at him curiously.
"For you? Nothing," He replied seriously. "I owe you much more than a few pieces of magic metal are worth." He walked to a cabinet, and Fleur noticed he was limping hard on his left leg. "You offend me by asking about cost. I only have my life and leg because of you, my friend, and this debt won't be repaid easily." He pulled out a large piece of metal, much more than Fleur thought would be needed. Hermione accepted it and placed it in her suitcase, hugging the man again.
"I'll be visiting you in the future, old man. Try not to blow yourself up in the meantime," He laughed and kissed both her cheeks.
"Be safe my friend." Their visit with Atticus was fast, especially because Hermione knew he had appointments at a nearby pub. Hermione apparated both of them to Paris, but this time they materialized in an office.
It had golden-beige walls, with brown furniture. Most of the decorations were golden, beautiful and classy, but what grabbed Fleur's attention was a magical picture. A blonde woman was hugging another woman in the picture, both were laughing while the brunette was spinning the blonde in her arms. Looking carefully, she identified the brunette as Hermione. The realization seemed to incite a strange feeling in Fleur's chest, but she was unable to define what it was.
"Well look what the cat dragged in…" Fleur turned around, and for some reason, felt uneasy seeing the blonde woman from the picture so close to Hermione. She was tall, almost a foot higher than Hermione, with dark blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. She was elegant, which Fleur could easily see. The veela liked fashion, and she could definitely spot an authentic Valentino. The dress was white, printed with blue and pink flowers, which the woman matched with silver earrings and black five inch heels.
"Mon chéri, Bastien, you are beautiful as always! A sight for sore eyes!" Fleur's eyes widened as she watched the ever demure Hermione complimenting this woman openly. Hermone held out her hand and twirled the taller blonde as if they were in a dance. "Exquisite as always." The woman, apparently called Bastien, held Hermone's cheeks with both hands and gave her two kisses very close to her mouth.
"I told you once, mon bella, my arms are always ready to hold you when you need rest," She flirts, Hermione's hands holding Bastien's forearms.
"Il y aura toujours Paris, mon amie," [There will always be Paris, my friend.] Hermione replied, causing the taller woman to blush. Fleur cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself.
"Oh, I didn't realize you brought someone, how rude of me." Her hazel eyes were wide and her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Sobonie Bastien. Everyone calls me, Bonnie."
"Fleur Delacour," The veela responded curtly, Bastien taken aback with her icy demeanor. Hermione watched the awkward introduction and hastily stepped in.
"My friend, I need your help with a stone," Hermione explained, and in a few minutes, Bastien had a table cleared with the white clock stone resting on top. Bastien was studying it attentively, while Hermione allowed herself to study Fleur, who was busy eyeing the museum curator.
Fleur seemed barely affected by the passing of years. She was still tall and slender. Her silver-blonde hair, longer than when they first met, now practically touched the end of her spine. She still had her perfectly curved eyebrows, high cheekbones, small mouth, and full pink lips, of course. Hermione knew that all of this, together with her beautiful smile, made the veela one of the most attractive women she had ever seen. Then Fleur seemed to feel her eyes on her, turning away from Bastien and meeting Hermione's stare. For a brief second, Hermione felt her insides warm again, as those blue eyes regarded her tenderly.
"Well, this material can be found, Hermione," Bastien announced, breaking the moment. "I still have a few friends who can sell it to you. As you're aware, magical stones are expensive, so…" Bastien hesitated.
"I'll take care of it," Fleur cut in. "Just let me know how much, and you'll receive your payment."
"Oh, well then, that should speed things along. I'll contact them, and as soon as they answer, I'll let you both know." She told them amiably, and Fleur finally had to let herself accept that this woman was not as nefarious as she wanted to believe. "Should I owl you, ma bella?" Bastien asked, directing the question to Hermione.
"Yes, please. I'm sorry for running in all strictly-business, I know we usually do something else, but I still have to speak to Mia in Maine. You know how hard it is to find her in that damn forest," Hermione said regretfully.
"Of course; I will look forward to the next time you come by. You promised me we'd reenact a few memories," Bastien reminded her coyly, walking over to Hermione with a feline, seductive gait. "Promise that you will return in the near future? It's always such a long time in between your visits..."
"But they are always rewarding when they happen. Is that not so, darling?" Hermione replied boldly, and Sobonie blushed heavily.
"It is true that they are never disappointing," Sobonie agreed, her face still pink.
"Then we must be on our way, my beautiful Bonnie." And with a final kiss on Bastien's cheek, Hermione packed up, Fleur silently clutched her arm, and with a pop they departed, leaving behind a blushing and slightly flustered Bastien.
"You were totally flirting with that woman," Fleur stated, as soon as they landed in Maine. The sudden cold took her body by surprise, and she shivered.
"Nothing new there," Hermione responded casually, and conjured a warm jacket, placing it on Fleur's shoulders. And in an unexpected moment of insight, the veela understood that Hermione was naturally flirtatious when she was instinctive about it. "Let me just warn you, Mia is rather eccentric, but one of the greatest experts in magical wood materials that I know." Fleur frowned and nodded, snuggling even more into the cozy jacket.
When Hermione finally guided them through the woods to Mia's office, the woman was present, despite the late hour, leaning over the piece of a tree trunk. She seemed to be doing several analyses whilst talking to herself, as a magic pen frantically took notes. Fleur saw that the brunette was not kidding. Mia had fiery red hair, alive and spiked upwards in every direction. She was wearing a multicolored robe and was barefoot. Several feathers were stuck in her hair, and when she looked up at her visitors by the door, Fleur saw a smiling face with different colored eyes. One was purple and the other green.
"Hermione! You are late!" Mia exclaimed, confusing Fleur with her prior knowledge of what should have been a surprise visit. Curiously, this woman reminded her of Luna Lovegood quite a bit, the odd Ravenclaw student she met while participating in the Triwizard tournament.
"I''m sorry, Bastien always requires a lot of attention," Hermione explained briefly.
"Oh, she loves you, you know that. She always has," Mia said, looking back at her guests. Fleur felt uncomfortable at the direct proclamation, as she herself sensed that Bastien desired more than friendship from Hermione.
"She is not," Hermione replied in disbelief, rolling her eyes. "Sobonie would have told me otherwise!" She refuted, as if it should have been obvious to everyone present, and brushed aside the notion.
"You are blind and sometimes deaf, my dear," Mia remarked bluntly, looking partly amused and partly exasperated with her friend. "So, what is it? You never come to my office unless you have some work problem. If you want to see me for fun, you'd meet me at the edge of the forest."
"You really should stop spying on me with Nature. It's unfair how often you know almost everything," Hermione pouted, which Fleur decided was pretty cute.
"It was just a feeling," Mia deflected, and finally acknowledged Fleur standing beside Hermione. "What's actually unfair is how you always have beautiful women around you," Mia joked. Hermione rolled her eyes and walked over to the worktable.
"Leave Fleur alone, please." Mia just shrugged offhandedly. "Here, where can I find this?" Hermione knew that her peculiar friend cared little for politeness and decorum one way or another, so she decided not to bother properly introducing her to Fleur.
"Oh, this is white oak, very strong wood, good magical properties… Hm, I don't have any large pieces here, but in France you ought to be able to find it. This one in particular is a Quercus Petraea. This oak grows in the forests of Allier, Nevers and Tronçais, all in central France, Vosges in the northeast, and Limousin, which is further west near the Cognac region."
"Limousin is within our borders," Fleur informed Hermione. She found herself wishing to speak to the brunette alone, and hoped she would have the chance soon.
"Perfect!" Mia said, smiling. "Just remember to ask the tree and explain yourself, and it should allow you to take a piece. Now off you go, I still have a lot of work to do and apparently so do you." As awkwardly as the encounter began, Hermione and Fleur excused themselves to return to Marseille. Upon arriving, Fleur tried to initiate a conversation, but Hermione quickly fled.