Story notes:
Kreacher has some mention in this chapter, to those Kreacher lovers who seem to mention him every review. (Lol.)
"Hypocrites get offended by the truth."
-Jess C. Scott, Bad Romance: Seven Deadly Sins Anthology-
Heather broke out into a loud laugh at the sight that met her.
The Sanctuary now had curtains…and an extra floor. It had also gotten wider. Apparently, the orders she had given to Kreacher weren't enough to keep him busy, or maybe Draco decided to keep the third floor for himself. If so, then he would be in for an argument.
She composed herself and entered the Sanctuary, only to lose it again when she saw the scene.
Kreacher was running after Hermione, saying something about toadstools. Luna was engaging in a loud shouting match with Draco about the placement of something. And everything else was scattered about in a way that spoke of inhabitants. She even saw a pot in the kitchen boil over and it made Kreacher give a squeak of alarm.
"Merlin, this place is a mess," she exclaimed. Despite using Westron for most of the time, English still felt natural on her tongue.
At her words, all inhabitants of the house noticed her and burst into loud exclamations.
"Potter! Tell Lovegood that she can't keep the bloody menace as a pet!" Draco said.
"Feather!" both girls said at the same time Kreacher nearly wailed, "Miss Heather! Tell Miss Hermione that pink toadstools are poisonous and will not be added to the pot!"
Heather just grinned at them. "I'm home," and continued since Kreacher looked ready to burst into tears, "Pink toadstools are not edible unless you hammer them to bits." She eyed the pot. "We likely don't have time for it. Bu Hafny caught a rabbit on our way here."
That left the problem of Luna's new pet but that could be solved later. She was too happy to solve other problems anyway. It had been nearly two years since she last saw all of them.
Draco looked the same, long blonde hair pulled back by a black ribbon, gleaming silver eyes serious. Luna had a healthier flush to her cheeks and her golden hair was longer. Hermione though, was dangerously thin. That was one of the hazards of constant travelling. She probably was in the same state.
"Come here, you nutter," Draco said.
The four of them embraced in a tangled mess of limbs and bodies. Heather was grateful she had dropped her sword and the rest of the other pointed weapons by the door otherwise it would have poked someone by the force of the hugs she was receiving.
"You crazy lot," Hermione said with affection.
"Crazy indeed," Heather agreed. "You're the only people I know who would hug me when I'm this dirty."
Draco promptly released her. That had the girls laughing.
It was as though they didn't change. Heather could almost relax. But something had changed. The four of them were quieter. Isolation from the only people they could talk to without reservation had changed them into less talkative people. It was most obvious on Hermione and Luna. Draco and Heather were quiet people by nature and isolation had made them almost mute.
For other people, dinner would have been an awkward affair. Nobody talked, not out of embarrassment but out of habit. Midway through it, Luna started to hum a song and Draco must have recognized it because he cracked a smile.
As the plates were cleared away, they nursed cups of cider and exchanged news that couldn't be written on letters.
"I've found a cure for deafness," Draco announced. "As well as blindness."
The girls perked up at the good news. "Really? Hermione said. She smiled and it stretched the thin skin on her face. It nearly made Heather wince.
Draco nodded. "I met the prince of Rohan. His father was suffering from it, apparently. They offered to let me live in their main house."
"Did you accept?" Heather asked.
He snorted. "No. Lovegood sent me a letter. Something about making a school for learning healing."
Even if it wasn't said as a question, he managed to make it sound like one. They all turned to look at Luna, who beamed at him.
"I've travelled around the continent to learn healing from different kinds of people," she said. "There is only one person left to apprentice myself to, and then I would be done. That said, a resident potions master would be great."
Despite himself, Draco looked intrigued. "Alright," he nodded. "I'll go pack my stuff. The villagers will be told that my sister needs my help."
And this time, he drew the attention to Heather. "By the way," Draco continued. "What possessed you to make Lovegood and me twins? For that matter, you and I don't even look remotely alike, let alone related."
Even if he was scowling, there was a pleased undertone to his voice. Heather simply laughed at him. "By Morgana's tits, Draco! If you wanted to be a brother to Hermioe, you simply had to say so!"
This set off a round of spluttering and laughter. When it died down, Heather turned to Hermione. "And you're all purebloods and related to me somehow. Hermione is a muggleborn. I'm claiming her as my favorite distant cousin."
That made Hermione smile at Heather in gratitude since she had been a bit hurt to be excluded.
But as always, Draco had the last say in the matter. "But the old goat, Potter? You set me up as related to him. Merlin, it's like besmirching my grandfathers' grave. Poor Abraxas must be rolling in his coffin."
Heather waited until Draco and Luna were asleep before confronting Hermione.
"This has to stop, Mione!" Heather hissed quietly. "If this goes on, you'll drop from exhaustion."
Hermione looked startled at being confronted, and then angry. "You're one to talk. You're getting thinner too."
"But I can regain my weight from two days meals and I get exhausted from the travel and the fighting. You're being beaten down by the travel and overuse of magic!" she said. It was a trial to reign in her temper. "Every village I stopped in, I rested for a day or so. What about you? When was the last time you rested in between warding? You're suffering from magical exhaustion!"
Hermione sagged. "Feather, you don't understand. Every ward I put up only lasts three months or so."
"Then find a permanent solution!" she said. The temptation to yell had never been stronger. "Your new brain ought to help with that. Merlin, we took the Black library with us. The solution should be there somewhere."
Hermione eventually admitted to being ridiculous despite being so smart. When she headed to bed, Heather settled in front of the fire with a sigh. She quelled the urge to cry at how thin Hermione had gotten. If Luna hadn't…
There was a pop! and Kreacher appeared by her elbow. "Miss Heather should sleep," then he noticed the shine of tears in her green eyes. "Miss Heather is sad?"
Heather hugged the house-elf, who had gotten taller again. He was currently the height of an eight year old human child.
"Oh, Kreacher," she sighed. "I forgot why we stayed with each other when we were younger. It was to watch out for each other, because no one else would tell us we were being stupid but each other." And Hermione nearly killed herself if Luna hadn't called for a reunion.
"Kreacher will do it!" Kreacher said eagerly. "Kreacher can fetch any of the others if missy's are being stupid." It went unsaid that Draco would not abuse his body. He was rather conscious of his health.
Heather felt her heart swell at the earnest words from the house-elf. "Oh Kreacher. But you'll tire yourself out!" she cried.
For the first time, Kreacher sent Heather an irritated look. "Kreacher tried to tell Miss Heather, but missy would not listen. Kreacher doesn't get tired anymore. Kreacher only gets tired if missy and the others are beings naughty and is not resting."
Merlin's buggering beard. That meant the bond between master and house-elf had also mutated when they passed through the veil. Another change on top of everything else. She only hoped Kreacher didn't feel her own deteriorating health.
Instead of showing how worried that made her, Heather just flashed Kreacher an impish grin. "Thanks Kreacher. You're the best."
Heather waited until she was alone in her room, with silencing wards in all of her walls before she released the tight hold she had on her precognition ability.
For the first week after she awakened the gift, she flinched every time she touched something. She had taken to wearing dragon-hide gloves as a consequence. Eventually she learned to rein it in but the gift struck back at night with a vengeance. She had taken to drinking a mouthful of dreamless sleep every night so she could at least get an hours' sleep at night without being plagued by indecipherable dreams and screams of terror. The darkness that Hermione was working to contain had also affected her dreams.
To add to that, she had not told her pseudo-siblings of the late development of her gift. Besides, none of them had complained about hearing living things, or seeing souls of people (Heather conveniently forgot Luna's mental breakdown several months ago). And Hermione probably slept through the night without being plagued by formulae…not bloody likely.
She knew she was being stupid about it and the others probably wouldn't hesitate to help if she asked but she wanted to try solving it on her own first.
Distantly, she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Draco say, "Bleeding stuffed up Gryffindor pride."
She ruthlessly quashed it as she gulped the dreamless sleep potion.
"I met the steward of Gondor," Hermione said with pink cheeks. She had regained the weight she had lost under Kreachers watchful eyes.
Draco looked from perusing an Ancient Runes text. "Yeah?" he said. "They're pretty good friends with Prince Theoden."
Luna nodded. "They would be. Rohan and Gondor are good friends. Fenny likes Rohan very much."
Fenny was the name of the fox that Luna had nursed back to health. Draco tended to avoid it, muttering dire predictions about people dying via fox. Heather didn't even try to dissuade Luna about keeping Fenny. Luna had simply turned those big, silvery-grey eyes at her and Heather caved. Hermione was being a coward about it and simply would not take a side, saying, "Switzerland! Switzerland!" every time Draco whined.
Heather ignored the bit about Fenny. "Did you know that there are elves in this world?" she said instead. "Like, the tall and cute ones."
The rest didn't drop or have any kind of extreme reaction but there was a certain stillness about her three friends that denoted complete and total attention.
"They have er, had a Dark Lord too," Heather plowed on blithely. "It's pretty much very interesting."
"Hold up," Hermione said. "Let's do this one at a time. Elves? Elves that are not house-elves?"
Heather nodded. "Yep. Tall, graceful, wise and near-immortal elves. The whole package."
Draco whistled (and Heather marveled because when did Draco do anything as plebian as whistling?). "Merlin," he said. "And I thought the people in Rohan were joking when they said, "as talented as an elf."
All of them looked at Kreacher, who suddenly looked nervous at the sudden attention. Luna patted the top of Kreachers head and said, "Well, Kreacher is clearly a house-elf. But nobody knows that. Maybe we can just call him 'house'?"
There was an uncomfortable silence, broken by Draco snorting and gasping with laughter. Hermione soon followed and Heather held out only by not looking at everyone else. Luna merely looked confused and that made it funnier.
"But seriously though," Hermione cut in, still hiccupping with mirth. "What about Kreacher?"
"Why don't we just wing it?" Luna answered. Her dreamy voice had Draco in another fit of laughter. Heather and Hermione ignored him but it could be noted that Hermione would cough every so often and Heathers ribs were near cracking at holding back her own howls.
"What do you mean, Luna?" Heather eventually said when Luna continued to look at them with a puzzled face.
"When you don't plan things, feather, everything goes well," Luna answered. She was kind enough not to add, "But when you do, it all goes to hell."
Kreacher served them spring water and cider. All of them composed themselves until Hermione suddenly touched the darker and grimmer part of Heather's news.
"A Dark Lord, feather?" Hermione said.
It was a very politely said demand. Heather obliged and told them all about the war of the Dark Lord – as Aragorn had told it. She remembered to omit Aragorn's role as Isildur's heir though. She was sometimes haunted by how pale Aragorn had turned when she had blurted out, "You're part of a prophecy." No matter how kindly he had reassured her, it was still a violation of privacy.
At the end of it, all of them were pale.
"Merlin's baggy y-fronts," someone muttered.
Heather met Hermione's eyes and said quietly. "It's a Horcrux, Mione. That ring is a Horcrux. Their Dark Lord only made one, so it will probably be stronger than the locket ever was."
They went to bed that night in subdued and somber spirits. It went unsaid that Heather would help destroy this Dark Lord too. And it was also unspoken agreement between the others that they would not leave her to it.
I found that other chapter a bit heavy on drama, so I made this as lighthearted as possible. The other chapter will be as full and as heavy as anything. Might mention Elrond.
Remember, this is still the boring aspects of their story. Things will get interesting if we add in the other members of the Fellowship soon. And I don't think Boromir is born yet in this part.
To all the people who reviewed, I really do thank you for your kind words.
~Hallen
P.S. It's the Labor Day in the Philippines tomorrow, which means I can write a much longer chapter. YAY!