Disclaimer: Apart from AU and OC, I solemnly swear the rest are JKR's creations.

Chapter 50

Severus Snape jumped on his feet and dashed across the room. Upon reaching the glass window, he braced his fall, by placing both of his palms flat on its cold surface. Truly what looked like a small troupe of soldiers a few hours ago, had multiplied into a massive army. His eyes hovered over those many dead pairs of eyes, the only thing visible in those helmets. Flicking his eyes left and right he turned over to Minerva, "Minnie, what was that spell you would always love to test, the one that summoned…"

Molly pushed past the group and came to stand beside the deputy headmistress, "Merlin those are Hogwarts guards, Minerva!"

Puffing up with excitement, the transfiguration professor replied, "Piertotum Locomotor, but Severus, these are animate...how…!"

Pushing his way through the excited crowd of both old and young witches and wizards, Snape swung open the front door and stood in front of the huge army that spread across the whole beach.

Steeling his nerves, strengthening his mental shielding, after taking a couple of calming breaths, he bellowed, pointing his wand aloft, "Piertotum Locomotor".In a second, there were several clanging sounds of metals and every undead armed guards held out their swords pointing ahead, ready to charge. Remus, Draco, Harry, Minerva, George were standing right behind the headmaster. It was George who quipped. "Funny, you ask them to move, they get ready to charge. That's a bloody army at your beck and call Sir."

"No, Mr. George Weasley, Not at my beck and call. But they are somehow summoned by Hermione. We had been mentioning her name again and again after the war for these many years, but these knights had not appeared then." The Headmaster stood, trying to find a reason behind this sudden anomaly.

Minerva and Remus both spoke at the same time, "Oh, yes, only after you were recognized as her father, did they appear in front of your office room and then right in front of the closed door to your personal chambers."

Harry exclaimed, "They were also there at Mum's grave, from where we brought you here."

If Severus was shocked to learn about these random appearances, he did not let the others get a hint of it, instead, he went on explaining, "In short, me being recognized as the father of Hermione has triggered their appearance. But why did they appear in front of her vault or her office?"

Neville yelled behind the group gathered around the front door, "Sir, because these are guards, they are meant to protect, I mean like protect Hogwarts, protect her vault, protect her office, and protect your office and you. But from what is…"

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom, from what is the actual question."

Walking a bit forward, Severus once again addressed those ghostly knights, but this time in Latin, "Ave Equitibus inmortuae". Instantly the ghosts stood tall. In awe, the group watched the part of the front row stand away to allow a heavily built what would have been the general or commander of this army float ahead. Kneeling in front of a taunt Headmaster, the general spoke in a raspy but fluent English," We are honoured to serve the bravest students of Hogwarts, we are honoured to serve you, Headmaster Snape, we are here to fulfil the vow of Minerva Estella Hermione."

"Hermione's vow?" Severus managed not to choke on his words, he could fully recall how even in his dreams these ghosts had kept him away from the Obscurus.

"We cannot say what we are forbidden to utter, but if you are keen to save our summoner, the bravest fighter, the brightest witch after perhaps Morgana, you would want to look for Búir na mara. Trust the goblin but don't trust him too much, trust the remaining brother and above all love your daughter from the bottom of your heart. Oh, brave one! Like a father like daughter."

"I will, I promise…"

"You want us to return to our place, but we cannot, not until our summoner gives us the order, but we will go back to our catacombs at Hogwarts, and we will be with you whenever Minerva Estella Hermione's interests are endangered."

Within moments the witches and the witches saw the wind carry away piles of sand and with them, the apparitions mingled like dust. The wind picked up and like rain clouds the army rose towards the sky and vanished away.

Narcissa Malfoy grabbed Severus's sleeves and muttered, her face turned white as a sheet, "Búir na mara- the roar of the sea, even the Dark Lord wanted to know about them during the First War. He had asked both Lucius and me to help him, look for a journal in Manor Library. He was of the opinion, and someone in the Malfoy line had documented the lives of the founders before Hogwarts was established. Severus, is he coming back, is he not dead, even this time…?"

"Cissa, this is not the Dark Lord, why...why don't we all go inside, Mrs. Weasley could you please get us some tea, we will have to discuss a lot of things before both the ministry and the goblins knock at our doors."

Watching over a sleeping Hermione Granger had rather been a peaceful occupation. At least Healer Astrid Norman liked this sleeping form over that it's violently roaring or rocking alternative abomination. The several monitoring charts were droning in the background, now and then she could hear Liza chatting with the other female intern healers. The name Seamus Finnigan had caught her attention a couple of times and Astrid chuckled to herself, "There we go again the tale of a healer and an auror, young love and it's many…"

A sudden spasm of the sleeping form caught her unaware. The charts, in cue, started scratching against the several charmed-quill points. The monitors flickered with mild warning signs.

Jennifer, one of the interns rushed to observe the sudden spike in the system, and called out, "She is waking up, but there is another magical field interfering…"

Norman had by then reached across the panel, studying the readings thoroughly she exclaimed, "We were already struggling to contain the Rogue Magic, though, with Snape's timely interference, things were under control, now what hell is this…"

She was cut out by Liza's screech. "Ahh! Look! a face, a face, a face on the glass."

They had all turned together to see the thing Liza's trembling fingers were pointing at. Right on the other side of the glass wall, a hovering green ghostly apparition had appeared. It was clad in ancient battle attire, had a huge sword drawn out in its thick gloved hand. Prepared, ready to charge.

But Norman noticed another thing, Hermione was no longer in her bed. She was back to the furthest corner of her side of the circle, facing the wall, rocking on her hip, her hair free and wild forming a sinister halo. But it was her back that drained all the blood off the old Healer's face. Blood. Hermione's lower back, no, the hospital gown, the girl had been wearing, that excuse of cloth was gradually turning crimson red.

Running through all plausible ideas, she informed the other frightened assistants, "Stay put, watch her closely, I will get Snape", Norman dashed out of the Circle, running as fast as her feet could take her, she reached the special apparition point designated by Speciality ward Healers so that they could come and go any time of the day. In a blink of an eye, the old witch apparated to the edge of Shell Cottage's protective Wards. But she was not alone, Minister Bones was there too along with Blaise Zabini, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Seamus Finnigan.

Ave Equitibus inmortuae in Latin means Hail to the Knights of Undead.