Chapter 6:
It has been a week since Hermione was using the infused crystal book and after spending hours pouring over every page, she had written her own protection spell for the house. If everything goes right, then anyone that Hermione and Piper don't want in the house will not be able to step a foot on the property. Including the girl's parents, who were once again away for a three - week vacation. Hermione was outside the house carefully writing on the outside walls with a reddish maroon paste made from the other half of agate crystals she had left.
As Hermione wrote the last rune on the door entrance, Piper's yelled through the door. "Mione, where are you?"
Hermione cursed in her head as she checked her watch, Piper usually wakes up from her nap around 2:30 pm and it was already 2:40 pm, the little girl was probably freaking out. The teen witch opened the front door and ran to the kitchen where she heard Piper calling from. "Hey, my little fighter I'm here."
Hermione said as she placed the book on the kitchen counter and walked up to a teary eyed Piper. "Wh..where were you? I… I thought you left me too."
Hermione pulled her little sister into her arms and cradled the little girl's head. "Hey, listen to me. I will never leave you alone okay? I was just outside doing some magic. Do you want to see it?" The teen felt Piper wrap her arms around her neck and nod her head into Hermione's shoulder. Hermione stood up and wrapped Piper's legs around her waist before walking out the front door and off the porch.
With a nudge from Hermione, Piper turned her head away from her sister's shoulder to look at the house. The runes covered every inch of the house from the roof down to the garden beds. And even though Piper could not see it, Hermione placed some runes in the basement as well. The four year old gasped. "Wow, Mione how did those get up there?"
"I put them there silly." Hermione said as she put Piper down.
"What are they?" Piper slowly walked back towards the house.
"Those are runes that will protect the house from bad people that might want to hurt us." Hermione said as she giggled at Piper's reaction. After a moment of standing there an idea popped into the teen's head. "You know, if the runes are not activated soon, they will disappear. Do you want to help me activate them?"
Piper let out a squeal of happiness as she ran up to the house with Hermione close on her heels. It was rare that Hermione did magic in front of Piper or let Piper use her own magic. Constant magical outbursts would call the attention of the Ministry of Magic and Hermione did not want that. Before Piper could touch a rune that was within her reach, Hermione picked up the four year old.
"Alright, put your hand on this rune here. This is called a Hydra, it represents the number nine." Hermione said as she let Piper lean closer to place her hand gently on the rune. Hermione placed her own hand on the rune next to it. "This one is called the Runespoor. And we need to activate these two runes together to activate the rest." Piper nodded her head and without prompting closing her eyes, like she did during their regular meditation practices.
Hermione closed her eyes as well, and took a deep breath. "One, two, three push." The witch sisters started to push their magic into the runes. After a minute of activation, Hermione pulled her hand away and gently grabbed Piper's hand. "Okay, you can stop now, little fighter."
Piper slowly lowered her hand, opened her eyes and gasped. "Mione, the ruins are gone!" Piper said as she turned her head to get a better look at the house.
"They are still there, Piper. Touch the door again." Hermione said. Piper placed her hand against the door once more and the runes reappeared. The teen witch watched her little sister's eyes widen with glee and excitement and let a small smile rest on her face. "Let's go inside and get some lunch. I bet you're hungry, I know I am after using that much magic." Piper nodded her head and wiggled out of Hermione's grasp and headed into the house and straight for the kitchen. Hermione was right behind the four year old and locked the door.
The Granger Household: 12:00 am at night
A crash from downstairs sent Hermione sitting straight up in her bed. The teen witch grabbed her wand and ran out the door to Piper's room. She quietly opened the door and peeked inside to make sure the four old was still asleep. Thankfully she still was and for extra measures Hermione magically locked and sound proofed, Piper's room. Hermione slowly made her way down the stairs, where more things were being broken.
The sound of drunk mumbles was coming from the living room and when Hermione was able to make her way over to the now trashed room, the teen let out as small and tensed sigh of relief. On the floor surrounded by broken glass and wood, was Lana, Hermione and Piper's "babysitter". With the flick of her wand, Hermione stunned the drunk 20 year old and levitated her onto the couch. The action caused Hermione to pause, usually she would just kick Lana out on the street rather than this and no matter how much she tried to build up the anger in herself, it seemed unreachable. After a few moments Hermione stopped trying to access her anger.
"How did you get in here?" Hermione asked the drunk woman on her couch, before walking to the front door and checking over the runes. They were activated, pulsing with magic and when Hermione placed her hand on the door, there was no disconnection between runes. The teen walked back inside the house, manually and magically locked the door, before walking to her room to grab the crystal book. She sat at her desk, turned on the lamp light and began to flip through the pages once more, trying to figure out why her protection spell did not work. About an hour had passed before she ran into a small passage that was too little to read. It was in the corner of pg 45, under the topic of what Greennook called, "You're Right, but You're Wrong". Hermione turned on her main bedroom and pulled out her magnifying glass. The passage read:
"Hey, so I had limited words that the publisher would let me write, so throughout the book there will be quick notes like these laying around. So the important thing about the agate crystals, is that they are known for their ways of cementing balance. Whether that balance is within oneself or an object, balance will be achieved."
Hermione placed her hand over her eyes and groaned. "This guy is too cautious." The teen sat back in her chair and let what she just read sink in. "If agate is used for balance with people and objects, then the function of the protection spell on the house was not to keep people out, to keep balance within the house, meaning there is no escalation of negative emotions." Hermione whispered to herself.
"What crystals can be used for protection?" The teen witch waved her hand and a muggle book on crystals landed on her desk beside Greennook's. Hermione opened the book and slowly skimmed through the table of contents and found what she was looking for, Protection crystals. After reading through the chapter, Hermione settled on the next crystals she would be using on the book and the protection spell, bloodstones.
The teen got up from her desk and pulled her trunk from underneath her bed. Grabbing the bag of bloodstones, Hermione could tell by the weight that she did not have enough to read the whole book or start a new batch of rune paste. She looked over at her alarm clock and it read 1:50 am. As a yawn took over her, Hermione placed the bag of bloodstones back and closed her trunk. She would make a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get more bloodstones and any other crystals she may need.
But, before she could get back to bed, Hermione ventured out into the hallway once more and walked over to Piper's room. She unlocked the door and peeked inside for the last time of the night. And even though Piper was all twisted up in her blankets due to her chaotic sleeping habits, the four year old's peaceful face told Hermione that everything was okay. The teen walked back to her room and flopped onto her bed, allowing the sandman to take her away once more.
The Granger Household 9:00 am
Hermione woke up to the feeling of someone staring at her and when she opened her eyes, there was Piper, right in her face. "Good morning." Piper said with a giggle. Hermione smiled, slowly sitting up in her bed, and as her senses were coming back to her, she smelled breakfast being made. Confusion made its way onto her face and as she stood and took a closer look at Piper, she was not in her pajamas, but in a pair of shorts and shirt that had the word 'SPECTACULAR' on the front.
"Little fighter, did you get dressed yourself? Who made breakfast?" Hermione asked as she bent down to Piper's level to look the child in the eyes. Piper did not answer for a moment, keeping her eyes trained on the floor. "Hey, what is wrong?" Hermione placed her finger under Piper's chin to lift up her head.
"I don't want you to be mad." Piper said in a small voice. This confused Hermione even more. She moved her hands to Piper's shoulders and gently squeezed.
"Why would I be mad, Piper?" And before the four year old could answer that, Hermione's bedroom door opened to reveal, Lana. Hermione immediately stood up and pushed Piper behind her. "What are you still doing here?" The question came out almost like snarl as Hermione's brows furrowed and her glare intensified.
"Well, I made breakfast and asked Piper to wake you up. You were knocked out cold when I came in here earlier." Lana replied with a nervous tone under Hermione's gaze. She looked over the older woman, she had changed her clothes from her ripped jeans and shirt to a clean pair of jeans, a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a small apron around her waist.
"You made breakfast? Is this some kind of joke?" Hermione said as she took a step forward, waiting for Lana to revert back to her old self, so she could throw the 20 year old out.
Lana took a step back and raised her hands. "No, no. Look I admit when I came in last night there was no doubt I was going to cause trouble, but after passing out and waking up, I… I can't explain it. I don't know what happened but I feel like energy is running through me and I no longer have to urge to smoke, or drink, or whatever else I was doing. I feel like I am-"
"Balanced." Hermione said cutting off Lana's small rant. Even though she didn't like the woman, the teen could tell Lana was being genuine and Hermione knew what was causing this new version of Lana to emerge. Hermione took a deep breath and sat back down on her bed. "What did you make for breakfast?"
Lana sighed in relief and slowly brought her hands to her sides. "The basic pancakes, bacon, some fruits, juice for Piper, and coffee for you."
"You sound like more of a maid than a babysitter." Hermione said under her breath. "Lana, take Piper downstairs for breakfast, I will be down soon." And just like Hermione suspected Lana followed instructions without hesitation, offering her hand to Piper who took the woman's hand after looking towards her sister for approval. Once Lana closed the door, Hermione leaned back onto her bed and looked towards the desk.
"I swear if he has another hidden section about the effects on muggles, within that book. I am going to beat him over the head with it when I find him." Hermione quickly walked over to her closet and grabbed a pair of black jeans and a dark red shirt that read 'I AM THE FUTURE!' She then picked up her backpack and placed Greennook's book and the muggle book inside, before grabbing the bags of bloodstones, garnet, carnelian, and jade. Hermione's first stop in Diagon Alley will be Gringotts, so she made sure to grab her key necklace from her desk. Once she was all packed, Hermione left her room and grabbed Piper's prepared outing backpack that was always ready just in case they had a last minute outing, like today.
Hermione walked downstairs and dropped the bags off on the living room couch. She did make note that all that was previously destroyed had been put back together as if it was fresh off the market. The teen made her way to the kitchen and saw Piper joyfully eating her pancakes and bacon, Lana was preparing a plate for Hermione and had her back turned.
Hermione sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of coffee. By the time she was putting creamer and sugar into her mug, Lana had sat her plate down in front of her. "Thank you Lana. You may sit and eat, if you haven't already." Hermione said as she dug into her own breakfast and she could have sworn she saw Lana give a slight bow before going to fix her own plate.
After a few minutes of the two witches and one muggle eating breakfast, Hermione set down her fork. She decided to test some things. "Lana, Piper and I are going on a trip today. I need you to call the car to come around 10:30 am."
"Yes, Hermione, I'll do that before I clean up." Lana replied dutifully.
"While we are gone, I don't want any of your straggler friends to show up. If they do lock up everything and call the police on them." Hermione ordered again. From past experience Hermione knew that Lana would put her friends above her responsibilities, but the woman's reply surprised her.
"As you wish, Hermione. They were bad influences on me anyway."
Hermione did not allow herself to be stunned by the answer for long and went back to eating. By the time that the two women and child were finished eating it was already 9:50 pm. Lana immediately stood up and began to take the plates from the table and put them in the sink. Hermione instructed Piper to go into the living room and pick out a book to read. The four year old looked as though she wanted to argue to watch some tv, but a stern look from her older sister told Piper not to argue. The four year old hopped out her chair and headed towards the living room.
"Lana, can you explain how you are feeling right now?" Hermione asked when she was sure Piper was out of ear shot. The babysitter had put the plates into the sink and turned around to face Hermione.
"As I said before, I feel balanced. I no longer have the urge to harm myself or others with destructive decisions or actions."
"Does it feel as though something is suppressing these feelings?" Hermione pressed further, she was expecting for Lana to start freaking out, but the 20 - year old still was calm as ever.
"No. It just feels right." Lana replied with a large smile on her face. Causing Hermione to feel slightly uneasy. The teen nodded her head, she had a feeling that Lana would continue to reply with the same answer if she pressed any further. Hermione allowed Lana to go back to her work and made her way to the living room.
From the doorway, Hermione saw Piper sitting on the floor reading the book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", giggling along with the colorful pictures and the adventures of the silly bird. Hermione sat down on the couch and pulled out, Geennook's book and her magnifying glass. She started from page 45 and carefully marked each page the had even the tiniest of print in any corner or margin.
Throughout Hermione's search, she could hear Piper move around and grab another book to read. When she looked up she saw that Piper had moved onto a spin off of the Star Wars story, "Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith". Some time had passed, when Hermione heard a honk from outside the house.
"Come on, little fighter we are going shopping." Hermione said as she closed her book and stood up from the couch. The teen picked up her pre-made bags and handed the smaller one to Piper.
"Lana, we are leaving now, lock the door on the way behind us. And remember what I said earlier." Hermione called from the front door as she ushered Piper through it. The four year old made her way to the car while Hermione waited by the door listening for the click of the door lock. After she heard the door lock she made her way over to the car as well. She hopped into the back seat with Piper and as she closed the door she told the driver to head to the Leaky Cauldron.
After 30 minutes of riding in the car, they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. When they stepped out of the car, Hermione made sure to tip the driver and told him to pick them up three hours from now. The teen took Piper's hand into her own and led the way into the inn. The eyes of the other patrons raked over the young witches before returning to their own conversations and drinks. Piper squeezed Hermione's hand a little when they walked past a suspicious group of wizard and Hermione squeezed back as reassurance.
With a nod to Tom, who was behind the bar, Hermione made her way to the back alley. She picked up Piper and held her on her hip, just in case Diagon Alley was crowded today. Pulling out her wand from her sleeve holder, Hermione touched the bricks in the order Professor Mcgonagall taught her. Hermione watched as Piper's eyes widened once again at seeing magic. This wasn't her first time seeing Diagon Alley, but every time they came, the four year old had the same look of wonder.
As Hermione walked down the alley she was glad to see it was not as crowded as it could have been and went to set Piper down. The four year old was happy to be able to walk around, but made sure to stay close to her sister. Their first stop was Gringotts, where Hermione had set up her personal account on the first trip to the Alley. Her parents had refused to come with her and refused to pay for the Hogwarts, so she tapped into her inheritance to make a transfer. Though Hogwarts was generous to pay for students who didn't have the money, the measly allowance only paid for 2nd hand use items.
Today, Hermione planned to withdraw some Galleons to but her gems and set up an account for Piper too. That way by the time the four year old was able to go to Hogwarts, she would have more money to use for supplies and other things. Hermione and Piper walked into the large bank, Hermione could help but chuckle at her little sister's awed expression as she looked at the Goblins. Hermione walked up to a teller goblin.
"Good morning. May mother nature bless you for many generations." Hermione greeted as she bowed her head towards the goblin.
"May she bless you and yours as well." The goblin replied. "Who are you here to see today?"
"I am here to speak with my account manager, CrinckleToad." Hermione responded with a polite smile. The goblin asked Hermione to wait a moment and when he left Hermione felt Piper tug on her hand.
"Yes, what is it little warrior?" Hermione said as she bent down to look Piper in the eye.
"Can I hug the goblins?" Piper questioned trying out her top of the line puppy eyes. Hermione sighed and shook her head. Usually four year old would be scared of the goblins, but it seems like Piper was super excited about meeting one right in front of her.
"It is rude to hug random people and creatures, but we can ask Mr. CrinckleToad." Hermione explained as the goblin from before approached with Mr. CrinkleToad. Hermione turned to face the goblins and once again bowed her head. "Good morning, Mr. CrinckleToad. I am glad to hear that Mother Magic blessed your family once more." Piper followed Hermione's lead and bowed her head towards the goblin she really wanted to hug.
"Thank you, Ms. Granger, my wife delivered a strong brood last month and they are all warriors." The old goblin replied with his bow and smile. He then turned around and began to lead Hermione and Piper to his office so that they could talk in private. The group of three walked deeper and deeper into the bank until they reached a large door, which led to CrinkleToad's office. The goblin took his place behind the large mahogany desk, while Hermione helped Piper into one of the large red arm chairs, before sitting down herself. The four year old took off her book bag and pulled out a coloring book.
"What can I do for you today, Ms. Granger?" CrinkleToad asked.
"I need to open an account for Piper and I need to take out a few hundred gallons." Hermione replied as she folded her hands in front of her.
"Those simple things don't require you to call for me Ms. Granger, what else do you need from me today?" CrinkleToad asked leaning forward on his desk.
"I just wanted to check in on some of the projects I started. Specifically the books." Hermione responded with a smirk, which turned into a full smile when she saw Piper get excited from the corner of her eye.
"We were able to close multiple expired accounts through the loophole you found. As discussed fifty-two percent of the closed accounts have been transferred to your account, while one-hundred percent of any books collected have been also transferred to your account." CrinkleToad reported to Hermione. The teen witch smiled as she thought about the little loophole that was in the standard bank contract with Gringotts. The original contract had an even bigger loophole, where if there were no daily visits to the bank for over 20 days, then the bank will close the account and seize all assets. The wizards found out about the loophole and demanded for it to be closed. This wasn't the main cause of the wizarding/ goblin war, but it did push tension over the edge. Once the war was won the closing of the loophole was one of the first three demands.
Hermione had looked through the initial contract and pointed out to the Goblins that dead family lines could not meet the new dead lines of 7 years of no visitations. However each wizarding family had heavy wards placed on their vaults, blood wards. A little research on Hermione's part yielded a weak point that could break most blood wards. Blood magic is fueled by the magic of the family and the magic between families is so different on a molecular level, this allows blood wards to be so effective. However, Hermione took a different approach to magic, magic is energy and muggles have created many different ways to convert energy. After going through many test trials with the goblins, they found that overloading the blood wards with magical blood the direct opposite of the original family, muggle born blood, would break the wards completely. Hermione updated her own contract after figuring exposing this loophole contracting the goblins to search for any living magical family members of the Granger household before breaking the blood wards she put in place.
The goblin pulled out a sheet of parchment and handed it over to Hermione, which brought the teen witch out of her reminiscing. "These are the only other ones that are worth mentioning."
Hermione quickly looked over the list and decided to pick up these later after she finished her current read. "I have one other question. Piper here would like to give you a hug, if you would allow it." Hermione asked slightly embarrassed as she saw the pure excitement evident on Piper's face as the four year old dropped her book on the floor.
The old goblin raised an eyebrow at the request and hopped down from his desk and opened his arms. Piper let out a high pitch squeal that made Hermione cringe in her seat. The little girl jumped from her seat and hugged CrinkleToad tightly. After a few pats on the back, Hermione pulled Piper off the old goblin. The two of them took their leave, after CrinkleToad handed over the pouch full of 250 gallons. Hermione and Piper quickly left the bank and made their way into Diagon Alley. The Alley had got a bit more crowded and Hermione decided to pick up Piper to keep the little girl close to her person. The teen witch quickly walked towards the a small shop named, The Gentle Ship, a muggle born shop where Hermione got her first set of magical crystals.
The Gentle Ship was a small shop that held many treasures hidden within. Hermione and the owner Amy, both knew why the shop was not as popular as it could be. But it didn't bother Amy that much, she was happy to be able to set up her shop in such a hostile area. The teen witch was just about to enter the small shop when she spotted a patch of red hair, and heard someone calling out her name.
"Hermione! Hermione! There you are my dear, we went to your house and your maid said you had gone on a trip." Mrs. Weasley rambled as she made her way over to the brunette with Ginny and Ron following right behind her.
Hermione took a deep breath and turned to face the three out of the seven from the Weasley clan. "Hello Mrs. Weasley, how are you doing today?" The teen felt Piper tuck herself into her neck and squeezed the back of her shirt.
"I'm doing fine today, my dear. We were just about to send an owl and ask you to come to the Burrow earlier than usual this summer." Mrs. Weasley said, before finally taking a look at Piper. "Who is this little darling?"
The older woman tried to get a closer look at Piper, but the four year old turned her head to face Hermione's back. "This is Piper, my younger sister. She is shy around new people."
"How come you didn't say about having a sister?" Ron scowled behind his mother also fixing his gaze, more like glaring, at Piper. Hermione caught his eye and shifted the four year old out of his sight, before replying.
"None of you asked about my home with life. You all just asked basic summer questions and I gave basic answers." Hermione took a calming breath before continuing. "Mrs. Weasley, I cannot come to the Burrow early this year. I have other obligations to attend to, speaking of which I have to get going. I'll be sure to owl you."
Hermione tried her best to make her way into the shop before she was stopped again by Mrs. Weasley. "My dear I must insist, you know there are less than favorable characters running around after the Azkaban escape. We just want to keep you safe."
The teen witch raised her eyebrow. "Just me, not my family."
Mrs. Weasley stood surprised for a minute, before grabbing the witch on her arm. "Of course dear, we want to protect all of you."
Hermione ripped her arm out of Mrs. Weasley grasp, before straining to put on a smile. "I'll think about it, but right now I am on a tight schedule." The teen walked into The Gentle Ship, slamming the door shut behind her.
Granger Household 1:30 pm:
The driver pulled into The Granger driveway and the two witches jumped out of the car. Hermione tipped the man one more time, before making her way to the front door. Just as Hermione was about to unlock the door, she felt that something was wrong. Even if the wards did not protect the house from unwanted strangers, it would have warned Hermione if they had been breached. She silently pushed Piper behind her and pulled out her wand. Hermione casted a wordless Alohomora on the door and carefully walked inside.
When the two of them made it past the steps and saw the living room, Hermione saw a person sitting in the love seat. "Stay right where you are." Hermione commanded as she held her wand level to the person's head. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Now that is not how you treat a guest, my little scholar." The person spoke in a feminine tone. "Why don't you sit down first?" Before Hermione could think of what to do next, the front door shut on its own, and her wand flew out her hand. Assessing the situation, Hermione grabbed Piper's hand, which was shaking in fear, and guided them over to the couch. As they sat down Hermione got a better look at the woman.
The teen tried her best not to be surprised, but it was rough. This woman looked almost exactly like herself, she could not believe it. Thick brunette hair that ended in bouncy curls, a soft rounded face and small dimples as she smiled. Though their eyes were different, that was the only difference Hermione could find.
Before Hermione could say anything else, the woman spoke. "Now that we are all acting with manners, I will introduce myself. My name is Sarah Anna Riddle and Hermione I am your mother."
A/N: Yeah so this is a big update, I hope you enjoy it.