Chapter 12:
"We're done here. We've got the information about the White Walkers we came to seek. We're free to leave."
They'd found the ransacked village and seen the undead walk. Swiftly the two witches had sent hexes flying, slicing and cursing the walking dead around them. Benjen too had bravely ridden his horse forth and slayed as many as he could without getting caught in the crossfires of the witches. They'd heaped the broken limbs and torn bodies later and almost as an after-thought, Hermione had set the pile on fire, hoping it would grant them some sort of peace in their afterlife.
And what a grand idea that had been. In their cleaning up, they'd missed a couple of bodies and when the sun went down, they'd risen again, attacking the camp the three had set. It was only thanks to the strong wards Ginny and Hermione had set around their camping ground that had kept them away and warned the witches of the lurking dangers.
As one, the two had woken up and dashed forward, even before Benjen could open his eyes completely, they'd turned the two hellish corpses into ash.
"We need to get back and quickly," they'd told Benjen, though he'd figured that bit out himself.
"But we can't leave you alone here. Not when we know it's so unsafe."
"Forgive me, my ladies, but this is my area, and I can manage myself just fine," he'd insisted.
"Do you trust us?" Ginny had cut through the chase.
"With my life," Benjen had agreed in a heartbeat. He'd seen the women fight after all.
"Good," she'd nodded.
Hermione had begun her work on their horses during which Ginny had been talking to the crow. First, she had put the horses off to sleep with one quick spell and then she had miniaturized them and turned to her other two companions.
"We done here?" Ginny had nodded, pocketing all of their camping gear and zip the pocket. "Think only of Castle Black and brace your knees as soon as we hit the ground. Got it?" Hermione had next spoken to Benjen and on his nod, she had held his hand and the three had disappeared with two separate cracks.
Benjen had dry hurled as soon as his feet embedded themselves in the thick snow around the entrance to Castle Black.
"We'd love to come up for tea but we're hard-pressed for time," Ginny had grinned at him.
"We hope you stay safe and keep protecting your realm as you've always done. We might just see you again. Until then," Hermione had nodded with a smile and both the witches had cracked away again.
"You go get some sleep and I'll just check something up…"
"… in the library. I know."
That had been their farewell last night as they'd apparated back straight into their rooms in Winterfell.
And now, it was morning. Hermione had walked in just a few minutes back to find Ginny lieing dejectedly on her bed, her head buried in her pillow.
Hermione tenderly ran her hands on Ginny's hair, her ivory skin standing out in stark contrast against her fiery red mane. "Ginny.. sweetie, if you want to stay.."
Ginny shook her head and cut her off, burying her head under the pillow as a fresh bout of tears hit her.
"I can't stay here, anymore, Mione.. Not after…" she whimpered shakily, her body shuddering under the weight of her sobs.
If only Hermione could get away with murder, she would've happily murdered Jon just then. She didn't know what had happened between the two, but he'd managed to break her best friend's spirit, something not even Harry's initial rejections, when she was all of eleven, had been able to do.
Hermione hated seeing Ginny like this, and for that reason alone, she was glad they were going back.
If a pair of the lightest, deepest blue eyes ended up haunting her once she was back in her own world, well, she would deal with that when it happened.
Right now, her focus was Ginny.
Her eyes swept over the younger girl again and she smiled at her in encouragement as she finally left the warmth of her furs and climbed out of the iron bed.
Ginny returned her small smile after she wiped her eyes dry. "I'll pack up in here and go say bye to Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon afterwards."
Hermione agreed. "I have a some work in the library that I need to wrap up before we leave. I'll meet you back here in sometime."
Despite her mood, Ginny chuckled. "I doubt it. If your past history is anything to go by, I'll meet you in the library in a bit to pull you out."
Hermione smiled and hugged her friend, then left the room and closed the door behind herself until she heard it click. She was absolutely sure Ginny would be using magic to pack all their belongings and she didn't want their cover blown now, when more of their kind were likely to visit the place soon enough.
Her roughened boots clicking on the floor, Hermione walked to the library, hoping against hope she'd meet the man she was looking for in there, this time alone.
Luck smiled in her, somewhat.
She found Lord Stark in there, but he wasn't alone. He was again in the company he had kept that fateful morning.
"Lady Hermione." He greeted her formally, this time his tone clipped, "To what do I owe this visit? Is it to update me on the success of your recent visit to The Wall?"
"Yes, in a way. We found what we were looking for. So, we'll be leaving soon enough. Ginny's packing up our stuff, but I had some last minute matter to discuss with you before I left, Lord Stark."
Robb's eyes glued to her, stunned, while Jon's head bowed down in guilt, his eyes looking at the floor in shame. Ned furrowed his brows at the witch – this was not going to be good, he could feel it in his bones.
Maester Luwin wisely left the family and their guest to it, taking his leave from his Lord before he stepped out of the library and shut the door behind him.
Hermione, for her part, kept her gaze firmly holding the eldest Stark's, not once did she dare to look at the frozen man standing closer to her side of his father's desk. Though she felt his eyes boring holes into the side of her head.
With a whispered spell, while keeping his eyes, she was able to speak to Lord Eddard Stark straight in his head, eavesdroppers be damned. She would let him choose to tell this to family, not have them hear her telling their father to speak with them.
"You need to tell Jon about his true parentage. He is dying inside everyday thinking of himself as a bastard, and honestly, it's now hurting my friend! And I won't stand to see her tears anymore."
Ned Stark had seen a lot of things in his life so far, but this.. the experience of having this young woman's voice throwing instructions at him straight in his head! Well, that was something else entirely and he flinched at the first onslaught of her words, but slowly accustomed himself to it.
"How are you doing this?" he asked her instead.
She furrowed her brows. "Mind magic," she shrugged.
"What do you know and how?" he growled at her next.
"I know the truth, because I read it right here in your library," she replied in his mind again and summoned the books she was speaking of, placing them at his desk.
Ned looked down at the books and recoiled just a bit. Making an effort to keep his hand firm, he fingered the books lightly – Lyanna's last dairy, the Stark family book, the history of Targaryens.
"It wasn't difficult to piece the puzzle together after that," Hermione shrugged.
"I had these under lock and key in a partial hidden bookcase!"
"The most obvious place for someone looking for forbidden information, don't you think?" Hermione even threw him a cheeky grin. "I am a proud bookworm, my Lord, you can't keep books away from me for long."
"I'll let you ponder over it for a bit while I say my goodbyes to your family. But if you don't tell him by supper tonight, I will make sure he knows all about it before I leave."
"That, my Lord, I promise." Hermione was returning Lord Stark's calculating look with an icy one of her own when the door to the library burst open.
"Mione.. we have a situation…"
...0.0.
Not five minutes into the act, Ginny had finished packing their meagre belongings in Hermione's nifty little clutter-bag, as she termed her beaded bag to be.
She laid down every single item the Starks had conferred upon them on the bed in neat piles. She even went out of her way to clean the sheets and the room with charms. By the time she was done, no one could guess that the room was even inhabited for the past two months.
That's how she wanted it.
A clean break.
Nothing left behind.
Well, apart from the shattered pieces of her broken heart, that is.
She was leaving those with a young raven headed, curly haired boy with slate grey eyes.
Not that he had any use of it.
Quite the contrary, in fact.
Anyway, she shook her head, refusing to let her mind go back to being the mess it had been the past few days. She was going to be seeing her mum soon enough, and knowing Molly Weasley, she would take one look at her daughter and bring down the whole of Westeros and Essos to their knees for making her daughter cry.
So she cleaned up her face with the cool water in the basin and charmed her face to hide the traces of her grief, picked up the little trinkets she had set aside as parting gifts for the young kids she had started seeing as her own siblings and walked out the room after making sure she had placed the permanency charm on all the transfigured items.
Her good byes with the youngest of the Stark boys weren't too long but they did leave her teary eyed. They hugged her and asked her to stay for longer, even enquiring about Hermione. She kissed them on their cheeks and bid a goodbye, handing them both small transfigured quaffles that they could kick around in the courtyards.
To Sansa, she gave a clear mirror set in silver. It was her own, but she wanted the young girl to have it, knowing she'd love it far more. Sansa, too, hugged her fiercely, in a rare bout of emotional display and insisted she take one of her embroidered pillowcases along, something to remember her by, and Ginny let a tear slip and kissed the beautiful girl's forehead and left her room.
She steeled herself before entering Arya's room, and all hell broke in thereafter!
Arya was shocked and swiftly moved on to the role of a small teared-up girl, hugging Ginny tight, refusing to let go. She didn't even make a move to touch the soft, silk scarf, again one of Ginny's own, her team's scarf actually, given to all first string team members. When Ginny finally extricated herself from her hold and moved towards the door, a large ornate jar in the corner of the room burst suddenly.
Ginny halted in her steps, but knew in a second what had happened.
She turned, looking wide-eyed at Arya, who stood there with her hands covering her mouth, her eyes large with fear.
"Ginny.. please don't tell anyone. I don't know what happened. I.. I didn't do it on purpose.."
Ginny ran back to the girl who reminded her so much of herself and hugged her tight. "Don't worry, I with you all the way," she promised her. "But you need to answer a few of my questions, okay?"
"Let's find Hermione," she tugged at Arya's hand but she remained frozen at her spot.
"They'll kill me. I'll be outcast or burned. I'm scared. Ginny don't tell anyone.."
Ginny rubbed her arms and whispered softly but surely back. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. Between me and Hermione, we'll have you covered. We're a team remember, the three of us? We will protect you with our lives. But we can't help you if you don't let us. Trust me? Please.."
Arya nodded and quietly placed her hand in Ginny's who walked by her side to the library.
Ginny didn't bother knocking on the door, she threw it open and looked right at her friend.
"Mione.. We have a situation.."
Hermione's eyes left Lord Stark's and moved between Ginny's firm ones and Arya's fearful ones, lingering on the tight clasp Ginny had on the little girl's hand.
She saw Arya shaking like a leaf in the wind, her eyes trained on the men of her family.
Hermione looked at Ginny again who softly whispered the words that changed their lives forever.
"Mione.. she's one of us.."
AN: I know, I know, it is positively wicked of me to just leave it at that... but hey, I gave you two chapters worth of material for a Sunday, didn't I?
Now, be kind and help your bored author read something nice. Recommend some completed works of Hermione with ...literally anyone... Pretty please? (yes... I am batting my eyes here!) I'd love to read her with Oliver, Charlie, Sirius (with or without time travel), Edward Cullen, Jacob Black or OC but I'd even take Draco, Theo, Blaise... honestly anyone... Thanks in advance!