It had been a long couple of hours as Hermione waited with Harry and the Weasley clan in their accommodation. The huge family had taken over the floor closest to the rooms where Harry and Hermione lived with Grindelwald. The family had been giving her strange looks ever since she arrived and it was beginning to grate on her nerves so she finally pulled Harry aside and asked him about it.
'You've changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. They've noticed is all.' He said, going to leave.
'Changed? How?' Hermione demanded, grabbing him by the upper arm. She didn't feel any different, she wasn't dressing any differently.
'Just... you?' Harry tried, gesturing at all of her. She squeezed his arm warningly. 'You're more confident, powerful. I mean, you were always strong but these past few weeks... It's like there's this level – Dumbledore, Grindelwald, You-Know-Who, they're all incredibly powerful. We always knew you'd be brilliant of course but suddenly it seems like you'll be up there with them. I mean, we all noticed today when you walked in and boiled the water.'
It was true, she conceded, she had boiled the water wandlessly when she'd first arrived but that was only because she and Gellert had been working on it almost constantly and it had practically become habit. She'd summoned quills, levitated logs and books at every opportunity and boiled water more times than she could count. She had made the drinks by hand though, Grindelwald could do even that without looking.
'I'm nowhere near them.' Hermione told him honestly and Harry looked at her with that expression that was much older than his years.
'Not yet but you will be some day. They've been doing this for 100 years longer than you.' He said, pulling his arm out of Hermione's shocked fingers and going into the bathroom.
Hermione spent the rest of the evening in a daze, barely answering questions and picking at the dinner that the elves delivered. A paper crane arrived at just past seven to let them know that Ron was well on his way to recovery, and asking Hermione to come down to the ward room.
She did as she was asked, meeting Grindelwald at the room in the castle that she most hated. He stood outside the doorway, hands shoved into his pockets, leaned up against the wall and looking for all the world like he'd just gotten off a boy band photoshoot. He looked up as she approached, and pushed off from the wall.
'Hermione.' He greeted.
'How's Ron?' She asked immediately.
'Well on his way to recovery. They had to remove his wand arm up to just below his elbow but he's improving quickly now.' Came the reply, Hermione stifled a sob. 'I need you to do something for me.' He continued.
'What do you need?' She asked curiously.
'The wards need recharging. I want to key you in to them in case something happens to me.' Hermione baulked, 'You don't need to perform the ritual; I just need you to be inside the circle when I do it.' Ghosts of remembered sickness squirmed through her stomach at just the thought but she understood the sense in what he was saying. It would be silly to have the wards collapse just because she couldn't manage a little queasiness. She agreed, surprised by how relieved he looked when she did.
'The second thing is to cast that ward I told you about – the one to repel dark magic, around the living quarters.' He fiddled awkwardly with the hem of his necktie.
'Why can't you? I don't know if I could maintain it in there.' She asked him. He jumped back and for the first time real fear crossed his face.
'Maggots.' He muttered, blushing. Realisation dawned on Hermione.
'You can't cast a patronus?' Hermione murmured in horror, she'd never actually heard of anyone who genuinely couldn't. He shook his head.
'I couldn't when a lethifold attacked one of my lieutenants. I filled the room with feindfyre and burned the maggots and my lieutenant to death with the creature. Für das Größere Wohl' His old slogan sounded bitter on his tongue.
'You've changed though. I think you're still changing. One day you will.' She told him. He smiled at her placatingly, clearly disbelieving. 'Yes, if you insist, I'll cast it for you. Make sure I get it right.'
She turned and begun the spell. It was rather simple really, the same process as casting a patronus, but with a different wording. The spell slipped from her wand like silver silk, running along the floor and up the walls. It pulsed slightly, flowing into the walls and encompassing everything upstairs of them. Pure joy flowed through her as the her magic continued to flow, when the ward sealed and the magic cut off, she suddenly felt cold and isolated.
She reached forwards, seeing the slight shimmer in the air and passing her hand through it without resistance.
Grindelwald was watching her with fascination, he stepped forwards and reached out his hand. He hesitated, right before he touched the silvery shield, then pushed forwards and touched him. There was a sharp pop and he leapt backwards, hissing and cradling his hand. He glared at the silvery barrier resentfully and then inspected the damage to his hand. The wound healed before their eyes – burned skin knitting back together as if he'd never been injured.
His eyes lit up with the academic interest she knew so well on her own features. She knew he was dying to experiment with the charm and recognised the exact moment that he realised that for once, this experiment was beyond his grasp.
He stalked off into the ward room, throwing the doors open for Hermione to follow. He waited for her at the ring of fire, lifting her over the flames so that they didn't even brush her feet. He then stepped straight through.
'The fire will kill anyone who does not share my convictions.'
'The stuff you used when you tried to burn down the whole of Paris.' She asked. He grinned at her, obviously pleased that she'd heard of it.
'An error in judgement, wouldn't have even left enough for inferi.' He admitted. They walked across the floor together to where the alter stood in the middle of the table. Hermione tried to still her trembling hands and looked anywhere but the skulls leering at her from the top of the pile. Grindelwald climbed the stairs, stopping in front of the pile.
He turned back to look at her, offering a reassuring smile and a hand. She took it, embarrassed at how badly she trembled but he said nothing. Once she was standing next to him, he released her hand and faced her.
'Let me touch your magic, I'll guide it where it needs to go. Just focus on keeping that shield up, I think it will help you.' She nodded and felt his magic brush up against hers, she forced herself not to shy away and took his hand to reassure herself with the magical connection. He stiffened at the contact, then smiled at her. She managed a shaky one in return.
He started without warning, which she was glad of because she would have backed out if he'd waited any longer. It was a thousand times worse than the last time, her magic rebelled against Grindelwald's every touch and she knew that without her cooperation he'd never be able to finish the ritual correctly. She tried to focus on the patronus shield but his presence and the dark magic were building and pressing down on her with crushing force.
She started seeing spots but the pile of bones had barely begin to disintegrate, she knew she couldn't last the entire enchantment. Then suddenly Grindelwald was there, in her mind, he coaxed her magic into obedience, twining it with his own as he continued to chant. Sweat trickled down his face as he guided her mind back to the patronus shield, continuing to twist her magic with his own and casting his spell as the same time. She focused on the ward upstairs, feeling detached from her own body. With his darkness muffling that of the spell, and with him blocking her senses from inside her mind, she didn't even realise the spell was finished until she felt the sudden tug on her magic and his presence suddenly disappeared from her mind as he fully focused on the completion of the spell.
He struck the stone altar with his wand and the runes sparked alight, Hermione's magic whispered along with it, a trickle to the roaring river of Grindelwald's. Sickness washed over her and she clapped her free hand over her mouth, absolutely certain that vomiting on the runes would ruin the enchantment.
When she regained some of her sense of time and place and could focus on something other than not being sick, she opened her eyes and saw Grindelwald on his hands and knees.
'At least we never have to do that again.' He panted. Hermione would have smiled if she didn't feel so sick. The dark wizard pushed himself up using the altar, pausing for a couple of seconds reconstruct him usual mask. 'Let's get you some chocolate in bed, you did very well.'
He lifted her over the fire again on the way out, explaining that he didn't want to risk the fire not changing even if the wards had then she started off up the corridor as he walked through and shut the doors behind him. He called out to her when she was half way up the corridor and she remembered with some surprise that she still held the patronus ward in place.
She ended the charm and they stumbled their way back up to their rooms for a well deserved rest.