Wonder Witches!

Summary: Desperate for a way to help her friend survive all of the dangerous situations she keeps facing, Hermione convinces Diantha Potter to take part in a ritual that will turn her into an avatar of a powerful being, giving her abilities that will let her fulfill her goals. The model she uses is Wonder Woman, but the ritual doesn't go quite right, leading to unexpected consequences.

Crossover: Harry Potter/Wonder Woman

Pairing: Diantha Potter/Hermione Granger

A/N: Another Wonder Woman crossover! Well, not quite a crossover, I guess, since in this fic Wonder Woman is a fictional story that leads to the acquisition of new powers. Still, there aren't enough crossovers with Wonder Woman, right? There's a lot of potential here, I think, but it would be too easy for it to turn out too similar to my Jasmine Potter series. Regardless, it's still interesting, and it was worth writing a first chapter. I read a fic a while ago that used this "avatar ritual" premise, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it was.

A/N 2: As it turns out, the inspiration for this was probably "Power of Belief" by Zero-Metallix, which you can find in their "Harry Potter: One-Shots and Ideas" fic.

As always, thanks to Bonnie for not only reading this and improving on the original, but also for her help in developing the plot so far.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I don't own Wonder Woman, DC does.

Chapter 01 - Wonder Woman Powers, Activate!

Hogwarts. June, 1995.

"Psst, Di!"

"Psst, Di! Are you awake?"

Diantha Potter blinked carefully and fought to stifle a groan of pain as she tried to focus on the voice.

"Di?"

She looked around and frowned when she didn't see anything. Suddenly Hermione's face appeared, floating in mid-air next to her bed in the hospital wing.

"Hermione?" Di asked groggily. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Di, I've been so worried about you!" Hermione whispered. It was obvious to Di that the other witch desperately wanted to reach out and pull her into one of her patented hugs, but she'd been warned by a very stern Poppy Pomfrey that touch could be painful for victims of the Cruciatus Curse until their damaged nerve endings healed.

"What time is it?" Di asked. "Is it morning already? It's so dark..."

"No, it's the middle of the night," Hermione said as she shifted closer, some of her neck now appearing as the invisibility cloak fell open with the movement. With her head right at the level of the bed, Di figured that she was probably kneeling on the floor next to her.

"Then why...?" Di asked, still sore and tired from her ordeal in the graveyard two nights earlier.

"I have something I want to talk to you about," Hermione said. "Something that I couldn't do when others were around."

Di grimaced as she gingerly rolled onto her side, facing Hermione. As much as she wanted to sleep, she knew Hermione wouldn't have woken her without a good reason. Rather than begin explaining, though, Hermione started biting her bottom lip, something she always did when nervous or deep in thought. Di suspected that both were true this time and waited patiently for her friend to continue.

After a long moment, Hermione pulled a large, battered-looking book out from Di's invisibility cloak and set it on the edge of the bed. Diantha propped herself up on one elbow so she could open it and was surprised to see two different kinds of writing, neither of which she recognized.

"What is this?" she asked. "Are these some kind of runes?"

"This is a book on rituals," Hermione explained. "The text on the left is the original, ancient Sanskrit and on the right is modern Hindi."

"You can read this?" Di asked, surprised because she'd never seen Hermione reading texts in either language.

"Nope, not a bit of it," Hermione admitted. "I got this book from Padma — she pulled me aside after breakfast this morning and gave it to me, saying that she'd written to one of her aunts to send her a copy. Unfortunately, the aunt lives in India, so it's taken awhile to get here."

"Padma?" Di said. "Why? She's never said anything that would even suggest she believed or supported me. Then again... to be honest, I can't remember her saying anything against me, either. I don't even think she wore one of those buttons."

Hermione shook her head. "She didn't, just like her sister and Lavender didn't. Padma told me that there are quite a few witches in Hogwarts who are unhappy with how you've been treated this year — and for the last three years, too — but they haven't felt that they could speak up and do anything about it. Until now, none of them have had a way to help. Oh, I wish we'd had this book before that third task! I'm sure it would have made a huge difference!"

"Help? How?" Di asked as she flipped through a couple of pages. "I don't know how much help this will be when we can't understand anything in it."

"That's why Padma included a translation of the most important ritual," Hermione said, pulling the book away from Diantha and turning to near the end, where there were a few pieces of loose parchment with English written on them. "That's what I was doing all day today. I wanted to double-check some of the translations, just to be sure that what Padma provided is accurate."

"So why don't you tell me what it's all about?" Di said as she lay back down, preparing herself for what she expected would be a long lecture.

"Well, it's a complicated ritual that will transform a regular person, even a muggle, into an avatar of a hero or higher being."

"Avatar?" Di asked. "That sounds familiar, but..."

"It's a representative or manifestation of a powerful being, usually a god or goddess," Hermione explained. "But instead of simply speaking for them, an avatar is also imbued with the powers of the god or goddess. That's why they're often referred to as manifestations rather than simply representatives."

"So if I became an avatar of, say, the Norse god Thor," Di said, her eyes brightening with interest, "then I'd be able to... wield lightning or something? That would have been useful last night. Yeah... I could have put that to good use."

"Exactly," Hermione answered. "And it's not limited to gods and goddesses, though that's how it seems to have been used most often in ancient India. You could become an avatar of a more human hero, too, or of anything powerful."

"Like a dragon?" Di suggested.

"It might work, but you'd be stuck as that avatar permanently. And who knows what sorts of changes it would make to you?"

"Ew, scales," Di said, wrinkling her nose. "And I can only do it once? It's permanent?"

"I'm afraid so — it's one of the drawbacks of the ritual," Hermione admitted. "And you can't be an avatar of a person or being who already has an avatar somewhere. So there can only be one avatar of Thor, Zeus, Krishna, etc., at any one time."

The thought brought Diantha up short, and she looked suspiciously at her friend. "I assume there are more drawbacks to this ritual — let's hear them."

"Well, it takes a lot of magic, obviously," Hermione answered as she looked over her notes. "Such a transformation isn't easy. But Hogwarts has a lot of magic in it, so if we do it before we go home, I'm hopeful that that particular cost won't be too much of a problem for us. There is always a chance that it won't work, of course, and if it doesn't work, there is a risk of those involved losing something — becoming weaker, for example. It seems that if the petitioner's desire and need to become an avatar is deemed to be too trivial, then a penalty is exacted."

Di considered that. "Well, with Voldemort back, I'm pretty sure that stopping him from not only killing me, but taking over all of Wizarding Britain is hardly 'trivial.'"

"I know, and that's why I think it will work for you. I'll need to find a room..." Hermione started to say, but Di held up a hand to stop her.

"First, we need to decide who or what I should become an avatar of."

"Oh... well, uh, do you trust me?" Hermione asked, now looking anything but trustworthy.

Di narrowed her eyes. "Of course I trust you, but when you ask me something like that, I suddenly start wondering if I should."

"I've got an idea — a great idea, in fact," Hermione replied, her voice brimming with hushed excitement. "But before I tell it to you, I want to double-check everything to make sure that it will work."

"That's fine," Di said with a sigh, "but the train leaves for London next Saturday. Do we have time?"

"Yes, we should," Hermione said. "If I can find the right sort of room, we can do it this weekend. Madam Pomfrey said she'd probably let you out on Saturday, so we'll do it Saturday night. That will give us a few days to make sure you're alright and to test how much power you received."

"And you're not going to tell me beforehand what your idea is?" Di asked, but Hermione shook her head. "Alright, I'll play along," Di said resignedly, finding Hermione's bright, twinkling eyes to be incredibly suspicious, but too tired to argue just then.

"You focus on getting better," Hermione whispered as she covered herself back up with the cloak, "I'll handle everything else."

As she exited the hospital wing, she added, even more quietly to herself, "I'll take care of you, Di, I promise. Whatever it takes, I won't let anything more happen to you."

"Hermione?" Diantha called uncertainly as she poked her head around the door that had mysteriously appeared in the seventh-floor corridor. Hermione had called it the Room of Requirement — she said Dobby had told her about it when she encountered him after leaving the hospital wing the other night, and she seemed confident that it would be perfect for their needs.

As expected, Hermione was already there and had drawn on the stone floor most of what would be needed for the ritual. There were three smaller circles contained by one larger circle, with symbols and runes written everywhere. Di was sure that even if she could read the Sanskrit, she'd never be able to make out or understand what she was looking at.

Di sat down against one of the walls and waited, partly because she didn't want to interrupt Hermione while she was working — she'd learned her lesson on that long ago — and partly because she still didn't feel very good. The aftereffects of the torture she'd endured at the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters continued to plague her. She was sore all over, her arm burned where Wormtail had cut her with the cursed knife, parts of her body continued to twitch occasionally, and every time she closed her eyes she thought about... what had happened.

"So, are you finally going to tell me what you think I should become an avatar of?" Di asked once Hermione was finished and came over. "Is it a god or goddess? Or maybe a hero, like King Arthur?"

"No, nothing like that," Hermione said, clearly nervous. She sat next to Diantha and reached into her bottomless bookbag to pull out a large, hardbound book with colorful drawings on the front. "I think you should become the avatar of her: Wonder Woman. This is Wonder Woman: A History — I got it this past Christmas. It's all about her, how she's changed over the years, and the companions who fight alongside her, as well as summaries of some of the more famous issues and storylines."

Di frowned, and Hermione quickly added, "Don't tell me you've never heard of Wonder Woman!"

"No, I have," Di replied, "but... I don't remember much about her. Was she popular? I think she was — I seem to remember a show on the telly, but Vernon never let Dudley watch it for some reason. All I seem to remember is a rope and some bracelets. That doesn't strike me as impressive. What about a cooler superhero, like Superman? Or the Hulk? No, wait, he's green, too Slytherin. Still, 'Diantha Smash Puny Dark Lord! Grrr!' would be wicked. Can you imagine Voldemort's face? Maybe—"

Hermione interrupted with a huff of annoyance and started flipping through the book. "I'll have you know that Wonder Woman is one of the most powerful superheroes created by this publisher. She's at least as powerful as Superman, if not more so."

"Yeah?" Di asked, sounding skeptical.

"Absolutely," Hermione insisted. "Her powers are all blessings from various Olympian gods and goddesses, giving her a wide variety of skills. That's much better than becoming the avatar of just one deity." She found the page she was looking for and began to read: "'From Demeter, she has the gifts of super strength and fast healing, especially when in contact with the earth. From Athena, she has wisdom, leadership skills, and military prowess. From Artemis, she has enhanced senses, especially her eyesight and hearing, as well as an ability to communicate with all animals.'"

"No more glasses?" Di asked.

Hermione smiled knowingly before returning to her recitation. "'From Hermes, she received both super speed and the ability to fly. From Aphrodite, she received great beauty and kindness. And finally, from Hestia, she received a limited ability to control fire as well as resistance to fire.'"

"Now that might have helped during the first task," Di said, leaning forward to better see what Hermione was looking at.

Hermione nodded in agreement. "There are also some more general powers she has due to her being a child of the gods. She's resistant to being cut, resistant to blunt-force trauma, and even resistant to magic — something that Superman is vulnerable to, by the way."

"Even more useful," Di admitted.

"And on top of all that, she isn't a hero who always resorts to violence or brute force to solve problems," Hermione continued. "She's primarily an ambassador of peace, love, and justice from the Amazons. She would prefer to make friends rather than battle enemies, though she doesn't hesitate to leap into a fight to protect the innocent."

"So... no smashing?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Only as a last resort!"

"Alright, alright, you've convinced me — Wonder Woman is way cooler than Superman."

"And let's not forget the reason why I was given information on this ritual," Hermione added. "There are witches in the castle who are unhappy with how you, as a witch, have been treated. They want you to not only do well for your own sake, but for the sake of all witches. Becoming the avatar of a male superhero would conflict with one of the purposes of what we're doing, and that could reduce any benefit you receive. Becoming the avatar of a female superhero, on the other hand, might lead to an even better result."

"You really are a fangirl, aren't you?" Di said with a grin — the first real smile she'd shown since the third task.

"It's not like that," Hermione insisted, shooting her best friend a glare. "I just... I just appreciate strong female role models. I look up to strong women."

"Is that why you just happened to have this already?" Di asked as she pulled the book out of Hermione's hands and started paging through it.

"My father collected comics when he was young," Hermione said a bit defensively. "I read some when I was little, but always gravitated to the comics which featured female superheroes, especially Wonder Woman. I guess... I guess I kind of fixated on her at some point, because I still like reading about her, even though I couldn't care less about any other comics."

Pausing at some illustrations, Diantha gave a low whistle and said, "I don't know about strong female role models, but she does look good in that outfit... what little of it there is, at any rate."

"Yeah, there's that, too," Di heard Hermione murmur under her breath. A quick look out of the corner of her eye confirmed that her friend was blushing when she said it, which caused Di to wonder what that might mean.

"Well, as good of a choice as she seems to be, I think there's one small flaw in your plan," Di said as she closed the book and handed it back.

"What?" Hermione asked, frowning at the suggestion that she could have missed anything.

"Simple," Di said. "Wonder Woman is fictional. How can I possibly become the avatar of someone who doesn't exist? Who is just the figment of someone's imagination?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "That's a fair question, but honestly, do you think any of the Hindu gods and goddesses truly exist? Are you sure that King Arthur existed?" Di opened her mouth to say something, then abruptly closed it again as she thought about that. "Using a real person or being as the role model might help, but nothing in the instructions for the ritual says that it's necessary," Hermione continued. "So long as the role model is widely known and understood, that seems to be enough. As usual, magic is more about will and intent than anything else."

Di nodded slowly. "Perhaps it's like transfiguration, then? If I have an idea of what I want fixed firmly in my mind, then magic will make it happen?"

Hermione considered the idea, then looked over her notes again before saying, "Actually, the description of the ritual doesn't say anything like that. It focuses mostly on the community's belief in whatever being is used as the role model — that's because the person becoming the avatar is usually doing so in order to serve as a hero or savior for that community. But thinking about what you want to be as well as what you want to achieve probably can't hurt."

"And what exactly is the community in our case?" Di asked.

"Well, hopefully the people who are fans of Wonder Woman will count for something, since they know and understand her. Mostly, though, I suppose it's the witches in Hogwarts who have been cheering for you behind the scenes, but who haven't been brave or confident enough to come forward to support you publicly. Their desire for you to survive the dangerous situations you're thrust into, to defeat Voldemort, and to show the world what a witch can do will probably play a big role in your ability to be the avatar of a heroine like Wonder Woman."

They both fell silent for a long while as they pondered the implications of that. Finally Di asked, "So how do we do this?"

"Well, I just need to double-check my work," Hermione answered as she stood up. "The book about Wonder Woman goes in the white circle. It serves as an icon of the role model. I'll stand in the red circle to chant the incantation and direct the magic. You'll stand in the blue circle and focus your thoughts."

"Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"Absolutely," Hermione said as she walked around the outer circle, checking her runes. "This will tire out both of us. Doing it now will let us fall asleep here, if we need to. No one will seriously miss us until Monday morning, giving us all day Sunday to recover."

After taking off her outer robe so she'd be more comfortable, Di put the Wonder Woman book in the white circle, then went over to the blue circle to stand and wait. It took a little bit, but eventually Hermione was satisfied with her work and put away the large ritual book which Padma had lent her. Carrying a piece of parchment with the long incantation written on it, she stepped into the red circle. When Di indicated that she was ready, Hermione began to move her wand and recite the incantation.

Although she sincerely tried, Di found it difficult to focus exclusively on either the nature of Wonder Woman or on the reasons why she thought she needed to become an avatar of the Amazonian superhero. Instead, she kept finding herself returning to thoughts about Hermione — especially Hermione's blush at the mention of Wonder Woman's revealing outfit.

No, focus! she commanded herself. I don't usually have trouble focusing on her end product in Transfiguration, so what's my problem now? Did the Cruciatus Curse affect my mind and ability to think? Did Madam Pomfrey miss something?

A moment later, she found herself distracted again as her mind seemed to roam of its own accord over a host of little things that Hermione had said or done over the previous three years — things that Di hadn't paid much attention to before, but which now seemed to be a whole lot more meaningful. There were the long, lingering looks that Hermione had occasionally given her when she thought Di wasn't watching. There was how close Hermione tended to sit next to her, often close enough to touch, even if only just barely. There was how tightly Hermione had held her when the two of them rode Buckbeak at the end of the previous school term.

Di shut her eyes and squeezed her fists so tightly that her fingernails started digging painfully into her palms. What is the matter with me? she wondered. Why can't I focus on what's important? Rituals are dangerous enough under the best of circumstances, and I can't afford any mistakes here!

When she opened her eyes again, her vision was once more filled with the sight of Hermione, her best friend. The one person who always stood by her side, no matter what. Hermione was still saying the incantation, but she wasn't reading it off the parchment anymore; instead she was reciting it from memory while looking directly at Di. And as Di looked back into Hermione's bright, brown eyes, everything about her emotions and life seemed to coalesce.

Merlin! Di thought as the magic rose in intensity and swirled around them. Hermione fancies me! I mean, she fancies girls and she even fancies me!

And... and I fancy her!

Diantha Potter was not much for planning — that was what Hermione did. Everyone who knew the two of them knew that. Diantha was much more the sort to jump into something just because it seemed like the right thing to do. Sometimes that turned out for the best, like when she flung herself on the back of a mountain troll and stuck her wand up its nose. Other times it didn't work out quite so well, like when she and Ron decided to take Arthur Weasley's flying car from London to Hogwarts.

The two witches would forever debate which category Di's next actions should be classified into.

As she looked at her best friend while the magic of the ritual moved around and through her, Di was struck by how important Hermione was in her life. She was amazed at the lengths to which Hermione regularly went in order to help her. And at that moment, with magic dancing in the air around them, she didn't think she'd ever seen anyone as beautiful as her bushy-haired, bookworm friend.

Hermione whipped her wand downward in a slashing motion, completing the ritual incantation, and instead of standing still as she was supposed to, Di reached out, grabbed Hermione by her robe, yanked her into the blue circle, and gave the shocked witch such a passionate kiss that Hermione immediately went weak in the knees.

Then everything went black for the both of them.

Diantha came to consciousness very slowly. She ached all over, just like before, but there was a different quality to it. The pain was no longer that of the Cruciatus Curse, but rather from something else. There seemed to be an odd buzzing in the back of her mind, and she realized that she was lying on hard, cold stone.

Well, that might explain why I'm sore, she concluded as she lifted a hand to rub her eyes and tried to remember what had happened last. Wasn't I doing that ritual with Hermione? she wondered. Yeah, that's it, a ritual. She was chanting, and then... uh... I...

"Diantha. Cassiopeia. POTTER!"

Oh, shite!

"What in Merlin's name were you thinking? No, don't answer that — you weren't thinking at all, were you?"

Di opened her eyes to a blurry world. She blinked hard several times, but the blur didn't lift. After a moment, she removed her glasses to check for smudges and the world around her jumped to sharp, crystal clarity. She'd never been able to see so well, not even when her glasses were new, though the grin this produced quickly faded when she noticed Hermione sitting next to her, her hands clutching at her hair in her agitation and looking more furious than Di had ever seen.

Di opened her mouth to respond and was as surprised as anyone at what came out. "Actually, I was thinking how beautiful you looked, and that I desperately wanted to kiss you until your toes curled and you forgot your own name."

"You—!" Hermione began angrily, then stopped short and gaped in shock at her best friend. "You thought what?" she asked in a much softer tone.

Di was in a bit of shock at her own words as well, but seeing that they'd stopped Hermione from yelling, she was more than happy to keep going. "I said I wanted to kiss you senseless," Di answered. "And you seemed to enjoy it, too. Or was I mistaken?"

Hermione's cheeks quickly went bright red in a blush that Di was sure extended pretty far down. After several failed attempts to formulate a reply, she finally got out, "No, you're not wrong. It... but... you..." She then huffed in exasperation as she dropped her hands into her lap. "That's not the point. Honestly, do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Do you know what can happen when you interfere with the intricate steps of a magical ritual? Why couldn't you have done that before we started? Or after?"

Di sat up and ran a hand through her hair, then shrugged. "I don't know. I was thinking about the things you told me to focus on, and I tried, really I did, but I kept coming back to thoughts of you. I don't understand why — I've never had so much trouble focusing on something like that before." She stopped and took a deep breath before saying, "I hope my mind wasn't damaged by the torture. Regardless, in the end the desire to kiss you simply overwhelmed me. It seemed like the most important thing in the world that I could do — more important than the ritual, in fact. I've never wanted anything more than I wanted that, right then. So I reached out and pulled you into a kiss."

Hermione put her head in her hands and slowly shook it. "What is it with Gryffindors?" she groaned. Finally, she looked at Diantha again and said, "Well, what's done is done. We'll have to talk about... that, and sooner rather than later. Right now, though, we need to figure out what the consequences of your rash decision were. Hopefully nothing too horrible happened."

"I don't feel bad," Di observed. "Well, not too bad. The aches and pains from the torture seem to be gone. I'm still sore, but I think that's because I fell asleep on a cold stone floor."

Hermione twisted and stretched her own limbs before agreeing. "I feel the same, so that probably explains the stiffness and soreness."

"Otherwise, I feel good," Di continued. "Rested. Strong, even."

Hermione nodded and slowly stood up, then she reached down to help Diantha stand as well. "Were your clothes always that small on you?" the bushy-haired witch asked as she looked down at her friend's feet.

Di looked down as well and saw that the cuffs of her trousers were riding above her ankles. Then she reached out and pulled up Hermione's robe a little, revealing that her own trousers were too short as well. "No more than yours were."

Hermione squeaked in surprise before yanking off her robe, and the two witches quickly found that all of their clothing was a bit too small.

"That explains why my shoulders and chest feel uncomfortable," Di muttered. "I thought it was a part of being sore from where we slept, but I think my bra straps are much too small now!" She then frowned and shifted her hips back and forth. "Among other things," she added with a grimace.

"I wonder if the soreness is from us hitting a sudden and rapid growth spurt," Hermione mused as she pulled out her wand and started casting quick enlargement charms on each piece of clothing. "It would make sense if becoming the avatar of Wonder Woman would make someone stronger and fitter."

"We'll need to buy all new clothing now," Di said with a growl. "That's going to cause problems at the Dursleys, I know it."

"Not right away," Hermione cautioned. "If we're still growing, we don't know how long it will be until we're done."

"How long will your charms last?"

"Last week I would have said that they would have lasted for a couple of days, but I feel a bit stronger magically," Hermione said. "Those charms felt incredibly easy to cast — much easier than anything else I've ever done. I have no idea how long they'll last now. We'll simply have to pay close attention."

"So we were both affected by the ritual," Di observed. "Does that mean we both became avatars of Wonder Woman? Or maybe we each got half?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think it would work like that, though the ritual wasn't designed to work for two people at once, so we're in uncharted territory. Regardless, remember that I said the ritual only allows for one avatar of a being at any given time. That's another reason why I thought a comic superhero would be good — I doubted that anyone else in the world would have already done this with her."

"And that means that we can't both be Wonder Woman," Di concluded. "But then what could have happened to you?"

"Well, there are other female superheroes who have worked closely with Wonder Woman," Hermione said slowly, biting her bottom lip as she thought furiously about the different recurring characters in the Wonder Woman comics. "There's an entire chapter of the book dedicated to them, and I suppose the ritual could have drawn from one of them. Donna Troy and Black Canary are two of the most popular, but they aren't the only ones. They are all slightly different, so I should be able to figure out which, if any of them, I might be an avatar of."

"You did say that we'd need to test me to see how much I've changed, so we'll do the same with you as well," Di replied, and Hermione nodded.

"Let's try speed," Hermione suggested, and they faced each other across the room, prepared to cast stinging hexes at each other. "You first," Hermione said, and she started casting. To the surprise of both of them, Diantha easily moved out of the way, even when they closed the distance between them to a mere six feet. The more she did it, the faster she moved, to the point where Hermione had trouble following her.

"That would have been really, really handy the other night," Di said when they were done. "With that kind of speed, I might have been able to save Cedric."

"It's not your fault," Hermione replied, taking a couple of steps forward and putting a hand on Di's shoulder. "It's V...Voldemort's fault. He caused Cedric's death, not you."

"I know what you're saying, but it's hard to believe it," Di said. She took a deep breath. "Now it's your turn to be tested." They took up positions and began again, this time with Di firing. Hermione seemed to be a bit slower, because by the time they closed to six feet, Di was able to connect with a couple of spells.

"Ow," Hermione muttered as she rubbed her hip where the final one had struck.

"You're still fast," Di said. "I doubt that anyone else could have hit you. I think I only managed because I'm moving so much faster myself. In fact, I think I moved faster the more I did it, like when you were casting at me."

Hermione considered that. "I think you may be right. Maybe we need to practice with these powers before we can use them fully? Maybe our bodies need time to get used to channeling our new abilities." She eyed her friend. "What should we try next?"

"I'm not sure how to test being able to fly, and I'm not at all keen on testing my resistance to fire or being cut right now," Di said with a slight shudder. "How about we test our strength?"

"Good idea," Hermione said, and after a moment a set of increasingly large stones appeared. "I guess the Room can't recreate modern muggle weights," she said.

Di shrugged. "These will do. I know that I wouldn't have been able to lift most of these a few days ago, so this won't take long." The largest and heaviest stones were beyond the ability of either of them to pick up alone, but the rest proved to be surprisingly easy.

"Wow," Hermione said. "It's hard to believe that we're able to lift so much."

"Is this what you expected?" Di asked, glowing with pleasure as she looked at the tall pile of stones she had moved.

"Well, we've only tested a couple of things, but everything so far is definitely pointing to Amazons. For both of us. And you're a lot more confident than you used to be, which would be consistent with Wonder Woman."

Di's brow furrowed. "You're right — I think I am. That's a good thing, right?"

"Absolutely! I've always wished you could be more confident — that you could see in yourself the things others see in you." Then she added softly, "That I've always seen in you."

Di's cheeks went a bit pink. During the ritual, she had felt with absolute certainty that she was right about Hermione's feelings for her; yet now that the intensity of the moment was gone, the doubts had started to creep in. Could she really have failed to notice something so significant for so long? What if she had merely been caught up in the magic and was reading too much into things? What if she still was?

"So, um, what now?" she asked awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

Apparently oblivious to Di's discomfort, Hermione considered. "We still need to figure out who my powers are coming from. I have a few ideas... well, one thing in particular." A moment later, a bow and quiver of arrows appeared next to them while a target appeared on the other side of the room.

Hermione slung the quiver over her back, picked up the bow, and began firing away, sending out arrows almost faster than Di could follow and striking the center of the target every time.

"Wow!" Di exclaimed. "I take it you couldn't do that before?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I've never picked up a bow before. I doubt I would have even been able to hit the target yesterday."

"It seems like something that all Amazons would be good at," Di said as she took the bow and tried to replicate what Hermione had just accomplished, but she didn't do nearly as well. She stood and looked at her poor results for a moment before saying, "Or, maybe not."

"You'd think the skill would be shared widely, but it isn't," Hermione said. "The main figure associated with Wonder Woman who excels with the bow and arrow is a new character named Artemis. She's another Amazonian warrior, though from a different tribe."

"What else can she do?" Di asked.

"Most of the same things that Wonder Woman can do," Hermione said. "The biggest differences are her skills with the bow and with sorcery. I already said that my magic feels stronger, so I'm going to have to pay close attention to that to see if it continues to get even better."

"So, two Avatars, then?" Di asked, and Hermione glared at her.

"I'm still not sure if I'm happy about what you did," Hermione said. "Just because everything seems OK right now doesn't mean that it'll stay that way!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Di said, holding up her hands placatingly and trying to sound contrite. "I didn't mean to cause any problems. I just... thought it was the right thing to do. I still don't know why, but I did."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started picking up their clothing. "Get dressed — it's getting late, and we missed Sunday's breakfast and lunch already. We'll continue testing after dinner."

Neither witch noticed the appearance of several ghostly female figures as they left.

"Are you still certain that it was such a good idea to grant their request?" the one with a bow and arrow slung over her shoulder asked.

"Absolutely," the tallest said as she pulled an ancient-looking helmet off her head. "Clotho had already marked the one for several important tasks, and Lachesis was quite eager to extend both of their threads by a large amount. They were practically giggling when I left them to their work."

"All true, but that doesn't explain granting her so much power, never mind doing it to both," the first figure pressed.

"And why use such a vulgar mortal template?" asked the older, matronly figure.

"Because they believe in it, Demeter," the tall one responded. "Well, the one girl believes in it — not literally, but she believes in the importance and power of such a heroine. It has long inspired her imagination, and since her friend believes in her, she will be inspired as well. Neither of them, unfortunately, believes in us, so it would not have been possible for us to empower them directly. We needed an intermediary, however vulgar it may be. Working together, using the gifts we have bestowed upon them, they may inspire others, which will in turn cause a great many things to come to pass which we have long desired. Granted, it will take them time to grow into their new powers, but I think it will be worth it."

"And we needed to empower both because in the end, it is their love for each other that will keep them going," the most beautiful and least clothed of the group interjected. "You saw how easy it was to distract the one, getting her to kiss the other and thus ensure that the ritual proceeded the way we wished."

The first figure snorted. "Ever the romantic. You need to learn that not everything revolves around sex and love."

The scantily clad figure looked her half-sister up and down disdainfully before saying, "And as ever, dear Artemis, you need to get laid."

Artemis' ghostly face turned pink in embarrassment as the others laughed before they all slowly faded away.