Disclaimer: This is all for fun, I do not claim ownership of the characters or anything recognized from the work of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them.
Warning: Mature themes, subject to change: mild violence, strong language, scenes of a sexual nature as well as general innuendo smattered throughout, adult themes including but not limited to death and disease both mental and physical.
[A/N] This is the part where I say I love Potterheads and the response this story is getting. It started as a way to distract myself from the awful Statistics class I was taking at the time. I welcome any questions, critiques, angry rants, anything you want to throw at me in that review box. This chapter also holds something that a couple people have asked about, the Hogwarts warding.
Reminder- in order not to get ahead of myself, I only post chapters for this once a week, usually around Sunday. But this one will be an exception since I will be working all day both days this weekend and this was my only moment.
I appreciate each and every review this story has collected so far. Your comments, critiques, and excitement are electrifying and make it so much more satisfying to write this. Special shout-outs go to duj, bubblecloudz and Taedae.
Playlist: U2 – The Troubles | Stevie Nicks – Chrystal | Battles – The Line | Nirvana – Come As You Are
Saturday July 30th, 2005 | 5:45 am | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
It was a strong black coffee type of morning. The kind of coffee that blurs the line between dark roast and pure espresso. Even early risers like Draco and Severus felt it sacrilegious to need to be present for what was sure to be a media circus an hour after sunrise. It also didn't help it was a place where they could not just Apparate right where they needed to be. No, they had to arrive at the front gates, await admittance by the Headmistress herself, and then walk up the path to the Entrance Hall.
Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had greeted the two of them affectionately, gripping them each in a brief but warm embrace.
"It's so good to see the two of you," she said as she led them up the path. "The house elves have prepared a light breakfast for the group of us."
"Which translates to a full English if memory serves," mumbled Severus as he strode purposefully beside her.
A knowing smirk lit up her features. She hadn't aged a day since the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco noted. He supposed it was a trifle easier to run Hogwarts without the distraction of a war against a Dark Lord, and she was still within what some wizards would call middle aged at nearly eighty.
The sound of a dozen or so voices reached them as they moved closer to the Great Hall. The doors were thrown wide open and the first thing Draco noticed was the House tables were all in their respective places but were noticeably smaller. Instead of seating hundreds they were closer to the size of a dozen places each. Every table, even Slytherin, held several people already sitting and talking quietly amongst themselves. A few cameras and notepads littered the tables in front of the people Draco most vehemently wanted to avoid.
It was easy to spot Potter in the mess of faces, since his was surrounded by fresh faced reporters vying for his attention. Usually Hermione fended off the press at these events for him, and Draco noted how without his nearly feral sidekick he looked a tad overwhelmed. Hermione sat a couple spots down from him and was talking to Hagrid over a couple mugs of tea. The half-giant's was more of a bucket, if he was being honest. A small child could bathe in it.
He and Severus were dropped off at the Slytherin table with Slughorn and a few others from years below him he recognized but could not place names to until he had more caffeine in his system. The last week at St. Mungo's had been fraught with preparations for Hermione to join them in the adjacent office and finishing the negotiation paperwork between her current contract with O&G and the one she would be working under as a freelancer.
It had all been ridiculous drivel, just like the patenting process, and just like that paperwork nightmare Severus had somehow slithered his way out of it again. Git. He would have to rope him into the drudgery one of these days. Draco took a deep gulp of Italian roast and tried to join the land of the living more fully.
Saturday July 30th, 2005 | 4:30 am | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hermione arrived well before everyone else for the warding ceremony, already dressed completely for it in the maroon robes she had collected from Madame Malkin's a week prior. The gold embroidery really was resplendent and detailed on the cuffs and at the hem. She had spent the entire afternoon after picking them up cross referencing each mark and rune between books she owned and the small booklet McGonagall had first provided to her.
Some of the unsaid meaning came to light for her as she continued her reading with books borrowed from the Ministry Archives. The week she had between taking a leave of absence from O&G and immersing herself into the work on the Dark Magic Banisher was spent mostly in the Archives as she prepared for the warding and her new position. There was a repeated pattern of runes that held meaning in regards to the traits of each house, at least in the most general term. Hermione personally thought that each house could be marked for its bravery but that was one of the runes specific to hers and Harry's robes. As such, loyalty was also a cross house trait but only the Hufflepuff robes had those woven in.
Overall, the ceremony really was just that. A ceremony. Something meant to attempt to reestablish House unity as well as continuing to refresh the protective wards around the castle. It was done once every century or so, but they would be strengthening the enchantments that had taken hundreds of wizards the entire summer of 1998 to replenish. The Battle had shaken the very foundations of Hogwarts, so going ahead with the every century schedule seemed appropriate even though they had just been cast. It wouldn't be nearly as taxing so ten would be more than sufficient: eight House representatives with one initiator and one closer.
Every House needed two individuals that were connected closely, somehow. As the pamphlet had said, it was easier if they were related by blood or bonded as if in marriage or between a godparent and godchild. It was also preferred to have one male and one female but that was more for appearances than any true affect it had on the warding.
Hermione still did not like the fact that she and Harry would be using her connection through James as their bond since it was not as strong as it should be. Yes, she was James' godmother and they were formally bonded as such but that did not tie her to Harry specifically. It was that fact that had alerted her to the façade of the entire day. The Headmistress was not one to do things in half-measures so she was on high alert for anything that seemed amiss. She could have used Molly and Arthur Weasley, for example, as they both had proven themselves powerful magic wielders in both wars but certainly they did not have the star power that two from the Golden Trio did.
Hermione had found a few short clippings from 1905 in regards to the most recent ceremony. There hadn't been nearly as much unrest in the wizarding world then, unlike the rocky decades to come. Voldemort had not even been born yet and that had taken her a few hours to process. It was extremely hard to imagine a world where he had not yet existed even if there had been terrible dark wizards before him in history. Hermione was fairly certain he had been the only one fanatical enough to split his soul seven times.
With her hair pulled back in a delicate looking chignon on the side of her head, Hermione tapped her wand gently against the front gates of Hogwarts. She felt the wards ping to her presence, as she had previously asked McGonagall to temporarily key her to them. Slowly they opened just enough for her to slip through and begin heading up the walkway. Instinctively she tugged at the sleeve of her left arm to make sure her scar was covered. It had been an angry red color when she had rolled out of bed and gone to shower. Glamours and make up did nothing to conceal it, unlike the dark circles under her eyes that were completely covered.
She took her time walking to the doors to the entrance hall, meandering briefly by the lake that had tendrils of fog rising off of it at this time of day. Passing by the south side of the castle where the dungeons met the lake, she saw the station that Snape and Draco would be taking later that day.
It was ridiculous how Slytherin they had made their basin. Rather than looking like an official object, the warding equipment would not look out of place in her grandmother's tacky garden she remembered from her childhood. Rough hewn stone, engravings of snakes, green vine detail, and nearness to the dungeons…the designers could not have been more obvious if they tried. Hermione cringed as she thought about what the birdbath looking monstrosity would be decorated with for her and Harry.
Shaking her head, Hermione moved to the front doors where a few others were headed as well. Thankfully they weren't reporters but Professor Sprout, Ernie Macmillan and his wife whose name Hermione did not know but knew that she had been sorted into Hufflepuff a few years ahead of them.
Professor Sprout greeted her with a smile and hug as Hermione joined them up to the Great Hall where they went their separate ways for the breakfast spread the house elves had prepared. She gulped at the smell of food wafting up to her as the brand on her arm began to burn again. It was not quite as bad as when she had collapsed and Snape had come to her home but it felt as though it was a warning. Attempting to ignore it, she sat near Hagrid and reached for a bowl of cut fruit and a small stack of toast and tried to eat a light but filling breakfast.
Hermione knew the instant that Harry walked into the Great Hall. The few reporters that had arrived on the scene that she had fended off with icy smiles and threatening wand movements flocked to him like moths to a flame. She turned to look at him and gave him a polite wave to acknowledge him but made no move to assist him like she would normally. A few moments later she saw Snape and Draco arrive out of the corner of her eye, and they made the last pair to arrive acting as House representatives. Luna and Xenophilius had actually camped on the Hogwarts grounds the night before and were already stationed at their own tacky birdbath.
"You and Harry ready for today?" Hagrid asked her as she finished another cup of tea and slice of toast.
Hermione nodded as she swallowed. "Yes, I made sure he read that book weeks ago."
Hagrid just laughed at that, standing up from the table as he did to go over and disentangle Harry from the throng of people, lifting him like a rag doll from the crowd to plop him down on the bench near Hermione. Suddenly needing to do something with her hand that wasn't gripping the table viciously to reign in her temper, she made another slice of toast with orange marmalade.
"G'morning, Hermione," he mumbled.
The sound of the knife scraping on her toast got faster and louder. Harry cringed and fussed with his matching set of crimson robes.
"I'm sorry about last week," he said just as softly. The reporters were still hovering around. "We're worried about you, you'll visit but it's like you're not really there."
"Bang up job asking me about it."
"We know you've been busy with work and the treatment at St Mungo's, you just never talk about it."
Hermione gripped the knife handle tight enough to make her hand shake. Gently, she put it down on the table though what she really wanted to do was slam it. "You and Ron have always been shit at apologies, you know that? You both also made it clear you didn't feel comfortable with me talking about my symptoms so I'd rather not inflict them upon you."
Harry cringed again, but took a sip of his tea nonchalantly to cover it. It wouldn't do to draw the attention of all those hovering Quick Quotes Quills. If they were to raise their voices even a decibel more it would ensure their conversation would be on the front page of every wizarding publication. He straightened his back a bit and turned to look at her fully for the first time since he had been plopped down ungracefully next to her.
"We're idiots. I'm sorry."
"Bully for you, I accept your apology but I'm still fucking pissed about the situation. Can we just get through this farce and talk about it later?"
Harry stood then, holding out his hand to her to help her stand, too. He wordlessly nodded in assent to her comment as they made their way to McGonagall.
Saturday July 30th, 2005 | 7:01 am | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The sun had fully risen an hour previously, but the light was still muted behind the trees of the Forbidden Forest. It didn't help that the Gryffindor station was on the west side of the castle opposite of the sunrise. Hermione had forgotten how chilly Scotland could be, even in the midst of summer, as she stood in the castle's shadow.
More for Harry's benefit than her own, she began reciting the instructions. Checking her watch, she said, "It will start in eight minutes, exactly an hour after sunrise. Each of us stationed around the castle will light our…basin…and cast the first warding charm to the ground around us. The fire is meant to focus our energy and the first set of wards begins to open our magic to the existing enchantments on the castle and the grounds. Make sure to focus on the defensive wards, Harry, that's what Minerva assigned to us."
Harry nodded even as he yawned. He knew for all of Hermione's claims that this was a farce, it was still going to be a taxing display of magic and he did not mind her preliminary run through.
"She mentioned that Luna and Xeno have the grounds and the charms on the Forest, what were the other four assigned?" he asked curiously.
"We don't have enough time for that before the ceremony, if you don't remember what she said about Hufflepuff and Slytherin I'll have to tell you after this." Hermione tried to keep the waspish tone from her voice with that statement but it was a chore. "Just focus on the enchantments for protection, like the ones we saw them use before the Battle to lock the gates and such. They won't be difficult to find since that's what we worked on most fastidiously after the Battle so they are newest."
"Alright, then after we cast that we wait for Minerva's signal from the Astronomy tower to cast the mid-wards to give them more power and to also include Gryffindor tower in the mix?"
"Correct," Hermione said as she took her wand from its sheath on her right forearm. She hid a wince from Harry as she felt a blister on her left arm threaten to pop beneath her sleeve. "We just need to give a little more energy to the tower to perpetuate the charms that help to keep members of other Houses from breaking into it without welcome. It's a small part of this, actually; they're just playing it up for the reporters."
Behind where they stood were a two of those reporters, a wizard from the Prophet and a witch representing Witch Weekly of all things. She would rather have been assigned the quiet but stone faced witch from Transfiguration Quarterly than these two young and eager writers, clearly star struck and charmed at their apparent luck of being assigned to the most famous pair of the bunch.
Harry had cast one of the charms he learned in his initial Auror training right after the four had made the necessary introductions and pleasantries and comments on their good luck with the weather. It handily replaced everything they were actually speaking about with a pre-made conversation regarding wind direction and debating the color of Albus' nursery that the Witch Weekly woman was sure to spin into some elaborate new trend. It all depended if the recorded conversation ended when they agreed on yellow or cream, which surely Harry would never care about in reality.
"I know you don't want to do this," Harry said. "But it seemed important to Minerva, you know."
"It's not that I don't want to do this, I just wish it wasn't so…contrived."
Harry shrugged, checking his own watch. "Three minutes, by the way. It's definitely that but hasn't everything been since we defeated Voldemort? The parties, the ceremonies, the balls?" Here, he snorted inelegantly. "I don't regret it, stopping Voldemort I mean, but I'd rather not have to subject my family and friends to that rubbish. I admit that its lovely taking Ginny out to those parties but it would be better if we didn't have to play court the whole time." He stopped again, letting out a sigh before the brooding look on his face was forcefully cleared back to neutrality. "And what was the last thing, after strengthening the wards and the tower enchantments?"
"Then we move the power source from ourselves to the Hogwarts grounds, so we need to wait for Minerva's signal on that. Luna and Xeno are on the North side and will be the first to let go so we can all anchor our spells to the magic naturally found in the castle and campus itself but if we do it too early we could seriously injure them. Imagine it like the first cast is us threading the needle, the second is pulling it through the cloth or in our case the existing enchantments, and the third step is tying off the loose ends."
Harry nodded and looked much more comfortable after that analogy. The first sparks of warning shot from the Astronomy tower. One minute, then.
"Would you do the honors of dumping the basin after that? The potion inside will seal the bond of our charm to the ground physically. I'd rather not touch that horror of golden plated griffins." She shuddered. If Slytherin's station had been tacky, Gryffindor's was vulgar.
"It would make a great front page shot, wouldn't it?" Harry mused coldly.
He cancelled the charm on their conversation after that. Despite their disagreements, becoming more frequent as of late, they still agreed that it was downright disgusting the way their thoughts had been shaped to manipulate the press in the same way they were trying to manipulate them.
Hermione distinctly heard the witch reporter muttering about cream curtains as soon as the charm was lifted.
Saturday July 30th, 2005 | 6:59 am | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
"Did you pack the dried bit of Devil's Snare, father?"
"Most certainly, my dear. We will go down to the lake after the ceremony is complete, I'm sure mermaids will be much more obliging to searching for dabberblimps with a bit of Devil's Snare to placate them. Mermen love to braid it into betrothal bands."
"Just watch out for the giant squid, father. She's equally fond of it. Look, there's the Headmistress' signal."
"Just so. Remember that if you're barefoot that it will be much easier to communicate with the grounds. I'll have to make sure to ask them while we're connected if they've had any Crumple-Horned Snorkacks cross through recently."
Saturday July 30th, 2005 | 7:24 am | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Draco knew the shit had hit the fan once he and Severus had simultaneously poured the still burning contents of their basin onto the ground in front of them to release the wards. The snap and bursts of energy to their left knocked them to their knees.
"Always fucking Potter," Severus sneered as he held a hand to his neck.
The scars there were angry and purple, testament to the hastily healed wounds from a night that Draco knew he would never forget. Narcissa had done what she could but a qualified Healer she was not. Looking to the west where they knew the Gryffindors were stationed the two men struggled to stand, brushing off their emerald green robes with silver stitching as they did. Another invisible blast knocked them to the ground.
"What the devil are they doing, they should have dispersed the power by now," Draco growled from clenched teeth. Each blast had felt as though a bludger was attempting to knock him off his broom and subsequently knocking out his breath.
Severus shook his head, still holding his obviously painful neck. Draco knew from previous potions incidents that his neck muscles and skin were extremely sensitive where Nagini had attacked him so if the blasts were knocking Draco's breath out then his companion would be close to Crucio level pain. He was attempting to rally as the third blast came through, this one just a bit less powerful but Draco was still glad he remained on the ground. He reached out to Severus to offer him a Pain Relief potion that he nearly always kept on his body. When one worked with patients wracked with near constant blinding pain the least one could do was have a form of relief at hand. Pulling the stopper from the vial for him, Draco managed to pour some into his godfather's lips that were shaking from the strength of his jaw as it clenched.
"Not. Potter."
"What?" gasped Draco as he managed to find his breath again.
"Granger. The treatment. Too soon."
Draco paled. "What level, Severus?"
Severus shook his head and turned away to vomit in the grass away from both Draco and the potion they had poured. Gasping like a fish out of water, he responded, "3.2. Like 3.2."
The exchange, made smooth by years of forged familiarity, completely confused the two reporters who had managed to lift themselves from the ground behind them. One made a small cry of displeasure as he noticed his flashbulb camera was cracked in several places, effectively exposing the film inside and ruining some of the negatives he had managed to snap earlier.
If they had known what the exchange had truly meant for their safety they would have rightfully fled away from the Hogwarts grounds. As it was, Draco struggled to stand and pulled Severus up with him and began sprinting up to where he knew Hermione was stationed with a plea on his lips that another blast would not knock them over again. He didn't think that Severus could stay conscious for another one. Ceremony be damned. It would be better for the headlines the next day to read that the ceremony was an utter failure and would need to be redone rather than an obituary for a war heroine.