I am sorry for not putting up a chapter last week. I was just not ready to place it up. I was putting up more chapters than I could write. I just didn't want to feel forced to writing when I have no inspiration and am suffering from writer's block. When I am forced, I don't do so well when it comes to writing. At this moment in time I will promise you that I'll try to get more chapters up, but don't feel put off when I don't.
Disclaimer: Miss Rowling and those interesting people at Warner Brothers own him. I Own Gryphon though, she's mine! Got it!
Chapter Eleven: The Mysterious Gryphon
By: tojot
Professor Gryphon hurled them at a tree and all went dark. Harry felt as though he was moving through solid matter very fast. It wasn't painful but it wasn't a very fun experience. His insides felt squirmy. It was very unnatural. It then stopped with a heavy drop. Harry didn't bother pick himself up. He felt considerably weakened during his encounter with Voldemort and he was freezing. Even though they were out the rain, the cave was still just as freezing cold. He looked up at a stone ceiling of the cave and saw a protruding root from a tree. This little cave was lighted with green luminescent moss and they could hear the sound of rushing water.
"Professor, what ever you did to get us here, please don't do it again." Hermione pleaded as she pulled herself up with wince.
"Do forgive me." Gryphon apologized, as she seemed to be looking for something in that small cave. "It would not happen again. It was the quickest way here without encountering the foe. Thy health wouldn't have permitted any longer in that torrential rain. Ye both already have the startings of Hypothermia. As for the reason why we are not returning to Hogwarts tonight, deals with thy constitution. As ye both know, ye are both under the Blood Protection Charm that Lily used on Mr. Potter. Due to that, ye don't have the strength to travel back to Hogwarts tonight. Only rest will replenish thy strength and vigor." Gryphon explained as she pulled a large and old canvas bag from a niche in the rock wall of the cave. From which she extracted a thick gray wool blanket and handed it to Hermione. "I only have this blanket to offer thee for the night. This cave may get very cold in the early morn. I would advise thee to remove thy wet raiment, for they would do thee no good until dry."
Hermione stared at Gryphon, her eyes were wide in panic. "Professor, is there any alternative?"
"The blanket is ensorcelled, Miss Granger. Ye are acting as if I have asked ye to unwillingly procreate." Gryphon chuckled calmly as she settled herself in a corner of the cave. "But Mr. Potter looks as if he may need some help. He hasn't moved since our arrival. But ye must remember any magic performed tonight can be easily tracked and I am sure that they are searching for us as we speak. Thus, I ask ye to refrain from any magic until we can get back to Hogwarts." She pulled the thick gray traveling cloak that she wore that night around her, (it seemed to have dried instantly from the storm) and went to sleep.
Hermione took one look at Harry, threw the blanket over her shoulder and knelt down to help him undress. Her hands shook as she peeled off his shoes, hooded jumper, tee shirt and pants, wringing water out of them in the process. She was relieved that Harry's boxers were dry. She then wrapped him in the blanket since his shivers weren't stopping. Harry was freezing cold to the touch and barely conscious. Gryphon was right when she said that Harry was close to Hypothermia. She bit her lip. This had been a strange and emotional night for the both of them. All Hermione wanted to do right now was be alone and avoid anyone and anything. But Harry was in physical need and Hermione knew the reasoning behind why Professor Gryphon couldn't help them at this time. It would be more awkward for the professor to share body heat with Harry than it would Hermione, due to the fact that they only knew Gyphon for two months, when Harry and Hermione knew each other for five years. Hermione stripped all her wet clothing off, wringing the water out of them and her hair. Only dry things she had were her underwear and a button up shirt from her uniform. Leaving them on, she crawled under the blanket with Harry and spooned herself around behind him and snaked her arms around his waist and laced his hands with hers in hopes of warming them up too. Hermione figured that there was a heating charm on the blanket, because it felt warm around her. Harry's constant shivering stopped within the hour. His skin was also starting to warm up. Succumbing to exhaustion, they both soon fell asleep. She would feel him shiver a little every now and then through out the night.
Harry woke up feeling very warm and comfortable. He had vaguely known that He had Hypothermia, but it was gone now. Though someone, who was very soft and warm, he noted, was behind him and had their arms around him and their hands and intertwined with his. He turned his head slightly and glimpsed bushy hair in the light of the green luminescent moss. It was Hermione. She was peacefully asleep. Later, when he thought about it, Harry was amazed he didn't panic at all, he was calm and comfortable and soon went back to sleep with a pleasant feeling in his chest.
He awoke several hours later in greater spirits than he had in two years and pulled himself out of Hermione's arms. In the process he woke her up. Before he got up he whispered a quick "Thank you" in her ear and left it to that. Hermione just smiled back. The few undone buttons on Hermione's shirt revealed the scarred skin on her chest. He told himself not to mention anything about these selfless acts and quick thinking Hermione had performed the night before, to save her from the embarrassment. He looked down and found that he was in nothing but his boxer shorts, he felt his face go warm. Harry scanned the small cave for his clothes and found them laid out on a large rock next to most of Hermione's school uniform. He pulled on his dry but cold clothes handed Hermione her clothes. She just stared at them and opened her mouth to talk.
"Harry, why are you…"
"…Taking this so well." Harry interrupted quietly. "I still remember everything vividly from last night, Hermione. Everything you did last night was necessary. It shouldn't be anything to get ourselves all worked up about." Hermione looked down again, she still seemed nervous about something.
"Harry, can you remember anything that happened when the protection charm was being administered?"
"I seem to remember you cutting yourself but other than that, I can't remember that particular part of the night." Harry sighed in defeat.
"So you have no clue as to why I am being protected by it as well?" She asked. But something seemed to dawn on her. "If you say you remember everything vividly, can you tell me if you accidentally cut yourself before the charm was cast?"
Harry looked at his hand seeing that the cut had completely disappeared. "Yes. It was my palm." He answered. Hermione furrowed her brow in concentration and then looked at the back of her right hand. Her eyes went wide again.
"What is it?" Harry asked curiously, trying to see what she was looking at.
"It's nothing." She said as she pulled her sleeve over it. But Harry, having quick reflexes seized her arm, pulled back the sleeve and gaped at it. He tried to rub them off but they remained there.
"Yeah right." Harry said sarcastically, "Nothing my foot. How did you get those marks?" there were two white lightning bolt marks on her wrist and on the back of her hand.
"You and your mother gave them to me and I forgot to rub them off before the charm was cast." Hermione said. "They're proof that I am under the charm as well."
"I see." Harry said. "Do they hurt?"
"No, but they have a pleasant tingle to them."
"Well, considering all that happened last night I am glad you're under the charm too." Harry smiled.
"Could you turn around and face the other direction while I get dressed Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, s-sorry." Harry said and he quickly turned around.
"So that was Voldemort, huh?" Hermione sighed.
"Yeah."
"Does he always talk a lot?" Hermione asked.
"I think he likes to hear himself talk. Every time I have met him he has talked for a long amount of time before he takes any action. Idiot. But I have always found out interesting things that I have not known before." Harry said.
"Like that fact that he has been unable to get in your head. He gets pushed back whenever he tries to follow you after you have been in his head." Hermione recounted. "I wonder how that happened?"
"I wonder about that too."
"About the Prophecy, Harry." Hermione mentioned. "You asked me, when you discovered that I had found out about it, if I had a problem with you murdering a person."
"And?" Harry pressed.
"I would have a problem with you murdering a person." Hermione said.
"Oh." Harry deflated.
"But, who said Voldemort is a person now?" Hermione said. Harry forgot the reason why he was turned away from Hermione in the first place and turned around, but she was dressed enough to face her now.
"Seriously Harry, Voldemort lost his humanity when he gave himself up to the dark arts in search for immortality and power." Hermione spoke with her heart behind her words. "He is a heartless egomaniac with no respect for any life and those who get in his way of his dark goals are disposed of. He is a monster, Harry, a coward who is afraid of his own death. Voldemort doesn't have the right to exist after all that he has done. I am doing all in my ability to help you find a way to destroy him utterly. To help you find the "Power he knows not."
Harry regarded her for a quiet moment. He then quietly said with a smile, "Thank you again, Hermione."
"That was a very touching speech Miss Granger." A voice purred behind them interrupting the silence. "But if I may interrupt, we must get back to Hogwarts."
They turned to face Gryphon who had said the words. In her hand was a very full cloth bag. "Here." She said as she handed the bag to Harry, and then picked up the blanket and folded it up.
"What's this?" Harry asked still holding the bag.
"Breakfast or shall I say lunch, since it is midday." Gryphon said. "The Potter Orchards that this cave resides under are bursting with fruits ready to be harvested."
Harry reached into the bag and pulled out a very large, bright green apple that was two times larger than his fist. "Orchards. I thought it was a forest that we were in."
"Ye would think that because of the peculiar way the trees are planted. They're very ancient trees mind thee. These lands have been in the family for centuries." Gryphon mentioned as she placed the blanket in its bag and replaced the bag in the niche. "Now, even though there is no sign of Deatheaters in the area, I still do not want to risk meeting even one whilst ye are in my ward. This cave actually belongs to a maze of tunnels that run along Great Britain. Since the Potters knew only of it they used it for magical transport when they traveled with minors to get to Diagon Alley or Kings Cross. They really didn't trust the Floo Network."
"How d'you know so much about my family?" Harry asked Gryphon.
"I am a very old family friend, lad." Gryphon growled in a final tone. "Now let us go. We must reach Hogwarts by nightfall. All ye need to do is follow me. Lumos." Her wand lit instantly.
After what seemed like an hour of twists, turns and narrow passages they came to an odd looking sphere. Made of complete silver.
"It runs on magic, tis very similar to the muggle underground." Gryphon said smiling slightly at it.
"Who made it?" Harry asked.
"Thy Great-Great Grandsire, Ferdinand. He was very good with something he liked to call 'mechkenetics'." Gryphon answered with a sigh. "One of the reasons the Potter family vault is so full is the fact that he designed the carts for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."
"How do you get in, exactly?" Hermione questioned scanning the smooth surface
"Tap thy wand on it." Gryphon answered. Hermione pulled out her wand, tapped it and within an instant Hermione was pulled in.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled in panic.
"She is fine, lad. Tis your turn." Gryphon said. He felt uneasy about this, but for some reason he couldn't help but trust the mysterious professor. Harry tapped his wand to the sphere and he was pulled in.
"What took you?" Hermione said calmly as she sat inside the soft red velvet interior. Seats encircled the interior. Something odd occurred to Harry seeing Hermione in this kind of setting. Her skin looked just as soft as the velvet interior of this sphere and he had a desire to touch it. Her brown eyes also seemed to look at him in this peculiar manner that seemed to give him this funny feeling in his chest.
"Shall we get going?" Gryphon said behind Harry, completely interrupting his thoughts. Whatever was there before was gone for now. Harry sat down next to Hermione.
"You said it runs on magic." Hermione pointed out.
"Aye, at this time it is running on my magic. We are already moving to our destination of Kings Cross at top speed."
"I didn't even feel us move." Harry said.
"It has been tinkered with over the years by Potters and subjected to various charms." Gryphon replied. "Tis the safest method of travel I have yet seen." At this point Gryphon fell silent indicating that she did not wish to speak anymore. She seemed to be concentrating on something. Harry figured that she was concentrating on moving the sphere.
Harry's gaze fell on Hermione. She looked weary and in deep thought.
"A Galleon for you thoughts." Harry uttered quietly in her ear.
"Huh." She jumped. "Oh. It has been some adventure hasn't it?"
"Yeah. But my adventure started at the beginning of the month." Harry smiled. Hermione threw her arms around him.
"I am just glad that we managed to fix the Charm on time."
"Hermione." Harry changed the subject.
"Hmm?"
"Since when have you started having nightmares about Voldemort and I?"
Hermione's eyes went wide. "Erm…" She spluttered, "Well. Since before the first year."
Harry choked, " What!"
"Harry. Did you ever wonder why I wasn't very surprised when I found out about the prophecy in the first place. That nightmare has been recurring for years and more so since Voldemort has returned. When you uttered the prophecy in your sleep it just confirmed my fears that I may lose you. Don't you see it has been a very difficult time for me when you first disappeared. I was relieved when I found out the Deatheaters had no clue where you where too."
An uncomfortable silence was met with the end of this speech. Hermione had gone back to thinking now, but her words somehow resonated in Harry's ears. He glimpsed across the interior and saw that Gryphon was still concentrating. He had a funny feeling that she had been watching them just seconds ago.
A little after an hour had passed, of which Harry had fallen asleep, Gryphon informed them that they had stopped. She tapped her wand on the silver doorway and sank through and Harry and Hermione followed. Steps leading up where illuminated from the light of Gryphon's wand. Hermione was oddly silent. They followed Gryphon up and through an enchanted wall coming out in an alley just around the corner from Kings Cross. Gryphon then Transfigured her robes into a muggle jeans, complete with T-shirt and denim jacket. But her fur belt remained.
"Why are you doing that?" Harry asked as Gryphon tugged at her unruly mane to cover her pointed ears.
"We will be in the midst of muggles within that station at this time." Gryphon explained, as Hermione took cue and removed the robe so that she was only wearing the uniform part of the uniform. "They have little tolerance for someone who looks entirely different. But hide those differences and they won't bother thee. Ye needn't worry for ye are already wearing basic muggle rainment of the current day."
Something occurred to Harry. Something that made him wonder why he hadn't asked it before. He looked at the fur belt around the Professor's waist and realized that he had mistaken it for what it really was. "Professor?"
"Hmm." Gryphon responded as they made their way into Kings Cross.
"Are you…" He faltered, trying to find the words that his tongue seemed to oddly trip over. "Are you not… Human?" He added in a whisper. Gryphon stopped and slowly turned her creepy silver gaze on him. If nothing else, this look that she gave him now confirmed what he had just asked.
"That is for ye to decide Mr. Potter. Humanity can be described as holding certain qualities that humans do such as: emotion, character flaws and weaknesses, great potential and lastly possessing a soul. But some humans lose their humanity in pursuit of trivial gains and carnal matters. If ye believe that possessing a different genetic makeup makes me any less than a living, breathing person with a soul, than ye have been led astray." Gryphon spoke calmly as they leaned on the barrier to Platform 9 ¾ when no one was looking and sank through.
"I didn't say that you didn't possess a soul." Harry interjected. "But I didn't realize before now that you had a tail."
Gryphon responded with a purr-like chuckle.
"Avi is… How do you say it?… Quite unique from the rest of us." Dumbledore's voice came from across the platform. "The cat who goes by the name of Crookshanks was spotted prowling Hogwarts for mice at midnight last night. Mr. Ronald Weasley did not get any sleep last night due to the fact that both of his best friends have now disappeared from right under his nose. Am I to assume that the Protection Charm went alright?"
"More than alright Albus." Gryphon grinned mischievously as she turned to him, "Apparently, Miss Granger is under the charm as well. Voldemort could not touch her when he tried to kill her and Mr. Potter."
"I was expecting Voldemort to show. It really couldn't be helped due to the fact that it was through Harry's connection with Voldemort that we found out that we had to fix this problem. But the fact that Miss Granger is under the spell as well has proven to our advantage. Come, we can discuss more on the train." Dumbledore suggested as he indicated the white train behind him that Harry had never seen. It had raised silver adornment that looked like it came from the 18th century. It was much smaller and pulled one coach.
"That isn't the Hogwarts Express." Harry said indignantly.
"The Hogwarts Express is used for the transport of a large amount of students to and from Hogwarts." Hermione said automatically as they boarded the train. "It says so in Hogwarts: A History. This train is called the Shining Arrow. It's much faster than the Hogwarts Express is and its purpose is for immediate travel to and from Hogwarts for a much smaller amount of people. Mainly transport for the staff and visitors of Hogwarts who wish not to Apparate to Hogsmeade."
Inside was a sight in itself. I may need to reconsider what career I want in the future. Harry thought to himself as he saw the plush accommodations of the train. Or have a good excuse for coming to Hogwarts often as an Auror. The coach was decorated with a white interior but did not have compartments. The headmaster sat down in a high-backed armchair. Gryphon chose the over sized arm-chair next to him and just curled up in her chair and shut her eyes with a yawn and went to sleep. Her tail was no longer wrapped around her waist, but hung loose with flexing and unflexing curl at the end of it as she dozed and her light snoring sounded like a constant contented purr.
"Please take a seat." Dumbledore said indicating the two high-backed chairs across from him. Harry and Hermione sat down. As he did so, Harry noticed something peculiar about the two seated in front of him. Dumbledore and Gryphon had the odd unspoken connection that Harry could not place. A peculiar chemistry.
"I see that Avi has taken great care to return you both to safety." Dumbledore mentioned as he watched the woman sleep. "She only ever gets this tired after she does anything major with her abilities. Tell me, did she use the trees?"
Hermione nodded. "She used them alright."
"I assume you didn't like the experience?" Dumbledore said with a chuckle.
"Not when your insides feel squirmy." Harry commented and Dumbledore laughed.
"Sir?" Harry addressed.
"Yes, Harry?"
"When can we start with Occlumency again?" Harry asked.
"Actually, Harry, I am beginning to think it might not be a good idea to suppress your thoughts and emotions. They could easily be what will ultimately save you from Voldemort. You said before that your scar hasn't hurt since last June. Meaning he is keeping his mind closed to you. We'll be safe for now."
"But, Pro-"
"Actually Professor," Hermione cut in. "I distinctly heard Voldemort say that he has been blocked from entering into Harry's thoughts, he also went on to say that he had sensed Harry in his mind and tried to follow but was blocked every time."
At this point, Dumbledore was staring at her curiously.
"This must mean that something is protecting Harry's mind, somehow." He said as he looked at Harry. "Only time will tell what that Something is."
Author's Note:
The next chapter may take a while, so in the meantime please review and give me you opinion of this chapter. Hopefully Chapter 12will be out soon. Fare well.
Tojot
