A/N- Okay, first off this if my story and I always have a plan for how I portray my characters so please stop giving me grief for making Hermione too strong. Second, you'll have to wait and see what Hermione flinching meant, lol. Review! –Phoenix
Hermione struggled to get her now pointy ears to stay in the fedora that she had borrowed from Harry to wear. Her jeans and t-shirt were now too big for her as her body was much leaner than it had been and she felt like she was wearing a tent. She threw on a jacket and gazed at her appearance in the mirror with a sigh.
"Now I need to put on the contacts that Winky got me," she said out loud.
Walking into hers and Harry's bathroom, she opened the contact case and stared at the brown contacts that Winky had kindly gotten for her. They weren't the same shade as her eyes, but they would cover the slits that her eyes now had.
She stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, just staring at the things that she now had to do in order to even go in the muggle world. She had come to accept that everyone in the wizarding world would know that she was now half-elf, but that didn't make it any easier.
If they thought my blood was dirty before, just wait till they see me now, Hermione thought sadly.
It wasn't even a minute later that she found herself being pulled into Harry's chest.
"I felt your sorrow, what's wrong?" he asked gently.
Hermione sniffed and gave Harry a watery smile. "I'm just finally realizing what my new appearance means. No offense Love, but your fedora is tacky," she teased.
Harry gave her a mock look of indignation. "That hat, I'll have you know, makes me look like quite the charmer. Although, it does look much sexier on you."
Hermione giggled. "I suppose. It's just hard to lose half of myself. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but that doesn't make it easier."
"Come on," Harry said, grabbing Hermione's hand. "The familiars decided to stay on the property while we went out. I am going to treat you to a new wardrobe."
"Harry," Hermione protested. "I have my own money."
Harry smirked and started to pull her out of their room. "What's the point of being a Lord if I can't use the money to spoil my beautiful fiancé rotten?"
That got Hermione to chuckle. They joined Neville and Luna in the foyer and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron. Before they attracted any more attention, they were out of the pub and joined the crowded streets of London. Hermione made sure to keep her hat secured on her head, although she complained that her parents would scold her for her poor manners when she continued to wear the hat when indoors.
Hermione and Luna had a blast shopping for new clothes. While Luna didn't need that much, Hermione basically needed a whole new wardrobe and as her best friend, Luna was all too happy to help.
While the girls shopped, their fiancés sat by the changing rooms and gave them their opinions of what they modeled. Hermione had Harry practically drooling when she modeled a bikini that she had picked out and Luna quickly got one for herself which got the same reaction out of Neville who gave an almost animalistic growl. The bikinis were immediately put on the 'buy' pile.
After an hour of shopping, they left with many bags that the boys ended up carrying. As soon as they were out of sight, the shrunk the bags and continued shopping. Hermione dragged them to a muggle bookstore and she and Luna spent another hour in there. If possible, they left the bookstore with more bags than they had from the clothing store. As a simple solution to Hermione's predicament, Harry purchased himself, Luna and Neville a pair of elf ears from the children's reading section and they all wore them around London so that Hermione could take off the hat.
At Hermione's insistence, they went to a baby store and purchased some baby supplies for Winky and Dobby since Hermione knew that they wouldn't have anything of their own and wouldn't ask. Hermione picked out a small bassinet for the baby and Luna picked out a wrap baby carrier for Winky to carry the baby in when it was born. The boys, of course, just served as the bag carriers, but they were happy to do it so long as the girls didn't take too long.
When they got enough for Dobby and Winky, they left London and started heading towards Diagon Alley. Once they walked through the brick wall, Hermione took out her contacts and her friends took off their fake ears.
"It'll be okay," Harry assured her softly.
"I know," Hermione responded cheerfully. "Besides, people will most likely be staring at you rather than me."
Hermione's prediction couldn't have been more off. As soon as they were within sight, wizards and witches started crowding around them, staring at the four who had played such a big part in the Battle of Blood. Hermione fidgeted uncomfortably when people started pointing at her ears and pushed through the gathering and walked determinedly to Gringotts with Harry right beside her.
Once they were inside Gringotts, the goblins prevented the crowd from continuing to stalk them. They were escorted to Ragnok's office where their friend was waiting for them.
He greeted Hermione pleasantly as they hadn't seen each other in a long time. He asked her about her time with the elves and complimented her on her new appearance, knowing that she must have done something incredible to be turned into a half-elf.
"Are you skilled in the elven ways of forging blades?" Ragnok asked eagerly. "Between the elves' ability to truly forge a blade with magic and the goblin's way of forging indestructible blades, we could forge swords for our armies that are unbeatable."
Hermione bit her lip thoughtfully. "I would have to discuss that with My Lady Mother. She would most likely agree if it was me or another elf doing the forging so that the art stays with our species."
Ragnok nodded. "King Zesd would want the same thing. Would you ask your mother? With a war coming up, we could use all the resources available. I have already talked to Luna and Neville about what resources that the fairies and centaurs have that we could use. The centaurs are working on strengthening magical herbs and are constantly scrying the planets for anything that's useful and the fairies are working on blessing little trinkets for our army's protection."
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I'm impressed. You guys have been busy this summer."
"Of course," Harry said simply. "War could happen anytime and we need to be ready. Plus, it takes time to raise an army. Gringotts is funding it as long as the other races contribute what they can and we fight for goblin rights when the war is over. Luna has been working with Ragnok a lot during the summer, making plans."
"Where is base camp?"
"One of the Potter properties," Harry answered. "I asked over half of the Potter Elves to move there and keep the place running. The goblins have made a great training ground there and new warriors are currently being trained there along with younger centaurs. The centaur herd that Neville trained with moved to the forest nearby and they help with the combat training when they're not scrying."
Hermione bit her lip thoughtfully. "And they don't mind living together?"
Ragnok shrugged. "They live. Would the elves like to take part as well? Luna and I both agreed that younger warriors would be more adaptable to fighting alongside other species so we're trying to form a squadron of mixed warriors. We have found that older warriors are a little more…reluctant to fight alongside one that is not their kind."
"I will discuss your suggestions with My Lady Mother," Hermione promised.
The rest of their meeting was spent discussing the latest attempt of Dumbledore to discriminate against the other species. It was remarkable just how self-righteous the old, manipulative bastard was. Using methods that he wouldn't share, Ragnok had discovered that Dumbledore planned on banishing the remainder of the centaur herd out of the Forbidden Forest. That piece of information had made Neville downright furious.
"The only ones who are still living in the forest are the elders and the young ones," he said hotly. "And that's because they aren't strong enough to make the journey. They won't be able to defend themselves with only the handful of warriors who stayed with them!"
Luna took Neville's hand in her own and he instantly calmed down. "Would they accept Harry's temporary portkey now?" she asked. "The only reason that they're still there is because the young ones are still too young to portkey and the elders are too stubborn to accept wizard magic."
Neville sighed heavily. "The elders are set in their ways. The youngest centaur in the herd is almost old enough so she won't be harmed by the portkey journey. I would recommend that the elders go to the base on foot as they did in the old times, but they won't make the journey. And centaurs are very respectful of their elders, they won't abandon them. If they have to, the herd will fight to protect their weakest."
Harry gave Neville a supporting smile. "It won't come to that," he said. "We'll fight him on it. We could look into alternative options. Perhaps just rent a bunch of horse trailers and drive them if all else fails."
"You would get quite a bit of crap for that," Neville chuckled. "It would need to be a pretty impressive trailer."
"If Hermione agrees, we could charm one to fit their tastes, within reason of course," Luna offered.
Neville beamed at his fiancé. "I'll talk to them about it. You're amazing, Love."
The rest of the meeting passed quickly and the four were soon leaving Gringotts. Neville left to talk to the centaur herd while Harry offered to return home, giving Hermione and Luna time to themselves. The two best friends hadn't had a lot of time to talk since Hermione's return, and they planned on catching up.
"What do you want to do?" Hermione asked Luna.
Luna thought about it for a moment. "Even though we don't have the centaur's agreement yet, we could still go look at trailers and maybe even cars that we could enchant."
Hermione nodded eagerly. "That sounds great! Let's go."
The two witches left Diagon Alley, after Hermione had managed to get her ears back in the hat. They walked to a deserted alley before Hermione apparated them to the edge of the city where she knew a car dealership resided.
After an hour of looking over cars and discussing details with the dealer, something that was much easier since Hermione could tell when the man was lying, they decided to purchase a simple Albany car with four doors that was blue with tinted windows. The dealer's jaw was practically on the floor when they paid for the car in full. Hermione even felt satisfaction that she used her own money to pay for the car instead of Harry's.
When the paperwork was signed, Hermione took the keys and the girls drove the car off of the lot.
"When did you get your license?" Luna asked as they drove.
Hermione grinned at her friend. "I wanted to surprise Harry. The license that I showed the dealer wasn't a magical one. Last year when I went out during the weekends, I was taking classes. I thought that it couldn't hurt to have my license. I actually passed the test right before exams."
Luna nodded, impressed. "So, now what? Are we honestly going to drive all the way home?"
"I wouldn't know where to go," Hermione admitted. "I thought that we would go pick up a horse trailer and them shrink them before taking our portkeys home. Does that sound okay?"
"That sounds great."
An hour later, Hermione and Luna were signing the papers for a trailer and after some notice-me-not- charms, they shrunk it and the car before they portkeyed back home. They immediately went to the barn that Harry had had constructed where they changed the car and trailer back to normal.
"What sort of enchantments will we need on this?" Hermione asked as she took out a small notepad and pen from her pocket.
Luna walked up to the car and sat down on the hood. "Extension, of course, for both of them. Strengthening, comfort, undetectable, and we'll need to charm the trailer to seem like a forest. I'm sure that Neville and Harry will also want to add some odd charms of their own."
Hermione nodded as she wrote a list of enchantments to add. When she was done, she put the pen and paper aside and took out her original wand. "We could get the extension enchantments done by the end of today if we start now."
The girls started on the car. It was very complicated to enchant such a large object, but they were two very bright witches.
While they worked on enchanting the car, they talked about their summers. Hermione talked about the elves, Luna talked about the fairies. Luna cried about her father's murder and Hermione offered some comfort. When they got to the topic of their finished training, Luna stopped casting spells and looked at Hermione with a stern expression.
"I don't like the idea of sparring to the point when one of us is critically injured," she said to Hermione. "We can't hurt each other, Hermione. Even if you can heal the injuries, you shouldn't be giving them."
Hermione looked at Luna with a wary smile. "I don't like it either," she admitted. "But, elves duel to the fullest extent of their abilities. I'm sorry that my changes bother you."
Luna immediately shook her head. "Hermione, I don't care that you're half-elf now, in fact I think that it's great. I guess, that your now elven ways just clash against the ways of the fairies. Fairies aren't aggressive and they prefer to avoid conflict. Even if they do need to fight, they do it indirectly. I think that we just need to accept each other's differences now. Plus, it's not like we were exactly similar before you left."
Hermione giggled at that. Silence filled the workspace for a moment as Hermione gazed upon her engagement ring, returned to her that morning. "Luna, do you think of life after war?" she asked softly.
"Of course," Luna said immediately. "I plan on surviving and marrying Neville. Then I would like to take time to travel with him across the world, looking for exotic creatures while he looks for plants."
"What about children?" Hermione asked. "Do you see yourself as a mother in a few years?"
Luna tilted her head as she thought about it. "I would love to have Neville's child," she said after a moment. "What about you?"
Hermione smiled at her best friend. "Nothing would make me happier than to have Harry's child. Luna, would you promise me something?"
"If I can."
Hermione stepped over to Luna and took her hands and squeezed them. "If I ever am lucky enough to have a child, and something happens to me, would you raise my child with Harry? He or she will need a mother figure and I couldn't think of anyone better than my best friend."
Luna smiled as her gray eyes glistened with tears. "I would love to, but only if you do the same thing if something should happen to me."
"Deal," Hermione said with a sad smile.
While the girls were hanging out together and Neville was visiting the centaur herd, Harry went to visit Goldengaze's grave. He sat down next to the grave marker for over an hour, just talking to his departed friend.
"Having Hermione back makes everything better," he said. "But, if you were here it would make everything complete. Willowsong laughs and jokes, but the happiness doesn't reach her eyes. Robin has started bouncing back. None of us can figure out how you passed the Founder's Blessing to her, and we haven't told her yet. Actually, none of us even understand what the Founder's Blessing is yet. All that we have found is that it can activate Hogwarts' true magic."
A breeze blew across the grounds and Harry felt comforted by its presence. It was as if Goldengaze hadn't left them after all.
Light laughter carried in the air, causing Harry to turn and smile. Robin was attempting to get into her inner-feline by stalking him. Her body was crouched low to the ground but her tail was still twitching in the air. When she saw Harry looking at her she sat up and pouted.
"No fair," she whined. "The prey isn't supposed to turn and watch while the hunter stalks and pounces!"
"Would you like me to turn around and ignore you then?" Harry laughed.
Robin rolled her eyes in exasperation. "That would be stupid. You would still know that I was stalking you. Why are you sitting by Dad's grave?"
Harry smiled sadly and patted the ground next to him. "I like to come and talk to him. Your dad was my friend and I owe him my life."
Robin nodded sadly and sat down next to him. "I miss him too," she said softly. "I'm afraid that I'm going to forget him," she confessed. "Griffins are immortal. I could live forever. What if I forget what his fur felt like when I curled up against him to sleep?" she asked Harry sorrowfully.
When the young griffin began shaking with silent sobs, Harry put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
"Things might get fuzzy, and you might forget someone's warmth," he said softly. "But, you will never forget him. Even though you'll outlive me, I'll always remind you of just how brave your father was. Plus, your mother will be there too."
Robin chuckled. "Mom has gotten really overprotective since Dad died," she said softly. "I mean, I know that everyone tries to protect me, but I'm a griffin, I don't need protecting. How am I supposed to be a strong, brave griffin like Dad if I'm not allowed to fly more than ten feet off the ground?"
Harry looked into Robin's golden eyes. "We don't want you to get hurt. But, I suppose that we do coddle you a bit. If you'd like, I could give you a flying lesson, though your mum can't know about it," he said with a big smile.
Immediately, Robin thrust her head into Harry's stomach in joy. "Please, please, please, please?" she begged excitedly. "Can you teach me now?"
"How can I say no to that?" Harry laughed.
He stepped back and shifted into his phoenix form. He gave his wings a good stretch before turning to face Robin.
"I've noticed that when you fly, you try to force too much power in your wings," Ashes instructed. "Flying isn't all about strength; it's about using the air. When you fly with the air currents, you use less energy. Stretch out your wings."
The young griffin did as was instructed. Her wings were not as strong as they could be, Ashes noticed, but that was most likely because she was not allowed to do a lot of flying.
Maybe we are too overprotective, he thought sadly. I wish that I hadn't been protected and had been given the choice on how to live. We're sort of doing to Robin what Dumbledore did to me.
Ashes beat his wings easily and hovered a couple of feet off the ground. "Until you get to greater heights, you will need to rely on your own strength to fly. Your wings need to get strong. Do griffins do any branching?"
Robin beat her wings and hovered with more difficulty than Ashes. "Do you mean cliff jumping? Dad taught me to beat my wings to make it from cliff to cliff."
"That's pretty much what I'm talking about. That's meant to help strengthen your wings. For now, we'll focus on that."
The two made their way over to the training grounds. There, Ashes had Robin strengthen her wings by flying up to the top of the training equipment repeatedly. By the end of a couple hours, Robin was shaking with exhaustion, but she was having too much fun to stop. The young griffin certainly had a stubborn streak, but that's part of what made her so admirable.
"What are you doing?" a sharp voice called down.
Flinching, Ashes looked up from his perch and saw Willowsong gliding down to the ground. She was radiating with disapproval and immediately used her paw to gently flatten Robin to the ground before she could fly back to the top of the equipment.
Ashes quickly shifted back into Harry and gave Willowsong a hesitant smile. "I was just helping Robin to strengthen her wings. She wants to fly and I wanted to help."
Willowsong glared at him. "Don't you think that that's up to her mother to decide?" she demanded fiercely. "I won't have my daughter learning to fly before she's ready."
"But Mum," Robin protested as she pushed Willowsong's paw off her. "I am ready. Harry was only trying to help. You are too eager to keep me grounded, but I don't want to be. I want to fly and now that Dad isn't here, I need a new teacher."
"I could teach you," Willowsong offered. "You are my child, so it's only right."
Robin bowed her head sadly. "But you won't teach me," she said softly. "You keep telling me that I'm not ready, you keep acting like I'll break if I fall two feet. How can I be a strong griffin like Dad if you won't teach me to fly?"
Willowsong turned her head bitterly. "Look where being strong got your father," she cried. "I will not lose you like I lost him."
Robin cuddled against her mother. "I'm not going anywhere," she said.
Seeing the mother and daughter mourn the death of their father/mate made Harry yearn for Hermione's warm presence by his side. He gave Willowsong a heartfelt apology for going behind her back to teach Robin and promised that he would only teach her again if it was her wish. After Willowsong agreed to that, he shifted back into Ashes and flew to the manor.
He went to the library and sat heavily in front of his parents' portrait. While it wasn't the same as physical contact, it still offered him some comfort.
"Harry, are you alright?" his mother asked worriedly.
"I'm not sure," Harry sighed heavily. "I just really miss everyone we've lost. You guys, Cedric, Sirius, and Goldengaze. Even those who died that I didn't know, like Hermione's parents, Luna's father, or even Neville's parents who are beyond help. I hate war."
James Potter looked at his son sympathetically. "There's nothing good about war, son."
Harry sank into his chair. "I don't think that I could handle losing anyone else close to me," he said quietly. "It might break me."
Lily put her hand against the canvas of the portrait, tears filling her eyes. Even though she wasn't real, Harry still stood up and put his hand against hers.
"You're strong, you'll prevail, but you will most likely lose someone who you love," she said tearfully.
Harry nodded bitterly. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door opening behind him interrupted his train of thought.
Turning around, he saw a nervous Draco Malfoy peering into the library. After their previous encounter at Black Manor, they had decided to relocate him to Potter Manor where they could get to know their ally a little better.
"Hey, Draco," Harry greeted. "How's exploring coming?"
Draco shrugged and frowned when he saw the portrait. "I'm sorry, you're talking. I just wanted to see what was behind the door."
Harry shrugged. "This is the Potter Library. There's pretty much every book that you could ever want on magic."
Draco gazed admirably at the selection of books. "Your library is easily at least twice the size of the Malfoy Library. Could I ask you a question?"
"Shoot," Harry answered. At Draco's confused expression he added, "It means go ahead."
Draco looked uneasily at the floor. "I was wondering if you could train me," he said after a moment. "You said that you were trained by other creatures, and I was wondering if you could train me in their ways."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. Turning to his parents he said, "I'll visit later, Mum, Dad."
"See you later, son," James said cheerfully. "Try not to kill the Slytherin!"
"I won't," Harry called back. He left the library with Draco and led him to the basement of the manor. "I don't know what species you are best adept in, so we're going to try out a few weapons. If you're capable of the goblin style, then I will teach you."
"And if I'm not?" Draco asked.
Harry shrugged. "Then you'll be trained by someone whose style you are most combatable with."
Draco nodded in understanding. "So, are you going to tell me why you trained with the goblins? Or do I need to prove myself first."
"We'll tell you eventually," Harry promised. "We don't believe in hiding things from those who are fighting alongside us. Have you thought of any other Slytherins who would fight with us?"
"The only ones who are loyal enough to those who they fight with are Blaise and the Greengrass sisters," Draco responded. "They choose the side that will benefit them the most, but they'll be loyal to their comrades. Would you like me to owl them?"
Harry nodded. "We're going to contact students who will most likely fight with us within the next couple days. Because you're a ward of the House of Black, you have the right to live here in Potter Manor. If you agree that is. We just thought that you wouldn't be safe living in Slytherin after you've been missing for a whole summer."
Draco nodded in agreement. "But, that means that I will openly be declaring myself against the Dark Lord," he said worriedly. "What if he comes for me?"
"We're working on precautions," Harry assured him. They reached the basement door and started walking down the stairs.
Draco gaped in astonishment at the assortment of weapons that lined the basement's walls. There were swords, daggers, bows, and axes. They all varied in type and length and Draco could tell that some of them were meant for different styles of fighting.
"I think that you're built more for either goblin or elven fighting style," Harry told him as he went to take a few swords off the wall. "Goblin fighting is about using your opponents own strength against them to make up for the difference in size. It's meant for the strong, agile types. Elven fighting, from what I learned from Hermione, is about fighting with grace and using your weapons as an extension of yourself. You strike and kill before your opponent knows what hit them. That's meant for graceful types."
"What types are Neville and Luna?" Draco asked.
Harry walked over to Draco with five swords in his grasp. "Neville is brawny; he's the ideal candidate for the centaur style. Luna doesn't fight with blades very often because she was trained by fairies. If you aren't ideal for any fighting group, then Luna will take you in for her strategy group."
Draco took one of the offered blades from Harry. "Why are you telling me all this? I was so horrible to you."
"You were influenced by dark magic," Harry said with a shrug. "You have the chance to prove yourself. Plus, if you do betray us you won't remember anything anyway and no amount of Legilimency will be able to find the information."
"Lovely," Draco groaned as he unsheathed the blade.
The sword was forged for the goblin style of fighting. It was light, but sturdy enough that if used correctly it could help take down even the most powerful blades. When Draco held it he gazed at it worriedly. At Harry's instruction he gave it an experimental swing and soon found the blade taken from his hands by Harry.
"Nope," Harry said. "You're too unbalanced with that blade. Try this one."
They went through four more swords and all four of them were poor fits for Draco. Harry put them back on the wall and came back with one different sword.
"Try this," Harry said with a strained smile.
Draco unsheathed the sword and gave it an experimental swing. It felt much better in his grasp. He didn't feel unbalanced at all. He gave it another swing and found himself smiling. The sword felt like a part of him. Almost like his wand did.
Too soon for Draco's liking, the sword was taken from him and gently sheathed.
"This is Hermione's sword," Harry explained. "She left it down here for combat testing until she gets more blades. You're more capable to learn the elven fighting style."
"So…Hermione is going to be my teacher?" Draco asked hesitantly. "But, I was so cruel to her and it was my father who almost killed her."
Harry put the sword back on the wall and led Draco out of the basement. "She doesn't blame you," he assured him. "Now, would you write a list of any other of age students, Slytherin or otherwise, who you think would fight with us?"
Draco nodded and turned to walk towards his room. "Why do you need a list so urgently?" he asked.
"Because we're in a war," Harry said grimly. "And we need an army. If things go as planned, we'll have an army of wizards, witches, goblins, elves, centaurs, fairies, and whoever else will fight. We're forming the Unity Army, and we plan on being victorious."
A/N- Review! -Phoenix