HEI!
So, I could tell you a sob-story now about how I didn't manage to upload because while I thought my hols were going to be unexciting they suddenly were and I found myself in the middle of the desert Gobi without any Internet access and had to find my way home from there, and I fought Russian people traffic, pirates, child molesters, dragons and ate a horse on my way home - but I really don't think that this story would fit in here, and I don't think you'd buy it anyway (which is a pity, 'cause it'd be a good story...)
Anyway, reason for my delayed upload and my now more than acceptably long Author's Note is because, well life caught up with me. It's the summer holidays, I had little reason to stay in and instead went out and about, frolicking in the green grass and dancing in the summer rain. ... Also another story for another time.
The UP-side of this is: I am now finished with the story - every word is written and every upload should take less and less time now. And I hope that you will enjoy what I made of it, because I love you, all of you, who were so patient with me.
STOP THE RAMBLING - Enjoy the story. (There's more of them today ;P )
His life was unsteady at times like these.
He did not know if he would survive the next day, or if Voldemort would finally decide that he'd had enough of him and simply off him – it would be even welcome some of nowadays. After all, death would spare him the searing pains of the after-effects of the Cruciatus curse, Merlin how he hated his aching joints, he felt a lot older than he actually was.
His eyes hurt from having corrected the abysmal essays of his second years and he was tired beyond belief. But there was one thing he'd looked forward to the whole week – today he wouldn't be called and for once Albus did not have a mission for him, today was his free day, and he had just the idea on how to spend it.
As he cast the disillusionment spell around him and hurried through the hallways, he almost smiled in prospect of what he was to see very soon.
Hermione and her friends had not been as active as usually, but it was only four months into the year anyways – who knew what they were up to already. As he passed through the wall to the Room of Requirement, he was hoping to see the three girls practicing their spells.
As it was, he was almost hit by a flying Colin Creevey.
Potter stood at the other side of the room, while he produced a soft mattress on the wall behind him, ducking out of the way just in time – the group would think that the room had provided the mattress to soften Creevey's fall.
Hermione, still under the Glamours as Hermes, stepped forth and nodded approvingly, before she turned to face a larger audience.
"Generally, folks, the Stupefy is meant to knock your enemy out, like it would have done with Colin wouldn't the room have been nice enough to create the mattress – if it doesn't knock him out, it hurls him away from you, if your opponent isn't quick enough to block it. We'll try that right now."
Snape placed himself into a far away corner, the darkest he could find, and watched with rapt attention as the students paired up and started to hex each other. It appeared that the Clover had taken over to train a few more students – though they did not show just what they were capable of.
Parcival corrected the Slytherins and he was proud to see that most of them were half-bloods, picked on and oppressed by the pure-blooded wizards in his house – it soothed his ruffled ego to see that those that were harassed followed Granger's idea and joined the side of the light, rather than that of the dark.
Ravenclaw was represented and Huffelpuff as well aside from the obnoxiously large number of Gryffindors. He looked around the room – at the far end, the Clover conversed in front of a mirror on which photos of Cho and Cedric hung, along with an old picture of the Order of Phoenix, surely brought along by Boy-Wonder. Undetected, he hurried over to the three of them, wishing to hear their discussion.
"…can't come here more often." He heard Parcival say silently, Lysander nodded.
"Yeah, now that we've informed practically the whole school about the RoR, people come and go as they wish – our meetings are cut short, and Hermes… we need them."
Hermione was chewing her lip in her most characteristic manner, when she was either bashful or about to spout of knowledge – in his opinion, she looked bashful right now. Parcival nudged her gently. "Come on, Hermes, we know you still have that map, and right now we need it! We need a room."
Hermione gave up, sighing. "Alright, alright – I'll check the empty rooms from the Marauder's Map. But I've been to most of them already and they don't really qualify as training rooms…"
He massaged his jaw as the three of them continued to discuss, while they corrected this or that student. It appeared that while they had taken over training others, their own trainings were cut short – and that was bad form. Both of it was important, of course, but in his opinion, their training was a lot more important – they were the only chance to ensure that Potter would survive, they were his personal body-guards, not even Weasley could get close to that, everyone knew it. If they lacked the training, the chances of Boy-Wonder surviving were slim.
He furrowed his brows in concentration – he needed to help them solve the problem, somehow. A small smirk spread over his face: and if his Summoning Books still held any valuable information, then he had just the messenger he needed.
"Sectum Sempra!"
The fighting sounds ceased immediately – Hermione gasped. She had been reading her book again and had actually not been intent on coming even close to Myrtle's Bathroom, but her feet had led her here, and apparently they had done so for a reason.
She had stayed hidden in a niche when she'd heard the distinct sounds of spells being fired – she was slightly miffed at Harry for picking a fight with Malfoy, but she would never understand just why Harry would cast a spell he had no idea where it came from.
Steps hurried her way and she pressed herself further into the niche, casting a concealment spell; Harry brushed by her without a look into her direction, his face was pale as ash.
As soon as he had passed, she sprinted out of her niche, uncast the spell and hurried to Draco's side. Blood was quickly pooling around her, his own blood, coming out of a large gash on his chest – he gurgled his blood even, his eyes frightened as she knelt down next to him, pulling her wand.
In a defensive reaction, he threw her wand out of her hand – she groaned, she didn't have the time to fetch it, his pale complexion was now white as snow and her wand was too far away, her mind went on overdrive. Putting her hands to his chest, she pushed as he was about to hurl her away again – he immediately gave in.
"Vulnera Sanentur." She sang quietly, breathing relieved, when most of the blood vanished from the floor, being cast back into the body. "Vulnera Sanentur." She sang again and this time the blood vanished completely, the wounds knitting together under a ripped shirt – they only left scars.
Sitting back on her heels, she wordlessly called her wand to her and hid it in her sleeve again, before looking at Malfoy.
"Reparo." She said silently, flicking her wrist in a beautiful arch over the panting young man – his eyes were wide as he lay on the ground, but he said not a word. When his clothing was back to normal, she stood and nodded, before she wordlessly vanished from the scene, her feelings unsettled – she had seen Malfoy's right arm, and the Dark Mark had been deeply etched into his milky skin.
"Give me that book, Potter." She demanded, holding up her palm and staring angrily at Harry – at least he had the decency to look embarrassed and shocked, but it still did nothing to really assuage her, especially since he wasn't moving.
"Accio Potter's Potion's book." She said loudly and without further ado, the book flew into her hand. She tested its weight – it was Harry's. The boy looked at her with a white face and she sat down in front of him.
"Potter, you understand what would have happened if Professor Snape hadn't arrived quickly enough, right?" Harry nodded – Hermione had been careful enough to cover her own interference by telling Harry that Snape had come to rescue Malfoy in the last minute, but was clueless as to who had cast the spell, after all, Snape really didn't know, and Harry needn't know that he only had a duplicate of the potion's text book.
"I am disappointed that you would cast a spell you had no idea of, even if it was Malfoy. But since it is cared for, we will simply let this book vanish and never look at it again, alright?"
He was about to protest, but before a word had found his way over his lips, the book in her hands had caught fire, she threw it into the flames, before she could burn herself and they both watched as the paper started to burn and soon disappear. She stood and turned to Harry one last time.
"I'm sorry Harry, you'll have to use another book – but we can't have something like that happen again, you could be expelled and we need you here, as much as you need to be here, you're safe here."
Harry knew that she was right, even though he didn't want to say it.
Lysander, Parcival and Hermes were on their way to dinner, when a gentle note caught their ears. It was so beautiful and peaceful that it settled over their ruffled hearts like a band-aid over a wound – the three stopped mid-step to breathe in the air of contentment and freedom that washed over them with the sound of this note.
A chirp broke them out of their reverie and when Lysander opened his eyes, all he could see were black feathers and broad wings. The bird in front of her reminded her of Fawkes, with the distinct difference that Fawkes was clad in red, orange and yellow feathers, whereas this phoenix was black, and majestic.
The bird gently sunk its talons into Hermes' blouse and pulled. Hermes was a light fellow, and Phoenixes had extraordinary strength, which ended up in Hermes being lifted by the collar of her blouse as the animal flew away with her.
"Hermes!" Pansy and Luna were on hot pursuit.
It was strange enough, that a thing such as a black phoenix should exist, but what was even stranger was the fact that Hermione did not struggle as it flew her, and the animal took great care to swerve just rightly in order not to hurt her.
She didn't know just how long they were following The Flying English-Man, but when the Phoenix finally settled her down, they had been descending more stairs than she had ever counted and the light that fell into the room they had just entered looked eerily unnatural.
The phoenix gently set Hermione down, before it perched on her shoulder and chirped. Catching up with them, Luna took a deep breath and went to stand next to Hermione, as did Pansy, observing the round hall they had entered.
Their feet stood on solid red marble, while the walls that formed a round dome where white as lime – only that they were so smooth she almost supposed she could see herself in them. It was beautiful.
"Just where the hell are we?" Pansy breathed as she dared to take a step forth and towards the wall, touching the cool surface. The phoenix on Hermione's shoulder responded with a chirp and fluttered down to pick at Hermione's robes – the bushy-haired witch realized a little belated that the bird wanted her to pull out the Marauder's Map.
Huddling over the parchment, the three girls watched as the phoenix folded the map, with Hermione's help, until finally they noticed a completely new level of the school. "The sub-dungeons." Pansy breathed, before she looked around. "Doesn't look very… dungeon-ish to me."
Luna smiled, but agreed. The black phoenix chirped again, satisfied apparently that they had found out just where they were. Hermione studied the map, before she smirked. "No one ever comes here…" she smiled, "they're all up in the higher levels, even the dungeons are deserted…"
Pansy smirked as they met eyes. "I bet it's a perfect place to practice."
Luna nodded enthusiastically. "It's so far away from everything else that no one will even think about us being here. And since we have the Marauder's Map, no one will even be able to trace us."
Hermione smirked as she turned to the black phoenix that blinked at her before butting its head against her, she patted it reverently and the phoenix chirped elated. Luna looked thoughtfully at the animal. It was beautiful actually, graceful and discreet in a way that Fawkes could probably never be. She smirked.
"I say we change our name." she said triumphantly, "we've evolved from the Clover that trained in the RoR, to a group of witches that now trains in the sub-dungeons." Then she smirked. "And just how often does it happen that a phoenix appears and leads you somewhere."
Pansy smiled as she lay down on the marble, spreading out like a starfish and looking at the white, bright ceiling above her. "What name would you give us, Word-juggler?" she asked then and Luna smiled as the Phoenix chirped a last time, before it flew away again.
"Black Phoenix Witches."
"Meredius is a girl! Meredius is a girl!"
Pansy listened up when she heard the taunting chorus of Huffelpuffs as they chased a young boy down the hall. Even she had to admit that Meredius, whoever that really was, did look a lot like a girl – nevertheless, she knew from Hermione just how badly that could grow to be; decidedly she stepped in, rising to her total height.
The first years shrunk back in fear, as Meredius hid behind her. "First, you insolent squids, running is forbidden in the hallways, second, try to touch him and I'll have you reported to Professor Snape and third…" she sneered, "if you call him a girl one more time, I'll make sure you squeal like one."
The threat hit home and the first years quickly dispersed, leaving her with Meredius, who was still cowering behind her. Carefully she turned around to look at the young boy… but found that, really, it was a girl. She was a lot more mature than any of them had been in their first year and apparently had not thought of charming her appearance… it would need a little more than transforming her from one day to another, they'd need more drastic measures.
She suddenly smiled, but they'd found a girl again!
She was a Huffelpuff and she was young, perhaps too young to join their cause, for sure, but they'd be able to take care of her, they'd be able to support her.
"Come on," she said as she took her by the shoulder and gently steered her to the sub-dungeons after casting her patronus, "I think you need to meet someone."
Marlene Midas was in shock.
Right there a sixth year Slytherin had helped her get away from the angry crowd and in the next moment, she was faced with three more witches. How did they ever go unnoticed? Why she'd heard of Hermes Granger, loyal body-guard of Harry Potter, and she'd heard of Lysander Lovegood and Parcival Parkinson, who were both always at the side of Hermes but to think that they were actually women!
Real witches!
The smile that had broken on her face without her realizing grew wide when her brain finally caught up!
"You're all witches!" she exclaimed loudly, "Oh Merlin, I never thought that anyone had ever tried this and now I actually find out that the three of you are witches!" She was ecstatic and by the way that the three grown-ups, for that's what they were in Marlene's eyes, smiled at her, her antics amused them – it was just as fine to her, if they liked her then all the better.
Hermione, as she got to know Hermes, smiled before she sat on the ground, Marlene followed. "We offer you our help." She said. "We can teach you how to cover your true identity and we can help you with your studies. We've been your age once too and we were lucky to find each other. What we ask of you, however, is utter discretion, no one can know that we are witches and no one can know what we really do – some of it is… dubious but we have the best in mind."
She halted for a little, before Luna continued. "We will give you two days to reflect on it – if you do not come to us, then we will not bother you further, but we will need to make sure that you will not ever tell our secrets. If you decide that you want to join us, then you simply tell one of us, we have ways to inform each other. We can offer you friendship, loyalty and knowledge – in turn, we wish for your loyalty and your brain."
Marlene was surprised, when they let her go after that. She could have told anyone during that time without them ever knowing, but she was pleasantly surprised that they let her think on it. She took her two days to observe the 'Clover' or 'Black Phoenix Witches' as they called themselves – as of now, she had no idea why they called themselves like that, but she assumed that she'd find out when she decided to join them.
It took her only one more day.
Now comes the thank-you-round which will be horribly long today, because well... I have a lot of people to thank:
First the REVIEWS: Lost O'Fallon Girl (thank you, I hope you'll like the rest too), renaid (I am so happy you liked it, I wasn't too sure), bushyhaired-american-nerd (25: I wanted her alive, but the story said no :(, 26: how'd you know?), bone (Harry is still just a boy, he'll see... eventually), douglas. bailey. 7946 (thank you, that is one great compliment), SamMacKennaJustineTaylorFlack (XD, thank you so much for the enthusiasm), Ms-Deunan (thank you, I hope the update didn't take too long for your patience), TequilaNervous (25: Ron will reappear, yes, 26: I can't believe it either - and, well, they're not canon so that could be a reason), Bamon (I hope you're still aboard then ;)), LabyrinthChild05 (not yet, but soon enough), Auroras Jenkins (thank you), ruby2360 (that's the idea of the ship =D), icarus enjoyed the view (I had a bit of a pause, but I do so continue, I hate unfinished business), brainsbeautyHG (I hope you're still reading then), Sook03 (so, what do you think of the rest?) and bluefirefly5 (you are so enthusiastic and cute to write a review for each chapter, Thank You... also for the PM ;))
And I'm also grateful for the story alerts. So thank you Ebony Starstorm, w. , Simone22, Ms-Deunan (also for the Author Alert), Anneke15, , .Leo (Author Alert included), Bamon (you too, thanks for the additional Author Alert), Allyll, DoctorBellaMortLock, Melissa Elizabeth Granger, Added Blue, MSU-HPHGfan, scarletalphabet, .nothing, ObeliskX, Little Miss Banana, Paparate, Ladyalaura, Copper Yew, moonlove2527, Sook03, bluefirefly5 (also considering the Author Alert) and Casini.
Finally, for the Story Favourites, a big thanks to Simone22, Ms-Deunan, .Leo, Bamon (thanks also for the Author fav), Allyll, teresainseattle, Melissa Elizabeth Granger, PrincessLissaRae, .nothing, ObeliskX, yawnyattheapocalypse, Ladyalaura (also thankful for the Author favourite), epminka (thank you too for favouriting me as an Author), moonlove2527, bluefirefly5 (thank you for pushing the Fav. Author button) and Draka Dark.
So, as I said: lots of names. But I would like to thank you ALL for the reviews and the patience, for continuously burying me in your love that comes in the form of reviews, story and author favs, and story and author alerts - I had to sort through 138 messages today, that's a lot of love. I write for myself, but also for you - so thank you, a thousand times.
... and please review ;)
