Hello my fine furry friends! It has been some time since my last upload, I admit - uni has started again and wow... I've hardly had the time to breathe. Anyways, I have an obligation towards you, since the story is only waiting to be published and stuff and you are only waiting to read it. So enough of the rambling.
Enjoy!
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please… please open your eyes, I am sorry…"
She awoke, bathed in cold sweat, her sheets tangled in her feet and arms and for a moment she struggled with them, simply to lay unrestricted in her bed and look at the ceiling. Ever since that night on the Astronomy Tower, she'd had this strange dream. Hermione knew the voice, she knew that if she would open her eyes, she'd see him, but honestly she didn't want to.
Hermione was scared to no end – he could invade her dreams; could he invade her mind? Voldemort had used the same trick on Harry, had he not? Perhaps he'd passed that certain trick on to his loyal Death Eater and he now tried to gain information of her. He would probably be the only one to have realized that she was the brains behind Harry and Ron – she was technically a ticking bomb for her friends if her theory proved true. But she still could not find it in herself to tell any of them about her dreams.
Snape had done nothing but apologizing for a whole month now.
She sat up silently, careful to not disturb Luna, Marlene and Pansy, who were still peacefully sleeping. Today was August the first, three in the morning – silently Hermione traipsed downstairs into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, before she sat down at the wooden table and stared through the window.
July, 4th
"Stupor!" Xenophilius Lovegood was hurled against the sturdy wall of his entrance and instantly silently petrified. Hermes bent down, grinning madly at the man as she put her arms around the crying Luna in a comforting but menacing move.
"Say goodbye to your daughter, Lovegood." They apparated with a silent snap.
August, 1st
Luna was still searched for, but she could tell that the Ministry was beginning to write her off as dead. It was just as fine with them – after all, that had been the plan, pulling Luna and Pansy out of the traffic; making sure that they would not need to take the Dark Mark as they should have by the end of summer.
July, 14th
Hermes grinned madly at the pure-blood in front of her, his wand trained directly at the jugular – her eyes lit up dangerously. "Ah, Parkinson, never thought you'd find yourself in the position of being threatened by a mudblood, did you?"
Harshly jolting her chin, she indicated for him to sit down – the man did as demanded, his face contorting in rage when she grabbed his wand and, with a swish of her own, bound him to the chair. Cockily she observed her oeuvre.
"I think I might just like you, bound and gagged." She was sick to play a game like this – but that was the idea, after all.
Xenophilius Lovegood had failed to relay the importance of his daughter's kidnapping to Voldemort, the Snake had not even bothered to give out money on Hermes' head – something had to change that, and their only chance to do so was Pansy.
The Parkinsons were proud after all, pure-blooded since centuries, Slytherins since centuries – if being threatened and robbed by a mud-blooded Gryffindor wasn't enough to enrage them and hence the Snake, she didn't have a clue at how to approach the stupid bint.
Daringly she weighed the wand of the wizard in her hands, before Hermes threw a smirk at the still fuming man. "I don't think you'd need it, do you? After all you haven't even been able to use it – against a lowly mud-blood."
The wood splintered over her knee and she vanished cackling with an 'unconscious' Pansy in her arms.
August, 1st
Until now all was going according to plan. Harry – and the Order indirectly – had leeway since her having kidnapped Pansy, it certainly had affronted Voldemort. The thing was, though, that they were now also completely secluded from the total of the outside world. She had told Harry to not contact them under any circumstances.
"Harry, if you send us an owl, we will be traceable. You'd serve us on a silver, scratch that, golden platter to Voldemort."
The young man nodded, not happy with the plan, but thankfully seeing the point – she'd thought it through often enough.
"We'll distract him, dangle a few carrots in front of him, but you need to act as well, understood?" Harry had said not a word as she'd relayed the plan to him.
Now they were cut off the Order, cut off any news from the wizarding world save for the few snippets they caught whenever they ventured out by night to find or steal something edible – they'd grown quite proficient at that. Their housing was a simple holiday-stay of a muggle that neither of them knew, but that had been easily enough confounded into thinking he'd never possessed.
Hermione sighed into her glass as she emptied it and continued to stare out of the large window. The shack, for truly it could not be described as anything else, was situated so close to the cliffs that she'd been surprised it hadn't yet fallen down with all the wind blowing around it. But it was lovely to look at and nice to live in.
As it was usual for Ireland, it rained outside, heavy raindrops knocking against the window glass and she relished in the familiar pitter-pat that calmed her beating heart. She was about to retreat to the shared bedroom, when a soft chirp interrupted her chaotic mind.
Marlene stared with wondering eyes at the graceful bird on Hermione's shoulder, next to her Pansy smiled softly and sat down at the loaded table.
"Made breakfast, did you?" the Slytherin asked and dug into the scrambled eggs, Marlene followed and took a toast – Merlin, the taste of toast!
Hermione turned to look at the three of them and smiled. "Cat brought it in." she smirked and the Phoenix chirped from her shoulder. The youngest witch watched silently as the bird took a seat on Hermione's chair-back, sometimes being fed a tasty morsel that he gratefully accepted, and otherwise behaved.
"How did he find us?" Luna asked in between bites of her corn flakes – she could almost not contain herself and some milk dribbled down her chin, but no one commented on it. Their favourite breakfast meals had arrived with the phoenix and they did not know when such a miracle would happen again, so better enjoy and relish in it now rather than never.
Hermione shrugged. "Actually, he's come with a scroll that I haven't opened yet either – we'll take a look at it after breakfast?" The phoenix chirped and was fed a fine piece of ham from Hermione's plate which it practically wolfed down – the witches agreed.
"I hope, Harry, that this letter reaches you soon and that you might finish what I, so many years ago, failed to complete – your friends are your biggest weapon, keep them close."
Luna put the scroll down and looked at the assembled witches – neither spoke and not even the phoenix made a sound.
The letter was addressed to Harry, quite obviously, and had been written by the late headmaster, Albus Dumbledore – in his eternal wisdom the old wizard might have realized that his death could be imminent and had hence left a will. The Stories of Beedle The Bard was now in Pansy's hands, and the witch studied the small booklet with great curiosity.
"This is meant to destroy Voldemort…" the Slytherin finally spoke up and opened the book, reading a rhyme. "It's… a child's book, simply, nothing more. I don't see the sense."
She handed it over to Hermione, who took it, head in hand, but did not open the book – instead she lapsed into another silence, collecting her thoughts, before she addressed her friends. "I know… that the letter and the will are addressed to Harry… but the will speaks of means to destroy Voldemort and unless it is not something that Harry alone can do, I am very inclined to say that we keep this from him. He needs to stay at school, he's safest there."
Luna breathed easier. "Thank Merlin! I was thinking along the same lines." She sighed relaxed. "We've put so much energy into our plan and this could ruin everything… every single thing." The other two witches nodded.
"Well then," Hermione smiled as she thumbed through the pages, "we'll be going to where this book leads us." She answered Pansy's inquisitive look with a soft smile. "I think that Dumbledore hid the whereabouts of the keys to the destruction in these stories. Reminds me much of what Snape thought to do in our first year."
Luna laughed loudly. "Circe, if he knew that he'd been preparing you for the downfall of that creep maybe he'd never have written that riddle!"Hermione laughed.
"Please, please, look at me…"
Hermione really didn't want to, she had wanted to do nothing at all, she had wanted to ignore him all the time – but she knew that sooner or later she would give in. She knew that she would, she knew that he held her heart, because she'd unwittingly given it to him, but she refused just yet to do so.
Instead, as he pleaded with her, she silently cried.
The phoenix sang a comforting tune when she entered the kitchen again – it was five, the sun was just rising and she smiled when she saw that in front of it lay breakfast, gently she stroke over the head of the animal that purred characteristically and fixed her with its deep black eyes.
"You know, I cannot forgive him just yet." She whispered to the phoenix – the animal waited silently. "I've done a stupid thing and let my heart run away, it might hurt my friends to admit this and simply run after it. And while it might hurt me to acknowledge that my heart is not with me but with him, I accept this rather than accepting that my friends are hurt because I had no experience."
The bird chirped carefully and butted its head to her chest, where it rested as she continued to pat it, now looking out of the window. "I will probably never forget. One day perhaps I'll be able to get my heart back, maybe when I will next see him it will willingly come back to me because he is the bad man everyone makes him out to be. But what I am really scared of is that he is not and that my heart will not want to come back to me… what should I do then? How do I fight then?"
She received no answer of the bird and they silently watched as the sun rose – from the stairs, Marlene stealthily slunk back into the bed-chamber, climbing onto the futon she shared with Pansy, and staring at the ceiling.
They stared – no one spoke a word, and not even the phoenix on Hermione's shoulder made a sound. It had come back only this morning after having been absent for four days and while Marlene found this strange, none of the others minded – it appeared that the animal had a mind pretty much of its own, much like the witches who had claimed themselves to be the Black Phoenix Witches.
"It's a Horcrux." Hermione finally said – silence reigned the room and Marlene waited patiently with the rest for Hermione's explanatory soliloquy. "Second year, Ron received that strange diary from Tom Riddle and we realized that in it was entrapped a part of the soul of Voldemort, so I…"
"… went to the library…" the witches around her interrupted good-naturedly, making the witch blush, before she continued.
"And found that it was a Horcrux. An object that encases a part of your soul… which is split by killing." Silence, but Hermione had to continue. "And if the chapters of The Stories of Beedle are any indication, then there are eight of them."
The ring on the table had been enclosed in the scroll and until now they had not paid it any attention, at least not until the phoenix had thrown it against Hermione's head – she'd been angry, surprised and now she was thankful.
"So, this is why they are the keys to victory." Pansy breathed. "They are the parts of Voldemort's soul – his assurance should anything go wrong, because sooner or later Harry will no longer be able to face him anymore and then he'll have infinite power."
Luna nodded. "Meaning that if we are able to destroy them without his knowledge, and more or less behind his back, then we would have a real chance in killing him once and for all – that's why Dumbledore put Harry as his heir, because he's the Chosen One…"
"But we will not hand this over to Harry." Hermione said decidedly. "Horcruxes can be killed by a spell, can be destroyed by anyone actually. We wouldn't need Harry for it and I still stand to my word that we should leave him out of this, because of the plan – does anyone else have another idea?"
They shook their heads. "It would be better for Harry to concentrate on developing his fighting skills. Voldemort will not make it easy for him and knowing him, he'd leave the school head over heels – the students would be scared, they'd start to run away, it would give Voldemort a moral kick, add to that the DA would break up, it's the only chance for students to survive."
It was decided that Harry would definitely be left out of the whole ordeal.
Marlene stood on the platform all alone – Sif circled above her, since she had left the desolated house Hermione had apparated her to. The curly-haired wizard had left after a last look at the fallen house, and Marlene had once again been left to her own devices.
She knew that she was proficient in spells – the Black Phoenix Witches had taken up their training-routines again, apparating to different places all the while and then always apparating around before getting back home. She'd been told that it confused persecutors, and it really did sound logical, so Marlene only did what she was asked to do.
The owl hooted soothingly as she settled down on her shoulder and gently nipped her ear, Marlene smiled softly at the animal and gifted it with an owl treat that Hermione had handed her. Nowadays, the young witch thought, almost everything ran over Hermione.
She was the head of the Black Phoenix Witches, she made sure that none of them were detected, she had trained her, she made sure that Harry would not get into too much of trouble and that Marlene would stay safe while not feeling unnecessary. Carefully Meredius Midas trained her eyes on the raven-haired boy, who stood not too far away with his red-headed side-kick.
Ronald noticed her at first. She said nothing as their looks met and neither did he – they simply stared at each other and Marlene dared to prod his mind, finding that it was a veritable Swiss Cheese and silently rifled through the thoughts.
"Midas." Unfazed, she turned to cast a look at Harry, who'd called her – the raven-haired boy studied her, before he nodded her over to them. Meredius Midas wasted no time, the closer she got to the Duo, the better for her. Harry's eyes never left her form as she neared them and finally stood next to them.
They towered easily over her, but she minded not – after all, she was only a second-year and they were seventh-years, of course they would tower over her.
"Have you heard of Hermes?" That was novel. Marlene stored the information away for later when she would send a report to Hermione that Harry had first asked for her – as for now however, she shook her head, playing the dejected child.
"I have not…" she looked up and smiled painfully, "which normally means that he is fine, yes? You only hear from people when they are in some kind of bad situation."
The raven-haired boy smiled and nodded. "Indeed, that's really the only time. How did you spend your summer?" Marlene did quick maths, before she lanced into a planned cover-story on how she'd worked in the owlery of Diagon Alley, because really, that's the only store the Death Eaters hadn't destroyed until now, as well as some others in Knockturn Alley.
"Owlery, hum?" Harry smiled. "Must have been interesting."
Marlene blushed and mumbled something about it having been rather scary because so many things could not be said, bla bla bla… she thought she was rather convincing. It was only when the train called that they ascended the train and entered a department.
"You know, Meredius, we will continue the DA this year – it's important for the war." Harry began after the train had started to roll, Marlene lent forward; surprising how Hermione had predicted that she'd be involved via the DA, one day after all this had passed, she'd have to ask her how she did it. "Would you search for possible members in your year and the first? Hermes trusted you and I am willing to do the same, we will need every wand we can get."
The second-year wizard smiled brightly: "Of course I will, Harry, nothing better than that. The younger ones at least want to know how to defend themselves, even if it's unlikely that we participate in the actual war."
A smile spread over Harry's lips and she guessed that her reasoning – or rather: Hermione's reasoning – sounded familiar to him and that she had just made it all the easier for her to follow the chaotic Duo throughout the year. Above her, Sif perched on the package carrier and started to doze.
And there you are!
Now, as always I'd like to do a cursory round of thanks, Reviews first:
Huge thanks to bluefirefly5 (you seemed awfully under suspense ;P), renaid (thank you for the empathic review!), Milk Shaikh (soon... very soon... but first a little more information and story-line, how about that?), arabellagrace (I know... :(), Smurfgirlz (I'm happy you do - I'm always a little apprehensive about OCs), Et Cadet Satan Stabit (bad, as do I for putting her through this...), ousia (there's going to be some action), LabyrinthChild05 (I hope you'll like the rest too!), Allyll (curiosity satisfied?), notyetanotheralias (*stops fingertapping* there you go), Issandri (patience, all will be revealed), SamMacKennaJustineTaylorFlack (Thank you! I hope you're happy with the new chapters) and ruby2360 (thank you, it is supposed to :P) for all the nice reviews I was allowed to read, you inspire me!
I also want to thank MyaDray, floatsodelicately, stonittaDiwa, Angelides, Kaoru Takeda, anmarie, thebesttiger, RogueShadow94, louisianagirl1900, Leah2201, Tedd, notyetanotheralias, Issandri, Destiny911 and ChAoTiC-nOrMaLiTy for the Story Alerts as well as DarkPriestessOfHyrule for the Author Alert.
And lastly, my thanks go to Eleanor Hermione Potter, anmarie, loving books, helikesitheymikey, ChAoTiC-nOrMaLiTy and Andy01627 for pressing the 'Favourite Story' button.
You all make me so happy!
(So please continue to review)
