Disclaimer:
I do not own the world and characters featured in this Harry Potter fanfiction, nor do I have permission to use them. Harry Potter, his story, and the settings and characters involved in it, are owned and trademarked by JK Rowling and the many licensors of her work. I do not make money through this story.
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Hermione stood in the empty classroom, breathing deeply as she shook her arms. She had already pushed back all the desks against the walls, clearing a large space around her. She held her walnut wand in her left hand, her quebracho in her right, both tips aimed at the floor as she considered her target.
I really need to find them names, the witch thought as she ran her index fingers along the two lengths of wood. An old clay pot sat on the desk across the room from her. With a small huff, she flicked her left hand fast, and Walnut obligingly fired off her spell… Once more nowhere near the pot. Hermione dropped her head with a groan. She naturally wasn't a lefty, but what was the good of owning two wands if she couldn't use both of them at the same time.
Hermione sent Quebracho and Walnut back to the wand holster. With a small huff, she flicked her fingers at the clay pot and watched with satisfaction as it exploded in hundreds of small pieces. She'd noticed before that wandless magic came much easier to her than it did before. But she had also noticed that it wasn't the case when her wands weren't within range. The only explanation she could think of was that somehow, Quebracho and Walnut still boosted her spells even when she wasn't directly wielding them. It could make for a very powerful surprise during an attack, as long as her wands were in her holster.
The curly-haired witch rolled her shoulders and neck around, trying to let go of the tension within her body. Breakfast was only an hour past, but Hermione was already exhausted. She had decided to take the morning off the Library, hoping that a change of scenery would help her to put a few things in perspective. She'd also decided that physical exertion would hopefully allow her to get her mind off warding for a little while. It wasn't exactly working so far.
She shook her head and went to sit by the desk that held her current research. The Wards Map lay open, allowing Hermione to track the repairs that had been done, what still needed to be worked on, and what she would need to do when the physical repairs were finished. She had taken apart almost all of the arrays she had found in Basic Warding for Beginners and had written all the arithmantic equations into her notebook. The only problem she how had was that many of the arrays she would have to deal with on the School Wards were well beyond her understanding at the moment. She had spent hours scouring the Map, searching for the one ward that would allow her to reset all the others. She was certain it existed, she just had to find it through all the layers of protection, traps, and encryption that surrounded everything.
A short knock sounded and Hermione looked up just in time to see Professor Snape open the door.
"Miss Granger. The Headmistress has sent me to see if you needed help with your warding efforts."
Hermione sighed and sat back in her chair before waving a hand at the chair opposite her.
"I've decided to take the morning off. Even I can't work on the same thing for too long or my brain starts to turn to mush."
Hermione saw the twitch in the Dark wizard's jaw, but the expected barb never left his mouth. The young witch watched as the often feared Potion Master settled himself in a chair across from her. She couldn't seem to find even the slightest bit of dread when watching him. Where his mere presence would have sent her into a fit of hand-wringing nervousness just a year ago, his sitting with her now just brought calm to her mind.
"Professor, I must say this again. There is no Life Debt between us. If anything, I repaid you when I helped back in May."
Once more, the dour wizard waved her concerns aside. "I have heard you the first hundred times, Miss Granger."
Hermione almost sighed in relief at the sharper tone directed her way.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Granger?"
Hermione went to shake her head once more when she looked up to see her Professor looking almost wistfully towards one of the windows. The man might have been a Master Spy, but Hermione still had spent six years trying to gain his approval. And she could reasonably guess that the soft lines between his eyes were longing and not anger.
"Do you find yourself at a loose end, Professor?"
"One could say that," the man scoffed.
And Hermione guessed that the Headmistress still refused to let her Deputy do too much, fearing for his health.
"Well, maybe you can help me. I have two wands and I find it's silly to only be able to use one at a time."
To demonstrate, Hermione stood and summoned her wands. As by what seemed to have become natural for them, Quebracho came to her right hand and Walnut to her left. A flick of Quebracho had the clay pot ready to serve as target once more. But Walnut's rapid shot still went wide and Hermione would have stamped her foot in frustration if not for the man studying her.
"You're sure you want to use both wands?"
"Positive."
Hermione would have explained her decision further but Snape stood swiftly and she fell silent as he started to pace around her.
"Put your wands away, Miss Granger."
The Gryffindor witch obeyed without hesitation, as Snape stalked around her.
"Are you familiar with boxing at all, Miss Granger?"
"I'm afraid not, Professor." Hermione looked over her shoulder, trying to keep an eye on Snape as he completed one revolution and started another.
The Potion Master stopped directly behind Hermione.
"By your leave?" Snape said as he placed his hand on Hermione's right elbow.
The Gryffindor witch let him manipulate her right arm into a casting position, and Hermione shifted her weight onto her left foot.
"Right there! You moved into attack position, balancing your weight so that when you cast you will be able to move your right foot forward even as you move your arm."
Hermione blinked a few times then realized that her Professor was right, even if she had never thought about decomposing the moves she made as she threw a spell.
"I'd never noticed."
"It is a bit of an instinct that most possess. And if they do not, they soon adopt the gesture through mimicry of the Professors."
"What's the relation to boxing?"
"Some people might disagree with what I'm about to say, but I consider both boxing and dueling to be martial arts. They were disciplines taught to warriors, and at times commoners, with at the very least a view for combat application. They later evolved into sports, as have other forms of fighting such as karate, judo, and many more. As such, the study of one will often give you some insight on the other."
Hermione nodded slightly and let Snape put her arms up in a pose she somewhat recognized from the Rocky movies.
"In boxing, fighters are taught certain stances and moves to maximize the effectiveness of their attacks and defenses. The most common ready stance would be to stand slightly sideways, with your secondary arm in front of you - hand at eye level - to act as a shield against attacks on that side of your head while your primary arm - the one that can really hurt someone if you land a punch with it - will protect the other side and as much of your front as possible."
Even as he spoke, Snape stepped even closer to Hermione and nudged her feet into place even as he explained further.
"Feet are slightly apart and knees bent to provide a smaller target and to lower your center of gravity. But feet are never stuck to the ground. They must be mobile to allow for dodges and attacks. Boxers will usually step into their attacks. For right-handed fighters - such as yourself - it means standing with their left foot forward. A jab - a fast but straight attack - would mainly come from the left hand in this position. More powerful attacks - overhand, upper cut, and hook - would come from the right hand, and involve more of a swinging movement. The boxer would then step forward and turn their whole body into the attack for maximum power."
With his fists loosely wrapped around Hermione's, Snape demonstrated the moves as he spoke, nudging Hermione's feet with his own. The young witch tried to concentrate on what she was being shown, but found she had some difficulties doing so. She swallowed hard and tried to clear her throat.
"And when it comes to dueling?"
Snape stepped back, letting go of Hermione's hands as he went. He walked back to the seat he had claimed.
"Hogwarts does not teach Dueling anymore. And I can't remember Flitwick ever using two wands. From the few times I had to, I can only say this. Follow the boxing stance. For spells using a jabbing motion or a small flick, use your secondary wand. For slashing and swinging wand movements, step into your attack to use your primary."
With these words, Snape then indicated the floor. Hermione took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. Slowly, Professor Snape guided Hermione through the motions, entreating her to keep her hips low, her heels off the ground, and her arms loose until the spell was just about to leave her wand. And slowly, Hermione started to see her aim improving over the next couple of hours. Snape put her through her paces, working on more than just precision casting. He got her dodging and blocking his spells, and showed her how she might be able to cast a shield and a curse simultaneously. Hermione really wanted to master that technique but she was far from succeeding, ending up knocked to the floor by Snape's spells more times than she cared to count. As lunch time approached, Snape called for an end to this private lesson and Hermione near enough collapsed into a chair.
"Why weren't we taught any of this?" Hermione huffed as she tried to get her breath back.
She would never again think that using magic was not a physical activity in its own right.
"No Dueling Club," came Snape's reply. "And I do not count that disastrous year with Lockhart. I believe that Durmstrang does have a short introduction to dual wand casting in their Dueling class, but that's beside the point I suppose."
The Dark wizard looked to the Gryffindor witch sitting in front of him while she looked at her wands.
"You do realize that two wands in combat are not necessarily better than one. As well as hitting your targets, you'd need to have spells in mind twice as fast. And continuously casting the same spells with either wand would render you predictable, and as such, vulnerable."
"I hadn't thought of that, actually."
"Indeed, and this is why I am a teacher and you are not."
Hermione huffed a short laugh as Snape stood, holding out his arm for Hermione.
"Come along then, Miss Granger. Let us get to the Great Hall before the Headmistress sends a search party. Then we'll see if you can learn to aim and we'll deal with your predictability at a later date."
Hermione smiled and stood, taking the man's arm and letting him lead the way to lunch.
.:/*\:.
It was soon after lunch when Hermione walked into the Library, her nose very nearly touching the Wards Maps as she went. For all her searching, she still could not identify the reset ward. Maybe Draconis had not bothered with one, but she simply couldn't believe that. On a project as big as the School Wards, it would have been very time consuming for a wards master to have to come back and manually reset the whole thing if it ever went down. And the idea was always to have the school opened as long as possible to teach new generations. Even if Draconis himself had not thought to include that array, one of the Founders would have requested it if only to make life easier on the Heads of the school.
Professor Snape and McGonagall had discussed her plan over their meals, and the Headmistress had agreed that her back-up plan was probably the best way forward if Hermione couldn't locate the reset ward. McGonagall had said she would contact the Ministry to get some help.
"Ah, Miss Granger. I have found something that you will find very interesting."
Hermione looked up as Madam Pince spoke. The older witch was sitting on the floor, unbound books, parchments, and quills all around her, as had become natural over the last few weeks. The curly-haired witch approached slowly, careful not to disturb the loose pages that surrounded the librarian. As she made to speak, the older witch held a hand up, reached for her wand, and cast a quick succession of spells, making sure her work would not be disturbed.
"As you may or may not know, the Restricted Section of the Library is a little bit bigger than it appears to students."
"You mean the teachers' lounge that was attached to it by the Founders to allow the staff to do their own research in peace and quiet?"
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised you know about that."
"I've always found Hogwarts, A History to be a very useful source of information," Hermione grinned. "And I have the Wards Map now."
Madam Pince smiled back and led the younger witch through the Restricted Section and to the very back of the Library.
"I don't think anyone has been here besides the House Elves since the Final Battle. But yesterday evening, one of the Elves came to see me talking about a box in the Library's staff lounge that wasn't there before and what were they supposed to do with it. This morning, I came to check and sure enough…"
Even as she spoke, Madam Pince opened a door hidden behind a bookshelf and waved at Hermione to follow her. The young witch looked around at the comfortable-looking armchairs set in a semi-circle around a large fireplace, and the row of desks with matching leather seats. Madam Pince went to stand by the desk that stood the furthest from the door.
"The reason why the House Elves didn't touch this in the first place is because it bears your name, Miss Granger."
"What?"
Hermione approached the desk and looked at the small chest more closely. Hermione didn't know enough about wood to even guess at what kind it was, but it looked light colored through the varnish. Beech, maybe. It was about ten inches long, eight inches wide, and maybe half that tall. The hinges were silver, as was the lock. And sure enough, her name shimmered in golden letters across the lid.
"I don't know what that is. I've never owned a box like that."
Madam Pince pointed at the side panel of the box, where the lock was placed. Hermione leaned forward to take a closer look and frowned when she saw the Hogwarts crest shimmering in the same gold tone as her name did on the lid.
"What on earth does that mean?"
"Well, I am not entirely certain myself. But I can tell you that no one can touch this box, at the moment. I tried to pick it up this morning, thinking I would bring it down to you. But I couldn't."
As if to demonstrate, the Hogwarts librarian reached slowly for the box. A visible shield of swirling colors snapped into place before her fingers came within half a foot from the wooden object. Hermione leaned forward as she watched the patterns. She could recognize them from the Wards Map. It wasn't too hard from there to guess that this box was connected to the Wards somehow.
"The Headmistress tried as well, but got no further than I just did. Since you and Professor Snape were occupied this morning, I thought we'd just wait to get your thoughts on the matter."
Hermione shook her head as she looked at the small chest. Even as she watched, Madam Pince let her hand drop away from the box, the protections around it disappeared from view. But Hermione could still feel the thrumming of magic which had become so familiar to her over the last month or so. She made to reach for the box, but Madam Pince stopped her.
"We don't know exactly what this is all about, Miss Granger. This might not be safe."
"Trust me, Madam Pince. It's perfectly safe."
Hermione smiled and let her fingers hover in the air, where the protection wards on the box extended. The swirling colors reappeared for a few seconds then faded to white before disappearing altogether, taking the vibrations of magic with them. Hermione then put her hand on the box and smiled as she felt the School Wards react. They reached for her magic and she couldn't help but giggle at the sensation.
"Miss Granger?"
"It's fine," Hermione chuckled. "I think the Wards like me."
The Gryffindor witch ran a finger across the lock and it popped open for her.
"Well, it seems that this really does belong to you."
Hermione glanced at Madam Pince then pushed the lid open. A bundle of cloth lay within the chest and Hermione picked it up and unwrapped a leather notebook. The front read, Property of the Hogwarts Wards Master.
"This belonged to Perseus Draconis?" Hermione asked as she showed the cover to Madam Pince.
"It must have," the librarian answered.
But even as she made to touch the notebook, the protection wards snapped back into place, flowing smoothly over Hermione's hands.
"Wow!"
Hermione couldn't think of anything else to say.
"It appears that this book was left for you, Miss Granger."
"Somehow, I think it's a bit more than that. But if this was really written by Perseus Draconis, it might just hold the answer to all our prayers."
Hermione ran her fingers on the leather softly. She then wrapped the cloth over the notebook once more and set the bundle back into the small chest. As she closed the lid, the protection wards visibly settled back over the wooden box.
"Well, I'm not sure what to make of all this, Miss Granger, but maybe you have found some help."
"Merlin, I hope so."
Hermione picked up the box and together with Madam Pince she returned to the main section of the Library.
"If it's okay with you, Madam Pince, I'm going to take this with me when I leave in a few hours."
"I think this was meant for you anyhow, Miss Granger. Just make sure you take good care of it."
Hermione nodded before she sat at what had become her desk. She grabbed her copy of Basic Warding for Beginners and opened it at her last bookmarked page. She let her eyes wander over the words describing hook wards once more. This was one of the keys of a successful array. The knowledge of how to make various spells, curses, and charms never designed to work together, do exactly that.
More often than not, the arrays you will need to work with will not be entirely compatible never mind how much you try to modify them. In these circumstances, you will be required to use a hook ward.
A hook ward is a simple array with the singular purpose of linking two larger arrays together. It will be constituted of at least three layers: one layer tying back to each of the larger arrays, and a third layer to stabilize the array.
It should be noted that hook wards are notoriously the weakest points of wards. Because they are tying together two pieces of magic that do not work together, they are naturally unstable - hence the stabilizing layer. When a hook ward is broken through, the two arrays it is associated with will cease to work in concert and could cause the entirety of the wards to fail. This makes hook wards a prime target for curse and wards breakers.
For this reason, it is highly recommended to never leave your hook wards undefended. Many warders use a combination of shielding and offensive arrays to counter and delay the attacker.
Up until now, Hermione had been looking at arrays of compatible spells or arrays that were made to work together, such as the Pince and Prince Wards. Although Hermione had managed to bring most of those Familial arrays down to their basic arithmantic equations, there were places in those equations that made barely any sense to her. And she could only assume that those were the hook wards keeping the larger arrays together.
Hermione stopped for a minute to stretch her back. Her eyes landed on the Wards Master's chest. Although his notebook was only slim, there was a good chance that Draconis's notes would take her directly to the reset ward, if it existed. If this was the case, she didn't really need to continue studying warding as extensively. But she had found that she enjoyed stretching her knowledge and its application. It had the added interest that it involved several disciplines she enjoyed.
With a shake of her head, Hermione looked up at the clock situated by the Library's entrance and noted there wasn't too long to wait until dinner. She started to gather her notes and research. There was still so much she wanted to do. As she looked once more upon the wooden box, the young witch made a quick decision.
"Madam Pince, would you tell the Headmistress that I'll be eating in my room tonight? I want to take the box back to my room and start on it as soon as possible."
The older witch smiled and nodded.
"I will happily do so, but you should probably expect the Headmistress to pop round."
Hermione smiled and nodded in turn. She put all her books and notes in her bag, grabbed her new box, and quickly made her way to her rooms.
Hermione soon walked into her quarters, the small wooden chest still held securely in her arms. The witch dropped her bag and the box on the sofa. But as she went to settle down herself, a loud pop sounded the arrival of a House Elf.
"Headmistress says you's need to eat."
Hermione actually chuckled as she watched the little Elf snap her fingers and a plate of broccoli risotto with ham and topped with Parmesan cheese, along with a tall glass of pumpkin juice, appeared on the coffee table.
"What's your name?"
"I is Shiny, Miss."
Hermione couldn't help but think the Elf must have been named for her gold-colored eyes. They seemed to be shimmering in the light of the fireplace.
"Well, Shiny, I assume the Headmistress has done more than just decided to ask you to bring food and a drink?"
"Shiny is to make sure you's eat. And then I's need to report to the Headmistress."
"I see," Hermione said with a smile and a nod.
As Shiny popped away, the Gryffindor witch couldn't help but think Minerva McGonagall would have made someone a wonderful mother, if a bit pushy and over-protective. Harry and Ron seemed to think the same about Hermione, so the Gryffindor witch thought it was alright in the end. She finally sat down and looked at her bag, bulging with books and her research notes. With a small shake of her head, she turned to her plate.
Hermione made a point to eat every single bite. It was actually a welcome change from the richer and greasier food served in the Great Hall. With her ten months on the run, Hermione had had a bit of troubles eating the usual Hogwarts fares. But this suited her just fine. The wild rice was cooked to perfection, the steamed broccoli was just crunchy enough for her, the smoky taste of the strips of ham provided a nice counterpoint, and the Parmesan brought it all nicely together. It didn't take long for her to finish her meal. Shiny was immediately around with a small cup of chocolate mousse, taking the dirty plate away with a pop. Hermione didn't even bother to attempt to refuse and just ate the dessert. The small House-Elf came back after she was finished, and Hermione sent Shiny off to the Headmistress with a little smile.
Finally, the young witch settled down in her comfortable armchair and opened the wooden box once more. She took out the notebook and laid it on her lap. She felt the School Wards shift and settle around her rooms. With a little sigh to herself, Hermione looked at the journal in more detail. It was thin, only about twenty pages or so, and made of yellowish parchment. The cover was brown leather, very smooth and shiny. It almost appeared as if someone had recently polished it. The young witch opened the notebook. And found only blank pages inside.
"What on earth?"
Hermione flicked through the notebook quickly, but she could not find a single word written within. She absently noted that the notebook had been bound in such a way that it could lay completely flat.
"What am I to do with you?"
I am the Master.
Hermione blinked as the words appeared on the previously blank page. The writing was sharp, slightly slanted, in black ink, and Hermione very nearly threw the book in the fireplace as she scrambled away from it. She ran for her door, intent on getting the Headmistress or Snape but she felt the Wards shift before she could even touch the handle. She was locked in.
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Author's Note: My first cliffhanger. Would you guys be really annoyed with me if I said you'll have to wait another two to three weeks for the next chapter? :)
It's up to you to convince me to post sooner. The chapter is written, and it's short enough that the final editing pass won't take too long… You just need to let me know you want it posted sooner. *hint*hint*
Also, I'm not a boxer. The limited scope of my knowledge about the sport comes from watching a few professional matches with my other half, movies like Rocky and Million Dollar Baby, and the old faithful that is Google. If anyone is more knowledgeable, I hope you'll find my explanation makes at least some sort of sense.