To Protect That Which is Most Precious

by Kallanit

Hermione comes home excited to tell Ron that she's pregnant, but finds her boyfriend cheating on her. When Ron attacks her, Harry refuses to get involved and turns her away. Betrayed, Hermione leaves without saying where she's going or telling anyone that she's pregnant with Ron's child, in order to protect that which is most precious to her: her child. Eventual HG/SS pairing.

7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it — I wish! Unfortunately, Harry Potter belongs to JKR and not to me; I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Notes:

» Hermione changes her name during the story. However, to make it easier to understand, I'll continue to refer to Hermione by the name we all know. The only times her new name will be used is when she introduces herself to new people, or when someone is speaking to her and addresses her by name.

» This story is has been written in full and will be posted at the rate of approximately one chapter a week.

» Thank you to atokkota for her support and feedback.

» I've been informed by saroura92 that my understanding of Sauveterre is wrong. It really means save earth rather than safe earth or haven. However, there's been a village called Sauveterre since 1442, so I'm keeping that name for the school and I'll just think of the school having been named after that village instead. Thanks, saroura92, for giving me the correct meaning.

.o.O.o.

CHAPTER 7

Back home in Montréal, the first thing Aimée did, after showing her Auntie Penny her beautiful new wand, was run to the bookshelves to find the book on wand-making, so that she could learn all about it. She and Hermione cuddled up together on the sofa as Aimée read aloud. She began with the woods, since they were not uncommon, saving the best — the core — until last.

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Beech: The true match for a beech wand will be wise beyond their years, if young, and rich in understanding and experience, if full-grown. Beech wands perform very weakly for the narrow-minded and intolerant. When properly matched, the beech wand is capable of a subtlety and artistry rarely seen in any other wood, hence its lustrous reputation. Beech is highly coveted as a most desirable, richly hued and highly prized wand wood.¹

Pear: This golden-toned wood produces wands of splendid magical powers, which give of their best in the warm-hearted, the generous and the wise. Possessors of pear wands are usually popular and well-respected and have never been found in the possession of a dark witch or wizard. Pear wands are among the most resilient and may still present a remarkable appearance of newness, even after many years of hard use.¹

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Aimée's voice faded and she looked up at her mother, her brown eyes full of questions. "Both woods seem very similar in their properties. They both bond with witches and wizards who are wise. Tolerant and open-minded, warm-hearted and generous — that's just variations on a theme. Is that right, Mum?"

"It sounds like it," agreed Hermione. "Certainly, the description of you as tolerant, open-minded, warm-hearted and generous is correct. You move back and forth between the magical and non-magical worlds without thought. You don't even notice the differences. Watching you with the Clearwaters, Bellamys and your friends, you have great capacity for love. You have everyone wrapped around your little finger but you would do anything for them in return. And there's no question that you have a wise head on your shoulders, beloved Aimée. More than I did at your age, I think. I had the intelligence, which you also have, but I'm not sure I had the wisdom. I was too inclined to trust blindly in adults and books. Of course, adults can be trustworthy mentors and books are an invaluable source of information, but there is wisdom in not accepting everything at face value. Professor Snape, my Potions Professor, used to complain that I had a habit of regurgitating facts from books, instead of questioning and drawing my own conclusions from the information given. You certainly have that wisdom, baby. You question everything you read and, while you want to believe the best in people, you also expect them to earn your trust. You have a healthy degree of scepticism in you."

"Why didn't you ever question, Mum?"

Hermione sighed. "I didn't fit in at primary — junior — school. That's another of the differences between Canada and Britain. In Canada, non-magical parents are told about their children's magical abilities as soon as they first do accidental magic but, in Britain, nothing is said until the children receive their Hogwarts letters at age eleven. So the non-magical parents are left to struggle with children who do strange and sometimes frightening things when they're feeling overly emotional. They see their children have these abilities but they don't know what they are and that's worrying. I was bullied at school because of my intelligence, since I didn't know how to be tactful about it when I was younger; because of my looks, since I had bushy, frizzy hair and buck teeth; and because of the strange things that happened around me. I had no friends except for my books and relied very strongly on my parents and teachers, who did their best to protect me from the bullies. All that led me to trust adults and books without question, because they were the only things I had ever been able to rely on. Even at Hogwarts, it took a while for me to settle in and make friends."

"What happened to your friends?" Aimée asked cautiously. She had often wanted to ask this, since Hermione never seemed correspond with anyone from Britain, but she did not want to upset her mother by asking. Now seemed the right time to ask the question.

"Your father and one other boy were my best friends at Hogwarts. I regarded the other boy as a brother. But he always chose your father over me. Always. In the end, when it came to a choice between your father or myself, he chose your father. To be honest, I'm not sure why I was surprised by that. By the time I left, I felt like they had only been friends with me for as long as I was useful to them and then, once the war was over, they had decided there was no need to keep being friends with me. That being the case, I saw no need to keep in touch with them," Hermione explained, somewhat bitterly. "They were my closest friends. My other friends were all also friends of my two supposedly best friends — one is even your aunt but we only actually became friends because of my friendship with your father — and I didn't want to put them in the middle, nor did I want them telling your father where I was, so I let the friendships fade."

Aimée looked at Hermione in shock. Her mother had always been careful to be as neutral as possible about the people in her past, not wanting to turn Aimée against her father and his family in case she should ever decide she wanted to meet them. Hermione took a deep breath. She did not want to tell Aimée about her last, devastating encounter with Ron but, at the same time, she needed Aimée to understand that she could not just absolve him and Harry over what had happened.

"Don't judge them too harshly, Aimée. We were all children who had been through a devastating war, and who were all suffering from PTSD to a greater or lesser degree, but we had no one to turn to for help. There were no counsellors or mind healers to help us with the nightmares and the horrors we had experienced. That undoubtedly played a very large part in our breaking apart. I couldn't see clearly then but with time and distance, I realise that now. I'm not sure I can ever forgive and forget, because I was too badly hurt by them, but I can understand, at least to some extent."

Aimée put this aside to consider in depth later and turned back to the book. "The main difference between the two woods is that the pear wood seems to provide strength and the beech wood provides subtlety and artistry. Isn't that a contradiction?"

"Not necessarily. Strength doesn't need to mean brute force. A spell may be subtle but will still require magical power to perform it. The ease and artistry some of my professors showed in their magic was awe-inspiring, but the reason they made it look so easy was because of their power."

"So the two woods complement each other then?"

"It would seem so," Hermione agreed.

"What about your wand? Do your two woods also complement each other?"

"Indeed they do. As Mr Curran said, they're both woods that tend to make wands that are suited to defence and duelling."

"What about the cores?" Aimée wanted to know.

"Them too. I've had dragon heartstring in all my wands, so it must really suit me. It makes wands which learn quickly and are very powerful. They can do very flamboyant spells. Griffin hair also produces wands that are very strong in defensive magic. The woods and cores in my wand all complement each other."

Aimée looked at her mother appraisingly.

"What's that look for?" Hermione laughed.

"I just never think of you as a fighter. You're not an Auror or a curse-breaker and I've never seen you duel or do defensive magic," Aimée explained.

"Remember, that when I got this wand, it was just after a war, so defence was very important to me at that time, especially as I was expecting you and was feeling very protective of the baby that was growing inside me. If I were to get a new wand now, it would quite likely be very different."

"So does that mean your wand doesn't suit you any more?" Aimée asked in alarm.

"Not at all. It just means that my priorities in life are different now to what they were then. The things that caused me to choose these components are still important, but perhaps no longer the most important. I would fight to the death to protect you but I'm not continually expecting a fight now, the way I still was back then."

Aimée nodded in understanding. "But is your wand still a good fit for you?" she persisted.

"Very much so. Dragon heartstring wands always bond strongly with their owner and a griffin hair can only be used as a wand core for a witch or wizard who a griffin would deem worthy of befriending; hopefully that part of me hasn't changed, even if my priorities might have. My wand is bonded as strongly with me now as it was the day I got it, despite my having changed somewhat since then. Remember, we all change and develop as our life experiences influence us."

"Okay," Aimée said. "Soooo… Caladrius feather and Kitsune whisker." She leafed through the book until she found the right pages and began to read aloud again.

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Caladrius: The Caladrius is a snow-white bird that lived in kings' castles. It is also said to be able to cure sickness of individuals by taking the illness unto itself. It then flies away, dispersing the sickness into the sky, thus purging and curing itself in the process. If the person was unworthy of saving, the Caladrius refused to look at them. Wands with a Caladrius feather tend to choose witches and wizards with an affinity for healing and potion-making.⁷

Kitsune: These are many-tailed foxes from Japan. The more tails a Kitsune has — they may have as many as nine — the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Kitsune are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers and abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While they can use this ability to trick others, they can also be faithful guardians, lovers, friends and wives. Kitsune, like their abilities, can be benevolent or mischievous or malevolent. It is said that a Kitsune's greatest asset is not his or her magic, but intelligence, wit and misdirection. When a Kitsune gains its ninth tail, its fur becomes white or gold and they gain the ability to see and hear anything happening anywhere in the world. They are said to have infinite wisdom and omniscience. Kitsune wands always choose highly intelligent witches or wizards. A wand containing a Kitsune whisker core will tend to Light or Dark magic according to whether Kitsune the whisker came from was benign or malign. The wand will show an affinity with whatever magical ability the Kitsune had. A wand with the whisker of a nine-tailed Kitsune, will choose a highly intelligent witch or wizard, with great perception and understanding. As a witch or wizard's magical core increases as they grow older and exercise their core more, so too will the power of the wand increase over time. The long life of the Kitsune will translate to the wand and it will not easily wear out.⁸

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Both witches were silent as they tried to absorb all the information about the wand. Eventually Aimée broke her stunned silence and spoke. "Mr Curran said the whisker came from a nine-tailed, benign fox. He didn't say what magical abilities the Kitsune had, though."

"Well, we know from the woods that your wand will tend more towards Light magic than Dark. And if a Kitsune's greatest asset is wit and wisdom, then it complements the beech and pear woods."

Aimée cheered up at that. "And with the pear wood and Kitsune whisker, this will be a very long lasting wand, won't it? I won't need to go through more than one, like you did!"

"Cheeky!" Hermione kissed Aimée's head. "My first wand was taken from me during the war. I never felt comfortable with my replacement wand. It was far too similar to the wand of one of the worst and most evil Death Eaters, a witch called Bellatrix Lestrange. Using a wand with the same wood and core as hers really disturbed me, so when I came to Canada, I decided to get a new wand and as soon as Mr Curran had made it, I destroyed the other one. Hopefully, I won't ever need to replace my current wand. You shouldn't need to replace yours either, as it will grow along with you."

"Is it common to need to replace your wand? I don't mean because it was damaged in an accident or because you lost it or had it taken from you, but because it doesn't work well for you?"

"It's not common, no. It's not at all unknown, though. Significant events can change us sufficiently that our wand won't be compatible for us any more. Some wands become so strongly attuned to their owner's magic that should this change drastically, should a Light witch or wizard become dark or vice versa, for example, or even if they should go through a deep emotional upheaval, then it will no longer work for them."

Aimée reread the paragraph about the Kitsune. "It says that a nine-tailed Kitsune can hear and see anything happening anywhere in the world and is omniscient. I don't fancy being able to hear or see anything I want to. I don't want to have that kind of ability."

Seeing the scared look on her daughter's face, Hermione hastened to reassure her. "First of all, wands don't give you abilities that aren't already inherent within you, they merely allow you to channel those abilities more easily. You've shown no signs of prophecy, so we can rule out omniscience, thank Circe!"

Aimée grinned, having heard many times of her mother's contempt for Divination. She loved the story of Hermione storming out of Divination in a huff! Hermione had deliberately brought up the subject of Divination, knowing that Aimée would be reminded of that story. Thankful that it had cheered her daughter up, she continued.

"The book says that the wand will show an affinity with whatever ability the Kitsune had, so it will work well with similar magic. I don't know if Kitsune have healing abilities but, given that your other core is a Caladrius feather, it's possible. As for the ability to hear or see anything, that probably translates into the wand choosing a witch or wizard of great perception and understanding, since that's what the ability to see and hear anything should result in. It doesn't mean that you'll be able to spy on Phoebe at Sauveterre!"

"Awww, shame!" Aimée pouted, then let out a giggle. Hermione pounced on her and tickled her until she cried out for mercy.

Hermione was due to start her new job on Monday, the third of September. She was quite glad about this, as it meant that she would be able to see Aimée onto the Hogwarts Express on Saturday, the first of September, with no problems. She did not want Aimée to miss out on her first journey on the Hogwarts Express as this was where many first years formed their friendships, so sending Aimée to Hogwarts by any other means was out of the question. However, although she kept telling herself she was being paranoid, she did not trust Ronald Weasley and did not want to risk running into him on the platform — hell, she did not want to run into anyone she knew on the platform! She still felt too badly hurt by wizarding Britain in general, and by Harry and Ron in particular.

The chances were high that a number of Weasleys would be there. Teddy Lupin, the son of the late Remus and Nymphadora Tonks Lupin and Harry Potter's godson, would be starting his fourth year; the baby Bill and Fleur Weasley had been expecting when Hermione left, although Hermione did not know if it was a boy or a girl or what the child was called, would be starting their second year; and Ron's child with Romilda, that they were expecting at the same time as Hermione, would be in either his or her first or second year, depending on exactly when he or she had been born — Hermione had not been interested enough to find out. And these were only the Weasley grandchildren that Hermione knew about. The Weasleys were a prolific family and Hermione was sure the family had expanded greatly over the years. And then there were all the other people who had known her at Hogwarts and now had children attending the school.

Hermione had discussed with Penny and her parents, the only ones who knew that she was in actuality Hermione Granger, whether or not she should tell Aimée the truth about her identity. There was no question in any of their minds that Aimée would be identified as Hermione's daughter the moment someone who had known Hermione Granger saw Aimée. The Clearwaters, who got the Daily Prophet regularly, assured her that the search for Hermione Granger had died down, however, Hermione was still very nervous indeed about taking Aimée to Platform 9¾. Hermione was still convinced that Ronald would claim Aimée if he knew about her and Hermione would lose custody of her. Not only that, she would probably be forbidden all contact with her daughter. Hermione had little doubt that Ronald would treat Aimée unkindly and she was not inclined to let him take her daughter away from her. The Clearwaters understood Hermione's nervousness and had to admit that her concerns had merit.

"It really would be a lot easier if Aimée had decided to go to Sauveterre," sighed Hermione.

"Who said life would be simple? Hell, when was anything concerning you and Hogwarts ever simple?" teased Penny, and Hermione banged her head on the table in defeat.

"You could just insist Aimée attend Sauveterre. You are the parent, after all," suggested Sophie.

Hermione shook her head. "Then she'd always wonder and it would hinder her settling in at Sauveterre. Besides, what reason would I give Aimée for suddenly withdrawing her from Hogwarts? Especially after I told her it was her decision which school she would attend."

"You may have a point," Sophie conceded.

Eventually, Hermione decided just to get there early and leave before too many people arrived. If she kept her head down and avoided looking people in the eye, then hopefully, people glancing at her would not associate Nonie Gale's brown, red and blonde curls with Hermione Granger's bushy brown mane, and would therefore not look at her too closely. She also decided that she would wear wizarding robes, something that Hermione Granger had rarely done, preferring her Muggle jeans. Anyone dressed Muggle on the station platform would certainly generate a second look, since non-magical parents cannot access the platform. Concerns had been raised that magicals, who had no idea how to dress and act Muggle, entering Platform 9¾ from within Kings Cross station were attracting too much attention, therefore, walk-in fireplaces had been built and the wards redesigned. It was now recommended that magicals floo or apparate to the platform. Only the Muggleborn now used the Kings Cross entrance and with the profusion of security cameras in the station, even they were advised to floo from a magical friend's home whenever possible, although of course this did not apply to the first year Muggleborns.

Hermione was still nervous, however, short of disguising herself, this was the best plan she could come up with. If she disguised herself, she would have to explain to Aimée the reason why and, despite her feelings towards Ronald, she had always been careful not to bad-mouth him to his daughter. It was highly tempting to do so but it went against her moral code. Despite her contempt for and deep distrust of Ronald Weasley, if Aimée ever wanted to know her father or his family, Hermione would do what she could to facilitate that — in Canada, where Hermione had equal rights within the magical community, despite being a Muggleborn.

Hermione's restoration project would be taking place at an old country estate in Warwickshire. She had chosen to rent a house in the nearby town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, wanting some hustle and bustle around her and being unable to resist the picturesque birthplace of the Bard. Her father's friend, Todd Fox, had found them a pleasant home to rent and the move went smoothly.

Hermione had decided not to get hooked up to the floo network as she did not want to court attention from the Ministry, and so she and Aimée took the train to London on the thirty-first of August. They arrived in the afternoon and went out for an early meal before going off to see a show in the West End. Aimée had agonised between The Lion King, Matilda the Musical or a ballet. She was concerned that The Lion King or Matilda might be too childish for her but in the end they decided to go to The Lion King and Aimée loved it. She skipped out the theatre humming the tunes and Hermione smiled to see her daughter so happy.

The following morning, they left their hotel close to Charing Cross Road with Aimée's trunk shrunk and in her pocket. All Aimée would have to do to resize it would be to tap it twice with her wand. Hermione had bought her an expanding trunk with feather-light charms and security wards. Aimée had placed a drop of blood on the lock and now only she could open the trunk. They entered the Leaky Cauldron from the Muggle entrance and Hermione transfigured her raincoat into a robe as she entered. Moving straight to the fireplace, she threw a pinch of floo powder into the fire and, in her best Canadian accent, said, "Platform 9¾." Green flames flared and she and Aimée stepped through to the platform.

It was only half past ten, earlier than most magicals usually arrived at the platform, especially now that they could just floo or apparate in. Hermione stayed with Aimée until about ten to eleven but upon hearing the voices of Bill and Fleur Weasley nearby, decided it was time to go. Hugging Aimée tightly, a teary Hermione quietly said goodbye to her daughter. "Don't forget to write. You can send your letter with one of the school owls. I'll see you at Christmas, beloved Aimée." Turning on the spot, Hermione apparated out before the Weasleys could notice her, breathing a sigh of relief that she had not been seen by anyone she knew.

Aimée settled down with an updated copy of her mother's favourite book from when she was in school, Hogwarts: A History. She was browsing for the umpteenth time the section about the Houses and their attributes. She was not sure which House she wanted to be in. She knew that both her parents had been in Gryffindor but she could easily see herself in Ravenclaw. 'If I get into Hufflepuff, though, I could stay under the radar while I find my feet. And that thought probably makes me the perfect Slytherin,' she thought impishly. 'Oh well, Mum told me she doesn't mind what House I'm in, as long as I'm happy in it, so I guess I just have to trust however they sort us.'

When the train started moving, Aimée still on her own, decided to go and look for some other first years. She was welcomed into a compartment and sat down to get to know her year mates. When the train finally stopped, Aimée left her trunk on the train as instructed, tapping it with her wand to enlarge it, so that it would not be overlooked and left behind. She followed the other first years to where a very large man was shouting for them. 'He must be Hagrid,' she thought. Hermione had told Aimée about many of the staff but had not told Aimée how close she had been to most of them, since they would not know the name Nonie Gale. She had decided to wait until the Christmas holidays to tell Aimée about her past, since she first wanted to wait and see what the reaction to Aimée was.

The first years made their journey across the lake and gasped in awe at their first sight of the castle. They silently followed Hagrid up the steps to the castle doors, where they were met by a short, plump woman with flyaway grey hair and a warm smile, who introduced herself as Professor Sprout. It was usually the job of the Deputy Head to welcome the first years but, currently, that position was filled by Severus Snape. The tall, dark, dour man had proved to be too formidable and unsettling a welcome for the already overwhelmed and nervous children and so the kindly Professor Sprout had volunteered to take over that particular duty, to Severus' great relief.

She gave the firsties a speech about how the Houses would become their families while at Hogwarts and led them into an ante-chamber, where she asked them to wait until she returned. When they were led into the Great Hall, Aimée's eyes immediately went to the enchanted ceiling, and she gazed in wonder at the vision of the night sky. A stool and shabby hat were placed at the head of the line of first years and, to their astonishment, the hat began to sing. After the song was over, they were called out alphabetically to put the hat on so that it could sort them into a House. It did not take long until Aimée's name was called and as she walked forward, she heard a number of gasps from the head table. She looked up at the head table to see several shocked faces but then the hat covered her head and she could see no more.

"Well, you're interesting, young Miss Gale. You are completely your mother, aren't you? I don't detect any of your father in you at all. Magic truly is a wonderful thing. Now, where to place you? Your parents were in Gryffindor, of course, although your mother would have done very well in any House. I thought she would be best suited for Ravenclaw but she was determined to be in Gryffindor. She was right in the end, mind you. She really was a true Gryffindor, with a lion's heart. Of course, given the political climate of the time, I couldn't even consider putting her in Slytherin, despite her Slytherin traits. Like your mother, you would do well in any of the Houses but, interestingly, I see you genuinely have no preference yourself. Well, thank you for trusting me, Miss Gale. And what's this? Such an unusual wand you have: beech wood, pear wood, a Caladrius feather and the hair of a nine-tailed, benevolent Kitsune. Oh, my."

'You can tell what my wand is?' she thought in shock to the voice that was whispering in her head.

"Indeed I can, Miss Gale."

'Do you know what special magical abilities the Kitsune had? I know the wand will do well with those magicks but I don't know what they are, except we suspect they might be healing abilities, and I'd like to be prepared,' she asked with interest.

'That is something you'll have to find out for yourself, Miss Gale. Now, time to sort you. Your father's family has always been in Gryffindor but with you, I think it's time to start a new tradition. And being in this House will certainly help you along the direction your heart wishes to take. Yes, better be SLYTHERIN.'

The last word was shouted out for all to hear and Aimée went to join the Slytherin table. The sorting continued efficiently after that, Aimée's sorting having taken the longest, until the final firstie, Reuben Weasley, was sorted into Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress, welcomed everyone and made some announcements and then the feast started.

.o.O.o.

⁷ Taken from/paraphrased from mythical-creatures-and-beasts dot com / mythical-creatures-list dot html and musesrealm dot net / deities / Caladrius dot html and Wikipedia

⁸ Paraphrased from Wikipedia and en dot wikifur dot com / wiki / Kitsune_(mythology) — except for the information relating the wand to the Kitsune's abilities, which I made up. I've been selective in what information regarding the Kitsune I have depicted here. Nothing I've read suggests that Kitsune have healing or related abilities but there's no reason to suppose they might not.