Summary: There are many alternate universes that branched off from each other, differing in many different ways. The most powerful enchanters and enchantresses of which there is only one in all of these universe holds the seat of Chrestomanci. Hermione is about to find out that that she is destined to hold the power to maintain the balance in all of these universes.
A/N: Thank you for your reviews! I'm always happy to hear from you SereniteRose. I am still working on your request where Hermione was raised by centaurs. It's still a work in progress and it's coming along very slowly, which was why I've kept mum about it for months now.
Hello Xi-hime! Chronicles of Chrestomanci actually came from a series of children's books and short stories by Diana Wynne Jones. It works on the premise of multiverse wherein worlds have branched from common ancestors at important events in history, such as success or failures in wars or even whether or not a place had been discovered or settled on. In 12-A, the world where the series is set in has more magic than ours. More distinctly, America is called Atlantis there and its population remains to primarily be the Native Americans. Our world and hence, Hermione's world is supposed to be 12-B, where there is little to no magic, which is why only 1% of the world's population can use magic.
The Next Chrestomanci
Enchanters
One of the first things Chrestomanci did the moment they arrived in his world and at the Chrestomanci Castle is to have his staff prepare a suite of rooms for Hermione and to find a supplementary tutor for when he is busy. He panicked when he realized that his newly found candidate successor is still a student would probably require to finish her education from her world. As he called for his secretary to make suitable arrangements for his now new ward, he left her alone in the Castle's library, giving her permission to read whatever she wants except she might want to stay away from dark materials up until he can guide her.
I will not quibble about Hermione's voracious appetite for books, nor will I mention Kenji's now near panic in realizing his new ward is a girl. Boys, he understands well enough but he has no clue about girls except for the few relationships he'd had when he as younger. He took a calming deep breath before he continued on his quest as he realized that if worst comes to worst, there's Mrs. Jenkins, the castle's comptroller to ask for advice from.
Hermione's literary quest immediately brought her to the center of the room where a huge book is. The book told her to research what subject she'd want to learn about and naturally she sought out the topic about enchanters, having newly discovered that she was one herself.
An enchanter, according to the book, is practitioners of the strongest type of magic, female practitioners are called enchantresses and other than their gender, there is no difference from the two. This type of magic is different from the magic of wizards, witches, warlocks or the like. This, however, does not imply that enchanters are incapable of performing these other more conventional varieties of magic; rather their abilities are inclusive of and supersede these other varieties. Usually the magic of enchanters have a personified, intuitive dimension to it.
Enchanters are the strongest type of magic users in all the related worlds. It has been said that the power of an enchanter is at least ten times as strong as the strongest witch, while the powers of a nine-lifed-enchanter is considerably stronger.
Some have noted that enchanters and enchantresses have a striking quality in their appearance; most note that their eyes seem to be particularly striking in a way that it "spills the brilliance" over the rest of their features.
Upon reading this phrase, Hermione looked at herself in one of the mirrors in the library and sighed when she couldn't find anything remotely striking in her appearance. She wrinkled her nose in disappointment and returned to her reading.
Only a nine-lifed enchanter or enchantress can bear the title Chrestomanci. Nine-lifed enchanters have no other counterpart in the known worlds, which gives them the nine lives required for the position. Perhaps their counterparts have in one way or another died at infancy or before birth but this anomaly may explain in the way that their immense powers may have come from the fact that they have no one to divide it with. Powerful as they may be, they usually have a weakness, and once it is found, they can do magic limitlessly.
Hermione had to stop reading when Mrs. Jenkins called her for tea. She didn't get to read the part how nine-lifed enchanters live far longer than witches and wizards who has a longer lifespan than non-magical people. She will soon painfully find this out.
Family, Friends and Lovers
Hermione had only been in Chrestomanci Castle for only a few weeks, she still haven't mastered travelling between worlds and Chrestomanci had to accompany her to her world to take her NEWTS but rarely had time to bring her to visit friends given his busy schedule. She had, however, glimpsed what her parents life had become without her and shed some tears when she found out that they've adopted a daughter and named her Hermione, despite the fact that they do not remember her.
Upon seeing their happiness as a family and given her distance from them, she chose to leave them in peace without restoring their memory of her and the life they left behind. It was painful but she was able to live with her decision.
A few months after she began her training as a candidate to become the next Chrestomanci, the wife of Eric Chant, the previous Chrestomanci before Kenji died of old age. Hermione wondered at that but was stunned when she finally figured out why the previous two Chrestomancis looked so young.
Among the mourners are Julia Chant and Antonio Montana Jr., the childhood friends of the former Chrestomanci, while the first is also the daughter of Eric Chant's predecessor. The heartbreaking part of it for Hermione was that Julia is near senile, old and very feeble while her father, Christopher Chant only looked to be in his fifties if that. Eric Chant, or Cat as he preferred to be called, only looks to be in his late twenties to early thirties while Kenji of course looks just slightly older than her and seemed to be in his early twenties.
Upon seeing her staring at the two former Chrestomancis, Kenji explained that there are actually two more previous Chrestomancis who are still alive but have been unable to come. Hermione shook her head and Chrestomanci realized her belated insight. He sighed. "I've only been serving as Chrestomanci for ten years." Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. He ignored her and continued. "Cat served for a hundred and fifty years before handing it over to me. Christopher for two hundred and thirty. Gabriel de Witt for a hundred seventy eight and so on." Hermione looked at him as he seem to be lost in thought.
"It seems after reaching adulthood, the rate of aging for nine-lifed enchanters slows down. The second Chrestomanci theorized that a nine-lifed enchanter could possibly live up to a thousand years." He continued without looking at his ward who felt foolish that she had not learned about this.
A few weeks after, when she finally had the chance to visit her world, Hermione broke up with Ron whom she had been communicating with through the use of the magical mirrors Chrestomanci gave her so she could communicate with her friends. He responded by breaking the said mirror and started angrily accusing her of unjustly leading him on or perhaps carrying on with the "Great" Chrestomanci. Hermione held herself with dignity and ignored the puzzled look of her friends as she quickly asked Chrestomanci to bring her back home.
The moment they arrive at the Chrestomanci Castle, Hermione rushed to her room not even bothering to have dinner. Chrestomanci was about to follow her when he'd been summoned to another world. It was already late when he got back. He had been about to change into his pajamas and had only managed to remove his tie when the Castle's magic pressed down on him as if he was suffocating. He realized that it was the magic of the other nine-life enchanter in the Castle that is causing it, a highly magical place, to react the way it does.
He quickly sought out Hermione and found her in the library. She was sitting slumped in one of the desk, unseeing of the open book floating on the desk in front of her. He summoned a random book to him, made it float in the same manner Hermione made hers and sat in the desk beside hers, slumping very much as she was.
She noticed him but did not say a word as she still blankly looked at the book in front of her. They sat in silence for a while until the dam broke and Hermione cried and hugged him. He remembered his youth and his beloved and understood as no one but those in their situation could.
He didn't say a word, awkwardly patting her back as he magically placed the chair she was sitting on near his so she could sit down as she sobbed into his chest and started to awkwardly pat her back, murmuring words that he figured should be comforting.
He couldn't give her any advice as he did not have a family like Christopher or Eric but took the route of former Chrestomancis, Allgood and de Witt and did not get married. He did it for the good of the position he held and to save himself from the broken heart he'd witnessed Christopher Chant went through when his wife Millie died.
As he comforted Hermione, he remembered the handsome face of Christopher Chant transform into a cold, yet still handsome, version of its former appearance. Only when he sees his daughter Julie does his face still soften but as she gets more older, Kenji could see the sadness in the former Chrestomanci's eyes.
Getting Over
Kenji remembered his first and longest lasting relationship, with a powerful beautiful enchantress from his world named Shen-rou. He was already known at that time as a powerful enchanter but every now and then, his powers would fail while she helped him out. His magic was in music while hers was in writing.
He remembered how they got in trouble when they spent one rainy evening overnight in a hotel room as they waited for the storm to pass. He remembered to songs he'd sang to her and the beautiful memories they've shared together.
All of which came to an end when he died in a bus accident, when the bus he was riding in collided with a truck, which sent the bus careening down a cliff. He'd died only to come back to life later and began his apprenticeship under Eric Chant.
That had been eighty or more years ago, Shen-rou had been the one who broke up with him after she found out that nine-lifed enchanters have a much longer life span than most humans. She was angry, even bitter when she found out about this. He'd wanted to stay with her, knowing he'll love her even though she'll age and die before him but she was adamant and told him she was already engaged when he came begging for her to come back to him.
All these came back to him as he awkwardly comforted Hermione. How he wished she'd be as crabby as he'd heard Gabriel de Witt was and only then can she be assured that she won't be as broken as he is.
At that very moment, Christopher Chant is looking at the picture he had of his deceased wife, Millie. It was actually a recopy of the original picture, given that it was taken when Millie was 15, in what felt like several lifetimes ago.
She was a powerful enchantress, so powerful that was worshipped as the former Living Aspect of the Goddess Asheth in a world in Series Ten before she escaped to his world.
Many would call her plain, indeed the contrast grows given Christopher Chant's own striking good looks but he'd never met anyone like her. He dreamt of her from the start. Later on he would know that those dreams were actually astral projections, he felt as if he'd known her for so long when they did finally meet.
She was and still remains to be one of the strongest willed girls he'd ever met. She was intelligent and very caring of him and the family they built, so much so that his only concern when she was dying was for him being left alone.
But he wasn't alone. He had his memories of her and the love and life they built together and these will last him for until his time comes.
He suddenly sat up, forgetting his reverie, centuries of experience telling him that something felt wrong.
But before he could find out what was wrong, he fell asleep in an unconscious heap. A magical being placed him in stasis and replaced him with a changeling who under the directions of the said magical being called up people to say he was planning on vacation somewhere warm in the Related Worlds.
He didn't know that he wasn't the first victim, the first one is Benjamin Allworthy, who served as Chrestomanci before his predecessor. Someone was kidnapping nine-lifed enchanters.
Hearth and Home
The moment Hermione stepped inside the Chrestomanci Castle she had been bombarded with the eccentricity and magical feel the Castle has. She later found out that there is a spell akin to the Fidelius Charm which makes anyone uninvited to enter or even to know just where the castle is, given how there had been some attacks to it sometime ago in the rule of former Chrestomancis.
The first thing she had seen had been the Trance Room which is used by Spirit Travellers and other agents working for Chrestomanci. It is commonly used by those travelling to the different Related Worlds. Then, there was the front hall which has a glass dome on the roof and a staircase leading to the upper floors.
Chrestomanci once told her that when a former Chrestomanci, Gabriel de Witt held office that the staircase was an obnoxious pink color and that Christopher Chant had it changed into an elegant and dignified wooden color, stripping the original wood of paint.
At the time of Gabriel de Witt, the Twilight Room was used as an office but later Chrestomancis from the time of Christopher Chant onwards used another. Now it houses a powerful telescope and used as an observatory for astrology. It has many windows, with a tasteful glass dome ceiling similar to the one in the front hall but for some reason it seems to keep all the light coming in from the windows to itself leaving the room mysteriously dark only being lit by magical or artificial means if necessary.
Then, there's Chrestomanci's study, which was conveniently placed in the door next to the library. Of course, there is the library which is a wonder all by itself. It houses several millions of books from different worlds. There are many other rooms in the Castle and while Hermione is understandably drawn to the library given her affinity for reading, her favorite place in it is the Forbidden Garden.
Kenji brought her there once on her second week in the Castle during one of his rare free time. This is a garden situated high up in the ruin of the older part of Chrestomanci Castle. There are powerful misdirection enchantments cast upon it, discrete from the one surrounding the castle, which makes it very difficult if not impossible for ordinary people to reach it, let alone enter it. It lies at the top of a very frightening crumbling spiral stair that is outside with no walls or handrails. IT is difficult to find even the foot of the stair because it is covered with a mixture of weeds and hollyhocks.
Climbing the stairs will get a person into the garden, which is large than the area one supposes it would be. It is a very puzzling place in its own right. Walking through it sunwards or clockwise, leads one through every season of the year as well as a series of plants from every known world and some that are still unknown. It presents whoever walks in every clime imaginable, from dry hot desert to steaming jungle and even frozen tundra.
When one walks sunward he or she descends until the center of the garden is reached. In the center is a babbling spring at the foot of an apple tree. An ancient and crumbling tori or gate with its top rail lying on the ground stands by the apple tree. To leave the garden, visitors must walk widdershin or counterclockwise, slowly working their way back up to the top of the ancient stair.
Kenji said it is his favorite place in the world as he can find solace in it. If he is not working or summoned elsewhere, he is usually found within the center of this garden, being able to freely come in through magic given his position as the Chrestomanci. It was unprecedented for a Chrestomanci to do this given that she is not his immediate family but his apprentice, but he gave Hermione permission to teleport herself directly to the center of the garden where she now also found solace to read in peace.