Hermione:
They spent the afternoon practicing dueling maneuvers in the education center outside the library. The chamber was all white and reminded Hermione of a Racquet Ball court. The dueling instructor, Ignon was half house elf from India with short dark curly hair who used a wand.
"This fun spell is called light walking," he said. "You transport your body wherever there is light. The opposite is shadow-walking."
"Did you ever duel with a Filius Flitwick?" Ron asked as he tried the spell.
"Several times. He's quite brilliant," Ignon said.
Once he was sure they had the basics down, he went over elemental magic.
"It is very hard to turn oneself into air alone and very dangerous," he said. "Instead try to create the air such as tornadoes. Earth is the hardest element to produce unless you draw from the ground, which has a finite amount to give."
Hermione notices her gown was resistant to ripping. There must be magic in the threads.
Harry was the quickest to pick up all the spells. Something had happened to him when Voldemort had "killed" him. He was in tune with his magic on a deeper level. It was something Hermione would ask him about in the future.
Once they all managed to perform fire, water, and earth spells, Ignon called it a day.
"You three have worked very hard," he said and bowed to them "Enjoy a good meal."
The trio bowed in return.
Anat left directions for how to get back to Soraya's.
"Wouldn't it be nice if people like Ignon felt welcome where we live," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"I know," Ron said. "We defeated Voldemort so that evil could not reign over the world. We need to make it better."
"I think we can do it," Harry said. "We need to push out old ways of thinking. Uproot the pure-blood nonsense for good. Especially since it all seems extremely random now."
"Magic is a gift, not a legacy," Ron said. "No lineage is entitled to it."
"Good one," Hermione said.
"Stop, or you'll give me a big head," he said with a laugh.
"You already do," Harry said and swatted him.
Ron hit him back.
"Hermione," a voice said.
She looked around.
"Hermione your grandmother is awake and asking for you. Take the next right off the path and then a left at the owl statue."
"McGonagall is awake!" Hermione said.
"Give her our best!" Harry said.
"And thank her for saving us," Ron said.
Hermione rushed down the path and followed the directions. The hospital building had a beautiful tile design of lotus flowers on the front. Anat was waiting for her there.
"We don't know how long she'll be up," she said.
"I understand," Hermione said.
They walked quickly.
With skylights everywhere, the hospital had a pleasant open feel to it. No one looked rushed and the patients being wheeled around appeared calm. They walked through a series of halls until they reached a room at the end.
Dressed in a pale green gown, McGonagall was sitting up wearing her glasses. Hermione stepped forward, tempted to rush forward. McGonagall looked her in the eye. A relieved smile filled her face.
"Come here," she said and opened her arms.
Hermione burst into tears as she embraced her grandmother.
"I was so worried," McGonagall said.
"That's my line," she said. "I thought you had killed yourself."
"I would have to protect you," she said.
Hermione gently pushed away. "You can't. You can't die to save me. The world needs you!"
"The world needs you more," she said. "You see what this place is like. You need to make where we live more like it."
"Not without your help!"
"Hermione, I may look fresh right now, but I am not. I am willing to give everything for you to live."
Then it hit Hermione. The other thing McGonagall had been hiding from her, Ron, and Harry.
"This whole thing has been a suicide mission for you! You keep putting yourself in dangerous situations so you can sacrifice yourself."
McGonagall looked away. "Hermione, I have lost too many people. I miss my husbands and my daughter. Albus, Moody, and the students I didn't save. I just want to save you from the Red Witch and have my eternal rest."
"How could you!" Hermione cried. "I need you! I want to learn from you. I want your help shaping Hogwarts into a place where students learn to embrace differences and do away with the pure-blood nonsense. I want to learn about my biological parents. I want you to be there by my side when more magical life forms want to come to the United Kingdom!"
An alarm went off. Anat stepped forward.
"You need your rest, Professor," she said. "This conversation will have to wait."
"One last thing," McGonagall said and opened her purse, and pulled out a velvet case. "I'd like you to have this. It was a gift from your grandfather to me. He always said it would open in my hour of greatest need. I think you were meant to have it."
"So, you're giving things away. I read somewhere that is another sign of suicidal ideation," Hermione said as she took it.
Anat took Hermione's hand. "That's enough."
Hermione did not look back. Her grandmother did not want to live. It hurt her!
…
Anat and Hermione made their way back to Soraya's in silence. Once they reached the door. Anat stopped.
"I don't pretend to know the full complexities of your relationship with McGonagall," she said. "All I suggest is that you two try to listen to one another. Any relationship worth having is worth fighting for. Remember that."
"Thank you," Hermione said and walked into the house.
The boys were playing some sort of game with knucklebones on the floor in the living room with Soraya.
"There is a plate of kebabs in the kitchen," Soraya said. "They don't need to be warmed up or anything."
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Is McGonagall, okay?" Ron asked.
Hermione couldn't face them. She rushed to her bedroom. Once inside, she sat on the bed and opened the case. It was a gold heart-shaped locket the size of a sickle. The chain was delicate, unlike the Horcrux. She put it around her neck. It felt perfect on her. As if something was put in place perfectly. Did her grandfather know she'd exist one day? That didn't make any sense.
The weight of the revelations hung heavy on her body. She fell into a dreamless sleep.
…
The girly laugh of the red witch woke her.
"I have your granny. Come find me."
Hermione grabbed her wand and rushed out of her room. She should be getting backup, but Hermione was tired of playing games. This was going to end tonight!
Somehow, she knew where she was going. She followed the girly giggling until she reached the dueling lab. All the doors were unlocked. Hermione threw the door open, ready to finally duel the witch to death!
McGonagall was waiting for her. Except it wasn't McGonagall exactly. It was McGonagall with red hair and a bandage over her eyes.
"Your granny has a death wish," she said in a voice that sounded slightly like McGonagall's. "You kill her and me and everybody wins."
"Get out of her!" Hermione screamed.
As McGonagall, the witch aimed a stun spell at her. Hermione dodged it.
"That's not how this works. I play dirty, remember? If you want to defeat me, you're going to have to kill your granny. It's what she wants anyway. I can feel it in her bones. Her desire to sacrifice everything for you. Be a good grandkid and give her what she wants!"
Hermione reached for the door. McGonagall shot out a beam of fire, soldering it shut.
"No backing out now!"
McGonagall aimed a spell at her. Hermione found herself horizontal with the ground being swung up and down like a human yo-yo. She barely held on to her wand.
Elemental magic, Hermione thought. She aimed a spell at the ground.
It was enough to stop, her. Hermione rolled to the ground and aimed a fire spell at her followed by a wind spell.
"Burning the witch to the stake, a classic," she cheered.
She twirled in the fire and aimed it back at her in the form of a phoenix. Hermione summoned a rain cloud that doused it.
"Sectumsempra!"
Hermione felt wounds open across her body. She could barely spell as she fell to her knees.
"The kind of mind needed to make that kind of spell is deliciously evil," the witch as McGonagall said. "You're very lucky he was obsessed with Potty's mummy otherwise Tommy Boy might have won."
She was growing weaker and weaker. Hermione had to try one more spell. Something had to be done to save her grandmother!
An answer came from the air. "Legilimens."
She didn't have time to question where it came from. Hermione aimed her wand and recited the spell.
They were in a greenhouse at Hogwarts. Not just any greenhouse. The one with the most dangerous plants. There were ropes around certain plants. McGonagall, looking only a decade younger than her current age, was standing in front of the venomous tentacula.
"Take me too," she said and put out her hand.
Hermione snatched it away. "You cannot die!"
"Hermione," she cried. "I don't know what to do! I don't have Dumbledore's humor. I'm not wise enough for the job. I have hidden so many things from the world. I'm not better than him. I couldn't save the Creevys! I don't think I have done enough right to have earned the honor to be among the living."
Hermione hugged her grandmother. "You don't need to be as funny as him. Your humor is dryer and older students appreciate it more. Another head teacher might have put the Slytherins in the dungeon to be used as hostages, but you showed mercy and allowed them to escape. The Creevys were stubborn kids, no one could have stopped them. Dumbledore made hard decisions. You're learning from them. I trust you. I want to achieve great things by your side. I want to get to know my parents. I want to know things such as your favorite biscuit recipes and what it was like to transform into a cat for the first time. There is still so much I want to learn from you!"
"You truly mean that," McGonagall asked.
"I'll make an unbreakable vow to prove it if you need me to."
"No, I don't," she said. "I love you, Hermione."
"I love you, gran."
They were back in the dueling arena. Hermione could feel her life draining from her. Everything was getting cloudy and cold. She was soaked in blood. McGonagall appeared in her vision.
"Hermione!" she sobbed.
"Gra," she tried to say as blood came out of her mouth.
"You can't save her. You can't save her," sang the witch.
Something near her heart started to turn warm. In a flash, she was seeing more clearly, and felt warm again.
McGonagall put an arm around her. She turned and saw a white figure emerge from the locket.
She had long sparkling platinum blond hair. A pointed hat and white robes, the color of the moon. Her skin glowed brighter than that of the Veela.
The red witch groaned. "Hello, sister."
"The white witch," Hermione whispered as McGonagall held her.
"Have you proven your point?" the white witch said impatiently. "You have put these women through enough! Find some other poor beings to torture!"
"I was so close to winning too," the red witch pouted.
"The power of their love is what won," the white witch said. "Only the strongest forms of love could summon me. This challenge is over. Hermione won."
There was banging on the door.
"It's only over when I say it is," the red witch screamed. She jumped in the air and shot through the ceiling.
Hermione let out a painful groan. The White Witch placed a palm on her forehead. The bleeding stopped once and for all. She could breathe again.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I wish I could say it was over, but my sister is very stubborn. But now that you two are on the same footing, the red witch should be very afraid of you two. And the boys."
McGonagall held onto Hermione. "No more secrets."
"Or sacrifices," Hermione said.
"Or sacrifices," McGonagall agreed.
The door burst open. Harry, Ron, Anat, Pronomus, Soraya, and Ignus, appeared.
"So, you're real," Pronomus said.
"The rumors are true," the White Witch said with a smile.
She waved at them and disintegrated into stars.
"Hermione!" Ron shouted.
Hermione looked at herself. She was covered in blood.
"I'm okay," she said. "The White Witch healed me."
McGonagall stepped forward and stumbled slightly. Anat reached for her.
"Possession still wrecks the body. Not something I would ever recommend to anyone," McGonagall said.
"Keep working on that humor," Hermione said as she let Ron hold her.
Hermione was very tired, but also hopeful for the future with her grandmother.