The petite witch was determined to repeat the feat that protected her mind even while her body was being crucio-ed, every nerve in her body, inside and out, knowing nothing but excruciating pain.
She was amazed as she took the little time she was allowed while being tortured to examine the magical feat that was once thought impossible. She was still in her body and aware of everything around her, including the pain which seemed to be unavoidable at this point, but her mind was still focused even as her body screamed. She mentally reached out to the boundaries that were around her mind and noticed that it felt like a ward instead of a shield.
Before she knew it, yet to her body it wasn't long enough, the curse stopped.
"I figured it out," she rasped, her eyes glittering with tears and excitement.
Moody and Barty looked at each other for a quick moment before looking back at the witch who was laying awkwardly on the floor with on leg bent so her foot was closer to her hip.
"Figured what out, lass?" Moody spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"How to keep my mind," she replied with a small grin, causing her cheek to spasm slightly.
The wizards left the witch on the floor where she was, afraid that touch would aggravate her nerves so quickly after the curse was cast.
"How?" Alastor asked, looking at her intently.
"A ward. It's like a ward around my mind," she said softly, "It doesn't feel like a shield or a wall built up, it feels like a ward, strong but… it's hard to describe."
The old auror felt something like excitement beat around in his belly, it was something close to a breakthrough that he hadn't felt in some time. His breathing changed with his excitement, catching the attention of the younger wizard.
"Are you sure?" Barty asked patiently.
"As sure as devil's snare hates sunlight," she replied her grin getting a little bigger as the muscle spasms in her face started to stop.
"Lass, if ye be willing, I'd like to perform legilimency on ye to see what you mean. I'll be gentle and stay away from all personal thoughts that I can. I want to see if it's like an occluding yer mind," Alastor said, walking closer to the witch.
Hermione thought about it for a moment.
"What is legilimency? It's not mind reading like the name would suggest, a mind isn't like a book, it's more complex than that," she murmured.
"Correct as usual, lass! Legilimency is the act of navigating through a mind. The better the legilimens, the deeper they can navigate and the better they can interpret. Dumbledore is a master legilimens, as is Snape. I am not a master, but I know the basics. I know enough to know when someone be lyin' to me. It's unethical to perform on people unknowingly and unwilling, so the ministry tries to discourage its teaching. They teach the basics at Durmstrang though," Alastor said in the manner he would at Hogwarts… well Barty as him at least.
"Okay, do it," the curly haired witch replied.
She slowly started to sit up, and was grateful when Professor Barty helped her. He continued to help her and nothing was said as he conjured her a chair to sit on. Hermione whispered her thanks as she made herself comfortable and stared at her other professor.
"On the count o' three, lassie. One – two – three. Legilimens."
Hermione allowed herself to sit behind the… mind ward, she was still unsure what to call it as Professor Moody tried to navigate through her mind. She felt him move about like a wave in her mind, but knew that he wasn't really seeing anything, so allowed him to continue to be in her mind. After a few moments the waves started to get stronger and harsher, but rolled along her ward as though it was just rain on a window pane. She smiled in her mind behind her ward.
Quickly after the old grizzled wizard pulled out of her mind and grinned, stretching the scars on his face.
"It's not like occluding at all, lass. But I saw nothing just the same. I was able to be in there, but I wasn't able to see anything or touch anything. It was like swimming in pool instead of a lake. It was there, but there was nothing in there," he said with slight awe in his voice, "I could still feel ye emotions though, so you will have to work on occlumency!" he barked, feeling like he was getting too soft for a moment there.
"You can practice occluding your mind on your own at night. You start by clearing your mind and then controlling your emotions and yourself. You must suppress these things so a legilimens cannot read them or use them against you," Barty explained.
"Although it mostly be emotions with ye, lass," Moody cut in.
"Oh. Like meditating. I can do that," she said calmly and confidently.
"It's not as easy as it seems, lass," Alastor nearly growled.
"I think it is. I do it all the time to organize my thoughts. You don't think I've survived being Harry's friend by being emotional during times of stress, do you?" she countered.
"Legilimens!" The auror growled, pointing his wand at the witch in front of him.
Hermione allowed herself to fall into the mindset she had specifically for times of trial. It was something her father had raised her to do, so she could think clearly in times of stress.
Moody expected her mind to still be open like a pool, but instead found that he couldn't get anywhere near. He tried again, pushing more and using more magic, only to find himself against a hard wall. There was nothing to be gained from the lass's mind. He tried one last time, pushing as hard as he could to at least break to the top layer, even if her mind itself was behind that unusual mind ward of hers. The only sign that he was doing anything was Hermione's nose twitched in annoyance.
He pulled back annoyed yet pleased, "No need to practice if you're a master already. Who taught you?"
"My Dad," she said with a proud smile.
"Yer father, eh? And he's pure muggle?" Alastor asked.
"As far as we're aware of, yes," the witch replied.
"If he agrees, then we'll see if he can occlude. It may be a family thing," the older wizard said, more to himself than those in the room with him.
"While Moody was trying to enter your mind, was your inner ward still up?" Barty asked curiously.
The petite witch looked at him, her hazel eyes showing a little more gold and green than brown, "Yes. Now that it's there and I know how, it feels natural to keep it there."
"And there's no magical drain?" he inquired.
Hermione sat there for a few seconds, thinking about it before answering, "Actually, no. It feels the same as when I set up a ward with the ley lines. Once it's there it's self-sustaining. But I didn't use a ley-line, and it's not tied to my core. It's… weird. But a good weird; comfortable, natural."
While she was speaking with Crouch Jr. Alastor took it upon himself to hobble out of the room looking for the Duke. How a muggle could teach a muggleborn an obscure branch of magic that aurors only learned after they had been recruited was curious indeed.
For the rest of the week Barty reluctantly agreed to continue to perform the cruciatus curse so her body would at least become used to the pain, even if only a little bit. It helped ease his conscious that he knew Thimi was healing her afterwards at night. They continued to work on her aim at least three hours a day, and made her run around the room any time they felt she sassed them too much.
Finally on the third day they started working on basic healing spells and her wards. Moody was reluctant to let her perform the darker wards, but understood the need for them. For the most part however the darker wards were similar to those that were found around older houses of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, especially those who practiced the dark arts. Some of the wards were… vicious. They were cast around small areas of space and quickly dismantled after they reacted properly.
The first ward they had incident with shot fire at intruders, they had the witch key it to herself, allowing her to pass through without incident. Barty went to follow her and the ward shot fire up just as he was about to walk over the line, nearly scorching the young wizard who jumped back just in time. His robes were not so lucky.
"Merlin's sweet staff!" he yelped.
"Aquamenti!" Moody shouted, trying to put the fire out, only succeeding at putting out the fire on Barty's robes.
Hermione quickly dismantled the wards when Moody's spell didn't put out the fire that was the ward. After that it was agreed that wards similar to that one would be quickly dismantled as soon as they reacted for the safety of the others involved. The witch was pleased however that the fire didn't leave a mark on the carpet it was on, the only signs that there was a fire were on Crouch Jr.'s robes.
It was two days later that Moody decided it was time to try putting up a ward large scale, like around the chateau itself.
The Grangers spoke at length about what kind of ward should be set up around the chateau since they figured it would be for the best to keep it instead of taking it down afterwards. They avoided typical wizarding wards, such as muggle-repellents, but decided something of the like would be preferable. It took Hermione a bit before suggesting a ward that would repel those with ill-intent towards the Grangers. She had considered those bearing the dark mark in general, but remembered that not all the death eaters were marked. Even then it would be an insult to her professor, who had done so much to help her, especially when he didn't have to.
If anything he was helping her against what would normally be his best interests. She didn't want to proverbially slap him in the face, more so since she was extremely thankful to the wizard. However those with ill-intent would be fine, allowing muggles and wizards to be affected equally. It would make the chateau safe for the family inside without going so far as to put it under a Fidelius Charm.
The family agreed upon the ward choice and the wizards were pleased since it would be one of the stronger more archaic wards. It was a ward that hadn't been used for hundreds of years due to the lack of ward masters being available and wizards being full of themselves. Others however considered it to be in poor form, especially if they were in politics. They assumed there would always be someone who wished them ill-intent, and it would be poor form if someone was not able to enter their home because of a ward.
How were they supposed to react if something like that were to happen; "Oh. I'm sorry. It would appear as though you wish me ill-will and can't enter my home. I guess we can't have that meeting in my study now. Or anywhere really, since now I don't trust you enough to not kill me." Or "I swear Alice it's the ward. I didn't put up a ward to single her out! It's not my fault Gladys wishes me ill-will or else she would have been able to come to the engagement party as planned. Oh she was in love with him? How was I supposed to know she now hates me?"
It made things a bit awkward, especially since pureblood society was extremely political. However with the upcoming war, sod politeness. Leeroy did suggest she somehow put in the suggestion for the person to go home, should they not be able to pass the ward to avoid questions, which both wizards agreed with.
Hermione huffed good-naturedly claiming that she might as well make it a blood-ward. No one laughed and instead looked at her intensely.
"What?" she asked.
No one said anything and continued to stare at her.
"What? No! Why!?" she yelled at them.
"It would make the ward a bit stronger… harder to break down…" Mad-Eye said softly.
"Blood magic falls into the gray area, but it is all about intent," Barty pitched in his two knuts.
The petite witch glared at them and pursed her lips already knowing she was going to lose this battle.
"Fine," she ground out.
"Ah! Hermione Jean Granger! We do not grind our teeth young lady!" Abagail scolded her daughter.
Hermione threw up her hands in defeat and stomped out of the castle.
"Where are you going?" her mother called out to her.
"To put up the stupid ward!" was the witch's reply.
The rest of the occupants gave her a 10 second head start before following after her to watch her put up the wards. There weren't many instructions on how to put up the wards in the books, it was an innate gift unless you were learning from a master. Ministry workers were only taught one ward and aurors were taught three. Anything better they had to hire a master or someone through Gringotts, and even then they were able to pick and choose clients, which was unusual for someone working for Goblins.
Hermione was able to cast and create wards as long as she had the intent and purpose in mind and did what she felt was best, and so far none of her wards had failed or fallen unless she dismantled them. Alastor tried to dismantle a few of them in the beginning, the easier ones, and whenever he got close the ward would somehow bounce back into full strength. Hermione called it her failsafe and wouldn't explain any further other than 'I can't, it just… I can't it makes my magic feel weird in a bad way whenever I try.' So they stopped asking her. Mad-Eye still tried from time to time to see if he could trip her up, without any success.
Hermione followed her magic and walked to the most northern point of the property. From there she conjured a silver dagger and cut her right palm, letting her blood spill onto the odd rock that had been there for as long as she could remember. She absent-mindedly noticed Crookshanks sitting next to her. The witch then took her wand and banished the dagger before squeezing out more blood from her hand. After it looked like the rock was painted by a toddler she healed her palm and put her wand back into her dominant hand. The witch then siphoned the blood on the rock upwards as though she was a musical conductor instructing the musicians to slowly raise the volume.
Once her blood formed a thin line from the stone to the top of the tallest tree in the area, which was a smidge bit taller than the chateau. She then waved her wand in a upwards motion in a large half circle only moving her wrist before returning it back in the same manner. From there she slashed it slowly in a diagonal motion to her wand hand's opposing hip. Then the witch stepped forward, bringing her wand up with her slowly and then moved it in small reverse arches at timed intervals, each time her wrist snapped in motion when it came up. Crookshanks followed her faithfully as she put up the ward.
Then she opened her mouth and began to chant in a soft melody taking a step with each verbalism,
"Ley lines I ask that you protect me and mine/
From now until the end/
Keep those with ill-will on the descend/
Turn them around/
Make them go back/
Protect those within from attack/
Let there be laughter and love/
Protect us from below and above/
Cleanse us as we pass/
Let no evil through/
Like all life, we depend on you/
Ley lines heed my call/
Barricade the chateau and never fall."
The blood followed her wand movement, stretching itself thinner to cover the terrain like a small fence. The magic from the ley lines responded favorably and met up with the witch's blood with each step she took as she encompassed the chateau. Once she had rounded the grounded and finished where she started the ley lines merged with each other and continued to rise until it met itself in an arch similar to a dome over the chateau. It flashed red before slowly lightening up in the color spectrum until it turned white. Then the ley lines gradually lowered themselves back into the ground.
After that Hermione turned around and headed back to the castle.
"… are the wards still up?" Abagail asked, unsure of what else to say.
"Yes, all that you saw is the perimeter of the ward. The ley lines are aware and responded like they were supposed to. So the chateau is now warded. What you saw above was on the off chance that someone decide that flying was a good idea if they couldn't come in from the ground."
"And below?" her father asked.
"Taken care of," she replied unconcerned.
"Need a blood replenisher, lass?" Barty asked.
"That would be wonderful!" the witch replied happily.
Thimi then took that moment to pop in front of her mistress and handed her a vial of blood replenisher.
"Thank you, Thimi."
"You are most welcome, Miss!" she replied before popping away just as quickly.
Crookshanks took that moment to purr sitting next to his mistress's feet. He fully approved of the ward, it made protecting his humans much easier.