The day of the full moon is here and something has to be done about Ófnir
Monday morning came and the conversation it brought with it was beyond tumultuous. It felt like a penance to be served in direct proportion with how smoothly the rest of the weekend had gone.
After much deliberation and some heated argument, followed by tender reminders that they still were family and loved each other even when they disagreed, Hermione had gotten her father to concede to offer the new bite to whoever wanted it. Although he had clearly been uncomfortable with the idea at first, he had slowly come around. It had taken some deep reflection and trust on his part, and he had spent the better part of the morning meditating and searching within his pack bonds with Harry and Remus to determine that her altering their wolf spirits hadn't changed any aspect of their pack allegiance to him. He was still their alpha.
It had stung a bit at first, though she had tried her best to shove that feeling down deep to where it couldn't be picked up on by her highly intuitive father. She was his heir, and would be alpha after him one day - a seductively rebellious part of her wondered idly if it would really be the worst thing in the world for a few members of the pack to consider her the alpha. But immediately she recognized the danger of such an arrogant and unwolflike train of thought.
It wasn't a hierarchy like outsiders assumed. The pack was a family and the alpha was the parent, and there was nothing worse than a family divided. She was a child still, and as strong as she knew she was, as much as she knew she would be able to handle it when the responsibility passed to her one day, she wasn't ready to be a parent now. Especially not to over a hundred wolves, most of whom were adults or elders.
With that in mind, she found the patience and humility to embrace her father's hesitance and caution, and reassured him that she was more than certain she could bite members of their pack to endow them with this gift from the goddesses without influencing their loyalties. Her bite would not steal the allegiance of wolves that already belonged to her father, it would only do its work to affix their human and bestial spirits together as it had done for her brother and Remus. She could tell that she had won him over when she was able to take his concern seriously and acknowledge the importance of their pack remaining one single family.
He smiled at her and the weight of the pride in his gaze was nearly overwhelming. "If nothing else, it will be amusing to see what the rest of the pack does with the ability to shift at will. You've always been more comfortable with four legs than two, I can't wait to see wolves all around, lounging around casually in their fur in the middle of the day the way you do," he had admitted with a wry grin, and she shared the sentiment entirely.
What was more difficult was deciding just how much to tell the pack that evening. The matters at hand were of a highly spiritual nature, but they were also of a highly sensitive nature. A good deal of the information would almost certainly have to be significantly abridged before it could be disseminated. There was no one who would be better to consult on circumstances such as these other than her father's beta Ófnir, who was the spiritual leader of the pack as well as his right hand. If he were around to provide insight.
Her father hadn't come right out and said it, but if it hadn't been obvious from the last few letters they had exchanged before coming home for the weekend, then the last few days had made it abundantly clear that something had happened between him and Ófnir. The man had been a near constant presence in her life growing up, and suddenly he was nowhere to be seen. She knew he was somewhere on the compound, she could feel that he wasn't far away, but he hadn't been by once to visit or even say hello since they had come through the floo on Saturday morning. His absence all weekend long was loud and it spoke volumes.
After their discussion about whether or not to offer the bite before the full moon had concluded, she steeled her nerves and tried to broach the subject as delicately as possible. She regretted asking almost immediately when he and Remus both growled low and rumbly, their teeth bared and visibly elongating. Her ears popped and a buzzing filled the edges of the room and she realized one of them must have cast a powerful privacy charm. She looked between the two of them nervously, and whined softly in the back of her throat.
That did the trick, and brought them both out of their sudden rage "What happened dad? What did he do to make you so angry? Is it because of what he told me?" She asked, terrified that she might have been the cause of this animosity between her father and his closest friend. "This is absolutely not your fault, darling girl," Remus interjected adamantly before her father could say a word. She glanced his way, knowing how he hated to be interrupted, and to her surprise he looked relieved.
He nodded in reluctant agreement "He's right, little wolf. It isn't what he told you, it's how he asked you not to tell me. A responsible and trustworthy adult never asks a child to keep secrets from their parent. Especially not about something so important. He convinced you to be dishonest with me and I can't forgive him for that, no matter his reasoning behind it. You need to understand how serious this is Hermione - he's given me a very real reason to distrust him. He's broken something between us, and he used you to do it. You're my child, in my eyes you are completely blameless in this. I don't want you feeling guilty or ashamed, he was the adult in the situation and he knew what he did was wrong or he wouldn't have asked you to keep it quiet. Ófnir has betrayed our trust in him in doing this, and as much as we love him, it makes me question his place in this pack," he said with an air of finality that made her feel as if she were already at the man's funeral.
Hanging his head and looking deeply troubled, her father continued "You haven't seen him this weekend because I asked for some space to have you to myself. I haven't told him that I know what he did, and I don't want you to either. I don't know how to handle a situation like this neatly, and I'm afraid of what might happen when he finds out that I know of his treachery. I feel like a coward for not having confronted him as soon as I read the confirmation in your letter last week, but I wanted to make sure I had a chance to speak with you first so he can't wedge his way between us again. I beg you now to always be honest with me daughter. I will never be angry with you for telling me the truth, I swear it with everything I have in me. Whatever he or anyone else may try and tell you, we are stronger if we face it together. There is never any reason for you to keep me in the dark. Even if it's small. Even if it's silly. If it comes from you, then I promise I want to hear it," he said, and his eyes glistened with unshed tears and his voice began to crack and wobble near the end.
She rushed forward into his arms and he held her more tightly than he ever had before. She felt her ribs flex with the force of his embrace, but it steeled her that she would obey him and never keep anything from him again for any reason, if only to never elicit this emotion from him again. Her father was a strong and proud man, he simply wasn't made to be brought so lowly. She whispered a bit breathlessly through tears of her own that she promised, she promised, she promised.
Suddenly she gasped and pulled back far enough that they were nose to nose "We can't bite anyone else at all or he'll know as soon as we do. It's the same prophecy!" She exclaimed, and her father's face morphed from confusion to shock as he realized what she meant. Remus made a pained noise and swore, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut tightly "…Tell us again exactly what Amalthea and the goddesses said to you," he ground out. She frowned "Honestly, they said a lot and I'm sure I've forgotten a good deal of it."
Her father grimaced but tried to remain upbeat "Try, my girl. Remember as much as you can, I know it's all there inside that brilliant head of yours. You've never forgotten a single word you've read or that anyone's said to you. If it happened in front of you then it's got to still be in there somewhere," he prompted gently, but his teeth were gritted and his face looked terribly anxious, and it made her feel panicky and not in the right mindset to do the type of deep mental dive she usually needed to pull footage like that.
It wasn't exactly as effortless as she liked to let on.
His expression softened then, and he turned her hand over in his own so their palms were touching "Connect to your brother with the-… the mind thing you have now. He should be able to help you focus and remember, right? He was there that night too, maybe he even noticed something you missed," he teased gently, successfully bringing her competitive side roaring to life. If it were a memory game she would always win. She saw his eyes light up in triumph in response to whatever had just passed over her face, and she stuck her tongue out at him before closing her eyes and mentally sinking down into the deep space between her and her brother where the edges of Harry and Hermione blended and became harryandhermione.
He was currently upstairs at his desk not even pretending to do the homework he'd claimed to want to finish, and all he'd really accomplished in the last hour or so were some rude but funny doodles of the Rowle boy. He'd been listening in every now and then just to stay updated but for the most part had simply been killing time, not feeling as if it were really his place to be a part of the earlier conversation between her and their father. It was alpha business after all. There had been a moment when he'd needed to briefly present himself for his pack bonds to be thoroughly inspected, but that had come and gone and he'd fled back to his room when he was no longer needed.
She and Ófnir were the only ones in the pack with the status to really even have such heated arguments with their father, the rest of them were hardwired to generally go out of their way to avoid confrontation with him. Although Harry was as destined to be her beta one day as she was to inherit their father's position, the powerful mix of displeased alpha pheromones the two of them gave off whenever they argued like they had was enough to send him scampering away with his tails between his legs just like it would any other member of the pack. She hardly ever fought with their father, but when she did the whole pack had the good sense to steer clear and her brother was no different.
He immediately pressed himself close to her in the mental space they shared when he felt her enter it, and nearly instantaneously he was helping her scour through her memory of the conversations with the centaur woman and the goddesses. With him helping her focus, her recollection was scalpel precise. Like watching a VHS tape fast forward and rewind, she sped through every word that had been spoken by the priestess and the three divine entities that night until she was certain she'd seen enough.
* * *
-We have both been touched by the moon, little sister. Out of all the magical mortals on this earthly plane, she has chosen the two of us to be her champions; I as her voice, and you as her sword. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but it is work that only we can do. There will be a battle of hearts and minds, and a war of blood and beasts-
-You should have been able to give him the gift I gave you. You should be able to give everyone you wish the same gift that I have given you, it was my foremost intention of your very design. You are to be a great bringer of change for your kind, it is why we have touched and blessed you so. Amalthea spoke truly when she called you our little champion. Yet despite all our considerable efforts, another has interfered to thwart your grandsire's scheming and has threatened our plans in their doing so-
-When we draw you here again many years from now, if you have done all these many things that we have commanded, then when you transform together and howl before us it will finally empower and awaken our own metamorphosis. We three, Selene and Artemis and Hekate, the mother the maiden and the crone, the full half and dark phases of the moon, shall amalgamate into Mani, the living embodiment of the moon himself. By that time you may already know him well, but when we transform the geas shall be broken and we may at last tell you the name of the one who plots and schemes against you. There is little we can say, but know that he is cunning and cruel, and closer than you realize. Your grand sire can help you, but alas the geas has stolen his name from our lips as well. You will know him by the color of his magic. Seek the wolf in the woods, and the snake in the school, they can tell you what you need to know, but be kind for the years have been hard on them-
* * *
"None of them ever explicitly mentioned a prophecy, but several times they edged around the fact that they created us with specific greater purposes in mind. Amalthea told me that she and I were their chosen champions, and mentioned a battle and a war that were coming. The lady Artemis told me that she made me to be able to give all wolves the same version of our gift that I was born with. And the last thing they told us was that we would help them transform one day the way they helped us - apparently they need to merge like we did into a god named Mani, and then they'll actually be the moon and not just the phases," she reported.
Her father and Remus seemed as baffled by the last part as she was still, and she continued "The prophecy Offy told me about was supposed to have to do with a werewolf preventing a tragedy. He was sure that there were people who didn't want it to be fulfilled. That some people hated werewolves enough to rather have the tragedy than be saved by one of us," she said, not needing to dive into her memories again to recall exactly what he'd told her that night before school started. She couldn't believe it had only been three weeks, it felt like it had been years ago that they'd sat by the bonfire and he'd confided in her like she was an important little leader. Now she felt like a fool for listening to him and not going to her father sooner.
Remus looked up at her and his face had relaxed somewhat, his expression more pensive than pained "I could see how that might be distantly connected with the goddesses wanting more werewolves to be able to shift freely. It sounds like they want you to use your gift on as many werewolves as possible, maybe even all of us. Imagine a world where no werewolf is cursed to lose control or live in fear of themselves, a world where there are no violent loners to make the humans hate us. Many packs, enormous and free, safe and healthy and wild. Howling to the moon in thanks and devotion… Devotion!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and hands coming up to run wildly through his hair.
He stood and came closer to where her and her father sat, kneeling next to them and taking her face between his hands "That's what it's really all about. No one would be more grateful to the goddesses or provide them with more spiritual acknowledgement than an entire species that had been liberated by them. Merciful mother of Merlin, I'm seeing the pieces start to fall into place. This has to have been what they wanted from you, Hermione. Whether it clues Ófnir in or not, you have to offer your bite to the pack. Every single one of them is a lifetime of prayers to the goddesses. That's what you're after, the task they've given you. They gave you the method to achieve it. Your gift was their investment in their own plan. Damn whatever Ófnir's ulterior motives may be to hell, it couldn't be clearer that this is exactly what the goddesses intended you to do!" He said, voice low but almost feverish in it's excitement.
She found herself nodding along, her jaw slack as he detailed how perfectly it all fit together. Her eyes met her fathers and his were wide as galleons, his brows nearly merging with his hairline. His jaw tensed, and she saw the muscle there flutter as if he were grinding his teeth "I don't disagree with you Remus, it makes too much sense to dispute. But do you really mean to suggest that we simply ignore his treachery?" He asked incredulously.
The other man shook his head emphatically "Just because there's a possible connection doesn't mean we know for sure that whatever the goddesses want is actually related to Ófnir's prophecy at all. We simply don't have enough information to be certain. I think before the two of you address the whole pack tonight Hermione should go to him now and try to get as much out of him as possible before he finds out about their involvement. That way if he clams up and refuses to tell us more afterwards we'll still have something to work with," he suggested, and her father bristled.
"I don't like it," he grumbled, and his eyes flashed golden yellow "but I like the alternative even less. Being in the dark is a special kind of hell. At the very least we have to find out the true magnitude of whatever he's scheming," he turned his eyes to her and she gulped at the very real fear she saw so close to the surface in them "you have to be careful though, my girl. Ófnir has helped me look after you since I first held you in my arms. Until now I would have said he's always had your best interest at heart. Your mum didn't stay with us long enough to formalize it, but we would have named him your godfather if she'd survived the war. I have to believe that should the worst come to pass he won't harm you. But still… Please, for your father's worried heart, be cautious," he begged, and she nodded obediently.
She had no desire whatsoever to fight him on this.
With their careful instructions on how to best lead him to revealing what he knew at the forefront of her mind, she left her home and crossed the open rolling patch of meadow between their cottage and Ófnir's. She had walked this path so many times in her childhood that she was certain could navigate it backwards and blindfolded, but still her heart beat a nervous rabbity pitter-patter in her chest. She let the rustle of the wind through the grasses soothe her, and brushed her hands along the tops of the tall stalks as she pushed through them.
This was going to be a conversation like any other. She was a curious girl who had been told a fascinating secret, of course she would want to know more. Everyone that knew her knew that she was pushy and she liked to ask questions. Nothing suspicious was happening here. She was visiting a friend and asking him questions. Nothing unusual at all.
She didn't bother to knock or announce herself when she arrived at his doorstep, as to do so would have been atypical for her and he had surely heard her coming from the moment she left her house. She heard him in the kitchen and headed there, and saw him stirring something in a pot on the stove. "Halló litla" [hello little one] he said kindly, not needing to turn to know it was her. Steeling herself, she wrapped her arms around him from behind and poked her head around his side to look up at him "That smells good," she mumbled, sniffing deeply and sighing contentedly. The aroma of the rich venison chili he was making had carried far out of the open window and her mouth had been watering nearly the entire walk over.
"Doesn't it, though? What's my secret ingredient this time?" He asked playfully, patting her hands where they were clasped over his belly. She sniffed again, deeper this time and let the scent ruminate in her nose and on her tongue "Did you add something sweet? It's almost fruity… is it cinnamon?" She asked incredulously "and chocolate?" He laughed heartily and nodded. "I can never keep a damn thing from you and that nose! Yes, I had it that way in the states once. In a city called Cincinnati they add cinnamon and cocoa powder to their chili and it makes the savory flavors have a more rounded depth. Get a spoon and tell me what you think, little Nene" he offered, and she dashed over to the drawer where he kept his silverware to grab one.
Coming back over to the stovetop she nudged him out of the way and dipped her little spoon into the pot, making him laugh again when he saw that she had snagged a large chunk of meat. Holding her hand under it to catch any drips, she brought it to her mouth and blew to cool it down. Just like her nose, her sense of taste was very sharp, and she hated burning a taste bud. She felt a cool frosty tingle rush over her hand and looked up to see him winking at her, his eyes gleaming mischievously. He had cast a wordless and wandless charm just so she wouldn't burn her mouth!
That was enough to relax her and remind her that whatever plot he had going, this was a man who loved her. Who had helped raise her. Who had trained her to be the young wolf she was, and who would never hurt her. She grinned up at him and ate the bite eagerly. It was like an explosion in her mouth as she chewed the deer meat and crushed a bean and a piece of tomato between her molars. The velvety stewy broth ran over her tongue pleasantly and she hummed in appreciation. "I think it needs some more salt Offy, but it's really good! I've never had anything like it," She said, and she handed him her spoon so he could have a bite of his own.
He took a bite from the boiling hot pot and she winced, but he had an asbestos mouth and fingers. He'd been cooking so long he could grab things and eat them straight from the oven without ever burning himself. She'd even seen him turn frying bacon with his bare fingers in the pan once when he'd dropped his tongs. He frowned and nodded in agreement, taking his salt cellar back out to add more into the pot. As she had done before many times over the years, she held her little cupped palm out so he could use it as his measure, and he tasted the chili again before pouring salt into her hand and pulling it over the pot to dump it in.
She giggled and buried her face into his side. She loved this man, she didn't want there to be conflict between them. She didn't want him to be working against her father. She wanted them to stay a family like they always had been, and be honest with each other like they always had been. She looked up at his face and saw him looking back down at her curiously "What is it, my girl? Why do you smell sad all of a sudden?" He asked softly, putting down his big wooden spoon and brushing her curly fringe away from her face.
That was all it took for her to crumble, and she sniffed wetly "What we talked about before school started - I hate keeping secrets from dad Offy. Can't we tell him whatever it is he needs to know now that I'm there and we know he'll let me go back?" She begged, and his face fell into a sad smile. He sighed and she felt as if she'd already started wrong, bungled it up before even getting anything useful from him "I truly wish I could tell your father everything. There are things I've been keeping from him for far too long that it's simply too late to say now and carry on as we have done. Enough time has passed that when the truth comes out the trust between us will be destroyed, and he'll never forgive me. I'll tell him soon, but let me have this little time left with the lad while I still can, aye?" He asked wistfully and her heart squeezed in her chest painfully.
She gripped his sleeve tightly "You say that like you're going to go away somewhere! You can't leave, Offy, we need you! I need you!" She cried, and she could feel herself getting worked up into a panic at the thought of him leaving and never coming back. Her breath came fast and shallow and she could feel her eyes flashing silver. Her little claws popped out of the tips of her fingers and she felt them shred through the threads of his jumper as if they were paper and not stiff sturdy wool.
He brought his hands to her shoulders and shushed her, leading her over to his kitchen table so she could sit and calm down. He knelt in front of her, taking her small hands in his big ones, uncaring that the places where her grip was tight drew little lines of blood "Easy lass, easy. I'll never go too far for you to follow, but I've also never been the type to settle. I came to your father when he was young and needed an older beta who could guide him wisely. I helped him build this pack and this compound where we all live so safely and happily. It's one of the best things I've ever done with my life. I never thought I could be satisfied with so simple a life, but it's done something tremendously healing to my soul. And helping to raise you has been far from simple indeed," he said with a chuckle.
It fell flat and stinging tears rolled down her cheeks "Why does it still sound like you plan on leaving?" She demanded weakly, her usual air of imperiousness absent. She felt small and so she sounded small.
He grinned and it made his face look twenty years younger, his eyes gleamed and she thought she saw a sparkle of green in them "Because you're an incredibly clever and insightful little creature. Everything evolves and changes, and I was never going to stay forever. But you should know that the time I've spent here with you and your father has been nothing short of the best time of my life," he said genuinely, and she thought he was cruel to say such a tender thing while talking about leaving her behind.
"You'd really rather run away from home than tell dad something you think he doesn't want to hear?" She challenged boldly with a withering stare and a brow arched as high as it would go, hoping that hearing how absurd he was being might have some power to make him change his mind. He barked a sharp laugh and shook his head fondly "I suppose I earned that!" He said through another chuckle "Though I don't know that I'd have called it running away, necessarily. Börn þessa dagana!" [children these days!]
"If you're really already planning on leaving, and there's nothing I can do to make you stay… you should know your blessing worked. I've met the moon goddesses and they helped me fix Harry's wolf. He can shift now like I can, and they told me that everyone else I bite will be able to shift freely as well. They said that it's my purpose, why they made me," she said, and his eyes were wide and he was speechless. She continued in a rush.
"You should know I already told dad everything you told me. He knows there's a werewolf prophecy, and he knows you asked me to keep it from him. He's fuming mad at you, and he sent me here to try and figure out what else you know before he confronts you later. I don't know what you think he'll do to you, do but even though he's scared and angry and confused he still loves me. You know dad, if you're honest now he might still forgive you Offy. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad right? Please don't leave us just because you're scared to tell him the truth," she begged, tugging on his hands that had gone slack in her grip.
Despite the wild frightened look in his eyes and the tremor she felt in his hands, he looked at her with love before brushing a kiss to her forehead "You're the absolute best of us, little Nene. Show me your wolf, let me see you before-… let me see you, please," he asked, and she couldn't help but comply. Right there in his kitchen she shifted, her green sparkles of magic washed over her, but she noticed that some of them lingered on him, twinkling and staying bright and shiny for a moment longer than they normally would before dissipating.
He was knocked over onto his backside, half of her weight pressing his chest to the floor. Part of her wanted to stay like that, to keep him trapped there so he couldn't get away and leave them. But that would be selfish. Things that long to wiggle away don't appreciate being held tightly. She backed off of him and away, and sat on her backside, still nearly as tall sitting as he had been standing. "By all the gods, girl!" He said breathlessly, dragging himself back up to his feet "my blessing did this?" He asked incredulously. She snorted and shook her huge head, howling softly. "The moon goddesses did this?" He corrected, and she nodded.
She shifted back quicker than blinking "Our wolves were small because we'd been sharing mine to make up for how sick and broken Harry's was," she told him matter-of-factly "they're healed now and we have to pay the goddesses back by helping them get worshippers and prayer so they'll be powerful enough to turn into someone called Mani. That's all they really told us, we were going to tell the whole pack tonight so they can choose to get my bite or not. We think the pack being grateful during a full moon will help get a lot of prayer power for them," she explained, all traces of artifice gone. He had been her spiritual advisor her whole life, maybe she'd get more out of him in the time they had left if she approached things from that angle.
His face was pale but his eyes shone "They told you about Mani? …Did they mention Sola?" He asked weakly, and his voice was shaky. She tilted her head one way and then the other "Yes to the first no to the second. Mani and Sola - who are they? I've never even heard of them, and I thought I knew everything there was to know about the moon," he whined pitifully then, a noise she had never once in her entire life heard him make, and the sound pierced her very heart. "What else did they say little wolf, who else did they name?" He whispered desperately.
A tingle of something like apprehension zipped up her spine at the question, and she suddenly realized she knew the answer to multiple questions she hadn't even thought to ask yet "They said that there were two whose names they couldn't speak. A cruel god who is thwarting their plans, and our-… our sire's sire who is a scoundrel but who can help us," she repeated verbatim. She looked at him more closely, and finally noticed that his eyes weren't the dark blue she always thought they had been. Sitting like two glistening twinkling shiny coins in his face, they were the exact same sea glass green as the sparkles that washed over her when she transformed.
Her lips parted and she let out a disbelieving but joyous laugh despite herself "They said that we would recognize him by the color of his magic," she said, and invoked her own around herself. The shimmery sparkles came to life along her arms and rose up into the air above her hands, stretching out into aurora-like ribbons of green light. The color of her brother's eyes. The color of Ófnir's eyes. She reached out physically and metaphysically for him, hoping he would confirm what she knew in her gut to be the truth.
Instead she felt an entire squirming mass of what she knew must be his fear and anxiety weighing down on her tangibly as if it were an atmospheric pressure. Her eyes watered from the strain of staying standing as her knees threatened to buckle. The pressure increased and the two organs felt as if they might burst like balloons in her head, and she couldn't believe the sheer force that was being exuded by the man's overcome emotions. As quick as it came it lifted, and she toppled helplessly to the floor, limp and exhausted.
He cried out and darted towards her, catching her at the last moment before her head hit the tile, cradling her in his arms. Her eyelids fluttered and she looked up at him, impressed despite herself "I don't think even I could have moved that fast, Offy," she muttered, her head lolling back uselessly. He sobbed at that "You cheeky little shit," he choked out, and ran one of his hands over her face and through her hair "I'm so sorry, little Nene. For losing control of myself, for being so careless with my secrets, for not letting us just be a family. I wish we could have had more time. I wish you hadn't found out this way. I wish you could just-… but I can't ask you to lie for me again. I never should have done it in the first place. I should have called you it every day - Dýrmæta barnabarnið mitt [my precious granddaughter, it's what you are."
"Það er allt í lagi afi, ég elska þig enn [It's okay grandpa, I still love you," she said weakly, but with her whole heart "sama hvað [no matter what," she added. He winced and turned away but she saw his eyes gleam with unshed tears "You know it breaks my poor old heart to heart my beautiful Icelandic butchered with that hideous Danish accent your father gave you, little wolf," he said pompously, with his nose upturned high in the air.
She tried to laugh and it came out wet and crunchy sounding. The concussive blast that had shot through the air around him when he lost control of his emotions for even just a fraction of a second had broken something in her chest, possibly several ribs. Her hand shook as she tried to lift it to feel where the damage was. It might actually have been her sternum. It would of course heal easily with a potion or a spell, but as it was currently she was in a great deal of pain. She whimpered and even that hurt, so she closed her eyes and tried not to cry too hard.
His voice sounded ragged as he spoke again "I'm so terribly sorry, my darling girl" he said, his voice anguished. With a voice like crackling tundra under the feet of a stag he began to chant low in a song she recognized the melody but not the words of. It sounded old but it made her feel very very young. When she invoked her own magic the ribbons were always wispy things as thin as her little finger, but as he held his hand above her chest his magic invoked around him in thick spiraling ribbons that were nearly opaque and were both wider and longer than his arm. The color was in fact the same icy sea glass green.
At that exact moment, with a shout and a slam of the front door, the rest of her family crashed into Ófnir's cottage. Her father and Remus both roared upon entering the kitchen, and she realized what an awful sight it must be. She was on the floor visibly injured, she could smell her own blood in the air, and Ófnir was knelt over her casting a powerful looking spell. Gathering all the remaining strength she possessed, she reached out to her brother and sank into the space they shared. Knowing they had little time before a bad situation escalated to much worse, she took control of Harry's limbs and grabbed their father's arm before he could rush towards where she lay on the floor, eyes suddenly glazed over sickeningly.
When he turned to look back at his son he froze, and she wondered what he saw in their face. She flashed her eyes at him and he gasped, and when she spoke their two voices were layered together like Amalthea's "Dad, wait - I'm fine! It's not what it looks like," she urged, her voice harmonizing in a way she quite liked. She heard Remus swear under his breath from where he still stood behind her in the entryway. Her father looked back and forth between where she was in her brother's body standing next to him and where her actual body lay broken on the floor, and was clearly torn. He growled and snarled, snapping his teeth not at her but in sheer frustration "I know, dad, but it was an accident. Really look at the magic he's doing. See how light it is? He's trying to heal me. Let him heal me dad," she said, trying to talk him down from a ledge of rage where only bad decisions lived.
She tugged him by the hand over to where she lay as Ófnir continued to work tirelessly to fix her. They knelt together and she pressed Harry's palm flat to her father's chest "Listen to your heartbeat dad, and then mine. We've had a bit of a scare but it's still going strong, isn't it? They're both still pumping blood the same as always. I'm going to be just fine," she promised softly.
A horrific scraping of bones took place within her torso, and even through the lumpy wool of her jumper she was able to see the skin underneath bulging and shifting as her ribs settled back into place and fused back together. It was a nauseating and nightmarish sight, like something out of a scary movie, but her body relaxed and its chest finally fully expanded with the next breaths it took. At the back of her mind she vaguely felt a connection to it still, as if it were underwater or at a great distance. Harry was still in his own body with her, and she realized quite suddenly with a hot wash of terror that no one was behind the wheel controlling her body. She had left her body on the floor to fend for itself without her, and she was lucky that it had decided to continue breathing in her absence.
She wrenched herself backwards out of her brother's body and navigated herself through their shared space back into the area that was her and hers alone. She was Hermione again, and she was on the floor and gasping in Ófnir's arms. Her arms flailed out wildly and grasped in either direction at the collar of his shirt, at the cold kitchen tiles. There wasn't any remaining pain in her chest but the bones felt extremely fragile and tender, like little green spring vegetable starts that could be knocked over by the wind.
Looking up at Ófnir - at her grandfather? - she saw that his sad wistful smile was back in place, and she knew that a little road bump like this wouldn't keep him from making his great escape if he was truly determined to leave. Holding on too tightly to things that wanted to get away only made them that much more desperate to stay away. It would be a messy exit, but he had always been a particularly flamboyant and mischievous man and she was sure a small part of him was enjoying such a scene even now.
She smirked up at him and swiped at one of the tears on his cheek, flicking it away "This is goodbye I guess," she said "…en ekki að eilífu? [but not for forever?]" He grinned and winked down at her "Nei elskan mín, þú munt sjá mig aftur bráðum! [No my dear, you'll be seeing me again soon!]" he whispered, voice playful and merry. She was glad that their parting could at least be joyful, despite how grim things had seemed for a moment there. Knowing it could well be the last thing she might say to him for a long time, she considered her words carefully "Ekki villast við að elta eigin skott [Don't get lost chasing your own tail," she decided on. It was one of his own aphorisms, and it felt apropos to say it back to him at a a time like this.
Laughing out a huff and with hands ever so gentle, ever so careful, he passed her over into her father's impatient arms. His palm rested lightly on her forehead for a moment as he bestowed upon her another blessing, and he pressed a kiss to her head when he was finished. Then with a nod and a grin he vanished into thin air. There was no twist or crack of apparition, nor any of the wonderful green sparkles their magic shared. He was simply there one moment and gone the next.
She had to hand it to him, it was quite dramatic.
While the rest of her family was busy shouting their confusion and casting spells to try and see where he'd gone, she couldn't help but grin where her face was tucked into her father's chest. Her shoulders shook and they probably assumed she was crying, but it was really silent laughter. They weren't able to see the humor in it now, as worked up and frightened as they were over her and her safety, but she'd explain it to them later and she hoped they'd get the same giggle out of it she had. Something about the worse the pun the funnier it was. It had been an objectively awful prank after all, living as his own son's beta for decades without ever letting him know.
It was funny, though.