The olive tree
After dinner, Deborah and Paul, not having dessert, got up before everyone else at the table to stop by the kitchens for food, and then the seven Sly occlumants changed, went up to Sev's bedroom, watched the seventh floor in the Map and from there they Apparated before the portrait of Barnabas and the seven of them together demanded the Forgotten Sorcery Study and Training Space immediately. (Although there is no danger, since I know from Lily that the old man has Occlumency class with Frank and he is not watching his Map at the moment,) Sev thought.
They entered the Room, everyone was amazed to see such a natural space inside the castle. They gave the Time Turner three hours back and not two as they had originally thought, since there were many to perform rituals. They had decided to make them first in the trees. (I have thought of taking them to what I consider the most powerful of the five I know, a very ancient olive tree, the one corresponding to the autumnal equinox.)
Since it was twenty past five in the afternoon and they couldn't Apparate yet, they walked briskly up there, passing through the clearing where the Refuge was located. Everyone except Deborah was tempted to go inside and get to know it, but Sev replied, "Please, let's leave it for the end even if we go past the hour of curfew, we only have until ten o'clock to be able to Apparate."
"Of course," Deborah seconded. "Let's go to the tree as soon as possible."
"If you want, what we can do is drink water from the well. You will acquire a new power, Insight, which will also help us in rituals."
They did, the seven drank water from the well and went to the olive tree. They started with the individual rituals, first those who had never performed until now, Valerie, Andrew and Paul, who immediately tried the spherical shield of Druid Magic to protect themselves individually, also with curses, and they were delighted.
Later Anthony and Jack, they were all fast. Sev and Deborah refrained from performing individually. (We're both planning to be back before the end of the term. Very good, still six, four hours to go.)
They began with the joint ones, they surrounded the olive tree between three people and the others did not move away, because they could communicate with their thoughts without making noise or disturbing them. Those who performed the ritual unbonded themselves from the others and remained mentally silent, but without occluding their feelings.
The first was Sev's with Paul. (The feeling he gives me is very similar to what I already feel with Deborah, except for the sexual desire. If Paul's okay with it, I could Bond myself as a Couple with him as well, although it'll be a bit weird to do it nude. What does it matter, Lily and Lauren are willing to do it, it is true that I am a prissy about these things. The ancient warlocks did it with everyone and Deborah would love to have the two of us sometime like me she and Valerie, I'll propose him.)
Deborah and Paul followed. (Now they have taken longer, they are amazed with their mutual magic. They are very close, in such a short time, as it happened to both of us.)
Deborah and Sev did not realize it, they no longer needed it, since every time they they were bonded they felt what the other felt for them.
Then the three of them did it together. (Wonderful, one of my future families, what intensity, how we love each other. I'm determined, I am going to propose to Paul right now that we Bond as a Couple, while the others do theirs, I no longer care at all about doing it naked.)
When they finished, he asked everyone, "Leave Paul and me free for a while."
As they performed Valerie with Andrew, Valerie with Deborah, Deborah with Andrew, and the three of them together, Sev chatted with Paul. "Have you finished your notes on Red Magic yet?"
"Yes, last night."
"I am going to explain in detail what the Bond as a Couple consists of."
"Go ahead."
Sev did it, as it came in the book, verbatim. When he finished he told him, "I suspect that this one does not work if it is not done naked."
"Of course not."
"I would like to do it with you, I have loved the feelings we have for each other and we have little time left to enjoy them. Would you be willing?"
"If you are, of course, no problem," Paul replied. "All that to avoid direct human contact man with man or woman with woman is one more imposition of Christianity. It gives me some embarrassment, of course, because of the education we have received, but we can try doing it with underwear, I think it will work."
"Yes, I think so too, and I also prefer to try it that way first."
"But if we don't get it, we'll do it anyway, we have to overcome all that nonsense."
"Of course. I'll ask Deborah to put it on the schedule, as soon as possible," Sev proposed.
"You've already done it with Deborah, haven't you?"
"Yes, last night. It is indescribable."
"Too bad she wants to strictly follow the initiation steps with me, because I can't wait to Bond with her as a Couple too," said Paul.
"Propose it."
"No. I'm going to let myself be carried, she has a much better criteria than me for these things, just like you. I do it with people I don't like enough, without being in love."
"Well, I've also done it sometimes, with Audrey specifically," Sev admitted.
"Yeah, but you already left her, you did it because you were very hungry. I didn't worry about looking for someone I really liked, and you already saw how close I was to her."
"Well, but you found her."
"Yes, and again thanks to you, I am very lucky," said the older one. "I'm not doing it with anyone else until she's ready."
"Well, Paul, it's not that either, don't go hungry."
"I don't care at all, I manage by myself, and anyway, now that I'm in love with Deborah, I wouldn't feel right, I'm a one-woman man and I've never felt this way for anyone before. Today I have been reading your Celtic horoscope book, I have allowed myself to look for my characteristics. Of course, I have not read your annotated pages."
"Oh, and what is your tree? Maybe I already know it."
"Of course you know it," answered his friend. "The ash tree, the same as Andrew, but I am from autumn, from the November 22nd."
"I suspected it. Ambition is your main feature."
"Of course, Sly to the core," very satisfied and proud.
"Last night Deborah and I were talking about next year's command," Sev said. "She and you will take care of sixth grade, the group I have with her now, so you can spend more time together when you come to school."
"Thank you very much Prince!"
(Wow, she hadn't told him anything, I should have let her do it herself.) "Thank her, it was her idea. By the way, we also have to do joint ones with Andrew, we have to give him support."
"Of course, he needs it very much," Paul agreed.
"Yesterday, back from the Quidditch pitch, he confided in me. Try to make him do it with you too, you will understand him better, you are the same tree."
"I will, Prince."
The four joint ones had already finished, it was ten to seven. (They were quick. By eight o'clock at the latest we have to go to the cave, if we have too many joints left, we'll give the Time-Turner another hour back. We're going to do Valerie and Andrew's with me and Paul.)
He bonded with everyone. "Valerie and Andrew with me now."
He first did it with Valerie. (Wooow… how beautiful. She loves me with all her soul, admires and appreciates me, desires me and is not afraid for me, because she trusts that together they will keep me alive. And she is not at all jealous of my other women, she is wonderful. If she wants, tonight, I'llBond as a Couple with her too. The feelings correspond exactly to the ones I have for her. I'm not going to rush her, let's enjoy it for a while.) They stayed like that for ten minutes.
He then did it with Andrew. Sev told him privately, "Andrew, please, do not occlude your feelings."
"Of course not, Prince, as we agreed. We have to know each other well to learn to accept each other."
He performed his joint one with Andrew. (Ugh… he's very afraid that I will steal Valerie, not exactly jealous, insecurity in himself, in his abilities. Other than that, deep admiration and appreciation, feeling that I am far above him in all aspects and gratitude for everything I'm doing for them. Very conflicting feelings.
(I'm also conveying admiration for many facets of his personality and deep appreciation for what he does for me, but some resentment for how he has treated Valerie for so long, also contradictory feelings.
(Now I begin to feel sadness for his part, for what I am transmitting to him, and that makes me feel a certain compassion. They are not very healthy feelings, but they will improve with time. Valerie has not conveyed to me the desire to be with me forever, he will recover her for himself if he knows how to do it. And I start to appreciate him too for not occluding anything, opening up to me, being totally honest.
(It has already reached him, he regains some of his self-confidence and also transmits love to me, how wonderful, because I am beginning to love him a lot too. It has already reached him, joy, and for my part, confidence that with the help of others he will achieve all his goals, both in the professional aspect and in his hobbies and in his relationship with Valerie.
(More joy on his part and eagerness to start all our projects together. It's good the band, we'll also end up forming that family of three, even if I don't have children with Valerie, I'll help them raise them if they don't have a profession at the end of the war, I'll pass it on to him too.
(Wow… how he loves me. How well it is suiting us. And I had never experienced such a change of feelings in just a few minutes. I think this is also because we both now enjoy the power of Insight. I'm going to stay with him for a while, too.) They stayed for another five minutes, during which their good feelings intensified and the bad ones receded into the background.
(We're going to do the joint one with Paul before Valerie, so Andrew'll feel even more confident in himself. He cut it so short with her because they didn't feel right. Have them do it again later, after Deborah chats with her and Paul and me with Andrew.)
Sev bonded with Paul. "Paul, come now." He unbond himself from everyone and bonded with Deborah. "Deborah, talk to Valerie about what she has felt with Andrew."
"I'm already doing it, Prince," she replied.
"Know that feelings can change, it just happened to me with Andrew."
"Wow… what a discovery."
"Of course, we have to give ourselves time, you have done them too quickly," he said.
"Oh… what a mistake."
"It doesn't matter, we'll turn back the Time Turner again after going to the cave."
"Brilliant."
"I leave you."
He unbonded from Deborah and bonded with Andrew and Paul, they performed their ritual. (Wonderful, the feeling of an affinity group, of a lifelong relationship, of close union in many spheres, both public and private, because I, through their girls, unite them too. And of mutual support, of close friendship, and little by little it is changing to unconditional love, to being able to overcome everything that separates us with the help of others.
(And there is no fear for me at all, because the feeling that we are going to be a whole prevails. In time, after the summer, I'll also Bond as a Couple with Andrew and we'll both be with Valerie, so I can really teach him how to please her, when I get to know her thoroughly.) They stayed for five more minutes feeling each other, during the which the feeling intensified. (We're going to save the joints with Valerie for later, so Paul and I talk to Andrew. I'm going to propose that they do a joint just the two of them.)
He unbonded himself from Paul and asked Andrew, "Do you want to do a joint only with Paul?"
"Of course," Andrew replied.
"Take the time you need."
"Sure, with you it has been fantastic."
"I'll leave you then."
Sev pushed away from the tree, unbonding from Andrew. He bonded with Jack and Anthony. "Jack, Anthony, are you two going to do joint together?"
"Yes, Prince," Anthony replied.
"Very well, then you do those you want with Deborah and Valerie, take the time you need. We'll go to the cave at eight and when we come back we'll turn back the Time Turner again if we haven't finished in the tree."
"Great, Prince," said Jack.
"Remember, do not occlude your feelings, otherwise it is useless."
"Of course not, Prince," Anthony said.
(Jack says nothing. There he is.)
He unbonded himself from them and bonded with Deborah and Valerie. "Girls, can I participate in the chat?"
"Of course, Prince," Valerie told him.
Sev explained to them what he had felt with Andrew and with him and Paul, Valerie in turn what she had felt with Andrew and what she had transmitted to him. (A lot of fear that she will leave him for me, but not jealousy, just relief that she has found a partner up to her standards, and also remorse for having treated her like this. And on her part, resentment for having subjected her like that for so long, regret for letting herself be carried, and hope that he will change so they can build a stronger relationship together.)
Meanwhile, Paul and Andrew had already finished, briefly, and Valerie had started giving Andrew kisses. Anthony and Jack passed.
Sev replied to Valerie, "You have very contradictory and unhealthy feelings among yourselves, but you have recovered a large part of the confidence, you have not occluded anything."
"That is," she said.
"You should have taken more time, Andrew's feelings and mine have changed in minutes. They were also very contradictory and have improved, the good ones have prevailed."
"Deborah has already explained it to me, but we didn't know anything."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know either, it had never happened with anyone before," he apologized. "Later you'll repeat it, we will turn back the Time Turner again if necessary."
"Ugh…" she said pitifully. "Then we are going to be exhausted for the night…"
"Well yes, Valerie, but first things first. If you want, we don't go home anymore, we stay to sleep in the Refuge, there are great beds. We'll go to bed early and do it in the morning."
"Great," very happy.
Sev laughed. (How she changes her mood, and I am learning to do it.)
"I brought my alarm clock counting on something like that," Deborah said. "I'll leave it with you and I'll take yours at home, Valerie."
"Deborah, you're the best, you think of everything," Sev, admired, kissed her.
"You do it too, Prince, instead of worrying about yours, you're doing it for others."
"You too, Deborah."
"I can afford it, I have everything resolved thanks to you."
Jack and Anthony finished, it was after seven twenty-five. Sev bonded with all four. "Make joints among yourselves, as soon as you finish we'll go to the cave. In the meantime I'm going to have a chat with Andrew and Paul."
They started, Deborah with Anthony. Sev unbonded himself from the four and did so with Andrew. "We are in private, Andrew, are you chatting with Paul?"
"Yes Prince."
"Can I participate?"
"Of course."
He also bonded with Paul, they talked candidly about what they had felt between the three of them and Andrew with Valerie. Both Sev and Paul gave Andrew good advice on how to carry it with her.
Paul recommended, "Inform yourself thoroughly about the part of the Couple of the Red Magic to start from scratch with Valerie, it is what I am going to do with Deborah."
"Share the book I have at home with Anthony, who is also studying it to follow the initiation with Heather," Sev told him. "You can do it together, because he needs to have it translated. Also do it with Jack, he also needs information."
"The four of us can do it," said Paul. "With the Bond one reads and everyone listens, so we relieve Deborah and you of work."
"Don't you need it, Prince?" Andrew asked.
"There is another copy in the Refuge, I already told you that we have the Beneficial Magic in duplicate."
"We'll take the opportunity to make copies for the other couples of occlumants, for Genevre and Lorenz, Alice and Frank and your Gryff friends," said Paul.
"Cecile and Remus."
"That they all have them in summer. I'll take care of it, I perfectly control the mental dictation, I can do many at the same time. I'll make another one for you too, so you don't have to take out the Hogwarts book in the summer if you have to give the other one back to the old man."
"Great, Paul. How good it is for us that you are in seventh year and how smart you are."
"Thank you Prince. We are a team, we have to live up to it."
"Include it in the schedule, so that it does not affect your exams."
"We'll do it tonight when we get home."
"No, rest tonight. We're going to turn back the Time-Turner when we come back from the cave to continue the tree rituals. Valerie and Andrew have to repeat it taking their time."
"Sure, we should have had more time," Andrew said.
"Are you tired?" Sev asked them. "It's already ten to eight, for us ten to eleven."
"I'm used to staying up late, Prince," Andrew told him. "I'm going to hold out well."
"I take better care of myself," Paul said. "I sleep my eight hours almost always but I also sacrifice them when I'm with a girl, and it doesn't affect me at all, I resist well. And if I do it for that, it's better for me to do it for this too. I don't need as much sleep as you do, I'm already eighteen, I'm pretty much done growing. Are you going to hold on?"
"I have taken a nap with the Restorative potion for half an hour at noon, which has been worth me for an hour and a half," Sev explained. "I will resist, I am more concerned about others."
"Yeah, Valerie is going to be exhausted, with the excited she was of being with you tonight," Andrew said, worried.
"Don't worry, Andrew, we're going to sleep here and we won't do anything at night, we'll go to bed early and we'll do it in the morning. Deborah brought us her alarm clock."
"Deborah thinks of everything, she is a machine," Paul said, admired, laughing.
"Thank you, Prince, for putting up with your desires and worrying about making her happy when she's fit and rested, I never did that," Andrew said, sad.
Sev took him by his shoulders. "Come on, Andrew, don't get discouraged again. I'm not going to feel like it, I'm going to fall flat, this morning I woke up at quarter past six."
"With Deborah," Paul said.
"Yes, we had a blast, we were very hungry and escaped naked to the kitchens, didn't even take our wands."
The three laughed. (I've already managed to cheer Andrew up too. I'm getting better and better.)
Paul asked, "Didn't the elves see you?"
"Of course they saw us, but they didn't tell us anything, they never tell on us."
They laughed again. (Paul also contributes.)
The seven-grader continued, "Did the old man tell you about the socks?"
"We have not talked about that, we have had many other things to think about. If I remember, I'll ask him on Friday."
The others finished their rituals and everyone put on their shoes. Apart from Anthony's with Deborah, they had done others, Deborah with Jack, the three of them, Valerie with Jack, and another all four of them together. (Valerie hasn't done it alone with Anthony, but they're not going to have that much of a relationship, they don't share projects together. We have to think about how many rituals we're going to do in the cave and the ones left in the trees to turn the Time Turner back now or when we get back.)
Sev bonded with everyone. "Bond everyone, we have to plan."
They did, arranging in a circle. That time he thought while they spoke. "In order, from me to the left. Start, Andrew, who do you want to do joints with in the cave."
"One only with Valerie, another with Valerie and Jack and another with you."
(Valerie's long, Jack's since Easter, and mine short. I also want to do one with Valerie and Andrew, half an hour minimum.)
"With Deborah, alone, and with you and Deborah," Paul said.
(Both short, five more minutes, thirty-five minutes.)
"Me with you and with Paul, separately and all three, and the same with Valerie," Deborah said. "I'll leave with Anthony, Jack and Andrew for another time, with the first two they would be very long."
(Three more, mine longer and the other two short, another twenty minutes, fifty-five.) "Thank you, Deborah, for the sacrifice, I will teach you how to return to the cave so that you can do it with them before the end of the term, it seems important to me that you do so. There's a map and a Gaelic dictionary in the Refuge, and I'll leave you the Time-Turner too."
"If you tell me where it is, I'll find my life, I understand maps very well."
"Okay, I'll tell you when we get back," Sev proposed.
"In that case, Valerie and I can come too then," Andrew said. "Ours would be very long now. What do you say Valerie?"
"Yes, sweetheart, we'll be back, some weekend afternoon. Otherwise today we are going to end up exhausted," she replied.
(Perfect, at least a quarter of an hour less, forty minutes.)
"Then we'll leave for then also the one you want to do with me," Jack said.
"No, Jack, this one will be short and you should do rituals with everyone from now on," Sev told him.
"Alright."
"Go ahead, Anthony."
"If the rest of us are going to come back another day, it's enough for me to do it with you," Anthony said. "It's going to be a bit long, but you may not be able to come back."
(Ten more minutes, fifty minutes.) "Of course, Anthony, I also want to do it with you, of course. Go ahead, Jack."
"The same, with you," said Jack.
"I want to do one just with you and another with the four of us who formed the Guard from the beginning. You changed my life when I met you." (Another ten minutes, one hour.)
"And you ours," Deborah said.
"Finish, Valerie."
"With you, alone, and with you and Andrew, Deborah already said the one with you and her and the one with Andrew and Jack he said it," Valerie said.
(One more, short, hour and five, plus the six individual ones, not too difficult lives, it will be enough two hours.) "Okay, let's go to the cave without turning back yet with the Time Turner, we'll do it when we come back. I'm going to project the image to those of you who can Apparate, Valerie carries Andrew and me, Paul Deborah, and Jack Anthony."
They repositioned themselves to Apparate, those who couldn't do it took the arms of those who could. Sev projected the image of the cave entrance to Valerie, Jack, and Paul for fifteen seconds. He asked them out loud, "Do you have it?"
"What a beautiful place," Valerie said.
"Of course, the next time you come, do it to catch the sunset, it's spectacular."
"It's amazing to project," Paul said.
"It is even more so to share reliable images bonded, within two hours you will be able to do it. Deborah will be able to teach us all to fly with her wishes in the Mirror."
"No please!" Paul exclaimed.
They all laughed.
"Let's go there? Let's see if it works, otherwise we'll go back with the Time Turner and walk."
"Let's trust, my love," Valerie told him, and kissed him.
"Whenever you want. Keep the circle, let's not fall on each other, next to it there is a precipice."
"No problem," Paul said. "Just like we did from the bedroom. At three. One… two… and three!"