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Chapter 33: Lucas Returns

The Burrow,9th December 2010, 1500 GMT

Neville and Penelope met the entire expectant Dumbledore Army with a smile.

Hermione opened, "So Neville and Penelope, how did things go?"

Penelope spoke first as Neville nodded at her, "It went better than expected. After hosting us with refreshments, we casually sauntered on to the main topic. All of them are much impressed by your proposed acts of goodwill. They are also pondering about Molly but they were disappointed about the lack of Veto powers. They will send their reply tonight."

Neville agreed, "The fact that they were at least willing to consider us is a momentous achievement in itself. Things were made easier by Natalie's clear logic. There were quite a few deranged voices there and some downright scary folks but Ander and the third in command offered a calming presence. It is a definite victory for you, Hermione."

As Hermione and others gave relieved smiles, Malcom informed her about a guest waiting for them. Arthur understood Hermione's indication and asked the Z group to let in the visitor after a thorough security procedure.

Adena gasped. Standing at the dining room doorway was Lucas. Others slowly smiled even as Adena embraced him tightly, tears moistening her cheeks.

They spent the next couple of hours updating all the significant occurrences after his self imposed sabbatical and concluded with the attempted Peace Deal between Good, Middle and the Dark World.

Lucas congratulated Hermione on her vision but cautioned her, "Whatever you are trying to do is perfectly laudable. All I want is for you, to be careful. One of his strategies is to honeytrap people as his partners and then get his way. He was successful in doing this with the Queen of Atlantis. You and your team must never get complacent, else you might lose everything. The only good thing I can see here is the fact that he respects you enough to play the long game. He has not extended this to any opponent after his Atlantis days."

Hermione smiled as she replied Lucas, "I have a very good idea of the kind of opponent I am dealing with. For every move we lay out in the open, Our Team, Veena, Adena and now Natalie have no less than 25 backup plans based on their apparent or subtle choices. One fact remains. I always believe in the highest good for all and a win-win situation. Every challenger of mine must face the same platter of choices, irrespective of their past actions, allegiance and background. If they take up the highest choice with a fully committed heart, that is the best, else we keep negotiating until it is win-win for all parties involved. Unless a situation is win-win, the negotiation is only temporarily potent."

Lucas absorbed every word as tears dropped on his face. "Hermione, prior to the past 7 months, I have never been a believer in destiny. For me, all my life successes have been all about self-effort. Now, I feel differently. My thundering insight to control your term as the Minister of Magic might have set of a chain of events, best meant to heal my own life. Athena got involved as your invisible protector and Jack got involved to help her. One thing led to another, including the episode of Aurelian in the stadium and finally, I got a chance to meet you. I am deeply in gratitude of destiny that my ego trip has led me to you. All my life, I was so sure of myself that I never had the chance to see alternative choices. You hold up that mirror for me and it promises me a beautiful life ahead."

Hermione nodded, "We all come to each other's lives for a reason. We are all teachers, guiding the other person on first an inner journey, followed by an outer one. Every choice we take up, either results in happy outcome or a lesson for us and all the stake-owners involved. In this life, every present moment is a gift and the learning is continuous. That being said, you should learn to see perfection in the choices made by others as well. I see you flinching with pain, each time you mention Jack. I empathize with your pain. You feel defeated that your best friend and ally did not share his final strategy with you. You might have saved him and me but there could have been a chain of events which would have led to catastrophic consequences. There was a nuclear bomb involved and the protection of Harry and group would have been compromised. All of them were depending on you. We might never even have met Natalie and gained such a clear idea on the inner mental models of the Dark World members. All said and done, the immense pain involved had a big reason to play out and it has led to this slimmest chance of global peace in the Magical World. There might have been many deep lying reasons behind Jack's silence. You ought to respect the choice of your best friend and forgive yourself. Whatever played out as a result of his choice, happened for the best."

Lucas gave a deep look of respect at Hermione, "Wow, every moment of conversation with you leads to such clarity. Actually, I had an insight on my final night of meditation in Kyoto. A week before Jack's death, he woke me up in the middle of the night and told me that he had a premonition that he was about to die shortly. He was immensely glad that he had the chance to execute his closure. The first thing he did was discuss the state of affairs of the Middle World and my evolving role. I was to hand over the entire empire to Adena and stay on as a mentor. In my shock and grief of seeing Jack die, I had totally forgotten about this conversation and he duly reminded me. Next, he used the next morning to appraise Adena of the finer points of running an empire of this size and the empathy as well as challenging issues involved. Finally he visited all his loved ones and bade them farewell. Even he did not know the exact circumstances of his death, but he fully respected the clear warning."

Lucas continued, "That night as we took one our final meals together, I fully committed myself to Jack's vision. From my own sources, I can confirm that Adena is running the empire in an excellent fashion. I can now focus on other priorities close to my heart. I am a gifted Muggle and Wizard health researcher and can provide key insights to Celia, Natalie, Hermione and Penelope, each time they might need a new perspective. I also have an arsenal of tools at my disposal on how to escape Aurors and once I share that with Harry, I will nullify the intelligent folks in the Dark World who model me. That will reduce some of their mischief-making teeth. Finally, Athena, we have to take care of many issues, Earthly and beyond. We will resolve it together."

Even as others were overwhelmed with gratitude, Athena nodded grimly.

Fred immediately perked up, "Athena, what does he mean with issues 'beyond' Earth?"

Athena gave a sharp look at Hermione, who immediately took the cue.

"Fred, whatever their issues may be, our immediate concern is our own challenges. Let us work on those first. Even more of a priority is giving him a good meal. Fred and George, please suggest a hearty welcome meal plan to Patrick and Pernie. Meanwhile, we must discuss the modalities of our discussion with Lucius."

Lucas responded, "Actually Hermione, I have a few points to put across, relevant to the Middle World. I will clear it up with Adena and accompany you. In conclusion, I must remind Harry and Company of how lucky you are to have a leader of her intelligence, empathy and inner beauty. Adena and Athena, same thing goes for you. Veena is already in awe of her and considers her the greatest living idol. We all know life is uncertain. If we have people in life who deserve our full respect, it is best to express that gratitude before it is too late."

Adena nodded, "Harry already does that. Now it is my turn. Hermione, my sheer ego blinded me to the fact that I was about to work with the greatest Witch in our generation, if not all others. Seeing the way you handle situations, it will not offend me in the least bit if I ought to hand over the entire Middle Empire in her capable hands. She will certainly do a wonderful job. I am lucky to learn from her, every single moment. Hermione, I will probably not say this ever again but you are my greatest Hero."

Neville spoke next, "I must say that the reason I have honored Hermione's choice without question is to act as a regent for her legacy. All my time in power would merely be to immortalize her ideals and exemplify her intelligence and empathy to the entire Magical World. Borrowing a corollary from the Muggle Hindu Epic Ramayana, Bharat acted as a regent to Ram during his banishment to the forest and that selfless rule was so powerful that the Generic name of India was derived from him. My entire purpose of power is to permanently spread her ideology to both Wizards and Muggles."

Pansy then spoke up, "It was Hermione's empathy that made her arch nemesis at school, so completely at home in an alien setting once we hid at Harry's home in the last war. I only regret my pettiness throughout school, as I am pretty sure, does Draco."

This was too much for Hermione and she tightly embraced Neville & Pansy. All of them pledged complete commitment to her ideals and gave her complete backing as she prepared to face further challenges.

Athena simply smiled at Hermione and that smiled conveyed more than a billion words of pride and eulogy. Hermione felt on top of the moon as she and the team discussed plans to negotiate with Lucius. However, prior to that, one more reward and a thorny situation awaited them.