"Are you ready?" Hermione raised her wand, mimicking the gesture of duelists before starting a magical battle. Harry repeated the same movement. "I'm re-"
He couldn't finish his sentence, hit by a rapid depulse that pushed him against the wall.
"In a real fight, there are no rules!" Hermione teased him, sticking her tongue out.
Harry laughed, getting up. "Sirius told you, right?"
He was attacked again but this time he rolled onto his painful side and quickly shot a stinging spell at her and she nimbly dodged.
"Maybe." She hummed happily, executing a perfect flipendo at her friend. Harry dodged that blow at the last second.
Hermione continued a rapid series of stinging spells until she realized she was floating in mid-air: her friend had cast a wingardium leviosa against her and she hadn't even noticed. She didn't even notice the second rapid spell: a depulso that hurled her across the room.
"One for one." Harry boasted triumphantly, walking over to the prone girl. His heart sank as he saw his friend not reacting in any way and with her eyes closed. "…Hermione?" He crouched down next to her and…
"EXPELLIARMUS!" His wand flew away and he found himself unarmed, lying on the floor with a wand pointed at his throat.
"There are no rules." Hermione repeated above him, satisfied that she had won their little challenge. Seeing her so alive, Harry breathed a sigh of relief and laughed genuinely.
Hermione loosened her grip on her friend and, exhausted, lay down next to him, making the wooden beams creak.
"You know, I didn't know practicing could be this much fun!" she admitted, looking up at the ceiling above them. It was decorated with a tapestry filled with stars.
"Yes, it's a shame I couldn't do it sooner!"
Hermione drummed her fingers on the wooden floor, her body still vibrating with excitement. "You know, I'm glad Sirius did that."
"Oh really?" Harry replied ironically, remembering exactly what happened.
"Are you ready, Harry?" Sirius said in a dimly lit room of the mansion, pointing his wand at his chest, creasing his shirt slightly.
No longer having to fear expulsion and being able to practice spells with complete freedom? It was something he never expected to happen so soon. Although hesitant, the young wizard nodded, closing his eyes.
His godfather was muttering gibberish under his breath. Was it an archaic language? Was it ancient Latin? Or was it ancient Greek? There was a strange sound like a rusty lock opening, and a quick but sharp pain shot through him, then quickly disappeared.
The godfather wiped his sweaty forehead.
"Smooth as silk!" the man said happily, not showing any concern whatsoever.
Sirius repeated the same process shortly after with the amber-skinned girl, also a success.
"Well ladies and gentlemen, TRACE NO MORE!"
Harry looked at himself in disbelief.
"I can't believe it was so easy!" Hermione cried elatedly, expressing what the young wizard couldn't put into words.
Sirius scratched the thick, curly hair on his head like a dog scratching at annoying fleas.
"Well, actually, it's not quite that simple. It's still a, well, not very… 'legal' method. It involves removing a complicated ministerial spell from an individual's body. Normally, you have a 95% chance of making a mistake, and if that happens, the young wizard whose spell has been removed dies. Don't worry, I think it's all exaggeration! Well, I've only done it a few times and no one has ever died!"
Hermione fainted, falling like a sack of potatoes to the floor.
"…Did I say something wrong?"
Hermione punched him lightly in the arm, bringing him back to reality.
"I'm sure if there had been a responsible adult, Sirius wouldn't have even suggested such idea!" The girl said and Harry nodded, although he was immensely grateful to his godfather for what he had done.
"You know, never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find myself in this situation: free to cast spells with one of my best friends and my godfather, training in a mansion at the Caribbean to track down the man who betrayed my parents. It still seems too crazy to be true—Ouch!" Harry was hit again by Hermione's swift, hard punch to the arm.
"You're not dreaming!" It was her turn to giggle.
"Good thing." He turned sideways to get a better look at her.
Her curly hair scattered on the floor, the slight swing of the chain around her neck, the movement of her chest rising and falling with every breath she took, and when she crawled toward him, he could see those lovely amber eyes again.
It was so strange, why had he never noticed that they were so intense before?
"Earth calling Harry! Did I hit you harder than I should have?"
Harry smiled silly and looked away.
"No, it's just…nothing. I'm just happy to be here with you."
"Me too, Harry, me too." She agreed, bringing her little hand close to Harry's to give him a warm squeeze.
"…you know, I was afraid I'd never have a moment like this before after what I did this winter. You know, I would understand if you didn't want to be my friend anymore."
Harry stiffened as she said those words. "…why?"
"You know…the broom."
"Listen Hermione I-"
"No, you don't have to apologize. We already resolved the matter, remember? I was too selfish to interfere in what is one of your passions and-"
"-and I've been worse than a Malfoy for not speaking to you for almost a month." He hastened to say. An animal, a beast with extremely sharp teeth and claws, awoke in his chest and began to growl. He knew what that animal was called: guilt .
The thought of having made her suffer that month brutally assailed him. The beast was becoming more and more deafening.
"Sorry." Harry told her sincerely. He stopped looking at the ceiling and turned to her. Her eyes were wet and full of tears but she was flashing him a beautiful smile.
"I don't want your apologies, I just want to be with you now, okay?" Her grip on his hand tightened. "…And most of all I want to beat you in a spell duel again!" They both laughed, their laughter adding color and atmosphere to the gloomy, bare room.
The beast calmed down.
The door swung open with a thud, breaking the magic of the moment.
"Hey lovebirds!" an exuberant Sirius called out as he entered the room. He smiled amused, seeing his beloved godson in such romantic situation.
"I-it's not what it looks like!" Hermione replied, more embarrassed than ever, jumping up from the floor as if it were boiling lava.
"This is no time for mushy talk, I have something to show you!" Sirius hopped out of the room like a crazy rabbit.
The magician led the duo out of the mansion, exiting through the back side.
Not far from the building was a tall gray stone turret with numerous glassless windows. Sirius slowly opened the turret door, stepping aside to show them the beauty of the place.
Harry and Hermione were speechless.
It was like the owlery at Hogwarts, much brighter, bigger, more exotic, and filled with Caribbean birds. Perched or circling above them were hummingbirds, toucans, warblers, parrots, quetzals and you name it!
Hermione was sure that there were even species that no one had ever studied before, either in the Muggle or wizarding world.
"Sirius, what is this place?" Harry asked, petting a particularly affectionate toucan.
"The Blacks' personal owlery! One of my ancestors, Paroisse Black, was a great bird enthusiast and built them this place!"
"He seems like a wonderful person," Hermione commented, smiling sweetly at a hummingbird that had landed on her hand.
"He was a respectable guy and a pretty quiet guy for a Black! Sure, he married a hippogriff but he was still a nice guy." Buckbeak, who was sitting in a comfortable corner of the owlery, shook his head in disappointment.
Harry noticed a white coat standing out among the various multi-colored birds.
"Hedwig!" Harry almost jumped for joy at seeing his owl enjoying the new company.
"That's not the only thing I wanted to show you." Sirius waved the duo up the spiral staircase in the center of the building to join him at the top of the owlery.
He led them to a little patch of straw not far from a window that looked out onto the bright blue sea.
An animal unlike any other emerged from under the straw, its enormous eyes staring curiously at the three humans.
It was a little owl!
"I seem to recall that your friend John needs a new pet, don't you?" Harry and Hermione exchanged knowing glances.
AN: I'm back! I've had some personal problems that have made me distance myself from writing a bit. Speaking of the chapter, I enjoy developing the relationship between Hermione and Harry even though they are still slow to understand their feelings. Thank goodness there's good old Sirius to help them! Writing about the Black family and their absurd ancestors is definitely the part that I enjoy the most in this story! This chapter was also a great opportunity to include cute lil Pig.
