The Sword of Light
by Jardyn39
Part Four of "The Apprentice Piece"
Chapter Fifteen: Talking at Crossed Purposes
Harry woke slowly. It was late into the night and he realised his arm was asleep, mainly due to the presence of someone familiar with bushy hair clutching onto him.
"Hermione?" he said croakily.
She was fast asleep. Without disturbing her, Harry managed to reach out with his free arm and put his glasses on.
Looking around he noted that the other beds he could see were empty. All the beds were now back in their normal position and there was no longer any sign of the drama that had unfolded here. He hoped that was a good sign.
He thought back to the battle in the Great Hall. He wondered whether or not the Slytherins that attacked were under the Imperious Curse or had joined in willingly. He was sure, of course, that they would claim the Imperious curse had been used whatever the truth.
Harry hoped that Dumbledore would not impose punishments that just created more ill-feeling between the Houses, but the more he thought about it, the more unlikely that seemed to be. Dumbledore would do nothing divisive.
He was pleased when he remembered that Pansy had joined in on their side. He hoped she was okay and wondered if they could count on any other Slytherins.
Harry realised that he hadn't seen Malfoy during the battle. He knew he might have missed him in the chaos but he still wondered. Malfoy surely wouldn't have been placed under an Imperious Curse. Either he was too cowardly to fight or he had something more important to do.
The image of Kales kept coming into his mind. He vaguely remembered talking to him again, but what had he said?
Harry noticed Hermione's breathing pattern was changing. She was waking up.
"Hermione?" he said again gently.
Hermione's head flew up a once and she looked at him with bloodshot puffy eyes.
"You okay?" he asked gently.
She nodded as tears fell down her face.
"Come here," he said in a whisper but was alarmed to see Hermione shake her head slightly. She got up and left.
"Hermione, please don't go," he pleaded with more than a hint of desperation as she passed the end of his bed.
He was relieved though, when she reappeared on his other side and began to make herself comfortable again.
"That side's a bit wet."
"Sorry about that," he said lifting his arm up to wrap around her, ignoring the pins and needles now in his other arm. To his surprise she changed her mind and climbed up onto his bed and snuggled up next to him, wrapping her arm across his chest and resting her head close to his.
"I'm so glad you're awake, Harry," she said with a grin. "After all, you do have your History of Magic exam tomorrow."
"Ha, ha," he said flatly, smiling at her. "Shame Madam Pomfrey has a wall calendar or you might have me going."
Hermione shook the bed with her silent laughter. He couldn't describe how happy she made him feel, just by being with him and laughing.
Harry tilted his head and gently kissed her forehead before relaxing back into his pillow.
"I must remember to thank Ginny," he whispered. "Did you know she could do what she did?"
"To be honest, I don't know much at all. We were all thrown out as soon as we got you here. I didn't know, but she's the first girl for seven generations and also the seventh born. That's a sign of a powerful healer. I understand that both Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore have been giving her private tuition for some time, though."
"Well, it certainly paid off."
"Harry," began Hermione, raising her head slightly, "what exactly h-"
To Harry's alarm, Hermione suddenly stopped speaking mid-word and her head dropped heavily onto his chest as if she was in a dead faint.
"Hermione?" he asked in panic, trying to get out from under her.
"She'll be fine, Harry."
Harry looked up, instinctively trying to cradle Hermione protectively from whoever this intruder was.
"I'm sorry," said Fides walking up to the bedside from out of the shadows. "I did the charm while I was still outside. I honestly thought she would be asleep. I promise she'll be fine, though. I just didn't want to chance her seeing me."
Harry, who had been satisfying himself that Hermione really was just asleep, nodded at last.
He really wasn't ready for this kind of shock just yet.
Fides sat in a chair next to Harry's bed and smiled seeing Hermione, as Harry tried to stop breathing so heavily.
"I understand that she has shown no further symptoms of her illness," Fides said gently. "I think she's probably out of the woods now."
Harry nodded and smiled with relief.
"I was hoping to have a chat with you now that your Crucible Charm has broken. Have you felt any ill effects?"
"No, not at all," answered Harry.
"Good. There shouldn't be any, but you might want to avoid any shocks to your system."
Harry snorted and Fides grinned at him, knowing full well that he'd just given Harry the worst shock he'd felt for ages.
"So, your Apprentice Piece made its choice," Fides observed kindly. "One can never really tell, but I was hoping you'd become the true bearer. Legend has it that the dragon will come to you in your dreams and show you wonders in other worlds. I'm really most envious."
"He already has. Kales showed me a few things, but he had to leave. Voldemort is causing problems elsewhere," Harry said sadly.
Fides smiled and said, "It really wouldn't surprise me if you remember rather more in years to come."
"I wish he had time to show me how to set Voldemort on fire again."
"Remember you are linked. What you can do, so can he," warned Fides seriously.
Something about Fides' answer reminded Harry of something.
"Do you remember when you brought me back to the Headmaster's office?" asked Harry. "How were you able to get into the castle?"
"While you were completing your challenge, Dumbledore was kind enough to send us an invitation. We used his Portkey to get in, although the ride may have been a little smoother than you may have been used to. I can't be doing with all that cold wind and slamming into floors."
Harry nodded and asked, "So, Dumbledore invited you tonight?"
"He wanted to entrust something to the Department of Mysteries, and I asked if I could pop by and see you."
"Fides, do you know why Kales called Hermione a Guardian? I asked him but he didn't give me an answer I understood. Well, at least, not one I remember clearly."
Fides smiled and said, "We are known as Unspeakables for a reason, you know? Let's just say, one day this young lady will be invited to visit the lower levels of the Department of Mysteries, just as you were. There, she will be told," and Fides paused to consider before saying, "a truth. What she decides to do then, of course, will be entirely up to her."
Harry sighed deeply, accepting he would have to wait for an explanation that made sense.
"We Unspeakables try to be entirely neutral in the schemes of man. We cannot intervene for fear of taking sides, no matter who the enemy is."
"Does that mean that if Voldemort summoned you to entrust a secret of his, you would do it?"
"Perhaps not I, but one of us would, so yes."
"How could you trust him not to try and use you?"
Fides considered carefully before answering.
"Only once has a wizard ever actually succeeded in forcing the Unspeakables to reveal a secret. I told you before that anything that is powerfully good can be used for powerful evil. The wizard acted with the very best of motives. He was genuinely pure of heart, but he was tricked into allowing the secret out. This happened an age ago, far too long to count in years or centuries."
"Kales," whispered Harry.
"Indeed," said Fides sadly. "The wars that followed were truly terrible. The Unspeakables of his day unleashed their full powers in order to destroy all knowledge of the stolen secret. In the end Kales agreed to be banished in return for allowing the secret to live on in future generations of chosen wizards."
"Will there be trouble because he came back?"
"Kales was brought back against his will, so no, the Unspeakables will not act. Voldemort had no idea what he was doing, but his actions will have consequences."
"Do Kales' visits to me in the dream world count?"
"He rarely stays long, so we tend to overlook those. Besides, Kales' fight for good continues in other worlds now."
Harry smiled, remembering Kales saying they may yet meet again in another world.
"So, a secret lives on in me?"
"I'm not going to answer that. Please remember though, that my invitation for you to return to the Department of Mysteries remains open. Just know that we cannot assist you to fight your enemies. Of course, we cannot stop you using whatever you find within yourself to fight with. You are far more than a chosen wizard with a broken charm linked to a seriously evil soul. It may still take a lifetime for you to work everything through, though."
Harry smiled and said, "Thanks."
"I remind you of this simply because if the Ministry falls, the secrets we guard there will be sealed or relocated. Time may be limited."
Harry nodded sadly.
"Well, I should be getting back. Don't wake her, Harry. Use your Apprentice Piece and join her in her dream. You are close enough now."
"So we do have to be closer," said Harry. "I wondered why it hadn't happened again.
"No, Harry. You need to be close emotionally, not physically."
"Oh."
Fides bade him goodnight and left, leaving the hospital wing silent and dark once more.
Harry closed his eyes and held Hermione tight. He allowed himself to relax, as he would if he was going to his stadium in the dream world.
*
Madam Pomfrey sat back down in her office chair feeling most annoyed with herself. For the life of her, she couldn't remember why she had just moved those privacy screens around Potter's bed.
After all, he was now her only patient and he was sleeping soundly. Even Miss Granger had finally gone, hadn't she?
A troubled Madam Pomfrey picked up a magazine and continued to read, dismissing from her mind the inexplicable image of two sleeping faces, each with identical stupid grins that had suddenly occurred to her.
*
Fides closed the door to the Hospital Wing carefully so as not to make any noise and turned to find himself facing Albus Dumbledore.
They walked away quietly down the corridor, neither wishing to disturb the occupants of the Hospital and it was some time before either of them spoke.
"It really is quite extraordinary," began Dumbledore in an amused tone, "that someone who claims to act impartially should not only answer questions more directly than I've ever heard an Unspeakable say when addressing an outsider, but also who takes such a hands on approach when not interfering."
Fides smiled at his old friend.
"Well, perhaps I have pushed the pace a little. I'm not entirely comfortable knowing he will have to bear so much, even if he should survive Voldemort. Still, at least the secret may live on through her. Thank goodness the Crucible Charm has broken."
"I told you not to underestimate them."
"Yes. You'll keep me informed of developments? I'm sure Kales told him more that he ought, and, judging from what Harry just asked me, Kales was also in contact with our Guardian too. I wonder what he told her?"
"I'll keep you advised. May I offer you a drink before you go?"
"No thanks, I'm driving and I need to be up early tomorrow to fit a replacement bay window."
"Well, goodnight George," said Dumbledore smiling and handing him a small stone Portkey. "Good luck with your new apprentice."
They shook hands.
"I still say you should be teaching something useful," Fides said with a grin, continuing a conversation they'd been having for years. "Teaching them to be wizards is all well and good, but if they could plaster half decently I might find some of them a job one day."
Dumbledore laughed and said, "Unfortunately, I understand Harry prefers bricklaying to plastering."
"No thanks, I've seen wizard brickwork. Never straight, rarely manages to reach down to the floor and vanishes within two days! At least he can cut an honest piece of timber, though."
Fides transformed. He reached into his overall pockets and checked he still had his van keys.
Before the Portkey activated, he looked seriously at Dumbledore and asked, "We did the right thing, didn't we? He's so young."
"The wand chose the wizard. Even Kales accepted what would have been lost, had we waited. Besides, your wife's prophecy was fulfilled, wasn't it?"
*
Harry found himself standing in the Hogwarts kitchens except that in place of the four large tables there now stood two enormous machines with strange levers and dials. Each was vibrating violently and emitting a variety of loud noises. Steam was shooting out from all sorts of places.
Hermione appeared from between them looking frantic.
"What's the matter, Hermione?"
"It's my machines. This one is supposed to make clothes for the house elves and this one is supposed to do the cooking for them. They've got mixed up and now they only make treacle tarts wearing woolly hats!"
Harry smiled and put his arms around her.
"But the hats are getting all sticky!"
"Just relax, Hermione. This is only a dream."
"But-"
"Shh," he said gently. Gradually the noises from the machines quietened down.
He felt Hermione relax into his arms.
"The house elves like cooking, don't they?" he reminded her gently. "Just us giving them clothes won't free them either, will it? They told you all this when you helped draw up their charter."
"Mm," she agreed softly.
The machines and the kitchen were gone now.
"We need to be in the real world to help them, so worrying in dreams won't help. Now, do you want to dream on for a little or wake up?"
For a moment the Great Hall spun around them, looking just like it had for the Halloween dance. An instant later, they were in the middle of the Gryffindor common room as it revolved slowly. Finally, they were in the Hospital Wing again.
The ward revolved slower until it finally came to a stop.
"What's the difference?" asked Hermione, looking up at him with a small smile.
"Dreaming might be safer. Those hospital beds are rather narrow."
Hermione looked rather shocked for a moment.
"You're going to push me off your bed?"
"Quite the opposite actually. All I'm saying is, accidents will happen."
"Hang on, are we talking at crossed purposes?"
"If you'd like. It's your dream, after all."
Hermione laughed, and said, "In your dreams!"
"Well exactly," he said with a smirk. Then added gently, "This is your dream, Hermione."
She took a deep breath and said dreamily, "I'd like to go dancing."
The room revolved and they were standing at the edge of the dance area. Music was playing and indistinct couples were dancing or sitting at tables. Harry smiled when he looked atHermione standing next to him looking beautiful in a blue ball gown and her hair tied up.
He held out his hand and gave a quite moan of, "Hermione," when he saw his sleeve.
Hermione smiled widely and took his hand, pulling him out onto the dance area.
"What?" she asked with a sweet smile as they began to dance.
"You might have dreamt me some dress robes or a suit, or something," he whispered.
"Yes, but at least you match my gown."
He grinned seeing Hermione's suddenly very mischievous smile, and leaned down to kiss her.
They hardly noticed as the room started revolving again, transforming effortlessly.
END OF PART FOUR
AN:
Thanks for reading and special thanks to all those who have taken the trouble to review.
I've decided to post the last eight chapters as a separate concluding part called "The Accord."
Sorry for any confusion, but there needs to be a "pause" that going straight onto the next chapter just didn't evoke. In addition to the new character introductions, the emphasis is moving away from Harry and more towards Hermione and her potential.
Summary of Part Five: The Accord
Two unwelcome visitors arrive at the school and announce that a wizard will arrive shortly to challenge Flamel, the eldest member of a group of sorcerers that guard Hogwarts' greatest secret. Can Hermione cope with any more House disunity, Crookshanks' new look and Harry's determination to fight the charismatic challenger in place of the ailing Flamel? Completed.