Just like the title says...Thanks, as usual to Lady Starlight for her splendiferous work on this chapter.
Chapter 33: Getting Ready
*********************Hogwarts, Room of Requirement************************
January 5, 1998
8:15 pm
"Not that I always disagree with the Ministry's thoughts on underage magic," Harry commented wryly to a packed Room of Requirement. He looked around the room at the gathered DA, which was almost entirely present except for Ernie, Hannah and Susan. They were off working on another project with the Twins, on setting up new hidden fixed defenses for the school, pre-positioning them to cover an escape or ingress if needed. None of them were needed tonight, however, in fact none of the seventh years really needed to be here tonight, not for the lessons that would be imparted this evening.
"But that they are annoyingly inconvenient at times," Hermione went on, finishing his thought. She looked at Harry and shrugged, before she stood, and started to pace in front of the DA members present. She looked at the Creevey brothers as they stood together talking, she crooked an eyebrow and they shut up, abruptly. A tiny wisp of a smile crossed her face before she continued. "The Ministry does not think that you are responsible enough to do magic outside of these walls if you are under seventeen. That's not the case in other countries, especially outside of Europe, but the battlefield is here. And in this type of battle we will need to get around, rapidly."
"What are you talking about, Hermione?" Dennis shouted from his spot near the door, "Apparation? We cant' learn that until sixth year, and we can't take the test until we're seventeen."
"No, Dennis," Harry replied, and moved to stand next to Hermione. "You can learn how...the Ministry just won't let you have a license until you're seventeen."
"If you really need it, legal niceties will not matter," Hermione replied and waved her hand. Over to one side, a series of large hoops appeared on the floor, demarking a training area. Around them the Room of Requirement expanded itself growing in height and breadth. A second story mezzanine appeared behind Hermione and Harry so they could look down over the whole room and to give the others practice in changing elevations, and with out a sound they vanished to appear on it looking down. "Since you are in the Room of Requirement, you can Apparate here, unlike the rest of the castle." Her eyes cut sideways and shared a tiny, secret grin with Harry about something.
"There are other factors that the Ministry does not teach you about Apparation and the ways to keep ones in or out that, given what we are up to, you should know," Hermione went on. Her voice fell into her soft, lecturing tone, as she started to pace slightly. Harry grinned slightly as he watched, for a moment, before reaching out to stop her pacing. She grinned back at him, while down below Ron rolled his eyes and conjured a bag of popcorn. He began to munch as Hermione continued, "Apparation, at least how Wizards practice it, is basically spilt into two similar techniques, Familiar Apparation and Positional Apparation. As some of you already know, Familiar Apparation is probably the easiest, in it, you use your connection to a place; somewhere you've already been to return there. Or somewhere you can see directly. That's why it's easiest to Apparate somewhere you've already been, and most especially somewhere a great deal of your own Magical signature is already present such as your home."
"Positional Apparation is more difficult," Hermione mentioned as she motioned towards the now twenty-foot high side wall of the room, and a huge map of Britain appeared. The map was overlaid with a grid that as one got closer was divided into finer and finer grids. Hermione flicked her wand in the air, and traced a long, complicated Arithmatic equation in the air with fiery letters. "True Positional Apparation relies on solving this equation for Apparation coordinates...fortunately, no one really does, not even me." She smirked slightly. "The part of your brain that controls your ability to do magic has an intrinsic ability to solve the equation for the vector and Magical energy you need to use to get to where you are going."
Harry glanced down to see Ron's eyes along with several the of the other DA member's start to glaze over, Mione...
They need to learn this, Harry, she replied, her thoughts, prim. Harry rolled his eyes, but raised his hands in defeat, she looked around and sighed, Alright, I'll cut it short... "That's one reason that the Ministry claims that you need a license to Apparate. Until recently, they had a means to track underage Apparation," she, Harry and Ron shared a tiny grin. "The Ministry lost that ability over the summer, and according to Mad-Eye, they haven't been able to replace it." At least a half-dozen pairs of eyes looked to Harry, as he developed a remarkable interest in the hoops set up for the training.
"But considering what we might be up against, what you really need to learn about, besides how to Apparate, are the anti-Apparation wards, that you might run up against," Harry added, looking around the room.
"Here at Hogwarts, the ones that are in place are mostly benign," Hermione picked up, "They perform two functions, within the school, they twist the fabric of, for the lack of a better term, hyperspace," around the room, Muggle borns and several of the half-bloods grinned at some joke, "so that no one can enter it, it's the same as most security wards in that you need a key or combination. Of course, no one since the founders has had the key to the Hogwarts wards. From the outside, if you try to Apparate to the school, you'll be thrown off in a random direction, you could end up anywhere from London to the middle of the North Sea."
"It gets more complicated, when you are dealing with some of the wards that you might find if you come up against Death Eaters. During the last war, it was common for a Death Eater to set up a lethal ward, and drive whom they were attacking into it."
"You don't want to find yourself splinched by one of those," Harry muttered, loudly. "We'll go through those later though, for now, get in groups with one of the seventh years that already knows how and has their license." He watched as the crowd spilt up into five more or less even groups in front of the five hoops that were placed on the ground along the west wall. Harry nodded, "Unlike normal however, you won't be able to splinch yourself, much."
Harry watched and commented as he paced around the room for the next two hours. He looked over and watched the Creeveys, with the help of Neville taking turns jumping in and out of the target hoops. He hid a smile as Dennis' hair flashed red, the Room's substitute for him really leaving behind his hair if this had been anywhere else. He paced on, watching as the a group of Ravenclaw fifth years, kept trying, and applauded along with the rest of the room, when Cassie Securest managed to hop back and forth between the rings after only her fifth attempt.
Harry looked up at the clock, "Alright guys, let's leave it here for now." He paced back to the front of the room and waved for everyone's attention. "Last Friday...we lost one of our own," the room fell silent at his words, "and I can't guarantee that Zacharias will be the last of us to die or to get seriously hurt." Harry scanned the faces of the others, "You can leave anytime you want, no one will hold it against you," his words held the subtle edge of a command, and several of the DA members nodded to themselves. Harry went on after giving them a moment to digest, "We will be back here Wednesday, and we will continue with Apparation, while those who have gotten that down, will work on dueling with myself, Ron or Neville. Alright, go to bed, you miscreants," Harry added in his best Head Boy voice.
Several of the DA members stopped and muttered words of encouragement as they passed, or reassurances that they would not quit, and Harry nodded to each of them, even as he knew their own wishes might not matter. It had not yet happened to Gryffindor, mainly because Seamus and the Patils were of age, but several of the other students had already been sent home at the requests of their parents. The new, added students from Beauxbatons that had chosen to stay at Hogwarts to continue their studies had helped bolster the ranks, but they had still thinned. Harry watched the last one go, nodded to Ron and paced out of the room.
Hermione looked at Ron, got a shrug in return from him, and followed Harry. He was silent as she caught up to him; actually he was standing, waiting for her just outside of the door. She took his hand and let him lead her along the halls, not speaking, just walking. After several minutes of silence, they reached the Astronomy Tower, and stepped through the heavy, oaken door as it opened for them at a glance from Harry.
A cold January wind howled across the battlements as Harry pulled Hermione into his side, and looked out over the grounds. A brass telescope that someone had left out here squeaked on its mount, breaking the silence as they looked down on Hagrid's cabin, which tonight was lit with the glow of lamps from the inside and smoke was rising from the chimney. It had been repaired after the fight here last June, and even though the scars and burns were gone, erased with a flick of McGonagall's wand, Harry could still see every single one. How many do you think we'll lose before the end of the month, Hermione?
She shrugged and flicked her fingers, casting a Warming Charm on them both before responding, I don't know Harry...I'd like to think that we won't lose that many in Gryffindor, but if the Patils weren't of age, their father would have already had Aurors here to drag them home. Harry nodded as he turned and slid to the base of the battlements, and Hermione curled up more or less on his lap. She smiled, slightly, for just an instant, Think Filch will try to run us off, take points?
Love, we have a perfectly good bed, Harry leaned forward and kissed her hair, thanks though...Mione?
Yeah, Baby?
I don't know what to do anymore. This is why I wasn't going to come back here...Harry shrugged as Hermione burrowed deeper into his robes, burying her face against his chest, Ron'd say we should get pissed...take our minds off it.
After all this is over, we will...remember, you still have that big wedding you promised me...Harry rolled his eyes, but nodded against the top of her head where she had it tucked under his. But more importantly, Harry, we have other, more important things to do. She softly jangled her bracelet that he had gotten her for Christmas.
Yeah...why do your parents come up with names that can't be pronounced? Harry asked after a moment's silence.
Hermione giggled, before punching him half-heartedly in the arm, That's not true, you could say my name perfectly well when you met me.
That's because I am an all-powerful wizard, Harry retorted and fell silent as what he had said hit home. For years, Ron and the rest of their friends had commented and occasionally complained of their ability to speak without words, or unbeknownst to the rest of them, thoughts, in was in this vein that Hermione already knew what he was going to 'say' and let him speak, it was always preferable to a closed up Harry, after all. Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Dumbledore hadn't been killed? Would this be over by now, would we already have all of the Horcruxes and Riddle would be dead?
Maybe, or honestly, maybe not, Harry, I would like to think I'm pretty good at research, Hermione muttered, and I...we haven't found them all yet. Harry...I'm going to try to scry for the staff again, I think that I can find it.
What if we do find it Hermione, what then? The last one we destroyed damn near killed you. Harry groaned and shifted her on his lap slightly, as something in her pocket bit into his thigh.
I think I may have a solution to that problem, Hermione whispered, shivering slightly as a cold gust slipped up her robes past the Warming Charm, the sword can destroy a fragment, once it is released, you've already shown that, and I think I have found a way to hold it in place when we break the binding to the Horcrux... Harry's eyebrow crooked, and Hermione nodded slightly, In the binding rituals of Mesopotamia, they used what they called a Negral Cage, to contain a soul fragment, for implantation into a Familiar, they did the binding to their Familiars a touch differently than we do, they seem to have a spell to slice off a bit of their soul, but they didn't kill anything to do it, so Tom wouldn't have liked the idea. Also they didn't bind that fragment tight enough to provide an anchor to this world, it was more of a process by which the animal binds instantly instead of building up to the point that we are, say with Crooks or Hedwig. The fragment automatically went back to the person, the cage was to prevent it doing so.
Can you cast the spell? Harry said quickly, intrigued.
If we had a Phoenix it would help, they have certain energies that would allow the cage to be cast with much more strength, and a great deal faster, and from what we saw this summer, you only have seconds to kill the fragment before it attacks you or escapes to Voldemort.
So, we just need to find a semi-mystical creature, very soon...because we are going to scry for that Staff again, and whether it's really in Little Hangleton, along with Tommy and all his playmates or in Antarctica, we're going after it, Harry replied with dark amusement.
Hermione shrugged, Basically.
Lovely, and here I thought this was supposed to be hard, Harry replied sarcastically, and watched as several of the school owls fought their way through the winds, and flew past on their nightly patrols for dinner. When do you think that we can be ready to scry for the Staff, Hermione...even if we shouldn't destroy it immediately, I would rather have it in our possession.
Hermione grunted, closed her eyes and vanished them from the rooftop to the their bedroom where they appeared, a couple of inches above the bed and bounced several times before stopping. Tomorrow, let's try tomorrow, we need Luna there, obviously.
Harry nodded, kissed her and stood from the bed, shucking his robe and tossing it over the back of the couch, leaving him in jeans and a jumper. He paced to the window and watched as the panes of the ancient, leaded glass vibrated in the wind. He grinned as Hermione slipped up behind him, and slid her arms around his waist. She eased around to his front, and slid between him and the window. Harry laughed as he found that she had lost her robe and evidentially all of the buttons on her shirt on the way over as it now hung open, revealing a quite interesting garment of black lace peaking out from behind her tie.
Hermione reached up, placing her palms flat on his chest before she leaned in, touching her lips to his. She sighed as she felt his tongue slip past her lips and felt one of his hands come up to cradle the back of her head as she deepened the kiss, dropping her hands to the hem of his jumper, and working her way underneath. She glanced over at their bed and smirked, her eyes twinkling as she was visibly plotting something.
She pulled back, her bottom lip trailing as she broke the kiss and started walking backwards, crooking her finger for him to follow. Harry watched as she loosened her tie and pulled it over her head, flinging it over towards the window where it caught around Hedwig's perch. Hermione continued to back up slowly, wagging her eyebrows slightly and biting one corner of her lip as she spun, reached up under her open shirt and shucked her bra, all without removing her shirt. She turned back to Harry to reveal a stripe of lightly tanned skin from her throat to her skirt framed by the white edges of her uniform shirt, Harry's eyes slowly scanned downward, pausing just for an instant on the scar between her breasts, and the green jewel dangling several inches lower. She crawled up on the bed and kneeled facing him, before reaching under her skirt, and pulling a tie loose. She tossed a black scrap of fabric towards him, and giggled as his eyes followed its arc as it dropped to the rugs halfway between them.
She placed her hand flat against her abdomen, and spread her fingers across her belly. Hermione's eyes flickered as she cast a spell and smirked at him, as he watched her, slightly dazed, Well, dear, are you going to make me do everything?
Thought about it, Harry admitted softly as he grinned and started to walk over to her. He shucked his jumper, leaving him in a dark blue t-shirt bearing the legend, 'Little Hangleton...nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure...' Hermione laughed, before her eyes darkened, almost becoming black as she reached out to start to work at the buckle on Harry's belt. Just what are you doing? Harry asked quietly, closing his eyes as she brushed her fingers over his crotch possessively.
"Shut up, I'm working here."
"You most certainly are," Harry mused, as he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers; pushing her back onto the bed. Hermione fell onto her back, and moaned softly as Harry began to nuzzle her neck as his fingers began to slip down to tweak a nipple. She yelped as his head followed his hands, nursing gently, as his fingers trailed downward, lifting up her skirt and sliding under, unimpeded by anything, since her knickers were across the room.
Hermione moaned and arched up off the bed as Harry slid one, then two fingers home and began to slowly slide them in and out. She began to buck against his hand, working much more than Harry was as she strained forward, trying to catch his lips with hers. Harry teased her, moving just enough to elude her for a minute, until he gave up at a pleading look in her eyes. She shivered, her eyes rolling back in her head almost immediately as she crashed with a faint pulse of energy snapping out into the room and rebounding off of the wards. She continued to pound her hips against his hand for several more endless instants before she collapsed against the bed, breathing heavily.
Hermione lay breathless for a minute before she reached up and pulled his head down to hers. She took a deep breath, panting as she watched him hanging over her on his hands and knees. She reached up, and swept the fall of sodden chestnut locks away from where it covered one side of her face before scanning down his body with a tiny smirk, Harry...get your bloody clothes off, now... He grinned, tugging his t-shirt off over his head and tossing it in a corner. Hermione giggled as Harry's glasses went tumbling away with it, and bounced into the corner of the room. "You forgot the sticking charm again, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Harry replied as he lost the rest of his clothes and crawled up to the top of the bed, reached down and pulled Hermione into his lap. Hermione leaned forward; pressing his lips to his as she reached down under her skirt she still had on and guided him home. Her shirt fell away as she finished shrugging out of it, and started to move, sliding up and down.
Two pairs of eyes flared behind mostly closed lids as heartbeats and minds merged. Harry's hands slipped down, cradling and supporting her at the hips, while his thumbs turned inward, rubbing in slow circles over her hipbones. Hermione looked down at him, through slitted lids before she arched forward kissed him again and leaned all the way back, resting her hands on his thighs behind her and trusting him to keep her upright. She began to bounce faster and faster, pushing down on Harry to keep him on the bed, when suddenly she stopped and grinned at him. She took a quick, deep breath and stuck out her tongue at him as his eyes shot open and he squinted at her in the dim room, as his and her eyes provided most of the remaining illumination in the room. The candles normally lighting the room had already gone out in a previous rush of magic.
Miiionnneee, Harry moaned as she grinned at him. She let out a loud "eep," as Harry sat up and pushed her back onto her back. Harry waggled his eyebrows at her, before he began to slide in and out, slowly; torturously. Hermione managed to pout...slightly as she looked up at him though heavily lidded eyes, before she wrapped her legs behind his waist.
Fa...faster...Harry, Hermione stammered as Harry continued to move slowly, If you l..love me, you...you'll...
You know, I...I always do what you ask, Harry replied as he moved faster. He buried his face in her neck and began to slowly nuzzle there as he sped up his movements. They continued to move together, matching each other without conscious thought for minutes more. Harry took a breath as he felt Hermione began to quiver underneath him, shaking. He felt the cascade of her thoughts crashing as she fell over the edge, shuddering and pumping against him. Harry went with her as she pulled him along, drawing him along for the ride, loosing whatever separate self he had left in her for a long, endless moment.
Harry collapsed on top of her, vaguely knowing that she wasn't feeling terribly crushed by his weight. She reaffirmed his thoughts as she tightened the grip she had on him, and sighed contentedly.
Harry...Hermione whispered after a moment, of neither of them moving. She slowly released her grip, and let out an involuntary moan as Harry pulled away and rolled onto his side. Hermione rolled to face him, burying her face in his shoulder as she intertwined her legs with his. Love you.
Harry nodded; bending his neck to kiss her hair, Love you more, Harry replied, smiling satedly. He looked down at Hermione, and laughed, you still have your skirt on, Mione...
Fine...Hermione rolled her eyes before she snapped her fingers and her skirt vanished and reappeared across the room, hanging off Hedwig's perch next to her abandoned tie. Poor Hedwig, Hermione giggled as she poked her head up a bit and observed the state of the Familiar's perch before tucking back into Harry's shoulder. She made a note to herself to order more owl treats, it was her turn after all, and rolled over onto her other side, spooning back against her husband. Harry tiredly raised a pair of fingers in the air, summoning the comforter back from the floor where it had ended up to partially cover them as they laid together with their heads at the wrong end of the bed. Harry, we're on the bed upside down, Hermione pointed out.
So? Harry shrugged as he kissed her neck, before closing his eyes, and burying his face in her hair. Let's get some sleep; we are supposed to meet with Lupin and those Beauxbatons transfers about DADA requirements in the morning. Hermione nodded and snuggled back tighter against him, reaching down and intertwining her fingers with his free hand where it rested low on her belly. The background murmur of her thoughts slowed somewhat as she allowed herself to fall off to sleep before Harry let himself follow her.
After several minutes filled with only the soft sounds of contented breathing and the crackle of a low fire in the grate, a soft POP announced the arrival of a visitor. Dobby looked up at the pair from his arrival spot near the couch and just nodded. Carefully, so as not to wake them, he levitated the comforter from where it currently rested, bunched up around their waists, to approximately their shoulders and moved a pillow under Harry's head. Hermione looked rather comfortable. His primary task, at least in his mind, completed, Dobby looked back into the room that once again had become something resembling what one saw after a Norwegian Green was set loose in a china shop, and shook his head ruefully. He waved his hand over the room and watched, carefully, as all of the books rose from their tumbled positions on the floor and restacked themselves in the order that Hermione had had them in. A pair of the previously extinguished candles relit, providing a touch of illumination in the room, and several abandoned mugs of tea and cold coffee vanished back to the kitchens. Dobby gave the room one last look, noting with a shake of his head the clothes scattered about, and other things but he didn't move them.
He was a 'free' if rather highly paid elf, but he left the clothes were they lay because both his 'Master' and 'Mistress' had explained ad nauseum that they wanted to pick up after themselves. Dobby, who was just glad that his current masters considered him a friend, if not a family member, let them have their eccentricities, after all they didn't beat him every night like his former masters had.
He walked over to the fire, levitated another log into it, stoked the fire a bit and vanished with another soft POP.
*************************The Hog's Head, Hogsmeade**********************
January 6, 1998
10:20 am
The dilapidated bar and somewhat seedy hangout of the likes of Mundungus Fletcher and, when he was alive, Albus Dumbledore, was mostly empty at this time in the morning. Only a few dedicated drinkers were scattered amongst the rickety tables nursing bottles of Firewhiskey or flagons of various ales. A tall, bearded man stood behind the bar, looking disdainfully at a dish rag as it wiped ineffectively at a cluster of dirty glasses. He pushed a pair of silver framed, round glasses up a long nose that had been obviously broken several times. Tired blue eyes scanned over the bar before he turned and went into the back through a door set next to a shelf filled with half-filled bottles of spirits.
He closed the door behind him and sealed it with the flick of a quickly drawn and replaced wand. He sat down and looked across the small office and set down behind a scarred and rent pine desk. He reached into a drawer and removed an old, dusty bottle of Ogden's, with a date on its handwritten label of 1843, and a clean water glass. He opened the one hundred and fifty five year old whiskey and poured the glass half full before he restoppered it. He took a long pull of the whiskey before he looked up and over at an empty, gilded frame. He coughed, loudly, and a tall, silver-bearded man, with a crooked nose and a pair of half-moon, golden glasses framing identical eyes. "It has begun, Albus," he sighed and took another sip, "the other schools have fallen."
The man in the portrait nodded and flicked a wand. A gilded, golden chair appeared and he sat down. With another flick, a small glass appeared on the arm of the chair and he took a sip. "It never tastes the same...We knew it would, Aberforth, matters will only get worse before they will get better I am afraid."
"Potter is not ready, Albus, he has not yet accomplished the task given him," Aberforth growled in an almost dark tone. A crash of broken glass came from the direction of the bar followed immediately by the sound of drunken laughter.
"He will, brother, he will, he gave me his word," Albus replied with a small salute with his glass before the he continued with a nod, "Harry has been placed on a long, dangerous road that he travels with difficulty. Difficulties that I feel that I am responsible for."
"He has been foolish Albus," Aberforth objected, his blue eyes glittering, "he has let himself be sidetracked with other things, with school, with...love," he spat and tossed back his whiskey before pouring himself another.
In the portrait, Dumbledore's eyes hardened, turning into bright, hard blue-white diamonds, "Just because you chose a path, brother, do not disparage him for choosing another. Especially one that will give him a chance of not only surviving...but remaining sane afterwards. Do you want another Dark Lord after Tom dies? She is not only his shield, his strong right arm, she is his anchor."
"Granger is not Anne, Albus, and even if she were, Anne died when Grindelwald came for her, remember?"
Albus' image stood and glared at his brother, "Be wary, Aberforth, not all is as it seems. And yes, brother, I know that she is not Anne, my wife was a powerful and skilled witch, but she was not in the same league as Hermione, not even within shouting distance as they say these days. She may not be able to destroy Tom by herself, directly, but she is not helpless by any means, and she very well may be the most intelligent witch since Rowena. If any pair can out think and defeat Tom, they can."
"Even so, Albus, they are but two, Tom may have hundreds, perhaps thousands under his thrall by now," Aberforth objected as he looked towards the bar, at another sound of breaking glassware. "The Order is becoming depleted with this warfare, and the Ministry has only been somewhat effective."
"Harry has an army, one that is much more loyal than anything the Order would ever be to him."
"The rest of the Order should know about the...items and the Prophesy."
Dumbledore's image shook its head. "It is enough that those who do know, know. Tom still does not know for sure the contents of that prediction; he must not or he may send every single force at his disposal against Harry before Harry is ready to finish it. And that could be catastrophic."
***********************Room of Requirement**************************
11:58 pm
Hermione sat nervously in the midst of a large, slightly glowing, inscribed circle on the floor. Her fall of hair hid her face from observation as it hung unbound around her face, obscuring the light already dancing in her eyes. The curls of her hair danced in the air from her breath as she leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she sat Indian style. She bit her lip slightly as Harry dropped to the floor in front of her, folding his legs in front of him to mirror her stance. He took her hands in his, and began to slowly turn his thumbs over the backs of her hands. Her fingers tightened around his, but she did not otherwise acknowledge him.
Behind them, the door to the room opened and Ron and Luna stepped into the mostly barren room. Besides the glowing circle inscribed on the floor, a large map of Europe and northern Africa seemed to be inlayed in the very floor. The ruined Grimoire of Ravenclaw sat to Hermione's left, with Crookshanks, slumbering unconcernedly to her right. A pitiful few torches faintly lit the room, causing Luna's pale hair to almost glow in the dimness.
"It will be a bit different, this time," Hermione said to the room without preamble or looking up at the newcomers. Her knuckles whitened as she tightened the grip she had on Harry's hand. A small door appeared in the bottom of the door, and Luna's new familiar slipped through, and curled up against her feet. The Kneazle-like creature's fur shifted from the moonlight white he had been wearing, to a deep, deep black. Hermione dropped one of Harry's hands, and pulled a dagger from behind her back. "Harry and I are already bonded, being married and all," she said wryly, "but..." Hermione dropped Harry's other hand and swept her hair away from her face. She reached out and pulled a large goblet filled with a faintly smoking potion from the air. "You want to go too, don't you, Ron?" she asked but didn't bother to look over to see his nod, she already knew.
In one quick motion, Hermione held up her dagger in her right hand, and closed her left fist around the blade, hissing in pain as the insanely sharp edge cut into her palm. She pulled her dagger away and handed it, hilt first to Harry before she held her dripping hand over the cup and watched as several milliliters of blood dropped into the goblet with a loud hiss. Harry did the same before dropping Hermione's dagger into the wooden floor point first. Luna knelt down next to Hermione, displacing Crookshanks. He got up and moved annoyedly over to sit next to Greymalkin. The pair of familiars curled up together, waiting. "This extends your link to us then?" Luna asked as she reached behind her back and retrieved her dagger. A brief murmur of pain later and her blood joined theirs in the goblet.
Luna looked up and back and waved towards the empty spot to Harry's right. Ron nodded, and sat. His eyes didn't even flicker in pain as he added his blood to the other three's and looked down as the smoking greenish potion, cleared to a bright red, before fading to a clear, water-like appearance. "How much of this do I need to drink, Hermione?"
Hermione gave him a slight, pained smile, "A couple of sips, Ron," she replied, not adding, in words anyway, her gratitude. She watched as Luna took hers before she took the cup from her. Hermione drank a pair of swallows and handed the goblet to Harry. As soon as he swallowed for the final time, the circle snapped into place, enclosing them in a shimmering, yellow-white half sphere. Every other source of light went out in the room, save several sets of slightly glowing eyes. Ron looked over as he felt his mind stretching out, feeling the presences on either side and in front of him. To either side of him, two quite similar presences shone brightly, their magic almost blinding this close, like looking into the sun through a telescope. He shuddered slightly, forcing his attention forward.
A bright shining, feeling greeted him, though unlike the two to each side, this one was slippery, ethereal, almost as if it was not always fully here. With a rush, he felt the presence solidify and felt the impression of a pair of familiar silvery-gray eyes on his, Relax, Ronnie, he 'heard' in his head. Ron opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them to begin with to find three slightly concerned sets of eyes, one faintly glowing white, the other two a faintly pulsing emerald, on his.
Hermione cocked her head, Are you alright, Ron? she whispered, as she looked at him with slight concern in her eyes. She glanced at Harry, who shrugged.
It's alright, mate, Harry said reassuringly, smiling slightly as he looked over to Ron. Ron looked at each of them slowly, panning his head to each of them in turn. His eyes widened suddenly...
THIS IS BLOODY COOL! He exclaimed causing the other three of them to wince, Sorry, he apologized quickly as he realized what he had done. He looked at Harry, Is this what it's like for you two all the time? This is brilliant; you could sit in class all day, and never get caught for talking or anything...
Um, yeah, Ron, Harry muttered, catching Hermione's eye for an instant, causing a fleeting grin to slide across her lips, you could. Though we'll see how brilliant you think it is in a bit-do it, Mione.
Hermione took a breath, as she felt the magic in the room start to flow towards a spot centered between them. You know what to do, Luna? she asked and waited until she saw the blonde's slow, hesitant nod. Hermione reached out, grabbed the dagger that Harry had placed in the wood next to them and flipped it up into the air. It rotated several times, flipping end over end before it came to hover tip down above the map over an unmarked spot in northern Scotland.
Behind the soft white glow infusing her eyes, Luna's pupils shrunk to almost nothing, becoming unfocused in the here and now. The other three felt their own magical signatures changing becoming more vague, ghostlike. She looked in the direction of Hermione and nodded, as Ron frowned, What's going on? he snapped, a touch concerned.
Hermione bit her lip, and looked at him, with unnerving, glowing emerald eyes that only gained in brightness as she took a breath before answering, She's masking our signatures with hers. Luna is just enough out of phase with us, when she wants to be, to not quite be noticeable, Hermione explained quickly and took a breath. She reached out, and took Harry's hands, more for the support than for the actual contact, the permanent link with him and the temporary one with her friends was enough to take them along. She got a squeeze of reassurance from Harry, FOUNDROUS FAMILIARUS LOCATUS... twin white beams shot from Luna's ring and the ruined spell book and converged on the tip of the floating dagger. Hermione's eyes looked directly into Harry's, PROJECTORM, a sudden rush of images filled their thoughts as both girls convulsed, Luna leaning back so suddenly as to almost rap her head on the floor, before being caught and pulled back upright by Harry's flashing hand.
Hermione started to tremble slightly as images of green fields, of mountains, of deep lakes and swift rivers began to slip past her mind's eye. As it had before on the much smaller map, the dagger began to move, slowly scanning down the map. Behind her, both familiars rose from their haunches and moved to sit leaning against their Mistresses. Crookshanks yellow eyes were also glowing slightly, pulsing directly in time with the oscillations of the enclosing dome, while Greymalkin's odd black on black ones acquired a strange, ultraviolet glow as he leapt up to curl up in Luna's lap. Harry and Ron's Quidditch careers held them in good stead, and as the swooping and flying images left them swaying a touch as well.
Harry's heartbeat, and Hermione's as well, speed up as the images paused as the Dagger slowed over Southern England, but this time it did not drop to the wood.
As she had that night in November, she suddenly looked around at a old and abandoned graveyard. She took a step over a broken headstone and looked over at the large white stone inscribed with Tom Riddle. She took a deep breath and relaxed as she felt a familiar hand fill hers. A rush of power filled their bones as they looked up at the manor house on the hill and started to walk towards it, following the faint trail of the Horcrux's signature, but almost as they reached the door, thankfully without, this time, any sense that they had been detected, Hermione looked over and saw a faint glowing trail leading off, away from the house. She turned to follow it, with Harry at her side, Luna behind them still casting her aura over them, and Ron trailing all three, watching their back, when in a rush, she was flying again.
Over the map to one side, the Dagger started to drift south once again, as an image of the choppy grey waters of the Channel filled Hermione's vision. She saw the green fields of Northern France fly past her vision, and frowned as the images did not slow. After another instant, she felt herself flying over what she knew was Rome. The Dagger tracked northeast from Italy to Romania, curiously more or less over the same region that Charlie had been buried in; then with a sudden burst of speed it appeared over Egypt, and started slowly passing along the Nile.
The Dagger stopped over a small dot labeled Giza, and dropped into the map point first.
Hermione and the rest found themselves standing in deep sands looking up at the tall, shadowed forms of several Pyramids. Hermione looked over and caught Harry's eye in the projection. As one they turned around and looked at Ron. Blimey, he muttered in a sense of horrified awe, we came here with Bill. Hermione looked out and sent out a probe of magic, watching as the faintly glowing trail led to a seemingly blank face of exposed sandstone, set down and in a hollow from the well-traveled area of the Pyramids.
Break the circle, Crooks...Hermione commanded, and with a sudden leap to his feet, and two bounces, Crookshanks swiped at the hemisphere with his claws and it vanished with a loud BANG. All four of them felt a rushing sensation as they were swept back into their own bodies, and in the case of two of them, back into their own heads. Hermione shivered on the floor for a moment before she fell forward into Harry's arms. The blood from their cut hands stained each other's clothes as they clung to each other for a long moment, before she pulled away enough to give him a quick peck on the cheek and to look at the other two who were sharing a conjured, cold butterbeer. "It looks like we are going to Egypt," Hermione announced unnecessarily.
"Ron, get in touch with Bill, we need to see him as soon as possible, let him know he might need to take a few days off from Gringotts," Harry added as Ron rose to his feet, the least effected of all of them as he had more or less been along for the ride as there was little trouble. Ron gathered Luna in his arms and spun her around so her back was against his chest as he held out her bleeding arm in front of him and touched it with his wand in the other hand, sealing the wound. Hermione and Harry did likewise for each other as Luna healed Ron's.
"I'll send an Owl off tonight, Harry, um...have him meet me in Hogsmeade tomorrow night, I'll say it's to plan something for..." he grinned and kissed Luna on the top of the head, where she had automatically tucked underneath his chin, "Luna's birthday next month." Luna smiled up at him beautifully as she was slightly amazed, frankly, that he had remembered. Harry nodded and waved towards the door, he flicked a wand and all evidence of the night's activities, the blood stains on the floor, the map, the book vanished. Hermione's Dagger shot through the air to drop in her waiting hand, and she sheathed it behind her back, before wrapping her arms around him once more.
"Good, Ron, we'll see you in the morning, I'm going to go put Hermione," Hermione had almost drifted off in his arms, "to sleep, and frankly I'm going to join her." Without another word, the two of them vanished without a sound. Ron looked over at the center of the room as a small table, a single piece of parchment and a quill appeared. He nodded, crossed the room, and with Luna looking over his shoulder, he began to write.
After a minute of furious scribbling, Ron finished his note, and closed and sealed it with a charm that Hermione had taught him that would destroy it if anyone other than the intended recipient opened it. He slipped it into his pocket and straightened. Ron glanced up at Luna, and grimaced slightly. "Luna," he began slowly, and unconsciously looked towards where his best friends had stood before they had vanished, "do you regret choosing me..." he still didn't want to look at her for some reason, "I mean I can't give you the connection that those two have, I..."
"Ronald," Luna whispered as she crossed to him in a couple of hurried strides, "Ronnie, they've had seven years to get there," she said quietly in an absolutely serious tone, she rose on her toes and kissed him, sighing as she lowered herself and took his hands in hers. Her eyes held his, "Give me seven years, honey, and we'll be there too."
A/N: Alright, guess what we're doing next chapter, anyone....anyone?