~A/N>* PLEASE READ!* The coming chapters are going to be about Harry and Hermione's growing bond and powers,
so the angst will be on a bit of hiatus most of the time, but trust me when I say it will be back in abundance in later
chapters. I have no idea how many chapters are left in this story, even though I have it outlined. I keep adding
sections that I think of while working on each chapter and it just keeps getting longer. So cherished readers, I hope
that you will stick with me through one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride (and I mean every emotion you can
think of), it will be worth it in the end. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far, they're inspiring :) And
Lisa-thanks for encouraging me while I write this story. It means a lot.
Hermione sat in the Library at Grimmauld later that night, sitting on the sofa that was positioned in front of the fire. Wrapped in one of her mother's old blankets, she looked down to the notebook she held in her hands and sighed. Opening it, she went to one of the last pages and started to read up on the various powers and gifts the other Duvall women had possessed throughout their lifetimes. When Hermione came to a certain entry she stopped and felt herself grow very cold all of a sudden, but this was an inner chill and had nothing to do with the temperature of the house.
Soul loss- this is the loss of vital energy experienced as a result of any kind of physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual trauma.
Reading the next entry, her mind went into overdrive:
Soul restoration- humans know of a Biblical Psalm of David: "The Lord is my Shephard; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my sould: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." (Psalm 23:1-3). You are not God, but you may have within you the power to bind your soul to another's to help keep them Earthbound, but only if it is not yet their time to die.
Hermione re-read it all again and couldn't believe it. There in front of her was the answer! All she had to do is bind Harry's soul to hers and he would survive the final battle with Voldemort...as long as she did. Reading through some more of the powers, she stopped on the last entry in her mother's notebook:
Intussuscept- to receive within itself or onto another part; specifically, to telescope into another.
That would be it. If she couldn't find a spell to bind her soul to Harry's they would have to...join in the most intimate way as she said the incantation that was given with the description. If it came down to that, would she go that far to save Harry? Would she tell him beforehand, or just do it without his knowledge? Knowing his temper, he may never forgive her for it, but it would be worth it if he came out alive in the end....wouldn't it?
"Hermione?"
At the sound of Harry's voice, Hermione jumped up from the sofa and snapped the notebook shut. Holding it against her chest protectively, she turned to look in the direction his voice had come from and found him leaning against the door frame watching her. "What are you doing?" he asked, eyeing the notebook she held.
"J-Just some research," she replied. As he stared at her, she could feel a flare of heat start in her chest and travel downward, into places she'd never knew existed before. Feeling her cheeks warm with embarrassment as she realized she'd been staring at him, she focused her attention on him again and saw the smirk on his lips. "What?"
Harry watched as the color rose on her face, and he wondered if she was thinking the same as he was. He doubted it, but he could hope even after what she'd said before in his room. Standing up from the doorframe, he started to walk slowly toward her, never breaking eye contact, and when he was directly in front of her he bent just enough so that he could kiss her. Feeling a tingling sensation flow through her when their lips touched, Hermione dropped the notebook and reached out to grab two fistfulls of his t-shirt, pulling him flush against her.
When she had pulled him to her, Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and held tight, deepinging the kiss. Thoughts swirled around in his head, thoughts that seemed strange to him, as if not his own, but when he heard Hermione's throaty moan, all thoughts disappeared instantly. Bringing his hands up, he buried them in her hair and continued to kiss her as if she were the air he needed to breathe, and all he knew at that moment was that he never wanted the kiss to end.
"Harry, I...oh, my," Remus said as he walked into the library. Watching the two teenagers jump apart guiltily, both of them looking at him with wide eyes and pink cheeks, he chuckled and said, "I think you should be glad it was me and not someone else."
"That's the second time today someone has said that," Harry grumbled, then shot a guilty look at Remus when he realized what he had just admitted. Bowing his head he asked, "What was it you needed Remus?"
With a smirk, Remus replied, "I was coming to look for you to ask if you knew where Hermione had run off to. It was rather daft of me to think you wouldn't know."
Harry looked to his Dad's old friend when he heard the note of humour in his voice. Seeing a sparkle of mischief in Remus's eyes, his lips quirked a bit before he tamped down the smirk that threatened to show itself. "She's um, right here." When he looked to her, he felt such a strong urge to grab her and kiss her again, Remus be damned. Her hair was in disarray thanks to his wandering hands, her lips were swollen from the force of his kiss, and her cheeks held a blush that only made her look that much more beautiful.
As she looked at Harry, she could see an almost predatory gleam in his eyes and she felt a shudder run through her at where her thoughts took her. Wait, wasn't she the one that had just told him earlier in his room that they shouldn't do that again? Forcing her gaze away from his, she looked to Remus and asked, "What is it Remus?"
"Firenze just sent an owl to let me know that you will be continuing your training with him at Hogwarts." When both of them opened their mouths to protest, Remus said, "It will be perfectly safe. Training will be conducted in the Room of Requirement, and you will floo into the room directly from here. No one but Firenze and McGonagall will know you're there." Looking to Harry he said, "Shackelbolt will be coming here with Mad Eye to train you and Ron everyday Harry. We've converted the old Ballroom into a training room. It's pretty impressive really, I think even the Auror trainees would be envious. Then every night after dinner the two of you will be training together, with a special instructor coming in to help Hermione."
"And who is the special instructor?" Hermione asked, her curiousity piqued. She knew that there was no way that Firenze would come here, especially since he had made special arrangements to train her at Hogwarts.
"You will have to wait until your first joint training session to find that out, I'm afraid. Sorry," he replied. "Now, since it's getting pretty late, I think the two of you should turn in for the night. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."
Harry and Hermione watched as he looked from one of them to the other, his gaze lingering a little longer than normal, and felt uncomfortable at the knowing look in his eyes. After he had said goodnight and took his leave, Hermione turned to Harry and said, "He's right, we really should turn in."
Harry turned to look at her, but she was bending down to pick up the notebook she had dropped earlier. When she straightened, she looked to him and felt such a strong draw to him, it was almost unsettling. Gathering her courage she asked, "Do you feel it too? The feeling that everytime you see me you need to be as near me as possible."
He looked startled for a moment, and then she could tell he was thinking on it. "Yeah, I do. I like being around you, but ever since this morning after you spoke to Seamus I've felt like I need to be around you all the time, like you said, as near as possible."
Watching him for a moment, she said, "I'll have to pluck up the courage to ask Firenze what could be happening between us. If it's just something that's happening because of our Guardian/Charge bond, then it's something we need to end immediately. If it's anything else...well, we can talk about that after I find out for sure." Turning to the Library door, she took a few steps away from him and then stopped. Turning just enough so that she could see him she said, "Goodnight Harry."
"Goodnight," he replied, watching her intently. Thinking back to before his shower, he questioned his feelings for her again. Suddenly feeling very tired, he decided to just go to bed and wait to find out after her talk with Firenze the next day. If it was some new bond forming because she was his Guardian, he would try to stop all the indecent thoughts he'd been having about her recently. If it turned out to be something more...well, he'd deal with it when the time came, like she said.
~*~
The next day felt like hell on earth for not only Harry and Hermione, but for Ron and Luna as well. Luna's father had shown up late the previous night and after sharing a quick breakfast with his daughter and her friends that morning, had left once again to work at The Quibbler. He was trying to print as much of the truth as he could get by the Ministry of Magic as they were already threatening to close down his newspaper office due to his "traitorous ways" toward the wizarding government. Once breakfast was over, Hermione flooed to Hogwarts to meet Firenze in the Room of Requirement while Harry met Remus, Mad Eye, and Shackelbolt in the now-converted ballroom, with Ron and Luna following him in. Three hours later, the three of them sat around the table in the kitchen staring at their lunch, too tired to raise their arms to eat. When Hermione came tumbling out of the floo they could hear her swearing from the sitting room and Harry had to smile; he had never really heard her swear so much before. Getting up slowly, he walked into the room where the fireplace was and stifling his laughter, found Hermione sprawled flat on her back in the middle of the floor.
"Taking a kip?" he asked, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"Ha ha," she mumbled, refusing to open her eyes. Her head felt as if it were about to explode thanks to all of the mental spellwork Firenze had put her through that morning, and she couldn't imagine surviving the nightly training session she was to have with Harry. Sensing his movement, she peeked through one eye to see Harry reaching out to help her up. Grabbing hold of his hand tightly, she let him hoist her up from the floor and once standing, felt every muscle in her body protest as her head pounded it's protest as well. As Harry started to make his way back to the kitchen, she noticed that he wasn't really walking, but shuffling, and couldn't help the giggle that escaped her. When he looked back at her she said, "You're walking like an old man."
"Ha bloody ha," he retorted grumpily. "I'd like to see you go through the three hours of pure hell that Mad Eye put us through today. And Remus...he just sat there laughing at us! Trying to kill us before Voldemort can, they are..."
Hermione laughed more as he continued to grumble to himself all the way to the kitchen where he gratefully sank back down into his chair. Sitting in the seat next to him, she took in Ron and Luna's appearance as well and asked, "You two trained as well?"
"We figured we'd be right in the middle of the fighting, so best to be prepared, right?" Ron replied with a shrug.
"Right," Hermione agreed, and then started to put food on her plate. As her head started to pound again, she placed her fingertips onto her temples and closing her eyes, concentrated until they started to glow blue. Once the pressure was relieved, she opened her eyes to find the other three at the table staring at her. "What?"
"You're getting much better at that," Harry replied with a smile that held a bit of pride to it. "Which is good because it will come in handy when I'm getting my arse kicked during battle."
"Don't talk like that!" Hermione said adamantly as she turned her glare on him. Seeing his shocked expression, she stared at him for a minute more and said, "I'm sorry, I was picking up on Ron and Luna's outrage as well. My healing power isn't the only one that's getting stronger, my empathic ability is as well, and it's getting harder to keep control of them all."
"Right," Harry said slowly, turning to look at Ron and Luna, who wouldn't meet his eyes. Turning back to Hermione he asked, "So how did your training go?"
"It was all mental spellwork today, which is harder than magical spellwork because I can't use my wand to perform it, I have to tap into my internal magic for it." To prove her point, she released a huge yawn and looked embarrassed afterward. "So, what about you three?"
"You mean besides running fifty laps around the Ballroom, doing one hundred sit-ups and push-ups, and duelling each other for an hour straight? It was a bloody party," Ron replied sarcastically, earning himself a cuff on the back of his head from Luna. Looking at her, he said, "Luna had to do everything we did; I couldn't believe she kept up with us the way she did."
Harry knew that Ron had meant it in a complimentary way, and he was sure that somewhere inside Luna did too, but she was too tired to even try to be understanding of his 'speak-before-you-think' attitude and she stood up quickly. "I'm going to go lay down for a bit," she stated before walking quickly from the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked obliviously.
Shaking her head, Hermione stood up and grabbed her plate. "I'll go talk to her for a bit, maybe a little girl talk will do her some good after having to spend the entire morning alone with you two."
Ron and Harry watched as she left as well and turning to him Harry said, "You sure know how to clear a room."
"Bloody girls," Ron grumbled, just before stuffing a bite of food into his mouth.
~*~
While Hermione and Luna spent the afternoon in their room, Ron and Harry were playing Wizards Chess in the sitting room. "What d'you think they're doing?" Ron asked, as he moved his knight and watched as it took out Harry's rook.
"Dunno," Harry replied. "To tell you the truth, it's kind of nice to have a bit of quiet."
"Agree with you there mate," Ron said, and with one final move declared checkmate.
Feeling worn out and sore from their morning's training, Harry stood up and said, "I feel like a kip."
"Me too," Ron agreed. "Let's get the girl's to wake us up when it's time for dinner."
The two of them went upstairs to the girl's room, where the door was open. There, on their beds, slept Hermione and Luna. "Great minds think alike," Harry said, smiling as he stared at Hermione's relaxed expression.
"Think they'd be mad if we just went in and laid with them?" Ron asked, taking a step into the room.
Harry's quick seeker skills kicked in and reaching out, he snagged Ron's sleeve before he could take another step. "Not today Romeo. I don't think that Remus would be none to pleased walking in to find us in bed with them."
Dragging Ron down the hall behind him, Harry had to laugh as Ron asked, "Romeo? Who the bloody hell is Romeo?"
About three hours later, all four teens were awakened by Remus and Tonks for supper and they blearily made their way back down to the kitchen. It was a silent affair seeing as not everyone was wide awake yet, so when a rangy figure dressed in a black robe with the hood pulled over its head seemed to almost float into the room, not everyone noticed right away. It was different for Hermione though; the moment the person stepped into the room she was out of her seat and standing in front of a very confused Harry. "Who are you?" she asked with a demanding tone to her voice.
Everyone in the room watched as two very pale hands with long skinny fingers emerged from the sleeves of the robe and reached up to lower the hood. When Hermione looked into the person's eyes she gasped, for she had never seen such a color before in her life. The person was a woman about twenty years older than her, and besides having jet black hair that rivaled even Harry's in color, milk white skin, and red, full lips, she had the most brilliant violet colored eyes. As the woman looked up and locked gazes with Hermione, the room seemed to suddenly be charged with a strong magical surge. Once the two had sized the other up and declared one another a non-threat, the woman moved her gaze over Ron, Luna, and Harry, who all still sat at the kitchen table, staring openly at her. Setting her sights on Harry, she walked around Hermione to stand directly in front of him and with just a hint of a smile and a lilt to her voice she said, "You must be Harry. I am Sorcha, your new teacher. Come with me and bring your Guardian, it is time we find out just how powerful she really is."