A/N: Nothing really to say today, I still own nothing really...Except the exponentially growing numbers of OC's and the plot. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter and other...covert projects.
Chapter 9: Bad Moon Rising
*******************Platform 9 3/4 Kings' Cross Station, London******************
September 1, 2015
10:45 am
In six years, in all the times that Emilia Potter had boarded the train to go to return from Hogwarts, she had never ever felt the unsettled feeling in her stomach that roiled in it this clear September morning. The platform was filled to overflowing with parents, students, and a few staff members, arriving to the school late. Since the war had ended seventeen years ago, the roles of the school had been almost overflowing, with numbers of students unseen in the last two hundred years, for a plethora of reasons.
Durmstrang had...vanished, disappeared into the mists and icy fogs of its snow-bound surroundings, and Beauxbatons had been smashed, razed almost to the foundations in Voldemort's fury after being denied his victory there. The other schools in Europe were smaller, unable to take the overflow, leaving only Hogwarts, to handle most of the excess. Beyond that, the ancient school was still the preeminent Wizarding school in existence, even surpassing the large schools established in the Americas in the last four hundred years.
To top all of that off, the survivors of the war had celebrated in the ways of time immemorial...they had made more of themselves. Along with a curious phenomenon, still unexplained, that had increased the percentage of Muggle-borns by almost tenfold, very few of the graduating classes of 1990-2006 did not have at least one child boarding the train, with most having two or more.
She looked up and down the platform, down the long length of the scarlet train, thirty cars or so, as dozens of tiny first and second years yelled good byes to parents and trooped aboard the train towing trunks, pets and friends. Emilia sighed, biting her lip as she absently straightened a badge on her chest, before she looked around again. "What's wrong, Em?" Harry asked from behind her, watching as Elliot walked past with Abby in hand, holding her rather close.
Abby looked up for an instant and gave him a tired smile and Harry nodded in sudden understanding, seeing the very tips of her incisors poking down below her lips. "I see," Harry said, "Let me guess, Xander's a touch worse off and you're feeling it?"
"It's a bit of that, yeah, Dad," Emilia agreed absently, "But...I dunno," she glanced over at Harriet talking to Rain, a look of wonder on the redhead's face as she watched the better part of a thousand students find their ways aboard the cars. "Maybe it's Mum and my talk yesterday, or something else...I just don't know." She glanced around, "Where is Mum?"
Harry's eyes lost focus for an instant; "She was talking to Anna about something." He gestured with his head to the right, and Emilia looked over to see Hermione dropping nimbly from the train to the platform and pacing over. Harriet and Rain looked over at her from next to the train and Em motioned them onto the cars. Rain nodded and pulled the redhead along with her, even as Harriet looked back towards her with a tiny trace of something, a quick fleeting expression crossing her face that only seemed to increase the bit of discomfiture that Emilia felt.
Hermione slipped up, and stood close to Harry, "I was giving Anna a bit of advice about her new suite's...more interesting features," she explained, and Harry raised a single eyebrow. She raised both in return, and Harry cocked his head to the side, smirking very slightly. Emilia rolled her eyes as Hermione waggled her hand back and forth, making some gesture and Harry snorted, taking his wife's hand. She leaned against his shoulder, and Emilia sighed.
Before Emilia could express her amused annoyance with her parents, the other Potter approached from the side in the company of Justin Black. Hermione just smiled, and held out her arms, hugging him to her, even as he squirmed and tried to escape, "MUM," Sirius moaned and managed to pull away, "What if someone sees us?"
Harry laughed to himself as Hermione dropped her hands to her hips, "Sirius Ronald Potter...do you..."
Harry reached over and pulled her back against him, "Go on, get you sprats, the train is going to leave without you." Emilia grinned and darted forward, kissing Harry on the cheek, before hugging Hermione and kissing her as well.
"Come on, wandbrain," Emilia growled, grabbing her brother and towing him towards the train even as the Heads were calling for the last of the students to board. The remainder of the students, those still saying farewell to parents, those who were just lollygagging.
Hermione leaned back against Harry, her bottom lip in her teeth as they watched the scarlet train slowly start to chug out of the station, the only steam locomotive still functioning in Great Britain. Other parents and relatives watched with them, and slowly, as it passed out of sight, the platform began to empty as the crowd started to vanish, Apparating away, or simply passing through the trick wall into the main part of the Kings' Cross concourse.
Soon they were alone, save for a pair of janitors directing a series of animated push brooms that were sweeping away the debris from food wrappers, paper from last minute gifts and other refuse. See you at home, Hermione? Harry asked, and she nodded, still looking towards where the train had vanished. They are coming back, Hermione...if you want we can Apparate there tonight and greet them as they get off the train.
Hermione smiled softly, turning and pushing pack a loose lock behind her ear. I know I'm being silly, Harry...I just...I just wish that Albus had said, just what his 'solution' to our little girl's problem was, Harry shrugged, and slipped his hands in his pockets.
If it doesn't work, whatever it is...I suppose that Neville will see if he can control the children and grandchildren of the Marauders...
Bullocks, Hermione grinned, then the smile slipped even as the thought continued, Par and Lav lived up there that last... Harry just nodded and leaned forward, kissing her quickly and taking a step back, I'll be in the archives if you need me, Harry, I want to look up a few things, something seemed off about the other night. Harry nodded, agreeing. Love you, Hermione said softly, reached forward, and grabbed his hand.
She vanished without a sound and Harry swallowed heavily, as just for an instant, Hermione vanished from his consciousness. A heavy, sick feeling settled upon him and left just as quickly as he found her again, miles away somewhere under the Ministry Archives, which were located, these days, about a half kilometer under the MI-6 Headquarters on the bank of the Thames. Love you too, Hermione, Harry sent and received a wordless, warm sensation in return before he took a breath and Apparated away, headed to the Auror Academy located somewhere along the cost of the Channel, where he was scheduled to give a guest lecture on the use of basic spells in real-life duels.
********************The Leaky Cauldron*************************
11:55 pm
Draco looked up as Tom left their lunch on the table and reestablished the ward on the door to the private lounge he and Ginny were occupying. He looked across the table, covered with several Butterbeer bottles, and a large lunch, neither had had breakfast.
"I can't do this, Draco...you can't do this...you know what we owe them," Ginny said painfully. "I betrayed them once, Draco, and you know what..."
"Do you think I like it any better?" Draco snapped, jumping to his feet and flinging the butterbeer bottle he was holding to smash into the wall across from them. "Goddamn it, Gin...my oldest son is going to marry Hermione's sister...what do you think I'm going to do, go 'Hey, son, your mum and I had to kill your fiancée's sister, cause we FUCKED UP ROYALLY when we were your age. Have fun at the family reunions'."
"He's going to marry her?" Ginny asked softly, her voice trembling slightly.
Draco snorted, "Yeah, he and I went to pick out the ring this summer..." He looked back and down as she stood from the table and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around his side and buried her face in his robes. "I don't know what we're going to do, Gin..." he said to her unanswered question, "but I've lost too much in my life to those bastards, my dad, Snape, Riddle...I'm not going to let them take you from me."
******************Hogwarts Express, In-Route to Hogwarts***************
7:45 pm
Emilia Potter sighed and looked out the window at the rapidly darkening countryside as they passed through the lower part of the Highlands of Scotland, still about an hour from Hogsmeade and her second home. A huge, blood-red moon hung full over the hills as she looked out and she sighed, frowning as she turned away from the window and looked down into her lap.
She gnawed on her bottom lip; a habit most like inherited though her genes as she watched Xander shiver slightly, and heard him make a soft, almost moan. She slowly started to comb her fingers though his hair, and ignored the slightly nauseous feeling in her own belly, a side-effect. He rolled over, to face her, though his eyes were still closed, How much longer, Em? he muttered.
Probably about an hour, baby, Emilia whispered back sympathetically.
He rolled enough to kiss her thigh, and she smiled faintly, I'm sorry.
It's alright, we'll get you there and you can go straight up to bed, she murmured, her fingers not pausing in their constant motion. She looked up and around the compartment, filled with her family and friends and shrugged to herself. Of course, Xander had not broached the thought that both of them shared, what exactly was to become of them once they did get to school? Dumbledore had said that he had a solution to their 'small problem' in mind, but neither of them had yet learned just what that solution might be.
Unconsciously, her eyes flickered upwards and across the compartment, towards the luggage rack where her trunk was sitting, and her thoughts flashed to the Invisibility Cloak, she knew was hidden on the bottom layer of her trunk. She shook off the thought and glanced around the car at the rest of the ones crowded into the car with her.
Harriet sat on the seat with her and Xander, his feet up in her lap, with a copy of the Quibbler held sideways before her. She was periodically sharing a random comment, like "the Rock Spinglers are abundant this year" or "Do you think that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks would make a decent pet? Grandfather Lovegood seems to think so," with Rain. Rain shared a quick hidden grin with Emilia as before making a soft, affirmative sound to Harriet, and returning to Dark Arts Defense Quarterly, her father had written another of his guest articles on magical weaponry in the Twenty-First Century.
Next to Rain, on the other side of Hipper, who was looking down at Gaheris, where the Familiar was acting as a footrest for his mistress, Elliot propped in a corner with Abigail in his lap, she was curled in a ball and snoring slightly, but Emilia knew that that was probably better than the vague, unsettling sickness that Xander was suffering though. Though to be honest, Em had a rather strong suspicion that Elliot just might have slipped a Sleeping Draught into his tiny, younger, girlfriend's Pumpkin Juice over lunch. Which as Abigail's temper was not the greatest normally, let alone at the full moon, and that she was nearly as strong as Emilia, when boosted, that might not have been an unwise idea.
Abby made a soft growling noise in her sleep and Elliot hugged his arms around her more tightly. He looked over at Em with a faint, knowing smile, "At least mine is light." Emilia gave him an answering grin, and glanced back out the window, to see a line of trees start to close in on either side of the train.
"I..." Emilia cut off and turned towards the compartment door, as it slid open and Justin Black slipped in, his arm around her brother. She sighed mightily, taking in both of their appearances, as they staggered in. Harriet's eyes grew huge as she saw the blood dripping down behind Sirius' glasses and she popped to her feet, sending her magazine flying along with nearly tumbling Xander to the floor. .
Harriet tripped over her own Familiar in her sudden, unthinking rush to get him settled, setting him down, almost forcefully, in her vacated seat as Xander grunted something and sat upright. Emilia allowed herself a good thirty seconds of mixed exasperation at her brother, and her de facto cousin, and amusement as Harriet knelt before Sirius, and pulled off his glasses and started to dab at the cut on his forehead.
Justin did not quite meet Emilia's eyes as she stood, carefully trying to not disturb Xander any more than necessary. She glanced at Rain, and with the dint of six years of being best friends, sisters in truth really, Rain reached up, yanked Justin totally into the car, and slid the door shut. Emilia took a breath, her hands settling on her hips, "Sirius Ronald Potter," she said lowly, her voice a flat growl, "What in the bloody hell do you think you were doing-fighting on the train, you are a Prefect last time I looked, or are you trying to have Uncle Nev...Professor Longbottom take it from you before you even get to the school...I..."
"Em," Justin said softly, cutting across her as she started to channel her mother, "It wasn't his fault, he was trying to stop it..." Emilia shot Sirius a small apologetic look and he shrugged, shaking off the wordless apology.
"Fine," Emilia replied flatly, her eyes tracked down to a bloodstain on Justin's white uniform shirt, which was also splattered on his blue and bronze tie, "what happened."
Justin shrugged, "I was visiting Virginia, Lawrence, Andrew and Shin, they are in the next car forward. I left and was headed to go see if I could find Sirius and then come here, when I got shoved into an compartment door." He waved at his bloody nose, which Em rolled her eyes at, reached behind her back and drew her wand, flicking it at him, and stopping the bleeding. "Thanks, I'll have to have Pomfrey fix it when we get there." Emilia crooked a single eyebrow, and he shrugged again. "I turned around and went for my wand and someone shot it out of my hand." He looked at Harriet, "Parker was there with his cronies; he had Hamilton's little bitch..."
"Justin," Rain snapped.
"Hamilton's daughter hanging off him," he corrected himself, "and Bancroft and Plessy, with him, they hit me a couple of times, while she just dangled my wand in front of me like I was a dog or something...Parker asked me what it was like having a Blood-Traitor Slag for a mother..." his eyes flicked to Harriet, "He asked if she had even recovered from having Potty's bastard, before Nate was conceived with Dad..."
Emilia looked at Sirius, he glanced up, moving just his eyes as Harriet was holding onto his head with both hands, and dabbing at the cut on his head. "I heard the fighting and ran down the compartment only to get hit from behind, someone came out of a compartment I was passing..." He grinned slightly, "I got Bancroft with an Explosive Flatulence Jinx, and Plessy with a Seeping Puss Hex..." He sighed as Emilia shook her head, "What would you have done, then, Em? Take points?"
"Incarcerous, maybe, possible a couple of Leg-Lockers..." she replied, and glanced back to Xander. He was now sitting up and paying attention, though he still looked pale. She slid back and perched on his knee, "I suppose they ran like the cowards they are, didn't they?"
"Yeah, sis, I had them outnumbered," Sirius replied, and both of them knew, just how true that was if they were ever pushed...and the lengths that they went to not to squash annoyances. It would disappoint their parents.
Emilia opened her mouth to reply, when a horrible, terrible squealing rang out throughout the train and the world seemed to hit a wall. Emilia crashed back against Xander, cracking the back of her head on the wall as the lights in the train went out all at once. Screams of fear and cries of pain echoed from the rest of the train, as Emilia blinked wetness, that she knew from unfortunate experience was blood, out of her eyes. She made a small gesture with her hand, pointed more or less towards the ceiling and a glowing, white ball of light filled the compartment with a soft glow. Emilia fought to her feet and looked down at Abby where she had smashed her brow into the seat next to her.
Abby shook herself like a dog and let Elliot pull her to her feet. "Everyone alright?" he asked, looking around the car. The rest nodded or murmured an affirmative; Sirius was holding Harriet, who looked rather comfortable actually. He summoned his glasses to him, just as the door to the compartment opened, and Anastasia poked her head in.
She looked rather more disheveled than even the sudden stop of the train could account for, but Emilia did not comment as she looked around the compartment, "Em, Sirius, Xander...hell all of you except Harriet and Abby..." she sighed at the rebellious looks, "ok, come on..." she dropped her voice, "Em, something's wrong...the engineer hit the emergency brakes, the bridge was out..."
Emilia nodded looked to Rain, "Rain, get your toy." Rain's eyes widened somewhat and she jumped up on her seat and touched a silver stud set just below her name on her trunk. A long, thin, hidden compartment fell open and a slim, sheathed blade tumbled into her hand. "Anna..."
"I already tried mirrors, Em, something's blocking them, I sent my Patronus to the school but that will probably take twenty or thirty minutes to get there from here. You can't send to your parents?" she asked hopefully, not watching as Rain grabbed her summer cloak and flipped it inside out, reversing it so the bright red was changed with the black inside. She slid it on as Emilia shook her head.
"No, if it were Xander, yeah, but with Mum and Dad it's just feelings, and unless they happen to be concentrating on us..." Emilia accepted her own dark cloak without a word from Xander and followed Anastasia into the corridor. The rest of the compartment trooped out after her, passing the Prefects from the other houses as they were moving the students towards the front of the train, concentrating them in the front cars.
Em, Xander sent, and she could feel it as he started to let his baser nature slip, not helped by the large, full moon hanging low in the sky as they reached the end of the car and slid the door open. Emilia grabbed an iron railing and swung down onto the ground next to the train lightly, her skirt and cloak flaring slightly with the motion. She let her wand fall into her hand as she scanned the surrounding forest, which even though she had grown up in Godric's Hollow, where there were no lights from nearby cities, seemed rather dark and foreboding. She looked back to find Xander next to her, his wand hanging in his hand next to his leg.
"Em, don't get too far from the train," Anastasia called from near the caboose car. Emilia turned as Nathan ran up to his girlfriend and slid to a halt, gravel skittering from around his boots.
"It looks like several Reductor hits to the pilings," he said, just loud enough Anastasia and the others who were crowded around them to hear.
"We need to get back, defend the students cars," Emilia whispered urgently, and shoving Xander in that direction. He took a step and froze, his head turned slowly towards the Forest crowding them in on either side. He looked over to his sister, who was still standing on the landing of the caboose car, mostly to get her vantage point up where she could see. Emilia swallowed heavily as she looked over and then back at Xander, the whites were totally gone from their eyes, and the moonlight, now a pristine white, glinted off lowered fangs.
A deep, haunting howl cut through the night, sending shivers down those standing outside. "We have to move," Xander growled urgently, reaching back and grabbing Emilia, and pulling her along.
"What?" Nathan sputtered, looking around for the source of the sound. Another howl then another and another rang out.
"Werewolves," Abby said, her voice oddly flat. She bounded over the rail without seeming to move and reached up, grabbing Elliot and literally tossing him almost fifteen feet towards the head of the train, which was stopped only feet from a three-hundred foot gorge leading to the river far below.
No further words were needed as the students sprinted along the railbed, headed for the front cars where, by now, all of the students were congregated, via a plan put in place years ago. We're fucked, Em, Xander sent, his 'voice' rather deeper than normal and...hungry. Emilia clenched her hand around her wand, trying not to think about that.
Gryffindors lead the way, Xan, she muttered in return. "Anna, Nate..." Emilia said, unconsciously turning her back to the train and facing out into the darkness. "Take everyone and keep them from the students..." she looked up at Rain, who nodded and reached under her cloak. A thin, double-edged sword slipped free into her hand, and she held it low to her side, the silver alloy glinting. She grabbed a ladder and scrambled up to the top of the cars, holding the sword one handed until she reached the top and knelt down, drawing her wand with her off hand and holding it out.
"What are you going to be doing?" Anastasia asked, her wand in her hand pointing out towards the woods.
Emilia looked over at her brother as he brushed back the dark cloak he had slipped on, exposing the hilt of his own blade, "Giving Mum and Dad time to get here," and making sure that they have enough time to avenge us, she added silently. Hermione's sister gave her a look; then jumped back up onto the train car, pulling Nathan along to help organize the prefects to uphold her responsibilities, as Emilia waited for hers.
"Sirius, take Harriet, and Justin, take the other side, I'll keep Xan with me," she looked at Abby and Elliot, "you two get inside and block the cars, double check that..." Emilia's eyes flared as she dove to the side, all time for planning gone as a silver jet ripped out of the night and splattered against the train behind her. She spun to the side, catching a dark blur leaping up on top of the car, and she put that aside, as four dark, cloaked figures stepped from the darkness, their wands spitting fire towards her.
The world abruptly slowed, to her eyes. She stutter-hopped to the side, as a jet of green rushed past, her wand tracked up, slowly and bucked twice...A pair of attackers tumbled back into the weeds, their chests gone. Emilia danced sideways, distantly hearing her brother screaming something, and a white flash lit the night. "EM, DOWN!" Xander screamed and she dove as a Reductor ripped from the side, vaporizing a four-foot hole in the side of the train.
On the other side of the train, Sirius ducked as an attacker charged out of the darkness, a dark black blade in his hand. He scrambled back, rolling and coming up with his sword free in his hand. He beat aside an attack, and caught another on his sword, pushing it to the side and away. He hopped straight backwards, emerald eyes flickered to life and he spun left...his blade cut up and right, and the attacker took a step and fell away in a spray of red.
Sirius fought the sudden gorge that tried to force its way up and looked around, even as he flicked his blade clean. He turned to his right and his heart...stopped. A wand appeared in the darkness, pointed towards Harriet's back where she was covering behind a small pile of rocks, exchanging fire with a pair of cloaked figures at the edge of the woods. The figure rose, twisting his wand, the tip already growing green, "AVADA-"
"NO!" Sirius screamed, a visible pulse of magic picked up the assailant and flung him against a pine, twenty feet up, to impact with a loud crunch that carried over the sound of the fighting. Harriet looked back towards him, her eyes widened and she jabbed her wand at him. Sirius dropped to the ground as her Piercing Charm snapped just past where his head had been and drilled a neat hole in the shoulder of a dark figure behind. He staggered away into the trees, his hand to his shoulder and his wand laying abandoned where he had stood. Sirius summoned it, and snapped it underfoot, before running to Harriet.
He ducked as Rain rained a stuttering series of Reductors over their heads, showering the entire treeline in a wave of white explosions. A pair of dark shapes flew through the air, and Justin aimed into the darkness, his wand tracking towards their bodies to summon their wands, and a red bolt snapped from somewhere behind, clipping him between the shoulder blades and sending him tumbling. "JUSTIN'S DOWN!" Sirius yelled and Rain looked down, her face white.
A furry shape rose from between the forward cars and sprinted at Rain along the top of the cars, she glanced up, just as claws scraped the top of the car down from her and she leapt backwards, her wand falling away, as both of her hands gripped her sword. Ergo Allcerato...Her blade flicked up as the world slowed down, almost as fast as Emilia's could and flicked across a paw.
The were howled and took a breath, charging her. She ducked a swipe of claws and batted aside a glistening, drooling set of jaws as they snapped at her throat. She took a blind step backwards, and another...her feet slipped out from under her as she tripped over a railing...the were leapt...Rain's arse hit the roof of the car, she planted the hilt of the sword...the tip of her blade slid with only faint resistance up and through the open were's mouth just as a swipe of claws ripped her left leg open from hip to knee.
Rain cried out, and tried to stand, only to collapse again. "I'm ok," she screamed to Emilia, knowing that her friend was already looking up...
A crunch sounded in the rail cars directly below Rain, and Elliot and Abby looked up, their backs to the car that held the first of the students. "BACK!" she snapped, hearing the door open behind her and a pair of Ravenclaw prefects fired wild Stunners though the gap, almost hitting her as someone had already blue-on-blued, Justin outside. The Stunners snapped past, hitting the were to absolutely no effect. Anastasia' voice could be heard behind them pulling the pair past as the were charged, and Abigail, all eighty pounds of her, flickered into motion, almost vanishing in the dim car as she leapt, bounded once off the wall and jabbed with her wand in mid-air.
A hail of silver darts ripped into the were from only a foot away, shredding its side and it fell away. She straightened and felt herself flying, crashing back and through a window into the darkness outside. A second were sprinted down the length of the car, bounded off the left, then right walls, and hit Elliot like a runaway bowling ball, not even bothering to slow as he tossed Elliot into a wall, his head banging against a compartment door. He slid to the ground as the were charged forward, ripped off the door to the next compartment, stepped out onto the landing separating the cars...And died as a silver blade rammed downward from above with almost the last of Rain's strength.
The were tumbled to the ground next to the train, taking Rain's sword with it, as the dark-haired girl laid down flat on her back. Spells still ripped from the treeline, as she looked down and frowned at the shredded ruin of her skirt. She summoned her wand, and flicked it at the wound. Instantly white bandages bound her leg. They stained red instantly but she was back in the fight.
Down below, Emilia glanced up to see her wave, then forward, watching as three weres slipped from the treeline, approaching her slowly, wearily. She looked over, as they started to circle her.
They sniffed the air, looking at her and Xander and leapt through the air, darting at them in a blurred rush of fur and claws. Emilia flipped backwards, dodging one, landed in a roll, and flung her sword sideways, catching the second just as it leapt, and opening up its belly. It fell away, and Emilia snap-kicked to her feet. She kicked off her left Mary Jane, having lost the right one dodging.
Emilia took a deep breath, her sword held vertical in front of her, between herself and the were. She started to back away, moving slowly back towards the chasm.
Twenty feet away, Xander dove sideways, barely dodging the attack of the other werewolf. He ducked another strike, jumped backwards, and a hail of silver darts snapped from his wand, ripping off the were's leg at the hip.
Emilia slowly backed from her were, she flicked her sword to the side, knocking a strike away. She beat another hit away, and her blade flicked into motion, driving the were back, sending him stumbling back, suddenly the prey. She ducked a sideways slice of a clawed hand-paw, and her sword flicked up and left, and back right. A head tumbled away. She straightened...
A wizard appeared with a CRACK, "EM!" Xander screamed and dove in from the side, just as a purple wave of flame ripped across the ten feet between them, and Xander crumpled. Emilia vanished and reappeared, her sword beheading the Death Eater with a single strike.
NO! she moaned, diving in next to her bondmate, and dropping her sword next to her. She did not look up as Rain limped over, and knelt gingerly next to her. Rain's wand was out, covering the woods as another ten Weres began to slowly approach, joined by another twelve or so on Sirius' side. Wake up, Xander...please, Emilia moaned, not noticing the resumed danger as terror filled her mind...
****************Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry***************
8:16pm
Albus Dumbledore stood in front of a full-length, tri-fold mirror in plain black robes, his long auburn hair pulled back into a tail and hanging down his spine. He rubbed a hand over a neat beard as several sets of wild, on anyone else possibly ghastly, robes paraded out of his closet and hung before him for a moment. He shook his head as a dark purple set with chartreuse dragons paused for a moment, and looked back.
He tapped his long, crooked nose with a forefinger as he looked between a royal blue set with a large Hogwarts' Crest decorating the back, and a ruby red set with an almost subdued lion on the chest. He pointed at the royal blue set, directing it to his large four-poster, where it laid itself over the foot of the bed. The rest of the robes filed back into his closet, and he paced over to a tall, golden perch where a large, crimson and gold, swan-like bird looked on with faintly-veiled amusement.
"Not everyone can not be as effortlessly magnificent as you, my friend," Dumbledore said, smiling as he ran his long fingers over Fawkes' head. The phoenix chirped contently, and Dumbledore grinned even more fully.
He walked through an open, glowing portal into the large, round room that was once again his office, and stepped to his desk, where piles and piles of paper awaited his signature, or glance, or occasionally, maybe if they were from Gringotts', a drop or two of blood.
He looked up as a silver light briefly manifested in the room, leaving behind a brief impression of a silver bird of some sort, possibly an owl. Dumbledore's face went pale as the light faded away and he waved his hand at the hearth, filling the floo with emerald green flames. "Ministry of Magic," a voice came from the floo, and he cut it off before it could even finish the greeting, "The Hogwarts Express is under attack, get the Aurors there now."
The flames cut away instantly as the dispatcher at the other end was diving for another means of communication. Dumbledore flicked his wand and a silver phoenix shot out, and flew right through the wall, headed towards the Great Hall where his staff was mostly already gathered. "FAWKES!" the Phoenix settled on his shoulder and the pair of them vanished in a fall of fire, leaving behind a single, golden feather slowly settling to the ground.
*********************Godric's Hollow*******************************
8:10 pm
When Harry and Hermione had replaced the furniture and appointments of their home, after the Dark Lord had destroyed it for a second time, they had had few requirements, really. The huge, comfortable bed in the master bedroom one of those, naturally, along with a truly excessive number of bookshelves scattered throughout the house.
The enchantments to actually provide enough space for Hermione's ever-growing library, had taxed even Dumbledore, when he had cast them as a belated house-warming present.
But it was one of the simplest, which at the same time, was one of the most important. Hermione sighed quietly as she curled back into Harry, snuggling her head under his as they lay together on the large, comfortable couch that had served them for innumerable naps, talks, playing with the sprogs, and other minutia of their lives. Tonight though, no words or actions were needed, not really.
Hermione slowly intertwined the fingers of her left hand with his, where it rested low on her belly, pushing up her jumper just enough to rest warmly the bare skin of her belly, with the very tips of his fingers slipped under the waistband of her jeans. She looked down the length of her body, to see their bare feet tangled together, and she grinned to herself, as she grabbed his toes with her own.
The soft sound of a CD playing on an enchanted stereo filled the room, playing more to cut the silence than anything, as Harry kissed the top of her head, and she made a quiet, contented sound. The glow of a heatless fire filled the room from the hearth. Hermione?
Ummm?
Harry grinned and moved the fingers that were slipping, habitually, under her jeans and she laughed softly, squirming as he moved them. You know, Hermione, Harry said very softly, the very tone of his thoughts causing a jump in her pulse rate, isn't it about time to start the re-christening of the house? We can start right here, he added hopefully.
He knew she smiled softly, even though she was facing away from him, Shouldn't we start with the Pitch...while the weather is still nice outside? she inquired, Honestly, it would be only practical, she added almost primly.
That's why I love you, always thinking of our best interests, Harry replied lovingly. Hermione snorted and grew silent, You miss them, don't you, Hermione. She nodded, and then shrugged, rolling over to face him, before burying her face in his chest. Harry sputtered softly, spitting hair out of his mouth, before he absently started to draw small circles on the small of her back with one finger. We can go see them if you want, Hermione. My offer from before still stands, all you have to do is grab your shoes and socks. We can still beat the train there.
She sighed, and curled more tightly into his chest, We shouldn't...I just miss them, Harry, it always seems so empty here when they are gone.
I'm here, Hermione, Harry muttered, and she nodded.
I know, baby...and honestly, it's all I need, but...
I understand, Harry replied, bending his head enough to kiss her forehead. She smiled slightly, the emotion felt but unseen, and closed her eyes, concentrating on the soft heartbeat her senses could discern. Harry looked out over her head for a minute, then two, as she settled down completely, her thoughts slipping into the busy, background hum that filled her mind at almost every waking moment, only broken by... So, Hermione, what about that suggestion from earlier?
She didn't respond, not in words, as she slowly squirmed upwards, nuzzling his neck. He laughed softly, as his hands, left their idle ministrations and began to move slowly, pushing up the back of her jumper, far enough to detect she had been rather relaxed when she changed to the old, overly large jumper of Harry's that she had put on when she had returned home.
Hermione leaned back; smirking slightly as she wormed her way higher, kissing along the side of his neck, and then, chin. "How about we do start here?" she whispered against his lips and leaned forward slightly, pressing hers to his. Her eyes slipped closed, as she felt her heart rate start to spike, and her thoughts begin to swirl, rushing forward, when....
HOOT, a loud ring tone shouted from their mirrors, in almost exact synchronicity and Hermione and Harry groaned as one. Harry gave her an apologetic glance, and held up a hand, summoning his to his hand. If it had been any other night, not a full moon with Remus incapacitated, they might have ignored it...maybe.
Harry flipped it open with one hand as he moved to a sitting position against the arm of the couch, slightly hampered by Hermione not pulling away enough to easily accomplish that goal. The mirror swirled and split, fading into an image of a MLE dispatcher. The Potters instantly sobered, any thoughts of their interrupted distraction vanishing at the white, panicked look on the man's face, a face that had been carefully trained to remain calm no matter what, not even if he was listening to the final moments of some Auror somewhere as they were killed.
It had happened before.
"S...sir," he started and stopped, glancing back over his shoulder in the small image.
"What?" Harry asked; then looked up as Hermione tumbled off of the couch diving for the aforementioned shoes and socks. She whipped on a pair of trainers, and Harry's eyes widened as his own flashed from near the door and laced themselves on. The mirror dropped from his hand as the sudden spike of fear, pulsed though his veins, and Hermione flung a sheathed blade at him. "Get a team there, NOW!" Harry snapped towards the mirror, even before the dispatcher could force himself to say that the Hogwarts Express had been hit.
The kids' links to their parents were only rudimentary compared to Harry and Hermione's or even Em and Xander's. They could feel each other's emotions at times, but not thoughts, and not over the length of Great Britain. Not like Harry could decide what to fix for dinner by what Hermione was craving even if she were in Aberdeen and he was home on the coast of Wales. But even so, as they both focused on them, they could feel the terror both of their children felt.
Hermione glanced up at him, buckling a weapons belt around her hips and tying down the wand sheath to her thigh. She reached back, checking that her blades were there, and just for a millisecond let a rational thought that they probably should learn a bit more before rushing in cross her mind. The thought died, savaged under much older, baser instincts that even her analytical mind could not fathom properly. She vanished without a sound, and Harry followed immediately thereafter, only managing to barely buckle on his own weapons belt and slide the mirror into a pouch that allowed it to broadcast to the his ears wirelessly, before he vanished as well.
Sorry about that...