Here it is, the start of the fallout...Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her splendid work on this
chapter. As usual I only own the plot, and the OCs.
Chapter 11: Broken
********************Hogwarts, Hospital Wing************************
September 2, 2015
9:20 pm
A quiet beeping accompanied the steady pulsing of a softly-glowing, hovering orb as it hovered over a blanket-covered shape in one of the beds. Brown hair fell lankly over a sleeping face, covering closed eyelids. A single, glowing Illumination Sphere, hovering near the vaulted ceiling, turned almost all the way down, provided the only illumination in the ward, casting shadows over several beds. A set of privacy curtains blocked off the occupied bed and an empty one next to it, along with a large, comfortable recliner in muted red and gold. A silent, presence sat in the chair, looking towards the bed, light from the orb glinting off his lenses.
He turned, not speaking as the curtains parted slightly, and a thin, pale shape, in red pajamas with small gold snitches flitting about, moved to the bed. Black curls hung limply around her face, almost hiding emerald eyes that caught the moonlight filtering in from the windows like a cat's...or maybe they were glowing from within. Dried tracks were faintly visible on her face as she knelt next to the bed on the stone floor, not even wincing, and grabbed one of the hands sticking out of the blankets with both of hers and dropped her head to them.
She rubbed her cheek on the back of the hand, before she looked up, her bottom lip in her teeth. Emilia let go with one hand, and reached up, sweeping brown locks off of his forehead, grimacing as she felt the dampness of his sweat, the fever that had taken him still not broken. "You need to wake up, baby," Emilia whispered, her voice hoarse, "please...Abby said she misses you...Harriet said that your robes had snargle bitters...I don't know either, but we de-snargled them..." She swallowed; pulling back tears that did her no good, right now. Across the bed, still unnoticed, the occupant of the chair pulled off his glasses and rubbed his nose.
"Please wake up, Xan..." Emilia pleaded again, "I'm sorry I left, I didn't want to but Rain and Harriet made me go eat...I didn't want to hurt them so I let them take me, but I'm not leaving here again, so you better get up, you don't want me to miss classes." Xander didn't move, and she dropped her head down and silent tears ghosted out, dampening the blankets. She turned her head, letting it rest on his stomach, "I'll do anything, Xan, just get up..." She smiled faintly, "I'll shag you right here in the infirmary...even my folks never did that..."
"Should I leave you two alone, then?" a faint, almost amused baritone whispered across the secluded corner.
"Dad!" Emilia exclaimed, coming upright and looking across to finally notice Harry sitting in the chair, "I didn't see you there."
"Obviously," he replied dryly. "Are you alright, Poppet?" he asked seriously. She looked up and held his eyes for a moment, before shaking her head quickly, a soft squeak escaping her lips. Harry held his arms out, and Emilia vanished, reappearing in his lap almost as if she had Apparated over. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and buried her face in them, sobbing softly. Harry swallowed heavily as he started to run his fingers along her hair, continually combing it, and muttering nonsense into her hair.
Emilia continued to cry quietly, for several more minutes, and Harry felt his heart break, "It's my fault, Daddy," she muttered, her voice cracking as she balled his shirt tighter in small hands. "He took that hit for me...he..."
"He loves you, Em," Harry replied quietly, "there wasn't a choice...not in his mind. Your mum, still, brings up me taking a Cruciatus for her that Tom cast. But I'd do it a thousand times, if it kept her from getting hit once. It's the same for him, Honey. He knew what he was doing."
"I need him, Daddy, I can't even breathe properly without him. Can you and Mummy help him...please..."
"I know, Em, I know...He's going to be alright, Emilia, Poppy's the best there is. She will have him up and about before you know it," Harry said, rocking his daughter in his arms like he had not done for years and years. She pulled her head out from his shirt, and looked across at Xander as he lay motionless. Xander took a deep, shuddering breath and she froze, shivering in Harry's arms until Xander started breathing normally again.
Harry kissed her forehead and gestured with his free hand. Xander's bed expanded by a third again, and Harry slowly stood, holding his daughter in his arms like she was eight. He gently laid her down next to Xander, and she looked up at him, tears still sparkling in her eyes, "Won't Madame Pomfrey get mad, Dad?"
"She'll deal, don't worry about it, Em, get some sleep, you'll both do better," Harry smiled and she returned it tremulously. She smiled again and rolled over, snuggling into Xander's side. Harry watched as Emilia's breathing slowed, unconsciously matching Xander's as she slipped off to sleep.
Harry watched them sleep, his eyes picking up a faint glow as the orb dimmed even further. He drew a square in the air and caught the book that appeared with a faint POP. He opened it and started to read, the Night Vision spell allowing him to audit black text on white parchment with ease.
Harry read an entire chapter on the transition of the Snitch from its original living form to the enchanted, mechanical ball of today as Emilia slept. He looked up as the curtains parted behind him, and Emilia stirred slightly and settled back down. He turned his head, vanishing the book and watched as Hermione stood next to the bed, running her fingers along Emilia's hair. Hermione bent down and kissed her daughter's cheek, and repeated the gesture with Xander, neither stirred.
She slipped back to Harry and sat down, pulling her legs up and snuggling up to him. Tonks said she and Remus will be here in the morning...He...wasn't terribly stable. Hermione looked up at him, eyes sparkling with her own unshed tears, I'm not too terribly stable, Harry.
I know, Hermione. I know...
Hermione nodded, It's good you put her in bed with him, should help them recover. He can siphon off power if he needs it, she'll take a touch of his pain if he has any, and she'll keep from going insane. She watched as Emilia stirred in her sleep, muttering something, before she stopped and settled back down, her lips against his throat. Hermione pulled her knees up to her chest, shivering, I don't know if I can do this, Harry, not again. It damn near killed me last time, and it was just us...now it's my babies too. Xander's mine too, Harry, just like Harriet, Abby...I'll not see any of them hurt. Tonks and I used to feed them together, Em and Xander slept in the same crib half the time with Tonks and I on leave together...
You are the strongest person I know, Hermione, Harry replied soothingly, wrapping his arms tighter around her, and rocking her gently, just like he had just done with Emilia. Of course we'll stay here, Hermione, he added, knowing what she wanted without speaking. She gave him a faint smile before closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder.
****************************Gryffindor Tower**************************
Rain moved silently, padding like a ghost across the rug-covered stone floors of the Common Room, a pair of steaming mugs in her hands. She sat on a tattered couch, which very well might have been there in Dumbledore's era, which had seen countless tragedies and triumphs in its time, and handed one of the mugs to Harriet. She took it without commenting, as she continued to stare across the room at a small girl, whose hair seemed to cycle through colors like an out of control Christmas Tree, as she sat rocking in place on one of the couches. "Are you ok, Harriet?"
Harriet continued to look at Abigail, watching as Elliot and Shin comforted the tiny girl, "It wasn't like this there," Harriet said without looking up. "People died or just disappeared...we never left the grounds of the school, but it wasn't like this. I never cared about the rest of them, not really, except for Mum and Dad and Gaheris." Her wolf looked up at her from his post on the rug in front of the fire, already burning even this early to fight off the chill of a rather cool night. He settled back down as she went on, quietly, and Rain's blue eyes watched as she picked at a hole in her jeans, though which the white of a bandage could be seen. "I'm scared, Rain...it used to never scare me, why does it now?"
"Cause you love them?" Rain replied, shrugging, "The stakes are higher...back there...let me guess from what you said, your folks were the heavy hitters, it was a touch of anarchy, but they could handle themselves against whatever came. You'll have to deal, hun...just like I do." Harriet gave her a look and she shrugged, "Mom and Dad were both very...pragmatic, I guess. I grew up, knowing that it could get messy, he always used to say that it wasn't over, unlike what all the books said, I didn't always believe him, or at least I thought I didn't but it was there in the back of my mind I suppose." Rain glanced up as she saw Sirius standing, politely just out of unassisted hearing range, she waved him over with a covert motion of two fingers, "I need to look over the reading for Dra...Black." Rain got up and left, tracking towards the stairs leading up to the Girls' Dorms.
"Are you...alright, Harriet?" Sirius asked, his words only a susurration as he slowly knelt in front of her. She looked up; meeting his eyes and shook her head quickly, tears sprinkling her eyes. She watched, not speaking as he moved next to her, holding his arms out and folding them around her as she crawled into his lap.
"I'm glad they didn't hurt you, Sirius," she mentioned after a moment, looking down at his arms, not quite trusting herself to look up into his face for some reason. "Your parents are here, down with Xander and Emilia, why aren't you there?"
"You needed me," he replied, almost as if he were surprised at the answer. He froze for an instant, listening to the words echo about in his head. He filed away the thoughts that unthinking answer led to and looked down at her, watching as she continued to look down at his arms, not catching the smile that crossed her lips, that she was unaware of herself. "You should get some sleep, you have class tomorrow, Harriet."
"I've already read the book, Sirius," she replied shrugging, she fell silent, and looked over as a clump of second years, all of them laughing at something, seemingly unaffected by the attack on the train only two days before, got up and left a set of study tables heading up the stairs to their rooms. Another few students slipped in, talking, and she burrowed into his robes, sighing quietly as she smelled the scent of grass and sky, still there after his late evening flight to clear his head. "Can you stay here with me...I don't want to go to bed," she asked softly.
"Of course."
September 3, 2015
6:30 am
Harriet blinked awake as a shaft of sunlight flitted in through a narrow, leaded-glass window in the round, common room. She looked around, feeling instantly cold for some reason as she found herself alone on the long, tattered couch. She tossed off a red and gold throw, flipping it back over the back of the couch, and sat up slowly, looking around the room. A tattered, brightly colored blanket covered someone on the couch opposite, only a fall of straight black hair poked out from under it at the top, and a single bare foot with a silver anklet at the other.
Harriet pushed up off the couch and looked down, "Do you know where, Sirius is?"
Rain muttered something about 'requirement', and Harriet frowned, before heading out the portrait hole, and off along the corridor. Harriet picked up speed as she reached the seventh floor hallway where she knew the Room of Requirement was from stories and her explorations of her 'own Hogwarts'. Her bare feet made soft slapping noises against the floor, she had not noticed that she was barefoot until she reached the wing housing the room, and had immediately dismissed the issue as inconsequential.
She slid to a stop at the head of a long, dim corridor and walked up the hall. She looked over to her left, finding that Barnabas was long gone, still hiding from his trolls no doubt, before she looked to her right, to find that the thick oak door, with its brass knocker, had already materialized. Her hand shook slightly for some reason as she reached for the doorknob.
With a quick breath, she opened the door and slipped in...only to drop flat as a shimmering yellow curse snapped over her head. She rolled to her side, reaching back as she snap-kicked to her feet and shook a dark cylinder inset with glowing runes in her hand.
Her staff telescoped from its traveling mode, and she ducked under the swing of a darkly cloaked attacker. Harriet spun to her right, and swept his legs out from under him. The other end whistled highly as it cut through the air, and cracked across the Death Eater's jaw. She looked around the room quickly to find it dark and filled with smoke.
Crumpled bits of stone and debris provided a barren, moonscape-like battlefield. She looked up as three Death Eaters appeared out of the gloom and lined up on her. Harriet dove over a pile of rock to her side, tucking and rolling as she hit, only to stop as she bumped into the side of another kneeling form. She looked up, already snapping a punch up, when she froze, Sirius' emerald orbs filling her entire field of vision.
Sirius gulped, looking down at her, and frantically waved his wand over his head.
Instantly the battlefield vanished, replaced for a bare instant by a pure white room, before a comfortable, miniature version of the Gryffindor Common Room appeared. Sirius rose to his feet, with a grace helped by training and adrenaline before reaching down and pulling her up with one hand, without so much as a grunt of effort.
"You're hurt," Harriet said, after a minute of silence.
Sirius shrugged, "What are you doing here? I thought you were still asleep." Harriet grabbed his hand and pulled him along to the couch, pushing him back into the cushions.
She collapsed her staff and dropped the resulting cylinder on the floor, before fumbling around, patting herself down to find that, though she had been wearing her staff in its holster, she had forgot her wand. She frowned and reached forward, plucking Sirius' wand from his fingers. She lightly ran it along a shallow cut on his cheek, effortlessly vanishing it without a scar. She let the wand drop to the seat of the couch next to him and thumbed away the remaining smear of blood. "I can only sleep so long at a time...The House Elves might decide to feed me to the Thestrals." She rose from the crouch she had been in, in front of him to sit on the couch, a half cushion away.
Sirius glanced down, seeing her bare feet, but did not comment. He leaned forward, and plucked her collapsed staff from the floor and handed it to her, before he vanished his own wand. "You need to make sure you're armed at all times, Harriet. I don't want you to get ambushed."
"I won't forget again," she promised quietly, the words meaning a great deal for some reason.
"I'm not mad, Harriet," Sirius said quickly.
"I know."
Sirius watched her out of the corner of his eye for a moment, watching as she looked straight ahead fixedly. He stood. "I need to get a shower, and you probably need to get one too..." Harriet turned at his words, a faint flush lighting the tips of her ears. "I...m...mean that I should get one, and you need to get ready for class...separately."
Harriet nodded and stood. "Yes, I should get ready for class," she said softly. She walked to the door without another word, and stopped, looking back at him, "Are you going to go back to the tower as well?" Sirius nodded, before striding to the door and opening it for her, letting her pass, before following and closing it behind him, where it vanished from view.
The pair of them were silent as they headed off, down the seventh-floor corridor towards Gryffindor Tower.
********************Hospital Wing***********************
Hermione yawned, and stirred against Harry in the large armchair they shared. She moved on his lap, having fallen asleep, uncomfortably yes, but safely, about two. She smiled faintly as he automatically tightened his arms around her, holding her to him. With a tiny shake of her head, she took a breath and vanished, reappearing standing next to the chair.
She leaned down, kissing him, before pacing over to the bed they had sat vigil over and knelt next to it, "Oh, Honey," Hermione whispered as she ran her fingers lightly along Emilia's hair, so similar to her own, that except for the color, one could have switched it between them and none would be the wiser. "I wish I could make it all better for you, I never wanted you to have to live a life like this-having to fight-to, kill..." She leaned forward and kissed Emilia's forehead, and stood, leaning over her daughter to kiss Xander's cheek, "Wake up, Xander...she needs you."
Hermione grabbed a tattered Gryffindor sweatshirt from a table near the chair Harry still occupied, and pulled it on over her head as she stepped out of the main infirmary, passing the entrance to Poppy's office and heading out into the castle. She walked along the corridor, noticing the sound of her footfalls, loud in her exhaustion, absently counting her steps...a habit she had left behind years ago, even before she went to Hogwarts that first time and met a green-eyed boy on a train.
Distantly, she heard the sound of several students running along the corridor, headed no doubt for the Great Hall and the belated first day of classes. Her stomach growled suddenly, and she frowned and headed that way herself, with vague thoughts of securing breakfast, as the thought came to the fore, she belatedly realized she had not ate in a day, not the most brilliant idea with her enhanced metabolism.
She walked along the corridors, not looking where she was going and not needing to. She, after all, knew the castle almost as well as anyone ever had. Several students in Ravenclaw colors pointed at her as she stepped out into the second floor landing and walked down the grand stairs. A thick, unsettled feeling came over her, like it did every time she came here, walking into the entrance hall.
Hermione paused, kneeling in front of the golden phoenix statue that dominated the atrium. A scattering of offerings and mementos sat on the ground next to the black marble slab that formed the base, with bronze plaques set on each side, filled with names of those lost to the war. She reached forward and ran her fingers along 'Ronald and Luna Weasley'.
"I stop here every time as well," a soft voice mentioned from above and behind her, older and softer than the children streaming past, most of them ignoring the odd adults in their midst, or more accurately not noticing who was taking up space as Hermione's hair, often a curtain to her face, and occasionally her thoughts was hiding her features from the passerby, and the newcomer never was as famous as her or Harry.
Parvati knelt next to her; still in the lemon yellow scrubs she typically wore under her Healers' robes, limp from a night at St. Mungo's. She glanced at Hermione, before bending forward and softly kissing the plaque, right over an inscription reading, "Lavender Brown". She sat back on her heels and reached into a thigh pocket, removing and placing a small, stuffed rabbit under Lavender's name. Parvati's fingers lingered on the rabbit for a long minute, before she looked over at Hermione. "It still hurts, you know."
"I know," Hermione replied, looking over at her former roommate. Parvati nodded absently and rocked to her feet in one movement, moving over to sit on one of the stone benches lining the atrium. She stared at the golden bird unseeingly, as Hermione dropped next to her. Pavarti looked down at her hands, twisting a ring on her left ring finger, twin to another that could be seen hanging on her neck on a thin gold chain. "Are you alright, Parvati...do you want me to go get Neville?" Hermione asked softly.
Parvati shook her head and sighed quietly, "Lavender and I had a plan, you know, Hermione..." she snorted to herself, "alright, it changed a tad when we brought Neville in..."
"Parvati...he..."
"We were each going to have two sprogs, a boy and a girl," Parvati went on as if Hermione had not spoken, "I was going to be a healer, do my years of mandated work in St. Mungo's and open a practice in Hogsmeade, and Lavender," Parvati chuckled softly, "she wanted to be a reporter. Neville...McGonagall had already offered him the job here, at least taking over the younger classes, Sprout was already going to retire, though she was originally going to take a few more years to do it." Parvati took a breath, sniffling slightly, "I loved...love her, Hermione...it wasn't just some adolescent 'experimental' thing...though I suppose it started like that," she looked over at Hermione, a suddenly inquiring look in her eye, "not like it would have been say if you and Luna had 'experimented'."
Hermione took a breath, "I never thought you didn't love her, Par, none of us that knew you two...three, thought that, not after we watched you three for a bit."
"My dad did...he already wasn't the most...pleased with Pad and I making our stand with Harry, and then, when I wrote them that I was in love with not only a boy...but a Muggle-born witch as well..." Parvati sighed and stood from the bench, "All of that is moot, now, my sister and I don't talk to him and he doesn't talk to us, either, except for what family events we are at."
"I'm sorry, Parvati," Hermione replied quietly.
Parvati shrugged and started towards the Great Hall, moving with the increasing throngs of students as they passed through the huge, oak doors. Both Hermione and Parvati started automatically towards the Gryffindor table and stopped, laughing softly at themselves. Hermione turned and looked back towards the doors as she felt Rain slip in, looking tired, but dressed in her uniform for the first day of classes. Her brother was standing next to her, yawning as he said something to her between breaths. She nodded and he headed off, moving to the other side of the Gryffindor table and dropping next to a pair of Abigail's roommates.
Parvati and Hermione sat down at the far end of the Gryffindor Table, empty except for a seventh year girl, already nose deep into a thick tome on industrial charms. "How's Xander?"
Hermione shrugged, and unconsciously glanced up in the direction where she could still feel Harry, "He's still out, he got hit at the height of the full moon; Poppy seems to think he will be, alright, if she can get the fever to break." Hermione looked down and grabbed a muffin from a tray, ripping it in half, "Em's with him, she's crushed right now."
"And Abby?" Parvati asked. As if called, the tiny girl slipped into the room, walking along with Elliot, Justin and Virginia and a brown-haired girl that Hermione only vaguely recognized as Virginia's roommate. Abigail's normally vibrant to blinding hair was lank and black, falling halfway down her back in a messy tail. She looked as if she had dressed in the dark, her tie was on crookedly and blouse was unbuttoned, unintentionally, at several random buttons. "Oh...I see," Parvati finished, she looked back to Hermione, "When are Tonks and Remus getting here?"
"Any time now," Hermione replied, "Any time now." She glanced up as Neville appeared with a stack of parchments. He paused, kissing Parvati on the top of the head to the accompaniment of soft "ahhs" from several younger members of the fairer gender. She looked up and gave him a small smile. He bent down and kissed her again, before moving on, to complete giving out the schedules to his house.
Parvati stood, "I'm going to talk to Poppy about it...I've been looking into side effects of Wolfsbane...maybe some of that work will help." Hermione nodded and watched as Parvati gave her a small shrug and headed off towards the doors and the Hospital wing, nibbling on a muffin as she went.
*************************Charms #1*******************************
8:01 am
Filius Flitwick walked slowly into the full Charms Classroom, the click of the short cane in his left hand a soft counterpoint to his steps. He looked out over the classroom and mounted a short set of steps that lead to the top of his desk where he looked out over his NEWT Charms class. He had never, fully, recovered from his capture and torture by Death Eaters at the final battle seventeen years ago, causing him to walk with a cane even now. Even Madame Pomfrey had never been able to repair the nerve damage sustained that night, but he had returned to school.
He nodded to himself, finding Emilia Potter in the front row, surrounded by, on her left-as she had been almost every class for the last six years-by her best friend, Rain Kincaid. A single eyebrow crooked slightly as he looked over the girl on her right, a spot that for the last two years had been occupied, except for a few notable...disagreements, by Xander Lupin. He watched as Harriet impatiently pushed red hair out of her eyes, sweeping it behind her ears, brushing her wand.
Flitwick almost snorted, but held it in, as he saw Harriet pull her wand from behind her ear impatiently and set it on the table before her, and if he was not mistaken, started to talk to it in a serious, low tone. Next to her, Emilia was fidgeting, and occasionally, looking daggers at the two girls. Both of Flitwick's eyebrows shot upwards as Emilia, possibly the best student he had had in Charms since her mother, started to stand and was pulled back into her seat by both girls.
Filius took a sharp breath and his fingers brushed the hilt of his wand in his pocket, as he felt a pulse of magic snap out from Emilia. He relaxed as he watched Rain lean over and whisper something sharp in Emilia's ear. Emilia sat back and crossed her arms, but seemed to relax as Flitwick cleared his throat. "Good morning class," he squeaked in his high-pitched voice, familiar to generations of Hogwarts students. "Welcome to NEWT-level Charms...As most of you know, at least those of you actually paying attention to your Head of House when you discussed your futures at Hogwarts last year, this class is a two-year course, and depending on your end of year marks, you may or may not be invited to continue on this course of study." He smiled and waved at the board with his wand, instantly words began to write themselves on it, though not always in a letter-by-letter fashion.
"In this class, for the next two years we will explore..."
Emilia tuned out the diminutive professor, as she looked down at a empty sheet of parchment, which by now would normally be already half-filled with Flitwick's words, thought trees developing concepts from those words and tentative study schedules for herself, Xander, Rain and these days, probably Harriet as well. She picked up her quill, a pure white one that Hedwig had donated to her when she had started school, and watched, as it seemed to twirl by itself in her hand.
She sighed softly, seemingly fascinated with the grain of her textbook, and the first page of the first chapter, though she had read it when she was studying for her OWLs, in third year, just in case. Her eyes slipped half-closed, as she watched a bit of speckled sunlight crawl across the sheet, slicing in from the ancient windows of the classroom. She set her quill down on the tabletop, and slowly ran her fingers along the grain of her parchment, feeling its texture.
Emilia bit her lip, the sharp taste of blood oddly comforting, as it reminded her of being pricked with Xander's fangs. "Miss Potter?" Flitwick's high-pitched voice asked, unheeded as she looked at her nails, I wonder if Xander would like my nail polish? She mused as she looked at her nails, which had not been retouched at all since the night before the train, when she had let Xander read to her, while she painted them.
Rain glanced over Emilia at Harriet worriedly, and the redhead, looked...concerned. Flitwick cleared his throat, "Miss Potter," he said more firmly, and Rain jabbed her hard in the ribs, causing Em to look up at Flitwick, "I asked, since I am sure that you have read the chapter, what is the fundamental basis for the Protean series of charms?"
Emilia looked at him for a long minute and shrugged. Flitwick looked shocked and glanced at Rain, who gave a tiny shrug of her own. Flitwick opened his mouth to say something, just what he was not yet cognizant of, not being used to his from her, when Emilia gasped as a sharp pain ripped through her chest and she gasped, loudly. Emerald eyes took on a faint glow, pulsing slightly with the beat of her heartbeat and Rain leaned forward, both shielding her from the rest of the class behind her and to see into her face. "Xander," she whispered unsteadily, as she shot to her feet suddenly, and before anyone could move pushed past Harriet and ran out the open door into the hall.
"Professor..." Rain said, looking up at him as Emilia's footsteps could be heard receding in the distance down the hallway, and the rest of the class started murmuring heatedly.
"Go," Flitwick replied, "Take Miss Weasley with you, I will discuss your assignments later. And tell Miss Potter that I will have words with her Head of House over this incident." He made a quick shooing motion and Rain swept Emilia's class supplies, those that she had bothered to get out, into a for her uncharacteristically light bag, grabbed her own and ran out of the classroom after Emilia with Harriet on her heels though following at a more sedate pace.
******************************Ministry of Magic***************************
8:11 am
Hermione Potter appeared silently out of the ether in the seventh floor Atrium of the Ministry of Magic and headed forward, walking towards the golden lifts clanging up and down at the back of the room. Instantly she cursed her preoccupation as she looked up, towards the boarding area in front of the lifts to find a veritable sea of reporters, all of them already salivating at her approach and yelling questions. Had she really been thinking, when she left her future son-in-law's bedside a moment ago, she would have Apparated directly into the MLE headquarters instead of thinking of the Ministry in general, and the general arrival zone near the fountain.
She bit her lip and sighed, straightening her shoulders and walking forward, now that they had actually seen her, she would be dammed if she would Apparate up the several floors to her office, it would have been seen as running. "POTTER, IS IT TRUE THAT WEREWOLVES WERE INVOLVED IN THE TRAIN ATTACK?" Another shouted, "IS CHIEF AUROR LUPIN UNDER INVESTIGATION?" Hermione greeted that one with a glare that caused the reporter, a tall, thin man with only a ring of brown hair around his otherwise gleaming palate to jump back, gulping.
She ignored the rest, mostly variations on the Train attack, or various accusations of incompetence on the part of the MLE or on Hogwarts or the Ministry in general, and stepped through the crowd, the vast majority of the reporters having at the least the common sense God gave a headless chicken and stepping out of her way. All except one...
"IS IT TRUE, HERMIONE," A hated voice from the past growled, "THAT YOUR DAUGHTER IS ENGAGED TO CHIEF LUPIN'S SON AND YOU ARE COVERING UP HIS INCOMPETANCE BECAUSE OF IT?" Hermione ignored the question and kept walking. "IS HARRIET YOUR HUSBAND AND MRS. BLACK'S LOVECHILD?" Hermione snarled under her breath just as she reached the cage and spun on her heel to face the tight golden curls, now going grey, and beady eyes of her periodic tormentor since she was fifteen.
"IS IT ALSO TRUE," Rita Skeeter went on with a smug grin as a Quick Quotes Quill scribbled constantly on a pad of parchment hovering near her ear. A flashbulb snapped out, recording the dark, glittering look in Hermione's eyes as Rita continued, her voice normal as she slipped into conversation distance with Hermione, "That the reason your sixteen-year-old daughter is engaged at such an early age, is because she is..."
"Rita," Hermione's quiet, flat voice cut across her words like a red-hot knife, "another word, another slander, and I will challenge you here and now..." Rita froze in mid-word and Hermione spun back around and stepped onto the lift, and closed the grate. Questions continued to be screamed at her as she rose out of sight, and camera bulbs continued to flash.
She sighed and fell back against the wall of the lift, flicking her wand at the lift controls to prevent anyone else from calling it, and rode it upwards. She watched as it clattered and shook, the floors passing in front of the car slowly as a squadron of paper airplanes circled above her, trapped on the lift when she locked it out. Hermione checked her watch as the lift finally jerked to a stop and the door slid open, before stepping out onto the second floor and heading quickly down the corridor. She passed through the open cubicle area, nodding to a few officers and agents working at paperwork or talking to their colleagues.
She shook her head at an offer of coffee and pushed through a closed door set to the side of the open room, past a pair of Aurors standing guard, and into a small conference room. Harry glanced up, and she frowned faintly at the sight of the dark rings under his eyes, and her heart broke a touch more at seeing the dark look Lupin was giving the tabletop. Tonks was still at Hogwarts, where she had been since this morning. Hermione looked briefly around at the others in the conference room, Arthur, Wendell, Teresa Chase, Head of Interspecies Intelligence and Konrad Flink, a civilian, contracted "Expert" on Weres. A long exasperated sigh slipped along her thoughts at the thought of his "advice", though no trace of it ever touched her face.
She slipped to Lupin at the head of the table, and bent down next to him, shared a quick word and kissed his cheek. Flink gave her an unheeded glare as she slipped down to the other end of the oval table and sat down, rolling her chair until it was pushed against Harry's. Her hand darted over to tap his knee under the table and she felt his attention slip to her, not that some part was not always focused on her, Rita knows too much, Harry...she knew about Em and Xander. Hermione shrugged invisibly at the touch of shock that crossed Harry's thoughts, as he flicked through her memories of a few minutes ago.
We'll deal with that later...she could just be guessing...its not like they can know for sure, Harry replied, his hand slipping down to grab hers for an instant. He squeezed it, and she followed the invisible pointer in his head as he motioned towards Remus who was straightening and taking a sip of coffee from the mug at his elbow. Remus looked over at the Minister of Magic, who nodded and motioned towards Lupin.
Remus took a breath and looked across at Harry, setting aside his worries for his son, in favor of doing his duty, for now anyway. For a brief moment, he let himself wonder if this would have happened if Mad-Eye or Kingley had survived to become Chief Auror instead of him. He shook off the thought; he had had enough self-recriminations for one lifetime, and cleared his throat, though the sound sounded more like a low growl than anything. "Let's get this over with, there are things I am sure that we all need to be about to." He looked over at his grizzled Forensic Chief, who had started on the streets of London with Mad-Eye, having attended the academy with him, and then after a long and winding career, ended up in his current role. "Wendell, any update from the Express attack?"
"Not really," he replied, "the weres there were all sanitized, and all of the Death Eater wannabe's were known to us, mostly low-level hoodlums that have come to the attention of the MLE or local forces for various infractions, theft, assault...a couple were suspected for the attacks on the Stonehenge campus last year, but had vanished before anyone could find them." He picked up his wand from the table next to a battered coffee mug decorated with a pair of crossed wands set over an owl, and flicked it at the center of the table. Floating images of pale, blank faces, the images taken in the Ministry Morgue this morning, hovered above the center of the table. Small white gothic lettering spelled out the name of each. Flink looked sick, as Hermione looked over at Homes.
"None of these guys is known to be one of the ones that we weren't able to get enough on to convict after the war, right Wendell?" Hermione confirmed and he nodded.
"I wish I could give you one of them, lass, but no, sorry..."
Flink looked at each of them, then at Arthur, "I do not understand why you insist on grouping weres with those villains...It is that kind of prejudice that fosters the sense of alienation that provides for these...misunderstandings." He straightened a rather expensive-looking pair of robes, his outfit in stark contrast to Hermione, who had only stopped to toss on a clean pair of slightly worn jeans and a Weird Sisters concert T-shirt on under a dragonhide jacket from her jump bag before coming over from Hogwarts. Harry was only a touch more presentable, a dark shirt over khaki cargos, again from their emergency bag.
"Frankly, Flink," Harry interjected, "I don't care if they have large wedges of green cheese for heads...I know what happened so shut up or leave." The "consultant's" mouth flopped open like a fish out of water and Harry ignored him, looking instead to Chase, "Teresa; any word from your group?"
She shrugged, shuffling through a large pile of papers, all stamped quite obviously with the blood-red confidential stamp, "Not really, Harry, there were a few rumors that several werewolves and possibly some vamps were looking for a touch of extra...excitement, perhaps this and the group last month are part of that."
Arthur Weasley looked around the room and sighed mightily, "Ladies and gentleman, frankly we do not have time for this. There is a petition, right now, in the Wizengamot for a vote of no confidence in my government. While I have it on good authority that this attempt will not get out of committee, there will be others, and we can not afford to have division at this time. We need to get to the bottom of this action, of this and the attack at Diagon Alley, I can not believe that the two are not related intimately. I will not, if I can help it, have History repeat itself on my watch, understood?"
There you go, next chapter, a bit of fluff with your angst.