A/N Once more, we go back to the well. As usual, I own nothing really except for the rather insane number of
OCs... Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 20: Statements of Position
***************************Godric's Hollow*******************************
November 7, 2015
2:21 pm
Hermione dropped heavily to the padded floor, and let herself pant quietly for a moment. She reached behind her, drawing her daggers and flipping them to her sides. A heavy breath and she peeled off a sodden t-shirt, and chucked it towards the edge of the mats, leaving her in a white sports bra turned grey with sweat, before falling backwards onto the floor.
She took a deep breath, looking up into the rock ceiling of the cavern beneath her home. The low hum of the ventilation fans competed with the soft huffs of her breath. Slowly she let her head flop to the side, and watched as a pink-haired woman padded down the stairs from above, kicking off her shoes and plopping down in front of Hermione, crossing her legs and leaning forward.
"Wotcher," Tonks greeted, laughing faintly, "should I take off my top too?"
"If you want," Hermione replied without looking up.
Tonks looked as if she were considering it, fingering a rather worn Befuddled Banshees t-shirt and shrugged, "Better not, I'd hate for you to get too excited, since I'm not wearing anything under it."
Hermione laughed, and watched as Tonks looked around the caverns. The simulacrums were gone, vanished as Hermione called an end to the training simulation. She caught a water bottle Tonks flipped her and took a long drink before tossing it to the floor. "What's up, Tonks?"
"Remus had to go to some meeting in Dover, and I was bored..." she replied with a shrug, and flicked her wand at the red mat. A brown butterbeer bottle appeared with a POP and she took a long drink.
Hermione sat up and crooked an eyebrow, "Bullocks."
Tonks sighed and took another drink. She looked to Hermione, "Wotcher...yeah, you're right. I'm full of shyte."
"That's a given," Hermione laughed, and Tonks grinned. Hermione's smile slipped slightly, "You can tell me anything, you know that, big sis."
Tonks nodded, "I know...I was in Diagon Alley yesterday afternoon, meeting with an old informant, you know Smiley Wilkershins?" Hermione nodded. "Evidently, Molly has been talking about her...dissatisfaction with Harriet's guardianship rather openly to some of her friends...she was seen meeting with Rita..."
"Brilliant," Hermione muttered, and closed her eyes with a sigh, "What is it with her, Tonks?" she asked after picking her water bottle back up and taking another long drink. "I don't want to keep Harriet from her, she is her grandmother for Merlin's sake, she has a right to see her, I don't dispute that at all. But, Luna trusted Harriet to me and I will be damned if I don't honor that request. She's happy when she's here."
"I think that Molly thinks that you aren't the...best role model for Harriet," Tonks replied hesitantly. "Something about it..." Hermione took a breath and Tonks shrugged, "You aren't the only one, she berated me the other day because Abby had a stud in her nose when she last saw her...Said I was a bad mother for exposing her to...Muggle ideas..."
"You let her get a nose ring?" Hermione half-laughed, and glanced at the small diamond that Tonks was sporting today on her left nostril.
"No, it was magnetic;" Tonks explained, "but if she asked I might let her...It's her body." She sighed, "But she wouldn't even let Abby explain, before she yelled at her to take it out...which of course just pissed her off, my little girl has too much of me in her, to let that pass." Tonks finished her beer, "Abby, of course, didn't tell me about it, I heard second hand from Angelina."
"I don't know what to do," Hermione admitted, scrubbing at suddenly tired eyes. She felt a flicker of question dance across her mind, and she dropped her head, letting a curtain of hair shield her face and the emotions dancing across her face. "She's Luna's daughter-so she's mine." Hermione let her hands fall and twist in her lap, "We promised each other...back when...that we'd take care of each others'..."
"So the fact that Remus and I named you, Abby and Xan's guardians, too..."
"Means it could get rather crowded around here...so don't let anything happen to you two," Hermione whispered.
"Alright," Tonks promised, and reached over, patting Hermione's shoulder before she stood. "I'm going to head back, but I thought you should know, just in case. I need to do some shopping...are you going to be alright there?" Hermione nodded, and Tonks patted her shoulder again and vanished with a faint POP.
3:05pm
Harry frowned as he walked into the bedroom, following the pointer in his mind, which constantly pointed to Hermione. The sound of running water came from the open door of the bathroom, and he turned to the closet, kicking off his trainers, and dropping a jumper showing rather mysterious smudges of soot on top of the hamper. He had been at the Twins' and their newest joke...was not so funny, when he felt Hermione's distress.
It had taken him several minutes to escape the Twins' questions, and admonitions to stay for only one more demonstration, before he finally just glared at them and Apparated out, collapsing their wards in the process.
He padded into the bathroom on sock-covered feet, stepping through a cloud of steam, and stopped, swallowing heavily at what he found.
Hermione looked up at him slowly from the floor of the shower, she was propped up in the back corner of the black marble stall, with her knees pulled up to her chest to support her chin. Her hair was almost black from water, falling almost straight to the floor of the shower. The eyes that met his were red, and the streams of water falling down her cheeks were not totally from the showerhead.
She did not speak as he quickly shed his clothes and stepped into the shower, sliding down to the floor beside her. Hermione crawled into his lap, and tucked her head under his, not speaking as he let her snuggle.
What? he asked after letting her cling to him for several minutes.
Am I a bad mother? Hermione murmured with a hint of desperation, I tried to be there for Em and Sirius...should I have stayed at home...
Harry sighed helplessly, They are great kids, Mione, you are a great mum, he slowly stroked her hair, and pulled her more securely to him. The water began to cool, and he muttered a spell, refreshing the heating charms. They love you, you know that.
But should I have stayed home all the time, I mean they were with Mum or Dad, or Remus and Tonks, or our other friends half the time...or alone, I...
Harry kissed the top of her head, They are loved, Hermione, they know it, that is what is important. We were there unless it was literally impossible not to be. Em and Sirius know that.
Are we raising them to be too...Muggle?
You are starting to be silly, Harry chided gently, rocking her in his arms. He felt her smile faintly, What started this, Love?
Tonks came by...Molly has been telling everyone that will listen that it's not a 'suitable' environment...she's been talking to Rita...I wonder if that's how Rita found out about Em and Xander?
Who knows? Harry replied, But she is only making her own bed...She'll get to lie in it if she doesn't stop this. I don't care, what she might have done for me when I was younger, she's insulted you enough...she's almost beyond apology. He reached down and pulled her face up with a single finger under her chin, But all of that can wait, for now, you just need to decide if you'd rather forget this in the shower...or perhaps move next door.
Hermione laughed before watching his face for a moment, her lower lip in her teeth as she watched silvery waterfalls sheet off his hair and fall down between them to drop down to her chest and stream down between her breasts. She leaned up and kissed him, Why not both, Harry? her 'voice' becoming husky, as her eyes darkened, before lighting faintly from the outside in.
He smiled and nodded, Such a brilliant girl.
************************Hogwarts, Head's Quarters**************************
April 12, 1998 (Sunday---During Chapter 45: The Light Further Dims, of Circle's End)
7:30 pm
Hermione looked up with still slightly bloodshot eyes from the impromptu party the night before as the door opened to the Heads' Common Room opened and Luna walked in quietly.
She crossed to the couch Hermione was occupying and sat down next to her, moving until she was pressed against Hermione's side. Folding her legs to her other side, her bare feet peeking out from under the hems of loose, ratty jeans, and pulled on the bottom of a red sweatshirt, with "Weasley 11" across the back.
Luna dropped her head to Hermione's shoulder, and Hermione just relaxed back into the couch, marking her place in Confounding Conundrums and Perplexing Paradoxes and setting it aside onto the end table. Hermione looked over carefully, not wanting to move the other girl's head unnecessarily. She waited as Luna looked straight forward into the fire Hermione had lit for atmosphere, and to stave off the chill in the cold castle.
Vividly painted fingernails started to play with an old necklace of butterbeer corks, "It's nice to have a sister," Luna announced suddenly as a log popped in the fire, "I rather always wanted one."
"Me too," Hermione replied as she let her head fall over to rest on Luna's. She glanced over, using just her eyes, "What's wrong, Luna? Where's Ron?"
Luna shrugged, without dislodging Hermione, "Asleep," she replied. She smiled absently, "He keeps passing out after..."
"I don't want to know," Hermione said quickly, cutting her off. "You just want to sit here?" Luna nodded, and Hermione reached over and grabbed her book, pulling it back off the table and resuming reading. Hermione slowly paged through the large book, turning the pages without really reading. "Really, Harry's usually good for..." Her face flushed suddenly and she looked down quickly, letting her hair hide her face as she pretended a resumed interest in her book.
"After the second or third..."
"Anyway," Hermione interrupted, quickly, "are you alright there, Luna?"
"Can I borrow your tartan skirt for next weekend?"
"Um...sure, anything you want, you know that," Hermione replied, "Do you need anything else? I have that new black halter. It looks good on either of us."
Luna looked up and to her left, thinking, "Sure, it will look good on the floor."
Once, that comment would have sent Hermione into a fit of apoplexy. Now she just nodded, and looked over at Luna with a small, smug grin. "It looks very good on the floor," she agreed happily. Both girls giggled quietly, leaning into each other for support.
Luna sighed and quieted, her eyes going more unfocused than normal, "Hermione, have you thought about the future?"
Hermione took a quick breath, stiffening almost imperceptibly, "What have you..."
"Nothing," Luna replied, "not about us, we are too close to the source, I can't see anything about us, really. It's not exactly a focusable talent, Hermione," she added in a tone of gentle reproof.
"Sorry," Hermione muttered and Luna shrugged it off, "Yeah, I have, Luna...I have, Merlin help me, I've tried not to, but I have. Harry's scared to, but he wants it so badly-why?"
"Will you promise me something, Hermione?" Luna asked instead, and Hermione nodded, instantly.
"Anything."
"When Ronald and I have children...if something happens to us, I want you and Harry to take care of them...I don't want what happened to Harry, happen to ours...I don't care if Molly, or Arthur, or anyone wants differently, I trust you and Harry."
Hermione swallowed heavily, and sudden tears bloomed in the corners of her eyes. "You didn't have to ask us that," she whispered and turned on the couch, and hugged Luna as the blonde hugged her back. "You never needed to ask, Luna," Hermione repeated in barely a whisper, "Yours are mine and mine are yours...we'll take of them as if I carried them, I promise."
Luna nodded in agreement, and a flicker of energy swirled around them, dancing between them unnoticed.
Hermione took a breath, "You aren't knocked up are you, sis?"
"No, not until we're married...then we'll see."
Luna and Hermione shared a smile, before Hermione pulled back slightly and waved her hand over the coffee table, "Ice cream?" Hermione asked with a grin, as a carton of chocolate appeared with a pair of spoons. Luna grinned and picked up the carton, scooting back enough on the couch to set it between them.
She took a bite, "I love chocolate...except those eggs Molly makes...something just isn't right about them."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, "there always was an off taste to them."
****************************Hogwarts************************************
November 9, 2015
12:10pm
Em, Harriet, and Rain slipped down the corridor from the Astronomy and Arithmancy wing together, escaping the boring recitation of NEWT level Arithmancy. Not because any of them disliked the class, but rather that they had already learned the derivation of occluding spellforms, over the summer as part of their pre-year review.
Emilia was more like her mother than she cared to admit.
"So why wasn't Xander in class?" Rain asked as they approached a rather ugly statue of a unicorn. The head of the marble horse turned to follow them, and Rain gave it a little wave, before turning back to Em.
She gave a small shrug, and stepped into a small alcove, bordered by two dented suits of plate armor. One of them seemed to give her a small nod as she stepped straight through the wall, into blackness.
The dark retreated with a loud whoosh as a line of torches lit, leading off to her right. She looked over as Rain and Harriet joined her, stepping through the wall into the hidden corridor. She glanced over at the pair of them, and headed off, following the lit torches as they lit before her and extinguished themselves behind.
"He wasn't feeling well this morning," Emilia replied, "I think he caught the flu from Bob."
"So you are saying that we are going to catch it from you," Rain sighed, "great." She half turned and dug into a side pocket of her battered leather pack, the pocket was decorated with a sewn-on patch, of a silver sword, bisecting crossed wands. "Kincaid Blades" curved across the top in black gothic script, with "For when it's your arse on the line." across the bottom. Rain turned to Em, running a tube of gloss over her lips, before tossing it to Harriet without looking.
Em shrugged again, "Sorry."
Rain made a noncommittal gesture and stepped over a bit of abandoned armor that had fallen in the corridor. "You can make it up to me, if you've figured out how to disable the charms on the stairs."
Harriet blew a bubble of mango-flavored Drooble's Best and popped it loudly, causing Em to jump slightly and glare.
"I can do it now...if you want me to just crush the ward. But that's not quite cricket is it? It would be rather obvious to Uncle Ne...Professor Longbottom if he looked. To temporarily disable it, seems to need an approved wand signature...You could just sneak into Ravenclaw easier, the Map will have the password."
"But my bed is more comfortable for snogging," Rain sighed, "You can't just fake the signature, Em?"
"Dad used to just fly up the stairs," Harriet put in, and both of the others turned to her. She smiled languidly, "Mum said that he was so..."
"Anyway," Rain put in quickly as Harriet got a far-off expression on her face, "I suppose that we could do that...seems almost cheating some how," she smirked, "but if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying, as Dad says."
The trio came to a tapestry of a brown Kneazle in a pointed hat, standing in front of a miniature classroom full of kittens, all of them in tiny cloaks. Emilia brushed it aside and stepped out onto a stair landing with staircases, seemingly waiting for them, leading both up and down. She started down, headed to the Great Hall and lunch, and felt Rain at her side.
She paused and looked back at Harriet as the redhead took a step onto the stairs leading upward. "I need to get my Defense notes, I promised to help Virginia and Kris with that shielding charm," she explained. "I'll just be a moment...make sure that the Inncumons don't start snacking on my roast beef...they really like broiled cow, you know?"
"Sure," Emilia replied without missing a beat, another generation of Potter woman just accepting the eccentricities of a Lovegood in stride...they had learned the hard way that the Lovegoods were sometimes...right. Emilia watched for a moment as Harriet reached the landing above and headed off to her left, the shorter route to Gryffindor tower. She turned away just as a sixth year with blue-trimmed robes stepped out from behind a bit of statuary and followed Harriet.
Emilia froze for a beat, looking back and finding no one, and shrugged, before continuing on to lunch with her other best friend.
Harriet walked along the corridors to Gryffindor Tower quickly, not looking as she pulled her pack around in front of her to look for an Inncumon repelling amulet, Sirius never checks his own food. A kneazle blurred in front of her, chasing a mouse, and she went tumbling with a slight shout.
Harriet fell automatically into a forward roll, tumbling away her momentum, to end up half-propped against the wall, with the contents of her bag scattered about the corridor. A soft curse passed her lips as she pushed herself to her hands and knees, summoning her bag to her hand without a thought. She started to place the detritus of her life back into it, automatically checking a sewn-in pocket that held her collapsed staff, just to make sure it was still there before she placed the rest.
She flicked her wand, watching as her Arithmancy notes fluttered back into the binder they had been in before her tumble and turned to her Potions assignments. Sharp foot steps pulled her head up to find a brown-haired girl in Ravenclaw colors smirking at her, standing between her and the Fat Lady's portrait she could see a dozen meters further down the corridor.
Naomi made no attempt to help Harriet to her feet, just stood and watched with her hands on her hips, pushing back the sides of her robe to show off a skirt at least two inches shorter than Harriet's. She watched as Harriet flicked her wand in a circle, rapidly summoning her supplies back to her without regard to neatness, and started to walk towards the tower only to be cut off.
"Excuse me," Harriet said quietly.
"He deserves better than you, you know," Naomi said conversationally, as she started to walk around Harriet, her eyes panning slowly up and down. "Is that a necklace of...butterbeer corks?" she asked incredulously. A small, half smile decorated her lips, as she reached out, and batted at Harriet's hair, which was pulled back into a simple tail, "So...quaint," she murmured. "Do you really think that he would take up with you, when there are so many more...suitable candidates."
"Please excuse me," Harriet repeated and started to push past again, only to be once again stopped.
"I've seen how you watch him, when he's not looking," Naomi went on, "how you watch him with such a lost little look...Are you hoping that he'll notice and take your hand, drag you off into the sunset with him, foster babies on you?"
Harriet did not reply with other than a slight shrug, "Please, I need to get to the tower."
"You know he's sampled more than a few of the wares around this castle...I suppose that he might deign to grace you with a sympathy shag, after all its..."
"Stop lying, please," Harriet replied, her voice becoming emotionless.
"Of course he won't settle for any of them...of you, I suppose," she continued, "All of you are so...common...A Weasley...I suppose that you think that your Nuevo Riche Uncles make up for it, but you know that it's just a facade. A generation or two, you'll be back in the pig wallow. You family never has been a great house has it? Why do you think that a Potter would give you anything more than a few ounces of replaceable protein?" Naomi laughed as if impressed with her own joke.
A low growl came from behind Naomi and she jumped, her eyes becoming wide as saucers as a pure white wolf, at least half-again as large as a normal member of his breed, stood behind her with teeth bared.
Harriet walked past her and stopped next to the wolf, kneeling next to him, and burying her face in his fur. She planted a kiss between his ears and stood, watching Naomi as the growl slowly faded away. "Gaheris really doesn't like it when you insult his friends..."
"Of course," Naomi said faintly, slowly backing away, "he's your..."
"No, I was talking about Sirius..." Harriet replied, her eyes focusing and becoming hard bits of slate. "Sirius has more-honor, than that. Please, do not insult him again, or you will answer to me." Harriet took a breath, "And for your information-The Weasleys are an old house, our forebears stood with Arthur, when I am sure that yours were servicing the Romans-" Naomi's jaw dropped slightly, "Now please leave, or I shan't be responsible for my actions..."
"Going to sic your familiar on me?" she asked, forcing a bit of bile back down, even as she took another three steps back.
"No, I am thinking that you might meet my wand on the Pitch." Harriet turned and strode towards Gryffindor, walking through the Portrait Hole that opened automatically at her approach, the Fat Lady just nodding in her direction.
In the hall, Naomi let out a loud huff and moved off rapidly, just as the door closed.
Harriet fell back against the corridor, shaking slightly, and slowly petted Gaheris as the wolf rubbed his fur against the six inches of bare skin between her knee-high socks and the hem of her skirt. Normally she would have laughed, being ticklish there, but she remained silent as she concentrated on the gentle reassurance Gaheris was pushing over his link to her.
"Alright there?" a soft baritone asked, unconscious concern filling his voice as he walked towards her with an overstuffed pack slung over one shoulder. Sirius closed the distance quickly at some look in her eyes, before stopping just out of reach. Gaheris looked up at Sirius, and rubbed once more, before leaving, and accepting a petting in passing as he headed towards the girls stairs and Harriet's bed.
Harriet looked up at him, and then down and away slightly, looking just past his shoulder, "Yeah...I'm fine," she lied.
Sirius did not question her, though she still refused to meet his gaze. "What are you doing here?" he asked instead, slipping his hands into his pockets, and hunching his shoulders slightly. A dark lock fell forward, hiding one eye as he leaned against the wall next to her.
"I forgot my notes, to review with 'Gina and Kris," Harriet said, looking up at him slightly, at the two or so inches he had on her already.
"Yeah, I had to get my notes for Harriman's class," Sirius agreed, he looked back and up towards the stairs where Harriet's Familiar had retreated, "Why don't you get yours and I'll walk with you back down to the Great Hall." He shrugged, "You don't know what can happen around here."
"You don't have to do that," Harriet objected, though any objective observer would have noted the weakness of her response.
Sirius gave her a look, and she nodded, and moved at almost a run, as she bounced up the stairs, headed to her room to retrieve her books. And just coincidentally, give her a chance to gather herself, for reasons far deeper than any conversation with a jealous competitor to her heart's desire.
She paused at her armoire, and ran her hand over a rather shorter version of the skirt she was currently wearing, along with a Hogwarts sweater hanging next to it, that Em and Rain had picked out for her the last Hogsmeade trip, and giggling all the while, told her to wear when the light bulb went off.
A lump lodged somewhere in her throat as she suddenly understood what they had meant, and she shook her head, closing the carved oak door and grabbed her pack, dumping out her books from the morning's classes on her bed, and replacing them with a pair of heavily bookmarked books and a binder of notes.
Sirius looked up from where he was still leaning in the same spot she had left him, "Ready for lunch?"
"Yeah, Sirius...I'm ready."
A/N: I hope that you all liked the touch of Sirius and Harriet there. Next chapter we catch up with some more old friends, and there is a rather telling conversation between a couple of the girls.