A/N- Sorry this chapter took so long. I do have half of the next chapter written already, and plan to keep on it until it's finished. I should be posting the next chapter on Friday. Thanks for all the great reviews on the other chapters. It helps a lot, knowing that I still have readers out there that read and enjoy this story. A big thank you to Poppywillow for still proofreading my chapters. You're the best!
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Hermione couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
"Make Harry forget that I'm carrying his baby? Just how am I supposed to do that?"
"Still throwing tantrums, I see," Sorcha said curtly, an edge of anger tingeing her voice. "And here I thought you might have grown up just an eensy bit since I'd left." Ignoring the death glare that Hermione was giving her, Sorcha sat down next to Jakob on the bed and sighed tiredly. It was then that Hermione noticed the very dark circles under her eyes, the tired slump of her trainers shoulders, and a wave of pity washed over her for the spitfire that Sorcha had been when she'd first come to train Hermione. Lost in thought, Hermione didn't see the way Sorchas back stiffened suddenly right before she stood up, her anger almost palpable in the small room they were in.
"Don't you DARE feel sorry for me!"
Hermione felt shocked for a moment, and then anger quickly took the forefront of her emotions. "I can feel however I damn well want to feel," she yelled back, now toe-to-toe with her ex-trainer. "You're sitting here trying to tell me what I have to do, to save my baby from its father, when anyone can see by the look on your face that you already think we're beat. That Harry and our baby will suffer the same fate as your family did." Breathing heavily now from the emotions she was experiencing, she backed away from Sorcha and whispered, "I would gladly die to save Harry and this baby. So to hell with Damien!" She turned and almost ran from the room, slamming the door so hard that the mirror in Jakobs room shattered into tiny shards.
Jakob knew that Sorcha had already given up, and that Hermione was much stronger than either of them had given her credit for. Sorcha turned her face away from him quickly, thinking that she was hiding the tears he'd already seen in her eyes. When he started to reach out to take her hand, she moved further away from him so he couldn't reach her any longer. In a voice barely above a whisper she said, "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed early tonight."
And with those words she rushed out into the hallway, missing the hurt and anguished look that passed over Jakobs face. He had thought he was breaking through the thick wall surrounding her heart, but her behavior had shown him that she was still the same self-absorbed woman she'd always been. He knew she was hurting, still grieving for the husband and baby she had lost all those years ago, but he'd always been there for her. Maybe that was his problem, he always acted so damn caring and worried around her, and maybe if he acted as cold as she always did, he would get through to her faster. And it could possibly trigger Hermione's latent Guardian powers, making her strong enough to save them all from a life of Hell at Damiens hands.
Deciding to go that route, be the uncaring Jakob for once, he walked out of the room and made his way to where he knew Hermione had gone. He had an idea as to how to keep the baby safe until Damien was finally defeated, but he also knew that Hermione, Harry, and especially Sorcha would not like what he was planning. He no longer cared what everyone thought of his ideas, this was something he was going to do with or without their permission.
And if he lost his Guardian powers because of it...so be it. It would be worth leading a human life until he finally died, he just prayed that neither Hermione nor Sorcha hated him for the rest of that life.
~*~
Hermione had rushed into the library, slamming the doors behind her and locking them with a simple wave of her hand. She walked toward her favorite sofa, the one directly in front of the roaring fireplace, and stopped cold. Sitting there in her favorite spot were Harry and Ginny, their heads close together as they spoke softly to one another, Ginnys hand gently rubbing up and down Harry arm in a very loving gesture. Unable to take the sight in front of her, Hermione closed her eyes and wished that Ginny would just disappear from their lives forever, no longer causing stress between her and Harry. When she opened her eyes again it was to find a very irate Harry glaring at her.
"What did you just do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Hermione, I saw the way you were glowing just a second ago, and then suddenly Ginny just disappeared into thin air. Did you cast a wandless spell?"
"N-no," Hermione replied, feeling suddenly very shaky and scared. Had she been the cause of Ginnys' sudden disappearance? If so, what had she done to the meddlesome redhead?
"Hermione!" Harry yelled, pulling from her thoughts. "I asked you a question. What did you do to Ginny?"
"More worried about her than you are about me?" Hermione asked in return, matching Harry's anger word for word. "And did you ever think that maybe Ginny apparated out of the room because she knew she had caused the strife between us that she's been striving for?"
"If anyone caused a rift between us, Hermione, it was you."
His anger slammed into her painfully and she sucked in a shocked breath. When she exhaled, her feelings seemed to increase tenfold and the house started to shake under her feet. As the shaking became more violent, they both could hear the old house groaning in protest. Unable to stand steadily, she sat in the chair closest to her and tried to calm down. If she was causing this it was due to her heightened emotions. She needed to reign in her power, take control of the situation, but no matter what she did the shaking didn't stop.
The doors to the library burst open and a panicked looking Jakob ran up to her. Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her and asked, "Hermione, what have you done?"
"I-I don't know."
"She used her magic to get rid of Ginny!"
"What do you mean?" Jakob asked, fearing he already knew the answer.
"I wished she would disappear, and it seems my magic might have fulfilled that wish and sent her somewhere."
"Where?"
"I don't know!"
Tears were streaming down her face now as the shaking increased, and Jakob looked over to where Harry sat, glaring at Hermione. His anger was palpable, something Jakob felt he could just reach out into the air around him and grab hold of. Centering himself, he waved his hand in the air, and he could feel the magical outburst leave his body. Breathing heavily due to the large amount of Guardian magic he had used, he knew the unspoken spell had worked since the house had stopped shaking. Looking at the two teens in the room, he saw that they were frozen in place, Harry wearing his mask of anger while the tears on Hermione's cheeks no longer fell. Sighing loudly, Jakob sat down heavily on the floor next to Hermione's chair, closing his eyes tiredly. It had been a long time since he'd used the darker of the Guardian spells, and he had forgotten how much they wiped out his surplus of physical energy.
Knowing what he had to do next, he sent up a prayer for forgiveness before waving his hand toward the library doors. When Sorcha's body floated into the room, her feet barely brushing over the carpet, Jakobs heart constricted at the surprised look that was on her face. Of course she would have felt the darkness behind his magic, and he knew that she would probably never trust him again. Trying not to dwell on the hurt that thought caused, he moved Sorcha to the unoccupied sofa in the room and placed her body so that she was lying on the thick cushions. With her in place, he moved so that he was kneeling in front of Hermione and placed his hand flat on her belly where he knew her baby grew.
Saying the words to another dark spell, he could feel warmth spreading through that hand and quickly placed his other hand on Sorchas stomach. Finishing the spell, with both of his hands now suffused with an uncomfortable heat, he watched as Hermione's stomach glowed first gold, her body trying to stave off the intrusion his spell caused, then the glow turned to a bright bluish-white color that dimmed, then disappeared. While he watched, that glow hovered in the air above Hermione's now empty stomach and floated along his arms until it was hovering above Sorcha's abdomen. As his words hung in the air, he watched as Harry and Hermione's baby burrowed into Sorcha's stomach, settling in to its new home.
With the baby safely moved, the warmth in Jakobs hand disappeared and his arms dropped down into his lap. It hurt to breathe, to move just a little bit, and his head pounded in time with his beating heart. Praying that he had done the right thing, Jakob got up and walked slowly out into the hall. Once there, with another slight, painful movement of his hand, he took care of any evidence of the spells, cast a very strong memory erasing spell over everyone in the house now and that came in anytime later, and then he woke Sorcha, Harry and Hermione. Before the three of them could get up and spot him in the hallway he did the only thing he knew to do. He ran up the stairs, past his room on the third floor and made his way to the door in the ceiling that led to the attic in Grimmauld Place. He had known there was a way up to the roof and he thanked his curiosity for making him tour the entire house, looking for any unprotected spaces that Damien could use to get in and attack Hermione. Seeing the door in the ceiling, he reached out and took hold of the cord, pulling hard. When the door opened and the ladder slid down to grant him access, he climbed up, pulling the ladder up with him. Closing the door and casting locking spells on it, he rushed through the disorderly room and made his way to the window.
Going out the window, standing on the edge of the roof, Jakob swallowed the panic that threatened to engulf him and summoned up his courage. Feeling calmer suddenly, he thanked the Gods for listening and prayed that Harry, Hermione, and Sorcha could figure things out from here without him. He didn't think he could ever look any of them in the eye again, and right at this moment, he had a meddling redheaded teenager to find. Casting a locator spell, he honed in on Ginny's signature and apparated away. If he ever found her, he would more than likely have to keep her with him to keep his secrets. Since she hadn't been in Grimmauld Place when he cast the switching spell and strong memory-erasing spell, she would still remember that Harry and Hermione weren't getting along. And that's the last thing he, or the world in general, needed right now with an evil madman hell-bent on destroying their world.
Seeing the end of the locator spell, Jakob grabbed onto Ginny's magical signature and landed in the shoddy warehouse. Knowing that he'd never have a home again, he bound Ginny magically and cast a silencing spell on her, preparing to take her to Empyrean where they could both safely hide out for as long as needed.
~A/N2>Love me? Hate me? Like this new chapter? Please let me know! :)