Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and earn no money from this.
Chapter 16: Black Isle
Late the next morning, Harry woke up to a muffled thud on the bed next to him. He blearily opened one eye and saw his bushy haired best friend and fiancée sprawled on the bed next to him, still in her pajamas. She'd stayed the night, too tired to go home.
"It's morning already?" he groaned.
"I'm afraid so." Hermione sighed, "This is as far as I got."
A few minutes later, they both managed to wake enough to get out of bed. Harry cast a teeth cleaning charm on himself, while Hermione sat on the edge of his bed, idly kicking her feet. She was in a t-shirt and pajama pants. Harry noticed while she was kicking that her breasts were moving freely under the tee. He glanced away and blushed, then looked back only to find her staring straight at him.
"See something you like?" she said, smirking. He realized with the bond he'd never get away with much, but he'd never get in too much trouble, either.
She smiled at him and he could tell she liked the way he was looking at her, because her nipples became more prominent.
"Come on, let's get breakfast." She said.
"You're going to go down like that?" Harry asked.
"You think maybe Sirius hasn't seen a girl braless? Or is it Remus you're worried about?"
Harry laughed, realizing something he felt through the bond. Hermione had a hint of exhibitionist in her. She realized what he'd picked up on and blushed even redder than he'd been, but she didn't go to her room to change.
"Ok, come on." He said, grabbing her hand, while thinking that it was always the nerdy ones.
Breakfast was transformed from a mundane meal to a flirting session. Hermione would like at Harry and blush. She'd catch him looking at her and smirk.
Remus looked at Sirius, mouthed "What's with these two?" Sirius shrugged.
"Have you thought any more about who you'd like to go to Black Isle with you?" Sirius asked.
Hermione looked at Harry, communicating without talking. Then she looked up, answering for both.
"We do think we should take at least Ron, Ginny, and Neville." Hermione said, "Ron would feel like we'd abandoned him if we didn't ask him to go. I think we'll have to be careful not to let him hold us back, but he's been different this year, so maybe it won't be as hard to keep him motivated as it might have been before. If Ron's there, Ginny will want to be. Neville could use the work. He's always lacked confidence and his spell work in class seems to have suffered for it. I think he can be so much more than he thinks and maybe this is just the boost it will take to bring that out."
"I anticipated you might want to bring the Weasleys and so I talked to Arthur and Molly. They're a bit reluctant to be away from their children for the entire summer. What would you think if I invited them along?" Sirius asked.
"They're already like family to me." Harry offered.
"Ok, it's decided. Let's spend today getting everything ready. We'll floo over to the Burrow, talk to the Weasleys. Then we'll floo over to Longbottom Manor and talk to Augusta. I think she'll let him go because of your parents' friendship, the traditional alliance between Potter and Longbottom, and maybe hoping the same thing you are, that this will give him that boost he needs. You both go up and get ready. You can dress comfortably for the Burrow, but bring some nice robes for when we visit the Longbottoms. Looking the part might make things easier there. I'll floo call Augusta and arrange for our visit later."
A half hour later, they each stepped through the floo with a handful of powder and a cry of "The Burrow!"
Harry almost stumbled coming out of the floo, but Sirius caught his elbow, steadying him.
"Harry!" Molly shouted, coming over and grabbing him, smothering him in a huge hug.
"Hi, there!" Harry said with a smile.
"Hermione, you're looking well." Molly said.
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley."
Ron and Ginny came running in.
"Hey, mate! Good to see you." Ron said, "What are you up to? How are the hols now that you don't have to stay with those Muggles?"
"Brilliant, Ron!" Harry said with a grin, "I can't even tell you. It might get better."
"Ginny, how are you?" Hermione asked.
"Good. Do you remember Luna? She's visiting today."
"Of course," Hermione said, looking at the blonde who walked in to the kitchen behind Ron and Ginny, barefoot, in a sundress and with a butterbeer cork necklace, "we met at the dance and she was one of the first people to see my ring! Luna how are you?"
"Good, I think." Luna said, dreamily, "I woke up this morning thinking I needed to buy a swimsuit. I hope I get to meet a Nereid."
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look.
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, giving her friend a strange look.
Ron, surprisingly, didn't seem bothered, but Hermione often wondered if he even noticed the strange things Luna said.
Arthur walked in and gave them all hugs and handshakes.
"Now that we're all here, I want to make a proposal." Sirius said, "We're planning a summer getaway to Black Isle and we'd like for you to come. It'll be a fantastic vacation, but for the children, we're planning tutors and it will be a working vacation. Seeing the tournament and especially finding out that Voldemort is back convinced me that there's no time to waste."
"Blimey." Ron said with wide eyes.
"You want the children to go?" Molly asked.
"We've talked and I know you don't want to be away from them." Sirius replied, "I've got the main house and several smaller guest houses. I have the house elves preparing one of the guest houses for you if you want to come. That way you can spend the summer with your children and they can still come to the island."
"Mum, please." Ginny said, looking at her mother with longing.
"So you kids want to go?" Arthur asked.
"Sure!" Ron said.
"Very much, dad!" Ginny squealed.
"Ok, let the adults talk. We'll let you know what we decide." Arthur said, dismissing the young people.
The all walked out to the garden.
"I can't wait to see the ocean!" Luna said, skipping along.
Harry and Hermione shared a concerned glance. They hadn't realized the Ravenclaw would assume she was invited, but it would be mean to uninvite her. Besides, they did like the girl, even if she was a bit strange.
"Luna, we didn't realize you'd be here or want to go." Hermione said carefully, "We'd love for you to, but we need to talk to Sirius and to your parents."
"Daddy won't mind. Neither will your Uncle, Harry." Luna said, smiling.
After a few minutes of walking in the garden, they were called back in.
"Your mum and I decided we'd take advantage of Lord Black's offer." Arthur said, "We're going to go. We talked to the twins and they've apparently got a project they're working on this summer, so they're going to stay behind."
"Arthur, they're too young…" Molly started, but stopped at a sharp look from her husband.
"We won't have long to get ready, so I expect you both to pack tonight." Arthur said, looking firmly at Ron and Ginny.
Harry went up to his uncle and whispered in his ear. Sirius glanced at Luna and nodded.
"I know Xenophilius. I'll floo call him from here." Sirius said.
After getting permission for Luna, which when he finally came to the floo, Xenophilius absentmindedly gave, they prepared for the next stage of their trip, putting on their nice robes over the muggle clothes they were wearing.
"Maybe if meeting with the Lovegoods goes quickly we could meet in Diagon Alley for lunch and to do a little shopping to get ready?" Sirius offered, looking at the Weasleys.
"Sure, just give us a call when you know. We can meet at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch." Arthur said.
With that, they each entered the floo and with a shouted, "Longbottom Manor" disappeared.
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Harry kept his feet coming out of the floo this time without assistance, although it was a close thing. He noticed a house elf waiting, dressed in a tea-towel with the Longbottom crest clearly stenciled on it.
"Mistress is waiting for you in the drawing room." The elf said in a squeaky but haughty tone, leading them into a formal sitting room.
"Madame Longbottom." Sirius said with a bow.
"Lord Black." Augusta said with a nod, "I am pleased you were found innocent."
"As was I." Sirius said with a grin.
"Children, you'll probably find Neville in the greenhouses." Augusta said, "Letty will lead you."
They followed the house elf out to the greenhouses, recognizing a dismissal. They found Neville with his sleeves rolled up, working in the dirt.
"Hi, Harry! Hermione!" Neville said, pushing sweaty hair out of his face.
"Neville! It's great to see you, mate!" Harry said, clapping him on the back.
"Really?" Neville said, surprised, "I mean, it's great to see you both, too. What are you up to?"
"Your gran didn't tell you?" Hermione asked.
"Tell me what?"
"We're planning on going on vacation. My uncle Sirius has arranged tutors so we can work on defense with Voldemort back. We wondered if you'd like to come along?" Harry said.
"I'd love to!" Neville said, excitedly. "I'm rubbish at defense, so maybe that would help me."
"You're not rubbish, Neville." Hermione said, "You'll pick it up."
"Well, my parents were both aurors." Neville said, downcast, "I want to live up to them, but I doubt I'll ever even get close. I even use my father's wand to honor his memory, but with the way I use it, I don't think it's honoring anyone."
Harry, having learned what had happened to Neville's family at school and having told nobody, even Hermione, started to quickly change the subject, but Hermione beat him to it.
"You use your father's wand?" Hermione said, puzzled, "Mr. Ollivander told me 'the wand picks the wizard' and when I read a book or two about it, I learned that a wizard without a matched wand is not going to be able to cast nearly so well."
"Really?" Neville asked, "Too bad I can't get a matched wand, then. I need all the help I can get."
Harry and Hermione shared a quick thought and knew they had to come up with a way to get Neville his own wand.
Letty came up to them and cleared her throat.
"Master Neville, your grandmother desires your presence in the drawing room."
Harry was surprised. Dobby's grammar was terrible, but Letty sounded like a schoolmistress.
They followed the elf back to the sitting room after she used her elf magic to make Neville presentable. Sirius sat on one highbacked chair across from Augusta. Each had a cup of tea.
"Neville, I have decided you will be taking summer classes with Lord Black and his charges."
"Really, gran?" Neville said, excitedly, "That's wonderful!"
Only a hint of a smile crossed the proper old lady's face, but it was clear she loved her grandson.
"Lord Black worked with your parents and with James Potter. He wants to prepare you and I think that is a rather good idea. I want you to work hard and honor the Longbottom name."
"Of course, gran." Neville said with a slight bow.
"Throw on a robe, you will accompany Lord Black and young Lord Potter to lunch. You are to pick up what you will need for the summer. Here is a list and here is money."
Sirius called the Weasleys while Neville went to his room and changed into robes. Soon they were all stepping through with a called, "The Leaky Cauldron".
When Harry stepped out this time, he did it almost gracefully. He quickly thought he might be getting the hang out of floo travel. It wasn't hard to find their table, as it was filled with redheads. They quickly ate lunch, all trying to ignore the terrible sight of Ron Weasley eating and keeping their hands far away from his plate, then went into the Alley to shop.
Harry whispered to Sirius, who quirked an eyebrow at him, but then nodded.
"Harry, don't forget to take your friends to Ollivanders. I want for you to each choose a spare wand and two wand holsters. Harry will put them on the Black account, as I consider this a course requirement, understood?"
The Weasleys looked ready to say something, but stopped at a look from Sirius that promised he'd explain later.
After a quick discussion, the young people decided to go to Ollivander's first, although Hermione insisted that Flourish and Bott's might make a better starting point. As they walked towards the wandmaker's, Harry felt like he was getting many disturbing looks from the other wizards walking the main wizarding thoroughfare. He always received attention and expected that wouldn't have improved with his winning the TriWizard tournament, but somehow the attention now seemed different. He shrugged it off and followed Hermione.
They walked into the store, to quickly be recognized by Mr. Ollivander. The store was almost empty, as it was early in the summer for most Hogwarts' students to be shopping.
"Mr. Potter! 11 inches, holly and phoenix feather. I just examined your wand for the tournament and it appeared to be in fine shape, although could have used a polish. You're not having problems, are you?"
"No, sir. My uncle wants us to have spares, though. He said to place them on the Black account."
"Ah, I see." Ollivander said, nodding. "Well, we'd better get started, I recall it took awhile to find your wand. Mr. Longbottom! I rather expected you 4 years ago. What have you been using?"
"My da's wand." Neville said, holding it out.
"A fine wand." Ollivander said, "And you've done a fine job maintaining it. However, I think you'll find a wand that has picked you may work better for you. Let's see what we find."
He grabbed a box from the shelf and handed it to Neville. A burst of smoke poured out.
"No, no," Ollivander said, distracted, "you need a more powerful wand than that with your core."
Harry clapped Neville on the back, "More powerful, hear that, Nev?"
After extensive trial and error, Mr. Ollivander found a 13" cherry wood, with a unicorn hair core. He handed it to Neville. A wave and a powerful fountain of red and gold sparks shot forth. Each of them felt a wind blowing their robes around their legs.
"Oh, well chosen, Mr. Longbottom!" Ollivander said, clapping his hands together. "I think you'll find that quite suitable. Now for you, Mr. Weasley. I remember we replaced your wand recently and I think I have an idea for your spare."
Quickly, the wandmaker was able to match Ron, Ginny, and Luna. Hermione was more difficult. Ollivander tried wand after wand without the response he wanted.
"This is odd. The last time I remember this happening was with Mr. Potter…"
His eyes lit up as if he'd realized something. He looked Harry and Hermione over carefully.
"How did I miss that?" Ollivander said, musing. He pushed the two together and walked carefully around them, looking from every angle. "I think I have exactly what you need in the back."
He went in the back and brought out a wider case, placing it on the counter in front of the two. When he pulled back the lid, they saw twin matched wands out of a dark wood.
"Try one."
Hermione pulled one from the case and gave a swish and flick. Gold and green sparks traced the path of the wand and she laughed as she felt the rush of magic. The other wand, still in the case, spit a smaller stream of sparks.
"Whoa." Ron whispered.
"Try the other, Mr. Potter." Ollivander said.
Harry tried, getting a similar result, although with more green sparks and slightly fewer gold. The twin wand responded even in Hermione's hand.
"These were made for a set of twins of the Black family. They're each 11 inches long made of ebony from the same tree and dragon heartstring from the same dragon. They didn't suit the ones they were made for and they've sat here waiting for their true owners ever since. I'm glad they've found their witch and their wizard."
He then showed them each how to wear the holsters on wrist, leg, or belt.
"They're enchanted to be protective and resistant to summoning. I think you'll appreciate them."
The children left, continuing their shopping.
After the bookstore, Hermione said, "We need swimsuits. I know I've probably grown out of mine. Where would we buy them?"
"Maybe we should buy muggle suits." Ginny suggested, "I've seen yours and trust me, wizarding bathing suits are not the same thing."
"What do you mean, Gin?" Ron asked.
"You'll see." Ginny said.
After getting permission from Sirius, they folded up their robes and left the Leaky Cauldron to get onto the nearby muggle street. They walked to a department store and went to the swimsuits. Ron was trying to blend in, but was clearly overwhelmed with the busy muggle shop. When he saw a woman's swimsuit on a manikin, his mouth dropped open.
"You're not suggesting you'd wear that, are you?" Ron said, shocked.
Hermione looked and shook her head.
Ron looked relieved until Hermione said, "No, that's something my mom would wear. Ok, maybe not my mom, but someone's old-fashioned mom. I'm looking to replace my bikinis."
"What's a bikini?" Ron asked.
"You'll see!" Ginny said with a big grin.
They eventually left the store with Ron near catatonic in shock. He had barely been able to buy a conservative pair of trunks. Hermione had talked Harry into a pair of racing speedos, which embarrassed him, but he thought she deserved to have a say since she'd listened to him when he'd recommended which swimsuits he thought she looked best in. Neville picked out a pair that Ginny seemed to like, grinning at the younger girl.
They reentered Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron. Tom sent them to a private back room. Walking in, Harry saw Sirius sitting with the Weasleys. They looked irritated and had a number of newspapers spread out in front of them.
"Sit down, pup." Sirius said, "Do you recall Fudge saying the ministry had ways of controlling information?"
"Vaguely, yes." Harry said, "I wasn't listening very closely and I was a bit tired."
"Understandably, I can't believe you had to go through what you did, my poor boy." Molly said, grabbing his hand.
"Well, look at these." Sirius continued, ignoring Molly.
The papers were full of articles about Harry and none of them were good.
"The-Boy-Who-Lies?" read one headline, above a picture of Harry after the third task.
"Augusta brought this to my attention. She thrown hers in the fireplace, so I had to wait until I got here to actually see them for myself." Sirius said.
"What do we do?" Harry asked, stunned at being called a liar. It reminded him of his second year, when he was thought to be the 'Heir of Slytherin'. He couldn't understand how anyone would believe this garbage about him when he'd done nothing wrong.
"Well, I've been working on a plan." Hermione said, "Do you notice none of the articles are by Skeeter?"
"That did surprise us." Remus mentioned, looking at Hermione.
"Well, I discovered a secret about her." Hermione started, reminding them of the beetle she'd captured and reporting how she'd realized about Skeeter's animagus form. "I suspected this was what the Minister meant. So I told Rita that if she didn't cooperate I was going to turn her into the ministry as an illegal animagus and have her working on a massive article that will expose these lies. With actual interviews with the most important people, especially Harry, her article will sell much better than this garbage and everyone will realize how the Ministry tried to discredit Harry."
"That could work," Luna said, "except the Prophet will never publish it. They're firmly in the Minister's pocket. They're collaborators on the Rotfang conspiracy and their partnership extends to this."
"Oh." Hermione said, deflated, "I thought it would work. I've set it all up with Rita and she never said anything."
"Of course she didn't." Luna said, "She's not your friend."
"She's not my friend…" Hermione said, "but you are! That's brilliant, Luna!"
"You consider me a friend?" Luna said, a smile breaking over her face, "I hoped, but wasn't sure you thought so, too."
"Well, you are one of the first two people I told I was engaged." Hermione said, smiling back, "Do you think your dad would publish Skeeter's rebuttal articles in the Quibbler?"
"Oh, he'd do anything to tweak the Ministry." Luna replied, "He has opposed the Rotfang conspiracy from the beginning."
"Great, then here's what we need to do…" Hermione began.
With input from two original Marauders and with Arthur Weasley's knowledge of the Ministry, they soon had a plan for maximum results. The timing was the biggest question. They wanted to let the Ministry commit fully to their opposition to Harry before they destroyed their credibility, hopefully leading to a change of leadership.
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After a whirlwind few days of packing and preparation, they were ready to begin the journey to Black Isle.
Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Hermione were all waiting in the parlor of Grimmauld Place as their friends began to arrive by floo. Neville arrived first, his punctuality part of his deeply ingrained manners. Then, minutes after their planned noon time departure, the Weasleys finally flooed in.
"You're stepping on my foot, Ron!" Ginny hissed.
"Why did you stop in front of the floo?" he grumped back.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance. "Are you sure this was a good idea?" Hermione whispered.
Oberon and Jane would be joining them later in the summer for a few weeks of vacation.
After a light lunch, they all managed to take a firm hold on the inflatable donut Sirius had enchanted as a portkey. Sirius tapped it with his wand and the familiar fishhook to the navel sensation whisked them all away.
They landed on a beach in front of a beautiful beach house. Accounting for the time difference, it was early morning on their arrival. With sliding screens pulled back and letting breezes blow through the entranceway, it looked very inviting. A double line of house elves waited for their arrival, quickly taking trunks that had been shrunk to tiny size and popping away to settle them in their accommodations.
Sirius looked at the students for the "Black Isle Summer Academy", "You six get settled today. Look around, maybe hit the beach. Your training starts tomorrow and after that, you'll get much less time to play."
Ron groaned, but the rest didn't make a noise, just nodding. They were each led to rooms all arranged in a block in one wing of the large beach house. The wing had clearly been designed for just this reason, to house all the children of the Black Family. The rooms were smaller than the giant rooms the adults would be staying in, but still large and luxurious. The windows had the same sliding screen as the rest of the house, allowing most of the wall to be slid out of the way and let the ocean breezes filter through. Magical ceiling fans turned endlessly overhead.
Harry looked through the drawers and the closet, noting his clothes were already unpacked and arranged just like he would have done, except perhaps neater. He changed, throwing on his trunks with shorts over and a light button up short-sleeve shirt and met his friends in the hall.
Hermione, Ginny, and Luna all wore sundresses. Harry could see the straps of their swimsuits at the neck. Ron wore his baggy orange swim trunks and a Chudley Cannons t-shirt. Neville wore baggy trunks and a shirt similar to Harry's.
"So, do you want to look around?" Harry offered.
"Sure, mate." Ron said, "I can't believe the size of this place! You're so lucky."
"You're right, Ron." Harry said, "I'm lucky to have such a great Uncle, but you're my best mate, so as long as I can come out here, you know you'll be welcome, too."
Ron seemed to consider it for a few moments, opening his mouth Harry expected him to continue on a jealous tirade, but was forgetting how much Ron had seemed to change.
"Thanks, Harry."
"Yes, thanks, Harry." Neville said, "I'll have to have you out to the Longbottom chalet. It's great for skiing around Christmas."
The house was large, seemingly constructed almost entirely of teak. There was a library with a large pool table in the middle that Harry suspected they'd be spending time in, as Hermione would gravitate to the library and Harry thought learning to play pool with Ron and Neville sounded fun.
"Harry, I love the house, but are you all ready for the beach?" Ginny said impatiently.
They all followed the fiery red head out the door they'd come in, which led directly back onto the beach. White sand, blue water, and endless sky seemed to invite them. They walked down to the water, stopping just out of reach of the surf. Hermione reached into a bottomless bag she'd recently enchanted, bringing out towels for everyone. They laid the towels out and then started getting out of their clothes.
"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron squeaked, looking over at his female best friend.
"Getting ready to get some sun?" Hermione said, confused.
"You're almost naked!" Ron said.
"We talked about this already, Ron. This is a very normal muggle bathing suit. In fact, when my parents and I vacationed in France, a lot of the women didn't wear the tops."
"Top?" Luna said, holding up two triangles of fabric with a string between them. "Is that what this is?"
At that, Ron turned completely red and turned away from Luna. Even Hermione blushed, seeing the topless Ravenclaw. She and Ginny helped her get sorted.
"What? When we're in Sweden, we don't even wear suits." Luna said, "They don't really make sense, do they? Why do you need clothes if you're going to be in the water anyway?"
"Well, maybe we can work up to that." Hermione said, "For now, let's stick with baby steps. I'm not sure Ron's breathing."
Hermione pulled out some vials of sun protection potion, advising the others how to apply it. With two fair redheads and a pale blonde, application was essential or there would be some painful burns. The boys and girls paired off and applied the lotion. Unlike muggle sunscreen, the potion would protect all day with one application and would vary its strength depending on the skin tone of the user.
Harry was drawing deeply on his occulomency to stay calm. Seeing Hermione in her bikini would have been enough to set his heart racing, but the surprise of seeing Luna topless had been a shock. He was a bit embarrassed about his suit, but felt better when nobody said anything. The girls were distracting enough and for that, he was grateful. He had to continue to meditate when he found himself rubbing lotion all over his fiancée. She noticed his hesitancy and teased him a little.
"Make sure you don't miss any spots, Harry. You don't want me to burn, do you?"
At lunch time, they returned to the house and had their second lunch of the day, cooked by the Black elves. Molly Weasley didn't seem to know what to do eating food she hadn't cooked. She kept trying to get up and serve, but the elves were scandalized and Sirius had to insist she sit and eat.
After lunch, the young people returned to the beach.
"How do we know there aren't any sharks?" Harry asked, looking out at the water.
"Anti-shark wards." Hermione responded, "I read about them in the book I got the other day. This kind of island house is pretty popular with rich wizarding families. The improvement in transportation really changes things."
"Well, then, why don't we hit the water?" Harry asked.
They all ran to the water and splashed and played. Eventually they started on impromptu game where they girls would sit on the boys' shoulders and they would duel, trying to knock the other into the water with mild banishing hexes. Neville seemed to grow more confident with Ginny's attention. They'd gone to the ball together and she'd been very impressed with him. He'd danced every dance she'd asked him to and was a very good dancer, trained from a young age as his gran expected him to be ready to fulfill his role as the future lord of an ancient and noble family. He was polite and was growing more and more handsome as he lost the baby fat he'd had early at Hogwarts.
As the sun went down, they started a fire and had the house elves bring food to grill by the ocean. After a dinner of grilled ocean fish and baked crustaceans, they all felt very content. Hermione leaned against Harry, feeling all was right with the world.
"Don't get too comfortable, pup." Sirius said, seeming to read their minds, "I would expect Moody here very early in the morning. You might want to get some sleep. It's been an extra long day with the time change."
Harry agreed and they packed up and headed back to the house. Harry changed into his pajamas and went next door to Hermione's room. She was already in bed, dressed in a short nightgown. He got himself settled cross legged on her bed and she crawled into her accustomed spot on his lap, burying her face in his chest. They spent time practicing occulomency while the other tried legilimency. This was extremely difficult for them, not only because they were only barely trained as legilimens, but also because the nature of the bond made it difficult and sometimes even painful to block the other one out. Luckily, the two factors tended to cancel, one making it easier to defend thoughts and the other making it harder, so they thought it was probably still a helpful exercise. With constant training and reinforcement, their shields were becoming well-developed. Even Snape had been almost complimentary, advancing his praise from "adequate" to "acceptable for Gryffindors". After their occulomency drills, they began to practice with their bond.
"I'm sure Sirius doesn't care," Harry said, "especially that you and I might be in each other's rooms, since we're engaged and bonded. I think he probably only gave us separate rooms for Mrs. Weasley's sake, in case she came over here to visit, she needed to see we had separate rooms. What about the others, though? Ron and Luna, Ginny and Neville seemed to get along very well. You don't think they'll get themselves in trouble over in this wing away from adult supervision, do you?"
"We've already talked amongst the girls." Hermione assured him, "They won't get themselves into trouble. I've set wards to warn us if any adults decide to do a bed check."
While they were talking, they were already gently pushing magic along their bond. The bond had continued to grow stronger, although at a much slower rate now that it was well-developed. Lately, they'd been experimenting. After Hermione had apparated to Harry's side during the aftermath of the third task, they'd played with trying to sense where the other one was, even through protective wards or while wearing the invisibility cloak.
"Did you notice your wand responded to mine, even when I wasn't holding it?" Hermione said, "Mine responded to you, too."
"I did notice that." Harry said, lazily flicking magic along their bond.
"Grr, you're trying to distract me." Hermione growled.
"Is it working?" Harry grinned.
"I'm the Queen of multi-tasking." Hermione replied, "So yes, but no. Now, why don't you try to cast a spell through my wand."
"What?" Harry said.
"Try a light spell. Try to make my wand light up."
"Lumos" Harry said, with no result.
They continued working on it and eventually Harry was able to create light from Hermione's wand while she was holding it by pushing his magic through their bond while casting the spell.
"That's it! I thought you could do it." Hermione said, quickly duplicating the feat.
"What's it good for?" Harry asked.
"I haven't quite decided, yet." Hermione answered. Now hush and kiss me."
They'd grown better at this, too. Both could do amazing things with the bond, even while deep in a passionate kiss. Harry had learned he could send the bushy haired witch into an almost continuous climax with the right push. The first time he'd done it, he'd sustained the flow of magic too long and Hermione's brown eyes had rolled back in her head and she'd passed out. Luckily, he'd waited before running for Madame Pomfrey and Hermione had awoken with no ill effects. Since then, he'd limited it to five or ten minutes at a time.
Their physical relationship had grown deeper, too. They'd gotten better at stopping at their limits, since they wanted to preserve that final physical act for marriage, given the strong magical boost they could gain through ancient marriage rituals as long as the right preconditions were met. However, those preconditions were very literal and Hermione's research had confirmed that they could do anything but.
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The next morning, Harry awoke to a frightful noise. It sounded like a cat was being set on fire in a cabinet full of pots and pans. He rolled out of bed, drawing his wand. He sensed Hermione at his back do the same.
"What the f…?" Harry said.
"Language!" Hermione replied.
"You're worried about my language?" Harry said, sliding towards the door.
Hermione sent him a thought as to what she was going to do, before she opened the door with a spell. Harry pointed his wand out the door as he slid out. Standing in the lit hallway was Senior Auror Moody with his wand raised, the source of the terrible noise.
"Professor Moody!" Harry said.
"I'm not your Professor, Potter." Moody growled, "Never was, if you remember correctly. I am your instructor this summer and it's about time you layabouts get out of bed. Now move!"
"Where?" Hermione asked, sliding out of the room behind Harry.
"The beach." Moody said, "You'll meet Mr. Ashdown there. You've got five minutes. He said every minute after that is another mile. I get you after he's done with you."
The young people all rushed around, throwing on workout clothes and lacing up their trainers. They rushed out the front door to the beach, only to see it was still dark out, the sun just starting to color the horizon. Everyone was relieved to realize they'd made it out in five minutes.
"You're on time. Good, I don't think you'd make it if you had to run penalty miles. Now stretch. I'll show you how."
They spent a few minutes with warm up exercises, running in place, doing jumping jacks, push-ups, and then stretched all their muscles, limbering up under John Ashdown's supervision.
"Wizards are not like muggles." He barked, while they stretched, "Your magic colors everything you do in life. At Hogwarts, you're learning how to consciously apply it with spells. You've been working on that so hard, you may not have realized that's not the only way you can use magic. Mr. Potter, name one of your first uses of magic."
"Well… I had a few, but one time I vanished when my cousin was going to beat me up and appeared on the roof of the school."
"Good example, Mr. Potter." John said, in the same voice, "How did you do it?"
"I don't know, sir. I just did." Harry answered.
"Exactly. It was subconscious." Ashdown explained, "You've all been likely using magic since then in even more subtle and subconscious ways. How many fat kids do you have at Hogwarts?"
They all thought about it and except for Milicent Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle, nobody was fat and even those three were just large.
"Probably nobody. How? It's magic. Mr. Potter, I've heard tales of your Quidditch playing. How many times have you been hurt?"
"Tons of times, sir." Harry ventured.
"How many of those times probably should have killed you?"
"Ummm… well, Madame Pomfrey has always been ready to heal me." Harry said.
"Sure, she has, but if it weren't for magic, you'd probably be dead long before you got to her. If you tried to get a muggle to balance on a broom handle hundreds of feet in the air while flying at high speeds, the muggle wouldn't be able to stay on the broom, let alone throw or catch a ball." John said, "Trust me, it's been researched. You've been applying your magic to physical pursuits throughout your life. I'm going to teach you to do it more consciously and eventually, when you get good enough, you'll be back to doing it subconsciously, but efficiently. The spell I'm going to teach you is 'corpus firmum'. It technically means, 'strong body', but we're going to focus on using it to channel magical energy to your body. You'll feel what that feels like and once you've gotten good at it, you'll use it to make your body stronger, healthier, faster, more damage resistant. You'll gain more benefit from this exercise than you otherwise would. Eventually, I'll teach you wizarding martial arts, incorporating spells into your fighting, but you've got a long way to go until then.
Now everyone, clear your mind, focus your power, and with this wand movement towards yourself, say 'corpus firmum'."
They all practiced until they got the spell right. Hermione, as usual, mastered the movement and pronunciation first, generating a golden glow that spread from her wand to her body before sinking in. Harry got it immediately after, learning from her experience. The others took longer, but everyone eventually got it.
"Ok, did you feel how the magic felt, from your core through your wand and into your body? More than the spell, that's what I want you to feel, because I eventually want you to be able to move power directly from your core to your body without wand or spell. Now, let's run."
They ran along the tide line. Running in the loose sand was tiring. Running on the harder packed wet sand was a little easier, but still used a lot more strength than running on hard ground did. None of them knew how far they ran, but each one felt like they'd pass out when they ended up in front of the beach house again, the sun fully up now. Harry's shirt was soaked through and he collapsed to the sand. Hermione quickly fell on top of him, pillowing her head on his sweaty shirt. Ron was on hands and knees, looking like he might vomit. Even Luna, normally imperturbable, looked haggard.
"Not a bad first run. We'll have to go further tomorrow, but you've earned yourself a quick shower. Meet behind the house in 10 minutes or Senior Auror Moody will be harsh." John barked.
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They all managed to shower, change into dry clothes, and meet behind the beach house in 10 minutes, although Ron was pulling on his shirt as he ran to the back. While they gathered under Moody's watchful gaze, a few house elves circulated with warm rolls and pumpkin juice.
"Lord Black insisted you be fed. I think he's gonna make you soft, but he's the boss. Some of you are new to our lessons, so I have to catch you up."
Moody proceeded to give the same lecture he'd given Harry and Hermione back at Grimmauld Place before he'd exhausted them with endless bludgeoning hexes. He soon had them lined up, casting bludgeoning hexes at enchanted target dummies. He told Harry and Hermione to start as they'd been doing during the last lesson while he walked the other four through his drill of slow, smooth casting in order to work towards smooth, fast casting. They could soon tell he'd been watching them when he finished getting Ron, Luna, Ginny, and Neville started, he came up to them.
"Granger, your wand movements are too prissy. Relax your wrist. Loosen up. The movement doesn't have to be perfect, the pronunciation doesn't have to be so precise. Eventually we're going to be doing it without either, so don't grow too attached." Moody said, stumping around on his peg leg, "You, on the other hand, Potter, are sloppy. Loose is fine, but in order to make the wand movements smaller, you've got to know where your wand is at all times. Like this, make the movement smaller."
Soon, they were all exhausted. Harry did notice he was getting better, though. His wand movements were smaller. He could say the incantation faster. His aim was better. Finally, only Harry and Hermione were generating any force when they cast, the others had gone past the point of exhaustion and only puffs of barely perceptible air were coming from their wands, no matter how hard they cast.
"Ok, enough." Moody said, "Head back to the house for lunch. You'll work with Lord Black, then I expect you back here."
They slowly trudged back to the house.
"Are they bloody trying to kill us?" Ron groused.
"No, they're not trying to kill us." Harry said, "They're trying to keep us from being killed. We want to be aurors, don't we? This is how we get there and how we learn to beat Voldemort!"
Ginny gasped when Harry said the name and Neville paled.
In the house, they found places already set at the table for them. Sirius was sitting, waiting on their arrival.
"Oh, I've seen that look." Sirius said with humor in his voice, "I had that look when I started auror training. Thought I didn't have the energy to eat. Well, eat. You've got to regain your energy so you'll be able to practice more after lunch. During lunch, I'm going to talk about wizarding culture. Hogwarts has a terrible curriculum, they expect you to come in knowing it and pick up what you don't know in History of Magic, but Binn couldn't teach… well, he couldn't teach Hermione and that's saying something. We're going to talk about the covenant of the ancient and noble families and the start of the Wizengamot."
Sirius led them through the very beginnings of the formation of their current form of government when the most ancient and most noble houses banded together to form the Wizengamot, all to protect themselves against both muggles and evil wizards. Many of the family names were familiar. It was a much more engaging lecture than they'd ever gotten from Binns.
Several hours later, after they'd eaten and listened to Sirius, they were sent back to the practice dummies. The downtime had been enough to regenerate their cores and they began with cutting hexes, starting again with the very basics and casting very slow, smooth cutting hexes at the dummies. Hours later, they were again exhausted. They ate a dinner at the same table at which they'd eaten lunch, but instead of Sirius, they encountered Professor Snape.
"Ah, the dunderheads I've been tasked with teaching occulomency." Snape sneered, "I questioned the mongrel whether you lot even had minds, let alone whether there was anything in them to be protected, but he insisted and because he pays rather handsomely, I've agreed to try. Potter, Granger, please step to the side and practice against one another. I'll be with you shortly.
For the rest of you, who has heard of occulomency?"
Snape ran through the basics of occulomency with the others, explaining what it was, how it could protect them, and beginning to teach them how to empty their minds. Once they had begun with their meditations, he moved over to the other side of the room, where Harry and Hermione were practicing against one another.
"I see you've kept up your practicing." Snape said, "Perhaps you're not as useless as I thought. Let us add something new. I will set a ball next to a cup on the table. I want you to levitate the ball into the cup. While you are doing so, I will attack your mind without warning. You must defend while continuing to try to levitate the ball into the cup."
"That sounds hard." Harry said.
"Hard?" Snape sneered, "No, hard might be defending your mind against the Dark Lord. Compared to that, this is easy. Once you've shown yourself up to this challenge, you'll do it silently."
Exhausted from the early morning wake up, the run in the loose sand, and the spell casting practice, their concentration was at low ebb, but Snape was a demanding task master. He used his wand as a baton, cracking Harry's knuckles when he was able to slip past his shield.
"Potter, you haven't been that open for months. Try again."
After endless iterations, Harry felt like his head was going to crack, but he was consistently getting the ball into the cup and keeping the Potions Master out of his mind.
"Eh, perhaps you will conquer this, too. I am amazed that two such mediocre students would have made it so far, but luck has surprised me before." Snape said, "You're all dismissed. Meditate on your shields before falling asleep. We will pick up tomorrow."
Harry and Hermione retired to Harry's room. After a very brief occulomency meditation and an equally brief bonding, they feel asleep wrapped around each other. As they were drifting off, Harry had to chuckle as the distinct thought came across the bond that for once, even Hermione had too much work in one day.
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The next three days passed similarly. Their instructors seemed to be focused on working them into the ground. After a grueling session of piercing charms with Mad Eye, they dragged into the beach house, only to freeze as they could clearly hear an argument between Sirius Black and Molly Weasley.
"They're children! You can't expect them to work this hard during their summer break! Arthur and I have barely even seen Ron or Ginny." Molly shouted.
"Madam, we discussed this before you came out. This is exactly the purpose of this visit and it is progressing exactly as I would have hoped. I warned you that I wouldn't allow you to try to take over here and I will hold to that." Sirius said, coldly, "These particular 'children' have been through things I don't think we can fully imagine and are making me very proud with how they're performing during a summer equivalent of the auror academy. If I have to expose them to one summer that's less than fun despite being on a tropical island in order to save their lives when Voldemort… quit gasping, woman…tries to kill them, then I bloody well will!"
"These children should never have to worry about facing You-Know-Who!" Molly shrieked, "That's a job for adults, for aurors. This is their time to just be kids. I won't stand for Ron and Ginny to have their childhood stolen from them!"
"You're more than welcome to take them home, if you choose. They are, after all, your children." Sirius replied, the icy calm in his words clearly overlying a deep rage, "Of course, I don't think they'd thank you for taking them away from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, particularly if one of them wants to be an auror or perhaps if they want to be professional athletes. Do you know how much Mr. Ashdown charges professional Quidditch teams to coach their players on magical conditioning?"
Mrs. Weasley stormed out and it was all the young people could do to avoid being caught listening. They all looked at each other, nobody knowing what to say.
"Let's get our food." Ron eventually said, his face as red as his hair "It's not going to make the rest of the day any better if we're fainting from hunger."
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With continued practice, they were making strides by the end of the first week of training. They were starting to see differences between them. Harry and Hermione obviously had huge magical potential and could continue casting long after the Weasleys were barely managing sparks. Neville, surprisingly, was also showing previously unknown power. His spells hit hard, often ripping the targets into pieces. He, too, was able to push himself after all but Harry and Hermione had stopped. Luna was almost the opposite of her public persona, approaching the training in an intensely focused manner in sharp contrast to the ridiculous non sequiturs she continued to verbalize. Hermione had more than once speculated to Harry that either her persona was a front or it was a sign of insanity. He'd had to simply shrug and had managed to avoid saying anything about how Hermione herself had been accused of being mental more than once. Ginny had reflexes secondary only to Harry, if that. She was fast, accurate, and could dodge almost anything. Her spells could hit like a freight train, especially if she were angry. Ron, while he would have shone in any other group due to above average power and above average ability, seemed to lag slightly in this group. He kept their spirits up and could always be counted on to amuse them and to bolster morale, but he couldn't be said to be the strongest, the fastest, and definitely not the hardest working.
The weekend, they were allowed off, to rest and recuperate from the hard curriculum. Saturday, Ron and Ginny spent the day with their parents, exploring the island. Luna and Neville accompanied them, neither wanting to leave the growing closeness to their partners.
Harry had a bit of a lie in, waking to full sunlight. Hermione lay next to him, reading a heavy leatherbound tome.
"Mmmm… good morning, 'Mione." Harry mumbled.
"Morning, Harry." Hermione said, bouncing her bare leg up and down where it rested on her other knee. She absentmindedly chewed on her lip, focused deeply on what she was reading.
"What have you found?" Harry asked.
"A book about designing new wards." Hermione absentmindedly explained, "I never realized how much information was limited to House Libraries. This book alone has so much new information I wasn't able to learn in the library at Hogwarts, even with access to the restricted area. The Blacks really were master warders. There are whole runes not even mentioned elsewhere that I've seen. The possibilities are endless…"
"Ah, well, endless possibilities." Harry said, "I see endless possibilities in front of me, too."
Hermione gasped, as he seized one such possibility in his mouth. She dropped the book, only coming back to it much later.
The two finally wandered out of their room in time for brunch, held on a wide porch behind the beach house. Remus and Sirius were already out there with Moody, Ashdown, and surprisingly, Severus Snape. Each of the men had a drink and a plate of food. Harry tried to guess what their drinks were, but had a bit of a hard time, as they were so different. Sirius' drink was served in a coconut half and had an umbrella . Remus appeared to be drinking champagne in orange juice. Ashdown's drink had the suspicious appearance of having a raw egg, which made Harry almost gag. Moody drank out of his customary hip flask. Snape, sitting uncomfortably upright and dressed in his customary full black robes, had relaxed enough to drink with the other men. He had a specialized glass with a bulb bottom, filled with a green liquid with a cloudy appearance.
Harry was stunned by Snape's presence. He had sensed Snape hated Sirius more than anyone he'd ever seen him around. He only tolerated Remus. What had made him willing to drink with them? He'd have to ask later.
"Pup!" Sirius called, on seeing Harry and Hermione walking up, "Miss Granger." Sirius continued, bowing politely to the young lady.
"Lord Black." Hermione said formally, only ruining it at the end with a little giggle.
"Ah, how productive." Snape sneered, "You awoke while there were still hours of daylight left."
"Stop that." Lupid said, pro-forma, "Have some breakfast. I will say the elves here make an excellent bloody steak."
"The protein wouldn't be bad for you." John laughed.
They had the elves bring them their favorites and started nibbling while watching the others.
"Uncle Padfoot, Uncle Moony." Harry began, as they relaxed after eating, "You must think it's all I ever ask, but can you tell me more about my parents?"
Hermione patted Harry on the leg, but stayed quiet, wanting to hear.
"I knew your dad." Moody rasped, "Taught him at the same time I taught this rascal, at the auror academy."
"What was he like?" Harry asked, very intent on the conversation.
"He was a genius with transfiguration. He could have everything in a room animated and attacking you. Made us underestimate him, it did, because we tended to train in empty dueling rooms and while even there he'd have your robes choking you, it wasn't as powerful a talent as when I first saw him in the real world. He was arrogant and sometimes jumped into situations he didn't have a firm grasp of, yet, but he was a hell of an auror, despite how young he was."
"Did you know my mum?"
"Not as well. I sometimes saw her around the ministry. I think she did some research work." Moody said.
Snape dismissed himself. Harry thought by the look on his face he'd decided he couldn't stand the company after all.
"Professor Lupin, do you remember what Lily did?" Hermione asked.
"You don't need to call me professor, Hermione. I haven't been your professor in a couple of years. Please call me Remus or Mooney. You can call me Uncle, too, if you want. We're family." Mooney said,
Yes, I remember what Lily did. It affects me to this day. She was a genius. I did well at Hogwarts. I was one of the Gryffindor prefects with her, so I had the chance to appreciate how truly bright she was. She was the brightest witch of our age and after graduating Hogwarts, she went on to do potions and novel charms research at the Ministry. She was one of the junior potion masters who invented the Wolfsbane potion."
"She helped invent the Wolfsbane potion? That's one of the most complex potions that exist!" Hermione exclaimed.
"My mum did that?" Harry said in amazement.
"She did." Remus replied, "The only witch I have ever seen compare to her is your Hermione, here."
Hermione blushed at the praise, but Harry just nodded, still absorbing the information.
"Your mother and father were the golden couple of Hogwarts." Sirius said, "Of course, I preferred my role, the bad boy of Hogwarts. Your dad may have gotten your mum… but I got to try most of the others."
Hermione gasped.
"Sirius!" Remus said.
"What?!" Sirius laughed, "They're engaged. If they're not ready to hear a bit of coarse talk, then maybe they shouldn't be having a drink with their uncles. And maybe I need to chase them out of the same bed…"
"Sirius!" Harry said, "We're not doing anything!"
"Well, we're not doing that, at least." Hermione said, blushing madly, but going for boldness, "Harry, if Sirius wants to tease, maybe he'll have to learn we don't tease easily. Or maybe he'll have to learn I know over ten hexes to make a man impotent. Whichever lesson he decides on, I suppose is fine with me."
Sirius looked shocked and Remus almost snorted his drink, he was laughing so hard.
"She showed you, you old dog." John said.
"I think she's more like Lily than I realized." Sirius finally said, awed.
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Harry and Hermione met in the hallway after changing into swimwear. Hermione had been researching the island in the Black Isle Master's library. She'd been planning something as a surprise to Harry. When Harry met her, he noticed she was wearing a brightly colored batik wrap dress, tucked tightly around her chest, over her breasts, leaving her shoulders bare. She looked beautiful. She gave him a small folded package.
"This is a gift for you." Hermione said.
Harry shook it out and saw a similar garment, but instead of bright colors, it was a deep masculine Gryffindorish red with the pattern in white lines.
"It's called a pāreu. It's a traditional Tahitian garment. You wrap it around your waist. You can wear it over your swimsuit." Hermione explained.
"It's great!" Harry said, "Where did you get them?"
"Apparently an ancestor of Sirius' brought them back from Tahiti and never wore them. They were still new, wrapped in twine in the bottom of an old trunk. I…I found them when I was looking for a book."
"You were looking for a book? There's a whole library here!" Harry exclaimed.
"There was a book missing, though. There's an index and one of the books I wanted was missing, so I went looking for it. Never mind that, do you really like it?"
"Yes, I really like it!"
Hermione stepped up to Harry and wrapped her arms around him. With a look of concentration, she focused and they disappeared.
Harry felt the customary feeling of apparition and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were standing on a crescent of sand at the edge of a deserted bay. A sheer cliff edge was at their back, rock wall towering over them. There was neither sight nor sound suggestive of other humans. If he didn't know better, he would think they were the only two people in the world.
"Wow, where are we?" Harry said, wide eyed and open mouthed.
"We're at Hidden Bay." Hermione answered, "I found it on a map, then read about it in a journal. Apparently this was the second runner-up when the Blacks were deciding where to place their main house. They ended up deciding the cliff made it impractical, but I really think Sirius' ancestor, Arcturus Black, couldn't stand to ruin it by building on it. He hinted that his heir was conceived on this beach. It sounded really romantic."
"Really?" Harry said, stunned by work Hermione had managed to put in, reading so many books and thinking about bringing him to the bay, while he'd barely had energy to even protect his mind before falling asleep each night, "I'm barely able to keep my eyes open after our practices and you've managed to find this in your reading? I so don't deserve you."
"No, of course you don't." Hermione said, trying to keep a straight face, but giggling, "And of course you're tired. I know you don't notice, but you put more energy into that training than anyone else. You're so intense when we're training. It's your forte, just like reading and research is mine. I don't let it surprise me when you manage the impossible, so you shouldn't let it surprise you when I come up with these little finds."
"Little find? You're misunderstanding me… I'm amazed again at your genius. I'll just let it go at that."
"Now that we've come here and it's everything we want, I want your help on a little project I have." Hermione said, digging in her bag. Harry watched intently, half hoping her pāreu would slip. He wondered idly what she had under it, although he knew what he was fantasizing she had under it.
Hermione pulled out some tiny black stone blocks the size of dice. There were several handfuls of them.
"We need to place these around the bay. I've calculated the optimal placement and annotated them on this map." Hermione said, handing Harry a parchment, "Here's your copy. Apparate around to your ten sites and place the stones. Place it on the firmest surface you can as close to the position indicated on the map as you can. I think as sensitive as you're getting to magic, you'll be able to feel the right position if you concentrate. The magic will cause it to sink to rock, but it needs to be stable for the beginning."
Harry did as Hermione had directed. He thought as he apparated around the bay about what she'd said. He realized that all the training they were doing wasn't just teaching them individual tricks, but together, it was beginning to develop in them a fundamental understanding of magic that was much deeper than he'd had previously. He could almost trace the progression from the soul bond with Hermione, a phenomenon that had first opened Harry's eyes to 'feeling' magic to auramancy, which led him to actually be able to visualize the relationships, then his intense immersion into arithmancy to impress Hermione but had started a new love of intellectual pursuits and allowed him to quantify some of the relationships he was beginning to see. Occulomency allowed him to quiet his mind enough so the chaos of his life didn't interfere with his understanding. The obsessive training for the Tri-Wizard tournament and more recently for the summer defense curriculum had started to imprint the intuitive grasp of magic that had always been one of his strengths onto his mind and merge it with the more intellectual grasp he was developing with Hermione.
It was an epiphany as Harry realized this was the same path that Dumbledore must have walked during his day and even Voldemort must have trod, although in a dark and twisted way. He understood then, that if he'd continued as he had been before his connection with Hermione, he would never have become a wizard of the same magnitude as those two. He had an abnormally powerful magical core, sure, he could admit that to himself, especially now that he understood just how impossible driving off 100 dementors should be for a third year Hogwarts student who'd only learned to cast a corporeal patronus months before, but otherwise he had in no way measured up to the trajectory the other two had taken from an early age. Hermione was the one who had been following in their footsteps. It was her pursuit of knowledge that would have eventually put her amongst their rarified stratum of the most skilled witches and wizards in the world.
Hermione came to a realization as she apparated around the bay, placing her half of the ward stones. She was planning a massive magical construct. Before her connection with Harry, she wouldn't have had the confidence to plan out something this ambitious on her own. She might have thought of it, but she wouldn't have even considered acting on her thoughts until she'd spent most of a term rechecking her work before finally submitting it to a professor or several professors to approve. She would have basked in their praise of her academic work and her research, while needing their approval before she could let herself try to put it into place. Even then, she would have been unable to muster the magical power to actually activate this large a spell without months of effort or help from those with more power. Harry was the one who'd always had both the confidence and the magic power to do great things. She'd told him as early as their first year that he was a great wizard, but she'd realized since then how great he was. He was destined to be a legend, on a plane with Dumbledore amongst the light wizards or Voldemort amongst the dark.
Once they'd placed all the stones, they met back in the middle of the bay. Fortuitously, the volcanic rock of the island jutted up near the geometric center of the arc of the bay. Hermione looked at it from all angles and decided it was perfect.
"Harry, help me. Take your side of this stone and help me place it." Hermione said.
Harry looked at the tiny stone, the size of a six sided dice, and started to say something. The old Harry would have asked why she needed help moving something so small, but he now realized that knowing how smart she was, he knew she wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. He also knew this was probably about more than just the physical placement. So he focused on their bond and pushed a bit of magic across to her. She gasped at first, wondering what he was thinking, distracting her when she needed to concentrate, but then she realized what he was doing and understood that the more merged their magic was at this central point, the more in tune they were with one another, the more seamless their combined working would be. She felt him reach for an understanding of the underlying ambient magic of the bay and the surrounding magical environment. Hermione pushed herself to both focus on her occulomency, allowing total focus on the demanding magical working, while leaving herself open to Harry and to the island. She felt as both of them hit that impossible balance together and move the stone to the perfect position for its purpose. Together, they released the stone and took their wands in their hands. Together, they returned the central keystone of her design to its original size.
Linked, Hermione realized she wouldn't even have to talk Harry through the complicated working. She started and he followed without an interruption. Together, their magic flowed perfectly, Harry's masculine magic, fiery and strong, but poorly controlled and sometimes destructive the perfect foil to her feminine magic, precisely controlled, rigidly focused, but sometimes without passion, icy when it needed fire.
Together they placed the impossibly complex and ambitiously powerful ward set she'd designed. Powerful wards to protect the bay from evil, to repel others when they wanted privacy, to repel sharks and other harmful animals, and even to keep the sand where it was when hurricanes tried to strip it away. She would have never had the power before, but now, between her newly enlarged core and Harry's prodigious power, they were able to place the wards themselves, only lightly exhausting themselves with the working.
She looked at Harry when they were done and he looked back almost reverently. He didn't say a word, but his eyes said, "Wow" clearly enough she could read it. She felt the same. That was the most intense magic she'd felt and she knew it was because of how deeply they felt each other and how deeply they were coming to grasp the magic around them.
Her lip quirked upwards in a small smile as she realized the easiest way she had to celebrate. She'd already planned it, but now as a reward to Harry, it would be even better.
Harry gasped as Hermione reached up and tugged at the knot on her pāreu and the fabric dropped to the sand, leaving Hermione in absolutely nothing. She laughed at the look on his face and ran to the water. He dropped his clothes the ground before chasing after. They played in the surf and kissed as the waves gently caressed them.
Eventually, Hermione led him back to the sand, again digging into her bag, but making even more of an absorbing picture as now instead of wondering what she had on under the garment, he could see it. She came up with a bottle of potion.
"If we don't get this on, we'll be as red as lobsters, particularly the parts that haven't ever seen sunlight."
They rubbed the potion on and spent the rest of the day frolicking on the beach, resting and regaining the energy from their hard work of training.
As the sun went down, they lay on the sand, cuddled against one another watching the sunset.
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A/N: I'm having so much trouble posting this, I'm going to keep this note short. I suspect there's some character or layout issue that's preventing it from uploading.
I like where this is going and am excited to keep writing if I can ever get this uploaded. I've been trying for a week.