A Long Way from Home

Chapter XII

Harry watched from the corner of his eye as Ron fired a hex at Draco Malfoy. He nearly missed the results, however, as his own spell seemed to crash into a barrier ahead of him, sending flashes of blinding white light in all directions. Ron’s spell seemed to hit its target, and it seemed to accomplish two objectives: Ginny floated into the air, still unconscious and Malfoy fell forward, stiff as a board.

“Honestly, Ron!” Hermione hissed, rolling her eyes. Harry reached over to grab her hand, holding his wand in his left hand.

“I didn’t realize you were such a willing volunteer, Mr. Weasley.” The cloaked figure that had been standing next to Tynan Lahey stepped forward and removed his hood.

Caphis Lahey was nearly sixty-five and completely bald. He stood nearly six inches taller than his son and was very thin. Harry was strangely reminded of old drawings of the Druids; Caphis’ white beard was long enough to tuck into his belt. His deceptively friendly face had been at the forefront of Lahey Publishing for years – he had seemed wise and knowing in countless pictures, Harry had thought. But he knew better – he had read the reports on Caphis Lahey and knew of his shadowy behavior behind the scenes.

“If you would, please hand your wands over to my associate, Mr. Danforth. They will be useless to you now.”

“Do not touch that traitor,” Tynan spat out. Hermione was leaning down to check on Malfoy as Ron began saying rude things about Mr. Danforth’s mother.

“Ron,” Harry said quietly, pulling his friend back from the edge of the small platform they had stepped onto upon entering the room. He paused for a moment to look around and nearly gasped. Each of the missing Hogwarts students was grouped around the platform in a perfect circle; they were all unconscious and floating silently in mid-air. The dais that he was standing on with Hermione, Ron and Draco stretched into a long stone walkway and it connected to another stage-like structure where the Laheys were standing.

The members of the Brotherhood were stationed throughout the room, some backed against the stone walls and the others interspersed amongst the children. He and his friends were, of course, completely surrounded by the cloaked figures.

After looking carefully around, he turned his attention to the elder Lahey and stepped forward, stopping once his group was safely behind him.

“Break the spell on my friend.”

Lahey’s grey eyes twinkled, but not in the friendly manner of Dumbledore. Lahey looked somewhat mad, with a slight wickedness about him. His son, who was glaring at Harry with fierce, blue eyes, seemed tensed and full of adrenaline. Harry didn’t make eye contact with Tynan, instead keeping his attention focused solely on Caphis.

Wordlessly, the old wizard broke the spell on Ginny and she drifted gently towards the ground, like a fallen leaf. Ron ducked forward to catch her and made no small show of kicking Malfoy as he stepped back towards Hermione, his sister awakening slowly in his arms.

“Let the children go, Lahey. We’ll give you whatever you want,” Harry said slowly, keeping his face expressionless and his voice flat.

“I would not be so quick to make such an offer, Mr. Potter. You do not yet know what I want.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever you want with us, we’ll give it to you. Let the students go.”

“What of your other companions, Mr. Potter? Have you some other large bargaining chip over me?” Caphis nodded at one of the silent wizards standing guard at the door. He quickly opened the door and several more cloaked Brothers came into the room, levitating the entire team, all of them bound and unconscious.

“Well?” Caphis asked expectantly, his hands folded behind his back.

“I’ll give you whatever you want,” Hermione said from behind. Harry spun to look at her and saw that she was already just a step or so behind him. She was looking directly at Caphis Lahey, her chin tilted up ever so slightly. “Release them and you’ll get what you want.”

Caphis nodded once and in a flash, he had his wand out and was pointing at their group.

“Do I have your word?”

“Yes,” she replied simply, her expression blank.

Harry didn’t even have time to hear her scream as the white light that shot out of Lahey’s wand blinded his eyes and scorched his skin.

*** Hermione felt as if every bone in her body had been smashed to pieces. Her nerves practically screamed with pain and she found herself unable to move or speak. Her eyes were sightless; her entire world was the pain.

She waited and waited for death, for rescue, for anything but this. After an eternity of the raking, electric pain tearing through her, she began to feel a new sensation; a soft and subtle warmth was spreading slowly through her, beginning in her torso and moving out. She felt the sting subside, being replaced by the flowing heat. Her fingers began to tingle and her toes curled slowly. She opened her eyes and gasped; she was surrounded by light as golden as rich honey. It supported her, cushioned her and drew the warmth through her. Sighing, she tilted her head to the side. She could feel every limb now and knew that she was standing up straight, even if she felt nothing under her feet. She looked from side to side, but her vision was filled completely by the light. She was simultaneously dazzled and soothed by it, wishing to run her fingers through it and imagining that it felt like the smoothest of silks.

An odd movement in the corner of her vision startled her and she turned to see an oily black substance sliding through her light. She cried out as it touched her skin, feeling as if thousands of pins were being thrust into her body.

“Rennervate!”

The words came to her through the prickling and the sensation stopped immediately. She opened her eyes again, taking several deep breaths. After her breathing had slowed, she looked around and realized almost immediately that she was floating in mid-air. She gasped, holding her breath as if the realization alone would cause her to fall back to earth. She blinked several times before noticing that everything she saw seemed to be etched in gold. She felt… different. The feelings that usually coursed through her were amplified and exaggerated. It occurred to her that she could do nearly anything in this state: throw Caphis Lahey against the back wall, free Ginny and Malfoy. She couldn’t see them, but she knew they were there, knew that they were alive and well. She could feel Harry and Ron in the room with her as well, both alive, but unconscious.

Lahey and his Brothers, however, felt like vacuums to her heightened senses. She could physically see them, but they registered no presence otherwise.

“What have you done to me, Lahey?” she asked, her voice ethereal and airy.

“I have returned you to your higher plane of existence,” he replied thoughtfully, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Of course, that further trigged knowledge in her head. This was what she had accepted so many years ago in her quest with Harry. This was the burden she had accepted, they had accepted, to defeat Voldemort. Their mentors had taught them, pulled them through at times, and had finally bequeathed them with this power and this curse.

All it took was a simple glance and she was able to see so much. She looked, finally, towards her oldest friends and felt tears well in her eyes. She saw their private pains and fears; she was able to anticipate their struggles. It was not with the distinct, theatrical eye of a seer that she saw this, it was simply known to her, as plainly as she could recall her multiplication tables or the alphabet. It was a strange and yet familiar feeling. McGonagall, she knew now, had only taught her enough to harness the power she needed to help Harry. The rest had gone untaught, viewed by some foreign and unknown body to be unnecessary in the coming times.

Caphis was attempting to open the floodgates; a slow trickle of awareness had become a deluge. He had taken away the keystone of the strong mental barriers that kept her, and perhaps those around her, safe. He had brought her to the most powerful place, for her, in all of England. He had bound her within a circle of large, oval stones in the very middle of Avebury, in that ancient place, where the earliest witches and wizards developed and molded their magic. They had educated themselves here, passing on their extensive and new knowledge reverently to the next generations. She felt the magical power stirring around her; saw it in the gold burned into every surface. She saw finally, the burden and the blessing in all its glory. She gasped and was suddenly seized by the desperate need to weep. The aftershocks of harsh betrayal rushed through her as she remembered moments of the years gone by.

She had given up her innocence in their war against the wizards practicing dark magic. She had been given the power to obliterate the source of all that heinous activity, but it had been like pointing a cannon at a field mouse. The real power, what she felt now, was just a third of the particular magic needed to wage a battle against dark magic, in its purest form. Together, they were the key to achieving balance between the two worlds, between two powers that were ultimately too raw to ever really be controlled.

She closed her eyes against the realization, still unfamiliar and unaware of all its possible ramifications.

She looked at the man standing just ten feet from her and felt a hatred burn through her with lightening speed. He glanced at her and with just that brief flicker of eye contact, she saw a glimpse of his grand scheme.

“You’ll never succeed,” she told him, holding her arms at her sides and staring straight at the old wizard.

He smiled strangely at her and bowed his head. “I have such plans for you, Miss Granger and I will succeed.”

“What makes you so sure?” she replied, looking down at him gravely.

“You will help me, of your own free will.”

She laughed at him, shaking her head. “I would die before that would happen, Lahey, but I don’t think it will come to that. You would die before you ever succeeded in using me for any of your plans.”

Again, the odd smile. “I think you will find my ideas intriguing, if not absolutely correct.”

Hermione looked at him with a blank expression, refusing to rise to the bait as he stared at her. Properly aware of himself now, Lahey had put up some sort of defensive spell that blocked her out completely. If Harry and Ron were a subtle, familiar heat behind her, Lahey was a black hole.

“I’ve been following your research project for several years, Miss Granger. My son heard about it some time ago, through some Ministry official or another. Your work was such a strange little topic of gossip among the higher-ups. I’ve never taken the time to trace the chain back, to find out who told whom, but I have followed your trail.”

“And?”

“I had a great resource at my disposal that you did not.”

“What would that be?” she asked, beginning to feel agitated.

“Prior work, of course. Your idea was not new to many that have come before me; the Dark Lord Voldemort regularly studied this little phenomenon. He even had willing subjects, but, alas, it was not his primary goal. He didn’t feel that it held the secrets he had searched for, and he was right.

“He was far more concerned with immortality than purity, and that’s very understandable now that we know about his lineage.”

“How very typical,” she replied. “He was so great and wonderful that you let him boss you all around and try and wreck everything our society has worked so hard to build, but now that he’s gone, you’re so quick to turn against him.”

“You misunderstand me. I do not turn against him; I simply disagree with what is the most important goal.”

Hermione shook her head in disgust.

“Father…” Tynan Lahey said, his voice strained. “You’re wasting time.”

Caphis turned and seemed to silence his son with a look, for Tynan stepped back and turned his face to the floor.

“Just consider it for a moment, won’t you?” Caphis said. “Pure magic, unsullied by Muggle energy. We could attain a higher level of ability, magic for magic’s sake, rather than to imitate Muggle technology.”

“That’s ridiculous, on entirely too many levels. You’re making wild assumptions about the state of magic if there were no Muggle genetic influence and you’re carrying on about Muggle technology as if we regularly work spells to make computers use the Internet.”

Caphis stared at her blankly for several moments before speaking again. “There is no need to debate this; I’m drawing on work so detailed you couldn’t even dream of it, let alone understand it. It’s beyond your reach, even in this heightened awareness. Our worlds are too intertwined; I do not seek to eradicate Muggleborns or persecute half bloods, Miss Granger. I want to purify them.”

Hermione blinked before putting her hands on her hips. “That’s outrageous. There’s nothing you could ever do to convince me that it’s right.”

Caphis smiled again, wickedly this time, before flicking his wand at Ron and Harry. She turned and watched as her friends, both bound to large stone pillars, began to writhe and silently scream. They each struggled against their bonds, driving the magical ropes deep into their skin. She saw blood seeping through the white, rune-covered rope and watched, horrified, as they twisted and turned.

“Stop!” she cried, her airy voice echoing oddly in the stone circle. She held her hand up, sending a protective shield over them with a simple wave.

Caphis turned to face her and she met his gaze, trying to hide her true motivations.

“Do as you must. Release them, and do as you must.”

Caphis nodded at her before signaling to one of the wizards gathered around him. In a single movement, they spread out, forming a circle within the stone ring.

With a wave of his own wand, Lahey sent the stones supporting Ron and Harry to the edge of the circle, opposite where Ginny and Malfoy were being held.

“They will be released when you have complied, Miss Granger.” He turned his wand on her then and she screamed as the earlier pain tore through her once more. She became engulfed in darkness, her own body betraying her and finally submitting to the pain as a rumble of chanting from the Brothers surrounded her.

*** Ron lifted his head dazedly and looked around, confused by the odd buzzing around him and feeling sort of achy all over. They were outside now, instead of in the castle and there were still quite a few people gathered round. Harry was next to him, still completely unconscious (big powerful Dark Wizard killer that he was, Harry was still a lightweight compared to Ron.) Hermione, however, was dead center in a circle made of foot high, perfectly oval stones, encased completely in what looked like a column of white fire.

Ron shook his head and blinked several times. His vision cleared considerably and his memory began to stretch back; he remembered clearly all the events leading up to that moment.

Hermione was floating inside a column of white flame that stretched from the stone platform up into the distant sky above them; her arms were weak at her sides and her head was thrown back. She appeared to be wide-awake and he would probably swear for the rest of his life that she was looking right at him.

Harry mumbled incoherently and Ron turned to look at his friend for a long moment. Harry was muttering quietly and rolling his head around a bit. Deciding to give him a chance to come to his senses and his own conclusions about their situation, Ron turned his attention back to the center of the room. Ginny and Malfoy were bound on the opposite side of the circle of stones surrounding Hermione and facing towards a large stone altar of some sort. Caphis and Tynan Lahey stood behind it, watching Hermione intently. The Brothers (Ron rolled his eyes just thinking of their name) were standing in a circle with a weird, dramatic sort of blue light flowing up behind them where it slowly arched up to meet Hermione’s column of light and flames.

He guessed that they had been chanting just a few moments ago, that it wasn’t actually any buzzing noise. They all had their heads tilted upwards and were looking beyond Hermione at the star strewn sky. Caphis Lahey began to chant slowly, his voice like a low thunder in the distance. It soon became clear that he was actually reciting a long spell in some language Ron had never heard.

He heard Harry gasp next to him and turned to look at his friend again.

“Alright, Harry?” he said quietly.

“What’s going on?” Harry replied, beginning to tug uselessly at the magical bindings that strapped him to a large stone pillar.

“No idea. Incredibly dramatic, though.”

“Ron…”

“What?”

“Nevermind,” Harry replied, shaking his head.

“What’s he saying?” Ron asked.

“I have no idea; seems kind of familiar though.”

“Really?”

Harry closed his eyes as he nodded and Ron turned to face Caphis again, listening intently to the words.

It was a strange language, somehow it sounded… older than Latin. Harry was right though – there was something familiar about it. His mind began to drift on the words, the old, precise language curling around him. Caphis’ voice faded away and he heard the voice of Remus Lupin. It was not the safe, well-cared for and loved Remus that he knew now; it was the Remus of many years ago, still wearing tattered clothes and looking slightly ill at all times.

Ron felt the familiar warmth of his old lessons wash through him and when he looked again at Hermione, he saw that she was moving slightly, waving as if caught in a strong wind. He realized however, that she wasn’t moving, but the column of fire was. It undulated briefly, turning from white to dark silver. It seemed to stretch out from her for several long moments, held in check by some invisible force.

Finally, after an impossibly long time, the light burst out of her, brightening the entire field that surrounded their stone circle.

When it dissipated, Hermione was no longer imprisoned within the light, but seemed to have absorbed it. The very tips of her hair shimmered with the light and it outlined her in a fine mist.

She was standing on the platform now, arms raised above her head towards the sky. She was facing the Laheys, her back turned to Harry and Ron, but he still felt chills move through him just looking at her.

She seemed larger than life, looming over the leaders of the Brotherhood. Caphis looked at her, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. Tynan however, had a decidedly excited look on his face. Ron saw wickedness and greed flash through the other wizard’s eyes and he frowned. He looked again at Harry, who was struggling harder against his bounds. There was a fierce look of determination on his face as he moved, his efforts having produced the slightest bit of slack.

“I have to get to her, Ron!” Harry said, his eyes wild.

Ron nodded and looked again at Hermione. She had dropped her hands and was looking up at the sky.

“What do you want from me?” she said quietly, her voice an odd echo of itself.

“We want you to change how it works. We want you to get rid of the Muggle taint,” Tynan said quickly, stepping slightly ahead of his father.

“I cannot give you that. I am not a genie to grant your wishes,” Hermione replied.

“We want to remove the impurities; we want to cleanse,” Caphis said quietly and firmly.

“You will free the children and my friends? Harry and Ron?”

“You have my word,” Caphis spoke again, his voice almost reverent as he looked up at Hermione. She was still staring into the sky.

“You do not understand what you ask for, Caphis Lahey.” Hermione spoke again with that ethereal voice, finally bowing her head to look at the Laheys.

“It is the way it is meant to be!” He cried out. “Magic was never meant to be sullied by that poison.”

“Magic could not survive…” Hermione trailed off, tilting her head to the side.

“It could! Magic can survive and evolve. Tell us how, and you’ll all go free.”

Hermione laughed softly, like one of those wind things his Mum had hanging up all around the outside of the Burrow.

“You do not understand what you ask for. Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want?”

Caphis Lahey looked at her like an unruly child. He nodded once and stepped closer to her.

“Come closer,” she whispered; her voice was nearly inaudible.

When Lahey was within arm’s length of her, Hermione threw her arms into the air and began chanting. Ron stared at her (Harry was actually gaping in addition to staring,) as the strange words came out of her mouth. Her recitation was much shorter than Lahey’s had been and she had the added flare of glowing like a candle through the whole thing. He listened as she spoke, trying to push down the odd feeling that was pulsing through him. He felt a sort of awakening inside of him and shuddered as the familiar feelings from that graveyard began to course through.

Harry seemed to be having a similar reaction; his bounds were loosening and his eyes glowed, looking eerily emerald in the strange light. He turned his gaze to Ron and they connected on a strange level, feeling for the first time in years as if they were operating as one unit.

The bonds were gone almost immediately. They fell a few feet to the ground, but the Brothers were far too wrapped up in all the excitement surrounding Hermione. A strange wind was whipping her hair around wildly and she had ceased chanting. The sky seemed to darken, as if someone had thrown a blanket over the whole area. Ron looked up at the inky darkness and sighed, remembering a very similar night.

He looked at Harry who called out to Hermione. She gave no reaction, but Ron felt her approval and agreement of their hazy plan. Instinctually, Ron stepped closer to Harry and raised his hand and whispered a spell.

Only Danforth noticed the wands soaring through the air, past Hermione and right into their hands. His chance to react, to warn his companions, was severely hampered as Harry and Ron cast a spell in tandem, sending a coppery wave of protection over Hermione. Their spell connected with her and flowed up through the column before thrusting out into the blue circle.

Shudders of magic rumbled across the circle and the wind screamed past them. Caphis Lahey’s wand exploded in mid-air and Ron was able to catch the briefest flash of fear before Lahey disappeared completely, absorbed by an inky black light. It was unlike anything Ron had ever seen.

The strange light exploded over them, stretching overhead to block out the light from the stars. The only light remaining for what seemed like miles was the shimmery emanating from Hermione.

She was looking up at the sky, waiting.

From nowhere, there was the sound of laughter, surrounding them and filtering amongst all of those gathered around them. Ron remembered a laugh from a different time, a different dark wizard. Voldemort had always sounded mad; a slight lunacy edged his voice, making everything seem like some weird movie. This laughter wasn’t just edged in madness, it simply was. It swelled around them, in volume and density, until Ron felt as if someone was laughing inside his head. There was another flash and all that strange inky darkness was pulled back, sucked right into the air space a few feet in front of Hermione.

From the darkness, Ron saw now that it was the exact opposite of the light that shimmered around Hermione, Lahey appeared, shrouded in an otherworldly cloak of it. There was the world around Lahey and there was the void that surrounded him. Hermione hadn’t so much as twitched during the entire thing, but a quick glance at Harry revealed that his other best friend was beyond bewildered.

Lahey, of course, was still laughing like a madman. He had his head thrown back, arms stretched out slightly at his sides. He raised his hands to his face, watching as the blackness flowed around him. Finally, he turned his gaze to Hermione and smirked.

“You were wrong,” he stated simply.

“No.” She continued to stare right at him, her arms limp at her sides, still waiting patiently.

Lahey pushed his hands outward from his chest, thrusting them in the direction of Hermione. Ron heard Harry cry out as the black jet of magic struck Hermione in the chest. Ron watched in horror, but was honestly more surprised when Hermione didn’t so much as sway.

The results of his spell seemed to surprise Lahey equally as it had Ron, for he immediately thrust a different hex towards Hermione, the madness in his eyes replaced by pure rage.

Again, Hermione merely stood, facing him, as she absorbed the magic. In a fit of fury, Lahey began firing spell after spell at her, but she merely watched him, occasionally raising her eyebrow slightly.

After several more spells hit her, Hermione held up her hand, sending the final blast back towards Lahey. It struck him firmly in the chest and he stumbled backwards, clutching the front of his robes.

“You were wrong,” Hermione said simply.

Lahey lifted his head to look at her and Ron watched in amazement as a look of fear began to creep across his face. Something seemed to be happening with his eyes; they were rolling around inside of his head, a blur of white. He screamed, and for the umpteenth time that evening, it was completely unlike anything Ron had ever heard.

Lahey crumpled to the ground, rolling back and forth. He writhed and shrieked, as Hermione stood over him, still emotionless and silent. Finally, Lahey was still, curled in a fetal position at Hermione’s feet.

“You can see it, can’t you? The pain? The destruction? Do you finally see?”

Inexplicably, Ron felt his feet beginning to shuffle forward, closer to Hermione. Harry too seemed to be moving, as if they were both drawn right to the center of the action by instinct.

Hermione had finally moved to kneel down next to Lahey’s head. She was looking right into his eyes, which had finally stopped spinning. He seemed to gaze up at her and Ron saw something else in his eyes. Several Muggle movies seemed to feature the odd shot of images moving in the pupils of someone’s eyes and the same thing was happening to Lahey. He saw that Lahey, in fact, was not looking at Hermione at all. He was looking beyond her, watching the images flashing before him.

“You have what desire, Lahey. You have the ability to see and to know. Do you, then, see? The death? The sickness? Can you smell the stench, Lahey? Everything you wish for is so trivial, do you see that now?”

Through the entirety of her statement, Hermione remained calm; her voice had almost a soothing tone. Her words and her tenor sent shivers down his spine as he slowly began to understand what was happening. Lahey had asked for the ability to know, the ability to alter the world around him. He had been granted that wish; Hermione had transferred just a little bit of their combined powers to the dark wizard and Ron was watching as Lahey was crushed beneath the weight of it.

A strange, animalistic cry ripped through the air and Lahey begin to twist wildly on the ground. Hermione stepped back as the inky darkness that hovered around Caphis begin to undulate. Slowly, fissures of golden light began to appear in the darkness and more screams filled the air. The wizards of the Brotherhood began to cry out, and several tried to move closer to the center of the circle.

They were blocked by some invisible force; a protective shield seemed to surround the four of them. Hermione stepped closer to them and within just a moment’s breath, she was standing next to Harry, their hands close enough to touch.

Finally, the dark light stopped moving and nearly disappeared entirely. In just a blink, however, it was back, shoving out from Lahey as more golden cracks appeared. A final surge of light seemed to rush through it and Ron was forced to cover his eyes as the light exploded outward, showering them all in a light that was as bright as the sun. It seemed to hang around them momentarily before something seemed to break and the wizards began to flood towards them. There was just enough of it left to see that Lahey had completely disappeared.

The last of the strange light dissipated quickly, leaving the Trio to fight the Brotherhood in the most familiar way. They clamored together in the middle of the circle, back to back and wands pointed at the circling and panicked wizards. Hermione sent several stunning spells at them, while Harry launched several well-placed Expelliarmus! spells. For his part, Ron cast multiple and varied hexes. In the fray, he saw a stray bat bogey hoax collide with one of the cloaked Brothers and laughed loudly. Ginny must have stirred enough to join the fight; he knew that she tended to resort to old standbys when she was panicking.

He saw her finally; she was sending hexes at two wizards trying to her subdue her. Malfoy, engaged in his own battle, saw her as well and quickly stepped towards her. Ron watched as his old enemy swept between his sister and her attackers, warding them off and saving her from further attacks.

He felt something odd trickle through him as he watched Malfoy, but it quickly turned to nausea. He made a face in the general direction of his sister before returning to his own fight.

As a group, they were able to gain the upper hand quickly enough. Soon after, they had taken down all but Tynan Lahey.

Harry stood with his wand at Lahey’s throat. Tynan was gasping for breath and looked wildly at the five wizards surrounding him. He focused on Hermione and hissed through his teeth.

“You have killed my father.”

Hermione remained silent as she glanced between Harry and Tynan. Tynan cried out suddenly, sounding like a strange beast before a familiar popping sound filled the air. Within moments, they were set upon by the other members of their team. Neville touched ground first, but his stunning spell wasn’t quick enough.

Tynan Lahey grinned at Harry before Apparating away.

There was chaos then, as additional Order members arrived on the scene and several Weasleys started to make a fuss over Ron and Ginny. The others began rounding up the remaining members of the Brotherhood and he was pretty sure that Fred and George were spouting off about the name of the new group of dark wizards. There was a blur of red hair and swirling cloaks as his mother launched herself at him, appearing out of nowhere.

Obligingly, Ron gathered into a hug as he looked at the scene around him. He saw Andie appear at the edge of the circle and wordlessly, he moved away from his mother. She didn’t speak, however, as she watched him move towards his wife. Andie was crying and smiling at the same time. In moments, they were together again, arms and legs intertwined as they kissed furtively. He felt the wetness of her tears on his face and felt his own eyes begin to water slightly as the entire situation came rushing back at him.

He pulled Andie closer to him in a tight hug and sighed as her familiar form curled into him. He closed his eyes momentarily, breathing in her familiar and comforting scent. He lifted his head to look once more at everything going on around him. Ginny and Malfoy were standing close together, not touching, but still talking heatedly. He saw his parents standing together, talking to the eldest of the Hogwarts students. Ron watched over Andie’s shoulder as Hermione tugged Harry off to the side. She whispered at him furtively before lifting her wand…

“Hermione?” Ron called out, turning away from Andie, propelled by something indescribable. Ginny turned after a moment, following his gaze. Malfoy stepped next to her and opened his mouth to speak…

“Hermione?!” Ron called again, louder this time. He saw her wand twitch ever so slightly. Harry stumbled back a bit, blinking several times. He looked towards Ron, confusion flashing across his face before he shook his head.

Ron looked at Hermione again, who had finally turned to face him.

He didn’t hear the spell, but he saw her lips move.

Obliviate.

---

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Also, many thanks to my beta, Neil.