Lay with me and look at the clouds?
With a grin, Hermione set her wand on the ground and used a silent levitating spell to send it perfectly back to the blanket. Smirking, she folded her arms. “I’m ready.”
Smirking back, Narcissa tilted her head in agreement. “Perfect. With which spells are you most confident?”
“Hmm...Aguamenti, Bluebell Flames, um the Hot-Air Charm, Flagrate?”
“Alright then -”
“Oh, and of course the levitating charm, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Hermione laughed nervously.
“It’s fine, darling. Those are good, safe spells to start with. Here, fill my hands with water.”
Hermione nodded once. Taking a deep breath, she raised her right hand as though it held her wand. “Agua - wait,” Hermione interrupted herself, “usually when I cast this spell, water comes out of my wand tip. What will happen now?”
“Let’s find out,” Narcissa challenged.
Meeting her fiancée’s eyes, Hermione bit her lip briefly before squaring her shoulders. Hermione moved her hand in the familiar pattern, “aguamenti.”
Nothing happened.
“Aguamenti,” Hermione tried again, the same way. Still nothing. “Aguamenti. Aguamenti. Aguamenti!”
Eyebrows up, Narcissa raised her palms. “May I?”
Hermione held her own palms out for Narcissa to fill with water, a frown on her face.
“I’m not...don’t think I’m trying to show you up or something? I just want to cast the spell wandlessly so we can both see what my hands do when I cast. You’re holding yourself as though your wand is in your hand. It is not. Watch; aguamenti,” Narcissa cast. Her hands were open, palms turned toward Hermione. Water flowed from midair in front of Narcissa’s right palm into Hermione’s cupped hands. “Finite.”
Hermione dropped the water, “do it again.”
One eyebrow raised, Narcissa followed the command.
“Once more?”
Narcissa nodded and acquiesced.
Hermione, squinting, spoke, “I think I see my problem. I know intellectually that I’m not actually using my wand but, physically, I’m not used to casting without it. You seem so natural just using your hands.”
“That’s why we’re here. So you can practice and grow more comfortable and natural just using your hands. Perhaps if we stood side by side? So you didn’t feel as though you were casting magic at me?”
Hermione nodded.
Narcissa stepped next to the other woman and continued quietly, “now relax your stance. You’re barefoot in the honeysuckle on the Hill of Tara. Breathe it in. Raise your arms but keep your hands open and relaxed, you want the magic to flow from your palms outward.” She watched as Hermione listened. “Good. Now relax your body and do it again.”
Hermione let her arms relax at her sides once more and exhaled in a long, controlled breath. She set her feet, one slightly ahead of the other, and raised her hands prepared to conjure water.
“Perfect, darling,” Narcissa murmured next to her, “now relax, breathe, and do it once more. This time, try aguamenti.”
Hermione reset herself. She breathed deeply once again and gently shook her arms out. As she raised them back up in preparation, she felt Narcissa step behind her. She carefully rested her hands on Hermione’s shoulders, giving them a quick massage before sliding them down to her tangle their fingers together. “You can do this,” Narcissa whispered in Hermione’s ear, “go ahead.”
Eyes closed, Hermione pictured the result she wanted. In her mind, she watched herself get set, raise her arms, and call water forth through her palms. She knew what she wanted. She felt the power of her magic. She felt her fiancée’s confidence in her. She felt her own strength. The witch lifted her palms, breathed deeply the scent of honeysuckle, and silently cast aguamenti.
“Hermione! I knew you could do it! And look how perfectly you’re making it rain on our little garden!” Narcissa laughed, wrapping her arms around Hermione’s waist.
Hermione smiled and ended the spell, laying her hands atop Narcissa’s for a brief moment. “I wonder,” she intoned before cupping her hands, “Narcissa, watch, do you think this will work? Aguamenti.”
As though someone were pouring into them from a pitcher, Hermione’s hands filled with water and did not overflow.
“How?” Narcissa was impressed.
“I thought about what I wanted before I cast the spell. I only wanted enough water to fill my hands and that’s just what I got. I bet…” In just a moment, there was a small, blue fire sitting atop the water in Hermione’s hands.
“Do be careful, dear,” Narcissa warned.
“It’s okay, it’s only Bluebell Flames! Hmm,” with that, Hermione raised her hands carefully and levitated the water and the fire together in front of them.
Pressing a kiss to the side of Hermione’s head, Narcissa was curious how Hermione went from frustrated with no results to levitating magical fire and water in a matter of minutes.
“You,” Hermione answered, the smile in her voice quite evident. She looked intently at the water and flames in front of them and both disappeared. Turning in her fiancée’s arms, Hermione explained, “I believed I could do it because you believed I could do it...and I believed you. Does that make sense?”
“I think it does. Do something else, now. You have to be comfortable with this before I explain Apparition to you.”
“Hmm, okay,” Hermione agreed. She performed a series of magical commands, summoning her wand and sending it back to the blanket, opening and closing the picnic basket, a sequence of controlled bursts of aguamenti with each ball of water floating separately above the nearby honeysuckle.
“Brilliant,” Narcissa clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Now, what’s a spell with which you’ve always struggled? Something that’s really challenged you.”
Immediately turning pink, Hermione obviously had an answer. “I...I’m terribly at flight.”
“What? Like levitation? Most of us can’t fly, Mione.”
“No. Like flying on a broom,” she groaned, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t do it. I can’t even get the broomstick off the ground. They just don’t listen to me.”
Narcissa blinked owlishly at the other woman surprised at both the admission and the embarrassment that came along with it. “Ehm, okay. Well, first, no one is perfect at everything. There are many, many skills at which I am terrible. Secondly, I have to assume that the last time you attempted to learn to fly you were an eleven-year-old who was brand new to the world of magic and learned everything she knew from a book. True?”
Hermione nodded.
“I’ll be back in flash, darling. Why don’t you get us out a quick snack?”
Nodding again, Hermione watched as Narcissa vanished and then dragged herself over to the picnic blanket. With a few snacks out of the basket and pumpkin juice poured for them both, Hermione flopped onto her back, flinging one arm over her eyes and groaning, “why flying? I hate flying. Why didn’t I say I’m rubbish at the healing spell?”
“Because you never want to lie to me. And I respect you all the more for it,” Narcissa answered, making Hermione just about jump out of her skin. “I brought us back two broomsticks but let’s have a little snack first.”
“You scared me!”
“I’m terribly sorry,” Narcissa sat next to Hermione, leaning over the younger woman and pressing a less-than-chaste kiss to her pouting lips.
“Mmm, apology accepted,” Hermione sat up and handed Narcissa some juice and an apple. “Just wondering, if I’m good at wandless magic, why can’t we move right into Apparating? I know the theory and I’ve done it the other way.”
Finishing her bite - and getting her thoughts in order - before replying, Narcissa finally spoke, “I know you’ve Apparated before and I know you’ve studied it but it’s different to use your magical energy without a wand. You said you trusted me, Mione. Don’t you?”
“Of course, I do. Completely,” Hermione answered seriously, looking Narcissa square in the eye. “I didn’t mean to sound like I don’t trust you; I’m just impatient and the thought of flying makes me anxious.”
“Thank you,” Narcissa whispered, unexpectedly emotional. “Apparition, the way you learned it, was dangerous. You’ve seen splinching, yes?”
Hermione nodded, picturing Ron’s bloody wound and pale face. “I’ve caused it,” she admitted.
“This type of Apparition, the Old Way, is much less likely to cause splinching.”
“So, what’s the danger?”
“You just disappear.”
Silence.
“You understand now? Why I’m so serious about you learning slowly?”
“I...I understand. Thank you for explaining that.”
The witches finished what they were eating and stood back up, each holding a broomstick.
“I know the basics and I understand the theory. I’m just not very successful,” Hermione explained.
“No matter. We’ll start from the beginning, building on each block as we go. Set your broom on the ground and stand next to it.”
Both women were poised, dominant hands over their broomsticks, ready to begin.
“Before you give the command, remember how you felt earlier. Remember the power and control you had over your magic. Think about how that felt coursing through you.”
Hermione nodded once and, after a few moments of reflection, looked down at her broom and commanded it up into her hand. It listened at once, perhaps a little slower than Hermione would have liked but...it did listen. Without Narcissa saying a word, Hermione set the broomstick back on the ground, shook her arms out and did it again. The witch was so focussed on getting the command perfect that by the time she looked back at Narcissa, her fiancée was sitting sideways on her own broomstick, floating in lazy circles around Hermione.
Shrugging, Hermione laughed, “I think I’m ready for the next step.”
Agreeing, Narcissa flew to Hermione’s side and landed. “Next, you’ll practice mounting your broom without sliding off either end. You’re wearing trousers so it makes sense to practice like a Quidditch player as opposed to a side saddle. Those gold bars near the bottom are footrests for when you’re in flight and can help if you step into one of them while mounting. I’ll demonstrate?”
“Yes. Please.”
Narcissa demonstrated slowly and then full speed a few times, each demonstration ended with a gentle push-off the ground to complete the mount.
“I think I can do this,” Hermione tried to sound confident...she failed.
“I know you can, my darling.” Narcissa gently took Hermione’s chin between her fingers and placed a sweet kiss on her lips, “for luck.” She winked.
Hermione grinned, turning back to her broom she summoned it into her hand. One deep breath later and Hermione had both feet resting on the gold bars as she levitated a few feet off the ground. Before Narcissa could instruct her on what to do next, Hermione swung her right leg back over the broom, floated back down, and dismounted perfectly.
“You knew I could do it,” Hermione said to Cissa.
“Yes.”
“It made me know I could do it, too.”
“I’m hoping one of these days, you’ll just have enough confidence to know it yourself. But until then, I’m very happy to be confident enough in you for the both of us, my dear.”
Within half an hour, Hermione and Narcissa were flying in low, careful circles over the Hill of Tara, side by side.
“Do you want to try anything more daring?” Narcissa asked, trying to judge Hermione’s comfort level.
“I don’t feel the need to...but I do feel like I could if I had to. I, well, I can fly, Narcissa,” she laughed. Leaning forward, Hermione flew in a fast circle around the other woman. “Why? Why am I able to do this now when I couldn’t before?”
“Flying always required wandless magic. They just don’t explain it that way. The professors tell you to have your wand on your person, right?”
“Yes, precisely,” Hermione agreed, drifting closer to the other woman.
“But you didn’t use it. The best flyers are people who would be able to perform the best wandless magic. Innate magic users. Witches and wizards who really feel their magical energy flowing through them. You weren’t ready then, brand new to the magical world, to release that kind of energy. But now? A strong, independent nearly nineteen-year-old?”
“Twenty, kind of,” Hermione looked at Narcissa. “Or a little more, really.”
“Either way, you’re absolutely ready now to be this powerful. Now, what? You’re about to turn nineteen. Next weekend is your birthday.”
“It is. And officially it will be my nineteenth. However, I spent a good deal of my youth utilizing a time turner and there are some credible theories that I could now be considered older than my age by birth.”
“By more than a year?”
Nodding Hermione replied, “by some estimates. I used the Time Turner for a few years. And perhaps abused the privilege a bit to get some homework done when I needed to.”
“Which simply lends even more credibility to my argument that you are now ready to perform that wandless magic for which you were unprepared as a child.”
“A sound argument,” Hermione teased, drifting yet closer.
Narcissa reached out a hand and twirled one of Hermione’s curls round her finger. Hermione smiled in response, leaning in to steal a kiss.
“Ready for the next?” Narcissa asked quietly.
“Absolutely,” Hermione agreed, “but, first, race you back to the blanket!” With that, the younger witch turned on the spot and sped forward on her broom trying to beat Narcissa back to their picnic location. She could hear her fiancée gaining on her, Narcissa simply could not contain her raucous laughter.
In the end, Narcissa won the race but she was so happy Hermione had grown so comfortable flying she didn’t even rub it in.
“Apparition?” Hermione was excited.
Stepping forward, Narcissa pressed her forehead to Hermione’s. “Patience, darling. I promise we’ll get there. Next, we’re going to do a spot of wandless dueling. Then lunch. After lunch, if the dueling is satisfactory, we will begin Apparating.”
“Okay!”
“The first thing to remember about dueling is that you -”
“Must first bow to your opponent,” Hermione quickly declared.
“Eh, yes? In a formal duel, one would bow to one’s opponent. However, I was going to say -”
“You first disarm your opponent!”
“Hermione,” Narcissa looked at the other woman. “This isn’t Hogwarts. Let me finish my thought. The first thing to remember about dueling is that you don’t know what you don’t know. You’re quite unlikely to be pulled into a formal duel in your lifetime, so I wouldn’t worry about the particulars of bowing and which spell to try first. Though, I agree, disarming a wanded opponent is a good start.”
Still blushing scarlet, Hermione spoke again, “but it won’t always help. That’s what you meant, right? You don’t know what you don’t know. If I didn’t know you, I would think disarming you might end the duel. However, that could be a fatal mistake against the wrong opponent.”
“Exactly,” Narcissa nodded, “and attempting to use expelliarmus against me when I’m not wielding a wand is just a waste of time. It won’t do anything to slow me down.”
“Right,” Hermione understood. “So, we’re going to duel?”
“A practice duel. Will you be offended if I set some ground rules?”
Hermione shook her head, appreciating the thought for safety.
“Good. First, don’t cast anything dangerous on purpose. Second, don’t cast anything you can’t undo. Third, try not to draw blood. Fourth, if you want to stop, say so. Agree?” Narcissa held out her hand.
“I agree,” Hemione shook the offered hand, swallowing her nervousness.
“We’ll start this formally so you know when to start. Back to back, count off ten paces, and begin.”
Turning around so her back was lightly brushing against Narcissa’s, Hermione breathed deeply.
“Here we go,” Narcissa said clearly, “one, two, three.” The witches counted together to ten as they stepped away from one another.
“Ow!”
“Protect yourself, then, Hermione,” Narcissa directed the younger witch and cast another jinx.
“Protego! Ow! Ouch! Dammit, you’re good at a stinging jinx, Narcissa!”
“Less talking, more dueling,” Narcissa sing-songed keeping up the stinging jinxes directed at Hermione’s legs.
Only a moment later Hermione stopped flinching, indicating she could no longer feel the sting. Narcissa tried to send one at her arm to see how well she had shielded but, before she could cast the jinx, she could feel herself slowing down. Eyes wide, she felt the effects of the impedimenta Hermione had silently sent her way.
Casting her own silent shield charm, Narcissa felt her body come back to itself, “well done, Hermione! That was really bright, impedimenta was a great choice.”
Hermione flushed pink, pleased with the compliment, but not foolish enough to let down her shield. She could feel Narcissa’s hexes and jinxes trying to break through but none were successful.
“Attack me through your shield, Hermione. Dueling is both offense and defense at the same time.”
Hermione was sweating with the effort to maintain her shield and send mild jinxes and hexes at Narcissa. The stalemate lasted nearly twenty minutes.
“Can we stop?” Hermione called out, panting. Immediately she felt the other woman’s spells cease their attack.
“Of course, darling, are you okay?” Narcissa asked, walking toward Hermione.
Nodding, Hermione indicated that she was, however, she moved forward right into Narcissa’s body and wrapped her arms tightly around the other woman’s waist. “Can I tell you something?” Narcissa nodded. “I don’t like dueling you, Cissa, even for practice. I’d much rather be on the same side from now on, okay?”
“Oh,” all the air left Narcissa’s chest. “I think that can be arranged.” She wrapped herself just as tightly around Hermione. “Let’s have a rest before lunch, lion. Okay?”
“In a moment,” Hermione mumbled into Narcissa’s neck, “I like it right here.”
The women finally sat together to share the lunch that had been packed for them.
“Did Filly make all this?”
Narcissa shook her head, finishing her mouthful of Scotch Eggs before answering, “I sent a quick owl to the market for a picnic basket this morning and Filly picked it up. He would have had to use magic as I waited a bit too long to think of it and he just deplores making food with magic. He did pop over there to pick it up, though, so we would have it before we left.”
“Well, thank you. You managed to choose all these foods I love! Scotch Eggs, Coronation Chicken, sausage rolls, fairy cakes!”
“Good! I’m happy you’re enjoying our day and our picnic. Hmm, raspberry cordial or pumpkin juice?”
“Ooh, I’ll try the cordial,” Hermione answered with a smile.
The witches tipped their glasses together in a silent toast and sipped the brightly covered beverage. Hermione leaned back on one hand as she slowly drank the cordial. She simply took in the sights and sounds of the Hill around her.
“Are those pixies by that tree over there?”
“Indeed they are. Many magical creatures make their home here, as I said. Pixies, doxies, imps, nifflers, knarls, and plenty more. There’s a rather large herd of Thestrals, I haven’t seen them today, though. There’s tell of unicorns but I don’t know that any location here offers enough cover for them, unicorn herds tend to prefer a thicker forest.”
“I do find it so interesting that so many creatures can share space with no problem here and in the Forbidden Forest and it’s only when we add humans to the mix that tensions rise.”
Nodding, Narcissa agreed wholeheartedly. “True. It’s because we assume all creatures act with the same character as ourselves when, truly, most magical creatures are far more honest than witches and wizards.”
“So we should assume the creatures to whom we are speaking are being honest?”
“Never, darling. Always assume the other creature - human or otherwise - has knowledge you lack and you have to think quickly enough on the inside and smoothly enough on the outside to get it without them noticing. Also, imps are nearly never honest and sphinxes only speak in riddles.”
Hermione fell silent once again but with a small grin upon her lips. She finished her drink and laid back on the blanket to close her eyes for a moment. “Sometimes, Narcissa, I think you should have been in Ravenclaw.”
A burst of surprised laughter spilled forth from Narcissa and she turned to look at Hermione before answering, “sometimes, Hermione, I think the same of you.”
“Lay with me and look at the clouds? Just for a few minutes and then we can talk about Apparating?”
“Of course,” Narcissa easily agreed, magically sending their leftover lunch back into the picnic basket. She tucked herself next to the other woman and happily rested her head on Hermione’s shoulder, grinning from ear to ear as she felt Hermione’s hand begin to run through her hair.
“That one looks like a shark,” Hermione pointed off to their left.
“Or a flobberworm,” Narcissa snorted.
“Oh, it looks like a storm cloud might be coming from the other side. And it’s shaped like a dog,” the younger woman laughed again.
Narcissa lifted herself off of Hermione to turn and look at the cloud blowing in. “No,” she whispered.
“What? It’s just a rain cloud, Cissa,” Hermione soothed.
“Okay, dear, change of plans. Please trust me. I will teach you how to Apparate at home. We should go. I want to pop into Edinburgh this afternoon to the healer and we should check with Elizabeth about Rita. Is that okay? Can we go? Now? Please?” Narcissa was magically cleaning up their picnic site as quickly as she could manage, folding the blanket from beneath them and putting their socks and shoes back on their feet. She held a hand out to Hermione, awaiting her answer.
“Narcissa, really? But this whole day has been about Apparating. I’m so powerful here. It’s just a rain cloud. And it’s shaped like a dog!”
“That’s not a dog, Hermione,” Narcissa shook her hand a bit, encouraging Hermione to take it.
“If you say what I think you’re going to say, so help me Merlin, Narcissa Black, I’ll scream. You are far too brilliant to believe what I think you’re trying to say,” Hermione took the offered hand and allowed Narcissa to pull her up. Now standing in front of her fiancée, the younger woman had her hands on her hips in a clear show of irritation.
Narcissa quickly spun around, her back to Hermione, her eyes on the darkening cloud in the sky.
“I know it seems silly to you and superstitious. And probably foolish. But I’ve lived a long life being careful and cautious and I’ve learned not to ignore warnings even when they come from unexpected places. So, please, just trust my instincts and let’s go.”
“Narcissa,” Hermione whispered, wrapping her arms around the woman in front of her, pressing herself to Narcissa’s back. “What could this warning possibly be? We’re okay. The people we love are okay. The war is over.”
“I don’t know yet, Hermione. But what I do know is...in our world? That,” Narcissa pointed at the ominous cloud, “is a terrible thing to see. Danger is on the horizon. That’s not an innocent rain cloud shaped like a dog, Hermione. That’s a grim.”