in the end, i'd do it again
Halloween managed to pass without any extreme near-death experiences and fall had started to give way to winter, November blowing in cold winds and morning frost.
Hermione’s health had deteriorated so badly by this point she had at least one magical outburst a day. She was convinced she’d contracted some rare magical disease, but she found her magic calmed some in the presence of Mattheo.
She had researched the magical glow that had risen around them for days in the library, only to find there were multiple instances it could occur both between magical twins and soulmates. Hermione, knowing it wasn’t the latter decided to ignore the issue for now.
At times, while they walked the perimeter of the Black Lake, she wondered what it would be like to have Mattheo as her soulmate, but the idea felt wrong to her. She felt at ease in his presence, he smelled of nights in front of her family’s fire, his scent reminding her of her father’s cologne that she’d always loved.
He reminded her of Harry because he felt like home in the same way Harry did. She wondered what that meant for her, if they were soulmates, could love ever really grow there if the thought of it repulsed her? He was the son of Lord Voldemort and she was the muggle-born best friend of Harry Potter. Regardless, it would never work.
She thought it might be a platonic soul mate, a twin flame. Though that’s always what she considered Harry to be to her. A flicker of light in the mirror of her soul, carrying the flame for them both when hers was threatening to go out.
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Dumbledore had received many warnings in the last few weeks of Hermione’s condition, her teachers had reached out to him concerned about their pupil’s haggard appearance. As unfortunate as it was he had to wait before he could interfere, or risk turning her into a squib.
He’d consulted with a few of the past headmaster portraits he had in his office, many, like Phineas Black held portraits in other places like St. Mungos and he asked them for help regarding Hermione’s condition.
He’d asked for Headmistress Fitzgerald’s help, as it was a ritual he’d found in one of her private journals that sealed Hermione’s magic in the first place but she refused to answer him and would just leave her frame whenever he attempted to speak to her. He couldnt blame her, she was a famed keeper of the source and held magic in the utmost regard. He presumed in her opinion that he’d abused his power by sealing Hermione’s magic, regardless of his reasons.
Armando was floored at Dumbledore’s actions towards a child and scolded him from his frame, leaning forward, hands waving and vitriol spitting from his acrylic lips “A child, Albus! I can’t believe I entrusted this school to you, these children. What other misguided attempts of yours have ended in the misery of the students here? You never liked Tom, but to do this to an infant, you must’ve lost your mind. Now you come to us, asking for us to help you re-imprison this girl? Nonsense, I will not hear of it.”
That left him, only Phineas to ask, and the man loved to goad Albus. He had extensive knowledge of ritual magic and urged Albus to search the Black family library, but Albus was hesitant to use this avenue.
He didn’t want to arouse the suspicion of the Order members who didn’t know of the situation with Hermione, mainly Sirius and Remus. While he knew they weren’t particularly close with the girl he was also aware that Sirius having suffered 12 years essentially living as a squib, would probably find his actions reprehensible.
Dumbledore had finally found a spell that would bolster the seal for now, but he would need to perform a more extensive ritual at a later date.
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After supper on November twenty-first, he was prepared to perform the spell on Hermione and requested her presence in his office after the feast. He left the Great Hall early to complete last-minute preparations; he'd requested some pepper-up potions from Severus in case it took a bit of a toll on Miss Granger.
About a half hour after returning to his office Hermione arrived, once again nervous to be in Albus’ presence.
“Hello Hermione, how have you been since our last meeting? I gather things have gone smoothly since you haven’t come to me with any concerns?”
Hermione fidgeted in her seat, signalling to Albus there was something she was holding back, “Unburden yourself, my dear, I simply wish to check on you.”
She wrung her hands, “Well you see professor there was an incident in Hogsmeade last month, Mattheo was injured and I cast a simple healing spell on him, but something strange happened.”
She looked up at him, eyes pleading with him to understand, that her silence hadn’t been malicious, she was just scared and unsure. He nodded assuringly at her, encouraging her to continue, she took a deep breath and finished her statement “ A strange glow appeared around us as I healed him.”
Albus occluded, trying hard to not let the shock and panic at this occurrence show on his face. He forced himself to form a small smile, although he was unsure if it came out as more of a grimace.
Things had progressed more than he was prepared for, no doubt the damage was worse than he expected.
“And? Has there been any other magical phenomena?”
“ No headmaster, though my magic has been out of sorts, I went to Madam Pomfrey but she didn’t see anything on the typical scans and assured me it must be a magical cold of sorts. She supplied me with some pepper-up potions and said she’d reevaluate after the holidays.”
Dumbledore nodded to himself, thanking his foresight in dealing with Madame Pomfrey after Hermione was petrified in her second year. The seal gave protection against diagnostic spells, mirroring the core as healthy and untouched. When Poppy had noticed something was amiss he’d obliviated her, she’d been none the wiser.
Dumbledore prepared a batch of tea to soothe Hermione’s nerves, lacing it with a sleeping potion. Soon the young witch was sleeping softly in the chair across from his desk.
He transfigured the other chair into a chaise to lay her on, before transferring her to it using levitation.
He cast the more obscure diagnostic spells on her core, the seal he’d placed on her obscured itself so fully that the normal spells rendered it undetectable.
Just as he suspected her magical inheritance magic was pushing at the confines of her seal and most likely the cause of her recent bouts of accidental magic.
He’d need to hold onto the frayed pieces of the seat before trying to magically weave them back together.
Albus tried the incantation three times before he realized he wasn’t going to be successful, not on his own, he needed someone else to hold the edges for him, her magic was fighting valiantly. He lamented for a moment at the necessity of this before sending a patronus to Minerva to meet him in his office.
Minerva breezed into the room like wind over the Scottish highlands she was born to, before stopping abruptly at the sight of her cub lying on the chaise.
“What is this Albus? What happened to my cub?”
“I need you to trust me, Minnie, if you’ve ever trusted me now is the time I need you to put it to task, we are at a crossroads, Hermione’s core… If we don’t do anything there will be grave consequences.”
“Explain Albus, how could this happen without my knowledge? Why isn’t Poppy here? Surely she should’ve been your first choice to ask for help with this.”
“This is top secret Order information, Minnie, it is not safe for you to know, I implore you to trust me and help save her.”
Minerva looked from him to Hermione, her confusion softening in fond appreciation, she gave him a grim nod, taking out her wand.
“You must hold onto the edges of the seal, while I slowly repair it I couldn’t do both by myself, her magic is fighting back.”
It took a little over an hour to complete but Dumbledore had patched her core as best he could, he was unsure of how long it would take to start breaking again but it was a risk he’d stand by.