Chapter 2
The first week of school went by quickly, being eased into the year, picking up good habits and learning their schedules, introduced to the teacher’s and the various club’s, said club’s included the obvious of Quidditch and chess, but also Horse riding, Canoeing, archery and more, of which Hermione joined horse riding and archery, with Fluer joining her in both as well as doing chess with Edda, school life was, pretty quiet, Hermione had forgotten what having a normal school year was like, after her 7 at Hogwarts was spent trying to stop Voldemort from coming back and nearly dying every other week, it was, nice
“Mione! Wake up we’re gonna be late!”
Hermione then sat bolt upright in her bed, nearly headbutting Fleur in the process
“What is it!? Whose dead! Who do I kill!?”
“What? Nobody, it’s just that it’s 7:30 already and you’re weren't awake yet, so i thought i should”
“Right, yes, thank you, is breakfast still going?”
“Yes, it finishes at 8”
“Have you eaten yet?”
“N, no, i wanted to wait for you”
“No I’ll be fine, go on ahead, I’ll be there in just a moment”
“Okay then, see you down there!”
Fleur ran off down the stairs, leaving Hermione alone with her thoughts, as she brought her hands up and rubbed her face, she let out a long, shaky breath, that night had not been particularly kind to her, but the day had to go on, standing up, she made her way to the bathroom and got dressed into her uniform, she had taken to wearing the ‘traveling’ uniform, since she not only despised dresses but also found it much more comfortable, quickly brushing her hair and putting in a simple ponytail, not having time to braid it today before rushing down to the stairs to the dining hall to join Fleur
“Hermione! You made it!”
“Course Edda, what did you think I would miss a chance to be in your oh so amazing presence?”
“You should be honored to be in such a great witches presence”
“Oh my apologies oh great one, shall i teach you how to levitate a book again?”
“Oh shut it you two”
As their banter continued and ate together, a teacher walked over to them and asked Hermione to come with her
“Ms Rousseau, please come with me”
“Oh, of course Professor Prospectus”
The pair walked to the exit of the dining hall and behind the doors as to be in private
“Now Ms Rousseau, we are getting a few new winged horses in this afternoon, and since you have gotten very high grades in flying classes as well as being one of the star pupils in riding, i would like to ask you to help me tame them”
Hermione’s draw very nearly dropped at that, she was shocked beyond belief, her? Taming Abraxxons!?
“Well? I need an answer since it is quite the amount of paperwork to get a student to do something like this”
“Oh, yes, of course I’ll help you! Ut uhh, there is one thing”
“What is it my dear?”
“D, do you think I would be allowed to ride one of them?”
“Oh, quite the daring type, hmmm, i suppose once they are tamed you could try to ride a Granin or Aethonan, as long as i can get consent from your guardian”
“Yes! thank you Professor Prospectus!”
“Now run along, i expect you to be at the stables at 5pm”
“I’ll be there!”
Hermione ran back to her friends with a wide smile on her face and a giddy excitement bubbling inside of her
“Oh well looky here, someone’s got a happy bug”
“Indeed she does Edda, what happened, Hermione?” Aurelia asked
“Well, Miss Prospectus asked me if I wanted to help tame the new winged horses arriving today!”
“And I take it you said yes? When is it?”
“We’re doing it this afternoon! Right after classes!”
“Are, aren’t winged horses dangerous though?” Fleur asked worried
“Well, yes, but what isn’t though?”
“But, what if you get hurt!”
“I won’t get hurt Fleur”
“D, do you promise?”
“I promise Fleur, I promise I won't get hurt, who are you gonna ask to tuck you in at night if i do?”
“Y, you said you wouldn’t talk about that!”
Laughter rang out from the group as Fleur’s face burnt red as a beetroot, but smiled despite herself
Deep in the forest of Beauxbatons, a brunette women woke up suddenly, hearing a disturbance near her, she had become accustomed to the sounds of the forest after spending the past few weeks there, but this was different, this was a large animal coming near her
“Where are you? Come out come out, I’m just dying to meet you”
Suddenly, an Acromantula rushed out of the tree’s towards her, then followed by 3 more
“Avada Kedavra!”
One dropped to the ground and rolled over, another blown to bits, a third had it’s legs chopped off by a Diffindio, and the last was hit with another killing curse
“God these things annoy me”
She walked to the last one that had had its legs cut off
“I think I’ll have some fun with you, crucio!”
As the spider squirm in pain, the women laughed, it’s ringing tone echoing around the forest, before finally killing the spider
“Now, to find out why I’m in this place, and why that mudblood keeps showing up in my dreams”
“Ah, Ms Rousseau, there you are, ready to begin?”
“Yes I am, and just call me Hermione please, we are partner’s in this endeavor”
“Alrighty then Hermione, we are gonna start with the Abraxons, since they are the easiest, despite their size, then the Aethonan’s, and finally the Granin’s”
“Roger that!”
(A/N: since I have no clue on how one would tame a horse and don’t want to research how, I’m just gonna bullshit it)
“Take these reins and bit, and the spell to stop them from moving is called Seducio, then you need to climb on their back and put the bit in their mouth, the bit has got a magical enchantment that will tame it once it’s in”
“Okay, I, I got this”
Hermione climbed on top of the stable, stood on each of the stalls walls, then dropped down onto the Abraxon, said Abraxon then decided to try and buck her off.
“Hermione! Grab it’s neck and put the bit in!”
“I know!”
Hermione hung on for dear life, desperately trying to get the bit into the huge beast’s mouth, but was thrown off before she could, landing heavily on her back, letting a loud groan as she stood up. Just to see the Abraxon staring her down, pawing the ground like a bull about to charge, as the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth
“Hermione! Move!”
Too late, the Abraxon charged head on at her, quickly, she whipped out her wand and pointed at the Abraxon, and cast a seducio as powerfully as she could
“SUDICIO!”
She felt the blood in her mouth be pulled from her mouth to her wand, before it sent a white beam of light with blood red tendrils around it, hitting the Abraxon as it immediately slowed and came to a dead stop, as Hermione took several deep breaths, before bending over and throwing up the remnants of her lunch, as well as a not so small amount if blood
“Hermione! Are you okay!?”
“Y, yes professor, I’m, I’m okay”
“Merde, i’ll call the nurse”
“No, no need, i can handle it, Scourgify”
“Oh, okay, that’s quite advanced magic for a first year”
“I errrr, do a lot of personal study, i thought that one would be a good one to know”
“Well, yes, but-, never mind, right, let’s get the bit in this one’s mouth and move on”
Hermione grabbed the harness and climbed the Abraxon once more, then maneuvered the bit into its mouth, then adjusted the harness and reins, one down, five to go
Over the course of the rest of the afternoon, the pair tamed all the winged horses, and came out sporting more than a few bruises, but quite happy since they had done quite the achievement, now they sat on the other side of the paddock, taking a well deserved rest after a long few hours of tiring and strenuous work
“Well Hermione, i must say I’m quite impressed with how well you were with managing those beast’s, they are quite difficult to manage even when tame, you did an outstanding job of taming them so well, and that seducio before was one of the most powerful I’ve ever seen, if your normal spells are like that as well, you could become quite the duelist”
“Th, thank you Professor Prospectus, but i think that power was born from sheer terror from nearly being run over by an Abraxon”
“The pair shared a small laugh, but a rather awkward one for Hermione, as she was still wrestling with how, powerful, she felt while using Death’s magic, it should of felt wrong, unnatural, death magic was forbidden, those caught doing it could be imprisoned for life, or in more extreme cases, executed, and that was just for the use of unforgivables! Let alone pure blood magic and necromancy.
“Well Hermione, i appreciate the help, you were great, remember to get your guardians signature so you can ride one of these beauties, also, i recommend not doing blood magic in the open, not a great look”
“Wait, you, no, i, i didn’t do anything of the sort!”
“Yes you did Hermione, i know what it looks like, did you think Death only had one vassal?”
“Oh, well, sorta”
“It’s okay, i thought the same, now first of all, your gonna want to read as much of the books in Death’s little library as possible, there’s a lot in there and you’ll need to know it all, and don’t be afraid of the rituals, some do included cutting some symbols into you and it hurts like hell, but it’ll be worth it, trust me, and some others just need you to eat or drink something, a few just draw the symbol, you know what, we’ll do one of those now, it’ll improve reflexes, senses and healing ability, mind lifting the back of your shirt?”
“Oh, okay”
Hermione lifted the back of her shirt up, as Professor Prospectus got a marker out and began to draw symbols across her back and some on her arms, finishing with one in the center of her neck, she felt quite awkward doing this, her cheeks flushing red as she lifted her shirt, and the Professor said the words of the ritual
“Sada, sensum, virtuis, meliorem, mortem!”
A black ink like substance grew from the symbols and began to cover Hermione, once it had, it retreated beneath her skin, as she felt a strange feeling of power engulf her
“There, your first ritual, now you do need to cut your finger as to, turn it on in a way”
She handed Hermione a small razor, wo then put a small cut on her finger, drawing just a few drops of blood, which closed in seconds, then the ritual power kicked in, she could hear the crunching of the Abraxons eating, the bee buzzing a few meters to her left, nearly taste the grass in the air, and the smell of grass became much much stronger, and could feel the individual blades of grass that had been bent underneath her
“Wh, whoah, i, okay, this is a lot”
“It does take quite a bit of getting used to, but it’s worth the struggle, it’ll help keep you alive, now, leds head back to the palace, almost time for dinner”
As the pair walked back to Beauxbatons, a women watched them from outskirts of the forest, a piece of parchment in their hand with the symbols that had been written on Hermione recreated perfectly
“Looks like the little mudblood is not so little or muddy anymore, she could actually be a small threat with enough of those rituals, guess I’ll just need to some myself”
The women turned back into the forest, her black clothing helping her mold into the shadows, a smile on her face, but not one of joy, one that people across wizarding Britain had feared, a smile full of malice, accompanied by eye’s that held plenty of murderous intent, the inky blackness of their pupils seemed to hold the darkness of hell itself, the only hint that they were alive was the glint of light inside them, the light born from the excitement of another kill drawing near
“Mione! You're back!”
Fleur jumped at Hermione and yanked her into a tight hug
“Jesus Fleur, did you miss me that much?”
“I was worried okay!”
Edda then interrupted them
“Guys! Dinner is in 5!”
“Fleur, do you mind letting me go so I can get changed?”
‘Oh, yeah, see you at dinner!”
Fleur ran off, letting Hermione to get changed back into her school uniform, sighing loudly, she was exhausted, it had been a long day