FIC: Trials of Love (5/?) D/Hr , Sequel to The Given Choices
Title: Trials of Love ( 5/ ?)
Author: granger2malfoy
Pairing: D/Hr, B/G
Rating: Teen, unless so marked
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from HP verse.
Genres: Drama, RomanceA/N: Not HBP compliant. This is sequel to The Given Choices. Thanks to my beta, wafball.
*~*~*~*~ Chapter Five - Secrets Discovered ~*~*~*~~*
“She really paired Harry with Draco?” Ginny asked Hermione as they began to eat dessert in the great hall. Harry told them he had a meeting with Professor Meadows before dinner but would be back for before the end of it.
Hermione swallowed a spoonful of chocolate ice cream before she stated, “Technically, the sorting hat paired us up.”
Ginny nudged her elbow as she whispered, “At least, you got my boyfriend, even if you did not get your own. How did Draco take it all anyways? I am sure he is not thrilled to be Harry’s partner-”
“Neither am I,” Harry huffed as he took his seat across from Hermione and started to load his plate with goodies. The two girls gave him an incredulous look at the sweets he selected. “Hey, I already had dinner in Meadows’ office but I wasn’t that hungry at the time.”
Ron turned his head and asked with a mouth full of custard, “Wat did profizor wat?”
“Nice, Ron, real nice,” Ginny shook her head at her brother and went back to eating.
Harry chuckled and looked up at Hermione as she showed her interest on what the Professor wanted of him and any hints on what she was doing to do with the foursome after dinner. His soft green eyes flickered as he gave her a charming smile, which used to melt her insides, and stated, “Professor Meadows is part of the Order and is teaching me some stuff I can use to fight Voldemort but nothing really I can discuss here.”
His two best friends replied with an understanding, “Right, later.”
With a nervous action, she watched him push around some of the candies on his plate and he asked, “Maybe Ron and I can stop by your room after dinner and talk about it.”
Hermione finished the last of her dessert and pushed her empty bowl away. “Actually, I have a meeting I need to get going to at the moment and I don’t know how long it is going to take. Maybe tomorrow night.”
She and Ginny stood as some other students began to make their way out of the hall after their meal was done. Harry nodded sadly at her reply but she felt his eyes following her out of the hall. Silently she hoped that they could go back to just being friends but it seemed Harry wanted the opposite. The two girls made their way to the classroom and were stopped on the stairs as they heard their names being called. They turned and looked down towards the bottom of the stairs to see Draco and Blaise coming up to meet them.
“Hey, partner,” Blaise greeted Hermione but reached for Ginny’s hand as he greeted her with a kiss.
Draco growled and took Hermione gently by the crook of her arm before he said, “Come on, love birds. We’ve got somewhere to be.”
The four walked into the classroom as they noticed that all the classroom furniture remained against the walls. Candles floated in the air above their heads and four stone bowls sat in the middle of the large room. One bowl held some clear water and Blaise stepped behind the bowl as Ginny took her place behind a bowl across from which fire burned from within it. A small pile of fresh dirt filled Hermione’s bowl, which was across from Draco’s empty bowl.
Once each person seemed to be in place, the room went dark as the door shut to extinguish all the candles. A few moments of complete silence passed before a white light appeared in front of them in the middle of their circle. The voice of Professor Meadows spoke with the wind as her voice did not come from a certain direction but felt to be coming from behind each of them. “Since the beginning of time, magic has lived as part of the mother Earth. Even among the wizards and witches of our world, only a rare few have the ability to control the four elements of the planet. It has been said when four with these abilities come together, the strong power they hold can be mastered and welded like the finest sword or wand.
“One will have the power to make fire dance with the slightest movement of their hand,” the voice said as the fire in Ginny’s bowl lit with a small single flame. With a look of concentration, the redhead raised her hand above her bowl and made the flame grow as she moved her eyes and the flame followed the direction of her hands and eyes. Then the flames took a life of their own and quickly left the dish to circle around the four. Ginny smirked as it returned back to her bowl.
“One will have the power to control the wind to use it as if it were a hand.” Draco closed his eyes as the slight breeze began to grow around the four of them and it became more powerful. When he opened his silver eyes, his arms extended as the wind appeared to be lifting his body into the air and twirl him a round once before lowering him down to the ground again.
Then the voice spoke again, “One will have the power to create rain from the smallest amount of water.”
Blaise bent down to pick up his bowl in both of his hands and stood up but kept his eyes closed. Then the dark-haired Slytherin threw the container into the air and held the water in mid-air as the bowl smashed to pieces when it hit the ground. Then the water rose above the four students and rippled as it began to increase in size but then move to reach behind them. After a minute, the sound of rain fell from behind them as the water began to thin into a veil of rain to surround them without getting them wet. The water, which should’ve puddled at their feet, simply ran into a crack in the floor and disappeared completely.
Hermione felt their eyes on her as the woman’s voice called out, “One should have the ability to create stones from the pure sand and then diamonds from those stones and finally turn them back into sand again.”
Her hand reached down to grab a handful of the soft brown dirt and then her fingers began to shape the loose sand into a round, sphere of black coal. Then she threw the ball of coal into the air and when she caught it, she held it for a moment before she opened her palm to reveal a perfect diamond. With a quick look at the precious stone, she dropped it into the bowl and, as soon as it landed, it turned back into the mound of fine brown sand.
“So, it has begun,” the voice stated and the candles went out again. Hermione shivered in the moment of silence and dark but then lights along the walls began to light. “The beginning of the end of Voldemort’s terror was begun. And you four shall be the force behind the one, who is the only one able to destroy him permanently.”
Blaise voice spoke from Ginny’s side as he used his wand to mend his broken bowl. “Potter? There is a prophecy about him defeating Voldemort, isn’t there?”
Professor Meadows opened her mouth to speak but Hermione answered first, “Yes.”
Draco’s eyes went straight to her with surprise in his eyes as he asked, “Who made the prophecy? And what did it say?”
“Trelawney,” she replied but at him rolling his eyes she continued, “But she made it to Dumbledore and not even aware she did it. You know what I think of that woman but the fact remains she has made two valid prophecies.”
The young professor stood in the center of the small group of students and said, “More of this later. I did not bring you here to discuss the past but to help bring about the future.”
Ginny took a step closer to Meadows as she questioned, “What do you mean ‘we shall be the force behind’ Harry? How? Yes, we have these abilities and I supposed they can be used on the battlefield but how?”
The blond next to Blaise smirked as he spoke up, “I think throwing fireballs by you is enough to take care of a few Death Eaters.”
Yet Professor Meadows shook her head and walked to one of the chairs along the side of the wall. “No, fireballs, windstorms, floods, and earthquakes are not the way to fight Voldemort. In the past, other’s who have had your powers have used them in this way and often fought, even killed, each other with those powers. For the past fifteen years, I have learned all I can about powers over nature and how to use them against Voldemort.”
“Do you have one of our powers?” Hermione sat down in a chair next to the professor.
“No, I showed signs around the age of thirteen but they never developed. My mother had the power over the fire, just as Miss Weasley. Voldemort found out and personally tried to recruit her.”
Hermione’s brow furrowed in deep thinking and then realization hit her face. “I over heard a conversation at the Headquarters a few years ago. He murdered her himself, didn’t he?”
Sadness read clearly on her the young woman’s face as she answered, “Yes. And he tried to recruit me with the thought I welded the same power but his recruiting turned to kidnapping. Luckily, one of his own saved me and delivered me back to Hogwarts. Funnily enough that was the same day Voldemort disappeared due to Harry. But enough about the past.
“Over the course of this year or until the final battle, which ever comes first, I will teach the four of you how to bring your powers together and transfer that power to Potter. It’s a theory that Dumbledore and I have been working on diligently since Voldemort’s return. This will not be an easy thing to achieve, if it is possible at all. But we must try, it might be the only edge a seventeen year old boy can have on powerful monster.”
Ginny took Blaise’s hand in hers and Hermione’s as she said, “Then we shall do the best we can.”
Draco placed a kiss on his wife’s other hand and added, “We shall win this war and live on for happily ever after.”
Professor Meadows watched the two young couples and stood as she said, “It is good to have confidence but the reality is that this war. Not everyone will survive and those who do will always remember those who they have lost.”
The curlyhaired wizard looked around the group and locked eyes with Hermione. A shiver ran down her body for some reason and she broke their eye contact as she tried to calm her nerves. Sometimes Blaise made her body react in such odd ways that she could not describe. Not bad feelings per se, but feelings one should not have when married and in love with one’s husband. Hermione pushed away those feelings and began to feel lightheaded again as she swayed on her feet.
“Are you okay, Hermione?” Draco asked as he held her by the arm and helped her sit down in the chair behind her.
She smiled weakly and replied, “Yes, just a little tired I guess. Using the power can sometimes wear me out. Just give me a minute.”
The young professor stepped up to her and knelt down as she felt her head with the back of her hand. Then their eyes meet and she felt the professor quickly enter her mind before she could stop it. Professor Meadows’ eyes widened but no one except Draco and herself noticed. “Mr. Zabini, can you escort Miss Weasley back to her tower? We are done for the night and I want all of you back to your dorms before lights out.”
Ginny gathered her things as she asked Hermione, “Are you sure you are all right, Mione?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I am feeling better already. I’ll see you back in the common room after I rest a bit more.”
The other couple left Draco and Hermione with the professor as she took a seat on the other side of Hermione. “Well, I know I have not been briefed on everything that’s been going on with the Order. My first question is, do they know you are married?”
Draco nodded and replied, “Yes, we were told it was okay for them to know.”
The dark haired witch twirled her wand between her fingers and looked over to Hermione and asked, “My second question, does anyone else know you are expecting?”
*~*~**~*~*~*~* To Be Continued *~*~**~*~~*