The Royal Witch

Chapter 16 - Trials and Tribulations

Both Harry and Hermione have forgotten about the trials with all the quidditch excitement and looked at each other. Hermione could tell Harry was very worried.

"It's going to be alright Harry. I promise. I'll be right there with you."

"You won't be there during the trials though"

"Yes, I will be"

"How?"

"I will explain everything to you tomorrow after the Trials. Now you finish your dinner and get a good night's dream. We can look at some brooms tomorrow when we are in London"

That did the trick of bringing the smile back on to Harry's face and finished the rest of the dinner talking about anything except the Trial. Soon they went to their own dorms and Harry slept soon because of all the fatigue from a day full of Quidditch.

Hermione however waited till everyone has slept and made her way to the portal to go home. She had arrangements to make after all.

As soon as she reached the Palace, she made her way to the stables. It was a unconscious decision on her part. She went in the stable and patted each pony and horse for a minute before moving on. She kept her favourite for the last because she know with Harriet it won't be just a minute. Harriet was her first Pony gifted on her fifth birthday. When she reached Harriet's stall it was empty. She started panicking and rushed to open the stall. She found Harriet on the ground whining and writhing.

Hermione's head started spinning and she rang the bell for help. Soon servants started running in and stopped at the sight of her and bowed.

"Enough with that! Help Harriet! What's wrong with her? Why was no one with Her?"

The stable boy ran forward to look into Harriet's stall and gasped. "We didn't realize it was time yet, your Majesty. We thought she still had a few days to go"

"What do you mean? Time for what?"

"She is giving birth, your Majesty"

"Oh. I didn't realize. When did this.. Never mind. Help her"

Two servants rushed to help Harriet and Hermione sat at her head petting her slowly. Three hours later, Harriet finally gave birth to a colt. She dubbed him Draco and after another hour of coddling Harriet left to take care of the business she came here to do in the first place. From the grounds she made her way to a big cottage far away from the Palace with the help of an electronic scooter. She usually like to walk or ride there. But seeing as riding with Harriet is not possible and she didn't have the time to walk she resorted to the scooter.

She reached the cottage and made her way inside after knocking. A house elf appeared and upon seeing her bowed low.

"Hermajesty! You haven't come to see me in a long long while"

"Because you keep calling with that stupid nickname Ricky. Why can't you call me just "Hermy" like you used to?"

"Because you are not just "Hermy" anymore" the elf named Ricky laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and asked Ricky to take her to where everyone was. She followed Ricky up the stairs and to the nursery section of the cottage. The entire potter family along with her Parents, Remus and Peter were sitting in the parlour outside of Helena's room and were quietly talking with each other.

Ricky announced her and they all stood up to bow. Hermione gave a nod to all of them and sat down in her favourite chair near the fireplace. Her heart gave a pang when she thought about Harry and how he should be there with them. It's one more day she told herself.

"Mom, what are you doing outside? I thought you weren't supposed to leave the controlled environment" Hermione asked her mother.

"I am not supposed to leave it till my bones have grown back and started making marrows without cancer this time. And they have! So here I am"

"Mom! That's great news" she got up and hugged her mother and then Remus a little longer and whispered in his ear "Thank you Uncle". Remus just patted her on the head and let her go.

"We think we found a way to split the soul from Harry without harming him" Sirius started as soon as she sat down.

"How?"

"You don't need to know that. But I'll tell you. The thing that undoes a soul from a Horcurx is destruction. With the inanimate objects, we simply destroy the item and capture the soul as it escapes. With the same theory we planned to kill Nagini to get the soul from her to which she graciously gave consent. But Lily has been thinking about it and she has modified the "Avada Kedavra" spell to look for specific soul instead of attacking the entire core"

"It sounds very experimental. It's too much of a risk to both Harry and Tom's soul"

"Tom has already agreed and we are not going to do it on Harry first. It's going to be done on Nagini first. She was expecting death. She is glad that we are trying something else"

Hermione thought about it but couldn't find any other reason to oppose it. So she nodder her consent and added "I want to be there when you do it"

"Absolutely not" said six voices at the same time.

"This is not up for discussion. I will be there. Tom needs me. Harry needs me"

They couldn't argue with her after that.

"And we should do it today night after the trials. After we have explained everything to Harry"

They all nodded and conversation moved on to simpler things. She told them about Harriet's new baby Draco. The name got her raised eyebrows but she pretended not to notice it. She observed that the Potter family was unusually quiet and their faces very dull. One more day she told herself and left after informing them about what time to expect her after the trials and what to expect from Harry. She left when Aunt Lily started to cry again.

I am terrible at keeping my word. I know. But better late than never right?