Flight of the Stars

Chapter Nineteen

Disclaimer: When push comes to shove, I will post a fully-written chapter to remind you of my love!~
(Also, Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, but you knew that already.)

Note: I listened to War of Hearts by Ruelle and Eros by Ludovico Einaudi for this chapter!

o-0-o

Time passed. For Hermione, it seemed to move in the blink of an eye, especially when she considered the immense task looming ahead of her. She was incredibly grateful that she had the Knights, Cecily, Oraia, Lucretia, and Tom by her side, as they would lighten an otherwise impossible load, but it was still daunting.

Which was why, the night before the last day and the end-of-year feast, she found herself unable to sleep.

She couldn't help going over all of their assets, as if to remind herself they still had something going for them. They did have Madam Irma on their side - not through any choice of hers, but she was still loyal - and were able to refine their plans with the uncensored news she was able to give them. Hermione, apparently, was to be the face of the campaign, for whatever reason, along with Tom. She desperately hoped he would do all of the talking and, however sexist it was, she could just be there to look respectable and boost Tom's standing. She did not consider herself charismatic enough to stand in front of an audience and give a political speech. No way. But she could sit still and look pretty and that was alright with her, since she would be doing a lot of the political maneuvering in the background.

Cecily would be applying as a journalist for the Daily Prophet, allowing her to provide the intel Madam Irma wasn't able to give them. If things went well, she might even be able to gradually turn the people's general mindset against the Ministry. Not that the people would need much persuading.

Lucretia would be her personal stylist. If Hermione was going to be the face of their operation, she needed to, in Lucy's words, "not look frumpy", especially when in the public eye. Hermione was just fine with a loose sweater and blue jeans, but she knew Lucretia would have none of that, especially when she would be on the front page of the paper. Sigh.

Well. No matter what, she would not wear makeup on the weekend. Those days were for reading books and snuggling with Delphi. Nothing would change that. Hopefully.

The Knights were mostly there for doing various jobs. If she were a criminal mastermind, which she wasn't, she would probably refer to them as doing her "dirty work". Obviously, nothing about this was dirty, but that was the basic gist of it. Much-appreciated... clean work? Something like that. She still needed to work on it.

Hermione sighed and rolled over in her four-poster. And, of course, Tom, Dark-Lord-Turned-Minister-of-Magic. She grinned to herself. She had come back to change things, and oh, how she'd changed them. Never gonna be Voldemort now...

But, even with an amazing team and an amazing plan, there were still many, many things that could go wrong. She tried really hard not to think of them, but they just slipped out sometimes. And above all the burning question: What if we fail?

Overwhelmed, Hermione opened a drawer in her nightstand, pulling out the locket. She fingered it absentmindedly, watching it flash whenever lightning struck. The thunder seemed to rumble in sync with the second heartbeat in the back of her head.

From what she could tell from the soul bond, Tom wasn't sleeping any, either.

She sighed heavily. Tom?

You're still awake?

He'd probably been too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice her end of the bond, Hermione mused. I can't sleep.