Fly without wings; Dream with open eyes; See in darkness
-Dejan Stojanovic
As they left Potions, Harry and Hermione left early in the hopes of escaping Ron. But as luck would have it, he caught up to them. He ignored Hermione and proceeded to talk to Harry.
"What did you think of the git Harry?"
"Who?"
"Snape"
"He's not that bad. Professor McGonagall would have transfigured me into a table if I had been absent for classes over a week. He just made a snide comment."
Ron gaped open mouthed at Harry's reasoning. He recovered and said "Yeah, well! Anyway I'm going to go help Fred and George with one of their pranks. Want to come?"
Before Harry could say something or Hermione could say something for him, Scabbers bit Ron and jumped to Harry. And giving him a nip that barely hurt, scabbers ran off down the corridor. Ron ran after him and Hermione successfully dragged Harry away.
It was too late by the time Harry realized that Hermione was dragging him to the Library. He slouched in the table and spread his homework on the table they occupied. But eventually he grew interested in actually learning magic and forgot to glare at Hermione every other minute. After a couple of hours he was actually finished and there was still an hour left to meet Draco. Hermione was still scratching on the parchment obviously writing way more than asked, so he took out his wand to practice the spells he had learned that week.
He was growing quite confident and found that most spells came easy to him. Not as easy as it came to Hermione however. He wondered why that was and decided to just ask her. After he was done practicing all the spells and was satisfied with himself, he poked Hermione in the side. She slapped at his arm without looking.
"Mia" he whined.
"Shush" she continued writing.
"Mia, it's almost 5."
"So?"
"Ugh, Draco."
"What about him?"
"Flying. I'm going to meet him. To fly."
She finally turned to look at him.
"Promise me, you'll be careful. No stupid stuff."
His grin was so wide that Hermione couldn't help but smile herself. He reminded her of James at that moment and she realized with a pang of sadness that that's what they would have been if he hadn't been left with the Dursleys. Brother and Sister.
Harry left skipping all the way and after waiting for a minute she touched the ring on her left hand. Within five minutes, several students from all the houses made their way to the library. They all submitted reports they received from their countries and their families.
Hermione spoke with each of them for a minute generally asking them about their school life and how things are going. Everyone mostly gave positive reports but one or two timid first years had initial troubles with bullies, but it was all sorted out by friends in higher years and their fellow year mates. Overall, Hermione was satisfied and she gives them leave.
She slowly went through all the reports reading them thoroughly. She was feeling fatigue an hour into it and wished she had a drink. She craved for a lemonade missing the sunny drink made in her home. Then she face palmed realizing that she was in a castle full of elves. She snapped her fingers and called "one elf from the kitchen."
An elf wearing a clean towel with the Hogwarts crest on it appeared next to her.
"Yes miss?"
"Hi. What's your name?"
"This one is called Tibby miss"
"Hi Tibby. I have been working since morning and sadly skipped lunch. Is it possible for me to get a lemonade and something to eat? Please? "
Tibby nodded her head frantically with a smile. With a snap of her fingers she disappeared and after a second she came back before Hermione could even turn away.
In one of her hands she was carrying a beach style glass with lemon wheel and an umbrella. On her other hand she had a tray with vegetable rolls and cupcakes. Hermione gaped at her and Tibby actually laughed.
She placed them in front of Hermione moving her books aside.
"You can always Tibby when you're hungry, your Majesty."
Hermione spun her head around so quickly that she almost broke it.
"What? How did you know?"
"Elves can recognize royal blood, your majesty. We are bound to serve royalty over all others. Even our own masters. I only called you miss in the first to not frighten you."
"Oh. Do you all have like a network or something. I mean how was it decided that you should be the one to heed my calling?"
"Those of us serving the same master can talk with each other in our minds."
"Oh, whom do you serve?"
"The current headmaster of Hogwarts. Each time a new Head takes the position, we bond with him or her until his end of reign."
"Will he know if you break your bond with him?"
"Not until he gives us a direct order and we fail to obey him"
"How do you make a new bond?"
"Our head elf makes the bond, which in turn binds us all. It's a blood bond. All previous bonds are automatically broken."
Before he finished there was a pop and another elf appeared, slightly taller and much older.
"This one is called Chinnu, my majesty. Do you want to make the bond now?"
Hermione sighed. Elves were seriously underestimated. She nodded and held out her hand. Chinnu carefully took her hand and pricked her forefinger. Then she pricked her own finger and touched it to Hermione's. As soon as their fingers touched Chinnu waved her other hand over their joined ones in a circular motion and said "Sangama Chernthu Shemam".
A blinding white light flashed from their hands and both the elves bowed down to Hermione. They both had tears in their eyes.
"It has been so long since we have served royalty. All our original ancestors served the royal blood my Majesty. But over the years, as monarchies were dissolved, we were taken from our from our homes and forced into serving the wealthy ones. You have done us a great honor."
Hermione smiled down kindly at them and told them "Please do not let anyone know about what happened. You are to follow orders as usual from the headmaster, the professors and other students as long as it does not harm anyone else. If any one orders such a thing you're to nod and come tell me about it. Any of you in want of anything can always come to me for help. Any of you in need of a break is encouraged to take one. Okay? "
She dismissed them both after that got back to her reports. After an other couple of hours and empty tray in front of her, she downed the last of the cool lemonade kept cold by a charm no doubt.
The glass and tray disappeared and she gathered all her books and reports and made her way to the common room. On her way up, out of one of the windows she saw Harry and Draco flying on the same broom. Harry was laughing so wide and it was the happiest Hermione had ever seen him. She made a mental note to thank Draco with another interesting book and continued on her way. Once reaching the portrait of the fat lady, she gave the password and made her way straight up the dorm to her bed. She tapped a book and charmed it to go to Draco's bed and fell asleep in her school clothes. It had been a long day what with not sleeping the day before as well. She slept and dreamed of all the lessons she had with Tom.
***************************************************************************************
Author's note : Obviously, English is not my native language. So bear with me. I love reviews. They make me want to keep writing. But people over at fanfiction review way more than you guys do. At least write and tell me I'm terrible :P No. Seriously. Please. Write something or vote. To save me from anxiety.