Ryn_
Hermione tugged Ryn along the dirt path to Hogwarts. The twins trailed somewhere behind them.
The two girls had been talking happily for the past few minutes.
"So, Hermione, tell me more about the spell. I know you told me on the train, but, I didn't catch a lot of it."
Hermione grinned as they strutted along the path together.
"Well-"
She began, but paused and smiled up at the sky as if she was having trouble finding the words. Ryn waited patiently for her to continue. When Hermione spoke again, she was full of excitement like she'd studied this subject a thousand times over and was just waiting to go into full detail.
"I was trying to study it as the ministry, but couldn't find anything! Not a single archive or file had anything to to with fertility spells, only potions were mentioned. So- I did my digging elsewhere."
Ryn arched a brow,
"Elsewhere? Where else could you have looked?"
"Think about it; Professor Trelawney taught and specialised in the art of divination. Why would she pursue anything through the means of your run of the mill practical magic?"
Ryn, for once, didn't need to pretend that she was keeping up with Hermione and her intelligent train of thought. Ryn said,
"That makes a sense, I suppose. Divination does involve the use of the supernatural. It's not exactly your standard witchcraft, and Trelawney was as much of a genius in her field as Snape was in his."
"Exactly! I knew you'd understand! Anyway, I went digging through some dodgy markets that surrounded diagon alley. A lot of them had books on divination."
Ryn's eyes widened.
"You walked into those places alone? Hermione!"
One of the twins piped up,
"What's this, then?"
The boys ran up behind them and leant down to listen in. Hermione shooed them away with a swat of her hand and continued to Ryn,
"The point is, I found what I was looking for. The spell that Trelawney wants to perform requires a group of the youth- that's us-"
She gestured, and they all exchanged a knowing look. She went on,
"The spell will take four months-"
"Four months?!"
Ryn and the twins yelled in unison, disbelief stamped on their faces. Hermione grimaced.
"I know, it's a long time. But the results are guaranteed."
George said,
"'Guaranteed' my ass! When were they going to tell us this? When our shop went out of business?"
Hermione shrugged, and the twins exchanged a worried glance. There was no way they'd be able to be away from the shop for that long. Ryn bit her lip in worry, too. If she was out of Quidditch for four months, she'd go through hell and back to get back onto the pitch.
Hermione continued as if there was nothing to worry about,
"We perform magical acts on every full moon of each month, and what we do will transfer magical energy into Trelawney and improve her health and fertility."
"No use of our own spell casting? Do we even use our wands?"
Ryn said, her brows furrowing. Hermione tied her hair back and explained further,
"Remember in Divination class, when we predicted our futures through drinking that awful tea? It's like that, a bit. Magic is still present it's just not organised by us or our wands."
Ryn took a deep breath and said,
"I might not be able to stay for the whole spell, Mione. I can't just disappear from my life for four months."
"Us, too."
The twins said, and Hermione frowned. She'd clearly wanted them to stay for the whole spell. She sighed and fiddled with the ends of her hair.
"Perhaps we should just listen to Trelawney's explanation, first. She'll explain it much better. I could have missed something in my research."
Ryn frowned, though not at Hermione. She felt bad.
Though, they were all adults now. They had responsibilities. Ryn would just have to see what the demands of the spell was first, then she could decide from there what to do. Then there was the matter of how long the spell would take. The only fortunate thing about that particular factor was that there was a full at the end of the week in three days, and the spell would most likely begin then. Maybe she could participate for that and then get back to her life. Oddly enough, she couldn't shake the feeling that this spell was far more complicated than it appeared.
~~~~
Ryn stepped inside her tent and sighed, setting her bags down. There were a few other people who had arrived at hogwarts for the spell, and they'd all been guided to the Quidditch pitch to set up tents for their stay.
Someone had asked why they weren't staying in the castle, and McGonagall had explained that students were occupying the dorms and there were no other places inside the castle big enough. So, tents under the stars it was.
Ryn's tent was nothing if not cozy and quaint. As you entered there was a front space cleared for a thick blanket and pillows, then to the back of the tent was a curtained off bathtub. To the back left corner was a small changing space, and above her head to the back right was her bed, a tiny ladder placed there to help her get up. She quickly changed into jeans and a tight long sleeve black top, black sneakers and a snug red sweater, then stepped back outside.
No sooner than a second later someone had run into her like a football player and picked her up, spinning her around.
She let out a yelp of surprise and tried to see who it was that had ambushed her.
Ron Weasley set her down on her feet and held her at arms length.
"Where have you bloody been?!"
He yelled, and hugged her again. Over his shoulder, Ryn saw that Harry was jogging up to them, a heavy bag hanging on his shoulder. As soon as ron had let her go Harry wrapped her in his arms just as tightly. Without intending to she realised that the twins were the only ones who hadn't hugged her when they'd first seen her.
It made something in her chest sink down into her stomach, but she ignored it and focused on the guys in front of her.
"Thought you'd dropped dead, or something."
Ron said, grinning. Ryn smirked and nudged him on the shoulder.
"Nah, just enjoying the high life."
The boys laughed and Harry said,
"Quite literally! Aye?"
Indeed, as she was probably the only person on her team that would fly above the pitch 'looking' for the snitch before the game had even reached its high point. She'd gotten the nickname 'high flyer' for it. That, and, one time she may have played a quidditch game completely off her face on the magical plant equivalent of something muggles called 'mirajane'. In her defence, the small bag she'd purchased had said 'nerve calming'.
"Where's Hermione? You seen her, have you?"
Ron said, and Ryn nodded, before she pointed them in the direction of Hermione's tent.
~~~~
Three days later, everyone who had been invited had arrived, and were mingling together in the great hall. McGonagall and Trelawney were the only professors present, and as the former passed by, Ryn gently tugged her towards the group that she'd been standing in. That of which consisted of herself, Hermione, Ron, Harry, g
Ginny, and the twins. As McGonagall was suddenly brought into the group they all smiled but stayed quiet.
"What exactly is this spell, McGonagall? We were just wondering what we'd be getting ourselves into."
Ryn asked, polite but insistent. McGonagall clasped her hands in front of her and smiled tightly around at the small group.
"Oh! I see. It's a lusty, pastoral spell started many decades ago by the more spiritual witches of divination, of course. It was adapted by us as a means to purify a singular group or one person and increase their health and fertility."
The group went even more quiet. They already knew the bulk of what she'd said, but ron sputtered,
"Sorry, did you say 'lusty'?"
McGonagall raised her eyebrows.
"Why, yes!"
Hermione spoke up,
"I-Isnt there something about, um...p-physical- ah, certain activities...ahh, romanti-"
"Sex, you mean, Miss Granger? S-E-X. Sex."
"I-I can spell it."
Hermione blushed scarlet and shrunk a little in embarrassment. Ryn couldn't believe that McGonagall had just spelled out sex. The twins chuckled darkly and whispered to each other as McGonagall explained further,
"I'm surprised there wasn't more fanfare about it with you lot, in fact. Trelawney and myself, of course, will be overseeing the spell, otherwise known as Venari."
Ryn thought back to her lessons on Latin, and locked eyes with McGonagall as she said,
"'Venari' can loosely translate to 'Hunt', professor. Is that what this spell is, a Hunt?"
"More or less, Miss Auxuère. The spell itself its comprised of four events each to to be carried out on the highest full moon of each of the upcoming four months. Tonight, you will all participate in The Binding."
All around the group, they exchanged glances. All then looked to McGonagall to explain further. She sighed as if to say 'of course' and continued.
"The Binding is the first stage of the spell, in which each witch is paired with a wizard through an enchanted rope used to seek out those most romantically compatible."
Ryn cleared her throat slightly uneasily. Before any more questions could be asked McGonagall pretended that someone had called her and sped away.
She couldn't look at him, but her mind sped right to Fred, who stood across from her in the group. Most romantically compatible? That- what if she and Fred got paired? No. No it wouldn't happen. It couldn't. Fred hadn't- he didn't...he didn't look at her the same way anymore. And it had been painfully noticeable over the past few days.
If she walked past, he wouldn't even shift or flinch or glance at her. If she were in the room, he wouldn't know it. And if George spoke to her, Fred would get this look about him, almost as if he wanted to leave the room.
Though, if she spoke to him, he'd engage in conversation, if not absent-mindedly.
He didn't hate her, but, he didn't exactly seek out conversations with her. She wondered why. Especially since they'd had civil conversation on the train. It confused her more than she wanted to admit.
Briefly, she'd asked George about it, and he'd only said 'he's figuring it out' figuring what out? What was there to figure out? It seemed that all there was to the story was that he didn't see her romantically anymore. And she could- she would handle that. She had no choice. In all honesty, what did she expect?
They hadn't seen each other in a year. A year. What- did she think that he'd hold onto her? No! Of course not. He had his own life. And so did she. Why would he have kept loving her? He had no reason to. She left him, after the battle. She'd woken up in that recovery ward and left as soon as she could walk again.
"Ryn?"
Someone's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and suddenly reality was surrounding her again. She looked around the group with a blank expression.
"Huh?"
She said, and ginny giggled before grabbing her hand and tugging her.
"Come on! It's starting."
"What- the spell? Already? Its only 10pm-"
"Let's go!"
Ginny suddenly started off into a jog, dragging Ryn along with her. Ginny appirated them, and ryn had to put great focus into standing properly and not falling on her ass when they reappeared on solid ground. She didn't even know ginny could appirate in the first place, and she hadn't done it in ages. Ryn leaned onto her knees and blew out a long breath.
Ginny laughed and turned to the small group that was gathering. To Ryn's surprise, they were all staring at the Black Lake, doused in moonlight and eerily enchanting in the darkness of night. At this hour, the stars glittered on the waters surface, and looked so enchanting Ryn forgot her uneasiness after appirating.
The lake was so still, she thought it might actually be the sky. Like if she touched it she could float amongst the stars and forget the cold.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Ginny said, equally mesmerised.
"Gorgeous."
Ryn said back.
It took about ten minutes for the rest of the group to catch up, and suddenly Trelawney was standing at the head of the group, her hair its usual wild mess of curls and her glasses as huge as always.
"Right now, children, if you'd please gather."
She explained further what McGonagall had already gone over, then gestured to the still water.
"Now, my dears, step out and we shall begin!"
Ryn raised her eyebrows and blinked a few times, then shook her head and blinked some more.
Did she just say to step out?
Others seemed to be thinking the same thing, and McGonagall stepped forward to save everyone asking any more questions.
"The water has been charmed, you won't fall through don't you worry. Also, a word of caution, creatures of the waters are about tonight, after all it is a full moon. Best watch yourselves."
With that, she backed away, and waited for the first person to step forward.
A few painfully slow minutes ticked by, before Ryn noticed someone stepping forward.
It was Neville, who was now devilishly handsome and taller, who edged himself towards the water. He tested the water with one foot, before putting his full weight into his feet. The water held firm and undisturbed as if nothing at all touched it. He let out a relieved laugh before walking out a few more steps, still awfully cautious.
Harry leaned over to Ryn and whispered,
"Don't you just love magic?"
Ryn breathed a laugh and agreed.
Second to step out was Luna, who cautiously followed in Neville's footsteps. She joined him out on the water, and turned back to shout to the group.
But a massive wall of water shot out of the lake and surrounded luna and Neville. The group on land all gasped and stepped back, all staring as the midnight water enveloped the two on the lake in a giant sphere and remained that way, the moonlight shimmering off its surface.
"Ah- don't worry, everyone! It's part of the spell!"
Trelawney said, and even McGonagall had a hand on her chest in surprise.
Ryn looked to Hermione for answers, but the genius witch only shrugged and gaped at the water. Luna and Neville could be seen, still, if not a bit blurry. They waved.
A few people let out audible sounds of relief. The twins, by far the tallest in the group, gestured awkwardly as Fred said,
"Well- come on, you lot. Get going!"
Everyone hesitated, and Ryn chewed it over in her head.
She'd once lodged her foot into the back of her firebolt, kicked it with all of her strength and jumped off the broom over 300 feet in the air to dive through mid air and catch the Snitch. With the way she'd kicked the broom, it had swerved through the air at lightning speed in a great arch, and she'd barely caught it in time, risking a fall to her death. Surely, she could do this, if she'd walked away from that.
Keeping that in mind, she began stalking towards the water.