Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light
Chapter 68 - Sara's Song
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 9th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts Express
Time: Afternoon
Harry awoke with a groan, the pain in his neck and shoulders making him gasp out.
"Arry." Came a voice weakly from somewhere to his left.
"Harry, you're alright." Said Hermione's as a hand clamped around his.
Creaking his eyes open he slowly let them adjust to the bright light of the Hospital Wing.
"Morning." He groaned opening his eyes enough to see Hermione, Ron and Ginny standing around his bed "Or possible
afternoon."
"Hey Mate." Smiled Ron "How are you?"
"In pain." He replied attempting to look in the direction that he had heard Fleur's voice from, his neck was stiff
and thoroughly bandaged, probably magically charmed to remain straight. Rolling onto his side he was able to see
Fleur and Colette lying on beds, Colette shaking slightly and looking rather pale but attempting to smile and Fleur
laying flat with her waist and shoulder wrapped with bandages.
As the memories of the night before came back to him he jolted upright, ignoring the pain the movement caused.
"The train! Is everyone alright?"
"Everyone is fine Harry." Smiled Hermione.
"Now." Added Ron.
Hermione let out a groan when he spoke.
"Ron I have already apologised THREE times, I'm sorry I cursed you."
"You would think the smartest witch at Hogwarts would know how to aim." Grinned Ron, Harry could tell he was going
to be winding Hermione up about this for weeks.
"What happened Harry?" asked Ginny "How did you survive that fall?"
Thinking back Harry remembered how he had transformed back to human before rapidly turning into a dragon as he
dropped through the trees, damaging branches as he went, before flying off a second before he hit the ground.
"I fell into a tree, my antlers got caught in the branches giving me enough time to change back, but I lost my grip
on the tree before I could climb down and I dropped to the ground, and luckily it wasn't more than five meters, I
think I managed a blood clotting charm on my neck but I can't remember. How is everyone else?"
"Well everyone other than you and our two Professors we got away with nothing more than bruises, cuts and a few
post Dementor nerves."
Harry turned to Fleur.
"Are you ok?"
"While you were fighting that thing in the compartment its tail knocked us off our feet, the spike went straight
into my side, luckily it couldn't fit between my ribs."
"What about you Colette?" he asked, redirecting his gaze.
"She got closer to the Dementors than everyone else, bar Professor Summers," explained Madam Pomfrey, emerging from
her office and casting diagnosis spells on him "She just reacted badly to the proximity; she will be fine by
tomorrow, you on the other hand My Lord are very lucky to be alive....AGAIN, after that charm of yours failed you
almost bled out, I'm just grateful you had the sense to learn basic emergency medical spells. With the amount of
time you spend in here I will have to start keeping a bed reserved for you at all time."
Harry chuckled lightly, but stopped quickly when the pain in his neck increased.
"Your neck should be ok in a couple of days My Lord, you are free to go as long as you come back here and get pain
relieving potions tonight and tomorrow, you should be able to remove the spells holding your neck straight by
then."
Turning back to the others he asked.
"What happened after I fell?"
"You won't believe it Harry." Exclaimed Hermione "The masked stranger appeared again, and....
________________________________________________________________________
That evening Draco was walking the corridors of Hogwarts.
Draco has been wandering the corridors of Hogwarts for hours, using his Prefect duties as an excuse. He had been
trying to wrap his head round the Ginny problem, the weird feeling he had about her at the beginning of term had
spiked again earlier that day; when she had put that ring on they had exchanged looks, he had felt something and he
couldn't figure out what it was, he had been racking his brain all the way back from the train.
He remembered what it was he had felt then, something was different about her, but what was it? She had the same
hair, the same face, the same body, the same personality and the same misguided family leanings, it was true they
were more now civil to each other than they had been before, but that wasn't it either.
An image of Ginny appeared in his mind....she wasn't that bad really, if you ignored the fact that she was a Pure-Blood traitor and Muggle lover. She was relatively pretty, she had nice hair, nice eyes, maybe a bit skinny and
flat chested, although she was beginning to develop a bit of a figure.
Draco had to reluctantly admit that....yes....she was attractive.
But then again he would never even consider dating her, it would just be wrong.
But then in the impossible event that he would even consider dating her, she was one of the few girls in the school
that might resist his charms, and then there was the problem of his father. Well to be perfectly honest he didn't
care about his father or becoming a Death Eater as it was not going to happen anymore, he had been on the train
when the attack had happened and that was the last straw as far as he was concerned, the Dementors hadn't tried to
ignore him in any way, if anything they seemed to gravitate towards him because he could not conjure a patronus.
And then there was his mother who was another matter entirely, she was the perfect mother in the fact that she
respected her son's decisions, she might not agree with him and indeed probably wouldn't but she would at least
respect them.
Wait....What was he doing, why was he even thinking about this, it shouldn't, wouldn't and couldn't happen, this is
Ginny Weasley he was thinking about.
Wait....What in Merlin's name was that?
....Singing?
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile in another part of the castle Hermione was doing the exact same thing except she really was on prefect
duty and her line of thought was for a different Weasley.
Was Ron ever going to notice her?
They had known each other for six years and for the last two of those they had been of the age where you are
supposed to start noticing the opposite sex. But he didn't seem to even look at her; the only women he seemed to
look at were Buffy, Tonks, Colette and Fleur.
At that moment a gentle voice interrupted her train of though, the words floating through the air towards her. The
voice seemed to be singing and sounded almost angelic to her ears.
"Lay down, your sweet and weary head,
Night is falling; you have come to journeys end,"
The voice was female for sure, but she couldn't tell who, it was not one she recognized.
"Sleep now and dream of the ones who came before,
They are calling from across a distant shore,"
The voice was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard and though the song was full of longing, its mood was calm and relaxing.
"Why do you weep, what are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see, all of your fears will pass away,
Safe in my arms, you're only sleeping,"
It was the sort of voice that summoned you, calling you, Hermione unconsciously started following it.
"What can you see, on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?"
She arrived at a window facing out across the grounds, it was now dark outside and getting late, looking up she saw
a tower that she could not recall ever entering before; she could also not recall any mention of it ever being used
for anything other than storage.
"Across the sea, a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home,
And all will turn to silver glass,
A light on the water, all souls pass,"
A figure stood on the balcony that extended from the top floor, their hands on the wall so that the figure leaned
out into the night; Hermione walked on and found the door leading into the tower.
"Hope fades, until the world of night,
Through shadows falling, out of memory and time,
Don't say we have come now to the end,
White shores are calling; you and I will meet again,"
The door was old and heavy, it took all her strength she pushed it open, inside was a spiral stair case leading up,
she passed many doors as she continued towards the source of the voice, until she reached the door at the top of the flight, it was lighter than the first. Slowly and quietly she pushed it open.
"And you'll be here in my arms,
What can you see, on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?"
Inside was a lounge filled with old fashioned wooden furniture, there was a fire in a hearth under a large ornate
fireplace, either side of which were doors which presumably led to other rooms. In front of the fire were two arm
chairs, a sofa and a small table, one chair was moved so that it was directly in front of the fire, Hermione could
imagine a person sitting in the fire and spending hours staring into the dancing flames. On the far side of the
room the balcony was visible.
"Across the sea a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home,"
She approached the figure who could now be identified as a man, he had his back to her so he wasn't aware that she
was there. He was now sitting on the wall, leaning against the main body of the tower. His left palm was flat and
something was glowing on it. It appeared to be a clear glass sculpture of some kind, about twenty centimetres in
height; the light was shinning from within.
The sculpture was of a woman wearing a long simple dress. She had long flowing hair falling down the length of her
back, and a fine and beautiful face. Hermione guessed that if the woman was real the boys of the school would react
the same way they did to Fleur and Colette.
The sculpture was slowly rotating and singing out the beautiful voice, not to mention swaying and dancing as she
sang; it was evidently not normal glass.
Hermione did not know where from but this woman looked familiar, she could just not place where from.
Suddenly it clicked in her mind; she was the woman on the drawing Adam left in the library.
"And all will turn to silver glass,
A light on the water, grey ships pass,
Into the west."
The sculpture finished singing and curtsied.
"That was beautiful." Hermione remarked, before realizing that she'd just revealed her presence.
The figure didn't even flinch, he barely even moved, he just tilted his head forward and closed his palm, the
figure disappeared in a flash of magic.
"I'm....I'm sorry, I'll....I'll go." she stuttered out before quickly making her way to the door.
"You don't have to leave." the voice said, the moment he spoke she identified the voice.
"Adam?" she asked tentatively moving back towards him.
"Last time I checked." he joked, his voice as usual was monotone.
"I'm....I'm sorry for intruding, I didn't know that anyone was using the tower." she said moving out onto the
balcony, her eyes slowly readjusting to the shadow of the night.
"I requested a tower room from Dumbledore, it's a bit more like home." he said closing his eyes.
"Wasn't your home destroyed?" she asked tentatively moving to lean against the balcony wall.
"I'm guessing you have read the first few chapters of Dumbledore's book then....yes, that home was destroyed, I
meant my new home. The one where I have resided since my original home was destroyed, someday I may be able to show
it to you." he smiled.
She noticed that in his right hand the silver disk was again being rotated between his fingers, she would have to
ask him about that at some point.
"What is your home like?" she asked activating her usual thirst for knowledge
"Think of Britain during the age of chivalry, increase the beauty, magnificent, grace and magic and you're pretty
close, the main difference is that technology doesn't work there, there's too much magic, so it's all wood and
stone, the greatest dynasty of men." The sense of longing was evident in his voice "Imagine white stone towers
reaching to the sky, herds of animals roaming wild across plains that stretch from horizon to horizon, vast
mountain ranges hundreds of miles in length, so tall that they appear to actually pierce the sky, forests and
rivers filled with every kind of animal you can imagine."
"Adam, the song, was it about your homeland?"
"It tells of those who leave to help others as I do and those specifically who stay away for long periods of
time....they are called home, dreams of entering the Great Haven of Daer Lonnath, seeing the towers gleaming like
silver in the evening light....I've been away far to long."
"Why can't you go back?"
"I need to travel to another dimension to get back, that means portals and to transport someone of my power level
it would require more power than myself and my staff can currently conjure, I can not return unless the power that
was stolen through the portal is returned to me, I'm just glad I left my staff here last time I visited this
dimension. In addition of course I can not let my brother run amok in this dimension."
"Adam, can I ask you a question?" she asked tentatively, at his nod she continued "The ring, the one you gave to
Ginny, whose was it?"
There were several seconds of silence before he began to answer.
"It belonged to someone very dear to me." he answered slowly, emotions were obviously very strong on this
particular subject, Hermione would have to be very careful what she said.
"What happened to her?"
"She was taken from me." he answered, his face showing less and less emotion by the second.
"How long ago?" she asked feeling sorry for the Professor.
"2,387,973,003 years, four months, three days, twenty one hours, thirty one minutes and forty two seconds."
Hermione was shocked, though she did not know whether it was because of his very accurate memory or the fact that
after two Billion years he still mourned and felt for her, if she ever met someone who felt for her that strongly
she would consider herself the luckiest person on Earth.
"What happened?"
"She was taken from me." he repeated, reopening his palm, the figure re-appearing on his hand.
Something occurred to Hermione.
"That ring....it was an engagement ring wasn't it?" she asked, though she already knew the answer to the question.
In response he moved his left hand so that she could see it, on his third finger was a wedding ring, she did not
recognize the metal, it looked like silver but was so ‘silvery' it was almost white. Hermione gasped at the sight
of the ring.
He then leaned his head forward and removed a chain made from the same material from around his neck; on it was
another ring like the one on his finger except that it was slightly smaller. He handed it to Hermione who stared at
it in shock and awe, she observed that there were intricate carvings around the band, they appeared to be letters
but she did not recognize the language. The letters were in a very long flowing script, the letters, or to be more
precise what she guessed were letters almost blended into one another, making it hard to see where one ended and
another began, the words actually shone white from the metal band.
"It reads ‘Nin Alfirin, Nin Min, Nin Aranal'....It translates as My Immortal, My One....My....Sara." the last word
was barely more than a whisper, he refused to show the sorrow that he so evidently felt, Hermione felt so sorry for
him.
"How long were you together?"
"2,000,000,001 years, eight months, one day, six hours, two minutes and forty five seconds, we were married for
almost exactly two billion years, I came home bringing her a surprise to celebrate our anniversary, but when I
arrived my home wasn't there, all that was left was a smoking ruin of my house, a scrap of material....and a
wedding ring." he said turning to the ring in Hermione's hand.
"That's all I have to remember her by." he said turning his face back to the night.
I'm....I'm so sorry, if I had known I would never have asked." she said handing the chain back. She cold not
imagine what he must have felt when Ginny picked it up, why on earth had she done that "Ginny's not normally nosey,
I have no idea what possessed her to...."
"It wasn't her fault." He interrupted "There are special spells on high security vaults to ensure that in the
highly unlikely event that they are broken into, that the burglar or burglars become so obsessed and transfixed
with the items in the vault that they totally forget about leaving, Ginny was feeling the first effects, the
feeling would have got stronger and stronger until she could think of nothing but the treasure around her, the same
would have happened to all of you in time, but Ginny obviously has the least natural Occlumency skill."
There was still one question that she had yet to ask, but Adam already knew it.
"I gave the ring to Ginny because she reminds me of her....when we first met that is, flowing red hair, delicate
but with such depth of character, awkward because of conflicting emotions about people."
"Who is there around here that she has conflicting emotions about?" she asked confused.
He turned to her "Can't you guess?" at the shake of her head he continued "Two wizards jump immediately to mind."
at her continued confused look he kept going "Would it help if I said that they are people that she wished or
wishes to be closer to."
"Harry?" she guessed.
"And?" he encouraged her.
"I don't know?" she replied.
"Draco."
"MALFOY, she...." Hermione shouted in shock, before whispering loudly as if the very mention of it were a taboo
"She likes Malfoy?"
"I take it you did not see the look they exchanged in Gringotts."
"Of course but I thought...."
"Well lets just say that they like each other and the sooner they realize it the better they will be for it....he
will need her help to break free."
"Break Free of what?"
"His father, he no longer wants to be a Death Eater."
"How do you know?" she asked even more shocked than before, it was no secret that there had been less fighting if
any between the Slytherin Prince and The Gryffindor Three recently, but now that she thought of it they Ginny and
Draco had been almost polite to each other recently, she just wished Ron would notice her.
"I just know," he answered "It is getting late, you had better go, I know you are a prefect but take this in case
you encounter a teacher." he said conjuring a note out of thin air, "It says I was helping you with homework and we
lost track of time."
"Thank you." she said, getting up form her spot on the wall, taking the note and walking towards the door.
"He likes you Hermione." he called from behind her, she turned back to him, he hadn't moved from his position on
the wall.
Was he saying what she though he was saying? That Ron actually liked her, no....no he couldn't be.
"When he asks you out," he continued "Say yes....but just in case he doesn't, give him some encouragement." he said
standing and turning to look at the door "And that goes for you as well Mr. Malfoy."
If it were possible, the door jumped, before Draco slowly put his head through the gap.
"Professor, I...." Adam raised his hand to stop him.
"It matters not....go on both of you." he said creating another note and levitating it to Draco with a careless
wave of his hand "You will get what you desire." he said just loud enough for them to hear as they left the room
and closed the door.
When they were out of hearing range he added, "I will make sure of it."
AUTHORS NOTE 1: The song in this chapter is called ‘Into The West' by Annie Lennox and is part of the Lord Of The
Rings sound track.
AUTHORS NOTE 2: I am aware the Draco bit was not brilliant, but remember this is the first time I have ever
written this sort of fic, it's not going to be perfect.
AUTHORS NOTE 3: I hate this new Ficwad, I had to change so much standard punctuation in the last two chapters just to stop getting them replaced by weird strings of numbers.
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 9th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts Express
Time: Afternoon
Harry awoke with a groan, the pain in his neck and shoulders making him gasp out.
"Arry." Came a voice weakly from somewhere to his left.
"Harry, you're alright." Said Hermione's as a hand clamped around his.
Creaking his eyes open he slowly let them adjust to the bright light of the Hospital Wing.
"Morning." He groaned opening his eyes enough to see Hermione, Ron and Ginny standing around his bed "Or possible
afternoon."
"Hey Mate." Smiled Ron "How are you?"
"In pain." He replied attempting to look in the direction that he had heard Fleur's voice from, his neck was stiff
and thoroughly bandaged, probably magically charmed to remain straight. Rolling onto his side he was able to see
Fleur and Colette lying on beds, Colette shaking slightly and looking rather pale but attempting to smile and Fleur
laying flat with her waist and shoulder wrapped with bandages.
As the memories of the night before came back to him he jolted upright, ignoring the pain the movement caused.
"The train! Is everyone alright?"
"Everyone is fine Harry." Smiled Hermione.
"Now." Added Ron.
Hermione let out a groan when he spoke.
"Ron I have already apologised THREE times, I'm sorry I cursed you."
"You would think the smartest witch at Hogwarts would know how to aim." Grinned Ron, Harry could tell he was going
to be winding Hermione up about this for weeks.
"What happened Harry?" asked Ginny "How did you survive that fall?"
Thinking back Harry remembered how he had transformed back to human before rapidly turning into a dragon as he
dropped through the trees, damaging branches as he went, before flying off a second before he hit the ground.
"I fell into a tree, my antlers got caught in the branches giving me enough time to change back, but I lost my grip
on the tree before I could climb down and I dropped to the ground, and luckily it wasn't more than five meters, I
think I managed a blood clotting charm on my neck but I can't remember. How is everyone else?"
"Well everyone other than you and our two Professors we got away with nothing more than bruises, cuts and a few
post Dementor nerves."
Harry turned to Fleur.
"Are you ok?"
"While you were fighting that thing in the compartment its tail knocked us off our feet, the spike went straight
into my side, luckily it couldn't fit between my ribs."
"What about you Colette?" he asked, redirecting his gaze.
"She got closer to the Dementors than everyone else, bar Professor Summers," explained Madam Pomfrey, emerging from
her office and casting diagnosis spells on him "She just reacted badly to the proximity; she will be fine by
tomorrow, you on the other hand My Lord are very lucky to be alive....AGAIN, after that charm of yours failed you
almost bled out, I'm just grateful you had the sense to learn basic emergency medical spells. With the amount of
time you spend in here I will have to start keeping a bed reserved for you at all time."
Harry chuckled lightly, but stopped quickly when the pain in his neck increased.
"Your neck should be ok in a couple of days My Lord, you are free to go as long as you come back here and get pain
relieving potions tonight and tomorrow, you should be able to remove the spells holding your neck straight by
then."
Turning back to the others he asked.
"What happened after I fell?"
"You won't believe it Harry." Exclaimed Hermione "The masked stranger appeared again, and....
________________________________________________________________________
That evening Draco was walking the corridors of Hogwarts.
Draco has been wandering the corridors of Hogwarts for hours, using his Prefect duties as an excuse. He had been
trying to wrap his head round the Ginny problem, the weird feeling he had about her at the beginning of term had
spiked again earlier that day; when she had put that ring on they had exchanged looks, he had felt something and he
couldn't figure out what it was, he had been racking his brain all the way back from the train.
He remembered what it was he had felt then, something was different about her, but what was it? She had the same
hair, the same face, the same body, the same personality and the same misguided family leanings, it was true they
were more now civil to each other than they had been before, but that wasn't it either.
An image of Ginny appeared in his mind....she wasn't that bad really, if you ignored the fact that she was a Pure-Blood traitor and Muggle lover. She was relatively pretty, she had nice hair, nice eyes, maybe a bit skinny and
flat chested, although she was beginning to develop a bit of a figure.
Draco had to reluctantly admit that....yes....she was attractive.
But then again he would never even consider dating her, it would just be wrong.
But then in the impossible event that he would even consider dating her, she was one of the few girls in the school
that might resist his charms, and then there was the problem of his father. Well to be perfectly honest he didn't
care about his father or becoming a Death Eater as it was not going to happen anymore, he had been on the train
when the attack had happened and that was the last straw as far as he was concerned, the Dementors hadn't tried to
ignore him in any way, if anything they seemed to gravitate towards him because he could not conjure a patronus.
And then there was his mother who was another matter entirely, she was the perfect mother in the fact that she
respected her son's decisions, she might not agree with him and indeed probably wouldn't but she would at least
respect them.
Wait....What was he doing, why was he even thinking about this, it shouldn't, wouldn't and couldn't happen, this is
Ginny Weasley he was thinking about.
Wait....What in Merlin's name was that?
....Singing?
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile in another part of the castle Hermione was doing the exact same thing except she really was on prefect
duty and her line of thought was for a different Weasley.
Was Ron ever going to notice her?
They had known each other for six years and for the last two of those they had been of the age where you are
supposed to start noticing the opposite sex. But he didn't seem to even look at her; the only women he seemed to
look at were Buffy, Tonks, Colette and Fleur.
At that moment a gentle voice interrupted her train of though, the words floating through the air towards her. The
voice seemed to be singing and sounded almost angelic to her ears.
"Lay down, your sweet and weary head,
Night is falling; you have come to journeys end,"
The voice was female for sure, but she couldn't tell who, it was not one she recognized.
"Sleep now and dream of the ones who came before,
They are calling from across a distant shore,"
The voice was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard and though the song was full of longing, its mood was calm and relaxing.
"Why do you weep, what are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see, all of your fears will pass away,
Safe in my arms, you're only sleeping,"
It was the sort of voice that summoned you, calling you, Hermione unconsciously started following it.
"What can you see, on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?"
She arrived at a window facing out across the grounds, it was now dark outside and getting late, looking up she saw
a tower that she could not recall ever entering before; she could also not recall any mention of it ever being used
for anything other than storage.
"Across the sea, a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home,
And all will turn to silver glass,
A light on the water, all souls pass,"
A figure stood on the balcony that extended from the top floor, their hands on the wall so that the figure leaned
out into the night; Hermione walked on and found the door leading into the tower.
"Hope fades, until the world of night,
Through shadows falling, out of memory and time,
Don't say we have come now to the end,
White shores are calling; you and I will meet again,"
The door was old and heavy, it took all her strength she pushed it open, inside was a spiral stair case leading up,
she passed many doors as she continued towards the source of the voice, until she reached the door at the top of the flight, it was lighter than the first. Slowly and quietly she pushed it open.
"And you'll be here in my arms,
What can you see, on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?"
Inside was a lounge filled with old fashioned wooden furniture, there was a fire in a hearth under a large ornate
fireplace, either side of which were doors which presumably led to other rooms. In front of the fire were two arm
chairs, a sofa and a small table, one chair was moved so that it was directly in front of the fire, Hermione could
imagine a person sitting in the fire and spending hours staring into the dancing flames. On the far side of the
room the balcony was visible.
"Across the sea a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home,"
She approached the figure who could now be identified as a man, he had his back to her so he wasn't aware that she
was there. He was now sitting on the wall, leaning against the main body of the tower. His left palm was flat and
something was glowing on it. It appeared to be a clear glass sculpture of some kind, about twenty centimetres in
height; the light was shinning from within.
The sculpture was of a woman wearing a long simple dress. She had long flowing hair falling down the length of her
back, and a fine and beautiful face. Hermione guessed that if the woman was real the boys of the school would react
the same way they did to Fleur and Colette.
The sculpture was slowly rotating and singing out the beautiful voice, not to mention swaying and dancing as she
sang; it was evidently not normal glass.
Hermione did not know where from but this woman looked familiar, she could just not place where from.
Suddenly it clicked in her mind; she was the woman on the drawing Adam left in the library.
"And all will turn to silver glass,
A light on the water, grey ships pass,
Into the west."
The sculpture finished singing and curtsied.
"That was beautiful." Hermione remarked, before realizing that she'd just revealed her presence.
The figure didn't even flinch, he barely even moved, he just tilted his head forward and closed his palm, the
figure disappeared in a flash of magic.
"I'm....I'm sorry, I'll....I'll go." she stuttered out before quickly making her way to the door.
"You don't have to leave." the voice said, the moment he spoke she identified the voice.
"Adam?" she asked tentatively moving back towards him.
"Last time I checked." he joked, his voice as usual was monotone.
"I'm....I'm sorry for intruding, I didn't know that anyone was using the tower." she said moving out onto the
balcony, her eyes slowly readjusting to the shadow of the night.
"I requested a tower room from Dumbledore, it's a bit more like home." he said closing his eyes.
"Wasn't your home destroyed?" she asked tentatively moving to lean against the balcony wall.
"I'm guessing you have read the first few chapters of Dumbledore's book then....yes, that home was destroyed, I
meant my new home. The one where I have resided since my original home was destroyed, someday I may be able to show
it to you." he smiled.
She noticed that in his right hand the silver disk was again being rotated between his fingers, she would have to
ask him about that at some point.
"What is your home like?" she asked activating her usual thirst for knowledge
"Think of Britain during the age of chivalry, increase the beauty, magnificent, grace and magic and you're pretty
close, the main difference is that technology doesn't work there, there's too much magic, so it's all wood and
stone, the greatest dynasty of men." The sense of longing was evident in his voice "Imagine white stone towers
reaching to the sky, herds of animals roaming wild across plains that stretch from horizon to horizon, vast
mountain ranges hundreds of miles in length, so tall that they appear to actually pierce the sky, forests and
rivers filled with every kind of animal you can imagine."
"Adam, the song, was it about your homeland?"
"It tells of those who leave to help others as I do and those specifically who stay away for long periods of
time....they are called home, dreams of entering the Great Haven of Daer Lonnath, seeing the towers gleaming like
silver in the evening light....I've been away far to long."
"Why can't you go back?"
"I need to travel to another dimension to get back, that means portals and to transport someone of my power level
it would require more power than myself and my staff can currently conjure, I can not return unless the power that
was stolen through the portal is returned to me, I'm just glad I left my staff here last time I visited this
dimension. In addition of course I can not let my brother run amok in this dimension."
"Adam, can I ask you a question?" she asked tentatively, at his nod she continued "The ring, the one you gave to
Ginny, whose was it?"
There were several seconds of silence before he began to answer.
"It belonged to someone very dear to me." he answered slowly, emotions were obviously very strong on this
particular subject, Hermione would have to be very careful what she said.
"What happened to her?"
"She was taken from me." he answered, his face showing less and less emotion by the second.
"How long ago?" she asked feeling sorry for the Professor.
"2,387,973,003 years, four months, three days, twenty one hours, thirty one minutes and forty two seconds."
Hermione was shocked, though she did not know whether it was because of his very accurate memory or the fact that
after two Billion years he still mourned and felt for her, if she ever met someone who felt for her that strongly
she would consider herself the luckiest person on Earth.
"What happened?"
"She was taken from me." he repeated, reopening his palm, the figure re-appearing on his hand.
Something occurred to Hermione.
"That ring....it was an engagement ring wasn't it?" she asked, though she already knew the answer to the question.
In response he moved his left hand so that she could see it, on his third finger was a wedding ring, she did not
recognize the metal, it looked like silver but was so ‘silvery' it was almost white. Hermione gasped at the sight
of the ring.
He then leaned his head forward and removed a chain made from the same material from around his neck; on it was
another ring like the one on his finger except that it was slightly smaller. He handed it to Hermione who stared at
it in shock and awe, she observed that there were intricate carvings around the band, they appeared to be letters
but she did not recognize the language. The letters were in a very long flowing script, the letters, or to be more
precise what she guessed were letters almost blended into one another, making it hard to see where one ended and
another began, the words actually shone white from the metal band.
"It reads ‘Nin Alfirin, Nin Min, Nin Aranal'....It translates as My Immortal, My One....My....Sara." the last word
was barely more than a whisper, he refused to show the sorrow that he so evidently felt, Hermione felt so sorry for
him.
"How long were you together?"
"2,000,000,001 years, eight months, one day, six hours, two minutes and forty five seconds, we were married for
almost exactly two billion years, I came home bringing her a surprise to celebrate our anniversary, but when I
arrived my home wasn't there, all that was left was a smoking ruin of my house, a scrap of material....and a
wedding ring." he said turning to the ring in Hermione's hand.
"That's all I have to remember her by." he said turning his face back to the night.
I'm....I'm so sorry, if I had known I would never have asked." she said handing the chain back. She cold not
imagine what he must have felt when Ginny picked it up, why on earth had she done that "Ginny's not normally nosey,
I have no idea what possessed her to...."
"It wasn't her fault." He interrupted "There are special spells on high security vaults to ensure that in the
highly unlikely event that they are broken into, that the burglar or burglars become so obsessed and transfixed
with the items in the vault that they totally forget about leaving, Ginny was feeling the first effects, the
feeling would have got stronger and stronger until she could think of nothing but the treasure around her, the same
would have happened to all of you in time, but Ginny obviously has the least natural Occlumency skill."
There was still one question that she had yet to ask, but Adam already knew it.
"I gave the ring to Ginny because she reminds me of her....when we first met that is, flowing red hair, delicate
but with such depth of character, awkward because of conflicting emotions about people."
"Who is there around here that she has conflicting emotions about?" she asked confused.
He turned to her "Can't you guess?" at the shake of her head he continued "Two wizards jump immediately to mind."
at her continued confused look he kept going "Would it help if I said that they are people that she wished or
wishes to be closer to."
"Harry?" she guessed.
"And?" he encouraged her.
"I don't know?" she replied.
"Draco."
"MALFOY, she...." Hermione shouted in shock, before whispering loudly as if the very mention of it were a taboo
"She likes Malfoy?"
"I take it you did not see the look they exchanged in Gringotts."
"Of course but I thought...."
"Well lets just say that they like each other and the sooner they realize it the better they will be for it....he
will need her help to break free."
"Break Free of what?"
"His father, he no longer wants to be a Death Eater."
"How do you know?" she asked even more shocked than before, it was no secret that there had been less fighting if
any between the Slytherin Prince and The Gryffindor Three recently, but now that she thought of it they Ginny and
Draco had been almost polite to each other recently, she just wished Ron would notice her.
"I just know," he answered "It is getting late, you had better go, I know you are a prefect but take this in case
you encounter a teacher." he said conjuring a note out of thin air, "It says I was helping you with homework and we
lost track of time."
"Thank you." she said, getting up form her spot on the wall, taking the note and walking towards the door.
"He likes you Hermione." he called from behind her, she turned back to him, he hadn't moved from his position on
the wall.
Was he saying what she though he was saying? That Ron actually liked her, no....no he couldn't be.
"When he asks you out," he continued "Say yes....but just in case he doesn't, give him some encouragement." he said
standing and turning to look at the door "And that goes for you as well Mr. Malfoy."
If it were possible, the door jumped, before Draco slowly put his head through the gap.
"Professor, I...." Adam raised his hand to stop him.
"It matters not....go on both of you." he said creating another note and levitating it to Draco with a careless
wave of his hand "You will get what you desire." he said just loud enough for them to hear as they left the room
and closed the door.
When they were out of hearing range he added, "I will make sure of it."
AUTHORS NOTE 1: The song in this chapter is called ‘Into The West' by Annie Lennox and is part of the Lord Of The
Rings sound track.
AUTHORS NOTE 2: I am aware the Draco bit was not brilliant, but remember this is the first time I have ever
written this sort of fic, it's not going to be perfect.
AUTHORS NOTE 3: I hate this new Ficwad, I had to change so much standard punctuation in the last two chapters just to stop getting them replaced by weird strings of numbers.
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