Falling to Pieces
Luna sat outside the castle, watching the sunrise with Tutela. Technically, curfew didn't end for another few minutes, but Luna figured no one would notice by the time they'd found her. Besides, what else was there to do while she waited? She'd ran out of books to read and exercises to do. On top of that, there was someone with whom she wanted to speak.
Shivers ran down Luna's spine and anxiety gripped her, rattling her thoughts for a moment.
Luna smiled, despite dreading every moment. She was glad there wasn't a clock around; the ticking of the seconds was driving her mad even though she couldn't hear it.
"I haven't got a lot of time to chat," Rose said, appearing beside her. "What is it?"
Luna wanted to ask her again why she had to leave. She wanted to talk about Professor Babbling's offer that still lingered in the back of her mind, but she had more pressing issues.
"I'm worried about Toad."
"Is that it? Just go talk to Princess or Alavel. I haven't got time to—"
"You're the only other person that knows he died."
Rose gave a sigh of exasperation. Tutela responded with a low growl.
"He didn't die, he was just unconscious," Rose snapped. "I'm busy—"
Tutela barked, startling Luna. She trotted to Rose and stood, feet apart, teeth bared, as if ready to attack.
"Tutela, no!"
"I heard you!" Luna cried. "It was the same words you used when you brought Princess back to life two years ago!"
Rose's eyes darted between Tutela and Luna. Luna had never seen Rose angry before, but she was certain she was getting close.
"It was just revivify."
"Revivify only works after six seconds, and revenance only works temporarily! You brought Princess back to life after revivify wouldn't work and made Myrtle promise not to tell. I know how they work! I've heard Sk'lar explain them before!"
Rose stood over her, glowering down at her. Luna tried to meet her gaze, but the thought of Rose being angry at her kept her too terrified. Instead, she kept her attention anywhere except Rose's face. Her ears picked up every sound around her, and she could smell Tutela's apprehension, but she refused to look at Rose.
"How long have you known?" Rose asked, nearly startling Luna again.
"I d-dreamed about Princess a few months ago. It was confusing dreaming about you in Hogwarts. I didn't realize it wasn't me until you used teleport."
Rose sat down beside her, and Tutela laid down in the grass. Her gaze didn't leave Rose, and she held her place between them.
"Yeah, I brought Toad back. We didn't get him out in time."
"It was your idea to put them in a maelstrom," Luna said. "Then you just thought he'd be fine on his own."
Not for the first time that day, Luna wondered if she were still dreaming. When she looked at Rose and Tutela, she knew she wasn't. Yet something felt wrong with Rose.
"What do you want me to do about it, Moon? I can't help him with the tasks, and survival training isn't helping him anymore."
"But you've got to help him," Luna pleaded. "Please."
Luna sniffed the air, hoping to get an idea of how Rose was feeling. All she smelled on her was stone and dust, just like any other student. As she concentrated more on Rose's scent, she realized there was nothing distinct about it. Princess smelled of strawberries, Toad of earth and wood, much like the forest, Firecracker of ash and something foul Luna was beginning to suspect was jealousy, and Cohort of misery and the library. Even though Scarface was hard to pin down, given that a new scent had introduced itself on him, he was still distinct from the others. But Rose didn't smell like anything distinct, just rock, dirt, and mold, like everyone else.
"When did you get those runes?" Rose asked.
Luna shook her head, hoping to hide the runes on her forehead. "What runes?"
Rose leaned in and moved her hair out of the way. "Those runes."
Luna blushed as Rose took her hand away.
"It's… it's just something from Mum's notes. They're supposed to improve my senses. I'm using it to help Professor Hagrid feed Thestrals. It's easier to communicate with them through scent."
"If you'd asked, I could've made you something," Rose said.
"You weren't around," Luna replied. "You're never around anymore."
They continued to sit in silence, but Rose shifted closer to Luna. A new scent filled the air, something soft and a little sweet. Luna smiled when she smelled it. There was something familiar about it, something warm and comforting.
"I'm sorry, Moon." Rose took Luna's hand in hers. "I promise, Toad will be alright. I'll fix it." She frowned. "Just as soon as I remember what else I was supposed to do today."
Hermione and her parents walked through the wall that separated Diagon Alley from the rest of the world. It felt like a rush of cool air after being baked in an oven for months. The colors and activity felt foreign compared to the blandness of her room. She laughed and started trying to take it all in.
"Take it slow," her dad said for possibly the tenth time. "Don't let yourself get overwhelmed."
"I'm fine," she said without looking at her parents. "Really, I'm alright. I haven't had an incident in weeks."
She nearly took off running, but reminded herself it'd defeat the purpose. They'd agreed to a slow day in Diagon Alley, a way to ease her back into the world. She'd negotiated Diagon Alley with them, arguing that if she had an incident, it wouldn't make a huge scene. Because of course, Hogsmeade was too far away, and she had a suspicion that Hogwarts moved during the night.
They walked through the town for an hour. As much as Hermione wanted them to move faster, her parents wanted them to move slower. But after the hour, when they stopped for lunch, Hermione had settled into being in the Wizarding World again. Then it just felt like any other town with people in fancy dress and houses stacked on top of each other.
Hermione sank in her seat as she ate. She tried turning her thoughts away from Hogwarts, but to no avail. Everywhere she looked, there was another memory lurking in the shadows. She'd kept her hair clip out to avoid thinking too much, but it hadn't worked. Memories of her time at Hogwarts still flooded her head.
"Are you alright?" her mum asked.
She looked up and saw her mum's worry. She offered a fake smile, hoping to assure her parents she was alright. No matter how bad she got, she knew if her parents saw it, she'd be home before she knew it. It was her only chance to convince them she might eventually be ready to go back to Hogwarts.
"Fine."
"I thought we could go to the bookstore after lunch," her mum said. "That one we always go to for your school books. Maybe get you a book you haven't read a thousand times in the last few months."
"I haven't read any of my books a thousand times. The one I've read the most is my maths book at 591, then my chemistry book at 522."
"Alright, one you haven't read almost 600 times. Unless you don't want new books." She looked at Hermione's dad. "I don't know, we could always buy her a football instead."
Hermione cracked a genuine smile for the first time in nearly half an hour. Her mum smiled back, and a few minutes later, they were off to Flourish and Blotts.
They walked inside, and Hermione felt another sense of familiarity, but it was less depressing than the last one. Although, the joy of going in lost something without her friends there. Once again, she found herself wondering if she'd ever see them again. All day long, she'd had to remind herself that they were all at Hogwarts, far away from her. None of them would be going to visit Diagon Alley that day; it was Saturday, so they were probably all at Hogsmeade, celebrating Neville's success in the second task. Even if they weren't, they couldn't make it out that far.
She zoned out while walking down the aisles of books. No one had told her about the next task, but she knew with Rose's help, Neville would be alright.
Although, Hermione also knew how Rose had been acting lately. The third task was drawing all of Rose's attention away from everyone and everything else. Like she was avoiding something she didn't want to do. It wouldn't have surprised Hermione if Rose was simply avoiding something, but she couldn't think of what Rose would avoid. Whatever it was, Rose couldn't solve it with her usual method of hit it until it stops moving, then hit it some more until it breaks, then again until there's nothing left. Then set it on fire and/or blow it up.
"Knowing her, it's probably some sort of responsibility," Hermione muttered.
She stopped walking and realized she'd instinctively walked to the section of the store with the advanced textbooks. Thinking of nothing else she'd rather buy, she slid one out of its place, opened it, and began to read.
"First and foremost, I'd like to congratulate you four on your efforts in the second task," Professor Dumbledore said. "Regardless of your individual standings, you all performed marvelously given the circumstances."
Dumbledore looked at each of them in turn, but Neville refused to meet his gaze. That wasn't directed at him. He hadn't finished, putting him in dead last. He felt ashamed just being there, poorly representing Hogwarts in the tournament. At least Cedric was in second place, just a few points behind Viktor.
"Unlike the first two tasks, we will be giving you fair warning about the third," Dumbledore continued. "It will be a maze, at the center of which lies the Triwizard Trophy. The first one to touch it wins the tournament. You will enter the maze in order of your current standing, a minute behind the person in front of you for each point behind them you are."
Neville mentally tallied up the scores. Viktor was in first with 59, and he was in last with 41. That meant 18 minutes between him and Viktor.
Which means I've got no chance.
"Ees zhat all? Just a maze?"
"That's all I've been told. I'm not the one in charge of constructing the tasks, and our contractor has had much more freedom with the third task. Be prepared for anything, and know that we will be monitoring you from outside the maze. As with the last two tasks, if there's a problem, we will ensure there are no casualties."
Dumbledore dismissed them after that. Neville got out as quickly as he could. He hated the feeling that Dumbledore was ashamed of him. The only thing worse was Rose, who he hadn't seen since the second task a week ago.
Probably too embarrassed to be around me.
"Neville, wait up."
Neville stopped walking and let Cedric catch up to him. He had to remind himself that Cedric wasn't usually mean, despite his own instincts that said everyone was.
"I never got a chance to say thank you."
"For what?"
"For what you did during the task. If you hadn't been there, I don't know if I could've gotten Cho and I to the surface."
Not sure what else to do, Neville shrugged.
"For what it's worth, I think you're doing fine," Cedric said. "What was that you used? Some sort of propulsion charm?"
"It was something Luna made for me. I can't cast anything more complicated than lumos, so she made a strap for my sword with runes on it."
"Lucky for us she did."
They walked in silence for a minute until they reached the stairs.
"I'm off," Cedric said. "I guess we'll try to prepare for whatever they throw at us next."
Neville shrugged again.
If it's worse than the last task, there's nothing I can do, Neville told himself. At least Rose will be there again to save me.
As Neville watched Cedric leave, another thought entered his mind.
Unless she decides I'm not worth saving.
While his daughter wandered the aisles, apparently lost in thought, Dan decided to take a look at some on his own. After hearing how backwards the Wizarding World was, he'd begun to take an interest in finding out why. At the very least, it had the potential to help him understand why his daughter loved it so much. He knew it was the only place she could safely practice magic, but it'd nearly killed her enough times that he had to stop and think about how many. If it were safer, that'd be another story.
Dan walked to the front desk and asked the attendant for directions. While he did, he caught a glimpse of a face he'd seen that day.
A disheveled man appeared to be following them. Everywhere they went, the man didn't seem to be far behind. Dan didn't know how long he'd been following them, but he'd first noticed half an hour before they'd stopped for lunch. Since then, the man had taken their exact route through the town.
"He's here again," Dan whispered to Emma. "That man."
"Are you sure it's the same one?" Emma asked.
"Positive. He stands out even for a wizard."
Dan and Emma watched the man walk down the aisles and stop at a particular section. Dan followed the attendant's directions, taking him past the man and Hermione, who remained in separate aisles. Even then, the man had a clear line of sight to Hermione from his place in the aisle. As Dan stole glances at the stranger, he noticed that he was paying more attention to Hermione than he was to the books.
While every instinct he had told him to send the man limping off, his rational side reminded him that not only was he not the most intimidating man, his opponent likely had magic on his side. Getting into a fight would not only prove pointless, but risked setting off Hermione. There were more sensible ways of dealing with problems, which was exactly the lesson he'd been trying to teach her for the past several months.
Dan walked down the aisle to Hermione, where she remained blissfully ignorant of the situation, her nose in a book and ten more surrounding her. He couldn't help but smile at her. She was exactly as he always tried to think of her: content and using the extraordinary intelligence with which she'd been gifted. A small part of him wanted her to stay that way forever, unharmed by the monstrosities that lay outside waiting for her. Since the World Cup, those dangers had dwelt inside her own head, and there was nothing he could do to remove them.
"We're going to get going in a few minutes," he said. "Finish up and pick out a book."
She looked up as if she'd forgotten they were in a bookstore and not her room.
"Right." She turned a faint shade of pink, then held up the book she'd been reading. "This one, probably. I just want to check over some others first."
Hermione reached out and touched one of the books. She smiled, then touched another book.
"Take it slow."
"It's my bracelet, not my magic," she replied. "I'll be fine."
She touched another book, then reached for another. Before she touched it, she winced.
"Hermione?"
"I'm fine. Just forgot—"
She grunted and held her head. As Dan stared in horror, the books slowly lifted into the air around Hermione.
"I'm alright," she grunted. "I'll… be… fine!"
Books slid off shelves and flew towards her. They spiraled around her, drawing attention of several other shoppers.
"What's going on?" Emma asked. "What happened?"
"I don't know." Dan motioned to her. "She was fine, then… this!"
His mind froze. Fifteen years of being a parent, many years before that of studying at some of the best medical schools in the country, and he was helpless to save his daughter. He watched as she clutched her head and curled up on the ground. Tears streamed down her face, dampening the wood floor. All he could do was stare helplessly. His mind screamed at him to do something, so he looked around frantically. Judging by the faces of the onlookers, no one wanted to get involved.
Almost no one.
"Stupefy!"
The stranger that had been following them fired a red bolt at Hermione from his wand. Her sobs stopped. The books all fell to the floor. An eerie silence fell over the bookstore.
Emma rushed to Hermione's side.
"Hermione. Sweetheart, are you alright?"
His wife shook his daughter, but the latter didn't move. Dan turned his attention, and anger, towards the stranger. Before he was entirely aware of himself, Dan had the man pinned to one of the shelves.
"Who are you?!" Dan demanded. "What the Hell did you do to her?"
"I just knocked her out," the man said, holding his hands up. "My name is Remus Lupin. I was sent by Albus Dumbledore to keep tabs on her."
"Her teacher?" Emma asked. "The one that quit?"
"Why should I believe you?" Dan asked. "How do I know you're not one of the men that attacked her?"
The man dropped his wand to the floor.
"She'll come to in a few minutes. She'll recognize me when she does. Until then, I won't touch my wand."
Dan kept his gaze locked on the man. He knew that even if the man was who he said he was, it was no guarantee that Dumbledore had sent him. Why hadn't he warned them about it?
"Mum?" Hermione mumbled.
"Oh, Hermione!"
Dan didn't need to look away to know his wife was hugging his daughter. It was just her tone of voice that said, "My daughter needs to be hugged. Now!"
"Professor?" she mumbled. "Dad? What's going on?"
"This man used some sort of red spell on you," Emma said. "You were having another incident."
"Stupefy?"
"Sounds about right," Dan said.
"Dad, why are you hurting him?" Hermione asked. "That's Professor Lupin."
"Are you sure?" Emma asked.
"Positive." Hermione sat up. "I don't think he'd try to hurt me."
"Ms. Granger, ask me something," the man said. "Ask me about something only the real Remus Lupin would know."
"I don't need to," Hermione said. "You're still wearing the New Moon Amulet. How's that working?"
"Better than I could've hoped."
"And who made it?"
"Rose."
"It's him. She never advertises when she makes something." There was a pause, apparently as his daughter thought about it. "At least, she never advertises what they do."
Dan backed away from the man. Even if his daughter trusted the man, Dan knew there were shady teachers out there. It gave some bad people opportunities to get close to children. As he thought about it, it seemed odd that Hogwarts hadn't attracted any of them already.
"Professor Dumbledore sent me," "Lupin" said again. "He heard you three would be here today, and wanted someone keeping an eye out in case… well, in case exactly that happened. Rose said she was too busy—"
"Exactly what she said when I invited her," Hermione said.
"—and Albus was worried that Ms. Granger wouldn't like the idea of having a babysitter."
"So you just decided to follow us through town without informing Emma or I?"
"Rose was supposed to tell you I'd be here, and not to worry. I didn't want to risk approaching you and tipping Ms. Granger off. She is remarkably clever."
While her dad interrogated Professor Lupin, Hermione slipped her hand inside her pocket.
Hermione imagined Rose stopping what she was doing and staring vacantly into space. Then her eyes would go wide as it occurred to her what it was.
In spite of everything going on, Hermione had to stifle a laugh.
She's my best friend. Hermione had to actively think about it, if only to get her mind to process it properly.
"Rose says he's fine," she said.
The smile faded from her face as she remembered her incident. She'd used her bracelet, then either it or her started reading the books without her touching them. Then another one, then another one… then she'd lost consciousness.
"Are you alright?" her mum asked.
"I think so."
It hit her that she'd blown her only chance of ever leaving again. Worse yet, it'd been a harsh reminder that she would never be normal. Tried though she had, even reading books didn't work. She watched the books return themselves to the shelves and sank a little in her mother's arms.
"I'd like to go home now," she said. "Thank you, Professor."
"I'm not a professor anymore, Ms. Granger. I retired, remember?"
Hermione smiled at him, then turned her attention to her father. He still glared at Lupin.
"Dad, Rose forgot to tell us. It's her fault, not theirs."
Her father looked down at her, then back at Lupin. Slowly, he extended his hand to the other man.
"Thank you."
"After what Rose did for me, and what she, Mr. Weasley, and your daughter did for my friend, it's the least I could do. I'm horribly sorry for all the confusion."
Hermione had a flash of Ron standing over her, broken arm, broken leg, wielding his wand in his offhand, and ultimately refusing to back down against Sirius. Sadness welled up in her as it hit her that she'd never see him again. At that moment, she'd have given anything to hear him say something stupid.
"I want to go home," she said in a soft voice. "Please."
With that, her parents left Flourish and Blotts, left Diagon Alley, and with it, the Wizarding World. Hermione didn't speak a word on the way home. With no more hope, all she had left was a long life of sitting and staring into space.
Neville skipped his exercises the following morning. They hadn't done him any good in the second task, so he figured there was no point in them anymore. He got dressed, then went down into the common room.
"Lord Toad, good morning," Alavel greeted him. He motioned to the portrait. "If you would please follow me."
Neville glanced at the clock.
"It's still curfew."
"I am aware, but I've been granted special permission to bring you out of the common room."
Neville looked around, but there was no sign of his friends. Shrugging, he followed Alavel out of the common room. They walked a familiar path to the Room of Requirement, where Alavel activated the door.
The interior looked almost identical to the way it'd looked the previous year when he'd trained with Rose. Turrets on one wall, targets on another, but no padded floors as it'd had the last time.
"Here's the plan," Taltria said. "As per Our Lady Rose's instructions, we are going to try to kill you every morning. We won't let up until curfew ends, or you die. Unfortunately, due to some bureaucratic dürah, we're only allowed to do that in here."
Even though Alavel had resumed his original form, Neville was certain the Nimblewright was rolling his eyes at his twin.
"We're going to do this every day," Alavel said, "until you can beat us without taking a hit. Then we're going to keep doing it until you can beat us without trying. If you can't do that, then you're going to die in the next task. What Our Lady Rose has built inside that maze… is something with which no one contests lightly."
Neville glanced down at his gloves. What was Rose thinking? He couldn't beat Taltria and Alavel. They'd throttled him just before the first task, even though he'd beaten his friends pretty easily the day after.
When he glanced up again, he didn't see Taltria. His head whipped around, and he brought out the Sword of Gryffindor and blocked her attack in one motion.
"One hit down," she said. "A million more to go."