“'Mione what is it?”
“It’s…it’s -- to restart time we will have to learn a very complex spell and make a potion. The only problem is that three of the ingredients for the potion are extremely rare. Snape would have most of the ingredients but others like the ‘cerintha usque’ flower we would be hard pushed to find. You see they only grow in one place and they are hard to find. Other ingredients such as the Phoenix feather, blood, hair and things are easy to come by, but we also need ingredients that do not exist anymore. Season magic is extremely old, and some of the ingredients have disappeared. I just don’t know what we will do.” Harry stepped closer to her and hugged her tightly, he knew they would be able to figure it out; they just needed to sit and think.
Hermione clung to him, she was beginning to cry, what if they were unable to do it? What would they do if they couldn’t? Harry just held her and was saying comforting words to her. The he remembered something, which he had read while trying to find a spell, which they could use.
“'Mione I think I know a way we would be able to re start time. I know it would be risky and may take a while but it is worth a shot. You know how Dumbledore said that once we had mastered all of the branches of season magic, we would be able to create our own spells; ones which only we could use.” Hermione nodded into the crook of his neck.
“Well why can’t we make a spell to restart time?” Hermione began to contemplate the idea, they would have to master another three branches and then make a very complex potion at the end, which they have no idea how to do but she had no doubt, that they would be able to read a few books and learn the skills but there was another problem.
“Harry I don’t think it will work, because we have used a spell to stop time -- but I don’t think you can make another spell the counter its effects. We have to use the spell, which was designed to re-start time. But we could still use your idea only a little differently. What if we made a spell that would give us all of the ingredients we need to restart time? That way we would be using the original spell.” Harry hugged Hermione tighter and gave her a peck on the lips.
“That sounds great Hermione; you always know what to do!” Hermione smiled and reminded him that most of it was his idea.
“How long do you think it will take us?” Hermione thought long and hard about this question.
“About four weeks if we really work hard. We will have to spend one week on each branch then one week preparing and practicing using all three as one. Then after that, the potion we need to make the spell takes another six weeks to brew, and there is another problem. Since time has stopped how do we know how long the potion has been standing, plus it needs to be sat under a full moon, but it is daylight. Harry, I don’t know how this is going to work.”
“It will work 'Mione. It has to. As for the potion and needing to be sat under the moon, we could go somewhere else in the world. It has to be night somewhere on earth. As for time I do not know. Maybe there is a spell we could use like a timer.”
“That could work; there are some books I have seen that could help us. But for now we need to concentrate and learn the other three branches. I think we should start with water.” Harry nodded in agreement and Hermione walked over to the table where she had placed any book on Season Magic. Harry followed and they transported themselves along with all of the books to the common room.
When they arrived, Harry was the first to speak.
“Can we start this after we have rested? We need to rest, 'Mione.” Hermione smiled at him and looked at his eyes. They were full of passion. She thought to herself that it would not make that much difference if they had a rest. After all who would know? Without anymore thought she grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him upstairs toward their room.
Harry and Hermione were lying in bead both snuggled up against each other, their bodies entwined in each other. They both needed to be close to each other. Ever since they had moved to the next level in their relationship, they felt even closer. It was strange they knew what the other was thinking and feeling before but now, the feeling was much stronger. Neither could explain it, but since then they felt the need to be close, to be with each other to hold hands or just be with the other. Their love for each other had escalated, they were as close as two people could possible be. They were deliriously happy just being together, for a short time the worry of Voldemort was gone; they knew they would be able to re-start time; it would just take a while. However, if both were honest with themselves, they never wanted to restart time; yes, they knew they had to, but they did not want to. Living like this they had no worried about anything, they could just be together, and be a normal couple for a change.
Hermione was the first to rouse, she tightened her grip around Harry; she loved the feeling of waking up beside him every morning, the feeling of belonging. Knowing that no matter what, she would be with Harry and waking up beside him for the rest of her life. She just lay there her head rested in the crook of his neck with a smile on her face thinking about Harry and how much she loved him. All the thoughts of what had happened and what would happen once time was restarted were gone, the only thought she had was her love for Harry.
As Harry began to stir, Hermione moved so that her face was facing his. Before he opened his eyes, she lowered her lips to his and kissed him. It was gentle at first but once Harry had fully woken, they were passionately kissing and Harry’s hand was in her hair pushing her closer to him. Their lips parted and he could taste Hermione.
As Hermione slowly pulled away from his lips she had a smile on her face, knowing she could do this without having to ask, just being able to kiss him like this made her happy.
“You can wake me up like that any time.” Hermione began to smile and lowered her lips to his again. They began to kiss all the while their hands were entangled in each other’s hair. They both loved the feeling of wrapping their hands in each other’s hair. Harry’s hand began to travel down her back causing a trail of goose bumps in his wake. As they separated again, Hermione began to smile at the thought of what was to come, and how she loved making him feel the way he was.
About two hours later Harry and Hermione entered the common room hands entwined both rubbing against each other as they walked. They were met by the sight of the two professors still in the positions they were in on the battlefield.
“Can we have something to eat first?” Harry’s stomach began to rumble, his appetite had increased to that of Ron’s and Hermione was not far behind him.
“Yes, I really need something to eat, you have wore me out Mr. Potter!” Harry smiled at her then responded by giving her a peck on the lips.
“What would you like?” Hermione furrowed her brow in thought, she knew she was really hungry.
“I think that we should conjure our own breakfast for practice but also use another branch of season magic. I was thinking we could use water.”
“Sound good, do you know where we can find out what to do?”
“I found a book in the library which was just about water, and it should be in there. I had a quick look, and some of the spells which are in there could be useful.” Hermione walked over to the pile of books, which were on a desk at the back of the common room. Upon finding the right one, she looked for the correct spell. When she found it, a small smile broke out over her face.
She walked toward Harry and told him what he needed to do. “It is very similar to fire, you need to really think hard about what you want to appear in front of you, what you want it to look like, what you want it to taste and feel like.”
Harry interrupted Hermione, “'Mione, why can’t we just conjure the ingredients we need? I mean what is stopping us?”
“We can’t conjure the ingredients because we don’t know what some of them look, feel and smell like. If the ingredients are incorrect the potion is lethal, and how do we know they are correct. The only way to know is if we make a spell, which will give us all of the ingredients, we need. Plus if it does go wrong, we could die and then what would happen?” Harry’s face turned at the thought, which Hermione had just put in his head.
“I see your point -- what is the incantation?”
“In a minute, but first you need to know what hand movements to do. This is not like fire magic; you have to think about what you want but also about what is inside of you. The more complex the magic, the more you have to think about the power which resides within you.” Harry’s look told Hermione he did not know what she was going on about.
“Season Magic resides within you Harry; this is why you do not need a wand to perform it. You have to think about the power you have and what you want it to do, it is like telling it what to do. Saying the incantation is not enough anymore, for the last three branches you need to focus on what is inside of you. After we have learned water, rock should come quickly but then wind is the hardest and therefore will take longer, but not by much. We do not have to master every spell, which can wait; it is more of a case that we have to be able to control it and the only way to do that it to learn some of the spells.” Harry was beginning to see what Hermione was getting at.
“So what is the incantation?”
“You need to say ‘ab aquarius’ and then we should see some nice looking food in front of us. However, just try to conjure something simple, some toast or cereal to make it easier for the first attempt.
Both Harry and Hermione concentrated on what they wanted to eat and on the power within them. It was a strange concept and took Harry a lot longer than Hermione to get a grip of it. When Hermione had done it she said the incantation and on the coffee table a small plate with four slices of toast buttered and with strawberry jam on appeared along with a pit of tea, jug of milk and a cup. All of this came from a gush of swirling water, which appeared from nowhere and within seconds had retreated to nowhere. There was no evidence that water had been there a few seconds before hand.
Harry and Hermione had spent, from what they could gather, abut six days of rigorous training in the art of water magic. However that is not to say they did not have some fun as well. Now they were ready to try the spell, which Harry could not wait to try. It was the spell, which would make them able to create a huge shield of ice around themselves. The shield could deflect almost all curses. It was the most complex Hermione thought they would need to learn for now, there were more complex ones which they would have to learn later but for what they wanted to do this was enough for now.
“Right, you know the incantation right? All you do is think about the power within you and say ‘conglacio tholus’, then an ice shaped dome should encircle you from the ground up.” Harry nodded at Hermione and then began to think about what he wanted to do and the power, which ran through his veins. As he muttered the incantation, a thin dome of ice engulfed him. It was strange to be in; even though it was ice he was not cold. He could see Hermione through the ice.
Hermione saw the ice engulf him from the ground up. It was appearing from the ground and encircling him. She knew what she had to do. She would have to test his shield, if she used some fire magic the shield should hold up. Using the same spell, which she used at Grimmauld Place, she shot fire at Harry and his shield shattered into tiny pieces.
Harry was shocked that Hermione had penetrated his shield so easily. Harry truly looked disappointed in himself. Hermione could see this so moved towards him and hugged him tightly. He responded by placing his arms around her waist and holding her close. Hermione moved her mouth towards his ear and told him that she did not expect him to get it right the first time.
Then she moved her mouth away from his ear and began to kiss him softly at first on the lips. After a few moments, their slow sweet kisses became more passionate and Harry’s hand became tangled in her hair, pushing her face closer to his. He wanted to be close to her, as close as he could get. Hermione’s tongue ran along Harry’s lips wanting him to open his mouth for her, which he did without thinking. Their tongues were battling in his mouth and Hermione’s hand ran up and down his back then went to the small of his neck and softly caressed his bare skin with her hands. Harry’s hands moved towards her bottom and when he touched, her Hermione pulled away and smiled towards him.
“Not now Harry, I wasn’t expecting it to go this far. You will have to wait until tonight, we still have to get the shield right.” Hermione thought how strange it was that Harry had this effect on her, she was just going to give him a quick kiss but it had turned into a lot more, not that she was complaining but she knew they had more important matters to deal with.
“I think I will try this time, you try to break my shield.”
Hermione began to concentrate and then said the incantation. This time a thick piece of ice engulfed her within a dome. Just as Harry could not feel the cold she could not, it was actually warm within the dome.
Harry was amazed at the thickness; it was about fifty times thicker than his was. He just stood there in awe for a few minutes, coming back down to earth with Hermione’s voice echoing in his mind.
“What are you waiting for, get on with it!” He began to smile at her and then tried to break her shield. What happened when he did totally shocked him, not only did Hermione’s shield manage to stop the huge ball of fire which had erupted from his hands but it had bounced it back and was hurtling towards him. At the last minute, he came out of shock and jumped out of the way just in time. The ball of fire narrowly missed him and went straight to the wall where it slowly faded away.
Hermione let the dome subside it slowly began to melt. However, the water did not linger on the floor; rather it evaporated as soon as it began to run along the floor. Harry went running to her and hugged her. He then congratulated her with a quick kiss on the lips. Hermione smiled at him and told him to go and have another go.
After the eighth try, Harry had finally managed to block Hermione’s ball of fire. Hermione was so proud of him for not giving up; for continuing to practice when she knew all he wanted to do is give up. She went to him, engulfed him in a big hug, and whispered into his ear.
“Now would be a good time to go to bed don’t you think?” Harry began to smile and replied with a passionate kiss on the lips. After that, he picked her up in his arms and she squealed with delight, wrapped her arms around his neck, and began to kiss his neck, working her way down. As Harry was walking up the stairs, he could not take it any longer. He stopped and moved his face towards hers, she smiled at him, and their lips met again. Both kissing the other with all the love and passion they felt for each other.
“Harry - I think we need to “Harry began to nibble on her ear “to go to the room now!” Harry stopped and began to run up the remaining steps towards their room.
An hour and a half later, the couple were in each other’s arms fast asleep without a care, both happy to be with the one they loved. Hermione’s face was burrowed into the crook of Harry’s neck and his hands were wrapped protectively around her small waist, holding her tight to him.
Authors note:
This story has nothing to do with JK Rowling or Warner Bros.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the story so far. Also a big thanks to Melissa for BETA reading the chapter and to Steph for moderating it for me. Please take the time to review!