* * * Starring * * *
Emma Watson
"Hermione Granger"
Evanna Lynch
"Luna Lovegood"
Can't Fight the Moonlight
"A Simple Plan" Copyright © 2008
Episode Eightteen
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters appearing in the series of 'Harry Potter' films, created by author J.K. Rowling. Original characters are copyrighted to the original author (Rupert). This series is posted to Girls Loving Girls with full permission of the author. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.
Feedback: Every author in his or her own way makes it a point to ask for feedback when posting a story, well me I don't usually. But there are several reasons as to why a reader should consider taking the time to give it. The simple fact is that giving some form of feedback is truly the most important thing a reader can do after reading and enjoying a story. Hopefully in the process providing that author with at least one viable reason as to what you liked about the story. This small amount of time spent will no doubt inspire the author to write more and possibly at a quicker pace, knowing that they have a fan base who are waiting on their next works. So thanks for the feedback and please keep it comin.
Summary: None
Original Airdate: April 21, 2009 @ 9:00 p.m.
(followed by an ALL NEW 'Three of a Kind)
Story Codes: no sex
The library was hidden deep below the ministry of magic. Its massive size made the Hogwarts library look puny in comparison. This was the place Hermione had gone to find out more about whatever could have happened to those poor people. It was late at night and Hermione should have been home hours ago, but she kept ploughing through the books trying to find the kind of magic that had caused that strange catatonic state. Luna had been informed about Hermione’s activities by way of patronus, so Hermione had no qualms about staying as long as it took.
Hermione was starting to get more and more frustrated about how inefficient this way of doing things was. The library was very poorly organized, it was like books were just heaped in and placed in a category that someone for some reason felt was reasonable right. Hermione noted to herself that there really was need for a new head librarian instead of the ancient wizard who was presently in charge. He was so sickly that he rarely came to work. Rumour was that he had caught the plague a few hundred years ago, but somehow kept hanging on to life. Hermione didn’t believe that, but she couldn’t quite rule it out either. Hermione loudly shut the tome she had been studying and went to fetch another one. Just then a whitish wisp of smoke appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It soon took the form of a very familiar hare and started to speak.
“I know what happened to those people. We were so stupid; we should have realized it right away. It was dementors. It was those bloody dementors.” the hare said in Luna’s familiar voice before disappearing as quickly as it had come.
Hermione started to loudly swear to herself for not realizing this before. She had been so completely focused on strange forms of wizard magic that she had forgot the obvious and easy answer. Hermione hadn’t thought about dementors since the battle of Hogwarts. She had somehow assumed that they were all dead or gone, but realized now that she had no reason to believe that. While the thought of dementors filled Hermione with dread it also meant that there was no human behind this. This fact did give Hermione some relief. Now that she knew what it was Hermione realized that she had no reason to keep this from the ministry. Going at it alone had been necessary before when they suspected ministry involvement, but in this case she decided it was the best thing to alert the authorities. Hermione sent a quick reply to Luna, before hurrying up to Kingsley’s office.
Hermione had expected to either find Kingsley alone in his office or find it empty. It was very late in the evening after all. Instead she found Kingsley in a meeting with Head Auror Williamson.
“Hermione? What are you doing here?” Kingsley asked in rather unfriendly voice.
It seemed like he wasn’t very pleased to see her, but Hermione didn’t care about that. She was determined to bring him the news.
“Sir, I have some very important and troubling news. Normally I would prefer to speak to you alone, but this is no doubt of concern to Mr. Williamson as well. I’m afraid there has been a series of dementor attacks on muggles here in London and it seems like they are concentrated around the ministry.” Hermione quickly informed without bothering to breath.
To Hermione’s surprise Kingsley’s first reaction was a slight chuckle.
“Of course you would find out somehow. It’s what you do.”
While Hermione loved to get compliments for her intellect, there was no way she could take credit for something she hadn’t done.
“Actually, sir it was Luna who found out about it.” Hermione admitted.
Kingsley creased his forehead in worry.
“Really? Does anyone else know?”
“Not that I’m aware sir, no.”
“Send a patronus and ask her to come here right away. It is of utmost importance that this be kept secret for the time being and I would prefer to talk to her about that. Please take a seat while we wait.”
Hermione sent her otter and sat down on a chair next to Williamson.
“As you probably understand what me and Mr. Williamson was discussing was exactly this, the dementor problem. They are back and at the moment we feel it is best to keep this a secret lest we cause widespread panic in the community. While we are certain that it is only dementors, some people would no doubt assume the worst and think that Voldemort will rise again. At the moment the dementors have only attacked muggles and we can’t inform them of course. The prime minister is informed, but there really isn’t anything he can do about it. We have arranged patrolling by the aurors and they have encountered some dementors, but as you probably understand there are several people who they have not managed to save.” Kingsley explained.
“I understand completely, sir.”
Just as Hermione had spoken Luna entered the room. She was more pale than usual and looked shaken. Hermione immediately got up and welcomed Luna with a hug, before they both sat down.
“Welcome Ms. Lovegood. This is Head Auror Williamson. He will present during this meeting.”
Luna nodded solemnly in response.
“So, please tell me Ms. Lovegood how you found out about the dementors.”
“I had discovered a few weeks ago about these suffering people. Someone or something did this and I intended to find out who. Yesterday Hermione got involved when we found another one. While she was here researching, I took to the streets to see what I could find out. It was very difficult finding any clues, but luckily I ran into a dementor and immediately understood that they are behind this.” Luna concisely explained.
“Luna! You shouldn’t have been out all alone. Don’t you see how dangerous it is?” Hermione admonished.
“Yes, it is indeed dangerous, but some times danger must be confronted.”
“Did he try to attack you?” Williamson interfered before Hermione had a chance to reply to Luna.
“No, he was in the process of attacking a muggle so I conjured up my patronus and he quickly disappeared. Fortunately the muggle was saved.”
A beaming smile of pride spread across Hermione’s face. While she certainly didn’t like that Luna put herself in danger, she had to admit that it was worth it with a life saved.
“That was very brave of you Ms. Lovegood.” Williamson complemented.
“Indeed, very brave.” Kingsley said before taking a deep breath and speaking again
“Now the fact that the dementors are back is only half the story I’m afraid. It seems like they actually want their old job back. Their communication skills are somewhat limited of course, but they have been able to get that message through. Apparently Azkaban provide them with a level of suffering they cannot create anywhere else.”
Hermione’s thoughts immediately went to a certain Dolores Umbridge, one of Azkaban’s most prominent prisoners. To increase her suffering was something that Hermione would gladly approve, but not at the prize of satisfying the needs of the dementors.
“The dementors have been targeting humans so far, due to the fact that most witches and wizards know how to make a patronus these days. It is all an effort to extort us into letting them back in Azkaban. So far we have said no, but if the situation gets worse we might have to cave in to their demands.” Kingsley went on with a deep a sigh.
“The problem, of course is that we do not know how to kill them. We have established a group who are working on that problem, but so far they have not been successful.” Williamson said.
It was a lot to take in at once, but in a strange way it filled Hermione with a clear sense of purpose. There was a clearly defined problem, how to get rid of the dementors, and Hermione felt more than ready to tackle that problem.
“Sir, I would like to join the research group. I have as you know a significant amount of experience and I feel that I can bring a new perspective.” Hermione proudly declared.
“Actually, that was exactly my thought.” Kingsley said.
“I will do my utmost to solve this, sir.” Hermione answered.
“The group is working 24/7 so I can take you to them right away.” Williamson said, then turning to Kingsley.
“I assume that we are done here minister.”
“Yes, Mr Williamson, I think we are. Keep me up to date on the progress.”
“Luna, I need to do this. I don’t know when I’ll come home.” Hermione told her girlfriend
“That is quite alright. It is very important that you find a solution. I know that you will be very helpful.” Luna said with a warm smile.
The girlfriends shared a quick hug, before Hermione followed Williamson to the research group.
Five minutes later, Luna was walking in very familiar surroundings. It was the grounds of Hogwarts and she was heading towards the castle itself. Heavy rain was poring down, making her wet all the way through, but Luna hardly noticed. She had other things on her mind. With the threat of dementors, Luna had decided to consult one of the finest experts on defence against the dark arts, even if he was reduced to a portrait. Not only was he an expert on this important subject, he was also one of Luna’s closest friends. Luna entered the castle and said a quick hello to Professor Flitwick before heading down in the dungeons.
“Good evening Luna.” Severus said as Luna entered the potions chamber.
“Good evening Severus. How are you?”
“I’m forced to sit here and watch as an endless parade of lazy and incompetent students fail even the simplest potions. It is lucky that I can’t smell anything.” Severus complained.
“Same as always then.” Luna retorted with a cheeky smile.
“Yes, but never mind my life. How are you?”
“I’m just fine, me and Hermione are very happy together.”
“Yes, I must admit that while unexpected it does make sense that the two of you are together. Hermione is a talented witch and it is pleasing to see that she isn’t wasting her life with that lousy Weasly boy.”
Luna couldn’t help but giggle as Snape condemned Ron. While she would never express it quite like that, she did agree with the sentiment of what Severus was saying.
“Actually I have something important to ask you about. It is quite serious I’m afraid. It seems the dementors are back.”
“Dementors? That is troubling.”
Luna went on to explain all that she had found out herself and all that she had been told at the ministry.
“So, the first thing you do, when you have been told to keep a government secret is to go and tell someone?” Severus asked.
“Ohh, yes.” Luna confirmed.
A small smile curled Severus lips.
“I wish I could help you, but what you said is true. There is no known way of killing them.”
“Maybe you can come up with something?” Luna asked hopefully
“Luna, I’m afraid it isn’t that easy. As a portrait I’m not quite the man I used to be. Or to be more precise I am the man I used to be with no real way of developing new things or creative thinking. No matter how brilliant you are as a wizard or witch you can’t keep it up as a portrait. New ideas have to come from the living.”
“It is easy to forget that you aren’t really alive. I am sorry you know, that you had to die.”
“I know you are Luna, but don’t worry about that. I can help you with one thing however. A general principle and that is to start with what you already know. It’s not much, I know, but it’s all I can do.”
“And dementors only fear patronuses.”
“Yes, that’s a good start.”
“But the problem is that they always get away.”
“Yes, they do. I can tell you something else as well. While I never said it to her face, Hermione is the most brilliant witch of her generation, and with Grindelwald, Dumbledore, Voldemort and not to mention me gone, she might very well the brightest witch alive. If anyone can solve this, it is her.”
“I hope so.” Luna answered thoughtfully.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning and people everywhere seemed to be heading for work. Not Hermione however, she was on her way home to get some sleep. It had been a long night spent with the research group, but nothing had come out of it. It was a group of seven people from different departments within the ministry and they had spent the night trying to come up with a new spell that would vanquish the dementors. It was a hard thing to do however, coming up with a new spell from scratch. As Hermione entered the apartment, she found Luna in the kitchen in the process of making breakfast.
“Good morning Hermione. You really look tired.”
“A good girlfriend is supposed to say that I’m beautiful.” Hermione answered grumpily.
“You are beautiful, even though you look tired.”
“A good compromise I suppose.” Hermione said as she sat down on a chair and started to drink orange juice.
“I discussed our dementor problem with Severus. He said that we should start with what we know about the problem, and what we do know is that they are scared of patronuses, but that they always get away.”
Despite her tired state, Hermione felt how things started to click in her in brain. Luna had formulated the problem in a different way and slowly a solution started to emerge. Hermione needed her brain at its best right now and with a quick flick of her wand she suddenly had all the energy she needed. It would mean that she would sleep twice as long the next time she slept, but that was a small price to pay. It was a daring plan and she had no idea if it would work, but if it did, then it would solve the problem for good.
It was late in the evening and Hermione was waiting alone in a dark alley quite close to the ministry. It had been the sight of no less than two of the earlier attacks, so there was a good chance that the dementors would come here again. It was a nervous wait and the coming confrontation would very likely be dangerous, but Hermione had no intention of backing out. Someone had to stop the dementors, anything else was completely unacceptable. A small part of Hermione wished that Luna was here with her, but that would have been too dangerous.
Then it came, the feeling of complete and utter despair. Hermione saw a dark shape block the little light that came into the alley from the street. Hermione clutched the wand in her hand and once again went through the incantation she would use. When the dementor was about twenty meters away Hermione fired off a slivery sparkle from her wand. It had been aimed right at the dementor, but it avoided the sparkle with a quick move to the left.
“I missed that one, but when I hit you’ll feel pain like you never have before.” Hermione taunted in a shaky voice.
It was meant to sound confident, but it was very hard to feel confident with all the despair welling up inside. Hermione fired off again, and again the dementor had to swerve aside to avoid the sparkle.
“Come on then. Come and get me.” Hermione said.
The dementor moved in a little closer, but when Hermione fired off again it moved back to avoid getting hit. The situation was deadlocked, with the dementor not being able to move closer and Hermione not being able to hit it. Then suddenly the sky darkened with other dementors. There were so many of them that Hermione couldn’t count them. Hermione fired a few sparks up into the air, but the dementors saw them coming and easily avoided them. They all started to close in; avoiding the sparks Hermione was shooting. Thanks to wordless magic Hermione was able to constantly fire, but so far she had not even hit one of the dementors.
“So, you’re all here to finally feast on a witch are you? Tired of the muggles?” Hermione said, but of course got no answer.
Instead the dementors slowly closed in on her and now had her surrounded on all sides, including the air above her. Hermione didn’t know if she imagined it, but she felt as if the dementors were starving and desperate to finally feed on a witch. It was so dark now; that the only light Hermione had was the sparks from her wand. The despair and depression she had felt when she had been close to dementors before was nothing like being completely surrounded by them. Hermione felt her magical energy quickly eroding. The sparks from her wand were smaller and slower, making it easy for the dementors to avoid them. Hermione was cold and she felt the how her knees started to weaken. She slumped down on the ground. One of the dementors was only a meter way by now and he seemingly took a deep breath, preparing to give Hermione the kiss.
Then what sounded like a huge explosion was heard, even though it in fact was hundreds of smaller sounds. This was quickly followed by a choir all uttering the same phrase.
“Expecto Patronum!”
The sky lit up in a silvery light from the hundreds of patronuses. Never had such a display been seen; cats, lizards, boars, snakes, rhinos, kangaroos, mice, dogs, parrots, porcupines, dolphins and hundreds of other glowing creatures filled the air. Among them was the lynx of Kingsley, the Jack Russel Terrier of Ron, the stag of Harry and of course the hare of Luna Lovegood. There was also a fair amount of shapeless slivery wisps. They all converged on the dementors, providing an almost solid wall of light. The first dementor to die was one who tried escape in a small opening between the horse of Ginny and the owl of Ollivander. Ginny’s horse, quickly moved to close the opening however and the dementor crashed into it. The dementor exploded in an agonized shriek, while a jubilant squeak was heard from the horse. ´The rest of the patronuses closed in on the remaining dementors and no one could make out exactly what happened; the end result was clear however. Hundreds of patronuses filled the alley and not a dementor was left.
Hermione’s eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She was in a bed in a sun drenched room that she didn’t recognise. However that didn’t matter, because next to the bed was someone Hermione knew very well. It was of course Luna.
“Hello. You have slept for almost two days, but I wasn’t worried. I knew that you were going to be alright. The healers said it was over exhaustion” Luna cheerfully said.
“I dreamt about you. We did all kinds of things. We were back on that beach and we went to France and we had Christmas together.” Hermione answered weakly.
“Ohh, I know. I was there. Those were nice dreams. I think I need to get some people. I promised I would tell them when you were awake.”
With that Luna sent her hare away and soon enough a group of people filed into the room, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Neville, Padma, Ernie and Kingsley all entered.
“Hey, everyone! Did it work? Did you get them all?” Hermione greeted and waved her hand.
“Yeah, we got all of them. Your plan was bloody brilliant!” Ron exclaimed.
“Thanks, but I would never have done it without Luna and also Severus”
“Snape?” Harry asked in surprise.
“Yeah, or at least his portrait. He helped me look clearly on this. He pointed out that we knew two things; that the dementors fear patronuses, but that they can get away. With that in mind I thought about how we could stop them from getting away. Making the patronuses faster was one idea, but that could take time. So I thought why not just encircle them and close off all their ways of escaping. It really is quite basic, as long as you have enough people.”
“I still can’t believe you let yourself be the bait, you know I would have done it.” Harry admonished.
“Well, it was my plan and it was not risk-free. I couldn’t possible let anyone else do it.”
“Now, you all need to leave. Hermione needs to rest.” Luna declared.
The group seemed to be satisfied with knowing Hermione was alright, and obediently filed out of the room. Kingsley was the last one, but just as he stepped out of the door Hermione called after him.
“Yes, Hermione what can I do for you?” Kingsley asked.
“I’m afraid that I have decided to quit.”
“Is this about the dementors? I promise that you will never have to face anything like that again.”
“No, no. I have been thinking about it for some time. Ever since getting together with Luna, I’ve been starting to feel bad about spending so much time at work. I’ve realized that there are more important things in life than work.”
“If this is about the hours, you don’t have to work as much as you do. I can give you much better hours.” Kingsley offered.
“You need someone who is fully dedicated to doing a good job. I’m afraid I can’t give you that anymore. Instead I’m going to write about my involvement in defeating Voldemort. I’m afraid that my decision is final.”
“Well, I’d hate to see you leave, but I’m not going to try to stop you. You know that you’re welcome back into the ministry whenever you want.”
“Thank you for this time. It has been very enjoyable working with you and it has been a great experience.” Hermione said and gave Kingsley a smile.
“Just come by the office and sort things out, whenever you’re back to normal.” Kingsley said and with that he left.
Hermione then turned to Luna.
“From now, my dear, we’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Yes, I was thinking we could go to France.” Luna answered with a cheerful smile.
Written by
Rupert
Tuesday Night on... "Taboo Tv" (SPRING 2009)
* * 8:00 * *
Bad Girl
* * 8:30 * *
Pinch Me
* * 9:00 * *
Can't Fight the Moonlight
* * 9:30 * *
TBA