The Patronus

For Disclaimer etc., please see Chapter 1

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No Music More Enchanting

Chapter 9 – The Patronus

Before Hermione hit the bottom of the slide, she heard a loudly spoken, "Accio wands!" and helplessly felt her wand, fastened loosely inside her sleeve, follow the call of a wizard. Behind her, she heard Luna softly swear. Thank Merlin, I'm not totally alone in this! she thought with relief.

The floor the two witches landed on was wet, whether only from the flurry of snow that had come in with them, Hermione was not certain. A heavy door banged loudly, and someone was laughing maniacally.

"Feel free to explore; you'll only end up in the river, and I dare say it's a wee bit cold to survive a swim! Not that you can do anything without your wands," an evidently English voice yelled from the other side of the door, followed again by maniacal laughter.

"Rowle," Luna said quietly. "The river. Hm, maybe we should explore."

Hermione wandlessly cast a drying charm on her and Luna's clothes. She sighed with relief as the biting cold was replaced with dry air. "I'll be forever grateful to Snape for his advice to learn wandless magic!"

"Yes, it does come in handy," Luna agreed and looked around. It was barely light enough to make out each other's shape.

Luna squinted and then pointed at one wall. "There is a door; I wonder if it's open. Let's see what our options are. I don't particularly fancy spending any amount of time here." She carefully moved towards the wall, Hermione following her.

The door was locked. "Let's check out the entire room before we decide anything," Hermione said and slowly moved along the wall to look for any more possible openings.

Each one of the four walls housed a heavy iron door. "I guess we could open every one of them and see where it leads," Luna suggested. "As far as I know, only the palace has Anti-Apparition Wards up. Who knows; we might be able to Apparate out of one of the tunnels."

"Lucius said he'd come after us if we didn't return within ten minutes," Hermione said. "What if he falls through the trap door as well? Maybe we should stay at least close to this room."

"Yes, and, please, let's make sure we stay together," Luna said. She moved her hand over one door. "Hm... it doesn't feel as if there is any water in this direction."

Hermione looked at her. "You can feel water?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh, yes. I realized that not long ago. When Lucius took me to the seaside, I started sensing it a couple of miles before we reached the shore. Mind you, that was salt water, my Animagus' natural habitat. I'm not sure about a river. But maybe I should check out all doors and see. We do know the Isar River isn't far from here."

"Yes, it's only a ten minute walk to the river bank," Hermione agreed and added, "I haven't a clue which direction the river is from here, though." She followed Luna to the next door and watched her friend move her hand over it, shake her head, and move on to the next.

"No," Luna said sadly. "I can't sense any water at all." She slowly walked back towards the slide that had brought them to this room. "It's gone!"

Hermione looked around. She could make out each door, but the slide was nowhere to be seen. "Damn! I suppose that means they closed the trapdoor." Her hopes of Lucius finding them shrank rapidly. Patronus! I'll try... Aloud, she said, "Let's try and cast a Patronus. I've never managed it wandlessly, but it's worth trying again."

Luna nodded. "Yes, let's. But in turns, okay? Do you want to go first?"

"All right." Hermione concentrated on a happy memory for a moment and then cast the spell. "Expecto Patronum!" Nothing happened. She sighed. "You try!"

Luna cast the spell, and a flimsy hare appeared for a mere moment. "Damn!"

"Luna, tell me your happiest moment!" Hermione demanded. Maybe exchanging happy experiences, they might be able to increase the likelihood of casting a Patronus.

Luna smiled. "Oh, that's easy. There are many happy moments I remember, but the happiest was when Lucius told me I'm beautiful, unique, clever, and that he would walk barefoot around the world if it made me happy." She quieted for a moment. "And, you know, he would even cut his hair if I asked him, he'd said. What is your happiest memory?"

Hermione pondered. Voldemort's demise came to her mind, but it really was no competition to a very recent one. "I think... I... Snape opening his mind." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I feel kind of silly. But, you know, the man was like the most secured bank vault for years, and then he went and invited me to tour his innermost thoughts. I felt so incredibly honoured, so... privileged. It made me feel very special." As she recalled the memory, a wave of comfortable warmth washed over her.

"Now, cast your Patronus, Hermione."

Hermione did, summoning every happy emotion she had felt at the time. A silvery shape burst forth from her fingertips, eliciting a triumphant, "Yes!" from Luna. Only it wasn't her Patronus...or rather, her Patronus was no longer an otter. But it was, without a shadow of doubt, a Patronus. She quickly composed a message for Snape, and the silvery shape nodded and flew off.

"You did it!" Luna cried.

"Hm..." Hermione didn't know what to say. "It... My Patronus is an otter, Luna."

Luna laughed. "Not anymore. Okay, now that's done, what next?"

"The doors," Hermione suggested, amazed she was able to keep a clear mind on the situation.

Luna sighed. "Okay, let's see if we can open any." She walked towards the one Rowle had slammed and stopped short of casting Alohomora. "No. We do not want this one open. Rowle doesn't need to know we can do magic without wands..."

Hermione tackled another door. First she tried to open it with the handle, then she cast Alohomora. It opened silently. "Let's try the other doors and then decide on one." She walked to the next door, and Luna approached the last door in the room. Both opened to reveal nothing but darkness. Only the first door Hermione had opened offered a glimpse of light, coming from a sconce a distance away.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay. The question is whether this light is a trap or not. They would expect us to take the easiest route and that would be one that provides light. On the other hand, it might be a candle charmed to burn indefinitely..."

Luna carefully walked into the corridor towards the candle. Hermione followed hesitantly. If the door locked them out of the room, at least they'd be trapped together, and she was certain Rowle and his accomplices were keen on keeping her alive...until she'd open the Ark for them.

Luna whispered, "Nox." The flame remained. "I think this might be charmed to burn all the time."

"What do you want to do?" asked Hermione. "See where this leads?"

Luna nodded quietly and started walking gingerly in the direction away from the room they'd landed in.

Candles, all of them lit, scattered their path. Occasionally, they crossed a fork, but as only one path was lit, it was easy to choose which way to go.

Suddenly, Luna stopped and took a deep breath. "Water."

"Will you be able to swim in the river, though?" Hermione asked worriedly. As far as she knew, her friend had only Transformed a couple of times, and only once in a natural habitat.

"Yes, I'll be fine," Luna assured her. "But what about you? If there is a door that opens beneath the water level, how can we get you out? Oh, never mind. Let's find the river first and then see what choices we have." She started walking again, now breathing more deeply.

After a few yards, Hermione asked, "Are we getting closer to the river?"

"Yes," said Luna. "Not far to go now." She had hardly finished her sentence when they reached another iron door.

Hermione looked at it closely. "It's not leading right into the river, Luna. Look at the gaps." She cast Alohomora, and the door opened into nothingness.

"Listen! The river is right underneath!" Luna stuck her hand out and captured some snow flakes. The Isar River gurgled peacefully below them.

"Okay, I'll wait until you Transform and fly to the other side of the bank, then I'll Transform and swim over. I'll swim down-stream until I find a boat ramp or ladder."

~|~|~|~

Lucius looked at the clock above the kitchen door. "It's been twelve minutes now, Severus. I have a bad feeling." He continued pacing between the kitchen table and the sofa in the living room.

"If it were anyone else, I'd say they've lost track of time. However, neither Miss Granger nor Miss Lovegood strike me as irresponsible these days. Let's go and see what they're up to." Snape got up from the sofa, walked in long strides to the door and grabbed his cloak. He turned back to a still pacing Lucius. "What are you waiting for?"

Lucius went to one of the windows in the living room and tilted it open. "Just in case they were trapped. If Hermione manages to escape, at least she'll be able to come in."

"How thoughtful." Snape smirked. "And are you wearing your swimming trunks in case Miss Lovegood requires rescuing?"

Lucius glared at him as he grabbed his cloak, then his expression turned smug. "I can tell you've got it bad, Severus. You can't fool me. Why don't you just whisk her away and profess your love? Sometimes, that sneered-at Gryffindor bluntness isn't a bad thing, you know."

Snape ignored his friend's words and rushed down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. "Let's find them first. Then I'll deal with it," he muttered as he opened the front door.

They walked in silence along the building, entered the other front door and climbed up the stairs. Snape knocked and stood back.

After a while, Lucius knocked, this time louder. "They're not in there. There's no light either," he said, pointing to the gap between door and floor.

"Where could they be, though? Come on, they left, and I'm quite certain they headed straight to their flat. I didn't notice anything amiss between our flat and this one, did you?" Snape asked.

Lucius shook his head slowly. "No, I did not either. But that doesn't mean anything. We know that Rowle has been at least near here several times lately, the last time only today."

As they stood there on the dark landing, waiting, hoping for the door to open, a silvery shape approached.

Lucius burst into laughter as it came nearer. "It seems, my dear, your feelings are reciprocated."

A larger than life-sized bat hovered in the air in front of Snape. "Trapdoor near corner, fell through. Will try find water and way out."

Lucius' eyes widened. "That bastard," he muttered. "That's Rowle's work. He's always been good at conjuring traps." He straightened. "Right. Let's go down to the river!"

The two wizards swiftly descended the stairs, went out the front door, and Severus stopped. "Don't be daft. We both know where to go. We can Apparate from here."

Lucius looked sheepish for a moment, then nodded. "Let's!"

The two men Apparated to the bank of the Isar, and Severus led the way down-river. "Neveron mentioned a door in the tunnel that opens just above the water, not far from the cellar of the palace." He was walking at a swift pace now, knowing a possible destination, while scrutinizing the opposite bank of the river.

Abruptly, Snape stopped. "There." He pointed to the other side of the river.

"I can see the door," Lucius said, squinting his eyes.

They did not have to wait for long before the door opened and a bird flew out and rapidly headed towards the opposite bank. A dolphin splashed into the river at almost the same time. It somersaulted near the other side and then leisurely continued downstream.

Lucius ran along the bank, his eyes focused on the dolphin. "Yes, baby, find a boat ramp so you can Transform back!"

Snape stood rooted to the spot, intently watching the bird cross the river, land and Transform. He heard a laugh that echoed his own relief, followed by words. "My Patronus reached you?"

He wrapped his arms around her. "Well, I don't know if it was your Patronus. I remembered yours being a rather delightful otter, not a Doberman-sized bat!"

The witch looked up into his eyes, her own eyes teary. "I'm so sorry." Her voice hitched, and she swallowed hard. "Luna and I both tried to cast a Patronus, and I was just so relieved in the end to be able to cast one at all without a wand. I never thought it might frighten you!"

He chuckled softly. "It didn't. You've done well! Few wizards or witches manage to cast a Patronus without a wand." His arms tightened around her out of their own accord.

Hermione sighed, and it sounded perfectly content. "Just... just don't let go, okay?"

"I'll be happy to oblige, but be aware that if I don't let go now, I might never let go."

"That's just fine with me." She wrapped her arms around his waist as tightly as she could.

~|~|~|~

The next days flew by like a dream. Luna moved into Lucius' bedroom, and Snape had made his own available to Hermione. The first night, as he attempted to find sleep on the sofa in the living room, Hermione came out of the bedroom.

"You know, I feel bad. Your bed is large enough for both of us, and I don't see why you should sleep out here. It can't be comfortable!"

From then on, the new couple spent every minute together. The two witches Apparated with Snape every morning to the oak tree, which was still sprouting green, luscious leaves to everyone's amazement. Even the local newspaper had run an article about the oak tree that had never shed its leaves this past fall.

After lectures were finished for the three, they Apparated back to Snape's flat where Lucius was usually waiting for his witch.

Sunday, and with it Neveron's visit and their planned excursion to the Externsteine, was drawing nearer, but Hermione tried her best not to think about it, and both Lucius and Severus tried their best to keep her mind off the trip by offering distractions.

On Saturday, the first day without snow or sleet in weeks, Lucius approached her as she lay on the sofa, snuggled up to Severus, and interrupted her reading. "Hermione, my sweet?" he started, eliciting a giggle out of Luna. "Severus and I decided today would be a good day to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Hermione looked at him blankly.

"Oh, so many reasons. Life, love, tomorrow's success, Voldemort's downfall, you name it, we'll celebrate it!"

Severus snorted. "You decided on the celebration, Lucius. My decision was more along the lines of working out a plan for tomorrow."

Lucius shrugged. "So, let's get ready and go to the trusted Hofbräuhaus. We can do both there and enjoy the beer and weisswurst."

Severus cast a questioning glance at Hermione. "What do you think?"

Hermione nodded. "It's been a while since we went there. And I'm getting hungry."

"All right, then." Turning to Lucius, Severus quirked an eyebrow and said, "I hope you realize that since you are inviting, you'll pay."

Lucius let out a long-suffering sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's go then."

Uncounted beers and sausages later, four rather rowdy witches and wizards returned to the attic of Blutenburg Palace. One witch in particular was looking forward to the next day and even more so to Valentine's Day.

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Ever grateful thanks to southernwitch69 for beta-reading and littlebeloved for alpha-reading. Without your helpful quills, this story would not be half as readable.

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