tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; Friday Night; June 20th, 2008
Rating; G
Characters; Hermione Granger (

simplybrainy), Harry Potter (

equalmarked) Ron Weasley (

the_wheezy) Leia (Skywalker) Organa (

nogoldbikinis), Luke Skywalker (

knightbalanced)
Summary; The Fidelius Charm's the only way to hide.
Log;

They had gotten almost everything prepared. Back at the cabin, Hermione had begun work on casting the appropriate wards, the same sort that she had prepared specifically for their ensuing search for the Horcruxes. Planning does come in handy, it seems. Harry and Ron, on the other hand, had returned to the apartment, awaiting the arrival of Luke and Leia while managing to subdue their nerves by assuring themselves that Bellatrix would not suddenly pop into their apartment. Hopefully.

The boys had each take their respective Skywalker twin by the arm. Harry seeming perfectly not flustered as he took Leia's, and Ron still upholding his masculinity despite holding Luke's. After a few seconds of darkness and a bit of discomfort, they had arrived before the cabin.

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Ron let go of Luke's arm once he felt stable again, scratching his head with a grumble of, "Home, sweet home." He already didn't like this whole thing, not that any of them did. Getting this over with would be a blessing.

She hated how nervous she felt at that moment, but there was nothing left to really prepare. After hours and hours of endless studying on the subject, they had only to attempt the charm. If she could only learn to relax at this point, was the true question at hand. "Good! You're back." Hermione fingered her wand a bit while pushing open the door to the modest cabin for them, looking calm and focused, as always. So far, so good. Now for the tricky part. "We'll start immediately, if you're ready."

In contrast, Leia felt calm and collected. The process itself may have been new to her, in terms of spells and enchantments, but the idea of keeping a location hidden and secret was hardly new to her at all. She let go of Harry's arm - she hadn't been clenching it tightly, really - and stepped toward Hermione, who had spoken. Leia was as prepared to get things over and done with as quickly as possible as well.

In response to Hermione, she nodded, eyed the younger girl's wand, and said, "Ready, yes. Just tell me what I need to do."

The tension in the room when they arrived (really, it was bad enough with the hand holding, why did young boys get so freaked out by that sort of thing? Oh no, space cooties) was nearly palpable, and in response, Luke asked the Force to stretch out over all of them - particularly Hermione. He and Leia were calm centers, at peace.

Luke nodded at the others, calm smile on his face, and stepped around to Leia's side, half facing her, observing.

Harry knew when to stand back and keep quiet, particularly when Hermione had her mind set on something like this. He'd drawn him self to the side after Leia had let go, also figuring his wand with in the same unnerving manner as Hermione. However, Luke's aid with the Force allowed him to regain some of his usual composure; still, he couldn't help but keep his jaw clenched until finally speaking.

"If you need us Hermione, don't be afraid to ask."

Edited 2008-06-22 07:55 (UTC)

Ron's attempts to get Hermione to sleep had seemingly been useless, after all. She looked alright, better than she did earlier, at least. Everyone's controlled demeanors kept him for feeling too tense himself. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, wouldn't end horribly.

He moved warily to where he thought he'd be out of the way. It was Harry that voiced the helpful, right sentiment to Hermione, and the best Ron could add was a nod a nod of agreement and, "Yeah."

"You won't need to do anything, really. We're entrusting you with our burden, and you will be accepting it. If you're here, it's assumed you're all right with it." This was it, then. All one's hard work had to go somewhere, didn't it?

They knew she wasn't the sort of girl to take failure lightly, and this was no exception. She was smart yes, far surpassing most students her age, but at the level of Professor Dumbledore? Hardly. But that certainly wouldn't stop her from trying, despite the tense manner in which she raised her wand and pointed it directly at Leia. The first two motions she made were standard really, the tracing of the path from one's heart to mind that symbolized the conscious keeping of a precious secret. It was the second part vaguely reminiscent of a Divination class several years ago that seemed to knit Hermione's brow in deep concentration, while she focused on the secret itself.

Oral magic wasn't the sort that tripped the girl up, it was cognitive, the type you had to believe was working rather than seeing it performed correctly in front of you. And when the charm didn't have the desired affect she was expecting, Hermione made a frustrated noise, pressing the heel of her palm to her eyes. "I-I'm sorry." It didn't work.

Leia looked once at Harry and then once, a bit longer, at Luke. There was nothing tentative or nervous about it, but the action was very nearly reflexive. She didn't know what sort of skill Hermione possessed, but she trusted the girl to know what it was she was doing. Still, Leia wasn't entirely sure what to expect. She kept thinking the conclusion of this would result in a big bang or some sort of showy explosion with sparks and fireworks, but that was hardly the outcome.

She kept quiet, watching and listening, until Hermione had announced that it had failed. Her frustration was very nearly palpable, and Leia moved forward a bit to touch her shoulder, understanding, smiling in an attempt to be encouraging. "Take your time," she said, even if they didn't have much of it. She squeezed Hermione's shoulder. "Try again."

"Hermione," Luke said, his voice calm - perhaps even hypnotic in how calm it was, "Take a deep breath, and think about something peaceful. Just for a moment. And relax."

The Force was sometimes picky about affecting people who weren't sensitive, but he was going to require that it helped Hermione calm down.

With Hermione's frustration audible, Harry shot an encouraging glance at her, green eyes staring into hers as if trying to press in the message: Don't worry, you can do it, Hermione. We're here by your side. It wasn't fair to load all the pressure on Hermione, especially when it was his presence that made it necessary for them to hide.

Yet silent encouragement wasn't enough for him, not when Hermione was struggling as he stood on the sidelines merely to watch. Taking a tentative step forward, Harry walked up to meet her - footsteps hastening as he got closer. As he stepped behind Hermione, he reached over to place his hand lightly on her wrist.

"Maybe it's like Expectro Patronum," you've got to feel it," he whispered, acknowledging Luke and Leia with a short glance, "Trust."

Harry moved his arm once more, this time taking grasp of Hermione's wand. His hand was stacked upon hers, close enough so that the edges of their hands touched.

Edited 2008-06-23 00:46 (UTC)

"Yeah." Ron agreed with Harry's encouragement again. He stepped from his current place, completely out of the way, to be a little closer. There was a moment's pause when Harry moved, and Ron stood still and watched him get close to Hermione, touch her wrist, her hand.

It was stupid. He knew for an absolute fact that it was stupid to feel that little twinge of jealousy. Having them here now, though, and with all of this added chaos and stress and frustration... It only made him more aware of what he'd done back home, and what he knew that they didn't know. His fears had caused him to abandon them. He was a stupid prat, and useless to boot.

... That didn't matter, though. It didn't. He would absolutely change everything if he could go back. He cared about them. Deeply, even. He had to shape up and keep the promises that he'd made and help to protect them. Even if those fear would come to fruition, and he was the odd man out from then on, he... Well, he loved them more than that.

Ron went to them, too, setting a firm hand on Harry's shoulder before tucking his arm around Hermione's shoulders, squeezing just slightly. While he was here, he could be better. His long arm reached up, and he set his hand over the both of theirs. "It's fine," he said, throat tight for some reason. "Let's do this properly now, hm?"

At first, Hermione glanced between the twins as if she'd somehow prevented Christmas from ever being a holiday again. This was complete rubbish that she couldn't figure out a charm, regardless of how difficult it really was. Granted, much of her frustration stemmed from the pressure that they were under to stay safe, losing Crookshanks, and ultimately failing her parents just before they'd forgotten her by wand. How could they even think they were capable of such difficult magic? Especially with the sort of danger they were now facing.

But at that hand, she stopped worrying completely.

They were here for her. Both of them, just as she'd felt from the moment they'd defeated that troll together in their very first year at school. When Ron joined them, she felt tears well up in her eyes, a tightness in her chest all of a sudden. This was precisely why she fought and struggled so very hard through the worst, didn't give up even when it seemed impossible. For them. She loved the two boys more dearly than anyone else, and if there was still fight left in her, she would overcome anything to protect them.

"Right." Jaw set, Hermione straightened her wand once more with renewed conviction (and a slight pinkish color to her cheeks), with both Ron and Harry's hands covering her own, gaze firm. It was almost comical how easily she felt that particular flow of warm magic about the air this time, that sense of protection, and with her thoughts upon the secret to be kept, it began to work.

"We trust you with our secret." Silver and blue swirls proceeded to gently weave in and out of each other around the room, like condensed smoke, creating a circle around Leia and the three teenagers. "Fidelius."

She wasn't tense, but Luke's presence calmed her further. Leia took a deep breath, held herself higher, back straight, waiting for the three across from her and her brother to make this work. She had faith - she'd never been short on it, couldn't ever afford to be - and she wouldn't lose hope or confidence that Hermione - or the three of them - could pull this off, could make it work.

Leia kept the same small smile on her face. She would have liked to take Luke's hand, not for comfort or support, but because this was the sort of situation that may have called for that sort of thing, but she was unsure as to whether or not that would alter the spell or not, so she kept her hands at her sides after removing the one from Hermione's shoulder, waiting to do as told, waiting to help however she could.

What was actually supposed to happen, Leia wasn't sure, but she kept her mind open. Listening to Hermione, watching the girl and her friends. When she spoke that word - Fidelius - though Leia could not be sure for certain, she felt as though, this time, it may have gone right. Unsure if she should say anything to disturb the procedure, she kept quiet, waiting.

The magic looked like it had work, but there was only one sure fire to see if the spell had truly taken affect. All of them knew the location of the cabin, but only one had the ability to speak of it -- Leia.

He looked around at all of them, then opened his mouth to speak, "The cabin is located..."

The word seemed glued to his tongue, and he was unable to even move his lips to even mouth the syllables. Bloody Hell, it worked.

"I can't say it," the success of their spell was evident with the wide grin now upon Harry's features, "It worked."

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