Ultimatums

Chapter 63

"James. We're going on a mission. Come on" Hermione said, stashing her wand in her loop belt.

He stood up, grinning. It had been weeks since he could go out, being in hiding and all. It was now May, and James was itching for something to do. "Where to?"

"Hogwarts" Hermione answered, calling Kreacher. He apparated them right outside the Room of Requirement.

She crouched down, her satchel bumping against her hip, and put a hand on his shoulder "thank you Kreacher dear. Why don't you go back to the house. Reg misses you"

"Yes Miss Nita" he bowed and popped away.

Crossing the room three times, Hermione thought of a room where you can find hidden things. James pushed the door open and marched in, not knowing what they were looking for nor what was on the other side. Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him, closing the door being her.

"Sparkly blue tiara" she said, already looking up at all the piles of junk.

James nodded and wandered off. "I'll send up red sparks if I find it. Blue if I need help"

"Don't touch it with your hands" she called after him.

As she wandered herself, Hermione saw many things in the piles that she thought she might want to take home with her. Beautiful jewellery, interesting books, a lovely smelling candle. But she continued her search. Hermione even began climbing the massive piles to get a better view but to no avail. All she gained were scrapes and bruises. She tried accio, but nothing budged. There wasn't much else to try.

Just before she gave up, blue sparks burst into the air almost hitting the ceiling. Hermione took off at a fierce run in the direction James had gone, tripping over all the items littered on the floor. Soon she was lost in the maze. A panic set in, Hermione's chest rising and falling quickly. He kept firing them with urgency and though it took her a while, eventually she found him buried under a pile of rubbish.

He waved a pale hand and she laughed,  taking her time to levitate the objects off. James wheezed as he stood. "I was climbing it to see if I could see anything from up there"

"Great minds..." Hermione muttered, looking around James's part of the room. It only took her a few seconds "You moron"

James frowned, confused. It made sense when she stormed over to the pile opposite them. Beside it was a female mannequin, on top lay the sparkling diadem. It was beautiful, the blue and silver capturing light that wasn't in the room. Hermione encased it in purple and placed it in her satchel.

"What is that?" James asked "why is it so important?"

Hermione pushed open the door "the final piece to defeating Voldemort. I can feel it"

☎️

Polyjuice potion truly was distasteful when it came from Walburga Black.

Hermione had wrote to Orion a few nights before, detailing her need for both of the couples hair. She signed the note A Friend. When the response came she was truly overjoyed, not thinking Orion would even humour her. The letter only contained two hairs, no note.

She let Lily brew the potion, seeing as she was a favourite of Slughorn's. It took a long month, Hermione constantly fidgeting and checking on it as Lily brewed.

One day, Lyra smelled the potion from her room. It was strong, like a rotting plant, and so she followed the scent into the Potter's room. The cauldron sat in the middle, liquid bubbling and spitting everywhere because of the fire beneath them. She reached out, putting her palms to the metal to get a closer look inside when