Lendoren

The characters belong to Jo, the story to kelokelo, the translation to septentrion, with help from Loussi.Beta’ed by Tanit.


Chapter 25. The Silvery Circle.

Severus made a Portkey after breakfast, just like he said he would, but not before asking everyone to check if they were wearing very warm clothes.

They understood why he’d heavily insisted on the clothing choice when they arrived. They’d come into a snow-covered clearing; the air was far colder than it was at Hogwarts. They were surrounded by majestic fir trees, which were also covered by snow. The sky was clear blue, the sun was present but unable to warm the freezing atmosphere. In spite of the cold, Hermione felt revived by this environment, her thoughts were lucid; she had that crazy feeling that, at least, she was home.

“It is quite an accurate feeling, my dear,” Severus told her softly through their link. “The Silvery Circle is all the Lendoren’s real home. That’s where we feel the best.”

“I imagine this is why they call it the Centre then,” answered Hermione pensively.

The other three were frozen in place, but apparently this moment was special for Hermione, she was beaming and for the first time, they saw Severus take her in his arms, smiling tenderly, and then kissing her as if they were the only people in the world. Harry and Ron opened their eyes wide: the man could smile like that?

Severus kept his arms on Hermione's shoulders when he said while pointing to the little road between the fir trees:

“Here comes our welcome committee.”

Two men and two women, seemingly the same age than Professor Gryffin, were coming toward them. They were accompanied by two young men, hardly older than the Hogwarts students.

“Hello, Erwin. You must be Hermione,” one of the women said with a smile. She turned to the others, “Harry, Ginny and Ron. I’m so glad to welcome you to the Silvery Circle. My name is Albane, here is Marcus, my companion, Vera and Oleg, who are both companions, and Malko and Erich. As you can see, we don’t trouble ourselves with formalities here. We call each other by our first name, don’t we, Erwin?” She was slightly mocking him.

She sounded as if she knew about Severus’ and the others’ position at Hogwarts. Severus shot her a dark look that she completely ignored. Instead, she turned to Hermione. “We were all impatient to know you, Hermione. Erwin had categorically refused to bring you to the Silvery Circle last summer, which we all regretted. But I think you know enough about how stubborn he can be to be conscious there wasn’t anything we could have done.”

“Oh yes,” Hermione sighed. “I’ve put up with his stubbornness for a long time!”

Severus frowned when he heard those unveiled critics, but as he was opening his mouth to protest, Albane was quicker. “We’re going to lead you to your respective chalets now. Hermione, Erwin, I suppose that you want to spend some time alone before you join us?”

Severus nodded, and Hermione did as well after a moment. She sent an apologetic look to her friends.

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Severus stepped on the path before he Disapparated with Hermione, and landed in front of a wooden chalet in another clearing. Hermione recognized the place suddenly: it was their clearing, the one she’d seen so often in her dreams. She’d only seen it with grass, but now, even snow-covered, she recognized it. She turned to Severus, and he nodded, smiling. He said, “I introduced you to your home in your dreams, before you could know it in real life. It was also easier for me than to imagine something totally new.”

Hermione pointed to the chalet and shyly said, “So that’s your home?”

“Our home, now, my dear,” Severus corrected her softly.

He seemed quieter since he was at the Silvery Circle, Hermione could feel it through their link. She herself felt at peace. Hogwarts and its quarrels were far away. However, the cold caught up with her and she shivered violently. Severus led her to the chalet, whose door wasn’t locked. A nice warmth welcome them, a sign that some one had lighted a fire in the hearth before they came.

Hermione was surprised by the peace that emanated from the room; the furniture was made with light heavy wood, coloured carpets made you want to walk barefoot on them, and, for her greatest pleasure, an immense bookcase covered an entire wall.

“Did you chose the decoration yourself?”, she asked, incredulous.

“Yes. I hope you like it because it makes me feel very well.”

“It’s so different from your dungeon that I’d never …”

She didn’t finish her sentence for she’d found out some very satisfying details: a big enough armchair for them to sit together, a large enough table to receive friends but without looking too excessive for just the both of them, fascinating trinkets; she already felt at home.

“My dungeon reflects the Death Eater that I’ve been, Hermione. This chalet reflect the Lendoren that I’ve become.”

“Maybe you’ll need to speak to me about that, Erwin, but … not now … I prefer the Lendoren without any doubt.”

Severus didn’t show her the rest of the chalet, but instead bundled her up in fur-lined boots, another jumper and another coat. Then he did the same.

“You really want me to freeze outside? »

“After five minutes, you’ll forget about the cold. Come,” he said while opening the door.

They walked for around five minutes in the snow. They were both savouring the peace of the place. When they came into the next clearing, Hermione understood why the centre was called the Silvery Circle. In front of her was an arc of currently frozen falls, as was the lake at their bottom. Everything was the silver colour of ice, but it didn’t seem cold to Hermione. She didn’t feel the cold anymore, she was only conscious of Erwin’s presence behind her. He’d taken her in his embrace again.

“Now, my dear, it’s your turn to play with the elements. You are a lot more powerful than I am, but you need to include me in this power, so that yours will grow ten times stronger, and you’ll be able to bend the elements to your will. Everything that you will do will affect only this clearing, you can experiment with anything you’d like to. But with me, is that clear?”

Hermione didn’t know where to begin, so she began with the element she felt she had the more affinity with: air. She began to move the drafts as she wished, when Severus called her to order. “I’m not here, Hermione. It’s up to you to make me a part of your power, I can’t do it in your place. You have to link me to you, and so we’ll be able to add our powers up.”

“You’re so funny! Do you have an instruction notice?”

“Not at all,” he said tenderly, “I was told that the link is formed differently from a couple to another, and it’s up to you to find it.”

After several attempts, Hermione began cursing at Severus’ continued leitmotiv that he wasn’t linked to her. The only difference with their training in Hogwarts was that he was calm and patient. As night fell, Hermione took her frustration out on him. “Surely you’re not linking yourself to me on purpose! I’m sure you refuse to do it!.”

“No, my dear,” Severus sighed. He was beginning to feel too much time had passed. “I told you, if you want to link us, I can’t prevent you, given that you’re more powerful than I am.”

“Now, you come with me,” Hermione yelled. They both felt at that moment that the link between them was forged. Severus couldn’t believe how powerful she was. She began to lead him in her mastery of air. Then she added water, and figures appeared in the sky. They were purely imagined by them, imprecise shape at first, but refined whit practice. She’d have liked to continue, but Severus could feel her tiredness, all the more as they’d missed lunch.

«We’re going to have dinner now. But first you must let go of me.”

Hermione had a hard time to undo their link, she felt so good with him. However, as soon as the link was broken, she could hardly stand upright, having spent so much energy.

Severus Apparated them both to the chalet and immediately gave her a Strengthening potion, before he took her clothes off and comfortably settled her in an armchair.

“What did you think of it?” Hermione asked weakly.

“You’re impressive with your power, Hermione. It was very agreeable to be able to do what we’ve done. On the other hand, you’ll have to learn to link us without needing to be angry and to spend so much energy. We’ll have to train a lot to be able to be coordinated.”

Hermione weakly smiled: he was staying the same as ever concerning certain subjects. His compliments were always mixed with a “can do better”. She knew he was right: she felt really weak after those exercises, but right now, she needed a cuddle more than critics, even if these were justified.

Severus had perfectly heard her through their link, and inwardly grimaced. The fusion that they’d experimented had weakened her defences.

“I’m going to fetch us food, and then, you can have all the cuddles you want, provided you still have enough energy of course,” he teased her lightly.

But Hermione didn’t have anymore strength to answer him, so Severus went to the kitchen to bring back food as quickly as possible.


A/N:

According to Oxford OALD (h t t p / w w w .oup .com / oald-bin / webgetald7index1a .pl?searchwordchalet), a chalet is a “a wooden house with a roof that slopes steeply down over the sides, usually built in mountain areas, especially in Switzerland.”


Answer to reviews

lisa: Don't worry, Severus always manage to get a special reward ;)


firewall: Thank you, your encouragements keep me going.


Citten: I'm sorry I can't grant you your request. The story isn't mine, and kelokelo hadn't described much the "Lendoren look".