Keogh

~***~

Severus hovered near the Gryffindors, a clearly disdainful look running from Hermione to her two ‘friends’. Idiot boys! Didn’t they understand that she did this out of her affection for Potter? Had they already forgotten that Black had managed to infiltrate the school, nearly killing Mr. Weasley in the process?

He knew that it was tearing at his daughter’s heart, this falling out. But she had done the right thing. Black could have very well sent that Firebolt to Potter, which means it could have all manner of hexes and curses on it. She was only doing her part to protect him. He should be grateful that such a clever and self-sacrificing girl gave him the time of day!

Unfortunately Minerva would never allow him to give the brats detention simply for being thickheaded and lacking in any emotional maturity. They were only boys and thus were expected to behave in such a manner.

Still, it was frustrating to see Hermione’s downcast expression. At least she seemed to appreciate the Christmas present he had sent her. He had requested the new quill and ink set created custom for her complete with a hand-tooled, green leather traveling case embossed with her name in silver on the front. He noted that she brought it with her, tucked securely atop her books in her satchel so she would have it handy when needed. She had given him two volumes from a set of books called ‘Practical Applications in Chemistry’, a study on the muggle equivalent of potions. He’d skimmed through them partially already and was looking forward to a more in depth study.

~***~

Hermione couldn’t wait to get out of potions and away from Harry and Ron. Honestly! It wasn’t as though she didn’t have enough to worry about as it was. Her abundance of classes was proving a trial, and the extra ‘lessons’ she was getting from Kathryn weren’t helping matters. She only just now was able to move with some degree of comfort. The morning after her first ‘lesson’ had been hell. Even her hair had seemed sore and stiff.

“Stop being such a whiner. It’s not my fault you’re out of shape.”

She was getting better at simply ignoring Kathryn when she didn’t particularly wish to listen to her. But she had been rather weak when they had started the physical training. Muscle fatigue had been expected those first few weeks, but Kathryn continued to drag her up to the Room of Requirement at least every other day. She was wasting away to nothing; none of her clothes fit her properly any longer.

“That’s because we’ve gotten rid of all that baby fat.”

“I was not fat!” She almost bungled cutting up her caterpillars but salvaged them in the end. She was fuming internally at the suggestion that she might be anything other than normal sized. She could feel Kathryn’s smirk as she bent back over her potion assignment.

Finally the class was over and she had produced another perfect potion. Not that Snape would give her credit for it, even though all of Slytherin house knew of their connection. He could not give points to Gryffindor out of principal, but he refused to take any from her. It was the closest thing to a truce the Gryffindors could hope for.

Her stomach was clamoring for something to eat. Preferably something chocked full of protein and red meat.

“How about a double cheeseburger from McDonalds?”

“Sounds wonderful, but there isn’t a McDonalds at Hogwarts.”

“Then we go where there is one.”

Hermione gave a mental snort. “And how do you propose we do that?”

“Easy. Time for a new type of lesson. Let’s drop off your books and put on some civvies. You’re going to need to blend in.”

Curiosity peaked and no more classes for the day, Hermione stashed her books inside her room and changed into her jeans and t-shirt. Kathryn suggested that she pull on her coat as well since it was still freezing outside. “Where are we going?”

“London.”

Hermione came down the steps into the Common Room. Harry and Ron were sitting near the hearth. Ron looked up out of reflex as she came down, but his jaw quickly set into its usual stubborn pattern before he turned away. A pain shot through her chest as she choked back a sob.

“They’re boys, Hermione. They’re always a bit thick, and I hate to tell you but they only get worse as they get older. Now get moving. We need to get outside and someplace out of view.”

She made her way through the castle and through the main doors. The snow was thick and there were few students willing to venture out into the bitter cold if they didn’t have to. Hermione was certain that she could find a place away from prying eyes, though she still didn’t understand why they needed to come out here rather than use the Room of Requirement.

“The fresh air will do you good. This place looks promising. Now, step back and let me drive.”

Hermione forced herself to relinquish control to Kathryn. She didn’t like this part but was still fascinated when she saw her hands move independent of her own thoughts. “Now,” came her voice with Kathy’s words, “time for Continuum Navigation, 101.”

Her body crouched down in front of an unblemished patch of snow and a hand reached out to start scratching out equations with a single finger. “I’m not supposed to use any maths outside of class assignments without Professor Vector’s close supervision.”

“Clever as he is, Vector wouldn’t know what to do with these. He doesn’t have the mental scope for them.” Kathryn continued to write the numbers and symbols down. “You’ll learn to do all this mentally, of course. You’ll rarely have time to actually write them down. With your grasp of numbers I see little problem with that.”

"What are these for? Is it going to hurt like last time?”

“Shouldn’t hurt a bit, though this will be a bit disconcerting at first.” Kathryn finished etching the last line of numbers. Instantly something resembling a glowing doorway lit up to her right.

“What’s that?”

“That is a portal into the Continuum; a sort of highway through space and time. Only those with the ability to open and navigate the Continuum can see it. Brace yourself and try not to think too loudly. Even thought has weight in there.”

Before Hermione could ask what she meant by that, Kathryn took their body through the doorway and into a seemingly endless void that was light and dark all at once. “Bloody Hell.”

“That does seem to be the usual consensus.”

“But… what is this place?”

“This is the Continuum, the link between all points in space and time as well as where the threads of life run. That’s what all those lines are, including the ones coming out of us.” Her body tilted her head down and Hermione could see two strands of light running through her. One was a brilliant golden-white, the other was quite pale and barely there. “Yours is the bold one, since you are still a living, breathing person. I’m the other.”

“So what is the purpose of coming here?”

They started moving forward through the vast nothingness as though flying. “By use of the Continuum you can teleport almost instantly between physical locations.”

”But you can’t teleport from inside the Hogwarts grounds!”

Kathryn’s ‘voice’ chuckled. “You can’t apparate from inside the Hogwarts grounds. That’s magic; this isn’t. This is using a ‘wild talent’ and combining it with mathematics. It’s not magic but another classification of ESP.”

“I don’t think that the term ESP is supposed to be so broadly applied.”

“I don’t think so, either, but that is the only classification we’ve been able to find for it. Now it will take some time for you to get used to coming and going in here, so I’ll be helping you a long until you’ve got it mastered. You open the ‘doors’ with the equations, which will vary as you need them. Getting in is the hard part, getting out is easy as long as you can figure out where you’re going.”

“And how will we know which ‘door’ to take for us to get to London?”

Kathryn slowed them down as they got to a certain point. “The easiest way is to feel for the right person’s thread and follow it along. I know it’s confusing now, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. After figuring out the combination to your own mind, navigating through here should be a snap.”

Hermione ‘saw’ a new set of equations running through her mind. Another combination for another door. Just as she had expected, a portal opened up and her body went through, leaving the strange nothingness and stepping into a darkened hallway.

The air was thick with pungent incense and the décor was Asian in theme. Kathryn turned her head this way and that before moving towards one end of the hallway with soundless steps. As they drew near to the end she heard voices speaking in Chinese. More to her shock, she understood them.

"But I don’t know Chinese.”

“I do, and so will you after this. Handy language to know considering about a fifth of the world’s population is in China.” Kathryn usually didn’t bother using her Deadspeak with Hermione when she was the one driving, meaning she didn’t want to be overheard by whoever was at the end of the hallway.

They moved to be flush with the wall and peered cautiously from the shadows into the main room of what looked like a Chinese apothecary. The shopkeeper was just bidding farewell and wishing his patron good fortune. Kathy waited for the shop to be empty before speaking in what sounded to be flawless Chinese.

“All this time and you still haven’t managed to hire a competent assistant, Mao? No wonder you’ve never had time to find a wife.”

The man spun about, eyes going to the doorway as they stepped into the light. “Who are you? How did you get in?”

She could feel her lips turn up into a smile. “The same way I’ve always gotten in, Little Brother. You’d never recognize me if I started using the door like normal people.” She stopped, setting her hands onto Hermione’s hips and cocking her head to one side. “I told you that dying didn’t necessarily mean out of action.”

The handsome man blinked, jaw going slack before he dared to speak. “Tigress?” Hermione felt herself nod in confirmation and Mao immediately dashed to the door of his shop. He locked it tight, flipped the sign to ‘closed’ and pulled the blinds. That done, he finally turned back around. “How?”

Kathryn indicated her body. “This is my daughter, Hermione. I’m just doing the steering while I help her get more comfortable with herself.”

Mao looked suspicious but it soon faded. “Is that wise, Kathryn? Your time has passed. You should not cling to the warmth of life when it has left you.”

Hermione felt Kathy’s temper flare. “I know what I’m doing!” Her voice snapped like old leather, but just as quickly her ire faded. “I wanted to get some of the things I left here. They’re hers now.”

Mao nodded and motioned for them to follow. Hermione watched as Kathy moved behind the small man to a door in the back of the shop. He opened it up and motioned for them to go first. Her feet moved quickly down the narrow steps to a basement room light by dim lamps. Mao closed the door behind them before descending the steps as well. “I have kept them safe, just as you asked.”

“I knew you would. You’re the only one I would trust not to sell them out from under me.”

“Only a fool would have tried to do that.” Mao moved over to a large, ornate chest and began to open it. Hermione watched through her own eyes as it was expanded to reveal several velvet lined shelves, each holding a variety of martial weapons.

“What the bloody hell do I need those for?”

“Because you and your friends are very likely hurtling towards a war and someone has to be able to put up a decent fight.” Kathryn moved forward and looked over her weapons, one hand hovering almost reverently above them. “They look well cared for, Little Brother. Thank you for not just leaving them here to tarnish.”

Mao gave her a bow. “I owe you too much not to respect your memory, Tigress. My family would be gone from this earth had you not stepped in to save us.”

“Losing your family would have been a blow to the entire world, even if few appreciate you.” She closed the shelf that held the longer swords.

“Something wrong with them?”

“No, it’s just that Hermione is still at school. She wouldn’t have any place to hide the larger blades.”

“We’re taking some of them back with us?”

“Just a few choice items.” Kathryn removed two pair of sai, one silver and gleaming the other onyx and matte. She also took a couple pairs of kama, the criteria of which matched the sai. There were also a few shorter blades but nothing longer than a foot. Nothing that couldn’t be easily hidden. She secured them in a clever soft-sided carrying case the Mao handed to her. “We’ll also need to get into the strong box.”

“I have it right here.” He pulled a metal box from behind the cabinet and set it on top. Taking a large key ring with many keys of all sizes and shapes, he found the one that opened the box and lifted the lid.

“Just how much money do you have stashed around!”

“This is the emergency fund. Besides, we can’t use galleons in London.” Kathy took out several bills totaling close to fifteen hundred pounds before shutting the lid. “Keep it here in case she needs to get into it again, will you, Little Brother?”

Mao smiled. “I will.” A mischievous grin lit up his eyes. “Will she also need your tat?”

“Your what?”

Kathryn smiled with her face. “You still have the sketch?”

Mao grinned brighter and took out a piece of paper that was stuck to the back of the cabinet. He unfolded it and showed a drawing done in black ink. It was of a bony, skeletal forearm holding a scythe. The entire thing was drawn to look as though it were made of the blackest shadows and enclosed in a perfect oval. “You got it right here, on the small of your back, right?”

The shock of the moment was enough that Hermione shoved Kathryn out of the ‘driver’s seat’ and put in her opinion. “No way! Not now, not ever, you are not tattooing me!”

To her chagrin Mao started laughing, long and hard. In her mind Kathryn was also cackling in good humor. “Come on. I believe you wanted a cheeseburger for dinner.”

~***~