My life four yours

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 13

After an hour of practice, Celeste pulls the plastic bag containing the quill out of her purse.


"Hermione, do you think that your parents would mind sending this to Emma with a covering letter?"


Hermione rubs her temples and squints her eyes, "Probably not, why?"


"We, I don't trust the Aurors in this country to investigate it properly. We've changed Umbridge's memory so that she thinks she only made two."


"What if we get caught?"


"Hermione, what if Amelia in first year gets a detention with Umbridge? Do you want to be the person who tells her that you didn't take the opportunity to try and get this banned before it's a problem?"


"But she's already planning on intercepting the owl mail."


"But she can't until Fudge has made her the high inquisitor. She wants the legal authority."


Hermione nods decisively, "Fine, when do you want the letter?"


Celeste smiles, "By bedtime tonight."


"Sure. What's wrong with Harry? And don't tell me nothing, she might be different, but I can still tell when she's hiding something. Especially when she is spiking so much."


Celeste chuckles, "Is spiking a technical term now?"


Hermione huffs, "It's the way her mind looks at the moment. And your thoughts have become indistinct, like static."


Celeste shrugs, "Just some final physiological changes that brought Harry fully into the Gestalt."


Hermione shakes her head, "Why didn't they happen sooner then?"


Celeste shrugs again, "Magic?"


"Oh ha ha."


"If it helps, I think we've gained stuff from Harry too, at least it felt like our veins were on fire the second night we were here."


Hermione's face turns thoughtful, "Could it be the fact that you're not magical? So, you needed a highly magical environment for those changes to take place."


"Could be. I believe your rounds are about to start."


Hermione taps her wand in the air with a whispered incantation, "You're right."

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As Mindee and Phoebe are guiding Harry up to the dorm so that she can try to sleep through the pain in her head. Harry stops and looks into the 1st​ year girls dorm where she can feel the familiar feeling of sadness. Mindee shakes her head, "No Harry. I'll check on them. Phoebe, make sure she lies down."


Phoebe nods and picks Harry up in her arms while she continues up the stairs. Mindee pushes the door open and walks in. Sitting on one of the beds is a couple of girls, one of which is crying. Softly she walks over and sits on one of the other beds.


After a moment she says, "Are you ok? I could hear you crying."


The girl that isn't crying looks up, "Are you Harry Potter?"


Mindee shakes her head, "No, I'm Mindee Cuckoo. Harry's my sister. Now what happened?"


"Esme got a detention because she wanted to learn magic in DADA."


Mindee smiles sadly, "I used to have a sister called Esme. It's a nice name."


Esme sniffs, "Thank you."


"Now why did you get a detention?"


"She said that we had to read a book in class, and then she just sat there and watched us. I-I said to Viola that I thought we were supposed to be being taught magic."


Mindee nods and looks at the non-crying girl, "Are you Viola?"


Viola nods, "Viola Weddall of house Doyle."


Mindee smiles, "I'm actually not a witch, so you'll have to explain that."


Viola smiles, "Weddall is a cadet branch of house Doyle. That means that we bring in new blood and ideas. That's what mum says anyway, my grandmother was a muggleborn like Esme."


Mindee smiles at Esme, "You grew up in the mundane world?"


Esme sniffs and nods, "I did."


"That's so cool, so did I. Harry did too. Do you know the X-men?"


Esme smiles and nods enthusiastically, "I do, I wanted to be like Jean Grey."


Mindee smiles wistfully, "She was an amazing woman, we'd have liked to have more time to get to know her. We think she took herself too seriously though, as she let her responsibilities get in the way of her marriage with Scott."


"How do you know that?"


"We were going to volunteer for the X-men once the mansion was rebuilt. We can't do that now, as Harry needs to pass her OWLs, but we're still going to help when we can."


"So, are you a mutant?"


Mindee nods and uses her telekinesis to draw her stiletto from its sheath.


Viola's eyes go wide and she breaths, "Wandless magic. Can you teach me?"


Mindee shakes her head, "It's not magic. And not without talking to Miss Frost first, as we got into trouble for teaching Hermione without asking first." Mindee raises her finger, "But, if your parents were to send a letter to her asking that we teach you, it might help."


Esme frowns, "How would we do that?"


Viola says, "With an owl. They showed us the Owlery yesterday remember."


Mindee smiles, "Feeling better now?"


Esme blows her nose on a hankie and nods, "I am, thank you."


"You're welcome. And just because she won't teach, doesn't mean you can't learn. The library has all the old defence text books, and the common room usually has at least a few people who have already been first years. In fact, if you ask Ginny in fourth year, she might teach you the bat bogie hex."


"But, aren't they supposed to be teaching us?"


Mindee nods, "They are. But sometimes we need the courage to admit that they can't or won't teach us what we want or need to know. Hermione Granger came to Hogwarts to learn everything she could about magic. Since then she's always scored in the top ten of our year. The Weasley twins excel in the things they love, even though they're probably the worst NEWT students in the house. Harry had the courage to refuse to go into Slytherin. Then, a few months ago, he had the courage to give up everything he knew to become our sister."


Viola asks, "Is he back?"


"Who?"


"You-know-who."


"Ah. Yes he is."


"Harry's going to beat him again, isn't she?"


Mindee shakes her head, "Probably not. And certainly not without help. Harry should have died last time he faced Voldemort. In a way he did, as she met us. Remember, the X-men are a team because we're always stronger together than we are individually. At the moment that help just isn't available."


Esme half yells, "We'll help!"


Mindee laughs, "I'm sure you will. But first you need learn how to defend yourself. And don't forget to have fun too. If you can combine the two, even better. Now, grab your homework and head down to the common room."


As the two girls run out of the room, Isabella McDonald appears standing just inside the door, "That was a good thing you did there."


Mindee smiles, "Just doing what Harry wishes someone had done for him when she was a first year."


"That was confusing. And what do you mean?"


Mindee looks up towards Harry, "When she was Harry Potter, McGonagall said that your house is like your family. He wanted someone, anyone, to ask him if he was ok. And understand that 'I'm fine' or 'I will be' doesn't mean he was. Did you ever notice that he was either very quiet, or his voice and motions were exaggerated?"


Isabella shakes her head, "No, in fairness, we were paying more attention to the twins and making sure they didn't ruin our underwear. They weren't always kind with their jokes, still aren't. He always seemed fine though, and he had his friends around."


Mindee nods sadly, "He only had two friends, and one of them was Hermione. She's the only one left now. Everyone else, I think the British call them fair weather friends. The Quidditch team? He thought that it was a choice between being expelled or joining the team. McGonagall never actually told him that he could refuse. All everyone else saw was Harry being given a privilege for being the Boy-who-lived."


"I didn't know."


"Maybe if the boys prefects were more like you someone would have known." She looks towards McGonagall, who's teaching a class, "Christ knows that McGonagall doesn't have the time to check in on anyone."


Mindee starts to walk out of the room as Isabella stays silent. As she's closing the door she says, "Oh, and if you see any one with inflamed hands, or rubbing the backs of their hands. Make sure they go and see the school nurse."


Isabella follows her, "Why do you say that?"


Mindee grimaces, "Let's just say that I think we're going to find out how corrupt this government is."


With that, Mindee goes up to the dorm and grabs her violin, before heading down to the common room to practice it quietly.

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During the week, the Cuckoos get permission to sit in on the third year Runes and Arithmancy classes. More students start to grumble about the DADA class as the second lesson is a repeat of the first. Especially the NEWT students. Even Hermione has a look of disgust on her face when she's talking about the book, and she's now halfway through it.

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On Friday the Cuckoo's all share a glance as Madam Umbridge looks up from her marking, "Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, detention with me at 8pm for cheating."


Phoebe puts her hand on Hermione's thigh and squeezes hard enough to make Hermione wince in pain as Harry says, "I understand professor."


Phoebe sends, "Nothing you can say will change whether you have a detention or not. Just how many detentions you have."


Hermione scowls and sulkingly says, "I understand professor."


After the class, Hermione rounds on the Cuckoos and snaps, "What was that about!? I didn't cheat, I never cheat!"


Phoebe looks around at their classmates, that are watching at the end of the corridor. From the other direction Malfoy jeers, "Of course you cheat, how else could a mudblood like you do so well. Professor Umbridge is just the first one to catch you at it."


Phoebe rolls her eyes and softly says, "Hermione, it was an excuse. She didn't even mark yours or Harry's tests. If she had, then she'd have known that Harry scored averagely in the test. We have a lot of experience with hiding our own intelligence after all."


"But… she accused me of cheating."


"And she gave Esme a detention for complaining that they weren't going to be taught any magic." She pulls Hermione into a hug and whispers, "We have to be seen to be compliant. If we don't, she'll keep hammering at us until we break."


Hermione pushes her away, "I'm not going to bow down to a petty tyrant just because…"


She cuts off as Harry hits her with a silencing spell and Mindee starts to drag her away from the classroom just as Umbridge opens the door.

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Hermione still isn't talking to the Cuckoos when she and Harry both walk into the defence classroom.


Madam Umbridge looks up with a smile, "Right on time children. Take a seat on either side of the room and take out your parchment."


Harry glances over at Hermione and says, "May I ask what we are going to be doing?"


"Of course. You're going to be writing lines."


Harry and Hermione both start taking out their quills and ink. Umbridge coughs a couple of times and pulls a key out of her pocket. "You won't be needing those. I have your writing implements right here."


Hermione stares daggers at Umbridge as she walks over and hands her a black quill. Harry just looks at her placidly as she does the same.


"What lines are we supposed to be writing?"


Umbridge smiles and spreads her hands, "It's quite simple. You will be writing, 'I must not tell tales'."


Harry nods with confusion on her face, "Excuse me Miss, but what tales have I told?"


Umbridge's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks at Harry and says, "Don't pretend you don't know. You both made the government look incompetent and made the minister look like a fool. And you perpetuated the farcical idea that Voldemort has returned."


Hermione spits, "And how many of these lines do you want us to write?"


Umbridge's smile returns as she looks at Hermione, "My dear, you will write it as many times as it takes for the message to sink in."


The sense of happiness that both of them feel from Umbridge makes Hermione shiver.


Harry looks down at her parchment and starts to scratch out the lines in maroon ink. On the other side of the classroom, Hermione stares daggers at Harry for a couple of minutes until Umbridge sends a stinging hex at her head. Reluctantly, she too starts to write out the required lines.


As she moves the quill across the page, Hermione can't help whimpering in pain as she feels something scratching into the back of her hand.


After a few minutes, Harry's eyes start to glow and she puts her quill down. Standing up, she walks over to Hermione and says, "Hermione, you can stop now."


Hermione looks up with a look of disgust, "No, I'm doing what you said I had to do."


Harry gently takes Hermione's wrist and lifts it off the parchment, "No you're not. We said that we have to be seen to be compliant. Not that we have to be compliant. Now are you going to continue to mutilate yourself or do you want to see what todays lesson is about?"


"You silenced Me!"


Harry lifts Hermione's chin rather roughly, "Hermione, think! What would have happened if I didn't?"


Hermione points at Umbridge, "I'd have given her a piece of my mind."


"Do you really like torture that much?"


"No! She accused me of cheating."


"Snape has been more creative about it, but he's done the same thing to me at least once a month for the last four years. Why is this different? Because it's you?"


"Yes damn it! I've worked hard to be this good at magic. And she called me a cheat in front of everyone. And you didn't stand up for me. Nobody did."


Harry jumps over the bench and sits down beside Hermione. Pulling her into a hug, she strokes her hair, "I'm sorry. I'm so used to people assuming the same of me that we didn't consider how it would have felt for you."


Hermione starts to sob into Harry's shoulder, and Harry just holds her as she cries. "The first time Harry got a report card from school I was certain that my relatives would be proud of me. Instead, they saw the gold stars on my report, and the lack of gold stars on Dudley's report and decided that I must have cheated. Vernon clipped Harry around the ear and threw him into the cupboard under the stairs for a day. He was then punished for soiling himself because they didn't let him out to use the loo. It only took me a few more report cards to learn how to do the bare minimum needed to skirt being punished for not doing enough, and being punished for doing better than Dudley. At the same time, if their food, the gardening, or the cleaning wasn't done to Petunia's standards, I was punished."


Hermione sniffs, "The girls at school used to call me a cheat when they weren't calling me a know it all or teachers' pet."


"It's alright. We know you didn't cheat, and you know you didn't cheat."


"But they're thinking it."


Harry nods and soothingly says, "Some of them are. The ones that are jealous of you. This is one of the hard parts of being telepathic. You need to learn how to ignore the thoughts of the people around you. My sisters have a way to change those opinions if you're willing to listen."


Hermione just nods with tears streaming from her eyes.


"Own it. When someone accuses you of cheating nod along and say something like, 'Oh yeah, I cheated on my defence test by reading ahead. The answer to question eight was in chapter 23.'"


Hermione tries to give an incredulous look, "How's that going to help?"


Patiently, Harry says, "Hermione, if someone accused me of cheating in one of Snapes questions, and I said, 'Oh, yeah. I did. The answer was in Small Batch Brewing by Renaud Dimont'. What would you think?"


"Is that an actual book?"


Harry nods, "Celeste found it a couple of days ago in the library. It's written in French, so it's quite hard to read. But there's a couple of French speakers in Edinburgh and Inverness that we're looking at when we get stuck."


"But, but, that's not… You can't do that."


"Why?"


"Because, because. I don't know, it feels wrong. Why hasn't Professor Umbridge said anything?"


Harry chuckles, "We're making her think that we're still writing lines with her quills. Now do you think you're recovered enough to start your psychic lesson?"


Hermione sniffs and nods, "I think so."


"Good, do you remember how to join a gestalt?"


Hermione hesitantly nods, "I think so."


Harry nods, "We'll help you this time. We're going to show you how we're projecting the illusion of us still writing lines first. After that, we're going to make the bitch believe that her self-inking quills are the black quills whenever she's giving a detention. After that, your project is to make her believe there's a blot of ink on her parchment."


"But I can't even alter minds yet."


"We don't think you'll be able to unless you can see a practical reason for it."


"But…"


"She made Esme use the black quill. We want to make sure no one else has to suffer that."


Hermione looks into Harry's eyes, and the Gestalt allows her to see the memory of Mindee getting some essence of dittany from one of the prefects and dabbing it onto the back of Esme's hand. Harry smiles as Hermione's eyes harden and she nods, "I'll do it."


Harry nods and holds out her hand, "Take my hand, it's easier with physical contact."


Carefully, Harry throttles her connection with the Gestalt as she draws Hermione into a temporary gestalt and talks her through the process the entire way. Once that's done, she picks up the quill Hermione was using and walks over to the desk where Umbridge is working on some ministry reports.


As she makes Umbridge put her own quill down and look up at where they should be sitting, Harry says, "I did that because it's easier to change the appearance of something if we're also not trying to erase the presence of something else. The mind is an incredible thing, and it will help us with the illusion by filling in the blanks. Though it's a little harder because she's magical, and magic is better at filling in the blanks than normal people are."


After Umbridge has checked on their illusionary doubles, she comes back and picks up the black quill.


Once Umbridge has started writing again, Harry lets the gestalt with Hermione loosen a bit while her own thoughts speed up as her connection with the Gestalt firms up.


"Now it's your turn while we're putting in the permanent programming. Remember that she's going to either blot up the drop or use her wand to vanish it. And keep your touch as light as we were."


Hermione looks up with a distressed expression, "I can't do that."


Harry smiles encouragingly, "You just did with me. You can do this. Remember, you brewed Polyjuice in second year, and we hadn't learned some of the techniques in class yet."


Over the next half an hour, Hermione struggles to build up the confidence to make the drop. Eventually, the fact that Umbridge is the same sort of Evil as Hitler and Stalin assuages her mind enough that she somewhat clumsily reaches into her mind and plants the image of a drop of ink spilling out of the quill as it's placed down slightly wrong.


As she struggles to hold the illusion, Umbridge lifts her wand and mutters a spell that causes the word she was writing to vanish from the parchment. Hermione is so surprised by the spell that she almost doesn't release the illusion in time.


Harry smiles encouragingly, "Well done, go and sit down and rest. Take the quill with you, and start doing some homework or something."


Harry returns to her seat shortly after that, their own job done.