Atonement

"You all know why we're here," I announced to the circle of five. Cedric raised his hand. "Yes, Diggory?"

"I don't," he said frankly.

"I meant everyone who had any idea what we do in here," I said, rolling my eyes. "You four"-I waved vaguely in the established students' direction-"meditate while I explain to newbie here what we need to be doing."

"Newbie?" Cedric demanded. "I am older than you-"

"And egotistical to boot," I interrupted. "The sooner you quiet down, the sooner we can be done here and the sooner you can go back and snog Cho." I noticed Harry shoot a glare at Cedric, then quickly close his eyes when I raised my eyebrow at him.

I gave him an outline of what was going on, answering his questions for an hour. "All right," I said to him. "Meet me back here tomorrow night, at eight, and I'll get you started on the basics." Cedric nodded, stood, and turned to leave.

"Wait a second," he said suddenly, "why aren't they leaving?"

"Because they have two years more of training than you do," I said. "When they get to this level, I can't afford distractons. While you're first learning, that's all you are when you're around these guys." I stood and stretched. "That's just the way it goes. Tomorrow, eight o'clock sharp. If you're not here, I'll drag you out of Hufflepuff by the ear." He winced, apparently deciding to believe me, and walked out.

"Now," I said, turning to the original four, "let's see how you're doing in the Disconnect. . . ."

Three hours later, I stopped them as they were leaving with one word. "Huddle."

They groaned; Draco even murmured, "Why?" but came.

"Here's the deal," I told them. "Cedric joining us today means something. Do any of you see it?"

They looked at each other, baffled; I sighed after a minute. "Think! What do you all have in common?"

"We can control the elements," Harry said as if I was an idiot.

"Exactly! So what does Cedric joining us mean?"

"There's a sixth element?" Luna guessed.

"No! Come on, put it together. If Luna dies, we still need a water elemental. If Draco dies, we need an earth. Why would Cedric be here?"

"He's our understudy," Susan said suddenly.

"Good. Explain to them."

"He hasn't specialized yet. If one of us dies, he'll take over for us."

"Not quite," I said. "He has specialized. He's Luna's understudy. You each have one in your Houses. They can be in any year, they can be either sex, they can be from any walk of life. The only thing we're sure of is which element."

"How?" I wasn't sure who spoke; it wasn't important.

"They have the opposite element." At their blank stares, I said, "Honestly! DO I have to do all the thinking for you? If Cedric is Luna Ravenclaw's understudy, then Ravenclaw's understudy must be for?"

"Me?" Susan guessed.

I nodded approvingly. "Good girl. Potter, Draco, Luna, look for anything out of the ordinary. Check for someone who doesn't seem like they belong in your House-"

"Ginny Weasley," Draco said promptly. "I've noticed some things-her lighting a candle, how she's always warm even though the dungeons are freezing-but put it down to accidental magic."

"Bring her in," I told him. "Potter? Luna? Any guesses?"

"Cho Chang," Luna said, but gave no explanation.

"Bring her. Potter?"

"No idea."

I considered for a moment, then found something glaringly obvious. "Ronald Weasley."

"What?!"

"Exactly. He's stubborn as rock, isn't he?" Potter's mouth gaped. "Just bring him, Potter. All of you, bring them at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow. I'll do to you and them what I threatened to do to Diggory if they're not here. Be prepared for a demonstration-that should help motivate them."

"What about your understudy?" Luna asked.

"Not here yet," I told her. "I don't think, at least-I've got a good idea, but I could be wrong. For now, let's assume I haven't got one yet."

"And if we miss him?" she asked.

I shrugged helplessly. "It'll be on my head. Now, to bed-you'll all be tired within twenty minutes." With very little grumbling-they had finally learned I knew what I was talking about-they headed off to their rooms.

I reached mine, smiling just slightly. With luck, everything would work out just fine.

Saturday night, I realized no luck-other than ill luck, that is-would ever grace me with its presence. Ronald proved as unable to listen to directions as he ever had, Cho spent the entire time whining about how much better she could be spending her time, and Ginevra spent the majority of it rolling her eyes and huffing. Cedric was the only one able to control himself, though he had limits, as I found out when he made to storm out of the room in a temper.

"Stop." I said. "This isn't working. I think we need to talk about what we hope to accomplish before we can do anything-"

"Well, it's a good thing, you figured all this out now, then, isn't it?" Ronald sneered. "Should've figured it out yesterday, saved us all the-"

"ENOUGH!" I bellowed. Ronald found himself unable to speak. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, in this room I am your teacher. I am more powerful and more controlled than you can comprehend at this moment. I will not tolerate disrespect. That goes for all of you," I added. "Chang, stop worrying about your airheaded little friends. Ginevra, you will stop showing your irritation. Diggory, you will control your temper. Is that clear?" The four of them muttered 'yes' sullenly. "Good. Before I start to teach you anything, you must learn something.

"You are here to learn to control yourselves. I got you four in a different group because feelings of inadequacy among you will hinder you. My original four are waiting for us to be done so they can give you some motivation."

Ronald raised his hand. "Go ahead," I said, resigning myself to his idiocy as I took the spell off.

"It seems like we can control ourselves well enough. Why are we here, because you don't like us?"

"I don't like you, Ronald, but that's hardly the point. Plants grow well around you, correct?" He nodded. "And Ginevra, you never got burned in your life, I bet. Chang, odds are when you were hot a convenient breeze would come along.

"You are here because your power is growing. Diggory's is already breaking out of him in ways that are uncontrollable. The rest of you can't be far behind. I am here to teach you."

"Why?" Ginevra asked. "Why you? Why not a teacher?"

I ducked my head to hide a smile. "Ginevra, the teachers bar two are completely unaware of us. It's better this way. As to why me . . . who else has the raw power needed to keep four new mages in line?"

"Mages?" Cedric asked. "That's what we are?"

"That's what you're becoming," I replied. "My original students are on their way to becoming sorcerors. You four are-backups, if you will. Understudies. If one of them gets severely hurt, you need to be able to pick up the slack. And that, well . . . that is why I am giving up one of my two free nights a week to help you."

"You only have two free nights?" Chang asked disdainfully.

"Think about this for a minute-I have four students. They each need private lessons-"

"So why don't we?" she whined.

"Chang, you are testing my patience," I snapped. "You are nowhere near advanced enough to handle private lessons. I don't like to waste time teaching the basics four nights in a row when I could be teaching them one night. Understand?" She nodded, cowed. "Anyway, four students means four nights taken up right off the bat. Then I have the general class on Friday nights, and they have the weekend off to catch up on their homework. With your to teach, that takes away my Saturday night. That leaves about ten hours on Saturday and all of Sunday to do homework for twenty classes. I am giving up time I need for my schoolwork to train you all. I have absolutely no time for any foolishness. Anyone who is messing around in here will serve detention with me-and trust me, you won't be writing lines for an hour. You'll work until you collapse." I smiled, baring my teeth.

"Twenty classes? How is that possible?"

"It just is, Ginevra," I said. "Now, meditation helps to clear and control your mind . . ."

***

"Hermione!"

"Cedric, keep your voice down," I hissed. "Do you want to get us thrown out of here?"

"Madam Pince loves you," he said, rolling his eyes. "She would never throw you out."

"What do you need?" I asked, deciding not to argue the point.

"The task is tomorrow. Do you know what you're doing?"

"February fourteenth is tomorrow?" I asked, horrified. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Jesus," I groaned. "With everything going on, I lost track of time. It's February already?"

"Yes," he answered again, slowly this time, as if I might be dumb.

My mouth flapped helplessly. I counted backwards once, twice, three times. This should not be happening.

"Are you all right?" he asked carefully.

I looked down. "I don't know-I might be back-if I'm right-oh, God, will it ever end?" Then I hightailed it out of there, heading for the hospital wing-and Pomfrey.

"Madam Pomfrey!" I fairly shrieked as I skidded through the doors.

"Just a second," I heard her call. A moment later, she came bustling out of her office. "What do you need, Hermione?"

"I haven't had my period in two months," I whispered, horrified.

She stared at me, shocked. "But that's-did he-the Yule Ball-?"

"I hope not," I said. "But I don't know. Can you check?"

"Yes . . . yes, of course . . . sit down," she added, pointing vaguely to a chair. She went into her office and came back with a purple liquid held in a glass container. She charmed a drop of blood out of my finger and put it in the vial, then put the lid on and shook it.

"We'll know tomorrow night," she said. "Until then, take it easy."

I nodded, numb. Was I pregnant?