Another week came and went at Hogwarts. The air was seven days crisper and icier as fall made its slow descent. The soft rays of early morning sunlight cast golden halos on the plants below as Hermione waded through the outer forest groves, as had become her ritual. Although today, she could not pretend to be as aimless as usual. Today she was seeking a destination.
In the next clearing over, Hermione spotted a silver gleam and knew it to be the unmistakable color of sunlight shining onto the hair of Luna Lovegood. She felt an instant happiness to see Luna so close, and a twinge of nervousness deep within her that caught her off guard.
She shook her head at this unexpected shyness and quickened her step, "Good morning, Luna," Hermione called out gently.
Luna looked as if she had been roused from a deep meditation, but did not seem to mind. "Oh, hello, Hermione. I was hoping to run into you again today." Hermione smiled at her words and felt a slight blush rise to her cheeks. "Have you come to visit the altar?"
"Yes, partially," Hermione said, "but I also just fancied a walk." Hermione hesitated, wanting to say that she had already found she had come to visit. Luna smiled but didn't say anything. She stood looking at Hermione, her gaze as inscrutable as always.
"What are you doing out here so early in the morning? It doesn't look like you're seeking out the thestrals." Hermione asked.
"Oh, I'm practicing my levitation charms. I needed a bit of clear space in case it goes wrong and I fling something too high into the air," Luna said casually.
"Levitation charms? But Luna, you can levitate objects with perfect control, I've seen you do it."
"I know that I can do it with a wand and a charm. I'm working on wandless magic, it's the way all ancient magics were performed you know. Witches of those times learned to channel their power only through their own hands and their own wills," Luna said.
Hermione just looked at her a little confused. She'd seen a few older witches and wizards perform magic without wands, but it was mostly small charms. She couldn't imagine it being a replacement for wands across the board. Instinctively, she was about to give facts regarding wands and their effectiveness at channeling magic when Luna continued.
"I see that you're looking at me quite skeptically, but if you don't mind my saying so, you know that I'm correct." Hermione arched her one eyebrow up to her hairline at the unassuming cockiness. "Consider the magic of children. Children under eleven are perfectly capable of executing their wills through magic without ever being given a wand. They simply set their intention and will it into being. Only we don't teach witches and wizards to hone these skills, we make them reliant on wands. It's most likely a long-standing conspiracy between the Ministry and the wand manufacturers," Luna nodded significantly. Hermione had to admit, Luna made a convincing point, at least up until the end bit.
"That's really interesting Luna. To tell you the truth, I'd never really considered it. What made you decide to embark on wandless magic?" Hermione asked.
"Well actually, I thought of it in the cellar of Malfoy Manor. I thought it was quite ridiculous that there were four magical humans completely stuck down there simply because we had lost our wands. Yet that fine elf was able to transport us out, simply through the magic within himself. It seems that we must also be capable of such things, if only we put our minds to it," Luna recounted this tale quite emotionlessly, although Hermione winced slightly at the memory.
Hermione sat down next to Luna and said, "have you had much luck with it so far?"
"Not much, but I've only just started. I find I don't quite know how to control what I make happen. It can be a bit explosive," Luna said.
"Do you mind if I join you? I don't know that I want to start practicing without my wand, but I've been trying to improve my silent charms this year," Hermione asked.
"Of course, I don't mind," Luna smiled at Hermione with such genuine warmth that Hermione felt an uncontrollably wide smile come to her face in response.
"Brilliant," Hermione said and they both sat down to practice.
"It's said that witches tend to be more proficient at wandless charms than wizards, you know. Really, it makes sense, the wand is a very phallic symbol and the concept of disarmament is really just a representation of castration," Luna said matter-of-factly.
Hermione stared at her for a moment and broke out into a fit of uncontrolled giggles at the thought of her wand as some disembodied penis. Once thought of that way, she considered that wandless charms might just be the way to go after all.
The two young women sat in such merriment feeling like the morning was infinite beneath the gentle shade of the forbidden trees. Hermione laughed, but really once the laughter subsided, she could see the appeal of realizing that if your magic is within you, you could never truly be disarmed.
***
Dear Hermione,
Glad to hear that your silent charms are going so well! I definitely still struggle with that, so you'll have to give me some tips when you're on break.
Training is still going well, but it definitely feels more like a class than it used to. We've gotten into some pretty serious stuff.
Just a heads up, if you don't usually skip the Mag. Soc. pages in the Prophet, you should tomorrow. Ron got into some ridiculous argument with Blaise Zabini at the Leaky Cauldron last night. Zabini made some daft comment to Ron and Ron just lost it.
Apparently, Ron is pretty upset about all the 'neutral' Slytherins that didn't get thrown into Azkaban. And whatever you do, don't mention Draco being free. Ron seems to think that they're all about to start a Death Eaters 2.0, which seems pretty unlikely to me.
I probably shouldn't have said all that, but I needed to tell someone. I've certainly been hearing plenty about it myself.
Best,
Harry
Hermione,
Training has gotten into some of the tough stuff, so it'll be a challenge for some of the other blokes, I reckon. They've given us quite a few books and reading assignments to 'understand the context of species relations' or some nonsense. It feels almost like I'm back at Hogwarts with you (see, I told you that you'd love it here). Almost wishing that I'd paid more attention to Binns when I had the chance.
This would be way better if you could just explain it all to me and then I wouldn't need this book at all.
Love,
Ron
YOU ARE READING
Nargles & Neruda
RomanceThe year after the war, Hermione returns alone to finish her last year at Hogwarts and nothing seems to be going as planned. With Ron in London and Hermione back in school, it seems like they make less and less sense together every day. As she strug...
