A/N: There were really funny guest reviews. I want MOAR :)

The Throne of Many Swords

by CreatorZorah

Hermione I

Hermione had always preferred to be well prepared, no matter what the situation. The moment she had heard the prophecy, Hermione began her preparations. Knowing that Harry would end up being dragged into some mess, she had decided to stay close to him at all times. She knew that the prophecy like any other was very ambiguous and thus the more time she would spend with Harry, the higher would be the change of her being one of the five. She was practically forcing the prophecy to choose her as one of five.

She didn't do it because she wanted to be taken by the rift; Hermione did it because she wanted to help Harry, to be with him when he would need her the most. It cost her relationship with Ron; he gave up on trying after a few months, and she wasn't surprised. Hermione was expecting him to break up with her much earlier. No man would tolerate his girlfriend preferring company of another guy even if he was their best friend.

When the break up happened, it was painful, but at the same time she felt oddly relieved. Although she reasoned that she didn't want to drag him into the dangerous situation at first, she had to admit later, that there was more to it. She wasn't even sure, why she had been so focused solely on Ronald. It became obvious to her that her obsession with Ron was induced by the years of being a part of the Golden Trio.

She had had acquaintances outside of the trio, but it wasn't the same. Nobody else had faced all the trials and hardships as the trio. Strangely she hadn't even thought about it before the break up, she had went with the flow and if not for the prophecy she would most likely marry Ron. Sometimes she wondered if it was the case for Harry's relationship with Ginny too. On the other hand the two had so many similarities that it was unlikely the case.

Despite Harry being completely oblivious about it, Hermione's behaviour often provoked Ginny's ire. That didn't surprise Hermione either, because in Ginny's shoes, Hermione would also get angry if some woman would spend so much time with her boyfriend. The fact that Harry enjoyed Hermione's company didn't help either. In the end it became obvious to Ginny that there was most likely nothing romantic going on between Harry and Hermione, and she accepted that Hermione would play gooseberry. Harry didn't mind though.

And still Hermione could swear she had heard Ginny let out a pitiful groan, when Harry had offered Hermione to move in with them. Hermione had gladly accepted the offer. The only things Ginny hadn't had to share with Hermione were her money and her and Harry's bed. Although Hermione had been paranoid enough to play with the thoughts that sharing it might have been a good idea... until she had realized how insane the thoughts were and that she had had an unhealthy obsession with Harry's safety.

Hermione shook her head. What the hell was she thinking about? She had to focus on here and now. Finding suitable woods was critical for their survival. The time she had spent reading about wandlore was paying off.

When she had begun preparation for the possible unwanted journey, Hermione had tried to foresee every possible situation. She had gotten used to carrying her beaded purse filled with everything that could be helpful for their present situation. Books, food, various potion ingredients, weapons and much more. However, neither wand nor the purse got through the rift.

Hermione suspected that there was a chance of being stuck in a place of low magic density. She had known that there was a chance of losing her wand or the beaded handbag. Thus she had studied wandlore to be able to create a new wand, the theory behind portkeys and apparition to have a chance of getting back home. She had read books about creatures and plants that could produce magic and structures that could accumulate magic.

However despite all her efforts, Hermione didn't believe that she was well prepared. She knew that there had been so much more useful to learn.

"Hermione, how about those?" Harry asked suddenly.

Hermione glanced to the right. "Yews," she said studying the trees. "Those are very old, but yew wands are extremely picky of the owner."

"Let's get some twigs anyway," Harry suggested and glanced at the sky. "I think we should be going back after that."

She took a slow deep breath, inhaling pleasant bitter-sweet smell of the forest air with a hint of salt from the sea and nodded. They had to get back before the sun would set. The forest was dangerous enough without tempting fate by staying here after the sunset. They had seen a bloody bear in the forest. Thankfully wizards and witches had inherent ability to control non-magical animals to an extent, or rather to make them less hostile. However, a very hungry predator could attack nonetheless.

They collected a few twigs and headed back. Both of them carried armful of various twigs. Most of them would be useless, of course, but Hermione wasn't completely sure, which of the twigs could be used to create a wand. She hoped Daphne would know.

It was growing dark and it seemed as though they would never get to the shore. She hadn't realized that they had gone so far into the forest. Hermione was worried that they wouldn't get back in time. Although it wasn't difficult to move in the right direction thanks to the sea, it would be very difficult to walk through the forest in darkness. Not to mention that they met a few dangerous looking wild cats. Soon the sun disappeared below the horizon, but, fortunately, they saw light of fire.

"They lit the fire further from the sea than I expected," Hermione said with a frown as they were moving closer to the fire.

She didn't worry though, not until they came closer and saw that Daphne was the only person sitting at the fire. The blonde heard them, but didn't make a move. Instead she hung her head, look. An awful sinking feeling found its way into her chest.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked, sitting at the fire, obviously missing Daphne's body language.

Daphne whispered something inaudible. That was enough for Hermione to guess that something bad happened. She rushed to the blonde and put her hands on Daphne's shoulders.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"I was gathering berries and didn't see the ship until it was too late," Daphne said, her voice completely devoid of emotions. "An army of some sort disembarked and took Ginny and..."

"Is this some sort of joke?" Harry interrupted her, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's not funny."

Daphne shook her head. "I'm sorry, Harry."

It took Hermione a few seconds to process what Daphne had just said to them. She knew why Harry had asked if that was a joke. It was just impossible to accept that Ginny and Tracey had been kidnapped.

"I hid behind a shrub and couldn't do anything to help them," Daphne continued. "The warriors armed with swords marched along the shore, while the ship with Ginny and Tracey on board went out of the bay."

"You..." Harry hissed, standing up. "And you let them be taken just like this?"

"I couldn't do anything," Daphne said.

"Bullshit!" Harry moved to the blonde, but Hermione blocked his way, realizing that he wasn't thinking straight. "Why didn't they notice you then? Isn't it a little too convenient that you were able to hide your arse while Gin..."

"I said, I was gathering berries!"

"Fuck berries. Shove them up your arse! You just failed to warn them, when you ran away the moment you saw a ship. That's what you, snakes, normally do the best. You save your own useless butts."

Hermione slapped Harry on the face. They didn't have time to fight each other. If the army went along the shore, it was their best option to follow them wherever they went in the hope of finding and saving Ginny and Tracey.

"Shut up!" Daphne shouted out. "You know absolutely nothing about me, Potter! Tell me, what should I have done without a wand? Without magic against dozens of armed muggles?! If I hadn't gone to gather berries, I'd be taken with them and you would know neither where to look for us nor who had taken us."

"Calm down, both of you," Hermione said.

"How, for Merlin's sake, should I calm down?!" Harry asked. "They..."

"I know, Harry. We'll find them, but first we should calm down and think how to do it."

The wizard growled and softly pushed Hermione away. He paced hither and thither, his fists clenched in anger. Truth be told, Hermione wasn't completely convinced by Daphne's story either. As Harry said, it was too convenient.

Daphne had been working at the Ministry ever since she had graduated, and Hermione knew her well. Although the blonde had been rather helpful in pushing through a few laws for Hermione, the young head of the Greengrass family wasn't known for doing anything that wouldn't benefit her. She was a very good politician and had been one at Hogwarts. When the Malfoys were influential, sight of her in company with Draco wasn't unusual; however unlike Parkinson, Nott and Zabini she had never insulted anyone. She was like a ghost. There, but not quite.

The moment the Malfoys had lost their influence after his father's fiasco at Department of Mysteries, Daphne had put a distance between herself and Draco. Hermione doubted that Draco had noticed her sudden disappearance. At the same time Daphne hadn't taken sides during the Second Wizarding War, but had become famous for being a fierce advocate for anti-purist movement after that.

It wouldn't be out of character for Daphne to abandon Ginny and Tracey if she had deemed that to be the best course of action even though there had been, perhaps, a chance to save them. Daphne wouldn't betray, of course, but she wouldn't take risks either.

Hermione wasn't going to voice her doubts, however. Not now, when they needed to act as fast as possible to retrieve Ginny and Tracey.

"How much time passed since then?" Hermione asked.

"About two hours," Daphne answered and looked at the pile of twigs. "We have to make at least one wand before we go."

"We can't linger here any longer!" Harry said, kicking spare brushwood in frustration. "Fuck!"

"And what do you propose?" Daphne asked. "How should we save them without magic? Will you fight dozens well trained swordsmen using these sticks?"

Hermione looked at Daphne and asked, "Will it take long to make a wand?"

The blonde shrugged. "Depends... If we're lucky with the wood you two brought, then it'll take a few minutes."

"Then, let's stop wasting time," Harry said.

Daphne didn't say anything; instead she went to the pile of twigs and began to sort through them. Hermione wasn't sure what the blonde was exactly doing, because her own knowledge of wandlore was quite limited. At first Daphne just looked at each stick and threw a half away. Then she bent them and put aside another pile of sticks.

"These will do," she said finally. "Have you got a knife?"

Hermione nodded and handed Daphne a silver folding knife. The magical one hadn't gone through the rift, unfortunately. The blonde opened it and starred at her palm in hesitation. Then she gritted her teeth and made a small cut on her hand. A blood sacrifice, Hermione realized, as Daphne began to gather her blood in her hands.

"Do the same, but don't make a bloody mess, don't cut too deep," Daphne hissed.

Harry, eager to do something, cut his hand with a knife and handed gave it to Hermione. She glanced at the knife, then at her palm. Hermione bit on her lip and made a cut.

"Now, pour your blood into the fire and chant the incantation: 'En-sac-ri-fi-cio Ig-nis'."

"Ensacrificio Ignis," the three said at the same time pouring their blood into the fire.

Hermione had never done a blood sacrifice before and wasn't prepared for sudden rush of magic. Ever since they had ended up in this world, she had felt rather weak as though she hadn't eaten anything for a day or two, but now, she felt power swirling inside of her. Hermione knew that she had her magic back.

"Perfect," Daphne said. "Bring your hands over the twigs, channel some of your magic into the twigs through your hands, trying to focus on the idea of having a perfect twig for your wands,."

Hermione closed her eyes and brought her hand over the twigs. This was nothing new for Hermione. Wandless magic was extremely limited, but Hermione was relatively adept at it. One of the twigs flew right into her hand. She recognized the wood. Ash. It looked crude and quite large, about fifty centimetres long, but considering magic density of this world, the size was an advantage.

"We're extremely lucky," Daphne muttered.

Hermione glanced at Harry who was studying his yew twig, then at Daphne. "Why?"

"I didn't expect that all of us would get one." Daphne waved her oak twig. "You'll need more blood to coat your twigs with it."

Hermione hissed in pain as she reopened the wound and began coating the stick with her blood. She knew that the wand wouldn't be very reliable, but they needed at least something to survive and save Ginny and Tracey. It wasn't the time to be picky about the wand.

"Now drop your twigs into the fire, chanting the incantation: 'Fo-i-gne-san-gus'."

"Foignesangus," they said at the same time, letting fall into the fire.

Hermione expected the twigs to burn, but instead there was a bright flash of light, the fire almost died down, as though consumed by the sticks, which flew right in the hands of their respective owners. The moment Hermione touched her twig; it produced a few blood-red sparks. No, it wasn't a twig anymore. It was a wand. Her new wand.

"Lumos." The tip of Hermione's wand glowed. She smiled happily and whispered, "Nox."

Wasting magic wasn't a good idea, but it was dark, and they needed some light to follow those men who kidnapped Ginny and Tracey. She took a large stick from the ground, pointed her wand at it and said, "Aeterignus." The spell lit the tip of the stick on fire that wouldn't die for hours.

"Let's go," Harry said impatiently.