33Chapter 1
The world was rebuilding slowly after the Battle of Hogwarts. The business that had died during the war began to blossom back, as evidenced by the suddenly reopening shops in Diagon Alley. Even Ollivander opened his shop again, although he needed to take on a couple of apprentices because of his treatment at Malfoy Manor. Hogwarts was rebuilt and Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries had prioritized finding a way to replicate its ancient wards that had been lost during the fight. Any Death Eaters who managed to survive the Final Battle fled.
The Golden Trio as they were pardoned of everything they did during the battle with Voldemort, including the damage to Gringotts. They refused to explain themselves to the Ministry or tell them about the Horcruxes, believing that letting the public know about this dangerous type of magic would increase its occurrence in the magical world. So together, the three of them chucked the damaged husks of Voldemort's horcruxes into the Chamber of Secrets, never to be found again.
Ron and Hermione ended whatever they had between them after the battle, although both were confused as to what they were anyways. They both agreed to stay friend-siblings and Ron left to hunt Death Eaters with the Auror Department of the Ministry. Last they heard from him, he was in Egypt following a lead on some lingering attacks.
Hermione stayed at Hogwarts at the Headmistresses request. Minerva said they would be without multiple faculty members, and if she could fill any of the five open positions she was welcomed to. She would be starting that fall term as the dual teacher of Charms and History of Magic.
Harry hid.
All the attention he had suffered over the years was nothing compared to now. He hid in the redone Fidelius charm around Grimmauld Place, burning all the letters he received. Anyone who needed him talked to Hermione or Ron directly, as they were the only one who the knew could get to him. He hired a few of the master-less house-elves from the Lestrange home to make the place inhabitable for Teddy Lupin and Andromeda Black, who lived with him in the house. He focused on being a godfather and let the rest of the world work itself out. He deserved time alone.
So, with the castle rebuilt and another three months until the beginning of term and her NEWTS already graded and returned to her, Hermione accepted an assignment from the new Minister of Magic, Eustance Fawley II, to go and follow a lead they'd received in the search for the Book of Thoth. It was reported that a group was hunting for that magical text in Elba National Park, so Hermione was being sent along with a couple of Unspeakables to follow the group and halt their search or recover the book for the magical community.
"I don't understand why he's sending you," Harry complained as they watched Teddy flip through his colours book and subsequently shift his hair to the corresponding colour. "You could just stay here with me and Teddy. It's not weird anymore, Ginny knows she's just my friend. No more jealous gingers!"
"I can't just sit around doing nothing, Harry!" Hermione chastised him properly. "I asked the Minister for something to do, and he gave me something. True, he's sending me on a wild goose-chase in a foreign country based on the word of mercenaries, but if there's any chance of uncovering the original manuscript of the Book of Thoth . . ."
"Heaven forbid a book remains unread by Hermione Granger," Harry teased easily. He chuckled as Teddy turned his hair a light rose pink. "I just think you should take a break. We've been on the run a year; how are you still upright?"
"Not all of us died, Harry," Hermione teased lightly, her voice soft at the memory. "I have enough energy for this little adventure, and then I'll be back to help you and Andromeda change Teddy's nappies for the rest of the summer."
That was the plan, at least. Just a little trip, a little camping, a little reconnaissance, and a little duel. It should have taken a week or two at most. It didn't.
Instead, they were forced to track the group over the space of a month from the Elba National Forest in Egypt down Sudan, all the way to the forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thank goodness for cooling charms during the hot African days, or Hermione would have given up a few days into the trip.
The group they were tracking shouldn't have known they were there, but the rainforest's poor visibility, dangerous magical and non-magical animals, and the rainfall that wiped their traces from everywhere told Hermione that they were here to avoid detection. Coupled with Sahid's reaction upon entering the forest and Hermione had her hand firmly clasped to Bellatrix' wand at all times. Their magical guide, Sahid, was on edge from the moment they entered the Congolese Rainforest, and no matter what the Unspeakables said, he wouldn't tell them why. It was something about a legend about the place, and nothing else. They travelled through the forest in a tense silence.
Then, one morning about 28 days into the chase the group they were tracking didn't pack up their camp in the morning. They were taking a day, it looked like, and it was the opportunity they were looking for. Hermione and her team moved into position and then burst from the undergrowth, intent on taking them captive before they even left their tents.
She flipped open the first tent flap and pointed Ballatrix' wand. It was empty.
"It's a trap!" Hermione yelled to her comrades.
Curses and spells went flying and Hermione tried to find a source to block and attack. She turned around just in time to see a curse flying towards her, violent and purple and familiar. She dropped immediately, the severing hex missing her by centimeters.
"Death Eaters!" Hermione growled. Pushing herself up and casting a shield charm she surveyed the scene.
Two unspeakables down, the guide hiding. She had only two allies now. Three against twelve. The group she'd been tracking was now surrounding them, most unrecognizable. Clearly she'd know one. She surveyed them and fixed her eyes on one. Dolohov. He was supposed to be in Azkaban! How did he get out? When did he do it?
Giving each other a synchronized look, the two conscious unspeakables grabbed their comrades and disappeared by some unknown method from the scene, leaving Hermione and the guide behind. She prepared to fight to the death, to take down as many as she could before the end.
Then, simultaneously, the twelve engaging her froze, then ran in the opposite direction. A blur of yellow jumped at them from over her head and a massive, fully-grown nundu the size of an elephant pursued her attackers. She was frozen in place at the massive animal. It shot its spines forward to catch most of the fleeing opponents, and those it didn't catch with its spines it caught in its jaws. Antonin was the last to die, his body snatched in the powerful jaws.
Hermione should have technically run away while the beast took after her opponents, but this beast was so rare and so beautiful. She stayed standing there, watching it hunt. She stayed frozen as it returned to her, carrying Dolohov in its mouth. To her shock, it dropped the Death Eater at her feet and retracted its spines back into its fur. The nundu looked at her, as if for approval. The dangerous beast – violent and lethal – had protected her.
"Thank you," Hermione murmured. Her eyes were fastened to the beast's amber eyes, and they were intelligent. "You saved me."
It nodded smoothly. It motioned with his head, his eyes only briefly flickering from hers to its back and then back. Hermione's eyes went wide.
"You want me to ride you?" she squeaked.
Another smooth nod. Hermione gulped but nodded back. "Al-alright then. You're … you're kind of large, you know. I'll need you to lower yourself down, if you please."
The nundu dropped to a lying position, making it only a little more easy to climb onto its back. Hermione took two fistfuls of fur, checking to make sure she wasn't hurting it or that the spine were going to come out at any moment before she clamboured onto its back and took two new tufts to anchor herself. The nundu watched her, patiently waiting for her human speed to get her ready.
"I'm-I'm ready," Hermione told it.
With the last dip of its head, the nundu took off in a silent but intensely speedy run through the rainforest with Hermione shrieking and screaming on its back. In a moment of panic that she was going to fall off, Hermione wondered if the beast had taken her outside the anti-apparation wards so she could pop to Britain if things turned south. At a snarl from the beast, who she assumed knew her thoughts, she ignored her urge to do just that and just gripped the cat tighter.
It was strange that she could fear for her life and at the same time think the Nundu's fur smelt completely unassuming. It struck her, because all the texts on them focused on their deathly breath which could level entire cities. Hermione assumed they'd smell disgusting, but they smelt just like any other furry animal. Like Crookshanks, actually.
When they finally stopped moving, Hermione expected to finally feel same again. Instead, a series of loud roars chorused around her. Hermione needed to be nudged by the nundu's cold nose before she felt she could climb look up and unbury her face from the feline's shoulder hair.
There were at least a dozen nundu all at various stages of growth and standing in a circle around her. They were watching her with their intelligent amber eyes and all Hermione could think to do was wave. She could have sworn her nundu purred under her before nudging her again. She climbed down the fur and jumped to the ground, then froze. The loud noise of her boots made her worry about them pouncing, but they all just stood there looking at her.
Her nundu led her through the others and she followed. He led her to what seemed to be human accommodations, which made sense. For the sheer number of the solitary animals living in unison, they had to have been bred. She watcher her nundu search through the quarters with his massive nose sniffing and tracking. Finally, he clenched something shiny between his teeth and brought it to her, dropping it in her palm like he dropped Dolohov at her feet.
It was a bracelet. Hermione examined it carefully, but felt out of her element. Her memorized African magical history told her this was a funerary bracelet. It was in fantastic condition, but the crafting was old. Besides that, she had no idea. She looked up at the nundu, who nudged her wrist.
She fastened the bracelet around her wrist, and she felt nothing. Still, at the nod of the nundu, Hermione felt it was the right action.
"What do I do now?" Hermione asked the beast.
The nundu turned from her to roar at its pack. All at once, the nundu pack pushed their spines through the fur coats. In a prepared unison, she was sur, they turned to their partners and plucked the spines from each other. Each spine was a massive, a good 30 inches. The gathered a collection of their spines in the center of the room. As a final thought to their bizarre ritual, the nundu who had brought her turned and pulled a smaller spine from his from leg and presented it to her.
"I don't understand," Hermione told it, plucking the spine from between its teeth. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
The nundu spine felt nearly like a wand in her hand, the flow of magic going through it warm and comforting in ways Bellatrix' wasn't.
The nundu ignored her question, instead going behind her to prod her towards the large pile of nundu spines in the center of the cavern. She moved to put the spine on the pile, but the nundu growled at the movement. So, she put the single spine in her beaded bad, intent on studying later.
That was the correct action. The Nundu poked at her back with its nose and then pointed its snout towards the pile of spines. For a second she was still uncomprehending. Then, it dawned on her. They were giving her a precious gift, a collection of ingredients so rare that no one probably knew what to do with them. They had plucked at least three spines each, leaving her with a pile of forty or so spines.
She bowed her head in acceptance of the gift. She pulled a stone from her beaded bag to transform into a box to carry the spines in and carefully, and slowly so as to be sure it was their intent, Hermione took the spines one by one and transferred them to the box. None felt quite as good as that first spine in her hand, but she acknowledged each had a unique power. When the last was collected, she tucked the box into her beaded bad and turned to the ferocious cat and pet its nose.
"Thank you, er, nundu," Hermione thanked awkwardly. "It's kind of awkward, not able to call you anything. Do you think I could name you? I warn you, I'm horrible at naming things. Ask Crookshank."
The nundu purred into her hand, and with a head large enough to be Fluffy's she took that as a sign that she could name him. It was a him, right? Hermione checked his underbelly and looked away with a blush. Definitely a boy.
"Hmmm . . . how about Onile?" The nundu looked at her like she was crazy. "Sorry, I'm thinking. I could name you Fred, but you haven't a hair of ginger on you. I think a foreign name. How about Cyprus?"
That received an affirming purr. Hermione laughed. "OK, Cyprus it is. It kind of suits you. Like you would be perched on a marble column for the world to see, if you weren't so dangerous."
Cyprus nodded at her, as if acknowledging that he would kill everyone quite happily. That bit of dark humour wouldn't have gotten her laughing a few years ago, but now that the war was over she laughed at the cute nundu and scratched its forehead.
"What do I do now?"
Cyprus tilted his head at her, as if asking if she was really taking direction from an elephant-sized beast. Hermione sighed.
"Well, I've been taking your advice this whole time," Hermione pointed out reasonably. "And you haven't killed me yet, which is always a good thing."
At the continuing blank look of Cyprus, Hermione relented. "Alright, you have no idea what I'm to do now. I presume we're far enough away from their campsite that I can apparate?"
She wasn't expecting a nod, but Cyprus did.
"Alright, so I need to head back to London and demand that the Minister tells be why Dolohov isn't in prison, but is instead hunting ancient African magical texts," Hermione decided aloud. "But . . . It would be extremely beneficial to study you, you know. Nundu are rare, and extremely hostile. Well, hostile to most, I guess. Am I allowed to come back and see you, Cyprus?"
The feline nudged her wrist again, the one with the funerary bracelet.
"I use this to come back?" Hermione asked. "How?"
Her nundu only rolled its shoulders as if It was a shrug. Hermione laughed at the human gesture, but didn't let herself feel frustrated.
"I guess I'll figure it out," Hermione allowed. "I could always apparate back too, yeah?"
There was a nod.
"I'll see you soon, then, Cyprus," Hermione said. She gave him a final pet. "Thank you, for saving my life and the gifts. I'll try to live up to it."
