Chapter 18 - Worried Wookiees

Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die

Chapter 18 - Worried Wookiees

Meanwhile back at the Jedi Temple, Hermione had just received a mental summons from her Master to come to the Council Chamber. Getting there in record time she took a moment to compose herself and calm her breathing as she ascended the lift to the top floor, before the doors opened and she stepped into the sunlit room. Her Master had vacated his usual seat and was standing in the centre of the room which meant they were about to be given Orders.

"Padawan Granger, good timing," remarked Master Windu with a slight hint of amusement at knowing she probably just sprinted the whole length of the Temple when she got the call when all she had to do was walk.

"Masters," she returned before moving to stand in her proper position slightly behind and to the side of her Master.

"We have a mission for the two of you. A situation is developing in the Kashyyyk System."

"The Wookiees need assistance with a situation that has developed between themselves and the Trade Federation on Alaris Prime," explained Master Mundi. "It could turn violent if not dealt with quickly and the Chancellor has requested we send some Jedi to help resolve the situation."

A few short hours later Hermione and Coleman were on their way to Alaris Prime, there had not been time to organise a Consular Cruiser so they were taking a small shuttle instead, that meant the flight would take longer as the ship wasn't as fast but they could not wait to see if a cruiser would became available.

As they were not overly clear of the current situation on the moon as communications were either being blocked or were being jammed, Coleman had asked for a secondary larger team of Jedi to be prepared to come to their aid in stopping the conflict if the dispute turned violent.

"So Hermione," began Coleman. "Why don't you outline the situation and the background of this conflict as you understand it."

"Yes Master," she began with a smile. "Alaris Prime is a moon of the planet Alaris in the Kashyyyk System, it has no native intelligent species that we are aware of and as such one of the two sentient species that live in the system; the Wookiees, after negotiation earned Senate approval to colonize the moon against the wishes of the other sentient species that lives in the system; the Trandoshans. The Wookiees are an honourable race, mammalian, normally over two meters in height and covered in hair, with sharp claws on their hands which are never used for anything violent as they consider it VERY uncivilised. Despite this they are renown as powerful warriors even though they do not using these obvious natural weapons. They have the unusual disadvantage that the unique structure of their vocal cords prevents them from speaking in Basic so they always have to speak in their native tongue of Shyriiwook which sounds like a series of growls, grunts, cries and similar noises, which any padawan can attest is horrible to try and learn. They use modern technology but prefer to build their settlements in the traditional manner in trees, so the flora of Alaris Prime is very important to their way of life. The Trandoshans by contrast are overly aggressive and violent as their beliefs require this in order to appease their deity which has led many to become mercenaries, bounty hunters and slavers. They are a reptilian species that average about two meters in height, they have very sensitive eyes that can see infrared and over time they are even able to regenerate limbs. The two species have been add odds for centuries, the main sources of the conflict are that the Trandoshans are a war like people and like taking Wookiees as slaves, which obviously is not too popular with the Wookiees. They also treat Wookiee pelts like trophies, similar to the way poachers and hunters do on Earth when killing things like gorillas and tigers. Killing a Wookiee, especially a powerful silverback is supposed to go a long way towards appeasing their deity, this is obviously even less popular with the Wookiees. The Wookiees were also granted a seat in the Senate and as the Senate limits the number of Senators to one per system the Trandoshans are not now able to have one now that they want one even though they have the backing of the Trade Federation. They could of course select a Representative to be the voice of the species in the Senate but that usually requires the agreement of the associated Senator and as the Representative would stand in for the Senator during any absences the two would need to get on and be in agreement on most subjects but as the two races hate each other that would not work at all. The current conflict arose when after being on the planet for a little while, Wookiee scouts discovered a Trade Federation operation which was fully equipped with battle droids on the moon, it appears they were mining and stripping the planet of its resources. The Federation have apparently been there quite a while, probably before the granting of the approval by the Senate for the Wookiees to colonize which creates a problem as if they had landed their post the approval being given, the Wookiees would have the legal high ground, unfortunately as the operation predates the treaty the arguments are more balanced. What makes it harder is that as the Federation are backing the Trandoshans request for Senate representation, the Federation will almost certainly be receiving their support. Usually in a situation where there is a colonisable body in a system with a Sentient species in it, that species has the right to, without the need for Senate approval I might add as it would be counted as an internal affair, claim the right as protectorate of the astrological body, the problem in this case is that both Kashyyyk and Trandosha could claim that right, hence the awkward situation which means that we have to negotiate a settlement between them."

Sending a large smile at his apprentice, Coleman let out a short laugh.

"You really are amazing Hermione, it would take most people days to collect that much information?"

"I'm just good at research Master," she smiled, internally beaming at the praise. "What's our plan for this mission Master?"

"Well obviously we need to get both sides of the conflict talking so what we shall do is split up and take one side of the conflict each," he explained. "I shall take the Trade Federation and the Trandoshans if they are there, whilst you talk to the Wookiees. We need to get them to agree to talk to each other or we the situation may escalate."

"You- You want me to talk to the Wookiees all by myself Master?" she asked uncertainly, suddenly feeling slightly apprehensive about the mission.

"Do not worry Hermione, the Wookiees might appear very imposing but as you said they are honourable and are not violent, it's the Trade Federation and the Trandoshans I am more worried about, they would have been preparing for this situation and will no doubt have a plan."

Coleman paused for a second, he could still feel his apprentices apprehension, she always underestimated her abilities. It was almost funny, on paper she excelled at everything and she was more than competent at lightsaber combat and as a pilot even though she was leagues short of her friend Harry in both disciplines, but when confronted with real world applications of her training she started to get nervous.

"Do not worry Hermione, I am only a comlink away, all you have to do is get the Wookiees to agree to talk which should not be difficult."

"If you say so Master," she replied, still nervously.

Coleman gave a slight chuckle. "Go and get some rest Hermione, I will put the ship on autopilot, we should be there in a couple of days."

The rest of the journey seemed to fly by for Hermione who spent her every waking moment preparing herself for the mission, much to the amusement of her confident Master, where it be checking her translation abilities of Shyriiwook or looking up various negotiation techniques.

When they finally came out of hyperspace the first think they saw other than the planet and its moon was a large circular ship.

"That is one big ship," remarked Hermione.

"They don't get much bigger. It's one reason the Trade Federation made their money and came to dominate the space lanes," explained Coleman. "The Lucrehulk class Trade Ships and its predecessors are designed to carry vast amounts of cargo, and with a diameter of over three thousand meters that's a lot of cargo space. This one is only the main body of the ship though, the Core Ship that sits at the centre of the ring is detached, it must be on the planet's surface."

"I would guess that I know where Master, there is a large area over two thousand square meters in diameter that has been stripped of vegetation and is being mined."

"That's big enough to be visible from orbit," remarked Coleman as a light on the console began to flash. "We have an incoming transmission, let's see what they have to say."

"This moon is off limits to non Trade Federation ships," came a voice that was obviously that of a droid. "Turn around now or you will be fired upon."

"This is an ambassadorial ship carrying Ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor and the Senate. Republic law states that no diplomatic vessel can be fired upon," replied Coleman firmly. "We are on a special mission from the Supreme Chancellor to settle the dispute between the Trade Federation and the Wookiees of this moon, either allow us to dock or allow us to land on the planet, it's your choice."

"Err," replied the droid causing both Jedi to roll their eyes, why could the Trade Federation not give these things a slightly larger brain, they were almost too stupid to talk to. "Maintain your present course."

Both the Jedi sat back and waited while the droid no doubt tried to find out what it should do. A minutes later after the shuttle had reached the Trade Ship and was now heading towards the planet the reply finally came, though this time it was not a droid.

"Please forgive the misunderstanding," came the reply from the holo-image of a Neimoidian. "I am afraid these droids are not designed for situations like this, please dock in the starboard hanger, you shall be met there."

"Understood, my ship will be departing immediately after I have disembarked to head towards the surface as per the Supreme Chancellors orders."

"Very well," came a slower reply. "I look forward to meeting you."

As the connection was terminated Coleman turned to his apprentice.

"Bring us in please and good luck padawan," he smiled, before leaning forward and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I will talk to you later."

"Good luck Master," she replied as he walked out of the cockpit and she guided the ship into the bay.

As he descended the ramp into the vast space of the hanger Coleman was greeted by a protocol droid.

"Greetings Ambassador, this way please."

He was led through the ship to a meeting room where a holo-projection of a Neimoidian was waiting for him.

"Please excuse me for not being there in person Ambassador but I suspected and I see I was right in thinking that you were a Jedi Knight and I wanted to make sure you were not sent here to use your Force Powers to force us to leave. Captain Lushros Dofine at your service."

"Jedi Master Coleman Trebor and I understand your fears, there are many in the galaxy who share them, thought you should be aware that Jedi are not allowed to use mind tricks to force negotiations the way you believe I would."

"Oh, it was not fear Master Jedi," replied the Neimoidian. "It was tactical planning. I don't plan to let my career be stopped dead by not being a little cautious. Now what can I do for you?"

"The Chancellor has commanded that this situation be resolved, he has asked for talks amongst all interested parties to be mediated over by myself and my apprentice who is currently on her way to speak to the Wookiees, the alternative being that this is to be dealt with by the Courts with the stipulation that all colonizing, mining and other efforts would have to stop until such time as the situation is resolved, but we both know how long the courts take."

"We do indeed Master Trebor, that would not be a desirable course of action for anyone involved, it would cost us a fortune in fuel while no minerals or other resources were excavated to rebalance the costs."

"Indeed, and of course the Wookiees would not be able to continue constructing their colony until such time as it is resolved, which might leave them dependant on supply runs."

"Of course," nodded Dofine. "Well my superiors and I are perfectly happy to talk to the Wookiees, provided of course the Trandoshans are permitted to attend the talks as well."

"Of course Captain, they are an interested party and have a right to be at any such talks."

"Excellent, then I shall contact them immediately, we have several of them at our base on the ground at the moment, I shall ask them to send a representative, though that being the case I would suggest we not put them and the Wookiees in the same room, you are no doubt aware that the two species do not get on."

"I am indeed Captain, I shall suggest to my Padawan when she contacts me that they be present as you are now."

"Good idea Master Jedi. While we are waiting for the representative to arrive and for your padawan to send word regarding the Wookiees, please enjoy the hospitality of my ship."

"Thank you Captain, I shall."

With that the holo-image disappeared and the droid reappeared and led him from the room.

As he followed after the droid to the quarters he had been assigned Coleman ran over the meeting in his head; this Captain was confident and sure of victory, but he was also no fool, he obviously had something planned he just had to figure out what.

Meanwhile Hermione was heading towards the surface of the planet, the scanners were picking up a large number of life forms, unfortunately they did not know exactly where the Wookiees had set up their colony as communications had been cut off before they had informed them of that vitally important piece of information and their natural style of living made finding them all the harder. She thought she should be picking up some form of signal from an antenna array or similar from the colony but after three passes over the area of forest where they believed the Wookiees to be based she decided to try a different strategy, switching to thermal sensors she was able to pick out two heat blooms amongst the scattering of other readings, one around an area of densely packed trees and the other around a less dense but much larger growth of trees. Finding a somewhat clear area of forest where she could land the ship, admittedly crushing several large bushes and small trees in the process, she decided on the denser cluster of trees and made her way out of the ship after making sure to copy the aerial infrared map to her comlinks holo-projector she remotely closed the ramp, deployed the small speeder that was part of the shuttles standard equipment and headed out into the forest, the wine of the speeder punctuating against the bird calls, rustling of leaves, creak of trees and animal calls that filled the dense forest.

The break in the canopy that she landed in appeared to be an odd occurrence and after riding for ten minutes and barely seeing any gap in the canopy more than a few meters across she wondered how on earth the Wookiees built a settlement on the planet at all.

It took her nearly half an hour to reach the location of the life form signals despite the high speed of the speeder. As she dismounted she was able to see just how dense the canopy was in this area, there was barely any direct sunlight at all.

"Hello!" she called. "Any Wookiees around here?"

She inwardly cursed herself for saying something that sounded so unprofessional, though the answer she received was definitely not the one she was hoping for.

A low growl came from off to her left, followed shortly by one to her right.

"Now I'm no expert," she commented to herself. "But unless the Wookiees have suddenly got a lot less friendly they would not be growling at me in that tone."

As usual she was right as another series of growls came from around her as several creatures quite a few inches taller than her began prowling towards her from around trees and jumping down from them, at least a dozen in total.

"Uh oh," she said slowly drawing both her weapons and activating her lightsaber. "Gundarks."

For the first time she noticed that the forest floor in this area was quite worn down, that there were deep scratches in the trees around the area and that there were large club like pieces of wood scattered around the clearing.

"Oh well done Hermione, you've walked yourself straight into a gundark nest. Even Harry's never managed that," she scolded herself. "Ok, err...Fight of flight?"

Her answer was given to her when the gundarks charged, some waving clubs in two of their six limbs as they came.

She did not have time to start the speeder back up so she ran, pointing her wand behind her as she did so, she used the Force to aim before firing of a canon hex at the ground behind her, sending one gundark rolling to a stop either dead or stunned. The canon hex was not as powerful as the blasting hex but it was accompanied by a very loud bang which she hoped would scare them off...It didn't work.

She ran at full speed along the forest floor, using the Force to tell her when to jump and when to duck and dodge. Her lightsaber was useless at this point, she did not want any of them to get close enough to actually allow her to use it which meant she had to use her Force abilities and her magic. Battle droids, large three headed dogs, even trolls would have been fine, but why did it have to be a nest of gundarks?

She fired a few more spells of varying types over her shoulders including using the Force to cause the odd low slung tree limb to whip at those chasing her. She had heard several whimpers of pain and distorted cries as her attacks hit home but she was rapidly being caught up with.

The first gundark to reach her was thankfully young and she rapidly took it out of the fight by simply spinning around and slicing through its neck as it leapt at her, the next pair ended up getting parts of their longer arms cut off as they attempted to grab at her before being flung back several meters by a Force Push. After that the rest decided to all strike at once which would have been difficult if Hermione has not run into a wall of trees with foliage so dense between them that even she could not get through them without extensive lightsaber use which she did not have time for.

Spinning around she sent another rapid Force Push at the approaching gundarks knocking most backwards and causing one to spin in mid air and land upside down in front of her, allowing her to impale its skull. If she could keep facing them one on one like this she could deal with them but she doubted whether they would be that obliging.

The gundarks approached again at a prowl, their prey now cornered meant they could plan the kill carefully.

"Ok, not good. Where is my Master or Harry when you need them."

One of the gundarks snarled before they all tensed in preparation to pounce. Raising her lightsaber into a high guard in one hand she prepared to cast a shield with her wand when a deep animalistic howl rang through the woods.

Looking around for the source of the howl the eyes of the gundarks and of Hermione settled on a branch high in one of the surrounding trees was a tall hairy man.

"Wookiees, thank goodness."

A second howl followed the first from the opposite direction as another Wookiee appeared in another tree, then another and another.

The first Wookiee cried out again, signalling for the group to open fire with their bowcasters.

The gundarks panicked, some legged it back as fast as their legs would carry them as weapons fire started impacting the ground around them, others tried to scramble up the trees to attack the Wookiees while the last couple decided to try attacking Hermione, but two on one she could handle.

Swinging her lightsaber around she sent a slight Force Push at one, just enough so that by the time it got back to her she would have dealt with the first one which she decapitated before throwing her lightsaber and letting it impact into the chest of the second before summoning it back to her. Sheaving her blade she then used the Force to pull the gundarks that were scrambling into the trees and threw them first at each other, making them collide with a hard bump before dropping them and letting them decide for themselves that taking on the Wookiees and a Jedi was not such a good idea now that you no longer had the numbers advantage.

There were a few seconds of silence before one of the Wookiees descended from the trees and walked up to her, it was only know that she was this close that she could see how tall they really were and she was even more intimidated than ever. She just had to remember her training, just remember her training and then she would be fine, just fine.

"Many thanks Master Wookiee, had I known there were gundarks on this moon I would have taken more care as to choosing which of the two concentrations of heat I headed for on the surface."

"Nnnnngggggaaahhhhhrrr," came the reply.

"You will have to forgive me Master Wookiee, I am afraid that although I have learned Shyriiwook I have never had the chance to practice with a real Wookiee, could I ask you to speak a bit slower please?"

"Nnnnnnnnggggggaaaaahhhhhrrrrr," came the slower reply.

"Thank you Master Chewbacca, I am Jedi Padawan Learner Hermione Granger, at your service."

"Ggggaaaarrrrr."

"I can understand why you would be annoyed Master Wookiee, but the Supreme Chancellor did not just send me, I dropped my Master off on the Trade Federation ship in orbit before coming here, he is a better negotiated with lots of experience so we thought he best handle the Federation in case they became awkward. He has tasked me with getting you to the negotiating table so that this incident can be resolved peacefully."

"Mmmmmggggrrrrr."

"Apology accepted, Master Chewbacca, I understand how the confusion could arise."

"Nnnnnggaaaaarrrr."

"Only if you call me Hermione, Chewie."

Hermione was beginning to breathe easier now, she had had a moments panic when he thought that the Senate did not care about them as they had only sent a padawan, briefly recalling the legend that a Wookiee might tear your arms off if you ever beat him at a game, she dreaded to think what one would do over something more serious, but she was rapidly warming to the imposing man, although proud he seemed to have a good sense of humour.

"How did you find me anyway?"

"Nnnngaaaarrr nnnnnngrreeeeeeee rrrrrraaaaa."

"Oh I see, I am guessing you saw me fly over during my initial search pattern."

"Gggaaaarr."

"I thought as much, but I suggest we do not dally here in case those gundarks decide to come back."

"Mmmmmnnnnnaaarrrr?"

"Thank you for the offer but I can manage, I might not be able to move through the trees quite as easily as you do but some advantages of being a Jedi include great balance and a very good long and high jump."

"Hhgg hhgg hhgg."

"Don't laugh," she replied touchily, not liking the assumption that she could not handle herself. "Try to not to judge me until you have seen me in action."

"Gggaaaarrrr nnnnggggg?"

"That didn't count, they had me badly outnumbered and they caught me by surprise that's all, and the information you sent us did not include any information on gundarks. Shall we?"

With that Chewbacca climbed back up the tree that he had dropped down from, shortly followed by Hermione who jumped from the side of one tree trunk to the one next to it and back again in order to beat the Wookiee to the top before sending him a smug look which she guessed he returned, it was hard to tell on Wookiee features. He then turned and ran along one of the thicker branches before jumping off and catching a hold of a vine and swinging is way to the next tree.

Giving a slightly smug smile, Hermione prepared herself briefly before running and Force Jumping the distance, to her credit she only wobbled slightly on the landing.

"Told you," she smiled as the Wookiee grinned back at her before leading the group of a dozen armed Wookiees and a human back through the forest.

It took them a good twenty minutes to reach the Wookiees colony which did turn out to be the other heat bloom that Hermione had picked up from the shuttle. She had initially been quite surprised when they had swung onto the branch of a very large tree and walked straight into the tree through a large natural looking opening in its side, but as she looked back out she could see that the tree they were in and the half dozen trees around it were connected by aerial walkways and many wookiees could be seen moving in and around the trees at all levels of the ground and trunk.

"Wow," she exclaimed as she followed them inside which was mostly carved out except for a central pillar that was obviously natural tree that had been left intact, presumably that and the outside bark of the tree which was still intact where it had not been cut through allowed the tree to remain alive whilst serving as a home for the Wookiees, the insides were not really decorated, more lived in, with several tools, pelts and other personnel items scattered around the place, she guessed this was probably because they were quite knew.

Chewbacca led her up several levels of the tree, passed many other wookiees including what appeared externally to be female wookiees and some obvious younger children and infants that looked almost like very big teddy bears though she did not dare to say that.

As they passed up onto what must have been the eight floor since the branch she had come in on she was confronted with the sight of a pair of large Wookiees sitting around a wooden table who stood and bowed to her as she was introduced, one was of a similar colour to Chewbacca but a little shorter and the second was much more heavily built, a good few inches shorter, though still easily over six foot and was covered in silvery white hair from head to toe. This room had a little more technology to it as there was a holo-projector in the centre of the table as well as their being a few electronic terminals built into the walls, if she had to guess she would say they were scanners, communications and mapping stations.

"Nnnnggaaarruuuurrrrruuumm aarrrrrrggggnnn."

"Greetings Chieftain Attichitcuk. Greetings Master Shoran," she said to the silver back and his companion respectively as she bowed.

"Nnnngggrrrraaannn. Unnnngggraa."

"Thank you Chieftain," she nodded as she took the seat she was directed to and was poured a drink by the imposing figure. "As I was telling Chewbacca, my Master is currently onboard the Trade Federation ship in orbit, arranging talks to resolve this issue."

"Mmmmmaaaarrrr," came the angry reply.

"I know Chieftain, but because the Trade Federations presence on this moon prior to your colony they do unfortunately do have some rights under galactic law, hence the need for talks."

"Mmmgggrrrrr aaannngggrrrr," came the slightly annoyed but defeated reply.

"Thank you Chieftain, with your leave I will contact my Master and advise him that you are open to talks."

"Gggarrr."

"Thank you," she replied, before raising her comlink in front of her. "Master, do you read me?"

#I read you Hermione,# came the reply a few seconds later. #Did you manage to find the Wookiees?#

"Eventually, I had a bit of trouble with a nest of gundarks first. Thankfully the Chieftain's son saw me fly over and came to my aid."

#I think you have been spending far too much time with Padawan Potter, you seem to have picked up his ability to get himself into trouble whenever there is a lack of a responsible adult around.#

A short laugh came from the younger two wookiees around the table, which caused Hermione to blush slightly.

#Have the Wookiees agreed to talk?# asked Coleman, resuming the more serious conversation.

"Yes, Chieftain Attichitcuk is prepared to talk," she replied. "He does not like the situation but he is willing to work with us."

#Good,# came the reply. #Did I not tell you that you would do ok. I have spoken to the Captain of this ship and he has also agreed to talks on the condition that the Trandoshans are permitted to attend.#

Snarls and growls came from all three of the wookiees at this reply.

"I'm guessing you heard that response Master?"

#I did indeed. Unfortunately Master Wookiees they have the right to take part in such talks though because of your mutual dislike of one another I have suggested that both parties only be present by holo-imager.#

"Good idea Master."

#The Trade Federation Captain seemed to think so, it seems I may be the only person actually on board the ship during these talks as he does not trust us enough to be in the same room as a Jedi. I shall set up a time as soon as I hear back from the Captain regarding the Trandoshans. It looks like the talks are on.#

AUTHOR'S ESSAY: Some of you are probably cursing at me now for starting up a second story line before finishing the Slave arc but I thought why not create a longer cliff hanger even though I have already written the next two chapters of that arc. Yes I know I'm evil.

I am not overly happy with this chapter to be honest, I was hoping to get a bit more out of it but I didn't want to add more at an obvious break point.

One thing I really did not think through when I came up with this story line was having to write in Wookiee and having entirely one sided conversations, that was not fun.

Some of you gamers out there right recognise these chapters from the game Star Wars Clone Wars. I used to play this but it did not occur to me until I looked up the conflict that it was the same one I played years ago. In the game you play the Wookiees who with the assistance of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan defeat the Trade Federation. Let's see how Hermione and Coleman do in their stead.

I would also at this point like suggestions for how you think this arc will turn out, I have some ideas but there are gaps in my thinking so here is your chance to get your ideas for this arc.

I think I caused a little bit of confusion in the last Author's Essay when I asked if anyone knew the name of the Wayward Son in a couple of decades. I did actually know the answer I was just testing your knowledge and loads of your knew it, though I suspect a few of you looked it up, well done to Taboo22, king1367, Horned Reaper 266, tipszics, BioHazard82, animegamemaster6, TOTTWUKER & Beloved Daughter who all knew the answer, hope I did not miss anyone off this list.

King1367, you're assuming that the Death Watch didn't recognise Aayla the second they saw her, all may not be alright in Aayla's world.

Naosj, possibly not as no one else has commented on my use of colloquialisms, and that's a horrible word to spell.

, patience it's coming, after all Harry is only sixteen and given that Jedi are not supposed to have relationships I don't imagine there is much gossip about which girls to ask out around the temple, there will be romance just give me time, I have already come up with a way to make it work a bit more naturally, I've just got to get the story to the right point first.

Darl, a scene where Harry doesn't die, or nearly die, I'm not sure I can do that, lol. But so far he had not actually died yet, just a couple of near death experiences. I am afraid I have already written part of another scene where Harry almost snuffs it but as he gets more experience and training he will probably have less. Also I have just incorporated the requested phrase into an upcoming chapter, it actually fits in though Harry is still very much a padawan rather than a knight when it is used, but I think it works quite well.

Darksnider05, I know exactly what you mean about Hermione not really having her place yet which is one of the reasons why I decided to start this story arc earlier as so far it's always been Harry with Hermione there at the same time, in this arc Hermione should have the chance to be in the spotlight for a change.

kihakukage, you've definitely done some in depth thinking about the relationship scenarios, a lot more than I have done, let's see how it turns out.