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“Aunt Hermione!” Lily Luna’s yell rang through the Burrow from where all of the children were playing outside. There was a tone of panic in Lily Luna’s voice as she called out for her aunt, it was what caused Hermione to jump to her feet. Whenever the children were playing outside, most of them would ignore the panicked yelling of the children until one of them approached the door. It wasn’t because they didn’t care but more because they all knew that the boys liked to try and scare their cousins. However, Lily Luna was one of the pranksters, she would help her cousins scare each other but she was rarely one to worry.
“Aunt ‘Mione! We really need you!” Albus called out after Lily Luna’s cry for their aunt had not had the desired effect within the period of time that they wanted her. Hermione was beginning to believe that there was something serious going on outside in the garden, because under normal circumstances if the next generation of witches and wizards wanted someone it was either George or Harry as they would help them with their mischief.
The last thing that Hermione expected to see when she stepped into the garden of the Burrow was for her daughter to be standing stock still in front of a hissing snake. Snakes were the one thing that she hated more than anything else, she had done since she and Harry had visited Godric’s Hollow and faced Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot’s home. As she saw her daughter standing in front of a snake all she could see in her mind was the snake attacking like Nagini had tried to attack her and Harry.
“Aunt ‘Mione, you need to do something, now!” Lily Luna cried out as she looked at her cousin in terror. It was in moments like this that Hermione was reminded of how much she needed to teach her family still. In the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts and the second fall of Voldemort, Defence Against the Dark Arts had been changed, and she could see the difference now. She could see how none of the children knew how to defend themselves and that was something that she was going to change.
“Lily Luna, come here and I’ll show you how to do this,” Hermione instructed, her mind instantly focusing on the fact that she needed to save her daughter but ensure that everyone was going to be safe in the morning. “You need to use your wand for this, you point it at your target and say the following incantation, Alarte Ascendare.” As Hermione pointed her wand at the snake she said the incantation carefully, it had been a long enough time since she had last had cause to cast the spell. She watched as the snake shot up in the air, she held it for as long as she could while Rose ran forward.
“Aunt ‘Mione, what happens once the snake hits the ground?” Lily Luna asked as the snake started to drop down towards the floor. It was obvious that the incantation only allowed the snake to be moved into the air, it wasn’t the perfect fix.
“We all go inside and leave it to find its way home,” Hermione answered as Rose and Albus rounded up the other children. It made it easier for her to focus on keeping the snake away when she knew that the children were being taken inside. “It just throws the object into the air but it is a good spell for giving you time to move.”