Chapter Twenty-Three
**Hermione's POV**
Once again everything was packed and the army was ready.
Hermione was walking around her guard keeping a good distance knowing she needed alone time, she was watching the activities of the camp getting ready to move out towards their next destination. The delay in setting up a new governing body had taken up much more time than expected. Dany had admitted to Hermione that she never even thought of setting up her own system of governing for the city, which she admitted was stupid planning on her part. With the help of her advisors and oddly enough with some advice from their Northern friends, who were allowed into the meetings now as potential allies, the system was not perfect by a long shot, but it was a good steppingstone in the right direction.
She had been trying to keep an eye on Winky, it had been difficult with her traveling around the far North and *POPPING* in to see her fleet every evening, at irregular times. More than once Hermione had checked on Winky only to see the poor little elf and the Dire Wolf running for dear life from some kind of wild animals, avalanches, and once she could have sworn she saw an Inferi of some sort. They were not hard to put down or anything, Winky just didn't like violence and preferred to run, she supposed.
She had only seen it the one time, Winky running away and blasting half a mountain apart only to miss both Inferi and almost knock herself and her furry mount off the cliff.
Hermione sighed at the memory, Winky was just too adorable with how clumsy she could be.
Hermione had noticed Dany walking with Robb Stark a lot over the last few days. Both were grieving a lost child and a lost spouse at a very young age, and Hermione could see the difference. The two talking to each other, over their shared grief was proving helpful to both of them. Dany seemed lighter, Robb seemed less gloomy, and even Lady Stark had calmed down considerably when Hermione told her it was never too late to make it up to her nephew when they found him, eventually.
Hermione had finally found a world map and performed the necessary spells to create a pseudo–Marauders Map that could trace direct blood relatives. They had located two people in the North of Westeros, one looking to be heading towards the east as they were North of the Wall, the other not moving, somewhere near Karstark land. One mark was in Braavos while another seemed to have just been leaving Kings Landing by boat, the mark disappearing once it got too far from the edge of the drawn portion. The last mark was here with them, indicating Rob himself. This news alone got a tearful hug from Lady Stark and a genuine look of happiness from Rob.
Since Robb nor Dany were either parent or sibling of Jon, they still could not locate him as easily. The only thing they could pinpoint was that he was alive and somewhere in the North. This proved two things Hermione pointed out. "It shows both Dany and you Rob are related, to Jon just once removed cousins for you and Aunt for Dany." Lady Stark just held her tongue for the moment, the sorrow clearly written on her face seeing the proof as the mark kept bouncing around the written name changing unsure as to its proper name as it bounced around the North of the map. The rest was up to Winky at the moment.
Dany had negotiated with Lady Stark about sending men to locate at least the wayward boys in the North. The girl in Braavos was proving difficult to locate according to a few spies Hermione had set up along the way of their travels. She had last been seen entering a Temple which she wished to check out, some instinct telling her to go. She didn't have time at the moment as there was still far to much to do.
Healing the masses with magic, fixing homes and more, had really made people want to help her more, Volunteers by the dozen came in to start learning anything and everything she was able to teach, she giggled to herself. She enjoyed helping people with her magic, showing them the beauty that could be created instead of just destruction and pain. She wanted to show them that the character of the person dictated the use of the tools given, she also wanted to show them how to think for themselves and prosper, she wanted them asking questions. A curious mind can create wonders after all.
Once again, they left a sizable garrison of fifteen hundred, as well as fortified the city, all those convicted of their crimes either executed or sentenced to fair time, helping serve the people of the city as a serf until they have served their sentence for these crimes. Then they are declared free and even given proof to show there earned freedom. With this system many uneducated prisoners may learn a valuable trade. Which they can use once they are freed, making it easier to make a living. Hermione was proud of herself for her improvements in magic lately, large scale transfiguration was becoming almost easy with all of the practice she had over the last year. The new City walls far more secure than before.
Then her eyes spotted that infuriating man Daario looking at her.
He noticed she saw him and threw her a smarmy grin and a wink.
Hermione narrowed her eyes and stomped away, her last encounter with him after yet another pass at her this time the bastard was laying on her bed as she was about to disrobe. His response to her surprise was, "Please don't let me stop you, I only came to talk but if you have other things in mind, I'm always free for you." She remembered how he looked casually draped over her bed.
"Ohh he thinks he's so clever, that smug neanderthal with his perfect arms and chest." She remembered him taking off his shirt and her yelling, "What are you doing!?" the pause as no one moved lasted longer than felt right as Hermione just took everything in with her eyes. Darrio of course ruining a perfectly good moment of...Silence yes ruining perfectly good silence responded. "So, we are not getting naked?" he asked so nonchalantly.
Hermione shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She would not give in to that infuriating man...and his perfect teeth and smile...with another memory of chucking him out of her tent like garbage into a bin.
"No!" she said to herself loudly, causing a few people around her to look at her like she was quite mad as she continued to storm off.
Every day he hounded her, making her blush at his advances. She knew he just wanted another notch on his stupid belt...*that she was imagining slipping off*...what was going on with her lately? Was the extra dragon bond messing with her?
She decided that tonight after they stopped for the evening, she would spend time organizing her mind with the Pensieve, this would help her build new defenses. The bonding with the dragons was doing wonders for her research into the "mind arts" for protecting the mind. She was certain at this point no wizard alive could enter her mind without her permission. Still, just because no one could do it now didn't mean someone couldn't figure it out later, which was why she was always finding ways to improving it.
She would not be a notch on that, that...
"ERRR."
The sound came out through clamped teeth, her face almost beat red at this point, and she simply chose to ride in the wagon and read for the rest of the morning as she disappeared with a *POP*.
---
**Winky's POV**
*(Small Time Skip) *
Winky was almost done with her first ever mission, she could feel it.
The nice Giants Winky had met told Winky that Dragon Prince Jon had gone back to the other side of the Wall with his friends. Winky promised the Giants that Winky would talk to her Mistress about helping. Giants having long memories seemed interested in meeting her Mistress *AS THEY SHOULD* Winky thought. So Winky and Fuzzy Friend Nymi had quickly made their way back *AGAIN* to the other side.
"See Nymi, Winky got us on the other side no sweat," Winky declared, her little chest puffed up with pride. The Dire Wolf looking sick and wobbly after Apparating thru the Giant wall, being unable to speak at the moment.
They then spent the next few days looking for any scent that would lead them to there target further south. Winky noticed Nymi had picked up a smell that didn't seem to agree with her.
"What is it Nymi?" Winky asked, her ears drooping as she looked around for anything scary.
"I smell my grossest brother, and his wild little partner nearby."
As they neared, Winky wrinkled her nose at the smell of the stinky wolf brother.
---
**Osha's POV**
Osha didn't like the feel of the wind tonight, the tree seemed to be leading something closer to them, she could feel it.
Something unnatural was out there, even the little lord's wolf had his fur up and was growling at the dark. She held little Rickon close just behind her hugging her back, she stood ready with her spear raised. She trusted the instincts of beasts better than the knowing of men, and the beast with her didn't trust something out there.
What came out into the firelight had Osha completely dumbfounded.
A strange Grumpkin of sorts, wearing some fancy Noble lady's children's clothes, and a very strange and rather large hat, riding on the back of their own Dire Wolf just as large as Shaggy. The face so strange and ugly it actually looked adorable in some way she could not explain, the entire situation causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand straight up.
Then it spoke in a high cute voice.
"Hello, I'm Winky and this is Nymi, we are friends with Wolf King Rob and Wolf Mom Cat."
Rickon peeked out from behind her left hip.
"Really?" he asked, his stomach growling loudly with hunger at the same time.
The little creature seemed to hear this immediately, it climbed down from the Wolf and started setting up a camp, pulling things out of a small bag that was frankly impossible. Things far too large to have ever fit inside it, coming out one after another without end.
Osha scrambled back on her hands and started putting distance between herself and whatever this was.
The little lord ran straight up to the creature with absolutely no fear whatsoever and hugged it and simply asked if he could help.
*What was wrong with these Starks. * One gets whisked away as some kind of green seer and now this one adopts a magic goblin without a second thought.
The hour that followed of the creature try to explain the situation was deeply confusing, as the explanations had no real context and the creature used descriptive terms Osha had no reference for to classify half of what it said. Somehow the little lord followed everything perfectly or at least pretended to and had agreed without hesitation to have all of them whisked away to a ship, on the way to his brother who had apparently been taken along with his mother by the fallen star itself, because of course they did.
Osha was getting a headache and just agreed at the moment to just make it all stop. She had not been expecting what came next the moment she had agreed.
The weird creature grabbed hold of her arm, and the world went inside out as she felt herself squeezed through a hole far too narrow for any living thing to pass through, it felt like her entire body was stretching unnaturally as she was also turned inside out and back again.
The moment they appeared on a solid surface Osha immediately threw her breakfast up on her hands and knees, her head kept spinning in circles as everything slowly came back into focus.
Shaggy Dog was wobbling around on the deck looking nearly as bad as she felt. Rickon on the other hand was already running in circles around the deck yelling *again, again, again. *
*This boy was going to be the death of her*, She just knew it.
The weird creature *POPPED* up behind her, causing Osha to once again fall sideways onto the deck only just after regaining her feet.
"The boat will arrive at Meereen in two weeks where my Mistress will be waiting, she should have taken the city by then."
Then the creature waved cheerfully and said "bye, bye" and disappeared with yet another *POP. *
Osha lay on the deck for a moment staring up at the sky, wondering which god she had angered to have to endure these boys that she thought of as little brothers.
"I think I hate that Floppy Ear Hobgoblin" she said out loud to herself, her stomach still doing slow miserable flips as Winkys face kept creeping into her thoughts. *The floppy ear bastard just popping around scaring people*.
She heard Rickon shriek with delight somewhere behind her and turned her head just in time to see the wild little lord start removing his clothes so he could jump over the railing to swim into the open sea...on a moving ship...
Osha got up and ran.