Preface A/N: Warnings: no beta checks, raw material, typos surely exist, and there may exist a pothole or two, not to mention a plot hole or five.
Title: Fallacies of Knowing
Summary: A brief commentary on imprecision in thinking.
"All right, we've secured everything we needed to. What's next?"
"Hmmm." It was clear to her that Harry felt ready for the challenges they had identified and drawn out into a nice list, thanks to Hermione's influence. It had taken the better part of a year of sneaking books and stealthy training, but she thought they had worked it all out perfectly. "Malfoy." Ginny's voice brought him back to the present quickly. "He's not a squib."
Harry rolled his eyes for a moment. She knew he was assuming that it was her redheaded nature to be truly vindictive, but to her it was much simpler. His smile was the same as always, however. "Right. You're ready to do this?"
She smiled faintly, knowing she was as excited as he was. "Of course, Harry. It's only justice, after all."
Harry smiled and stepped out of the room, firmly closing the door behind him, leaving Ginny to her thoughts.
She knew he was going to be doing a very elaborate Charm in the room on the other side of the door, and it would be the test to see if they could render one of their enemies impotent in every way that counted. The Fidelius was a tricky bit of work, but Harry had been practicing it for months now. One of the most draining parts was the particular version he had forced himself to learn, where he was the secret keeper for the charm he personally cast. After all, if only one person knew the secret, the same one that cast the Charm, it was so much harder for the secret to be discovered.
Ginny watched the clock, keeping track of exactly how long he had been gone in minutes, and privately she admitted to herself her fears over the test. The more people that knew a thing, the harder it was to hide it. When Harry finally stepped back into the room, he looked pale and drawn. She could see how tired he was, and with the sweat sticking to his forehead, she knew he was magically drained if not exhausted.
Carefully, she spun her wand in the precise movements, tracking it to cover exactly the forty-three minutes of elapsed time, and cried out, "Obliviate!"
Her wand jerked slightly at the power she had imparted, and Harry's eyes became glassy for an eternal moment. When they focused again on her, his smile was everything she remembered. "What next? You've got the list, right?"
Ginny was feeling a bit puzzled as well. They were in the potions storeroom adjacent to the Infirmary, and she was having a hard time remembering exactly what they had been doing, but she knew she had a list to keep track of the job. "Right, let's see... I did the Obliviate on you so the evidence is clear, and now it says we're supposed to find the Malfoy heir next."
"Malfoy?" Harry asked with a puzzled frown. "Draco Malfoy? Why would we need to deal with that squib?"
Ginny shrugged for a moment, then smiled back. "Let's find out, shall we? I know I don't like him, but I don't remember why. You didn't do something, did you?"
"No," Harry laughed. "That was Ron, which is why the git's in for a day or two with Pomfrey. Err, don't recall why, though." Harry's eyes shot wide open, and at the same moment, Ginny could feel her own smile turn gleeful as they made the same connection. "It worked!"
"Yeah, it did. But what worked?"
"Err, the Fidelius."
"Harry, what was the Fidelius cast on? Or why?"
She watched him pause to wipe the sweat from his brow for a moment, and resisted the urge to shout. She knew it was critical that the Fidelius work in a controlled test, but she also had no recollection of testing it. They were planning to test it today, in preparation for the next hurdles, all in the grand plan to take down Voldemort. But if neither of them knew whether it worked, did that mean it did work, or that it had failed?
"Dunno, Ginny. Let's go see if we can find Malfoy, and maybe we'll figure it out."
oOo oOo oOo
"I think it worked."
"Yeah," Ginny said after a moment. "I know he's been here for years, but I have no idea why. He's a Squib, so it's not like he can do magic."
"His dad was on the Board of Governors, though. Maybe he influenced them?"
"Maybe," she agreed cautiously. After a moment, she used her wand to erase the list item that said to deal with the Squib, as there was nothing left to do, apparently. "So shall we try the next one?"
"Yeah, but not today. I'm beat."
"All right, then. Let's get you some food, and we'll pick this project up in a day or two. Maybe tonight we can ask Hermione if she knows what's going on with Malfoy."
She watched Harry yawn mightily before his arm slipped around her waist, and they left the hospital wing behind.
oOo oOo oOo
"Hello, Tom!" Harry called brightly as he walked into the cell. "How are you today?" Ginny shivered as she stood in the entryway with Tonks, wondering at why Harry wanted to stop by the dreadful place.
Voldemort seemed to have grown calm since he was first captured by the aurors, though no one knew why. Every time she wondered aloud about the possible reasons with Harry, he just gave her the same I-have-a-secret look, and distracted her from her thoughts. The problem with dating someone so powerfully attractive to your own mind is that it leaves you . . . distractable at times. During the past year, Harry had been very secretive, and frustratingly evasive.
"I have decided, Potter," the man in the cage said slowly, "that you did this to me. I remember being the most feared Dark Lord, and that I could do powerful things, but now I cannot."
"Oh? " Ginny recognized the tone in her boyfriend's voice, it was the same one he used when he was challenging her to a little bit of pick-up Quidditch. "How's that my fault?"
"You're the only one who is smug when they see me, Potter. Everyone else cowers, no matter how they try to hide it."
"Ah, yes. I suppose you'd like to know why, eh?"
Voldemort said nothing, and his ghastly appearance was enough that she wished Harry would stop coming to visit the man. She had no idea why he was always trying to discuss history and the founders with him, but he promised to explain it all to her. Someday.
Harry's voice was suddenly different, and she knew that something profound was about to happen. "You remember that prophesy?" Voldemort said nothing, but Harry seemed not to mind. Ginny's blood went cold when she heard the prophesy that Harry so casually recited. "Sound familiar?" The taunting tone was back.
"So you found some power then? What was it?"
Harry stood up and pushed the chair back against the wall. "This is goodbye, Tom, I won't be back anymore." She watched Harry as he walked back toward her, and she could see the same gleam of triumph that she had seen on a few earlier occasions after some secretive trip he had taken. "By the way," Harry called out as he came to stand next to her. "Those little toys of yours? The ring, the diadem, the cup, old Nagini, and all that? They've been taken care of, and I thought you might like to know your stay here won't be all that long. I heard that you'll be given the Kiss soon. But in answer to your question, the power was simple, really. It's the power that you know not."
A/N:
Sometimes the only way to purge a bunny is to write the core of the bunny idea. This was an amusing bunny that struck me, but it just doesn't have the appeal to do more with it than this. Since I don't want to work on it enough to make it worth publishing, I'm dumping it here as-is. I may post random things like this in the future, I suppose.
For those keeping track, yes, Echoes is still in progress. As I mentioned previously in January, my work life experienced an unanticipated stealth project becoming visible and popular, meaning early migration from R&D into pre-production. It's still a bit too busy to make solid progress, but things are finally calming down.
As of this posting, I have several things in beta, and the next chapter of Echoes is almost ready to begin the beta cycle as well. Thanks for being patient, but such is life.