(A/N: Ok, this is the updated version, both A and B are now combined into
one Chapter One. And I just wanna make one thing clear. I have never been
to Ireland but I've read a lot about the ancient stone monuments and about
Celtic Myths and even though I may mention real Irish cities and towns,
just know that I've never been to these places and any similarities are
completely coincidental. Oh, yeah, and I don't own Harry Potter in part or
in whole. That's all!)
Untitled
Chapter One
The flashing lights from the cameras mimicked the flashing lights in the sky. The crowd was very reluctant to leave, but unless they wanted to get caught in the rain, they had better head back to bus that would take them to Punchestown. A few last photos were taken of the 23 foot high stone, amazed at the sheer height, and as the last person entered the bus the first rain drops fell to the earth.
"Wasn't that nice?" An Irish couple asked an American group of tourists.
"Yeah, it was awesome!" A young looking man said, a huge smile on his face.
"Of course the guys would like it." An equally looking young girl said to her friend, and they both began to laugh.
"The longstone," The Irish gentleman said, "Is the tallest in all of Ireland. No one knows for sure exactly what they were built for, but it sure is something to imagine, though, isn't it?"
The American tourists began to talk amongst themselves about their next stop while the Irish couple dreamed of the warm fire at the local pub, neither of them noticing the young red head sitting a few rows in front, writing away on a notebook.
"The stone is 23 feet high. The base of the stone is square like in shape, with a circumference of 11 feet. The tip ends in a more wedge like appearance, rather than a strait point. The stone is all together very elegant."
The red head paused, put the end of the pen she was writing with in her mouth, and looked out the window. The weather was growing darker, but at the same time it was very peaceful. The clouds were dark and billowing, covering the land in shadow, but the prospect of rain was very pleasant to one Virginia Weasley.
As she sat, thus, she looked back on her life, and tried to pin point the exact time that lead her to this. It was a long, gradual change, but Ginny was always fascinated with the Celtic people and their religion. Very little was known about them, especially by the Wizarding world. It was thought by some Witches and Wizards that the Druids of old were those with magic in their blood, but Ginny wasn't quite satisfied with this theory. It didn't quite ring true to her.
The rain splashed against the windows more rapidly now, and the bus splashed through muddy puddles that had gathered on the road. The distant forest was silhouetted against the dark sky, and it looked like a painting. Presently some of the local guides on the bus began to teach the tourists some traditional songs, and there was laughing and joking, and one Australian had stood up at one point to bellow out the words he had just learned, though rather off key. Everyone laughed as the man's wife had pulled him down to his seat to prevent any further embarrassment.
"The stone is said to have been erected in the Early Bronze Age as a burial mark, but excavations have turned up no bodies. Some sacrificial pottery and bones were found, but they are of a later date. I am requesting the use of a Discernagraph to detect whether the stone has any magical properties, or if the area has a strong field of magic. My theory is that Wizards built this stone and after they had passed on, Muggles had used them in their own rituals." Ginny stopped there, then at the bottom of the page wrote a post script. "P.S. -- Jeff, please use your influence and get me the things I need. If I can just prove that this stone has magical properties, I can get more grants and continue my studying. No pressure, V. Weasley."
"Miss?" A man with an Irish rogue shook Ginny's shoulder. "The bus has stopped."
Ginny shut the notebook she was working on and looked quickly around the bus. Upon seeing that she was the only passenger left Ginny gathered her things and was escorted out of the bus by the man, who appeared to be the driver. The rain was coming down by the bucket full and through the haze Ginny could see the Inn she had rented a room just a few yards away. She was glad she had bought some wellies earlier that day, for they kept the water from the puddles splashing on her shoes. By the time she reached the awning of the Inn, she was soaked through. As the door opened, Ginny was bathed in light, and standing in the doorway was a plump woman with short, curly brown hair.
"Aye, faith, child, come out of the rain!"
Ginny was grabbed by a rather plump hand that held a vice like grip on her arm, and was brought inside. She nearly dropped her notebook and pen as the woman made her way through the loud and raucous crowd, towards the blazing fire on the other side. She was set down right in front of her, among strangers who were all drinking, and told to "Sit tight, warm up, and a bite to eat would be brought out strait away!"
Some of the Americans near the fire were singing at the top of their lungs the song they had just learned on the bus. Most of them looked about her age, twenty one, twenty two. They all looked very athletic and were probably hikers. Ginny smiled at them, basking in their drunken happiness. One of the guys noticed, and smiled back.
"Hey!" The man said, taking a seat next to Ginny's.
"Hello." Ginny blushed.
"Oh, you're Irish?"
"No, I'm British."
"Oh, sorry about that, I hope I didn't offend you or anything."
"No, it's alright."
Ginny noticed the man was very handsome, with blonde streaks in his dark hair and very dark eyes and olive complexion. Next to him she probably looked like a ghost with flaming red hair.
"Does it rain all the time over here?" He asked, looking a little disappointed.
"Well, it does rain a lot, but not as much as people make it out to be."
"I'm glad! We're supposed to go hiking tomorrow, but with this weather.forget it!" The man smiled, then looked at the fire.
"Well, here we are, at last!" The plump Inn Keeper said as she handed Ginny a plate filled with meat and mashed potatoes, every inch covered in a brown gravy. "Eat up, my dear."
Ginny thanked the woman, then began eating. It was very delicious and reminded Ginny of her own mother's cooking. As she ate she remembered the tales her Mum would tell her about Irish folklore. Molly's side of the family were Irish and moved to England when Molly was a little girl. Arthur's family had Irish blood in them, but you had to go back a few generations of Witches and Wizards. Molly told her daughter of the sidhe, or fairy folk, and how they once ruled all of Ireland. The many wars fought between the gods and goddesses and their people. Ginny believed that that is what possessed her to take this field of study. She always believed that some of those stories were true, if a bit over exaggerated, and she was going to prove it.
After her meal Ginny returned the plate to a small girl that was running around, picking up after people. She then went to the front desk and asked for the key to her room. She always kept her keys at the front desk for fear she'd lose it somewhere. She took the small brass key and went up the narrow stairway to the second floor. A dimly lit hallway with doors on either side stretched out in front of her. She walked down the hall, feeling it odd that there was no noise, not even drifting up from below.
The carpet beneath her feet was a pattern of squares and circles and looked worn from years of feet passing over it. The wallpaper was a similar pattern and looked as if the dust and grime from the years were caked over what must be very beautiful, bright colors. One of the overhead lights kept flickering on and off, and Ginny moved faster down the hallway to her own room. Once she was inside she shut the door behind her and breathed deeply.
"Come here, Maeve." Ginny said to the owl that was perched on the windowsill.
The owl flew obediently towards Ginny, and stuck out her leg. Ginny opened her notebook and gave a small gasp at what she saw. The page she had written on looked as if it had been torn out of her notebook and stuffed quickly back in. She didn't remember tearing the page out, and she hadn't left it out of her sight since she last wrote in it. Ginny reasoned that it must have torn out while she was running towards the Inn in the rain. At any rate she folded the piece of paper up, placed it in a small pouch and tied that to the owls leg.
"Take this to Jeff, luv." Ginny stroked the owl, then watched it fly out the window into the star filled sky that was now void of rain and filled her lungs with the moist crisp cold air.
~*~*~
The morning sky was dotted with white puffy clouds, all very harmless and showing no signs of the storm the previous night. The ground, however, was as moist as a marsh and Ginny found great difficulty in getting to the longstone the next day. She was alone, studying the stone and taking notes, when the owl came. Ginny took the note from Maeve's leg and watched as she flew off towards the nearby wood, probably to hunt. Ginny read:
"Ginny, I managed to pull a few strings as you asked, but I'm afraid you won't like the ones I did pull. The University won't willingly give any more grants towards your cause without a report. They're sending someone from the Financing Office and they will be there shortly. I was able to deduce from what I heard that they will be going through your notes and watching you work to determine if your cause would be beneficial. I suggest you organize yourself and put on a great show or your funding will be cut off. I think you should call in the rest of your team also, the school board doesn't like the fact that you prefer to work alone, while the rest of your team researches in the library. Just giving you a heads up.
J. Nickel"
Ginny gave a huge sigh, then read the note over again. Jeff knew she was anything but organized. All her notes were in a secret compartment built onto the bottom of her trunk, and there were all kinds of spells on it, but they were just thrown in there. She tried to recall if she even dated all of them. Knowing that the rest of the day was shot, Ginny closed her notebook and headed back to the town.
The walk was a longish one, but Ginny dared not apparate. She didn't think anyone in the small town was a Witch or Wizard and wasn't willing to take that risk. She hoped the Representative from the Finance Office hadn't arrived yet. At this though Ginny quickened her pace.
A half hour later Ginny was walking into the town. The Inn she was staying at was right in the center, adjacent to the town square. The Americans were gone which meant the Inn was silent. She asked for the key to her room at the front, then headed up to her room, but she wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted her.
The room was a mess. Drawers were pulled out with their contents strewn about the floor. The bed sheets were all torn off the bead and the mattress was half off the frame of the bed. Ginny ran around, trying to figure out if anything had been stolen. The window was wide open but upon looking out Ginny realized that no one would have climbed the sheer face of the building. They must have come through the door, whoever had done this, and was looking for something in particular.
"My notes!" Ginny ran to the trunk at the foot of the bed which was also open, her clothes flung nearby. Ginny undid all the spells then opened the secret latch and the wood gave way to a false bottom. Ginny had magically expanded the compartment so she could fit all her notes and research in there, and she began pulling out papers and binders and books. Luckily the thief, whoever they were, weren't looking for the notes, or they just hadn't found them.
"I brought you something to drink, dearie-" The Inn Keeper said coming into the room, then stopped. "What happened?"
Ginny placed all her things back in the trunk, then stood up. "I don't know. I came back and my room looked like this. Did you see anyone come in?"
"I'm sorry but I've been away the whole morning. Who would do something like this, I wonder?"
That was what Ginny was trying to figure out, but she came up with nothing. The Inn Keeper made apologies and reassured her that someone would be up to clean the mess, but Ginny refused, saying she'd do it herself. The woman left, leaving Ginny to put everything away. Once the room resembled its previous self, Ginny opened the trunk and brought out all her notes and began to organize them.
~*~*~
"Maria," Ginny wrote, "I want you to come to Ireland right away. Bring Mike and Serena and ask Collin if he'd be willing to do me another favor. Something is not right and I don't want you to tell anyone about what we're working on. Keep your notes private and safe. I'll be waiting at the Inn I told you about and please hurry.
V. Weasley."
Ginny watched as Maeve carried her note away towards England.
It took the better part of the afternoon, but Ginny had managed to organize her notes by date. It was hard to imagine that she had been working on this for over a year and a half, and she could feel that she was on the breaking point. She knew that the answers she was looking for were before her, all she had to do was reach out and grab them. But she couldn't go back to the longstone, not until the Representative had come.
Feeling a bit anxious, Ginny had gone down to ask the Inn Keeper about the small town. The woman, whom Ginny found out her name was Brigit, was all too willing to tell the history that had been passed down from generation to generation.
"Me family's been living here for what seems forever," She started. "The town, of course, was originally built east of the church, but for some reason people abandoned that part and began building on this side. A lot of the young folk want out, but they always come back once they come to realize that the world just doesn't have what we have."
"Is there any place I could do some research here?" Ginny asked.
"Are you a student at a University?" Brigit asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, sort of."
"Well," Brigit thought. "The library is inside the church, but if you go into Kilney they have a bigger library with more information of the likes you're probably looking for. The church library has town information, mostly; people information."
"Could I leave a note at the front desk for you to give to anyone looking for me?"
"Of course."
Ginny quickly scribbled down a message explaining she'd be at the church on the east side of town, then gave it to the man behind the desk. Taking her notebook with her, Ginny headed for the church.
The church was very ancient, probably built a few hundred years after Christianity was first introduced to the Irish. It was a smallish church, but it was beautiful in its simplicity. The clerk had looked at Ginny suspiciously before he let her in. As they walked he began a short tour that he had memorized for when tourists came. But Ginny wasn't interested in the architecture just yet.
"I was told that you had a library?" Ginny interrupted the man.
Again he looked at her suspiciously before he lead her to the a door towards the back. Ginny was let into a small room that was piled with books and manuscripts. The air was dusty and the only light came through two windows on one side of the room where a desk and chair were.
"These aren't nearly as old as the books we once had. The people from Kilney came in, claiming they wanted to preserve the works, and took them away. I'll be keeping my eye on you." The man said, before leaving.
Ginny shook her head then began going through the books. Most of them were records of births, marriages and deaths. Some of them were legal documents of so-and-so buying land from one person or another. Ginny felt very disappointed, but kept looking. After a good two hours of going through dusty old pages, Ginny felt she hit the jackpot. Tucked away in a shadowy corner of one shelf were a few volumes of books that looked worse for wear. Ginny pulled them out, and although they were written in a strange language, and she couldn't decipher them, she took them from the shelf excitedly and brought them to the table.
The pages were brown with age and very stiff. There were quite a few holes were bugs had managed to chew away parts of history, but they were pretty much intact. The people from Kilney must have overlooked or underestimated the value of these books, Ginny thought. She wanted to take these with her, to examine them closer and have Serena, the teams linguist, to translate them. But the clerk would most certainly not let anything leave the library, so Ginny copied down the titles and a few of the sentences on the first page of each book.
She was nearly finished when she heard the door open.
"I'm almost finished." Ginny said, thinking the intruder must be the clerk.
"You'd better be, because I don't want to spend more time than I have to in this pathetic place."
Ginny quickly looked up at the man who spoke, then groaned. She couldn't believe that the insufferable git was here, in this library, ruining her victorious find. She stood up as dignified as she could, but she knew that no amount of dignity would counter act the amount of dust on her face and the state of her clothes to Draco Malfoy.
Untitled
Chapter One
The flashing lights from the cameras mimicked the flashing lights in the sky. The crowd was very reluctant to leave, but unless they wanted to get caught in the rain, they had better head back to bus that would take them to Punchestown. A few last photos were taken of the 23 foot high stone, amazed at the sheer height, and as the last person entered the bus the first rain drops fell to the earth.
"Wasn't that nice?" An Irish couple asked an American group of tourists.
"Yeah, it was awesome!" A young looking man said, a huge smile on his face.
"Of course the guys would like it." An equally looking young girl said to her friend, and they both began to laugh.
"The longstone," The Irish gentleman said, "Is the tallest in all of Ireland. No one knows for sure exactly what they were built for, but it sure is something to imagine, though, isn't it?"
The American tourists began to talk amongst themselves about their next stop while the Irish couple dreamed of the warm fire at the local pub, neither of them noticing the young red head sitting a few rows in front, writing away on a notebook.
"The stone is 23 feet high. The base of the stone is square like in shape, with a circumference of 11 feet. The tip ends in a more wedge like appearance, rather than a strait point. The stone is all together very elegant."
The red head paused, put the end of the pen she was writing with in her mouth, and looked out the window. The weather was growing darker, but at the same time it was very peaceful. The clouds were dark and billowing, covering the land in shadow, but the prospect of rain was very pleasant to one Virginia Weasley.
As she sat, thus, she looked back on her life, and tried to pin point the exact time that lead her to this. It was a long, gradual change, but Ginny was always fascinated with the Celtic people and their religion. Very little was known about them, especially by the Wizarding world. It was thought by some Witches and Wizards that the Druids of old were those with magic in their blood, but Ginny wasn't quite satisfied with this theory. It didn't quite ring true to her.
The rain splashed against the windows more rapidly now, and the bus splashed through muddy puddles that had gathered on the road. The distant forest was silhouetted against the dark sky, and it looked like a painting. Presently some of the local guides on the bus began to teach the tourists some traditional songs, and there was laughing and joking, and one Australian had stood up at one point to bellow out the words he had just learned, though rather off key. Everyone laughed as the man's wife had pulled him down to his seat to prevent any further embarrassment.
"The stone is said to have been erected in the Early Bronze Age as a burial mark, but excavations have turned up no bodies. Some sacrificial pottery and bones were found, but they are of a later date. I am requesting the use of a Discernagraph to detect whether the stone has any magical properties, or if the area has a strong field of magic. My theory is that Wizards built this stone and after they had passed on, Muggles had used them in their own rituals." Ginny stopped there, then at the bottom of the page wrote a post script. "P.S. -- Jeff, please use your influence and get me the things I need. If I can just prove that this stone has magical properties, I can get more grants and continue my studying. No pressure, V. Weasley."
"Miss?" A man with an Irish rogue shook Ginny's shoulder. "The bus has stopped."
Ginny shut the notebook she was working on and looked quickly around the bus. Upon seeing that she was the only passenger left Ginny gathered her things and was escorted out of the bus by the man, who appeared to be the driver. The rain was coming down by the bucket full and through the haze Ginny could see the Inn she had rented a room just a few yards away. She was glad she had bought some wellies earlier that day, for they kept the water from the puddles splashing on her shoes. By the time she reached the awning of the Inn, she was soaked through. As the door opened, Ginny was bathed in light, and standing in the doorway was a plump woman with short, curly brown hair.
"Aye, faith, child, come out of the rain!"
Ginny was grabbed by a rather plump hand that held a vice like grip on her arm, and was brought inside. She nearly dropped her notebook and pen as the woman made her way through the loud and raucous crowd, towards the blazing fire on the other side. She was set down right in front of her, among strangers who were all drinking, and told to "Sit tight, warm up, and a bite to eat would be brought out strait away!"
Some of the Americans near the fire were singing at the top of their lungs the song they had just learned on the bus. Most of them looked about her age, twenty one, twenty two. They all looked very athletic and were probably hikers. Ginny smiled at them, basking in their drunken happiness. One of the guys noticed, and smiled back.
"Hey!" The man said, taking a seat next to Ginny's.
"Hello." Ginny blushed.
"Oh, you're Irish?"
"No, I'm British."
"Oh, sorry about that, I hope I didn't offend you or anything."
"No, it's alright."
Ginny noticed the man was very handsome, with blonde streaks in his dark hair and very dark eyes and olive complexion. Next to him she probably looked like a ghost with flaming red hair.
"Does it rain all the time over here?" He asked, looking a little disappointed.
"Well, it does rain a lot, but not as much as people make it out to be."
"I'm glad! We're supposed to go hiking tomorrow, but with this weather.forget it!" The man smiled, then looked at the fire.
"Well, here we are, at last!" The plump Inn Keeper said as she handed Ginny a plate filled with meat and mashed potatoes, every inch covered in a brown gravy. "Eat up, my dear."
Ginny thanked the woman, then began eating. It was very delicious and reminded Ginny of her own mother's cooking. As she ate she remembered the tales her Mum would tell her about Irish folklore. Molly's side of the family were Irish and moved to England when Molly was a little girl. Arthur's family had Irish blood in them, but you had to go back a few generations of Witches and Wizards. Molly told her daughter of the sidhe, or fairy folk, and how they once ruled all of Ireland. The many wars fought between the gods and goddesses and their people. Ginny believed that that is what possessed her to take this field of study. She always believed that some of those stories were true, if a bit over exaggerated, and she was going to prove it.
After her meal Ginny returned the plate to a small girl that was running around, picking up after people. She then went to the front desk and asked for the key to her room. She always kept her keys at the front desk for fear she'd lose it somewhere. She took the small brass key and went up the narrow stairway to the second floor. A dimly lit hallway with doors on either side stretched out in front of her. She walked down the hall, feeling it odd that there was no noise, not even drifting up from below.
The carpet beneath her feet was a pattern of squares and circles and looked worn from years of feet passing over it. The wallpaper was a similar pattern and looked as if the dust and grime from the years were caked over what must be very beautiful, bright colors. One of the overhead lights kept flickering on and off, and Ginny moved faster down the hallway to her own room. Once she was inside she shut the door behind her and breathed deeply.
"Come here, Maeve." Ginny said to the owl that was perched on the windowsill.
The owl flew obediently towards Ginny, and stuck out her leg. Ginny opened her notebook and gave a small gasp at what she saw. The page she had written on looked as if it had been torn out of her notebook and stuffed quickly back in. She didn't remember tearing the page out, and she hadn't left it out of her sight since she last wrote in it. Ginny reasoned that it must have torn out while she was running towards the Inn in the rain. At any rate she folded the piece of paper up, placed it in a small pouch and tied that to the owls leg.
"Take this to Jeff, luv." Ginny stroked the owl, then watched it fly out the window into the star filled sky that was now void of rain and filled her lungs with the moist crisp cold air.
~*~*~
The morning sky was dotted with white puffy clouds, all very harmless and showing no signs of the storm the previous night. The ground, however, was as moist as a marsh and Ginny found great difficulty in getting to the longstone the next day. She was alone, studying the stone and taking notes, when the owl came. Ginny took the note from Maeve's leg and watched as she flew off towards the nearby wood, probably to hunt. Ginny read:
"Ginny, I managed to pull a few strings as you asked, but I'm afraid you won't like the ones I did pull. The University won't willingly give any more grants towards your cause without a report. They're sending someone from the Financing Office and they will be there shortly. I was able to deduce from what I heard that they will be going through your notes and watching you work to determine if your cause would be beneficial. I suggest you organize yourself and put on a great show or your funding will be cut off. I think you should call in the rest of your team also, the school board doesn't like the fact that you prefer to work alone, while the rest of your team researches in the library. Just giving you a heads up.
J. Nickel"
Ginny gave a huge sigh, then read the note over again. Jeff knew she was anything but organized. All her notes were in a secret compartment built onto the bottom of her trunk, and there were all kinds of spells on it, but they were just thrown in there. She tried to recall if she even dated all of them. Knowing that the rest of the day was shot, Ginny closed her notebook and headed back to the town.
The walk was a longish one, but Ginny dared not apparate. She didn't think anyone in the small town was a Witch or Wizard and wasn't willing to take that risk. She hoped the Representative from the Finance Office hadn't arrived yet. At this though Ginny quickened her pace.
A half hour later Ginny was walking into the town. The Inn she was staying at was right in the center, adjacent to the town square. The Americans were gone which meant the Inn was silent. She asked for the key to her room at the front, then headed up to her room, but she wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted her.
The room was a mess. Drawers were pulled out with their contents strewn about the floor. The bed sheets were all torn off the bead and the mattress was half off the frame of the bed. Ginny ran around, trying to figure out if anything had been stolen. The window was wide open but upon looking out Ginny realized that no one would have climbed the sheer face of the building. They must have come through the door, whoever had done this, and was looking for something in particular.
"My notes!" Ginny ran to the trunk at the foot of the bed which was also open, her clothes flung nearby. Ginny undid all the spells then opened the secret latch and the wood gave way to a false bottom. Ginny had magically expanded the compartment so she could fit all her notes and research in there, and she began pulling out papers and binders and books. Luckily the thief, whoever they were, weren't looking for the notes, or they just hadn't found them.
"I brought you something to drink, dearie-" The Inn Keeper said coming into the room, then stopped. "What happened?"
Ginny placed all her things back in the trunk, then stood up. "I don't know. I came back and my room looked like this. Did you see anyone come in?"
"I'm sorry but I've been away the whole morning. Who would do something like this, I wonder?"
That was what Ginny was trying to figure out, but she came up with nothing. The Inn Keeper made apologies and reassured her that someone would be up to clean the mess, but Ginny refused, saying she'd do it herself. The woman left, leaving Ginny to put everything away. Once the room resembled its previous self, Ginny opened the trunk and brought out all her notes and began to organize them.
~*~*~
"Maria," Ginny wrote, "I want you to come to Ireland right away. Bring Mike and Serena and ask Collin if he'd be willing to do me another favor. Something is not right and I don't want you to tell anyone about what we're working on. Keep your notes private and safe. I'll be waiting at the Inn I told you about and please hurry.
V. Weasley."
Ginny watched as Maeve carried her note away towards England.
It took the better part of the afternoon, but Ginny had managed to organize her notes by date. It was hard to imagine that she had been working on this for over a year and a half, and she could feel that she was on the breaking point. She knew that the answers she was looking for were before her, all she had to do was reach out and grab them. But she couldn't go back to the longstone, not until the Representative had come.
Feeling a bit anxious, Ginny had gone down to ask the Inn Keeper about the small town. The woman, whom Ginny found out her name was Brigit, was all too willing to tell the history that had been passed down from generation to generation.
"Me family's been living here for what seems forever," She started. "The town, of course, was originally built east of the church, but for some reason people abandoned that part and began building on this side. A lot of the young folk want out, but they always come back once they come to realize that the world just doesn't have what we have."
"Is there any place I could do some research here?" Ginny asked.
"Are you a student at a University?" Brigit asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, sort of."
"Well," Brigit thought. "The library is inside the church, but if you go into Kilney they have a bigger library with more information of the likes you're probably looking for. The church library has town information, mostly; people information."
"Could I leave a note at the front desk for you to give to anyone looking for me?"
"Of course."
Ginny quickly scribbled down a message explaining she'd be at the church on the east side of town, then gave it to the man behind the desk. Taking her notebook with her, Ginny headed for the church.
The church was very ancient, probably built a few hundred years after Christianity was first introduced to the Irish. It was a smallish church, but it was beautiful in its simplicity. The clerk had looked at Ginny suspiciously before he let her in. As they walked he began a short tour that he had memorized for when tourists came. But Ginny wasn't interested in the architecture just yet.
"I was told that you had a library?" Ginny interrupted the man.
Again he looked at her suspiciously before he lead her to the a door towards the back. Ginny was let into a small room that was piled with books and manuscripts. The air was dusty and the only light came through two windows on one side of the room where a desk and chair were.
"These aren't nearly as old as the books we once had. The people from Kilney came in, claiming they wanted to preserve the works, and took them away. I'll be keeping my eye on you." The man said, before leaving.
Ginny shook her head then began going through the books. Most of them were records of births, marriages and deaths. Some of them were legal documents of so-and-so buying land from one person or another. Ginny felt very disappointed, but kept looking. After a good two hours of going through dusty old pages, Ginny felt she hit the jackpot. Tucked away in a shadowy corner of one shelf were a few volumes of books that looked worse for wear. Ginny pulled them out, and although they were written in a strange language, and she couldn't decipher them, she took them from the shelf excitedly and brought them to the table.
The pages were brown with age and very stiff. There were quite a few holes were bugs had managed to chew away parts of history, but they were pretty much intact. The people from Kilney must have overlooked or underestimated the value of these books, Ginny thought. She wanted to take these with her, to examine them closer and have Serena, the teams linguist, to translate them. But the clerk would most certainly not let anything leave the library, so Ginny copied down the titles and a few of the sentences on the first page of each book.
She was nearly finished when she heard the door open.
"I'm almost finished." Ginny said, thinking the intruder must be the clerk.
"You'd better be, because I don't want to spend more time than I have to in this pathetic place."
Ginny quickly looked up at the man who spoke, then groaned. She couldn't believe that the insufferable git was here, in this library, ruining her victorious find. She stood up as dignified as she could, but she knew that no amount of dignity would counter act the amount of dust on her face and the state of her clothes to Draco Malfoy.