Infractum Prosterno Ac Effligo! The object glowed a bright crimson. The space around it seeming to expand— that was the first sign that something was going wrong. Hermione quickly released her spell on the item and concentrated on strengthening her protection charm. She was knocked backwards as the glow changed to yellow and an explosive energy burst forth, charring everything within its sphere.
Hermione held onto consciousness as she held onto life. She realized a split-second before the explosion that her amulet would not be enough, but if she passed out, that would be all she had. She watched as the object returned to a seemingly innocuous item. It should have been charred and black—not the surrounding area. She felt lucky that she had been quick enough to protect herself, as one of her mentors had lost a hand to the same sort of curse, and he had been a much more powerful wizard. Yes, she felt lucky indeed. But that still didn't solve her problem—breaking the curse.
-o-o-o-
Hermione had always assumed that she would go to work for Gringotts after Hogwarts, putting her Arithmancy skills to good use. But after keeping Bill company from time to time during his long recovery from Greyback's attack on him, she discovered that she might be better suited to working for them as a curse-breaker instead of just crunching numbers. The stories Bill told were fascinating, and if his recovery continued to go as slowly as it had been, there would probably be an opening. She thought along this path as she had watched while Lupin and Moody, with the help of other Order members at times, assisted Harry in destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes.
After Voldemort's defeat, Hermione began her apprenticeship as a curse-breaker under a Goblin named Tubersnuf. The work was harder than she had thought it would be. Bill's descriptions had made it seem so quixotic, akin to how she had felt in the Muggle world about archeology, she realized. In reality, it was grueling, sweaty work—hours in the dank caves under Gringotts carrying tomes from the library to the reading room to study languages and Ancient Runes, not to mention the Defense Against the Dark Arts training with Tubersnuf that made the classes at Hogwarts seem extraneous. Even though they had studied the Unforgivable Curses and various jinxes, Hogwarts had just skimmed the surface. Hermione soon realized that when she had thought about curses and the Dark Arts, she had assumed she would be dealing with the Unforgivables. But Tubersnuf had enlightened her; those curses were only given so much attention because the Ministry of Magic had made them Unforgivable. There were many other curses used in the Dark Arts that could make the Unforgivables appear almost tame by comparison. But, like many other things, the Ministry seemed to operate under the theory that if it closed its eyes and couldn't see it, then it didn't exist.
One thing the Ministry could no longer disavow was the existence of Horcruxes. In fact, they had passed a new law declaring Horcruxes to be illegal and to be immediately confiscated and destroyed. More Horcruxes than Hermione had wanted to count had been found in the year after Voldemort's demise during raids on Death Eater homes. Of course, no one had been as obsessive as Voldemort himself, usually having just the one Horcrux. She noted that Bellatrix had two and wondered if it was after the first or second Horcrux that one started to go crazy. The Ministry had been in-charge of the raids, but they had left the destruction of the Horcruxes to the curse-breakers at Gringotts. Hermione knew that most of the Aurors could have handled the job, but thought that Scrimgeour would not even want one Horcrux in the Ministry building.
Hermione helped destroy several of them while under the watchful eye of Tubersnuf.
After a year of studying and training, Hermione's apprenticeship was over. She was kept on at the branch in Diagon Alley, which included having the opportunity for the occasional trip to Scotland or Wales when an object was deemed too dangerous, or at times too large, to be moved. When she was not curse-breaking, she was kept busy studying and practicing to keep her skills honed, or reading up on the assignments other curse-breakers had solved. Hermione found the latter the most enjoyable, reminding her of the times talking with Bill, thinking ahead on her career. She realized now how little knowledge she'd truly had before coming into this job.
Her weekends were spent in her flat, cuddling with Crookshanks and reading for pleasure, although she was not sure if Modern Alchemy and Runes Today would be considered pleasurable for anyone else. Copies of Witch Weekly were kept around for when Ginny dropped by for tea and a bit of gossip, and she subscribed to the Muggle newspaper to keep abreast of the happenings in the Muggle world and to have a topic or two to discuss with her parents when she went over for dinner. Her job and its unpredictability was enough excitement, and she tried hard to keep the rest of her life ordinary.
-o-o-o-
Hermione was just heading out her door for work, when an owl scratching at her window brought her back in. Recognizing it as a Gringotts owl, she opened the window to retrieve the message; the owl did not wait for a reply. Hermione knew this could only mean one thing; she began mentally packing as she read the parchment.
Another Horcrux
Scotland
Open your Floo
Be ready in half an hour
Tubersnuf
She admitted to finding the goblin personable as goblins went, and enjoyed working with him, but she wished he would not be so vague in his messages. With Tubersnuf's brief letters, she was still never sure what to pack, but at least this time it looked like they would be working together. She also wondered why they were traveling to a Horcrux, instead of just bringing the item into London.
Exactly half an hour later, Tubersnuf arrived by Floo, dusted himself off, and asked, "Are you ready?"
As Hermione was answering in the affirmative, Tubersnuf placed the other end of the Portkey in her hand. Then, before she could ask any questions, they were whisked off to Scotland.
Shortly after arriving, Hermione's questions were answered. The Horcrux was a Pensieve. Three Ministry employees were standing around it, staring. The grey mist was swirling inside of it at an alarming rate. No one would even dare to actually try to enter the memory as there was too great a risk that mist was not a real memory. The Ministry workers had tried a few harmless spells to stabilize the Pensieve for transfer to Gringotts, only to have their spells repelled and cast back at them. After that failed, they tried tossing a few inanimate objects into the stone bowl, only to have them ricochet off the surface of the mist, exploding into ash. The image of Dumbledore's hand flashed through Hermione's mind—she shuddered involuntarily. Tubersnuf noticed her reaction.
"Are you going to be able to work on this objectively?" he asked.
"I'm okay, just having a bit of a flashback. I just haven't seen one cursed like this since Voldemort's were destroyed."
"Did you help with those?"
"No, but I watched closely, and Harry and I talked afterwards. The curses were difficult to break, but not impossible."
"Then, let's get to it." A gleam appeared in the goblin's eyes, one that only appeared when he was working and feeling challenged.
-o-o-o-
Hermione gathered her bearings. Except for the charred wooden floor beneath the Pensieve, the small attic seemed otherwise unharmed. Tubersnuf was standing over her, looking, if not concerned, then perplexed. They had exhausted their knowledge and used their last hope of destroying the Horcrux. There was nothing more they could do without further research.
The Ministry employees reinforced the Anti-Muggle charm on the two-room dwelling and left to make their report. Hermione and Tubersnuf retired downstairs to think on the next course of action. After more than an hour of nothing more forthcoming than a lot of pacing, they returned to London to bury themselves under tomes from the Gringotts library and archives. Later, they returned to the small house, Hermione to gather information and Tubersnuf to test the usability of a few spells that some might categorize as Dark Arts; but being a goblin, he had no qualms with using.
The one thing that bothered Hermione was why this Horcrux was just sitting out in the middle of Scotland with no further protection than an Anti-Muggle charm on the house. Had other charms been disabled before the Ministry had found it? And if so, by whom? Or, was the originator of the Horcrux so sure that it couldn't be destroyed that he didn't take any further precautions? With the previous Horcruxes, Hermione thought, she at least had the advantage of knowing who the Horcrux had belonged to. Here, she had no clues.
She walked around the perimeter of the house searching for answers to her questions. She found a small path at the back and walked a few feet. When she turned back, the house wasn't there, neither was the path. She reactivated the Portkey and found herself in the attic again. Some of her questions had been answered, but now new questions were demanding an answer.