Chapter Two
Entering the familiar office (The password was honeysickles this time) the trio, or more so over Harry and Ron drew to halt, Hermione with her mind still buried in her book, comfortably settled her self on one of the available settees, unaware of her surroundings.
"You!" Ron glared at the two other occupants in the office.
"As far as I am concerned Weasley, you refers to the singular, there are two of us here, unless you are unable to count that is."
Ron blushed at his slip up, while Harry hurriedly came to his rescue.
"Really, looked like one person to me, since you two seemed to always be joined at the hip, no offence Pansy." Harry stated, shooting Pansy a nod. He and Ron had worked with the Slytherin girl on numerous potions and DADA projects and had found her to be slightly more cordial than her other Slytherin chums.
At that moment Professor Dumbledore entered the room, drawing a halt to their tryst. His eyes twinkled as he observed the glares thrown between his students. "Take a seat please." He uttered, motioning to the various chairs in his office. Hermione was now sitting comfortably in her chair, her eyes only on her headmaster, completely oblivious to the other foreign occupants in the room; one could even say that she was doing a good job at ignoring them.
"Ms.Granger, if you please." Hermione handed the book to Professor Dumbledore's outstretched hand.
He placed it on his desk and clasped his fingers over it.
"Mister Malfoy, If I recall correctly, you were telling me that your father was going on about a book before his decease."
Hermione turned her head slightly to face the two other occupants in the room which she had failed to notice, Malfoy was staring straight at Professor Dumbledore, whereas Parkinson caught her glaze and offered a slow smile. Shocked, Hermione shot her a grin, before listening to what Malfoy had to say.
"I don't see what that has to do with what …"
The rest of the conversation was lost as Hermione started to process the information. She could not understand why Malfoy and Parkinson, of all people would be here in Professor Dumbledore's office. More so over, she could hardly figure out why, Parkinson after 6 years of crude meanness was suddenly being so cordial. Perhaps it was what Ron and Harry had been trying to tell her while she was reading in the common room; she recalled vaguely several conversations on that matter. Vowing to pay more attention to her two best friends, she focussed on the root of her confusion, since when was Malfoy's father dead.
"-I have reason to believe that the book which your father was talking about is this very same book..", Dumbledore stated as he tapped lightly on the book placed before him.
"Your father was talking about a book of fairytales?" Ron stated blandly.
"I don't think so Ron, the book seems to contain more than fairy tales, the last few pages I was reading kept on referring to an ancient world."
"Isn't the ancient world a myth?" Pansy asked convicting.
Ron nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I can recall mother telling us about it when we were younger."
Harry shot Hermione a look. Yes, it was probably part of a wizarding tale he thought to himself as he observed Hermione's brow darken, an obvious sign that she was confused.
"So, What, or perhaps, where exactly is this ancient world?" Hermione stated, voicing her confusion.
Ron took in a breathe, "I am not so good at story telling -"
"Granger, shouldn't you of all people know what the ancient world is?" Draco's scathing tongue cut through the air.Hermione breathed out a sigh, and turned to face her nemesis. "No, since you seemed to be well versed in that why don't you tell me then, Malfoy?" she shot back, matching his venomous tone.
Draco raised an eyebrow. Donning a voice of a teacher explaining something simple to a child, "In 1918, that's when world war one ended Granger-"
"I know that!"
Malfoy smirked as Hermione got riled up, who knows perhaps it could become his newest source of entertainment, he thought to himself.
"A group of wizards got together and they were appalled by the way the barbaric muggles shot and tore up their own kin.-"
Hermione let out a great huff. "As if the interwizard wars of 1916 were any less tragic" she muttered under her breathe. Malfoy chose to ignore her.
"They created a world, known as Aretuglem, or the ancient world, purely meant for wizard and magical kin, and resided in there for ever more." Draco ended in a bored tone.
Hermione pondered what Malfoy had said, or more so over the horrible retelling of what she supposed was a classic fairy tale. Arrogant prick, she thought to herself.
"Professor Dumbledore, is it even possible to create an entire new world?" She questioned, turning to her headmaster, whose presence had nearly been forgotten. "That's what we are going to find out, Ms.Granger." He replied, passing the book over to her. Hermione placed it in her lap. Sweeping up her large curls into a hair-tie, she opened the book, turning to the first page. It was blank.
Hurriedly she flipped through the entire book, it was completely blank.
"I don't understand… it's completely empty." She sighed in frustration, passing the book to Harry, on her left, and she then cradled her head in her hands.Harry had a go at it, to no avail. He then passed the book to Ron, who flipped through it before passing it to Pansy.Hermione massaged her temples. She was trying to recall the day her mother handed her the book, but for some queer reason, the memory seemed to be evading her. Suddenly a bright flash filled the room. Hermione looked up in confusion.
"Granger did you jinx the bloody book?"
The book lay glowing at Malfoy's feet. He had thrown it down and was now cradling his fingers inspecting them for any injury.
Hermione got down on her knees and approached the book cautiously.
"Careful Mione" Harry's concerned voice echoed after her. Slowly she reached out and touched the book. "That's nice Granger, grovelling at my feet?" Malfoy's snide remarks once more filled the room. Hermione huffed and picked up the book off the floor. She briefly flipped to a random page, it was blank. She sighed once more.
"Hermione, I think there is something on the cover of your book." Pansy voiced out. Hermione shot her a grateful smile, turning to the cover of the book. Indeed there was an engraving on the cover. She ran her finger over it, there was a light engraving in the middle of the book but the one liner at the bottom was deeper and much more prominent. Hermione squinted as she read the line out loud. "oommaivin puthagam". (the book of truth) Hermione swayed slightly before falling backwards, unconscious.
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