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A/N: Sorry about the long wait, guys! I've just been recovering after some surgery on a broken leg. Anyway, here is chapter 4, I hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 4: Mors Alit
Monday morning had started quite well for Hermione. She'd finished her preliminary translation of the manuscript's first part; she intended to transcribe and study it as soon as she reached her office. However, within a few minutes of arriving she discovered that the department was in chaos. Unspeakables of all different specialities rushed past her and paper messages flew over her head as they raced for their recipients.
Clutching her precious work to her chest, Hermione dodged around a blustering unspeakable with a bushy beard only to crash into a pair of aurors who gave her a dirty look. "Sorry," she muttered and pressed on towards Robards' office. A couple of times she tried to ask different harassed-looking employees what was going on but the most she received was a rather testy "very busy" from the normally calm secretary Alberta Marat.
Narrowly avoiding a collision with a surprisingly speedy goblin, Hermione finally arrived outside Robards' office. She knocked on the door and was answered with an indistinguishable reply from the ex-auror. Hermione popped her head around the door and found the director of the department of mysteries massaging his greying temples.
"Granger, take a seat," Robards said curtly, unconsciously rubbing the scar that ran from his eye to the corner of his mouth. Gawain Robards had been an auror of some note before becoming the head auror after Mad Eye Moody's death. However, the need for increased security in the department of mysteries had led to his reassignment as the department's director. Hermione had never dared ask him but she had the distinct impression that Robards had not elected for his departmental transfer.
Hermione slipped into an uncomfortable wooden chair on the opposite side of the desk to the brown haired director. "I suppose you've heard?" He asked as he rifled in a desk draw for something.
"Heard what, sir?" Hermione replied with a frown.
"About this fucking mess, Granger," he growled as he sat back up with a bottle of firewhiskey and a glass. He poured himself a generous measure and looked at Hermione pointedly. "Well, do you want one?" Robards asked.
"Uh...no thank you sir," she replied, slightly perturbed by the director's strange behaviour.
Hermione's teeth worried at her lower lip as she waited for Robards to knock his drink back and get on with his explanation. Her breakfast churned in her stomach in response to the palpable tension and she focused upon a quidditch player scoring a goal on the Wimbourne Wasps themed pen holder on the desk.
Robards massaged his temples again. "We've had a break in," he said with a resigned sigh.
"A break-in?" Hermione all but shrieked.
"Last night," Robards confirmed.
"B-but all the extra security!" Hermione said as Harry's words on Saturday swam around her mind. Someone carrying on his work... Suddenly she felt incredibly nauseated.
"Yes, the extra security is dead," Robards said. "I can tell you, it was a nightmare to dispose of the body," he sighed.
"Are you saying someone broke into the department of mysteries, got past the usual wards, and then proceeded to kill the enormous dragon sitting in their way?"
"That is exactly what I am saying Granger," Robards said through gritted teeth.
Hermione sat and processed the information for a moment. At the beginning of the year the department of mysteries had procured a Hebridean Black dragon for security purpose. Affectionately named Hilda, she resided in a nice spacious room that all intruders would be transported to after they forced the preliminary wards around the entrance chamber. The idea that someone would be able to get past a giant fire-breathing monster and then find their way through the maze of doors only an unspeakable could navigate was, quite frankly, unnerving.
"Was anything taken?" Hermione asked.
"Not exactly," Robards said with a sigh as he poured another whiskey. He cleared his throat. "The intruder left us a little present."
"A present," Hermione said arching an eyebrow.
"Yes, they eviscerated Griffiths and used his entrails and blood to leave a message," Robards said with a slightly green tinge to his face.
"What did the message say?" Hermione asked shakily.
"I think you had better see this for yourself, Granger."
Theophilius Griffiths looked more expressive in death than he had in life. Hermione had only ever seen Griffiths twitch his lips in a weak attempt at a smile, yet here he was laying spread eagled with a look of pure terror transforming his usually neutral face. His watery rodent-like eyes were wide and glazed as they bulged from their sockets, staring into some endless blank void. Griffiths' mouth was open and contorted into a Munch-esque scream with his tongue lolling uselessly to one side.
Hermione's stomach turned as her eyes fell upon the ruthless incision that exposed Griffiths' abdominal cavity. His intestines hung over his body and lay tangled on the Veil's stone dais. At his feet lay two Latin words painted in thick, dark blood:
MORS ALIT
"Merlin's beard," Hermione muttered as she mentally translated the words.
"I presume you can read that," Robards said grimly.
"It says 'death nourishes' or 'feeds'," Hermione replied.
"Indeed. It seems someone wanted to send us a message that the death eaters are still active and still pose a threat," Robards said. "Come on back to the office, I'm starting to feel nauseous."
As they walked back to the office in silence Hermione let the implications of Griffiths' murder sink in. Not only were the death eaters strong enough to make a bold move by breaking in and killing an unspeakable, they seemed to have chosen the death chamber deliberately. Were they simply emphasising the role of death in their agenda and organisation? Or were they hoping to lure Harry by provoking memories of Sirius' fall through the Veil and the lives given up for Harry's cause?
Back in the office, Hermione sank into a chair. "Sir, I'm don't think the choice of room was coincidental," Hermione said.
"I agree, Granger," Robards replied, massaging the bridge of his nose.
"What I was coming to talk to you about today may be relevant to this investigation," Hermione said, picking at the edge of a nail.
"How so?"
"I have been translating one of the documents I found last week and as a result there is no doubt in my mind that we are in possession of a manuscript that will unlock the secrets of the Veil," Hermione explained.
"The Veil," Robards reiterated. Hermione could almost hear the cogs working in his head.
"I think the death eaters may want these secrets and intend to use them. As a result, I think that it is paramount that I find out everything I can from this manuscript as soon as possible. Not only might this enable us to destroy the Veil before the death eaters can discover its secrets but it could allow us to rescue the people who have fallen through!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Hmm...there were signs that someone had tried to force entry into the room where we stored all your finds," pondered Robards. "But I'm having difficulty believing your theory, it seems slightly tenuous," Robards finally said.
"Sir, please listen! This is a fantastic opportunity regardless of death eater plots anyway. I only ask that you give me a few weeks to work on this," Hermione pleaded.
"Fine," Robards sighed. "I'm giving you two weeks to work on it with suspension of normal duties."
Hermione smiled appreciatively.
"However," Robards added after a moment. "You will be required to take your turn at guard duty, we're increasing security again. Merlin, where am I going to get another dragon from?" Robards groaned. "Leave me Granger, go and get on with your project but woe-betide-you if there are no results from this."
Hermione exited the office with a sensation of shellshock. She was thrilled to have a chance to investigate the Veil properly. And yet, she could not escape from the looming shadow cast by the day's events.
Flinging some floo powder into the fireplace, Hermione stepped into the green flames and clearly spoke the address for Harry's flat.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, why not drop me a review to let me know what you think? ;)