Chapter 20: The Beginning

Merlin waited until his new apprentice was asleep before retiring to his room and studying the parchment that he had found earlier that day among the belongings of his recently deceased mentor, Ambrosius. There was a crude drawing of a cup with a Latin set of instructions beneath it. The words said to turn the cup thrice clockwise to produce a potion for invincibility, but one may also turn it thrice counterclockwise for certain death.

He turned the parchment over, held it up to the fire, and tried a series of revealing spells on it, but there were no further instructions. There were no details about the invincibility potion, so there was no way for him to know how long it lasted. He couldn't know if there were side effects. There was no indication of what "certain death" meant. There was absolutely nothing to go on except for the cryptic set of instructions, and they did not sit well with him. He saw danger in those words. Anyone could misinterpret them and cause great damage and pain. Experimentation was a risk that he was not willing to take.

Feeling that the information was best forgotten, he threw the parchment into the fire.

HG**LM

Ginny arrived at the Shrieking Shack with Lucius and Hermione in tow. She had taken their wands before they had left London and before binding their hands and ankles. This made for an awkward landing as the three of them Apparated into the shack. Hermione tripped on a loose board and pushed Ginny into a wall, which inspired Lucius to attempt to subdue her with the weight of his body before she had time to recover.

Lucius and Ginny struggled for a moment, but she was able to free her wand hand. He moved away from her as she pushed her wand into his cheek. With a wave of her wand, Ginny had them bound to chairs. She then went into a fit of screaming and destroying household objects.

Lucius understood her loss of temper. There was a large empty cage in the corner of the room. "Where is my son, Nimue? I don't see him here."

"Shut up!" she snapped.

She went to Lucius and checked all of his pockets and patted down his clothing before doing the same to Hermione.

"That's right. Don't make the same mistake twice. Make sure we don't have more wands or other weapons." Lucius drawled on haughtily with a smile.

Ginny slapped him across the face. "I said shut up!"

Once Ginny made sure that her prisoners were secured properly, she searched the small shack for Viktor. He was supposed to be there with Draco. Cursing under her breath, she disappeared into another room.

Hermione whispered, "You're going to get us killed, Lucius. Stop mocking her."

"She's not done with us yet, so she can't kill us. Now that she doesn't have Draco to torture in order to make me talk, I am trying to delay and distract her as much as possible. I don't want her to hurt you," Lucius replied.

Ginny shouted from the other room. "Stop whispering in there! I'm going to silence you when I get done in here!"

Lucius said, "I love you," and said no more.

Not used to hearing him express his feelings so bluntly, Hermione was taken by surprise, but quickly answered, "I love you, too."

Ginny emerged with the Hufflepuff Cup in her grasp. She was wearing black leather gloves. She placed it on a small table in front of Lucius and Hermione.

"Do you see this?" She held up a dirty piece of material that looked like she could have torn it from a rotten curtain. "To silence you, I'm not going to do you the courtesy of using a spell; I'm going to gag you with this if you say anything else without being asked to speak. I'd love to use it anyway, but I need you both to tell me something."

There was a commotion outside and Viktor appeared by Ginny's side. "I saw Harry Potter in the darkness. We dueled, but then I lost him. I think he's still out there."

Ginny said, "Well, then don't stand in here. Keep watch outside the door, and don't kill him . . . Bring him inside, and I will kill him."

Hermione stared after Viktor in disbelief, and Ginny said, "Yes, Miss Perfect. He's been on my side for all of these years. He went with you to the Yule Ball because I told him to . . . Now, why can't I feel any magic in this?" She pointed to the cup and looked at Lucius.

"I taught you the same as I did Morgana all those years ago. You heard all of the same history about it. There is nothing more to tell except that it ruins lives, and I don't want to touch it." Lucius looked away from her and said no more.

Ginny thought about his last statement. "Why don't you want to touch it?"

"Have you not been listening? I want nothing to do with its power. I've tried to keep it hidden. After the war, it was practically thrown into obscurity within the Department of Mysteries. I had hoped that it would stay there for another thousand years," Lucius said.

Ginny looked into his eyes and studied him as he spoke. "I think you're telling the truth, so guess what? I'm going to make you touch it. I want to see what happens."

"Surely you aren't mad enough to put a weapon into the hands of your enemies? You must be getting desperate," Hermione said.

"Crucio!" Ginny shouted the curse. Hermione was completely unprepared for it and screamed in agony.

"Stop! We can't help you if drive us mad from pain," Lucius said. He looked away from Hermione because he couldn't stand to see her suffer.

Ginny laughed, and spoke to Hermione. "It's not that kind of weapon. It won't explode, you fool, and you know that. How many times did we witness its greatness in Avalon?"

She paused. "Unless you do know something more that you aren't telling . . . I'm not going to take chances, or give you time to reap any benefits . . . I will have my wand pushed into your scalp, and if I see any sudden movements, you're dead."

She approached Lucius first.

As she handed him the cup, he thought back to a piece of parchment that he had once read and destroyed. There would be no harm in trying to conjure the potion. He knew that he could drink it before she could utter the Killing Curse. He'd be invincible for at least long enough to finally defeat her. He turned it thrice in hand clockwise, but nothing happened.

Ginny snatched it from his hand. "Why did you do that?"

"Why did I do what?" Lucius asked.

"You turned it three times," Ginny said.

"I was simply trying to sense something from it. I have no idea exactly how many times I turned it." Lucius winced as she bound his hands tightly.

Ginny shoved the cup into Hermione's free hand. "Turn it three times now!"

As she started to turn counterclockwise, Lucius exclaimed, "Stop!"

Ginny snatched the cup from Hermione, placed it on the table at a safe distance, gagged Lucius with the putrid cloth, and retrieved the cup again. Handing it to Hermione, she said, "Turn it three times!"

A tingling sensation started in each of Hermione's fingertips. Warmth followed the tingling, and the five points of warmth traveled down her fingers and converged in her palm. She knew something was going to happen, so she took a breath and tried to clear her mind. She didn't want to make a mistake now. She turned the golden stem three times counterclockwise and a liquid appeared in the chalice.

She recognized the color and the smell of oleander instantly. It was the same poison that she had given Lancelot with which to kill Guinevere.

Lucius was scared. He couldn't warn Hermione, or say anything at all.

Viktor stumbled into the room at that moment with his wand at Harry's back.

"Put him over there, and I'll kill him in a minute," Ginny said.

"Ginny? You're going to kill me? I'm your husband." Harry was frantic.

She sneered. "You are also the master of the Elder Wand, and that fact is more important than our marriage to me."

Hermione knew what she had to do with Ginny's momentary distraction. She raised the cup to her lips as if she meant to drink, keeping an eye on Ginny as she did so.

Ginny looked back at Hermione just in time to catch her trying to drink. She dug the wand into Hermione's scalp and placed her other hand over the top of the cup. "Give it to me, bitch! How dare you try to drink while my back was turned?" Ginny brought the cup to her nose and smelled the contents. "It smells lovely. Too bad I'm drinking it instead of you."

Ginny drank the poison and started choking. The sound of the golden goblet hitting the floor reverberated throughout the shack as everything else went silent. For a few seconds, all anyone could do was stare at Ginny's still form on the floor. Her face was frozen in a grotesque display with her eyes and mouth wide.

Viktor then attempted to run to her, but fell to his knees where he stood.

Everyone's attention turned from Ginny to Viktor at the sound of a blade piercing his flesh and the gurgling sound of blood escaping his mouth. Draco stood behind Viktor. Both of his hands were on the Sword of Gryffindor, and it was buried to the hilt into Viktor's back.

"See that, Potter? The sword works perfect for me," Draco said.

"I think this is the first time I've ever been happy to see you, Malfoy. I'm glad we decided to split up." Harry reclaimed his wand from Viktor's body and immediately went to Ginny.

Draco untied Hermione and Lucius.

Lucius embraced Hermione. "I was so afraid that you would drink the poison."

"I knew it was poison. I'd encountered that recipe before . . . It felt as if the Grail knew that I would know, but I wonder why it didn't work for you?" Hermione asked.

Lucius shook his head. "I turned it clockwise, which is supposed to make a potion of invincibility. I was going to drink it myself."

Hermione smiled sadly. "Perhaps you have too much evil in you to receive something like that."

He held her tighter. "Perhaps you are right. One thing is certain; everything is as it should be. Our struggle is finally over. I can't wait to grow old with you in peace."

"You're already old, Father, and you are going to explain this entire convoluted situation to me as soon as I can get you home," Draco quipped. He looked at Harry holding Ginny on the floor. "Are you alright, Potter?"

Hermione broke away from Lucius and went to Harry. He said, "I'm very far from alright."

Hermione put her arm around him and tried to console him. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

Harry let go of Ginny and clung to Hermione. He sobbed deep. "I thought it was over with Voldemort's death. Why do I keep losing so much?"

"Greatness comes at a price," Hermione answered. She stroked his hair and continued to hold him. You'll be happy soon, Harry. It's all over now. I promise.

He looked at her with red eyes. "I never asked for greatness. I didn't even want to be Minister for Magic. Everyone else wanted it for me."

"They wanted it for you because you are a good man."

Draco sent a Patronus to Andromeda, and Aurors and other Ministry witches and wizards began arriving to preserve evidence and remove the bodies of the deceased.

Hermione stood in the middle of the scene and watched her loved ones. She overheard Harry give the order for the Shrieking Shack to be demolished and wondered why no one had thought of that years ago. She saw Andromeda smiling at Lucius because she was thankful that he wasn't hurt. She felt joy at noticing that Lucius' hand was resting protectively on Draco's shoulder. Luna Lovegood, Morgana and Merlin's own ancestor, arrived and Harry went straight to her for comfort. Everything was finally set right in her world, and she was ready to begin the rest of her life with the man she loved—the man she had been waiting to find for a millennium.