Chapter 25: Discovery and Journeys

Hermione's heart seemed to stop altogether as she stared unblinkingly at the black stone in front of her. It took her breath away as she took it in. Waves of unadulterated, powerful magic seemed to waft from it, curling its long tendrils of power around them. Something hidden in Hermione's mind snapped and images and waves of thoughts poured into her consciousness. They were things from her young childhood, before she ever knew she was a witch. There was a long forgotten memory from when she was just five of her dad's hand bleeding profusely from an accident with the old lawn mower; her mum coming home late at night after a dinner party when she was three and kissing her on the forehead when they had arrived home.

It was strange that not all of them were good memories, several were of her parents fighting and Hermione being scared as they yelled, others were happy memories though.

"Tell me what you want to see…" a voice whispered into her right ear.

"Do you mean anything, anything at all?" Hermione responded, her lips moving but no sound escaping them.

"Yes," the voice hissed.

"Show me Ginny."

"As you wish."

The memories ceased abruptly and a blurry image began to grow in her mind. It became clearer and clearer until it was like it was happening right in front of her. Ginny was sitting on an unfolded roll of bedding with her legs crossed, Indian style with her freckled chin resting on her fists. She appeared bored and tired as she apparently stared off into space. She appeared unharmed and healthy except for a white bandage wrapped around her head. Hermione could see little of her location except for a wall of earth behind her and an old faded map that was hung on that same wall. She looked away from Ginny and tried to focus on the map, but suddenly things became very blurry as she looked away from her friend. Determined to have a look at that map, Hermione kept one eye on Ginny and one on the map; that seemed to work and she could see a coast line and a large grouping of islands. One word, and one word only was visible, Orkney.

Hermione's mind raced with the possibilities; Ginny was safe and appeared to be relatively unharmed and she was in the country, which was the best news since the Order had believed that the Death Eaters were hiding out in Eastern Europe. Wanting to find out more Hermione started to test her new surroundings, for she had discovered she could move around. It was a strange feeling, as if she was wading through water that reached far above her head. Her senses were also heightened, she could smell the earthen cave so strongly that her whole head was filled with it. She could also feel another presence in the room besides Ginny but she could not see him or her.

Suddenly the connection ended and Hermione was torn from the image, but not before Ginny turned her eyes towards Hermione's direction. The feeling Hermione felt when the two made eye contact was instantaneous, it was almost like a spark that shot into the room and into her head. There was a yelp and a scream and Hermione knew nothing else.

Just down the coast Albert Porter was beginning to stir in his bed as bright sunshine began to pour through the bedroom window. When the man's blue eyes finally opened completely his first thought was of the note for Arthur Weasley. Feeling wide awake Albert rose out of bed and quickly dressed in his gray suit. He entered the living room and kitchen area and was surprised to see no sign of his wife.

"Helen?" he called questioningly.

"I'm in here, dear," she called back from his office.

Albert opened the door to his office and spotted Helen sitting in is chair with her slightly wrinkled face propped in her right hand.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked with raised eyebrows when he spotted the papers that she had strewn over his generally neat and tidy desk.

"Just looking more into the Weasley case."

Albert quickly forgot about his breakfast and why his wife had to make such a mess, and pulled the opposite desk chair around so that he could sit next to his wife. They were a mess and the files seemed incomplete and jumbled, like there were holes missing in this family's life.

The two had breakfast and went to work, laying aside the Weasley folders until another time. Later on that day, Albert was looking through the letter from Mr. Gossard and focused on the part about the rumored vampires. He had heard that rumor and in fact knew it was true and not just a crazy rumor. His first boss (the man had sadly passed away two years ago) had known of it and had told him that he had had some communications with them but had to break it off when they started to argue.

Biting his lip Albert thought for a moment, what had the old man told him? On the southern coast. Albert opened his desk and pulled out a map of the British Isles. He pondered it for a moment and after a bit of hard thinking decided that the Vampire's hide out was somewhere between Hastings and Dover. It wasn't far at all and one could easily make it there in a day. Maybe if he was right he could try sending the letter and hopefully it would get to them alright. Albert took out a piece of parchment, a quill, and set about to right out the letter.

To: The Weasley family (namely Arthur Weasley)

Receiving Location: In the hide out of V's. somewhere between Hastings and Dover.

From: Robert Zain (Orkney Islands), on behalf of Ms. Ginevra Weasley (Orkney Islands), relayed by Adonis Gossard (Leeds) and Albert Porter (Dover).

Message (copied by Albert Porter): Ginevra is safe, and held up in cavern on Orkney Island. Unsafe to travel, Death Eaters are about. Please relay location and information through Mr. Gossard.

Departing Location: Dover

Albert finished and put his quill back and took out his wand and with a few flourishes of his wand the letter was off.

Hermione stayed unconscious for nearly a day before she finally awoke. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Ron, sitting in a chair next to her bed and looking very concerned.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her, as he knelt down beside her to take her hand.

"I'm okay. What happened? How long have I been asleep?"

Ron shook his head. "We don't know what happened, we were hoping you could tell us. All of a sudden you went into some kind of trance and then a minute later or so, you screamed and slumped over in your chair. You've been asleep for almost 12 hours."

Hermione sat up, and put a hand to her head, she had a terrible pounding head ache. "The stone…. It spoke to me."

"It what?" Ron asked, surprised and looking scared.

"It asked me what I wanted to see and I said I wanted to see Ginny; she was in a cavern with someone, but I couldn't see the other person, I tried but it wouldn't let me. She seemed to be alright, but she had a large bandage around her head."

Ron was speechless for a minute as he hung his head in his hands. "I don't understand, how can a stone speak? I know the stone is not your average rock and that the story behind it is amazing, but Greek Mythology? Great Gods that made man and swallowed each other? It… it's so hard to believe."

"I know Ron, I know, but it spoke to me, I heard it just as plain as day. There is something about this stone that not even Laurence knows of; he may know the story but that doesn't mean he has personal information about it," Hermione finished, her head starting to feel better.

"I don't know what to think, it's all so confusing."

"Ron, where is the stone?" Hermione asked her curiosity at an all time high, "I want to look at it."

Ron looked apprehensive, but got up from his chair and walked over to the nightstand (where the stone was sitting) anyways. He picked it up, feeling the cool smoothness of it and shivered as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The magic was strong and Ron could feel it coiling around him and testing the magic that was inside of him. He handed it to Hermione and shook his head to clear it. She looked at it, at the same time frightened but eerily fascinated by it.

"Be careful," Ron whispered.

"I am, don't worry."

She rolled it around in the palm of her hand, it was in fact perfectly smooth and perfectly black. She was staring at it, like before but she wasn't falling into a trance but she could feel the magic coiling around her. Before, the magic had entered her, had touched her mind but this time it seemed to just lick at her skin. Was it testing her? Seeing what she would do? She took a deep breath and having decided that the stone wasn't going to do anything until she herself did something, Hermione thought the following: Tell me what you are, speak to me.

Hermione waited several seconds and thinking that it was not going to answer she moved to place it down upon the bed but then she heard it, the whispering in her ear. It spoke in an eerily calm voice, it was smooth and silky, like butter. It was neither male nor female but something in between, something, that when you heard it you knew it held power.

"I am everything that you ever dreamed of; I am your hopes, your sadness, your love, and your lust. I know you better than you know yourself; I feel you, I see you, I own you and yet you own me as well. You and I are connected for I am rightfully yours and I also chose you."

The voice stopped speaking and Hermione stared at the stone in her palm as it gave a little quiver and then was still. She sat deep in thought, it was all a paradox and to her it made little sense. Could she ask it anything and it would know instantly? Exactly how much power did it hold?

"Well?" Ron asked, anxiously.

"It… it did speak to me but it didn't make any sense, none at all."

Ron looked at the stone and then back at Hermione; confusion and out right fright written all over his freckled face.

"What did it say?"

"It told me that it was my dreams or something like that and it said we were connected that it owned me and yet I own it too," Hermione muttered, turning the stone over and over in her hand.

Ron gulped but said nothing.

"Do you think I should ask it about Ginny again, maybe I can get something more specific from it?"

Ron was clearly torn, while he was scared of the powerful, unknown stone in his girlfriend's hand he also felt a strange curiosity. "I don't know, it's up to you," he finally answered.

"Okay then," she said, determined and again she spoke to the stone. Please tell me exactly where Ginny is.

"You ask so very much of me, you want me to reach into the depths of world and space, you want me to unravel the secrets that time forgot," the stone whispered.

"Please?" Hermione asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, since you asked so nicely… Why do you want to find your friend?"

Hermione was taken aback. She knew the answer of course, because it was Ginny, because Ginny was a part of all of them. Ginny was her sister, her friend, and her confidant. The answer was right in front of her.

"Because I love her, she's like my sister," Hermione replied as she felt tears prickle the corner of her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're smarter than the last owner I spoke to, she was a complete dung beetle. I got so sick of her, you have no idea. 'Oh powerful stone, speak to me, make him love me!' What a load of rubbish, of course that was back in the middle ages, I had hope that human beings would smarten up as time went on," the voice mocked. "Right then back to the task at hand, Ginny Weasley, must find Ginevra Weasley."

Then the voice began to chant, at least Hermione thought it sounded like chanting, it wasn't in English so she could only assume. The chanting stopped and was replaced with low murmurings that Hermione could barely discern.

"O' to the great Gods of Greece reveal to us the Witch Ginevra Weasley. I speak in the name Athena and Rhea, my creators," whispered the voice of the stone, its voice getting steadily stronger with each word.

Then, suddenly, Hermione saw Ginny before her eyes, it was like she was right in front of her, like she could touch her. The redheaded woman was running with a big black man over uneven ground, it was like they were running from something… or somebody. They had been in a cavern before, something must have happened, something that gave away their location. Who was the black man? There was a sudden whispering again in her ear.

"Orkney Island…"

Hermione immediately remembered the rocky terrain of the North from visits with her parents. The area was one of the most beautiful of all of Britain. It was a fantastic place full of historical landmarks dating back to 2600 B.C. and even beyond that. How did Ginny get there? Suddenly more flashed through her mind. Pictures, words, and feelings whirled past her eyes at lightening speed; one would think she would miss something but she saw it all, felt it all. It was imbedded into her mind. She whimpered from the force of it all and clasped into the bed, her hands shaking as she covered her eyes, trying to keep it all out, it was all too much at once.

Ron gave a cry of fright and was at her side immediately, he tried to gently shake her back into consciousness but there was no response. Her eyes were open but there was no substance behind them, they were empty. Right when he was about to run to get help, she blinked and her eyes didn't seem quite so glassy anymore; she stirred and looked directly at him before she placed a hand on her head and gave a groan of pain.

"Are you okay, what happened?" Ron asked, great worry etched on his face.

"I… I'm not entirely certain, everything was going fine until I asked how Ginny had arrived at Orkney Island and the stone showed me everything. I think I asked too broad of a question."

Hermione placed the stone on the night stand and looked at it warily. "I think I'll keep far away from that thing for awhile," Hermione said, a shiver going down her spine. "But it did show me exactly where Ginny is and exactly who she's with and how she got there."

The ache in her head quickly leaving she swung her legs over to the side of bed and stood up.

"Who is Ginny with?" Ron asked, supporting Hermione as she walked over to get her robe.

"I don't know him but he does look vaguely familiar, he's a Robert Zain."

Ron looked at her and his eyes widened a little, "I know him, I was his supervisor at c-34, and I wouldn't exactly call him dependable…."

"I hope Ginny is okay," she murmured as they exited the room to tell the others.

"My Lord?"

"Yes, Yaxley?" asked the cold hard voice.

"We've found the girl and the spy; they are in a cavern on the southern most island. We are forming our ranks now."

Voldemort nodded as he tapped his long, pointed fingernails on his stone throne. "Excellent, Yaxley, excellent, is there any word from the vampires?" Voldemort said, the anger seeming to boil just under the surface of his cool tone.

"Actually, my Lord, we just received a runner from the vampires."

"Very well then Yaxley send him in."

A few moments later, after Yaxley had left, a thin, pale man entered the large circular room where Voldemort was always on his large throne. The vampire's hair was a dark auburn that had the look that it had at one time been a carrot red but had darkened throughout the centuries of the Vampire's existence.

"I do hope that you have some news for me, I am beginning to doubt your people's allegiance," Voldemort hissed, his red eyes flashing.

"My leader wishes for me to tell you that the monsters are ready to be deployed, whenever you wish to use them," the vampire drawled, its teeth yellow with decay.

Voldemort said nothing as he stood to his feet and started to pace, a grin upon his evil face. The vampire did not move as Voldemort came towards him, the evil Wizard walked slowly, like he was contemplating his next move. He stopped right in front of the vampire; they were almost nose to nose. Still the vampire did not move; he didn't even twitch.

"I must admit that your people have given me trouble that I have never expected. Tell me, runner, how did you die before you were turned?" Voldemort asked, his eyes contracting into thin slits even through he had no eye lids.

Still the creature did not move, he did not blink, he did nothing but stare back into the red eyes of fury. There was no fright upon the vampire's face and it seemed to infuriate Voldemort even more to the brink of utter and complete rage, but still Voldemort appeared calm. His eyes told differently though as they seemed to glow ever redder, like a fire awakening. After what seemed like an eternity (even though it was only a few seconds) the vampire answered.

"I was young, just 19, newly married, and my wife was pregnant. I lived in the thirteenth century."

"I do not believe that you heard my question correctly, I asked how you died, not your age at the time of your death nor if you had a go with you wife," Voldemort hissed, his tongue seeming to taste the air like a snake would; he could now taste the fear now, just a little that surrounded the vampire.

"Some thieves entered our home, my wife was killed and the bandits dragged me from my home and strung me up from a tree. I was near death when some gypsies came across my body. They untied me and carried me back to their camp, their leader was my sire," the vampire finished, his eyes showing the barest hint of emotion.

Voldemort nodded slowly and backed away from the vampire. "What a tragic, yet dramatic way to die."

"I must agree, Lord Voldemort."

Voldemort turned and gave a hiss at the creature behind him. "How dare you call me…."

The vampire cut him off with a wave of a pale hand. "I call no one but my sire, 'my Lord,' if you wish to be called such, then I recommend calling in one of your own followers," the vampire hissed, all fear gone from the creature, as his own eyes turned red with anger, his incisors growing long and pointed. "I will leave you now, Lord Voldemort, I have given you my leader's message and my duty had been completed. I sincerely hope that we do not meet again," he mocked, barring his fangs.

Voldemort screamed with rage and reached for his wand with lightening speed, but the vampire was far too agile and jumped to the side as the killing curse flew towards him. He gave a barking laugh as the curse hit the stone wall and stone went flying.

"I'm already dead! Do you think you can kill me again? I truly see now that your answer to everything is to kill."

The vampire rolled to the right as another curse came flying his way, and jumped to his feet, more lithe as any human or wizard alive. He ran towards the door, zigzagging this way and that as curses and transfigured stakes whizzed past him. His outstretched hand was on the scarred door frame when a wooden stake impaled him through the gut, but this did not stop him, just slowed him down as he continued out of the room. Voldemort had missed his heart by a mere few centimeters. With another scream of rage, Voldemort called his followers to his side and quickly dispatched them to find the vampire, but not before he told Yaxley to stay behind with him, they had something to discuss.

"Yaxley, you have failed me, I am most disappointed."

"I am terribly sorry my Lord, I had no idea that t-- the vampire was unstable," Yaxley stuttered, his eyes wide with fright.

"I do not take well to failure, Yaxley," Voldemort muttered, his slit like eyes narrowed in concentration as he tapped his wand rhythmically against his out stretched palm. "But as you know Yaxley I am a forgiving leader to my true followers, so the punishment will be quick and simple. After all you have served me faithfully for many years."

The Death Eater nodded, relief beginning to flicker over his pointed face. Voldemort turned calmly towards Yaxley and raising his wand at him he just as calmly uttered the killing curse. The Death Eater reacted very little as the curse raced towards him, his eyes just widened once more and the curse struck him. He lay, completely dead, and unmoving. Voldemort walked up to his body and stared down at him for a brief moment before walking away.

"I do not take well to failure, Yaxley, I really don't," he muttered as he exited the room.

A/N: Eek! It's been a year since my last update! Sorry to everyone who might still be reading this fic. My thanks go to SaturngalA for lighting the fire again under this story and urging me to update. So, please review if you do read this chapter. Please!!!