"So, basically you're saying that Malfoy tagged along all this time for nothing?" Ron asked incredulously lifting his head from the leather armchair in which he was seated.
Ron's question had broken the long and heavy silence that had greeted Blaise's final words.
If the amulet only revealed its true power to a woman, at first glance it did seem as if Malfoy's presence was unnecessary. But Hermione knew that it wasn't so simple. Pandora's feministic tendencies aside, her creation was obviously one imbued with ancient magic and Hermione knew for a fact that ancient magic and especially ancient dark magic, meant blood wards.
"Of course, not Ron."
Hermione chanced a glance at Malfoy before continuing. He was standing just inside the door, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed over his chest. He was looking at the floor, his eyes narrowed in thought.
"Even though Malfoy is not female, he still carries Pandora's blood. In the absence of a female descendent, Malfoy may still be the only one who can destroy or control it" she said, still looking at the erstwhile blond.
"That doesn't make sense though" Malfoy looked up at her "Someone is already presumably using the amulet. I'm the only direct Malfoy descendent still alive. Additionally, the Malfoy's haven't produced female heirs in decades".
They stared at each other for a few minutes, concentration etched on their faces.
"We'll just have to assume that someone managed to break through the blood wards and figured out how to use it" Hermione muttered, although she realised that her assumption was farfetched.
"Blood wards are almost impossible to disable or trick, that's why it was used so much in ancient dark magic. It's also why they're not used anymore. It literally asks for your blood" Malfoy countered.
"But it's not the blood per se, though is it?" Hermione asked, rather forgetting the others in the room. At the moment, she realised that barring Ernie, she and Malfoy may be the only ones following the same train of thought.
"The blood ward recognises the magic in the blood. So, for example, if you were to have a child who was a squib, they wouldn't be able to disable the wards anyway" she continued.
"You're assuming that someone was able to tap into the magic that the blood ward required" Malfoy rubbed the back of his neck. "Theoretically that may be possible, I've never heard of it done though. Have you?" he looked back up at her.
"No…" Hermione trailed off thinking. "But, there have been advances in research on wards and how they can be disabled or manipulated. Either way, we have to assume we're dealing with a very powerful wizard. Or at the very least, a highly intelligent one".
"That's a given anyway" Malfoy agreed. "Perhaps he figured out how to trick the ward by duplicating the core magic? Is that even possible?" he asked her.
"If it were, he would have had to study the Galanos line very carefully. Core magic can be highly specific, especially in generations old, pure blooded families such as yours. I've never heard of it being done, but I suppose theoretically it can be. It would be extremely difficult though, without being able to at least study the magic of a living holder of the blood. But that would have to be you. Or your father?"
Hermione had been muttering almost to herself, her thoughts jumping ahead of her but one look at his face told her that Malfoy had been thinking the exact same thing.
He gave a forceful sigh.
"My father had many secrets. If someone did study him with or without his knowledge, I have no clue of it" he said.
A throat cleared loudly.
Hermione was jerked out of her deep reverie.
Harry was regarding them with narrowed eyes.
"As interesting as this discussion is, I feel like we're missing the point. We need to get Seamus and we need to bring this murderer to a halt. So, we don't really need to know how this wizard is using the amulet only that he needs to be stopped. So, we go along with our original plan. Is everyone clear on that?" he asked wearily.
"Actually" Hermione spoke before she could stop herself, and she knew she should because Harry was in a mood.
"If this wizard has no familial connection to the Malfoy's it would be much easier to destroy the amulet because it's allegiance, however slight would be to a blood holder and hence to Malfoy" she finished.
"Great. Let's hope that's the case then" Harry said, getting up off his chair. "Malfoy and Tracey, please find something appropriate to wear. Let's meet back here at 5pm. Me and Ron are going to the outhouse that we raided two days ago, Mandy I want you to take Stewart and scout out the alleyway that we followed the Master's to. Hermione, get some rest please". Harry walked out of the study as he talked.
Ron soon followed after giving Hermione's head a pat.
Hermione sat where she was for some time, lost in thought.
If it were possible to duplicate core magic, that would be truly ground-breaking information. It wasn't a good idea of course, she had no idea how such practices could get out of control. But to think about it was infinitely fascinating.
The concept of core magic was extremely outdated. Mostly because it was pure blooded wizarding families that held on to it. After centuries of ensuring a direct line of magic being passed down, many pure-blooded wizards believed that their family's core magic was intact. For half-bloods and muggle-borns of course, this meant nothing as the commingling of wizard and muggle blood ensured that core magic was divided and hence its potency lost.
Because of this theory, many wizards believed that blood wards set up by half-bloods and muggle-borns were not as strong as those set by pure-bloods. This was a moot point however, as blood wards had been abolished and banned for decades.
"Potter doesn't seem to understand the importance of studying the amulet before hunting for it" Malfoy dropped into the chair in front of the table that Hermione was sitting behind.
"Harry's always razor focused on what must be done, especially if he's in charge of a case. Of course, because this one has murder involved, it makes him all the tetchier. He just wants to catch whoever is behind this, quickly" Hermione answered, leaning back in her chair, chewing on her bottom lip distractedly.
"We won't be able to catch anyone if we don't fully know what we're getting ourselves into. Up to now we have almost twenty people dead, with no trace of how they got that way. we can't afford to go in blind" he said.
"I agree. But we're not blind. Not completely at least. Plus, we have you. You can get through whatever protective wards will be on it" Hermione replied, her eyes finally landing square on the stormy grey eyes in front of her.
Malfoy sighed and leaned back himself but made no reply.
"How's your ribs?" Hermione asked.
Malfoy merely shrugged.
"Will you be able to fight today, if it comes to that?" she asked, after a moment.
Malfoy cocked an eyebrow at her in silent challenge.
Hermione felt the corners of her mouth lift as she raised her hands in mock surrender.
"You've changed Malfoy" she said, her mouth spilling words before her brain had time to analyse them.
"How so?" he asked.
"No snide comments, no witty comebacks. No insults about my hair" she listed.
"I'm sure you've noticed that we're all adults now. Besides, snide comments and insults would serve no purpose" he said quietly, face utterly blank.
Hermione felt her eyes role.
"Do you always talk like a character from an eighteenth-century novel" she asked.
"What?"
"Never mind".
Hermione turned to look out the window.
"I'm not the only one who has changed. I'd say you're a different person as well. Less bossy know-it-all and more intelligent know-it-all" Malfoy drawled.
"Why Malfoy, I feel like that's a compliment" Hermione turned back to him with her eyes glittering.
He looked at her sharply.
They were silent for a few minutes.
"Do you still believe that pure bloods are superior" she asked quietly.
The silence stretched on. Malfoy's eyes had dropped from hers to the table top. He kept on picking up and putting down a crystal paperweight.
"No"
He put down the paperweight and got to his feet.
He looked straight into her eyes, grey boring into brown.
"I stopped believing that when I saw the dead laid out in the main hall at Hogwarts. Their blood was the same as mine. In death, no one is superior".