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Beta: Roman's Sundial
Chapter Thirty-Four: A Magical Place
Hermione Granger – Present Day
March 15, 2000
"Harry, are you absolutely sure that that's where they are?" Hermione asked Harry for probably the fifth time.
"Come on, Hermione, what else could it be? You can hear voices when you're near it; it makes perfect sense!"
"Yes but you can only hear the voices if you've witnessed death, Harry, and that doesn't make sense!"
"It's like the thestrals! Can you explain that?"
"Well no, but-"
"Exactly, Hermione! Magic isn't always explained, but that's got to be it!"
"And if you're wrong?"
"I am not wrong!"
"Let's just say you are, then what?"
"Then we keep trying. But seriously, Hermione, what's the worst that can happen? We take them there and say the counter-curse. If it doesn't work then they just stay the way they are. They cannot get any worse!"
"I suppose you're right, Harry."
"Finally! We can get them back, Hermione! Ginny, George, Remus, Tonks, Sirius…"
"Sirius?" Hermione repeated.
"He's in the veil, Hermione!"
"Yes, but Harry-"
"He's alive! You can't convince me otherwise!"
"Fine, Harry, but how do you plan on getting him out? His body fell through, too!"
"I… I don't know, but I know we will figure it out."
Frowning, Hermione made to change the subject. Sirius' death had caused Harry a lot of pain and she was worried that he would be putting himself through all of that again. "We need to figure out how we are going to get in there again, and how we are going to bring the vessels there."
"Kingsley can-"
"Kingsley won't help us, Harry! He puts his Minister duties before the Order of the Phoenix."
"But this is saving people. Surely he won't say no?"
Hermione shrugged. "I think he will, Harry. Maybe we shouldn't mention it to him; not just yet."
They both thought for awhile before Harry spoke. "Kingsley gave the Unspeakables permission to let me in to grieve Sirius, remember? I'll pretend I want to visit again and I'll take one of them under my invisibility cloak and go from there. If it works, and it will work, Hermione, then we can just take them there one by one."
"If you're allowed back in, then I guess that's the best plan."
"Why wouldn't I be allowed back in?"
"Well, it's been awhile since you've been there…"
"I'll say I've been busy!"
"They aren't going to believe that you're still grieving him-"
"But I am!"
"-and with the break in, I'm sure security is going to be much tighter…"
"Hermione! Why are you trying to shut this down?" Harry yelled.
"I am not trying to shut this down! I am being realistic!"
"Well, I'm going to try!"
"Good! Let me know how it goes then."
"Yeah," Harry started to leave angrily, but Hermione called him back.
"Harry, really, I hope it works. Wake them up, okay?" Harry smiled at her and left. She yawned as she looked at the time. It was late and she was exhausted, but she had to take Draco to see his mother as she promised, so she apparated back to the Estate and met Draco in the West Wing. "Ready?" she asked, yawning again.
"Yeah just about- what's on your hand?" Draco asked her, noticing the blue sapphire.
"It's just a gift from Viktor," she said, quickly hiding her hand behind her back.
"Then why are you hiding it?" he reached for her arm and pulled the ring close to him. "That's a real sapphire," he said, more to himself.
"Yes well, he can afford it," she said, pulling her hand free.
"He can afford many things, but he would only give something like that with intention. Hermione, did he propose?"
"D-don't be s-silly," Hermione said stuttering, and avoided her gaze from him. "It's on the wrong hand!"
"So that people won't know!" Draco said, catching on. "Hermione, tell me the truth!"
"I… Well… Fine," she said sighing, sinking into the nearest chair. "He asked, but I didn't say yes!"
"But you didn't say no, either," said Draco, sitting across from her.
"Well, no, I didn't," she admitted.
"Why not?"
"I, uh… It's complicated, Draco!"
"No, it isn't!" he snapped back at her. "You don't love him so why would you marry him?"
"Draco, I live here! I would have nowhere to go…"
"You can stay at my Manor!"
"No thanks!"
"Then we can buy a place, you and I!"
"I would want my own place, and I could never afford to get a place that gives you all of this," she said, indicating to everything around the room.
"I don't care! I'll live in a closet if that's what it takes!"
Hermione smiled. "Let's wait to see what happens after your hearing. For all we know, this won't be necessary anymore."
"You can't marry him, Hermione."
"That isn't your decision!"
"But he's given you a gift; I can't let him win by default!"
"I am NOT a prize to be won!"
"Hermione, please…"
"Enough! Are we going to visit your mother, or not?"
"I would actually prefer to go somewhere else?"
"Where?" Hermione asked, growing more exhausted.
"Do you trust me?"
"What?"
"I want to take you somewhere; do you trust me?"
"Draco, I'm tired. If we aren't going to visit your mother, then I'm going to bed."
"Please!" he almost yelled. "Let me show you my version of that sapphire."
"This isn't a competition," she told him, but calmly this time.
"We're Quidditch players; competition is in our blood!"
"He doesn't even know that you're trying to compete!"
"Sure he does! He came in here to make sure that I was aware that you belonged to him."
"What? I don't belong to ANYONE!" she said, angrily.
Draco laughed. "I know. Come with me; please?" He held out his hand and, reluctantly, she took it.
Draco Malfoy – Present Day
March 15, 2000
Draco and Hermione left the West Wing together and made their way downstairs to the front door so that Draco would be able to apparate her to his secret destination. As they approached the front door, however, Krum was walking through it. Draco watched Krum quickly assess the situation before grabbing Hermione in a tight hug and kissing her hard on the lips for an excessive amount of time.
"Hello, my beautiful vitch," he said, finally releasing her. "Vere are you two going?"
"I'm taking Draco to see his mother," she responded. Draco smiled at the fact that she was lying to Krum. "Did you win your Quidditch match?" she was asking Krum.
"Ve destroyed them," he said smugly. "I vill tell you all about it in our bed tonight," he added, glancing towards Draco. Hermione said goodbye to him, and the pair walked towards the end of the property to the nearest apparition point.
"You know he does that to try and annoy me, right?" Draco asked her.
Hermione nodded. "He believes it's a competition," she said.
"May the best wizard win!"
"It is NOT a competition, Draco! You two do not decide who I end up with, I do! And quite frankly, I believe my choice is neither!"
Draco shrugged. "As long as it isn't him."
Hermione rolled her eyes but said no more about it. "Where are you taking me?" she asked him.
"You'll see." He took her hand and apparated her to several borders before finally ending up at what looked like a muggles campground.
"What are we doing here?" she asked him.
"Heading towards our destination; this is as far as we can apparate. Come on, we'll have to go on foot now."
Hermione, trying not to let her curiosity get to her, decided to talk about something else while they walked. "Are you ready for Friday?" she asked him.
"You mean the hearing?" Draco shrugged. "It's just like the last one, I suppose. I don't think anything is going to change; they'll never let me go while there's a notorious wizard out there."
"Well, they have no grounds to send you to Azkaban; you've complied to everything and of course, I'll confirm that."
"I'm sure things are going to just stay the way they are for now. Looks like you're stuck with me, Granger."
"I just don't know where we are going to live," she sighed.
"So, you aren't accepting the proposal, then?" he said, as he stopped dead in his tracks to look at her.
"What? I never said that!"
"You kind of just did."
"I, uh, just meant that I would want to get my own home with Viktor, not live in his estate."
"Uh huh." Draco started to walk again and she continued to follow him.
"Draco, seriously, where are we going?"
"Nowhere, because we are here," he told her, as they entered a small clearing in a forest.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, looking around.
"You don't recognize it?"
"No," she answered, after looking around again.
"Well, I suppose that your mind was elsewhere the last time that you were here. I, however, can never forget this place; it has so much significance."
Hermione frowned as she watched him reminisce. "I've been here with you?"
"You didn't come with me, but we ran into each other here. You were with Potter and the Weasel, though."
"So, this was before we dated?"
"Oh yes! Several years before."
"I've never been anywhere with you outside of Hogwarts, how could we possibly have been here together?"
"You really don't know where you are?"
"No…" but Hermione's response seemed to falter.
"Do you remember something?"
"Ron… He tripped over a branch, right over there," she said, pointing towards the root of a tree. "And then, you came, and – and you insulted him."
"Great memory!" he chuckled.
"So, this is… This is where the Quidditch World Cup was?"
"Very good."
"And these are the woods that we ran into for safety when those Death Eaters appeared."
Draco nodded. "And I ran into you here with Crabbe and Goyle."
"Yes, I remember now. Why did you bring me here?"
"Because."
"Because?"
He walked over to her and grabbed her hands. "Because I wanted to show you something that was important to me."
"This clearing where, if I remember correctly, you called me a mudblood, is important to you?"
Draco frowned at the fact that she remembered that particular detail. "I'm not proud of that, but I also wasn't ready for anyone to know anything; it wasn't safe for either of us."
"What are you talking about?"
"Hermione, this is the place that I fell in love with you."
"What?" Hermione started to laugh and pulled her hands away from Draco. "This is ridiculous; let's go."
"No, listen! For the first three years at Hogwarts, you really were that annoying, bushy-haired, muggleborn. Sorry," he added with a laugh, when he saw her annoyed look. "But when I saw you while we were in here, I don't know, you looked… Different."
"Different?" she asked, arms crossed.
"Yeah. I was hiding in the bushes, remember? I watched you for a few moments when I realized that you were beautiful." He knew that she didn't believe him, but he was telling her the truth. "Look, I know it sounds crazy but there was something about you that day that I couldn't shake and for years it nagged me until finally I did something about it."
"Draco, you treated me worse as each year passed!"
"Because I put too much of a charade on to hide my true feelings, even from myself. But I did try and protect you, even when I sounded like a complete arse."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, don't you remember? I told you to run so that the Death Eaters wouldn't get you during the Quidditch World Cup."
"You said that it would be a laugh to see my knickers if they caught me and put me in the air!" she scolded.
"So I worded it wrong," he shrugged. "But it would have been nice to have seen your knickers." She playfully slapped him on the arm. "I'm not kidding; this is where it all happened for me," he told her, moving closer to her again. "And that's why I wanted you to see it. This is the place where I fell in love with you, and nothing, not even a large blue sapphire, can trump a place with such magic as this."
"Magic?"
"Wouldn't you say so? That's what it feels like to me."
"Magic isn't a feeling, Draco! Magic is this: Lumos," said Hermione, as a bright light from her wand illuminated the area.
"Magic is also this: Periculum," he shouted, as red sparks were shot into the air.
"I don't understand," she said to him.
"You do understand," he responded. "This is my magical place," he whispered, as he brought his lips inches away from hers. "And it could be yours, too." He successfully lowered his lips onto hers and stole a small, sweet kiss from her, before pulling away. "That is of course, if you don't pick the Bulgarian buffoon."
Gellert Grindelwald – Present Day
March 15, 2000
"Ah, there you are, Rookwood! Finally! Did you get it?"
"I did, My Lord. It took some time, but I can assure you that it is accurate."
"Very good. Now, we shall – Uh, Rookwood, this is a house?"
"It is, My Lord. It seems as if all of the houses are oddly shaped in that area. There is a house shaped like a rook at the top of a hill."
"A rook? Really? Hm." Gellert looked back towards the parchment that was just given to him. It contained the drawing of a particular house that was going to help him succeed. "This shall be a lot simpler than I thought, then," he said, more to himself than anything. He glanced over at another man that had recently joined his mansion. "If you've got something to say, Avery, then go ahead and spit it out."
"My Lord," came Avery's voice as he slowly stepped forward. "I beg your pardon, but I am curious as to why Potter has been allowed to carry on with his life after his constant betrayal? Unlike the Dark Lo- Tom Riddle," he corrected, seeing the look on Gellert's face, "you do not require for him to die by your hand alone."
"That is correct; any one of you may kill him, and quite frankly, I would appreciate it if one of you did, but after I get what I require."
"It would seem as though Potter has more than seven lives!" chuckled Rookwood.
"Yes, he has been quite lucky, hasn't he?" replied Gellert. "Make no mistake, gentlemen, Potter is alive due to an incredible amount of luck, but he is not entirely stupid. He arms himself with information that only he alone knows, and, therefore, that keeps him alive. Which brings me to this!" he said excitedly, holding up the piece of parchment. "This will force Harry Potter to give me my information and then you three are welcomed to do whatever it is you'd like with him."
"But, My Lord, how do you know Potter will talk this time?"
"Because, Thicknesse, Harry Potter was going to take me to where I needed to go when I had my wand at his girlfriend's throat. It only fell through when many of his allies arrived. He has luck, remember? But no matter, we will do this instead." He studied the parchment for quite some time in silence, until finally rolling it up and addressing the three men in front of him. "I'm sorry to say that this will take some time, but late is better than never. Avery, I believe you will take care of the secret-keeper for me?"
"Of course, My Lord."
"Wonderful. Until then, gentlemen, let us continue to make our presence known. Remember, try not to kill too many during your attacks; we do, after all, care about the greater good."
Harry Potter – The Past
May 9, 1998
A little bell over the door jingled as Harry entered a familiar shop. He looked around surprised as he saw boxes upon boxes stacked on every shelf, chair, cabinet.
"Ah, Mr. Potter! Welcome! Welcome! Please come in!"
"Mr. Ollivander," said Harry smiling, taking the old man's hand. "I am surprised – pleased, of course! – but surprised to see your shop already back to its normal state. I would have thought that the Death Eaters would have destroyed it and taken all of your wands."
"I am sure that was their intention, but between you and me, Mr. Potter, there is an ancient form of magic set upon my shop by the very first Ollivander."
"What kind of magic, if you don't mind me asking."
"How can I deny any information to you after what you have done for me? It is a very simple spell, but powerful, nonetheless. Only a true wandmaker can enter my shop and be able to see the wands."
"But I can see them," Harry said, confused.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, because I am present. But if I were to step out, all of this would look destroyed to you."
"Fascinating!" said Harry.
"It is. Now, my dear boy, what is it that I can do for you?"
"I've got a question about the Elder Wand again. See, I now know it exists. I've seen it, I've touched it, and I know that it is exactly what the stories say it is."
"I see," said Mr. Ollivander, glancing towards the wand in Harry's pocket.
Harry pulled out the wand that Mr. Ollivander had given him back when he was eleven years old. "This is still my original wand, Sir, I am not the one who has the Elder Wand."
"You do know who does, then?"
"I do, and I can assure you that it will never kill again." When Mr. Ollivander said nothing, Harry continued. "I was curious, though, about how its allegiance works."
"Whatever do you mean, my boy? It works the same as any other wand in that sense."
"Well, not exactly. See, the history behind the Elder Wand states that the owner of the wand must be killed by another in order for the wand to change its allegiance."
"That is what the stories say," responded Mr. Ollivander.
"And there is proof of that, too," continued Harry. "I know for a fact that a young Gellert Grindelwald had stolen it from Gregorovitch."
"So, it was true that Gregorovitch had it?"
"Yes, and Grindelwald stole it. But he had only stunned Gregorovitch, and, therefore, the Elder Wand never worked for him."
"It seems that you have the answer to your own question, then."
"Well, no, because here's the tricky part." Harry thought about the day that Dumbledore had died. Since Malfoy had disarmed Dumbledore, and it was Malfoy's wand that Snape used to kill Dumbledore, why then, did the allegiance transfer to Malfoy and not to Snape? "One of the more recent owners had been disarmed. The person who had disarmed him though, lent his wand to someone else, and that person killed the owner. So, why is it that the disarmer now gained the Wand's allegiance, and not the murderer?"
Mr. Ollivander thought for a while before speaking. "Wands are very tricky to understand, Mr. Potter. You say that the disarmer willingly lent his wand to the murderer?" Harry nodded. "The Elder Wand still belonged to the original owner at the time of the disarming; it did, however, sense danger. Since the disarmer was the one that took the Wand from the owner, then the Wand assumed him to be his new owner once the old one was dead. No wand can see, of course, they can only sense when their owner is gone. Unlike regular wands, who simply change allegiance by being disarmed, the Elder Wand was created by Death, and, therefore, death is required in order to own it. The Elder Wand, in this instance, did not see who killed his owner, only that the owner was now dead after having first been disarmed."
Harry tried to make sense of it all. If he was understanding correctly, Malfoy had become the owner of the Elder Wand because he willingly let Snape use his wand, which was the wand that first disarmed then killed Dumbledore, the previous owner. So how then, did Harry become the owner of the wand if Draco was still alive? "If the disarmer had later been disarmed then, but not killed, would the new disarmer become the owner?"
"Not if he did not kill him."
"That does not make sense, then. I know someone who disarmed the current owner, but did not kill him, yet the Elder Wand started working for him."
"Only a powerful wizard could have been able to successfully use the Elder Wand if its allegiance was not to him."
"A powerful wizard?" Harry definitely was not a powerful wizard, he thought to himself.
"Oh, yes. It is my understanding that the Elder Wand still belongs to the original disarmer. Whoever was able to use it without killing that owner is the most powerful wizard this world has seen yet, and I, for one, would fear that wizard."
"Thank you for your time," said Harry. He walked out of the shop more confused than when he had walked in. According to Mr. Ollivander, and Harry trusted his knowledge, Draco Malfoy was the current possessor of the Elder Wand, and he, Harry, was the most powerful and perhaps feared wizard, should people learn the truth about the Elder Wand.
Author's Notes: The point of the Draco scenes in this chapter is to even the playing field between the two men. The next chapter will be the end to the triangle. (Side note: where Draco takes Hermione is important; but you won't know why for quite a few chapters from now!)
The next chapter has plenty of important information: it has Draco's hearing, Hermione's decision, and one big story plot that I doubt any of you expect! I hope you enjoy!
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