Hello everyone!
Apologies for the delay.
I hope you are all doing well and staying safe with the current situation…
Regards,
Perhentian
oOoOoOo
Chapter 6 - July 1993 - June 1994
After the end of her second year at Hogwarts, Hermione went back home for two weeks, making the most of her time with her parents, before leaving for Grimmauld Place to reunite with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. And the first night she spent there, all the four of them gathered secretly in Harry's bedroom when Sirius and Remus went to bed.
"What do we do now?" Ginny asked. "We're only missing the cup to have all the Horcruxes, and you have decided which ritual to use Hermione, haven't you?"
Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, still unsure they should pursue their plan.
"Do we really want to resurrect him?" she asked. "This may give us access to Slytherin's books, but it's incredibly risky."
They had been preparing this for the past years, but Hermione had more and more doubts as they approached the due date.
"I know it's risky," Harry answered. "But we have no better idea to try to solve the source issue. And if we decide not to take the risk of bringing back Voldemort, then we are taking the risk of ending the wizarding world in about fifty years. And it is a far more impactful risk. At least Voldemort doesn't want to kill all wizards."
More impactful, but also more distant, Hermione thought. Maybe that was why she was so reluctant? Some absurd hope that it was distant enough for them to find another way to solve it? But she knew that the root cause of her reluctance was the fact that she was the one who had initially suggested that Slytherin may have written something about the sources. And if she had been wrong...
"We all know what we're doing," Ron said as if he had followed her thoughts.
Which may have been the case. They had lived together long enough to know each other perfectly.
"And we have no other choice if we want to progress," Ron continued.
"You're right," Hermione admitted . "It's just so frustrating..."
Crookshanks suddenly rubbed its head against Hermione's hand and it dispelled some of her tension.
"You haven't answered my question Hermione," Ginny said. "You've decided on a ritual, haven't you?"
"Yes, I have," Hermione admitted. "But there is still a lot of work to refine all the details and ensure its efficiency."
Rituals were usually not as simple as most wizards believed them to be, leading to a lot of injuries to be dealt with at St-Mungo's, and lot of exasperation from mediwizards fed-up to constantly have to patch back those foolish enough to try executing rituals without thinking twice about it.
"Shouldn't we go get the cup then?" Ginny asked .
"Perhaps," Ron answered. "But we'll need to be discreet."
"Discreet? We're talking about robbing Gringotts!" Harry pointed out.
"Is it really so hard though?" Ginny asked .
Hermione stared at her pensively. The last time, they had had a goblin with them, and she had posed as Bellatrix Lestrange. But in the end, putting a goblin under the Imperium curse should be enough, provided that he was one of the goblins having access to Gringotts' most protected vaults.
"I don't know if it will be as easy this time," Ron said, also remembering their last burglary. "I mean, we had triggered very few alarms the first time, and it's pretty strange."
"Or maybe the goblins rely more on intimidation than on real wards," Harry replied. "Voldemort also managed to rob Gringotts. And he did not even need a dragon to escape. And it was with the handicap of having to control Quirrell while being a wraith."
"But the goblins noticed Voldemort's robbery," Hermione said. "And we must remain as discreet as possible in all our actions to..."
"... preserve spatiotemporal consistency, we know, we know," Ron cut in.
Hermione glared at him with exasperation. They were unbelievable. Was she really the only one to worry about the fact that if they changed things a little too much, their whole universe could just be smashed to pieces? Although for once it was not really the main reason for her objection.
"Really Ron... No, we need to remain discreet because it would be far better for us if there is no news about a burglary in Bellatrix Lestrange vault. Should I remind you that it was after our break-in the last time that Voldemort realized that we were after his Horcruxes? And even if we manage to divert the attention from Bellatrix' vault, it's still a big risk to act now. Voldemort had done nothing more than recovering during our first third year, and it would be a shame if it changed."
"What do we do then?" Ginny asked. "Is it better to risk the burglary being known, or to risk leaving the cup where it is?"
They looked at each other thoughtfully for a moment.
"Voldemort should not move too soon," Ron finally said. "As long as the events follow more or less our original timeline, we have a non-negligible advantage, and it would be stupid to lose it."
None of them wanted to lose a potential advantage vis-à-vis Voldemort.
"So, we are waiting to capture Voldemort to go after this Horcrux?" Harry asked. " I'm not sure it's a good idea. We should be able to kill Voldemort immediately after having retrieved his blood."
"After having checked that his blood would indeed allow to unlock his library," Hermione corrected. "We cannot be completely sure that having his blood would work."
Even if, if the blood did not work, Hermione had absolutely no idea what else could work. She shivered slightly. The idea of imprisoning Voldemort against his will was complete madness. If he somehow managed to escape, he would never stop trying to kill them.
"Do you need this cup for your ritual Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"No. It's better if I have it, but I can also do without it," Hermione answered.
"We will have to get the cup back before resurrecting him anyway," Ron said. "None of us want anything in our path when we will need to kill Voldemort after the ritual. But we cannot retrieve the cup too soon either. If we want to resurrect Voldemort at the end of our fourth year as we discussed multiple times, let's plan to get the cup just a few days before."
"We still need to find a way to get rid of Harry's Horcrux," Hermione pointed out.
It was even the most alarming point. They still had no conclusive idea about how to do that.
"We all need to focus our research on this Horcrux from now on," Ginny said.
That meant Hermione would have no time to look for new ways to unveil the library without Voldemort's blood. And that Ginny would have no time to look for better ways to stabilize the source. They would have no other alternative but to follow their original plan.
"Let's go to Slytherin Castle one last time," Hermione asked. "Let's try one last time to unveil the library this summer. And if we don't succeed, let's put all our efforts on Harry."
"Thank you so much," Harry deadpanned.
But the summer passed in the twinkling of an eye and despite the fact that they all spent several hours each night trying to access the books, it was all in vain. They all had years of knowledge. Harry was a wizard of impressive power. Hermione knew magic better than anyone. Ginny had a knack for outsmarting or circumventing spells and curses. And Ron always had out of the box ideas to solve a problem. But they still did not manage to unveil the books.
It was so frustrating. Hermione knew that it should have been impossible to protect a place so well - and why protect only the library if there was indeed some way to reach such level of protection? Why not protect the whole castle? Or even all Horcruxes? Although this ward oozed magic for miles, and it thus was not really discreet… but it was not really a problem if the ward was impossible to bypass! But knowing all that did not change the fact that they were unable to access the books.
They also went to check on the magical source. It was not the first time since they came back in time, as they all had been keen to verify that it showed no signs of instability yet. It seemed completely calm. Or perhaps their spells were not able to detect its current level of instability. Unfortunately, no old nor new spells gave them any promising results, much to their despair.
The night of the thirty-first of August, just before their return to Hogwarts, Hermione finally admitted they now needed to focus fully on the resurrection ritual and the removal of Harry's Horcrux.
None of the others challenged this.
oOoOoOo
The beginning of the third year was uneventful, until Remus Lupin's class on Boggarts. It was strange to see that even with all the changes they had already made, the most notable in this case being Sirius' release from Azkaban, some things still remained exactly the same. Like Remus Lupin being their third year Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Though, thanks to Sirius and Harry, the werewolf was in way better health this time around.
It was sad to know that Remus Lupin would have to leave at the end of the year, and probably once again due to the fact that Severus Snape was unable to overcome his supposed traumatic adolescence twenty years after the events, and would childishly reveal Remus Lupin's affliction. Not that Hermione did not respect Snape: the man had had a horrible life, spying on Voldemort for Dumbledore until the end, and all that for a dead girl who had never loved him, and for Harry who reminded him every day that James Potter had had what he had himself been deprived of. But that did not grant him the right to be an utter bastard to everyone on a daily basis…
A Boggart. It had been years since Hermione had encountered one. They were the kind of beings who were studied in class, but who were only found in some shady places aurors and curse breakers were dealing with. And as Hermione watched the others face the Boggart, she realized that their fears were oh so simple… Professor Snape for Neville. A blood stained mummy for Parvati. A pale imitation of a banshee for Seamus. A severed hand for Dean. And even her own old fear was laughable today. Let's face it, McGonagall telling her that she failed her exams? It was ridiculous...
But now… now there was quite a chance that Harry, Ron and herself could terrify the other with their worst fears coming alive. They had seen enough in their lives for that. They could of course have blocked the Boggart with their Occlumency wards, not letting it read their worst fears, but they had all agreed prior that it would raise questions they had no wish to answer.
Although Ron, Harry and herself were at the end of the line, too soon it was already their turn, and Ron stepped forward with fatalism. With a sound like a whip-crack the Boggart transformed and Hermione stopped breathing. In front of Ron was their daughter Rose when she was in her thirties and her figure was becoming more and more blurred, disappearing slowly before their eyes.
"You killed me," their daughter said in a sad voice. "You sacrificed me! I hate you!"
Hermione felt like her heart was breaking, but Ron recovered quickly.
"I love you Rose," Hermione heard him whisper. "Riddikulus!"
Rose's consistency became almost solid and she began to laugh and spin on herself. Before Hermione even recorded what was going on Ron moved aside and Hermione found herself in front of the Boggart. Several shouts could be heard in the room when the Boggart changed, while Hermione cannot mask her surprise. In front of her Voldemort stood regally, skin white as chalk and red eyes fixed on her.
Hermione felt quite lost for a moment, not really understanding her fear. If she had not directly faced Voldemort during her first life, she had never been afraid to stand up against his ideas, or even fight him herself if needed. But she understood what the Boggart had done when Voldemort started to talk.
"I must thank you for your help Mudblood," Voldemort said with a cruel smirk. "You gave me the wizarding world on a silver platter."
With a sharp gesture Hermione raised her wand in front of her, and Boggart-Voldemort fell to the ground, his eyes empty of all life. At the same time she felt Harry push her out of the way of the Boggart. The latter barely had time to take the shape of a Dementor that Harry was pushing him back into the wardrobe. An immense silence fell on the room and all eyes turned to Hermione.
"Great," Ron whispered ironically. "You've managed to do worse than Ginny, and that's quite a feat as she has made Voldemort's voice resonate in the room, asking to give him Harry Potter before midnight…"
Hermione glared at Ron. It was not really as if she had expected the Boggart to take this form.
"Merlin's beard Granger! What was that?" Draco Malfoy finally asked, breaking the silence.
For a few seconds Hermione strongly wanted to cast a Obliviate spell on the whole class, and especially on Remus Lupin who was looking at her strangely. But she refused to lower herself to that, and she just stormed out of the classroom, knowing that everyone was going to whisper behind her back for weeks. But she knew that she should have vanished the Boggart as soon as Voldemort appeared, and not try to satisfy her own curiosity about the Boggart's choice of shape…
oOoOoOo
The rest of the third year was quite boring. No Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, and no big arguments between Hermione and Ron about Crookshanks and Scabbers. And Hermione had even casted a silencing spell on Malfoy when he had wanted to insult Buckbeak the hippogriff, stopping all the controversy about it.
Harry and Ron had tried to limit their boredom in class by taking electives they had not chosen before, namely Runes and Arithmancy. Hermione, on the other hand, had kept only these two electives, the ones she appreciated the most, knowing that she would anyway pass all of them – except divination – for her OWLs as a free candidate.
When Hermione was not in class or rushing through her homework, she was always nose deep into books. More than Harry, Ginny, and Ron who also had to occasionally go to Quidditch training sessions, Ron as substitute keeper – he had finally wanted to play before his fifth year –. It was needless to say that once again Gryffindor's Quidditch team was no match for the others. Hermione would have protested more about the unfairness of all this if it was not one of the only things that was making her friends positively thrilled. The fact that it irritated Draco Malfoy quite thoroughly was only a plus.
And Hermione was secretly glad that from time to time she had an excuse to go outside, reading on the Quidditch stands while her friends were training. For six years she had spent her free time diving into books dealing with very dark magic, and she was starting to be more and more afraid not to ever get out of this situation. There was this resurrection ritual she needed to finalize, and she still had not found any acceptable solution for the issue with Harry's Horcrux.
Nor her, nor her friends had found anything about how to deal with the Horcrux. At least not without sacrificing Harry. There was Lord Voldemort's Avada Kedavra solution, but seriously, what were the chances of him casting an Avada Kedavra at Harry at the right time? It was a miracle that it had worked in their original life…
Hermione would have thought that it was simpler to transfer an Horcruxe, that she would need to look into it for a few weeks and that would be that. But she had clearly underestimated the difficulty.
"You know, maybe you'd find more answers in the light than in the dark," she heard a singing voice right next to her.
From the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Luna sit just to her right, the blond girl also coming to watch Harry, Ron and Ginny train with the Gryffindor team.
"What are you talking about Luna?" Hermione asked wearily.
"Since the first day I met you, you seem to be looking into dark magic books, why are you limiting yourself to those?"
Hermione's eyes wavered for a moment between Luna and the grimoire of black magic she held in her hands. The latter was normally enchanted to appear as "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3", a reading far less reprehensible than "Extrapolation of the Darkest Theories", banned by the Ministry of Magic since 1851. Bureaucratic idiots, all of them.
"It's the Onirolies," Luna said. "They find solace in dark magic you know, and they fly quite frequently around your books."
Hermione nodded slowly. It would take years before Luna could better control this strange sensitivity to magic she was one of few wizards to have. In her past life, Hermione had met only two other persons with such a gift, even though this gift was just as much a curse, leaving the affected wizards quite isolated from the others, living in a world they were the only ones to see.
Hermione made a note to offer to Luna Empedocles' book for her next birthday. Beyond all philosophical books the author had written for Muggles, he had also written a quite interesting treaty on how to deal with this sensitivity he had himself experienced.
"I'm trying to find a cure for some extremely dark magic, that's why my readings are not very varied," Hermione finally stated.
"Luna's not wrong then. It's not because it's a dark magic curse that you would find the cure in some dark magic book," Neville interjected.
Hermione repressed a jump, having forgotten that the calm young man was there too. Neville did not seem shocked by the fact that she was talking about dark magic, and she wondered if it was just because he was her friend and he somehow trusted her, or if he and Luna suspected more things than they should have.
Neville's suggestion was sensible of course, but the only mentions that Hermione had found about Horcruxes were all in awful cursed books that regularly gave her nausea, not because of the stupid curses on them, but mostly due to the atrocities the books themselves described. Dark magic was interesting, there was no denying that, but it was definitely not healthy.
However, since the summer after her first year at Hogwarts, Hermione had recovered a multitude of books from her hidden library, the one she had discovered when they were all searching for information about the sources in the twenty thirties, and which contained an incredible amount of rare and potentially useful books. Light magic books. And if Hermione had not found anything inside those about magical sources or advanced blood wards, maybe she would find something that could help with Harry's Horcrux.
"You're right, it's time for me to try something else," she admitted.
Visibly satisfied, Luna turned away from her to follow Ginny and Harry with her eyes as they were trying to intertwine far too dangerous Quidditch figures.
"As soon as they'll be fifteen, all the professional teams will try to recruit them," Neville said.
"As long as this does not encourage even more irresponsibility," Hermione muttered.
Hermione hoped that by the fifteenth birthday of her friends, they would have solved all their problems regarding Voldemort and uncontrollable magical sources. And that the situation will not be the same as during their first life, with Voldemort back and Dolores Umbridge attempting to take control of Hogwarts by torturing the students. And Hermione was ready to do whatever it took to never have Umbridge set one foot in Hogwarts. This woman was worse than Voldemort.
Hermione had tried with Harry to dismantle the curse that had been placed on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, wanting to prevent Remus from being forced to leave at the end of the year. But none of them was an expert curse breaker, and this curse was certainly one that was quite difficult to get around, with bothersome prerequisites. For example, for Hogwarts not to be led by Albus Dumbledore for a whole year, and making this happening was absolutely out of the question.
oOoOoOo
Harry regularly checked on Voldemort's thoughts, and he gathered them together one night in the middle of May to announce that the Dark Lord was up to something.
"Voldemort's trying to call his Death Eaters to him," Harry announced blankly.
"What?" Ginny reacted. "How?"
"Don't know, some compulsion via the Dark Mark I suppose," Harry answered. "He's probing the mind of his remaining Death Eater's currently, looking for someone he could easily manipulate."
"That's why Peter Pettigrew had joined him in Albania!" Hermione exclaimed. "It was so strange for him to do that, he always was such a coward… but he had been pushed to, that's why!"
At least now Hermione knew why the rat animagus had done that.
"But Pettigrew's in Azkaban, in a cell designed to hold in aminagi," Ron said. "He won't be able to join his master, and Voldemort probably knows it. So who is he calling?"
"Macnair I think," Harry said. "Few days ago it was Avery."
The four friends exchanged a panicked glance.
"We cannot let this happen," Ron stated. "Voldemort will be far more dangerous with a Death Eater."
"We're losing control," Ginny pointed out. "Who knows what Macnair or Avery will do once they will be with Voldemort?"
"It's not out of control yet," Harry tempered. "Voldemort's only probing their minds for the moment. He has not yet pushed one of them to join him in Albania."
Ginny seemed slightly relieved.
"Why is he acting now? Had he started to have his body back?" Hermione asked. "I mean the homunculus body he had inhabited before his resurrection, not his real body of course."
Harry stared into space for a moment, before blinking and nodding slowly. A wave of panic overwhelmed Hermione. It was too early. Voldemort was not supposed to find his ersatz of body until the end of the summer... and they had supposed that even then, he would have stayed helpless, not able to do anything without the help of Pettigrew, until they would come to give him a real body back, the blood of the homunculus not having the same properties as real blood.
"We're going to need to do the ritual this summer," Ron said. "We can't let him call his Death Eaters to him. If we let someone else resurrect him, there is a risk we will not be able to take a sample of his blood."
"But we don't know what to do with Harry's Horcrux," Ginny said with a hint of panic in her voice.
Hermione looked at her notes in front of her. Despite Luna's and Neville's advice they had not found a solution. Not even some hints about what could be a solution.
"Is it hopeless?" Harry asked, looking at her.
Hermione sighed.
"We haven't progressed in months," she said. "Everything we had found had led to dead ends, and I do not know if I would be able to find anything by the end of the year. And if we have Voldemort back with you still hosting his Horcrux, you won't be able to be in his presence due to the pain in your scar."
To Hermione utmost despair Harry seemed more determined than deterred by this information.
"But if he makes me suffer, I'll make him suffer too, won't I? And it's a rather positive thing."
"Out of the question," Ginny interjected. "And if I remember well, he seemed to suffer only when you touched him, or when he possessed you. He'll make you suffer far more than what you'll make him suffer."
Harry and Ginny exchanged a long look, visibly measuring the strength of their respective wills, until Harry finally lowered his eyes. Hermione had always found it amusing that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, the vanquisher of Voldemort, Order of Merlin first class, and most famous personality of the magical world was still wary of Ginny Weasley's temper.
"Isn't it possible to do something about that?" Ron asked. "I don't really think it's a good idea to have one of us incapacitated if we need to fight."
"I won't be incapacitated!" Harry protested immediately. "I've fought against him multiple times, even with the pain! In the graveyard..."
"You managed to escape thanks to the tournament cup and the Priori Incantatem," Ron retorted.
"And in the fifth year!"
"Dumbledore was the one who really fought Voldemort."
"At the Battle of Hogwarts!"
"You only exchanged one spell with him and you were the master of the Elder Wand!"
This time it was Harry and Ron who glared at each other.
"What are you trying to prove to Ron?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"That he had ... That we all had been lucky," Ron answered. "And we cannot rely only on our luck. Do you really think you can duel effectively against Voldemort with your scar ablaze Harry?"
"Occlumency should protect me, shouldn't it?"
Hermione shook her head.
"The pain is not linked to your mind, but to the Horcrux itself," she explained. "Remember two years ago with Quirrell, you still experienced some pain from time to time."
Hermione noticed that none of them were questioning Voldemort's resurrection at the end of the year. Even though Harry still had the Horcrux. But it was true that they could still cast an Avada Kedavra at Lord Voldemort, incapacitating him again for a number of years, giving themselves more time to find a solution. She thought for a moment about suggesting to ask Dumbledore for help, but she discarded the idea quickly, not wanting Dumbledore to know that Harry was an Horcrux, nor that they were trying to resurrect Voldemort.
"If it is indeed true, then why had Nagini never suffered from his presence?" Harry asked.
"That's a very good question," Ginny agreed.
Hermione was startled for a moment, never having really thought about that. Why the hell had Harry and Voldemort suffered from the connection and not Nagini? She quickly listed the differences between the two situations.
"Aha!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
"Thirteen seconds, not bad," Ron commented.
Hermione looked at him reprovingly.
"The Horcrux is not the problem, not on his own," she explained. "The problem is your mother's protection Harry, interacting with the Horcrux when it is trying to act out in Voldemort's presence. The two magic are incompatible and seek to destroy each other, without any success, the Horcrux because it's too powerful, and your mother's magic because it is linked with you."
"It makes sense," Harry agreed.
"Is there a way to prevent that?" Ginny asked.
This time it took a lot longer for Hermione to find an answer.
"It should be possible to separate the two magic. Set up a barrier between them. But Voldemort will then be able to touch you without suffering if I isolate your mother's magic."
"Can't you isolate the Horcrux' magic instead?" Harry muttered.
"No, that would be catastrophic," Hermione replied. "The Horcrux' magic is outward-oriented by nature. If I confine it in you, it may try to control you."
Harry and Ginny turned pale at the end of her sentence, and Harry reluctantly agreed to isolate his mother's magic.
oOoOoOo
It took Hermione slightly less than a week to find a solution, and then she performed the separation ritual. The split between Harry's mother's magic and the Horcrux' one went fine, except that it seemed to increase the bond between Harry and Voldemort. If Harry wanted to, he could now find himself in Voldemort's thoughts in a split second. He did not do it often though, much to Hermione's relief. According to Harry the Dark Lord's thoughts were too distressing, too violent for him to be subjected to them for more than a few seconds.
There were only a few weeks left until the end of the year, and Hermione was now fully focused on finalizing the resurrection ritual and recovering the more than illegal ingredients she needed, sometimes going out of Hogwarts overnight.
The end-of-year ceremony seemed to go by too fast, and despite Gryffindor's victory, for Quidditch and the House Cup, Hermione had a bad feeling. And when they were all four in the Hogwarts Express, it seems liked they were sailing for the deep blue see instead of going back home.
"We'll have to do the ritual tonight," Ron said. "This will leave us all summer to consult the books in Slytherin Castle's library."
"And to react if anything goes wrong," Ginny added.
"We must first catch Voldemort," Hermione reminded. "Do you know what he is currently doing Harry?"
Harry concentrated for a moment before answering them.
"He's still in Albania, with Nagini."
"No Death Eater with him?" Ron asked.
"No, none," Harry answered.
"Good," Ron said. "In this case Ginny and I will take care of the cup in Gringotts, while you prepare the resurrection ritual with Hermione. Then we'll all go fetch Voldemort. Let's meet at Riddle Manor tonight."
They all agreed.
"We'll start at eleven pm," Harry indicated.
oOoOoOo
AN: I'll post the next chapter in about 10 days.
