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Perhentian
oOoOoOo
Chapter 28 - September - October 1995
When Voldemort had left her dorm after having dropped his bomb, Hermione had stood still, unable to move for a few seconds. And then she had not been able, of course, to go back to sleep. Not after that. So she had dragged Harry, Ginny and Ron – that Harry had woken up on Hermione's instructions – to the Room of Requirement, to review all the books they had regarding the magical sources and the relics.
And Voldemort was right. Of fucking course he was right. The sources were much older than the founders' relics, this fact only was enough to settle the point. And it explained why she had never found similar objects for the other sources… But then, why would Wales magical source need the relics to remain stable now? What had happened?
"Do you really need to check all this now Hermione?" Ginny asked while yawning. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning and we have classes tomorrow."
"You have History of Magic during the first hour, use it to finish your night," Hermione answered in clipped tones.
"I have one of my trainings with Snape tomorrow evening, and I assure you Hermione that if I have not slept enough I will turn him into a bat in a fit of anger," Harry cut in.
Hermione finally raised her head from the book she was reading.
"Do make yourself useful instead and put an emergency Portkey on him," Hermione asked. "Voldemort knows for his betrayal now, and I doubt he'll be lenient."
"I don't think Voldemort will act on it," Ron said. "He'll probably use Snape to communicate false information to Dumbledore, without Snape or Dumbledore being aware of it."
Then he turned to Hermione.
"You should go to bed, Hermione," he said sternly.
Hermione closed the book she was reading and laid it slightly too forcefully on the table, before heading for the exit.
"Is there a problem?" Harry asked cautiously.
Hermione stopped short.
"Of course there is a problem!" she answered.
Harry took a step back and Hermione forced herself to calm down.
"There is no information anywhere explaining why the founders connected the relics to the source," she said more gently. "And since he obviously knows more than me about what's going on here, it means I'm going to need his help at some point. But he'll never accept to help us now. We have already given him the Philosopher's Stone, the relics of the founders, and even our knowledge of the future! We don't have anything left to trade!"
And it was out of the question to tell him about the Deathly Hallows.
"Why don't we let Voldemort take care of the magical sources then?" Ron proposed.
"Are you insane?" Ginny asked.
"He would not want to rule an empty world," Ron pointed out.
"That may be true," Harry conceded, "But the magical source is not his priority right now, and won't be for many, many years. He'll probably start looking into it only when the situation will become dire, but it will potentially be too late and we cannot take this risk. It is up to us to make sure that the magical source remains stable."
They remained silent for a moment, until Ginny spoke.
"We are not very far from breaking the vow, are we?" she said with a frown. "If we do it, we will be able to negotiate his help in exchange of us not saying anything about his return to Dumbledore."
"Do we really want to do that tough?" Hermione asked with a sigh. "We know a lot of things about him. The bunch of places he usually uses, the name and location of most of his Death Eaters, plenty of things Dumbledore is not aware of. Telling this to Dumbledore will considerably help the Order of the Phoenix."
Ginny pursed her lips without answering.
"We cannot get rid of Voldemort," Ron said. "Not until we have solved the issue with the magical source, because there is a risk that we may again need an heir to progress. No, what we need is an alliance with Voldemort. A way to limit his Death Eaters' actions, and a way to limit his political progression. If we break the vow, we should have enough leverage to negotiate all that on top of his help regarding the source."
oOoOoOo
Lord Voldemort resolutely entered Lucius's office. He knew that his Death Eater was alone – the Ministry's protective wards were downright ridiculous when compared to his power – and he needed to give him a new mission.
Lucius looked displeased at first, until he recognized him and his expression change to one far more respectful.
"Mr. Morrello, how may I help you?" Lucius asked.
Lord Voldemort immediately cast several confidentiality spells to ensure the privacy of their upcoming conversation.
"Dolores Umbridge," he said. "Ruin her career."
Lucius looked at him with barely concealed surprise, and Voldemort condescended to give him a little more context.
"It has been brought to my attention that if she ever had the opportunity, Dolores Umbridge would sully with her impure hands an object I hold very dear. I want her out of the picture."
"It will be done, my Lord," Lucius promised.
"If her removal could involve centaurs it would be a plus," Voldemort indicated as he moved towards the office's door.
That would at least make Hermione laugh.
"My Lord?" Lucius stopped his exit hesitantly.
Voldemort slowly turned to him, and Lucius seemed to shrivel on the spot under his gaze.
"Talk Lucius," Voldemort ordered icily.
"I heard from Narcissa that the others are growing reckless," Lucius said.
Lord Voldemort felt his exasperation soar. He had little time to deal with the moods of his most fanatical Death Eaters, who only wanted to start the raids again. He needed to deal with McLaggen, who was obviously not as easily swayed as what he had expected, and influencing his law was a very easy way to move forward some of his most important plans.
"Lucius, you know my vision of the future, don't you?" he threatened. "You do know that I plan to make you the Minister of Magic. A highly diplomatic position, don't you agree?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Wonderful," Lord Voldemort said sarcastically. "You have here a perfect opportunity to prove to me that you are indeed worthy of this position Lucius. Make Bella and the others understand that it's in their best interest I don't hear any other complaint about them again."
He had released his followers from Azkaban because he needed them to wreak havoc, and because letting them die in prison was not the best way to inspire confidence among his new recruits, but he would not hesitate to make them disappear if their instability threatened his plans.
oOoOoOo
Voldemort had returned to Hogwarts several times to ask Hermione more and more specific questions about their previous lives. About what had happened during the war, but also the political landscape, the future of various wizards, and the main spells and potions that were to be invented.
He'd always come at night, and Hermione was almost used to see Voldemort's silhouette hidden in the shadows when she was awoken with a start. He did not warn her, of course, before seeking her out, and if had once bothered Harry, it was else always her he discussed with.
Probably because a surprised Harry Potter was one that tended to cast before thinking, and even wandlessly he was able to produce a pretty powerful Expulso Curse. At Ginny's insistence, Harry had agreed to show them his memory of a Voldemort violently thrown against a wall in Gryffindor's boys dormitory. Every time Voldemort got on her nerves with his incessant questions Hermione was more than happy to remind him of this incident.
Voldemort had also again started communicating using the notebook Hermione had given him the previous winter. Not one polite word from him of course, just questions that sometimes seemed to come out of nowhere, to which Hermione answered with resignation. Because of course the mighty Lord Voldemort would be annoyed – and annoying – if she did not answer fast enough. Even if he needed to monopolize her attention for hours.
So when her bracelet heated just after dinner, indicating that there was a new communication from Voldemort, Hermione pulled out her notebook with a sigh.
"I'll be at Hogwarts in 10 minutes, where can we meet?" Voldemort had written.
That was unexpected, and against her will Hermione felt her heart beat slightly faster. Because Voldemort fascinated her as much as he exasperated her, meaning a lot. And she suspected it was more or less the same for him, although it was her knowledge of the future that fascinated him, and not her directly. And when one of them ended up exasperating the other just too much, they would invariably end up somehow kissing each other, and Hermione hated those kisses as much as she wanted them. It always marked the end of their exchanges when it happened though, both of them usually disgusted with themselves. Him because he was kissing a Mudblood. And her because she was kissing… well, him.
"West wing, seventh floor, left corridor," she wrote back.
It was too early for her to sneak him in her dorm – and Merlin knew that sounded wrong on so many levels –, and she was anyway pretty fine with, for once, meeting Voldemort in a less personal space.
"He's in Hogwarts," Hermione whispered to Harry, Ron and Ginny as they worked right next to her in Gryffindor common room.
"So early?" Ron said. "He's becoming more and more confident…"
"I'm going to use the Room of Requirement to ensure we don't cross any students' path," Hermione indicated. "If he does not leave quickly you won't be able to use it tonight to continue your research."
"We could still use the common room, nobody's going to say anything to us," Ginny shrugged. "But all the same, I'm not against a good night rest for once. The ritual to break the vow is finalized anyway, and we're just waiting Samhain to do it."
Hermione nodded, a part of her pretty envious. She would have really liked to have the opportunity to go to bed early, without any Voldemort or any magical source hindering her sleep.
"He still refuses to give you more information about what he knows regarding the magical sources?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Hermione sighed. "One day he's going to annoy me just too much, and I'm going to erase his superior smirk from his face with my fist."
"If you do that, please make sure you stay alive long enough to record your memory of this event somewhere," Ron pleaded.
Hermione rolled her eyes and hurried out of Gryffindor common room. She arrived in front of the Room of Requirement just as Voldemort – not even dissimulating himself under any glamours the preposterous idiot – emerged from another hallway.
"I refuse to talk in a storeroom," he sneered immediately, pointing at the blank wall.
Hermione could not help the little smile that bloomed on her lips, and she saw Voldemort's eyes narrow.
"You really never knew then?" she said in a falsely innocent voice.
"Hermione," he threatened coldly.
She just passed in front of him, laughing lightly, and went back and forth three times in front of the Room of Requirement's entrance, thinking of the usual arrangement they used. When the door appeared, she motioned for Voldemort to open it. The latter did not draw near, but opened the door with a dry movement of his hand, revealing a large room with numerous armchairs, the walls covered with shelves filled with books. The whole room was tastefully decorated, and illuminated by huge windows without any vis-à-vis.
"Welcome to our version of the Room of Requirement," Hermione said, entering the room.
Voldemort followed her silently, probing the magic of the room with his wand.
"The Room of Requirement is not just a place to hide things," Hermione explained. "It actually responds to requests from people passing by. It can be a refuge, an access to the restricted section of the library, a simple classroom, or anything else that is within its reach in Hogwarts."
"Who enchanted it?" Voldemort asked. "Rowena?"
"Helga."
Voldemort seemed puzzled, but did not comment.
"Have you studied its properties?" he asked instead.
"Not really," Hermione answered. "In my first life the room was destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, and this time I already have too many research topics to spare any minute to the Room of Requirement. What I can say though, is that this is a bold combination of extension charms, Legilimency and transfiguration.
"Interesting," Voldemort commented. "Bergson's way or Rekketa's way for the extension charms? What do you think?"
Hermione thought for a moment before answering.
"Bergson," she said. "I don't think Rekketa will bode well with transfiguration."
Voldemort did not answer but did not seem convinced either. He kept probing the magic of the room for several minutes, and Hermione sat down in one of the armchairs and continued reading the book on China's magical source she had started just before his visit. She was getting used to Voldemort's reactions, and when something held his interest he always needed to dig into it more, just like her.
About twenty minutes later, Voldemort came to sit in front of her.
"Do you know, Hermione, that the goblins have registers of all the items inside Gringotts?"
Hermione looked at him with surprise, the choice of topic quite unexpected.
"That would make sense," she answered cautiously.
"What makes the beauty of these registers is that they update themselves automatically. As soon as an object passes the threshold of one of the vaults, in one direction or the other."
Did this have anything to do with Hufflepuff's Cup? But Voldemort knew very well that it was indeed them who had recovered it.
"Where are you going with that?" Hermione asked.
"Even if no alarm is triggered, the registers still trace the date and time of exit of the stolen objects. And it turns out that an item I thought I could find in Bellatrix's vault was taken out of it at the exact same moment as a certain Cup you stole."
As if he had not himself stolen the Cup before them. But still, Hermione now knew exactly what he was talking about.
"How did you manage to peruse the registers?" she enquired.
"You just need to get into the director's office in Gringotts," Voldemort said. "And it so happens that they still have not completely set up their wards back after the unfortunate fire they suffered last spring."
"Unfortunate fire," Hermione deadpanned.
Voldemort just smiled.
"Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the same object had disappeared from other vaults where I should have been able to find it," he continued. "Like Travers' vault. And Nott's. The Potters' one also, and I must admit that it even confused me for a few, brief seconds."
Voldemort leaned slightly toward her, a gesture that she had started to be too used to to still feel intimidated by it.
"Where are the Tudor roses you stole Hermione?" Voldemort demanded to know.
"Why do you want a Tudor rose?" Hermione asked. "They only have a symbolic value."
And according to her memory, the Gaunt had never owned one. In addition, the object was too common for Voldemort to make it into a Horcrux.
"Why steal them in this case?" Voldemort replied.
Hermione did not answer his question. She knew Ginny and Ron had chosen the roses simply because, if they still had some value, it was not enough for the Aurors to invest too much money and time in looking for the thief if their theft was discovered.
"Why do you want a Tudor rose?" she asked again.
"For some people the symbolic value is very important," Voldemort answered with a smirk.
"Which one of the ministry's idiots are you trying to buy with that?" Hermione sighed.
"I cannot help but notice that for someone who defends the current order of things you do not seem to appreciate the ministry. At all. Perhaps you should switch to the side of those who really want to change things."
Hermione almost burst out laughing.
"I am on the side of those who really want to change things," she answered. "More precisely, on the side of those who want to change things without making unfortunately disappear half of the Wizengamot."
"But I know very well Hermione that you hold no respect for the idiots that currently populate the corridors of the ministry. So why are so keen to let them hinder you when you can get rid of them?"
He seemed honestly curious, and it reminded Hermione that he was truly incapable of empathizing with anyone.
"Because these people, as silly as they are, have a life, a family, and it is not for me to decide unilaterally that they do not deserve to live."
"If you don't want to bear the weight of this decision alone, you may ask me, I'll gladly help you," Voldemort proposed with a smirk.
Hermione just stared at him with barely concealed exasperation.
"And to answer your question, Tiberius McLaggen is the one who wants a Tudor rose. It seems one of his ancestors has sold his family's one almost a century ago and he's quite sore about that."
The contempt she felt should have been obvious as Voldemort raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Is he part of the people you despise?" Voldemort asked. "If you wish we could have an arrangement for me to have him disappear. In some unfortunate event of course."
"No, clearly not," Hermione snapped. "And it's not the uncle I despise, but rather the nephew. And not in this life. Or at least, not yet."
"Ah, some heart-breaking love story then? I don't really see you match well with this family though. They all are pompous and arrogant idiots."
As if he had any rights to talk about arrogance…
"Would not call it a love story, and surely not heart-breaking," Hermione answered. "I just used him to make Ron jealous one day, but Cormac managed to exasperate me even before the end of the evening, and I spent my time trying to avoid his unbearable presence."
Voldemort let out a small laugh at that, which made Hermione cringe. She did not need Voldemort to remind her that her taste in men had been catastrophic. Still was.
"Anyway, I came to offer you a deal," Voldemort said.
"You have no proof that we have the roses," Hermione answered stubbornly.
"Ah, but if I exchange for it the information of why you find only very few mentions of magical sources, perhaps you will be more inclined to admit that you have the roses, and to give me one?"
Hermione tapped her fingers on the armrest of her chair. This information could potentially remove quite an annoying thorn in her research, but it was not necessarily of great value. On the other hand, she knew that if she did not give him the Tudor rose, Voldemort would surely find another way to buy McLaggen.
"The rose that was in the Lestranges' vault then," she said.
"And why this one in particular?"
"It does not differ from others in any way, but I would rather give up Bellatrix's one."
Voldemort looked amused.
"Really? And why would you prefer to annoy Bellatrix?"
"Oh, I don't know. Because she's an insane, psychopathic witch perhaps?" Hermione answered ironically.
"And here I thought you were all about fairness for all and so on… I feel almost disappointed."
"Bellatrix Lestrange was sentenced to a life sentence in Azkaban," Hermione pointed out.
"But so was Travers, and yet you prefer to give me Bellatrix's rose rather than his. What has Bellatrix done to you in your previous life for you to hate her so much Hermione? It's Potter's godfather she had killed, not yours."
Hermione sighed.
"Bellatrix tortured me," she said. "You remember the part when Harry, Ron and I were caught by snatchers and imprisoned at Malfoy Manor? Bellatrix tortured me to try to find out if we had gone to Gringotts."
"Tortured? And you still hate her many decades later? What exactly did she do to you? Answer me Hermione," he added when she stayed silent. "After all, you must answer my questions regarding your past."
Hermione glared at him, but he was correct. Their vow would push her to answer anyway at some point.
"She carved "Mudblood" on my left arm with a cursed blade. I have never managed to make the scar disappear during my previous life."
"Ah," Voldemort commented, with something in his tone that sounded like affection. "Bella has always been quite creative."
Hermione did not answer, and searched her bag until she found the Lestranges' Tudor rose, which she showed to Voldemort.
"Why are there so few writings about magical sources?" she asked.
Voldemort moved closer to her, his face only inches away from hers as he took the rose from her hands.
"The founders made them disappear voluntarily," he provided. "I do not think they destroyed them, but the question of where they hid them is one I do not know the answer to."
He said that without much morgue, and Hermione deduced that he was telling the truth here.
"And no one has ever written about the magical sources since then? Not a single wizard has bothered to study the sources of magic in over a thousand years?"
"Strange, isn't it?" Voldemort said. "My theory is that the founders have discouraged the study of the sources during their lifetime, and then everyone has been convinced that there was actually nothing interesting to study about them."
"But the founders still cited them in their books," Hermione pointed out.
"Sporadically. And only Salazar really wrote about them, though without any details of interest. But he must have thought that the use of Parseltongue would be enough to protect this knowledge..."
Hermione nodded reluctantly. She did not really like this idea, but she had to admit that it would explain the scarce information available about the sources. Now, she needed to find where the founders could have hidden all the knowledge about them.
oOoOoOo
Hermione smiled at Harry, Ron and Ginny who had just come down for breakfast.
"So, how was your long night of sleep?" she asked.
"Wonderful!" Ginny answered cheerfully. "And how was your evening with the dark moron?"
"Would you stop calling him names Ginny?" Ron grumbled. "You'll jinx us at some point…"
"He was looking for the Tudor roses," Hermione said.
Ron looked surprised, a part of the pastry he was eating falling from his mouth in the process in a disgusting show of his still appalling eating manners when he did not bother to look well-educated.
"How has he made the connection with us?" Harry asked.
"It seems the goblins have automated registers that record all objects movements," Hermione answered. "It was not difficult to link the Lestranges' rose to us when we have taken Hufflepuff's Cup the same night."
Ginny grimaced.
"I gave him the Lestranges' one," Hermione said. "In exchange for some information on the sources. I have a new track now; I'm going to look where the founders could have hidden all the information about the magical sources."
"That's a pretty good news," Ron said. "The sources are our main objective after all."
They were then joined by Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Lavender and the conversation drifted to the next Quidditch match. The question was not if Gryffindor would win - it was always the case since Harry, Ginny and Ron had started to play - but rather with how many points.
Hermione did not really participate, and was able to quickly spot the black owl plunging towards her with a letter between its claws. She recognized the handwriting on the letter immediately, and she wondered why Voldemort bothered to send her a letter when not only they had spoken yesterday, but when he could have easily reached out to her using the notebooks.
"I simply wanted to clarify that any coincidence is purely unfortunate."
Hermione raised her eyebrows as the letter burned between her fingers. Before she could question it further, the owls of the Daily Prophet entered the Great Hall, dropping the newspaper in front of its subscribers. Hermione pulled Ron's copy from his hands even before he could read the headlines.
"Hermione!" Ron protested.
She ignored him and feverishly unfolded the newspaper, her eyes flying over the various articles until she found one that made her burst out laughing, before she could contain herself, and more calmly re-read the title.
"A ministry official removed from office following a brawl with centaur's in a Knockturn pub"
Hermione turned her gaze towards the professors' table, and indeed Umbridge was missing, and the Defence Against the Dart Arts' professor's seat was empty. She slid the newspaper to Harry, Ron and Ginny as they leaned over to read it all at the same time.
"Did you do that?" Ron asked.
"No," Hermione answered. "He did."
"Why?" Harry asked, sceptical.
"I might have told him that Umbridge stole his beloved Locket at some point," Hermione said. "I guess he was not thrilled about it."
Excited whispers were beginning to be heard around them, some of the students having seen the newspaper article as well, and Ginny sighed happily.
"Damn, we should go to sleep early more often if all the mornings after are as good as this one," she said.
Surprisingly, this news became even better a few days later. As Fudge had no time to think about the Defence Against the Dark Arts position with Death Eaters still at bay, and without Umbridge to whisper directions in his ears, Fudge quickly asked Amelia Bones to deal with the issue. And Amelia Bones asked Scrimgeour to detach one of his Aurors to do the job. William Burke was not a teacher at heart, but he knew what he was talking about, and he was quite pleased to do something useful as he was slowly recovering from a nasty injury. On top of that, he was vividly encouraging practice. Hogwarts was definitely better off this way.
oOoOoOo
The walls of the Room of Requirement shook violently and Hermione heard Harry swear.
"Don't move!" she ordered forcefully.
Another wand motion and the walls shook again. Then the brightness dropped for a moment. Ginny exhaled loudly and Hermione realized that the atmosphere had become truly oppressive.
"Brace yourself, I'm going to channel Samhain's magic," Hermione warned.
The magic vibrated around her and Hermione felt intoxicated by the phenomenal power that emanated from the ritual. She had not really touched this type of magic in her first life. The kind of powerful, too powerful rituals, who could so easily prove fatal if something was not done right. And the power of the magic behind it was something exceptional. Almost euphoric.
Exactly like what she had seen with Voldemort in Norway, a demonstration of impossible power and mastery. Carefully, she chanted the rest of the incantation. A whirlwind of wind rose in the room, and Hermione glared at Ron, who almost lost his balance inside his runes circle.
The magic around her slowed, before suddenly rushing inside their bodies, cutting off their breath at the same time. Hermione felt her vision flicker, and her body trembled as if all her muscles were stressed at the same time. Then the magic disappeared completely, leaving them all panting.
And Hermione burst into a clear laugh.
"The unbreakable vow is now broken," she said.
At the same time, however, an icy shiver ran through all four of them, immediately recognizable as the warning signal that an unbreakable vow they had participated in had been nullified by the other party.
"We're not the only ones to have gotten rid of it, it seems," Harry commented.
"Shit," Ron swore darkly.
Hermione could have not said it better.
oOoOoOo
AN: Next chapter in two weeks.