Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction using characters and elements from the world of Harry Potter, created and trademarked by JK Rowling. I do not claim ownership over any Harry Potter characters or the Harry Potter world. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and is not claiming to be any part of the Harry Potter canon. Thank you to JK Rowling for letting me play with the characters and not suing me for writing them into a new situation.
Light of the Moon
Chapter 5
Despite having spent an entire evening exploring the library at Castle Marvolo, Hermione was determined to go back the very next day. She wanted to make the most of her time in Ophidia.
But first, she was anxious to know the outcome of Astoria's trial from the night before.
Since she didn't know Astoria that well, she figured it would be better to tag along with Luna, who would no doubt be eagerly awaiting the news, also.
Knowing that Astoria could very possibly have been up all night, they waited until the sun was high in the sky before knocking on her door.
A little house-elf opened it and peered around the door before saying very quietly, "Mistress is still sleeping." She seemed to sneer at them, her disapproval at the way they had chosen to disrupt her Mistress's sleep evident on her tiny face.
Pheme, the house-elf that was assigned to help Hermione on the occasions when she needed something, didn't stay with her in her bedroom and open doors for her. Hermione wondered if having her own castle-elf was a sign that Astoria was now the Mistress of the entire castle.
She felt a sharp pang of disappointment at the thought. She'd really wanted a chance to try to solve the riddle.
From the way her heart fell, though, there was no sense denying that she had also really wanted a chance to win. There was something about this country—and this King—that tugged at her. As Queen of Ophidia, she'd have the power and the influence to do something really important, truly worthwhile. She couldn't help the feeling that this was the Big Thing that she was meant to do with her life.
Carefully, she pushed those feelings aside, while Luna politely asked the elf to let them know once Miss Greengrasidi was awake.
The witch herself appeared just then. "Sebeia, it's okay, I'm up," she said, with a yawn. "Is it morning already? I feel like I barely got any sleep." Astoria's hair was a tousled mess of light-brown waves. A green ribbon was sticking out of it like it had been meant to hold up her heavy hair and had faltered sometime during the night. Her nightrobes were silvery satin and lace, and her feet were bare. It was clear she had just climbed out of bed at hearing the visitors at the door.
"Mistress was up so late," Sebeia complained. "She should go back to bed so she can rest before speaking with Master." She cast a distrustful eye at the two foreigners. "Mistress should be telling her family first, not these two who do not bear the Mark of Ophidia."
Astoria just shooed her away. "Sebeia, I'll tell Mama and Baba later. Right now, I'm just getting up. These two are both Suitors, anyway, and so I'm sure it would be expected that anyone in the castle would hear any news first. Can you please get us some hot tea? And some of Cook's galatopita would be lovely, too. I'm positively famished."
The house-elf popped off to run her errand, but not without sending everyone a look of strong dissatisfaction first.
"Forgive Sebeia," Astoria said, motioning the other two women to come inside. "She was my nursery house-elf and thinks I am still a child. She came with me to the castle, and her allegiance supposedly belongs to me, but you couldn't possibly convince me that she's not running home to report to Father every chance she gets." The young woman shook her head affectionately at the quirks of her disagreeable house-elf.
The three had just sat themselves on the sofas, when Sebeia came back carrying a tray with a teapot and an entire milk pudding pie that was bigger than her head.
"Mistress will need all of her energy to face her parents," she said, by way of explanation. Her little elf face reflected concern for a moment, before she turned to glare at Hermione again. "And rest. Hopefully Mistress's visitors will not stay too long."
"Thank you, Sebeia," Astoria said, with a small smile. "I'll be Floo-calling Baba directly, and then will take the day to rest. You can help me later to pack up our things so we can return home this evening."
"Yes, Mistress," the elf said with a tiny—but extremely elegant—curtsy, before she Disapparated.
Did everyone in Ophidia know how to curtsy properly?
"Are you leaving the castle, Astoria?" Luna asked. "You didn't solve the riddle, then?"
"Oh no." Astoria shuddered at the thought. "At least, I don't think I did. I don't remember anything beyond the doors of the Throne Room. I only remember coming out again feeling very tired. It must have been well past midnight." She sighed. "Baba is going to be so disappointed. He was so sure that I was going to be the one. But I just can't drum up enough sympathy for him, as it was my life that he was hoping would be shackled to the King's."
Hermione felt an inward surge of relief at Astoria's words. The riddle remained unsolved. She still had a chance. Her heart beat a tiny bit faster, the pounding in her ears obscuring what Luna asked next. Briefly, she closed her eyes trying to concentrate on the conversation around her, rather than the swell of anxiety and excitement running through her.
"Probably late this evening," Astoria was saying, obviously as an answer to Luna's question. "Steward Aidos met me after the trial. She's usually very terrifying, I have to say. But she was very kind. She simply said—very formally, of course—that as I had failed the trial, I was welcome at Castle Marvolo for one more day as a guest, rather than as a Suitor. She might have meant I could leave tomorrow morning, but I see no reason to stay. Sebeia can have us packed up in a trice, and I can be asleep in my own bed by this evening."
Her eyes lit up with excitement, then. "And I can start packing for my trip to Brittania! I'm very much looking forward to the adventure! Now that my trial is over, we only have to wait for you two to finish, and that shouldn't be so terribly long."
"But what if I win," Hermione said, half-jokingly. "Hopefully that doesn't change your plans."
Astoria laughed. "Well that's why I want to wait for you! I was originally going to leave when Luna was finished here, since her trial is supposed to come right after mine. But now that you're here, I couldn't possibly leave without finding out what happens!"
Abruptly, she lowered her voice, even though there wasn't anyone else around to hear her. "And is it terrible of me to hope that one of us solves the riddle, just to see the look of horror on Lady Carrow's face?" She giggled. "I heard she's gotten herself all in a tizzy about the Mu—Muggleborn who has the approval of the former Queen, and the Prince Consort."
Though Astoria stumbled over the original M-word that Lady Carrow had said, that was not the thing that set off little alarm bells in Hermione's head. "What do you mean the approval of the Queen?"
"And the Prince Consort," Astoria reminded her. "The whole castle is abuzz with the rumors. The portraits were all shocked at the way the two spoke with you yesterday, and especially the way the Queen talked about your power. They think she gave you her blessing. I've heard your name spoken of already a dozen times since yesterday, and not just because Lady Carrow has been using your name as a curse word. Queen Merope never did think much of her."
It made Hermione uncomfortable to think of being the subject of so many rumors. Especially rumors that were unfounded. It was true that she'd talked at length with the royal portraits, but there had been nothing in their conversation that could be construed as a blessing. Even if there was, it wasn't as if such a thing could affect the outcome of Hermione's trial. She still had to solve the riddle, and prove herself both the smartest and the strongest of witches.
Astoria, on the other hand, was quite gleeful, and was happy to relay all the latest gossip that she'd somehow managed to hear between leaving them yesterday for her trial and waking up this morning.
Hermione wanted to hear about the trial from the night before, but unfortunately, the most pertinent things were exactly what Astoria couldn't tell her. As all the others before her had reported, they remembered nothing of the trial beyond the doors. The instructions, given by Horkos, another castle-elf, were all the same.
A thought occurred to her, and she interrupted Astoria's retelling of what she'd overheard one noble telling the other. "Luna, is your trial tonight, then?"
Luna considered the curiosity on Hermione's face very carefully. "No, I didn't receive a notice, or the robes."
"He doesn't see a Suitor every night." Astoria shrugged. "He'd probably never get any sleep that way if he has to rule all day, and then stay up all night. I know he's seen several Suitors in a row, but it's not that often. Usually it's only a few in a row."
"How strange," Hermione mused out loud. "You'd think he would have a more orderly schedule to follow. Something more predictable." Surely he wasn't going to just see Suitors as the whim took him. There must be conditions that they didn't know about that would affect the outcome of the test.
She didn't realize she'd been continuing to think out loud until Astoria said, with a laugh, "Well, he doesn't ever seem to take Suitors when it rains. Maybe he doesn't like bad weather."
Something clicked in Hermione's head. Perhaps there was a pattern. "Does anyone want to go to—"
"—the library?" Luna finished for her. "I suppose we'd better."
Excitement sparkled in Astoria's eyes, as she suddenly didn't look tired anymore. "I'll be just a few moments. I need to make a Floo call to break my father's heart."
It was far more than a few moments before the trio could make their way to the Ophidian library.
They'd had to wait for Astoria to inform her father that she was no longer in competition for the King's hand in marriage, and had to listen to her father simultaneously lament and berate his youngest daughter for her failure, while also offering her comfort and assurance that she always had a place with them in their ancestral home.
Astoria endured it all good-naturedly, before rushing him off. She didn't bother informing him of her travel plans, since she said they were on hold, anyway, waiting for the outcome of Luna's and Hermione's trials.
After that, they had to track down a house-elf who worked for Castle Marvolo who could help them with the records of the Suitors. The obvious choice would be Steward Aidos, but the women all agreed that they'd rather not alert the Steward to the fact they were seeking that information.
In the end, it had been little Pheme that had been the most useful source of the information they needed. It turned out she had a weakness for Cook's galatopita, and when asked to sit with the ladies and share their overly large plateful, she was all too happy to 'rest her feet and exercise her mouth.'
Pheme had a wonderful memory, not just for the Suitors she'd served, but for all the goings-on in the castle. From all of the details she recalled, along with a handy calendar that Hermione drew up, they were able to piece together a record of which nights the Suitors had been called in for their trials. Names and country of origin, where known, were scribbled in beside the dates.
Armed with this data, and after a very full Pheme had wobbled her way out of the room, the three women finally made it to the library.
On the way, they filled Astoria in on the encounter with Lady Carrow from the night before. She scoffed at Lady Carrow's arrogance, informing them that her social standing was certainly not as high as her brother's. Even her title of 'Lady' was more of a self-styling since she was most certainly not married to her brother.
They all agreed, though, that they needed to be extra careful while researching, as Lady Carrow's spies could be everywhere.
Once again, they went to the Muggle History section, which was quite empty, and set themselves up in the center table. Surrounded by the empty tables and chairs, it was much easier for them to see someone trying to eavesdrop on their conversation or sneak a peek at their research.
Hermione unrolled the parchment with the records of the Suitor trials from the last several weeks. The three women stared at it for a moment.
"Well," Hermione began, "weather records first, probably, since Astoria mentioned he didn't hold the trials in the rain."
"I'll go retrieve those," Luna volunteered, before she wandered off in the opposite direction from where those records were likely to be kept.
Astoria tapped one of the dates on the calendar in a thoughtful manner. "I'm going to look up a calendar on Ophidian historical dates, holidays, and ancient calendars. There might be something useful there."
Hermione agreed, and stared at the parchment a few more minutes. What else did they know about the trials? They knew what nights the previous trials had taken place. They knew that no one could bring anything into the room, physically or magically. But what else? What else did everyone know?
With a start, she reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out the maps there. One was the map of the Ophidian Library, and the other was the map of the castle that Steward Aidos had given her.
Using her finger, she traced a path to… the Throne Room. The private chamber of the King was only for formal audiences, and that was where all of the trials took place. Since nothing could be brought into the room, everything they could possibly need to solve the riddle must be in that room. What she needed was the blueprints for that room.
Using the library map she located the section that seemed likely to hold architectural information on the castle. But before she left the table, she hesitated, uncertain about leaving the parchment open for others to see, even secluded as they were.
She decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and she whispered an encoding spell on the parchment. The dates suddenly shuffled around, while the names flipped through the alphabet so quickly they were a blur to the eye. A moment later, an innocent looking calendar of Quidditch games lay on the table. For good measure, Hermione added a picture of Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian Seeker. She'd always had a bit of a soft spot for him, and not just because he was Ron's favorite player. She liked his brooding intensity. He knew he was the best, and he was not ashamed to play to win each time he came onto the pitch.
Satisfied that the rest of their belongings were protected against intrusion, she headed off to the stacks.
To her surprise, there was book upon book upon parchment of information about Castle Marvolo. Everything from which kings commissioned which wings, to which quarries the stones were magically taken from. But there were no blueprints.
Looking for everything she could find with pictures and descriptions, she levitated them back to their study table, wondering if the others had been as successful in their hunt.
Her friends had not yet returned, but there was a woman of stubby stature leaning over their table, taking in the parchment scroll that covered it. Her hair was pulled back tightly in what appeared to be her customary chignon.
When the woman heard Hermione's start of surprise, she glanced up, her eyes mocking. "Such silly things you young girls are wasting your time on, though I have to admit he is quite nice to look upon."
Hermione pursed her lips, doing her best not to glance at the calendar on the table to see if the encryption spell still held. "Hello Lady Carrow," she greeted her carefully. Remembering the stack of books she was bringing, she tried to remain casual. She reminded herself that even if Lady Carrow cared to find out what the books were, there was no way she could know what Hermione was looking for, and no way to use that information even if she did. Also, she probably already knew what the Throne Room looked like.
With her spine stiff and straight, she walked the rest of the distance to the table, setting the books down as if they were unimportant. "Come to take Luna up on her offer for the Wrackspurts?" she asked, allowing her amusement to come through in her voice.
Lady Carrow wrinkled her nose in distaste. "That awful girl is completely daft! There's no such thing as Wrackspurts. It's completely ridiculous she thinks she can attract the attention of the King."
Straightening, she pointedly moved further away from where Hermione was standing. Her glare, and the careful way she swept her skirts away from touching her made her disdain clear. "The King would never choose you, either. You were foolish to come here so far from home."
Hermione forbore to remind her that the purpose of the trial wasn't to attract the attention of the King or to convince him to choose her as a bride, but to solve the magical riddle. Lady Carrow seemed to believe there was an element of personal choice involved, and as a result no doubt still thought the King was going to choose her.
"Heed my words well," Lady Carrow continued. "When you fail your trial, you are to return to your country without delay. You would not wish to stay and make any further enemies." Her low voice and the venom behind it made the threat unmistakable.
"Of course," Hermione agreed, causing Lady Carrow to narrow her eyes in suspicion. "If I lose, I have no intention of remaining much longer in this country, though I may stay an extra day or two to explore the library and perhaps see some other sights." She smiled benignly at the woman.
The Ophidian woman waited, disbelieving that the young Brittanian could be so amenable to being threatened.
Hermione let the silence stretch for several moments, until Lady Carrow opened her mouth to speak again, and then Hermione quickly cut her off.
"Although, if I win, I will be remaining here in Ophidia. And I will be very pleased to deal quickly with any enemies I may have made. I'm sure you understand." She smiled again, equally as benign, and watched Lady Carrow's face harden in anger.
Her gloved fists clenched and unclenched around the skirts of her expensive dress robes, while her face started to turn that same darker shade of fury from their last encounter.
But before she could retaliate, Luna and Astoria came into view, both of them levitating stacks of books.
"Why Lady Carrow!" Luna exclaimed, as she set her books on the table in a haphazard pile with loose newspapers spilling over the top. "How excited I am to see you! Oh, dear, and you don't look much better than the last time. Sit, sit, I'll be happy to take care of that with a spell." She raised her wand as if she was going to cast the spell without even waiting for Lady Carrow to sit, and Lady Carrow flinched in disgust.
"Ridiculous girl," she bit out. "Don't you dare touch me!" She glanced over at Astoria who was calmly seating herself at the table and preparing to open her first book. "What shame to your family that you would fraternize with these filthy foreigners."
Astoria started to stand, angrily, when Luna laughed very loudly and clapped her hands.
The others looked at her, confused.
She said, "That was a very nice alliteration, Lady Carrow! Positively pleasant to the ear." She popped each of her P's to emphasize them, beaming at Lady Carrow with pride. "Though perhaps perturbing once one perceives its less than peaceful, though painfully popular, viewpoint." Her face suddenly fell. "Oh, that last word was technically a 'v.' I almost made it." She shook her head in disappointment, long curls bouncing, before turning to Lady Carrow, who was gaping at her, baffled.
No, perplexed, Hermione corrected inwardly, with a small smile.
The conversation was very effectively halted, as all attention was on the blonde's unruffled expression. "It's your turn now," Luna told her, gently, as if she were a child who needed to be prodded. "I suggest an 's.' The sibilance seems quite suitable to the situation." She suddenly clapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh no, I took your turn by accident."
Lady Carrow sputtered, her face growing angrier and angrier though she couldn't seem to think of anything to say that didn't make her look more like a fool. She finally repeated herself, "Ridiculous girl!" before sweeping away in a huff.
The three women watched her leave in tense silence.
When Hermione heard the quiet 'Muffliato' that signaled it was safe to talk, she burst into laughter. She was not the only one.
Astoria was bent double over her pile of books, her own gloved hand lightly pounding the tabletop in her mirth. "Oh, Circe!" she gasped. "Her face. Purple…peeved…"
"Pointedly provoked," Hermione added, causing more laughter.
"P-p-piqued." Astoria could barely get the word out as she tried to breathe.
"Paroxysmal!" Hermione said, triumphantly, and the two women howled even harder as the tension of the unpleasant confrontation drained away.
Taking deep breaths, Astoria wiped her eyes from the tears that had gathered there, while Hermione suppressed her giggles.
Luna sat serenely, flipping through the pages of one of the books she'd brought. Once she realized the others had finished with their laughter, she raised one eyebrow at them and said, very distinctly, "Preposterously puerile."
They started laughing again.
"I meant the two of you!" Luna told them, before her peals of laughter joined theirs.
The Muffliato was not enough to hide their hilarity, and an Ophidian passing by frowned at them, reminding them that they were in a library. They quickly quieted, though not without exchanging highly amused glances first.
Hermione hoped Lady Carrow had heard their laughter. That woman was completely insufferable. If her own determination to solve the riddle wasn't already at the highest level, those thinly veiled threats would have boosted it considerably.
"Well," she said, getting back to the business at hand, "that was fun."
"Is it safe to talk?" Astoria asked, being unfamiliar with the Muffliato spell. "I would not put it past her to try to continue eavesdropping."
"Safer than speaking openly," Luna answered. "But let's assume that everything we say is still partially compromised." She waved her hand at the parchment. "I like what you've done with our Calendar, Hermione. I've always been quite partial to Viktor Krum myself."
Wordlessly, Hermione reversed the encryption spell, though she left the picture of Krum on it. Now that the notations were back in their proper order, Luna immediately began filling in some of the information from the weather reports that she'd gathered.
Astoria had been correct that no Suitors were ever seen during bad weather. After Astoria removed a few more options from the calendar, for important Ophidian holidays and special events, it was clear they'd accounted for the vast majority of the dates of the calendar.
Quietly, they discussed what the significance of the weather could mean. There were still several days of clear weather when Riddle did not receive any Suitors. Was it simply because King Riddle needed a break, or was there another component to the pattern that they were missing?
Remembering her idea about the Throne Room, Hermione gave each of the girls a book, and they flipped through the pictures. Astoria couldn't remember having ever been in the Throne Room, other than the night before, so she wasn't any help in describing it.
They found a couple of older pictures, from before Queen Merope's reign, when apparently the castle had been completely redecorated. It showed the Throne Room as a curious octagonal room towards the center of the castle. With wide double-doors on one end, the thrones were set against the wall directly opposite.
The polished marble floor showed a large design with a serpent, the rather sinister-looking Mark of Ophidia.
Hermione didn't see anything else of interest in the Throne Room to indicate why the weather might be important to the trial.
"Oh, this is interesting," said Luna, calling the women's attention to the pages of her book.
Hermione looked over to see an article about the ceiling of the Throne Room.
"There is an oculus in the center that for many centuries was open, allowing the light to enter the chamber," Luna told them, paraphrasing what she had read. "In the 15th century, the King had the oculus glassed over like a window, allowing the light in, but keeping out the rain. The design is beautiful." She flipped the book over to show the others what looked like a stylized stained-glass style rendering of the shape of the country of Ophidia. It spread out elegantly from the center, the mountain ranges and the rivers detailed in various colors of glass.
Looking at it, Hermione felt an unfamiliar longing come over her. She wasn't sure she could feel Ophidia singing, the way Luna described it, but there was no denying that she felt a powerful connection to this land. She touched the design on the page, tracing the outline of the country's borders, and letting the information they'd acquired filter through her brain.
She looked back at the older pictures of the room, and it suddenly came clear to her.
"I need an almanac," she said.
Luna considered this request for a minute before saying, "Of course. That explains why he only does the trials at night." She dug around in her weather books for a bit, before retrieving an almanac. "Try this."
They opened the pages to the corresponding months, and Hermione compared the dates. Carefully, she crossed out the nights of the new moon. Then she crossed out any nights when the moon set too soon after the sun set, or when it rose too close to the dawn. It corresponded perfectly.
"It's the moonlight," Astoria said, quietly. "The riddle must require the presence of moonlight. So the moon must be present, and the sky must be clear."
Hermione stared at the calendar. It didn't show the timeframe of the entirety of the competition, but she was certain that if they traced the dates all the way back to the beginning, it would follow the same pattern. They'd found the answer to the question of why Riddle only saw Suitors on certain days. But what was the significance? Had they really learned anything?
Waving a hand over the calendar, Luna encrypted it. Once again, it showed dates of Quidditch matches. She rolled it up and then handed it over to Hermione. "It may not be much of an advantage, but it's best to keep it carefully hidden."
Still thinking, Hermione pulled out a new piece of parchment and a fresh Self-Inking quill. She started jotting down all the things she knew of that were affected or influenced by moonlight.
Astoria looked at Hermione's growing list and groaned. "You mean we have to do more research?"
Looking up, Hermione exclaimed, "Oh, of course not! You and Luna can both go. I don't mean to ruin your plans. But I want to use what time I have before my trial to learn as much as I can." She smiled at her, ruefully. "You don't know me well enough yet, but I'm well known for always researching something in the closest library. I'm happy for the company and the help, but I can do it myself. In the end, it will only be whatever knowledge I can take in my head, anyway."
Astoria sighed. "Oh, I'll help. It's for a good cause. But I'll let my parents know I probably won't be home for supper after all."
"I'll take the section on Magizoology," Luna volunteered, getting up to put her books away, and retrieve some new ones.
Astoria stopped her. "Oh, wait!"
The two Brittanians looked at her while her brow furrowed in thought. "Your wand. Your wand tracks the history of what books you look at." She paused, thinking furiously. "Use your wand to pull out books, and to copy sections of material that are unrelated to what you want. If somehow Lady Carrow, or anyone else, has found a way to access our browsing history, the least we can do is overwhelm them with irrelevant information."
They all nodded in agreement.
"I guess I'll take Magizoology, and competitive synchronized animal herding," Luna said.
With a grin, Astoria added, "I'll take potions ingredients and Muggle culinary accomplishments."
Hermione looked at her two new friends, overcome with warm feelings for their good-natured support. "I'll take transformative spellwork and anything they have on how to rule a country. 'Lessons on Being a Queen' or something similar."
Astoria snorted at that. "Lady Carrow will have a fit at your presumptuousness." She popped her 'P' on purpose.
"Precisely my point," Hermione said, and the three dissolved into giggles again as they separated.
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