The museum was fascinating and the owner who gave them the tour was only too happy to answer questions. He was jumpy and seemed permanently nervous, but when Gellert left to use the bathroom it became quickly apparent that this was because of the dark wizard's presence. The man settled down and they had a long conversation about the origin of the myth that silver was powerful against werewolves.
When Gellert returned seeming much more settled, they continued into the Tudors. There had even been five ships full of witches and wizards defending the British against the Spanish Armada. The muggles believed the ships had been filled with gunpowder and sent among the fleet. She knew this story from when she had been in school, but it was fascinating to hear how the ICW hadn't been able to completely erase the blatant magic from every muggle memory. There was even a display of the wands that had been used in the event, one of which was still completely intact and apparently, functional.
From there they moved on to the formation of the ICW, then the witch burnings covered several rooms. The next room was druids, with displays of staffs and athames and the far more ritualistic magic they had used. She was fascinated to learn that the druids had only ever used staffs for serious magic and the rest had been done wandlessly, she wondered whether magic had truly weakened or whether they had just lost the skill. Dumbledore and Gellert were the only wizards she had ever met who could perform wandless magic.
The display of athames was incredible, ranging from one that was inset with more jewels than the value of her parent's house to one that was barely more than a sharpened stake. They varied massively in condition, the ones that had been used for darker magic apparently lasting longer than the light ones. She was itching to know if the same effect could be hand on wands too and wondered if the one that remained from the Spanish Armada had been used for the fiendfyre that supposedly consumed one of the ships.
They moved through the section on the Romans and Vikings, then entered a room solely centred around Hogwarts and the founders. Her vision blurred as they walked through the door, as though her second sight was pushing to be seen. She frowned, having barely had to meditate for weeks it seemed odd to be having such a relapse now.
She tugged on Gellert's sleeve to gain his attention and the wizard took one look at her expression before falling back slightly. A buzz filled her ears and she knew he had cast a privacy charm.
'I keep losing my vision.' She hissed, instinctively not wanting to talk loudly despite the privacy charm. 'It's like the other layer is being really persistent.'
'You should let is in. Usually it means your gift wants you to see something important.' He told her, casting his eyes around the room as if searching for whatever she was meant to be seeing. She grimaced, dreading the hours of mediation it would take to clear her vision again after this, before allowing the fog to fully cover her vision. Immediately, Gellert's icy darkness jumped out at her, then the deep blue of the museum guide. She cast her gaze around the room, the many powerful, ancient objects still glowing faintly with the traces of their old owners. She almost missed it, having not looked up that high to begin with.
'Ah, that was recently donated to us by Mr. Grindelwald here.' The museum owner commented, returning to their side. 'The missing diadem of Ravenclaw.'
The diadem of Ravenclaw was a twisted, throbbing ball of dark magic, as present as any living being and seemingly almost sentient.
'It's full of dark magic.' She commented loud enough for only Gellert to hear. He hummed as if unsurprised.
'Confundo.' He said calmly, and the museum owner wandered away down the displays. She almost objected before reasoning that in the grand scheme of things, a confundus wasn't that bad.
'What is it?'
'This, I believe, carries a section of Voldemort's soul.' He climbed up and reached for the black mass and she half expected it to lash out and consume him. He tucked it away and she breathed a sigh of relief.
'Voldemort's soul?' She asked curiously and he hummed in agreement.
'We need to get this back to Hogwarts and destroy it.' He sounded slightly urgent, so she swooned and made a loud gasping noise. She faked a stumble, catching herself clumsily against the nearest display case, which was enough to attract the museum owner's attention again.
'I'm so sorry, Mr Fletcher, but I'm really feeling quite faint. Perhaps we could come back another time.' Gellert's blackened hands wrapped firmly around her upper arms as though he was helping to support her and the museum owner fell for their trick completely. They were led – at a painfully slow pace but one that was realistic if she really was feeling ill – to the doors, where Fletcher had already called an Abraxan carriage for them. Hermione struggled to maintain her act in the face of the new feature of the wizarding world.
'Are these like taxis?' She asked curiously as Fletcher appeared and sloshed a generous helping of whiskey into the horses' nosebag.
'Yes, I believe it was a joint venture between the Blacks and the Malfoys. The horses take payment of whiskey to drink, and a couple of galleons on arrival.' He answered. Several muggles approached and patted the horse happily, seeming to not notice the massive wings that fluttered around their heads. The Abraxan tossed its head and rolled it's eyes impatiently, so Gellert let it know that they were headed to Hogsmede and they climbed in.
The interior was large and luxurious with plush, comfortable seats and a tea service steaming ready for use. Hermione took the seat facing forwards, and peered out the small window, amazed to see that they were already in flight. She had to admit, the journey was so smooth, and the scenery whizzed past underneath them so fast that if she could afford it she would have happily spent a couple of galleons to travel this way more often. They travelled in silence, both mulling over their separate thoughts.
'What do you mean by Voldemort's soul?' She finally asked, figuring the location was private enough to talk. He shifted in his seat as if considering how to best break bad news to her.
'Albus had spent their lessons slowly sharing Voldemort's history with Harry, planning to eventually show him what Voldemort discovered. I don't understand why he feels the need to do it this way, so we eventually agreed that I would just tell you.' He paused for a moment and she decided he must be trying to decide which parts to exclude. She had come to recognise that expression when they had focused on fighting inferi in DADA, where he wasn't entirely certain how much it was appropriate to tell a teenager. In her case, she suspected he was actually slightly embarrassed to know so much that she blatantly disapproved of, or perhaps he didn't want to admit to the true depth of his knowledge.
'You are aware of the damage that committing a murder causes on the soul...' he began and she nodded. She had seen the evidence close up on his soul. 'There is a spell, or perhaps more accurately a ritual, which can use that damage to separate two sections of the soul and encase the separated piece in an object.'
'But if the soul exists outside the body...' She could hardly comprehend the implications, her own knowledge of soul magic being the vague brushes that other topics occasionally touched on.
'Then the body can be destroyed without destroying the soul.'
'So he is immortal, because of that segment of soul trapped on the living plane?' She asked, catching on quickly.
'Not exactly. His body can still be destroyed as Harry demonstrated, however the soul piece becomes a wraith until it can be restored to a form by a series of complex and incredibly dark potions, perhaps darker than the original act itself.' He knew the potions, she could tell, but she doubted he had used them, the sneer in his voice as he spoke of it was evidence to that.
'He's not only made one has he?' She asked, already knowing the answer. He can't have, if this one was safely in Gellert's property when he was resurrected. Although, how had Voldemort gotten on to Gellert's property to use it in his dark magic. Unless he had properties that the ICW didn't know about... somehow that didn't surprise her at all.
'No, Albus and I believe there are perhaps seven in total. One of which Harry destroyed in his second year, another of which Albus and I took care of during the holidays and the final one we have visited but have been unable to retrieve as of yet. This takes us to four.'
'Why can't you get the third?' She asked curiously. Gellert and Albus were the most powerful wizards she knew, she couldn't understand how they hadn't managed to retrieve it.
'Voldemort has used a method of limiting the number of people accessing it by power. Albus and I cannot go together, but it will be a two person job on the other side. I hope to make use of yourself and Harry, assuming that your underage magical cores won't affect the enchantment.'
She loved being involved, of course she wanted to help defeat Voldemort but even with someone as powerful as Grindelwald accompanying them, this felt awfully unresearched.
'Assuming?' She asked nervously.
'Well, I haven't done any research into the possible spells he could have used. With Albus' method of informing Harry we won't be able to go again until sometime near the end of the year.' Replied Gellert with a shrug.
'Can I help in the meantime?' She asked curiously and he shrugged again.
'Research inferi, otherwise there's no other indication of what we will face.'
'Can you steal inferi?' She asked curiously and Gellert's head whipped around.
'Yes, but it is not the kind of ritual you want to know about.' He cautioned and she subsided quickly. He was right, she shouldn't even consider such a course of action. The dead should be laid to rest. She almost regretted bringing it up, wondering if Gellert was now considering the idea.
The door sprung open, signalling that they had landed and Gellert climbed out first before helping her down. They had attracted the attention of several curious students, but they left the Abraxan to deal with the attention – a handful of gold in the enchanted bowl on the table and hurried off to Hogwarts.