There should be more consistent updates to come now that I've got more time on my hands, so hopefully you guys won't have to wait too long now. As always, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think.
After arriving at home for the holidays, Hermione quickly made plans to visit the bookshop in Diagon Alley where she had purchased her book from. Hermione had every intention of discovering just where this book came from and how it allowed her to communicate with someone else through another book. Convincing her parents to let her do anything on her own these days was more difficult than it used to be, since they were so obviously worried about her given what was happening. But Hermione had to remind her parents that she was a capable witch who was more than capable of taking care of herself.
Being in Diagon Alley certainly wasn't as safe as it used to be, but it was where Hermione needed to go if she was to get anywhere with this book. Seeing how abandoned and damaged the shops were made Hermione long for the liveliness that once filled this place. Now there was hardly anything there and it was practically a ghost town. When Hermione found Scribbulus Writing Implements, or what was left of it for that matter, she cursed herself for forgetting that the shop had been ransacked by Death Eaters. It had happened on the same day that Ollivanders had been raided by the Death Eaters, only a few days after Hermione had purchased her book from there.
Standing in front of the shop, Hermione debated what she should do now. The chances of her finding anything useful here were slim, since there was probably hardly anything left of the shop. But after deciding to throw caution to the wind anyways, Hermione carefully walked inside and examined the state of the shop. It was a far cry from the shop that Hermione had walked into to purchase her book in July. There were still a few remnants of the shop lying around, but other than that it appeared to be completely abandoned with hardly anything in it. That was, until Hermione heard the slightest sound of rustling from the back of the shop.
Reacting on instinct, Hermione pulled out her wand and carefully approached where the noise was coming from. This was her Gryffindor bravery coming out as she prepared herself to face whatever or whoever was in here as well. The noise became louder until Hermione could see the door getting banged. Deciding to act on instinct, she cast the Knockback Jinx on the door, causing it to push the door open and fling whoever was behind it to be thrown back with a loud thud. Hermione then pushed through the door, bracing herself for whoever was there. At first Hermione was surprised to see that someone was there, but when she got a closer look she wasn't that surprised at all.
"Mundungus Fletcher," Hermione stated.
He looked up at her, "Hermione Granger."
"Just what do you think you're doing here?" Hermione asked.
"I could ask you the same question," Mundungus remarked.
"I asked first," Hermione narrowed her eyes.
Mundungus rolled his eyes, "Surely you know who I am, Granger? It shouldn't take a wild guess to figure out why I'm here."
"You're stealing," Hermione stated.
"I'm not stealing since it doesn't belong to no one anymore," Mundungus argued.
"May I ask what it is that you have stolen?" Hermione questioned.
"Why? Are you after anything that could be… valuable?" Mundungus smirked.
"Have you by any chance come across two yellow or blue notebooks here with nothing inside of them?" Hermione inquired, knowing that she was better off being frank with him.
"No I haven't," Mundungus replied.
"These books that I'm looking for aren't like any other books. They have… special powers. Would you know anything about that?" Hermione wondered in an attempt to find out what he knew.
Mundungus' eyes widened, "You don't mean those bewitched books, don't you? The twin books?"
"Yes, I do," Hermione clarified, somewhat surprised that Mundungus would know about them. Then again, he sold magical artefacts for a living so it would make sense that he'd know about something like this.
"How do you know about them, missy? They're incredibly rare," Mundungus stated.
"I stumbled across them in some research and I remembered coming across a set of books when I last came here," Hermione replied.
"What? When? Was it in a full set? Tell me everything you know!" Mundungus demanded.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, "I came here before the place was ransacked by Death Eaters in August, and there was one book missing from the set so I came here to see if I could find it by any chance."
"Do you remember what price the books were when you saw them?" Mundungus asked.
"They were the same price of any ordinary book," Hermione replied.
"I find it hard to believe that the shop owner would sell those incredibly rare books for an ordinary price if they knew what it was. Those things are worth far more than a few galleons," Mundungus said.
"Well, all I know about those books is that somebody out there has one of them in their possession. Whoever that is bought it fair and square considering the circumstances," Hermione stated, deciding not to tell him that she was in possession of the matching book.
"What I would give to come into some luck like that," Mundungus grumbled.
"There is more that I know that could help you, but I'll only help you if you help me," Hermione offered.
"Define more," Mundungus stated.
"Tell me somewhere I can find out more about this book and the set that it belonged to and I'll tell you where you can get the other pair," Hermione stated.
"If you wanna know more, you should go to Dalelio's Dealings. I go to her for all of my antique evaluation and she's pretty good at finding stuff," Mundungus replied.
"Thank you," Hermione nodded before turning to leave.
"Wait!" Mundungus called out. "You said that you'd tell me where to find the other pair."
"Oh, right," Hermione smirked to herself. "They're not here, but you'd be looking for a blue and yellow book."
"What do you mean they're not here? You said that you knew where I could find them!" Mundungus exclaimed.
"I didn't say that I knew where the other pair was. I told you that I could tell you where you can get it and you can't get it here. That's all of the information that you're getting from me," Hermione declared before leaving a gobsmacked Mundungus Fletcher in the middle of the abandoned store.
As if Hermione would ever help him. She knew who Mundungus Fletcher was and the kind of person that he was. He definitely wasn't the kind of character that Hermione wanted to get involved with, and he definitely wasn't the kind of person that she wanted to help. She had to admit that it felt good to trick him in his place, since he had a reputation for doing the same to others. Now he'd gotten a taste of his own medicine.
With the bookshop being a dead end and Mundungus Fletcher having some surprisingly useful information, Hermione headed to Dalelio's Dealings. The shop was owned by Deidre Dalelio and was located close to Knockturn Alley. It wasn't a shop that Hermione had visited before, but it was where she had to go to if she was to find out anything more about these books. There was just so much that Hermione felt like she needed to know, and she wasn't going to rest until she found out just where these books came from.
Upon arriving at the ratchet-looking shop, Hermione glanced around to see if there was anything suspicious going on before carefully walking inside. The shop was practically empty, and it wasn't anything big or impressive from where she was standing. From the looks of it, most of the shop seemed to be upstairs but it didn't seem like that was where Hermione would be going. She could hear some shuffling from upstairs before the sound of footsteps became clearer and a middle-aged woman appeared. The woman was wearing short robes and presented herself with formality.
"May I help you?" the woman asked.
"Um, yes," Hermione stammered. "Are you Deidre Dalelio?"
"The one and only," the woman declared as she descended down the steps. "How may I help you, dear?"
"I was wondering if you knew anything about the old twin books," Hermione said.
"Oh my," Deidre gasped. "Those books are legendary, dear. There are said to be only ten in existence. At least three of them are kept at the Ministry for safe keeping and evaluation. Only Merlin knows where the other seven are. For centuries those people have tried discovering the secrets of the twin books, but all have failed. Nobody alive today knows how they work."
"What are the origins of these books? How far back do they go?" Hermione inquired.
"They go back centuries ago. The first pair was found in around the tenth century, presumedly by Armand Malfoy," Deirdre replied.
"Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed in shock, recognising the name as one of Draco Malfoy's ancestors.
"Yes, it's said that he was able to gain William the Conqueror as an ally by using his pair of books to forge an alliance. Together they lead the Norman conquest, and it is said that William granted Malfoy a piece of land in Wiltshire that is now known as Malfoy Manor," Deidre explained.
"How do I not know this? I've read everything there is to know about the Norman conquest and there was nothing in there about Malfoy and William bonding over twin books," Hermione stated.
"That's because nothing has ever truly been proven about it, just like it is with everything about the Malfoys. Some say that Armand Malfoy only said that himself to boost his name, since before him the Malfoy family only resided in France and they were hardly known in Britain. What better way to give your name a boost than to claim ownership of an ancient piece of work that would immediately give you attention?" Deidre said.
Hermione snorted, "Sounds about right."
"Though that bit of information wasn't something that came up until very later on, as in after all of the certified works on the Norman conquest had been released. And you'll notice that some things aren't in any books because there is limited information on them, just like the twin books," Diedre explained.
"But if this isn't well-known information then how do you know it?" Hermione wondered.
"I'm an antiques dealer. It is my job to know anything and everything about ancient objects. I'm actually licenced to do my job, unlike a certain Mundungus Fletcher," Diedre replied.
"He told me to go to you," Hermione stated.
"Yes, I do help Fletcher from time to time on his dealings. Fletcher is known for stealing, and I know that if I didn't help him then he'd be stealing from me. Besides, the man is pretty easy to bribe. I take great joy in sending him on wild goose chases to find whatever it is that will catch his eye," Deidre said.
"Is there anything else that you could tell me about these books?" Hermione wondered.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you anything about how they work because as I'm sure you know; nobody alive today can figure that out. But I have heard other things about them. I'm not sure if you know this, but there are hardly any left in this day and age when their surely used to be plenty of them. So there are theories that the books have a time limit," Deidre answered.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean by a time limit?"
"I mean that they can only correspond with each other for a certain amount of time before they become useless and are just like any other ordinary book without special powers," Deidre clarified.
"You mean that there's only a certain amount of space in these books for them to work before they shut off completely?" Hermione stated.
"That is exactly what I mean," Deidre nodded. "Why are you so interested in these books anyways, my dear? How do you even know about them?"
"I…" Hermione trailed off as she tried figuring out what to say. "I came across them while doing some research at school and I was fascinated by their abilities. Then I heard something about a full set possibly being available at Scribbulus Writing Implements before it was raided by the Death Eaters."
Deidre paused for a moment, "It would explain why they ransacked the place if they thought there would be any valuables up for grabs. The Death Eaters don't just target any place."
"Then how come you're still here?" Hermione asked.
"Simple, I know how to protect myself. As long as they target any other shop that isn't mine, I don't care what those people do," Deidre said. "Now, if you don't have anymore questions for me, I must ask you to take your leave."
"Of course," Hermione nodded before getting up. "Thank you for the information, it has been very helpful."
"Why of course, I am happy to be of assistance," Deidre said before she headed up the stairs of her shop.
Having found what she needed to know for now, Hermione left the antique shop with a familiar sinking feeling in her stomach. Seeing Deidre had been helpful, but it had left her with a sense of dread. If the woman was right, there was only so much use that Hermione could get out of her book. There had already been plenty of communication between her and Anonymous, and Hermione certainly didn't want to run out of space before she could help them, let alone find out who they were.
So with that in mind, Hermione knew that she would have to gain their trust fast if she was to get them to open up to her. That was easier said than done, since Anonymous clearly had their own walls up that Hermione would just have to eventually wear down before time ran out.
Sorry for the lack of Draco communication in this chapter, I'd originally planned to have some Draco in here at the end but it didn't fit so I decided to leave the chapter on an ambiguous ending. So you got some more made up information from me, but I did some research of my own before adding in that bit with Armand Malfoy and William the Conqueror forging an alliance over books just cause it's ironic considering the fact that it's what Hermione and Draco are unwittingly doing in the present. I've done some planning ahead and their reveal will be coming sooner than you might think so stay tuned for that ;).
