Chapter Four: The Mysteriorum Antiquitas
Her thoughts were jumbled and confused, bouncing every which way, ricocheting off the inside of her skull. She felt a headache coming on.
Only one thought was very pronounced, it stood out like a butterfly among a swarm of bees. 'If the Remmehdi are not gone, like we'd believed, then that means-"
"The Neconnus may yet exist, as well." Dumbledore's strong voice cut through the thick silence that had settled in the room.
Hermione blinked at Dumbledore. It was not the first time that she'd had the feeling that the old man could read minds. He was probably a Leglimens.
Dumbledore stood up from where he sat at his desk and walked around to the front, the Daily Prophet in his hand.
"Hermione, I've asked you here because we need your expertise in this matter. but what I'm going to ask you to do will involve more than just your knowledge."
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. She always got frustrated when Dumbledore spoke in riddles.
"You see," he continued, "there's more to the story of the Remmehdi. There are things that only its members know, and something very important that I now know of, thanks to Severus." Dumbledore's eyes danced over to where Snape was standing.
Hermione was taken aback. She kept forgetting that Snape was in the room. For all the noise he made, he might not have been.
Dumbledore gave Snape a look that implored him to explain.
Snape drew in a very slow and silent breath, then began in a very even voice. "Apparently, hundreds of years ago, the Remmehdi made a potion." He said very casually.
"It was not just any potion. It was THE potion. The ultimate healing potion. It did the one thing that no other magic could do. It brought people back from the dead." Here he paused for suspense. His words had the desired effect. Hermione's eyes flew open, and some of the portraits on the walls started whispering excitedly.
"Of course the brotherhood realized what sort of consequences this potion would have if it fell into the wrong hands, so they decided to lock it away. They hid it somewhere. They say it's impossible to find. Furthermore they protected it with a Fidelius Charm. Only one member was the secret keeper. Before that member died, he passed the secret on to another member, and he became the secret keeper for a time. If there was an emergency, and the secret keeper died before he could pass on the information, then there was a piece of paper in the secret keeper's possession that would lead them to the secret location of the potion. After a while, the society began referring to the potion as the Mysteriorum Antiquitas, which translates to--"
"Ancient Secret," Hermione whispered in awe. "I have heard of it, but it was so guarded that no one even knew what sort of secret it was. except the brotherhood of course. and now me."
Snape's expression turned sour as his voice changed to a spiteful, sarcastic caress, "And of course bloody Fintan Ashby had to be our bloody secret keeper! Of all people!"
"Why? Is it your opinion that he wasn't suited for the position?" Hermione asked.
Snape scowled. 'That's rather personal,' he thought. but he found himself answering her question in spite of himself.
"He was very scatterbrained. A terribly confused man, if I do say so. He was so damned secretive! He hardly ever left his house."
She looked at Snape ironically. Did he know how hypocritical his last two accusations were?
"I believe that being secretive would be an asset when one is a secret keeper." Hermione teased.
Snape shot a look of pure venom in her direction. For some reason she didn't seem to care.
"Well then. Now we come to the real reason I have called you both here." Dumbledore's voice sounded again.
"You two are going to find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas."
~~~
"Find th--! Could you repeat that last bit, because I don't believe I heard you correctly. I'm getting older and my hearing isn't what it used to be." Snape said all this in one breath; his tone of voice could only be described as panicked. He dug his finger into his ear in an attempt to improve his hearing.
"Severus, your ears are in perfect working order," Dumbledore returned, his amusement shone brightly in his eyes.
"Find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas! YOU -"
"-Ah, so you did hear me-," Dumbledore winked at Hermione, his chin resting on folded hands.
Snape continued as if he hadn't heard him. "YOU CRAZY OLD LOON! We can't find the legendary Mysteriorum Antiquitas in a few hours! What do you propose we do? Just waltz up to Fintan Ashby's home in muggle London (which is heavily warded, no doubt), burst in on a murder investigation and- "
"There is no investigation," Dumbledore interjected softly.
"What! Don't be silly, of course there's an investigation."
Dumbledore shook his head.
Hermione, who had been watching in frightened disbelief as Snape, pink- cheeked and agitated, had blown up at a completely unfazed Dumbledore, now regained her usual thought processes.
"Professor Dumbledore," She began, "the ministry always does an investigation after a murder. Surely, after one as strange as this they would want to know what happened, wouldn't they?"
"I am afraid, my dear, that some ministry officials would rather it remain a mystery than uncover another threat like Voldemort. They belong to the school of 'ignorance is bliss,' and believe me, they are the epitome of ignorance." While he said this, Hermione watched as Dumbledore's sparkling, crystal blue eyes grew dark and were clouded over. A storm raged inside of them and then something that looked rather like lightening flashed across them. Hermione blinked, and when she looked again, his eyes had returned to being as blue as the sky.
Now she understood why Voldemort had feared him.
"But Arthur Weasley is not like that at all. He's no coward."
"Ah, yes. Forgive me, Hermione, I was not including him in my analysis of the ministry. Even as Minister of Magic, Arthur must have the approval of the High Wizarding Council before he can do anything regarding Mr. Ashby's death."
Dumbledore paused and looked thoughtful. "So you see. you will have no trouble with Ministry officials at the late Mr. Ashby's home."
Turning to Snape, he continued, "And, Severus, you need not waltz there. walking will suffice." Dumbledore twinkled. "But I can see how you would want to, with a partner as lovely as Miss Granger."
Snape clenched his teeth and his fists simultaneously, and Hermione raised her hand to her mouth, to stifle a giggle.
When Dumbledore had finished his merry chuckling, he spoke again. "As to your first argument, rest assured that you most certainly will have more than a few hours to find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas."
Turning to Hermione, Dumbledore said, "Which leads me to my next order of business. Miss Granger, I must ask a tremendous favor of you, and I can't accept a refusal." The seriousness of his tone was reflected in his eyes.
"For this project to be successful, I will need you to come to Hogwarts for the year. Professor Binns has decided to pursue his lifelong (and deathlong) dream of joining an African tribe, and has therefore relinquished the History of Magic teaching position here at Hogwarts. I would be very honored if you would be willing to teach the class."
Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd always dreamt of teaching at Hogwarts. And to teach History of Magic! How could she refuse! She'd only read Hogwarts: A History. Merlin knows how many times (she'd stopped counting after 12).
When she finally recovered enough to speak, she said, "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Albus!"
Dumbledore beamed proudly. Then as if remembering something important, his eyebrows shot up and his mouth slackened. Hermione braced herself for yet another shock.
"Oh, dear, how rude I've been! You haven't even been offered tea! Well, I shall go and get some now." With that, Dumbledore turned and climbed the steps to his observatory.
Now that everything had begun to calm down, Hermione started to look around the room that she hadn't seen in four long years.
Not much had changed. The ceiling was high and the walls were lined with portraits of the old headmasters. Most were snoring and slumped against their frames, but a few were watching her intently. They whispered to each other, their eyes darting between her and another point in the room. She turned to see what other thing they were looking at, and again, her eyes met with the tall, dark figure of Severus Snape.
He'd been regarding her with something like interest, but when she turned to look at him, his face had hardened into its customary scowl.
He wanted to make her look away, so he could observe her again, so he gave her his most vicious scowl. scowl number 27. the scowl reserved for double potions with the Gryffindors. He scowled. And he scowled. But she didn't seem affected by it. 'Dammit,' he thought, 'why isn't she afraid!'
Hermione could tell he was trying to intimidate her, but why, she didn't know. She just regarded him with her unwavering cheeriness.
All of a sudden there was a whoosh and the glitter of gold and crimson wings. Fawkes landed lightly on Snape's shoulder. He turned his glare to the bird, which just blinked at him. Severus then tried swatting it away with his hand. Fawkes hovered above him briefly, but quickly returned to his previous perch. The bird was obviously close to his burning stage because as he moved his wings, his feathers fell onto Snape's black robes.
Hermione burst out laughing. Snape looked as though he had eaten one of Fred and George's canary cremes. She walked over to where he stood and drew out her wand. Muttering a quick cleaning spell, she lazily flicked her wand, and the feathers disappeared.
He just scowled at her more.
"Well, then perhaps I should have left them there a bit longer, professor," she teased.
His face softened gradually, until he was grinning.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. For some reason this ridiculous bird has taken a liking to me," he explained.
"I can see that," she said. She added as an afterthought, "and please, call me Hermione. We're colleagues now, apparently."
"Indeed we are. In that case call me Severus, as the rest of the staff do."
With that Hermione turned to face him, offering him her hand. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."
He gave her a questioning look, but he took her hand and shook it. "And I'm Severus Snape."
She smiled and said, "It's nice to re-meet you."
He gave her a small smile and drew his hand back rather quickly. "Miss Gr- Hermione, it seems to me that you are almost happy at the prospect of teaching a bunch of selfish, hormonal teenagers. Is this true?"
"Well, yes I--," she began, but was interrupted when there was a loud crash from Dumbledore's observatory.
The Headmaster shouted down the stairs, "Oh, oh, watch out down there."
At that exact moment, a teacart came flying down the flight of stairs at a tremendous rate of speed and headed directly towards Hermione and Severus. Before she knew it, the teacart had knocked Hermione backwards, but instead of falling down, she collided with Snape's front. He steadied her with one hand on her back and the other on her elbow.
"Are you alright, Hermione?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you," she replied.
He relinquished his hand on her back, but kept his hold on her elbow. He guided her to one of the red, squashy armchairs.
"Oh, my dears!" Dumbledore's feet started down the stairs, the rest of his body coming into view as he descended. "Forgive my teacart. It's so eager, and I believe it was a little over excited."
"Yes, well, please tell your teacart that it nearly killed Hermione and I," Snape grumbled. "I like a teacart with a bit more propriety." He added sarcastically.
Dumbledore twinkled at Snape's use of Hermione's given name.
"How about some tea, then?" Dumbledore said cheerily.
~~~
After they had each had at least one cup of tea, and Dumbledore had explained where she would be staying (the house elves had already retrieved the things she would need from her London flat), and what the teaching job entailed, Hermione began to have questions about her and Snape's assignment.
"Albus, why exactly are we even going to look for the Mysteriorum Antiquitas? If it is already hidden, shouldn't it be left alone so that it doesn't become a danger to society?" She asked.
"Ah, I knew you would ask that question, Hermione. To put it frankly, we must find it before someone else does. Once a secret keeper dies, if the secret is not passed on, then it is no longer under the Fidelius Charm's protection. Also, we cannot be sure that Mr. Ashby did not tell the secret to his attacker in an attempt to save his life. Wherever the Mysteriorum Antiquitas is now, it is less safe than it would be at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore, seeing that his guests were finished with their tea, and had no further questions, dismissed them. "Severus, would you please show Hermione to her new quarters, I believe they are on your way."
Severus and Hermione stood up and found themselves being guided to the door by the headmaster. Once the large oak door had closed behind them, Dumbledore turned around, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"This assignment may prove to be beneficial in more than one way."
He then walked back to his desk, humming a tune, and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.
~~~
Author's notes:
Thanks everyone for the reviews. Sorry I haven't updated in a while (finals were a killer this year, and the holidays are no better).
Hope you liked the chapter. more on the way.
Happy New Year Everyone!! ::puts on a party hat and dances around::
Her thoughts were jumbled and confused, bouncing every which way, ricocheting off the inside of her skull. She felt a headache coming on.
Only one thought was very pronounced, it stood out like a butterfly among a swarm of bees. 'If the Remmehdi are not gone, like we'd believed, then that means-"
"The Neconnus may yet exist, as well." Dumbledore's strong voice cut through the thick silence that had settled in the room.
Hermione blinked at Dumbledore. It was not the first time that she'd had the feeling that the old man could read minds. He was probably a Leglimens.
Dumbledore stood up from where he sat at his desk and walked around to the front, the Daily Prophet in his hand.
"Hermione, I've asked you here because we need your expertise in this matter. but what I'm going to ask you to do will involve more than just your knowledge."
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. She always got frustrated when Dumbledore spoke in riddles.
"You see," he continued, "there's more to the story of the Remmehdi. There are things that only its members know, and something very important that I now know of, thanks to Severus." Dumbledore's eyes danced over to where Snape was standing.
Hermione was taken aback. She kept forgetting that Snape was in the room. For all the noise he made, he might not have been.
Dumbledore gave Snape a look that implored him to explain.
Snape drew in a very slow and silent breath, then began in a very even voice. "Apparently, hundreds of years ago, the Remmehdi made a potion." He said very casually.
"It was not just any potion. It was THE potion. The ultimate healing potion. It did the one thing that no other magic could do. It brought people back from the dead." Here he paused for suspense. His words had the desired effect. Hermione's eyes flew open, and some of the portraits on the walls started whispering excitedly.
"Of course the brotherhood realized what sort of consequences this potion would have if it fell into the wrong hands, so they decided to lock it away. They hid it somewhere. They say it's impossible to find. Furthermore they protected it with a Fidelius Charm. Only one member was the secret keeper. Before that member died, he passed the secret on to another member, and he became the secret keeper for a time. If there was an emergency, and the secret keeper died before he could pass on the information, then there was a piece of paper in the secret keeper's possession that would lead them to the secret location of the potion. After a while, the society began referring to the potion as the Mysteriorum Antiquitas, which translates to--"
"Ancient Secret," Hermione whispered in awe. "I have heard of it, but it was so guarded that no one even knew what sort of secret it was. except the brotherhood of course. and now me."
Snape's expression turned sour as his voice changed to a spiteful, sarcastic caress, "And of course bloody Fintan Ashby had to be our bloody secret keeper! Of all people!"
"Why? Is it your opinion that he wasn't suited for the position?" Hermione asked.
Snape scowled. 'That's rather personal,' he thought. but he found himself answering her question in spite of himself.
"He was very scatterbrained. A terribly confused man, if I do say so. He was so damned secretive! He hardly ever left his house."
She looked at Snape ironically. Did he know how hypocritical his last two accusations were?
"I believe that being secretive would be an asset when one is a secret keeper." Hermione teased.
Snape shot a look of pure venom in her direction. For some reason she didn't seem to care.
"Well then. Now we come to the real reason I have called you both here." Dumbledore's voice sounded again.
"You two are going to find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas."
~~~
"Find th--! Could you repeat that last bit, because I don't believe I heard you correctly. I'm getting older and my hearing isn't what it used to be." Snape said all this in one breath; his tone of voice could only be described as panicked. He dug his finger into his ear in an attempt to improve his hearing.
"Severus, your ears are in perfect working order," Dumbledore returned, his amusement shone brightly in his eyes.
"Find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas! YOU -"
"-Ah, so you did hear me-," Dumbledore winked at Hermione, his chin resting on folded hands.
Snape continued as if he hadn't heard him. "YOU CRAZY OLD LOON! We can't find the legendary Mysteriorum Antiquitas in a few hours! What do you propose we do? Just waltz up to Fintan Ashby's home in muggle London (which is heavily warded, no doubt), burst in on a murder investigation and- "
"There is no investigation," Dumbledore interjected softly.
"What! Don't be silly, of course there's an investigation."
Dumbledore shook his head.
Hermione, who had been watching in frightened disbelief as Snape, pink- cheeked and agitated, had blown up at a completely unfazed Dumbledore, now regained her usual thought processes.
"Professor Dumbledore," She began, "the ministry always does an investigation after a murder. Surely, after one as strange as this they would want to know what happened, wouldn't they?"
"I am afraid, my dear, that some ministry officials would rather it remain a mystery than uncover another threat like Voldemort. They belong to the school of 'ignorance is bliss,' and believe me, they are the epitome of ignorance." While he said this, Hermione watched as Dumbledore's sparkling, crystal blue eyes grew dark and were clouded over. A storm raged inside of them and then something that looked rather like lightening flashed across them. Hermione blinked, and when she looked again, his eyes had returned to being as blue as the sky.
Now she understood why Voldemort had feared him.
"But Arthur Weasley is not like that at all. He's no coward."
"Ah, yes. Forgive me, Hermione, I was not including him in my analysis of the ministry. Even as Minister of Magic, Arthur must have the approval of the High Wizarding Council before he can do anything regarding Mr. Ashby's death."
Dumbledore paused and looked thoughtful. "So you see. you will have no trouble with Ministry officials at the late Mr. Ashby's home."
Turning to Snape, he continued, "And, Severus, you need not waltz there. walking will suffice." Dumbledore twinkled. "But I can see how you would want to, with a partner as lovely as Miss Granger."
Snape clenched his teeth and his fists simultaneously, and Hermione raised her hand to her mouth, to stifle a giggle.
When Dumbledore had finished his merry chuckling, he spoke again. "As to your first argument, rest assured that you most certainly will have more than a few hours to find the Mysteriorum Antiquitas."
Turning to Hermione, Dumbledore said, "Which leads me to my next order of business. Miss Granger, I must ask a tremendous favor of you, and I can't accept a refusal." The seriousness of his tone was reflected in his eyes.
"For this project to be successful, I will need you to come to Hogwarts for the year. Professor Binns has decided to pursue his lifelong (and deathlong) dream of joining an African tribe, and has therefore relinquished the History of Magic teaching position here at Hogwarts. I would be very honored if you would be willing to teach the class."
Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd always dreamt of teaching at Hogwarts. And to teach History of Magic! How could she refuse! She'd only read Hogwarts: A History. Merlin knows how many times (she'd stopped counting after 12).
When she finally recovered enough to speak, she said, "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Albus!"
Dumbledore beamed proudly. Then as if remembering something important, his eyebrows shot up and his mouth slackened. Hermione braced herself for yet another shock.
"Oh, dear, how rude I've been! You haven't even been offered tea! Well, I shall go and get some now." With that, Dumbledore turned and climbed the steps to his observatory.
Now that everything had begun to calm down, Hermione started to look around the room that she hadn't seen in four long years.
Not much had changed. The ceiling was high and the walls were lined with portraits of the old headmasters. Most were snoring and slumped against their frames, but a few were watching her intently. They whispered to each other, their eyes darting between her and another point in the room. She turned to see what other thing they were looking at, and again, her eyes met with the tall, dark figure of Severus Snape.
He'd been regarding her with something like interest, but when she turned to look at him, his face had hardened into its customary scowl.
He wanted to make her look away, so he could observe her again, so he gave her his most vicious scowl. scowl number 27. the scowl reserved for double potions with the Gryffindors. He scowled. And he scowled. But she didn't seem affected by it. 'Dammit,' he thought, 'why isn't she afraid!'
Hermione could tell he was trying to intimidate her, but why, she didn't know. She just regarded him with her unwavering cheeriness.
All of a sudden there was a whoosh and the glitter of gold and crimson wings. Fawkes landed lightly on Snape's shoulder. He turned his glare to the bird, which just blinked at him. Severus then tried swatting it away with his hand. Fawkes hovered above him briefly, but quickly returned to his previous perch. The bird was obviously close to his burning stage because as he moved his wings, his feathers fell onto Snape's black robes.
Hermione burst out laughing. Snape looked as though he had eaten one of Fred and George's canary cremes. She walked over to where he stood and drew out her wand. Muttering a quick cleaning spell, she lazily flicked her wand, and the feathers disappeared.
He just scowled at her more.
"Well, then perhaps I should have left them there a bit longer, professor," she teased.
His face softened gradually, until he was grinning.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. For some reason this ridiculous bird has taken a liking to me," he explained.
"I can see that," she said. She added as an afterthought, "and please, call me Hermione. We're colleagues now, apparently."
"Indeed we are. In that case call me Severus, as the rest of the staff do."
With that Hermione turned to face him, offering him her hand. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."
He gave her a questioning look, but he took her hand and shook it. "And I'm Severus Snape."
She smiled and said, "It's nice to re-meet you."
He gave her a small smile and drew his hand back rather quickly. "Miss Gr- Hermione, it seems to me that you are almost happy at the prospect of teaching a bunch of selfish, hormonal teenagers. Is this true?"
"Well, yes I--," she began, but was interrupted when there was a loud crash from Dumbledore's observatory.
The Headmaster shouted down the stairs, "Oh, oh, watch out down there."
At that exact moment, a teacart came flying down the flight of stairs at a tremendous rate of speed and headed directly towards Hermione and Severus. Before she knew it, the teacart had knocked Hermione backwards, but instead of falling down, she collided with Snape's front. He steadied her with one hand on her back and the other on her elbow.
"Are you alright, Hermione?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you," she replied.
He relinquished his hand on her back, but kept his hold on her elbow. He guided her to one of the red, squashy armchairs.
"Oh, my dears!" Dumbledore's feet started down the stairs, the rest of his body coming into view as he descended. "Forgive my teacart. It's so eager, and I believe it was a little over excited."
"Yes, well, please tell your teacart that it nearly killed Hermione and I," Snape grumbled. "I like a teacart with a bit more propriety." He added sarcastically.
Dumbledore twinkled at Snape's use of Hermione's given name.
"How about some tea, then?" Dumbledore said cheerily.
~~~
After they had each had at least one cup of tea, and Dumbledore had explained where she would be staying (the house elves had already retrieved the things she would need from her London flat), and what the teaching job entailed, Hermione began to have questions about her and Snape's assignment.
"Albus, why exactly are we even going to look for the Mysteriorum Antiquitas? If it is already hidden, shouldn't it be left alone so that it doesn't become a danger to society?" She asked.
"Ah, I knew you would ask that question, Hermione. To put it frankly, we must find it before someone else does. Once a secret keeper dies, if the secret is not passed on, then it is no longer under the Fidelius Charm's protection. Also, we cannot be sure that Mr. Ashby did not tell the secret to his attacker in an attempt to save his life. Wherever the Mysteriorum Antiquitas is now, it is less safe than it would be at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore, seeing that his guests were finished with their tea, and had no further questions, dismissed them. "Severus, would you please show Hermione to her new quarters, I believe they are on your way."
Severus and Hermione stood up and found themselves being guided to the door by the headmaster. Once the large oak door had closed behind them, Dumbledore turned around, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"This assignment may prove to be beneficial in more than one way."
He then walked back to his desk, humming a tune, and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.
~~~
Author's notes:
Thanks everyone for the reviews. Sorry I haven't updated in a while (finals were a killer this year, and the holidays are no better).
Hope you liked the chapter. more on the way.
Happy New Year Everyone!! ::puts on a party hat and dances around::