Chapter 15

"Oh, you found her in time! Oh, Hermione, we were so worried…" Kate Tiaret, Hermione's former mentor from her days at the Auror Academy, rushed up to the woman and embraced her in a blinding hug. After a moment, she pulled back and nodded at the man who brought her in.

"You've done a wonderful job, Seeker. Thankyou so much; we owe our lives to you." There were tears shining in Kate's grey green eyes. Hermione turned to look at the man who, apparently, had rescued her.

"Thankyou," Hermione added. The man's eyes twinkled a little, before he turned and left, a hint of smile aching at the edges of his mouth.

"Oh, Hermione, we were so worried- we heard about the plant too late, and Candace had a vision that you were entrapped. We sent Seeker- but we weren't sure if he'd make it in time. Oh, I'm so glad you're here…"

Hermione smiled at the aging blonde woman. She had to be older than sixty, yet her magical blood kept her looking not a day over forty. "I'm glad he found me too. What's been happening?"

Kate frowned slightly, "don't you read the news, dear?"

Hermione chuckled humourlessly, "I never read the Daily Prophet- a remanent from my childhood days and Rita Skeeter's marvellous reporting. And there's just not much else that keeps up to date as much."

"Oh, in that case, I'll show you the files."

Hermione groaned: "not files! I'm a teacher; I spend all my time reading paperwork!"

Kate smiled mysteriously, "we've updated the way we display our information. Let's go."

Kate led a baffled, but curious Hermione up the many levels of the Auror Training Complex to the records department. In the bright, breezy room there were shelves and shelves of Pensieves.

"Wow… that's a lot of memories!" Hermione marvelled at the thought of immersing herself into all the thoughts of her former colleagues. "But how do you collate?"

Kate smiled broadly. "Here- we take a small amount of the liquid in the pensieve and put them all together, one per day, so we can see far more than one pair of eyes ever could. It's far better than the Daily Prophet." Kate dipped her head towards the larger pensieves further down.

"Ah, here we are, the day it all began. At least, we think so. Shall we?" Hermione nodded, and they immersed themselves in the pensieve's memories.

Hermione had the distinct impression of falling, head over heels, into nothing, before she found herself standing again, Kate beside her, looking at an unfamiliar house, in an unfamiliar street.

"The outskirts of Muggle London. An unremarkable house- except, we detected traces of forbidden magic emanating from it. One of our best was put on the job. These are his memories." The women began to walk into the house. They pushed through the unlocked door, Kate leading the way.

"I've studied these memories so often, I know the floor plan. Here- a bedroom. We've ascertained that the perpetrator is female. That's about it, however." Hermione walked into the scrupulously clean bedroom. She opened drawers, gazed into mirrors (does my hair really look like that?), opened cupboards, looking for something.

"We've double checked and triple checked this room, Hermione. We've double ad triple checked the entire damned house, and we've found nothing. Nothing at all." Kate's frustration was evident in her flared nostrils, and her furrowed brow. Hermione looked back at the mirror.

"This doesn't feel right. The mirror's got handprints all over it, in a meticulously clean room. What is it with this mirror?" Hermione looked at it from every angle, before pressing her hands against the silver glass. To her shock, the mirror slid a small way inwards, then proceeded to slide upwards. Kate gasped.

"On hydraulic slides- this woman's not only well-planned, she's damned rich." Hermione gazed at the contents of the hollow in the wall. There were rack after rack of test tubes, tightly stoppered with pieces of hand-carved wood, containing wisps of smoke. Kate gasped again.

"This is what we were looking for! These are…"

"Souls." Hermione finished, her stomach uneasy. She peered further back- empty vials were still waiting to be filled. "Where would a Muggle get this sort of information?"

"Well," Kate replied, "There were a few untranslated manuscripts in a Muggle university, but they were almost unreadable, even to our experts. And she's not a Muggle."

Hermione glanced, shocked, at the woman who had been her mentor and best friend for a few of the most driven years of her life.

"She's a renegade.

"She was a witch; an extraordinarily powerful one, even at an early age. She was registered to go to Hogwarts, but at the age of nine, when she was beginning puberty, she just disappeared. Off the Hogwarts register, off the Birth Records, off the face of the world, apparently. She became a Muggle, to all intents and purposes. It seems, her parents were strict Catholics, and were punishing her for the inexplicable things that happened around her. So she made herself a Muggle."

"She made herself a Muggle?! Would the magic allow that?" Hermione was aghast.

Kate shook her head, sadly, "No, the magic wouldn't allow that. She was outwardly a Muggle, but inwardly a very powerful, untrained Witch. She eventually left home at the age of fifteen, and began working the streets."

Hermione winced at the reference, thanking Merlin that she had open parents.

"Her hatred grew during that time, and began to blossom when she learned about the Wizarding community. She became obsessed with finding a way to bring the community that had, apparently, failed her to justice."

"And this is part of her justice? Stealing souls?" Hermione questioned, motioning at the vials behind her.

"No. This is the means to her justice." Kate turned away, not wanting to talk anymore. "Let's go back. I should tell the others about this."

Hermione and Kate pulled themselves out of the memories in the pensieve, standing again in the rows of the library. Kate seemed disturbed; she motioned for Hermione to follow her.

They walked up more stairs (Wizards should invent elevators, Hermione decided) before eventually reaching the top level of the Auror Training Complex. It was an open-topped building- or at least it appeared that way. The roof was charmed to be invisible, as were the walls. There were paintings floating in mid-air where the walls actually were. It had always made Hermione feel giddy, and today was no exception.

"Kiraten, we've found Hermione, and Hermione's discovered what was hiding in those thoughts." Kiraten spun around in his chair, his grey hair brushed neatly, his grey suit charmed to match. His brown eyes smiled at Hermione.

"Daughter- well done. Sister- I will speak to the child alone now. Fill out a Pensieve, and remind Seeker to do the same." Kate nodded at the strange man, turning and leaving Hermione to talk to Kiraten.

"Father," Hermione bowed as she addressed the man who had been her boss for a few years of her life.

"Daughter." He inclined his head also. "I am glad you are found. I had a dream that you would be found at Hogwarts. I was unaware that it would be by a plant." Hermione smiled politely at the man's odd sense of humour. "I have arranged rooms for you here. You may send an owl to Hogwarts to ensure that there is no panic over your disappearance. Here you will work with Kate on the problem at hand. You have already shown your worth, Hermione," he spoke over her unvoiced protest. "And we need you here."

Hermione hung her head, betrayed by the man's calm words. "I will follow your wishes, Father. Thankyou for your need." Kiraten nodded, and she turned and walked from the room, dismissed.

Inwardly, Hermione's mind rejoiced. Finally, she pronounced to her heavy heart, a chance to make a significant difference. To redeem myself.

~*~

A/N: This is longer than 'Freefalling' now, making it my latest epic. Maybe my Opus?

Thankyou to my reviewers, thankyou to my readers, thankyou to fanfiction.net.

*kitten