After entering the library, they headed directly for the Restricted Section. To get there, they had to pass by Madam Pince's desk. She was sitting at her desk, as usual, but was concentrating on an odd tome. It was a book that was triangular in shape and seemed to be literally giving its words to Madam Pince. The words flew from the pages to float around Madam Pince's head and then dissipated into thin air. Just as they got to the desk, Madam Pince turned her head and nodded to the Restricted Section.
"Thanks," Ginny said.
Madam Pince nodded at her words and returned to her book.
Draco took Ginny by the hand and led her into the rows upon rows of books. He wove them around several bookcases until he found a small, round table. He pulled out a chair for Ginny and gestured for her to sit down. She sat in the chair and Draco leaned over and stole a kiss. It was brief and sweet. It made Ginny giggle which caused Madam Pince to clear her throat very loudly. This made Draco snort and Ginny giggle harder. They were close to completely losing it when Dumbledore arrived and cleared his throat. That was the wrong thing for Dumbledore to do; Draco and Ginny both laid their heads on the table and began beating their fists on it. They were lost in the throes of laughter with tears running down their faces. Dumbledore, being who he was, simply joined in to the chagrin of Madam Pince.
After several minutes, Dumbledore, Ginny and Draco regained their composure and turned to the matter at hand.
"Got any ideas, Professor Dumbledore?" Draco asked.
With a merry twinkle in his eyes, Dumbledore shook his head in a negative manner. Instead, he said, 'I just wanted to see if you wanted a lemon drop." From a pocket in his robes, he withdrew several pieces of yellow, sticky candy. They were covered in purple lint and definitely not appetizing.
Draco and Ginny both quickly shook their heads in the negative.
Dumbledore shrugged, stood up and said, "I'll leave you to your work then."
With him gone, they looked at each other in confusion.
"Draco, how, in Merlin's name, are we going to figure this out?"
"With patience and a lot more patience."
With that said he got up and stalked over to a row of books. Ginny watched him as he turned his head and began reading the titles on the spines of the books. She sat there for a few seconds watching him and then got up and began doing the same.
Draco randomly picked an aisle and began reading the titles. He started at the top and read from left to right. He had gone through several shelves of books when he found the first interesting title, When Magical Creatures Spawn with Other Magical Creatures.
Draco pulled this title from its resting place and sat it on the ground before him. This book could help shed some light on the identities of some of the characters in Reilly's verse.
Draco continued searching the bookshelves in front of him. He picked up where he had left off. After several more shelves, he located another interesting title, Famous Queens of the Ring of Life. He, once again, pulled the book out and placed it on top of the other one.
He walked back to where he had been and began searching again. He searched until he had completed the aisle. Finding no more titles of interest, he picked up the two books and carried them back to the round table. He placed them there and went to find Ginny.
Ginny was about seven aisles away searching through the titles there. She had four books lying on the floor and seemed to almost be finished with her area of search. Draco stood to the side and watched his young wife at work. He loved to watch her move. She had a presence about her that screamed class, every move she made was graceful and beautiful. As he stared at her, she finished her search and saw Draco standing at the end of the aisle. She smiled at him and he returned the smile.
"Need some help with those books, pretty lady?" Draco asked.
"Why yes, kind sir." Ginny retorted while fluttering her long, dark eyelashes.
Draco smirked at her and bent to retrieve the books she had found. Together, they walked back to their table. Draco set the books down and pulled out the chair for her. She quickly sat down and grabbed the book on top of her pile, Keepers throughout Time. It was a large book that was as thick as Ginny's satchel and just as heavy. It was covered in a red, leather covering and the title was engraved with gold leafing. She rapidly flipped open the book to the immense index at the back and began going through it looking for anything that lined up with Reilly's prose. She became immersed in the index and soon her right, index finger was pointing to the paper and running down the pages and pages of words. She quickly read through the words and ran them through her mind. So far, none were setting off any alarms.
Draco watched Ginny for a few minutes. He chuckled to himself as he saw her finger running down the pages and her teeth lightly chewing on her bottom lip. She was really the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He was so thankful he would get to spend his life with her.
Draco was brought from his revere by a slight cough, he found himself starring into humor laden brown eyes.
"Going to stare at me all day and make me do all the work?" she asked.
Draco stuck his tongue out at her and picked up a book from her pile. He looked down at the book and saw a black, dragon hide covering with silver lettering that read, Magical Couples and the Evil Wizards Who Hate Them.
Thank goodness Draco was not drinking at that moment because, if he had been, there would have been liquid all over those books. Instead, he found himself coughing frantically. The shock of the title had caused him to swallow wrong and was tickling his throat. Ginny looked up and asked if he was okay and he nodded while coughing.
After he finished coughing, he caught Ginny's questioning glance and pointed to the book and its title. Ginny also burst out laughing, much to the dismay of Madam Pince. Apparently, she was even less tolerant than usual. Probably because she was used to having this time to herself, since most of the students were home for the Holidays.
Ginny tried to swallow her laughter, shrugged to Draco, mouthed that she thought it was worth a shot and returned to the book's index in front of her. She was already down to the letter M and still nothing was coming to light.
Draco opened the book that had caused so much chaos and took Ginny's idea and flipped to the index. He began looking through the list of topics.
He was over half way done when Ginny began twitching excitedly in her seat. She was chewing on a strand of her red locks and flipping madly through the book. She abruptly stopped flipping and began earnestly reading the page in front of her. After reading a few minutes, she squealed a small yip.
Draco arched his eyebrows in question while silver eyes clashed with excited brown eyes. She pointed at a passage in the tome in front of her. She flipped the book around so that Draco could read the book. She pointed to the section she wanted him to read and waited to see his reaction.
Draco read the page in front of him. Then, he read it again. He raised his head to look at Ginny. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes seemed to be bugging out of his very cute head.
Ginny giggled at the sight of him. He looked adorable. However, they needed to discuss the information in the passage; not focus on each other. She brought herself out of her thoughts of Draco and waited for him to respond to the information he just read.
"Ginny…umm…Ginny, your dad is the Keeper of the Souls! His name is the last one on the list. That means he is the current Keeper of the Souls! Oh my, do you think your mom is the Teller of the Souls? If so, that would make one of your siblings the Predictor…or…or…Ginny, you could be the Predictor! Do you think you are the Predictor? What does the Predictor do? How does the Predictor know they are the Predictor? What is the purpose of the Predictor?" Draco hastily rambled out.
"Yes, I think that my mom is the Teller of the Souls. And yes, that would make me or one of my brothers the Predictor. I think our next course of action might be to find out more about the Predictor, don't you think?" Ginny informed.
"That is a fabulous idea. Let's go ask Madam Pince if she knows of any books that discuss the Predictor." He said as he grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her to her feet. Then, he turned her towards Madam Pince and her desk.
"Madam Pince," Ginny asked, "Do you know of any books on a person called the Predictor?"
"No, but we can use the Search system to find out." With that said Madam Pince got out of her chair and walked over to a light green cube. Madam Pince tapped the cube with her wand. The top of the cube disappeared and a bright, green light was released from within the cube. The light poured out of the container and focused directly in front of Madam Pince. She tapped her wand to her throat and said, "Dewey Domaini!"
She then began speaking a cryptic language that was foreign to both Ginny and Draco, but not to the cube and its light. It began flashing brightly and the colors varied from red to black. There were thousands of characters in all shapes, sizes and languages flying by on the burst of light that seemed to mimic a muggle's computer screen. After about 15 minutes, the light flashed a brilliant, bright, white light and disappeared. The cube closed and returned to its normal light green state.
Ginny regained her sight after seeing the light and saw that Madam Pince was holding a note sized parchment in her hand. She turned to Ginny and Draco and handed the parchment to them.
Ginny took the parchment from her hands and looked at the writing on the paper. Draco looked over Ginny's shoulder so that he could see the parchment as well.
There on the parchment were three books on the subject of Predictors. They were as follows:
The Revealer by George Brannon, Esquire London, England
This book can currently be found in the Library of the Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It can be found on aisle 4, 384 on row 14,984. It is the third book from the left on that row.
Predictors of the Past by Mary Catherine Flannigan, Doctorate of History Oxford University
This book can be currently found in the Private Library of Ramon Valesquez, a private collector in Belize.
A One in a Millennium Person: The Predictor by Cardinal MacMoynihan Walters, His Imminence of the Roman Catholic Church
This book can be currently found in the Private Library of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Well, I guess we know where to start don't we?" Draco said with just a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Honestly, no wonder people think the man is a few marbles short of a game; why did he not just tell us from the beginning he had a book about the Predictor?" Ginny asked with a touch of irritation in her voice.
"But what is the fun in that, Mrs. Malfoy?" a voice said from behind them.
Draco and Ginny whirled around to see the very person they had been discussing, Albus Dumbledore. His eyes were merrily twinkling…of course.