AN: To: Everyone!
I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated in a while – computers are just so dumb! It deleted my last copy and I had to write this. . . it should be along the same lines. . .
Just be grateful that I finally managed to get a WORKING computer!
Argh!
Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own them. Happy?
It was really weird, this chapter just seemed to write itself of its own accord….. How odd.
Ah well, I'll just shut up and you can keep reading!
AN: British / North American Dictionary (Or any other language)Amplifico- magnify in Latin
Grindlewald – Everyone, please remember that he was the evil wizard that Dumbeldore defeated
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Unforgettable, In Every Way
Part XVII – In Which There are Books… Lots of Books
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End of Last Chapter:
"I – well, um. . . I actually know how I got here. But unfortunately I won't be able to use that method again."
"Why?" I asked, intrigued, "How did you get here?"
"Well, I used a Time-Turner."
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"Um, that's nice. . . but what's a Time-Turner?"
"Have you never read 'Magical Items in the Wizarding World'?" Hermione asked, shocked.
"Um, no? Was I supposed to?"
"Well, it is the expert on all magical items recorded by the Ministry. I happen to have one in my schoolbag right now, actually." She withdrew a large, faded blue book that dwarfed the Oxford Dictionary and Encyclopaedia of about 3:1.
"No wonder that bag was so heavy!" I exclaimed, "Did you charm it so that you could fit all those books in it?" I nodded at the pile of books that Hermione had withdrawn to find the 'Magical Items in the Wizarding World'.
"Oh, I have many more books in this bag," she casually dismissed my exclamation, "and half of what's here I brought up from the Library for some light reading in my spare time."
"Light?" I echoed, shocked, "Spare time?"
"Of course," Hermione said, as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world, "Now here," she passed the book to me, "Time-Turners are from pages 4728 to 4812, though you can read pages 4728 to 4761 to get a rough idea about the principals if you want to. I, of course, read the whole book. I regularly make reference to it, so I mostly carry it around with me wherever I go."
I almost dropped it on my foot.
"How you don't break your back is beyond me," I muttered as I lugged the hefty book back to my bed and dropped it on the mattress. The mattress bounced from the weight.
After a few minutes of the words jumping around the page and starting the same line at least five times because of the small print, I finally gave up and decided to make some small talk. Not that I had ever been good at 'small talk' though.
"So. . . what book are you reading?"
"The Course of Time," Hermione answered absently, entirely engrossed in her reading.
"Who wrote it?"
"It's about the theoretical possibility of travelling back in time years, instead of just hours, as most people do." Not quite the answer that I had been hoping for. Perhaps she hadn't heard me at all. I tried again.
"Right, so who wrote it?"
"Page 203," was the reply.
"Pardon?" I asked again, assuming that I had misheard.
"I'm on page 203. Now, if you don't mind – I have some reading to do."
Ouch. That was surely a dismissal if I ever heard one. I began to flip through the 'Magical Items in the Wizarding World', the pages falling open on a sheet that had been scrunched together. Smoothing it out, my eye caught on the small heading, no larger than seven millimetres high. Squinting, I could just make out the wording:
"Mirrors of Communication," Well, this was about as interesting as the book would probably get. Settling down, I tried vainly to read. I gave up and pulled my Charms book onto the bed, groaning with the effort.
"Magnification, magnification. . ." I flipped through the index, "Machete – ouch, doesn't sound too good. Maelstrom – haven't learnt that yet. . . Magenta, magnet, magneto. . . magnification!
'Hold wand in the spomnetic position and say 'amplifico' using the movements from the Levitation Charm. See page 12 for more details.'
Well, it doesn't sound too hard. . ." I closed the Charms book and cleared my mind, concentrating on what I wanted, before I raised my wand and saying clearly: "amplifico" The words seemed to get larger and easier to read, even though the book didn't alter in size.
Well, it is magic!
'Mirrors of Communication are only theoretical. Since the uprising of the Zerilto. . .'
"And who, are the Zerilto?" I questioned, but the book didn't answer. Shrugging my shoulders, I read on.
'Uprising of the Zerilto, in which destroyed the only documents of reference to the Mirrors of Colmunicato – or Mirrors de Communication. Magical Items Historians have dedicated much of their precious time in attempting to undercover if there was, in fact, ever truth behind these fabled 'Mirrors of Communication'. Unfortunately, the only clue may reside at the bottom of the sea in the lost city of Atlantis. This city, which the merpeople have taken great pride in denying any access by the Ministry, was cursed to the bottom of the sea by 'Grindlewald' and as yet, nothing is known as to what has become of them.'
"Slightly morbid. . ." I muttered, "Imagine being cursed to the bottom of the sea for more than 3000 years. . . would anyone still be alive there? And it still hasn't told me what the blasted Mirrors of Communication are!"
I was suddenly itching to find out more information in the topic. I had never been interested in a subject enough that I was willing to go to the library to risk being branded a geek. Well, no time like the future.
"Hermione?"
"No."
"You don't want to come to the library? Ok, if you're certain. . ." I slowly made my way across the room, hoping that I had read her character correctly.
Five. . .
Four. . .
Three. . .
Two. . .
One. . .
And. . . now.
. . .Or. . . now.
NOW!
. . . . .
. . . . .
"LIBRARY?!" came a shriek, I had to bite my lip to hide a grin.
"Library? Go to the library? Just let me got my books to return!" She flew like a whirlwind through the room, stooping to collect books and shoving as many as she could in her bag. About ten, solid, hardback books of at least 40,000 pages were left.
"No. No! No way Hermione!" I backed up, shaking my head and holding my arms up in a futile attempt at protection.
Notice the word futile.
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"You must get a kink in your neck trying to peer over these books, not to mention solid arm muscles!" My arms felt like jelly, and we had only passed through the portrait hole out of Gryffindor.
"Oh, you get used to it. Honestly, I can't imagine a time with no less than two books of at least this size, ever since I was in First Year." She sped happily along, managing to avoid walls and statues of armour while at the same time juggling her book bag and five books in her hands. I tottered in her wake, swaying like a drunkard to try to keep the pile of precariously balanced books from toppling over.
Just as I was sure that my arms were about to fall off, we stepped over the threshold of the double oak doors; officially in the Librarian's territory.
I followed Hermione past small side rooms with walls made of shelf upon shelf; around small wooden staircases to the second floor. This was more like a very large balcony, extending over from the wall opposite the doors to roughly the middle of the room. I gratefully deposited my load in a heap on the librarian's desk, standing aside to let Hermione do what ever was necessary to return books. She stacked her books on top of mine, the pile dwarfing her small stature so that only the top of her head was sticking out.
From behind a faded velvet drape, came the Librarian. Certainly he was not the person that I was expecting.
"Where's Professor Welland?" I accused, too shocked to notice that I was being rude. My mother would certainly chastised me for my tone of voice, not to mention Petunia. . . well, she would have immediately tried to show me up, as usual.
"I am filling in for Professor Welland – and I do not like that tone of voice, girl." The man was not old, but well past his prime. He was short and quite dumpy, obviously enjoyed his Yorkshire Puddings and Shepard's Pie more a small waist line. His short and fluffy hair was coloured a weak red and stuck at odd angles from under his bright green bowler hat.
"Who would wear a bowler hat indoors?" I whispered under my breath to Hermione, who was still behind the pile of books and was attempting to retrieve the errant books out of her bag, "And why would they choose puke green as well?"
"Green bowler hat?" Hermione looked up at me, her widened eyes opening in shock. She hesitantly poked her head out from the shadow of the books.
"FUDGE!?" Her shriek rocketed through the entire of the library, stopping conversations throughout. She stared at the man looking as if she wanted to hex him and hug him at the same time.
"You, girl, I have had entirely enough of this nonsense. I have had only two hours here and then you come barging in as if you owned the place!" He pointed an accusatory finger at us, making me want to shrink into the floor, but I refused to be cowed, "I will be known as Professor Fudge – and that is your final warning! If I hear you doing anything inappropriate, or out of order or even if I have suspicious misgivings, you will be banned from the library! Until the end of your time here at Hogwarts!" After his ranting, he set his hat strait on his head, adjusted his robes and, as cool as you please, took out his wand and tapped the pile of books. They disappeared.
"Wow!" I couldn't contain the whisper of awe that emanated from my mouth, but thankfully Fudge, or Professor Toffee didn't hear, he was so absorbed in ignoring our presences. I looked over to Hermione, and was slightly put out to note that she didn't seem in the slightest bit impressed. Obviously, it was just normal, not that I would know – since I had tried to avoid the library as much as possible. It was a mystery how I passed within Acceptable levels for all my essays.
Sighing, I turned around and my breath caught. The library was absolutely beautiful! I don't think that I had ever looked at the library at this angle.
There were about five heavy pine desks in the centre of the room, small inlets holding other tables branched off the main part of the room, enclosed by shelf upon shelf and row upon row of books of varying sizes and colours creating a higglty-pigglty look about the place. But then one's eye was immediately captured by the small wooden staircases that wound around carved wooden pillars to join with the gallery above, other desks and small nooks and crannies that were sure to contain all manner of books up there.
"Well," Taffy said behind me huffily, filled with self-importance, "Don't stand there all day, child, gawking like overstuffed pelicans! Some of us are very busy – now scat!"
Hermione immediately grabbed my hand and marched me over to a small desk surrounded by walls of books, refusing to acknowledge Professor Clotted Cream Fudge, or whatever his name was.
"Right," Hermione ordered, "You take this bookcase, and I'll take the one opposite and we can work towards the middle." She turned and apparently became engrossed in looking through the shelves.
"But what are we –" I questioned.
"Lily, don't interrupt me! Search yourself!"
Well, obviously I wouldn't get an answer from her before she found whatever she was looking for. I had tried that before – with disastrous results. So I decided to brows through the shelves and hopefully come across a book on the Mirrors of Communication, which that book had told about.
"What is the chance in that?" I wondered as, sure enough, there was a small green book with faded gold lettering with those exact words emblazoned on the side. Filled with curiosity, I stretched out a hand, teetering on my toes in the top of the ladder, almost off it with only one hand grasping the side. I triumphantly withdrew the small book, a plume of dust exploding out at the same time.
"Uh oh. . . " I could feel a stuffy and slight blocked feeling in my nose, the pressure building up as I froze, my eyes wide, on the ladder. Then, it happened.
"A-A-A…..AAAAACHOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The sneeze caused my head to dip forwards and, as I could feel the ladder swaying, I frantically put my hand down to achieve stability. Unfortunately, I forgot that I was holding a book. The force of my hand crashing into the shelf caused it to be dislodged from the case and fall to the floor, the books landing in a pile at the base of the ladder, knocking a leg loose.
In a torrent of books and pine shelves, I landed in a heap on the floor. And if that wasn't enough, my back crashed into the now-empty case, causing it to also fall. What happened next reminded me of a game of muggle dominos. . . just on a giant scale, even bigger than Hagrid – our abnormally large Grounds Keeper.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Oh Merlin!"
"Help!"
"Move! It's falling!"
"Oh my – ahhhh!"
Piercing screams echoed through the library, accompanied by the toppling of bookcases and the scattering of books. The walls of the library came crashing down, people trying to get out of the way. But soon they would look for the cause of all the disruption.
Mainly me.
Not good.
"Um, Hermione?" I was starting to get nervous with all the people staring at me. I could feel a flush coming up from my neck, "Hermione?"
"Just a minute, Lily! What can be so important that you. . ." She swung around, a book grasped between her hands, her eyes widening at the mayhem she was surrounded by, "Lily, what did you do?"
"Pst! Oy, you two!" Someone squeaked, beckoning us to a far corner. Somehow I seemed to have risen from my protective pile of books and was in the only standing corner made of bookcases with Hermione, who had followed me. And not a moment too soon either.
"WHO DARED DO THIS?!" Fudge roared, "HOW DARE THEY – THEY WILL PAY FOR THIS! I'LL MAKE THEM ORGANISE ALL THESE BOOKS AND PUT THEM BACK BY HAND!"
"Peter?" I recognised with shock, he was crouched in the corner, one hand seeming to be buried in the floorboards. "What are you doing?"
"Getting you two out of here." He gave an almighty heave and a trap door seemed to spring up out of nowhere, "Come on, hurry. That Toffee person will come hunting here for a victim in any minute."
Without a second thought, I jumped down, landing slightly hard, the impact jarring my whole body.
"You next, Hermione." There was quite a long pause, when I was certain that they had been caught and then: "You wouldn't want to loose Gryffindor 100 points in your first day, would you? Thought not."
Hermione came crashing down next to me, still clutching her book. Peter came after her, closing the trapdoor and narrowly missing landing on my legs.
"Come on. . ." Peter motioned with his hands to follow him along the tunnel, starting down it without a second glance.
"There can't be a passage way here!" Hermione protested, but she followed anyway, "There isn't a tunnel on the Map!" She hoisted up her robe to avoid getting the hem of it wet as we passed a spot where the roof was dripping.
"Map?" Peter swung around, Hermione almost crashing into him before she quickly backed up, her eyes narrowing. What could possibly be between them?
"Oh, you know, the Marau. . . map? Did I mention a map? I'm sorry – slip of the tongue!" Hermione weakly grinned and then let out a large gust of breath, as Peter seemed to accept that answer and continued down the tunnel.
"Hermione, you are going to tell me what is going on!" I hissed behind her, "You're being really unfair towards Peter – and he hasn't done anything to you!"
She didn't acknowledge that she had heard – but she might not have. It was, after all, we were in a narrow tunnel, which meant that any sound we made was magnified tenfold and perhaps she couldn't hear me. I tried again.
"Hermione!"
"And here we are!" Peter triumphantly announced, "Thank you for travelling aboard the Peter Pettigrew Express! Please watch you step – Ma'am, please let me!" He offered his hand to help me clamber out of the tunnel, the square patch of light making it hard to see what was beyond.
"Are we in the Kitchens?" I asked, disoriented. The room looked much like the Great Hall upstairs, but the tables had empty plates on them and the ceiling was that of stone, not enchanted. I had only heard tales of the Kitchen; I had never been in it. I didn't even know how to get into it!
"Peter, you had better have not comeback from mapping the library just because you're hungry. If you have, you had better just –" Sirius stopped mid-sentence, freezing in his tracks at the same time.
"I've finished mapping the grounds, and. . . oh." Remus came in through what would have been the double doors if we had been in the hall above, clutching a manuscript to his chest.
"That describes it exactly, Mo- Remus - Oh!" Remus came to stand next to Sirius, hands on hips, "You have some explaining to do Peter," he warned as Peter emerged from the door in the ground, behind Hermione. She came to stand beside me, still clutching her book.
"Oh no, I forgot to take this out!" She quietly moaned to me as Peter, Sirius and Remus held a private conversation, their heads clustered together a ways off. Where was James, I wondered. He was usually here with the three other Stooges. . .
"I don't think that Professor. . . Fudge?" Hermione nodded at the correct name. I continued, "That he would appreciate taking out that book for you after what I did in the library. He'd probably ban you or something. He might think that we're conspirators plotting the downfall of the library, or-"
"Trying to usurp his power? Traitors to the one true power of the librarian religion, the holy book being the catalogue files?" A new voice interrupted me. Both Hermione and I turned and let out a small scream.
Floating behind us, about two feet off the ground and only a foot from our faces, was the poltergeist that held the record for the 'Most annoying and troublesome Poltergeist in Hogwarts'.
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Response to Reviews:
Ok, I know that you will all hate me for not doing the Responses. . . after all, it is a long standing tradition for me to do them..
And I had really witty ones as well. . . shame that the computer gobbled them up at the same time as this chapter.
I therefore decided that you would want the chapter more then my boring comments – so tada!
I will do reviews next time though – promise!
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Anyone else wonder who Fudge was before the Minister of Magic? Well, here's my idea.
If you don't like it….. tough.
^_^
Cheers!
~*~BrokenSkye~*~