Third Edition
Chapter
6
"So, where should we head to, now?" asked Ron after walking for several blocks in muggle London.
"Well, isn't it obvious," began Hermione, "Diagon Alley! You'll buy all the books, won't you, Harry?"
Harry stared at Hermione askance, looked around in the street and slumped his shoulders. "Well, I suppose I will…"
"Oh Harry, for crying out loud, I bet you can buy all the books in the world!" exclaimed Ron. Harry grinned sheepishly and nodded.
"You're right, never really cared for money in the first place," he said, walking into the Leaky Cauldron. "So, of course, I will forgo my money for er—our cause," he said, looking around with more suspicion, then grinned benignly, which set off Ron.
"What is it, mate?"
"Can't you be observant for once, Ron?" asked Hermione, but was still spooked by Harry's posture when she saw what he saw. "But why are you smiling like that with Malfoy in here?"
"What, Malfoy's here?" snarled Ron.
"Oh come on, Ron, we never really had any fraught evidence that Malfoy's done anything," said Harry, his mood turned darker as he stared at Malfoy, his back to them. "But of course, we will have to be careful since he's such a charlatan…"
"You don't need to warn us, Harry," said Hermione. She grew alarmed when Harry made his way toward Malfoy. "Harry!" hissed Hermione, not raising her voice.
"I swear that Harry's got enough foibles to wear us down, Hermione…" said Ron tiredly. Hermione seemed to make herself smaller in size when she saw Harry talking to Malfoy, even initiating the first move.
Harry's POV
"Hey, Malfoy," said Harry neutrally. Before Draco Malfoy could react about Harry invading his space, Harry cut him off. "Shut up and listen here," he said coolly. "Oh, I know we don't have any evidence that you joined Voldemort, (Idiot, don't say that name!) nor do you bear any mark, so I'm asking you for something."
"Why should I even listen to you, Potter?"
"Oh Malfoy, we are on… a mission of sorts, and I know you have some connections."
"Are you saying that you're blackmailing me?" snarled Malfoy, nervousness showed in his eyes.
"Perhaps I am," answered Harry cheekily, grinning slightly with a feral hint. "Should you fail, I will find a way to find out what crimes you have committed and kick you into Azkaban," he said so softly that Harry swore that Malfoy nearly missed what he said. Oh yes, Malfoy was certainly unnerved and skittish. "If you come and help without saying a word to anyone else, then I won't bother you for as long as I live."
"What is it you want, Potter?" growled Malfoy. Harry knew that Malfoy was alone in the wizarding world as he no longer had his goons and he couldn't care.
"We're decimating a certain type of book," said Harry quietly. "Destroying all of the books in this world that deals with one branch of magic."
"Are you mad? That's impossible!"
"Exactly, so I suppose I will need some help after all," Harry said, sighing. "We have over seven thousand books to find
"Really, the books are that rare?" asked Malfoy, raising an eyebrow. Harry stared at him, wondering if that amount of books was small. Then he remembered when he was living in the muggle world, there were some books with 'millions of copies sold!' on the cover and he frowned at the memory.
"Well, the subject's not very often practiced," said Harry, not revealing just what subject they were.
"Well, do tell me what kind of books you want to destroy if there are so few of them," said Malfoy. "I think I'd rather be in Azkaban than destroy knowledge."
"Sometimes knowledge is too much for anyone to handle. Malfoy, come with me and you will know why," he said coolly, the image of his raised parents flashing through his mind. Dispelling the picture by closing his eyes, he willed himself to drown into an abyss of darkness. Malfoy nodded melancholy as both walked back to where the other two were.
" Malfoy's coming with us?" asked Ron incredulously.
"Stuff it Weasley, it is not like he gave me much choice!" snapped Malfoy, while Hermione stared at Harry, frowning.
"Don't tell me you blackmailed him," she whispered to Harry.
"What else was I to do, we'll be able to get all of the books with his connections," said Harry, his chin pointing to Malfoy and back at Hermione.
"Oh, I suppose you are right, I just hope it's nothing too… extreme."
"Just tell me why I'm so valuable for your findings in whatever you needed to destroy," Malfoy said, then turned to Hermione, "and I'm surprised at you, Granger, you're willing to destroy all the books of a magical branch?"
"This one is a special case, Malfoy. Harry hasn't told you what we're going to find?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as the four entered Diagon Alley.
"No, he hasn't," he hissed, still waiting to know what Harry wanted to destroy.
"We need someplace where we won't be overheard…" said Harry, and then he spotted the perfect place. He grinned, leading the small group toward the Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ron groaned.
"Why?"
"I'm sure Fred and George will let us borrow the backroom for a bit," said Harry lightly.
"You're right…" said Ron dejectedly as they entered the store. When Harry came up to the counter, one of the twins was hard at work, counting up the money.
"Hey," greeted Harry and the twin looked up and brightened.
"Harry! You're out and about!" exclaimed the twin. "You're here to buy something?" he asked, hopeful. Harry grinned and shook his head sadly.
"Sorry, whoever you are, but can we use the backroom real quick for a private discussion with Malfoy behind me?"
"It's Fred, by the way," he said, eyes narrowing at Malfoy, "Sure we'll let you use the backroom, George's in there making a new batch of Ton Tongue Toffee. I assume you want to talk alone and not be overheard?"
"Yeah, if that would be possible," said Harry, nodding.
"Alrighty, come on," said Fred, putting the money away and leading the group to the back of the store. "Oi, George!"
"Oi, Fred!"
"I need you to come out and wait a bit, Harry needs a private conversation with," he glared at Malfoy, "Malfoy about something."
"Sure, lemme clean up so it doesn't explode," said George. Once the twins cleared out and closed the door, Harry put up some silencing charms and other protections on the door and turned to face Malfoy.
"We're destroying the magical information of Necromancy," said Harry, getting to the point and bluntly.
"What, why? It's rarely practiced!" exclaimed Malfoy.
"Exactly, and I don't want a – a repeat of what I saw," Harry said darkly. "I don't ever want anyone to practice Necromancy, not ever again."
"Is that what happened between you and You-Know-who?" Malfoy asked, putting the pieces together. Harry stared long and hard at him and sighed, then he nodded at Malfoy. "What was so bad about it? It is not like he raised anyone you knew," the blonde said.
"Just shut up, Malfoy, and do what I say," snapped Harry. Malfoy arched an eyebrow at him.
"Since when can you order me around?"
"Since I've black mailed you, in case you'd forgotten?"
"Well, I want to know why you want to destroy the knowledge of Necromancy."
"Because I saw my parents raising from the dead, chasing me for my flesh!" exclaimed Harry, getting angry. Malfoy raised both eyebrows in surprise.
"They're still intact?"
"Of course they are!" said Harry, not meaning to reveal that information to Malfoy, of all people. "If you say so much as a hint of what happened in the Final Battle, I will send you to your own grave!"
Malfoy huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at Harry. "I see no reason why you would keep that a secret," he said coolly.
"What do you mean, you don't? How would you like having your parents raised from the dead solely to eat your brains!"
"I suppose I would freak out, since my mother and I have something of a special bond…" he said softly. "But anyway, I'm not a person who puts himself in someone else's shoes."
"I can hardly imagine you doing such a thing as trying to understand other people, Malfoy," said Harry, sighing.
Malfoy stared at him for a few moments, weighing the pros and cons.
"Fine, I'll inure myself to destroy these books, if I must," snapped Malfoy, and Harry smiled crookedly.
"Good, I'm glad to hear that," said Harry quietly. Harry banged the door open and saw that the twins got knocked backward, sprawling on the floor with extendable ears products in their hands and their ear lobes.
"Bloody hell, Harry! We couldn't hear anything at all, what did you use? We had improved our extendable ears to work beyond any magical barriers…" said one of the twins, rubbing his behind from falling too hard.
Harry glared at the twins with intensity that both yelped and said "sorry's" as they went back to work. Harry shook his head, 'those twins!' He was glad he had put up a lot of magical barriers so that not even the newest version of the extendable ears worked. The twins stared at Harry with no hint in their expression of the luminous grins they were hiding, as the twins watched the others leave the store.
Twin's POV
The twins stared at each other as they listened to the conversation, hardly believing what they were hearing. They could hardly believe what Harry admitted to Malfoy and no one else except his best friends. Fred frowned while George tried to think of why Harry wouldn't allow anyone be privy to such information. Then they had their answer—now they knew why Harry wanted to destroy the books. After all, who would want anyone to be chased by someone who is out to eat your flesh and blood?
They had listened so hard that their interest had been their downfall as Harry pushed the door open, knocking both of them down. Luckily, George acted on his instincts and blatantly told a lie, mixing in some truth, hoping that Harry would fall for it. Indeed he did. But Harry spoke with such anger that the twins felt so bad for overhearing and lying to Harry. When the group left the store the twins stared at each other and nodded. Fred turned the sign over so that it said 'Closed, come back in half a hour.' Then George put up a charm that even the newest extendable ears couldn't penetrate. They had to have some spell that would do that, otherwise they could be sued.
"Well, Fred, what do you reckon?"
"Well, I don't know . But, we shouldn't have listened in their conversation," said George, frowning.
"Yeah, I know, but we never followed the rules, anyway... So, I suppose Harry is set out to do something about Necromancy, to destroy the books?"
"Can't be, there's too many…" said George.
"But that Malfoy said there's not many books…" pointed out Fred.
"You're right, Harry didn't disagree that there weren't that many books…"
"Well, do you think we should help them?"
"I don't know, perhaps we should…"
"But we can't let them know we've heard them talking," said Fred, pondering what they should do to help.
"Well," said George, smiling mischievously, "We could always create something that will call anything you need to come to you and whack people who are in the way off their feet."
"Brilliant! That's brilliant, George!" said Fred, grinning a feral smile. "Let's get down to work then."
The twins nodded and went into the backroom to begin experiments.
Harry's POV
He felt strange for some reason, after leaving the twin's store. He looked back and frowned when he saw the closing sign and shrugged. The group then went to the famous bookstore in Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blotts. Harry entered the store first and went straight to the counter.
"Good day to you, how can I help you?" asked the lady behind the cashier. "Oh, Mr. Potter!"
"Hello," greeted Harry quietly, looking around skeptically. "I have a favour to ask of you."
"Anything, what is it?"
"I need all of the books on Necromancy, including duplicates," said Harry quietly.
"Ah." She arched an eyebrow at the request but nodded as she went to find the books. Then she returned ten minutes later with ten books on Necromancy. "Do you want the books from the backroom?"
"Yes, please," said Harry. "And I want all of the books that can be sent here as well."
She blanched at him. "I can't do that, what if others want the books?" she asked.
"I don't care, I'll pay you a thousand galleons in advance if you forward any and all books on Necromancy," said Harry coolly. She sighed and nodded smiling slightly, happy that she would be getting a lot of money.
"Very well, how many books would you like then?"
"All of them, I don't want any of the books to be sold to anyone else," said Harry.
"What, deny them of their knowledge?" she asked, paling.
"Please, just do as I say, I'll pay you two thousand," he offered. She frowned again, wondering what exactly Harry wanted. "Okay, I'll pay you 500 galleons a month if you give me any of the books on Necromancy. If someone comes by and offers a million galleons, don't, I'll pay you triple whatever the amount the customer wants."
"You must be mad," she whispered, eyes wide as galleons.
"I wonder about that sometimes," said Harry, joking slightly.
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Whoever wants to buy the books you want will be not pleased," she said, writing the requests down and sticking it under the counter where other cashiers would see and refer to from now on.
"I know, I'm prepared for them," said Harry, sighing. "So, are there any books in the backroom?"
"Oh! Of course," she replied, leaving to get more books on Necromancy. Ron spoke up when she was out of hearing range.
"You're mental mate, mental," said Ron, eyes wide at how much Harry was willing to pay to get the books off anyone's hands.
"It is not like I don't have about a trillion galleons, Ron," said Harry. "If I didn't know any better, I probably am the richest guy in the world… the Ministry wouldn't hear me refuse the money. I don't know how much my parents left me, but it seemed with the Ministry amount, it's tripled…" he said, "or tenfold."
"Potter, why can't you obliviate them? I'm sure it'll save all the trouble," said Malfoy.
"How are they sending me the books that will surely come to them?" asked Harry.
"Ah, point taken,' said Malfoy as the lady came back with a box floating behind her.
"This is all I have found, Mr. Potter," she said. "Well, that will be two thousand galleons, Mr. Potter. Only five hundred are only the books, but since you are willing to pay a thousand for the request and five hundred for every month," she explained as Harry paid without thought. Harry heard some incoherent words coming out of Ron's mouth.
"Close your damn mouth Weasley, I'm tempted to stick a slug in it," Malfoy sneered as the memory replayed in everyone's mind. Ron snarled at Malfoy as Harry levitated the books out of the store and looked around for a secluded alley. When he found one, he led them there and put up a temporary wall so no one could peek in.
"Okay, shut up, you two," said Harry to Malfoy and Ron. "Now, let's burn these books."
"But should we really do that?" asked Malfoy, frowning.
"We've already destroyed about fifty books in the library at the Ministry, Malfoy," said Harry as he lit the books on fire.
"What, are you mad!"
"I've been asked that questions several times today already, so I suppose I am, so say something new," snapped Harry.
"The Ministry will be after you," he pointed out.
"We fooled the Library, Malfoy," said Hermione, almost smug.
Malfoy stared at her and then back at Harry. "I don't believe this… this is mental…" said Malfoy softly.
Harry shrugged as he made sure that the fire would destroy all of the books.
"So, that was about two hundred books there, wasn't it, Harry?" asked Hermione, taking the reference book out and crossing something out with her muggle pen. "Well, we're getting closer," she said, grinning.
"Yeah, closer," said Ron glumly. "This will take years."
"No it won't, next stop, Knockturn Alley. This is where you come in, Malfoy," said Harry.
"What, where do you want to go?" asked Malfoy, watching the fire going.
"All of the bookshops in Knockturn Alley, in each and every nook and corner of it," said Harry.
Malfoy let out a hiss slightly, sighing. "Fine, last time I checked, there were about ten book shops in Knockturn Alley, and that was the summer before our seventh year."
"I see," said Harry, as the fire died away, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. Then he cleared the ash away with a cleaning spell. "So, do you think there will be more or less?"
"Less because You-Know-Who's dead," said Malfoy, leading them out of the alley and toward Knockturn Alley.
When they entered, Malfoy immediately went inside a store which Harry followed in. When he looked around, he saw that there were less books than the book store in Diagon Alley. Harry automatically went up to the front desk and found someone organizing some data on the books.
"Hello, sir," said Harry, pulling the hood over his head closer to his eyes.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" asked the storeowner silkily, breaking away from his work.
"I have two favours to ask of you," said Harry, and the store owner arched an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
"First, I want all of the books on Necromancy, including the duplicates and any books you have in the backroom," said Harry.
The storeowner nodded, getting the books Harry needed. After twenty minutes of getting the books, he returned with some twenty books.
"And the second favour?" he asked, setting the books down.
"Forward all the rest of the books on Necromancy to me, no other customer should have one. If they demand one and pay you at any cost of price, I will pay for the book thrice that amount of money requested," said Harry, shocking the storeowner. Then he recovered, nodding as he wrote the request down and set the parchment under the counter, same as the previous store had. "Thank you, and it is important that you keep this a secret as much as you can. By the way, send all the books to Harry James Potter."
The store owner thought he couldn't have been more shocked before, but found himself wrong. Then he once again recovered from his feelings and nodded as he wrote the name down on the parchment that was still under the counter.
"T-th-thank you Mr. Potter, have a g-good day," he stammered as Harry left the store. Again, he repeated what he had done earlier: go into a secluded alley way, put up a wall, burn the books and go to the next store. When Malfoy led them to all of the bookshops in Knockturn Alley, Hermione grinned at the numbers going down.
"We've destroyed a thousand already, in one day!" she exclaimed.
"Well, it will get harder from here on, though," said Harry, but he was pleased to hear that they were a thousand books down and only some six thousand to go.
"I quite agree," said Hermione.
"Well, do you need me still?" asked Malfoy, wanting to get away.
"No, I said we needed your connections."
"What do you mean?" asked Malfoy, glaring.
"What I mean is contact the people that your parents used to affiliate with, chances are, they have books, and there are some at your manor, I bet," said Harry as Malfoy sniffed.
"Well, I suppose I will have to do that, I don't have a choice, do I?"
" No, you don't. Don't forget," said Harry and Malfoy huffed.
"Fine, I'll write some letters to buy the books off them."
"Good, I'll pay for whatever amount they wish, though try to keep that to a minimum. Don't want all of my money to disappear within a month," said Harry.
Malfoy sneered but chuckled. "You're right, all right, I'll be fair and give you the letters so that you will be satisfied."
"I appreciate that. I suppose you'll head back home now?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind," said Malfoy, arching an eyebrow.
"Go home, we'll keep in touch on a daily basis," said Harry.
Malfoy rolled his eyes and nodded. Then he disapparated away. Hermione finally said what she had wanted to say ever since they spoke of blackmail.
"What did you blackmail him with?" hissed Hermione.
"Oh, a trip to the lonely island," answered Harry vaguely.
"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Hermione.
"You know I can do that, Hermione, you wouldn't believe how corrupted the justice is around here," said Harry coolly.
"And we don't need you do just that!" cried Hermione as they head back out of Knockturn Alley. " By the way, do we have a minister yet?"
"No, dad said we don't," said Ron. "It'll be big news when someone takes over, though, with Madam Bones as the acting Minister…"
"Well, Madam Bones will be hard to get past," said Hermione. "She's good at finding evidence and such."
"Believe me, I can easily find some evidence on Malfoy," said Harry. "Anyway, I promised that we would sever ties with each other if this errand was successful. Hmm, you still have the reference book?"
"Yes, I do, why?"
"Does it have the author names in it?" asked Harry.
"Oh! Yes, they do, hmm, we'll have to see who still writes them…"
"If we're lucky, all of the writers who wrote of the Necromancy branch are dead and long gone," said Ron sourly.
"You're right, Ron, I hope no one is still writing them…" said Hermione, "For all we know, the authors could be just as sporadic as the books."
"Yeah, and how will we prevent the experimentation? You know… From ever creating a new way of raising the dead…" Harry said, thinking.
"Well, it will be impossible if there's no legislation on that," said Hermione.
Harry soon realized just how hard this task would be destroying all of the books and preventing any new ones. He groaned, he didn't want anything to complicate such matters. Trying to stop people from creating new ways would be as improbable as trying to stop a baby from learning how to walk. Granted it was possible, but nearly impossible. Yes, it was crazy to try to anyway, he had not thought of all the smaller details.
"Well, let's go back home and get some dinner, we've missed lunch," said Harry.
Ron's eyes widened in horror. "I missed lunch!" he yelped, as Hermione and Harry laughed.
"We all got carried away, we'll have a large meal, don't worry," said Hermione as the three signaled to apparate away. Harry reappeared in the kitchen, in front of Mrs. Weasley, of all people.
"Harry! Hermione, Ron!" exclaimed Molly, hugging Harry. "I had wondered where you two went… and why are you here, Harry?"
"Oh, just on an errand…" said Harry. Mr. Weasley apparated in the kitchen, looking for Molly.
"Ah, Molly—Harry!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley, surprised to see him.
"Hello, Mr. Weasley," began Harry, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley waved him to stop.
"Please call us by our first names!" said Mr. Weasley, and Harry blinked but nodded uncomfortably.
"Okay, er—Molly… Arthur…" he tried the names.
"Good, good, anyway, there's an uproar at the Ministry, Molly," he said tiredly as he sat down.
"Really? What happened?" she asked, frowning as she sat down as well.
The trio risked a glance at each other, but covered up their nervousness, after what they had gone through for the past seven years.
"Someone came into the library and destroyed—about fifty particular books…" he answered, frowning at the mystery. "We tried to trace who did it but came up with three fake names. As far as I know, you can't fake your name at the Library of Ministry," he said, stroking his chin.
"What books?" asked Hermione fearfully.
'Good acting Hermione…' thought Harry, grinning mentally.
"Books on Necromancy…"
Harry felt a sudden pang inside, and his eyes widened in realization. He groaned silently to himself, so not even his friends heard the noise. What if this was released into the Daily Prophet? The storeowners would most certainly report the suspicion to the Ministry…
"…and honestly, I don't know why…"
Harry hadn't realized that Arthur had continued talking. He blinked and stared at his friends.
"Oh yeah, um, excuse me, I forgot something," said Harry, interrupting Arthur.
"Very well," said Arthur as Harry apparated back to Diagon Alley. He walked back into the bookshop and found the lady from earlier.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," she greeted him.
"Excuse me, but I need this store to keep silent about my business no matter what the papers report about anything at all. If you do keep silent, I will pay you an extra half million galleons if you all keep quiet for the rest of your lives."
"Wha—you are very strange, do you know that? But why would the paper say anything… particular?"
"Please, it is very important and I will explain everything one day," said Harry tiredly. "And I really hate publicity, too."
"Yes, I heard about that, you do hate being famous, don't you?" asked the lady.
"Yeah, so can you?"
"I'll see what I can do," replied the lady.
"Thanks, actually, I'll give two million galleons since this store has several employees who may, err—see the parchment under the counter. Also, can you make sure no one else sees it?"
"Of course," she answered, putting a charm on the parchment along with the new strange request. "Well, good luck."
"Thanks, I will really need that," said Harry, heading back out of the store and going into Knockturn Alley.
He promised to all of the storeowners there similar to what he had done in Diagon Alley, just less money since all of them only had one or two people owning and working at the store. Most of them had been reluctant but when they had heard the amount of money, they readily agreed. Harry hoped that he didn't need to oscillate between Grimmauld and Diagon/Knockturn Alley anymore. He apparated back home, finding the people there eating dinner.
'Dinner a ready? Bloody hell…' thought Harry.
"Ah, you're back, where did you go?" asked Molly, serving him dinner as Harry sat down next to Hermione.
"Just on an errand that I forgot to do," replied Harry. He couldn't afford to make any kind of mistake. Merlin only knew how long he could keep this a secret.
"So, what's going to happen at the Library, any replacements?" asked Harry as he ate his dinner.
"Actually, the funniest thing is we couldn't order any new books…" Arthur answered, frowning. "Someone had bought them all off them and the shops refused to give us any of the incoming books, no matter how much, said that the person would pay triple the amount…I have a feeling whoever that is, is trying to ally with the dead …"
The three Gryffindors stared at each other worriedly, to others, it was interpreted as being worried that someone could try to raise the darkness again. The three knew better, they were worried for a different reason—being caught.
"I hope we catch the culprit sooner or later," said Arthur, as everyone fell into silence, eating their dinner.
Harry thought of the Ministry, if they could pay Harry the amount he had gotten, then it was obvious that the Ministry would have much more money. Growing concerned about that, Harry signaled his friends to come upstairs.
"Thanks for the dinner, Molly, the three of us have something to discuss so I'll leave you two here," said Harry, getting up from his seat as the others followed suit.
When they reached Harry's room that had been locked for a good number of weeks, Harry got his key out. After he entered his room, he made the door so that no one could hear inside, except for, of course, the newest version of extendable ears, Harry did not know that yet.
"We're doomed," said Ron as he saw that they were safe to speak.
"No, we're not, Ron," said Hermione. "But this is bad, Harry, what did you do when you left again?"
"Bribed all the shops to keep silent no matter what the papers said, Or the Ministry for that matter," answered Harry. The two others stared at each other and at Harry.
"But what about the Ministry? Surely they will have more than enough money to buy all the books, far more than you would have…"
"Actually, for some reason, I have a feeling they won't go beyond their budget when it comes to buying books," said Harry.
"Mmm, I suppose that would be true…" said Hermione quietly.
"And on top of that, don't forget the Ministry is in shambles as well," said Ron, and Harry nodded.
"Exactly, so whatever they report in the newspaper, headlines or not, it'll be forgotten within a few weeks. I'm sure people will notice the books disappearing and will try to find out who it is… taking them," Hermione stated.
"I know... hmm, I think we should get back to work, try to find the rest of the books. I have a feeling that if it is reported, other people won't be as likely to give the books…" said Harry.
"You're right, Harry, we better get back to work, hopefully we'll get all the books that are in stores and libraries, we'll get the private ones later," agreed Hermione as the three nodded. "Where to, Harry?"
"Hogsmeade," answered Harry, and the trio apparated away with three pops.
Harry had felt somewhat freed as he had destroyed the books earlier today, it was a way to absolve his guilt and eradicate the knowledge that should never be learnt. After talking about the books in the bookstores in Hogsmeade and destroying the tomes they were after, the three secretly went to the most famous library in wizarding England, Hogwarts' Library.
"Oh, I really hope Madam Pince isn't there," moaned Hermione as they entered the castle.
"I have a feeling she is away on vacation…" said Ron.
"Yeah, she can't always pour over books every day in the summer, can she?" asked Harry.
"I don't know, Harry, I would," said Hermione, grinning to indicate that she was joking.
"Blimey, Hermione, I hope not!" exclaimed Ron, laughing as the three entered the surprisingly unlocked library.
Madam Pince wasn't in her usual desk chair. "Well, she's not here," said Ron.
"Good, first place we ought to check is the restricted section," said Hermione.
"And can you tell me why you want to use the Restricted Section?" asked a voice behind the three.
The gang gulped in nervousness, they had not expected that voice, of all people.