A/N: I do not own the Harry Potter characters; I just love the books:)
Thank you to everyone who is reviewing my story! I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Sorry it took me so long to get this up – I'm sure you understand how busy life can get! This chapter, as I look back is a lot of background stuff – so sorry romantic minded people! I hope you enjoy it though – I was going to just go to tea this chapter, but I am building more of a plot instead. That way, I can bring the story somewhere after tea!
The next day Hermione went into town early to do some research before Ginny and she went to tea with Draco. She was excited to see him again, now that she saw how much he had changed. It would be wonderful to have a new friend in town – especially a rich one, she thought with a quick smile. The Carney estate was an estate with foundations dating from 800 AD. It had been rebuilt and expanded over the years, but many people believed that the foundations told the story of an old clan power struggle. Hermione was interested in the possible pokeys that might be found in the many, certain-to-be-there secret passages. The Carney estate had never been open to researchers due to the powers in the foundations, but going through secret passages never hurt anyone. Thinking about the passages of the Carney estate, Hermione headed to the historical lodge to see if she could find any more information.
The Sherborne historical society thought that it would be funny to have their historical lodge in a secret location where the only way to find it was if you knew the answers to their questions. Since the questions changed every week, Hermione tried to think of all random facts that she knew as she went to the starting point – the old castle. As she walked up to the castle she began to hum "London Bridge is Falling Down." About halfway up the walk, a small ball of light appeared before Hermione.
"What is your name?" the glowing ball asked with a shrill voice.
"Hermione Granger."
"What is your quest?"
She rolled my eyes. The society was apparently going through a Monty Python trip. "To find more information about Carney secret passages and the estate."
"To find your answers you must first do a task for us. You must bring to us… A SHRUBBERY!"
"Oh, god; I am not going to do that!"
"You must do as we command to enter the society that is us!"
"Oh stop it! Give me my next question or else I'm going to leave!" Hermione was getting less and less in the mood to deal with this.
"Ok, ok. To enter our lodge you must answer 3 questions." The ball paused. "What is a Menehune?"
She was able to answer this one straight away. "A Menehune is similar to fairies and usually found in Hawaii or Polynesian. They are trickster beings, usually mischievous and not cruel. They are always naked but are covered by long hair. They are afraid of owls. When they become too mischievous and cause too much chaos, the owl god, Paupueo, sends all the owls to chase them into the forest." (see note 1)
"Very good, Hermione. Now what is a leprechaun?"
Hermione started, "Are you serious?"
"We are always serious! Now, anwser the question!"
"The word leprechaun means "one shoe maker." The orginiated in Ireland and usually take the form of a diminutive old man; no larger than three feet tall, wearing a cocked hat, leather apron, vest, knee breeches, and long stockings. They are always bearded and are usually pipe smokers. They also know where gold is kept." (see note 2)
"Wonderful, wonderful! Now, what is a Dragon Stone?"
Hermione had to think hard about this one – she didn't think she had ever come across a dragon stone before.
"Give up, give up!"
"No, I'm still thinking!" she was racking her brain to figure out a stone called Dragon. She did not have a lot of luck.
"Give up yet, Hermione?"
She signed, "Yes, I can't think of the anwser."
"We got her mates! The society has outdone the great Hermione!"
"Hey – you don't have to be mean about it!" She exclaimed, getting very defensive.
"Aww, we still love you Hermione!" With that, the ball of light became larger until it was about the same size as her. "Enter, Hermione the wise!" Hermione rolled my eyes again, but stepped forward into the light. As soon as she blinked, she was standing in a very dark and musty room. She blinked several times before her eyes adjusted to the dark. Standing in front of her was her good friend Matthew Andrews; the voice of the glowing ball. Hermione glared at him.
"Oh come on 'Mione!" Matthew laughed as he walked towards her to give a huge hug, "We have been trying to months now to stump you with our questions! And we finally won! I get a night of free drinking courtesty of my dear colleages because of you!"
"I'm glad I get to encourage your drinking habits, Matthew." Hermione said, still a bit put out from the whole ordeal to get into the lodge. She walked over to one of the tables and sat down. "So, what is a dragon stone?"
"A dragon stone, my dear Hermione, is a precious stone fabled to be taken from the brain of a dragon." (see note 3) Hermione stared at Matthew.
"That is gross!"
"Gross, but a great power to the holder! Can you imagine what you could do with the information in the brain of a dragon? It would be so cool," he added, sitting in a chair next to her.
"Whatever." Hermione took out her wand and conjured up a cup of tea with two sugars and milk. Taking a sip, she asked Matthew, "So, what do you know about the Carney estate?"
"What don't I know! The Carney estate was originally built in 789 AD, but our research shows that it may have been a military base as early as 478 AD. Rumor has it that King Arthur or one of his cousins may have passed through the base and planed a major assault again the local Saxon village. Unfortunately, the Saxons came back and crushed the town for the battle and many people were killed. It was quite gruesome with decapitated heads and body parts and blood everywhere and –"
"Um, can we skip the details and move forward?" Hermione interrupted him.
"Sure, one-who-does-not-like-blood-and-guts!" Matthew laughed at his joke for a few minutes.
"Are you sure you haven't started drinking already?"
"Ha, ha. So, the town was destroyed. Then, around 600 AD the town began to grow again as farmers came to the region and found the soil good from growing food and plants to raise fat animals on. The first lord came to power around 700 and by 780, he decided that he wanted a nice big estate to show his power. Mind you, Malfoy was not a mean lord, but he was a powerful wizard who liked everyone to know it. A bit full of himself, but all lords were in those days. And today." He added thoughtfully.
Hermione started at Matthew. "Did you just say that a lord named Malfoy was the original builder of the Carney estate?"
"Yes, Malfoy – one of the oldest and most powerful wizard line in the UK – as you know."
"Yes, I know that, but I didn't know that the Carney estate was theirs by blood!"
"Well, why do you think Draco has moved into it?" Matthew seemed to think that this whole situation was quite obvious. Hermione was still confused.
"But why is the estate called the Carney estate?"
"Well, after the first Lord Malfoy, who by the way also had a birth name of Draco, died, it was declared that all of his lands in the region would go to his wife. Her name was Rauma Carney so the estate was renamed Carney. This is where the story gets interesting. Rauma was a powerful witch in her own right and she loved Draco very much. Their personalities were a bit different, but their love brought them together and gave them a happy life. Rauma was so sad about the death of her husband that she became a bit of a recluse." Matthew paused to take a sip of Hermione's cup of tea. "Wow, 'Mione, that's great tea! How did you do that?"
"I'll show you later. So, why does it matter that Rauma became a recluse?"
"Well, that is when the estate took on magical powers."
"What do you mean the estate took on magical powers?" she asked skeptically.
"Well," Matthew began slowly, "We are not sure if the estate took on powers iself of if the power was guided there by someone else. You see, there are lines of magic that run through the earth," Hermione nodded – every wizard learned about this in geophysics. "Sometimes, if a wizard or witch gets enough power or enough people, they can move the lines to focus the magic in particular areas."
"Right, the magic is moved and the new lines can provide the ruling house it runs under with more power."
"Exactly. Well, it seems that after Draco's death Rauma decided that she needed more magic in the Carney estate. While Rauma was very powerful from being married to Malfoy and a strong witch herself, many people wanted the Malfoy and Carney power in England. They wanted the rich lands around Reimashire and to associate themselves with the Malfoy family. It is believed that there were many plots again Rauma and her children for their position. One theory is that Rauma brought the Lahti line of magic to the Carney estate to protect her home and family. When thieves or assassins would go into the estate, looking for Rauma, they would disappear and end up hundreds of miles away – even in other countries!"
Hermione perked up at that new bit of information. "It sounds like they encountered the portkeys that I have been studying in old estates!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, but if that is the case, Rauma did something to the portkeys. When the men would appear at the other side of the portkey, they would either have a limb missing or somehow be changed; like with blue hair or their voice made louder."
"Well, serves them right!" Hermione exclaimed. "Wow, there is a lot more to the estate than I thought. I wonder why Draco never mentioned any of this?"
"You two never talked much – besides, outside of Reimashire, most people don't know about the stories. Actually," Matthew reflected, "most people in Reimashire don't know that story. They just know there is a great magical aura around the Carney estate." He signed, "It would be great to interveiw Draco and see what he knows about the estate. I am sure his family has kept some records that would turn this town's history around."
"Yes," Hermione agreed. She got up from the table, "Well Matthew, you have been a great help, as always."
"Anything for my little Hermione!" He said, giving her another hug. "Let me know if you need any more information!"
"Will do!" Matthew took out his wand and began to building the glowing ball again for her to leave. It was a rather odd way for them to transport people, but Hermione guessed they liked the charm of 'walking into the light.'
As she left the old castle (the ball dropped her off where she had entered), Hermione became more egar to see Draco. She wanted to question him on his family and this whole magic line thing. Hermione had never heard of portkeys doing damage to people, but there must be a side effect to the magical line that was moved. Hermione just hopee that Draco really was good now – if that line has enough power to remove limbs from people's bodies, she couldn't imagnie was a wizard like Draco would do with it!
In case you haven't noticed, I am taking A LOT of liberties with history here! Sorry, but I got lazy and didn't want to do too much research.
Note 1 - Menehune information found online at: http: 2 – Leprechaun information found online at: http: 3 – Dragon stone definition found online at: http:www.polenth. I'm not doing any more research so everything else is made up.