Disclaimer: I am not JKR and I am not making any money whatsoever from this.
Chapter 10: Cerridwen's Cauldron
Christmas at the Burrow had been the same as any other year, but Ginny couldn't help but notice that everything seemed a little strange without Ron there. While she loved Percy and the twins, they were brothers to look up to not friends. Mum had made his favourite cookies which no one else liked so they remained uneaten, she'd also set a place for him for Christmas Dinner before remembering that he wasn't home. Whenever their father began to talk excitedly about muggle artefacts everyone wished Ron, who had always enjoyed listening to their father, were home. Percy had at one point brought down a chess set only to turn around and carry it back to his room. Ginny later heard him saying "Can you see how improper Ron is being, choosing his friends over his family?" to the twins who were openly ignoring him. Even the twins missed him, they spent a huge amount of time they would have usually spent bothering Percy pranking his room in preparation for his arrival in June, that's not to say they didn't prank Percy a bit, in fact hearing Percy arguing with them was the most normal event that occurred that Christmas.
Still, it was only sullenly that she returned to Hogwarts and homework. On the Hogwarts Express she walked through the train looking for Luna's compartment. She'd apologized on the way home and Luna had forgiven her quickly, they had even visited each other during the holidays.
She was looking into what seemed like the thousandth compartment when she saw a sight that shocked her completely. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all sitting inside playing Exploding Snap with Lewis, although all four of them looked decidedly uncomfortable. Ginny grinned despite of herself and continued down the train; maybe he isn't so bad after all.
When they reached Hogwarts it seemed everything had changed. Margaret, as she'd discovered Lewis was named, wasn't being taunted as much, although the Slytherins didn't go out of their way to be nice. Ginny just couldn't help but smiling at Malfoy which annoyed him to no end and caused him to be meaner than usual, she ignored this as she realized he probably didn't mean it. Hermione spent much of her time in the library and Ron and Harry refused to speak to her, meaning Hermione had chosen Ginny to nag at and Ginny didn't think she could stand another lecture on proper studying habits.
That was the reason that Ginny was heading towards the Common Room. Luna didn't care one way or another if she hadn't finished next week's homework. When she walked in Draco and Ernie looked up from their homework and she waved cheerily at them; Ernie waved back and Draco scowled at her before they returned to their homework. She walked up to the table where Luna was sitting and sat down.
"Hi," she said while pulling out her supplies.
"Cerridwen, a powerful witch of the 6th century, was the mother of the famous poet Taliesin. Cerridwen owned a powerful cauldron that is popularly known in muggle mythology as the Cauldron of Wisdom. It was said that when a potion for knowledge and wisdom was brewed in the cauldron it would become 100 times stronger."
"All right, in 1262 Barberus Bragge began the practice of catching a Golden Snidget in Quidditch games."
"What's that got anything to do with it?"
"I don't know; you started it." Ginny wondered when she was going to learn to ignore Luna's outbursts.
"Don't you remember that I thought there was something off about Cerridwen's Cauldron?"
"Not particularly."
"It was in the museum -"
"And you said it was weird!" Ginny cut in loudly remembering it was the day she'd had that unsettling conversation with Salazar Slytherin, maybe she should go and visit and let him know she'd fixed it all… "I still don't see what this has to do with anything."
"Well, if my hunch is right and someone stole it then we have a big problem." Luna said motioning with her hands, encompassing an area bigger than just the two of them.
"We?" Ginny looked around and saw that Draco and Ernie were looking over at their table.
"We!" Draco stood and walked over to them, "Don't include me in your crazy plans Luna! And why are you wearing radishes on your ears!" Ginny looked up from her doodles and saw that Luna was indeed wearing radishes as earrings.
"They protect against the evil eye." She said as if everyone should know this.
"You're loony Lovegood." Draco said aggravated. "Hey that's good," he said forgetting his rant momentarily.
"Luna, what was stolen?" Ernie asked sitting down beside Luna.
"Cerridwen's Cauldron."
"A cauldron!" Draco marched back to his table apparently dismissing the whole event into his Luna file and not giving it another moment's importance.
"It's a very important cauldron," Luna said loudly so that Draco could hear although he gave no sign of noticing and continued to write on his parchment. "It was one of the first specialized cauldrons made. It's the reason Cerridwen is so popular." A snort was heard from Draco confirming that he hadn't heard of Cerridwen either.
"It's true, many apothecaries use specialized cauldrons because they make the potions they are made for stronger and more stable." Ernie said.
"This is a wonderful history lesson," Ginny said putting every bit of disgust she felt into the sentence, "but this doesn't prove the cauldron was stolen. Even if it did, it doesn't mean it's our problem."
"I'm not an our with that Weasley!" Draco said from his table.
"That's fine with me! I don't want to be an our with any Malfoys!"
After abandoning Ginny and Draco to insult each other's families Ernie and Luna walked into the museum and closed the door behind them blocking out Draco's voice. Luna walked right up to the cauldron which was sitting only a few feet from the door. She walked around it still unable to pinpoint exactly what was off about it.
"It's the thickness." Ernie suddenly said bringing Luna out of her thoughts and she looked at the cauldron closely noting that it was indeed too thin to have been the original.
"Of course! If the cauldron was specialized for intelligence then gold, mercury and silver were probably used to make it. It would probably have to be a bit thicker in other to have the right amounts of gold and mercury since gold is so soft and mercury is a liquid. Also if it were to hold strong potions it would have to be thicker as some tend to be acidic."
"I just meant my mom was saying that cauldrons get thinner every year."
"That too, of course father thinks that it's all Fudge's plan to get people to buy cauldrons more often. It's obviously made of pewter."
"Yeah…well, why don't we just turn it over and check the bottom." Ernie said as moved towards the cauldron.
"Don't touch it!" Luna screamed, "You'll set off the alarms."
Ernie stopped a foot away and pulled his wand out of his pocket and started slowly turning it over on the platform.
"Hey what are you Slytherins doing stealing that cauldron?" Gryffindor's voice shouted at them.
"We are not Slytherins and we are not stealing." Ernie said indignantly and Luna noticed he stood a bit straighter. "We are checking to see who cast the cauldron."
"Well, you are obviously not Ravenclaws or you'd know it wasn't cast, it was made by Cerridwen like the card says." Gryffindor said derisively, Luna glanced at the bottom of the cauldron, "Shingleton Cauldrons Ltd" it said. This was definitely not Cerridwen's Cauldron. Luna nodded at Gryffindor's portrait and walked out of the room. She heard Ernie put it right quickly and follow her.
A/N: Do not read this if you haven't read the HBP! So I read HBP and am happy to say that none of what I planned for this story was messed up by HBP, if anything it helped it, Lucius didn't know what the diary would do, he just wanted to get Arthur in trouble, which seems kind of childish not evil. Cissy! I was off by one letter oh well, I guess only Lucius calls her that. Draco loooooves his family and cares about his friends! I win!
