Disclaimer: In no way do I own or claim to own Harry Potter. That is the original work of JKR and I'm not stupid enough to attempt to steal it.

The Enlightenment

"The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them." -Alfred North Whitehead

Chapter 5: New Information and Ideas

Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley sat at the kitchen table in the Burrow, a stony silence encompassing the whole room. Harry and Hermione had had another row barely an hour earlier, and both were still seething and licking their wounds. The others eyed both warily, and Mrs. Weasley was having a hard time keeping herself from yelling at them.

The arrival of two owls, each carrying the morning edition of the Daily Prophet, caused a slight distraction as Hermione and Mrs. Weasley paid the owls and looked at their papers. Hermione gasped, her eyes widening, and quickly opened up the paper to read the full front page. Mrs. Weasley's expression grew grimmer than it had been before as she scanned the article with a tight jaw. Both witches ignored the questioning looks and quiet prodding of the others to get them to say something about the paper.

Finally, eyes glittering, Hermione put the paper down, excused herself, and rushed from the room. Harry, Ron, and Ginny crowded around the paper to read the article.

Muggle Woman Breaking and Entering Murderer's Home

7/19/97

Three days ago, on July sixteenth at around 2 A.M., a Muggle woman named Alexandra Medley attempted to break into the home that used to belong to Severus Snape, who is believed guilty to be the murderer of Albus Dumbledore. Snape's house has been under guard since his crime first came to the attention of the Ministry and the would-be criminal was caught quickly.

Medley has been in the Ministry's custody since that date, being questioned by Aurors. We asked one Auror, Brian Freeland, who was at the scene at the time the crime was attempted, what she was being interrogated on. He replied, "The exact content of the questions, and answers, is classified. I can tell you, though, that we believe Medley may be able to help us in our search for Snape." Kingsley Shacklebolt, leading the case, was also asked to give a comment but refused.

Our inside source tells us that Medley once knew Snape, and that the two were well-acquainted as children…

The reporter went on to give more information about Snape and Medley, but Harry had stopped reading and leaned back in his chair, a dark expression on his face. Ron and Ginny glanced at each other then looked back at Harry.

It was Ginny who spoke first. "I suppose Hermione is right, there is more to Snape than any of us thought," she said quietly.

"It's just a coincidence," Harry said forcefully, standing up and leaving, going out into the yard.

"So who should go see about whom?" Ron said dejectedly. Ginny sighed and stood up as well, but didn't turn to go anywhere. Instead, she began picking up dishes to wash and put away.

"We should just let them stew a while." She shook her head sadly. "This is definitely not what we need right now. Bill and Fleur's wedding is only a week away."

If either of them noticed that their mother had gone a bit pale, or that she was being unusually quiet, neither said anything about it.

When the dishes were done, Ron made his way upstairs to see about Hermione. He found her in his room, sitting on the floor next to his bed. She was writing something, using Snape's old potions book as a hard surface to keep the parchment flat against. Her hand was almost a blur, her penmanship unusually sloppy. She didn't even seem to notice Ron as he sat on his bed near her.

Finally, after a few minutes of nothing but the sound of her quill scratching, she signed her initials and leapt to her feet. She looked around the room for a moment, and then turned to Ron.

"Where's Pig? Can I use him to send a letter?" she asked quickly.

"Sure, what's the rush?" he replied, then went over to his owl, sleeping in its cage. He prodded it awake, and instantly the small creature began whizzing around his head, always excited to be taking a letter somewhere. Hermione practically snatched the poor bird out of the air and tied the letter to its leg. While she did that, Ron went over and opened his window, and within a few seconds Pig was zooming outside.

"I'm asking Victor to do me a favor," she said, pacing the room.

Ron's expression soured at the mention of Victor Krum, but instead of commenting on her continued communication with Krum, he asked, "What kind of favor?"

"He has a friend who's got a knack for finding information. I wonder how Victor met him, as he hacks Muggle computers. I'll explain about that some other time," she said, noting Ron's questioning stare. "All you need to know is that he's good at it, he never gets caught, and he'll be able to tell me all I want to know about Alexandra Medley."

"How do you know you can trust him?" Ron said.

"I don't."

A/N: Constructive criticism is very welcome. Please, if you see any way in which this can be improved, don't hesitate to inform me. However, I ask that you do it in a helpful manner, and that you don't just say, "This is terrible." Thank you!