Chapter 4: Of Dracos and Devils
Learning his element was air confused Ron. Was he meant to control wind? Create tornados? One day in the shower he absently wondered if he should try to breathe underwater.
With Theo's help, Ron was beginning to realise that his elemental magic probably wasn't what he expected. The elements had many different symbolic representations and in the magical world they technically made up everything. Theo's latest theory was that the Guardians linked to the elements in accordance with Hermione's soul, and their powers would complement hers. This was probably why Harry's magical energy manifested as a healing power rather than an offensive force – because Hermione was pacifistic and compassionate. Likewise, Blaise's strength guided him to defend the Mage rather than attack others with violence.
As Theo watched Ron's magic in action, he suggested the redhead was interacting with currents of air carrying information like radio waves. Ron needed a side-explanation from Harry, but agreed it made sense. When Ron learned to magically extend his senses, he began to detect movement in air currents, most often when they travelled between people.
In his mind, Ron called these things energies. It seemed that everyone had a unique energy which surrounded them like a cloud, and each was made up of a combination of Light and Dark energy. Ron didn't know if he was feeling someone's soul, their magic, or just their personalities.
What he did know was that Hermione's energy was pure, as though she generated beams of sunlight that Ron could practically feel warming the air around her. The other Guardians were similarly warm, but their energies were more varied. He was still learning to tell them apart, and he thought eventually he might be able to detect their energies from a distance. Much like learning how to walk, this was an entirely new sense he had to train himself to use.
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One Monday morning Hermione's loyal group was leaving breakfast when Ron suddenly froze in mid-step and Theo glanced over in concern as he recognised the flare of his soul.
"It's here …"
All of them had their wands out faster than you could say Hippogriff. Draco and Blaise stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of Hermione. The Entrance Hall was packed with students, many of whom stopped to look in confusion at the group suddenly on high alert.
Ron's eyes rapidly darted around the room as he searched, but a sideways glance from Theo reminded him of their research. This was a new sensation, a power from his soul that wasn't necessarily connected to sight.
Ron closed his eyes and he reached.
He still wasn't sure if the Light and Dark he felt in people's energies was their magic, or something else, but the Dark appeared as a taint in someone's energy, like a dirty cloth dipped into clean water. Everybody seemed to have some dark energy, but in Hogsmeade Ron had felt something even darker –
It was there. Ron detected it in his subconscious like a bruise on pale skin, and he knew exactly where it was hiding. He opened his eyes and looked directly at a figure in the entrance to the dungeon, who turned to flee the second she saw him.
"PARKINSON!" Ron yelled and took off after her, scattering third-year Hufflepuffs on his way across the Entrance Hall. Blaise cursed and ran after him.
Draco grabbed Theo by the arm and traded places with him, so his friend was closer to Hermione.
"Stay with her. I know where Pansy might try to hide."
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Theo bounced on the balls of his feet anxiously as he and Harry stayed close to Hermione. All thoughts of getting to Charms on time seemed to have flown out of their heads as the Entrance Hall cleared.
"Do you think Pansy was working with Goyle?" Hermione asked quietly. She watched Theo struggle to answer. Like her, he hated not knowing what was going on, and he also hated jumping to conclusions.
"Ron felt the Darkness in Hogsmeade, but if it wasn't affecting Goyle it must've been possessing another person. We assume it was someone on Goyle's side."
"If the Darkness is possessing Parkinson, why didn't she try and attack Hermione herself?" Harry asked, confused. "She must've written Goyle and set the thing up, and she would've had to wait for Hermione to go to Hogsmeade, so it could've taken ages."
Hermione flashed back to the Ravenclaw student, Trevor, who'd been watching her for weeks before the first attack.
"I think the Darkness can possess people for a long time," she said carefully. "Perhaps it does plan the attacks, and because we've become more careful, it's trying to be unpredictable. That's why it possessed someone else instead of Goyle; it changed the pattern to confuse us."
"Or it wasn't working with Goyle at all, and he really did just have it in for you," Harry murmured. Hermione told him that Goyle blamed her for Crabbe's death, and Harry shook his head firmly to reassure her; nobody could be blamed but Crabbe himself. Even Goyle hadn't planned for his friend to conjure Fiendfyre.
"I'm concerned," Theo said suddenly. "If Pansy was possessed while corresponding with Goyle, she might've told him about Hermione, and he could've leaked the secret; Blaise said in the latest Prophet article they knew the Mage was at Hogwarts."
Hermione felt Harry reach for her hand.
"We need to go see McGonagall," he said firmly. "If the Unspeakables try to get into Hogwarts again she has to know about it."
"Plus, she can send Pansy the hell out of here," Theo mumbled.
"She really hates me, doesn't she," Hermione said in a small voice. Theo tossed his long arm around her as they started up the marble staircase. Harry followed and kept his wand out.
"Pansy fancied herself destined to be with Draco; she practically stalked him for years. He even took her to the Yule Ball to appease her, but she kept trailing after him like a desperate puppy. He went out with her in sixth year but broke it off. After he saved you, she took it rather … personally. Now that Draco's chosen to be with you, her jealousy only worsened. She's far from my favourite person, but I never would've thought she'd conspire with Goyle to try and kill you."
Hermione sighed and Harry jumped in. "D'you think this IS personal, or is there a chance Parkinson could've … figured out the legend? Without being possessed, I mean?"
Theo shook his head. "She wouldn't've learned it alone. But I don't doubt she was working with someone else. I hope Ron can tell if she's still possessed …"
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Draco was out of breath. Ron followed Pansy's tainted energy back to the Slytherin corridor and Blaise searched the common room while the other two stood guard at the door.
The wall slid open. Blaise emerged, shaking his head.
"What about the girl's–?"
"Greengrass checked for me."
Ron cursed and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes, focusing on the dark energy at the edges of his conscious mind.
Draco crept further down the corridor. At the end was a tapestry that had a tiny space behind it just big enough for one person – two in a pinch. Pansy had frequently dragged Draco back there to snog him in sixth year. Blaise's eyes narrowed as he realised where Draco was heading. Ron came up alongside him and confirmed their suspicions by nodding in the direction of the tapestry.
The three wizards aimed their wands and Draco ripped the tapestry aside.
"Stupefy!"
Blaise tumbled to the floor as Pansy darted from her hiding place. Ron tried to curse her, but she blocked him and raced down the corridor. She nearly escaped around a corner, but Draco managed to hit her with a Trip Jinx.
Pansy landed hard and Ron's quick Incarcerous tied her legs together so she couldn't stand. Draco stormed over and kicked her wand away from her hand.
"What've you done, Pansy?" Draco spat at his ex-girlfriend.
Ron revived Blaise, who scrambled to his feet. The wizards stood angrily over the bound girl on the floor. She closed her lips firmly and didn't speak.
"Did you send Goyle after Hermione?" Blaise demanded.
No response.
Ron roared in fury and raised his wand, but Draco grabbed his arm to stop him. Pansy's eyes weren't black; they were their normal shade of muddy brown.
"I know she did it! I saw it in her, three minutes ago!"
"We need to find out what she knows," Draco murmured.
Blaise was surprised how calm his friend was; he'd half-expected Draco to try and strangle Pansy for hurting Hermione. Blaise nonverbally Stunned the Slytherin girl, who fell limp in her bindings.
"Let's take her to McGonagall."
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It was clear after their last meeting that Professor McGonagall hardly saw her "eighth years" as students anymore. She spoke with them like colleagues and didn't question their suspicions of Pansy, nor their concerns about the Department of Mysteries.
She reached into her desk and withdrew a stack of letters.
"I didn't consider these to contain any worthwhile information, and I have of course been ignoring them, but perhaps they will provide a clue?"
Harry and Theo began flipping through the letters. They were all requests from the Department of Mysteries to search Hogwarts for the unknown witch. The letters ranged from polite to desperate, and one or two sounded almost threatening.
"… the fate of the wizarding world is in this witch's hands … she needs proper guidance, or she will become our downfall. Ancient prophecies have been translated by experts and we know she resides in Britain …"
"… the Headmistress of Hogwarts is subject to the will of the Ministry of Magic and can be removed from office if need be – pfft, I'd like to see them try."
Professor McGonagall chuckled at Harry's facetiousness.
"… our searches have proven otherwise fruitless, and we know the witch in question is being contained at Hogwarts – yes, of course, because the school regularly imprisons its students."
"Professor," Hermione asked. "Is it truly possible they could eliminate all nineteen-year-old witches from their search to prove I'm here?"
"I'm afraid it's quite possible, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall replied with a sigh. "The Ministry keeps records of all magical persons, and these are known to be exceptionally accurate thanks to the war. Minister Shacklebolt's efforts ensured the update of every record, accounting for marriages, births, and other census information. He wanted to be sure the Ministry could identify any possible Death Eater, as well as complete the list of witches and wizards who remain unaccounted for. The records are possibly the most accurate they have been since Voldemort first rose to power, and the Department of Mysteries would have full access to them, as their research often involves the study of magical bloodlines."
"But what makes them think the Elemental Mage is in Britain in the first place?" Harry questioned. "And how do they know the prophecy's come true now?"
Professor McGonagall gestured to the letters they were still going through. "In one of the requests, the Unspeakables suggested that the fall of Voldemort is what triggered the coming of this witch, although they did not say why. Perhaps they believed she would come to be where Voldemort fell."
Theo was still reading. "… heed my warning that others will search for this witch, likely including the British Ministry of Magic–"
"Wait, what was that?" Hermione cut in.
Theo squinted down at the letter. "This one isn't from the Ministry, it was sent by someone named Francis de Roux … Professor, d'you know when you got this?"
Professor McGonagall straightened her spectacles in confusion as she re-read the letter.
"I'm afraid I don't recall – perhaps during the fall. For several weeks, these threats and warnings were arriving so frequently I must have disregarded it."
"Someone else figured out who she is?" Harry demanded. Theo rescanned the letter carefully.
"No, I don't think he knows her, but he seems to know the Mage is at Hogwarts. He doesn't ask for anything except for the Headmistress to be wary to trust the Ministry, and to keep her safe at all costs."
"Who is this guy?"
"Ah, I thought his name was familiar," Professor McGonagall said suddenly. "He recently passed, but he was a professor of Magical History at Beauxbatons, and Beauxbatons puts more emphasis on prophetic history than Hogwarts–"
Harry's eyes opened wide. "Professor, Beauxbatons was having attacks like ours in the fall, where students were waking up and not remembering how they got there–"
Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth. "The Darkness was there, too!"
"The Darkness was there first," Theo corrected with a mumble as he started walking in circles. "It must've moved on from Beauxbatons after proving that you weren't there … This professor must've figured it out somehow; he tracked the clues like we did and deduced you'd be at Hogwarts."
Hermione slumped into a chair. "Perhaps if I left–"
"No, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said firmly just as Theo and Harry opened their mouths to protest. "It would do you no good to be elsewhere as we already know the Unspeakables cannot enter the grounds, regardless of their efforts. You are safe here and I intend to keep it that way. We have an advantage yet; there are a round dozen young ladies your age at Hogwarts. They should have no reason to suspect you, and we shall not give them one by having you inexplicably disappear from the school!"
Hermione managed a small smile as Harry visibly relaxed.
An odd ringing filled the office and Professor McGonagall glanced at her door, which was now transparent. Hermione followed her gaze. The door seemed to be showing the outside corridor through the eyes of the stone gargoyle, where Blaise and Draco stood with the limp, bound Pansy Parkinson draped between them.
The Headmistress waved her wand at the door, which opened a moment later. The boys awkwardly dragged the unconscious girl off the moving staircase and into the office. Ron entered behind them and quickly turned to lock the door.
Once Pansy was set onto a chair, Hermione and the Guardians backed away.
"Enervate."
Pansy's eyes fluttered open. Professor McGonagall faced her wearing a stern expression.
"Miss Parkinson, you've been accused of attempting to harm another student. I need to know if this is true."
Pansy blinked several times and looked up at the Headmistress in confusion.
"No, ma'am. I ran when Ronald Weasley decided to chase me for no reason, and I hid. Then he ambushed me along with Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy, and I tried to get away …"
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Liar!" Ron hissed from the back of the room.
Pansy turned in her chair and frowned at the crowd behind her.
"Professor, I don't understand why I'm being questioned. Those boys tied me up, and– and Stunned me–"
Professor McGonagall silenced Ron with a look when he opened his mouth again. Theo pulled him back and whispered, "Is it still there?" Ron peered carefully at Pansy and clenched his fists, but slowly shook his head.
Pansy turned back to face the Headmistress with a completely baffled look. Professor McGonagall studied her carefully.
"Have you been in contact with Gregory Goyle as of late?"
"Yes, ma'am, he's a friend of mine and we've exchanged several letters."
"Were you aware that he came to Hogsmeade this past weekend and attacked Miss Granger?"
Pansy looked surprised. "I was supposed to meet him this weekend, Professor, but he never showed. I waited in the Three Broomsticks for hours … in fact, I remember that you were there as well until the Weasley girl came in and you left with her …"
Professor McGonagall gave another warning look to the boys clenching their fists in anger and turned back to the Slytherin girl.
"Thank you, Miss Parkinson, you may leave."
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"How could she let her go!?" Ron roared. He punched a chair, which flew several feet across the common room.
Ginny restored it with a lazy wave of her wand.
"Alright, who's gonna explain what happened this time?" she asked with a sigh.
Harry recounted their morning as Ron paced angrily. Draco stood by the door, deep in thought.
"She and Blaise and Theo went to Ancient Runes, but we'll meet up after to talk again." Harry finished.
"I never thought Parkinson was all that clever …" Ginny mused. "But there was absolutely no proof, so she knew McGonagall had to let her off."
"I saw the Darkness in her!" Ron cried out angrily. "I know it was her!"
"McGonagall's hands were tied," Draco said simply from his position at the door. "She can't use this," he gestured between them, "as proof, because we can't let anybody else know about Hermione."
Ron sat and fumed, "so she got off and she didn't even have to lie."
"She's a good Slytherin," Draco said bitterly.
Ginny glanced at the blond in confusion. "You seem okay to be away from Hermione right now. How come you're not a great ball of rage like Ron?"
Draco was quiet for a moment as the Gryffindors considered him, then said slowly, "I don't think Pansy's guilty."
Ron leapt to his feet again and Draco frowned.
"I'm not saying she's completely innocent, but I don't reckon it was her that Stunned me to help Goyle. You heard her earlier, she was in the Broomsticks when Ginny went in to get McGonagall. We figured I was only Stunned for about five minutes, and we were at least three streets away, so she wouldn't've had time."
"Oh," Ginny said suddenly. "That's right, I remember seeing her in there with Greengrass …"
"Blaise and I talked about which Slytherins might've been working with Goyle," Draco continued. "But if Pansy was telling the truth then it might've actually been a coincidence that Goyle found Hermione since he was there to see Pansy all along. Aside, if she wanted to get me away from Hermione, she wouldn't've just Stunned me and left me there. That's not like her."
Ron shook his head fiercely. "So, who Stunned you, then? And how come I felt the Darkness there and in Parkinson!"
Draco scratched his neck. Harry considered his best friend.
"Ron, I think Draco's right; it wasn't Parkinson. There must've been somebody else working with Goyle, maybe even someone else who came to Hogsmeade with him. And yes," he said quickly as Ron opened his mouth to argue again, "you felt it in her, but we know it's been around a bunch of people here, so don't you reckon it could've possessed more than one person?"
Ron slumped into a chair, defeated.
"I don't like not knowing who our enemies are," Ginny said softly. Harry joined her on the sofa and sighed.
"Me either."
"I'll be back," Draco said suddenly. "I need to take care of something."
"Meet us in the library," Ron replied immediately. "Theo and I want to go over some stuff."
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Draco caught up with Hermione, Blaise, and Theo outside the library. He gave Hermione a quick kiss as Theo led them toward the back where he and Ron had been researching religiously. Theo cast his new favourite charm, Muffliato, around their table.
"So, Strategist," Blaise began as he plunked himself down across from Ron. "You said you felt something dark in Hogsmeade, but earlier when you looked at Pansy you said you actually SAW it in her."
Harry looked at Ron interestedly. Ron scratched his rough chin in thought.
"Theo thought I can feel the Darkness 'cause I'm the one who plans tactics, right? When we started experimenting, we found out I can sorta sense light and dark energies the same way Theo sees our souls. These energies kinda move through the air around a person like smoke, so I reckon that's why I feel them. I didn't know I could see the Darkness 'til I looked at Parkinson earlier. The energy showed up like a sort of pale cloud around her, but it was black in places, like someone chucked ink at her."
"Are these energies like auras?" Ginny supplied. "Luna talks about auras sometimes–"
"Luna also talks about Blibbering Humdingers," Hermione reminded her. Harry chuckled but turned back to Ron.
"Can you see our auras? Are we dark?" Ron shook his head with a grin. "Well, that's good, at least we know none of us is possessed."
"Not even Malfoy," Ron teased. Draco searched in vain for something to throw at Ron.
"Look, after what happened this morning, I really think you three need to learn to conjure Patronuses," Harry reminded the Slytherins. "We need to be able to send each other messages if something goes wrong, and I really want to know Hermione's got each of us in her crystal, too."
"It's not possible," Blaise murmured. "We'll think of something else."
"It is possible," Hermione countered. "Don't you realise you three Slytherins have already broken history just by being friends with us? So why can't you break history again and be the first Slytherins to conjure a Patronus, then?"
Theo smiled at her weakly, but Draco and Blaise remained stone-faced.
"We need to go back a few steps," Theo said quietly. He ignored the look Harry and Hermione exchanged. "Ron and I are trying to figure out the origin of the Mage legend, with the hope that it'll tell us exactly what the Mage is and what the Darkness is. We haven't had much luck, because most of the information comes from prophecies or folktales, which aren't reliable. We only trust the Mage Elementum because we have the original copy, and it's been correct so far."
"You don't think someone actually caused Hermione to become the Mage?" Ginny asked slowly.
"I want to know the origin of the elemental magic because it might be easier for us to understand its purpose, and perhaps how to use it," Theo answered. "I don't believe she was created by a single person, no, but neither did she have the Mage power before she turned nineteen. I reckon it came from somewhere, just like the Darkness came from somewhere."
"Well, I doubt Hermione's magic came from Hell like the Shadow did," Draco mumbled.
"Maybe it came from Heaven?" Blaise teased. Hermione gave him a look.
"McGonagall said the Unspeakables knew the Mage was in Britain, and suspected Hogwarts because this is where Voldemort fell," she mused. "Perhaps his death had something to do with it–"
Ron suddenly slapped his hand on the table. "Theo! Where's that book about the constellation legends?"
Theo gestured vaguely towards one of their many stacks of books and frowned.
"I know the Mage Elementum is oddly literal, but I thought we agreed the centaurs' ideas about astrology weren't?"
"Not completely …" Ron answered excitedly as he flipped through the red leather-bound book he dug out from a pile. It was so odd to see Ron Weasley digging through a book for answers that for the first time Hermione wondered exactly how much her soul was influencing him.
"We learned all the constellations in Astronomy, but not their histories," Ron said as he ran his finger through the index of the book. "Muggles have stories about the constellations too, and we use the same names as them, but our origin stories are different."
"Trelawney spouted a bunch of nonsense about the constellations," Harry recalled, rubbing his forehead.
"Human astrology is weak," Theo replied. "People like Trelawney operate mostly on guesswork, but really, the position of planets and stars and the angles they make are completely arbitrary, or coincidental at best."
"Not according to the centaurs, though," Ginny reminded them. "Firenze predicted Draco would lead Hermione to the bonding site–"
"Yep," Ron said as he triumphantly slapped down the red book. "And here it is: The Legend of Draco." He began to read aloud.
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When beings of Earth first walked on land, none would anticipate dominance to belong to a hairless, flightless, frail two-legged creature. The creature earned dominance by showing unique strength: an intelligence of the mind previously unseen upon the Earth, and unknown to all other creatures.
For its intelligence, the creature was bestowed a gift by Draco the Ever-Watchful. Draco's most precious possession was his ceaseless Light; from the center of the world, he gifted his Light to a selection of the intelligent creatures.
Draco guarded these Chosen with great care. As they learned to use the Light, the Chosen created more beauty than had yet been seen upon the Earth. Draco watched with great joy as his Light allowed the Chosen to grow, and the Light grew alongside them.
But Draco's gift made the Devil angry. For the Devil reigned in the dark and long fought the never-dimming Light of Draco, which now threatened to obliterate the darkness. As Draco shared his Light, so the cunning Devil cast his own Shadow upon Draco's Chosen, tainting them with its addictive lure.
Overwhelmed by the Devil's Shadow, Draco was forced to retire in the cold heavens, ever aware but ever helpless as his precious Chosen struggled to balance the Light and the Shadow. Draco cried in agony as beams of his own Light extinguished within the Chosen who fell to the Shadow, and the Devil laughed in glee as his Shadow grew with the souls of the fallen. Draco's Light began to dim, and soon he could hardly be seen at all.
But the Devil would not laugh forever. Devious Draco would not be undone; though thousands of years may pass, he would reach out to his Chosen and begin to whisper his Secret:
Whereupon the Devil's Shadow spreads like no other, it will snuff so much precious Light that the tentative balance of Light and Shadow will falter. Only after the greatest manifestation of Shadow is extinguished will Draco's Secret come to pass. While the Devil's Shadow clings to its remnants of power, the epitome of Draco's Light will manifest in counter and fight to reign true.
Alas, the Devil foresaw Draco's plan and would lay in wait until the end of time, to track Draco's Light and steal the chance to corrupt and extinguish it once and for all.
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