Chapter 9: The Pensive Perfume
"Angels on the Moon" by Thriving Ivory.
"We can get into the Ministry the same way I got in, on the night of the attack," Dumbledore said. "We can use one of the secret Portkeys. Security won't be too tight around those. I'm one of the very few people who knows about them and, as far as the rest of the wizarding world is concerned, I'm dead."
"What about the actual experiment room?" Ron asked, "Those aren't ordinary wards on that room. How will we get in?"
"Oh, I'll take care of that," Dumbledore said confidently. "It's no problem."
"We don't know how to operate the experiment," Hermione said. "The spells involved, the steps required—"
"Are simple enough," Snape said plainly. "The two of us already got into that room to examine it. It isn't much more difficult to use than the time-turners. The complicated part is the preparation beforehand."
"Preparation for what?" Harry asked.
"If Ms. Granger is to travel twenty-one years into the past, it is important that she be conditioned to tolerate the magnitude of the involved magic," Snape answered in an all-too-familiar taunting drawl. "Thankfully, she already has experience with time travel and is skilled in Apparation, as the sensation of extensive time travel can be similar. Then there is the matter of how long she can remain in the past."
"Garus stayed as long as five months," Hermione offered.
"Garus built up to five months after several turns with the experiment," Dumbledore corrected. "At most, you might be able to manage four months."
"Four months?!" Ron repeated, "That long?!"
"Well, I'm not going to meet and befriend Regulus Black in one day, Ron," Hermione said reasonably. "Then I'll still have to find a way to explain our situation to him and convince him to help me destroy the Horcrux. He was a Death Eater, Ron. Helping us means betraying Voldemort. No one can remember what he and I did, but it's probably the real reason why the other Death Eaters killed him."
"And it's not likely he'd die for someone he just met," Harry added. "The three of us at least waited two months after meeting before we risked our lives for each other, fighting that troll in our first year." Ron and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Those days when they had first met seemed more like a bittersweet dream than reality. No, their new reality was very dark and different, as Dumbledore seemed to also be thinking.
"One finds it hard to believe there was ever a time when you three weren't inseparable," he said. "But yes, it did take you boys a little while to warm up to Hermione. As soon as she lied to a teacher for you, the team was set." Hermione, Ron, and Harry blinked at Dumbledore, then they laughed again. Of course Dumbledore knew what really happened on their first Halloween together.
"Regulus was no misfit, and he had plenty of friends in his seventh year," Snape said harshly, pulling everyone back from their bittersweet memories. "He won't be so quick to cling to you so desperately."
"Well, you didn't have any friends then, did you?" Harry bit back, equally harshly. "Maybe she can start with you and get to Regulus that way."
"Harry, enough." Dumbledore said calmly, while giving Snape an equally settling look, before he could retort.
"You're forgetting something anyway, Harry," Hermione said. Everyone looked at her to see that she looked very troubled about something. Ron touched her shoulder.
"Hermione?" He prodded.
"I'm muggleborn," she said. "Or as the lot we're talking about usually puts it, a Mudblood. The notes between me and Regulus implied that he knew that I'm muggleborn, but he can't have known the whole time. As bad as blood prejudice is now, it was much worse then. The only words any of the Slytherins in that time would say to me would be an attempt to send me to the Hospital Wing."
"Which is why they won't know you're muggleborn," Dumbledore said, nodding to Snape, who quickly left the room.
"I went by my real name, though," Hermione contested. "They'll be able to tell by my name—"
"They would be able to tell by your name," Dumbledore corrected, "if they didn't already know that you're actually a half-blood witch, raised by your muggle father after your birth because your pureblood mother was forbidden to speak to you or your father again." Dumbledore had spoken with such a straight face that Hermione laughed outright.
"What?!" She laughed, "Why would they think that?!"
"Because of this," Snape said as he reentered the room. He was holding a tall, thin spray bottle that seemed to be filled with swirling blue clouds. "Pensive Perfume," he continued. "Much like one does with a pensive, you extract thoughts and memories and collect them in the solution. In this perfume form, you wear the thoughts and memories for others to unconsciously detect and interpret." Snape held the bottle out to Hermione. She hesitated, then took it with fingers that trembled slightly.
"I still don't understand how this will make everyone in the past believe I'm half-blood," she said, her inquiring eyes moving from the bottle to Snape, then to Dumbledore.
"The thoughts and memories don't have to be real to be used, Hermione," Dumbledore said. "Much like Voldemort used Legilimency to show Harry a false vision of Sirius being held captive in the Department of Mysteries, false memories can fill the Pensive Perfume, to mislead others as you must do in the time you're going to."
"It was not uncommon for half-bloods in that time to be abandoned by pureblood relatives avoiding possible damage to their reputations for interrelating with muggles," Snape said. "Keep to that story with enough conviction and no one should question you." Hermione nodded.
"So, how exactly do I use it?" She asked.
"The thoughts and memories that go into the solution have to come from your own mind, but the memories can enter your mind from a different source," Dumbledore answered. "Severus and I are both skilled in Legilimency. As long as you don't resist us with Occlumency, we can transfer convincing false memories into your mind, for you to transfer to the perfume. Once the perfume is complete, you simply spray the solution on yourself every twenty-four hours to keep it potent enough to convince those around you of authenticity." Hermione gripped Ron's hand, beside her. Harry, sitting by her other side, reached over to grip her other hand protectively.
"When Voldemort put those visions of Sirius in my head, the three of us, along with Ginny, Neville, and Luna, were nearly killed while trying to save him," Harry said. "And when everyone came to save us, Sirius actually did end up dead."
"None of what we put in Hermione's head will harm her, or anyone else," Dumbledore said bracingly. "You must trust that we will do everything we can to ensure her safety and ability to complete her task. Severus and I are both alive and on your side, Harry. We both want to get all three of you through this, so we may end this war for good." Harry stared at Dumbledore for a moment before he nodded.
"What do I need to do?" Hermione asked timidly. Dumbledore stood and extended his healthy left hand.
"Come here, Hermione," he said. Hermione stood up slowly and took a couple steps toward Dumbledore and Snape. She hesitated, then she placed her trembling hand in Dumbledore's extended one. Dumbledore seemed to radiate pride as he looked down into her face. "Such Legilimency can, of course, be performed miles apart by skilled Legilimens, but it goes far more smoothly if there is physical contact as well as eye contact between those involved. If you could allow Severus your other hand?" Hermione shuddered slightly, but looked over to Snape and extended her other hand to him. Snape took it with as gentle a touch as possible, though his expression remained cool and apathetic. "Remember, Hermione," Dumbledore continued, "don't resist us." Hermione nodded, her eyes on Snape. Snape's eyes, in turn, held hers. A moment later, he and Dumbledore spoke together.
"Legilimens."
Hermione's body briefly tensed, then she gradually relaxed again. Harry and Ron stood, but kept their distance. Hermione saw flashes of a man with her eyes. He was intended to be her father. His name was Inness Granger. Hermione heard a woman's warm, beautiful voice humming a song, and she felt sleepy. That woman was meant to be her mother, singing her to sleep. Hermione saw flashes of her own real childhood, only her real father wasn't in them. He was replaced by the man, Inness. Her real mother wasn't in them either. No mother was in them at all. Hermione then saw herself in what she recognized as Beauxbatons robes, saying goodbye to other like-dressed girls, telling them she was transferring to Hogwarts, closer to where her father, Inness, lived. Then she saw Inness again, but in a hospital bed. He'd been in a horrible car crash. He was dead…
Hermione blinked and swayed slightly on the spot before she felt the two hands she held strengthening their grip, and she felt four more hands brace her from behind. She'd been released from Snape and Dumbledore's spell. The six hands on her turned to eight as she was guided back to the couch and helped to lie down. She blinked a couple more times before Harry, Ron, Snape, and Dumbledore all came clearly into her vision.
"Do you understand what you saw, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked her gently. Hermione nodded.
"I heard my mother's voice, but didn't see her," she said. "I saw my father, Inness Granger. I saw a lot of my real memories, but with Inness in them. I was a student at Beauxbatons, but was transferring to Hogwarts to be closer to my father. He was in a car crash, though. He died." Hermione blinked again, still trying to collect her thoughts. "I'm entering Hogwarts as a seventh year, after having previously attended Beauxbatons Academy. I never knew my mother, or any of my pureblood relatives, but my father, Inness Granger, did tell me she was a pureblood witch. He just recently died in a car crash."
"And any other muggle members of your family don't know you're a witch, and you have no contact with them," Snape added. "You've lost touch with your old Beauxbatons friends, too. You have connections with no one, so no one can contradict your story." Hermione nodded once more.
"Now what do I have to do?" She asked.
"Extract those memories from your mind and add them to the Pensive Perfume," Snape answered. Hermione sat up and stretched her neck to each side. She picked up her wand and held the tip to her right temple, as she focused on those new memories. Ron picked up the spray bottle and twisted off the spray nozzle. The cloudy blue mist in the bottle rose slightly above the rim and swirled around the top. Hermione slowly drew her wand away from her head, extracting a long, silvery strand of light from her head with it. She held her wand over the bottle opening and watched as the blue clouds about the rim surged upward and clung to the silver Pensive strand. The light broke off her wand and fell down through the blue funnel, into the bottle. The skin of clouds retreated in last. Ron recapped the bottle as the solution turned from a pale blue to a bright turquoise.
"That bottle should be enough to last the full four months," Snape said. "Just one spray every twenty-four hours. It will not wash off."
"I should probably make it easier to keep with me," Hermione said as she took the bottle from Ron. She tapped it twice with her wand, and the tall, thin bottle was transfigured into a bright turquoise pin in the shape of an otter, her Patronus. She pinned the otter pin on her sweater and looked to Dumbledore for approval.
"Perfect," he said, smiling. "Now, we just need to get you back to the right time."
"Ron, come on, don't fall behind," Hermione whispered urgently. She, Ron, and Harry were back in their hooded cloaks, carrying their bottomless bags. They were following close behind the two taller hooded figures of Dumbledore and Snape. It was shortly after midnight and pitch black outside, with very little light from the moon and stars.
"Keep quiet, you three," Dumbledore whispered back to them. "We're coming up to the Portkey now. No one should be around it, but be cautious." Harry was the first of the trio to see the Portkey: An owl. It looked real, but it was actually made of stone. He lengthened his stride so he came up beside Dumbledore, next to the stone owl. Snape came up a few steps behind them, with Ron and Hermione close enough behind him that their cloaks billowed out to touch each other.
"Where exactly will this Portkey take us?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"Into the Minister's office," Dumbledore answered.
"What?!" Harry said, stunned. A Portkey that was out in the middle of the woods going directly into the Minister of Magic's office was shocking enough, but the fact that a group like theirs was using it was unbelievable, especially when the Minister was the previous head of the aurors.
"The closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm," Dumbledore said. "Much like the decisions you three made to stay outside Azkaban and in Knockturn Alley, the decision to go in through the Minister's office is on a bet that he won't be looking for us in there, nor will anyone else. In fact, as busy as Scrimgeour has been hunting down Death Eaters, trying to keep order with the frightened public, and looking for the three of you, I doubt he spends much time at all in his office." Harry nodded. When it was put that way, it made much more sense.
Once the full group of five had gathered around the stone owl, they all placed a hand in one of the spaces between the body and the wings, where they could get the best grip. There was a pause, then and abrupt jerk. Soon, they were drawn up into the dizzying whirlwind of Portkey travel. Hermione's hand slipped slightly. Within that same second, the free hands of all five wizards around her fell on her, pulling her back. A minute later, Dumbledore nodded to the group, and they all released the Portkey. Dumbledore and Snape landed on their feet, on either side of Scrimgeour's office. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would've landed on their feet if they hadn't all landed in the exact same spot.
The three Gryffindors landed in a pile, their cloaks twisted around them like sleeping bags. They all bit their tongues to keep from making any more noise. The thud of their landing was loud enough. They all rolled away from each other and got back to their feet, pulling their bottomless bags back up around their shoulders. Wasting no time, they immediately began filling out of the office, behind Dumbledore and Snape. Only a few nighttime guards and a few unlucky clerks wandered the Ministry of Magic at such a late hour. Nevertheless, Snape and Dumbledore kept their wands ready in their hands. Minutes later, they were outside the door that had consumed Harry's dreams for so long: The door to the Department of Mysteries.
Harry didn't realize he'd stopped moving until Hermione's hand touched his shoulder. One look at her, and then at Ron, told Harry they were thinking about the same thing: The last time they'd come here, they were severely injured, and Sirius was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. There was a brief moment when Harry considered breaking away from the group and running to that veil, to try calling Sirius back out one more time, but he knew it would be in vain. Not to mention, there were more important matters to tend to at the time.
When they reached the revolving room of doors, Dumbledore halted its spinning by simply raising his hand like he used to at Hogwarts, to request silence in the Great Hall. Without hesitation, he walked up to a door and tugged at the doorknob to find it was locked. "Back against the opposite wall," he said, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Snape all backed up to the wall across the room. Dumbledore held his Horcrux-shriveled hand slightly under the doorknob and held his wand up to the doorknob with his other hand.
"Sectumportus Imperius," Dumbledore said, and there was a sound like a muffled baby mandrake's cry. A fiery orb of light plunged from the doorknob, down into Dumbledore's shriveled hand. He promptly threw the orb at another door beside him. There was a loud pop, and the orb extinguished as it seemed to pour into the other doorknob like hot magma. Snape moved forward again, with Hermione, Harry, and Ron following his lead. Snape tugged at the doorknob Dumbledore had tossed the orb of fiery light into to reveal that it was locked.
"So, if that door is locked," Harry said, looking over at Dumbledore, who was putting a burn healing balm on his even more shriveled hand, "was the light the lock?" Dumbledore nodded and easily opened the door in front of him. A pearly white light poured out of the room, as did a draft of cool, stale air. It was Hermione's turn to stand frozen on the spot. Ron came around in front of her and hugged her close.
"No going back now," Hermione said. "I can do this."
"We know you can," Harry said.
"Yes, we do," Dumbledore agreed. Snape said nothing, stepping around the tender scene and entering the room first. Hermione pulled away from Ron and followed Snape inside. Ron, Harry, and Dumbledore filed in behind her. The sight that greeted them was underwhelming.
There was a small table in the middle of a disproportionately large room. Sitting on top of it was a large stack of parchment and a small wooden box. Hermione immediately proceeded to the table and unrolled the largest scroll of parchment. The hand-written script was so small it was barely legible. "Don't bother, Ms. Granger," Snape said, coming up to the other side of the table. "It takes for too long to study all of it, especially when there is very little information that is absolutely necessary for you to know." Hermione frowned at Snape, but set the parchment aside anyway. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of not knowing what she was working with as thoroughly as possible, but she understood time was of the essence.
Dumbledore, Harry, and Ron came up to the table beside Hermione and Snape. Dumbledore opened the wooden box to reveal what appeared to be a basic watch with an opalescent face and a brown leather band. The watch was, mysteriously, still working and it displayed the correct time. Dumbledore extracted the watch from the box and helped Hermione put it on her left wrist. Hermione stared at it expectantly, but nothing happened. "Just wait," Dumbledore said knowingly.
"Keep that watch in sight, if not on your wrist at all times," Snape said, as if giving her instructions in a classroom. "You cannot return to this time without it. To activate its ability to operate as more than a watch, you must choose a term or phrase you will consistently use to activate it." Hermione nodded.
"It will have to be a phrase you won't accidentally use in a conversation," Dumbledore added. Hermione thought for a moment, then she looked at Ron.
"Fleur Weasley," she said. Ron smiled at Hermione.
"Fitting," he said. "That name has only existed for a few months. Nobody should know it before Fleur was even born. And her and Bill's wedding was kind of where all this started."
"Good," Dumbledore agreed. "Now, Hermione, cross your arms in front of you and repeat the phrase again."
Hermione crossed her arms and repeated, "Fleur Weasley." The face of the watch expanded to twice its original size and the numbers on the face disappeared. The hands of the watch all rotated very quickly around the face, pointing at nothing in particular until Dumbledore spoke.
"Hogwarts front gates."
A small image of the Hogwarts front gates appeared on the watch, where the six used to be, and the minute hand came to a halt, pointing at it. "Twenty-one years past," Snape said, and a number twenty-one appeared where the twelve was on the normal watch. The hour hand came to a halt, pointing at the number twenty-one. Hermione visibly tensed as the tiny second hand began to spin so fast it became a bronze blur.
"Hermione, to stop that hand and start your time travel, you must repeat your activation phrase once more," Dumbledore said, "but not yet." Hermione nodded, speechless, and all-too-glad that she didn't have to go just yet.
"You already know how the Garus Glitch works from reading Nicolas' book," Dumbledore continued. "You also know the general time travel laws and precautions from having used a time-turner. The only additional precaution you must remember with the Garus Glitch is that there is one way someone in this time can remember your presence prematurely: If they use some form of time travel, in the past, while you're still there. It matters not where or how far they travel through time. If anyone who sees you in the past uses time travel, their future self will remember you, in that instant. As you can imagine, this could cause unspeakable problems. However, you are the only student who has ever been permitted to use a time-turner and, to my knowledge, no one else in the time you're headed to was utilizing time travel for any purpose. So, that shouldn't be a problem." Hermione nodded again, still unable to speak.
"No one can really tell you how to handle yourself once you're back in the set time," Snape said as though he wished he could control everything she was about to go do. "Those decisions have to be yours alone. The best advice that can be given to you is this: Choose your battles carefully. Every choice you make, be it in a classroom or in a life-or-death duel, has the potential to change everything. There is little room for folly in what you're doing."
"I understand," Hermione choked out, forcing herself to speak again. "I have to focus on Regulus and the Horcrux." Snape stared at her for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone was soft but urgent.
"Millicent Bagnold was the Minister," he said. "And Wolfbane wasn't invented for another year, so be wary of all werewolves, no matter how charming their human form may be."
"I'll let the Marauders handle Remus during full moons," Hermione said, knowing exactly which 'charming human' Snape was referring to.
"Oh, speaking of which," Harry said, reaching into his bottomless bag and pulling out the Marauders' Map, "you'll get more use out of this than we will. Just don't let any of the Marauders see it."
"I won't," Hermione said, taking the map and putting it in her own bottomless bag.
"Then you should be ready," Dumbledore said. "You won't have any of the Prefect duties you're used to. Lily Evans and James Potter were Head Girl and Head Boy." Harry gulped. Hermione gave him a pained look. She stepped around to the other side of the table to hug Harry.
"We have the mirrors, Harry," she said. "I'll tell you all I can about them."
"We're not sure the mirrors will work," Harry said.
"Then I'll tell you when I get back," Hermione said.
Harry hugged Hermione tighter. "I'll hold you to that," he said. Hermione laughed lightly. She and Harry separated and she turned to Ron.
"Keep me posted on my parents, too?" Ron asked, "And Bill?"
"Of course," Hermione said, and she hugged Ron fiercely. Ron wiped away a single tear that dropped onto Hermione's cheek. After looking at their audience with a little resentment, he gave her a very brief kiss and released her.
"It's nice to see you two finally got together," Dumbledore said warmly. "By the way, Harry, you and—"
"Ginny?" Harry asked. Dumbledore smiled. "We were," Harry said, "but it was too dangerous. I didn't want her targeted." Dumbledore nodded.
"I understand," he told Harry. "Are you ready, Hermione?"
"I guess so," Hermione answered. She hesitated, then she moved closer to Dumbledore and hugged him too. "I'm so glad you're back," she said.
"I'll see you soon, Hermione," he said. "I'll just be twenty-one years younger." Hermione laughed again, this time more comfortably. She turned to Snape.
"You're about to get some competition in Potions," she said.
"We'll see," Snape said darkly. Hermione turned back to Harry and Ron.
"I'll see you in four months," she said.
"Yeah, you will," Harry said reassuringly.
"Goodbye," Hermione said.
"Bye, Hermione," Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore said.
"Goodbye, Ms. Granger," Snape said somewhat flatly. Hermione looked at Garus' watch.
"Fleur Weasley," she spoke clearly. The tiny second hand on the watch stopped abruptly, pointing at the image of the Hogwarts gates. There was a bright flash of white light, and Hermione was gone.