Chapter 21
Hermione was still cursing herself as she was led quickly and clumsily through the library towards the restricted section. They had to move fast; even with Hermione pressed flush to his body the pair of young adults barely fit underneath Harry's invisibility cloak.
Merlin, how do I always manage to get myself in these situations, Hermoine thought, shaking her head inwardly. With a small pause to be sure no one was around they darted through the foreboding entrance to the restricted section of the library.
When Harry met Hermione in the common room earlier after their talk he'd insisted they visit the library, amazed that the idea hadn't struck him sooner. Hermione was relieved and a little confused at first, but when he explained she had to admit she was surprised as that it had taken him a whole fifteen minutes to get the reckless idea in his head. She at least was thankful it was only this; a little trespassing in no bounds zones was nothing compared to some of their past schemes. She shuddered slightly remembering her failure with polyjuice potion in their second year. Somethings never change, she thought at last, a smile unknowingly playing on her lips.
Once they were a safe way inside Hermione slipped out from the cloak and began looking through the shelves with Harry.
"Alright, this will go much quicker if we divvy up our efforts. You can search for books on vampires and vampire lore while I look and see if there's anything useful under Notable Dark Wizards and Creatures." Hermione said taking charge in a very Hermione-like way. Harry merely nodded, almost child-like, and set to work.
There were many books and dark creature magic and lore, though so far he'd been unable to open three, been bitten by two rather ravenous looking tomes and even been spat upon by one. As for the ones he could actually read, most of them just went on about other bizarre things like spotting voodoo zombie slaves or more mundane things like ways to track a werewolf. Beginning to get frustrated Harry grabbed one more book, a deep burgundy volume of at least 2000 pages, and began to leaf through the index.
"Hey, 'Mione, come 'ere a sec," Harry said in a loud whisper beckoning the curly hair brunette to him. Finally he'd come across actual information about vampires. Hermione had just come across an interesting looking title herself, so she pocketed it as she strode over.
"What is it?" She whispered with curiosity as she drew nearer to him. "What did you find?" she asked as she peered over the raven-haired savior's shoulder.
"It's got a whole section on 'em. Remember that demon queen Lamia? She's in here too." He twittered excitedly to her as he continued. "Its says here that the old family vampires still treat her like a sort of mother-goddess. Oh, and its got loads about the different vampire families too." Harry turned to her now, a glow building to a fire in his eyes. "You know, when I was spying on Albatross at Hogshead I definitely heard him say something about 'the family.' And you know the more I think about it, I'm sure that's where I'd heard the name Lamia before. I really think we're onto...something." Harry voice dropped off as he noticed the irked stare Hermione was now giving him.
"I knew it! I can't believe you Harry. I knew you didn't really need go back to Honeydukes that day, you were acting so suspicious. I can't believe you'd lie to us. We're your friends you know. I'd have told you outright that you were mental for spying on a professor, no matter what he's up to! Besides, what if we're right! You could have been hurt!" Harry would be upset at the scolding if it weren't for the obvious concern in her eyes. He was about to respond that they would never have gotten this far if he'd hadn't, that he'd hadn't really even meant to, but before he could the sound of nearby voices caused him to suddenly shut his mouth and throw the cloak back over Hermione and himself, pulling Hermione close to him in the process. The pair held their breaths as their unknown visitors came into view, still speaking in quiet, clipped tones.
"I thought you said you knew right where it was!" The now-visible Professor Cyron exclaimed to a very annoyed looking Madam Pince.
"I DO know right where it WAS! As in where it should STILL BE." Harry had never seen Madam raise her voice like that, especially in a library. There was something else too, a glimmer of panic in her eyes.
"Well maybe you've simply misplaced it." Professor Cyron said sharply, attempting to regain control of the situation.
"Impossible!" Madam Pince looked towards Cyron with a very serious face. "Ira, it is the library's most treasured possesion. It was not misplaced. I fear it's much worse that that."
"You mean you think..." Cyron trailed off, wrapping his mind around her meaning.
"Yes, I fear terribly that it has fallen into the hands of our little art thief. Only this time it is much worse. The other artifacts that have gone missing were valuable, yes, but not powerful. I don't think I have to remind you of the true power of this book." Pince spoke ominously to the stout, balding man.
"We must waste no time then. I'll go to Minerva with the news immediately. Thank goodness the blade is still safe with her." Cyron swung his head around as if to check one last time for intruders, ignorant of the frozen teenagers not ten feet away, then he headed for the exit. "Remain vigilant." He said leaving with his final warning to Madam Pince, and unknowingly, Hermione and Harry.
As soon as the coast was clear, Harry and Hermione booked it from the library and back to the dorms, eager to discuss everything they'd just learned.
Xxx
A/n: Ok, so this is shorter than I originally intended for this chapter, but I've been soo busy at work I haven't had time to write the second part, so I am going to post this part, with more chapters to come very soon (now that I'm not covering for a million sick people at work anymore)
