Hermione didn't want to admit that she was curious. Harry would say to let sleeping dogs lie. Ron couldn't possibly understand. Draco simply gave her the means. But no one stopped her from finding the journals. She was intrigued. How come no one else wanted to hear this hero's story?
Hermione immersed herself. She wanted to know every facet of Regulus Black. What led to his departure from his family's teachings? After Draco gave her the four journals stored in Malfoy manor, she was holed up for days. Hermione would call Winky for food and drink. She easily transfigured herself a bathroom.
The first journal she picks up describes the tale of Andromeda and her defection from the House of Black. Hermione hadn't realized how close they must have been. He details the heartbreak Andromeda went through. The secret meetings between her and Ted Tonks the muggle born. There was never any story too intimate but the context made it clear that Regulus had Andromeda's ear. The plot of Andromeda's story was never in order. But what teenager had any control over it.
The second journal tells the horrors of the MacDougal slaughter. As the death eaters kept no records, there had only been the charred remains after the fire. But Regulus' journal gave a detailed account. It switched from detailing the entire family's death in the raid to strange anecdotes of Mary in school with him.
After reading the atrocities, Hermione throws up. She hadn't realized all the different ways to corrupt a mutilated body. And now knows why one of the charred remains was missing a skull. Hermione sent an owl to the Auror division. In it, she clarified that they needed to raid Yaxley manor if he was still using Mary's skull as a cup … There were no words. But the haunting side-by-side comparison of Mary at school to her skull at the manor.
"Her blond hair flowed off her skull and swayed in the wind. She passed by me as I sat under the tree. It's as if her hair wanted to move as much as possible while it was still attached to her skull. Corbin had personally skinned the blond haired scalp off the teenager. The skull at Yaxley manor wasn't brought out often. It mainly sat in the third drawer in Corbin Yaxley's study. He would bring it out with the whiskey. It tended to pull a sinewy taste out of the aged drink."
There was no time change. It was as if these were happening alongside each other. Thoughts bled into each other. It was deeply disturbing. Even more so to remember that Regulus had been a teenager when he died. He was forced to witness these atrocities in real time. Hermione was struggling with just one reading of a journal.
After the second journal, Hermione reentered the real world. She needed to be reminded of the best parts of humanity in the world. That the war was over. There were no more death eaters. The Aurors weren't perfect. But under the watchful eye of Harry, they sure worked to save more people.
Hermione spent her first day without a journal shadowing Harry. By helping her to see the classic black and white, open and shut cases that Harry dealt with at present, Hermione gained perspective. The second day she followed Ginny through Witch Weekly's newsroom, entertained by the gossip and speculation being thrown around the whole time. The third day she went to a Canons game with Ron. Quidditch was not Hermione's forte, but it felt great to see Ron jumping out of his seat like a fanatic. The fourth day Hermione spent in bed with Draco, remembering her love for the world and her love for her boyfriend.
However, Hermione had made a commitment, and once her mind was made up, that was it. She wasn't going to let Regulus' stories go unread. She would finish the journals to find out what Regulus had left behind. And maybe help put to rest cases that were never solved like the MacDougals.
As she started on the third journal, it turned strange. It wasn't about an event that had happened during Regulus' lifetime. It described the original opening of the Chamber of Secrets. But Regulus was one of Lord Voldemort's trusted death eaters. Regulus has given the locket after all. So it wasn't completely surprising to read the unedited events that took place. From the first opening of Tom Riddle stumbling upon the snake under the sink, right up until Myrtle made eye contact with the Basilisk. All was included. Even the argument Myrtle had with Olive was included.
Unfortunately, Hermione needed to become used to Regulus' style of jumping around. There were no clear beginnings, middles, or ends. It was as if they were pieces of a story revealed to him out of order. Hermione wasn't sure if that was his preferred method of writing down his ideas or just the ways the stories were told to him. It seemed more likely that Regulus heard of the MacDougal incident from Yaxley, as opposed to him actually being in attendance.
The last journal blew her mind away. It told the detailed story of Sirius' life. It began with Sirius being thrown out of his house. Regulus had helped him, after their father had beat Sirius, into the floo and sent him off to the Potter's. Then it skipped back to them playing on the upper floors of Grimmauld Place. Sirius pretended to be a dog and gave Regulus rides on his back. The irony was not lost on Hermione. Neither was it lost on Regulus it seemed. Jumping ahead, the next scene followed Sirius on a typical full moon of his seventh year. Hermione turned to the 208th page and read about Sirius being arrested on charges of murdering James and Lily Potter. It wasn't until Hermione had reached the 345th page of the story that she realized, Regulus hadn't been alive then. He had died before Harry was ever born. There was no way for him to have known the fates of his brother or Lily and James.
Hermione read the whole journal only to find Sirius' entire life mapped out. Not in order as per the usual with Regulus' writing. But it was all there. Immediately running down two flights of stairs from one end of the manor to the other. Hermione ran to Draco. Once there, she panted out half questions at him.
"How. Tamper. Someone. Who. Access." Hermione tried to catch her breath as she hunched over holding her side.
Draco leaped from his chair and wrapped an arm around her. He led her to one of the chairs and called for Winky. He was crouched down in front of her with his hands resting on her knees.
"A glass of water please." He said. Winky popped out and back within a minute. She presented the water to Hermione.
Hermione gulped it down. She took a few moments to compose herself. "Draco, I need to know who had access to these journals. Has anyone tampered with them? Or added to them since Regulus' death?" Hermione asked looking straight into his eyes.
Draco scrunched his brow. "Not that I know of. I'm sure my mother and father had access to them, but I've no idea who else. We can ask one of the older elves if they know. They have been dusting these books for decades." Draco called for Tork, Dobby's father.
Tork stated that no one had written in the books since Regulus. In fact, Regulus had given the journals to Kreacher, who gave them to his sister, Picta, who placed them on the back shelves.
Draco turned back to look up at Hermione from his place on the floor. "What's wrong? Should we call Harry?" Draco cupped her cheek and wiped a tear from the corner of Hermione's eye.
"If that's true. Draco, he knew. Regulus knew. The last journal details Sirius' life. Draco, what could this possibly mean?" Hermione asked. She looked into his eyes pleading for him to have the answer. He entwined his fingers with hers.
"I don't know Hermione. This isn't what just happens. As far as I know there's no precedent for this." Draco said. He pulled her arms up and moved so he was behind her on the chair. Then he pulled her into his lap.
"So this isn't some well-known pureblood only concept that I couldn't possibly know because I'm a muggle born," Hermione asked. Her voice breaking and with a desperate edge. Draco knew it wasn't to insult him. It was just her confusion.
"I'm sorry sweetie, not this time. I'll put a few feelers out, and ask around. But there aren't even whispers about this topic. This needs to be an altogether new entity of some sort." Draco said. "Let's just relax. We can handle it all in the morning."
"You're right. I should do some research. Maybe he had some divination induced visions of some sort." Hermione said.
"Maybe start with Andromeda. You said the first journal was about her? She's a reliable source as any. But let's go eat dinner." Draco said.
The next morning, they were awoken by Harry. He was in the floo, and he wanted to speak with her.
"Hermione! Remember how you wanted to know more about Regulus. Well, James crawled into Kreacher's room and it was a nightmare pulling him out of there. Once we finally moved him out he was crying because he wanted to go back in. The little devil." Harry said.
"Harry, I love you. I love your kids. But can you please reach the point?" Hermione said. Harry could talk about his kids for hours if they let him. Currently, Hermione had little to no patience for it.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Whatever, the point is we found twenty more journals with Regulus' name on them. You're welcome to them." Harry said.