Chapter Six
When Hermione awoke, she found herself in the hospital wing. This was getting too frequent for her liking, she thought to herself as she got up from the bed. She was clad in a clean pair of pyjamas, a white top and pants bottom with flying snitches stitched on them. At least the clothing was getting better, she found her self thinking, recalling the baggy robes she had found herself in when awakening in the hospital wing in her 2nd year. Walking the perimeter of the room, she did a few jumping-jacks and wiggled her limbs. She revelled in the wonders of wizarding medical aid. Everything seemed in perfect condition, except for the slight stiffness in her lower back, but that would probably wear off soon she thought to herself.
Running her fingers over her lower back, she was surprised glad to find no form of swelling or scab, in fact there hardly seemed as if there were any marks left; the only obvious bandage on her was a white gauze plastered just above her eye brow, where Goyle had used a sharp object to knock her out.
Grinning slightly Hermione walked out of her ward and into the adjoining room. It took sometime for her to get use to the change in lighting, but when she did she found the room full of people. There was a second of silence as the occupants surveyed Hermione.
"HERMIONE GRANGER I AM NEVER LETTING YOU OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Ginny yelled, giving Hermione a bone crushing hug. Hermione smiled, patting her head awkwardly. Hermione cringed as her body responded adversely, protesting against that crushing display of affection
"Hermione you were right behind me and suddenly, next thing we know you're in the hospital wing. What happened?" Harry questioned a perturbed look on his face.
Hermione shot him a smile to reassure him, she then realised that they had no clue about what occurred in the room. "Yeah Mione we looked for you on the map but we could not find you."
"Well obviously Weasley, a map shows locations, not people. You can't use a map to find people." Draco interjected with a sneer on his face.
Ron was about to retort when Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, interrupting their conversation, and halting their impudent questioning.
"Right, how are you feeling Miss Granger?"
Hermione was grateful for the interruption, "Fine thank you, but a little …hungry." The room broke up in laughter. "I think you're spending too much time with my brother Mione," Ginny whispered. Professor Dumbledore smiled in assent and waved his wand, a platter of steaming dinner appear in front of her. Hermione thanked him before tucking into the platter. Finishing the hearty meal, she turned to her headmaster, voicing one of the few things which had been bothering her during her meal. "Professor Dumbledore, I was wondering how Zambini and Goyle were able to get into the castle."
Harry, Ron, Ginny and Pansy watched the conversation with evident confusion written on their faces. They had spent the night searching the castle for Hermione, only to hear an hour later that she was in the hospital wing. Wanting to see her, they rushed there but were forced to wait in the outer room. There, the four of them were on the verge of falling asleep when Dumbledore and Draco strode into the room at around 2 in the morning, rudely awakening them. Following that, seconds later as if on cue, Hermione had stumbled into the same room.
"I am afraid that was due to a slight mistake on my part. The school has strong barriers against Death Eaters, but students are free to enter and leave as they please as there are no barriers against them. Zambini and Goyle both not being initiated with the dark mark yet, and being current students, were able to pass through the castle's barriers." Hermione nodded in understanding.
"Well then, Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy has already informed me of what had occurred, and where he failed, Goyle was able to assist to his full capacity. Is there anything that you would like to add?"
Hermione then realised what had been nagging her ever since she had awaken.
"Professor Dumbledore, I am quite sure that the Dark side knows about the book of truth. I also I have reason to believe that they know that it is here with us in Hogwarts. I am sorry, it's partially my fault as they had managed to find my notes on the book…"Hermione trailed off. Professor Dumbledore adopted a thoughtful look. "Do you have any chance on recalling what you had written on those papers, Miss Granger?" Hermione shook her head in embarrassment.
"Pass me the quill." Malfoy interrupted rudely.
Hermione looked at Malfoy in annoyance. "Pardon?"
"I said pass me the quill Granger, you know the one which you used to write your precious notes with." Malfoy retorted with exasperation.
Comprehension dawned on Hermione's face, "It's in my room..."
"I'll get it!" Ginny replied, running out of the room towards their rooms.
Hermione smiled out after her and drew up a chair to the table they were seated at. "Before I forget, Miss Granger, I think you would like to have this back." Dumbledore replied, handing Hermione her wand. Hermione grinned in appreciation as her fingers closed around her familiar wand, "Thank you so much Professor!"
"Oh no, the gratitude should go to Mr. Malfoy over here who managed to retrieve it from the Slytherin common room. He found it under one of the many couches if I am not mistaken"
"Oh! Well thanks then, Malfoy." Malfoy nodded his head in assent.
Ron huffed silently. He still had no clue as to what had happened, how Zambini and Goyle came into the picture and how Hermione got hurt, and he had difficulty placing the two together. He voiced his confusion to Hermione "Hermione how on earth did you're wand land up all the way in the Slytherin common room."
Unknowingly, Hermione let out a sigh; she had hoped that everybody had forgotten about what had happened, she had no desire to recount the events. Harry seemed to read her thoughts. Having been in her position before, he knew how difficult it was to recount the happenings after they had occurred, especially when the events were troubling and included a lot of pain, but he knew that the best way to get over it was to talk about it. Hence he tried to send a reassuring smile to his best friend and give her the needed support to carry on.
At that moment, Ginny came skidding into the room with Hermione's quill clasped tightly in her hands, breaking the built up tension and delivering Hermione the break she wished for. Ginny passed the quill to Malfoy before joining them at the table, squashed between her brother and her boyfriend.
Hermione watched in anticipation as Malfoy waved his wand over the quill, murmuring under his breath. Suddenly, the quill jumped to life. Hurriedly, he placed a few sheets of parchment under its tip, and soon, Hermione saw her handwriting flowing over the pages, regurgitating all she had written hours earlier.
"Bloody hell-" Ron murmured under his breath, trying to conceal his amazement when he realised that it was Malfoy who had cast the spell. It came out as an unnatural sneeze.
"So anyways Hermione, how did you get to our common room?" Pansy questioned.
Hermione rubbed the back of her neck as she found the spotlight back on her. She tried to organise her thoughts. Professor Dumbledore watched her with a twinkle in her eye as she started to recount what happened, starting from when she left the common room.
When she reached the part about trusting Goyle, Ron gave an earthly loud snort and started to mumble under his breathe about how dense Hermione was to trust a lumbering troll. Ginny shot him a sharp look which eventually shut him up, and Hermione was able to continue her story without any further interruptions.
Draco noted that she had left out how she was stabbed, he realised why. Judging from her two bodyguards' behaviour on hearing of her head injury by Goyle; Ron stood up and loudly proclaimed that he was going to punch that oaf to oblivion, while Harry simply was content at looking murderous and twirling his wand in his hands, Draco was quite sure that if they heard about how Blaise had treated her, they would have probably hunted that boy down at that very instant and pulverise him. He gave a low chuckle as the image crossed his mind, earning a questioning look from Hermione who had reached the end of her recollection.
"Excellent Miss Granger, wonderful piece of work this is" The five of them turned their heads to Professor Dumbledore, who had been left forgotten and had been reading through the scripts which Hermione had notated.
"Thank you sir, but there is one thing which keeps puzzling me-
"Are you sure it is only one thing?" Malfoy murmured under his breathe.
Hermione ignored him. "-whenever in reference to the ancient world, they keep on bringing up a goblet or a cup of some sort, a chalice I think, they call it Nirasha"
"Hope." Dumbledore translated.
Draco quirked his brow, things were getting more and more absurd.
"So that's what it means…"
Then with sudden realisation Hermione jumped up, "Professor Dumbledore do you happen to have my book with you?" "Yes I do, its right here" Professor Dumbledore replied, handing Hermione the leather bound book.
"Brilliant" Hermione murmured already flipping through the pages with zeal, then finding the page she wanted, she quickly scanned its contents before passing the book Professor Dumbledore, on her right.
"You see this explains everything. Voldermont probably wants the cup and book as both are equally powerful, but the cup on its own can give you eternal life if drunk from, and the only way to find the cup is with the book itself!" Hermione exclaimed, her excitement shining through her eyes.
"That's an excellent deduction Miss Granger, but unfortunately we are unable to see or read the scripture in this book of yours." Dumbledore replied, wiping his glasses.
Hermione looked up at the faces surrounding her, they all looked back at her in silence. Her excitement died out. "You mean none of you can see the words in the book" She questioned, puzzled. All shook their heads, except Malfoy. Hermione shot him a look.
"Well of course I can see it, there has yet to be anything that a Malfoy cannot do." He added with a superior smirk. Hermione rolled her eyes. "So you know what the page reads?" Malfoy picked up the book and glanced through the page, before turning it over a reading the following page.
He then realised why his father was so keen on getting his hands on the book. In itself the book was a very powerful tool, it seemed to possess vast knowledge on any topic of choice. How Granger had come into its possession was still a mystery to him.
He passed the book back to Hermione. "Rather much Granger."
"Excellent! Now that we have two of you who can read the book, please hurry and pack your belongings." Dumbledore cut it, earning five very startled looks.
Hermione voiced her confusion, never truly understanding what wavelength her headmaster was riding on. "I am sorry Professor, but where are we going, that we have to pack our bags for?"
"Well to Aretuglem of course-"
"Of course Granger with all your Gryffindorness I expected that you would have jumped at the opportunity to oust Voldermont and deprive him of his inner wants." Draco cut through, sarcasm dripping off every word.
Hermione shot him an irritated glare. "We are going to Aretuglem sir?"
"Not we, my child, both of you." Dumbledore uttered with a twinkle in his eye.
"That's preposterous!" Hermione and Draco exclaimed, followed by strong objections by Harry and Ron.
Draco glared silently at the headmaster; he had thought the old man was joking earlier. Now that he was truly serious, he began to feel that his father's words did hold some truth; the man was certainly off his rocker.
"Professor, why on earth does he have to go, won't Harry and I make a safer bet, after all we won't try to kill Hermione behind her back or something, and we will be able to look out for her much better than that ding bag can."
Draco snorted in resentment, but held his tongue, busy contemplating Dumbledore's words. While talking to him in his office, Dumbledore had explained to him his options. He had told Draco that if he was to be truly safe, the best place for him would be in Aretuglem; plus, Draco thought to himself, if he was to go with Granger, he would be denying Voldermont of another victory. On further thought, he had better go; if he left such a precious book in Granger's sole possession, who knows what could happen. At least with him there, the book had a hundred percent higher chance of survival, if made to defend it, Granger would probably throw a stone at her assailants and expect them to die: like she had done with Goyle, he thought back with a laugh.
Meanwhile ignorant of Draco's inner contemplations, the world still revolved. No it did not revolve around Draco, like he thought.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous Ron, I can very well look out for my own self without any help, I am seventeen for crying out loud!"
"Oh really Granger, I would never have guessed, look more like seven to me and based on behaviour I would say two." Draco uttered with a snort. Hermione growled, then turning to her headmaster she uttered "Professor, I don't think it is such a good idea to bring Malfoy along." "No, I think it is the best, after all if only two of you can understand the book, why should any others come or for that matter any less."
Hermione sighed before heading off in the direction of her room with a huff, Malfoy had disappeared moments earlier with Pansy. Ron had hurriedly rushed out after Hermione, leaving Ginny and Harry to walk at a casual pace towards Hermione's room.
"Harry, you hardly said anything when Dumbledore asked Hermione to go, are you alright?" Ginny questioned, slightly worried about her boyfriend.
"I am fine Gin, it's just that somehow, I know that Hermione leaving with Malfoy is the right thing-"
"-But"
"Yes I know it sounds weird, but somehow it feels right. She didn't really tell us what happened to her for her to get hurt and I think that there was much more she was not telling us about. Malfoy kept observing her with this unreadable expression the whole time, it was has if he was waiting for something." Harry trailed off with a contemplative sigh.
"Don't worry about it Harry, Hermione is a bright girl, she'll be able to take care of herself. In fact I think when she comes back, Malfoy may become a nicer person, who knows?" she questioned with a smile.
If Ginny had told him this a year earlier, Harry would have rebutted it heatedly. But now, after seeing Malfoy's behaviour, he realised that something was definitely different about that boy; something that he couldn't truly place.
He smiled down at his girlfriend and kissed her, brushing aside his thoughts. "Gin, I don't know what I would ever do without you". Ginny simply smiled and slipped her hand into his as they hurried down to Hermione's room.
Hermione stormed into her room and hurriedly rushed to her closet, grabbing some of her more sturdy clothes and stuffing them into her backpack. She then travelled to her bedside table where she grabbed a locket containing a picture of a younger Hermione and her parents, her mother had given it to her just before she passed away, and Hermione had deemed it as her most precious item. Being the sensible girl Hermione was, she only packed the essentials; which meant leaving behind most of her valued but unnecessary items, including her photo album and diary, which she hurriedly concealed under the mattress of her bed. Then, slinging her backpack, Hermione picked up her wand from the bedside table and walked out of her room, hopefully not for the last time she thought to herself.
She let out a laugh, hoping to clear the morbid aura which surrounded her. Slinging her backpack across her shoulder, she climbed down the stairs from her room and into the common room that she, Ron, Harry and sometimes Ginny shared for the past two months. "Ron? What are you doing here?" Hermione questioned, seeing her best friend sitting on in the common room.
He jumped up and faced her with a smile on his face. "Hermione! Need I a reason to see my best friend off?" He questioned, offering to reveal her of her knapsack. Hermione frowned slightly and declined his offer before replying his question.
"No, but it's not like I am going to be gone forever, it will probably only be a week or so, no need to worry!" She added with a parting touch and a cheerful smile. Gosh, with the way he was behaving it was as if Dumbledore was sending her to her grave or something. "Ron, is something wrong?" She questioned, breaking the unnatural silence between them. "Nah,…just thinking." He replied monotonously. Hermione grew concerned; the Ron she knew was not this jumpy and uncertain about himself. Playfully she punched his arm lightly. He reacted as she thought he would.
"Hermione I might develop a bruise." He uttered pouting as he rubbed his arm.
"Good, that would mean that I am growing stronger." Hermione added shooting him a smile before clambering out of the portrait. Ron smiled, it was times like these which he would hold dear to his heart, especially when faced with adversity
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