Left Behind
Chapter Seven
"Jealousy is nothing more than a fear of abandonment"
Anonymous
outside the kitchens
Once the giggling pear's portrait had closed behind her, she realised that she need not have worried about giving the house elves an excuse. Hand them a bottomless bag – well, almost bottomless – and you could watch them fill in a month's worth of food with a rather unholy glee. Instead, she felt a tinge of guilt at spending school money, but consoled herself with the thought that it was for a good cause.
'Positively Gryffindorian,' she snorted. Hefting both the bottomless bag of books and bottomless bag of food on opposite shoulders, she set off the forest at a brisk trot.
The main entrance was empty, which would have been wonderful if anyone could see through her Disillusionment Charm, which had been made duly stronger after last Saturday's debacle. Now, the still corridor served only to remind her of a night only a week past. If moonlight made the corridors of late night Hogwarts seemingly spectral, the facade and turrets became living fairy tales when illuminated by the lunar glow. Hermione walked to the forest's edge, dearly hoping the boys would not be late. She sincerely felt that she would much rather not meet her end in a dark forest beast's gullet. The fringe of the forest was most quiet and the slightest crunch of leaves behind her had her spring around quickly. She saw nothing but the silhouette of Hagrid's hut and the giant pumpkins being grown for the Halloween. An improved version of the Point-Me spell cast under breath led her straight ahead. Deathly still were the leaves and Hermione could have sworn that years of rumours and fearful whispers had primed her to believe that this Forest embodied danger.
Another crunch of branches on the forest floor halted her passage.
"How did we become friends?" She heard Harry. It was a slightly hoarse and somewhat out of breath Harry, but distinctly Harry nonetheless.
"Trolls during the First-year Halloween feast. I covered up for you two." Hermione had prepared for this and dropped her bags. "How did I get through Third Year?"
"Time turner." The whisper was a great deal less subtle, but Hermione was relieved to hear Ron's voice just the same.
"Patronus check," she ordered. Three muted castings of Expecto Patronum could be heard in the small grove and around a seemingly empty circle an otter, doe and jack russel terrier leaped, pranced and dove.
She had barely dropped her Disillusionment Spell when Harry and Ron stepped out from beneath the Invisibility Cloak and knocked the wind out of her in a tight hug. It was testament to the hard time the boys had endured living on the run when the two immediately pulled away to cast silencing spells and alarms. Hermione added her own wards before settling down on the grassy patch beneath their feet.
Opening the bag of nicked food, she offered, "Late supper, anyone?"
The boys turned to each other then grinned before tearing ravenously into what Hermione had brought. The second pang of guilt of the night shot through her as she witnessed how hungry the boys were. There was the tinge of shame too when she felt how much they had and how little she had contributed to the war effort. The emotions were overridden though by her gratefulness that the through her they still had access to research and food.
Ron looked up from the chicken leg he was gnawing in ways reminiscent to Hermione of a wild dog. "Oi, Mione, that frown tells me you have something to say." He teasingly offered her the partner chicken leg.
It seemed a lifetime ago that she would have scolded him for speaking with his mouth open, but instead, she smiled and reached in her book bag to take out a sheaf of parchment. Tapping it, she swiftly reorganised the items listed by house.
"So boys, you asked me for objects that are historically listed to have held significant emotional value to the Founders. I need to ask first – why?"
The boys glanced at each other and Ron spoke up, "It's not that we don't trust you, Mione. But we're just really afraid that someone in the castle might use Veritaserum on you or hurt you for the information. Harry didn't even want to tell me at first in case we get separated or something."
"We have a geas protecting the school, boys. Veritaserum simply won't take effect. As for the other possibilities, shouldn't that be my decision?" Hermione sighed and looked down at the papers. "Boys, I can't research when I don't know what you want to find." She spread out the pieces of parchment. "There are dozens of items for each of the founders." As she flattened the scrolls, she did not know whether to be hurt or proud that they had reasons for the exclusion.
Harry turned Ron, "She needs to know." Facing Hermione, he continued, "Dumbledore told me to look for Horcruxes, objects embedded with pieces of Vol – wait, can't say his name, there are people monitoring that - well, You-Know-Who's soul. I don't know how he knows but he says they're either objects important to the school or important to his family"
Hermione leaned against a tree and digested the snippet of information. "How many?"
A soft sigh. "Seven."
"Is it safe to assume that killing him is useless as long as one of the other six is still around?"
"Three. He's one, we've destroyed two: Ginny's diary in Second Year – Hermione's mouth formed an o of recognition – and a ring Dumbledore had destroyed was a family heirloom. Three are left out there because we have one." Harry gestured to Ron who pulled out a goblin wrought chain from under his shirt.
The glint of gold at his chest drew her like fire to a moth. Only the tip of her fingers grazed the gold when fresh pain shot up her arm, repelling her. Again the boys glanced at each other knowingly – those looks were beginning to irk Hermione – and Ron stopped eating long enough to admit "It can cause rather disturbing thoughts or weigh you down emotionally. His evil radiating from it, I suppose – especially when you're hungry or tired or lack sleep. We stole it from the Ministry."
Hermione gasped as she took a closer look at the intricate design of the snakes forming the locket. "I don't even want to know how." She rolled her eyes at the boys sporting matching grins before she reached again for her parchment. "If that's the case, we can eliminate many of these." She looked at the list thoughtfully. "I don't want to narrow the search too much, but I wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort didn't use anything from Gryffindor or at least you could go through Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff first because I'm guessing this locket is a Slytherin artefact."
The boys nodded and she was pleased. She wasn't the perspicacious know-it-all of the trio for nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed when her thought processes led to a rather obvious question. "Do you know how to destroy them?"
"No. We only know that the Basilisks fang worked on the diary. Dumbledore didn't tell me how he destroyed the ring. It was a family heirloom on You-Know-Who's mother's side. He gave it to me the night the Traitor killed him."
Hermione stiffened at that. She did not know if the boys knew, "He's the Headmaster now."
"So we've heard." It seemed Ron had stopped eating now as he was cleaning up their small clearing.
Harry continued, "We were wondering if you could spy on him."
Dumbledore it seemed had passed on to Harry not only the ring but his rather keen talent at scheming. "Perhaps get close enough to him to eventually have access to his office or quarters. We think he might have one of the horcruxes, but we can't risk entering the castle."
Harry almost sounded like he was pleading. For what, she couldn't tell. "Honestly, Hermione, we have no idea what exactly we're asking you to do. But weneed information."
Hermione brushed the hair out of her eyes, her mind whirring to possible scenarios until it alighted like a butterfly back to the original question. "What do we do with all the horcruxes?"
"You can help with research in the library. We'll see what we find out on the streets. We've been hunting at antique stores and dark arts alleys all over England, but your list will help narrow down the options." The obvious contrast in danger levels pushed something in Hermione to react.
"Let me keep it." She blurted out.
"What?"
"The locket I mean." The pressure of the moment suddenly loosened her tongue, "It's safer this way. You don't have to worry about it as you travel. Should I find a way to destroy it, I can immediately test it." and, much as she hated to admit it, "Besides, it would distract me less." She did not have to explain the obvious comfort of having more sleep and food. The boys were more in need of their wits about them as they travelled unprotected.
The stillness of the moment was broken by the crunch of the footsteps of someone approaching. The trio were speedily under cloak and spell, their bags covered in the shadows. Huddled beside a tree trunk, they anxiously avoided detection. The release of tension was palpable when the trio saw it was only Hagrid going out with Fang for a walk. His passage, however, reminded them of the lateness of the hour and despite the cover of the Muffliato, they dared not whisper their goodbyes. Removing the cloak a last time, Harry seemed to be mentally weighing options. Tilting his head thoughtfully to one side, he touched the tip of his want to the clasp at Ron's nape and levitated the trinket to Hermione. She raised her own want to ward the locket before placing it around her neck. They hugged her a last time and disappeared into the forest. There was nothing more to be said.
It was a brisk walk back to the castle, despite the heavy weight on her chest and in her heart. Perhaps she had been too lucky so far, having succeeded on her intentions in Professors McGonagall's office, easily taking food from the kitchens, meeting the boys and not getting eaten by some wild beast that the universe sought to seek balance. She found Headmaster Snape was walking along the corridor near the castle doors.
Or rather, he found her. One could call it deja vu but since neither encounter was a dream. Hermione saw the past Saturday in this Saturday like a bad rerun: the corridors awash in the pale light, coal sliver eyes probing her mind, the heat of the moment, threat of revelation and the slice of gleaming verbal weapons. She had just entered, without the doors creaking even, when he spoke.
"Again, Ms. Granger? I find I cannot fathom which of your peers could be so deserving of your affections that you would repeatedly break curfew for him.Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention on Monday... with me."
He swept away in the all too familiar billow of robes.
Left alone in the rapidly cooling corridor, Hermione rubbed her eyes. Despite the goosebumps, she had to admit that that encounter at least covered the complicated business of finding a way to start spying on Headmaster Snape.
AN: Sorry if the next one will take a bit longer. I'd love it if you could drop a line if you have the time :) Thanks.