Chapter 6 – Visits

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"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."
Oscar Wilde

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"Le Marais, situated on the right bank of the Seine, parallel to Ile de la Cité, is an old Parisian district. Its name, meaning the Marsh, is due to the formerly swampy area it was built on by the Knights Templar, who cleared it and turned it into a prosperous location.
Ironically, nowadays Le Marais hosts some rather modern establishments along with the historical ones and is divided in the Chinese quartier, the Artist's quartier and the Gay quartier." Hermione reread in her copy of "Paris – The City of Light", which her parents had given her as a parting gift.

She was determined to learn as much as possible about Le Marais before seeing the Magic Exposition on Halloween and Hermione was rather surprised to realize she knew so little about that part of Paris, despite some important places and monuments it contained. After all, it had been her who had discovered the identity of Nicholas Flamel in their first year at Hogwarts, so how could she not have known that the renowned alchemist's house was situated in the Marais district? Hermione felt embarrassed about her 'ignorance', especially since the house was also the oldest one in the entire city.

She was so excited about her plans that the week seemed to become endless. Hermione felt slightly ashamed of herself; what had become of her love for studying she asked herself? Of course, she tried to justify her change by thinking that it was still a form of knowledge she was after…it simply had nothing to do with University.
Some of her colleagues and teachers seemed to notice the lack of enthusiasm in Hermione as well, but they chose to remain silent about it and decided it couldn't be anything serious, that it would pass.
But by Friday afternoon, Hermione could no longer concentrate on anything other than the upcoming evening.

She had decided to turn this into a sort of 'Muggle' evening, when she would only use Muggle transportation and wear proper 'Muggle' clothing. So, immediately after her last class, Hermione transfigured her robes and made her way to the Parisian Metro. She already knew which way to go and where to get off the subway: Le Marais station.
The first thing she wanted to do was to actually find the Magic Museum so she wouldn't have to waste any time looking for it later. She asked someone about Rue Saint Paul and followed the directions.

When she finally reached number 11, Hermione was…surprised. She hadn't found a picture of the museum in her books, all she knew about the building was that it had belonged to another famous character, the Marquis de Sade. Knowing that, she had imagined something very different from the truth. The building was quite simple, the entrance rather small, and despite the fact that it was decorated with red and gold, Hermione felt a little disappointed. And the museum itself…well…the actual expositions were hosted in the dungeons of the building.

But she was pleased to see a large poster advertising tonight's exposition. Hermione took one last look at it before leaving, it was, after all still too early and she wanted to walk around the area for a while.
Eventually, she ended up in what was a small heaven for her: a spacious bookshop which also contained a tea house. After wandering around for the better part of an hour, Hermione finally settled upon a book, a book about magic, of course. She paid for it, blushing a little as she had to rummage through her bag to find the Muggle bills and headed for the tea house, taking a seat and looking around. The room had a very high ceiling and the walls were decorated with pictures of old Paris. The music was very pleasant, giving the room a mood Hermione truly loved.

She sat there, time forgotten once again, reading and enjoying her tea and cookies until someone politely told her it was ten PM, the closing time.
It was dark outside by now and Hermione still had about two hours to waste. She yearned to go back inside and continue to read, but instead she made her way through the area, remembering about Nicholas Flamel's house and deciding to see it for herself.
The oldest house in Paris was now a small hotel and despite the restoration, its architecture really showed the building's age.
A few children in costumes walked passed Hermione as she made her way back to the museum. They were all laughing and talking animatedly despite the late hour and she had to wonder when Halloween had become such a popular holiday in France. ¹

Hermione finally arrived at the museum. The entrance was glowing with light and two people, dressed as a witch and a wizard (Hermione had to smile at the accuracy of their costumes) greeted the visitors, giving out the tickets as well.
Stepping down the stairs, she could see few people inside, but perhaps that wasn't due to the lack of interest…perhaps it was just because of the uncommon hour Hermione told herself. The exposition room held a mysterious air; it still looked like a dungeon, it was lit only by numerous candles and the first things Hermione noticed were the walls. They were covered in images, probably copies of original drawings, images which reminded her of the gruesome pictures Professor Snape had hung in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom in her sixth year. She swallowed, looking at representations of people being burnt on a pole, rituals, magical sacrifices, organs…it was really morbidly fascinating, and Hermione had to wonder if the images were only of Muggle conceptions or if they were real. Had the wizarding community done such things in the past? Well, at least she knew the truth about burning as a form of execution for those accused of 'sorcery'.

She looked around and walked towards the nearest items of the exposition, deciding upon the order she would see them all in.
The first thing she saw was a small piece of black cloth embroidered with some unfamiliar symbols and objects like plants or skulls. It was labelled 'Amulet – used to summon a djinn, or genie'. Next, there were several stones, some semiprecious, others quite ordinary looking and all of them supposedly talismans. There was a small book about divination placed beside coins and small bones which were used to read the future according to the explanation.

Hermione was distracted by a circle of candles, towards the centre of the room, previously hidden by a pillar, which appeared to be lighting…nothing at all. There was no show case, no object inside it. Slowly, Hermione walked towards the candles. It was only when she looked at the floor inside the circle of candles that she realized: something was drawn in chalk on the wooden floor.
Hermione looked at the strange yet familiar shape, a circle with what looked like chaotically drawn lines. The only highlighted geometrical figures in the jumble of triangles were a four-corner star and a square which enclosed it. There were so many other symbols inside the circle, some Hermione recognized; they were simple numbers or astrological symbols, some runic letters, mathematical figures…it really made no sense to her.

The mysterious drawing had no explanation, no tag, so Hermione looked around. That was when she saw it, the large book in a show case, right in front of her but behind the circle. She could barely make out a circle on the book's open pages but she was certain it was the same figure as the one on the floor.

Hermione felt a strange force drawing her towards the book. She stepped closer, around the candles and looked at the object in its glass case.
'Unknown Grimoire, 13th century' she read. Rather old and yet it was so well preserved. True, the covers were in a dreadful state, but the pages seemed to have been well protected.

Hermione watched it in fascination, wondering if she had ever seen such a book before. It felt somehow…familiar.

"Ne touchez pas la vitre, s'il vous plait, mademoiselle."

"Sorry?" Hermione asked, waking from her musings.

"Oh, I said pleez due not touch ze glass" the guard repeated.

Hermione almost smiled as she was suddenly reminded of Fleur, but looking down she saw her own arm stretched out, fingers only millimetres away from the book's glass protection. She drew her hand back quickly, analyzing it with curiosity.

Yet she felt strangely tempted to get closer, to just take the book and keep it safe.
Hermione leaned closer to study the open pages, which, indeed, contained a smaller version of the circle drawn in front of it. She tried to read the writing next to the drawing and realized it must be in old French. It was similar to the modern language but Hermione still couldn't understand everything.

She noticed two lines written in runes and she automatically began to read them, whispering to herself. Hermione gasped as a sudden gust of wind blew the strands of hair from her face making her turn around.
Her eyes widened when she saw the circle on the floor again. It seemed to be glowing and several symbols at a time became brighter and faded back out in a precise pattern.

Hermione finally blinked and looked around, hoping no one had noticed but it was only to find the guard staring openly at her. Before the man could utter a word, though, she rushed back towards the stairs and to the exit. She only stopped running when she had put some distance between herself and the museum.

Hermione cautiously apparated outside her home, forgetting about 'Muggle' transportation. She felt so tired and confused that she simply threw herself on the bed, not even bothering to take off her shoes and coat.
She could hardly focus her thoughts on anything particular, yet she knew it would be a restless night. And she was very right to think so, for even sleep would bring her no rest: this would be the first night in which Hermione would have the dream.

Author's Note

¹ According to Wikipedia, Halloween arrived massively in France around 1997, but it became less and less important after 2000, the French media opposing to this 'imported' celebration nowadays.

So much about my plans to update this chapter as soon as possible… I received an unexpected offer to travel to Sicily for 9 days, so the Halloween weekend was all about packing. When I returned, a lovely, growing pile of essays and projects for University was waiting. I suppose projects-season has started for me (again) so I was, still am and will continue to be rather busy.
So I apologize for the late update, I also did a lot of research for this chapter, which took quite some time.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and were not too bored by its descriptive nature :P. And for those who like Draco, he will return in chapter 7.