Chapter 15: The Unspeakable Part 2
The Hogsmeade trip was just as chaotic as Hermione expected for the Halloween visit. Most of the students seemed to be either stocking up on their treats from Honeydukes or getting a costume for the Halloween Dance from Gladrag's, while the rest were sitting cramped at tables in the Three Broomsticks with their friends as they enjoyed butterbeer and Madame Rosmerta's pub grub.
Hermione envied them.
She wrapped her arms tighter around herself as she walked down the cobbled streets, damning the cold weather once again. She had cast three warming charms upon herself and her clothes, and it still wasn't enough. That was the downside to living in Scotland in October; the wind was biting, and it was so very hard to keep warm.
Harry and herself had been wandering the streets of Hogsmeade for the last three hours and were counting down the minutes until they would be meeting Unspeakable Hornfield at the Hog's Head at noon. They had already given Headmistress McGonagall a heads up that they would be at this meeting, and so had been given the morning chaperoning schedule rather than the afternoon one. As most of the teachers began chaperoning around lunchtime, that meant that Harry and Hermione had to split up so that it at least looked like there were more teachers in Hogsmeade at that moment than there actually were.
Including Harry and Hermione, there were four teachers.
Four.
It irritated Hermione to no end, knowing that there wasn't a more even spread of teachers throughout the day. Sure, there are more students visiting in the afternoon than the morning, so not as many teachers were needed, but still. It would have been nice not to have to cover so much ground on her own on this cold Saturday.
Hermione cast a quick tempus charm and was pleased to see that she had five minutes until noon. Five minutes until she could stop aimlessly wandering the streets of Hogsmeade. Five minutes until she can see what this Unspeakable knew, and how she was going to help.
If she was going to help at all.
What if she was there as a rouse, to get Harry and herself out of the castle, so that Dumbledore can do more snooping? Or to try and get them onto Dumbledore's side, to show them that he is a harmless old man – ha! – and that he was truly trying to help them.
It'll be a cold day in hell before I begin to trust a word that comes out of that old coot's mouth.
Hermione spun on her heel when she reached a dead-end between an abandoned shop and what seemed to be someone's home and began walking in the general direction of the Hog's Head. Hogsmeade was a small village, so she knew that she would get to the meeting in time, even while dragging her feet, as it were.
She couldn't help but peer into the window of Honeyduke's as she passed, and enviously watched on as a fourth year helped herself to two boxes of sugar quills. She made a note to herself to come back after the meeting and purchase some of her own. Her own supply was embarrassingly bare, and she missed the sugary treats.
"Wotcher, Hermione!"
Hermione looked away from the shop window at the sound of her name and came face to face with a smiling Remus. He looked better than he had been the last few days; there was a healthy glow to his skin again and his amber eyes shone in the sunlight. He too, had his arms wrapped around his waist, but it seemed to be in an attempt to keep his shopping as close to his body as possible rather than to fight the cold. Was he trying to protect his purchases from someone? Probably Sirius, knowing him. He did seem quite fond of stealing Remus' food straight from his hands at dinnertime.
"Remus, good morning. Or is it afternoon now? Have you had a nice morning?" Hermione asked as Remus walked in step with her.
"I have, thank you. It's nice and peaceful when you come early," Remus said to her with a smile. "I usually come before the other boys so I can get some shopping done in peace. I usually leave with much less treats whenever Sirius is around." There as a mirthful smile on his face as his eyes twinkled at her.
"You'd think that boy had enough galleons of his own to get his own goodies." Hermione said, huffing out a laugh.
"Yes, you would think so. James too, but he's not so bad. I find he actually replaces whatever he steals from me before the visit is over." Remus looked around them, trying to find an easily identifiable shock of jet-black hair. "Speaking of; you haven't seen them yet, have you?"
"Sirius and James?" Hermione asked, then shrugged. "No, not really. I haven't seen much of Harry either this morning. Only Slughorn and Sprout are chaperoning with us this morning, so we had to split up. I'm actually on my way to meet with Harry now, perhaps they've already spotted him when they arrived?"
"Yeah, maybe," Remus muttered, but didn't sound overly convinced. He forced a smile onto his face as he peered down at the petite witch. "Hoping for a lunch date with Professor Potter?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and nudged Remus with her shoulder playfully. While they had been in the past for a couple of months now, she hadn't been able to spend much time with Remus outside of class. It was usually Sirius and James who ended up in detention, and Harry usually took charge of that task. Bonding, presumably. It was easier for her to speak with Remus than it was with any of the other Marauders and was pleased to find it was just as easy to talk to him at seventeen as it was when he was thirty-seven.
People really don't change.
"Well, partly. We're meeting with an Unspeakable at the Hog's Head," Hermione dropped her voice so that no one – despite there being nobody around them – could overhear their conversation. "Hornfield, or something. Claims that she can help us, but I'm not sure if I should trust her or not. Harry seems keen to meet with her, but I think he's hoping that she's just as weary of Dumbledore as we are, and therefore more likely to actually want to help."
"Hornfield… the name rings a bell, but I'm not sure where I've heard it before." Remus scratched behind his ear before shrugging down at her. "You won't know until you go. You don't even have to tell her anything if you're that weary."
"She works in the Time Room, so I think she knows more about our situation than I'm comfortable with." Hermione sighed softly, drawing to a stop as they reached the Hog's Head. She still couldn't see Harry, Sirius, or James, and hoped that he was already inside waiting for her. "We'll see, I suppose."
"I would think, that if she was reaching out to you to meet in an unpopular pub on a Saturday, rather than in her office during the week, she's more on your side than you realise." Remus gave her a soft smile as he turned to walk back to the hustle and bustle that was Hogsmeade. "Let me know how it goes?"
"Of course. Fancy coming later with the boys for some tea and a catch up? I'll see if I can get some of that raspberry ripple cake you enjoyed last time." Hermione offered, feeling herself cheer up at the sparkle in Remus' eye. While everyone assumed that Remus loved chocolate due to his tendency to carry it everywhere, Hermione knew that he loved fruity treats more; especially the fresh cream cakes that the Hogwarts Elves made.
"Please, you couldn't keep us away," Remus scoffed, rolling his eyes at her. He threw her a quick smirk. "See ya later, Hermy."
"Ugh, enough with the Hermy, Remy."
Remus barked out a laugh before he went on his way with a slight skip in his step. Shaking her head, Hermione allowed herself to smile once more before she turned back towards the Hogs Head. A sudden looming dread filled her at the confrontation ahead. Harry still wasn't there, but she was sure that he was inside waiting for her.
Where did that infamous Gryffindor courage go?
Squaring her shoulders and holding her head high, Hermione pushed open the door to the Hogs Head. She was greeted with a thick stale stench of warm beer and regret, something that she welcomed wholeheartedly. It reminded her of fifth year, where they would meet here for Dumbledore's Army meetings before they discovered the Room of Requirement.
It also reminded her of the war she left behind, remembering that she, Ron, and Harry borrowed Ariana's portrait to sneak into the castle mere hours before the Final Battle took place.
A battle that she didn't finish.
All because of that damned Room of Requirement.
"Hermione!"
Harry's voice startled her out of her thoughts before they became too depressing and self-deprecating. He was sat in a booth at the far corner of the pub; the very same table she and her boys used to sit at when they were still at school.
It all felt like a lifetime ago.
With a nod to Aberforth on her way past, who grunted a greeting at her, Hermione made her way to the table Harry was sat at. It was only when she drew nearer when she saw the other witch with him. She was pretty, devastatingly so, with high cheekbones and a strong jawline. Her crystal blue eyes sparkled at her behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, not too dissimilar to Harry's, and her rich red hair was peppered with grey hair. The witch didn't seem old enough to sport greying hair already, but Hermione could only imagine the stress the witch was under to cause such a colouring to her hair. She wore a black cloak over midnight blue dress robes, but the darkness of her clothing did nothing to dampen the cheerful manner this woman was exuding.
She seemed genuinely happy to see Harry and Hermione. And, if Hermione was honest with herself, a little relieved.
"You must be Miss Granger." The witch rose from her seat and offered a hand for Hermione to shake. Hermione grasped it as soon as she was near, surprised at the strength of her handshake. "Unspeakable Maggie Hornfield, but you can call me Maggie if you'd like."
"Of course, it's nice to meet you, Maggie." Hermione gave her a brief smile before she settled into the seat beside Harry. He immediately put a butterbeer in front of her, wandlessly removing the glittering tell-tale signs of a stasis charm as he did so. Hermione's hands instinctively wrapped themselves around the warm mug and she could feel herself relax at the warmth. "I hope you've not been waiting long."
"Not at all. Harry explained that you were patrolling at the other end of Hogsmeade, but we weren't waiting long for you to arrive." Maggie tucked her robes underneath her as she sat back in her seat. She threw up a notice-me-not charm around their table and picked up her own mug of butterbeer. After a deep swig, she cleared her throat. Ready to get to business. "You can't trust Albus Dumbledore."
Harry let out an offended scoff.
"While I admire your frankness to the situation, you needn't tell us that." Hermione said to Maggie after glaring lightly at Harry. He could have been a bit more polite about it. "Believe me when I say, trusting Albus Dumbledore is that last thing we are going to do. Both in this world and the next."
"This… I take it he is the same in the world that you came from?"
"Probably in different ways due to the different positions he has, but yes. I think Dumbledore is just as selfish and manipulative in every universe he lives in." Harry eyed Maggie, not sure how much he was willing to divulge to the woman just yet. "Can I ask why you're trying to warn us?"
"Dumbledore is trying to restore the timeline to it's original course, no matter what it takes." Maggie told him, not happy herself about Dumbledore's intentions. "He knows that Sirius and Marlene Black are to be sacrificed to end Voldemort's reign on our world, and he's going to do whatever he can to make sure their sacrifice still happens. Your arrival to this world stopped that, and he's going to stop you."
"I can assure you, there is no way that Sirius and Marlene are going to die while we're still alive."
"That's what I'm afraid of, Harry." Maggie sighed heavily, suddenly looking beyond her years. "That man will do whatever it takes to make sure everything goes the way he wants. It's never the best way for everyone, only the best way for him."
"We know," Hermione told her, looking her straight in the eye. "He allowed Harry to be orphaned at two years old, allowed him to be neglected and abused as he grew up unaware of the world he should have grown up in, allowed him to be unloved, for his greater good. He watched as Harry was raised like a lamb for slaughter, just because it was easier for him. In the end, it turns out that James and Lily shouldn't really have died because Voldemort was keeping himself alive with Horcruxes. Their sacrifice was pointless because they weren't destroyed first."
"H-horcruxes?" The colour quickly drained from Maggie's face. She slumped back against her chair and stared down at the table in front of her. "That monster created a Horcrux?"
"He knowingly created six." Harry told her bitterly.
"Six… Six Horcruxes, and Dumbledore thinks that a sacrifice from Sirius and Marlene is all it takes to kill him?!"
"I don't really think that Dumbledore wanted Voldemort to die the first time. He's too power hungry. I think he wanted everyone to believe that he was gone so that he could bask in that glory and would then have even more glory when he defeats Voldemort for the second time. But he didn't even live long enough to see it in our world." Hermione told her, drinking from her mug. "I think Dumbledore knows that there's Horcruxes in the world. He might not know what they are or where they are, but he definitely knows the evil that Voldemort has created."
"He tried to play himself as an old man who didn't know what his students were doing while they lived right under his nose, but he knew. He knew all along about what Riddle did while he was at school, what he's done since school… everything." Harry sighed, suddenly wishing that he had a firewhiskey in front of him instead. There wasn't enough alcohol in a butterbeer for this discussion. "So no, Maggie, we're not going to trust Dumbledore. We're going to do this our way. We're likely stuck here – I certainly am – and I'm going to make sure nobody dies that shouldn't. Sirius isn't going to die. Marlene isn't going to die. James, Lily, Remus, Peter… every innocent soul in this world is going to make it out of this war alive, if it's the last thing we do."
"I can tell you something, Harry. I certainly wasn't expecting this when I asked to meet with you today." Maggie told him with a slight grimace. "Truthfully, I thought I had the upper hand, but it looks like you've got the old man sussed out."
"We've got him and so many more people sussed, Maggie. But it is lovely to know that there is an Unspeakable who is on our side and won't let Dumbledore get away with his horrid plans." Hermione offered the older woman a soft smile, one that was returned.
"If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to let me know."
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other. While it was helpful to have somebody on the inside working with them, they weren't sure how much they were going to tell her about their plans. Not that they didn't trust her, but because they didn't trust Dumbledore from finding out in his own way.
"Actually, there is one thing you could do, if you don't mind," Harry began, looking away from Hermione to look at Maggie. "We need Basilisk venom, if you can help us source such a thing."
"Basilisk venom? What on Earth for?"
"It's one of the only things that can destroy a Horcrux. That, and fiendfyre, but that's what has gotten us in this mess in the first place," Hermione told her. "And I don't quite fancy opening the Chamber of Secrets and destroying the basilisk that lives there."
"I wouldn't be opposed to it, though, if that's the only way we can get the venom." Harry added, finishing his butterbeer in one gulp. He slammed his mug onto the table a bit too harshly. "But there are six Horcruxes in this world that need to be destroyed before Sirius and Marlene graduate later this year."
"And we'd like to start as soon as possible."