Rated for language, violence, and mild sexual references.
Disclaimer: If you recognize any names, terms, or concepts, that's because they are not mine.
CHAPTER 9 - Instinct and Insight
The next few days passed quickly and quietly. Harry returned to work and opted to take a few extra shifts to make up for the days he had missed during the hunt, and would be missing later in the week when he was overseas. Sugoroku didn't seem to care either way; he was just glad he didn't have to move the heavy boxes anymore.
Kaiba had apparently decided to share his findings with Atem, who spread the word about Harry's fame and role in the war among the other shadow mages. An uncharacteristically firm intervention on Ryou's part stopped all invasive questions, after the first time Jounouchi had unthinkingly blurted, "Did ya really die, man?"
So, he was left in peace on that front, for the most part. Even better, Harry was beyond relieved to have finally convinced the others that he didn't need a bodyguard or watchdog everywhere he went; he had keyed Atem and Yugi in to a few basic wards he had placed around the shop that would alert all them to the presence of a wizard anywhere within twenty yards of the shop. Inspired, he did the same to the Mutou home and to his own apartment, fortifying the already formidable wards there.
Just before noon on Wednesday found Harry trying desperately to become one with the concrete wall at the back of the arrivals waiting room in the Yokohama International Portkey Depot. It was busier than he had been hoping for the day and time, and despite the Notice-Me-Not charm he'd placed on himself, Harry was beginning to consider donning the Invisibility Cloak as an added buffer, when the crowd seemed to stir a bit around a particularly lofty cart of luggage.
And there was Luna. Her dirty blonde hair was as long and scraggly as ever, but she had apparently decided to weave in seven randomly placed dreadlocks, around which were coiled some type of dried, fragrant vine. She wore her cork necklace and a pair of broken grey feathers in her ears and boasted no makeup but for lime green lipstick, which made her pale complexion look washed out and sickly. Her bulbous silver eyes stared absently into the distance, her head cocked a bit to the left.
She drifted vaguely in Harry's general direction, surefooted and gracefully weaving through the crowd like a colorful spectre despite her apparent distraction and the Notice-Me-Not charm. When she was stood right before him, she suddenly slung her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly, before abruptly letting him go and gracing him with a wide, happy smile.
"'Lo, Luna. It's good to see you. What're your accessories for?" he grinned back.
"Hello, Harry Potter. It's very nice to see you looking content, for a change. The honeysuckle promotes open-mindedness, and the color of my lipstick will repel the Lace-winged Kilijays," she returned, eyes already sliding past him. He noticed she didn't say anything about the dreadlocks or the feathers, and guessed she would tell him later when it was important, or maybe they were simply her idea of fashion.
"Well, I wish you luck against the Kilijays," he smiled. "Shall we drop your luggage at my place before the grand tour?"
"That would be lovely, Harry, thank you," she said wispily, taking hold of his arm to meander through the Portkey Depot in the direction of the bus and taxi stops, her baggage cart piled high behind them.
A rather tedious taxi ride later – to accommodate the luggage – in which the cabby couldn't seem to keep from staring at Luna through the rear-view mirror, the pair was stepping into the Kame Game Shop, free of baggage burdens. Sugoroku greeted them cheerfully from behind the counter, barely sparing Luna a second look. He guessed the old man was well used to eccentricities by now. Harry guided Luna towards the back of the shop, where the Duel Monsters display occupied the entire wall. He was particularly eager to introduce her to the card game, sure she would appreciate the pictures of the fanciful creatures, if not the game itself. He was not disappointed, when her vague gaze settled firmly on the images and names as he attempted to relay what he could of the complicated set of rules.
Of course, her absorption did not last. Before long, her eyes turned back to Harry, where they flickered back and forth between Harry himself and something back near the door. He stepped aside to let her pass when she continued to stare behind him and watched amusedly as she approached a rather bemused Bakura, who had apparently just entered the shop from the Mutou home, Marik at his heels.
"Hello," she said airily, eyes staring vacantly somewhere in the vicinity of his left ear. "You should include more watercress in your diet. It does wonders for mitigating the effects of demonic possession, you know," she said matter-of-factly, before switching her attention to a flabbergasted Marik, whom she stared at with alarming intensity. Marik began to back away nervously. "You have very pretty eyes," she said vaguely, gaze losing focus once more. She turned away abruptly to look out the window. Or at the window, maybe. Harry was never quite sure with Luna.
Harry felt an amused, affectionate smile stretch at his lips as he considered her. When he turned to greet Bakura and Marik, his smile immediately melted away. Marik was just looking uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot as he glanced among Harry, Bakura, and Luna, but it was Bakura who captured Harry's attention. The man had an ostensibly bored look on his face, but his eyes held some terrible promise as he stared intently at Luna. He looked for a brief moment cruel, ferocious, and utterly insane, and Harry was quite suddenly terrified for Luna's safety.
He stepped forward, blocking Bakura's view of the willowy girl. "This is my friend, Luna," he said, words casual, but tone strong and stiff, challenging. "She's here for the day, and I wanted her to meet you guys. She says odd things, sometimes, though. Don't take it personally."
Marik offered a strained grin, but Bakura just kept staring, no longer hostile, but certainly not friendly. At least his attention was no longer on Luna. Nonetheless, this reaction was just not okay.
"Marik-san," Harry called, not moving his eyes away from Bakura. "Could you show Luna that display of Middle Eastern dice games that just came in?"
"Erm, yeah, here Luna…" The Egyptian murmured in English, guiding Luna to the display up front in the shop window and looking even more uncomfortable as she began to chatter about a recent incursion of Odiferous Utukku into Cyprus. Harry waited until they were out of sight behind the shelves before addressing the tense man in front of him.
"Bakura. What the hell was that?" he said firmly, coldly. As much as he liked the other man, threats to his friends were not tolerated in any form, not to mention how unnerving it was to see this vicious side of him.
"None of your concern," he said gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest and tensing his shoulders defensively. Harry refused to be put off by the avoidant body language, however.
"Yes, I think it is my concern if you're going to be staring at my friends like you'd rather see them dead."
"I do not trust those who see beyond," Bakura muttered. He paused a bit then, and offered what he probably thought was a peace offering. "…She has nothing to fear from me, if you have placed your trust in her."
"She better damn well not have anything to fear! Wait – 'see beyond?' Was…was she right about the possession?" Harry asked slowly, frustration melting into wariness.
"Do not presume to understand me, boy," Bakura hissed, suddenly furious, in the way of a cornered animal. The ferocious scowl on his face twisted his scar gruesomely, and lines of stress were suddenly rendered in sharp relief across his dark skin. Harry refused to let his intimidation show.
"I do, though. I, um. I was possessed, once. It was really horrible," he admitted quietly, hoping to appease the other man's rage. He glanced up to see Bakura staring at him with a strange, conflicted expression. The way he was twisting his torso away from Harry told him the man was looking for a way out of the conversation, but rather than just snarl and stalk off – as he was wont to do – Bakura took a deep breath and spoke again.
"Then you can understand that it is not something I like to be reminded of."
"Yeah. I- I get that. But I also don't like the way you were looking at her," Harry said, unwilling to let that point drop. Bakura growled in frustration.
"Some reactions are too ingrained by now. I could not help hating her words, but I've already promised you not to hurt her. Alright?" he barked. That was probably the best Harry was going to get out of him.
"…Yeah. I guess. Don't suppose I could get you to promise never to do it again? Yeah, thought not. 'Ingrained' or whatever," he sighed in response to the other man's sharply raised eyebrow. "Look, I'm going to show her around the city now, and we'll be gone by tomorrow, but if you see her again today, be civil, okay? I'd appreciate it."
Bakura nodded tightly, and glanced up sharply as Luna came breezing back over, Marik trailing behind her, looking unaccountably exhausted after having been in her presence for a scant ten minutes. It was a look people frequently adopted in Luna's company, before they got to know her.
"Luna, what say we move on?" he said, trying to hide his grin when Marik failed to suppress a relieved sigh.
"Of course, Harry. I should like to see the pier, first, to look for evidence of tunneling shutlucks. It won't take long, of course, I'll just flap a bit of silk around and they'll come running, if they're around," she said distractedly as she examined a pack of Duel Monsters cards she'd apparently bought. "Here, Harry, this one wants to go with you."
The card she handed him sent a chill down his spine. The Reaper of Prophecy stared up at him coolly, and sure enough, Harry felt a tingle of awareness prick at his fingertips where he gripped the card. It was interested in him, the same way the Fool of Prophecy had been. He felt considerably more trepidation as he regarded this one, though.
Bakura and Marik were eyeing Luna warily, again. He heard Marik whisper to the shorter man, "She doesn't feel like a summoner. And how would she have known it wanted to go with him, anyway?" Bakura's reply was too low for Harry to hear in full, but he thought he caught the words 'troublesome seer.'
"…Thanks, Luna," he said finally, slipping the card carefully into his pocket. "Um, let's head out, then." He waved goodbye to Marik and Bakura. They both looked eager to see her go, and Harry couldn't blame them, really, despite how their distrust of his close friend rankled. She hadn't really made the best first impression, after all.
There ended up not being any shutlucks at the Domino City docks, to Luna's disappointment. She recovered from the setback quickly, though, as they wandered through the city. Despite her oddness even amongst wizards, she was apparently rather familiar with muggle culture, and was able to fully appreciate all Domino had to offer without being confused or overwhelmed.
Harry could not say the same for himself, however, about being overwhelmed. It was difficult already to walk around such a crowded city, but doing so with Luna – whose oddities naturally drew eyes to her, particularly in Japan where her pale hair was even more attention grabbing – grated terribly on Harry's nerves. He had hoped to show her a good time here, but had to retreat to the safety and solitude of his apartment after only a couple hours. Truthfully, Harry was rather impressed he had lasted so long. He didn't think he would have been able to a few months ago, and wondered what had facilitated the improvement.
"What are your plans tomorrow, Luna?" Harry asked as he bustled around the kitchen. He hadn't felt well enough to treat her to dinner at a nice restaurant, so he figured the least he could do was make a meal, rather than order take-out, as he was wont to do.
Luna looked at him oddly. It was a rather surreal experience, coming from her. "Harry, we're taking a portkey to England tomorrow. Have you forgotten? The swarm of nargles around your head is a bit thinner than it used to be, so they can't have stolen the thought from you…"
"Ah, no, I know that part. I mean, after we get there, you're good to get to the ceremony yourself, or would you like to stay the night with me?"
"Oh no, I refuse to step foot in that horrible place. I've never seen such a terrible infestation of beaked malwinkers. They feed off nightmares, you know," she said matter-of-factly.
"S'all in what you're used to, I guess. Anyway, I'll see you off at the portkey depot, then."
Luna hummed agreeably and accepted the plate of pasta Harry passed over.
The next day, Harry and Luna woke early to catch an 8:00 am portkey. Harry had insisted, unwilling to brave the crowds again, and Luna had been content to go with the flow. As soon as the official portkey settled in London, Harry held out an arm for Luna to stabilize herself with. She nodded gratefully before taking her bags in hand and weaving her way through the crowd. Harry attempted to follow her, but found himself unable when he was accosted by a great mass of bushy brown hair. He caught a glimpse of Luna turning back and waving goodbye, before the brown bush obstructed his hearing as well as his vision.
"Oh, Harry! I've missed you so much!" Hermione exclaimed into his neck. Over her shoulder, he could see tall, gangly Ron grinning at him. Harry extended his unoccupied arm to embrace his other best friend.
"Looking good, mate," Ron said thickly. Harry grinned up at him.
"Didn't know to expect a welcoming committee," he said.
"We got a message from Luna. Took ages to get the letter from that wacko bird of hers, 'specially once it started playing with Pig."
Harry snorted. "Great way to spice up the morning, yeah?"
"Yeah, well, between you and me, that morning didn't exactly need anymore spicing up," Ron muttered from the corner of his mouth with a wink.
"Ronald!" Hermione screeched, slapping at his shoulder. Harry rolled his eyes; Ron should have known by now that nothing got past Hermione. He snickered even as the incensed witch grabbed his and Ron's arms, not even pausing in her scalding diatribe to Apparate them away.
Harry wasn't surprised to find himself in the middle of the yard at the Burrow, surrounded by Weasleys. Molly rushed forward to hug him fiercely, and pulled away to cluck and poke at his ribs. George wrapped an arm around his shoulders and grinned crookedly, the way everything seemed crooked with him, nowadays. Charlie was there, too, standing beside Arthur, Bill, and Percy, while Fleur watched proudly as Ginny and Angelina cooed over little Victoire. Andromeda was standing just at the fringe of the group holding Teddy's hand, and broke away to walk over and greet him.
"Good to see you, Harry," the woman said warmly. Harry grinned at her and accepted her hug.
"'Awwy!" Teddy cried, bouncing on his toes and stretching his little hands up at Harry in a universal 'pick-me-up' motion. Harry smiled at his green-haired godson and hefted him up, pretending to groan and buckle with strain.
"Oof! Teddy, you've gotten so big! I won't be able to lift you at all in another couple months," he chuckled.
"Big!" the toddler laughed back, his hair shifting to a sunny yellow. Harry's heart melted just a little bit. He pressed a kiss to Teddy's forehead, then rolled his eyes at Ginny's playful coo, from where she had moved forward to see him.
"Hey, Harry. Looking good," she grinned at him, brown eyes lit up playfully. Her eyes roved down his form and her smile became less humorous, more genuine. "You really do look good. Relaxed, and happy. It was a good decision to get out of here for a while."
Harry nodded, bouncing Teddy on his hip. Luna had said something similar. "Yeah, I've not had someone recognize me in months. It's been nice."
"Yes, that's wonderful, Harry, dear, but you can talk more over dinner. Come along, I've got the table all set," Molly burst in cheerfully, rounding up the clan and shuffling them all back indoors. The woman looked beyond thrilled to have the whole family home again.
Dinner was as raucous an affair as it ever was with the Weasleys, even more so now that there were two toddlers about. More than once, Harry found himself choking on mashed potatoes or ham as George regaled them with some hilarious disaster at work, or Ron with soap-opera-esque Auror Office scandals, or Charlie with close-calls at the dragon reserve.
As dinner was coming to a close, Harry pulled Ron and Hermione off to the side.
"Guys, some stuff has happened in the last few months that I need to talk to you about. It's really important, can I come over tonight?" he asked. His friends' expressions ranged somewhere between exasperated and excited.
"Oh Harry, have you stumbled into another adventure?" Hermione grumbled. Harry wasn't fooled, however. He could see how bright her eyes had gotten.
"Yeah, something like that," he grinned. Ron returned it, grin pulling wild as the nostalgia of their Hogwarts adventures trickled from their memories and rushed through their veins. Across the room, George let out a hoot.
"Careful, everyone! Those three are conspiring in a corner again, prepare for disaster!" Harry laughed, always thrilled to hear George laughing and making jokes again.
Later that night, after bidding the Weasleys goodbye and rocking Teddy to sleep for Andromeda to take him home, Harry was sitting on Ron and Hermione's beaten leather couch next to the brown-haired witch. Ron was in the kitchen, whipping up a few cups of strong tea. Harry called out to him.
"Erm, Ron? You might want to splash a bit of firewhiskey in there, if you've got any."
"Oh, bloody hell, Harry, what've you gotten yourself into now…" came Ron's muffled, grumbled response. The red head came ambling back into the living room, a cup in each hand and levitating a third behind him. He passed them around and then settled in the armchair across from the sofa. Harry took in a second to breathe in the aromatic steam before looking to meet his best friends' supporting, concerned gazes.
"Right. So. Um, I discovered a group of magic-using muggles unaffiliated with the wizarding world or any formal government while I was working in a shop that sells children's games." Best to just jump right in.
Ron and Hermione just stared at him for a long moment, then simultaneously lifted their mugs and took long drags of their spiked tea. After a brief second of contemplation, Harry copied them. Mm. Ogden's Finest. Good choice.
"Harry. What?" Hermione said weakly, voice vaguely hoarse from the powerful burn of the alcohol.
"Yeah, crazy, right? It's apparently some ancient form of Egyptian magic. Not everyone can use it, and I don't think any of the users I know can use our kind of magic. I mean, it's pretty complicated stuff, but as best I can figure, it used to be used for games and bets and dares and stuff. The modern-day users have adapted it for, um, modern-day use."
"Okay. Right, uh. But, Harry, mate, you're talking like it's something totally different to what we use," Ron said, downing another gulp of Ogden's Finest Firetea.
"Yeah, it is. They call it shadow magic."
Harry had thought long and hard about how and when to introduce Ron and Hermione to shadow magic – it had never been a question of 'if.' After much deliberation, he decided the best thing to do would be to tell them in person, and to summon some small, non-threatening monster to amaze them, rather than scare them.
"Here, just watch. I'll show you what shadow magic is about," Harry asserted, drawing a card from his deck and holding it at the ready. He waited for their wary, assenting nods before pressing his will into the hungry, invisible shadows that surrounded the card, and with a sudden swirl of dark colored air, An Owl of Luck appeared, flapping around the room before settling its considerable mass on Harry's shoulder.
"Hello, there. Thank you for coming, I really appreciate it," he murmured to the large blue bird, taking in the faint glow that suffused it and admiring the golden crown that rested above its eyes. It hooted back agreeably, and together they turned to regard a flabbergasted Ron and Hermione. He wondered what they would have done if he'd summoned something with a form less familiar and benign than an owl, like the Hazy Flame Sphinx or the Curtain of the Dark Ones.
"Harry, that's…" Dear Merlin, Hermione's speechless. Wonder if there's a blue moon tonight?
"This is one of things you can do with shadow magic, summoning monsters like this one from the Shadow Realm to help you out. People mostly use them for mock battles, I reckon, or to help out with stuff they can't manage on their own, but sometimes people can use them to commit crimes. The shadow mages I met and work with are sort of in a position of authority, and handle issues of other shadow users misusing this type of magic."
"Harry, mate, I really don't like how you call it 'shadow magic.' That sounds like the kind of thing I'm supposed to put in an emergency memo to Kingsley," he said weakly, eyeing An Owl of Luck warily. Harry sighed and dismissed the monster back to the Shadow Realm, a little put out that they weren't immediately awed.
"I know, I was really wary when I first found out about it. Especially since it's, um. Don't freak out, but it's a kind of soul magic. Wait, just let me finish, alright?" he said, when Ron blanched and Hermione paled alarmingly, both looking ready to interrupt.
"So, I'm sort of an authority on soul magic, right? Well, they convinced me to try it, sort of, and since then I've been keeping a journal, you know, to keep track of my mental state and stuff, to see if there's any drastic changes like the ones associated with malicious soul magic. There hasn't been, except that I don't think crowds bother me as much as they used to, but I think that probably has a lot to do with being someplace where no one recognizes me. I've been really careful, I promise."
Harry directed this last part towards Hermione. She was silent for a while, brow furrowed thoughtfully as she tried to find her words.
"I trust that you think you've been careful, Harry, but I'd like to see that journal, if you don't mind." Harry grinned.
"Way ahead of you," he said, drawing the book out of his inner robe and handing it over to her. "I've got written in there a bit about what I did every day, some general thoughts and opinions, and what my mood was like. There's about a couple weeks where I didn't write anything, though, because I was Apparating nonstop across Asia and Europe."
"What." Ron, this time, looking agitated. "Harry, it sounds like an awful lot has happened these last few months when you were supposed to resting up. Stuff you haven't told us about," he finished accusingly, Hermione nodding along in disgruntled agreement. Harry sighed.
"Yeah, a lot has happened, but I didn't think it was the sort of thing to talk about in a letter, so I wanted to wait. I'm ready to tell you now, though."
And tell them he did. He explained fully about meeting the shadow mages and learning about Duel Monsters, then being attacked in the game shop, learning about shadow magic, summoning for the first time, interrogating the Death Eater, and chasing him halfway across the world with Bakura beside him. He ignored Hermione's disapproving clucks at the use of that mind-altering tracking spell, and told them about learning that someone was after the Elder Wand. Hermione's clucks cut off sharply, as her face paled. Ron's face was similarly pinched with worry. Harry struggled to include every detail he could remember in his explanation, although he neglected to include much personal information about the shadow mages themselves.
Harry could tell by the end of his explanation that they were disgruntled and hurt that he'd kept so much from them, and they were far from convinced that shadow magic or its users were totally safe, but they were willing to hear him out and trust him, and Harry's heart swelled with affection and pride for the reasonable adults they'd become.
"Harry, could you describe the ring of discoloration again? That you found in the Poland house," Hermione said, a contemplative frown furrowing her brow.
"Erm. There really wasn't much to it. Only a couple shades off the color of the tile, about the same diameter as a Quaffle. Thin, though, like a rope," he replied as he tried to recall the long-shot evidence. Across from him, Hermione's frown deepened. She sat completely still for a moment, before suddenly launching herself from her seat and fleeing into a back room. Harry watched, surprised that he was surprised, while Ron looked on with a wistful little half smirk.
"Been a while since I've seen her get so excited about something," he murmured.
"Yeah, this kind of thing, mysteries and whatnot, it's really good for her. Makes you wonder if she only stuck around us for the adventure," Harry joked.
"Please, she obviously stayed for my dashing good looks," Ron said lightheartedly, puffing out his chest comically.
Within moments, Hermione was scampering back down the hallway with several old rolls of parchment. She gruffly swept the papers and cups on the coffee table off to the side and spread out the parchment, revealing what appeared to be notes from their Hogwarts days.
"Normally, I wouldn't think anything of a mark like that, but you mentioned that the house was empty, despite not hearing the sound of Disapparation, right?" She didn't wait for his agreement before barreling on. "Well, in that context, that pattern is actually quite distinct. I've not studied the phenomenon since Ancient Runes back in school, that's why it took me so long to recognize it.
"Now, I've never actually done it myself, but Professor Babbling once detailed a particular chain-link sequence of Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions and Younger Furthark runes that will muffle the sound of Apparition when applied properly. It's common fare among Rune Masters around the world, one of several marks of pride, really. You're not quite prominent unless you can properly use that sequence to Apparate silently. The only evidence is the mark of the runes tattooed on the skin, and a faint ring left behind on the ground."
She finished with a satisfied curl of her lips, back straight and smug. Harry grinned, completely unsurprised by her brilliance.
"So what we need is a list of rune masters, right? How many of them can there be?" Ron asked.
"Wait – can we even assume that this person will be on the list, or recognized as a rune master? Whoever it is seems pretty good at the whole subversive thing, maybe they're self-taught and unregistered, like Rita Skeeter," Harry mused.
"That's pretty unlikely, Harry. Rune mastery is just like other kinds of masteries – potions, charms, healing magic… It's the sort of thing people put a lot of effort into, and make a career out of. I think our rune master is unique in trying to branch out from that," Hermione responded.
"Of course, we're also assuming that there's only one culprit, instead of several."
"Mm, that's true. Well, we know that the mastermind is willing to work with, or at least hire, lackies, so it's equally plausible that there's more than one mastermind."
"I dunno. The fact that this person killed Leather Jacket says that they're not really a team player, you know?"
"Well, the fact that they were able to find Death Eaters in the first place says, otherwise, Harry."
"Yeah, right? Runie was able to track down several Death Eaters in hiding, something the entire Auror department has mostly given up on at this point. A person like that's gotta have trustworthy connections. Or, well, as trustworthy as Death Eaters and dark wizards get, anyway."
Harry and Hermione didn't respond for a long moment, just staring at Ron disbelievingly. "Runie?" they said in tandem. Ron puffed up defensively.
"Well, yeah, we can't exactly keep saying 'this person,' 'that person,' 'the rune master,' and so on, right? Needs a nickname. But you're missing the point, Runie was either a Death Eater sympathizer during the war, or has connections who were sympathizers. Which means that there might be co-conspirators to worry about, but that'll also help narrow the list down, right?"
"Well, yes, but anyone with those sorts of connections or tendencies isn't exactly going to flaunt them, now are they? Especially in this political climate," Hermione retorted.
"Well then how did Runie convince them to attack Harry in the first place, if they weren't already familiar?" Ron asserted.
"I don't think, er, Runie, would have had a difficult time convincing them to attack Harry – whether by promising revenge or threatening to turn them in, it probably would have seemed relatively safe for them to gang up on Harry, alone and in a small, foreign, muggle shop," Hermione reasoned. Harry shook his head.
"I don't know, guys. It'd make it easier, but I don't think we can really assume that Runie has legitimate Death Eater connections. I mean, don't you think Voldemort would have used a rune master in the last war if there was one sympathetic to him?"
"But the Elder Wand–"
"That's another thing. I can't imagine Voldemort would have been cavalier with that information, even with his followers, which means that Runie's smart enough to figure it out on his own. Which means that he's smart enough to find Death Eaters if he wants, even without having known them previously," Harry said, glaring into his cup of spiked tea. It was getting far too empty for his tastes.
"That's…kind of a huge leap, Harry, assuming that Runie found out about the wand on his own," Ron said, standing and moving into the kitchen to grab the bottle of firewhiskey, sans tea. Bless him.
"D'you think you could have figured it out, Hermione? If you were studying the Elder Wand, and didn't know me or much about the war, could you have traced it to me?"
Hermione frowned, accepting a shot of Ogden's. "I don't know, Harry. I've not studied the path of ownership of the wand or looked into any rumors about it, so I don't know how much information is available. It's possible, I suppose, but it seems like Runie would have had to make a few serious leaps in conjecture to reach that conclusion. How would he have known that Grindelwald stole the wand from Gregorovitch, for example?"
"If he had Death Eater connections, he could have learned where Voldemort went when he flew abroad during the war. It's kind of shoddy, but…" Ron shrugged. Hermione shook her head.
"It's no use debating it now. It seems we've got too many unknowns to make an accurate assessment, for the moment. I'll look into all currently living rune masters, see if I can't make up a workable list, and we can go from there. Now then, Harry, did you hear about that incident in Kent with the rabid pixie…"
AN: Hello, all, hope you enjoyed this surprise!chapter. I really wasn't anticipating getting another chapter done so soon, and I wouldn't count on my having another done for some time yet (consider this a temporary break in the hiatus), but I got a bunch of very lovely reviews from Celtic-Redhead that made feel all warm and gooey inside and really motivated me write when I really should have been working on my lab reports and research paper, instead. Ah well.
In other news, you might have picked up on another piece of HP canon that I've decided to ignore, which is Harry and Voldemort's whole conversation at the final battle. It was admittedly pretty badass to read, but I can't help but feel it was rather out of character for both to have just gone off spouting everything about the Elder Wand and such. Also, it makes my story more interesting and mysterious if I ignore it. Yep.
One final thing: I'm totally open to suggestions for monsters for Harry to summon. I will gladly admit that the game itself is too complicated for me to parse, so I've just been picking monsters that I think are cool or that seem to relate to Harry in some way. If you've got any ideas, let me know!
That's all for now, over and out! ~Breather