Hermione and the Radiant Chaos
Chapter 7
What Once Was is Now Anew
The day passed quickly with Hermione watching over the other three. With Harry's encouragement and Hermione's suggestions Neville began to preform better than he had ever dreamed and Susan found that she was indeed a powerhouse.
Hermione was pleased with their progress yet, she knew that it would not be enough. She would press them to get better, but she'd be cunning on how she did so.
Once night had fallen Hermione rose from her bed one more time for the seventh time in a row.
This is the final nail in ol' Fudge's coffin, and I'll get to find out what the goblins have to say.
With that Nemesis appeared. The old woman faded from existence and reappeared in the Ministry of Magic.
Nemesis then flicked her wand a few times before she uttered ancient words, long forgotten. Once the recording spell was in place Nemesis spoke.
"Unspeakables. That is the name for those that work in the Department of Mysteries. Yet this begs to have the question asked, why Unspeakables? The word Unspeakable is frankly a description. The Department of Mysteries was founded back in 1011 A.D. The Workers there preformed horrific experiments in the name of Magic Development. The first Inferi were created by the Unspeakables merely a year after their inception. A further horror that has been ignored was that they created the Dementors. Yet another demented evil was created by the Department of Mysteries a mere three hundred years after their formation: Lycanthropy. Even werewolves were born from this demented group of people. The Department of 'Mysteries' is merely a cover that is used by the Ministry of Magic to preform hideous experiments. Most of them go awry, which in a strange sense is a good thing for us. One of these messed up experiments made one hundred human brains that they were experimenting on swell to several times their original size and drove the still mentally alive victim's insane. Any one of these crimes is unforgivable. Combined; it shows a demonic and hellish nature that demonstrates why they are called Unspeakable indeed. Not just humans are sinned against in this perverse department. No race is safe. Be it goblin, fairy, human, centaur, merfolk. It matters not. For all are used as specimens. I have left documents that confirm that my words are true, and I have also included maps; including all traps and dangers in the Department of Mysteries."
"For thousands of years the blood of the dead and innocent has been crying out against the Ministry and in particular the Department of Mysteries and the Minister's office. Why the Minister? Every Minister of Magic that has arisen must agree to allow the continuation of the experiments. Furthermore, many ministers, including the current minister, have made suggestions on what to 'study'."
"I have heard their cries, and the wrath of the dead has been awoken. The anguish of the innocent has awoken the my wrath. I am Nemesis and I will see that their vengeance is served. You each must choose your own side, and now for your time has run out. Shall you serve the corrupt ministry? Or perhaps you will resist them. Make your decisions."
"I expect to see many changes. Firstly, Fudge's administration must be eliminated, next both the Department of Mysteries and the Wizengamot must be dissolved. Every Unspeakable needs to be brought up on charges, as does Fudge. After the end of the Department of Mysteries and the Wizengamot and an emergency council needs to be formed. This council needs to have only twenty-five percent Purebloods stilling on the council, Fifty percent must halfblooded and the remaining quarter must be Muggle-born. Too long have we waited to intervene, and it was nearly too late. However, should this come to pass while much of your lives will be changed far less will change that should I directly disrupt your society. Wizarding Britain has pushed my patience beyond it's breaking point and now the hammer falls. What has happened this past week was merely the tip of the spear. I would suggest that you heed my warning."
With that Nemesis dropped off the Documents she promised and left.
She reappeared near at the doors of Gringotts at precisely 12:00 and knocked firmly but quietly.
"Etheria nal taorts kilsta." Hermione said to the goblin that opened the door.
I Etheria have arrived.
The goblin nodded tersely before he allowed her access. Once she had entered she dropped her disguise.
"Kalsterst Lerninickst." The goblin intoned formally in the gutteral tongue.
Hermione's eyes widened at the ancient, and ritualistic welcoming. If they had pulled out the old Goblin Tongue then it meant that this was indeed serious and only the highest personnel would be attending this meeting.
"Rarst Silistra." Hermione finished.
Hermione didn't know the ancient goblin language as well as she wanted; it was a harsh, but complex and intricate language. The complexity had led to it's demise.
"This way please." The goblin intoned.
Hermione nodded and followed the goblin through winding pathways and cavernous chambers. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity they arrived at a massive steel door.
"Lady Ethnaia, this chamber was constructed solely for the purpose of this meeting. I shall remain outside and guard the entrance to the area." The goblin said respectfully.
"Thank you." Hermione said.
"It is an honor Lady Etheria." The goblin replied as he opened the steel door.
With that Hermione entered the chamber and inside was Ragnarok, waiting for her.
"Welcome Lady Etheria." Ragnarok said with respect.
"Thank you." Hermione said as she approached.
"The leaders of the Goblin nation will enter in a few minutes, my lady, I was asked by them to be your direct assistant at this meeting. I don't know if I'll be needed but I'd be glad to aid you in any way my Lady."
"I am honored." Hermione assured him.
Ragnarok smiled faintly, and as he directed her to the head table he spoke.
"Your grace is only surpassed by your greatness of spirit."
Hermione blushed slightly. Even with the thousands of poems, songs, and other pieces of goblin lore that she had found herself honored in it was still embarrassing to be praised so highly by the goblins. Or any other race for that matter.
Once they had been seated a several goblins entered the chamber and took seats at other tables.
"Greetings my Lady." A goblin spoke.
"Rosterin Nor Kallis."
I bid you well mighty one. Or another way of saying hello.
The goblins smiled before one spoke.
"I shall act as Spokesgoblin for this meeting my Lady. I am known as Clawhand."
"Alright." Hermione nodded in understanding.
"My Lady, the reason we have called for your presence is because we have began to notice certain...odd things happening. First is knowing of your existence, not that we mind I can assure you but from what we understand the reason for us knowing you so well was from the events of the...future. We have no Seer that has predicted your arrival. This can only mean that we have knowledge of our most beloved human icon before it occurred. Furthermore, we have noticed several things changing at a pace that doesn't seem logical. For example, certain 'Former' Death Eaters have begun to create a merged 'investment account'. Knight Dumbledore deposited several thousand Galleons into a new account in your name as well."
"Why would Knight Dumbledore do that?" Hermione wondered.
"We are unsure my Lady." Clawhand answered before he continued.
"Our experts have dug deep into this mystery and feel that some kind of alteration of the time stream was fragmented."
Hermione thought deeply for a while.
"What do you mean fragmented?"
"It means that according to what we believe something managed to break the barriers of law and time and shatter them. This lead to once they were fixed several elements were out of place."
Then Hermione knew with a terrible certainty that her 'time travel' had other consequences. Unexpected ones and perhaps ones of nightmarish proportions.
"In the Year 2,993 A.D. an ancient woman sat in a crumbling castle. She had finished her travels across the world not long ago, and she had finally found a way to save her lost love. By combining a muggle Theory with powerful magic, and part of her own life force she moved herself outside of time and was able to view her own history. Once she viewed her 'history' she touched an image of a little girl back a millennia ago. That woman's name was Hermione...Potter."
"It sounds odd." Clawhand admitted.
"It was a form of time compression. By compressing time you could move through time easily. But, now I see that it had some unusual side effects as well. I guess history decided to hang on to me as I passed the boundaries of time and space."
"Time compression? My Lady, how is that possible?" A scholarly Goblin asked; horrified.
"I was over a thousand years old before I finally figured out how to do it, and even then; after all that I still didn't realize that it would alter the time frame; excluding my changes naturally."
"So what exactly is happening?" Clawhand asked.
The scholar looked at Clawhand grimly.
"Lady Etheria is the only one who might have any idea."
The goblins turned to Hermione. Hermione bit her lip as she thought deeply while she mentally worked out a long string of runes and science formulas.
"Apparently there is no way to predict the changes to the time stream. However; I can assure you that I studied this heavily before attempting it and I am certain that the space time continuum; while altered is perfectly fine and the only problems are from the fragments of past and future that made their way into this time. At this time I don't think we will have to worry about damage to the time stream." Hermione finally said.
The goblins muttered to themselves for a long while before Clawhand spoke.
"My Lady, that was indeed a serious undertaking and while we understand and can't fault your reasons we do feel that someone needs to watch and ensure that the...Space-Time Continuum? Is indeed fine. Lady Etheria, might we request your technical assistance from time to time as we work on a way to..." The goblin stopped and the Scholar shook his head in amusement before he took over.
"Ensure that the mechanics of the Time Compression did not have any lasting detrimental effects." The scholar finished.
"I am always willing to aid the Goblin nation." Hermione assured.
"Thank you my Lady Ethnaia." Clawhand thanked her profusely.
"It is an honor." Hermione replied.
"Very well, then for the time being we will need to assemble a new team that will work on measuring the Time Stream and once we have our goblins we shall contact you again my Lady." Clawhand said.
With that the meeting ended and as Hermione began to stand she felt her knees buckle slightly. Ragnarok rushed to her side and helped her maintain her footing.
"My Lady, you look exhausted." Ragnarok said in concern.
"I am." Hermione admitted.
"Please my Lady, don't push yourself too hard." Ragnarok begged.
"I have to. I have to stop the ministry before they hurt Harry, and I've got Horcruxes to destroy..." Hermione mumbled tiredly; not thinking about what she was saying.
She was tired...So tired...A full week and only a few hours sleep. She managed to get an hour and a half on the train to hogwarts and with it she had managed to surpass the amount of sleep she had had about any other day. Over the past week she had barely gotten ten hours of sleep.
"Horcruxes?" Ragnarok asked grimly.
"Voldemort's...He's got....many..." Hermione felt her strength fade completely and then she knew no more.
Oohh boy, Hermione's been doing too much, raiding the ministry; keeping tabs over what everyone is doing, aiding Sirius, meeting Goblins...It just was too much for her young body to handle. If she was older she could handle a week like that just fine, (sleep wise) but now...
At least the goblins see her as some sort of Demigoddess so they'll take good care of her. And who'd have thought that she's scrambled history? (On accident!)
Wow, we are looking at a mess in the time frame. Hopefully Hermione's correct and the Space-Time Continuum is ok.
In case I didn't explain well enough here's a quick run down what happened with Hermione's time travel.
1: Compress time into one instant. (Negative effects, kills everyone except the person who did the compression, time and space both shatter)
2: Find Proper 'Gate' and enter.
3: Time, Space, and Life restored and time restarts from location of entry.
The effects of this were time is all messed up now, thing that were...things that are...and somethings that have not yet come to pass. (Hey! LotR Movie mention!)
Hopefully that's the only thing that happened eh?
WC: 2,166
Hope that you enjoyed another chapter of Radiant Chaos!