Chapter 04: Recollection
Wednesday, 3 August 1977
It was a warm summer day again and Hermione spent her morning helping Aberforth at the pub and taking a long lunch break in the back garden of the Hog's Head. It was a decent sized, wildflower garden with a small patch of trees in the end and a metal antique garden bench perched beneath the trees.
After lunch, as she walked the familiar path towards the school, flashes of memories of her past Hogsmeade trips flooded her mind. She recalled many memories of her best friends and herself throughout their years in Hogwarts and felt utterly alone when everywhere she set her eyes on reminded her of Harry and Ron.
She tried to push the thoughts away from her mind, to think of something else. Perhaps Dumbledore had figured out a solution, in which she could help him here and return to her old life. Even if there was the possibility of ageing twenty years upon her arrival back to the future, she still considered it as an option.
Perhaps Dumbledore would have some answers. As she walked, she mentally went through the lists she had made the previous night and decided to start with the most important one – the Horcruxes. When she reached the gates, she smiled up as Hagrid approached her.
"Hi there! Yeh mus' be ol' Ab's daugh'er?" Hagrid asked as he opened the gates for her.
Hermione gave him a warm smile and walked through the gates. She hadn't yet seen him in this time and the sight of him really made her cheerful. "Yes, and you must be Hagrid?" She replied cordially.
Hagrid nodded. "Yep. Goin' ter see Dumbledore, aren' yeh?" He asked with a grin.
Hermione nodded again and smiled back to him. "Yes, I am meeting the Headmaster at one o'clock. It's nice to meet you, Hagrid. I'm Hermione, by the way," she said and held her hand for him to shake.
He took her hand and gave it a surprisingly gentle shake. "Yeh, too, Hermione. Come ter see me after yeh are done, if yeh have the time? I've go' somethin' fer Ab if yeh could take it back ter 'im?" He asked while they started to walk towards the castle. "Been thinkin' of bakin' today..."
Hermione smiled, remembering the first time she had had tea with Hagrid and when she had tasted his cooking. She chuckled inwardly to the memory when she had nearly cracked her teeth into his rock cakes – not to mention the time when she had actually found a large talon in the midst of his beef casserole. She reminded herself to stick to tea only when she replied to him, "I would love to."
"Great! See yeh then," he said and turned towards his hut.
As Hermione watched Hagrid's retreating figure, her stomach clenched with longing. She remembered all the times she and her friends had visited Hagrid. She saw the Quidditch Pitch and wondered if she would ever see her friends fly again. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Even though all the memories were making her sad, she could not help to feel like she was coming home as she approached the castle.
Hermione felt calm settle inside her when she walked through the front doors and made her way to the Headmaster's office. As she came to stand in front of the familiar gargoyle, she was about to utter the password when she was interrupted.
"Excuse me, Miss?" A woman with a firm voice said behind her. "Are you on your way to meet the Headmaster?"
Hermione turned quickly around when she recognised the voice and was slightly taken aback by the familiar, albeit much younger, face. Minerva McGonagall. She watched her former Head of House nervously, feeling out of breath.
"Oh… Yes ma'am," Hermione said hesitantly. It was slightly unnerving, meeting McGonagall like this, when the older witch didn't have a clue of who she was. Hermione respected the woman highly, perhaps because she had treated everyone with the same no-nonsense manner, and because she had been the one who had originally introduced Hermione to the Wizarding world. She was the one who had brought Hermione to Diagon Alley to get her school things and she had been there for her all the years since. No, McGonagall didn't quite favour her but Hermione liked to think that the witch respected her desire to learn and acquire information.
"You are Hermione?" McGonagall asked, eyeing her closely.
Hermione nodded. She knew the other witch hadn't recognised her, so she assumed Dumbledore had said something to her. "Yes. You know about me?"
McGonagall surveyed her for a moment before she answered. "Yes, I do. Albus filled me in about your circumstances and where you came from and asked me to join the meeting. Shall we?"
Hermione nodded again and McGonagall turned to the gargoyle, "Chocolate Frogs." She stated and the gargoyle moved.
As the stairs moved up, McGonagall eyed her carefully. "I presume there is no need for introduction on my part?"
Hermione smiled politely before she replied, "No, I know who you are, ma'am. You were actually my Head of House when I attended Hogwarts." She looked at the older woman with a sad smile and McGonagall gave her a mixed look of surprise and delight.
As they entered the office, Dumbledore stood from his desk to greet them, beaming at them.
"Good afternoon, ladies." He said with a bright smile. "I believe an introduction is in order?" He asked as he surveyed the women.
"No need for that Albus, we already talked briefly." McGonagall said, waving her hand while Hermione nodded.
Dumbledore seemed satisfied and gestured for them to sit in the two plush armchairs in front of his desk, while he rounded his desk and took his own seat again. Dumbledore smiled at Hermione before he spoke, "I trust everything is in good order with your father?"
It took a moment for her to realise that he was speaking of Aberforth. "Oh… Yes, everything is great, thank you sir." She gave an awkward smile. Dumbledore chuckled and nodded at her. McGonagall rolled her eyes with mild exasperation and waited for the small talk to subside. Dumbledore crossed his fingers on the desk and his expression became more solemn.
"I believe we have certain matters to discuss. Isn't that right, Hermione?"
Hermione tensed a bit and she pulled out the envelope that contained her lists from her beaded bag and took the first parchment from the envelope.
"I have made a couple of lists and I think we could begin with the Horcruxes?"
McGonagall gasped and brought her hand to her mouth, her fingers trembling. "Merlin's beard…Horcruxes? That horrid man has made Horcruxes? …More than one?" She asked anxiously, her voice rising.
Hermione gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. "I'm afraid so. In my time we believed he had made six of them, dividing his soul into seven pieces for ensuring he would never die. We learned that he thought that seven, being a powerful magical number, would enhance the effectiveness. At the moment, I believe he has made five."
Hermione turned to Dumbledore and spoke, "The information I have, is based on your own research mainly, which you shared with my friend Harry and later on he shared it with me and another friend. The past year, when the three of us were on the run and hunting the Horcruxes, we as well acquired some information ourselves."
Dumbledore and McGonagall both frowned at her but didn't interrupt. She wondered if they were going to ask her why Dumbledore would let three teenagers to undertake that kind of a task alone. Sometimes when she felt bitter, she too tried to find a reason for it. She shook the thought from her mind and continued.
"So as I was saying, he has probably created five Horcruxes and will attempt to create the sixth in a few years," Hermione said and handed all four lists to Dumbledore. He made two copies of the stack by flicking his wand and handed McGonagall half of the copies and the originals back to Hermione.
"I'm not certain of the order in which the Horcruxes were created and when, except the first ones. So…the first was his personal diary, which he wrote in when he was still a student here."
McGonagall gaped at her. Dumbledore lifted his gaze from the parchment to look at Hermione with his eyes widened in surprise. "This means that Hagrid was indeed innocent. Based on this, I'm able to start the process of clearing his name."
Hermione smiled. "Yes, he is. Voldemort – or Tom Riddle then – framed Hagrid so the school would be kept from closing, so that he wouldn't end up back to the orphanage. Although Hagrid did have a pet Acromantula in his dorm when he was in school, it didn't harm anyone." She said, smiling at Hagrid's fondness towards the dangerous beasts.
Dumbledore hummed and scribbled a note to his parchment.
"So he killed Myrtle Warren? With a Basilisk? Do they even exist? Surely someone would have noticed a giant snake slithering through the corridors…" McGonagall said and eyed her incredulously after reading the list.
Hermione gave a grim smile to her as she reminisced her second year, when she had indeed figured it out and had been petrified soon after it. She had been in the hospital wing the whole time while Harry had slayed the beast after facing Voldemort's fragment of soul.
"Well…" She took a deep breath. "The Basilisk indeed exists. It travelled through the pipes inside the school walls. And… the legend about Salazar Slytherin building a hidden chamber in the castle is quite true. The Chamber of Secrets, as I came to know it, is under the dungeons. Its entrance is in the girls' bathroom where Moaning Myrtle resides, and the Basilisk lives in the chamber. The entrance can be opened by speaking Parseltongue." She explained quickly, while Dumbledore and McGonagall stared at her, terrified.
"The first time it was Voldemort who opened it, being a descendant and the heir of Slytherin, and a Parselmouth. The second time he used a first year girl, possessing her with the help of his Horcrux diary, that was placed within her belongings without her knowledge." She frowned as she remembered how Ginny had been possessed.
"The girl was nearly killed. Voldemort's soul drew energy from her and if Harry hadn't killed the Basilisk and destroyed the diary, the girl would have died for sure." Hermione said gravely.
"Good Godrick…He killed a Basilisk…" McGonagall whispered. Dumbledore too seemed to be shaken up by the news regarding the legend of the Chamber of Secrets to be true.
"Who is Harry?" He asked after a moment of silence. "You have mentioned him a couple of times and I have a feeling he plays a crucial part in all of this?" Dumbledore said and eyed her over his half-moon spectacles.
Hermione had anticipated that he would ask about Harry on some point. But now wasn't the time to explain about him, not yet. "I'll get to that later," she said weakly and Dumbledore nodded.
"The diary is likely in the possession of Lucius Malfoy, possibly in Malfoy Manor. Lucius was the one who originally put the diary in the midst of my friend's belongings. Although it was in 1992, I trust he is one of Voldemort's followers already." Again both Professors frowned at the information.
"Lucius Malfoy…the school governor?" McGonagall asked in shock. Hermione nodded.
"We'll get to the Death Eaters later too." She said grimly and her former Head of House nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. Dumbledore stared at Hermione expectantly, waiting for her to continue.
"The second Horcrux Voldemort made was a family heirloom, which he stole from his uncle, Morfin Gaunt. In a nutshell, Voldemort researched about his parents when he was in school and he found out that his mother, Merope Gaunt, was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Merope had developed an obsessive love for a local muggle, named Tom Riddle. She poisoned him with love potion and had him marry her, getting her pregnant. She lifted the potion sometime after that and Tom abandoned his pregnant wife. She later died after giving birth to her son, Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was raised in an orphanage, as I believe you both know." Hermione explained and both Professors nodded uneasily.
"When he found out that his father was a mere muggle who abandoned his mother, he went to kill his paternal family. At that time both Merope's father Marvolo and Merope had already died, and the only living Gaunt was Voldemort's uncle, Morfin, who lived nearby the Riddle house. After having murdered his paternal family, he then altered Morfin's memory so that Morfin believed he was the murderer and that he was proud of it. Morfin was sentenced to Azkaban and he died there later. Voldemort stole the Gaunt Ring from Morfin and created his second Horcrux possibly during his seventh year or right after graduating. He did it after he had inquired about the possibility of making multiple Horcruxes from Professor Slughorn." She concluded.
"Horace?" Dumbledore and McGonagall both uttered quietly and stared at her in confusion.
"Yes. He didn't know it at the time, of course. Professor Slughorn was simply smitten by Voldemort's charm and his cleverness. Voldemort asked him about Horcruxes and assured Professor Slughorn that it was only for his academic knowledge, nothing else. Later on, when Professor Slughorn realised what he had done, he left the school and went into hiding, hoping that neither you," she nodded to Dumbledore, "nor Voldemort would find him."
McGonagall shook her head and muttered, "Sounds like Horace to me." Dumbledore's mouth quirked up a bit and both Professors turned to listen to Hermione again.
"Voldemort hid the ring in Little Hangleton, to the Gaunt shack. I believe the place is protected with some charms or curses, and the ring itself is cursed. The wearer will die from it." She eyed Dumbledore for a moment before she continued.
"The next ones are Salazar Slytherin's locket and Helga Hufflepuff's cup. They were created by the murder of a witch named Hepzibah Smith and an unknown muggle," Hermione explained.
Both Professors were staring at her in bewilderment, perhaps because Voldemort had managed to gather such unique items.
"The locket is hidden in a cave where Voldemort visited when on a trip with his orphanage. He placed Inferi to protect the Horcrux, along with a poison that must be drank to obtain the locket from a basin. I believe the locket is already situated there, but Voldemort will test the defences somewhere between 1978 and 1979, so it should be left untouched for now, until we know for sure."
"And how do we know the right time? Through…Regulus Black?" Dumbledore asked, lifting his eyes from the parchments that he had laid on his desk.
Hermione nodded. "I don't really know that much about him since he died sometime before or after my birth. He was a Death Eater, but he defected and wanted to destroy Voldemort and the locket. Voldemort used the Black house-elf Kreacher to test the defences and left the elf to die in the cave. Voldemort made a mistake by underestimating the house-elf magic, because Kreacher was able to apparate back to his master Regulus and tell Regulus where to find the Horcrux."
"Inferi…Circe! McGonagall exclaimed. "How are you so calm after taking part in all of this?" She asked and studied Hermione in what to Hermione seemed like astonishment. Hermione shrugged awkwardly.
"Indeed you must be an exceptionally intelligent and powerful witch to endure all of that, and be willing to consider doing it again." Dumbledore smiled at her sincerely.
Hermione could feel her neck reddening at the praise. She cleared her throat and continued going through the list. "So then there's Helga Hufflepuff's cup. It was created at the same time as the locket. I don't know for certain where the cup is hidden, but before I came here, I was…" She frowned and let out a shaky breath. She really didn't want to go back to reminisce the Malfoy Manor and Bellatrix's torture and definitely not the attempted assault by Greyback. She shuddered at the memory, when she remembered how he had touched her with his filthy tongue and mouth, and breathed his nasty breath to her face.
"Hermione…You don't have to tell all the details if that is too much for you, dear," Dumbledore said to her softly, concern edged in his blue eyes.
"No, I...I was tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. She um…suspected we had stolen something from her vault in Gringotts. She was quite adamant to find out whether we had been there. And she seemed quite scared too. So I figured that she might have had a Horcrux in there. In my time she was a loyal servant of Voldemort and if Voldemort did leave his diary to the care of Malfoys, who's to say that he didn't trust his other followers to guard his secrets." Hermione said and glanced at McGonagall who regarded her with a troubled look. She reached to pat Hermione's hand. Hermione forced a small smile on her lips.
Dumbledore eyed her concernedly. "Do you think his followers know that the objects are indeed Horcruxes?" He asked thoughtfully.
Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so. Otherwise Mr Malfoy probably wouldn't have parted with the diary." She said and Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"The fifth one is an unknown object. This too could be one that might be in possession of Bellatrix Lestrange. In my time, you suspected that Voldemort was trying to make his sixth Horcrux by murdering Harry, which I'll tell you more about in a moment, but he didn't succeed and was defeated instead." She explained with a frown and looked at Dumbledore.
"Voldemort was not dead of course, because he still had his five Horcruxes he had made earlier. It took him thirteen years to make his sixth Horcrux, a snake he called Nagini, by murdering a witch named Bertha Jorkins. A year or so after that, he obtained a human form again and the Wizarding War Two was in a full swing." Hermione said and sighed when she thought back to the last couple of years of her live. And now she had travelled to a time where the first war was just starting. She wondered, when was it going to end for her? And if she would even survive it. She hoped this time it would be different and that she wouldn't be in the middle of the war like she had been earlier.
Dumbledore hummed while reading the parchment. "I see you have already researched some options how to destroy them. I don't think we need to find any other methods, since we already have the necessary means to destroy the Horcruxes." He said while glancing at Hermione.
"But sir… There is no guarantee we can enter to the Chamber of Secrets, and I believe it is our only option, since it would be highly risky to even try to use Fiendfyre." Hermione argued. McGonagall gave her a small smile.
"Hermione, I believe Albus here can perform the curse. Isn't that right?" McGonagall said furtively and watched Dumbledore's reaction.
"As always, you know me better than anyone, Minerva. Indeed I do know of the incantation and how to put it off, but even I have to admit that I am not perfect. Maintaining the curse is the hardest part, for it could easily go out of control and be fatal to anyone near it." He smiled to the women.
"Oh." Hermione muttered.
"However, I would like to teach you. Both of you. That way, when one of us actually casts the curse, we can assist one another if needed." He said plainly.
Both women stared at the Headmaster in disbelief.
"Well, I believe it is settled then. We'll come back to that later." He clapped his hands together and beamed at Hermione and McGonagall while both of them stayed silent.
"So…the next list is some other mentionable things I thought you should know of." Hermione said, talking about the list of which she had originally written to herself, but decided to share with them. When Dumbledore and McGonagall read the first line of the list, they both seemed amused.
"I think you can join the Order, but with some conditions." Dumbledore eyed her carefully. "I would like for you to finish your education and not attend the meetings. At least, not yet. The less you are involved, the safer you are. After all, if the wrong ears hear about the information you have, it could be dangerous for you." He explained and Hermione nodded. She briefly thought that learning Occlumency would be beneficial, as she had merely grazed the subject before. She made a mental note to ask Dumbledore about it later, if he would be willing to teach her.
"I suppose it is reasonable." Hermione replied, though, feeling a bit disappointed.
Dumbledore gave her a small smile and said, "I will keep you informed about what is discussed in the meetings though."
"To your next note, I haven't got any new information to your situation. However, I recommend you to live your life until we know more about your circumstances. I will notify you immediately if I receive any new information," he said simply. Hermione frowned and was about to argue, but stayed silent and nodded at him. It wasn't that she was just going to let it be and not research her situation on her own as well. She reckoned the Hogwarts library ought to have at least some information about Time Magic.
"Are you going to take NEWT Potions in your seventh year, Hermione?" Dumbledore inquired as he went on with the list.
"Yes, of course." She answered without reserve, as there could even be another option.
"I suggest that you research the potions causing hallucinations and mental pain in our potions lab, before the school starts? It is fairly quiet now down in the dungeons, and you have all the space you need. I understand that you have agreed to help your father at the pub, so maybe you could settle it with him?" He asked kindly and Hermione smiled and nodded eagerly. She couldn't wait to get to actually do something useful, as well as the possibility to brew potions in the lab, all by herself.
She cleared her throat again and spoke, "I think we could focus first on the prophecy, and then go through the rest of the list, if that's okay?" She asked nervously.
Both Professors nodded and Hermione thought for a moment of how she was to start with explaining the prophecy. She exhaled a long breath.
"Well… late in 1979 or early in 1980 a witch named Sybill Trelawney came to a job interview at the Hog's Head for the Divination Professor's position. In the middle of the interview, she went into a trance and made a prophecy, about the coming of a boy who would have the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort. The prophecy specified that the boy would be born in the closing days of July 1980 and that the boy's parents had defied Voldemort three times and lived to tell about it. According to the prophecy, the boy would have a power that Voldemort would be unable or unwilling to comprehend, and if more than one person was born that met the requirements, Voldemort himself would choose to whom it would ultimately refer. The boy he chose was Harry Potter." She said, looking down with a deep frown between her brows.
McGonagall gasped and Dumbledore lifted his brows.
"Is he by chance related to James Potter?" McGonagall asked carefully.
"Yes. James Potter was Harry's father. And Harry... Well, he is…was… my best friend." Hermione smiled sadly, blinking her eyes rapidly to stop the tears that threatened to come.
McGonagall and Dumbledore both watched her in anticipation and waited for her to continue.
"Severus Snape, who was a Death Eater at the time, eavesdropped the interview and returned to his master to tell him what he had heard. That way Voldemort found out about the prophecy. Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was a baby, on the 31st of October 1981. He killed Harry's parents and shot a killing curse at Harry, but for Harry's mother's sacrifice, the curse backfired upon Voldemort, destroying his physical form."
She looked at the Professors for a moment, who both were staring at her with shocked expressions again, before she continued. "But before Voldemort went to the Potters, they were placed under a Fidelius Charm after Snape had realised his mistake and defected. He told everything to you." She said, looking at the Headmaster searchingly.
"You once said that you had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape, allowing him to join the Order after he had leaked the prophecy to Voldemort and caused the death of Potters. And in the end, when Voldemort came back to power, Snape was the one who…" Hermione's voice faltered. "H-he killed you, sir." She said stammering, tears burning in her eyes as she recalled the night it had happened. She clenched her jaw and tried to swallow the lump from her throat.
McGonagall gaped at Hermione, all colour drained from her face. Hermione heard her muttering something like "Merlin," while Dumbledore merely looked interested.
"How did Voldemort succeed if the Potters were placed under a Fidelius Charm? I presume the charm was broken?" He asked, adjusting his half-moon spectacles.
"But Professor…" Hermione said, baffled that he had just received the information about his death and wasn't more interested of the circumstances.
"No, Hermione. Let's move on from it. We now know a great deal more thanks to you, but it does no one good to dwell on the bad things. Let us focus on the things we know we can change."
Hermione felt annoyed but continued nevertheless. "The Potters had agreed to make Sirius Black their secret keeper, but they changed it to Peter Pettigrew in the last minute, not telling anyone about it. Peter ultimately betrayed them to Voldemort and then he escaped, killing a bunch of muggles on his way. Sirius was framed for killing the muggles and sent to Azkaban without a trial. Even Remus Lupin hadn't known about the switch."
Dumbledore scrutinised her. "You were familiar with Black and Lupin?"
"Oh…Yes, I was. Remus was actually a Defence Professor in my third year and Sirius, after he'd escaped from Azkaban and his reputation was cleared within the Order, became closer to his godson, Harry, and eventually got to know his friends as well. They were both loyal members of the Order." Hermione explained.
Both professors seemed to be busy with their own thoughts. Hermione moved to the next topic on her list and spoke, "Then there is Regulus Black. He was a Death Eater who defected quickly after his initiation and died trying to destroy a Horcrux. I think we should try to persuade him to our side, as soon as possible. He might be a key to several Horcruxes, as he is probably closer to the Lestranges and Malfoys than his brother Sirius is at the moment," Hermione said and McGonagall's mouth twisted up a bit and she nodded.
"You are probably right, at least in school he seems to be surrounded only by his fellow Slytherins, not even bothering to talk to the students from other houses. But how do you know he is willing to defect?" McGonagall asked Hermione, looking a bit suspicious.
"Well, I don't, but at least we have to try. And he has to have some doubts, if he is going to make the decision anyway in a couple of years." Hermione replied thoughtfully.
Dumbledore crossed his fingers again on top of his desk. "Hermione, if it isn't too much for you, would you be willing to try to persuade him?" He asked, eyeing her thoughtfully.
"Yes, of course. I'll try," She nodded resolutely, feeling slightly anxious.
"Do you want to discuss about the deaths you listed?" He asked kindly.
"No, not really. I mean, I don't have any other information about them than what I already wrote on that parchment." She said, her brows creased slightly.
"Then I will keep this information in mind when organising our missions."
Hermione nodded and they moved on to the final list, about the Death Eaters in this time and in the future. They went over the list, and a couple of names came up that surprised the Professors. They focused mainly on them – Augustus Rookwood, an Unspeakable at the Ministry who was working as a spy for Voldemort, and Barty Crouch Jr., whose father was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement – and decided that Dumbledore would inform the Order regarding them.
"What should be done about the Horcruxes? Or the Death Eaters?" McGonagall asked tiredly, their meeting taking longer than any of them expected.
Dumbledore frowned thoughtfully and after a moment he spoke, "I suggest that we will meet again on the last days of this month, to continue our plans regarding the Horcruxes and what we will decide regarding the Death Eaters. You have shared us much, Hermione, and I think we all need to digest this information a bit. Minerva here is leaving shortly for her summer holidays, and I myself have some other issues to take care of before the school starts. Would you agree to this?" He said, surveying Hermione over his half-moon spectacles.
"Yes, of course. I think there is no immediate need to rush into this, at least not yet, since we have the information of all but one Horcrux." Hermione said in agreement.
When she finally arrived to Hagrid's Hut, it was close to dinner time. Hagrid told her about his summer and about a couple of unicorns he had met in the Forbidden forest. It reminded her of her fourth year when Hagrid had brought two unicorn foals to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, surprising most of his students with his knowledge of the more adorable creatures than what they were usually seeing in the class. Hermione sighed deeply to the memory.
He also told her about a herd of Mooncalves he met one full moon when he had been wandering in the forest, in order to harvest their dung for Professor Sprout to use for her magical plants. The creatures had been basking in the moonlight on a hill and performing what he reckoned was a mating ritual. Hermione smiled warmly as he mentioned bumping into a couple of Hippogriffs the other day and wondered if their herd was somewhere deeper in the forest.
Hermione stayed at Hagrid's until it was nearly dark. She was in a much more cheerful mood after chatting with him and reckoned it had been just what she needed.