Concurrent Existences
Chapter 18: Price of Knowledge
The symbol exists, though missing marks.
An encompassing border, which keeps one safe.
A triangle there, which chooses one's fate.
A last line there, which severs one's destiny.
Luna.
Moon.
Volana.
The very next day after the three witches infiltrated the Headmistress' room. Hermione was already up before the sun even broke the horizon. She had tried to rouse her dark witch, but to no success. It was probably better that her witch continue sleeping for now, she might not really appreciate the current experiment.
It was fine though. Bellatrix could catch up whenever she woke up, but Hermione could not wait and she didn't think Bella would even like the kind of experiment that she would be doing today.
No one sane would like her experiment today. New knowledge had to come from somewhere, right?
Knowledge could not wait. The brunette quickly wrote a note for the dark witch just in case, even though both of them could detect each other easily using the paired artifacts.
A quick kiss to her dark witch's temple and she was gone.
The strange book that she had read a few times over the years had given her an idea on what to do with the leftover Deathly Hallows.
It was crazy.
It was insane.
It was absolutely exciting!
Bellatrix would strangle her for even attempting such a feat. Hermione mused that maybe it was beneficial for her dark witch not to be in the immediate area, at least for the first part of the experiment.
But should she even attempt it? The rational part of her knew that this was beyond dangerous. Although, that rational part of Hermione had already terribly diminished over the years as it was replaced by thirst.
A thirst for the unknown.
A thirst for knowledge.
All the books she had read, all the knowledge she had gained just wasn't enough anymore. The only one that could have possibly have stopped her right now would be Bellatrix.
Oh, Bella. What wouldn't I do for you?
Hermione would do anything for her witch. Luckily, the dark witch was still burrowed into her pillows. Plausible deniability.
She stopped walking when she was far enough from the proximity of her room. What she was looking for did not need a specific place. It existed everywhere within Hogwarts. The brunette brushed her hand along the gray walls of the hallway and a door slowly materialized with a bit of a stone grinding sound. She had finally come across a room she hadn't seen for a long time.
Room of Requirement.
The room had been destroyed when Draco's lackeys set off a Fiendfyre, but Hermione felt the magics in the room. She felt the magic of the room that was trying to repair itself ever since it had been affected by the Fiendfyre.
She had visited the Room of Requirement, but in the past times she had gone there, the room could only provide the basics, such as chairs, tables and other furniture. The Room had seemed to begin to rapidly recover all of a sudden, which made things much easier for the brunette.
It looked like Rowena Ravenclaw's Room of Requirement wasn't going to be destroyed that easily. The room would be the perfect setting for her research in magic and science.
The hat really should have put her in Ravenclaw.
Hermione slowly went inside the passage. The room had changed again since it was different from what they needed from it before. She needed a place to do her research and a good place she now had. The passageway quickly closed up as Hermione got inside.
The room had scores of tables, desks and shelves that had some basic equipment. She would have to find out in the future if everything in the last room was really burned into nothing, but for now this was perfect.
The witch quickly began to move things from out of the charmed bag she had brought along that had all her things. She would begin sorting everything out later, but for now she needed to do what she came here to do.
A pouch and a small device was placed on the table. Hermione wasn't stupid to begin the experiment without proper precautions since she was doing these things alone. She had been doing this for several years during the time limbo, so she had experience.
The first few explosions of 'experimenting' had taught Hermione that her 'safety first' wasn't really enough for the type of experimenting she had been doing.
Her professor in Ancient Runes and Wards would be proud.
Hermione quickly went around the room and put magical conduits that would make her immediate area into a field. She began placing the limiters needed to make the field stable and safe.
A Muffliato field encompassed the whole room.
A Magic Dampening field encompassed the table.
A Restraining field had also been placed for when Hermione deemed she needed something contained.
Several other minor precautions were also placed before she went back to the table with the pouch and the small device.
The fragments of the Resurrection Stone and the Repulsor.
She remembered everything she had read from the mysterious book. She had reservations about the book and its origins, but this was too tempting to pass up.
Hermione remembered how the book spoke of Death being a full amalgamation of Dementors and how Death had been the one to create the Deathly Hallows using his own essence.
If that were even remotely true, then what would occur if a fragment of Death was reintroduced into a Dementor?
It was stupid.
It was mental.
But she had to know.
This was a side of Hermione that even Bellatrix possibly wasn't fully aware of. Hermione knew that her dark witch would accept all the parts that made Hermione herself.
Even the parts she had gained throughout fifteen years of isolation.
Fifteen years of no sleep.
Fifteen years of being alone.
Fifteen years of gaining knowledge.
Fifteen cursed years.
It had been quite a while since she was able to indulge in any kind of experimentation since all her plans resolved around helping her loving dark witch, but now?
She had time.
Dumbledore appearing was an issue, but not a big thing.
Nothing pressing enough to keep her from her secret pleasure.
Hermione grinned widely. Her lover had a penchant for torture, which she didn't actually mind anymore surprisingly. She could remember the indignation, outrage and terror she had when Bellatrix was torturing her and the thought of her torturing others, but now? She had grown fairly numb to it, as long as the target was not a person she cared for.
And now, Hermione, herself, had a penchant for experimentation. It wasn't as if she was experimenting on humans though, right?
...
Well, her girlfriend had already been part of a few experimental spells... Did that count?
We all have our quirks.
It was all dark. The faint echo of splashing water could be heard, but nothing else.
Bellatrix couldn't move. She could barely breathe she felt her body be constricted further. The unyielding pressure wrapped around her and further squeezed the life out of her.
It hurt, she couldn't breathe.
She could feel herself thrust into the air, but what was happening? The witch tried to open her eyes, but could barely open a gap between her eyelids. After what felt like years of trying, she was finally able to see.
She could still only see darkness, and had to wait for a few seconds for her vision to adjust to it.
And then she saw it.
Tenty.
Tenty's giant maw of gaping teeth!
"BLOODY FUCK!" Bellatrix instantly bolted from the bed. The witch had a cold sweat all around her after waking up from the nightmare she just had of that stupid squid.
This was bad.
The only times she had nightmares was when something extremely bad was about to happen. The last nightmare she had been conscious of was before the last day Hermione had left and sealed her memories.
Hermione.
Bellatrix immediately placed her hand and felt that the Hermione's side of the bed was cold, slight panic began to quickly creep up on Bellatrix.
Gone.
Hermione was not here. Hermione never left without her! The dark witch willed herself to calm down and began to scan around the room. The note on the dresser quickly caught her eye.
"Accio." The note quickly zipped through the air into her hand and she began to scan it. It was innocent enough, it only said she was going to do some tests in the Room of Requirement and to follow her when she woke up.
But the dark witch knew something was wrong or about to go wrong. A few more Accio's and she was dressed.
She needed to get to her lover before anything bad happens.
She'd also send that blasted overgrown squid a few fireballs when she had time.
Stupid Tenty.
Everything was almost set up.
"Expecto Patronum." With a quick thought of her dark witch, the otter Patronus immediately appeared and sat by her summoner's feet. Hermione quickly patted the ethereal otter before getting back to her experiment. The Patronus would be another good safety layer in case the another empowered magical fields were breached. It should be unneeded as the magical fields could hold at least ten Dementors.
A hum of energy began to emanate from Hermione's ring, armlet and earring as they powered up. She would need to have full concentration in maintaining all the fields as well as controlling all aspects of the experiment.
If only Bella and Minerva could see her now...
They would probably smack her though.
A neutral expression filled Hermione's face as she got rid of her wandering thoughts. Everything was prepared.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The pouch containing the remnants of the Resurrection Stone and the Repulsor containing the two Dementors began to float within the perimeter of the containment field.
The Repulsor was still bound by the extra Dragon Heartstring she had tied around it. She would need to be quick at releasing only one Dementor.
There would be no chance that the Dementors could breach the containment field, but she only needed one for this particular experiment.
A quick diagnostic spell showed that everything was in order.
Everything is ready. The same spells she used to infuse the empowered Time-Turner into Bella would be used again.
With a quick swirl of her finger, the pouch's tie began to loosen and the black remnants of the Resurrection Stone began to spill out while floating in the air. Hermione could feel the raw power emanating from the black dust that did not deteriorate from the first time she had acquired it.
She shuddered to think what the power hungry wizards would do if they actually knew how to innervate and infuse raw materials into their own bodies.
The empty pouch was discarded and all the black dust gathered into a shape of a floating sphere.
Now the hard part.
Hermione used both hands to direct the release of the Repulsor. A quick swish of both hands immediately untied the Dragon Heartstring.
A chill entered the room. A weak feeling of emptiness, terror and fear began to be felt in her surroundings, but she was immune to it. Even though it was just a several weeks ago when she encountered the two Dementors from Azkaban, she had accustomed herself to the feeling of the Dementors weak aura. Having the Repulsor within her robes for a week or two was sacrifice enough.
Blackness slowly spilled out of the small hole of the Repulsor. It was weak, several weeks being restrained in a container would do that to any living thing, if a Dementor could even really pass as one. As soon as the blackness stopped flowing out, Hermione immediately swiped her finger to seal the Repulsor again before the second Dementor could even try to escape.
A weak sound came from the Dementor that seemed like a mix of a screech and a groan. The swirling darkness in front of Hermione was trying to maintain or regain its form, but it was too weak. The face of the Dementor could barely be made out of the swirling pitch in front of her. Only one of the Dementor's hands actually reformed to try and claw its way towards Hermione, but the magical restraining field instantly zapped the Dementor, obliterating the reformed hand back into inky black darkness.
The otter Patronus quickly hopped up towards Hermione's head a perched itself there while keeping its guard up against its natural enemy.
Hermione could actually feel the resonance between the black dust of the Resurrection Stone and the Dementor, but it was obvious that the Dementor alone did not have the power or capability to combine with it on its own.
Observation. Hermione wasn't in a rush, but wanted this done soon. The sun was about to rise and Bellatrix had some way of detecting a missing Hermione. The sight of Hermione playing... experimenting with a Dementor would probably cause the dark witch to go ballistic.
The inky darkness of the Dementor tried to move around the containment field. It also bypassed the sphere of black dust, but there was no reaction aside from the weak magnetic-like pull she could see. It would make sense since Dementors don't have a magical core. If what Hermione read was true then the Resurrection Stone was magical and also had a connection with Death's soul.
Death's soul was a relative term. After learning about the Horcrux, Hermione realized it was possible to actually split and insert a part of the soul into an inanimate object. It was possible that Death was just another crazed wizard that found a way to create powerful artifacts...
But no, it wasn't.
That explanation is what everyone would have liked to believe. It's easier to believe that a crazed person created something than a sentient being that no one could explain.
The resonance, no matter how slight, between the remnants of the Resurrection Stone and the Dementor proved that there was a connection. She highly doubted a crazed wizard or witch had direct connection to Dementors.
Hypothesis. Death, at the very least, was not human, but to resonate with a Dementor?
Dementors had no magical core. A magical item slightly resonating with a being that had no magical core was proof enough of a link.
Experiment. It was time.
Instead of pointing towards the magical black remnants, Hermione pointed straight towards the half-formed Dementor.
"Lacesso!" The blue beam of innervating light quickly hit the Dementor causing it to screech and lose its form even more. The screeches continued and the Dementor seemed to be slowly imploding itself into nothing.
Hermione grinned. She was about to cast an Infundere to infuse the black dust into the Dementor, but it seemed that it wasn't needed.
The brunette could see the sphere slowly being absorbed by the Dementor.
Her guess was correct.
Innervating the Dementor with magic put the Dementor and the Resurrection Stone remnants on the same resonating field. Both were now magically infused and possessed an unknown relation towards Death.
The power growth was obvious. The Dementor wasn't even half its original size and had also lost its form, but the black sphere continued to be devoured.
Hermione could feel the exponential increase in power.
Directing her free hand towards her wards and fields, Hermione began to increase all magical output of her restraining fields.
A sweat formed on her brow. The Patronus on the top of her head began to glow brighter as it could detect its enemy increase in power as well.
Shite.
Maybe doing this without Bella was a mistake.
All Hermione's magical efforts began to pour into containing the infused Dementor. The Patronus began to send out waves of light to try to weaken the growing power within the restraining field.
Hermione's restraining field could hold about twenty Dementors right now, but this one creature was rivaling the power of twenty bloody Dementors right now.
She needed to contain this fast, her wards were strong, but the longer this tussle happened, the more chance powerful casters like Minerva would detect the magical fluctuations.
There!
The screeching had stopped and the chaotic movement and coalescing within the containment field stopped. Hermione could sense the creature stop trying to breach the field.
The swirling darkness that was what was left of the Dementor calmly swirled in a sphere like state.
It is done.
She didn't know what she had just created, but it worked. She had just created a new being, or something at least far stronger than a Dementor.
Hermione then broke one of her cardinal rules when experimenting.
She let the breath of relief out.
She let her guard down.
It was instant.
Hermione's eyes connected with a silver orb inside the containment field just as she began to ease up on the empowerment of the barrier.
Hermione quickly realized her mistake as it dawned upon her that she was looking eye to eye with a Dementor. Apparently, this Dementor had eyes now, or whatever those silvery orbs would be called.
It was sentient. She had created a sentient Dementor.
And it was just waiting for the time she stopped channeling more energy into the barrier.
The inky sphere burst out of the restraining field, colliding and dispelling the otter Patronus over the top of Hermione's head. The sentient Dementor didn't regain its form, it was still just a swirling mass of darkness, but it seemed to be enough.
It was free.
This is bad.
Instead of trying to attack Hermione, the swirling darkness immediately shot out of the room. Hermione quickly ran and pursued. The knowledge that she created a sentient Dementor and the knowledge that a sentient Dementor existed alone would cause so much chaos.
She would have to destroy it if she couldn't contain it.
Hermione quickly passed through the materialized door of the Room of Requirement and spotted the sentient Dementor barreling down the hall. The inky sphere looked to be slower than it was originally, possibly due to just being created as well as using magic to forcefully break through her containment field.
Her containment field was no joke.
Luckily, dawn had just broken out and there shouldn't be anyone in this particular area at this time.
"Velox!" She quickly cast a haste spell and began to catch up with the fleeing creature. A triple containment spell was already set on her three artifacts. If the triple containment didn't work, then she would use another spell to quickly obliterate the being.
She had been itching to use her obliterate spell, it would put Avada to shame. Using that spell in Hogwarts would blow their cover though.
Unfortunately, luck was not on her side.
No.
Luna.
"Luna!"
The dreamy blonde barely had a chance to turn her head when the inky blackness engulfed her.
Shite!
Hermione stopped running right as she got by her friends side. The darkness continued to swirl around the blonde. It seemed to be infusing itself within Luna or at the very least trying to recuperate by absorbing Luna's life and magic.
This was really bad, there was no telling what would happen.
How had she allowed this stupidity to happen?
The Dementor most likely had its own sentience and a worst case scenario would be of it taking over Luna's body or Luna dying as it recuperates from her life force.
She needed to bring Luna back with her into her lab post-haste. This needed to be reversed before it was too late. There was no way to truly estimate what this unknown being could do to Luna given enough time.
As much as Hermione loved experimentation and new knowledge, one of her closest friend's life was more important than this. Hermione quickly levitated Luna's body.
"Bloody hell! You've got to be shitting me. Was that a Dementor?!"
Double shite!
At least it wasn't a professor or a student.
"No time, Bella. Help me get Luna to the Room of Requirement!" Bellatrix quickly nodded seeing the severity of the situation and the seriousness in the brunette's voice.
All Bellatrix could deduce was that this was all Hermione's fault.
At first the dark witch thought that what she saw was a Dementor, but no Dementor ever went inside the targeted victim.
So much for a lazy Saturday.
Morgana, save me.
Infundere - Infusion
Lacesso - Innervate
Velox - Quick, Haste
AN: So, it's all Hermione's fault.
Tenty also wanted a bit of screen time, even if it was in a nightmare.
If any part of the chapter wasn't clear or confusing, just tell me and I'll clear it up either directly in the story or in pms.
Think I'm adding too many elements into the story? Opinions and feedback are welcome!
Black Desert launch soon! I will still try to finish the next chapter, no promises!