Concurrent Existences

Chapter 33: Hidden Behind Veils

A tiny misstep, a step to the veil.

Only sound left, a ghostly wail.

Not all is lost, there's hope to clutch.

Lose the fear, feel the touch

"WHAT?!" Hermione gasped.

I knew I should have read the fine print of those spells!

Hermione actually had no words to say in response to the sudden news of her lover being pregnant by playing with ancient sex spells.

The two hard gazes that she could feel coming from behind her made her want to curl up into a ball for a few years, but there'd be a time for all that later, so Hermione decided to ignore what Narcissa just said after her outburst.

"Well, best make haste to retrieve Bella as soon as possible then." Merlin, she was going to be a mother... father? She didn't even graduate yet! And, she got a technically fifteen year old girl pregnant? So much for being the greatest witches of their own age when they couldn't even beat teen pregnancy.

"Do you already have a way in?" Narcissa obviously realized Hermione's change in subject, but decided to drop it for now as there were more important things to consider.

"No point in hiding much now. During the time limbo, I was able to make a few areas I could apparate to in case there was a need. Bella will most likely be in the second level of the Ministry where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is, most likely in the detainment area of the Auror offices. If all goes well, I should be able to get her out and deal with the Head Auror at the same time." Now, the brunette really was glad she had placed those apparating beacons. Going through the Floo Network might not work if the Auror's placed a checkpoint.

"I had a contact that would have gotten you through the Floo, but it appears that you have a better route to the DMLE. Here, I know you'll need it." Narcissa plucked a hair off her head and offered it to the girl.

Hermione was actually just about to ask either Andromeda or Narcissa for a hair sample to be able to use a Polyjuice potion at least until they were able to locate Bellatrix. Having your face on the Undesirable poster wasn't good for popularity. The girl wasted no time in reaching into her bag to retrieve a ready-made Polyjuice potion that only required a catalyst to activate.

"Thank you, Cissy. We'll be back as fast as possible." Hermione nodded and put the Polyjuice potion to her lips to start the effect before they apparated towards the second level of the Ministry.

"Yes, you should be as swift as possible since you need to make an honest woman out of Bella." Narcissa quipped and almost made Hermione choke on the potion she was drinking. Thankfully, the brunette had ingested enough of the potion for it to work even with a bit of it dribbling down her chin.

With no time to waste, Hermione bid Narcissa farewell and apparated along with Luna and Helena.

The three witches ended up in a toilet stall located within the second level of the Ministry.

"Sweet Merlin, I'm glad I'm a ghost." Helena said as she had apparated in with her foot straight through the toilet.

They began their trek outside the washroom and was met with slight chaos. It really looked as if the Ministry had better days.

The floor were littered with paper as if there wasn't anyone clean them up. People could have at least used a spell to have them picked up, but it seemed as if people these days lacked common sense.

Murmurs and whispers were everywhere as they made their way to the Auror offices.

"... still missing..."

"... hope the Minister is alright..."

Kingsley's missing? That was the first Hermione had ever heard of it. Had the Head Auror gotten to Kingsley too? Maybe that's why the Ministry was in shambles? Was he vying for power?

"...strange in Azkaban..."

"... almost all Dementors just vanished."

Well, it seems as if there were tons of things happening that Hermione had no clue about. Well, she barely had any contact with Harry about anything to do with the Ministry and she had been spending all her time with Bellatrix...

I might need to start reading the newspaper again.

"... I heard the Head Auror chose an apprentice?"

"...old news. Harry Potter is probably..."

Oh gods. Hermione was going to have to check on Harry. She had heard from Helena what kind of havoc Tenty had wrought against the Aurors. She was thankful, that was no doubt, but she didn't want casualties. Hopefully, Tenty didn't break too much of Harry's body.

Before Hermione could hear any more facts or gossip, they already reached the Auror offices, which was surprisingly bare.

Weren't they expecting her? Even using Narcissa as a front with Polyjuice, Hermione was pretty sure the Head Auror would have seen through this. She had seen how devious that person was after manipulating the Death Eaters and even Ron to go against her.

Hermione knew that either the Head Auror was the mastermind or at least connected to the real mastermind, but to not even have most of the Aurors here? She expected to have to wipe them all out all over again.

The three witches didn't get far when they were slowly approached by a man in gray robes that seemed to be around his late-twenties or early-thirties.

"Miss Granger. You are expected." The man's voice seemed vaguely familiar, but Hermione couldn't recognize him, neither did Luna. Helena, however, recognized the face, but couldn't place it.

"Where is Bellatrix? Are you the Head Auror?" Hermione did not recognize this Auror at all after going over the faces of the many Auror's she had systematically beaten last time. Were they preparing an ambush? Why didn't they just do it here?

"All questions will be answered. Please touch this." The man in gray robes brought out a simple ordinary stone, but the witches could tell it was a portkey. The man sensed their wariness and mistrust. "I will be coming along, you will not be dropped into a pit."

The three witches looked at each other before nodding. There wasn't much else they could do. It was already highly unlikely that Bellatrix was within the DMLE. The only thing the witches could do was to prepare for any attack or any trap that was ahead.

Protego spells were ready to be deployed. Hermione was ready to attack and defend.

"Let's go."

All four disappeared as the portkey activated.

Hermione realized instantly where they were taken to. This place held bad memories for them, especially for Harry. It was where he had lost his own godfather to Bellatrix while she was under all the dark compulsion spells of Voldemort.

Ministry Level Nine. Department of Mysteries. The Death Chamber. The Veil. The Arch.

A trap was something all three witches were expecting, but there wasn't anyone besides them within the Death Chamber.

Hermione had also realized that her Polyjuiced form of Narcissa just dissipated and she was back to her original form.

It was just as ancient when Hermione and Luna saw it over a year ago. The crumbling stone archway that somehow still didn't fall apart while it was placed on some large dais. It was silent and cold, just like what the chamber was named after.

"Why have you brought us here?" Spells were ready to be flung. The Ministry wards caused her to be unable to pinpoint Bellatrix's location, but she knew that the dark witch was closer than before. Most likely somewhere within the Department of Mysteries.

Instead of answering, the man in the gray robes tossed the stone they used as a portkey a few meters in front of them. The stone floated and glowed for a second before dispersing into dust particles that seemed to slowly coalesce. It only took a few seconds for a figure to materialize out of the dust.

"Hello, Miss Granger."

"Harry?" Hermione was confused. Harry's visage came out from the particles of dust from the stone and acted like it was some type of real-time illusion or hologram that the person was projecting from wherever they truly were. But, Harry?

"Not quite. I'm glad to finally meet you, Miss Granger. You have been the most entertaining and helpful anomaly that has ever existed. It was so enjoyable that I actually had to directly interfere to steer your actions into helping. You have even created two more anomalies, the sentient Dementor as well as having Miss Black exist where she was supposed to already be dead." The figure within the shifting sands chuckled, truly sincere with his words of enjoyment.

"I don't understand. Where is Bellatrix? And, who are you? Weren't all questions going to be answered?" So many questions circled around Hermione's head, but those two were at the forefront. She also wanted to question what happened to most of the Auror's within the Ministry and where were all the other people that were supposed to be in the Ninth Level of the Ministry.

"All in due time. Miss Black is safe and watching us right now. I'd like to welcome you to the Veil. Where everything truly started." The sand figure opened his arms wide to indicate the room they were in.

"I've had the displeasure in being here before. Why did you have us brought here? What started here?" Hermione frowned, but at the very least it seemed that Bellatrix wasn't in immediate danger. It seems as if this person wasn't going to be upfront right away. Direct questions would most likely be ignored, she'd have to try to fish for information.

"Everything. Everything started over five thousand years ago. Why do you think the Ministry built itself over this when it was found once again?" The sandy visage smiled as he could see the cogs turning within the girl's mind. The other two were of no consequence. They would be dealt with easily. The pawns were in place, they just had to move where he had set them to move, whether they were his pieces or not.

"You speak as if you have deep knowledge about this chamber and the veil when the very Ministry that studied this place for over two hundred years have no knowledge or documents explaining much." There wasn't much about the Death Chamber or the Veil when Hermione went over the findings and documents during the time limbo. Sending anyone or anything through the veil was always a one-way trip and the only fact she was about to garner was that the Veil and arch were at least over five thousand years old.

The sandy visage of Harry gave a knowing grin and Hermione knew that whoever was controlling Harry did know a lot more than what he was saying. Guessing the person's identity was impossible as she could not link anyone that could possibly have this type of knowledge, even Unspeakables did not have this amount of knowledge.

"I owe you a debt of gratitude, Miss Granger. Events that should have taken several decades or possibly a few more hundred years were done in a matter of months thanks to you. There have only been a few anomalies that I have had the pleasure of dealing with that have accelerated and decelerated my plans at the same time. I was actually lucky that Miss Black's growth was thwarted, she could have been more destructive than Morgan le Fay had ever been."

"...Morgan le Fay?" A cold sliver of fear encroached upon Hermione as she heard the words. The simple act of this person was talking about Morgan le Fay as if he knew her wasn't good at all. She was out of her depth, she had no knowledge to fall back upon and plan.

"I seem to have gotten ahead of myself. I'd rather our companions... mingle elsewhere. I do like private conversations with only the concerned party. First! Introductions are in order." The sand version of Harry gestured to the man in gray robes.

The three witches shifted their eyes towards the stoic man that hadn't even moved or blinked since they arrived in the area. His eyes just looked blankly ahead almost as if they were the eyes of someone already dead.

"A man that you all know and love." Hermione and Luna still had no idea what the hell was going on, but Helena felt dread when she realized why the person was familiar a while ago. The ghost had already met this person, they all actually had, but Helena met this person's visage over seventy years ago.

"Meet Albus Dumbledore. Ex-Headmaster of Hogwarts and ex-Head Auror." Helena now recognized Dumbledore's face exactly how it looked like seven decades ago. The figure made of dust particles began to slowly dissipate.

"Your answers are in the Brain Room. See you soon, Miss Granger. Oh! I do hope you enjoy the surprise as well." The dust figure fully dissipated and silence engulf the whole room again.

Hermione's brain worked in overtime, trying to digest the little information she received aside from the Morgan le Fay and five thousand year old bit, she had no idea about those. Harry or whoever that was called the man in the gray robes, Dumbledore and had referred to him as the ex-Head Auror. The existence of Dumbledore wasn't a big surprise after Bellatrix and Hermione figured out that Albus made Fawkes into a Horcrux. The scariest fact that Hermione had right now was that someone was controlling Harry and had somehow been controlling Dumbledore to act as the Head Auror before the same someone transferred direct control over to Harry.

Oh, Harry. What the hell did you get into. There were still many unknowns and she could only make speculations until she had the chance to question whoever was controlling Harry in the other chamber.

The only thing Hermione could do right now was to head to the Brain Room and get the answers she needed.

If she had to go through Dumbledore, then so be it. It wouldn't take long.

"Are we actually going to fight him?" Luna asked, not sure if she wanted to fight their ex-Headmaster even if she knew about the things he had already done. Luna only still remembered the kind old wizard that he was while he was Headmaster

"We have no choice. Look at his eyes." Hermione pointed out the deadened eyes that the young Dumbledore had. "It's an overuse of Horcrux. Every time a Horcrux is created, a part of your soul becomes forever lost and the remainder slowly becomes unstable the more Horcruxes are created. It is also the same when a person gets resurrected by their Horcrux. Each time a person is resurrected, they also lose a part of themselves... That's why this form of Dumbledore is under control. He doesn't have enough of his soul left to defend himself." This Dumbledore was reduced into an immortal doll that's only purpose was to follow where the strings brought it.

Hermione thought about just escaping the area, but the moment she thought of it, Dumbledore's dead eyes bore into her own as if he knew what she was thinking.

Dumbledore brought up his wand, not the Elder Wand, thankfully, and the whole room was quickly engulfed in a ring of fire. The ring of fire was identical to the spell Dumbledore used to fight against the Inferi when Harry and Albus were retrieving the ring Horcrux.

Even though Dumbledore's mind and personality were akin to a zombie, it seems as if his magical skills and even his Legilimency skills hadn't changed.

Of course, Hermione wasn't the same girl she was all those years ago and she highly doubted that this version of Dumbledore was any stronger than before.

Time was of the essence. Dumbledore may be magically strong, but without his tactics and wit, there would be no challenge, not to her anyway.

Expelliarmus! Hermione cast the spell with only the raising of her finger as warning, but Dumbledore met it with his own spell making another spell collision. A spell collision that Dumbledore could not back out of.

Hermione had Dumbledore trapped. The fragment that was left of the ex-Headmaster was no match with the power she currently had. She could feel the imbued magical thread in her shoulders flare and slowly extend as she exerted more of her magic. If a person looked closely, the white glow of the thread could be seen just under below her robes.

"Luna! Helena! Just hit him!" No other motivation was needed. Helena quickly levitated high up and fire off small spells, while Luna took up higher ground near the arch to attack Dumbledore on multiple fronts. Luna only sent out stunners though, not willing to significantly harm anyone.

Hermione also began bombarding Dumbledore with various spells.

The battle was far from epic as Dumbledore could only silently defend himself with one arm while the other was still focusing on the magic collision that was getting dangerously close to exploding on him.

There was no contest.

Hermione checked that Luna and Helena were a respectable distance before maximizing the output of her magic on the collision. She could feel the imbued threads further encroached her skin and at the same time empowering her magic causing the beams focal point to explode on Dumbledore. The damage was obvious as Hermione saw the blackened burnt hand that lay limply by Dumbledore's side, but the man didn't even let out a grunt of pain or any expression that said he was in pain. The ring of fire dissipated as its own caster couldn't maintain it anymore.

What was the point of this?

Hermione could see that Dumbledore suddenly engaged Luna, but with only one hand and no wand, the dreamy-looking girl's stunners and a few support blasts from Helena quickly brought him down a few feet from the arch.

"S..." Hermione was just about to leave the incapacitated body of Dumbledore alone when she heard him trying to say something.

Has the damage brought him clarity?

Both Helena and Luna still stood a respectable distance away while Hermione went closer. Hermione knew that Dumbledore was still technically immortal until they were able to destroy Fawkes somehow which was why she wanted to leave him incapacitated.

"S-s..." Hermione got even closer, but was wary of the arch that was only a few feet away. She saw firsthand how the Veil affected humans and didn't want to be a part of that. Maybe she should just toss Dumbledore in?

Tempting.

"Professor?" Hermione said trying to keep all emotion out from it. Dumbledore didn't know how much she knew about him and about the things he had been doing, but she tried to sound civil to get whatever information she still could about the real enemy she was after.

A hand shot out and grabbed Hermione's robes tightly. The hand pulled her close, their faces only a few inches away.

"S-s-surprise."

The word came the same time as a large sound echoed through the room. A sound Hermione had only heard when she was back in the muggle world watching television. A sound she heard when watching those action movies.

A sound of a gunshot.

Luna stood behind watching as Hermione tried to listen to what the ex-Headmaster was trying to say. She really didn't like this place, there were no mythical creatures in here, as if they were trying to avoid being near this place. She couldn't blame them, she wanted to get out of her as soon as possible.

There's something here. It's familiar. Volana spoke, she could feel something, but could not pinpoint the source.

Luna looked around the area, but aside from the seemingly endless flutter of the Veil, there was nothing else that was moving.

To your right. Luna followed Volana's directions, but still couldn't see anything...

...until a small tube-like thing came out of thin air.

It is the Cloak of Invisibility. Volana could sense its familiarity due to being somewhat a part of the Deathly Hallows.

Luna's eyes widened as she recognized what it was from Advanced Muggle Studies.

A gun.

It was aimed right at Hermione's back and Luna knew a Protego wouldn't be cast in time nor would it be enough to block it.

Luna felt Volana quickly exit her body, trying to intercept the new enemy under the cloak, but it wouldn't be in time. The shade was fast, but it still wouldn't be fast enough.

"S-s-surprise."

Luna's body just reacted she pushed Hermione out of the way and simultaneously launched a Stupefy at the hidden shooter.

It sounded like the crack of an apparition, but slightly different and along with the sound came the pain that blossomed around her stomach.

Luna could vaguely hear someone shouting her name, but it was all muffled.

It really hurts.

She brought up a hand to try and stop the pain and looked towards where she was shot only to see her blood everywhere.

Luna tried to say something, to call out for help, but only a cough of blood came out. Her legs suddenly couldn't support her anymore as she felt herself falling backwards, stumbling over something she couldn't see.

All of a sudden the pain disappeared, even the voices she had heard mutely calling out for her disappeared as well.

Luna didn't even feel herself hit the ground as she closed her eyes.

Ministry Level 2 - Department of Magical Law Enforcement - Auror Offices

Ministry Level 9 - Department of Mysteries - Death Chamber/Veil, Brain Room, Time Room, Love Chamber, Hall of Prophecy and Space Chamber

If anyone wants more info on the Ministry floors/levels, it's all in the Wikia.

AN: The reason Voldemort and Dumbledore both have 'dead' eyes are because their souls were fractured way too much making them susceptible to being controlled. Hermione will still ask about this so there'll be more explanation.

Battle with Dumbledore was fairly quick since he was just what was essentially left of him. Hermione initiated a spell collision so there was no escape or running around. She's at full power this time and could defend herself against a spell collision even if it detonates due to outside interference.

I doubt a regular Protego could deflect or block bullets. Maybe an Enhance/Maxima one could or Protego spells made by very powerful wizards, but Luna's wouldn't hold even if she did cast the Protego in time.

Next chapter will answer all questions. Five thousand years? Morgan le Fay? Tiny hint that doesn't really help, Hermione and Bellatrix weren't the only anomalies. Hopefully, the next chapter doesn't turn into a pure Q & A. I'll see what I can come up with, time to finally place all the cards on the table.