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Hermione looked around the room with a deep foreboding. The past couple of days had her running in circles. That was until she realized that was part of the design. It started two days ago… no, that wasn't true. Actually, when she thought about it, it started the day she first set foot into the wizarding world. That was the day she thought the thought, "Why was the wizarding world hidden from the muggle world?" For years that thought kept reappearing into her mind but whenever she decided to research it something that seemed so much more important would pop up and distract her. This time she would dedicate herself to finding the answer no matter what.
/Flashback/
A couple of days ago she came down to the hall of records in search of a document. After searching most of the morning, she found nothing. She decided to do something that normally she didn't like doing when it came to scrolls. Summoning could be considered an art form especially when delicate or fragile items are involved.
The chances of destroying the very thing being call up were enormous. But Hermione was frustrated she was determined to use the accio spell to summon the 'division document'. However, this did not produce the results she expected. She tried different document names but nothing happened. At around three o'clock she had an idea; she called out for the 'first document' and a scroll came to her hand. She unrolled and discovered that the parchment was nothing more than the first magical land deals made in England. An hour and a half past, as she racked her brains trying to figure out where the document might be, knowing the hall of records would be closing soon. She then had one last idea she called out "accio document zero".
She heard a click. Or maybe it was a clunk, she wasn't quite sure. The noise came from the wall behind a tapestry of a troll laughing wildly with its foot caught in a snare while a unicorn with a peacock feather in its mouth tickled its foot. Hermione moved closer to the wall and moved the tapestry to the side where she found an impression in the wall. She immediately recognized.
It was the impression of the Ministry Seal the one only the Minister of Magic possesses. It was the seal that rests on Minister Kingsley Shacklebolts desk.
She knew that she would need the seal if she were to get any closer to the truth. Hermione headed for home so that she could plan the next days events. She now knew that whatever was hidden behind the wall was something that wasn't meant to be found which usually means danger.
The next morning Hermione had a plan, one that would get her through to the other side of the wall.
She rose out of bed earlier than the birds. After breakfast, she jotted down a note to Harry asking him to meet her at her house at ten PM. She then grabbed her beaded bag and went out to the garden to find a nice size rock which she transfigured into a copy of the Ministry Seal. She then headed for the Ministry early in hopes to get there before the Minister did. Since she didn't have an appointment, it was her hope that she could get in to speak with Kingsley before he started his day.
When she got there, she found that she was in luck. The waiting room was empty as Kingsley's receptionist was just unlocking the doors. Kingsley himself was walking down the hall to his office. Upon seeing Hermione, Kingsley smiles and says.
"Hermione, it's good to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure of greeting the pretty one of the golden trio?"
"Kingsley, please." Hermione began with a smile. "Stop trying to make me blush. I just needed to hand in my monthly auror reports and I needed to do it early as I have a busy day ahead of me which is promising to turn into a busy week."
"You could have just left that with my receptionist." Kingsley said as they entered his office.
"Yes, but there are a couple of things I need to clarify before they are filed." She replied.
"Go on," He said as he tended to the fireplace for the days work. This was Hermione's chance. She almost couldn't believe it had come this soon. The Ministry Seal lay before her on the desk and the Minister had his back to her. She quickly made the switch. It was so quick it was surreal while also which prompted flashbacks of switching Umbridge's horcrux locket for the fake one. She quickly dispelled those thoughts to continue her conversation.
"It's just that Harry had gotten information that death eaters are using the sewers of Cardiff as either a base or a get away rout. There were rumors that they were even raising illegal magical beasts. After Harry's initial search he asked me to give it a more through one since he would be busy with other important affairs. After three days of looking, I can report that there aren't any sign of death eater or magical beasts ever being present in the sewers of Cardiff."
"He shouldn't have had you do such a filthy job by yourself." Minister Shacklebolt commented.
"Harry knows I can take care of myself. When he told me about it; I volunteered. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm not willing to tromp around the sewers of Cardiff." Hermione replied.
Kingsley smirked at her moxie. "Is there anything else?"
"No, that's it and I really need to get going if I'm going to get to the library to meet the delivery men who are bringing the new books. We should get together one day for lunch. I have some new ideas for some legislation I want your opinion on."
"Floo me to compare schedules." Kingsley suggested with a smile.
"I will. See you later Minister."
"Goodbye."
/End Flashback/
The hall of records seemed eerily quiet now. Hermione could feel a deep foreboding coming from the wall the moment she drew back the tapestry. She knew that it must be an enchantment but this didn't mean that danger was non-existent.
She pressed the seal to the wall. She heard a mechanical grinding as if several old and huge gears were turning away unlocking a multitude of locks.
When it was over nothing happened, at first, but then the visibly seamless wall twisted away into four large jagged pieces. However it did not crack, it was as if the seams (as jagged as they were) had always been there just not visible to the naked eye. As the wall disappeared a great rush of stale air hit Hermione. It was as if a thousand years of dust came out with it causing her to violently sneeze almost uncontrollably before she could proceed. Hermione knew that no one was down here in many, many decades. She'd wagered that the most recent ministers in living memory had never known about this secret passage.
The foreboding was stronger now as she walked down the rickety old staircase covered in inches of dust. Slowly she made her way down the ancient steps while holding her wand in front as she spoke the word lumus. The darkness dispelled as she proceeded onward.
The stairs wobbled and creaked with a eerie mystery. She didn't know if they would support her weight much longer. With that thought, suddenly, a part of the railing fell away. Hermione's heart skipped a few beats. She watched it fall into the darkness but never heard it hit the ground. However, the movement stirred up enough dust to threaten sneezing episode. She didn't think the staircase could handle her body jerking caused by sneezing. So, she conjured a bubblehead charm to breathe clean air. She continued her journey down the endless staircase once more.
It seemed that the further down she went the more decayed the stairs became. She then got the impression that she could go no further. She looked at the next ten steps. The sight of them scared her. She looked back to the way she came and found that huge chunks of the stair case had just vanished six or seven steps at a time. This made her insides tremble. So, she decided to take a different route. She carefully pulled open her beaded bag and just as carefully waved her wand so as to not make any undesired vibrations as she said accio morning star. Part of a broom handle popped out of the bag. Quick and carefully she pulled it out of the bag in its entirety.
She hated flying for the same reason she hated being on these stairs. She was afraid of high places with very little in the way of support. She didn't mind standing on one of the towers of Hogwarts. And she was only a little uncomfortable on jet plains; but betting you life by putting a stick under your arse and riding it to the ground was not something a logical person thinks of as sane.
Just as she kicked off the stair case it crumbled. It fell away without any crashing sound -none of its pieces seemed to hit the ground. She continued to fly down in a spiral motion, descending further and further down into the darkness. It was another minute or so before she finally reached the ground floor.
When she touched down on it, torches that hung on the wall magically lit with a loud exploding pop this startled her. She put the broomstick back in her bag as she looked back at the debris of the staircase. She couldn't find any evidence that the pieces ever fell, even though it was directly under her where she stood. Hermione surmised that the stairs were magically designed to fall apart after a certain amount of time but the look and feel of the stairs would make anyone not 'in the know' slow down. Now she looked over her shoulder to see before her a small cavern while at the other end stood an archway heading into an enormous chamber. The chamber had very vaulted ceilings. The walls were made of large white bricks. There wasn't any floor. Instead the room was filled with water, the depth of which she couldn't fathom. On top of the water there were huge lilies.
The lily pads were big but the flowers were of mammoth proportions. Upon entering the room, she stood on a large rectangular stone that extended about ten feet in front of her. It was fifteen feet wide. The same was present at the archway to the next chamber. The lily pads didn't seem to grow on either side of the granite stones. At the end of the stone blocks was a wooden boardwalk bridging the two archways together. To get to the other side all she would have to do would be to cross the chamber via the boardwalk.
Something wasn't right. It just seemed too simple. She knew how these kinds of things worked. This wasn't like taking a look around your granddad's basement. She was looking for document zero. This was the most important document in the wizarding world. A document someone has taken great pains to keep hidden. There should be a challenge or a monster, like a dragon, guarding the way, she thought.
She took another look around, this time more carefully, paying special attention to all the details. But nothing seemed to be off. Magic was very good at concealing booby-traps. She turned back to the cavern and found a nice sized bolder. She transfigured it. When the spell was finished, the stone became a Labrador retriever.
Hermione waved her wand magically animating the faux canine across the wooden boardwalk. She noticed that with each step the dog took the weight of its steps on the boardwalk caused ripples across the water. The dog didn't even get a quarter of the way across when a large vine came out of the water and wrapped itself around the false animal. The fierce vine pulled it under the water with a tremendous splash.
"Oh good heavens!" She thought. "Those water plants were 'Dunker Lilies'. This is one time I wish Neville were here."
Hermione was the top of her class at all of her subjects in school but Neville Longbottom had a real knack for herbology. He vigorously studied all manors of plants. He was going to be Professor Sprout's replacement in a couple of years, once he finished his studies.
She tried to recall what she could remember about Dunker Lilies. They pulled all prey down into the depths drowning it swiftly. Eventually this would become the fertilizer for the plants roots. She had to figure out a way around all this.
She then conjured a bird up from a pebble. It quickly tried to fly across to the other side about ten feet above the surface of the water. Immediately a vine shot out of the water like a whip, hitting it out of the air with a great resounding crack. The bird plunked into the water. It sank to the bottom as it reverted back to being a stone.
She then conjured a frog out of another stone and it went onto the lily pads. No sooner did it jump to the center of the first pad, did the pad immediately closed up around it and submerged the frog to root level. Now Hermione was frustrated. She remembered that there were some creatures that could get by Dunker Lilies because of something they did while other creatures couldn't. But what was it?
"Oh good heavens! Now, I remember! How stupid could I be! They swim."
She said aloud to the empty room but this theory needed to be tested.
So, she took another rock and conjured up a moon-bright fish. She could have chosen any number of fish but this was a fish similar in appearance to a goldfish. The best part was moon-bright fish magically glowed. This allowed her to watch it progress as it moved around the plants. It even left a neon like glowing trail that traced its journey through the water. The fish swam and swam, brushing against the plant steams, pads, and flowers. She even sent it down to poke around at its roots. The fish was unharmed by the plant. Hermione now knew she would have to swim to get across to the other side.
"That must be why the plants don't grow on either side of the stone blocks because they served as entry and exit points." She thought knowing she had her bubblehead charm in place. It was just a matter of making her clothes magically repel water while her beaded bag had already been prepared for that ages ago during the days on the run from Voldemort. With the spell complete, she moved to the waters edge and quickly jumped in. It was a weird experience swimming in water repellent cloths. Her body was wet but her cloths felt soft and dry next to her skin. Even though she was under water, she made her way swimming between the lily stems. She knew she was safe but still nervous.
Once she reached the other side, she got out of the water wishing she had a towel for her hair. As she neared the next chamber, she realized it wasn't a chamber, at all, but another cavern just about the same dimensions as the one before. There were several large boulders about the size of cars and smaller. There was an archway on the other side directly across from her.
Again, this was too easy. There was something off. What was it? She carefully looked the cavern over and noticed a large tube protruding from the ceiling. It seemed to act as a type of shoot for something to be dropped down. She looked directly under it to find a large splotch of red. It was most definitely blood from something. This meant that someone from above was feeding something down here. There was something alive and carnivorous down here with her.
She scanned the area extra carefully and listened hard till she finally found something that made her heart freeze in fear. She had heard them described as a hairy five legged table with a face. They were called a Quintaped but were more commonly called a Hairy MacBoon.
There was a legend that said they were once a human family known as the 'MacBoons' and that they were transfigured into a these beasts. Be that as it may, if it were true, it had happened generations ago. These beasts know nothing else but being creatures, they can never be human again.
Hermione's mind boggled at the stupidity of a ministry that even tried to capture, let alone transport an un-transportable known wizard killer with a taste for human flesh. To bring it all the way from its natural habitat (which was a hidden island off the north tip of Scotland) was ludicrous; these things were suppose to be magic resistant. She could only imagine the lives lost on both sides trying to bring one in alive. Now, she was going to be facing the monster… alone.
But maybe she didn't have to; there were a lot of huge boulders around the chamber. Perhaps, she could sneak across the cavern without it noticing her. So, she began running from boulder to boulder praying it wouldn't find her. It was slow going. She became more and more frightened the farther she went into the chamber. She noticed the MacBoon sniffing the air wildly. She knew that it had picked up her sent. What was she to do now? She thought. In a mental frenzy she came up with decoys. She began turning several boulders into human forms. Unconsciously, she had made them into several students of Dumbledore's army. She was slightly stunned by this realization but gathered her wits and sent the transfigured stones to do their job.
Colin and Ginny ran to the boulders closer to where Hermione came in. The MacBoon saw them and it was instantly upon them. It jumped up onto a boulder they were hiding behind. It leaped down onto Colin. Pounding its clubbed feet into him pulverizing Colin.
When Colin no longer looked like Colin the transfiguration broke and the MacBoon found itself beating upon a boulder. Confused as to where it's pray had gone and how it got away; it looked around searching for blood. Not finding Colin it went after Ginny who was standing a few yards away looking frightened and trying to hide.
The MacBoon attacked viciously. The beating was just as brutal as the last. By this time, Hermione made it just over half way through the chamber. She looked back to find the creature finishing off the faux Ginny.
It was looking around for other prey. Hermione aimed to please as she sent Neville to stand up to it.
The MacBoon charged as Hermione ran for the next chamber. The creature came down on Neville hard, destroying him instantly. Rock dust and debris scattered everywhere. The MacBoon grew extremely angry at busting up rocks. They began to hurt.
Finally, it spotted Hermione and charged after her. Hermione sent Luna to stand in front of it as a decoy while she made a mad dash to the next chamber.
The MacBoon ran up to Luna and started sniffing the faux person. Hermione made her way to the next archway only to find that it was an illusion. She almost screamed in frustration and terror. This whole chamber had been a diversionary trap.
She now had to get back to the other side and it seemed the Macboon was working out the problems she presented it with. It finished sniffing Luna and by passed her to continue on to Hermione. Hermione quickly moved Cho to intercept. Cho blocked its way. It swung an appendage at Cho. She dodged the blow. Cho kicked a stone at the creature and the creature attacked her. Cho stayed out of its reach as instructed by Hermione's magic. This gave Hermione a chance to run as fast as she could. Half way across the chamber, she heard the MacBoon galloping up behind her. She knew the false Cho didn't make it.
Just then, the creature crashed off to the side of her, the faux Luna on top of it. Hermione stood there stunned. Then something strange happened the false Luna looked up at her while still wrestling with the beast and mouthed the word 'RUN' as if she were yelling it. Transfigured copies couldn't talk but they shouldn't be able to communicate at all either. To make something this sentient would take some kind of potion involving a day of magic. She darted to the archway, and then dove into the water. She stayed under the pool for a few minutes while using the bubble head charm to catch her breath.
As she collected her wits; her eyes looked to the glowing trials of the moon-bright fish. This whole watery environment was calming to her, allowing her stress levels to melt away. She watched the neon like trails float past her. She noticed that they were somewhat wider to the right of her as they passed by her. "There's a current down here." she thought. She watched as the trail went through a patch of lilies and found that there was an underwater passage. She swam several yards into the passage before it began to widen out. There seemed to be light coming from above, she followed it and slowly surfaced. She looked for any immediate, signs of danger.
The cavern ceiling and walls glowed. She could think of half a dozen magical creatures that glowed like this but felt in this case that the glow was nothing more than phosphorescent minerals or fungi. She made her way to shore. There stood a carved fountain on a pedestal in the center of the cavern. She walked up to it. She noticed a plain slab of unpolished marble making up its center on a forty-five degree angle. There were groves on either side of the slab which allowed the water to flow into a basin the slab rested upon.
Upon further examination she found the imprint of the Ministry Seal upon the carved fountain. She dug into her beaded bag and pulled out the ministry seal and placed it where it needed to go. The fountain came to life!
The water flowed down both sides of the slab until the basin was full.
What Hermione didn't expect was that the water then flowed up the forty-five degree angle of the slab and stranger yet the water seemed to generate symbols she didn't recognize. Those symbols were part of what looked like words and the words were part of paragraphs of some kind of information that blazed by as living, moving liquid.
"That's it! It's a document. This is 'document zero'!" She thought excitedly. Then her shoulders slumped. "Without being able to read the language this whole adventure is actually kind of anticlimactic." She said aloud.
She watched as the document came to its end. At that point, the water coming down the grooves changed color, filling the basin with a swirl of black, green, and red liquids. As they rose up the slab, the colors separated again to become what Hermione recognized as signatures; one in black written in the same language as the rest of the document; one in green written it a different language, and the third written in English. It was the signature of the first Minister, Edward Bartholomew Grace which was written in red. Hermione surmised this was blood. She suspected all the signatures were written in it. She stood there wondering what to do; she could make the water flow again but she didn't know the language. She didn't even know it's origin to do a translation spell.
She continued to think over the problem for a few minutes when it hit her. She almost forgot about it. She packed it away ages ago. She pulled out her beaded bag. She waved her wand saying accio camera. She knew this camera would take moving pictures because this was a wizarding camera. She touched the Ministry Seal to the fountain as it started again. She proceeded to take more than one photo with different filters to make sure she got the entire document. Once she was done, the camera was packed away as she started to think about which translation book to pull from her library at home.
After she sealed up the bag she dove in the water making her way through the underwater passage; through the Dunker Lilies; and to the archway of the cavern where the stairs had crumbled.
She got out of the water to hear the MacBoon making an extremely angry noise. The sound was a cross between a howler monkey and a black bear. She looked back to see it pacing and watching her. It dragged one of it clubbed feet against the dirt like a bull. But ultimately, it wandered off to the back of it cavern. Hermione tuned and walked into the other cavern.
Just as she crossed the threshold of the archway she began to hear galloping. She turned to see the MacBoon running from across the other cavern. It was charging at full speed by the time it got to the stone block on one side of the Dunker lily chamber. When it got to the rocks edge it used its powerful legs to push itself high into the air. As it sailed through the air, several vines shot out of the water and whipped the Macboon. Unlike the bird, this did nothing to change its course. It only agitated it more.
Hermione ran for cover by some boulders. The MacBoon came out of the chamber hyper-mad. It scanned the entire room but didn't see her. Knowing that the creature knew what she looked like; Hermione transfigured three copies of herself from the remaining boulders. As soon as one of the copies came out of hiding, the MacBoon was on it. When it realized it was beating another rock, its anger reached a heated frenzy.
As the other copies came out Hermione took a risk and came out into the open to confuse the creature. The creature ran up to one of the copies but instead of attacking it, it sniffed it. Hermione knew she was in trouble at this point. The beast was sniffing the air around the cavern and it was narrowing in on her location. The constant sniffing gave her an idea. She waved her wand saying accio dust. It was then that a hundred years of dust came out of every nook and cranny in the cavern.
Hermione guided it all to the MacBoon. The creature began to violently sneeze but this didn't distract it enough. It knew which form in the room was using magic, guiding the copies, and throwing dust in its face. Now, it was making its way towards her. Hermione panicked. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't want to kill it. There was only one thing left that came to mind so she raised her wand and said Lacarnum Inflamarae in hopes of singing its fur. This might cause the beast to back off.
But it was much worse than that, she hadn't thought about the dust when she threw the spell. The swirl of dust exploded into flames! A reaction similar to grain silos exploding as the dry grain dust ignites with the smallest sparks of static electricity.
The explosion blew both Hermione and the creature back to opposite ends of the cavern. The MacBoon took the brunt of the blast. It was knocked unconscious. Hermione realized this, quickly checked herself, and put out her smoldering cloths by throwing dirt on them.
Before the beast could recover she grabbed her bag then summoned a Nimbus 2001. Quickly, she made her getaway up the shaft towards the entrance way. She was at the top in less than a minute. Once she arrived in the records room she made her escape. She now found herself in her living room. She was about to sit down to collect herself when there was a pounding at the front door.
"Hermione I know you're in there; I can hear you moving around. Now, let me in so you can explain yourself about this rutty note you left me." A familiar voice laced with worry said.
She smirked and shook her head. He was early. She'd almost forgotten about Harry's hero complex. She opened the door. At first, she didn't understand the shocked look on his face but then realized how she must look at the moment, wet hair, and clothes singed, dirty and smelly.
Harry stood there for a few more seconds before pulling out his wand. He pointed at her and said "Aguamenti." a jet of water shot out of his wand hitting her jumper. Hermione was confused as she looked at Harry and noticed he looked confused.
"Hermione your cloths are smoldering and I can't put them out!"
The realization hit her that many of the charms she had on her were still active. She took off the bubblehead charm and removed the water repellent spell so she could then put out the fire. She looked up at Harry sheepishly and then they embraced each other.
"It was so scary' Harry." She said. She then began a conversation that lasted well into the morning hours.
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