AN: Welcome back everyone, and to another chapter. I enjoyed writing this chaper alot and being able to play with the wizarding world as well as add my own little creative spin in there too. I hope you like it and feel free to leave a review or a favourite/follow!
Chapter 20- Libraries and Friendship
-MP-
After a long day out in the field, Harry was returning to the Auror office to make a start in large piles of paperwork that would be waiting for him. He was walking side by side with his second in command Hayden Oleander, he was tall like Harry with long brown hair tied back loosely around the nape of his neck and sharp grey eyes. Harry's team had just finished a tracking mission on an illegal potioneer who had been spotted in East London.
Hayden maintained his stride with Harry and was twirling a toothpick in the corner of his mouth, he glanced at his boss as he puzzled over the day's events. "Harry, I reckon we should trail that ferrety one some more, I'm sure it could lead us somewhere interesting." He said, the cockney lilt in his voice evident.
The two men turned left and headed down the darkened corridor, the green tiled walls emphasising the effect as they approached the dark polished wooden doors of the Auror office. "Hmm…" Harry pondered aloud.
When they arrived at the doors, Harry pushed them open and headed straight over to their shared desk area. "Perhaps Hayden, he certainly seemed suspicious hanging around that apothecary's house. Let's process this evidence and see where it leads us next, yeah?"
Hayden nodded, and took the evidence bag from his boss. Hayden had already started to walk over to his desk when Harry called after him. "Keep on it though Hayden and keep me in the loop." He nodded and carried on with the rest of his work.
Meanwhile, Harry sat at his own desk and took out the forms, quill and ink he would need for the rest of the afternoon. First of the many pieces of paperwork was to recount the events of the morning which Harry began to work on immediately, he flicked his wand at the radio to provide some background noise and tried to get into the groove.
His hand clutching the dark brown eagle quill traced over the parchment as he described the investigation so far.
Potter Team were to lead an intelligence investigation on the illegal potioneer group that had been spotted in East London. Lead Auror Potter and his four person unit to carry out a 'listening in' operation at Selwyn Apothecary on Imarey Road. Objectives include watching who enters and leaves the property….
The more he worked, and wrote, the more his mind wandered off into a daydream. As ever, in the last few months something else was on his mind and today was no exception. He was doing enough to get by and not flag up as underperforming to his superiors, but not enough to match his usual standards but yet again he found himself looking up from his paperwork. Those in the office around him were quietly working away at their own desk, so he placed the quill back down and stretched his arms out in front of him.
It seemed to be as good of an opportunity as ever to sneak to the research libraries and see what he could find out about memory based magic, he was aware of the basics of obviating memories, manipulation and retrieval. All skills he needed as part of his work as an Auror, but he didn't know enough. Now, the memory cabinet that Minerva had left him had him yearning to find out more.
He tucked away the paperwork, quill and ink into one of his desk draws and murmured a locking spell to seal it away. Noticing that none of his managers or Kingsley were about, he slipped out of the Auror office and into the main corridor.
He knew there were extensive research libraries in the lowest floors of the Ministry, it was an expansive collection of various published research by witches and wizards across the world. With additional restricted sections on dark arts, forbidden magic, and dangerous artefacts to just name a few. Harry was interested in memory magic so he hoped it wouldn't overlap too much with the less accessible collections.
Harry walked back to the elevators and stepped inside to join another wizard who was reading the paper in the corner, he pressed the button to level nine which he would then follow to access level ten. The area in which the department of mysteries is found and also his destination, the research libraries.
The elevator doors creaked open slowly to reveal the thin narrow corridor which he knew led to the department of mysteries, he followed it downwards passing various entryways until he reached the last doorways, which were two identical doors one to the left and the other right. Left to the department of mysteries and right to the library, it struck him that he hadn't been down here since losing Sirius. There had been no reason to ever return to this far down corner of the ministry, he paused for a moment whilst his stomach churned uncomfortably twisted by an all too familiar pang of grief. Once he had acknowledged and swallowed harshly to push the feeling away, he looked up and forced his footsteps further down the right hand corridor.
He was greeted by a single black door with a silver metal plate which spelled out 'Department of Research and Artefact Preservation', after surveying it for a moment he pushed open the door and let himself inside.
The room seemed to have very little natural light penetrating it, and what light did make its way in illuminated the numerous tall, wooden bookshelves crammed with volume upon volume of books. Each bookshelf was given a topic, and helpfully alphabetised in case you were trying to find something specific.
He noticed the room was circular, and the bookshelves were positioned vertically around the inner podium, looking as if designed by a child's drawing of the sun. At the end of each of these bookshelves was a door to various restricted sections, all equally as black and dusty as the first he encountered with the same silver plaque affixed to it.
Finally, Harry laid his eyes on the creature at the desk in the middle of the room. Not quite a goblin or a house elf, this creature was somewhat taller and willowy. The creature wore a beige linen long sleeve top tucked into loose brown leather trousers, which seemed to be accentuated by the soft glow they emitted. The final touch was the flowing blonde hair that draped either side of their faces. He walked down to the desk, the creature was writing in a large record keeping book but was doing so in a meticulously slow and painstaking manner.
Harry didn't want to interrupt but he couldn't be away from his office for too long, after staring at the creature he decided to cough to try and gain its attention. Then slowly, it placed their quill down causing Harry to notice the four long fingers which made up their hand, before it looked up to meet the eyes of the wizard before it.
The creature had a thin face, but delicate features which all but highlighted their striking eyes. They were larger than a wizards, but that was contrasted starkly by their pale pink hue.
"Hello, Mr Potter and welcome to the Department of Research and Artefact Preservation." The voice echoed around the room, even though it had a distinct ethereal quality like speaking through a dream.
"Hello…" Harry stammered in reply. He intended to ask the creature for some advice regarding his research endeavours but his mind felt quite befuddled by the creature before him.
The creature seemed to sense this and without moving a muscle, spoke again with the same timbre as before. "Mr Potter, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Telantes Ithuriel, one of the last remaining Library Elven. My job is to curate, maintain and preserve the works you see here."
Harry blinked several times, he shocked himself by working at the Ministry for so long and not knowing about the Library Elven that worked in its lowest depths.
"I am sorry, Telantes. I haven't heard of your kind before." Harry replied, feeling himself cringe before even finishing his sentence.
The elf pursed her lips at him. "That is not a surprise to my kind Mr Potter. We have been here long before those at the Ministry, yet most wizards do not care to learn about us. Now, how may we help you today?"
Harry shook his head trying to regain control of his senses, realising he had somehow lost focus of why he had come down to the libraries in the first place.
"Actually Telantes, I have come to conduct some research into memory magic. I have found myself in need of deepening my knowledge on the subject."
The Elven surveyed Harry slowly and carefully, Harry felt wise to have tried to appear more studious than he was naturally in hope to gain the Elven's favour. There was a momentary frown in his direction before she spoke for a final time.
"It appears that memory magic has been a popular subject these past few days. Our collective general access words are over there on your right, I am afraid more specialist papers are within the restricted section of the same name, and no I cannot permit you to enter without permission from the Obliviator Squad Department Head."
Telantes gestured to Harry's right, and he quickly said his goodbyes as he followed her lead. As he started to walk the Elven returned to their record book, and he for a second thought he saw the slow inscription of his own name before he walked away.
He quickly found the rows of shelves which Telantes had referred to, and there seemed to be a hundred volumes pertaining to different areas of memory magic from 'Can You Forget Me Not' all the way to 'Removals and Banishment of the Unwanted Memory Recollection'. He sighed heavily and walked slowly down the row, letting his eyes land on each spine to read their titles.
A book titled 'The Various Memory Experimentations of the Wizarding World and Beyond' caught his eye, he pulled it off the shelf causing dust to billow up around him. He stepped back, coughing loudly as he tried to cover his mouth and nose from breathing in any more.
He opened the book and it seemed to contain descriptions of various pieces of memory magic, so he decided to walk to the centre podium and take a seat at one of the numerous tables.
As he glanced around, he noticed a familiar face. Their bushy brown hair made them recognisable to him from over a mile away, it struck him as curious that he would find Hermione down here instead of attending to her work with the Minister.
Harry held the book tightly in his hand, and strode over to Hermione's table. He plonked himself into the chair opposite cheerly, and suddenly enough to make her nearly jump off her chair in surprise.
"Harry!" She exclaimed, her face riddled with fear and shock upon seeing her friend. "Harry?" She repeated, almost beside herself.
"That's me." He bantered back, and with a thud he put down the book and opened it to look over the contents page.
Hermione was silent for a moment, Harry would sneak a look at her face so he could delight in her dumbfounded expression for as long as it lasted.
"What are you doing here?" She said in hushed tones as to not alert the other library patrons, who had already ushered for quiet due to the pair's antics.
Before he answered, as she often did, she flicked her gaze to the book in front of him and sighed heavily. "Minerva?" she added.
"Well it would take a particularly good reason to make me come down to the library."
She nodded in agreement, when a thought struck her. "Have you ever been down here before?" Her eyebrow arched in a quizzical sort of amusement.
Harry squirmed on his chair. "Well.. no.. not really." He looked away from her momentarily before he tried to stifle a slight giggle at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Okay Hermione. No…. never."
Hermione laughed again, it was an answer she already knew. She shook her head before returning her eyes to the book she had decided to read, aiming to sit in companionable silence with her best friend.
However, that was not because Harry was itching to know why Hermione had made a trip down here in the middle of the workday just as he had done so himself. "The real question is…. What's brought you down here?"
Her hand rested on the page, the paper was dark, aged parchment which struck Harry as odd. "I had some free time." She said simply.
He frowned at her, her work was busy one and he remembered distinctly from her complaints that she hadn't had much time recently for personal pursuits. "Well that's bullshit, so what really brought you down here."
Hermione quickly relented and pushed the book away from herself. "If you must know it was you that brought me down here… well Minerva really, but it's all the same."
Harry chuckled. "Well… we have something in common then." He turned his page, still undecided on where to start. "Did you find anything interesting?"
She gave him a suddenly serious look, her brown eyes a swirl of warmth and intelligence. "I don't want to get your hopes up Harry, that's why I didn't tell you that I have started to look into more niche types of memory magic."
"I'm not getting my hopes up, Hermione." Harry sighed. "I just want to know what you've looked at so I don't waste my time going over the same thing."
She cracked her neck, and rolled her shoulders. The stiffness had started to settle in them already, because unbeknownst to Harry she had already spent several hours, days even, researching the topic.
"It seems that wizards have spent many years experimenting and researching the various aspects of memory. It goes far beyond obliviation, tampering or even retrieval. It seems that memory is behaves like a webbed thread in the mind, which if the wizard was skilled enough could perform any sort of twisted magic they desired."
Harry grimaced, but placed his focus on listening to his friend.
"The trouble is I am not sure what, if anything, has happened to Minerva's memory. Of course, we know all that her long term memories are gone but there still seems to be traces that seep through. I even looked into her St Mungo's chart, but I'm finding it really difficult in choosing a place to start with further research."
"Well, are there any books on memory loss? Maybe we should start there?" Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he spoke.
Hermione shook her head dismissing the idea. "I already looked into it, and that topic seems to be predominately about elderly wizards who have memory issues."
"You don't think that Minerva's case is just age?" Harry asked.
"Of course not, Harry." She flashed him a confused look. "Even elderly wizards don't wake up one day with all their memories seemingly vanished into thin air."
"I even looked into some rare side effects from Dragon Pox but that was a dead end too, whilst yes, I found some bits on seizures but again nothing like the magnitude which Minerva is experiencing."
Harry closed his books and slumped back into his chair, the feeling of defeat started to simmer in his belly. Perhaps, the mystery of Minerva's memory was a lost cause after all.
"However… I did check out a book earlier in the week which documented some old alchemical magic which could affect the mind. Only the Obliviator Squad or Unspeakables have access to the full edition but I am starting to think perhaps something was done to Minerva, rather than the side effects of an illness."
He looked across at Hermione, who had fixed a curious and slightly worried expression upon him. He rubbed the scruff of his stubble and began to whisper as he realised the rest of the conversation shouldn't be overheard.
"But that type of dangerous or dark memory magic isn't just taught to anybody. There are specific clearances and usually only the higher up members get permission. I don't think anybody has been granted such permission since Voldemort."
"Exactly." Hermione stated, her whisper taking on an assertive tone. "I'm thinking if something in Minerva's mind was tampered with then there would be evidence, but it won't necessarily show up on your typical examination."
Harry leaned back into his chair, his arms folded across his chest. "Does this mean?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I think it's time I had a look at Minerva myself…"
Harry couldn't help but notice that Hermione's whisper grew smaller as her words trailed off, he knew that Hermione had been putting off seeing Minerva since she fell ill. He sympathised with the discomfort seeing your mentor in such a fragile state brought, so he reached across and squeezed Hermione's hand gently. "I understand why it's been difficult for you to see her, but I would really appreciate it if you could do this."
She bit her lip as she mulled over her thoughts, she knew what she had to do, what was right. But even she couldn't deny the sense of trepidation she felt. She nodded slowly again. "You're right. Let's do it tomorrow." She said, as she forced her voice to sound lighter except it was obvious to Harry that in reality she was trying to blink away the tears in her eyes.
-MP-
