Ch. 1: The Dig Site
Hermione rifled through the pile of documents that had begun to build up in her tray and sighed. Ever since the muggles had stumbled on ancient wizarding ruins that had cursed everyone within a ten-mile radius, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, where she worked as an Obliviator, had received cases daily. She had been in the office more than not this week, and she could feel the exhaustion creeping into her bones.
Suddenly a memo flitted through her office door and landed directly in front of her. It unfolded itself neatly and nudged her right hand, urging her to read it. She grabbed it and held it closer, her eyes darting across the words.
Ms. Granger, please meet me immediately on level two in the Office for the Removal of Curses, Jinxes, and Hexes. A matter of great importance relating to the wizarding ruins has arisen and they require our collaboration with it.
~ Rory Davis
She stared at the letter, curiosity welling up inside of her. She often got sent out to places where muggles had seen magic and needed their memories removed, but collaborating with another department was almost unheard of unless something major was happening.
ӁӁӁӁӁӁ
"Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement," the lift announced as the doors swung open, revealing a long corridor filled with a bustling crowd of witches and wizards. The corridor was lined with doors, each sporting an etched wooden label that bore the name of the office. Her eyes scanned the labels as she made her way down the corridor, until they fell on the one she wanted. Office for the Reversal of Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes.
She took a deep breath, composing herself before pushing open the door and walking into the room. No amount of deep breaths could have prepared her for what she found in the room.
Mr. Davis, her manager, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic, stood behind a long desk, engaged in a low conversation. They ended it abruptly when she entered. These two she had expected. Mr. Davis was the Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and Shacklebolt, though Minister, took an active role in directing the Aurors.
The two she hadn't expected to see were Harry, who was looking over some case files and glanced up when she entered, and Draco, who was leaning near the door with a bored expression on his face. He regarded her with a look of almost curious fascination as she stepped past him, then the next second it was gone, replaced by a look of boredom again.
"Ah, Miss Granger," Mr. Davis greeted her warmly. He was an amiable middle-aged man, with balding brown hair and dark-rimmed glasses.
"Hello, Sir," Hermione replied.
"Ah, Granger, good to see you. We can begin now," said Kingsley and Hermione could hear the impatience creeping into his voice. "As I'm sure all three of you are aware, an ancient wizarding site has been uncovered and is causing chaos in both the wizarding and the muggle worlds." Hermione nodded. The last week had been complete chaos at the Ministry. It had taken nearly every department working together to smooth over the situation, though now there were the piles of paperwork to sort through.
"I regret to say that this incident is not the only such incident. I just finished speaking to the Muggle Prime Minister and he has mentioned a rather unusual uptick in missing persons cases, murders, and people turning up after hours, sometimes days, of being missing, acting completely barmy."
"What's your point, Minister?" Draco asked, a hint of coolness in his words. He and Kingsley had never gotten along from what she heard.
"My point, Mr. Malfoy, is that we have noticed the very same thing in the wizarding world, an uptick of missing persons reports, murders, but also an uptick in cursed objects, places, and people, both magical and non-magical," Kingsley replied, this time the impatience now blatant in his tone.
"Furthermore, our archaeological teams have found several other sites similar to the ruins that were recently found. I've ordered them to place muggle-repelling charms on the site for the time being, and to not excavate until we know more about what is going on," Kingsley continued.
"Which is where you three come in," Mr. Davis said, gesturing at them.
"Us, Sir?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Ms. Granger. We need your knowledge of how to handle magical accidents and catastrophes," Mr. Davis answered. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you have an aptitude for Ancient Runes, correct?"
"Yes, Sir," she answered. Ancient Runes was a subject she had greatly enjoyed during her years at Hogwarts, and she had continued to study it in her own free time after graduating.
"Excellent. The Minister tells me that some unknown runes were found at the site."
"Unknown runes?" Hermione's eyes lit up at the prospect of the challenge.
"I'm confident in your ability to do this, Ms. Granger," the minister said, regarding her with his tired brown eyes. "I'm also confident in the abilities of Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy. Potter, you've shown dedication and excellence as an auror, and Mr. Malfoy is the ministry's top curse breaker, and has extensive knowledge of the dark arts, which we may need. I'm relieving you three from your regular duties and sending you to investigate these ritual sites together."
Hermione's heart sank. Weeks, possibly months, in the field with Malfoy? That was the last thing she wanted.
"Together" Draco asked, his eyes narrowed. He was obviously having similar thoughts.
"Yes, together," the minister repeated firmly. "I understand you three had a school rivalry. Well, you are not at Hogwarts any longer. I expect you to behave in a professional manner around each other. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir," Hermione answered obediently. Working with Malfoy was the last thing she wanted, but she needed to put aside her personal feelings. The investigation they had been tasked with was too important. More people might continue getting hurt if they didn't get to the bottom of these cursed sites.
Draco and Harry were silent, but they both gave curt nods.
"Tomorrow morning when your shifts start, you will all meet me back here in my office again so we can go over the details of your investigation. You will pack several weeks' worth of clothes and necessities. Understood?" Kingsley ordered.
This time, all three nodded in silence.
ӁӁӁӁӁӁ
Hermione hesitated in front of the Minister's office door, her hands fiddling anxiously with the strap of the duffle bag that was slung across her shoulders. Kingsley had told all three of them to pack several weeks' worth of things. She couldn't help but wonder how long the investigation would go on for.
After the war, the longest time she had spent away from home was maybe a week. Some magical catastrophe had taken place in Scotland, exposing magic to a large number of muggles. Her team had put in long hours to make sure the situation was contained, and that each muggle witness woke up the next morning none the wiser.
She re-arranged her features into a cordial smile and opened the door. Harry was already there. He was discussing something quietly with Kingsley while Mr. Davis poured over several pieces of paper at the desk nearby. All of them glanced up at her as she entered the room.
"Ah, Miss Granger, good," murmured Kingsley, giving her a small nod. He gestured towards a leather chair whose backing was cracked and peeling. She sat down with a murmur of thanks, now suddenly aware of Malfoy's distinct lack of attendance.
"I'm told the Malfoy boy is usually always on time, if not early," Mr. Davis said, his thoughts clearly wandering in the same direction.
"Well, he'd better be here soon," Kingsley said, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. "I will not be kept waiting."
Kingsley didn't have to wait long. Five minutes later, the door swung open and Draco stepped in. He looked disheveled. His platinum blond hair was not styled in its usual rugged tousle. Instead, it hung down in front of his eyes messily, as if he had not brushed it yet. His robes, which were usually pressed and free of wrinkles, were uncharacteristically rumpled.
"Mr. Malfoy, I see you have made it," Kingsley greeted him curtly.
"Apologies, Minister. I had, er, a rather late start," Malfoy said, straightening his robes and running a hand through his messy hair, pushing it out of his eyes.
"So I see," the Minister said coldly. "Nevertheless, all three of you are here, so we can begin now."
Mr. Davis levitated a file folder to each of them. Hermione took hers and began to flip through it curiously.
"Within this file are the locations of each site found thus far, and extensive information about each of them," Mr. Davis instructed them. "Ms. Granger, you have several pages in there dedicated to the unknown runes that we have found at each of these sites." She flipped through the pages until she reached the beginning of the section on runes. Her eyes drank in the strange symbols with fascination.
"As for the sites themselves, you will study them one by one in great detail. Try to find any common links. Do your best to try to discover what type of foul magic lingers in these places. Of course, I expect you all to take careful precautions. Set protection charms on yourself before you enter the sites."
The Minister pulled his wand from his sleeve and conjured a compact beige bag, which he held out to Harry.
"Potter, I'll give you charge of the tent. When we get to the site, I'll help you set it up."
"Forgive me for interrupting, Sir," began Hermione, "but which site will we be going to first? There are several within Great Britain that I see listed here in the file."
"We'll go to the Forest of Bowland first," answered the Minister. "We have an archaeological team there right now that I would like you to coordinate with."
"Thank you, Sir," said Hermione.
"Now, there'll be time for more questions once we get to the site, but our portkey will be activating soon," said Kingsley. "Mr. Davis, do you have it with you?"
From his pocket, Mr. Davis drew a crumpled, stained handkerchief and held it out to Kingsley, who took a corner gingerly.
"Grab a corner, you three," Kingsley ordered, holding the handkerchief out to them. Hermione was the first to move forward, grasping a corner between her thumb and forefinger. Harry was next, taking the corner next to hers. Draco moved last, reluctantly grabbing the corner next to the Minister.
"One minute before activation," announced Mr. Davis, checking his wristwatch.
"Aren't you coming with us, Sir?" Hermione asked him, noticing that he hadn't taken hold of the handkerchief at all.
"I'm afraid not," he answered. "I've got a mountain of paperwork to attend to here. Besides, someone's got to be the liaison for our department while you're gone." He gave her a small smile before checking his wristwatch again. "The portkey's about to activate. Be ready."
No sooner had he said that then everything went black. Hermione felt as if she were being squeezed through a very small hole. She felt pressure on her temples, pushing harder and harder, until—pop! The blackness faded and suddenly she was standing in a forest, trees looming over her.
She dropped her corner of the handkerchief and breathed in the fresh forest air. Above her head, birds chirped in alarm fled to the skies, startled at their sudden arrival.
As Harry and Kingsley began setting up the tent and Draco walked in a circle around their campsite, setting protection and muggle-repelling charms, Hermione observed her surroundings. Sunlight speckled the grass where rays peeked through the branches above. With a pang, she realized that it reminded her of the Forest of Dean.
She had gone to the Forest of Dean with her parents as a child many times. There were so many happy memories in that place. And yet, it was tinged with sadness now too. She had become an Obliviator to try to learn all she could about the spell and potentially reverse its effects on her parents. Now that the war with Voldemort was over, she wanted nothing more than to spend time with them.
But finding a reversal for the memory charm had proven difficult. She had poured through thousands of old charms tomes and had even tried experimenting by creating her own spells. Nothing she tried had worked, but she was determined to continue her research.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts when she heard Harry announcing that the tent was set up. The beige canvas tent had been erected under the shade of an enormous oak tree. It looked tiny in comparison, but Hermione knew it had been enchanted to be more spacious inside, as all wizard tents were.
She glanced back at Malfoy. He was finishing up the last of the protective charms, his lips muttering the last few incantations in the list of spells known by every ministry employee. She decided she would double check them later tonight, just in case. Kingsley had ordered them to put aside their childhood rivalries for this investigation, and she knew he was right. Still, she couldn't bring herself to trust Malfoy completely.
Hermione ducked inside the tent and promptly gasped. It was far bigger than she had thought it would be. She had thought it would be a similar size to the one the Weasleys had borrowed for the Quidditch World Cup, but she was wrong. The kitchen was spacious, with a wood and granite island in the center that functioned as a dining table. The sitting room was near the entrance of the tent, and featured a rich mahogany coffee table surrounded by several chairs and a sofa, all with plump cushions.
Hermione was used to televisions being the center of a sitting room, as they were in muggle sitting rooms. There was no television here. Instead, a radio with a plethora of curious knobs and dials sat on the coffee table.
A bookshelf stood in the far corner, and she made her way over to it excitedly. Her fingers traced the spines of each book on the shelf, her eyes flicking through the titles. They were all written by wizarding authors. History books, books on dark magic, ancient magic, books on wizarding law. Everything they would need to research for this investigation, and then some. She spotted a particular book on ancient magical practices that looked like it would make for some fascinating light reading.
There were three bedrooms, one for each of them, and each bedroom came with its own small bathroom, for which she was grateful. The thought of sharing a bathroom with two boys for months on end made her uncomfortable.
After they each had settled into their rooms and unpacked, Kingsley called them all back into the sitting room. Hermione was the first to emerge from her room. She took a seat on the couch and waited for the other two. Harry made his way out shortly after, greeting Hermione quietly taking a seat in the chair next to her. They waited for a few more minutes before Malfoy emerged, looking slightly more put together than he had earlier. Hermione couldn't help but notice that his platinum blonde hair had been styled into its usual tousle.
When all three of them were seated, Kingsley stood and began to address them.
"Right, now the site that's nearby has recently been discovered is near here, just a mile or so out. We have an archaeological team working there right now. They are still uncovering the site and the artifacts within it. I'd like you all to coordinate with them as you do your investigation. Miss Granger, I would like you to study the runes found at this site and try to translate them over the next few weeks. Potter and Malfoy, you will work with the archaeologists to uncover what kind of ancient dark magic lingers in this site. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir," all three of them answered.
"Good," he said. With that, he beckoned them to follow him out of the tent.
The site was a mile's walk from the campsite, as Kingsley had said it was. By the time they arrived, Hermione's hair was frizzy from the heat and a thin sheen of sweat dotted her forehead. The short walk was worth it though, because the site proved to be uniquely fascinating to Hermione. Several ancient, weathered blocks lay atop a hill, yet these were not the subject of intrigue. Instead, a small entrance at the base of the hill was the subject of study for the archaeological team.
"Muggle archaeologists had only studied the standing stones atop this hill. It wasn't until several weeks ago that some locals uncovered the entrance to the chamber underneath. They ventured inside and were cursed with whatever dark magic lingers in this place, poor souls," Kingsley explained upon seeing Hermione's curious expression.
A healer's tent had been set up near the entrance, and a wizard and a witch were manning it.
"Shacklebolt, good to see you again!" the wizard boomed, shaking Kingsley's hand enthusiastically. "Will you be with us for long, Sir?"
"No, I've got to get back to the Ministry," Kingsley announced. "But I've brought you three of our best and brightest. Artie, this is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy. Harry, Hermione, Draco, I'd like you to meet Artie Goldhorn and Phila Dendron. They're the on-site healers that travel with the archaeological team. They'll cast some preliminary protection spells and wards on you before you enter the site."
After they were done with introductions, Artie and Phila took turns scanning them with their wands and murmuring indistinguishable incantations. Hermione felt a warm, tingling sensation spreading throughout her body and noticed the air around her shimmer ever so slightly.
When the two healers felt they were suitably protected, they ushered them inside. Hermione ducked through the threshold and made her way into the low tunnel that had been carved into the side of the hill. Someone had cast the bluebell flames charm here, she realized. Every few feet, a bright blue flickering ball of flames hung in midair, chasing shadows back to the darkness.
It wasn't long until they reached the main chamber, a circular room with a stone altar in the center. The altar was old and broken in places, but Hermione could still see rust-colored stains on it that sent chills up her spine. She could feel the dark magic humming in this place. It was ancient and imposing, as if warning her to turn around and march right back through the entrance.
The walls of the main chamber were lit by more bluebell flames, and Hermione could see the faint etchings of runes in the walls. Curious, she moved closer and reached out a hand to touch the runes, but suddenly she felt someone grab her arm.
"I wouldn't," Malfoy warned her. "We don't know what kind of magic is imbued in those. We should be on our guard."
She nodded and withdrew her hand, embarrassed that she had been so careless. Pulling a muggle notebook and ballpoint pen from her pocket, she began to record the symbols she saw. She found it easier to bring the muggle utensils with her during field missions instead of the quill pen and ink that she usually used at the Ministry. It was much more portable.
After she had copied the runes on the wall, she moved onto the symbols that were on the altar. One in particular stood out to her. It was the only symbol carved on the face of the altar, and it exuded an unnerving aura that made the hair on the nape of her neck stand on end.
Ӂ
Later that evening, Hermione was pouring over her notes on the kitchen island. In the living room, Harry was fiddling with the many knobs on the radio, and Draco was thumbing through that morning's issue of the Daily Prophet.
They had spent hours at the site, her studying the runes, and Draco and Harry talking to the archaeologists and casting scanning spells to try to uncover what foul magic lingered there. By the end of the day, they were no closer to discovering what it was than the archaeologists were, but that wasn't unexpected. She knew studying this site would take weeks, just as Kingsley had said.
"'Mione," called Harry from the living room.
"Hm?" Hermione answered, looking up from her notes.
"I just realized, today is the tenth anniversary." He didn't even have to say what it was the anniversary of. She knew. Yet still she couldn't believe it had been ten years since the downfall of Voldemort.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco pause his thumbing through the Daily Prophet. He was pretending to read it with a bored expression on his face, yet Hermione could tell he was eavesdropping.
"I can't believe it's been ten years," Hermione murmured, and Harry mumbled an agreement. They sat in silence for a moment, then he stood and made his way into the kitchen, beginning to rifle through the cupboards. Hermione turned back to her notes. She was focusing on trying to translate a specific rune, the one that had been on the face of the stone altar at the site. It had appeared numerous times throughout the rest of the site, she had noted. It had to be of some importance.
Several minutes later, Harry slid a shot glass of firewhisky in front of her. She glanced up from her notes, startled out of her thoughts.
"A toast?" He offered, nudging the shot glass closer to her. He pulled another shot glass out of the cupboard and set it next to hers, filling it for himself.
"A toast," Hermione declared, holding her glass in the air. They clinked their glasses together and were both about to down the searing liquid when Draco's voice came from the other room, interrupting them.
"Potter, pour me one as well," Draco said, somehow commanding yet timid. Harry stood in shocked silence for half a second, before finally coming to his senses. He grabbed another shot glass for Draco and filled it, hesitantly handing it to the blonde, who had made his way over to the kitchen. Draco took it with a stiff nod and raised his glass, echoing their toast.
All three drank. Hermione felt the searing liquid burn its way down her throat and into her stomach. She wondered if Draco was truly in a celebratory mood, or if he was doing it to save face.
Ten years. It had been ten years since Voldemort's own killing curse rebounded back on him and struck him down as a mortal man. Ten years since she, Harry, and Ron camped in the remote wilderness, starving as they searched for horcruxes. Ten years since they had been snatched and taken to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix had—
She forced herself to not finish that thought, but the pink scar on her arm burned and itched anyway.
Mudblood.
Suddenly, the radio in the center of the living room crackled and a male's voice spoke.
"We interrupt this broadcast for breaking news. A mob of wizards in dark robes have gathered outside of the Leaky Cauldron in muggle London and are terrorizing anyone who stands in their way, muggle or wizard. Aurors are on their way and all citizens in the area are being asked to stay inside and remain calm."