Though Viktor had agreed to help her, Hermione suspected Viktor hadn't quite imagined the depths of evil and depravity Hermione was willing to explore in order to take revenge on Cassius Warrington. She'd explained his crime (without naming his victim) and how her revenge would be fitting, and though Viktor agreed with her in theory, it made him look a little ill at first. He gradually came around to the idea, but Hermione could practically see him flinch every time they came to the end result.
"Spell crafting is very difficult," Viktor said, thinking. "I maybe have book to help, but not on ship…"
"Oh!" Hermione's eyes lit up. "I might have books that can help us, actually! But—well, some of them are sealed. Dark curses and the like. But if you could help me break them and open them?"
Viktor looked surprised, then amused.
"Why I not surprised you have Dark magic books?" he said, shaking his head.
"Because they're books," Hermione informed him, a smile playing about her lips. "And you know me well enough to know I value all knowledge."
"I not condemning," Viktor said, smirking. "Only commenting. Let us go to see your books."
Retrieving her trunk of books without attracting notice was a task. Hermione managed to Disillusion the trunk and float it behind her back out, but it was difficult to avoid it bumping into people or thumping through doorways as she did. When she finally made it back up the stairs and to the Entrance Way, Viktor nodded seriously.
"We study these on ship," he told here. "There, these discussions are fine. Here… not so much."
Hermione nodded. "I understand."
She floated the chest behind them as they went down to the Black Lake, though she let the Disillusionment Charm lapse once they were far enough into the dark. Viktor glanced back once or twice to make sure the chest was still following them.
"Your wand not even out," Viktor remarked. "How are you—it still floats—?"
Hermione smirked. "I'm particularly good with levitation."
"Really?" Viktor looked intrigued. "How so?"
Under Viktor's curious questioning, Hermione found herself gradually opening up. He kept going deeper, asking why she levitated things so often, and, shyly, Hermione eventually explaining her entire theory that the magical core and container could be worked like a muscle, and how she'd taken to using up all her magic as best she could every night before bed. She used the exercise comparison, hoping it'd hit home with Viktor's athleticism, but surprisingly, Viktor seemed more focused on the core conceit.
"This also creates situation where core must regenerate all magic," he told her, nodding. "This is good practice. Not only expand magical strength, but also speed of magic as well."
"You think?" Hermione looked at him. "You don't think it's silly?"
"Why?" Viktor frowned. "Makes sense. I practice Quidditch to become better. We practice magic to become better. Making core practice too makes sense to me."
A wave of relief flooded Hermione at his simple assessment.
"I thought you'd think it was silly," she confessed. "I—I don't think I've ever told anyone that. That I do that every night, I mean. I think I thought they'd all find it silly—"
"Hovering bed for many minutes is silly, but not pointless," Viktor told her, smiling crookedly at her. "If I heard this idea before I became 17, I would practice this way too."
"Really?" Hermione was cheered by this notion. "That's reassuring to hear."
The Durmstrang ship had a strange, skeletal look that was only enhanced in the dark, but as Viktor led her up the plank and aboard, Hermione was surprised to see how clean everything was on board.
"Must look imposing," Viktor told her, eyes dancing. "But we also want ship to work."
He led her down a set of wooden stairs into a long hallway with doors. His was the second on the left, and the lock was keyed to his wand.
"Not usual way of sleeping on most ships," he admitted, grinning. "But no one wanted to sleep in military beds or cloth drapes."
He opened the door, revealing a very straightforward room. There was a bed, there was a desk, and there was a set of drawers and armoire. Though there were a few books on the desk and his robes were hung up in the armoire, his room reminded Hermione more of a hotel room than anything else. There were no posters hanging up, no decorative comforter, nothing to personalize the room in some way. She said as much to Viktor, who smirked.
"What poster? One of me, glaring down at myself?" he teased her. "No. Not my lasting room, anyway. Now! Let us see your books."
Hermione laughed. "Alright."
Hermione let the lock on chest stab her and sample her blood before she opened it, Viktor's eyes widening at the lock.
"I've read all of the ones that aren't bound shut," she told him. "But when I got it, the—err—the previous owner warned me not to read the ones that were bound, that I wasn't ready. But that was over two years ago now."
"You read Dark magic books in First year?" Viktor asked. He smirked. "You could keep up in Durmstrang, maybe. If you transferred."
Hermione laughed. "And live in the cold and under Karkaroff? No thanks."
Viktor hummed, examining one of the books that was bound with a lizard-green ribbon. Hermione picked up one of the ones that was tied shut with a thick leather belt, in a way that reminded her oddly of the Monster Book of Monsters. She wasn't sure where that book was, actually. Maybe it had crawled away…
"This one…" Viktor said slowly, breaking her train of thought. "This one wrapped shut because of your age, I think. Not because book is cursed."
"Oh?" Hermione looked up. "What do you mean?"
"You got books in First Year? At 11?" Viktor asked.
"Well, I was 12, but yes," Hermione admitted, and Viktor nodded.
"This book… you not have been… you were not…" He broke off, frustrated, and Hermione felt her heart go out to him.
"It doesn't have to be pretty, how you say it," she said gently. "If you get your meaning across, that's enough."
"Is not polite," Viktor grumbled, but he heaved a sigh, conceding. "Book not for woman who has not bled yet. Monthly bleedings," he told her, in case there was any confusion, "not just blood."
"Oh." Hermione's face colored a bit. "Err—they call that 'coming of an age' here, instead of just calling it a period, but… yeah, okay. I understand." She blushed darker. "But you think I'd be okay to open it now?"
"Okay, yes. Should?" Viktor shrugged, posing the question to her. "I will to help you, Hermione, but this book… this book is Dark."
Hermione took the book from him, easing the ribbon off, revealing a cover she'd never explored before. It took her a moment to make out the faded title, the gold long worn off the cover but the letters still imprinted into the leather.
The Great Works of the Flesh: Ecstatic Rituals and Demonic Magicks of Night Alchemy
Hermione's eyes went very wide.
"When they say 'Night Alchemy'," she said, her voice weak. "I'm taking it that's a euphemism for…"
"Sex magic," Viktor said. "Yes."
There was a pause.
"You learn this at Durmstrang?" Hermione asked finally, and Viktor's eyes flew wide.
"No! No. Ack, no," he said, shaking his head rapidly. "We learn of this magic – what it can cast, that it exists – but we not learn or practice this magic ourselves. Ugh." He made a face, his mouth twisting and eyes scrunching up. "How would even work? Take turns with old, ugly teacher on floor before everyone to practice?"
Hermione grinned slightly at the mental image, the tension in the room dissipating with the silly thought.
"I guess I'll scan through this one first?" she suggested. "And you can read that one?"
Viktor raised an eyebrow, holding up a book entitled Dark Rituals. "This one?"
"That one also had a ribbon on it?" Hermione asked, indignant. "Nevermind! Trade me. I don't want to read this one—"
Viktor laughed, obligingly trading books with her.
"We not need to do anything just because book says it works," he reassured her, smiling. "We research. We take notes. We will to decide what we do after research is done."
Hermione smiled at him weakly, her face still red. "That sounds like a perfect plan."
Dark Rituals did, indeed, have a section on sex magic, but it was thankfully entirely self-focused, and Hermione felt her face flame only a little bit as she read through it, sitting at Viktor's desk and taking notes.
Viktor's book, on the other hand, seemed to have full diagrams and moving illustrations. Hermione had glanced over at Viktor from where he read on his bed, his face a ruddy red at times as he, too, took notes, despite the ink figures writhing on the page.
From her angle, Hermione couldn't see what they were doing, but she could hazard a guess.
"Any luck?" she asked.
Viktor made a face.
"Maybe?" he hazarded. "There is… ritual, here, to affect man's seed. To produce only boys." He scowled down at the book. "Not many things else useful here. Not for your purpose."
"That has potential," Hermione said thoughtfully. "All I've found is generic Dark things. Some very evil and bad, sure, but nothing helpful."
"Your goal is not usual," Viktor pointed out. "I never heard of such magic before. You said we need to make such magic. Makes sense would not be in a book."
Hermione made a face. "I know. I was just hoping there'd be some point of reference I could build off. Anything to increase someone's magical core, for example. But there's nothing…"
"Wizards not mess with magical cores," Viktor cautioned her. "We can use, but most wizards not touch others' cores. Is too personal, too risky."
"Risky?" Hermione prodded.
"Legends say magic ends up tied together," Viktor said. "Other legends say lives tangle, so when one dies so dies the other. Not safe. Not without ritual circle and coven."
"I guess that makes sense," Hermione acknowledged, reluctant. "I've definitely helped people with their magical cores before, though."
"You have coven," Viktor pointed out, but Hermione shook her head.
"Not just with them," Hermione said. "With the others, too. And with some of the hedgewitches. And on Lundy, with…"
Hermione trailed off, her eyes going wide.
"I know who we could ask," she said. "Someone who had core magic done to them. But they're not here."
"That is very Dark magic." Viktor tilted his head. "You want to visit now?"
"Well..." Hermione considered her timeline, her lips thinning. "No time like the present."
