Chapter 83

"So, vot are you vorking on?" Viktor asked, bringing Hermione out of her thoughts. "You go ask for books, you come back visout. You need books, I go get if librarian busy."

Hermione smiled. She liked Viktor's accent, and his English wasn't nearly as bad as he thought.

"I was trying to find out if there were any books on House Elves," she said. "I only know of eight, and have already read them. I was looking for more, but no one seems to know of any others."

"Is for extra school vork?" Viktor asked.

"No," Hermione said. "It's for a personal project I was working on. I stayed with Oliver Wood and his family after the Quidditch World Cup, and they encouraged me to work on it."

"You know Oliver Vood?" Viktor asked curiously and Hermione nodded. "He is boy vho left Hogvorts recently, yes?"

"Yes, that's right," Hermione said and swallowed the lump that formed in her throat at the mention of his absence.

"I met him," Viktor said. "Before match. He is good friend."

Hermione looked at him in confusion.

"Vot?" Viktor asked.

"That's strange," Hermione said. "He never mentioned it before."

Viktor gave her a slight smile. "He has great respect for private life," he explained.

Hermione nodded.

"So, vhat is this vork you vant to do?" Viktor asked. "Vhere are sese books?"

Hermione directed him to the section the books were in and soon the eight books were stacked on the table for her. She also had some parchment and a quill and bottle of ink borrowed from Madam Pince. When she had asked in amazement how he had gotten the librarian to lend them the writing utensils, he had given a slight smile and explained that he had told her that since classes weren't starting till Monday morning according to his Highmaster, he had left his supplies on board the ship when they came in for breakfast, and that it would be a waste of time if he had to go out to the ship to retrieve them and come all the way back to do some studying. Hermione just laughed and shook her head in amusement.

"You are interested in House Elf?" Viktor asked.

"More like I'm interested in how poorly many are treated, and want to change that," Hermione explained.

Viktor nodded. "I understand," he said. "You vant more informasion zan is in sese books, but zere are none?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "Zen vhy not use vot you know?"

Hermione pondered that for a moment and then grabbed a book from the stack. Viktor's lips twitched in a slight smile watching her flip through one of the books and begin writing madly, taking detailed notes from the book, and they sat for hours in companionable silence.

She had gone through two of the eight and had a small stack of dried parchment papers by the time lunch roll around. She closed the book with a sigh, and thanked Viktor when he stood and collected the books, quill and ink bottle, returning the books to their place on the shelves and the quill and ink to Madam Pince. Joining her again, he assisted Hermione in standing, noting that her ankle was stiff, he offered to assist her down the stairs toward the great hall. She politely declined when he opened the door and she saw how many students were heading to lunch.

"I know it seems odd," she said. "But I really don't want the Slytherins to shun you. I - I saw you talking with Draco Malfoy last night. He can cause you no end to problems if he sees us together."

Viktor thought about this for a moment and then nodded, allowing the library door to shut halfway, then took her hand and kissed her knuckles once more, causing her to blush again. "Zen I will meet you here anozer time," he said, and she nodded before following him out of the library when he pushed the door open wide, allowing her to pass without trouble, and she slowed, allowing the distance between them to grow until he was lost in the crowd heading toward the great hall.

An owl appeared, landing in front of her as she sat at the table with Ginny eating lunch and it dropped a letter for her and began to pick at the meat and cheese of her sandwich, tearing off small bits and eating them as she tore open the letter and read:

September 2nd, 1994

#1

Hello kitty cat,

No, I wasn't expecting a letter so soon, but it is a nice to hear from you. I'm glad to hear that you have something to look forward to this year. It sounds like it will be an exciting year in a good way. I kind of wish I could have delayed my training with Puddlemere to be there.

You worry too much, kitty cat, I know that you're concerned with Fred and George, and they're your friends, but with Mr. Crouch there over seeing things, I don't think they would be able to get away with anything even if they tried. I agree with you though, at least you don't have to worry about Harry this year.

Hmm, that is an odd occurrence in regard to the enchanted ceiling. No, I haven't heard of anything like that happening before. You'll have to let me know if you find out anything.

I miss you too,

Oliver

"Who's that from?" Ginny asked, curiously, leaning over and just caught the signature line as Hermione folded it. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. "You're still keeping in contact with Oliver? How was your time with his family?"

"It was a lot of fun," Hermione replied. "At least until I got hurt."

"Wait, you got hurt?" Ginny said in surprise. "How? What happened? Is that why you're limping?"

Hermione sighed, nodding, tired of talking about it. Any time it got brought up, it made her feel so stupid for not paying attention in the first place. "I just fell and got hurt when we were in Diagon Alley on Sunday," she said, leaving it at that. "Anyway, its just a healing soft tissue injury now. Madam Pomfrey helped heal the majority of it and asked me to stay off it as much as I could."

Ginny wrinkled her brow. "How's that going to happen?" she asked. "There's stairs all over Hogwarts.

"I don't know," Hermione said with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders. "Hey, Ginny," Hermione asked after a moment, drawing the girl's attention once more after the red headed girl had gone back to eating. "You wouldn't happen to have any supplies with you, do you? I left mine up in the door this morning without thinking, and I'd like to write him back. Since the owl is still here, it must be waiting for a response."

"Oh, sure," Ginny said, digging into her bag.

Just then, another owl swooped over and dropped a second letter in front of Hermione and she sighed heavily and looked to the ceiling, rolling her eyes before she opened it.

Ginny laughed next to her, seeing her expression as she handed her a quill, ink, and some parchment. "Well, you're certainly popular today," she said. "Who's that one from?"

"Madam Pomfrey," Hermione replied and looked up to the teachers' table and gave a nod to the witch before turning to the supplies Ginny had lent her and began a reply to Oliver and hoped the girl wouldn't be nosy, reading over her shoulder.

September 2nd, 1994

#2

Dear Oliver,

Wow that was quick! I really didn't expect such a fast response by owl. I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything out in regard to the ceiling. You're probably right on both accounts when it comes to Fred and George though. I know I'm probably worrying too much, but with such high stakes for the one chosen to compete, I can't help but worry about what they may try. I'll let you know if anything happens anyway.

Oh, I wanted to add, Ron's probably going to be jealous if he ever found out, but I've already met Viktor Krum.

Hermione paused here and looked around before leaning closer to her parchment, hiding what she was writing from prying eyes as she scribbled madly.

I got in a row with Fred, George and Lee this morning in the great hall, and everyone heard of course. And well... I'm not sure, but I think he got up to help me when he saw I was limping, and helped me to pass through the doors of the hall. Anyway, we spoke briefly in the entrance hall and once he acknowledged that I was injured. After that, he spent some time with me in the library. He's actually not at all what I thought he'd be like.

Last night after their arrival, the Beauxbattons Headmistress and the Durmstrang High master chose which houses their schools would belong to, Ravenclaw (I've never been so glad to be a Gryffindor before) and Slytherin respectively. After talking to him, Viktor doesn't seem at all like a Slytherin, but I told him of our house rivalry and that I didn't want them to shun him if they saw we were associating. He decided to meet me at the library anyway.

When I mentioned staying with you and your family after the World Cup, he said he knew you, you didn't tell me you met him.

Hermione

Folding the letter, she addressed it and gave it back to the owl that turned and flew off. Taking out the letter from Madame Pomfrey, she read:

Ms. Granger,

Meet me after lunch in the entrance hall.

Madam Pomfrey

It was strange, Hermione thought, that Madam Pomfrey wanted to meet her in the entrance hall rather than directing her to the infirmary on the first floor, practically right above where they were now, but perhaps, like Viktor had done after breakfast, the witch intended to help her up the stairs herself.

When she was finished, she headed out of the great hall with Ginny, moving slowly and smiled her thanks as the girl held the door open for her.

"It's a good thing Madam Pomfrey already knew about your injury," Ginny said. "Want me to help you to the infirmary?"

"No, that's okay," Hermione said. "She should be out soon. You go ahead. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Oh, okay," Ginny replied. "I'm off to find out what mischief Fred and George are getting into. I know you're still upset with them about... whatever that was about, but Ronda's pmsing over Viktor Krum joining the Slytherin table rather than Gryffindor." She gave Hermione a wicked smirk when Hermione laughed and then winked before she skipped away with an air like she owned the place, making Hermione shake her head with a smile. The door creaked behind her, and Hermione turned to see Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh, good," the mediwitch said, allowing the door to close behind her. "You're here."

"You wanted to see me, Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I did," she replied. "I noticed this morning that you were still limping, and knew that could be a problem with getting around."

Hermione bit her lip. She had to admit the woman was right. She was going to have a hard time getting to her classes on time. Shereallydidn't want to use a time turner again though. She wouldn't be able to make sure that she wasn't seen if she wasn't able to move very fast anyway. Sighing, she shook her head in frustration, causing Madam Pomfrey to look at her sharply.

"Come with me," Madam Pomfrey said, and Hermione was surprised that when she headed for the stairs, Madam Pomfrey was heading for the front doors. "Come along," she said.

"Where are we going?" she asked the mediwitch, moving away from the stairs and joining her near the doors.

"To the infirmary," Madam Pomfrey replied, and opened the doors. Hermione looked at her in confusion.

"But," Hermione said, still confused as she looked at the witch waiting for her.

"We're going a different way," Madam Pomfrey explained. "And while there's a closer one, this is the easiest way to show you first. Now, come along before there are too many students about."

Hermione heeded and followed the witch out the door and down the steps. She soon found herself on a path that she hadn't been on since she first arrived at Hogwarts in her first year, only this time, in reverse. Following Madam Pomfrey along the path between two sloping hills, they followed it into a tunnel that led to the stairs she had climbed from the boats.

"What is this?" Hermione asked, when Madam Pomfrey led her down the stairs and she saw a boat waiting for them.

"Hagrid brought it for us," Madame Pomfrey replied, reaching the boat and holding her lit wand aloft, she held out her hand out to Hermione, waving her closer impatiently. "Come on, let me help you in."

Hermione relented and allowed Madam Pomfrey to help her get in the waiting boat and it wasn't long before they shoved off from the small dock on the stoney beach.

She blinked and looked around in surprise when they didn't leave the cave like she'd expected, but headed into the darker shadows of the cave. Suddenly, the sound of water falling and churning filled her ears and she realized that she'd never heard it before because of a silencing charm.

"Lumos Maxima," Madam Pomfrey said, and her wandlight grew brighter. Hermione peered into the darkness beyond the circle of light and saw that they were approaching another dock. As they got closer, she saw that the dock was wider than the one at the stoney beach by the stairs, and beside it was an enormous water wheel that had what appeared to be a thick, braided rope around it.

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and a large chain next to it was pulled and the water was blocked from its source and the wheel slowed and allowed them to dock the boat. Madam Pomfrey tied the boat up, and climbed onto the dock, then held out her hand and pulled Hermione up. "How is this possible?" Hermione asked, looking around and saw the water wheel had a deep groove in it near the edge, and that the rope was nestled in this groove and she followed it with her eyes to see that there were spaced platforms attached to the rope and it disappeared into the darkness high over head.

"Come along dear, the water can only be stopped so long," Madam Pomfrey said, and Hermione followed her, stepping onto one of the platforms. "Hold onto the rope dear." Hermione did so and Madam Pomfrey pulled the chain, releasing the block and the water poured out once more, their platform surging upward into the darkness.

"It's an elevator!" Hermione exclaimed, looking around in amazement, her eyes alight with wonder as she looked around. "A water powered elevator!"

"Yes, dear," Madam Pomfrey said. "Now pay attention. This is going to be a long ride." Indeed, after the initial jolting start, the platform had moved slower, but remained at a steady pace of movement. Hermione looked at the wall and saw signs painted and hung to the left side of the openings that came into view as she looked up. The first sign coming up was labeled 'dungeons'.

As they drew level with the open, Madam Pomfrey pulled the chain and dropped the blockade, that Hermione peered over the side and saw was a board that dropped into place, blocking the spout.

"All right, step off dear and push the tapestry aside and get your bearings, then come back and we'll continue. Hermione stepped off and looked around seeing a suit of armor at one end, and that there was nothing but two tapestries in the hallway, before it turned. She stepped back onto the platform and grabbed hold again with a look of confusion on her face.

"I couldn't really tellwhereI was," Hermione admitted.

"Yes, the dungeons were always hard," Madam Pomfrey admitted as she pulled the chain and watched the platform move again. "You weren't very far from Professor Snape's office and the potions classroom. You can use the four point spell to direct you as you learn your way around. See where the chain connects to the castle?"

Hermione looked up and saw where a thinner chain than the one Madam Pomfrey pulled on the platform spanned from the chain on that hung loosely above the wheel across to a point in the castle wall, and she nodded.

"When you get off to check your surrounding on the ground floor in a moment, take some time to study the wall near the door," Madam Pomfrey said and pulled on the chain when the sign for great hall came into view.

Hermione stepped off the elevator again and found herself entering the anti-chamber where the first years waited before the sorting. She took a moment as Madam Pomfrey instructed and looked at the wall between the two doorways that were covered with tapestries and saw a small wheel carved into one of the bricks that had a narrow gap around it and realized it was a button! She figured that it worked something like the vertical and horizontal signal cables on a Muggle bus to request a stop.

Going back through the door to join Madam Pomfrey again, Hermione looked up at the chain connected to the castle to verify her theory about how the chains worked in tandem to stop or start the fall of water from the aqueduct spout and gasped in surprise when she saw above them, not very far now, the stairs of the grand staircase, and realized that they were in the midst of the shaft that the staircases moved about.

"But," she said looking at Madam Pomfrey for an explanation. "I've never seen this before!"

"Of course you haven't," Madam Pomfrey harrumphed. "It's under several spells to prevent the students - unless they are shown and using it - from seeing it."

"So..." Hermione said. "I've never read about it either..."

"And you wouldn't," Madam Pomfrey said. "For the same reason. Students who are show usually have a good reason to use it. The last student to use it was a Gryffindor boy by the name of Murphy McNully, who required the use of a wheel chair. He was a student here during the 1980s."

"So..." Hermione said thoughtfully. "It was added for him?"

"Oh, no dear," Madam Pomfrey said. "Its been here since the castle was first built. The teachers all know about it, and help in maintaining its condition so it remains functional." She looked at Hermione with an appraising gaze. "You didn't think that Mr. McNully was the first student at Hogwarts with the inability to use his legs, did you?"

Hermione shook her head. It didn't stand to reason, but she didn't want to verbally admit that she'd not put much thought to it before.

"Here we are," Madam Pomfrey said. "We'll get off here and head to the infirmary, then we can continue the tour when there aren't many students around."

Hermione learned that the elevator entrance and exit seemed to be enchanted to appear in an out of the way place, where there was little chance of it being discovered by other students, though it was somewhere close to the shaft. This seemed the only way to make sense of it since there was no access to the elevator from the shaft where the staircases changed. It seemed so odd to her even after all this time knowing about the magical world, that the stairs and elevator occupied what was essentially the same space and time, but at the same time, were completely separate.

Itdidseem though, that the stair cases changed on intervals that allowed the elevator platforms to move passed out of the way before they swung back into place again, yet they never struck the chains that controlled the elevator, which is what led her to believe that they didn't in fact occupy the same space and time, but were different. She realized that if she thought too much about it, it was mind boggling, and she supposed that the mere fact that it worked was good enough for her.

"Come along, dear," Madam Pomfrey said as they arrived at the doorway to the first floor and she pulled the chain to stop the elevator. Hermione stepped off and when the Mediwitch followed, Hermione saw her turn and push the wheel button before they continued. Hermione looked around and saw that on this floor, they had appeared in a long, narrow corridor that seemed to be a dead end with only one exit to the main part of the castle. Madame Pomfrey took the lead and Hermione learned that they had come out close to the infirmary with only the restrooms on the floor in between.

"Now then," Madam Pomfrey said, opening the door to the infirmary and allowing Hermione to pass in front of her. "Let's head into my office since there will be no telling when an injured student will arrive." They entered her office and Hermione sat down with a sigh of relief, and Madam Pomfrey arched a brow in question. "So have you been following my instructions and staying off your foot?"

Hermione nodded. "As much as I can, anyway."

"And you've been soaking it? And using ice or your icing charm like we talked about?"

Hermione winced. "Not so much," she admitted. "I mean, Ihavedone it some..."

"How often?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"That first night, I'm afraid not at all," Hermione said. "I fell asleep before I could. Oliver took me down to my room and gave me my things to put away, and I guess I fell asleep right after. The next thing I knew I was waking up to Cherry humming."

"Cherry?" Madam Pomfrey asked arching a brow.

"One of the Wood family's house elves," Hermione said, making a face before going on. "She looked after me while Oliver and his family were out doing chores. She helped me soak that morning, and then I did again at least once more, but used the spell more often."

"I see," Madam Pomfrey said and drew her wand and coming around in front of the girl, casting a charm to help diagnose the condition of the injury. "Well, its still a little bruised," she said after a moment, canceling the charm. "Have you walked on it at all?"

"A - a little," Hermione said, blushing. "Some around the Wood's house, and then we took the floo to the Leaky Cauldron to catch the train, and a bit around the castle."

"Very well," Madam Pomfrey said. "I will give you a key to the Prefect's bathroom so that you can continue to soak your foot comfortably while it finishes healing, and I will give word to your professors that you are using the elevator, so that you should be able to leave classes when you're done with your work instead of waiting to the end of classes, that way you should be able to reach your classes on time, and not have to worry about students crowding you or jostling you through the halls."

Madam Pomfrey reached into her desk and pulled out a heavy iron key. "Now I know," the mediwitch said, looking to her pointedly. "This is supposed to be just for Prefects to use, but I will send word to them as well as to the teachers that you have permission to use that bathroom while your injury is healing."

"Thank you," Hermione murmured as she accepted the key and tucked it into the pocket of her robes.

"You're welcome, dear," Madam Pomfrey said. "Shall we continue the elevator tour?"

Hermione drew her wand, casting the spell on her ankle that she'd been using and nodded, exiting Madam Pomfrey's office and the infirmary with her, walking easier now with the spell in effect.

Each floor they stopped at, Hermione learned which tapestries to look for, and that each was a short distance from the shaft of the grand staircase.

"It doesn't end at the seventh floor?" Hermione asked, looking up as they approached the final floor of the castle and saw that the platform above them was pulled onto a conveyor belt that allowed the platform to remain flat as it moved to the other side of the waterwheel and began decending.

"Oh, no," Madam Pomfrey said as they approached the conveyor belt. "There are two more doorways up there. Now pay attention."

Hermione noticed as they moved along that there were four choices on the signs at each doorway. The first doorway was marked'towers'and had options for each of the towers, and the second doorway had'Quidditch pitch'and had a list of the four houses as options. Confused, Hermione turned to the mediwitch as their platform halted as she stopped the flow of water again.

"Now these doorways work a bit differently," Madam Pomfrey said. "As you may have guessed. "Here, you can use your wand to tap the choice you want, and a portal opens, allowing you to go to your chosen destination. The tower destinations put you at the top of the tower. This is where you're teachers allowing you to leave classes early will come in handy. That way no one can see that you're not heading for the stairwells when you leave classes. The Quidditch Pitch door works the same, putting you in your house's Quidditch Pitch section so you don't have to climb the stairs. When you're feeling better, you'll have no need to use the elevator system, so it goes without saying that it must remain secret.

Hermione nodded seriously. "I understand," she said and Madam Pomfrey nodded, releasing the flow of water again, and their platform moved to the edge of the conveyor belt and began its descent.