Chapter 17
Hermione had decided over the holidays that she would research memory spells and their (hopefully) reversal. Partially because seeing Draco at the Tonks' residence reminded her of his kind words. That morning she asked Headmistress McGonagall for permission to access the restricted section. When asked about it she reluctantly confided in the Headmistress what her situation was with her parents. Of course she understood, many had to do what they had felt was necessary to keep their families and friends safe during the war. Headmistress McGonagall allowed Hermione unlimited access to the restricted section. "Thank you professor M-, I mean Headmistress McGonagall." Headmistress McGonagall revealed an endearing grin. "Just take care to not let other students know about this. Who knows what some might do with some of the information stored in there. I wish you the luck, Miss Granger."
"Of course, thank you so much!" Hermione said and departed from the Headmistress's office. Hermione already made a long list of books to search through by the time the next class was to start. Several volumes about memory charms by different authors, more volumes on how to figure out if a memory charm had been used on you, and a book on how to increase your memory capacity by a woman named Elly Fantas. Hermione wondered why a book like that would be in the restricted section, but thought if it's there, it might help.
After dinner, she returned to the Library and started on studying. She was determined to fix her parents memories. The only thing reminder her that she was still in school were the students around her, talking about the spring gala.
Draco decided to send his mum a note with his new measurements, to request dress robes. He was taller now and broader in his shoulder then he had been four years ago. He looked back at himself in the bathroom mirror and found he appeared healthy. Most of the time he didn't suffer from replayed memory nightmares. He was eating regularly and he didn't have that stress of death looming over his head.
He discovered the Slytherin common room to be too full of chatter for his liking. The excitement about the Gala no doubt. It was too early to retire to his dorm. He opted to go to the Library where it was quiet. He found himself browsing more Alchemy subject related books. This came to stop when he reached the restricted section. He wasn't surprised by this. After all, it would be disastrous if a student tried to perform critical alchemy on their own. Such as equivalent exchange or attempt to make a sorcerer's stone. So, he took a nearby seat and continued to read what he had available. Then the idea of seeking a private meeting with professor Flamel to inquire about further alchemy studies came to mind. He tucked that thought away for later.
Hermione had just finished skimming through a book on memory charms. She didn't find anything related to her search. She went to return a couple of books to their proper place and was just leaving the restricted section with two more books to go back to her favorite desk when she noticed that it was currently occupied by a certain Slytherin blond. She sighed and sat her books on the next desk over. She decided to let it go. She didn't have anything at that desk to signal she had been their previously. "Hello Malfoy." She said politely, sitting down.
Malfoy looked up to address the call of his name to his left. It was Granger. She was dressed in her Gryffindor uniform. Her hair was parted off center, to the right. Locks of hair shaped the left side of her face. The lighting gave her gentle, brown, curls the appearance of having natural highlights. The painstakingly gold and red tie against a small visible portion of the white collared shirt clashed with the dark grey button up jumper with the red and gold trim on the cuffs and hem. A black knee length skirt, black tights, and black flat footwear completed the outfit. He even noticed that her eyes looked softer. Perhaps she had been getting more sleep at night.
"Hello Granger." He responded with equal polite courtesy. She was sitting at the next desk over with two very think books set out. She had no book bag with her. No indication that these books pertained to homework. This meant she was looking for something on her own. Upon a more focused glance he caught the names of the authors on the spines- Mnemone Radford and Elly Fantas.
Then he remembered their conversation about careers. Her reluctant tears as she confessed to her parents to be in Australia with no memories of her, but kept their professions as teeth healers. They wouldn't be very safe if they kept her muggle-born name. She he assumed Granger had changed those for them as well. He also recalled the awkward hug she had given him.
Mnemone Radford created the obliviate charm. It erased memories. Elly Fantas was an expert in increasing memory capacity. There were some things that textbooks wouldn't mention that being born into a dark wizarding family would know. He knew erased memory charms could be broken to extract information through torture. It had been explained to him that when someone was a victim of a memory charm, the charm was believed on a conscious level state of mind. One could reach the subconscious and pluck out the truth. But that didn't clear away the charm; it simply confused the victim to what was real and false.
Granger didn't just erase herself from their memories; she also most likely implanted false memories. New names, new location, new everything, but for them it needed to feel like they had been there for a substantial amount of time so they didn't question on a conscious level where they had been before Australia. Draco knew about one way of placing false memories; he came across this when learning Occlumency. The ability to weave a white lie of a memory and false emotion within your mind to deceive a searcher, also known as a Legilimens. Skilled wizards could suppress their memories and/or alter them. If they were to be used in a pensive for a trial, altering was illegal. But with willingness or torture, the real memory could be obtained. She must have altered the erase memory charm to cast false memories over her parents. Clever girl. Well, clever woman. They were a year older than the legal adult wizard age of 17. Now, she was seeking a way to clear the false memories and reinstate herself in the true memories.
He stood up and approached her table taking a seat across from her and snatched the book by Elly Fantas. "Don't waste your time, this book is useless for what you are seeking." He said then leaned forward to speak in a hushed voice so this conversation wasn't overheard.
"Metaphorically speaking, on a conscious level your parents are walking through a fog. They see the fog and believe they are walking on a cloud. When in fact they are walking upon the unseen ground. The fog represents the false memories you placed over them. The ground is the true memories within their subconscious. When they sleep, it is as if they are lying on the ground, closest to touching that truthful subconscious, but still only see the fog. If you want them to stay sane, the false consciousness 'fog' needs to be cleared, to reveal the true subconscious 'ground'." He made eye contact to make sure she was still following him before he continued.
"How do you do that? I suspect that performing Legilimens and implanting facts while they are asleep will influence the consciousness to question the reality around them. For example, the changes that occur to a woman's body after a woman gives birth. No amount of magic or surgery will change the effect of that internally. A healer could inspect your mum and easily conclude that she has given birth at least once. That would trigger enough doubt for her to begin clearing away the fog to find the ground." He finished.
How did he know about female anatomy? June 30th 1997 was the night Dumbledore died. All too close to the end of the school year. After that night, Draco returned to Malfoy Manor for summer break, where his Aunt Bellatrix and Voldemort resided, along with his mother and father. His Aunt had conceived a child with Voldemort while they resided in Malfoy Manor in early July. By March the following year a baby girl, Delphini, was born at the Manor. His Aunt was a real bitch before, but pregnancy was a WHOLE other level of insanity he had to be around for two months that summer before returning to Hogwarts for his seventh year of schooling. He had suffered through a terrible Christmas break within his own home with a very visibly pregnant Aunt. In late March there was a week off of school for spring break and his mother insisted he come home. He would have preferred to stay at Hogwarts away from everyone, but he wouldn't refuse his mother's request. When returned to the Manor to spend his spring break, his Aunt gave birth that night and was mostly back to her more predicable but still scary self soon after. It was during that spring break in late March that the skirmish at Malfoy Manor occurred when Potter, Weasley, and Granger were captured by Snatchers but he didn't risk his life to confirm it was them on the chance it wasn't.
Hermione watched carefully as Draco moved across from her and sat down. As he spoke, she hung on his every word. Everything he said made perfect sense; legilimency would have to be the key to getting her parent's memories back. Or rather, revealing the truth to them. Memory charms didn't really take away a person's memory, if what she was interpreting what Draco was saying correctly, they simply covered them up. All she had to do was take away the false memories. "Of course! I never would have thought of that. Oh thank you, thank you Malfoy!" She said as she got up and hugged the blond. Quickly letting go, slightly messing up his hair, she rushed back to return the books on memory and searched for books on legilimency.
She looked and looked, but couldn't find any books on the subject. Perhaps it was too obscure of a magical subject or practice to have any record of it in book form. She went back to her sitting place to think. Luckily, she still wasn't alone, as Draco had fixed his hair and sat back down across from where she had previously sat. "There doesn't seem to be any books on that." She didn't want to say legilimency out loud. It was an obscure art that probably was considered a dark art. She wasn't sure how it would look if someone overheard her talking about or researching it. "I don't suppose someone around here would be able to teach me? I'd surely appreciate it." She of course was implying that she would appreciate it if Draco would teach her.
Draco rolled his eyes at her ecstatic response. Of course she would have thought of it eventually. Draco tensed up when she rushed over and embraced him. It wasn't as awkward as the first time she did it. It was almost, dare he think, pleasant. It lasted but a moment and then she was off in a rush to the books no doubt.
A lock of pale blond hair fell into his eyes and with a silent look of slight annoyance, he tediously ran his fingers through the locks to adjust them back into order. He couldn't help but smirk when she returned with no books in arms about legilimency. Her face was priceless. "No everything can be learned from a book. Legilimency and its counterpart, Occlumency, are both obscure branches of magic, but highly useful ones."
When she asked not so subtly about 'someone' teaching her legilimency his face grew more sober than usual, 'There she goes practically demanding me to teach, bossy Gryffindor.' He thought to himself. Part of him was rather delighted that he was skilled at something that she couldn't learn from a book. He was more skilled at Occlumency (mind shielding) then he was at Legilimency (mind searching).
The idea of him bringing down his mind shield enough to let her learn how to accurately perform Legilimens that scared him. If he conscious he could pick what he wanted her to see. If he was unconscious, well that would be something to worry about later.
"I can teach you, but under one condition." He looked at her completely serious, as if life or death depended on what his next words were going to be. He stood up and grabbed his bag then walked close enough to tuck back the hair behind her ear and whispered directly. "No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, no matter what you fell while you are inside MY head, you must NEVER verbally or literally repeat any of it. I am not beneath making an unbreakable vow of secrecy to ensure this. That is my condition, if you want my help." With that he departed, leaving her to her thoughts.
He returned to his dorm and withdrew two silver sickles from his satchel. Using a duplication spell he made two fake copies then cast a protean charm upon the false coins. He knew even with his condition that she would accept his help in learning Legilimency. They would need a way to communicate discreetly. She wasn't the only one who could do the protean charm. When he was given the task of killing Dumbledore, he made feeble attempts to do so through means of Madam Rosmerta. At times he used a protean charmed earring to place her under the Imperius curse to do his will. That is how Katie Bell got the cursed necklace. That is how professor Slughorn got his poisoned bottle of wine.
Once the charm was finished, he put the items away just as students started to trickle in to ready for bed. He changed out of his robes into pajamas and got into bed, still wondering why on earth he agreed to help Granger.