Chapter 24
Hermione let him examine the small device as she explained, "It was professor Dumbledore's. He called it a Deluminator. It can take away a light from its source and put it back. If there's no place to set a light, it'll simply float where you want it. It was bequeathed to Ron to help us find Voldemort's horcruxes." She said as she patted the walls down for some sort of clue.
She couldn't help but admire the serious look on Draco's face when she turned back to find him deep in thought over the pedestal. The way his brow furrowed and his eyebrows twitched during focus. She definitely appreciated an intellectual. Her attention shifted when he spoke, "Yes, most likely. I assumed as much, but what does it want us to weigh?"
When Draco touched the scale the curse shot out at them, she also quickly put up a shield charm. At first she was confused at Draco's odd inquiry about watching someone die. But when he took out a memory strand, it made sense. "Ah! Brilliant! I suppose I have," She said her tone changing from excited to solemn. She raised her own wand to her temple. A wispy white strand of memory attached itself to her want as she drew it away. "During the battle at Hogwarts, I landed a blow on a werewolf who had cornered a student. I had meant to simply knock him away to let the cornered fourth year girl escape. But….well anyway, yes I have seen someone die." She held her own memory over the moon plate and at the same time they tapped their wands, dropping the white wisps on to the plates. The previous locked doors glowed with a dim light for a moment as they opened. A long dark hallway lay before them, and looked to descend into the earth. Hermione clicked the Deluminator again and the orb of light swooped back where it came from. She then cast Lumos so they could see again.
Draco wasn't surprised that Dumbledore was the creator of the Deluminator. The old wizard had a knack for seeing the light, even in the darkest of times. He had no desire to share his memory and he appreciated that she wasn't an insufferable know it all anymore to the point that she would have asked just to cure her curiosity.
As they began their trek down the long dark hallway, he illuminated his wand tip and asked, "If the Deluminator was bequeathed to Weasley, why do you have it now?" She had no engagement ring or wedding band on her left hand. She didn't correct him when he addressed her as Granger. She was seemingly more than okay with holding his hand earlier due to transportation misunderstanding. Although she had justified that as desperate for human interaction after the past two weeks of solo work. So it was fair to assume Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were not a couple. If they were that would explain the 'burrowing' the useful light device. Or maybe friends did such a thing? He didn't know. He hadn't kept in touch with anyone post graduation of Hogwarts.
"He lent it to me." She said simply, "It's been a while since he did, but it's been a major help." She sounded as though perhaps there was more to the story than that. It had been weighing on her mind, so after a moment of silence she decided to get it off her chest.
She sighed, "Ron and I…we are complicated. We hardly see each other and we're supposed to be dating. It's not really his fault. We have such busy schedules that don't coincide. I…I almost want to break it off with him because it doesn't seem worth the effort anymore, like we are just wasting each other's time." She seemed to get more agitated and upset the more she talked about the subject. "He's a perfect gentleman and a great friend. After five years of being and Auror he wants to stop and go work with his older brother George at the Joke Shop. I think that means he is ready to settle down? I'm not ready to settle down. I have things I want to do with my life. I guess I don't know what to do." She said no more after her last statement, her voice trailing off, as they traveled down the long corridor.
The sudden Hippogriff in the corridor that landed after she simply said 'he lent it to me' was an understatement. Apparently she felt it too because a few seconds later she began to explain her and Weasley's complicated relationship. Malfoy was the last person to give relationship advice. But if he could recall anything truthful from his childhood, it was the example of loyal and fidelity his parents had for one another. That had been true.
After everything Lucius was guilty of, yet Narcissa still loved him. She had no intention of remarrying. Time, distance, past grievances, crimes, none of it mattered. Love was there. Draco had little hope he would find someone to marry and love as his parents loved each other. "Some would say the love my parents share is illogical, irrational, and hopeless. Yet I see it as a force so strong that distance, time or past grievances does not affect it. It's not uncommon for a marriage to simply be a way to gain a status of approval among the 'sacred 28'. If their marriage was no longer 'worth the effort', my mother would have separated or divorced from my father as soon as he was put in Azkaban the first time. Stop trying to influence your desires by rationalization. You doing that is what is wasting your time and Weasley's." Draco remarked, looking at her a long moment, as they continued their descent down the long, dark, corridor deeper into the earth.
"See, that's the thing, Draco, I don't think I love him. Sure some…things happened in the heat of the moment, but now that we're not fighting for our lives, we've gone back to being just friends. I've tried to rekindle our relationship, but it's like he's not interested. If anything, he's more interested in his sister-in-law's younger sister. I can't blame him, she is part Veela after all, gorgeous as can be. Who'd choose me over that?" She sniffled in the dim lighting, but cleared her throat and hurried her pace. She really did not want to become emotional during such an important job. But now that she had someone else to talk to finally, it was hard not to.
She recalled one of the last times the extended family had dinner together at the Burrow. The dining room was so packed with people; it had to be charmed to make room for everyone. All the Weasley's, Fleur, Gabrielle, Harry and Hermione were there. It was Christmas and Ron hardly paid any attention to her. Even when she asked him about work, he gave her vague answers. It seemed like he was distracted whenever Gabrielle was in the same room, more so when she spoke. It had pained Hermione in a way she couldn't define exactly.
'There she goes again using my first name like we are friends or something…' Draco thought for a moment. He instantly felt a sliver of guilt when his first thought came to his mind at her question and said, "I would…" He was many things, but infidelity was not a line he would cross. They were simply talking about her complicated relationship and that slipped out of his lips unintentionally. He needed to fix it before this assignment got weird. He blamed it to lack of social life and limited human interaction. She had used that excuse, so could he. And he wasn't even with anyone.
The Veela were a race of semi-human, semi-magical humanoids reminiscent of the sirens of Greek mythology. They appear to be young, beautiful, humans. Their looks and especially their dance are magically seductive to almost all male beings. But nothing would change the fact if you angered one it turned into a bird-like harpie with sharp beak and scaly wings. He had no idea if this was true of half breed Veela, but still.
He quickly added, "…I would tell him and get it over with. Weasley has never been bright. Him liking a creature, while pretty to look at, could definitely kill him if he made her upset would prove to be at least entertaining." He mocked, ignoring the sniffle he thought he had heard moments before.
Hermione's heart nearly stopped when she heard his comment. But when he finished his thought she calmed herself. It almost sounded like he was saying that he would choose her, given the choice. But she did agree with his statement, the sight of Ron being yelled at in French by the blonde girl would be entertaining indeed. She giggled, "Yes, I could see that happening, honestly."
The two finally came to the end of the long, sloping corridor into a round room as large as any Hogwarts classroom. A short, but wide platform sat in the center. Radiating from the center were what looked like benches with four walkways between them. The platform itself has a transmutation circle, though it appeared to be a very archaic algorithm. "Ah! This must be it!" Hermione exclaimed. She rushed to the platform and opened up a notebook and started flipping through pages trying to find a specific page.
They came to the end of the corridor that opened up into a round room. With a wide platform in the middle and four benches branching out of it. Clearly Granger was excited to come across something she recognized. He approached to inspect the transmutation circle upon the platform, while she flipped pages of a notebook. "Alright, I solved the last two, your turn to enlighten me. What exactly are we looking at here?" He asked as he pulled off his pack and withdrew a bottle of water to take a drink from.
She found the page she was looking for and compared what was on it to the platform, "There's no puzzle, this is it. The first room where we first entered had a brief history of Dev Hoenheim. Publicly, he served the king as a physician. He was known to use unorthodox methods, that is to say he used alchemy to heal. But what wasn't known was that he taught witches and wizards right here. Back then, muggles knew about magic. That's where many myths about wizards come from, but people who could use magic were feared. He secretly taught magical children and told them 'never to let harm come to others by your hand'. And that's just the beginning. It was said that he also created a philosopher's stone, but quickly destroyed it after realizing the negative potential it created. That is why Flamel takes credit for the stone in our time, no one knew about the first one." She started to ramble, clearly exited to have the knowledge that would change history.
She dug into her beaded bag and pulled out something like a ball of thick, golden yarn. She set it on the platform in the center of the circle. She turned to him, waiting for his response and inevitable question, grinning wildly from ear to ear.
Draco understood Dev Hoenheim's need to secretly teach wizard children and state his craft under the guise of healer work. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy (sometimes referred to as the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy or the International Statute of Secrecy) is a law in the wizarding world was officially established in 1692. It was a law to safeguard the wizarding community from muggles and hide its presence from the world at large. Before that wizards and muggles lived knowingly side by side. Sometimes a wizard was respected for his ability and was sought after or offered to use magic for means of aiding in a muggle problem for compensation. By early fifteenth century persecution of witches and wizards had begun. Young witches and wizards were especially vulnerable as their inability to control their own magic made them noticeable at times to muggle witch-hunters. By seventeenth century wizard-muggle relations were at their worst, even with the statute of secrecy. The Ministry of Magic was founded in 1707 to aid in keeping the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and overall keep law and order over the Wizard community of Great Britain.
"Good thing Nicholas Flamel is dead. I got a feeling he wouldn't take too kindly to hearing this discovery. His children might be more understanding. It may aid in the fact we were the best students of their classes while we attended Hogwarts." He stated, as he watched her take out a something that appeared to be a ball of golden yarn. How many curious objects did she carry in that enchanted bag of hers?
"Well go on…I can see you are practically shaking with excitement. Do tell. What's the gold ball for?" He asked, noticing her unmistakable ear to ear grin. It was an enchanting sight.
She giggled and started on something that sounded rehearsed, "This, my friend, is a gold Gordian knot made from one thousand enchanted gold strands representative of the one thousand pillars of creation. It's not that knot itself that is important, rather how it can be used. Have you ever heard of the theory of artificial life?" she asked of him.
"So we are friends now? That certainly is an achievement worth recording in history books." Draco mocked, though his eyes and tone showed it to be a light-hearted remark. He listened to her explanation, following her every word.
Artificial life had been briefly discussed in the required Muggle Studies class when it was taught by Death Eater professor Alecto Carrow. She had said muggles had created a device of artificial intelligence. It could think for them. Do arithmetic, send letters to other artificial intelligences for another muggle to read, and display images both moving and non moving types. It was a device that made them more stupid than ever before. They sat for hours in front of these mental boxes of artificial intelligence, doing meaningless things. It was just one of many reasons why wizards were superior. "Artificial intelligence was mentioned in Muggle Studies as a way muggles degrade their own capabilities. Professor Carrow never mentioned artificial life. The closest anyone has got to artificial life is Nicholas Flamel when he used his philosopher's stone to aid in making the Elixir of Life to make himself immortal. Are you saying that the Gordian Knot can be use to host an artificial life form?"
"Well I would like to think we are friends. We definitely aren't enemies anymore and we've done some extraordinary work together back in school." She said in defense of her statement. "A simple, sentient one, Possibly. In my translations, I read that slavery was a big issue, like house elves today but worse. The rich used the poor like animals and Hoenheim wanted to use his skills to change that. To create a being whose sole purpose was to serve. Unfortunately that's where the direct translations ended. So, I went back and found the entire room was actually encoded with the instructions on how to do what he did, or rather his theory to make this artificial life form. That's what the box of alchemic potions is for." She concluded.
He nodded his head in agreement. He supposed it wasn't that outlandish to be friends with her. She was brilliant, pleasant to be around, and regardless of their past, they did work well together.
The rich enslaving the poor didn't surprise him. The idea of overcoming that by creating a life form whose purpose was to serve was a shock. "This sounds like a recipe for disaster, Granger. A simple but sentient being whose sole purpose is to serve. Do whatever it is told. Without feeling or idea or moral." He raised his hand, signaling to let him finish speaking "I know that's peachy coming from me, someone who as demonstrated questionable morals in the past, but…" he ran his fingers through his locks of pale blonde hair, trying to gather his thoughts.
After a long minute he spoke, "Let's be done for today? Go back to the surface, eat, think this over, and get some sleep before we continue on. It'll still be here tomorrow morning. This knowledge has been here for centuries. Waiting a few hours won't kill you." He asked of her, allowing her to make the decision as 'lead' Curse-Breaker on this mission.
Hermione crossed her arms in defiance, but said nothing and thought. Perhaps he was right. It had been a long hot day, and what were a few hours more to wait. She really wanted to see the fruits of her and Hoenheim's work, but it also seemed a bit strange. "Alright, we'll rest for the evening. I'll owl my supervisor what I've—what we have uncovered thus far and we will resume this endeavor tomorrow morning."