Hermione stared at Daphne. “I want you to come to my next session with my mind healer. He might not believe me. I want you to tell him what you said here today and answer any other questions he has for you. I fear that I will need a lot more than just my say-so to get the message across.”
“Yes Hermione, I will do that,” Daphne replied.
Hermione bit her lip. “Will you put any of this in an article for The Daily Prophet?”
“That depends on what you want to do. The situation now is that Albus Dumbledore is an almost God-like figure in wizarding world history. Negative stories about him will be put in the rubbish along with Rita Skeeter’s book.” Daphne said.
Hermione nodded. “I’m still overwhelmed by feelings of loyalty to Dumbledore. I don’t want to tell you why. That is one of the things I must work through with the mind healers.”
Fleur turned to Daphne. “That’s enough for now. Would you like some tea?”
“Yes please!” The English ladies chorused.
--ooOOoo—
Afternoon tea, the great British tradition, was always celebrated in Bill and Fleur Weasley’s house. A welcome variation was the addition of patisserie delicacies, delivered daily by the Delacour family’s favourite supplier.
Fleur secretly despaired at how thin Hermione was. She was always lightly built but now she was skin and bones. She had been starving herself to give her children a proper diet.
As afternoon tea finished, Daphne came to a decision.
“Hermione, did you ever learn Occlumency?”
Hermione was genuinely surprised. “No! Never! I know that the headmaster ordered Snape to try to teach Potter. Potter showed no aptitude.”
Daphne paused. “There is something that I try not to have made common knowledge. I have been trained in Occlumency and Legilimency by my father. I understand that a certain natural ability in the Mind Arts is inherited in our family.”
Daphne waited for a reaction. Hermione and Fleur looked unhappy.
“I do not use these skills to get information for my news stories. If I did so, anyone who is aware of the Mind Arts would be able to work out that I used Legilimency to obtain facts that they did not willingly tell me. The consequences for me and the newspaper would be unpleasant."
“There are two ways of using Legilimency. The most obvious way is to cast the spell and invade to subject’s mind. The subject would not be prosecuted if they murdered the wizard casting such a spell on them.”
Hermione laughed. “That is what Snape did to Potter!”
“He did, did he?” Daphne asked.
“The headmaster ordered Snape to train Potter in Occlumency, that is what Snape did,” Hermione replied.
“Snape was an arrogant, vicious bully. He didn’t seem to change his methods for anyone.” Daphne said.
“The other way is Passive Legilimency. The person using Legilimency makes no effort to invade the subject’s mind. We just listen, and the surface of the subject's mind slowly becomes clear. I have been listening while we have been talking and enjoying our tea. I can’t stop listening. It is like listening to your voice. If you are speaking to me, I will eventually pick up the surface thoughts from your mind. Eye contact speeds up the process. Professor Snape and the headmaster did this all the time, with staff and students. Passive Legilimency is not illegal since it can’t be stopped, but any Legilimens who is discovered using the information gathered for their own benefit is usually shunned.” Daphne waited.
Fleur spoke. “What did you see in me?”
“You are a Veela. All Veela have strong natural Occlumency. I saw your prepared mindscape. Any Occlumens can prepare a mindscape which is presented at the surface level of your mind. It would take a powerful Legilimens casting the spell to get any further than your castle walls.”
Fleur smiled and nodded.
Daphne quickly continued. “Hermione has a strong mindscape. I did not see any further than the layout of your house. There are many rooms in your mindscape house. Your private thoughts are contained in those rooms which are mostly locked.”
Hermione was shocked. “I never learned or practised Occlumency.”
Daphne smiled, “You have taught yourself. There are some very strange things about those locked rooms. I can only see the names that you have put on them. I suspect that those rooms were put there by some external influence and you have built your mindscape house around them.”
Hermione gave a shuddering sigh. “I think I know what that is about.”
Daphne put her hand up. “Don’t tell me anything that I shouldn’t know.”
Hermione sighed again. “It only matters to me now. I think I know what those names are. One is for my wand, one is Dumbledore, one is Ron Weasley, and the last is Potter.”
Hermione looked at Daphne. “I need you to talk to my mind healer. I know I’m crazy, you uncovered how bad it is for me.”
--ooOOoo--
“That is very disturbing, Lady Pimlico, to find out that Hogwarts teaching staff were involved in such criminal activity. If evidence had been presented to the DMLE concerning what was going on at Hogwarts, any teaching staff involved would have been sent to Azkaban for the rest of their lives. That is if the perpetrator was anyone other than Dumbledore. The Wizengamot would laugh at any attempt to prosecute him.” Healer Brown said.
Hermione and Daphne both frowned.
“I am aware of just how distorted the rule of law is in the wizarding world. That is one of the many issues that I would have campaigned on if I had been able to pursue political office.” Hermione snarled.
“You would only have gained any kind of political influence if you had married a high-born wizard. It would have to be someone who would name you as their proxy to their seat in the Wizengamot,” Daphne replied, “someone like Potter.”
“Don’t say that name. I don’t want to lose my breakfast.” Hermione angrily retorted.
“Hermione, can I ask you how you are feeling now that you have had some time to recover from losing your old wand?” Healer Brown asked.
“Well, I am still angry, although I know that it had to be done. I don’t want to know how George Weasley knew that it had to be done. The way he did it was extremely annoying. As far as the compulsion that my old wand was generating in me, I must admit that it is gradually fading. It comes back when I am upset and tired, but I find that I can fight it off if I am determined to banish it.” Hermione looked uncomfortable.
“Do you want me to stay for the rest of the session, Hermione? I don’t mind if you want me to leave.” Daphne asked.
“You already know far more about me than I ever thought anyone would. You might as well hear the rest of it, Daphne,” Hermione said.
“Do you feel that we can move on to having your obliviated memories restored? I would not recommend getting them all back at once. We should try for the oldest first and then see how you respond to that.” Healer Brown asked.
“Let’s do the earliest one. I am nearly frightened witless, but I want it done. I also want Daphne to be here. I know that she is an expert in the Mind Arts. I want her opinion on what we find.”
Healer Brown read from a prepared statement.
“I will now ask you to accept me placing a sleeping spell on you. This spell is not as strong as a Sleeping Draft. You will be put into a light sleep to help you relax. Then I will cast the obliviation reversal. I will let you wake up naturally after that and then we can discuss your memories. Do you agree to this procedure?”
Hermione replied, “Yes, I agree.”
Healer Brown smiled, “Good! Please move to the couch and make yourself comfortable.”
The spells were cast. Hermione slept for several minutes and then woke with a start.
“I remember!”
Hermione was confused. “It is as if it just happened!”
“That is good. Don’t hurry. Take your time and think about describing the memory.” Healer Brown murmured.
“We were cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place. This was during the summer holidays before our fifth year. It was slow and dirty work. I was taking a pile of junk out of the Drawing Room. It had been piled up in a corner and left there for years. There were boxes of books and papers which were rotten with mould. It was covered by old drapes which had rotted and fallen down on the pile.
The box I was carrying broke. The bottom fell out and these old books and papers landed on my feet. I picked up the biggest books and took them down to where we were collecting the junk that was to be destroyed. We were not allowed to do anything with it other than collect it. This junk was to be taken away to somewhere safe where it could be destroyed. This was the Black ancestral home. Anything in there could have been enchanted with any kind of dark magic. Sirius would not let us touch anything in the library until he had cleaned out the dark and dangerous stuff. In this pile of rubbish from the broken box was a leather-bound notebook.”
“Aha!” Daphne shouted.
“Yes! Aha! I cleaned up everything else and kept the notebook aside. Later that night I had a chance to look at it. The name written on the inside cover was Regulus Arcturus Black. He was Sirius’ younger brother. Sirius told us about how he had been doing the initiation required to become a Death Eater. Regulus decided that he wanted to back out. He wasn’t going to do the things Voldemort demanded to prove his loyalty. Regulus had been murdered by the Death Eaters. You don’t put in your resignation to the Death Eaters. You must go the whole way or pay the ultimate price.”
“What was in the book? It was all about Horcruces. It had the Necromantic ritual needed to make a Horcrux which was the darkest magic you could ever find anywhere. It had what can go wrong if the ritual fails. It had what to do to clean up the mess if the ritual fails. It had all sorts of Necromantic rituals which could be performed to find and destroy Horcruces. The rituals were powered by complex runic arrays. All those runes were recorded in the book. I was fascinated.”
“UH OH!” Daphne exclaimed.
“No! I saw in one paragraph exactly what we needed. Potter’s scar was an unintentional Horcrux. It was made when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse at Potter when he was eighteen months old. Regulus had written out exactly what happens when a Horcrux-making curse fails before the ritual is complete. The Killing Curse failed due to his mother’s sacrificial protection. Voldemort’s physical body was destroyed. The fragment of his soul which he intended to make into a Horcrux found a living host, Potter. The result was Potter’s scar. It was an unintentional Horcrux.”
“Regulus wrote pages on what to do to remove unintentional Horcruces from living hosts. He must have got it all from the Black Library. The Black ancestors were the sort of dark wizards who would collect that magic. It was all Necromancy.”
“The notebook had details of what happens in the host. The Horcrux makes a connection with the host’s mind. It can influence the host. If there are any other Horcruces or soul shards, then a magical connection may result. The Horcrux can cause excruciating pain and induce visions from the other soul fragments. Potter had all of those. That diary that possessed Ginny and made her open The Chamber of Secrets was another Horcrux. Potter killed it.”
Hermione jumped up from the couch.
“We could have got that soul shard out of Potter in 1995. We could have found and destroyed all the Horcruces. I know why that didn’t happen. I remember.”
Hermione paced around the room.
“I waited until Dumbledore came to the house for a meeting. I caught him and asked for a private meeting. He said he was busy. I was so insistent that he finally agreed.”
“I decided not to tell him about the notebook. I had not finished studying it. There was a lot in it. Nothing was so complicated that I could not understand it but there were things that I thought were missing. The ritual circles were not always complete. Regulus had not finished the ritual to remove a Horcrux from a living host. I knew enough to find the missing pieces. I had to do more work on the notebook before we could use it. It was close, but not quite there.”
“Regulus must have died before he could finish it. We don’t know the full story.”
“I was desperate to tell Dumbledore about it. My respect and loyalty to Dumbledore could not be higher at that point. I needed to know that he would approve. It was Necromancy, I needed to know that he would allow me to keep working on it. I was desperate to help Potter.”
Hermione stopped pacing and stared.
“I was desperate to help Potter. I was completely besotted with him. I had been since the end of our second year. He treated me like I was one of the boys. I wanted him to ask me to be his partner at the Yule Ball. He ignored me. Viktor asked me and I accepted him. Potter carried on as though I was part of the furniture. We worked together. We trained every day. I was desperate to keep him alive. He didn’t notice how obsessed I was with him.”
Hermione sat down, her shoulders slumped down, and her head dropped.
“I told Dumbledore that I had found a batch of notes while cleaning up the Drawing Room. I said that it was Regulus Black who had written them. I told him that I had read some of the notes and I worked out from them what Potter’s scar was. I told him that I knew that it was a soul shard from Voldemort. I said that I had found an almost complete ritual which we could use to remove the soul shard without killing Potter. I asked for time to complete the ritual before we used it to remove the soul shard.”
Hermione laughed.
“What a childish simpleton I was. He knew that I was trying to conceal the notebook. He asked for the notes. I said that they were in the rubbish pile to be destroyed. I said that I had copied what we needed for the ritual. He smiled and nodded. He then said that he could help me by giving me protection on my wand. He conjured a parchment that was covered in runes. He must have had one prepared. He had probably done this to others before me.”
“He asked me to place my wand on the parchment and he used his wand, The Elder Wand, to cast a spell. The parchment curled up around my wand and then vanished. He asked me to pick up my wand. I did.”
“I was happy to touch it, it gave me a reassuring feeling that this was the right thing to do. I smiled at Dumbledore. He said to carry on working on the ritual and that he would take care of the notes in the rubbish pile.”
“We started the new year at Hogwarts. I worked on the notebook. I looked up reference works in the Ancient Runes classroom. I lied to Professor Babbling about working on a private project. I finished the ritual. I was ready to perform it.”
“I sent an owl message to Dumbledore. That night, I was working on my own in the library when Professor Snape found me. He told me that the headmaster wanted to see me. I was ready. Snape took me to the headmaster’s office. I gave the notebook to Dumbledore. I confessed that I had kept it back from him as I wanted to finish the ritual myself and I didn’t want any other concerns to get in the way.”
“He gave me this odd smile. I felt better when I told the headmaster everything. The Loyalty enchantment was at work. It was not overpowering, but it was there.”
“He gave me this lecture about how dangerous Necromancy was. I knew that there were risks. If I performed the ritual I could have been affected in unpredictable ways. Regulus had written about the risks in his notes. I said that I was willing to take the risks to save Potter. I told Dumbledore that I loved Potter and that I wanted to marry him someday.”
“He stopped smiling.”
“He said ‘That is something to be decided in the future. It is good that you have voluntarily given me this notebook, it would be unsettling if I had to take it from you. I will keep it for now.’”
He then pointed his wand at me and said ‘Obliviate!’”
“I woke up standing outside the Gryffindor portrait. I was confused about how I got there. I didn’t remember walking from the library. I thought that I was so tired that I was sleepwalking.”
“You were sleepwalking, only it wasn’t tiredness. Dumbledore and Snape were doing a mind whammy on you.” Daphne said.
Hermione was angry. “We could have finished the war back then. We could have set Potter free. The Horcruces could have been collected and destroyed. That would have left the snake and Voldemort to deal with. It could have been done without the destruction and misery.”
“Dumbledore wanted it done his way,” Daphne said.
Hermione’s anger developed. “He planned all along for Potter to walk up to Voldemort with no wand and let himself be cut down with the Killing Curse. Dumbledore didn’t know that Potter would survive. It was all aimed at getting Voldemort to destroy his own unintentional Horcrux. Potter dying in the process was incidental.”
There was a short silence.
Hermione’s voice was shaking.
“In the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Dumbledore knew that Voldemort was getting stronger. He didn’t know the details, but he let the travesty go on because, in the end, Voldemort would come for Potter. Potter could have died and Dumbledore’s plan would work out.”
“Here I was thinking that the Greengrass family were ruthless,” Daphne murmured.
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