When in doubt, go to the library; Harry Potter, closed.
As promised, Hermione was at the Ministry's library on New Year's Day. In fact, she was there from opening until closing for two days straight, until she was happy with the amount of information she was going to present to Harry. That was why she was on his doorstep earlier, when she ran into Ron Weasley, the prat
( Read more... )
But that wasn't something he could do anymore.
So when he arrived at the library to meet Hermione, he was a bit tense and bit overwhelmed.
He only hoped she had something good.
"You haven't be holed up here for days have you?" he asked when he took notice of her pacing.
Reply
She let him go and dragged him to her couple of tables she had occupied, and they had luckily not cleaned up yet. (Probably due to the fact they were COVERED in books.)
"I have so much to tell you," she said a little breathless.
Reply
As he followed her over to the tables, his eyes took in the mountains of books and he rubbed at the back of his neck with quiet laughter.
Nothing really changed since they were kids, that was clear.
"Merlin, Hermione-" he breathed. "I can't imagine all the effort this took-"
Reply
She took him by the wrist and, lightly, pulled him over to the table where she started. "Do you remember the chapters about the Salem witch hunts and the European burning of witches in History of Magic?" She didn't pause for an answer, "Well, I thought that would be a good place to start investigating muggles burning witches and wizards."
Hermione leaned over the table, her fingers grazing the pages, trying to grasp the essence of each one. She took a deep breath, "This book mentioned the legacy of muggles murdering witches and wizards throughout history, and I thought he was just paranoid because legacy is an awfully strong word- or so I thought. But these books over here," she walked around the table, "agreed! And this author, Eller, she luckily described these people with the word cult."
Reply
And frankly, as it registered, it chilled him to his bones.
"So, you're thinking that whoever it is behind this is from some ancient cult?" He couldn't help but sound a bit in disblief. "Anything about the symbol I told you about?"
Reply
Hermione skipped over the next two tables and settled at one, covered in books, notes written in her hand, and pulled out her laptop and settled down. She ignored the computer for a moment and reached across the table for an huge, worn leather bound volume, The Encyclopedia of Symbols"The problem with that symbol is that it appears to be extremely common. Generally speaking, the staff is a symbol of power, think of it like a wand, but it also has religious significance in the muggle world. On top of that it can mean authority, guidance, rulership, leadership, um... masculinity, or phallic... a pilgrimage, dignity, high class, or rank ( ... )
Reply
"Healing, eh?" he asked, rubbing at his temple. "So, let me try and break this down in a way I can comprehend- we've got a group of what? Fanatics? Who are targeting us as a way to what? Rid the world of magic?"
He had to admit this was well beyond anything he knew.
Reply
She pulled over a few books, "When I realized that, I started to narrow down these cults. I tracked down the staff and the serpent to a Biblical story. The story itself isn't so important to explain, I suppose," she trailed off realizing this was definitely overloading Harry.
"So, if you just look for the religious cults that use this symbol, who are also known to burn witches, then the list is much less overwhelming." Hermione grabbed a piece of paper, with several slightly different serpent and staff doodles down the side and a list of names.
The Council of Elvira, established in Rome, 306 CE, known for burning pagans at the stake, thought to be dissolved a generation later ( ... )
Reply
He paused, not quite sure what the right word was. He didn't know much about the BIble or religion in general. The Dursleys were the kind of people to go to church on Sundays. And then, well, the wizarding world wasn't exactly a beacon for god worshipping.
"Old?" he ventured, making a slightly absurd face. "I mean, is it possible that they a group from centuries ago could still hold a grudge?"
Reply
"Look here," she said after reviewing several accounts where the supposed routines of these different organizations kept cropping up. She pulled out more of her own notes from under a few books, which described the certain modus operandi of each organization, and then drew connections from those historic events.
"Either these groups are still alive and well underground, or something, or crazies have identified with them over the centuries and copied them.
"But, if they've found a foot into our world, Harry... I would think they've been watching us for a long time. A long, long time."
Reply
In the few years he had been working as an Auror, murders were never quite so violent and the cause was generally always discovered- whether it was the Killing curse or another Unforgivable or hex, even.
They always had the answer, even if they couldn't always catch the criminal.
But this was different. They knew too much, had access to places they shouldn't have been able to.
"You're right," he said, nodding his head. "So these are our four, eh? I suppose I could bring this back to our researchers- even run it by Fred and George and see if any of this sounds familiar. They're tracking the pubs, muggle and wizard alike-"
Reply
That was when Hermione turned to the laptop. She had dozens and dozens of tabs open. Hermione ran the tip of her wand over the screen a few times, mumbling some incantations to herself, and then pointed the wand at a long, empty piece of parchment paper. It was instantly filled.
"From what I could find on the Internet, these are the churches that have been identified with markings, carvings, and stained glass of the staff and serpent, in the United Kingdom. Since the attacks seem to be isolated here, it seemed pointless to try to find churches or religious buildings elsewhere. But.. as you can see.. it's a long list.
"Few are active churches, and they don't appear to be connected with radical ideas, but most are supposed to be abandoned."
Reply
"This is a lot, Hermione," he said, leaning his arm against the table and resting his head in the palm of his hand. "But it's brilliant- honestly, this makes so much sense- it's just... terrifying-"
It was the first time he had really admitted it, especially out loud.
Reply
"I wish there was more I could do, but... I hate to say it, these books can only take us so far." And the Internet wasn't exactly full of people admitting to the murder of witches and wizards.
She placed a hand on top of Harry's. Admitting his fear didn't happen very often, and it struck her to the core. "But we're so much closer, now, Harry. You'll finish this."
Reply
He paused, then, realizing that there a bit more on top of this whole case that he hadn't told Hermione about but perhaps now wasn't exactly the time. Still, his eyes drifted to the notes she had so diligently put together and his other hand reached for them.
"Can I take these?" he asked, glancing at her. "See if Ron and I can wrap our heads around this-"
Reply
"Oh, bloody hell, take whatever you want, Harry!"
Reply
Leave a comment