Chapter 18 Gold, Silver, Red and Brown
“Don’t panic Harry. Just because she’s not in the hospital right now it doesn’t mean she’s in danger,” Ron said urgently. “She’s probably still in Hogwarts somewhere. Maybe she’s in the library. Search the map!”
“She’s not in the library or Gryffindor Tower,” Harry said nervously. “Where else could she be?”
“She’s always saying we’ve got to tell Dumbledore, maybe she’s in his office.” Ron reasoned. “Where else does she spend a lot of time? Hagrid’s hut maybe?”
“House-elves,” Harry said in relief. “Here she is, in a pantry off the kitchen.”
“Let’s go for a walk around the castle,” Ron suggested. “We’re not getting any work done here. We can pop into the kitchen to get a snack and then drop by the library.”
The map showed that Luna Lovegood was in the library.
“Sure, let’s go for a walk,” Harry agreed. “It’s bound to be better than sitting here thinking about girls.”
The house-elves greeted Harry and Ron at the door of the kitchen with a plate of pastries, cakes and tarts and a pot of tea.
“It’s like they were waiting for us,” Ron commented. “How’d they know we were coming?”
Harry saw Hermione come out of a pantry with an elf that was obviously a female and obviously pregnant.
“Now Amy, that potion you drank tonight should take care of your fever but you should take a swallow of the vitamin elixir every day,” Hermione said to the mother-to-be. “And stay off your feet, get lots of rest. I’ll talk to George about your duties.”
She made a note on her chart and then looked around the kitchen.
“Harry! What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Ron and I just popped in for a snack,” Harry said.
“What! Didn’t you get enough to eat at dinner? Don’t eat too many sweets. You want to stay lean if you’re going to be a fast Seeker, don’t you,” Hermione lectured.
“Oh yes dear, you’re quite right,” Harry said as he put a cherry tart back on the tray.
Hermione gave Harry a smile and a quick kiss. “Who’s next!” she shouted to the elves as she walked back to the pantry. “Hi Walter, how’s that hand of yours, are your fingers still tingling? I told Madam Pomfrey about it and she thinks it’s not the soap that’s used on the floors but it’s the way you beat the rugs. She says it’s called carpel tunnel syndrome. There’s a spell to rearrange the wrist bones but it’s a bit above my level…”
“Let’s go to the library before Luna… before it closes,” Ron said as he picked up the cherry tart that Harry had abandoned.
When Harry arrived at the Gryffindor table for lunch on Friday, Hermione was not at her usual spot but he saw Ron talking to Seamus and Neville.
“…and so he says Oh yes dear, you’re quite right and he puts a pastry back,” Ron laughed.
“The poor fellow is whipped,” Seamus snickered. “It took years for mum to get dad that well trained and he can’t hex her back.”
Harry saw that Hermione was at the Hufflepuff table with Susan Bones and decided to join her there. Between bites Hermione and Susan labored over a book.
“Where it says without a moments hesitation I bravely charged in, change it to read: I quickly considered my options and concluded that I had to attack in spite of the fear that I felt,” Hermione dictated.
“So I see you two made up,” Harry observed.
“Of course we made up,” Hermione said. “Susan and I are good friends.”
“Hermione is right about the changes she wants to make,” Susan said. “And she promised to try to not irritate Augustus this week.”
“So what are you reading?” Harry asked as he lifted the book from Susan’s hands so he could read the title. “This is one of Lockhart’s books! Why are you reading this rubbish?”
“It’s not all rubbish,” Hermione said. “The descriptions of the spells and wand movements are correct although that information is available in standard textbooks.”
“The stories are all fiction,” Harry said. “Lockhart takes credit for heroic acts that were performed by other wizards and witches.”
“Maybe what you’re saying is true,” Susan said, “but the stories are well written even if Lockhart does go a bit overboard in describing his own bravery.”
“It’s got to be toned down a bit,” Hermione said shaking her head.
“Why?” Harry asked. “Are you editing his book for a second edition?”
“Oh I’m sorry,” Hermione said holding her hand over her mouth. “Forget that Harry. I’ve said too much.
“What is this about?” Harry asked.
“Oh Harry, please forgive me. I’m leaving on the four o’clock train to London and I shouldn’t waste these precious minutes working,” Hermione said staring into his eyes. “Take me to a quiet corner and kiss me good-bye.”
She led Harry out of the Great Hall and into Firenze’s empty Divination classroom. The mystery of Gilderoy Lockhart’s book moved to the back of Harry’s mind, replaced by the joy of hugging and kissing Hermione in what seemed to be an enchanted forest.
It was going to be a long and lonely weekend. The thought of going into Hogsmeade without Hermione was not exciting. But it wasn’t going to be an empty weekend. Somehow in the middle of the hugging and kissing Harry agreed to spend part of Sunday afternoon reading to the house-elves.
Harry returned to the Great Hall in time to see the food being cleared away.
“I missed lunch,” Harry said looking lost.
“I guess a certain brown-eyed girl likes your body lean and firm,” Seamus joked.
On the following day Ron, Luna, Cho and Justin went into Hogsmeade together along with most of the third year and up students. They would gather food, medicine and blankets to give to the elves in the mine. Harry didn’t feel like going into Hogsmeade without Hermione so he stayed in the castle and tried to study. He still hadn’t come up with a plan to defeat Lord Voldemort. In fact with all of the murders, marriages and excitement going on he hadn’t made much progress since summer. But Harry didn’t spend all day alone. At lunch Professor McGonagall told him to go to Dumbledore’s office.
“Christmas in Canada? Why that sounds delightful.” Dumbledore exclaimed with a smile. “It’ll take a bit of work to insure that your departure is not noticed. But you two deserve a bit of rest and relaxation. And a vacation trip abroad would be good practice for the traveling that you two will have to do next summer.”
“Thank you sir,” Harry said. “She needs to get away from it all for a short time. I could use a vacation too. It’s been a rough term.”
“Indeed it has,” Dumbledore said. “For this trip, secrecy is essential. Hermione’s parents are not protected by wizards or any magical devices at all.”
“You mentioned that we would be traveling next summer?” Harry asked.
“With all of the danger and excitement you’ve been through this term, have you given any thought to the problem of dealing with Lord Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked.
“Frankly, I haven’t had much time to think about how to defeat him. I’ve mostly concentrated on staying alive,” Harry said.
“And playing Quidditch,” Dumbledore added with a smile. “As Headmaster I must be impartial, but as an old Gryffindor student I certainly enjoyed the way your team man-handled the Slytherins.”
He paused. When he spoke again it was with a more serious tone.
“That game almost ended in disaster,” Dumbledore said. There are no recorded instances of a healer using Sympathetic Magic to help revive a patient after repairing such a major artery. Her resourcefulness amazes me.”
“Could this Sympathetic Bond between me and Hermione be helpful in defeating Lord Voldemort?” Harry asked.
“Do you want it to be?” Dumbledore asked.
“Not if it puts her in danger,” Harry answered.
“I understand your desire to protect her,” Dumbledore said.
Harry realized he had answered his own question.
“So what is Lord Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked. “Why didn’t he die when the curse that gave you that scar bounced back at him?”
“He can’t be killed, at least not in ordinary ways,” Harry answered. “He’s not a human anymore. He’s made a deal with a creature from another realm. He’s become some sort of demon-like thing.”
“Very good, you have done some studying. There are ways of defeating him,” Dumbledore said. “Voldemort’s not the first dark wizard to seek immortality. Good wizards have had to deal with demonic Dark Lords like him before. Have you been reading those two books Madam Pince gave you this summer?”
“They’re dark and depressing,” Harry said.
“I thought you might find the book on Blood Magic to be interesting,” Dumbledore said brightly. “It’s not really Dark Magic you know. I’ve always found it to be a fascinating subject, especially the uses of dragon’s blood.”
Harry stared at the old wizard. Dumbledore was a great man but he could be very odd indeed.
“Perhaps it’s not exactly your cup of tea,” Dumbledore said in a disappointed tone.
“We, well actually Hermione, found one way to destroy Voldemort, in the brown book,” Harry said. “But it’s too terrible to consider. It uses human sacrifice.”
“I know of four ways that may be used to defeat Voldemort,” Dumbledore began. “The most appealing is the Gold Serpent Staff, an ancient talisman that dates back to the time when all men were wizards. Touch Voldemort with this staff and he’ll be banished to another realm.”
“Where is this Gold Serpent Staff,” Harry asked hopefully.
“No one knows,” Dumbledore said. “A lot of wizards have searched for it. You will study their notes and attempt to find it yourself. If you do find it, the world will become a safer place. If you are moving around a lot, the Death Eaters will be distracted. If Voldemort thinks you have found the Gold Serpent Staff, he will be discouraged from attacking you. ”
“That explains the travel next summer,” Harry pondered.
“The most common way of dealing with a case like Voldemort is to build a magical prison that can hold the dark creature forever,” Dumbledore said.
“Like Azkaban?” Harry asked.
“It has to be better than that. The dark demon-wizard must be surrounded by enchanted silver items,” Dumbledore said. “It’s very expensive to build this type of enchanted prison. It takes months, if not years to construct the building and enchant the barriers. But it’s worked before. We’ll need the help of the Ministry of Magic. I will work to build a political coalition that will appropriate the funds for the prison. It takes a lot of silver.”
“How do we get Lord Voldemort into the prison?” Harry asked.
“That’s another problem altogether,” Dumbledore admitted.
“Someone has to beat him down so he can be taken in a weakened state,” Harry guessed. “Someone with a power he knows nothing about.”
“Very perceptive,” Dumbledore acknowledged.
“The third method involves Blood Magic,” Dumbledore said. “Voldemort used some of your blood to perform the spell that transformed his baby-like body into a man-like body. There is something of you in him. If we can replace enough of his blood with your blood he would become human enough that he could be killed.”
“You mean like a blood transfusion?” Harry asked. “Is this described in the red book?”
“I gather you haven’t read every page that I marked,” Dumbledore deduced.
“I didn’t read the pages that Hermione marked as useless,” Harry said. “I mean, this seems unlikely to work. Is he going to cooperate? Is Madam Pomfrey going to help? Please hold out your arm and make a fist Mr. Voldemort, you may feel a little prick from the needle.”
“His cooperation is one problem with the blood based plan,” Dumbledore admitted.
“And it has to be me. How much of my blood would this take?” Harry asked.
“More than your body contains,” Dumbledore concluded.
“And that leaves the brown book, the human sacrifice,” Harry said grimly.
“The route no one wants to go,” Dumbledore said.
“A magical bond is established between the sacrificial victim and the demon-wizard. And they both die,” Harry said grimly.
“When Tom Riddle rejected death, he rejected his life, for death is a part of life,” Dumbledore explained. “He became something other than living. His essence is no longer a life force but rather a form of anti-life. A life force plus an anti-life force results in mutual annihilation, death for both.”
“I’m not going to sacrifice someone to kill Voldemort,” Harry said flatly. “How could we establish a magical bond between him and the sacrificial victim anyway? He might not hold still for it.”
“There is already a magical bond between him and you,” Dumbledore said quietly. “You almost destroyed Voldemort when you fought with him for the Philosopher’s Stone. Professor Quirrell’s body was weakened by the possession and he died before you could destroy Voldemort. That freed Voldemort and he fled from you. He can’t possess you. He fled from you in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic last June.”
“So I could destroy Voldemort by disarming him, grabbing him and holding on until it’s finished?” Harry asked.
“Harry, I don’t want you to do it that way,” Dumbledore said quietly. “You are young. Your life is ahead of you.”
“Let other wizards duel with Voldemort until he is tired. You will have to disarm him and weaken him. But then you can use the Gold Serpent Staff to destroy him, if it can be found,” Dumbledore explained. “Or perhaps he can be cornered and weakened and then someone can then confine him and put him into the Silver prison. Or we can study the techniques that Muggles use to store blood. If we are able to preserve the blood’s magical properties, then we can slowly collect several gallons of your blood. Then we could use it to restore enough humanity to Tom Riddle that we can kill him.”
“So Hermione and I go looking for the Gold Serpent Staff,” Harry said.
“And I will work with the Ministry of Magic to build the Silver Prison,” Dumbledore said. “I don’t think it would be wise to be bleeding you. If you are tired and weak you might not be able to fight off the attacks that are certain to come. You must survive until you are ready to attack him.”
“All of these plans require that we locate Lord Voldemort and attack him at a time of our own choosing,” Dumbledore continued. “It would not be a good idea to let him pick the circumstances of a confrontation between you and him. The Death Eaters and the Dementors must be dealt with. You will need help. Do not attempt to attack him without the support of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. I am hopeful that we might find an informant who will lead us to Lord Voldemort’s lair. Perhaps some house-elf could be convinced to betray him.”
“Hermione wants to take a load of food and stuff to the elves that work in Malfoy’s mine,” Harry reported.
“Kingsley has told me” Dumbledore said.
“It could be dangerous,” Harry said. “You could forbid it.”
“She has been working very hard to gain the trust of the elves,” Dumbledore stated. “Be careful. Kingsley will arrange for transportation from London to the mine.”
On Sunday afternoon Harry read to the elves. Dennis and his gang accompanied him to the kitchen and stuffed themselves with cakes and sweets. Harry didn’t feel like eating much. He kept wondering what next Sunday would be like. Would he be with Hermione in London, or would they both be dead at Malfoy’s mine?
It was of course pointless for Harry to stare out the window in Potions class on Monday morning. Hermione’s train was scheduled to arrive at Hogsmeade station at three in the afternoon. The only window in the classroom did not provide much of a view. It was set high in the classroom wall but was low to the ground outside. Snape’s room was like a dungeon. Plus the window faced north, which was completely the wrong direction to watch for trains from London. Nevertheless, several times during the course of the class, Harry wandered away from the bench he shared with Ernie Macmillan to glance through this pathetic little window. Ron had made sure that everyone had heard jokes about poor love-sick lonely Harry.
Ron was working with Hannah Abbott again, much to her chagrin. The only potion Ron cared about at the moment was Veritaserum, although he had been pleased to learn that one of the ingredients in today’s assigned potion was a highly flammable oil.
Harry saw the signal from Ron. Professor Snape was wandering around the classroom making nasty comments about the students’ abilities to make potions. He was a row behind the bench used by Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Harry tucked his Invisibility Cloak under his arm and wandered away from his bench, leaving Ernie to watch their cauldron. Ron had placed the Instant Ghost Projector on the floor near the window. A butterfly landed on the vial of oil on Malfoy’s bench and exploded. In the confusion of the fire, Harry tossed on the invisibility cloak and darted into Snape’s office while Ron activated the Ghost Projector and set off the spell that solidified the misty image of Harry staring out the window.
Professor Snape put out the fire with an Extinguishing spell and sarcastically assured Draco that he had unfortunately not been injured.
“Why did that explosion occur?” Snape asked the class as if he expected someone to finger the culprit.
“The explosion occurred because oil of bango tuber is flammable,” Justin Finch-Fletchley said proudly.
“And just why did Mr. Malfoy’s vial explode, while yours did not, Mr. Finch-Fletchley?” Snape asked.
“My vial of oil isn’t dangerously close to my cauldron,” Justin said.
“My vial was two feet from the flame!” Malfoy exclaimed defensively.
“Potter why are you staring out the window?” Snape asked.
There was a short delay while Harry cast the Voice Throwing Charm but the image of Harry staring out the window eventually said, “I’m just checking the weather sir.”
“Potter, there isn’t a cloud in the sky” Snape said coldly. “And no smoke either. Return to your bench immediately.”
Snape was looking at the image of Harry. His line of sight was partially blocked by a cabinet but it was a dangerous moment. A bee stung Draco Malfoy and began to torment Pansy Parkinson. Their shrieks drew Professor Snape’s attention away from the image of Harry by the window. He killed the bee with an expertly aimed curse from his wand and rounded on the class.
“Why is there a bee in my classroom in late November?” he asked in an accusatory tone.
“It’s too cold outside?” Justin guessed.
“Do bees like the smell of bango tuber oil?” Ernie asked. “There’s another one!”
A few moments later, Snape once again looked at the image of Harry staring out the window.
“Ron you idiot!” Hannah screamed as flames raced across their bench.
By the time the fire on Ron and Hannah’s bench was extinguished, the image of Harry by the window faded away and Harry reappeared next to Ernie.
Not knowing who to punish for the confusion, Professor Snape gave the whole class an extra essay to write on the proper handling of flammable substances.
“Did you get the Veritaserum?” Ron asked Harry on the way to the Great Hall for lunch.
“I just took a little bit so he wouldn’t notice a whole vial missing,” Harry said giving Ron an unlabelled vial with a small amount of liquid in it.
“Now we have to get it into one of Maloy’s mates and make him confess in public,” Ron said thoughtfully. “It might cause a row. We’ll have to arm some of our mates with the stuff from Fred and George.”
“Are you thinking of doing it in the middle of the Great Hall?” Harry asked.
“Are you sure you got the right stuff?” Ron asked, looking at the unlabeled vial.