“The Dark Mark?” Draco rasped, falling back onto the bench.
Harry eyed his former nemesis and schoolmate warily. He wanted desperately to believe that the blond man in front of him truly cared about Hermione- and truly had nothing to do with her disappearance. Despite years of loyalty to the Order, having both Dumbledore’s and Hermione’s faith, and his rather endearing relationship with his daughter, Harry was having a difficult time placing his full trust in Draco Malfoy. One look at Ron’s face convinced him that he wasn’t the only one struggling.
Sounds on the stairway jolted him out of his thoughts. Ginny bounded in, carrying Hermione’s worn leather briefcase- the same one that he and Ron had given to her for graduation. Seeing Hermione’s trademark accessory infused him with resolve about Malfoy.
“Malfoy,” Harry started. But before he could continue, Draco jumped up from the bench.
“I know what you’re thinking Potter- but you have to believe that I had nothing to do with this. I would never hurt Hermione. She means everything to me- I love her,” he cried dejectedly.
Several long moments passed as Ron looked from Draco to Harry. Giving Harry a small nod, he walked over to the Slytherin.
“Listen, Malfoy. We’re not accusing you of anything. True, it’s hard to put the past completely in the past- only a few days ago, you left Hermione tied up for us to find. She was hysterical. But she trusts you,” he paused. “Hermione trusts you. She obviously cares for you. And I believe you,” he finished quietly.
“I believe you, too,” Harry said.
Ginny now came forward. She had sensed that the three men had to work out their trust issues on their own. She walked to the table, opening the briefcase and taking out the stack of birth ritual notes.
“Well, now that we’re all agreed that everyone here loves Hermione and wants to help her,” she began briskly. “Draco, we need to go through Louisa’s birth and compare it to these spells. With a little luck, we can figure out what the Death Eaters are after. They must have realized that Hermione was close to discovering the truth- I can’t think of any other reason for them to take her- and not leave her for dead. There’s something that she has that they need,” she explained.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Harry pondered. “They obviously took her for something.” The room was quiet as the four contemplated the stakes of Hermione’s abduction.
“They’ll kill her when they’re done,” Draco intoned. “We have to find out why she’s there.” He took a deep breath before he continued in a halting manner. “I wrote out all the details of Louisa’s birth as I remember them. The truth of the ritual is lost in a nightmare now. I can no longer tell the difference between what really happened and the horrors of my mind.”
Ginny picked up the parchment that lay in front of Draco. Her eyes quickly scanned the ghastly description of the ritual before she passed it along to Ron and Harry.
“Geez, Malfoy. That is disturbing,” Ron muttered, awkwardly. Harry just gaped at Draco, eyes still darting back to some of the lines on the parchment. Finally, both Ron and Harry sat down at the table, Harry next to Draco and Ron beside Ginny.
Harry found that he just couldn’t say anything to the man sitting next to him. Doing the only thing he could think of, he just put his arm around his shoulders. He felt Draco stiffen slightly before the blond looked at him in confusion.
“I’m sorry, Malfoy. I didn’t know,” Harry said. Draco just nodded, giving him a grateful look and Harry dropped his arm.
Ginny took out some spare parchment, a quill, and ink from Hermione’s briefcase. She looked up at the three expectantly.
“Well, we need to outline the ritual now and compare it to Hermione’s notes,” she charged. For the next 20 minutes, the four carefully dissected Draco’s dream into specific steps. When they finished that task, Ginny handed them several sets of notes.
“Look through each of these and see if anything comes close,” she instructed.
Draco took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand. It was difficult- not only was he desperately worried about Hermione but he was also extremely unsettled by what was happening in the next room. Dumbledore was currently schooling Louisa on how to reign in her thoughts into his Pensieve. Draco assumed that the whole process might be a bit overwhelming for the child, though he implicitly trusted the old wizard. Mrs. Weasley was also with his daughter. He felt slightly relieved by the older woman’s presence because he knew she’d be keeping a watchful eye on Louisa, making sure that she wasn’t pushed too harshly.
Taking another deep breath, he returned to the text in front of him. With his finger, he absently traced some of the neat blocky script of Hermione’s handwritten notes. He wasn’t aware of the small sigh that escaped his mouth nor did he notice the three persons now looking at him, with mixtures of sympathy and amazement on each of their faces.
After more than two hours of quiet reading, Draco gasped out loud. The others quickly looked up at him, placing their own stacks of notes down on the table.
“This is it. I think this is the one,” Draco exclaimed. Ginny took the parchment, noted Hermione’s referencing citation and hurriedly called up the original spell from her friend’s charmed book. The three men watched in fascination as the book in Ginny’s hands slowly transformed into a much heavier and older text.
“Transcending Birth and Death,” she breathed. She carefully opened the ancient volume- one could never be too careful with magical books, after all. Quick glances at some of the illustrations throughout the text assured them that they were indeed dealing with the Dark Arts. Ginny shuddered at a particularly gruesome rendering of someone on the edge of the death.
“Okay, Hermione’s notes say it’s this one,” she started. “The Spell of Resurrection.” Ron gulped while Harry and Draco both looked agitated. She continued her reading.
“According to the spell’s history, this ritual hasn’t been used in centuries- and this book is already quite old,” she said, pausing to look up from her reading. “The ritual is for creating a life to anchor someone else to the mortal plane- meaning that as long as the new life existed, the other one would, too,” she paused again, quickly reading ahead. “That is, the other being is anchored to the created life until he can supplant himself into the new person,” she stopped, letting the implications of her words sink in. “The spell calls for ‘the essence of the spellcastor’s kindred and the blood of his enemy.’ And then the spellcastor must imbibe some of his own powers into the new life- not only just to bring forth the new life, either. Thus, when the spellcastor takes over the new life, he can resurrect himself in all of his former glory- the powers lay dormant within the new life, awaiting the completion of the ritual.” She stopped then, putting down the book with trembling hands.
“What is it, Ginny? What’s the rest say? What’s the completion?” Ron demanded.
With a quavering voice, Ginny said, “One of the parents must die to complete the resurrection- either the essence is fully removed from the kindred or the blood is drained completely from the enemy!”
Harry and Ron looked puzzled as Ginny wept into her hands.
“It’s her. That’s why they took her. Her blood…her blood…it’s her blood!” Draco shouted.
“It is, indeed, Draco.” All four looked up into the solemn blue eyes of their former Headmaster.
“Louisa is Hermione’s child. Hermione’s blood will thus complete the Ritual of Resurrection, bringing about Voldemort’s embodiment in Louisa,” he pronounced.
Shocked silence met Dumbledore’s words.
“How can we stop this?” Draco asked, wretchedly.
“We must remove the treat,” the older wizard stated, simply.
“Wait a minute- what do you mean, remove the threat?” Harry bellowed. “We can’t kill either Hermione or Malfoy or even Louisa just to stop the ritual- those just aren’t options!”
“I quite agree, Harry. There must be other ways.” Dumbledore calmly responded.
Her hands still shaking, Ginny picked back up the text and reread the passage. “The essence of my kindred and the blood of my enemy,” she read. “Draco, are you related to Voldemort?”
Draco looked at her dumbly, “No. Not that I know of..”
“Yeah, I always thought Voldemort had no blood heir,” Harry interrupted.
“So perhaps because I am my Father’s son,” Draco spat out. “And he was certainly as close to the Dark Lord as he could be!”
“Well, that explains the kindred- but what of the ‘blood of the enemy’?” Ginny posed. “Was it because Hermione was your enemy or Voldemort’s?”
“Now that is an interesting question, Ginny,” Dumbledore interjected.
“Because Hermione is no longer your enemy,” Harry rushed. “Will that remove the threat?”
“I don’t know,” Dumbledore answered, now wearily taking a seat at the table.
Draco looked up at the older wizard, for the first time understanding that he must be finished with Louisa.
“What did Louisa know?” Draco asked.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked. “What about Louisa?”
Dumbledore held up a hand to stymie further questions.
“Louisa has all the makings of a Seer- just like your mother, Draco,” he began. “But it takes years of mental training to hone that gift. I simply helped Louisa congregate her memories into coherent thoughts which could then be placed into the Pensieve.” He paused, giving each of the four a sweeping look before continuing. “But before we get into that, I suggest that we all take a break and enjoy some of Mrs. Weasley’s cooking. We will need our strength to understand Louisa’s visions.”
All four looked mutinous at Dumbledore’s request.
“I assure you that Hermione is not in any immediate danger. They will have to keep her alive and relatively unscathed to perform the ritual. Furthermore, they cannot complete the ritual without Louisa- and since she is here with us, I suggest we use this time to gather our resources. If we are to help Hermione, we will need all that we have to give,” he finished.