"All right, so does everyone agree with the Hogsmeade alternative?" Hermione asked the group of Prefects and professors in front of her.
Nods and mummers of agreement came from around the room.
"Okay then, next meeting is on Monday. I'll see you all then!" She smiled at the small group as she started gathering her things.
"Miss Granger, may I have a word with you?" Headmistress McGonagall asked as they exited the room.
"Yes, of course, Professor."
They walked to the Headmistress' office. Hermione noted that the room looked different from when Dumbledore had been the Headmaster. The room was still the same colours and similar furniture to how Dumbledore had decorated the circular room, but Quidditch memorabilia replaced his knickknacks and odd objects.
"You have been working very hard these last few months. You have stayed at the top of all your class, helped Mr. Potter with his search and have done all your Head Girl duties in an innovative way that keeps today's limitations in mind without troubling the students about them."
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione answered, a little confused as to why she had been called to her office.
“I have also noticed that you seem tired. Is this all too much for you? A lot has happened over these past few months,” McGonagall said as she peered over her spectacles at Hermione.
“I’m fine, Professor.”
“Are you sure?”
“It is overwhelming at times. Nevertheless, I deal with it. A lot has happened, and a lot is happening. Overall, I am fine,” Hermione reassured her.
“All right, Miss Granger. But, if anything starts to get to be too much, let me know. Have a good day; I know you will be busy with the memories.”
“Thank you, Professor,” Hermione said as she picked up her bag and exited down the spiral staircase.
She started down the portrait-lined hallway towards the Room of Requirement. Her tired mind wandered…
“I just wish Harry wasn’t so overly suspicious of Professor Snape. Dumbledore trusts him; therefore, we should as well,” Hermione explained to Luna Lovegood as they stood guard down the hall from Severus Snape’s office.
Before Luna could respond, they heard someone running and muttering to himself.
“Death Eaters in Hogwarts! Must get Severus!” Professor Flitwick scurried past them, down the hall and into Snape’s office.
Luna and Hermione looked at each other and ran down the hall towards the room Professor Flitwick had just entered. Just as they reached the door, Severus Snape walked from the room.
“Professor Snape, where is Professor Flitwick?” Luna asked in a winsome voice as she pushed a strand of blonde hair from her blue eyes.
“He is inside; he seems to have fainted,” Professor Snape replied with a sneer.
Luna hurried into the room, leaving Hermione alone with the Potions professor.
Severus started to walk away, but then he stopped and turned on his heel.
“Things are going to get rough, Miss Granger. Stay away from the action if you can.”
“I will help my friends, Professor,” she answered.
“Now is not the time for Gryffindor heroics! Stay away from danger at all costs!” he growled. Pausing, he took a deep breath and looked at her with softer eyes. “Don’t do anything impetuous.” His black eyes bore into her brown ones, causing her to shudder.
“Profess…Professor…” she started.
“Don’t do anything impetuous,” he repeated with intensity in his eyes and voice.
Hermione nodded, and then he turned and walked away.
“Hermione! Professor Flitwick won’t wake up,” Luna’s voice called.
Hermione regained her senses and ran into the dark dungeon office. Running around a desk, she made it to the front of the room and knelt next Luna. Taking out her wand, she cast a few charms over the small man to see what was wrong with him.
“Wait, this can’t be right. He’s been…” Hermione looked up at Luna and then towards the door she had just entered. “He didn’t… he wouldn’t… why would he?”
Hermione stopped walking and entered a small alcove devoid of nosey portraits. She sat down on the cold, stone ground and took several deep breaths.
‘Why do you do this to yourself? There was nothing you could do! If you had known, you would have stopped it! But you didn’t know!’ she thought as she rested her head in her hands. ‘No more guilt! You did nothing wrong! You can’t know everything, especially not about Severus Snape. This pity party is over! Life is stressful enough without it. Life has to go on.’
Lifting her head up, she sat up straight and steadied herself. With a confident nod, she stood and rearranged her brown curls. Grabbing her book bag, she continued on her way.
Arriving at the Room of Requirement, Hermione closed her eyes and thought about what she wanted while pacing in front of the wall. A door soon appeared.
“There you are, Hermione. We were beginning to wonder what was taking you so long,” Ron said as she sat her bag down on a large wooden table that was in the middle of the room.
“Professor McGonagall asked to speak with me after the meeting, so it took a bit longer than I had thought.” Hermione looked about the room, taking it in. It was plain, with a stone ground, like the hallway floors and stonewalls to match. There was a tall fireplace against the far wall and in the middle of the room was a large wooden table, which the engraved Pensieve was sitting on.
“Do you have the memories, Harry?” she asked, looking up at the dark haired boy who was trying not to stare at Ginny who was standing next to Hermione.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, right here.” Harry pulled three vials containing a silvery liquid from his pant pocket. “So, is everyone ready for this?”
The all looked at each other, their eyes meeting, affirming their readiness for what they were about to embark on.
Harry poured the silver strands into the large stone basin. Taking a deep breath, he entered the memory. Ginny soon followed, then Ron, leaving only Hermione.
Grabbing her notebook and ink filled quill, she lowered her face towards the shining liquid. Her nose hit the cool surface and she felt herself fall into the turning memory.
The room was large and its walls covered with bookshelves. The dark colour of the wood contrasted with the light green and silver of the drapery and large sofas and reading chairs. A fireplace was nestled in a break in the shelves; it had to be charmed not to burn the surrounding books.
Sitting, curled in one of the fluffy light green chairs was a girl, about seventeen, with light brown hair and blue eyes. She was reading a thick book while twirling a strand of hair around a finger.
“She looks like Tonks,” Ginny noted as she stared at the girl.
“Yeah, she does.” Hermione scribbled in her notebook.
The girl stood and walked around the chair, her back to the fireplace. She stood on her tiptoes and started sliding the book back into its space. She was having a hard time, and the book fell. With an annoyed huff, she knelt down to retrieve the book. The chair was so big; none of the quartet could see her anymore.
Bang!
The door opened, hitting the wall behind it and two girls entered. One was about fifteen and had long blonde hair and pale blue eyes. The other was at least twenty with long dark hair and equally pale grey eyes.
“Narcissa and Bellatrix!” Hermione gasped as she stared at the girls.
“Then that must be Andromeda, - Tonks’ mum!” Ron stated.
“Oh, come, Bella, tell me the news! You know I hate it when you keep things from me!” Narcissa glared at her older sister.
“Fine, but do not breathe a word to anyone! The Dark Lord has given certain followers… promotions, so to speak. He gave Lucius Malfoy an important item to keep safe and he gave one to Rodolphus and I!” she shared her news with pride radiating from her eyes.
“What kind of item?” Narcissa asked, her pale eyes wide.
“They are odd things, Lucius was given a book and we were given a cup.”
Hermione gasped and quickly wrote down the new information.
“But, he said to guard them with our lives, that there is more to them then meets the eye. And… if we do well and keep them safe, we will increase even more in standing with the Dark Lord!” Her beady eyes sparkled with greed.
“That is amazing, Bella! Lucius is increasing with the Dark Lord as well! Mother said he may be my match,” Narcissa said, excitement creeping into her voice.
“Yes, well, Lucius is not deserving of the Dark Lord’s esteem. But, if you married him, it would be a good match. His family is pure and have good connections with the Ministry. Lucius has been using them to aid the Dark Lord. It pleases him.” Bellatrix nodded towards the door, indicating it was time for her to leave. “I will come with Rodolphus for dinner on Saturday; we will discuss Lucius more then. Walk me to the door, little sister.”
The two left and Andromeda stood up and longingly stared after her sisters.
The room spun and shifted.
Soon they were standing in the Room of Requirement once more.
“So, Bella has Hufflepuff’s cup. How are we going to get it?” Ron asked, looking at the other three.
“We don’t know yet, Ron. That is why we are going to go through the other memories, and then we will figure out how to find the cup,” Hermione explained, never looking up from her notes.
“All right then, next memory?” Harry grabbed the next vial and held it over the Pensieve. After getting nods from the others, he poured it in.
They stood in the living room of a large house. It looked as though a battle had been fought in it. The creamy wallpaper had gaping holes in it that looked as though they had been burned there. The furniture was turned over; some pieces had been smashed and littered about the floor.
“I thought they would never go down,” an exhausted voice spoke from behind them.
Turning around, they came face-to-face with a tired and younger Kingsley Shacklebolt. Standing next to him was a woman with shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes.
“Yeah, but, why in the world would they return to their house when they knew the Ministry was after them?” she asked no one in particular.
“Maybe they thought they could take on the entire Ministry, or they needed something that was here and they were willing to risk capture to get it.” Kingsley stood in the doorway surveying the tattered room in front of him.
“Alice taught me all the Auror protocol. I was dreadful at it, remember,” the woman said, tears in her eyes. “I am glad we caught them, they deserve to rot for all eternity in Azkaban for what they did to Frank and Alice! And poor little Neville, he should have been able to know his parents, to be raised by them…”
“He still could!” Kingsley’s voice cracked. “They could recover. The Longbottom’s are strong people. They could recover.”
“Kingsley, I didn’t mean to…” she started.
“Shh! Did you hear that? It sounded like it was coming from the dining room.” Kingsley motioned for her to follow him.
Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny followed close behind.
“Hey! Stop!” Kingsley yelled as he entered the room. He started running towards an opened window. “What is that smell?”
Sprinting to the window, none of the quartet could see who had been there.
“That smells like, stale ale and tobacco. Gross.” Ginny made a face.
“No, you know what that smells like?” Harry asked. “Mundungus Fletcher.”
The memory began to shift again.
“What was Mundungus doing in the Lestrange’s house?” Hermione asked after catching her footing back in the Room of Requirement.
“Maybe the last memory will answer that.” Harry poured the last shimmery memory into the basin.
“Well, Professor Dumbledore, the snake you describe doesn’t sound like any breed I know of. Its venom is spectacular! I have never seen anything like it! But with the size of the snake… There is no snake that size with this type of venom, and the snakes that have this form of venom don’t have this high of potency,” a short, round man with large glasses told Albus Dumbledore as they stood in barn full of cages, which were filled with snakes of all colours and sizes.
“Could a snake like the one I have described be specially bred?” Dumbledore asked, his eyes devoid of their normal sparkle.
“It would very difficult. The size of the snake means it may be part anaconda or python. But the venom, the size of snake with that type of venom… it would be impossible to breed them. Trust me.” He picked up a mouse and dropped it into a cage with a black and green snake.
“On the magical side, could they be?” Dumbledore prodded.
“If they person had an amazing ability to get a snake to do whatever they wanted it to do, and if they enlarged the smaller snake… it is possible,” the man said increasing the volume of his voice to be heard over the sweaking coming from the cage behind him.
“All right, can a snake be possessed? Could a human, possibly use Legilimency on one?”
“Oh no! You can communicate with one, for example, a Parselmouth can ask for it do something. But, a snakes mind is too different from a humans, a human would get lost in it.” The man started feeding the next cage, this time with rats. “A guy I used to work with was a Legilimens, he is Ward 49 now. Humans and snakes minds work on different levels.”
The man become blurry and the cages around them moved, shifting, blending into one another. The quartet soon saw pieces of the Room of Requirement seeping through the turning images.
“So, that settles it, Nagini is a Horcrux!” Hermione affirmed as she wrote on her pad of paper.
“How can we be sure?” Ginny asked.
“Well, he couldn’t have possessed her or use Legilimency on her, but if part of his soul was in her, then he could just connect with that. I doubt a snake could up a wall to keep him out.”
“So we add Nagini to the list of positive Horcruxes, and then, I think we need to talk to Dung.” Harry sat down on the sofa in front of the fire.
“Are you sure that was him we smelled?” Hermione asked as she leaned against the table and wrote furiously into her notes.
“Only Dung smells like that, Hermione, trust us,” Ron said, standing next to her.
“Then let’s go see him.” Ginny stood up from the sofa, where she had been sitting on the edge, obviously not wanting to be too close to Harry.
“There is just one problem with that,” Harry said, looking up from the fire. “Mundungus is in Azkaban.”
A Forbidden Connection by whittyleah
Chapter Notes: Big thanks to the greatest betas in all the world: Ginny_W and Claraminutes!
I own nothing! Except the deranged plot ideas that JK would never use! :D