Chapter 25
Chapter 25:
Hermione passed by the office and spotted two more boxes on the desk, this time she didn’t bother with spells, she went to directly open the now familiar boxes. One contained Vampire Blood and one contained werewolf venom, these samples must not have been easily obtained, no Vampire or Werewolf willingly parted with either, and never for just money. The gut feeling she had about this anonymous benefactor was back, this person could be up to no good. She considered for a while whether writing to Harry about the nature of this gift would be wise or not and found herself considering the loss of future gifts and stopped short. Was it selfish and reckless? Yes, was she scolding herself for it every day, absolutely! But if she had a self-admitted flaw it was her insatiable curiosity to learn and invent. These gifts have propelled both for her, as these were rare things that hardly ever came her way during her extensive studies. Her Anti-splinchinging potion was nearly done, and she used the dragon scales to develop a nearly impenetrable protection charm link no other, it was a thrilling time not just for her and her students but for he research.
This time she decided to leave the sender a note on the desk, for surely they were the only two people there.
“Dear Sender, I thank you for the generous gifts, but I must inquire about the reasons for them. -HG”
She folded the note and left it under a paperweight in the center of the desk, unmissable.
~~
Later that night Hermione was taken by an idea to scope out the office, something told her this anonymous donor would be back tonight. How she wished she had Harry’s cloak right now, she needs to develop a potion of invisibility she thought to herself as she dressed in her blackest clothes for her spy mission. There was no telling when this person would show up, if at all, but Hermione felt confident in herself.
She was sneaking on quiet feed through the castle instead of just apparating straight into the area, just in case.
On her long walk, she found herself remembering all the days she used to sneak around with Harry and Ron those first few years. All those nights she used to stay awake in her bed in this castle she’d imagined what her school days would have been like had there not been a war. Had she had time to enjoy being a witch and relishing magic without the ever-looming gloom of death and destruction at their door, without fearing her friend's fate and then watching them die. Her mind often wandered into the darkest of subjects late at night when she was silent and alone.
For a few years after the war, she found soothing comfort in filling her bed with strangers. It was immediately clear that Ron and her would never work out, there was too much between them. Too much pain, too much history, and too many memories. So stranger after a stranger filled her bed until she started to see everyone’s face in the stranger’s as they peacefully lay asleep next to her. Some nights she missed it, the thriller seeking of going into a muggle bar and picking up the handsomest man or funniest or the one that showed interest first. It was all so meaningless and filled with no emotion, and she loved it. She was hollowed out by the loss her friends, her childhood, her parents, and those strange muggle men who never knew or cared, all single-minded in their desires and she was happy to be the stranger on the nightstand to them as they were to her.
She started to recall the last time she was properly kissed and couldn’t remember, but before she could dwell on it she found her hear perking a sound coming from down the hall, just a few turns from her office. Could it be her donor? She crept into the shadows and waited for them to walk by, but they never did, it’s like they vanished,or more likely. Apparated straight away. Was she detected? Only one way to know.
She half ran into the office no longer fearing discovery, and low and behold a box sat on the desk of the office and her note was gone, but in it’s place a different one was left.
She debated between which to open first and landed on the box as it was a safer choice. The box contained a sizable bag of rocks, she was confused at first until she started examining them more closely. They were all rocks from Mount Olympus, the muggles in ancient Greece bestowed it as the quarters of the gods but it was no longer holy, little did modern muggles know that the ancient rocks of that mount were actually quite magical in their properties. It’s not a surprise it was held with such reverence in the past. In the hands of anyone, these were a pile of rocks, in the hands of a potion master, these were akin to gold, the raw materials had endless applications.
Containing her excitement enough to open the note, Hermione read the elegant hand script.
“Dear Professor, the reason is to settle a long overdue life debt, and use these gifts for the greater good.”
The note was unsigned. Hermione was left with more questions than before.