Chapter 6
Hearing a knock on the door Albus looks up from his research. “Come in” he calls as he sits up.
The door slowly opens and Hermione walks into the office. “You wanted to see me?” She asked as she sat down.
“Ahh yes. I wanted to check how everything is going with your lesson.” He said with a grandfatherly smile.
“Classes are going really well! I really like history of magic though having a ghost teaching is a bit of an obstacle at times” she told him.
Albus nodded. He was aware that a good amount of the students and the staff disagreed with him keeping Professor Binns on. But he just ignored them since he didn’t have to pay a ghost.
“Mr Weasley mentioned that you had become friendly with young Harry and Neville?” He asked her.
Hermione sighed and looked down at her hands twisting in her lap. “Yes but they really prefer their other names” she paused as she looked up at him. “Are you sure that they are really Harry and Neville?”
She was starting to be less sure of it herself. The boys did look extremely similar. The only true difference being their hair and eyes. It was clear to anyone they were related. Maybe he was wrong about them being the boys who lived.
“I’m quite sure. They are Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. I am unsure why they have chosen to change their names but the scars on their forehead only prove who they are. Voldemort tried to kill them both and with the love and sacrifice of their mothers they were able to survive. They do them a great disservice by rejecting their own identity” he told her sadly.
He was of course lying about the scars but she was too young to know what a rune was or what it truly meant. She hadn’t even realized the scar on the back of her neck was actually also a rune he had placed when she was a babe.
“I was there when it happened” he told her “you must try to get them to see the truth so that they can begin their training for when he comes back”
Hermione frowned. She wasn’t sure about any of this. It still didn’t add up to her. She knew he obviously wasn’t being honest about something but she had no clue what. So for now she still had to follow what he said. She just needed to figure out how to convince them to do the same. They still didn’t fully trust her but she was starting to think they could become friends at some point. Right now though it was more of an arrangement than a friendship. She needed to continue to supply them with information. Which was the reason she was here.
“Why do you think he’s coming back now?” She asked innocently “after all this time? Why wait so long to make a move?”
Albus smiled knowingly. “Voldemort is searching for something that will help him gain a new body. While I have taken precautions to make sure that he will not succeed we must still prepare for the worst outcomes”
“Does it have anything to do with the package Hagrid picked up when he took me shopping?” She asked him, a sparkle of intrigue shining in her eyes.
Dumbledore just smiled at her. It was times like this that she reminded him of Ariana, so young and curious. “The sooner you convince the boys of the truth the better” he said coyly.
Hermione nodded and stood up. “I understand. I will do my best.” Her mind was racing. There had been a break in at Gringotts the same day Hagrid took her shopping and it was to the same vault he’d emptied earlier while with her. Could it have been Voldemort’s doing? It was too much to be a coincidence.
As she reached the door he called out to her causing her to pause with her hand on the knob. “Oh and please do make up with your betrothed. I’ve received another letter from Molly. Apparently he’s been complaining that you’ve been avoiding him”
Hermione grimaced as she clenched her fist around the door knob. Taking a deep breath she nodded and shot him a tight smile over her shoulder “Yes Granduncle. I’ll speak to Ronald in the morning”
“Perfect. Now off to bed with you. It’s late and you have classes tomorrow”
With that dismissal Hermione left the headmaster’s office back towards Ravenclaw tower. It didn’t make sense. Why would Ron complain that she wasn’t spending time with him when all he did was make fun of her whenever she was around him?! She really wished she could get out of the contract and be with someone nicer.
Lost in her thoughts she almost didn’t see Theo up ahead talking with the bloody Baron. Ron had warned her about him. His father was a vampire supporter of Voldemort who was rumored to have kidnapped and raped his mother. Keeping her alive only until she had Theo and then draining her dry. According to him Theo was raised to be just as cruel and cold hearted as his father.
As she watched him from around the corner though, she noticed that his usual cold eyes had become filled with a deep sadness. Listening to their conversation, it seemed he was trying to find a good place for the Samhain ritual coming up. She had almost forgotten that it was this weekend. She was so used to just celebrating Halloween.
“This will be the first time I am away from him for it. I want to apologize to her… I need to apologize to her” she heard him say. “But with all the wards will I even be able to connect with her while in the castle?”
The baron nodded grimly. “There are special rooms within the dungeons that are specifically designed for the ritual. But you must remember it is not a summoning. The veil will be thin enough for you to send the message through to her but it’s her choice if she will answer and appear within the flames to speak to you”
Hermione held her breath as they continued to walk past her. Theo had just unknowingly given her a great idea! She could use the ritual to get the boys to summon their parents. That way they would be able to tell them what happened and the boys would finally understand their role for Dumbledore’s plan. She was sure if their own parents told them who they were they would believe them.
With a smile she ran the rest of the way to her dorm. Maybe if she did this her Granduncle would agree to break the betrothal to Ron. She just needed to prove herself and she was sure getting the boys to believe him was a step in the right direction. Tomorrow she would do a bit more research on the ritual and bring it up to them on Wednesday.
As she got into bed that night she felt a bit of guilt but ignored it. She was doing her part on both sides. If it also helped her in the end all the better. They weren’t even actually friends anyway, she reminded herself. She just needed to be useful to everyone until she could figure out which was more beneficial to her future.