Something Strange…
Harry sank back down to the floor. "You know, somehow that doesn't surprise me," he said. "There have been a lot of strange things happening since Hermione and I left Hogwarts this morning."
"A lot of strange things seem to be happening everywhere Harry," Mr. Diggory replied. "It's almost like something even bigger than the war is coming to a head and everything is suddenly starting to move toward it."
"What's going on Harry?" Hermione mumbled from beside him. He hadn't realized she'd awakened. "Where are we?" she asked as she sat up wiping the sleep from her eyes.
Harry reached out to help steady her and comb the hair back from around her face. "Hey there sleepyhead," he said softly. "We're still at the Ministry, I've been talki…"
Hermione turned around and saw that Mr. Diggory was still there. "You!" she said gruffly. "How dare you talk to Harry like that! Harry would never…"
"Hermione stop," Harry said gently. "It's okay. You've been asleep for a while and Mr. Diggory and I have been talking, everything's all right. He knows I wasn't responsible for Cedric's death."
Hermione eyed him suspiciously. The last thing she could remember was him saying that Harry's pain would never go away whether or not he relinquished the guilt; she'd been infuriated. "How do you know that?" she asked him. She turned to look questioningly at Mr. Diggory. "How are you suddenly so sure when it wasn't long ago you were ready to hex him for what you thought he'd done?"
"I told him everything," Harry said. "He knows the whole story."
Hermione looked at Harry as though she couldn't believe he would fall for such an act so easily. "Harry, the proof is at Hogwarts. All he has is your word and suddenly that's good enough for him?" she turned to look at Mr. Diggory again. "Why?"
"I saw what happened to you Miss Granger and it was most convincing, let me tell you," he said. "In talking with Harry I understand now that he doesn't truly possess the kind of anger and hatred necessary to have killed my son. I was in denial for so long about Voldemort's return that by the time I realized it to be fact the anger I felt for him had been all-consuming and I had no point of release until earlier, when I found you here."
"So you're saying you don't need further proof?" she questioned.
"No, actually," he replied turning to look at Harry, "I'd like to see that journal and I was hoping that at some point you might let me have it. I am quite intrigued by what Miss Chang has to say about her relationship with my son."
"I think that's something that Hermione and I will have to discuss when she's feeling better," Harry said pointedly, trying to avoid any further discussion of the journal and another episode with Hermione.
"I still find it rather hard to believe that you could change your mind so easily," she said to Mr. Diggory, "but if Harry trusts you then there's no reason why I shouldn't."
"Thank you, Miss Granger," he replied.
Hermione turned back to Harry. "You told him everything?" she asked. "You even told him what we have to do?"
Harry nodded but kept his eyes averted from her penetrating stare.
"What is it Harry?" she asked knowingly. "Why won't you look at me? Tell me what you know." She looked again at Mr. Diggory when Harry remained quiet.
"Harry asked me about the wands and I told him that to the best of my knowledge they've already been cleared. It is the practice of the Ministry to clear the wands that come into our possession when a witch or wizard dies. The wands from the battle were collected, labeled, and cleared rather quickly considering the sheer volume of them."
Hermione looked from Mr. Diggory to Harry and back again a couple of times before she finally found her voice, "So that's it?" she asked. "You're telling me it's over? Are you sure they cleared all of the wands? Isn't it possible that the ones we need haven't been cleared yet?" The panic was slowly beginning to rise within her and she desperately needed answers.
"I was telling Harry that there might be a slight chance that some of the wands weren't cleared but I have no guarantee of that. As I said, to the best of my knowledge they have all been done already." Mr. Diggory said flatly in an effort to keep her from getting overly excited when the chances were slim to none.
"Then why are we still here?" she asked impatiently, rising to her feet. "Take us to wherever the wands are." Her legs were wobbly and she nearly fell over when Harry reached for her. He pulled her gently back down and her hands automatically went to cover her head.
"Slow down, Hermione," he said gently. "We haven't gone yet because you were sleeping and it's quite obvious you're not ready to go yet. Just give it a minute, okay? I want to go too, but just hang in there a little longer. Are you dizzy?"
Hermione's hands were still covering her head as she slowly nodded. "Light-headed," she whispered.
Harry shot Mr. Diggory a furtive look as he began to rub Hermione's back. He cleared his throat so Hermione wouldn't know how upset he really was. "I have more questions," he said to Mr. Diggory.
"My time is yours for the moment so ask away," he replied.
"Ollivander. What's going on with him?" Harry asked. "We went to his shop first and he said that he'd been told it was you handling the disposition of the wands, but you told me that you've worked quite a lot with him since the end of the war. I wonder if you know what he's hiding?"
"Mr. Ollivander is a unique character, Harry. Very mysterious," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he thought he was helping you more by giving you as little information as possible. It's hard to judge his responses to just about anything. I wouldn't waste too much time worrying about it though," his eyes shot over to Hermione, "you have much bigger problems than that to concern yourself with."
Hermione lifted her head to look at Mr. Diggory. "So, in all this male bonding have you told Harry the truth about why you're here? How did you really know to look for us here?"
"We talked about it, yes, but as I told Harry, I don't have a valid answer for that question," he replied.
"Why not?" Hermione asked disbelievingly. "There must be something that brought you here."
Mr. Diggory took a deep breath. "Well, all right, I'll tell you," he said. "I was in my office when I heard some kind of voice or something telling me that Harry Potter was looking for me and that he could be found in the deserted hall by Arthur Weasley's office. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away so I decided to come here to find out what was going on."
"A voice sent you here?" Harry and Hermione said together.
"Sounds crazy, doesn't it?" he replied.
"So that's why you told us that Tonks sent you here?" Hermione asked. "You didn't want to tell us the truth?"
Mr. Diggory nodded.
"But what made you choose Tonks of all people?" she asked. "We've only spoken to two people since we've been here and she just happens to be one of them."
When I was walking through Auror Headquarters I saw her. I guess I just figured that if she saw you, there was no way she'd let you go on without stopping you." He looked at Harry. "You know how Tonks is," he said.
Harry nodded. "Yes, I do know that," he replied with a smile.
"Anyway, I took a chance. The last thing I wanted to do was tell anyone that a voice in my head told me to come," he exclaimed.
Hermione nodded. "I can understand that," she said. She looked at Harry as she thought about their second year and the basilisk. She remembered the discussion they'd had with Ron when he told Harry that then even in the wizarding world hearing voices wasn't a good sign; she'd agreed then and it helped her to understood now.
"How are you feeling, Miss Granger?" Mr. Diggory asked.
"Better, I think," she replied. "Harry, can you give me a hand," she asked, preparing to stand up again.
Harry jumped to his feet. "Of course," he said quickly. He reached for her hands and slowly she stood up. Her legs were still a little wobbly but the lightheadedness had gone. Harry grabbed onto her arms, steadying her.
"What happened, anyway?" she asked. She'd been so caught up in what was happening between Harry and Mr. Diggory that she hadn't taken the time to ask about herself.
"Cho," Harry said reluctantly. "We'll talk about it later," he said quickly when he saw the look of concern on her face.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked as tears began to form in her eyes.
"No," he said adamantly, "no, you didn't. Everything's fine. Just don't worry about it, okay?"
Hermione took a couple of deep breaths and nodded. "Okay."
Harry exchanged glances with Mr. Diggory. "Please," he mouthed silently to him.
Mr. Diggory shrugged in shoulders in a helpless gesture before he nodded his head to say `let's go'.
"Are you ready, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Do you really have to ask?"
Harry laughed. "All right then, let's go," he said. He looked to Mr. Diggory. "Lead the way."
"All right. Come on," he replied.
Harry was still holding on to Hermione's arms and he could see that while most of her composure had returned, she was still a little shaky. "Here," he said as he slid his arm around her waist and moved hers over his shoulders, "just lean on me if you need you. Or even if you don't," he added softly with a teasing smirk.
Slowly they began to move forward toward their only hope…
Harry could never remember wishing so violently for someone to be wrong. Please let him be wrong about the wands…please let him be wrong…please let him be wrong…the words followed Harry all the way from the deserted hallway outside Arthur Weasley's office, into the lift, and down to level nine, where they entered into the darkened hallways of the Department of Mysteries.
"What are we doing down here?" he asked Mr. Diggory quickly. He hadn't been down there since Sirius died two years ago; it was where Hermione had been struck by Dolohov's curse … and he'd been so scared then that he'd lost her. He hadn't been expecting to come back.
"This is where we keep the wands," he answered. "There's a room down here specifically designed for clearing them."
Harry's breathing had become shallow and Hermione realized that at some unknown point, he had begun to lean on her for support. "Harry are you all right?" she asked, her voice trembling.
Harry nodded his head a little too fast for Hermione to believe he actually meant it as a yes. "I know where we are Harry. I recognize it," she said softly. She pulled him to an abrupt halt and moved to stand in front of him. "You can't keep doing this to yourself Harry. I can't keep telling you you're not to blame if you're not even willing to listen. I will, of course, but please Harry, don't make me," she pleaded.
"I'm trying Hermione," he said in a voice so quiet she'd barely heard him. He pulled her into a tight embrace and whispered again, "I'm trying."
She pulled away from him and searched his eyes for the truth. "If that's all I can get for now Harry, then I'll take it. But someday I'm going to want more. Someday you're going to have to stop trying and actually do it. I love you."
"I love you, too, Hermione," he said softly, "thanks."
She smiled tenderly at him then returned to his side so they could resume following Mr. Diggory.
Mr. Diggory heard the silence as their footsteps ceased their pounding against cold, hard floor. He turned to find them talking quietly. It looked to him as though the conversation was quite intense so he moved to the side and waited semi-patiently for them to finish.
"Sorry," Hermione said when they finally caught up with him.
"That's all right," he replied.
He took them through the door and into the familiar circular room where everything was black. He strode purposefully to a door to the left of them and pushed it open.
It was one of the doors that Harry hadn't had tried the night they'd come to rescue Sirius. As they walked inside the first thing they noticed was the ceiling; it looked as if it opened up into the night sky on a starless night. A light surrounded the room at the lowest point of the ceiling and as it climbed the walls it began to fade until there was no light left, pitching the endless ceiling into complete darkness. It looked like a place meant for casting spells or … clearing wands.
They didn't have much time to look around as a young wizard Harry had never seen before approached them. "Afternoon, Amos," he said in greeting. "What brings you down here to this part of the world? We don't see you down here too often anymore."
"Afternoon, Derrick, we have a couple of questions for you," he replied. "First, I'd like you to meet Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," he said stepping aside.
"Harry Potter?" Derrick said, excitedly. "The Harry Potter?" He moved forward and held out his hand for Harry to shake. Reluctantly Harry took it in his, fearing a repeat of the incident with the security guard. Thankfully the man shook his hand and dropped it in a fairly reasonable amount of time. What Harry failed to notice, in his moment of relief, was that the man had now turned his attention to Hermione.
"Miss…Granger is it?" he asked, tilting his head, his eyes never leaving hers.
Hermione blushed slightly at the attention. "Yes," she replied, "Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you Derrick." He reached his hand out as if to shake hers but instead of the hearty handshake he'd given Harry he merely squeezed her fingers. She pulled her hand back quickly and Harry grabbed it and interlaced his fingers with hers as he shot Derrick a deadly glare.
Derrick shook his head and backed away quickly, reluctantly looking away from her. "So," he said, "how can we be of service today?" he asked Mr. Diggory with fake exuberance.
"We need to know about the disposition of three wands, Draco Malfoy, Millicent Bullstrode, and Cho Chang. Can you tell us if they've been cleared yet or not?"
Derrick walked away. A large black wall had been erected between where they stood and where Harry thought the wands must be kept.
"What's back there?" he asked Mr. Diggory quietly.
"That's where we store the wands and all of our paperwork. I usually work out of my office, so I prefer not to intrude any more than necessary when I come this way or I'd do this myself," he replied.
Several minutes later, much longer than Harry necessary, Derrick returned with a few small pieces of parchment. "It says here that they've been cleared but…" he hesitated. "Hmm…"he said quietly as he looked at each parchment over and over again, "that's strange."
Harry couldn't stand it any longer, he was sure the guy was playing games with them because of the look he'd given him for making eyes at Hermione. "Can. You. Please. Tell. Us. What's. Going. On?" he said, enunciating each word as clearly and precisely as he could.
Derrick ignored him for another minute as he puzzled over what he saw on the parchment. "Derrick please," Mr. Diggory said as he too began to lose patience.
"Sorry, sir," he replied, "but it looks like something strange is going on. Look at this," he said moved to Mr. Diggory's side to show him the parchment.
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