8. Speculation.
November turned into a month of damp and cold. It hardly ever stopped raining and even when it did the sun rarely shone. It was just as well there was no Quidditch, practicing in this weather would have been miserable, and the matches unbearable for all but the players.
The common rooms were crowded places, as was the library, the Tyr were grateful that Harry and Hermione had a place to call their own that afforded them a refuge where they could study in quiet company.
Draco Malfoy sat alone in the Slytherin Common Room, a situation he was getting used to. There were very few of his acquaintances left at school now, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode were all out of the picture and Pansy Parkinson was avoiding him, most of the remaining Slytherins were not ones he associated with.
Even though the Gryffindors considered all Slytherins inherently evil, Draco knew that this wasn't so. A good proportion of his house were only there because personal ambition outweighed their courage or intelligence, and of course if you were self centred then your loyalty was to yourself, not to others.
Initially it surprised Draco that having arrived late for the start of the year, and not attending lessons that he hadn't been asked to leave, but now the reason was clear. Why it had never occurred to him before he didn't know, but since he had discovered that his head of house was in fact a Death Eater, it made complete sense. For Snape to hide his allegiance and gain the confidence of Dumbledore, Draco realised that he must be very skilled, and thus someone to look up to, and emulate. Now Snape was gathering information that he, Draco, would pass on to the Dark Lord, and get the credit for, his world was very rosy at the moment, if just a little lonely.
Malfoy walked towards the dungeons and yet another meeting with Severus Snape. As he drew close he heard the dungeon door open, he slipped into an alcove and watched as six students passed up the corridor. He recognised them immediately, Potter and his friends, he wondered what they had been up to, but they gave no clue, for as they passed his hiding place he could see that their expressions were curiously blank, neither were they talking to one another. Draco's gaze followed them as they walked away, he saw Granger at Potter's side, the urge to strike out was difficult to control, but then he convinced himself that he would get her in the end, and turned back to the dungeon.
Snape was waiting for him. "I trust you kept out of Potter's way Draco, they have just left."
"Yes, I saw them in the corridor. What were they doing here?" he asked.
"Ah… well they come for specialist tuition, but instead they get a little veritaserum vapour, a recent development of mine," Snape said with pride, "and an implanted memory, and I get information."
"So you know everything now?" Draco demanded.
"No, not everything Draco, have some patience, the secrets must be teased out a little at a time" Snape said. "I have to maintain my credibility; Dumbledore is not the only one I have to fool now."
"Oh?" said Draco quizzically.
"Yes, Solomon Aegis is more of a threat than he looks, that, I assume, is why the Dark Lord wishes to destroy Avalon" said Snape, fishing for information of his own.
Draco didn't know, and was not going to be drawn into guessing "Do you have the key?"
"No, and it is unlikely that I shall be able to get it." said Snape, seeming not to care.
At this Draco began to panic, the Dark Lord wanted that information, he had to have it to pass on otherwise… "But"
"Calm yourself Draco, all is not lost." Snape allowed a sly grin to play his features.
"The spell is too deeply embedded in Potter's mind to read without giving ourselves away; however there exists a locking spell which will hold the doorway open, once we can trick Potter into opening it. That is the only way our Master will gain entry, all we need is a plan to get Potter to use the doorway to Avalon.
……………………………………………
Hermione was studying her notes, crossing out lines and cross referencing others with a large book, then adding comments in the margin.
"You know" she said to Harry "some of these potions could be very useful, the effects they cause are just what we may need, but it is very difficult to get you opponent to drink something in the middle of a fight."
"I suppose you could call a time out and pass around a tray of drinks." said Harry sarcastically.
"Not helpful." She replied with exasperation.
"Meant to be a joke, Hermione." Harry grinned, then saw that it hadn't been appreciated. "OK sorry" Hermione's look spoke volumes "then you need a different method of application. Can't some potions be absorbed across the skin? And I am sure some can be breathed in."
"Of course," she struck her forehead with the heel of her hand, "how could I not have seen that."
"Too wrapped up in your work that's why, and it's a simple answer. It occurred to me because I just caught a whiff of something that jogged my memory." He leaned closer to her "Do you remember the first time we came across Amortentia?"
"Oh yes" Hermione expression softened and she blushed slightly. "Fresh mown grass, new parchment and…" she stopped, reddening even more.
"And?" said Harry.
"Pumpkin pie." She added in a rush. "What about you?"
"Treacle tart, the woody smell of a broomstick handle, and what I thought at the time was some sort of flower, but it isn't. It was vanilla."
"But that's the perfume I wear."
"Yeh, I know" he said giving a little grin "but pumpkin pie?"
Considering their relationship, Hermione was being very coy. She sighed, resigned to revealing one of her final secrets "Oh well…This goes back even further, to the end of the second year. Do you remember when I met you after being unpetrified?"
Harry searched for the memory, "In the Great Hall, at the evening meal, wasn't it?"
"That's right, I was so proud of the way you had solved everything, I ran up and gave you a hug."
"Oh yeah." he said the memory coming back to him.
"You must have been eating pumpkin pie, and that smell has stayed with me since then. Every time I smell it you pop into my mind." she smiled shyly, "I think that whatever has happened since then, or whatever anyone has said, that is when I started loving you."
Harry held out his hand and drew Hermione out of her seat; he led her across to the old sofa and sat her down on it. A quick wave of his hand and all the door locks clicked shut, he sat next to her and slipping his arm round her neck pulled her to him. Their lips met and as had happened before, the stone called Hermione's Tear began to pulse with its blue light.
The passion between them was so intense as to be palpable and Harry and Hermione lost themselves in it. Their emotions reached a crescendo, but before that invisible line they had drawn in their relationship could be crossed, their breathing steadied and their explorations slowed. Love won out again over their lustful hormones, and the pulse of blue light from the jewel slowed and eventually died.
"Harry, do you mind?" Hermione could have been talking about anything but Harry understood.
"We've talked about this loads of times, 'I've got you with me, how could I mind'" he added in thought "we both know that when the time is right for us nothing will stop it happening, 'It will be perfect and beautiful and it won't be here at Hogwarts scrunched up on an old sofa.'"
"Oh Harry I do love you"
Harry opened his hand and looked at his palm, the heart shaped mark, the result of his sixteenth birthday present from Hermione, was clearly visible.
'Feeling is mutual, remember?'
She nodded, for there on her palm was the same mark and as she placed her hand in his their hearts touched and joined as one.
…………………………………..
"Look," said Ron he was trying to be patient but the strain of the last few months was beginning to tell, "We've spent all this time studying spells, potions and curses and where have we got? Nowhere."
"Well, I wouldn't say nowhere," contradicted Hermione, "Err…just not very far." She had to agree to that.
The Tyr were having yet another discussion, and going round in circles.
"I think the problem is that we have too many unknowns," suggested Ginny, "We know our final goal, but that's it, and it's a bit thin." Even she was becoming exasperated by their apparent lack of progress.
"Do you mind if I have a go?" the question was asked by the quietest member of the Tyr and they all turned to Neville, who now was embarrassed that he had brought the attention on himself.
Harry wasn't about to let him sell himself short. "Course Nev' you have just as much say as anyone else, what do you think?"
"Well, we want to defeat Voldemort, right?"
"Yeah, good one Nev'"
"Shut up Ron" said Harry "Go on" he encouraged.
"But where do we want to fight him, not on his own patch, but on ours. So we need to get Voldemort here, or at least as close to the school as is safe." His voice had lowered while he spoke as his uncertainty returned.
"So what do we do, send him an invitation" Ron was not impressed.
"Ronald Weasley …" Hermione was about to launch a scathing attack of her own, but Neville butted in.
"No Hermione, Ron's basically right, we invite him somewhere he wants to go but lead him here instead.
"OK" said Ron paying attention at last, "Do we know anywhere Voldemort particularly wants to go?"
"Yes" Harry answered; they all turned to him, "Avalon."
Neville looked triumphant, "Exactly, and he knows about the key to Avalon. We just need to make sure the key leads him here."
"So Nev' how do we do that?" Ron awaited his answer with anticipation.
"Ah…Don't know" said Neville defeated again.
"I've got an idea" said Luna. Ron regarded his girlfriend with a little trepidation, her ideas could be a bit off track sometimes. "If you had a Nimbus Limen going to Avalon from wherever Voldemort is and another one going from Avalon to here, then joined them together…."
"You would bring him straight here, but he would think he was going to Avalon." Ron finished for her.
Ron was beginning to think this might work, then he doubted the whole idea. "But can we trick him, he's not exactly daft you know. We'd need something very tempting to get him to use it without becoming suspicious. What do we use as bait?"
"Me" said Harry, and before anyone could start a fuss, he added "I think it's a brilliant idea, but we don't want him here until we're ready."
Ron got up and walked over to the door to the blank room "Butterbeer anyone?" he had been keeping a stash in there since the start of term, he reached out to open the door. "What we need is Solomon, I wonder where he is" he said as he turned the handle and pulled the door open.
"AHH!" he cried out in surprise. "Sorry Solomon, didn't know you were in there,"
Ron was looking through the doorway at Solomon Aegis, sitting at his office desk, working away at some papers. The Professor completely ignored Ron's presence, and he completely ignored the presence of the rest of the Tyr as they crowded around.
"It's like a movie screen" said Hermione excitedly, "The walls of the room are showing a picture of Solomon in his office."
"But why?" said Ron.
Hermione thought for a moment "Perhaps because you asked it to," Ron looked blankly at her, "When you opened the door, you were saying 'We need Solomon, I wonder where he is'. She quoted. "He ought to see this Harry; we want to talk to him anyway."
Harry sent out a thought 'Solomon would you please come to the Heads Common Room we have to show you something, it's important.' Aegis' image straightened in his seat as he received the message.
'Certainly Harry, quick as I can.' he thought back. They saw him stand, then the perspective of the image suddenly changed to show them all crowed round the door with Solomon standing behind them. They all jumped when he cleared his throat.
"Merlin!" said Ron clutching his chest and spinning around with the rest of them, "I'd forgotten you could do that."
"Sorry all, what have you got here?"
Hermione explained what they had found.
"Try it again" Solomon suggested.
Harry reached for the door handle, but Solomon placed a hand on his shoulder to restrain him. "Not the Headmaster, Harry, it's not a good time."
"OK" he said sadly, then as he opened the door, "Gryffindor Common Room." And there it was, as if they had opened their own doorway to it. He looked to Hermione and nodded towards the door on their right, she walked over, opened it and stepped through. She was instantly visible in the image, she walked into the middle of the common room, turned in the direction of their point of view, and waved. Several of the students already in the common room gave her some very strange looks, and as she left were earnestly discussing the odd behaviour of the Head Girl.
"Interesting," mused Solomon, "Definitely instantaneous, what you see is what is happening."
"Muggles would call it real time," said Harry.
"Really?" said Solomon, unaware of his unintentional pun.
"Yes." said Harry seriously.
"Umm…interesting" Solomon was only vaguely aware of his conversation, as usual when he was deep in thought he had drifted away, then he rejoined them. "Try another person, Harry."
"Right, umm… Arthur Weasley!" he opened the door and there he was, sitting at his desk at the ministry, looking a little hassled. Harry immediately closed the door, looked at Solomon and said "Lord Voldemort" and reopened the door. Ginny gave a shriek which made Neville jump, and Harry heard Ron suck his breath in between his teeth.
The view was not as they had expected, it was dark and indistinct, Harry thought it was like a badly tuned television. Again he tried, this time with, 'The Dark Lord'; the result was the same, and again, 'Tom Marvolo Riddle', no change.
"Whoa Harry," Aegis called, "Good try, but I think I understand why it doesn't work. Riddle's other names are aliases and must have no relevance to whatever operates this room," he sighed and sat at one of the desks, "and Riddle himself is so changed from what he once was, that the room can't find him."
"So what good is it if it won't find him" Harry slammed the door in frustration.
"Well,……" there he was drifting again, "If the room can't find the man himself, then we must follow someone who can."
"Draco Malfoy" said Hermione emphatically.
"My thoughts exactly" said Solomon enthusiastically, he smiled at her "Well done, ten points to Gryffindor?" he added his tongue firmly in his cheek.
Harry then broached Luna's idea of joining two cloudy doorways together; Solomon thought for a moment then decided that it would indeed be possible. However he wanted more time to work on the details, and would get back to them when he had sorted it out. In the meantime they would go on Draco watch.
……………………………..
Draco had a daily routine that varied only in its timing. Each day he visited Snape's office, the Tyr were well aware of this, for not long after Draco had returned to the school their paths had crossed. On that occasion Professor Snape had sensed Draco's presence in the corridor outside his office just as they were about to leave.
The Professor had been quite concerned by this and insisted that they should all act as if they were under the influence of a distraction charm; he said he had his reasons and so they did as they were asked. They had walked away from the office as if in a daze, only relaxing once they heard the door behind them open and then close again. They had no idea what the ruse was intended to prove, but since then they had been careful to ensure that the situation didn't arise again.
They knew that eventually Draco would run back to Voldemort to tell him about the key to Avalon, but it was taking time, time that Harry did not want to waste. So Harry and Hermione decided to leak a little more information that might speed up the process.
Using the 'camera speculator' they watched Draco. Hermione had been on a book hunt and discovered some interesting facts about the small room, including what it was called. They confined their observations to the times he was out of his common room, these were the only occasions he would be accessible to them, and so they were able to decide the opportune moment to create the leak.
They chose the day he left Snape's office after a very lengthy and somewhat heated meeting. Although they had not yet found a way of hearing sound through the 'speculator' they could tell from the arm waving and body language that all was not calm. They positioned themselves in a small classroom that was often used by students waiting to see the potions Professor, rather than stand in the draughty passage. They started up a conversation in forced whispers loud enough to be heard by the angry young wizard passing the door.
Draco was not happy he thought Snape was being deliberately slow in finding the answer to their problems. He needed more than vague promises to take back to the Keep. If there was nothing more forthcoming then he would put off his planned trip at the end of term. As he passed the last classroom he heard voices, loud whispers, but a private conversation obviously, and he recognised those voices, Potter and Granger.
He stopped by the door and listened.
"It's no good Hermione, the information is bound to get out soon."
'Information, this might be useful,' Draco cautiously moved closer.
"What do you think Riddle's reaction might be Harry?"
Draco held himself with difficulty on hearing the mudblood dare call the Dark Lord by that common name.
"Well, Peter was supposed to be Voldemort's right hand, for him to die like that last year, after kidnapping you, difficult to say."
'Peter? Surely not Peter Pettigrew, but he had vanished. Most, including the Dark Lord, thought he was in hiding.' Draco's thoughts raced.
"Oh Harry, I am so proud of you, and you did it so easily. Thanks to you another of his followers is gone. I think it's time I gave you another reward for saving me."
The gushy sentimentality in Granger's words and the picture it conjured in Draco's mind was too much he didn't wait to hear any more. Quickly and as quietly as he could, he left the door and continued back to the Slytherin common room, he definitely had something to think about.
Back in the small classroom Harry and Hermione listened as the sound of Draco's departure receded into the distance.
"Not the quietest spy is he?" chuckled Hermione. "I think it's his ego that makes all the noise." Harry laughed, then looked questioningly at Hermione.
She was puzzled, "What?"
He smiled "Well?"
Hermione had a pretty good idea what he was on about, but she played along. "Well what?"
"What about my reward."
"Ahh…you want your reward?"
"Yes please."
"Here" the mental kiss she threw at him almost physically pushed him backwards, and he sat down heavily in the chair behind him. "Happy now?" she asked.
He looked at her with a silly grin on his face, "Yeah, thanks for that."
……………………………..
During the last weeks of term the Tyr took it in turns to watch Draco in the 'speculator', his routine was so boring that it led to inattention from one of the watchers. It was Harry's turn and he had been staring at an image of Draco sauntering through the grounds, it was like trying to watch one of his cousin Dudley's interminable television programs.
Harry's eyes started to close and he missed the sight of Draco slipping out of the gates of the school. Fortunately Hermione chose that moment to arrive back from the library and her shout of "Harry" made him start up, just in time to see the road leading to Hogsmead dissolve from the speculator and be replaced by an image of a wooded hill. The two of them watched as Draco forced his way through the trees and break out into a clearing, the land sloped away from their vantage point, and partly hidden in the trees below they could see a building.
The mansion had seen better days, that was certain. They studied the image before them, but there was little to provide any clue as to where it was, the trees were so closely packed together. Then Hermione noticed a small tower or turret at one end of the building, it had distinctive hexagonal windows in its upper floor and on top of the pointed roof was a weather vane. The roof itself was reminiscent of their school hats, black and tall, and the weather vane at its point was in the shape of a wizard sitting astride a broom chasing the tail of a shooting star.
As Draco made his way down the slope they lost sight of any meaningful landmarks, but they continued to watch as he entered the mansion by the front door.
The hall he passed through seemed deserted, but then from the shadows Harry and Hermione could see shapes, that even though they were unknown miles away made their blood run cold. Four Dementors glided out and confronted Draco, surprisingly, he stood his ground.
Harry well remembered that Draco had been just as frightened of these creatures as he had been when they first met them in the third year. This time he did not run, but held his left arm in the air and drew back his sleeve, Harry heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath, for on Draco's forearm was the mark that singled him out as a Death Eater.
The Dementors stopped and without turning, faded back into the shadows clearing the way for Draco to carry on. He crossed the remainder of the hall to the large double doors at its end. He waited for a few moments as if for an invitation to enter, then pushing the doors open he stepped inside. Now the view had changed, and Harry and Hermione were in the room with him.
There was only a throne like chair in the otherwise empty room but sitting on it, his red eyes glowing in the semi darkness and the rest of his features hidden in the shadows, was Voldemort.
Harry stared at the man he had to kill, he didn't hear Hermione shout "NO HARRY!" as he stepped forward so that he was standing in the middle of the speculator. The face of Voldemort was holding him, he couldn't break away, he moved closer and closer to it. Then a pair of hands closed on his arms and he was bodily dragged back out of the small room, the door slammed shut and he found himself staring at Ron's worried face.
…………………………..
The experience in the speculator had given Harry quite a shock; he hadn't expected to be affected by Voldemort's image to that extent. Nevertheless he hurried with the others to tell Solomon what they had seen. It was a definite step forward, perhaps not as much as they had hoped, but they had a recognisable building to identify now. After talking to the Professor the next logical place to visit was the library, and it was a very tired trio who returned to the Heads Common Room later that evening empty handed.
In company with the other members of the Tyr they talked over the day's events.
Hermione was only half listening to Ron expounding on his theory that the building may not be wizard built at all, and so it could be one of thousands of old mansions like that scattered over the country. She was thumbing absentmindedly through Lily Potter's diary when she came upon that mysterious envelope with her own name written on it. She took out the parchment and read through Lily's words again, they made her sad and smile in all the same places as they had before. The last few lines were as still as poignant and she glanced up at Harry as she remembered her reaction to them the last time. She folded the letter intent on putting it away, when she stopped and opened it again. She looked very carefully at the last lines once more
'My love to you Hermione
To Harry my love as always will be with you wherever you may be, even in the Blackest Palaces.
Lily Potter.'
"Harry. Come and look at this" Hermione couldn't hide the excitement in her voice.
He came over and sat on the arm of her chair.
"Oh. That's my mum's letter to you, have you found something."
"I think so, read the last line aloud."
"Err…OK. To Harry err… my love as always, err…will be with you wherever you may be, umm…even in the blackest places."
Hermione squeezed his hand "That's how I read it at first, but because it makes you feel upset you read it too quickly. It doesn't say blackest places, it says BLACKEST PALACES. I think she was giving us a clue" She turned to the others "Did anyone find any material on The Black Family?"
"Yes." said Ron. "But it wasn't much, just a few lines, not much of it complimentary either. It did say they had a family estate, but I can't remember where it was."
"The North of England, close to the coast." Harry remembered the words of Grippipe the Goblin. He walked to the door of the speculator "The Black Family Estate" he opened the door and was met with total blackness.
"Perhaps it knows you own it now, Harry." said Ginny.
"Maybe but I haven't changed its name so it should be there, LOOK!"
For there was something there, a ghostly light appeared as clouds that had been covering a waning moon moved away to reveal a large house, but of its detail they could see nothing, it was still too dark.
"We'll have another look in the morning, I think it's time we all went to bed." Said Harry resigned to the wait.
Ron left with Luna to escort her back to the Ravenclaw Common Room on the other side of the castle. They walked down the deserted corridors arm in arm in silence. Luna looked up at her boyfriend, she studied his face in the dim torch light.
"Something's worrying you Ron, what is it?"
"It's Harry. You didn't see him earlier on, the way Voldemort's face held him, he couldn't move. If that happens with an image what will it be like for him when they're face to face. I mean, if he freezes like that, Voldemort will have him for breakfast."
Luna considered the problem, her eyes lazily wandering over the paintings that lined the corridor. They walked past one which depicted a large vase filled with simple white and pink flowers, unlike most of the paintings in Hogwarts there was no movement within the frame. Instead from the painting came the intense aroma of wild roses, Luna smiled, then hugged Ron's arm closer to her.
"Don't worry, I'll fix it so that he keeps his mind on the job."
"What?...." but she held a finger up to his lips, smiled at him, and wouldn't say any more.
…………………………………
The following morning, all the Tyr were up and ready before dawn. Harry had opened the camera speculator with the same request he had used the evening before. If anything the view was darker than the first time, the moon having set long ago, but very slowly the image began to lighten.
As dawn broke the mansion was thrown into silhouette, but still any identifying features eluded them. Then as the light grew, the details of the house became apparent. Although they were looking at the building from a different angle, the turret was there with the same hexagonal windows and to top it all, the weather vane of the wizard on a broom chasing a shooting star was there as well.
"Yes!" cried Harry and he punched the air in triumph. "I've got you now Tom." He turned and smiled at the others.
They were all smiling back, even Ron. Despite his smile Ron was still worried, he fervently hoped his dizzy girlfriend would come up with something that would stop it from being Tom who got Harry.