The Kemmynadow Betrayal
by Jardyn39
Chapter 10 - Clever Isn't She?
"That was a nice evening," said Hermione, stepping out of the fire. "It was quite like old times, wasn't it?"
"Yes," agreed Harry, searching his pockets for the parchment Miss Alice had given him earlier.
"I think Fred is rather keen on Verity," she added, lighting the table lamp.
"Which one was Verity?" asked Harry absently.
Hermione snorted, amused that Harry had no difficulty in distinguishing identical twins and yet could not distinguish two completely different looking girls. She sat down.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Well, a few things actually," said Harry sitting down with the blank parchment stretched out in front of him. He pulled out his wand and touched it lightly.
Instantly, a message appeared.
"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione, seeing his reaction.
Harry couldn't speak. Instead, he just handed the message to Hermione for her to read.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this, it means we have both become a little distracted from our tasks, haven't we? Cheer up, Harry. It's not so bad.
Clever isn't she? It will be interesting to see what they can cook up when they meet.
I wish you well,
Yours truly,
Albus
PS When you destroy this parchment, all of the Prophets entrusted to Miss Alice will be destroyed at the same time. Please do this now. I believe it will help them in the longer term.
*
Miles away, in an underground bunker in London, an explosion ripped through one of the lower levels setting off alarms and sprinklers. Acrid smoke billowed through the air conditioning ducts and out into the corridors as hundreds of staff made for their evacuation points.
Amongst the chaos, one person waited, hidden in a small cupboard.
Any moment now.
He opened the door a small amount, allowing smoke to enter. He rechecked his breathing apparatus, still unsure if he had put it on properly. He had read the instructions over and over in preparation for this night, but it was still all nonsense as far as he was concerned.
He listened intently. There had been no noise of running personnel for a while now.
Then he saw what he had been waiting for. The lights flickered and then went out. The emergency floor lighting came on and colourless gas erupted from side vents.
This, he knew, was both a security and fire prevention measure.
He ventured out to inspect the damage done by the explosives he had placed earlier. He had to stop himself chuckling aloud a couple of times. He still had to be careful. There were all kinds of listening devices to detect exactly what he was attempting to do.
*
"Harry, who is Miss Alice?"
Harry smiled and took the parchment from Hermione's fingers.
"She's the clever one that Dumbledore thought it would be interesting when you met," he replied.
Touching his wand to the parchment again, it burst into flames. For an instant they clearly saw the outline of a stylised Phoenix fly up into the air before vanishing.
They sat in silence for a long moment, Harry's head filled with thoughts of Dumbledore.
"We've been lucky again, Hermione," he said absently.
"How so?"
"Have you ever heard of a Kemmynadow?" he asked, coming back to himself but still thinking of the flaming Phoenix.
"No."
"Well, we saw part of it tonight when Fred and George handed me this book. If you have time, I'd like you to do some research on the Kemmynadow. I'll tell you what I know, but I'm especially interested in how it is cast and what the effects are. I'd like to know what could happen if the Kemmynadow was broken or delayed too long."
"Of course, Harry, but I'm still unclear exactly what a Kemmynadow is."
"As I understand it, a Kemmynadow is a magically enforced Last Will and Testament. Dumbledore made certain bequests to me. Those bequests are items that he entrusted with various people. They are required to give them to me and I have to accept them.
"When Miss Alice gave me that parchment earlier today, I assumed it was one of those items. I think I was wrong, though. Nothing happened when she handed it to me."
"I see," said Hermione. "Is she pretty?"
Harry snorted and took her hand in his as he said, "I did rather like her, actually. She may be almost as clever as you are, but probably a little too old for me."
"Good."
Harry smiled and said, "I'd like to tell you about the book. I mean, the book that Professor McGonagall gave me."
"Oh, yes!" she asked excitedly. "I've been dying to see it."
"Well, it's over there," said Harry. "But you may not approve of it quite so much when I tell you that it contains all the Dark Magic that Dumbledore ever faced. Unlike Fred and George's book, he never intended it for publication. He wrote it in a form that only I can now read or grant access to.
"Hermione, Professor McGonagall suggested that I ask you to read the book with me. She didn't want me to have the book at all, I think. She might be right. I knew as soon as I opened it how dangerous it would be."
"How so? I mean, you kind of said this before, but I still don't see why you are so concerned."
"Would you like to see? It is rather late, I know."
"Where is it, Harry?"
Harry got up and went over to one of the many shelves and picked up the book, now once more a single piece of wood.
"We have to sit opposite for this to work," explained Harry coming back over to her. "Professor McGonagall wouldn't show me any more than the contents page."
"Just how dark is this magic, Harry?"
Harry placed the book between them on the table.
"This is the darkest magic Dumbledore faced. I know I could be facing anything in here soon. I need to know how to defend myself."
"Well, yes," admitted Hermione. "There's nothing wrong in defending yourself."
"There is a catch, though. Dumbledore held this back from me. He knew that thanks to Voldemort, I would have a serious aptitude for this stuff."
"Don't say that, Harry. You're not a dark wizard."
"Hermione, there is a serious risk that I'll come to rely on this magic, and I don't mean just to defend myself. What I want you to consider is learning these defences with me. I want you to be there to remind me that there is always an alternative to the dark magic here."
"Harry, I'm sure you are exaggerating," said Hermione nervously.
"Let me show you," he said, opening the book.
Hermione looked surprised not to see writing on the page. Instead there were two reversed hand prints on each leaf. Harry held his left hand hovering over the left hand side of the book and held his wand in his right hand.
"You need to do the same," he said. "The book will allow you to touch the open page provided I consent."
Hermione copied him from opposite and held her hand over her side of the book.
Harry felt the book pull his hand down. He knew Hermione would be feeling the same. As their palms touched the exposed timber, large brightly lit words and letters appeared and spun around them in circles.
"This is the index, Hermione. Let's try something simple."
He pointed his wand at an entry. The words flashed bright and suddenly they were surrounded by large diagrams and drawings, each showing the use and effects of the curse.
"This is amazing, Harry," said Hermione looking at the rotating text.
"Look down, Hermione."
She did so and gasped. Black symbols and words, as if freshly written in the back of his left hand, were forming words and flowing effortlessly up his arms. Soon they appeared on his wand hand.
The symbols and words themselves meant nothing at all to him, but he could hear the spell being chanted hypnotically in his head.
Harry concentrated, and the writing vanished along with the chanting.
"To be honest," he said, "it is quite an effort to stop the flow. The book keeps wanting to push the knowledge into me. It's like the book has footnotes referring to other spells and it tries to get me to learn that too."
"Harry, why doesn't the book do the same for me?" she asked. Hermione's hands were still quite normal.
"Well, I assumed it is because you didn't want to learn this particular curse. In fact, I would not be surprised if you actually purposely wanted to avoid learning it."
"That is true," she admitted, looking at a particularly horrible depiction as it floated past. "Why did you want to learn how to melt living bones anyway?"
"I didn't particularly, but it is one of the milder ones on offer. How about we have a go at the counter spell?"
This time, golden lettering flowed across both their hands and arms before vanishing.
"We'll have to be so careful with this book, Harry. What did you mean when you said we have been lucky again?"
Against a little resistance, Harry lifted his hand off the book. There was a brief flash and the circular writing that had been surrounding them vanished.
He closed the book but as soon as it was shut, they heard, "Where the hell did you two come from?"
They both jumped.
"Ron!" said Harry, lowering the wand that was now pointing at his friend. Ron was standing beside one of the fireplaces looking quite startled.
"You couldn't see us?" asked Harry.
"Not at all. Is that a new invisibility device? It worked great. I couldn't see either of you or the table!"
"Well, as an invisibility device, it isn't much good," said Harry.
"No," agreed Hermione. "We had no idea you were there."
"Well, I'd only just arrived. Mum got worried when Fred called and mentioned that you'd left earlier."
"No, we're fine thanks. What did Fred want?"
"He's offered me a job," replied Ron brightly. "He even said I could work flexible hours."
"Did you get a generous staff discount?" asked Hermione.
"Well, he said that depended on how much stock I broke."
Harry laughed and said, "Congratulations, Ron. You wait; you'll have your own branch in no time."
"I don't know if I want to accept it," said Ron. "It won't be much fun working for Fred and George. Besides, we'll have other things to do, won't we?"
"But it would be the perfect cover to watch the comings and goings in Diagon Alley," suggested Hermione.
"I suppose," said Ron. "Look, Mum is getting really agitated. How about you spend the night at the Burrow?"
Harry considered a moment but then nodded.
"Great," said Ron, and followed Hermione as she Flooed to the Burrow.
Harry placed the Kemmynadow book back on its shelf and again charmed it so it could not be removed. He was fairly sure that neither Hermione nor Ron could open the book on their own, but he didn't want to take any chances. For all he knew, the book might have defences of its own.
He was about to place Fred and George's book on the same shelf, when he remembered that there was a dedication that he hadn't read.
Harry touched the buckles and the book opened effortlessly, again on the extensive contents page. He turned back to the very front of the book, but the page was now blank.
He touched the page with his wand.
Still nothing. He wondered what he needed to do in order to read the message; for all he knew, it might not even be for him.
Yawning widely, be closed the book and placed it upon the shelf. The clasps locked shut at once. There would be no need to secure this one.
Then he threw a pinch of Floo powder into one of the fires and headed for the Burrow.
*
John Bateman pulled off his gas mask and then nodded to the others to do the same. Beside him, Kingsley raised his wand and terminated his bubble head charm.
Bateman raised a radio to his mouth and said, "We're going in now. The outer doors have been breached. We have just found two sentries. Both dead and their bodies were hidden."
There was a harsh crackle and they heard a broken response from Miss Alice.
"Very well. Proceed with caution. Assume that they have left booby traps."
"It looks like there was a fire ahead," commented Kingsley.
"That can't be right," said Duke. "The fire detectors didn't go off and the gas suppression system was in full operation. There's no way a fire could have burned."
"Of course it could," said Careem from just behind him, "if there was a source of oxygen, or something else to fuel the burn."
"Don't forget who we are dealing with," warned Bateman shining his bright torchlight down the corridor. "Magical fires don't need fuel."
Kingsley smiled and nodded before proceeding.
"Let me know as soon as you have cleared the area," crackled Miss Alice from the radio speaker. "I wish to get in there as soon as possible. It is imperative that we know exactly what they have seen."
"She sounds a little agitated," commented Duke.
"Well, she didn't think would happen yet."
"Can we just get on with this?" barked Bateman.