A/N Please review the summary and disclaimers in Chapter One.
Hope to Die
As was usual, Harry was up first, and had the coffee brewed before Hermione was fully awake. Despite the fact that he could transfigure or glamour a cup in seconds with magic, he felt that it never had the taste the real stuff did.
True to his morning ritual, he had spread out the file Shacklebolt had given him the night before, and was leafing through its contents. He had already found the Portkey, kept in a separate envelope with a date and time printed on it. This he had set aside, along with a letter addressed to the Commander Sir Samuel Vimes.
Royalty for a cop, Harry thought. Wonder when we'll see that in the Ministry.
Accompanying the packet was a large fold-out map, and three separate packets. Unusually, they were extremely lengthy and detailed. Shacklebolt must have used a shrinking charm on them to fit them inside the envelope since each one had nearly 100 pages. With the uncomfortable feeling that he was revising for an exam, Harry read the titles on each report.
Discworld - Current Politics and Important Movements
Discworld - State of the Magical Art
Discworld (Ankh-Morpork) - Current Dealings with Earth (Roundworld)
Harry wasn't sure which to open first, so he picked up the one on magic art, and turned the first page.
Contents Updated - June 15, 2007.
That's yesterday, Harry noted.
Discworld - Current Location - A'Tuin is heading towards Sol via Antibes at apogee mk. -42 vel. 6.31 light years. Will rendezvous with Earth on this course in 1,387 earth years at present velocity. Will not come into visual telescope range for 682 years. A'tuin appears to be maintaining his anti-radio telescope shield as we have no indications Hubble has photographed A'tuin, despite muggles now possessing photographs of his location.
Magic clusters - Magic is falling off the disc at a rate of 789,000 thaums per day. This appears well within normal tolerance. Minor magic charges appear from time to time; recently two small Kuiper Belt Objects (tentatively identified as NASA 2003.293BH4921 and NASA 2003.293BH4922) were transfigured into a pot of flowers and a blue whale, which appear to have promptly crashed into a neighboring planetoid. Despite this, and unconfirmed reports of Cohen the Barbarian moving towards the hub, magic appears to be normal.
Discworld remains an intensely magical world in which small disturbances can have extremely large echoes. Cf. `Origins of Discworld, with Some Observations on Roundworld,' by Ministry Unspeakables I. Cohen and J. Stewart. Wizards at Unseen University, with supplementary evidence from the History Monks, have long been aware that thaumic breakdown is only prevented by continuing belief and evolution. Spell work remains non-wandless for the most part, as a wand is such a powerful item that it becomes inherently unstable. Ultra-humans do not seem to possess magic powers although some reports of Eldritch or preternatural surge appears to be common …
Harry was totally beguiled. What the hell was Shacklebolt doing? And where the hell was this? Heading towards Sol via Antibes … Harry had been pretty bad at Astronomy, but wasn't that … in outer space?
The door opened and Hermione came in. "Mmph," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee, and took a long swig of it. "Oh, that's good," she said. "Instant human."
She looked down at the paperwork on their kitchen table and sighed. She had hoped to have this conversation yesterday, after dinner, when she would be at her best. But a glance at Harry after they had washed up told her that it wouldn't happen. He had been very moody, and seemed to not wish to talk about anything, which wasn't surprising. He must think he's headed out to Ireland or the U.S. or somewhere, and won't be easily back on weekends, but he can call me or maybe I can come over for a weekend, she thought. He doesn't even know where he's going.
But Hermione did.
Discworld was certainly an advanced topic, but anyone who sat NEWT-level Arithmancy and read the more obscure spell research journals would be drawn to it as a topic like moth to flame. Hermione had read virtually every article she could find on Discworld, and even participated in a conference with Professor Vector on the subject, where she presented a short paper. It turned out, as she had met a senior wizard from Discworld at the conference - he styled himself `wizzard,' she recalled - that most of her conclusions were wrong, but that, to her, made it all the more fascinating.
She so could have talked about this last night. Prepared him. Helped him. But when he got so moody, her maternal hormones kicked in and she wanted to squeeze every last bit of sadness out of him. To comfort him and love him. It was a role she had played since he had defeated Voldemort, more than five years ago, when he was 18.
Since then - and in particular to help stave off the nightmares - they had been sleeping together. They weren't married, yet, which was no end of a shock to Molly Weasley - but they had something, and she wasn't willing to jeopardize her relationship for the sake of conformity. And it wasn't as if her parents cared; so far as Hermione's mother and father were concerned, they were already as good as married, and Hermione's mother had begun dropping hints about grandchildren.
He still didn't sleep well. She tried, but she knew it was tough on him. She quietly walked behind him and leaned into him, and Harry absently reached up to stroke her.
"Morning, love," Harry said. "Sleep well?"
"Like always," Hermione said, taking another sip of coffee. "Sweetheart?" she asked.
"Yes?" Harry said. Living with another person as long as he had meant you learned what the tone meant, quickly. It meant he was going to give in to a Hermione request, even if he didn't like it.
"I want you to do something for me," Hermione said.
"Yes, I knew that much," Harry said.
"I want you to finish reading all of this material this morning, and then take it with you and see Professor Vector and Headmistress McGonagall to discuss it today, please," Hermione said.
"Huh?" Harry asked. Vector, he thought. I can barely even remember what she looks like. We may have exchanged one sentence in seven years.
"Harry … you never took arithmancy," Hermione began. "If you had, you would have learned about Discworld. It's an entire planet that is held together solely by magic. Ankh-Morpork is one of the principal cities on the disc. That's where you're being sent. You clearly don't understand a lot about it, and they might be able to help you prepare for going there."
Harry was befuddled. "You knew! You knew last night! Why didn't you tell me?"
Hermione sighed. "Sweetie, I would have, but last night you were flashing me that prickly `I don't want anyone close to me' look and when I see it, I just want to hold you and keep you safe. I could see you weren't really in a mood to talk about it. So this is the first opportunity I've gotten.
"Now listen, Harry, please, do this for me, will you? I know you have been given this as an assignment, and I know you are conscientious enough to carry it out. Please just give me the knowledge you are going to try and prepare fully?"
Harry felt he couldn't argue with that. "Okay, I'll owl them today, and see if I can get to see them in the next day or so. I've been given the time off to prepare for the trip, anyway."
Hermione paused. He was so not going to like this. "They're expecting you today," she said. "I sent an express owl after you went to sleep. They will see you in McGonagall's office at 2:15 p.m."
"You did that without even asking me?" Harry said, angrily. "Hermione, how could you?"
"Harry, please, there is … a lot I know about this you don't yet. For one thing, you do not yet appreciate just how dangerous this is likely to be, and I do not want to risk losing you. I will do everything I can to get you prepared to go, it's all I can do - but don't be angry at me because I love you!" Hermione grabbed him into a hug.
"I - I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't realize how much you seem to care about this," Harry said. "Of course if this is important to you I'll do it. And you're right - I don't know much about this Ankh-Morpork and if McGonagall and Vector can help me, I'm certainly happy to call on their services. I don't know how dangerous it could be, though - I'm sure Shacklebolt wouldn't have made me do this if it wasn't safe."
Hermione beamed. "Oh, thank you Harry! Now I have to get ready for work, I'm pulling a double shift today, so I'll be home very late, and don't wait up." She worked in the theoretical and technical section of the St. Mungo's Spell Damage and Curse Lifting department, mainly trying to push the envelope of magic in the hopes for finding cures for those who lives were permanently affected by magic.
"I thought you didn't have the double shift until Friday," Harry said.
"I switched so that I can take all day tomorrow off," Hermione said. "I intend to spend it with you. Alone. In bed. Think about that if you need something to keep you going." She kissed him on his scar and walked to the bedroom to change, as Harry flushed with anticipation.
He refilled his coffee mug, and began to go through the dossiers in earnest. Presently Hermione left, and reminded him of his appointment. Harry managed to finish reading all three documents, and glance at the map a few times before lunch, for which he drank a quick cup of soup.
At ten minutes past two, he carefully replaced his documents, picked up a fresh notebook and a new pen (muggle writing implements were an Auror's best friend) and walked to the fireplace. He picked up a small pinch of floo powder and said quite clearly, "Hogwarts."
He stepped out of a fireplace, and came face to face with Albus Dumbledore.
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, his blue eyes twinkling with merriment.
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