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Year 6, Chapter 9 – Horcrux Info and a Loony Quidditch Match

From the Journal of Hermione Granger - February 15 (continued)

Professor Dumbledore and Harry stayed until just before suppertime, which gave us some more time together, and also allowed me to participate in their conversation. Dumbledore created quite a stir with his presence at lunch, and everyone was asking me what was going on. Of course, the fact that the boy sitting next to me was Harry Potter soon made the rounds as well. Gabrielle sat herself down on his other side and scowled at any other girl who came close. Harry gave her a hug and thanked her for being such a good friend to me, and she was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Between Gabrielle and the rest of my study group we managed to deflect everyone’s questions. The story we gave out was that Dumbledore was here to meet with Maxime and brought Harry along so he could visit me. Harry even took some time to go flying with Brigitte and Jean-Claude after lunch while Dumbledore was meeting privately with Madame Maxime. After that we joined him again.

Dumbledore listened thoughtfully to Harry’s retelling of the events of Valentine’s Day, ending with his visit to Ron in the Hospital Wing. Before the headmaster could change the subject or ask another question, Harry had one of his own.

“What are you going to do about Malfoy?”

“That situation is under control,” Dumbledore reassured him.

“With all due respect sir, no it’s not,” Harry retorted. “Professor Snape doesn’t have him under control at all. Remember, I heard them talking just before Christmas.”

“Nevertheless, this is not your problem,” Dumbledore insisted.

“That’s the same thing you said last time,” Harry argued. “And now another student has almost died because of this plot of his. And they were two of my best friends! So it certainly is my problem. What will it take before you do something about it? Are you waiting for a student to die?”

“What would you have me do, Harry?” was the testy response. “Expel Mr. Malfoy because you suspect that he was involved? I still have hope that he may be dissuaded from the path he is on. But if he were to leave the school, he would have no choice but to follow his father’s footsteps.”

“Headmaster, why does it seem that you are more concerned with protecting the guilty than keeping the innocent safe?” Hermione broke in. “If Ron or Ginny had died in these attacks, would you be able to explain to Mrs. Weasley that her son or daughter had to die because you hoped that Draco Malfoy might be redeemed?”

Dumbledore sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a moment, clearly pained by the accusation. “I understand your point of view, believe me. But I do not believe that there is any more danger to students. I am Mr. Malfoy’s target. I have been aware of this since last summer. Now that Professor Snape is taking a more active interest in his activities, I do not think there will be any more of these diversionary attacks. The means by which they were accomplished has been identified and eliminated.”

“It had something to do with Madame Rosmerta and the Three Broomsticks, didn’t it?” Harry guessed. “That’s where Ginny was given the dagger, and that’s were the poisoned mead came from.”

“Your reasoning is sound, Harry,” Dumbledore acknowledged. “Another advantage of associating with Miss Granger all these years, I suppose. But I will not share the details with you. Suffice to say that it has been taken care of. With regard to his longer term plan against me, I am confident that it will be thwarted as well. I have confidence in Professor Snape and our other precautions.”

“That leads me to my next question, then,” Harry continued. “Why do you trust Snape? I know he was a Death Eater, and he’s spying for you. But doesn’t Voldemort also think he’s spying for him? How can you be sure?”

“This is one of those areas in which I cannot break another’s confidence, and so I cannot answer you,” Dumbledore replied.

“But if it concerns me or the prophecy, it’s something I have to know,” Harry argued. “Even if you can’t tell me the details, you must be able to give me some general idea. Does it have something to do with my mother? I know she was good friends with him at school.” A look of surprise flickered over the normally serene face of the aged headmaster, and both Harry and Hermione saw that he was on the right track.

“That’s why he came over to our side, isn’t it?” Hermione suggested. “He was devastated about her death … perhaps he even felt guilty because he had a hand in it.” A flash of inspiration hit her. “He was the spy wasn’t he? He was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy, not knowing it would lead him to kill her!”

“Again, Miss Granger, your powers of deduction are unsurpassed,” Dumbledore complimented her. “But I repeat, I cannot confirm your speculation.”

“But even if that was his motivation, you would insist on something more tangible in order to trust him that much,” Hermione reasoned aloud. “You are certainly not foolish. What Harry said before about him spying for both sides is right. You must have had some ironclad guarantee – something like the magical oath we used before. You can tell us that much.”

Dumbledore paused, then nodded. “You are correct that I would not risk this much on just someone’s word or good intentions. There are magical oaths in effect between Professor Snape and myself.”

“Does he know the prophecy?” Harry asked.

“He does know that part that Voldemort knows,” Dumbledore acknowledged.

“Does the rest of the Order know that part?” Harry continued.

“Most of them do not,” Dumbledore admitted. “They only know of the existence of the prophecy and its importance. Your parents were aware of it, of course.”

“Does he know about the Horcruxes?” was Harry’s next question.

Dumbledore looked back and forth between the two determined students before answering. “I agree that my vow compels me to share this information with you. And this should help you accept how much I trust him. He is aware that they exist, and has aided me. He was indispensable in treating me for the effects of the destruction of the ring.”

“I think it’s important that I know how you did destroy the ring,” Harry declared. “Can we move on to that subject next?”

“I will tell you, but that is a much longer story and we have not the time right now,” Dumbledore replied as he pulled out his pocket watch and examined it. “I will share that memory with you at one of our upcoming meetings. You are correct in that it is something that you should know how to do.”

He sat back and regarded the pair of students. “It is my sincere hope that we have begun to move past this difficulty and rebuild our relationship.” Harry and Hermione shared a look, then nodded at the wizened old wizard. “It will soon be time for us to return to Hogwarts, Harry. I suggest you spend the remainder of your time here saying goodbye.” The twinkle had returned to his eyes and he smiled at them. Harry and Hermione returned a grateful smile to him, then got up and left the room in search of a more private location.

-ooo-

Dear Hermione,

I have quite a bit to tell you since I got back. Ron is still in the Hospital Wing, but is awake now. He’s really weak, just like Ginny was, but since I got the bezoar to him so fast enough he’ll recover much quicker than she did. Madame Pomfrey figures a week in bed, then a couple of weeks of taking it easy until he’s back to full strength. Unfortunately, that means he’ll miss our quidditch match against Hufflepuff, which for Ron is the worst possible news.

I’ve been spending as much time with him as I can, and our study group comes up to see him every day and go over the lessons he’s missing. Hannah always stays behind to spend more time with him. She’s not at all mad at him about the incident with Romilda, as she knows anything he said under the influence of the love potion wasn’t real. But she and Susan are going to make life miserable for Miss Vane. That is, if there’s anything left of her after Ginny gets through with her. She seems to have developed a serious complexion problem in the past few days, and I understand from what I overheard that I can expect to see her hair start falling out soon.

Interestingly, Ron’s most frequent visitor is Luna. She’s with him almost every time I stop by, and often she has him laughing about something or other. He really gets a kick out of the outrageous things she says. And even though she seems to be completely serious about her claims, sometimes I can see a bit of a twinkle in her eye. She’s also smiling a lot more these days.

Here’s some bad news. The punishment I got from McGonagall was a one game suspension from quidditch. It was tougher than I expected, but she felt she needed to do something more than detention, to emphasize what a serious infraction leaving the castle without permission is, and to make sure no one could accuse her of favoritism. So, McClaggen will play Keeper and Dean will be a substitute Chaser again, while Ginny switches to Seeker. I’m pretty confident that Ginny can catch the snitch, and McClaggen is competent enough, as long as he keeps his ego under control.

Speaking of Ginny and Dean, they broke up on Valentine’s Day. It seems they had different ideas of how to celebrate – Ginny wanted something romantic, and Dean decided it was time to take their relationship to the next level. You remember that she already had problems getting him to keep his hands to himself, so this did not go over well at all . So, I’m not exactly sure what level they were at, or what level he was interested in, but it was definitely more than she was willing to do. (Actually, I’m not even sure what the levels are, or even how many there are. I do know that I’m pretty happy with the level you and I are on, whichever one it is.)

That’s it for now. I miss you.

Love,

Harry

(Doesn’t seem to be much point in using Henry any more.)

Without missing a beat, Hermione tapped her wand to the parchment to continue reading the more confidential portion of the letter.

I met with Dumbledore last night – so far he’s keeping his promise. We looked at some more memories, and talked about strategy. Now we’re seeing post-Hogwarts Voldemort. It turns out he worked at Borgin and Burkes for a time, but that was only a cover to let him search for certain magical objects. While he was there he found out what happened to Slytherin’s locket – Burke had bought it from his mother and sold it to an old witch named Hepzibah Smith. So he smooth talked his way into her confidence in order to get it from her. Dumbledore can’t prove it, but it looks pretty certain that he killed her and stole it, along with another artifact.

Dumbledore got this information from her house elf, who was convicted of accidentally poisoning her. Seeing the memory from the house elf made me think about your efforts with SPEW – it really was horrible how the authorities treated her. After this whole thing with Voldemort is over we’re going to have to try to do something about issues like that. Not just house elves, but the way wizards treat other magical beings in general.

The other artifact Voldemort stole from her was a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. Apparently she was an heir of Hufflepuff, so it had been passed down through her family. I wonder if she’s any relation to Zacharias Smith?

After that he disappeared for a while, but turned up ten years later when he came to see Dumbledore at Hogwarts. Dumbledore showed me the memory of their meeting. By then he had already started recruiting Death Eaters, and Dumbledore surprised him by naming several of them. His appearance was quite a bit different than Tom Riddle’s had been, which might have been why no one recognized who he was. Splitting his soul several times had taken a toll on his body, particularly his face and eyes. The reason for their meeting, amazingly enough, was that he was applying to be the DADA professor. He claimed to know more about the Dark Arts than anyone alive, (which was probably true!). Dumbledore was suspicious, though, of what his real motives were, since he sure wasn’t the type who would want to teach children. Maybe he wanted a way to spread his evil ideas and recruit more followers. Do you have any other thoughts?

Back to the Horcruxes. Dumbledore thinks Voldemort was trying to collect artifacts from the four founders of Hogwarts to use for his Horcruxes. Everything had to have some sort of significance, and Hogwarts was very significant in his life – probably the only place he considered home. (Yet another way in which he was like me. But I also consider the Burrow to be like a home to me, and I’m starting to feel that way about your house too, whereas Voldemort didn’t have anything else.)

So far we have something from Slytherin (the locket) and Hufflepuff (the cup) but Dumbledore’s still trying to figure out what he might have used from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Since we now know that there are seven total, including the soul fragment still in Voldemort, and we already have the diary and the ring, that leaves two more to figure out. Dumbledore suspects that his snake Nagini is also one, which would mean either one from Gryffindor or one from Ravenclaw.

He also thinks that Voldemort wanted to make the final one by killing me (what a cheery thought!) but failed. It seems to me that means that whatever artifact he was going to use would have ended up on the floor of my bedroom at Godric’s Hollow, but Dumbledore says nothing was found in the wreckage. Still, I think it’s worth a visit sometime. The crucial point, though, is that he might have still been one short at that point. If so, he would have made his final Horcrux after he came back, and it would stand to reason that Nagini would have been that one.

So, we have two that we know what they are but not where they are, and at least one that we don’t even know what it is, much less where it’s hidden. For now, Dumbledore’s working on finding out where the locket and the cup are. That’s why he’s been gone from the castle so much this year. He has some leads on the locket, and hopes to have it located by the end o f this term. I asked him if I would be involved in finding it or destroying it, and he said that was his intention.

We didn’t have time to talk about how he destroyed the ring, but he assured me that we will at our next meeting. He did say that he used Gryffindor’s sword – the one I used to kill the basilisk with.

One other thing that might be of interest. I was talking to Hagrid during one of our weekly meetings for Care of Magical Creatures and he let slip that he’d overheard Dumbledore and Snape arguing. Snape was trying to get out of doing something, and Dumbledore insisted that he had to do it. I’m not sure what to make of that. Do you suppose Snape wants to stop spying on Voldemort because it’s too dangerous but Dumbledore won’t let him? Or maybe Dumbledore told him to crack down harder on Malfoy.

So, that’s about it. So far Dumbledore and I are getting along pretty well. Let me know anything you can come up with on this information. Oh, I forgot to mention this when I was visiting you. Kreacher claimed that Sirius’s mirror wasn’t there in Grimmauld Place anymore. Assuming he’s telling the truth (and I think I worded it so that he couldn’t lie) I have no idea who might have taken it. So I dug out a piece from the one I broke and am enclosing it. I hope it’s enough. It would be great to be able to talk you!

I miss you.

Love,

Harry

-ooo-

Dear Harry,

I’m so glad that Ron is OK, and is getting better. It sounds like things are getting back to normal there, although I feel awful about your quidditch suspension. You’ll still be able to attend the game, right? Will you be able to act as captain? And will Ron be allowed to watch? The way he gets so worked up at quidditch matches, I’m not sure if that would qualify as ‘taking it easy’ for him.

I guess McGonagall didn’t think she had much choice but to give you such a severe punishment – while I agree with what you did, it was a serious violation of the rules. Was she aware of the specific reason you came here? I suspect that learning that Dumbledore was responsible for my leaving would have infuriated her, and might have seriously damaged their relationship, so it probably wasn’t worth opening that can of worms. If you think it’s important to tell her, though, I’ll support you.

We’re still dealing with the fallout from your visit. The whole castle is buzzing with Harry Potter stories. I think half of the seventh year girls here now have a crush on you, and I’m hearing the most outrageous plans of how they’re going to get you to notice them if you ever come back for another visit. That’s from the ones who don’t know that we’re together. The other three girls in my study group, who actually know that we are together, are a whole different problem. They are all teasing each other and me about which of them gets first crack at you if we ever break up. Brigitte says it should be her, since you spent more time with her than the others, and you have a natural connection with her since you’re both Seekers. By the way, she asked me to express her gratitude for flying with her, even with all the other things that were on your mind, and for the tips you gave her. (Like those kisses she gave you when you left weren’t already enough. Must you always be so charming?) She’s already planning how to put your suggestions to use in our next match.

To make matters worse, when they’re not teasing me about how they’re going to steal you away from me, they’re giving me tips on how to hang onto you – specifically, certain things I should do to make you happy. One of them was pretty much what I did that last night you were at my house, although I didn’t tell them that. The others go even farther! I’m not going to repeat any of those, because I’m too embarrassed to even write some of them down. You’ll just have to use your imagination. (And yes, I know I’m teasing you. That was actually one of their tips.)

Speaking of romance, it’s too bad about Ginny and Dean, although I suspected that was coming after what you wrote at New Year’s. I hope she eventually finds a guy who’s good for her. (Maybe not the best guy, I suppose, but the second best guy, since I’ve already got the best one.)

I’m not sure what you were saying about Ron – is it Hannah or Luna that he’s most interested in? Remember my comment about him liking blondes? It seems to still be holding true, doesn’t it? Please continue keeping me up to date on him. He’s my second best friend, you know, and he never writes letters. Don’t be too surprised if you see his face turn red when he reads his next letter from me, as I plan to tease him unmercifully.

Now for the more serious stuff. Dumbledore requested that Madame Maxime permit me to have access to the Dark section of our library here, and she’s granted it. No luck so far, but I’ll keep looking. That’s given me another idea. Since Durmstrang is reputed to spend more time studying the Dark Arts than Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, I think a visit to their library might be helpful. I’m writing to Viktor to see if he might be able to get me in. I’m thinking of going over Easter break. Our break isn’t the same time as yours – ours is the week before Easter and yours is the week after Easter. So I thought I’d go to Durmstrang first, then come to visit you on the weekend we have in common. Perhaps you can come home with me for Easter day itself.

I’ve been thinking about Horcrux identities and locations, but haven’t come up with anything yet. I’ve been through my copy of Hogwarts, a History several times looking for possible Gryffindor and Ravenclaw artifacts without success. There should be more detailed books on each of the founders in the Hogwarts library, but I would assume Dumbledore’s been through them. On second thought, we shouldn’t assume anything – ask him where he’s looked so far. I don’t have any more ideas on locations than I’ve already mentioned. I did have another thought on Voldemort’s reason for meeting with Dumbledore about the Defense position. Maybe he wanted access to something or somewhere in the castle, like the Chamber of Secrets?

Have you made a successful apparation yet? I passed my exam this weekend, so I’m licensed now. That’s one of the reasons I thought my plan to visit you might work. I can just apparate to Hogsmeade and then side-along with you to and from my house. I’m also working hard on charming the mirrors. The piece you sent did help, as a revealing spell gave me an idea of which charms Sirius and your Dad used. I’m hoping to have them done by the holiday, so I can give you yours then. Then we’ll be able to talk to each other whenever we want, and see each other as well!

As you can see, even though I just saw you a week ago, I miss you.

All my love,

Hermione

-ooo-

Dear Hermione,

What a disaster! You wouldn’t believe how much one player can bollix up a quidditch match! I guarantee you that CormacMcClaggen will never play for Gryffindor again as long as I’m captain. Arrrgh!

They did allow Ron and me to attend, although now we both wish we hadn’t. I made out the lineup and joined him in the stands. It started out all right, as Katie scored the first goal, but then it all fell apart. McClaggen started paying attention to everyone’s job but his own. First he started yelling tips to Ginny about how to find the snitch, which let Hufflepuff score uncontested. Then he went off on our Chasers every time they lost the quaffle, but not even bothering to try to defend the hoops against their Chasers after it happened!

I called time out and yelled at him to play his own position and let everyone else play theirs, but it didn’t help. It finally got completely beyond belief when he flew up to Peakes and grabbed the Beater bat out of his hands and started demonstrating swings, while the game was still going on! Needless, to say, Hufflepuff scored that time also.

The only good thing about the match was that Ginny caught the snitch when Hufflepuff wasn’t too far ahead, so that we only lost by 20. So our match against Ravenclaw in May will be for the title. With Ron and me playing, and Ginny back at Chaser, we should have a good chance to win the cup.

There was one other unusual thing about the match, that actually helped make it somewhat bearable. Luna was the announcer! I have no idea what McGonagall was thinking, and I’m sure she’s wondering the same thing right now. Luna had something to say about everything, except for, you know, relatively unimportant details like the score? And she said it all in that calm matter of fact voice of hers. McGonagall was ready to tear her hair out, even more than she ever was with Lee Jordan.

The weird thing was that since the game itself was so bizarre (or at least McClaggen’s play was) that it almost seemed appropriate. After a while Ron suggested that we close our eyes and just listen to her commentary, and it would be less painful that way. He was right.

What made it even stranger was that Luna always seemed to know where the snitch was! She’d be going on about some blithering humdinger or whatnot and just happen to mention that the snitch was visiting the Ravenclaw stands, or sniffing the frostberry blossoms (do those even exist?) underneath the Gryffindor hoops. At first I thought she was making it up, but I looked and she wasn’t!

Ginny finally caught on and started listening to her. She followed one of her tips to track down the snitch, and caught it to end the whole crazy match. Then Luna came running up to Ron and me afterwards and asked “How did I do?” Ron actually grabbed her and swung her around, telling her that it was the funniest quidditch match he’d ever heard. What a nutty day!

The situation with Malfoy is more frustrating than ever. I’m certain that he was working on his ‘project’ during the quidditch match – I almost considered skipping it to spy on him (but Ron would have gone spare if I’d done that). After having to watch McClaggen though, I wish I had.

Sometimes we see him on the Map, but I can’t be looking at it all the time. I’m almost certain he’s using the Room of Requirement. We’ve noticed once or twice on the Map that Crabbe or Goyle are in that corridor. He must also have other students besides them working with him, because we continue to find Slytherin girls hanging around outside the Room whenever we walk by.

In order to keep tabs on Malfoy better I decided to order Kreacher to do it. It was a little tricky to word the instructions so that he couldn’t find a way out of it – like I had to specifically state the hours when I wanted him tailed, and that he had to avoid letting Malfoy know he was doing it, and that he had to report back to me, and so forth. It got a bit easier when Dobby popped up and wanted to do it too, and he helped me with the wording. So now I have the both of them doing it, and Dobby’s making sure Kreacher doesn’t worm his way out of the job.

Congratulations on passing your Apparation exam. I’ve managed to apparate successfully in class, but I won’t be taking my exam with the others next month because I won’t be of age yet. Ron’s pretty nervous about it. That sounds like a pretty good plan you came up with. I don’t know how Dumbledore will react to me leaving Hogwarts again to spend Easter with you, but since we’re on break I’m technically allowed to. I wonder if the vow he took not to keep us apart will make him let me go. I’ll be sure to find out and let you know. It will be great to be able to see you again, even if it’s only for a day or two.

I miss you.

Love,

Harry

While the contents of the visible letter were somewhat interesting, the critical information was revealed after Hermione removed the masking charm.

I finally got Dumbledore to show me how he destroyed the ring Horcrux. He resisted, but I think the Vow forced him to do it. I think he didn’t want to tell me until later, I guess because he wants to destroy them himself and is worried that I’ll want to do it. After seeing what happened to him, I can see his point. I wish you had been able to view the memory with us, but I’ll try to describe it as completely as I can.

Following their standard procedure, Dumbledore directed the memory into the pensieve, although Harry noted his reluctance. Then the two of them leaned over the shimmery contents of the stone basin and plunged in.

They found themselves in the same office they had just left, and Harry deduced that it was the previous summer, probably shortly before Dumbledore came to get him from the Dursleys. The headmaster was seated at his desk with the ring in his hands, examining it carefully. For the first time Harry took careful note of it.

It was a simple gold ring with a black stone. The stone had a design on it, which Harry was surprised to see bore no resemblance to a snake, or could even remotely be construed as an S, leading him to suspect that he had erred in assuming that it was a Slytherin heirloom. Rather, the design was a simple geometric one, with a vertical line bisecting a circle, which was itself inside a triangle.

The Dumbledore in the memory appeared conflicted, undecided as to his next course of action. Setting the ring down on his desk, he crossed the room and removed the Sword of Gryffindor from its case and raised it as though to strike the stone, but then lowered it again and placed it also on the large desk. Then he sat once more in the thronelike chair and took up the ring again, concentrated briefly, and put it on.

A bright flash of light erupted from the ring, accompanied a split second later by a scream from the headmaster. Harry involuntarily ducked back and brought his hand up to shield his face; beside him he felt the real Dumbledore wince and grab his own hand in remembered pain.

The headmaster in the memory remarkably managed to keep his composure, even though his right hand was burning before his eyes. Resisting the urge to grab the cursed ring with his other hand, he instead took his wand and flicked at the ring, sliding it off his finger and onto the table, then dropped the wand and took up the sword again, whirling it in an arc that ended with it cleaving the black stone of the still glowing ring.

A loud scream erupted from the ring, and then suddenly the room was still, the ring ceased glowing, and the headmaster slumped into the chair again. He stared at his blackened hand, his face a mixture of guilt and horror. Then he pulled himself together enough to once more raise his wand, and a bright slivery phoenix burst from the tip and flew from the room.

The scene blurred slightly and Harry realized that the headmaster was flickering in and out of consciousness. Suddenly pounding footsteps could be heard on the circular stair outside the office and Snape rushed into the room right past the point where Harry and Dumbledore stood watching.

“Headmaster!” he cried out. “What have you done?” In the ornate chair Dumbledore stirred and motioned with his left hand to his injured one, and then to the shattered ring lying on the desk before him. Immediately Snape withdrew his own wand and muttered a diagnostic incantation, then hurried to remove two vials and a goblet from the bag he was carrying. Mixing the contents of the vials produced a thick golden potion which he carried around the desk, while simultaneously he cast a charm on the blackened hand laid out before him.

“Why?” the potions master pleaded. “Why did you put on that ring? You knew it was cursed.”

Harry watched as Snape poured the potion down the headmaster’s throat before turning his attention fully to the injured hand, casting several more incantations. Then he jumped slightly as the real Dumbledore touched his shoulder.

“That is enough, I believe,” he said simply, and the scene dissolved as they returned to the present. Once he had regained his equilibrium, Harry turned to the elderly wizard with the same question Snape had asked on his lips.

But Dumbledore anticipated him, and before he could make his inquiry, shook his head sadly. “Alas, as you have seen even the wisest of us sometimes make mistakes,” he intoned. “As for the explanation, it is unfortunately a common one. Power corrupts.”

That’s all he would say. I guess there was some compulsion in the ring to make him put it on, just like Ginny was compelled to write in the diary. But now we know how to destroy the rest of them when we find them. And it’s definitely destroyed, because he could put the ring on afterward without any effect. I remember seeing him wearing it last summer.

I’m adding a drawing of the symbol on the ring to the bottom of this letter, so you can try to figure out what it means, or what it might stand for. Maybe it’s some kind of rune?

I’m really looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks.

I miss you.

Love,

Harry

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – March 15

It’s been a month now since Harry was here, and two weeks until I see him again. Since I hope to give him his mirror then and perform the final charm to activate it, it’s likely that our letter writing is drawing to a close. We probably won’t write much once we can talk to each other whenever we like. I’m eagerly looking forward to that, but I’ll also regret it just a bit. Letters have a permanence to them that oral communication doesn’t have. I’ve saved every letter he’s written, and he’s saved mine as well. I wonder if we’ll get them out occasionally when we’re older and reminisce about these days. Perhaps along with these journals. Or maybe we’ll look at them with our children.

I expect that with the mirrors I’ll be able to help Harry more directly with his ‘projects’. The time delay with the letters sometimes makes my suggestions irrelevant. I have been able to make some contributions these past few weeks, though. It was my idea that the interchangeability of Crabbe and Goyle with the Slytherin ‘girls’ outside the Room of Requirement was the result of Polyjuice Potion. Harry and Ron were quite amused at the thought of those big hulking brutes having to act like little girls. Harry says that when Ron suggested that they might peek inside their own robes to ‘check themselves out’ it sent them both into a choking fit for several minutes. It would certainly be weird to polyjuice into a member of the opposite sex. We didn’t even consider that when we brewed it during second year. I have to admit that I’d probably take a peek myself, if I ever did it.

I also had a suggestion that improved the house elf surveillance on Malfoy, once I managed to set aside my annoyance at the very idea of ordering house elves to do anything. Since Dobby didn’t trust Kreacher to do it right, and so wouldn’t let him out of his sight, I pointed out that Harry didn’t really need to use Kreacher. Since then it’s only been Dobby, and Harry hasn’t needed to worry about Kreacher’s reliability. It’s presumably been less stressful for Dobby as well. I also reminded Harry to tell Dobby that he didn’t need to watch Malfoy when he was sleeping, which at least enabled Dobby to rest sometimes. So, I was able to ease the burden on both Dobby and Kreacher, which helped soothe my conscience and allow me to uphold the ideals of SPEW at least somewhat. After all, I did ‘promote elvish welfare’ a bit.

I had no ideas, however, on what the symbol on the ring meant. I did tell him that it wasn’t a rune. I’m also at a loss to explain Dumbledore’s comment that ‘Power corrupts. I do recall that the phrase is often followed by, ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ How could a Horcrux confer power on someone other than its creator? There must be something I’m missing here.

I’m sometimes amazed at the difference in atmosphere between Beauxbatons and Hogwarts. Here, the students are primarily concerned with the normal academic, social, and personal issues of students everywhere. How did I do on that last exam, will that cute guy in Arithmancy ever notice me, what should I wear today, etc. At Hogwarts Susan says that the primary question every morning when the owl post arrives is ‘Who died yesterday?’

We are essentially untouched by this war here in France, whereas Britain is intimately involved in it. Voldemort is largely perceived as a British problem. Were it not for the fact that his resurrection occurred during the Tri Wizard Tournament, there might be even less interest. I understand that something similar happened with Grindelwald, who primarily operated in continental Europe and was initially not as much of a concern to the British Ministry, although it was Dumbledore who eventually defeated him. I wonder what it’s going to take before the other European magical communities take Voldemort more seriously.

I’m preparing to leave for Durmstrang next weekend, and also for my subsequent trip back home later in the week. Since I won’t be returning here in between the packing is tricky. I’ll be wearing my Beauxbatons robes while I’m at Durmstrang, but my regular clothing at home.

There might be a potential problem with Viktor. He’s let me know that in order for him to be able to get me into the part of the Durmstrang library that I need to see, it has to appear to everyone that we are ‘together’. I’m not exactly certain what that entails, but I made it very clear to him that I’m with Harry now, and that’s not going to change. It occurs to me that even though I spent some time with him two years ago, and have been corresponding with him since then, I don’t really know him all that well. I don’t think he would be the type to take advantage of a situation like this.

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