Harry Potter and the Year After

Chapter Forty-four: The Cradle Falls

Chapter 44: The Cradle Falls

Harry sat back down across from Hermione.

"What was that about?" Ron asked immediately.

"I thought Malfoy was trying to sleep with Ginny. I guess I may have been mistaken."

"So you punched him?" Hermione said, absent-mindedly rubbing her chest.

"Yeah."

"But Harry," Hermione said gently, "Ginny isn't yours to protect. Not anymore."

"I definitely know that," Harry said flatly.

"What made you think he was trying to... you know..." Ron asked.

"He gave her Hush. It makes you do weird things."

"No it doesn't," Hermione said, shaking her head. Both of the boys looked at her. "After the Wizard's Weed over the summer I did a bit of reading on the different magical drugs. Hush is just supposed to make you more in-tune with your spirituality and put you at peace."

"I don't know what book you read that in, but that's definitely not what Hush does," Harry said without meeting her eye. She looked confused.

"You know what, Harry," Ron said, "I'm glad you punched him. If you hadn't, I would have. He shouldn't be slipping Ginny drugs. Doesn't matter why."

"Right," Harry said, looking down at his mostly uneaten sandwich. It was completely unappealing to him. He pushed his plate away and instead downed the rest of his butterbeer. Hermione was watching him.

"Oh!" she said suddenly.

"What?" Ron asked, startled.

"Sorry, I just remembered something. From Charms actually. Well, from reading the Charms text ahead."

"Oh yeah?" Harry asked, uninterested. He was thinking about getting some firewhiskey at the bar.

"Yeah, there's a charm you can do to see what the world would have been like without you. You take any memory from your head and do the charm and it'll temporarily change what you'll see when you put the memory into a Pensieve and examine it. I want to try it."

"I'd rather not see what the world would have been like without Harry, thanks," Ron said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well," Hermione said, looking slightly crestfallen, "It's supposed to make you appreciate your life more... Anyway, there were some other interesting things about Pensieves that I read about. You can actually buy dead people's memories. Or at least you used to be able to. There was quite a trade apparently about a hundred years ago."

"Really? Who would want a dead person's memories?" Ron asked, taking a sip of butterbeer.

"Well, you could get famous people's memories..." Hermione started. "Also, there's other things. Though, some of it is a bit disturbing."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, still not really listening. It was clear that Hermione was trying to change the subject so he wouldn't brood over Ginny. It wasn't working.

"Well, you can buy memories of sexual encounters," she said quickly, "Which honestly is just voyeurism since they're real memories and can't actually be classified as pornography..."

"Erm, what? Do you hear what's coming out of her mouth?" Ron said to Harry.

He was only surprised. She finally had his attention. "Sounds like something you'd find in Knockturn Alley," Harry said, off-handedly.