Eighth [Harmione]

4. The Burning of Hogsmeade

  PART I: The End of the Beginning  

Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked with purposeful stride toward the Headmistress's office. As they walked, Harry absently fingered the Eagleflight brooch that Hermione had returned to him. It was odd, but he rather missed the tarnished, inelegant version of the jewelry, the one that he thought was a small connection to his grandmother, albeit a false one.

"I guess I should...turn this in or something, shouldn't I?" He mumbled, turning the bauble over in his hands.

"It was in your house, Harry," Ron said, shrugging.

"But who knows who Voldemort stole it from?" Harry replied glumly. He shoved it back in his pocket, feeling strangely discontented, knowing that the brooch did not actually belong to him or his family.

They arrived at the gargoyle, which was in its now-customary place to one side, and mounted the stairs. Hermione knocked decisively, and heard the Headmistress's obliging "Come."

Professor McGonagall was seated at her desk, writing in what looked to be a gigantic ledger. She arched her eyebrows in surprise when she saw the three of them.

"What can I do for you?" she asked politely.

"Please...Professor McGonagall..." Harry said, sounding a little hesitant. "We'd like to have a look at Gryffindor's sword."

"Certainly, Mr. Potter," the Headmistress said smoothly. "You do know," she began, hazarding a guess as to why they were there, "that it has never left Hogwart's grounds, since Godric Gryffindor himself left it to the school after his death."

Ron flashed Hermione a triumphant look, and hissed, "See!" Hermione looked irritated, but would not be baited into speaking out in front of their old Head of House. McGonagall made her way over to the glass display case in which Gryffindor's sword hung, and tapped it with her wand, muttering an incantation. The case sparkled gold, and disappeared.

"Take all the time you need," she said generously. "I'll leave you to it." And she was out the door without another word.

"I told you it had never been out of here," Ron said triumphantly, as soon as McGonagall had gone.

"I never said it had been out of Hogwart's!" Hermione explained patiently, an undercurrent of annoyance unmistakable in her tone. "I said it had been out of this office." Ron glanced at her for a moment, realizing that she was right, and looked crestfallen.

Meanwhile, Harry had ventured up to the case, and was examining the sword closely, running his fingers down the shiny lettering on the blade. The hilt was exquisitely wrought, obviously molded and carved by a master, and the inset rubies flared with deep fire. After a moment of hesitation, he reached up and lifted the sword down, feeling the heft of it in his hand. He held it on both sides of the pommel to be more thoroughly able to examine the hilt.

"How many rubies are there?" Hermione asked, coming closer.

"Six," Harry said shortly. "But it looks like there should be one...back here." He turned the sword, and there was an unmistakable depression.

"Was there supposed to be one there at all?" Ron asked, looking curiously where Harry indicated. "Would that make the sword...I don't know, sort of knobbly to hold?"

"Did you notice anything when you held it, Harry? In the Chamber?" Hermione asked. Harry gripped the sword properly, and held it in a defensive stance, as he had when fighting the basilisk. He shook his head.

"I'm not sure," he replied, with some frustration. "But my palm fits right into the dip though. If there had been a ruby there last time, I think I would have known."