Curious and Curiouser

7: Implications

None of them had made much progress on anything during dinner last night, Hermione had tried to focus on her reading but the boy's constant conversation about reports had made it difficult. And to top it all off, Ron hadn't taken it well when he found out that both Harry and Hermione would be trying to help Malfoy with his case.

No that didn't seem to do it justice, he had exploded, to the point where Ginny had gotten up, grabbed her brother's arm, and dragged him from the room.

Harry and Hermione had been able to hear her shouting at him from the second floor. When they both reappeared in the dining room Ginny waltzed in like nothing had happened and slid into her seat. Ron made a sheepish apology for his outburst and sat back down in his seat and the subject of Draco Malfoy wasn't broached again until Hermione had been about to leave and Harry reminded her that Malfoy would be over the next morning around 11.

****

Dreams full of dementors and blonde-haired death eaters didn't make for a very good sleep which was why Hermione had been in her office at the ministry since 5 AM, but now as the hour hand rounded the 10 she began to feel tired. Leaning back in her chair she decided to try and get a quick nap in before heading to the auror department for what was sure to be a stressful conversation.

She wished that she had been able to find some answers to the Helerean charm issue, her fruitless search for answers on that front, combined with the prospect of seeing Malfoy again today had left her feeling even more drained than the lack of sleep.

She couldn't help but feel disheartened when her and Cassie's attempt with the Patronus charm hadn't worked, she understood that in essence the Patronus charm existed to repel dementors, not harm them while the Helerean charm almost acted to protect them. She knew that at its core the Patronus charm could cause no harm, it was simply against its nature, but still part of her had hoped.

And it didn't seem like the dark arts held an answer either, Hermione had thrown a plethora of dark spells at it and hadn't budged. Hermione's brow furrowed, her eyes still closed, perhaps if she could find something that had worked against other dark wizards or objects-- her eyes snapped open, dark objects, Horcruxes.

Luckily, she knew quite a bit about Horcruxes.

Pulling a piece of parchment towards herself she began scribbling furiously. While her other hand used her wand to summon a book out of the depths of her beaded bag, a book she hadn't touched in more than 4 years, a book she had stolen from the office of her former headmaster Albus Dumbledore, a book entitled, Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Maybe 20 minutes later she raced out of the department of mysteries, rushing towards the lift, her wand sticking out of the front pocket of her robes, her hair flying behind her and the large black tome tucked under her arm.

She came to an abrupt halt in the Auror office, out of breath (It had been a while since she had gone on a run) she had no idea whether Harry and Ron were even here, they might've had to leave for something or another.

Just as she had been about to head back to her office and send them a note instead when Kavya Parekh emerged from the maze of cubicles.

"Ms. Granger!" She said surprised, Kavya was a darker-skinned girl with hair very much like Hermione's that she almost always kept tied up in a long braid, something the two had been able to laugh about at a few Ministry-wide Christmas parties, she stood a few inches taller than Hermione, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Ye-yes and it's Hermione, please," Hermione said quickly, "Where are Harry and Ron? I need to speak with them."

"I'd try Ron's office, I know they're both here, saw them about an hour ago." The taller girl responded with a smile.