A Muddy Secret

Lovely Reviewers:

Utopia - Dumbledore does have a way of looking like an idiot and being respected, whereas Lockhart never had the respect of students or staff. Especially after the freshly caught Cornish pixie incident (which was quite funny!).

The last time I went to a doctor, I got shuffled around to four or five offices with doctors who were dying to disgnose me with cancer. Well, I didn't have cancer, so poo on them! I was eventually cut open by the psychopaths. I am not eager to repeat the incident. Though, I am beginning to believe that it is my best bet. Not that it makes me any happier. My hand went numb and tingly a lot today. At least I doubt I will be leeched or bled for going. I just don't want them looking for horrible diseases that they don't tell me about.

OH KITTY! I like kitty cats! Like Crookshanks. He is a genious!

Lyssander - I am not sure how long you will be singing that tune.

HermioneMalfoyFan - Doctors should be punished for being yucky. I suppose you are correct though. I best be going to the campus clinic. *blagh*

All will be made clear in time. Hehehe. IN time! *witchy cackle*

It's hard work being mean to Lucius and Hermione. But as I have said, there is to be a sequel.

Heidi191976 - *shrugs* Who knows what will happen if she doesn't return?

Tempest Princess - Since what Albus did to make Nimue angry is not relevant to the story, I shall tell you. It has to do with his potential part in killing Ariana, who was her first granddaughter ever.

Citten - I need the luck to attain the job. I have high hopes for it! The next chapter has arrived. What Albus and Lucius discussed is not relevant, just private from Hermione. That doesn't mean that I did not know though. I shall tell you. It has to do with his potential part in killing Ariana, who was her first granddaughter ever.

Avanell - *shrugs*

CPIG - I hope you continue to like where it goes.

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Do y'all want to have their journey take them some time? By time, I mean a chapter or maybe two. A long adventure was never the plan (for whatever vague planning, I've done). I do not know what purpose making it much longer would serve. However some of you seemed keen to see such things.

Also FYI, I have to write a short story for my English class, so that will be my focus tomorrow and for the weekend. I know what I am writing finally, and I intend to try to do the whole thing tomorrow. I will try to update for y'all. I might have a few chapters written beyond the Chapter XV. I think that this will be XX chapters.

Then it is on with the sequel(s). I still haven't an idea which sequel idea I like best. So I was thinking of doing two as kind of an either or thing. Tell me what you think of the idea please.

Here is the chapter.

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Hermione paced in the entrance hall with a handbag around her shoulder. She had enchanted it the same as the one she’d carried the previous year with her. She went to the kitchen and was surrounded by dozens of smiling house elves all offering her a variety of foods for her trip. She packed enough food to last them several days and went to wait for Lucius in the main hall.

“Lucius,” she called to him.

Lucius was standing at the great doors staring out at the lake and appeared to be deep in thought. He rubbed his left forearm up and down nervously.

He was taking someone to meet his grandmother, a woman he’d only visited with once a year for most of his life. She was the oldest witch alive because she was also a Limnade, a lake nymph. Most wizards believed her to be nothing but a myth, but they rarely took the chance of printing her name. Most that did weren’t heard from again.

“Lucius,” Hermione called.

He turned and looked at her steadily.

“Hermione, let’s go.”

“What are we going to get for Dumbledore?” Hermione asked as they made their way around the lake.

“We are getting golden time-turner sand. Lady Nimue is the only being in existence who possesses it. She created it.”

“You’ll probably think I’m silly for asking,” Hermione said, chewing on her lower lip, “but is this the woman who was trained by Merlin?”

“You’re not silly. You’re quite perceptive. It is.”

“That would make her—”

“Ancient, I know. And bad tempered.”

“That explains how you know so much about her. How she had two children and everything.”

“There is so much more to her than that.”

“What? Please tell me,” Hermione requested, taking his arm as they crossed the train tracks to enter Hogsmeade.

Lucius glanced down at her.

“I’m not really supposed to talk about her to anyone,” Lucius said.

“Please, Lucius. Please,” Hermione said, looking up at him and batting her eyes the way she had seen Lavender Brown do when she’d wanted Ron to do something.

Lucius sighed, “I’ll tell you once we get to the forest. It’s not safe for us to talk of such things here. Anyone could hear.”

Hermione accepted this and followed him into the Three Broomsticks.

They walked right to the fireplace after entering, and Lucius removed a bottle from his pocket. He dumped half of the contents into Hermione’s palm and the other half into his own.

“We’re going to Lady of the Lake Inn.”

Hermione nodded.

“Shall I go first? Or would you rather?”

“I’ll follow,” Hermione said, looking at the fireplace as if it was evil.

She hated flooing. It made her dizzy and stomach-sick. She always felt like she was covered in soot for days afterward no matter how many scourgifys she did or how many showers she took.

Lucius stepped into the flames and threw the powder down as he spoke, “Lady of the Lake Inn!” The flames turned green, and he was gone.

Hermione whimpered after a moment as she stepped up into the flames after adjusting the strap of the purse so it would cross her chest and there was no chance of losing it in travel.

She threw the powder down and spoke, “Lady of the Lake Inn!”

She stepped comfortably out of the grate and was happy to see Lucius standing there waiting.

“Let’s go,” Lucius said, taking her hand and trying to walk to the door.

Hermione looked about the inside of the Inn and saw it had sparse décor. Dozens of plain wooden tables with four chairs apiece at them, and above the fireplace mantle shelf hung a broadsword.

“Are you alright?” Lucius asked when she didn’t budge.

“What is that sword?” Hermione asked.

“It is believed to be Excalibur.”

“Excalibur?” Hermione asked, craning her neck to try to get a better look.

“It probably isn’t,” Lucius said, tugging at her hand and not mentioning that the real Excalibur hung on the wall in his house, “though it may have been made by the Lady of the Lake.”

Hermione shook her head and allowed Lucius to tug her from the Inn. They stared at the great forest before them.

“I have so many questions, Lucius.”

“We shall have to enter the forest before we talk.”

“Why?”

“Lady Nimue will shield our conversation once we enter. No one will hear it.”

“How?”

“I’ve learned not to ask that when she does magic.”

Lucius stopped and peered into the darkness of the Forest of Dean.

“Hermione, before we enter here, you should know that it could be dangerous,” Lucius said, holding back from the woods.

“Lucius, I cannot begin to tell you of all the dangers I’ve been through and lived to tell the tale of. I’m not afraid of a forest or Lady Nimue. Are you?”

“She’s never hurt a descendant of hers before or allowed harm to come to one while in her forest,” Lucius said, taking a step forward. “I just do not know if you will be extended the same luxury as I am.”

Hermione frowned at him as he took her hand.

“I don’t want anything to hurt you,” Lucius said, flushing as she stared into his eyes.

Hermione felt her breathing quicken, and she released his hand and moved to wrap him in her arms.

“I’ll be fine. I’m a big strong witch, and I have a wand.”

“Alright,” Lucius said, and he forced a smile.

They walked into the forest silently. Lucius walked straight ahead tugging her along.

“Why didn’t we apparate to the lake?”

“Because, only if you believe yourself to be in mortal danger will the Lady allow you to apparate into or within her domain.”

“Why is everyone afraid to write of her in books?”

“Because magical books that are written about her tend to have unfortunate things happen. The first set of books printed about her were printed about one-hundred and fifty years after Merlin’s death. “Mysteriously” every bookstore that had a copy on the shelves burned the day they were released. The second time every store flooded. The third the books just vanished from never to be seen. Eventually shop keepers stopped buying books that would cause disaster in their stores.”

“That makes sense.”

“Why is Ni—”

“Lady Nimue,” Lucius said sternly. “The very spirits of the trees of this forest talk to her and all the birds and animals. Refer to the Lady with respect.”

“Why is Lady Nimue famous?”

“As I told you, she is famous for her sly trickery. It’s true she was trained by Merlin. What is not well known is how she convinced the great wizard to train her.”

“Should we talk of this?” Hermione asked, looking about nervously. Lucius’ odd behavior was catching.

“She loves to have her story told. Says it was the greatest moment of her history before she had her children.”

Hermione nodded to Lucius to continue.

“She convinced Merlin to train her by promising him her love as long as her virtue remained intact. Merlin was drawn by her beauty and innocent charm, and she refused to even kiss him if he didn’t teach her all his secrets of magic and divination. What is also believed is that he knew the Lady would betray him. When she questioned him of it, Merlin said something to the effect of “If I could only help myself.” Merlin knew her magic and that she was not human. He called her a nymph or faerie as she says, and she is a limnade. After she knew his secrets and had drawn him from King Arthur and the knights permanently with sly promises she had no intention of keeping,” Lucius smiled here, proud of his grandmother’s wiles, “she trapped him in the crystal cave hidden in this forest. No one knows how, and no one knows where the cave is. She won’t breathe a word of it.”

Hermione was shocked by the telling of this tale and silent as they walked.

“Merlin never escaped the Lady’s clutches. He was more than a century old when she trapped him. She herself was quite young, no more mature than a teenager really.”

Lucius looked up as it got darker.

“We ought to make camp, Hermione,” Lucius said as they reached a small clearing.

“Okay,” Hermione whispered.

Lucius used his wand to set the tent up and then sat outside the tent staring up at the stars and thinking.

She moved about in a bit of a daze in the kitchen as she thought about everything Lucius just told her. She used her wand to start a fire in the wood stove and heated the sausages and chips that she’d brought for that evening.

It was the tradition of his family to only bring one woman before Grandmother Nimue, the woman the man intended to marry.

Lucius looked in at Hermione. He would love to marry her. She was sweet and dear in his heart, and he knew she would be a strong witch able to bear him several children if he desired.

She cared for him when he needed her. She had come to find him when she was worried for him. She had taken care of him. He’d never had another human care for him before, and even now she was cooking for him. Granted, he thought that cooking was a house elves job not a proper witch’s.

She was smart. She and he could talk about almost anything, he thought with a pang as he rubbed his left forearm.

He couldn’t talk about that. He didn’t want her to know how weak he was. He didn’t want her to think that a little cursing of his person would require so much work and so much help from a second year and a girl to take care of. He was grateful to have them. That was not in dispute.

“Lucius, here,” Hermione said, handing him the plate and sitting beside him on his robe.

He took the plate with a smile.

“It looks delicious.”

“No promises,” Hermione said, using her knife and fork to cut one of her sausages. She poked the steaming piece meat into her mouth and chewed. “Why wouldn’t Dumbledore do this himself?”

“That is a private matter, I am afraid,” Lucius said. “Suffice it to say that Lady Nimue is really unhappy with him.”

“Oh,” Hermione whispered. “How long do you think it will be till we reach the lake?”

“Tomorrow afternoon if we get an early start, and tomorrow evening if we don’t. Again, this is assuming that Lady Nimue isn’t going to mess with our journey.”

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This might have been a bit character oriented, I'm afraid. It seems to me to be a lot of explaining on Lucius' part. BUT to me it shows important things, though it may not have the excitement of prior chapters. I hope it was good.

Drop a review. They make me happy. HOPE to hear lots from y'all.
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