Curses and Kisses

Lucius Malfoy had escaped from Azkaban. She had expected it of course, but she wasn’t prepared for it. She had thought it would take longer, that it would be well into her Seventh Year. She could feel icy tendrils of fear working their way through her body at the thought of spending the summer at home, with him on the loose. What if he came after her? Her parents would be caught in the crossfire, defenseless. What if he went after her parents? They were muggles after all. Well, she just couldn’t allow it.

And so, she went to the headmaster. Explained to him exactly why her parents needed to have their memories modified. To them, no Hermione Granger should exist. They’ve certainly never lived in England either; after all, they were both born and raised in Florida. And a move across the pond would just be long and pointless. Nothing, however, could change their chosen professions. They were dentists. And that was that.

“Miss. Granger,” Dumbledore said, looking over the tops of his spectacles. “There has been no move made against them, neither in action nor in threat. Surely, a decision such as this, should not be taken lightly. It should be considered, and not made in haste.”

She wasn’t winning. Damn his insistence. I can’t let them die because of me.

“It can be reversed when the war is over, when Voldemort is dead and gone. And if,” she paused, faltering on her morbid words. “If we don’t manage to defeat him, they’ll be better off not remembering.”

“Difficult business, that.” He answered, conversational tone not matching his expression or eyes. “In fact, I can recall a trial I presided over as head of the Wizengamot. A young man was put on trial after driving several people crazy trying to reverse a modification. The charges were dropped of course, he was only trying to help, but the poor people never regained their minds, and died after several years in St. Mungos.”

I know what you’re trying to do old man, and it’s not going to work. She knew she was being a bit unreasonable, perhaps overreacting, perhaps just acting to soon. But her mind was made up.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I won’t let them be killed, or worse, by Death Eaters trying to get to me.”

“You’re seventeen, Miss. Granger, I cannot legally stop you.” That was true, she realized. Not the seventeen bit, but the rest. He couldn’t actually stop her from doing anything, so long as she wasn’t on school grounds when she did it. She supposed there was a time when he would have been able to, but he was no longer a member of the Wizengamot.

“Actually Professor, I’m eighteen. Technically, at least.” She thought about her year using the time-turner, and almost wished she could be back there. Maybe things were already getting really bad then, but at least they still had their youth. Now the war, the true war, was coming, and they were adults. And it was hard.

He nodded his head in agreement.

“Go to your dorm and rest Miss. Granger. The trains leave tomorrow, and there is nothing you can do before then. Think carefully about what you are about to do.” She realized it as a dismissal, and stood to exit the office.

The walk back to Gryffindor Tower seemed to last forever, and only the thoughts speeding through her mind kept it from being maddening. It hadn’t gone the way she had planned, that much was certain. In her mind, the conversation had twisted along nicely until he had offered to do the spell for her. Well, if that wasn’t going to happen, she would have to do it herself. That meant research. She groaned in frustration. The library was all the way on the other side of the castle.

*****

Harry was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch, Ginny snuggled against him and tucked firmly under his arm. Hermione had stopped to tell him she had research to do before dashing off to the library. Ron, however, couldn’t be bothered to let anyone know where he was going to disappear to. It was going on almost seven hours that he was gone now. If he’d cared a little more, Harry could have checked the Marauder’s Map. He didn’t bother, best to let Ron brood when he would. Unsurprisingly, Ron was completely unconcerned with the fact the Voldemort was waging war and entirely too concerned with the fact that Hermione wouldn’t snog him.

As much as Ron’s attitude had bothered him, he was far more concerned with the attitudes of everyone else. The Gryffindor Common Room was filled with the sounds of clanking bottles and friends hugging as they promised to keep in touch. Giggles and sighs as the older students savored the time with their girlfriends of boyfriends. Excited whispers from the younger ones who were anxious to go home.

Not one inclination that they were in a time of war. That people were dying. It had been in the Daily Prophet just this morning that Death Eaters had raided and destroyed a small village. So far there had been a confirmed seventeen deaths, but they were still trying to put the pieces together to find out exactly how many bodies there were. And none of the students seemed to care.

“It’s too safe here.” Harry said more to himself than Ginny.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, frowning as she moved away slightly to turn and look at him.

“Look at every one Ginny. No one seems to even acknowledge that we’re at war. It’s like being locked away here, safe, has deluded them into thinking they were immune to it.”

“Bloody hell, Harry,” Ginny said as she stood up. “What do you want them to do? Mope around all day? Stop life completely? They’re not deluded, they’re just not fighters. You can’t blame them for that Harry; if you had the choice would you really have thrown yourself headfirst into this war.”

He grabbed her hand pulling her back down, not really wanting to share their conversation with the entire tower. Not that anyone would have likely heard them anyway.

“You did, Hermione did, and of course I would have. He killed my parents, prophesy or no that’s reason enough.” He tried to pull her back to him, but she stayed rooted across from him.

“I know Harry, and it’s truly horrible. But that hasn’t happened to any of them yet. I’d like to think it never would, but it’s wishful thinking. You can’t blame them because they’re lucky.” Harry wasn’t too sure about that, he’d certainly not had trouble blaming people for it before, but he wasn’t about to say that. Instead he settled for sighing, and resting his head on the sofa seat.

Ginny, taking this as acceptance that she was right, returned to her position under his arm just in time for him to leap to his feet. She glanced up and noticed the annoyance on his face, following his gaze she spotted Ron in the common room entrance.

“Iya ‘Arry, Gin-Gin,” he cried, making his was across the common room. He was waving his arms about in a wild fanning motion trying to capture the attention of his friends, not noticing that their eyes were already glued to him. “You’ll never abiev…bavive…buh-leave wha’ happened!”

“Oh, I’ve got a pretty good guess,” Ginny mumbled under her breath. Turning to Harry, she returned her voice to a normal level. “We have got to find him a sober-up potion, and possibly a dreamless sleep potion so I don’t have to see him again tonight.”

“Madame Pomfrey will only give out sober-up potions if the patient is present. The only other place would be…”

“HARRY! GAHH! I been tryin ta get yer ‘tension fer AGES now!” Ron had finally reached the opposite side of the common room, attracting surprisingly few eyes.

“Snape.” Harry continued as though Ron wasn’t even standing there. “Which I can guarantee you won’t happen.” Ginny shrugged.

“C’mon, Ron,” She called as she headed for the exit. Harry looked slightly confused, while Ron was frowning. Ginny waited until Ron wasn’t looking and mouthed ‘infirmary’ to Harry.

“I jus got ba...s…here, here. Don’ wan’ go.” She glanced at Harry and rolled her eyes.

“There’s some Ravenclaws in the old transfiguration classroom. Apparently,” she dropped her voice conspiratorially, “they’ve got a bottle of Ogden’s.”

“Really?” He asked, eyes lighting up. Ginny just smiled.

*****

Two hours later and Hermione had decided that there was only one book on memory modification in the entire library. She knew this was probably an inaccurate conclusion, but she was already exhausted, and she needed to perform the spell tomorrow. As long as she understood the process of building memories, she could study the process of unveiling and removing them later.

Tucking the book under her arm she left the library, carefully peaking around corners to make sure there were no professors in sight.

“That method only works when a person is in front of you, Ms. Granger.” The sarcastic drawl of her potions professor cut through the silence, making her jump and clutch her hand to her chest.

“Professor, you startled me.”

“And what may I ask are you doing out of your dorm to begin with?” His trademark sneer was firmly in place, but this time she stood her ground. It was the last day of school after all, what was he going to do? Give her detention.

“Researching Professor, I have a very big spell to perform tomorrow.”

“And what might that be, packing your trunk with a wave of your wand?” Typical Snape, assuming he’s the only one with important problems. She couldn’t believe him sometimes.

“Actually, I’m erasing myself from my parent’s minds and relocating them to the states.” Oh, now she’s gone and done it. She’s shocked the bat of the dungeons.

“Does the headmaster know about this ridiculous notion of yours girl?” He said, preparing to drag her along to his office.

“Of course, we discussed it…”

“Yes, yes we did.” The headmaster said as he came up behind Hermione, causing her to jump into the air once again, and then frown when Snape snickered. “Wonderful that I should run into you, Ms. Granger, I believe another discussion is in order, my office if you please.”

Hermione pursed her lips and followed the Headmaster all the way to his office. She had planned, and researched this; she was going to go through with it. She just knew he was going to try and stop her, which was why she was totally unprepared for what he did say.

“Have you given any thought to your future?” She wrinkled her eyebrows, but answered anyway.

“Of course, Professor, during the Fifth Year Career Consultations I talked with Professor McGonagall. I wanted a career that would keep me out of an office, yet constantly learning. She suggested an Auror, and while I could live with office time, it’s pretty much a book that’s already been written. I ended up deciding on curse breaking, which was why I continued with Runes.”

“Marvelous, she had told me as much, but I wanted to confirm you still felt that way.” His eyes lost some of their twinkle and gained an edge of concern.

“What’s going on Professor?”

“This is a time of war Ms. Granger.” She didn’t like where this was going. “And sometime sacrifices need to be made. I realize you’re young, but I’m asking you to make one anyway.”

“Sir?”

“I, speaking for The Order, need you to go to Egypt. Bill, as a curse breaker, is currently working on a mission for the order. He’s taken a leave of absence from his position with Gringotts to complete it. You’d be helping Bill, and he’d be training you as you work.” None of this made any sense.

“But why me, Sir? Certainly there would be someone more qualified than I? And how long would this take? Would I be back for school in the fall? I don’t understand.”

“Ah. Reasonable questions, all. There is another reason you’ve been asked to do this, so you can understand it, I shall start from the beginning. There is an old palace that has been abandoned for centuries, remaining untouched only because of the muggle repelling wards placed upon it. It once belonged to the Sorceress Ichstata, one of the greatest minds Potions has ever seen.”

“But sir, if she was that great, why isn’t she in any of our text’s?”

“Greatest, and most under appreciated. She was young, and female, in a time when neither was acceptable of a master of potions, or any magic. Some women were able to break through that barrier, she was not. The most important text, the key, can only be found, opened, or read by a female under the age of twenty-two.”

“Why twenty-two?” She asked, trying to absorb all the information he was giving her.

“It was Ichstata’s doing. A spell was place upon the text so that no male could open the book, females could, but only if they never surpassed her age. She died at twenty-three.”

“And the time frame? My education?” He peered over his spectacles.

“I don’t expect you to be completed with the Palace by September. You do not need N.E.W.T.s to be a curse breaker Ms. Granger.”

Not finish school, how could she do that? She had always told herself she would finish, set a new record for the most N.E.W.T.s achieved. She knew that the Head Girl badge would be hers if she were here. Harry, Ron, Ginny…they’d all be here. How could she leave Harry, now, when the war was picking up? When he would need her help the most.

The book was the key.

“Well…” She said cautiously, “Then I guess I’m going to Egypt, but I need to know more.”