********************************************************
Chapter 32: A Glimpse Under the Hood
Hermione blinked in the sudden light, surprised by the sudden change. One moment, they had been standing in that creepy room, and now they were in the middle of a strange field, surrounded by trees. Holding her head against the bout of dizziness that was threatening her balance, she suddenly remembered what was happening. Steeling herself, she checked around for Gabrielle, and saw her huddled on the ground next to a giant oak tree, her head buried in her knees. Well, at least she’s alright, Hermione thought, and had to push any feelings of disgust over the girl’s pathetic response to the current crisis.
Now that she knew that Gabrielle was at least alive and well, she took the time to survey the area around her more carefully. Wherever they were, it seemed as though it were spring there – this clearing she was in was very green and the temperature was rather warm. It was very large, and nearby the oak tree that Gabrielle was huddled mournfully under, was a decent sized pond. She could make out a number of figures standing at the far end of the clearing, but she couldn’t see clearly enough to identify them. There was some sort of silvery light that was obstructing her view. She reached around in her robes, searching for her wand, and swore rather forcefully when she couldn’t find it.
“Gabrielle? Are you alright?” she asked, taking a few steps closer to the distraught woman. Gabrielle looked up at her with tear-brimmed eyes, and a look of absolute misery that Hermione found herself backing away, ever so slightly – as if to avoid the full brunt of it. “Do you know what has happened? Where are we?”
“I should never have asked Draco to help me. None of this would have happened,” she responded blankly through her tears. Hermione sighed in frustration. She was never going to be able to get a clear answer from her while she was in this state.
“Gabrielle, you spineless little fool, if you know where we are, you’d better tell me or I’ll do worse things to you than you could possibly imagine!” Hermione declared harshly. Gabrielle’s eyes snapped up to meet her face, a look of shock and fear in her eyes. But it had worked; she’d shaken off the dazed detachment and seemed to realize for the first time that Hermione was even there.
“Oh Hermione! We’re…we’re in the sanctuary, in the middle of the maze,” she answered, jumping up and looking around.
“Sanctuary? Maze? What on earth are you talking about?” Hermione demanded, feeling about ready to slap her if it would help get some sense out of her.
“Aren’t you an Auror? Shouldn’t you know these things?” Gabrielle asked bitterly. At Hermione’s dark look, she relented. “The forest that we saw Ginny and Draco come from this morning is actually a maze, and this is the middle. It is meant to hide specific magical creatures from those that would harm them. Very few who aren’t Malfoys have actually set foot here.”
“Why did they bring us here?” Hermione asked, gesturing to the figures at the far end that she still couldn’t identify.
“I don’t know. They don’t need us for anything. Neither of us are any good without our wands,” Gabrielle explained.
“What about Ginny?” Hermione asked. Gabrielle looked away from her, focusing her eyes on the ground.
“She’s the reason they’re here,” she answered softly.
* * * * *
“So you mean to tell me that my baby sister is actually some kind of powerful witch, but only in a type of magic that is considered as Dark Magic?” Ron sputtered, his face now taking on a rather dangerous shade of purple.
“Your Ministry decided long ago that magic that they couldn’t see – anything done without a wand – was very dangerous and that they should try to regulate it as much as possible. Bunch of old fools, really. And yes, Virginia is very talented with that type of magic, and she’s very powerful, mostly because she’s never really used it very much. It’s kind of stored up in her, and when she lets it loose…well, it would take five or six full-grown wizards in the height of their power to match her,” Darien explained cautiously, glancing over at Draco, who was remaining rather silent. Draco should have been the one talking, he knew more about the redheaded witch that he did!
“And you’ve seen her use it? But she wouldn’t! She hates anything to do with the Dark Arts, she always has!” Ron protested.
“That’s why your charms around the maze haven’t failed yet! She helped you fight against whatever it was that attacking them!” Harry declared suddenly, glaring forcefully at Malfoy.
“Yes,” was all the blond Malfoy would answer. Harry turned to Draco, his eyes hard and cold.
“You told me that she would be safe! That she wouldn’t become involved in your mess!” Harry yelled, his tone ripe with accusation.
“He didn’t know about her power when he made that promise, boy,” another voice said, silencing the conversation around them as they all turned to stare at its owner. Vincent had appeared, alerted the sound of the explosion, and had come running to his study. He was surveying the area in dismay, shaking his head sadly over the destruction of his collection – items that had taken years for his to amass.
“And did you?” Darien asked, turning to face his father, his tone and posture completely hostile.
“Not until last night when you brought her to the maze. I just thought that she was some uppity little Ministry witch, come to check on the Malfoys, to make sure we were keeping to the law. After the allegiances that some members,” he said, pausing to glance at his son, “have made in the past, it is to be expected every now and then.”
“I didn’t bring her to maze last night! I never wanted any of you to find out about what she could do. It was Danika that woke her up. But that is besides the point, what do you know of this?” Draco asked, gesturing towards the still glowing symbol on the wall. His uncle took a few more steps forward, examining the symbol.
“I have seen this made before, only once. It was about six years ago, among my last days in Guatemala…a group of wizards were experimenting with some of the artifacts that they had found, especially the wand. It happened quite by accident, you see. The old magical tools of Salazar Slytherin are not supposed to answer to anyone but one of his direct descendants, unless that person has a great deal of power. The group was able, between all of them, to create enough power to create that symbol. I confiscated the wand, not wanting something like that to be readily available to those who might not understand the power behind it,” his uncle explained.
“Well, no one here is a descendant of Slytherin! The last one, Tom Riddle, is very good and dead. So, who could have done this?” Darien demanded. A horror-filled silence fell over the group, as Harry and Ron met each other’s eyes, knowing what the other was thinking.
“Someone who is both a very powerful witch, and has been possessed by the last Heir of Slytherin,” Vincent said heavily. “It breaks my heart to think of it. I knew of what transpired because of my brother – Lucius was spitting mad when his ploy to entrap the girl didn’t work. I did not know that she was very powerful. If I had known…”
“What are you talking about, Vincent? What did my father do?” Draco demanded, looking back and forth between his uncle and his two childhood enemies.
“We can explain all of that later. But right now, we have bigger things to worry about. Like where my baby sister is and what is going to happen to her! So what if she’s powerful and has a link to Salazar Slytherin? What good will that do anyone?”
“Whoever has been trying to pull down the charms and get hold of the unicorns, she’s pretty useful right now.”
“Harry, you told me that the book of spells that is missing has to do with the uses of unicorn blood…and reincarnation! What if that is what they need Ginny for?” Ron asked, his eyes wide with fear.
“Who would they be looking to reincarnate?” Darien asked, his voice full of skepticism.
“Voldemort,” Vincent said ominously. Harry look startled, and after what seemed to be a few moments of contemplation, shook his head.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. He has no followers left in the wizarding world. This has been far too quiet for far too long. We haven’t been able to find even a clue of who is behind this! No, if it was Voldemort, I think we’d all know about it by now.” A sigh of relief seemed to overcome most of the group (especially Ron) as that decision sunk in. All except Draco Malfoy, who was currently stalking out of the room.
“Draco, where are you going?” Darien demanded.
“While all of you sit here discussing probable culprits and motives, I am going to go try to find Virginia before any of their evil plots have time to be put into action!”
* * * * *
“Hermione, no! Stay away from them!” Gabrielle hissed, crouching beside Hermione as they began to creep closer to those standing at the far end of the field.
“Listen, do you want to get away from here or not? As soon as I know what it is we’re up against, we can go and find the boys, and get myself a wand, but I am not going to leave until I know for certain who is behind all of this!” Hermione answered back, whispering furiously.
“There is nothing that we can do now! They have Ginny under some kind of curse, doing whatever they want her to. Can’t you see that’s impossible for any of us to even try to stop them? She’s far too powerful!” Gabrielle wailed. Hermione frowned at her, giving her a strange look.
“We are talking about little Ginny Weasley, aren’t we?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yes! Please, Hermione, let’s just get out of here before they take notice of us!” Gabrielle pleaded.
“Not until I find out who that is!” she declared, pointing to the tall shape, draped in a long black cloak, face hidden by its hood. Hermione crept closer to the huddle of three figures. The shortest of the three, standing perfectly still, seeming to stare off into space, was undoubtedly Ginny. Hermione wondered what kind of curse they had placed on her – she had, in the old D.A. days been very successful at throwing off the Imperius Curse, and she didn’t think that anyone – no matter how powerful – would be able to keep her under its influence. But there Ginny was, standing as still as a robot waiting for a command. It was a very disturbing sight to Hermione.
There was another person standing near to Ginny, slightly taller, with their face hidden and obstructed by the emanating silvery light. Frowning, Hermione hoped that that light was not coming from some sort of spell, owing to the fact that she didn’t have her wand and was defenseless against anything that they wanted to do. By the tall figure’s posture, Hermione assumed it was a woman, but she couldn’t make out who it could possibly be. And the tall, dark figure hovering behind them was also a mystery to Hermione. But it was rather obvious that he was the one that was in charge, as she saw the other woman turned to him often enough, as if seeking his command.
Surveying the area more closely, Hermione found another large tree that was jutting out slightly from the line of trees. It was closer to the group, and it seemed large enough for her to huddle behind. With a commanding whisper, she ordered the trembling Gabrielle to stay still, and crept carefully to the tree. Crouching low behind it, she could see so much more from this perspective.
With a start, she realized that the silver light that seemed to surround the group wasn’t a light at all, but was caused by a group of shimmering creatures huddled protectively together not to far away from the three humans. Hermione froze, struck frozen by the sight before her. The small little girl that still became enchanted by the sight of magic awoke within her and all she could do was stare at them. It brought her back to Hogwarts, to the Care of Magical Creatures class…just before the situation with Voldemort became very serious.
Her sigh at the sight of them drew attention to her, and before she could react, she felt a cold, clammy hand on the back of her neck. She jumped up, twisting around to free herself from that icy grip.
“Let go of me!” she exclaimed, turning around to glare at the person who was holding her captive. It was the tall dark person, his hand still clenched tightly around her neck. She looked up to the hood, and squinted. The person moved slightly, allowing a ray of light to illuminate his face…
Hermione gasped in abject horror, almost falling to the ground as her knees weakened considerably.
“It’s impossible! You…you died!” she cried.
Chapter 32: A Glimpse Under the Hood
Hermione blinked in the sudden light, surprised by the sudden change. One moment, they had been standing in that creepy room, and now they were in the middle of a strange field, surrounded by trees. Holding her head against the bout of dizziness that was threatening her balance, she suddenly remembered what was happening. Steeling herself, she checked around for Gabrielle, and saw her huddled on the ground next to a giant oak tree, her head buried in her knees. Well, at least she’s alright, Hermione thought, and had to push any feelings of disgust over the girl’s pathetic response to the current crisis.
Now that she knew that Gabrielle was at least alive and well, she took the time to survey the area around her more carefully. Wherever they were, it seemed as though it were spring there – this clearing she was in was very green and the temperature was rather warm. It was very large, and nearby the oak tree that Gabrielle was huddled mournfully under, was a decent sized pond. She could make out a number of figures standing at the far end of the clearing, but she couldn’t see clearly enough to identify them. There was some sort of silvery light that was obstructing her view. She reached around in her robes, searching for her wand, and swore rather forcefully when she couldn’t find it.
“Gabrielle? Are you alright?” she asked, taking a few steps closer to the distraught woman. Gabrielle looked up at her with tear-brimmed eyes, and a look of absolute misery that Hermione found herself backing away, ever so slightly – as if to avoid the full brunt of it. “Do you know what has happened? Where are we?”
“I should never have asked Draco to help me. None of this would have happened,” she responded blankly through her tears. Hermione sighed in frustration. She was never going to be able to get a clear answer from her while she was in this state.
“Gabrielle, you spineless little fool, if you know where we are, you’d better tell me or I’ll do worse things to you than you could possibly imagine!” Hermione declared harshly. Gabrielle’s eyes snapped up to meet her face, a look of shock and fear in her eyes. But it had worked; she’d shaken off the dazed detachment and seemed to realize for the first time that Hermione was even there.
“Oh Hermione! We’re…we’re in the sanctuary, in the middle of the maze,” she answered, jumping up and looking around.
“Sanctuary? Maze? What on earth are you talking about?” Hermione demanded, feeling about ready to slap her if it would help get some sense out of her.
“Aren’t you an Auror? Shouldn’t you know these things?” Gabrielle asked bitterly. At Hermione’s dark look, she relented. “The forest that we saw Ginny and Draco come from this morning is actually a maze, and this is the middle. It is meant to hide specific magical creatures from those that would harm them. Very few who aren’t Malfoys have actually set foot here.”
“Why did they bring us here?” Hermione asked, gesturing to the figures at the far end that she still couldn’t identify.
“I don’t know. They don’t need us for anything. Neither of us are any good without our wands,” Gabrielle explained.
“What about Ginny?” Hermione asked. Gabrielle looked away from her, focusing her eyes on the ground.
“She’s the reason they’re here,” she answered softly.
* * * * *
“So you mean to tell me that my baby sister is actually some kind of powerful witch, but only in a type of magic that is considered as Dark Magic?” Ron sputtered, his face now taking on a rather dangerous shade of purple.
“Your Ministry decided long ago that magic that they couldn’t see – anything done without a wand – was very dangerous and that they should try to regulate it as much as possible. Bunch of old fools, really. And yes, Virginia is very talented with that type of magic, and she’s very powerful, mostly because she’s never really used it very much. It’s kind of stored up in her, and when she lets it loose…well, it would take five or six full-grown wizards in the height of their power to match her,” Darien explained cautiously, glancing over at Draco, who was remaining rather silent. Draco should have been the one talking, he knew more about the redheaded witch that he did!
“And you’ve seen her use it? But she wouldn’t! She hates anything to do with the Dark Arts, she always has!” Ron protested.
“That’s why your charms around the maze haven’t failed yet! She helped you fight against whatever it was that attacking them!” Harry declared suddenly, glaring forcefully at Malfoy.
“Yes,” was all the blond Malfoy would answer. Harry turned to Draco, his eyes hard and cold.
“You told me that she would be safe! That she wouldn’t become involved in your mess!” Harry yelled, his tone ripe with accusation.
“He didn’t know about her power when he made that promise, boy,” another voice said, silencing the conversation around them as they all turned to stare at its owner. Vincent had appeared, alerted the sound of the explosion, and had come running to his study. He was surveying the area in dismay, shaking his head sadly over the destruction of his collection – items that had taken years for his to amass.
“And did you?” Darien asked, turning to face his father, his tone and posture completely hostile.
“Not until last night when you brought her to the maze. I just thought that she was some uppity little Ministry witch, come to check on the Malfoys, to make sure we were keeping to the law. After the allegiances that some members,” he said, pausing to glance at his son, “have made in the past, it is to be expected every now and then.”
“I didn’t bring her to maze last night! I never wanted any of you to find out about what she could do. It was Danika that woke her up. But that is besides the point, what do you know of this?” Draco asked, gesturing towards the still glowing symbol on the wall. His uncle took a few more steps forward, examining the symbol.
“I have seen this made before, only once. It was about six years ago, among my last days in Guatemala…a group of wizards were experimenting with some of the artifacts that they had found, especially the wand. It happened quite by accident, you see. The old magical tools of Salazar Slytherin are not supposed to answer to anyone but one of his direct descendants, unless that person has a great deal of power. The group was able, between all of them, to create enough power to create that symbol. I confiscated the wand, not wanting something like that to be readily available to those who might not understand the power behind it,” his uncle explained.
“Well, no one here is a descendant of Slytherin! The last one, Tom Riddle, is very good and dead. So, who could have done this?” Darien demanded. A horror-filled silence fell over the group, as Harry and Ron met each other’s eyes, knowing what the other was thinking.
“Someone who is both a very powerful witch, and has been possessed by the last Heir of Slytherin,” Vincent said heavily. “It breaks my heart to think of it. I knew of what transpired because of my brother – Lucius was spitting mad when his ploy to entrap the girl didn’t work. I did not know that she was very powerful. If I had known…”
“What are you talking about, Vincent? What did my father do?” Draco demanded, looking back and forth between his uncle and his two childhood enemies.
“We can explain all of that later. But right now, we have bigger things to worry about. Like where my baby sister is and what is going to happen to her! So what if she’s powerful and has a link to Salazar Slytherin? What good will that do anyone?”
“Whoever has been trying to pull down the charms and get hold of the unicorns, she’s pretty useful right now.”
“Harry, you told me that the book of spells that is missing has to do with the uses of unicorn blood…and reincarnation! What if that is what they need Ginny for?” Ron asked, his eyes wide with fear.
“Who would they be looking to reincarnate?” Darien asked, his voice full of skepticism.
“Voldemort,” Vincent said ominously. Harry look startled, and after what seemed to be a few moments of contemplation, shook his head.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. He has no followers left in the wizarding world. This has been far too quiet for far too long. We haven’t been able to find even a clue of who is behind this! No, if it was Voldemort, I think we’d all know about it by now.” A sigh of relief seemed to overcome most of the group (especially Ron) as that decision sunk in. All except Draco Malfoy, who was currently stalking out of the room.
“Draco, where are you going?” Darien demanded.
“While all of you sit here discussing probable culprits and motives, I am going to go try to find Virginia before any of their evil plots have time to be put into action!”
* * * * *
“Hermione, no! Stay away from them!” Gabrielle hissed, crouching beside Hermione as they began to creep closer to those standing at the far end of the field.
“Listen, do you want to get away from here or not? As soon as I know what it is we’re up against, we can go and find the boys, and get myself a wand, but I am not going to leave until I know for certain who is behind all of this!” Hermione answered back, whispering furiously.
“There is nothing that we can do now! They have Ginny under some kind of curse, doing whatever they want her to. Can’t you see that’s impossible for any of us to even try to stop them? She’s far too powerful!” Gabrielle wailed. Hermione frowned at her, giving her a strange look.
“We are talking about little Ginny Weasley, aren’t we?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yes! Please, Hermione, let’s just get out of here before they take notice of us!” Gabrielle pleaded.
“Not until I find out who that is!” she declared, pointing to the tall shape, draped in a long black cloak, face hidden by its hood. Hermione crept closer to the huddle of three figures. The shortest of the three, standing perfectly still, seeming to stare off into space, was undoubtedly Ginny. Hermione wondered what kind of curse they had placed on her – she had, in the old D.A. days been very successful at throwing off the Imperius Curse, and she didn’t think that anyone – no matter how powerful – would be able to keep her under its influence. But there Ginny was, standing as still as a robot waiting for a command. It was a very disturbing sight to Hermione.
There was another person standing near to Ginny, slightly taller, with their face hidden and obstructed by the emanating silvery light. Frowning, Hermione hoped that that light was not coming from some sort of spell, owing to the fact that she didn’t have her wand and was defenseless against anything that they wanted to do. By the tall figure’s posture, Hermione assumed it was a woman, but she couldn’t make out who it could possibly be. And the tall, dark figure hovering behind them was also a mystery to Hermione. But it was rather obvious that he was the one that was in charge, as she saw the other woman turned to him often enough, as if seeking his command.
Surveying the area more closely, Hermione found another large tree that was jutting out slightly from the line of trees. It was closer to the group, and it seemed large enough for her to huddle behind. With a commanding whisper, she ordered the trembling Gabrielle to stay still, and crept carefully to the tree. Crouching low behind it, she could see so much more from this perspective.
With a start, she realized that the silver light that seemed to surround the group wasn’t a light at all, but was caused by a group of shimmering creatures huddled protectively together not to far away from the three humans. Hermione froze, struck frozen by the sight before her. The small little girl that still became enchanted by the sight of magic awoke within her and all she could do was stare at them. It brought her back to Hogwarts, to the Care of Magical Creatures class…just before the situation with Voldemort became very serious.
Her sigh at the sight of them drew attention to her, and before she could react, she felt a cold, clammy hand on the back of her neck. She jumped up, twisting around to free herself from that icy grip.
“Let go of me!” she exclaimed, turning around to glare at the person who was holding her captive. It was the tall dark person, his hand still clenched tightly around her neck. She looked up to the hood, and squinted. The person moved slightly, allowing a ray of light to illuminate his face…
Hermione gasped in abject horror, almost falling to the ground as her knees weakened considerably.
“It’s impossible! You…you died!” she cried.
Leave a Review