The Curse-breaker's Sister

The Curse-breaker's Sister
Chapter Four

Ginny, having decided that searching through Bill's library was a waste of time had moved on to the Francis Bacon Athenaeum- a library in Diagon Alley. It was properly indexed and the witches and wizards on staff would be able to point her in the right direction. Unfortunately, it was also frequented by pretentious and uppity wizards who thought themselves above the regular library. Ginny felt it was worth risking a few snide looks down noses to go there. Anything was better then Bill's precariously stacked and poorly sorted collection.

She arrived at the Athenaeum in the middle of a tour.

"And over here," the guide said in a pompous voice, "we have a statue of Francis Bacon carved out of exactly that! This bacon based effigy has been charmed to keep its shape permanently..."

"Wish they'd done a charm for the smell," Ginny heard a dark-haired wizard mumble to his wife.

She wandered away from the tour group and over to the main information desk. There, a witch in Athenaeum uniform led Ginny into a room off the main hallway.

"There you go, Miss. Everything we have on different languages is in this room- from New Sumerian to Modern English. If you have any questions, come and get me... If you'll excuse me..." The librarian ran off to rescue a pile of fallen books. Ginny could hear her berating the offending patron from across the hall.

"I guess I'm on my own," she sighed and then surveyed her surroundings.

She was in a large, airy room with walls that seemed to stretch upward indefinitely. Ladders that led to upper level balconies were placed at regular intervals and the space was lit by sunlight streaming in through a window near the ceiling. A few other people were seated at tables but none of them took notice of her arrival.

There was so much information crammed into the room that Ginny didn't know where to begin. The librarian had written out a list of books that might be helpful. Rather then searching the shelves, she summoned them to her with a simple Accio spell and sat down to read.

Cuneiform for Cretins was no help. Neither was The Art of Ancient Akkadian. At the end of an afternoon of non-stop reading, Ginny was left frustrated and covered in dust. Why she thought this library would be better maintained then Bill's was beyond her. As if sensing her frustration, the librarian whisked back into the room.

"How are you doing, dear? I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner. Today has been simply awful. Unruly patrons, children running around unattended! The scholars are livid. I assure you, it's not normally like this!"

"I'm sorry you're having a bad day," said Ginny, trying to sound sympathetic. "I'm not having much luck myself. I've looked through at least twenty different books and countless scrolls," Ginny looked guiltily at the pile of parchment waiting to be re-shelved, "but no luck. I don't have enough time to learn how to translate cuneiform. I need to know what it says now!"

"Well then," said the librarian, "Had you said you needed something translated, I would have referred you to the Scholar Center on the fourth floor. They have a bulletin board where you can place ads for things like that. We have all sorts of Obscure Language Translators here."

Ginny sighed, trying to keep her anger and frustration from showing on her face. "How do I get to the fourth floor?" she asked.

"The stairs are out by the main entrance, if you hurry, you would still have time to post an ad before they close for the day."

"Thanks!" Ginny called out as she ran for the main entrance.

"No running in the Athenaeum!"

Ginny ignored the librarian's plea as she scrambled up the steps to the fourth floor. Not for the first time did she wish that wizards had some sort of equivalent for the Muggle escalators. She'd been on once, on a trip with Harry in London.

She managed to make it to the front desk in time and wrote an ad for an 'Ancient Akkadian Cuneiform Expert', for that is what the man at the front desk said she needed when she showed him the tablet. Ginny experienced a mild pang of reluctance at taking the piece of amber out of her bag, but realized it was necessary in order to get the kind of help she needed. The gentleman at the desk had informed her that if she didn't hear from anybody within the next two weeks she should come in and renew the ad or consider placing it internationally.

Ginny left the Athenaeum feeling slightly better about the situation but wishing there was more that she could do beyond sitting at home and waiting. She was so caught up in thoughts of finding Bill and hoping somebody could help her that she didn't notice she was being watched.

He'd been watching her all morning. Draco first noticed her vivid, red hair. Just as long and just as bright as it had been when they went to school together. Bill's hair was the same color. That, of course, reminded him of when he'd last seen Bill and of why he was at the Athenaeum in the first place.

Draco had been set up. Framed. For the disappearance of a rare item of historical significance and the disappearance of one Bill Weasley. He had returned to the Malfoy Manor injured and confused. Upon waking up, still clothed in his dusty, khaki work robes, Draco had found a house-elf hovering over him, ringing its hands, and biting its lip.

"What do you want?" he had asked groggily.

"I is sorry to disturb you, master, but they is here for you The Goblins is! They say you did bad things, master, bad things!"

"What are you talking about?" Draco had asked now fully awake, the mention of the Goblins had made him sit straight up in bed.

"They is here! Now! Master must hide!"

"Thank you, Hodgey."

Draco had heard muffled voices speaking Gobbledegook in the hallway and had hurriedly stuffed a few necessities into a canvas backpack. He'd then taken a Portkey to his secondary residence- a cottage only he knew existed. He hadn't wanted to Apparate and thus leave a trail to where he was going.

It had become clear to him that nobody would believe his ambush story, not if Goblins were after him. Why should they believe him? He was, after all, a Malfoy. The Era of Voldemort was still recent history and so were the atrocious acts the Malfoy Family had committed. The fact that Draco did not participate in these acts and had been cleared by the Ministry meant nothing. That Dumbledore vouched for him meant even less. People were still quick to think the worst of him.

It didn't seem to matter that he tried very hard to be everything a Malfoy wasn't. He worked hard for a living, donated time and Galleons to charity, tried to make a new name for himself with Malfoy International. All of it was in vain.

Hodgey had sent Draco a badly written message informing him that the Goblins believed he had stolen the Staff of Lamaštu (or has Hodgey had so eloquently called it, "The Llama Staff") and done something to hurt Bill Weasley. Draco knew that as his house-elf Hodgey could not tell the Goblins where he was so for the time being he was safe. He couldn't hide out forever though, and that's why he had cast a Glamour Spell on himself and gone to the Athenaeum.

The staff wasn't taken from him randomly, it was obviously more important then he was led to believe. If he could find out more about it he might learn why it was stolen or who had stolen it. If he could find out the thief, he might be able to find Bill and clear his name.

Draco pushed a long, greasy lock of black hair away from his eyes and cursed himself for casting a Glamour Spell that involved such bad hair. With the hair out of his eyes he could see Ginny Weasley leave the Athenaeum, apparently lost in thought. She'd been oblivious to all but the books she'd been reading. She hadn't noticed him watching her from the balcony above. She hadn't even noticed him follow her up to the fourth floor.

At first he was willing to write off Ginny's interest in Obscure Languages as coincidence. Then he'd looked at the pile of books she'd placed in the return pile- Cuneiform for Cretins, Learning to Love Geometric Scripts, Everything You Wanted To Know About Sumerian Scripture But Were Afraid To Ask; Ginny was looking for information on cuneiform, there was no coincidence about that. Draco knew that Ginny had the Plaque of Poseidon. Or had at least she had heard about it.

He contemplated approaching her while pretending to read a book on the origins of English but she'd taken off at a run. He'd followed her to the fourth floor and watched from behind a statue while she talked with a scholar and pinned something to a nearby bulletin board. When she left and the scholar manning the front desk was not looking, he walked over to the board, read her ad, and tore it down.

"Wanted- one Ancient Akkadian Cuneiform Expert for light translation work. Contact Ginny Weasley via Owl or leave message at front desk."

He sent an Owl that evening signing it "M" to be safe. He'd read the Daily Prophet and winced at the unflattering picture of himself on the front page. There was an accompanying three-page story written by Lavender Brown which talked more about his behavior at Hogwarts then it did about why he was now a wanted criminal. If Ginny had seen that article, there was no way she'd reply to his Owl.

Draco also knew that Ginny wouldn't know of the new and somewhat improved Draco Malfoy. Like Lavender, her perceptions of him would be based solely on childhood experiences. Oh, they'd encountered each other during the war, but like everybody else she'd been wary of him and unsure of his loyalties. No, it was better to play it safe for now and explain everything later.