Unexamined Lives

Unexamined Lives

CHAPTER 1

As soon as she saw the owl swoop into the great hall she knew, she just knew, this was it.

Hermione completely forgot about swallowing the bite of pastry that she'd been chewing as her eyes tracked the tawny owl approaching her. As she expected, a large sheaf of parchment landed in front of her, and the bird gracefully turned in midair and flew back out the window.

Ron and Harry saw her reach for the bundle with a trembling hand, give a very uncharacteristic whoop, and dart away from the table with her mail in hand, bumping into Seamus Finnigan, who was about to take a seat at that moment. Hermione barely looked at him with wide eyes and a dazzling smile, and just ran out of the hall.

"What's with her?" Seamus asked Harry.

Harry shrugged, looked at Ron, who seemed as clueless as he was. "Don't know, but it seemed important to her," he said.

"I'd say more like earth shattering, actually," Ron sniggered. "She left her books behind."

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Ron and Harry spent the morning carrying Hermione's books around to class with them, and getting increasingly worried as she missed Charms, and then Transfiguration. Short of petrification or being partially turned into a cat, nothing had ever prevented Hermione from attending class before.

"If she hadn't looked so happy when she ran out this morning, I would be terrified right now," Ron commented as they left Professor McGonagall's classroom at lunchtime. Instead of heading to the Gryffindor table to grab a bite, they decided to look for her.

"Where do you think she went?" asked Ron.

Harry looked at him in disbelief. "We're talking about Hermione."

"The library, then."

When Harry finally spotted her in the quietest corner of the library, Hermione's nose was firmly embedded into a large tome. She was talking to herself.

"Yes, I will have to include this, although it clashes with some of my previous research. But I can't ignore the..."

"Hermione," Harry called out softly.

She did not acknowledge him, or seem to even hear him at all.

"Are you all right?" asked Ron prodding her arm gently. He looked genuinely concerned. "You missed two classes, we were worried about you."

She did not look up, but instead kept perusing the book with a huge grin. "Oh, I just had something really important to do," she exhaled with a dreamy expression.

Now the boys exchanged truly mystified glances. They had known Hermione for almost seven years, and knew her priorities to be skewed enough that nothing, ever, took precedence over class. They had teased her many times about a comment she made their first year, to the effect that she'd rather be killed than expelled from school.

"Are you going to tell us what is going on?" Ron asked impatiently. "You left all your books behind, and we have been lugging them around all morning. By the way, you must be very strong, Hermione. Harry and I had to split the load to be able to carry it. Although I have to ask, why do you keep a copy of Hogwarts, A History with you? I thought you had memorized it, seems redundant."

This finally got her to look up. "Oh! I forgot all about those! Thanks for bringing them to me! I am so glad I decided to reread that book, it will come in quite handy to have all those facts about the school fresh in my mind" she said. Her big, bright eyes went from Ron to Harry, and she giggled.

Hermione giggling was the last straw. Ron and Harry slammed her books on the table, earning a stern look from Madam Pince, the librarian. Each boy pulled a chair and sat flanking her.

"Either you explain what is going on, or we'll have to take you to the infirmary, and let Madam Pomfrey sort you out," growled Ron. Harry simply nodded. "You just don't sound right."

To their total amazement, Hermione just hugged them both, giggled again, and exclaimed, "My paper was selected! Can you imagine what an honor?"

"Selected for what?" the boys asked in unison.

"I have been invited to make a presentation to the International Wizarding Council later this year! Can you believe it?"

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The three friends marched down to lunch. A fluttery, breathless and still giggling Hermione Granger was an unusual sight, so many students in the corridors stepped aside, and looked after them as they passed. Ron and Harry followed her looking very pleased, and congratulated her repeatedly.

Hermione was finally explaining in more detail as they walked. "Since Voldemort resurfaced at the end of our fourth year, the international magical community has been in a flurry of activity to prepare a united front in opposing his ascent. They are aware that the Dark Lord's intention this time is to subjugate the wizarding community not only in the United Kingdom, but worldwide. He has had all these years to plan, and his ambition has swelled out of all proportion."

Ron simply nodded. This was not news to him, as his father and older brother Percy worked at the Ministry of Magic. It had been the topic of more than one somber discussion back home throughout the last couple of summers.

Harry, although more intimately connected with the horrific events leading to Voldemort's return, was less up-to-date with the wizarding news, since he spent summers with his Muggle relatives who were adamant about keeping what they termed his abnormality out of their home, and this encompassed anything remotely related to magic.

"It is the consensus that there has not been a threat like this to wizards and witches everywhere. It cannot be handled like all other conflicts throughout history. The Muggle world is in as much danger now as ours, since Voldemort has shown no compunctions to killing Muggles. They are bound to find out something is going on, even if they do not understand what it is," she continued pensively.

"The Departments of International Cooperation at the Ministries of Magic everywhere have called for a meeting to develop a plan of action. They want us all working on a clear plan, with the idea that we can achieve more if everyone is working united. They realize that this will have to include wizards of all ages, in all positions, since there is a limited number of Aurors, who cannot possibly be everywhere at once."

"Yes, I heard my father talking this over with Mad Eye Moody just last summer. You know, Moody was retired, but he's still training Aurors, and is just raring to whomp some Death Eaters," Ron commented. "Or turn them into ferrets and bounce them really high," he started snickering, but Harry elbowed him, and turned his attention back to Hermione.

As they turned into a new corridor, Hermione continued, unperturbed by Ron's interruption. "It is likely that, when Voldemort strikes, he will have a more organized scheme than ever before. You know there has been random violence, and several people have disappeared in the last few years, plus the Dark Mark has been sighted again, but something bigger is in the works."

"I heard about this, and submitted a paper calling for cooperation with Muggle authorities. I worked on it through the summer. I did not think I would be selected to give a presentation in person!" she finished breathlessly. Then her voice trembled. "There is so much riding on it. Maybe it was presumptuous of me..."

Ron and Harry just stared at her. They knew she was very smart and capable, a powerful and determined witch, but it was hard to picture their friend Hermione in front of the decision-makers of the wizarding world, lecturing them.

It struck Ron first, Why not? She has lectured everyone else; it is only natural that as time went by, she would raise the stakes. But he kept this in, simply smiled, and nodded as Harry put it into words: "Hermione, we are proud of you! If there is any way we can help, we are behind you."

Hermione blushed and smiled, "I know." And with a quick gesture, she squeezed their arms as they made their entrance into the great hall, and took their seats.

# # # # # # # #

The first few months of term progressed as usual, Hermione helping Ron and Harry with their schoolwork, while she continued to prepare her presentation.

After a couple of sessions talking with them, explaining about her original paper, and using them as a sounding board, she started to notice their eyes glassing over. Hermione knew they wanted to support her, but their hearts were not into such dry subject matter. She couldn't hold it against them. Harry was action-minded, while Ron was just happy to follow his lead.

The threat of a large scale, insidious offensive against wizards was somehow far less tangible than the immediate dangers they had faced together in previous years, or the minor annoyances like Malfoy insulting them in passing at every turn.

Harry, Ron and Hermione's life that year had been as uneventful as any other students' while they prepared for their tests, attended Quidditch matches, went to Hogsmeade. It was a welcome respite from the excitement and drama of other times.

While Ron and Harry welcomed this change, and settled into being typical students, Hermione did not. She saw the quiet times as a confirmation of her idea that Voldemort was simply situating his pieces on the board, and that when it came, his attack would be devastating.

Hermione started spending more and more time in the library, which, given that she already spent hours on end there, made her more or less a permanent fixture. She had so much research to do!

The focus of her paper had been to call for cooperation with Muggle authorities, to make them aware of the threat they also faced. She was doing background research and trying to develop an enforceable way to achieve this, so she could make a more complete, useful presentation.

In all she did she was methodical, so she scoured the books for historical references, political precedents, anything that might somehow relate to such an endeavor. Hermione prepared Arithmantic charts supporting her position, and even briefly considered preparing an argument based on Divination, but eventually discarded this idea as essentially impractical and unreliable. She did not hold with such quackery.

She learned much more History of Magic than Professor Binns ever taught her in those hours. Hermione read about other great disturbances in the wizarding world, about the goblin rebellions, the heroes and villains forged in those times.

Hermione was surprised to read about an Eliphas Malfoi, who had been a prominent leader during the first goblin uprising. Through history, others of the same name had proven their valor and leadership qualities. She wondered if they were related to Draco Malfoy, the conceited 7^th year Slytherin, and what they would think if they could see what their line had come to.

As if summoned, Malfoy walked into her line of sight. She frowned involuntarily. Her reactions to him were visceral.

For all his undeniable grace, mordacious wit and breeding, Malfoy was just a useless little prat who moved in the wake of his famous name. He was undeniably attractive, in the distant way a statue can be beautiful. It was not his features in themselves, rather his demeanor and elegance that made him so. His exterior was cold, unfeeling, stiff. The expression on his face was one of constant disdain, as if he were passing judgment on everyone and everything around him, and finding them unworthy, although on what authority he would base this judgment was unclear, given his own lack of merit.

Spoiled was the one word that came to mind. Not only because of his disproportionate sense of entitlement, but in a more basic sense, because he had it in him to be a fine young man, but somehow had managed to fall short of every promise he might have held.

Hermione only spared a moment pondering as she saw him approach a shelf, extract a thick book, and sit next to what looked like a pile of notes. This was new. In their almost seven years at Hogwarts, she had seen him in the library so few times as to bear remembering. And never had she actually seen him doing anything that looked like work. He seemed more the type to sidle up to some obliging Slytherin, and dump his homework on them, which she assumed they did for him without complaint for fear of the Malfoy influence.

Yet somehow his work consistently seemed to be among the top five in his class. Could she be wrong about that git?

Enough of this. Whether Malfoy did his own schoolwork or not, she had more important things to occupy her, so she summarily dismissed him from her mind, and went back to her research.

# # # # # # # #

Draco Malfoy was in a bad mood. He had an unusual amount of work to do, and had spent far more time in the library than he had expected, because two out of every three books he wanted to consult were not in their places. He was absorbed by what he was doing, but this inconvenience was quickly draining the enjoyment out of the task he had imposed himself.

Under normal circumstances, he would have used the extensive reference library at Malfoy Manor, but he doubted his father would approve, and Draco preferred to work beneath his notice this time. Things at home, even the most insignificant, had a way of coming to Lucius' attention. Draco Malfoy knew his father would be able to figure out his purpose if he had a list of his recent reading material.

"It can't be helped," he thought. "If Lucius finds out, he will ask me, and I will come up with an explanation then. There is no point in worrying now."

He got up once again to look for one of the elusive books he had not found the previous evening. As luck would have it, the old tome was sitting on the shelf. He brought it back to his desk, and leafed through it.

Whoever had used the book last had left small pieces of paper tucked here and there marking pages or entire sections. Draco did not particularly dwell on this, until he realized there was a little slip of paper in each section he consulted. He pored through the ancient book, hearing the old parchment pages rustle as he turned to the different markers. Every item marked related to his work. He was curious now. Who could be doing research so similar to his own?

Looking around the library, he spotted a couple of 5^th year Hufflepuffs, who seemed more interested in their whispered conversation that in the books around them. Nearby a lone Slytherin appeared to be copying an entire paragraph from an encyclopedia, down to the line breaks.

Craning his neck, he could see an elbow by an impressive pile of books, right around one of the lecterns. He almost toppled out of his chair trying to see who this was, so he decided to discreetly stand up, and walk to the end of the aisle, which would afford him a better view.

Granger. Well, that little know-it-all was a fixture in the library, wasn't she? Didn't mean she was the one doing his research for him. For all he knew, Granger was having the time of her life reading about the more obscure uses of bubotuber pus.

He was about to resume his seat when she looked up, and noticed him staring. It only took a split second for her expression to turn from neutral to absolute dislike. Never one to pass up an opportunity to rile her, Draco sneered, and in a moment of inspiration, blew her a kiss. He almost laughed out loud to see her become so flustered so fast. Yes, he still had the touch.

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