The Book of Morgan Le Fey

Chapter Twenty Two: Conversations

'All right, Ginny,' said Harry. 'Tell us what you know so far.'

She smiled a smug smile and sat down with them in front of the fire.

'Okay,' she said. 'Luna wrote me last summer and we started to be pretty good friends after that. It started because of what happened at the Ministry. And then she told me she had a mad crush on Ron--why, I'll never know--but she knew he fancied Hermione--'

'Get to the point, Ginny,' said Ron, rolling his eyes.

'So eventually Luna tells me she has this big secret and would I be interested in hearing about it,' said Ginny. 'I didn't really think anything of it at the time, because you know how she is--I thought her big secret would be that she's keeping a heliopath in her bedroom or something equally daft. But then she told me she was the direct descendant from Morgan Le Fey. That was before you lot started getting into whatever it is you're into, so at the time I didn't think anything of it. In fact, I didn't even really believe her at first.'

Ginny had said all of this very fast, and then took a deep breath.

'But then Luna showed me her family tree,' she said, 'and that convinced me. Except that I didn't see what the huge deal was, because most witches are descended from somebody famous, after all. Anyway, I didn't think anything about it until I overheard you lot talking about that book and how you think Voldemort is going to kill Muggles using a deadly disease or something and how he was looking for the book--'

'Bloody hell, you DO know everything,' said Ron, groaning.

Ginny continued as if he hadn't spoken. '--and I got curious. But then Dean and I broke up and even though it was friendly I wasn't all that happy about it, either, so I didn't think much about your stuff, until a week later when I was in the library reading my History of Magic textbook and I came across that passage about The Book of Morgan Le Fey. So the next night when I got together with Luna to study I sort of accidentally on purpose pulled out History of Magic and made a comment about "isn't that interesting, The Book of Morgan Le Fey" or something to that effect. And Luna immediately launches into a whole bit about how the History of Magic textbook authors are dolts who are in some sort of denial and why can't people just learn to acknowledge that heliopaths and Crumple Horned Snorkacks and The Book of Morgan Le Fey all do really exist. So I asked her how she knew all those things existed and I got to listen to another fifteen minutes of her telling me about Snorkack sightings and what and then she finally said something like "I know about the book because I have it."'

Ginny took another deep breath and went on.

'So I acted all impressed--well, okay, I WAS impressed, I wasn't really acting--and I asked her if I could see it, and she said, sure, but that only I could see it, and I couldn't tell anyone. I said okay, and later that night I went to her room and she showed me.'

Hermione gave a little squeak. 'You've SEEN it?'

'Yep,' she said, grinning.

'Well, tell us!' said Ron impatiently. 'What's it look like? What's in it? Did she show you any spells?'

'To be honest it doesn't look like much,' said Ginny. 'It's just a big old leather book.'

'Yes, yes, but did you see any of the spells?' said Hermione.

'Not really,' said Ginny. 'Luna was really protective over it. She wouldn't even let me touch the book. She just showed it to me and flipped through the pages really fast. It almost looked like everything was written in a different language, too.'

'Did she tell you anything else?' said Harry.

'Just that she'd never used any of the spells in the book, and that her mother had tried one of them, but that she'd modified it or something, and it backfired on her and she died,' said Ginny.

Ron slumped back in his seat. 'No offense, Ginny, but you're not really telling us much that's new. I mean, we knew most of this stuff already.'

'I'm not done,' said Ginny. 'Luna's afraid of the book. Really afraid. She told me she knew Voldemort would want it. I asked her, why don't you just destroy it. She said she tried that already, over the Christmas holiday, while her father was away on some business trip, but she said that any Charm she tried to use on it wound up backfiring on her. She burned up her hands trying to use an Incendio Charm on it, and when she tried to rip out a page of the book it opened up a cut in her arm. She told me she's been trying to come up with a way to destroy the book ever since, but that so far, she can't find a way to do it without it killing her.'

'But...but I thought the owner COULD destroy the book,' said Hermione. 'That's what Dumbledore told us.'

'He's probably right, Hermione,' said Ginny. 'But you haven't seen Luna like I have. She's obsessed with the book. It's got a hold on her. It's...it's sort of like what happened with me. And Tom Riddle's diary. It's like she knows the book is bad to have around. She knows that if anyone else got a hold of it, it could be deadly. But the book won't let her go. She thinks Morgan's spirit is in that book. It's not like Morgan's trying to possess Luna and take over Luna's body--not like what Tom did with me. It's some sort of ancient magic, to do with a blood tie. But it's just as powerful, and that's why she can't seem to get rid of the book.'

Nobody said anything for a long moment. Ron watched his sister. She looked down at the floor and began to fidget with her hands.

'You called him Tom,' said Ron.

'What?' said Ginny.

'Just now,' said Ron. 'You called Voldemort "Tom".'

Ginny went scarlet, and the rest of them glanced at her, then at Ron, then back at her.

'Well,' said Ginny slowly, 'that's who he was to me for a whole year. I...I guess it just slipped out.'

Harry cleared his throat and said, 'Did Luna mention whether she'd told anyone else about the book?'

Ginny blinked and looked at Harry. 'No. As far as I know she hasn't told anyone but me. But...'

'What?' said Ron.

'Look, it's probably nothing, but I do know she has a crush on Eddie Carmichael,' said Ginny.

'I knew it,' said Ron at once. 'I knew he had something to do with this.'

'Ron, be sensible,' said Hermione. 'Luna has a crush on him, that doesn't mean he has a crush on her. And it certainly doesn't mean he even knows anything about the book at all.'

'I'm telling you, something is not right about him,' said Ron. 'You didn't see the look he gave me in the Great Hall when he was helping Luna with her books. Looked like a cat who just ate a canary.'

'That's not proof of anything,' said Hermione.

'To be honest,' said Ginny, 'I don't think she's told Eddie. I mean, when she told me it was like she was relieved that she was finally telling somebody, but if she told Eddie, wouldn't he have to report it? He's Head Boy and in her house and everything. Surely Dumbledore would have mentioned it at your meeting the other night.'

'Unless Eddie's working for the Death Eaters,' said Ron at once.

'Oh, Ron, really!' said Hermione. 'Eddie doesn't have the Dark Mark, for heaven's sake.'

'That's not proof of anything,' said Ron, smirking. 'Snape does have the Dark Mark on his arm and supposedly he's a spy for the Order. Maybe Eddie's a spy for the Death Eaters. Maybe Eddie doesn't get his Dark Mark until he earns it by handing over The Book of Morgan Le Fey and her descendant.'

'That seems awfully far-fetched,' said Hermione.

'No, it doesn't,' said Harry. 'Look, Voldemort has to find a way into the school somehow, right? But we know he can't just Apparate here and grab it.'

'Wait, wait,' said Hermione. 'Say that again.'

'What?' said Harry. 'The part about how Voldemort can't Apparate into the school--'

'Thank you,' said Hermione. 'That's all I wanted to hear. That you've finally gotten it into your head that you can't Apparate or Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts.'

'Ha ha,' said Harry. 'The point is, Voldemort can't just send one of his Death Eaters into the school to get the book. Well, he could, but it would be difficult. It's a lot easier to have someone on the inside working for him.'

'You mean Eddie?' said Ron.

'Eddie, Snape, Malfoy,' said Harry. 'Malfoy was picking on Luna the other day, and his father's right up there in rank among the Death Eaters. Snape's a spy for our side but he could be playing both ends against each other. Eddie's a flirt but what if he's been flirting with all those girls because he's supposed to find out which one of them has the book?'

'Well, there's a dilemma,' said Ron. 'Trying to decide who's most evil: Malfoy, Eddie or Snape.'

'Bill would know,' said Ginny. 'Seeing as he's supposed to use Legilimency on everyone to find out. He's really good at it. Except that he's not going to tell us, because we're not supposed to be involved.'

'Do you think you could find out from Luna whether she's told Eddie?' said Harry, addressing Ginny.

'That shouldn't be hard,' said Ginny. 'I'm meeting with her tomorrow for an O.W.L study group; I can take her aside after.'

'That'll tell us whether she's told him but that doesn't tell us whether Eddie's evil or not,' said Ron. 'Damn. Too bad we don't have any Polyjuice Potion lying around. Then we could find out about Eddie and Malfoy and Snape.'

'We can still work on Eddie,' said Ginny.

'Oh yeah, how?' said Ron.

'In case you haven't noticed, Ron, Eddie is a sucker for female attention,' said Ginny coolly. 'What if us girls just starting being a bit more friendly to him?'

Ron shot up off the sofa. 'WHAT?!'

'I knew he wouldn't go for it,' said Ginny, glancing at Hermione.

'Damn right I'm not going for it!' said Ron. 'You really think I'm going to let my baby sister and my girlfriend flirt with that dirty great prat?'

'I'm not a baby!' Ginny snapped.

'Excuse me,' said Hermione huffily, 'but I wasn't aware that I had to ask your permission to do something, Ron.'

'Wh-what--you mean you WANT to cozy up to Carmichael?' said Ron, horrified.

'No!' said Hermione. 'I'm just saying, desperate times call for desperate measures.'

'Oh really?' said Ron furiously. 'And how desperate are we talking here? A bit of hand-holding? A snog in the library stacks?'

'Oh, Ron, for heaven's sakes, don't get hysterical,' said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

'I AM NOT HYSTERICAL!' Ron bellowed.

'Maybe not, but you're about to wake up the whole bloody castle,' Harry muttered.

'It's just a bit of friendliness,' said Susan.

'Wait, wait, who said you're going along with this?' said Harry.

'I did,' said Susan. 'You have a problem with that?'

'Yeah, I do,' said Harry. 'Ron's right. Eddie's a dirty great prat, with the emphasis on dirty. I don't like the way he looks at girls.'

'Yeah,' said Ron forcefully. 'He never makes eye contact with them, did you notice that? Because he's always staring at...well...you know what I mean.'

'Oh, like you two don't ever look at breasts,' said Ginny, putting her hands on her hips.

'We don't!' Harry and Ron both yelled.

But they both went scarlet in the face, and Ron's ears burned. Susan and Hermione, meanwhile, took a step toward Ginny so that they stood on either side of her; all three girls now had hands on hips and were looking archly at the boys.

'Well, okay, but we don't leer at them,' said Harry defensively. 'We're not lewd about it or anything.'

'Yeah,' said Ron, 'and Harry only sees Susan's and I only look at Hermione's, so--'

'Ron!' Hermione gasped.

'Nice one, Ron,' said Harry, groaning.

'Harry, you told him?' said Susan angrily.

'Oh, come on, he's my best mate!' said Harry quickly.

'Oh, sure, take HIS side,' said Susan.

'This isn't about taking sides,' said Ron. 'I'm just saying we don't go around drooling all over other girl's chests. I mean, we don't do that to you, either, at least I don't, and not to Susan, obviously. Well, not to Hermione, either. I can't speak for Harry--'

'Ron, shut up,' said Harry through gritted teeth.

'Keep talking, Ron' said Ginny. 'You're doing really well.'

'Look, I'm just trying to explain that Harry and me--'

'Leave me out of this,' said Harry.

'--aren't a couple of dirty pigs like Carmichael!'

'Oh, is that what you were trying to say, Ron?' said Ginny.

'Hey, this is your fault!' said Ron. 'You were the one who accused Harry and me of leering at breasts in the first place.'

'Ron!' said Harry. 'My god, would you drop it?'

Ron opened his mouth to protest, but then he noticed that Harry, Hermione, Susan and Ginny were all glaring at him.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. He glanced at Hermione and felt his face turn scarlet. 'Sorry,' he said again. She rolled her eyes at him, but then she pursed her lips. She was trying very hard not to laugh. Ron didn't know whether to be embarrassed or relieved.

'Right,' said Ginny. 'So back to the subject at hand. Getting information out of Eddie and Malfoy.'

'You really think we're just going to sit by and watch you three flirt with Carmichael?' said Ron.

'And how do we plan on getting information out of Malfoy?' said Harry. 'Last time I checked he hated all of us.'

'Malfoy's a problem,' said Ginny. 'I've been eavesdropping with Extendable Ears in the library and what, but he'd never buy it if any of us girls started being friendly with him. He's got it out for Hermione because she's a Muggle-born and he hates Weasleys and I can't imagine he thinks much of the Bones family, either. Even he's not that stupid.'

'And Eddie IS that stupid?' said Ron. 'Look, Ginny, maybe YOU think you can, uh, "get friendly" with him, but Hermione already made it clear that she and I are dating.'

'And he knows about Harry and me, too,' said Susan. 'I told him to back off ages ago.'

'So, maybe you and Hermione need to have a fight with your boyfriends, break up for a bit, and then cry on Eddie's shoulder,' said Ginny at once.

'I don't want Hermione doing ANYTHING on that git's shoulder,' said Ron.

'And I already said it's not your decision to make, Ron,' said Hermione stiffly.

'Look, what else can we do?' said Susan. 'Ginny might get Luna to tell her who she's told about the book but that wouldn't give us the whole picture.'

'This is ridiculous,' said Harry. 'There's a much easier way to figure out who's working for Voldemort, you know.'

'What do you mean?' Ron started to say, but Hermione cut him off.

'No, Harry,' she said at once.

'Hermione, it's the only sure way,' said Harry.

'What's the only--' Ron began, but then he understood. 'You mean Legilimency.'

'Harry, Dumbledore told you not to!' said Hermione.

'Harry, you can't,' said Susan. 'It's too dangerous.'

'Voldemort's planning on using the deadliest book in the world to wipe out Muggles and you're telling me Legilimency is too dangerous?' said Harry sharply.

'There's no need to snap at me,' Susan retorted.

'Harry, they're right,' said Ginny. 'If you try it and he finds out, he could mess with your head again like last year.'

'I've already thought about that,' said Harry, trying to control his temper. 'I've thought about this a lot, okay? From every angle. But what choice do we have?'

'I don't like it, Harry,' said Susan.

'I don't, either,' said Harry.

There was a long silence. Ron hated the idea of Harry using Legilimency, but somehow the idea of Hermione cozying up to Eddie seemed worse. Ron's dislike of the Head Boy now went beyond simple male rivalry. Ron didn't know just what it was, but something was decidedly off about the Head Boy. The way his dark eyes seemed to glitter with...Ron didn't know what, but something. Something distinctly not pleasant.

'Bloody hell,' said Ron exasperatedly.

'Ron, don't swear,' said Hermione. 'Look, there's something else we haven't considered. What about Wormtail? Maybe Eddie or Malfoy or...or Snape aren't involved at all and Wormtail is getting inside the castle. He's an Animagus who changes into a rat. How hard can it be to get into the castle? He's small enough in his animal form to hide somewhere and eavesdrop all he wants.'

'Yes, but if Wormtail's the one, how does he plan on getting Luna and the book out of the castle?' said Harry. 'Everyone knows what he looks like as a person and he's not going to be able to carry Luna and a big book out of here if he's a rat.'

'So we're back to someone working from the inside,' said Ron. 'In concert with Wormtail, maybe. Makes sense. There had to be a reason he showed up at Hogsmeade.'

'Okay, so let's assume Wormtail's involved and he has inside help,' said Susan. 'What if it's another Animagus? We know there are unregistered Animagi, right? And it's not unheard of for students to learn how to do it. Harry's dad did, and Sirius.'

'And there's all kinds of animals all over the place around here,' said Ron.

'Yes, but Hogwarts has kneazles, remember?' said Hermione. 'Kneazles can detect somebody untrustworthy, especially a Dark Animagus. You can bet Aurors guarding the school are using them. We would have heard about it if an Animagus had been spotted inside the castle or on the grounds.'

'What about a shape-shifter? Or a Metamorphmagus?' said Ginny. 'Can kneazles detect them?'

'Theoretically, yes,' said Hermione. 'But only if they're untrustworthy. But Metamorphmagi are really rare and shape-shifters even more so.'

'Why don't we just have Crookshanks stand near Eddie and see if he hates him?' Ron suggested. 'He knew about Scabbers, didn't he?'

'Actually, you know, that's not a bad idea,' said Hermione. 'We could find some excuse, something related to prefect duties, and have Eddie come to our common room and Crookshanks could just happen to be down here.'

'That's great,' said Harry, 'but if it isn't Eddie we can't exactly hope to get every student in the school to show up at our common room so that Crookshanks can hiss at them.'

'Harry, Legilimency is dangerous,' said Hermione desperately. 'Please, don't--'

'Everything's dangerous, Hermione,' said Harry, shaking his head. He held up a hand to still Susan's protest.

'I have to do it, Sue,' he said.

'Harry, how do you know he won't catch you at it?' said Ginny.

'I'm sure he will,' said Harry, 'just like I catch him messing with my head. Look, I only need a few minutes; I know I can hold him off for a couple of minutes. I've done it loads of times before.'

'I dunno, mate,' said Ron doubtfully.

Harry groaned and closed his eyes, then opened them. 'Okay, how about this. I do it my room, in front of Ron, yeah? If Ron's there he can snap me out of it if something goes wrong, or raise the alarm or whatever. And I'll wait until late at night; if I can catch Voldemort while he's sleeping I can get in and out before he even knows what happened.'

'Harry--' Susan began.

'Please, Sue,' said Harry. 'Ron...will you help me?'

Hermione looked sharply at Ron, and he swallowed. Truth be told, he didn't want Harry to do Legilimency at all, but he wanted even less to witness Harry doing it. What if something went wrong and Ron couldn't help? Harry's eyes pleaded with him, and against his own inclinations, Ron felt himself nod.

'Yeah, sure,' he said. 'I'll help you, Harry.'

'Ron,' said Hermione, sounding desperate.

'I won't let anything happen to him, 'Mione,' he said, clutching her hand and hoping like hell that it was true. Then he looked at Susan. 'I promise, Susan.'

'There's nothing I can say to make you change your mind, is there?' said Susan, taking Harry's hand.

'No,' he said. 'I'm sorry.'

Susan sighed, but after a moment she nodded.

'All right, then,' said Ginny. 'So...the plan, if you can call it that, is that Harry tries to reach Voldemort, and I try to get Luna to tell me if she's mentioned the book to anyone else. And any other information I can glean.'

'Some plan,' said Ron, shaking his head.

'It's the best we can do,' said Harry. For another long moment nobody said anything, and then Harry announced he was going to walk Susan back to the Hufflepuff dormitories. The two of them left through the portrait hole.

'I'm turning in, too,' said Ginny. 'Coming, Hermione?'

'Yes, in a minute,' said Hermione. Ginny smiled and headed up the girls' staircase.

Ron watched his younger sister go and shook his head.

'Can you believe her?' he said. 'Nosy little brat.'

'Ron,' said Hermione. 'I wish...I wish you hadn't agreed to...help Harry with Occlumency.'

Ron sighed. Of all the things he wanted to do right then, arguing with Hermione was the last.

'I know, 'Mione,' he said. 'And I don't want to but you know how he is. If I had said no he would have done it anyway, only he'd do it all by himself, and then Merlin knows what he might get himself into.'

'Oh, he's so infuriating sometimes!' Hermione burst out. 'Why doesn't he just go to Dumbledore and...and ASK him if he can do it?'

'Dumbledore already said no, 'Mione,' said Ron. 'Anyway...I don't know if Dumbledore is up for dealing with Harry, on top of everything else.'

Hermione looked momentarily scandalized. 'What does that mean?'

'Come on, 'Mione, you saw him,' said Ron. 'He looked so old.'

'He is old, Ron,' she said.

'You know what I mean,' said Ron. 'He's tired. How old is he, anyway, 150? And he's running a school and trying to run the Order and keep the school safe from Voldemort. He can't keep doing it forever.'

'I hate this,' said Hermione suddenly. She looked up at him and her eyes filled with tears. Ron did the only thing he could think of; he pulled her into his arms and held her.

'It was easier, wasn't it?' said Hermione as she rested her head against his chest. 'When we were little?'

'I'll say,' said Ron. He felt the same dreadful weight he'd felt the night before, in Dumbledore's office. It wasn't fair, he decided. They were just kids, really. Okay, teenagers, but still just kids. They should be worried about exams and schoolwork and Quidditch matches and having ice cream cones and thinking about their summer holidays, shouldn't they? Why did growing up, growing older, have to be so difficult?

Ron's mind might have drifted further into these thoughts, but then he felt Hermione look up at him, felt her tilt her face up to his and press her lips against his chin. He opened his eyes and looked down and saw her face stained with tears and saw her eyes, shiny and beautiful, and he lowered his mouth to hers and let himself get lost in the sensation of kissing her. And suddenly there was no Lord Voldemort, no evil plot to kill Muggles, no books that contained evil spells, no wars to fight. There was only her, and her lips on his, and her hands in his hair, and her chocolate taste.

Their kissing intensified and they fell onto the sofa; Ron's heartbeat was thrumming in his ears and their hands were everywhere, moving beneath clothes and getting tangled in one another. It was stifling under his robes and he pulled them off and he wanted to pull off other things, off himself and off her.

Ron wasn't sure how much time passed when Hermione suddenly gasped in his ear and said 'Ron, wait.' The same thing she always said when things began to spin out of control. But somehow it was enough to make him come crashing back down to earth.

'Bloody hell,' he heard himself say as he rolled away from her. He hadn't meant to say that, or to groan in frustration, but he was so hot and his trousers were very uncomfortable and his head was spinning.

'Ron...we can't...' she said.

'I know,' he said. Too fast. It was too fast. Too much. Except that a part of him wanted to go fast, didn't want to wait anymore because they could die tomorrow and if that happened he would never know what it would be like...

'Don't be upset,' said Hermione. 'Please.'

'I'm not,' said Ron. I'm not, he said to himself. Disappointed, but not...upset.

'I just...'

'You're not ready,' said Ron.

'Are you?' said Hermione.

Ron considered. If he had to be honest, he'd probably been ready from the moment they'd first kissed on the staircase. But it wasn't his call to make, and he couldn't bear the idea of being with her in that way if she didn't really want to. He decided to be completely honest.

'Yes,' said Ron. 'And no. I mean, I want to, okay? But not...if you don't.'

She nodded, and he sat up and shook his head and tried to smooth his hair.

'I want to, too,' she said, so quietly that Ron was almost sure he hadn't heard her.

'What?' he said, if only because he wanted to be sure he'd heard her correctly.

'I said, I want to,' said Hermione. 'But...I'm just...scared.' She wasn't looking at him. She began to button her blouse.

'Okay,' said Ron. He wasn't looking at her. He couldn't. If he did, he might get a little, okay, very excited again.

He also didn't really understand why she should be scared of...that. Not when Voldemort was planning on murdering everyone in sight.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

'Don't apologize,' he said at once. 'There's...there's nothing to be sorry about. It's fine.' He pulled on his shirt. He still didn't look at her.

'Are you sure?'

He waited until she'd pulled on her jumper before he looked at her, before he spoke. 'I'm sure.'

'Okay,' she said, sounding a little more reassured. 'Good.'

'Maybe we should, uh, turn in,' said Ron, standing up and picking up his robes and jumper.

'Right,' said Hermione.

He looked at her again, and smiled, and took her hand in his. They walked to the foot of her staircase.

'Well, good night,' she said softly.

'G'night,' he said. He pressed his lips to her forehead for a long moment and caught the scent of her lilac shampoo. He started to pull away when she put her arms round his waist and pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

'I...I love you,' she whispered, and then she pulled away quickly and gave him a lightning-fast peck on the cheek before dashing up her staircase.

It was only when Ron was climbing into bed that the three words Hermione had whispered to him penetrated his brain.

'Blimey,' he said to out loud, and he settled down and pulled up the covers and fell asleep with a smile on his lips.