Dursley Dream

Chapter 5: BOOK OF MEMORIES

    Hermione blinked her eyes and woke up. She had her head on Ron's chest the entire time and there was a great pain in her neck for sleeping like that. She tried not to remember the previous night's dreams, it was all too painful. She poked Ron and he woke up. To both their great surprise, neither of them were hurt, physically, that is. If someone could see their hearts, there would be a big scar.

     The foul stench of dried blood pierced their noses. Hermione's lips began to quiver.

    "Is he really... dead?" she said.

    Ron was just as sad. He nodded his head.

    "We better find a way back," he said coarsely.

    Hermione would do all the talking. For all they knew, Ron's parents were dead as well. After a few minutes of walking in random directions, they found a path. Ron remembered when they were in here with Hagrid once and he told them to stay on the path. Following the path would hopefully get them out.

    They followed the path for about an hour, and, amazingly, ended up right next to Hagrid's hut. Ron dashed around the front and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Hermione grabbed Ron by the collar and ran full on to the castle. Professor Minerva McGonagall saw them and nearly fainted.

    "Er," started Hermione. They had both completely forgotten what they looked like. The blood from the troll looked like it had permanently stained their clothing. "It's not ours. It was a troll. Harry blew it up like fireworks!" she exclaimed happily.

    McGonagall's face squinted at the thought.

    "Harry..." Hermione said in a soft voice.

    The moment was happy, but the memory reminded her. McGonagall's eyes lit up. She thought nothing of Harry not being with them.

    "Where is he?" she asked.

    Hermione couldn't take it. She burst into tears and Ron caught her before she fell. Ron finally had enough strength back to speak.

    "Dead," he said quietly.

    Professor McGonagall looked as if the life was ripped violently from her.

    "You're joking," she said weakly.

    Ron closed his eyes, shook his head and opened them again.

    Professor McGonagall stood there for a minute before saying, "My god... Oh... Potter -- no, Weasley, Granger, come with me."

    She grabbed them both by the hands and took them to Dumbledore's office running as fast as her legs let her. She flung the door open so hard it nearly broke off it's hinges. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley and Dudley were standing there. Everyone except Dumbledore fainted at the sight of Ron and Hermione. Fortunately for Mr. Filch, the blood had dried completely and was no longer dripping. A foul stench followed them everywhere they went, though.

    "Ennervate!" Dumbledore shouted and everyone who fainted woke up. "He's finally done it. Got himself killed," said Dumbledore and he hung his head low.

    Aunt Petunia looked ready to faint again.

    "Did you see?" she asked. "Who did it?"

    "It was a dementor," said Hermione. "Ate his soul. We slept in the forest all night." Hermione's lips were still quivering and Dumbledore looked at her oddly.

    "And you weren't hurt?" asked Professor McGonagall.

    "No. Professor, I thought when a dementor kisses you, you're supposed to become a zombie? Harry's body was still there just as they left it..."

    "Indeed, you are," said Dumbledore. "Tell me, what's that you're covered in?"

    "Troll blood," said Hermione.

    "Must have been a rather large troll," said Dumbledore slowly. "No, wait. Before you continue, tell me the entire story from beginning to end. You've beared Harry's death, slept in the forbidden forest and managed to walk all the way back here without incident. Show me the rest of your courage that Harry would want to see."

    The moment was too unreal for anyone and there was a steady stream of emotion leaking down Hermione's face.

    Harry, dead, and a foul reminder of the scene covered Ron and Hermione. A half smile appeared on Ron and Hermione's faces. Anything to make the memory of him happy, Hermione thought. She started to mention the giant spider they ran into, and how Harry had thrusted it hundreds of feet into the air, and how it died when it landed. She told them about the black figure that swiped their wands, how Harry had given Hermione his wand. She explained how Harry tried to use foresight on Mrs. Weasley and they all heard a voice saying 'Close by, yes. Come closer and they will be dead.' She told them about the black figured dashing out again and stealing the other two wands. Hermione explained about how the voice called Harry a young Dark Lord and how they fought the mountain troll including how Harry exploded it. Dumbledore stopped her before she continued.

    "Blew it up? What do you mean 'blew it up?'"

    "Exactly that," said Ron. "It just exploded. He used the Killing Curse. Boils were growing on it's skin, it was bubbling, then boom. It was rather revolting," he added, his face screwing up in disgust as he recalled it.

    "That curse is not supposed to explode it's target. Never have I heard of such a thing. It causes the target great pain, stops the heart and drains the life out of the body."

    "Well Harry's didn't do that because the heart was still beating as it flew through the air," said Hermione, feeling her throat stop up.

    "Please continue, Hermione."

    After a deep breath, she told them about the dementors. The voices they heard, how they stopped and then finally how it executed it's kiss on Harry. This had drained the last of Hermione's strength and she burst into tears again.

    "Harry did not become the undead and there is a reason for it," said Dumbledore. Everyone looked up with slight hope. "I don't know why. Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley... did you see a ghost? Did anything seem or feel out of the ordinary?"

    "No," said Ron quietly.

    Dumbledore sighed and then continued.

    "Unfortunately, the thought of bringing Harry back is not going to do anyone much good. There is no magic to restore the dead to the living..."

    "THERE HAS TO BE!" cried Hermione. "I can't... I just can't," and she surprised everyone by running over to Ron and crying on his shoulder. He put a hand around her back and the other on the back of her head.

    "This day will live forever," said Dumbledore gravely. "No one -- not in a thousand years -- will forget Harry Potter."

    Hermione turned to Mr. Dursley. "YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" she shouted.

    Hermione pounded on him as hard as she could but soon her hands became weak and she began crying on him, too. He stood dumbfounded at the sight of a fourteen year old crying like she just lost a guide in her life. Hermione stomped out of the room trying to wipe her tears. Ron chased after her.

    "Hermione," he said cajolingly. "There's nothing you, me or anyone can --"

    "No! There has to be. Harry can't die, he just can't!"

    She cried all the way up to her room. The Fat Lady didn't even ask for a password at the sight of her and Hermione didn't care school wasn't in session. She walked up to her old bed and laid down. She cried herself to sleep. The smell of dried blood still didn't bother her.

    The next morning, Hermione woke up with quite a different aura. She changed into clean Muggle clothes, set the dirty robes on fire in a glass plate and walked herself down to the library where Ron sat.

    "Hello," she said pleasantly when she saw Ron.

    "Morning, what are you here for?"

    "Oh, just looking." Ron's head moved back and he squinted.

    "What are you up to?"

    Both of them seemed to forget about the previous two days. It was either too hard to remember, or they were both too engrossed in what they were reading, but either way it was a good thing.

    "Oh, just reading, trying to take my mind off things, you know? What are you here for?"

    "Same."

    "But, Ron, you don't read."

    Ron refused to answer and Hermione wouldn't push the point.

    She snatched a few books off the shelves. "Damning Dementors," "What To Do When Your Friends Stop," "Ancient Rituals of Early 3200 B.C.," and without letting Ron see, she walked out of the library and back up to her dormitory. The burnt clothes left an even fouler stench than the unburnt ones. Hermione covered her nose and walked back out.

    Climbing out of the portrait hole of the Fat Lady, Ron bumped into her and she dropped a book.

    "'What To Do When Your Friends Stop?' Hermione..." but she didn't want to listen. She picked the book up.

    "Hey, you want to smell something nice and refreshing? Go walk into the girl's dormitory."

    Ron did, but he came back with his finger on his nose and his hand whipping the air under it.

    "Oh, good morning!" she said sarcastically and trotted back to the library.

    Hagrid was sitting there reading a book as well. He put his hand over the title as soon as Hermione sat down next to him.

    "Mornin' Hermione," he said brightly. Hermione gave him a frown and began reading. She saw Ron walk in in the corner of her eye and he began talking to Hagrid quietly.

    "Been acting weird all morning, that one," said Ron.

    "Yeh don' say?" said Hagrid gruffly. "I said 'good morning' ter her and she jus' frowns at me."

    "I wonder what books she's got there," said Ron. Hagrid frowned at Ron and put his head back into his book, as well. "A nightmare, all of you."

    "I heard that," said Hagrid and Hermione at the same time. Ron clutched his book and walked away.

    "So what yeh got there?" asked Hagrid. Hermione picked her books up and walked to another table. "Eh... Ron's right," he said to himself.

    "I heard that," Hermione said.

    Hagrid gave her a look of disgust.

    It seemed everyone in the library had their head buried in something. Hermione looked up and gazed around the room. Dumbledore, Petunia, McGonagall, Hagrid, Ron, Snape... A great black dog sat in one corner of the library. No one seemed to care it was staring at a book perched up against a wall. Every once in a while it would turn the page with it's paw. Hermione looked back down at her book, finished the page and turned it. Hermione gasped and began to read loud enough for everyone to hear.

    "Dementors are known for their kiss. Once a victim has been kissed, their soul parts from their body and they walk as soulless --"

    "SSHHHHHHHH!" someone said. Hermione would have none of this and continued to read aloud.

    "-- zombies," she said as she gave the shusher a forceful glare. "Some wizards have been able to escape this state, however." She paused as everyone stood up and looked in her direction. "There were a few, very few, who did not rise from their body. It has been said these were people who would not let go of the mortal plane." By this time, everyone had crowded around her. "It is unknown if there is any truth to such rumors. Studies have been done in trying to piece together clues as to what causes such a thing to happen or if," the book went on, and Hermione gave the next part great emphasis, "THE PROCESS CAN BE REVERSED.

    "To date, no one has been able to find the soul of a victim of a dementor so no further research could ever be done. It is known that the soul is supposed to float above it's body for several hours after it's departure." Hermione gasped.

    "That's why we weren't hurt in our sleep," Ron said. "Harry was there floating above us!"

    "Where was this?" asked a cold voice behind them.

    It was Professor Snape but his tone wasn't as cold as usual.

    "They cried themselves to sleep in the Forbidden Forest that day," said Sirius after transforming into Harry's godfather. He wanted to make sure Snape wasn't going to say anything rude.

    "Shut up, you two," snapped Hermione. Before either of them could reply, she continued to read aloud. "Forbidden rituals do exist to call upon dead spirits, but such incantations have only resulted in more deaths. This branch of magic has died through the ages. Some say it's own followers killed themselves off."

    Professor Trelawney had creeped in and had her share to say. Before she could get a word out, everyone had hushed her up. Ghosts help them if she had anything bad to say...

    "So it's true, we can bring him back!" Hermione was beside herself with tears of joy.

    "Maybe we can but we don't know how --" said Ron.

    "We just need to keep looking," said Hermione as if everything was going to be just fine.

    They looked in the library until the sun gave up, too. No one found anything. Was it a false hope? A lost wish? A dead end? She didn't seem to care. Hermione had at least ten books stacked up next to her. She floated them back to her bed and fell asleep.

    But she started to have nightmares over the next few days. She would wake up sweating and shivering at the same time. Her heart never beat faster. The dreams were always one of two episodes. In one of them, Harry got up off the ground and exploded Ron and her. He cackled madly and followed the dementors back into the depths of the forest. In the other, Harry would suddenly thrust all the dementors away and Disapparate everyone to safety. The dreams haunted her, and everyone could see her interest in reading fade away. Ron helped her until she eventually gave up after a week.

    "There's nothing, Ron," she snapped as Ron tried to show her a book aptly titled When All Hope Is Lost.

    "Fine," Ron snapped back. "Give up. But the rest of us aren't."

    She ran away and into the Great Hall. Dumbledore had succumbed to the idea of Hogwarts being occupied this summer and started up the kitchens.

    Another week passed. Hermione was very bitter towards anyone trying to show her something. People tried to show her passages from different books but she flailed her arms in digust, usually knocking the book over. Ron, however, never stopped spending at least three hours a day looking at different books. Everyone had permission to look in the Restricted Section and soon there were more books taken out from that section than the unrestricted sections. Any attempts to get Hermione to read a book resulted in her running away.

    "I give up!" shouted Hagrid late one clear blue night when the library had nearly emptied and Hermione was just there because Ron wouldn't leave Gryffindor Tower without her.

    "Finally, someone sees it my way," Hermione muttered under her breath.

    "You want him to stay dead then, don't you?" Ron hissed at her. "You were the one who read that bit about the possibility of bringing him back. You do want him back, don't you? You don't want him dead anymore? Dead, like the way his body is, lying there in the forest now, probably all cut up by all sorts of foul creatures? Because that's what he is, you know, dead. Should go back and take a picture of it and stick in the Wizarding Dictionary of the Twentieth Century under the word 'dead' because it's a perfect description --"

    "Shut up, Ron!" Hermione shouted hotly and a bunch of heads turned to look at her. "You're not helping!"

    "At least I'm doing something."

    And Hermione stormed out of the library to Gryffindor Tower.

    "It's just too much for her," said Ron quietly to Sirius who was sitting next to him.

    The library had cleared out and when Hagrid left leaving only Ron, Dumbledore and Sirius, Sirius transformed into a human.

    "Can't blame her," Sirius replied.

    "Yeah," said Ron even more quietly, in such a low voice that Sirius could barely hear him, "can't blame her... I don't know why I'm looking anymore," he said, his voice becoming slightly more audible. "I guess it's just because I still can't believe it."

    "Tell me about it," said Sirius, glancing sidelong at Ron.

    "I guess it's just habit, we've been at this for so damn long..."

    One afternoon after dinner, Hermione sat down in the library again but still refused to read. Ron tried to show her some books.

    "Leave me alone, Ron!" she said.

    "Hermione, if you don't find anything, no one else is going to. Dumbledore seems to think we're wasting our time."

    "I looked for one week straight! I've been having nightmares!" She started crying. "I can't take it anymore, I can't do it." She sat down on a chair and put her head into her arms but was still looking at Ron through the corner of her eye.

    "Nightmares?"

    "Yes, nightmares! Of Harry... I dreamed he would get back up and kill us or would send the dementors flying and we'd all be safe. Do you know what that's like, to see that night after night?" She was hysterical in tears. Ron took a book off a nearby shelf, looked at it, opened it to read part of a page and walked out. Hermione sat there the rest of the night.

    The next morning the library was full again but this time everyone was surrounding Ron. No one had woken Hermione up, Ron must've asked them to leave her alone; she was thankful. Her hands felt very wet (everyone needs a good cry). Hermione stood up, wiped away a few new tears and walked over to Ron. Everyone was reading a copy of the same book very intently. Dumbledore was seated at a table by himself where he made a fresh copy of the book if anyone asked.

    "Ron," she whispered, but he flailed his arms to make her shut up. She spotted another copy of the book, grabbed it and sat down at her chair. The book was titled, "The Undead: How To Take Out The 'Un'" but before she could open the book, Ron began shouting.

    "I FOUND IT!" he bellowed.

Hermione had been the only one that gave up searching, it would appear. Ron must have been up late nights looking in the library. He was always so slow to find what he needed, Hermione thought miserably...

    "A dementor's kiss is not final," Ron went on. "In early 6000 B.C., the first dementors were discovered. The first victim was a young baby. The body never rose out of it's place of death to torment others. It was thought with this first victim that dementors simply killed their victims. Then not-forbidden rituals allowed it's practicers to revive the baby from the dead. Since then, however, out of millions of victims, there were only two more counts of such a phenomenon. One in early 3200 B.C. and one in --" Ron's voice stopped dead.

    "What? What is it?" asked Hermione.

    "-- July of some time in 1990 A.D.," and he stopped again.

    "Continue reading, Ron," said Dumbledore, his eyes sparkling behind his half-moon spectacles.

    "The ritual to perform the revivification of the baby has been lost in time. Old scriptures report it nearly destroyed an entire civilization. Thousands of lives were lost during the process and the target died (or more correctly, exploded) mere minutes later. The only record of said ritual is the Book of Memories. It is said this describes the process but has not ever been seen. Some say the book is just a rumor. Some say it never existed. Countless others say it was destroyed during the ritual."

    Ron looked up at Dumbledore.

    "What?" said Dumbledore, smiling innocently. "You cannot tell me that you didn't think the news of Harry would spread like wildfire. While the two of you were absorbed in reading, that book was released three days after Harry's death. I was sent a copy of it by the scribes themselves."

    "But..." Hermione said, waiting for Professor Dumbledore to finish her sentence.

    "...but there is no trace of the Book of Memories. I'm afraid --"

    "THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE GOT OUR HOPES UP!" she bellowed.

    Hermione stormed out of the library and ran to Hagrid's hut for no reason in particular other than to just stare into the forest, hoping against hope that something would present itself. She took a seat on the grass and stared at the forest. Someone was going to come out and bother her, she thought to herself. And someone did.

    Something white, five feet in length and a foot high streaked across her view through the dense trees of the forest. Hermione thought nothing of it and went back on staring. She looked left. There it was again. This time it was five feet tall and a foot wide and it was going upwards. A ghostly voice echoed out of the forest but the words were indistinguishable. She stood up and walked closer to get a better look. Something cold came over her and a strong wind pushed her back. She turned around to sit back down... but Ron was there.

    "Did -- did you see that?" said Hermione, pointing where she saw the ghost.

    "See what?"

    "Oh. Nothing. Nevermind," Hermione said, trying to hide it.

    "Professor Dumbledore was hoping you wouldn't react like that."

    "Hoped? He --" but Ron but his hand on her mouth, grabbed her shoulder and walked her back to the Gryffindor common room.

    "Do you want to get the Book of Memories?"

    "Do I want to? Of course I do!"

    "Then listen. Sirius sent me an owl with a letter saying where it might be." Hermione lit up light a new candle.

    "Can I tell you something first?"

    "Sure, go ahead."

    "Just now when I asked you if you saw it too, obviously it wasn't nothing." Ron looked at her funny. "I saw something white. Something long and thin and white moving around in the forest. I heard some voices but couldn't make them out."

    "Well then, let's go back and take a look, shall we?"

    The two of them ran like bats out of class, out through the commons, down the marble staircase and bolted through the door and skidded to a halt in front of the forest. There it was again. The white, long figure was moving around in the forest.

    "That's it! There it is!" said Hermione pointing at it as it repeatedly vanished and reappeared.

    "There it is, but what is it?" The figure zoomed close to them and shot back into the forest very quickly. "H-Harry?"

    Ron walked up to stand on the very edge of the forest. Something forced him back. He walked back to where he was standing. The white figure stood in front of him but was faceless and expressionless. It seemed ethereal as it stood in front of Ron. It's arms stuck straight out. It was wearing a cloak and the sleeves waved like flags. It looked Ron straight in the eye, he stood unable to move.

    And then he passed out.

    The ghost disappeared.

    Ron's mouth moved before his eyes opened. "Harry. It is Harry. But why --"

    "Why did he prevent Ron from entering the forest?" It was Dumbledore. Ron got gingerly to his feet and looked at him. "Yes, I saw the ghost just this morning. It, too, stared me in the eye and I passed out. For what reason, I can only guess. Harry is trying to prevent us from going inside."

    "Professor Dumbledore, the Book of Mem-" started Hermione.

    "-- And I also know about the letter from Sirius. It would be very unwise to try such an old and dangerous ritual... which is why I will be taking extra precautions." The two of them smiled brightly hardly able to contain their glee. "The first order of business is to find the book... and I think we are going to get some help with that."

    Hermione and Ron jumped as something cold passed over them. The ghost was standing behind them facing Dumbledore. It flew straight into Ron and Hermione and they fell to the ground in a cold sweat.

    They woke up a minute later to find themselves somewhere pitch black. Their wands had been returned to them.

    "Lumos," said Ron and the tip of his wand emitted a bit of light.

    The situation, however, couldn't have been worse. They might as well have been killed with Harry. Hundreds of dementors stood around them but did not move. There was a single chest in the middle of the cave they stood in. Dark, damp and smelling like rotted flesh, the obvious stood out. As soon as they opened the chest, the dementors would swarm.

    "Ron, did you ever find out that anti-dementor charm Lupin taught Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling.

    "No. You?" They stood back to back looking up at all of them.

    "I got a better question." Ron gulped. "How the bloody hell do we get out of here?"

    It looked very hopeless. Neither of them could Apparate, but as long as they didn't open the chest, they were safe.

    "You didn't think I'd leave you for dead, did you?" something spoke to them.

    "Harry!" said Ron and Hermione happily in unison.

    "Open the chest, grab what's inside and close your eyes."

    Hermione opened it and she read the cover of what was inside. Inside it was a book. The book.

    The Book of Memories.