Worth a Thousand Words

Weekends were wonderful. They gave her time to make sure she had studied enough for all her classes without (usually) being tempted to steal an extra hour with her Time-Turner to finish everything. Hermione touched the chain at her throat and turned a page in yet another book. She was so tired -- she wasn't even sure she'd have noticed the extra weariness from the Dementors if she hadn't read about it.

The cold, sick feeling in her stomach was harder to miss, though, and while the chocolate had driven away the direct effects, she still felt it in the nagging worry that she wasn't going to be able to do enough....

Hermione caught herself staring at the slim volumes of student photographic records. There were pictures in the main student records, along with the biographical information about their time at Hogwarts and notes on what they'd done afterwards, so she'd been a little surprised to find that there was a quick reference for what all the students in a given year looked like. The introductory passage in the oldest one suggested that the Headmaster at the time had been as fascinated with photography as... as Colin Creevey.

She stood up slowly, leaving the stacks of works on Dark creatures, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Azkaban's history on a table and going to pull out a volume from the 1970s. Gryffindor. B. Wrong year. She should remember the year.

The next one was correct, and Sirius Black -- looking far different indeed from the long-haired apparition with the empty eyes who'd appeared in the Daily Prophet -- beamed up at her from the page.

She stared down at him accusingly. He looked puzzled.

She shut the book as fast as she could without making a noise and shoved it back onto the shelf.

Whirling back to the table brought her face-to-face with Tom Riddle.

"I think you've got most of the relevant books," he said by way of greeting, "but I think I found a few more. Pity we can't get into the Restricted Section, I'm sure there's plenty there."

"Probably." She looked wistfully in the direction of the front desk. "If we don't find enough here, I'm going to ask Professor Lupin if he'll give me a note -- and if he won't, I might ask Madam Pince anyway. The worst she can do is remind me I have to have a note... I think."

"Just as long as... well, I'd rather Ginny and Harry not find out about this.... Ginny already has all those brothers being protective. I don't want her to think I don't think she can take care of herself, it's just... maybe this time she can't."

Hermione nodded. "Well, I won't tell them. I wasn't going to mention I was looking until I'd found something that would do some good, at least. I won't mention it to her."

"Thanks. Have you found anything? I wish I'd been able to hear the incantation Professor Dumbledore used, but I was all the way across the pitch. Now that was impressive."

"That I found -- in a seventh-year Defense textbook that apparently hasn't been used for forty years, but I think that's because the list of countercurses was out of date and they stopped putting in new editions. I'm sure it's in several of the newer ones as well, at least I should hope so, but perhaps they don't expect anyone to need it who isn't working with --"

Hermione cut herself off mid-sentence. Too much. "Well, it still ought to be right. 'Expecto Patronum.' The book said it's beyond most wizards even when they finish their regular training, but I haven't found anything on how they control them at Azkaban and we really should be able to manage it, I'd hope...."

"Expecto Patronum," Tom said thoughtfully. "That's all? Does it need an unusual amount of power behind it, or...? If it's beyond our capacity right now there's not much we can do." He flipped through the old textbook. "Oh, I remember this one. Didn't get that far in the last time I looked at it... ah, here. 'Concentrate on a happy memory.' With Dementors around? No wonder it's advanced. That'd take serious control."

"Yes. That's probably the hardest part, I should think. I believe it also does take a good deal more power than most charms. It's still worth trying, though, isn't it?" The amount of power required for a spell had never seemed to be the problem, though Hermione was sure that could very well be because none of the coursework required the high-energy ones. Obviously it mattered sometimes.

"I'll try just about anything," Tom said. "We should keep looking for alternatives, though, just in case."

"I am," said Hermione. "Thus Azkaban: A History -- which is much less interesting reading than Hogwarts: A History no matter what anybody says -- Misuse of Magic and the Consequences Thereof, Administrative Proceedings of the Prison System, The Confinement of Magic, and The Draining of Souls. I'm not at all sure that last one shouldn't be in the restricted section, either."

"Hogwarts: A History really is fascinating. They might want to come up with a more exciting title for a revised edition, though; it doesn't seem to get checked out very often. Or didn't, anyway. I've got The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, don't know how much help it'll be but I'd already checked it out trying to catch up on history, and The Shadow and the Grave, which is another one that should probably be restricted, but lucky us."

"I thought that last one was about attempts to become immortal."

"That's the first volume. The second describes various kinds of creatures that aren't dead but should be, or are dead but haven't noticed, or aren't either. Some of them are the results of the processes alluded to in the first volume, I think."

Hermione firmly bit her tongue before she could ask whether Voldemort was in either one. She was occasionally capable of tact, although it was harder to remember when she would have preferred to be asleep. "I should have paid more attention. I thought there were two copies; I suppose it meant two volumes."

"The spines were pretty dusty." Tom didn't mention what the last name on the index cards inside the books had been, although his own handwriting had been yet another nasty shock on a day already full of them.

She nodded. "Well... the most mention of Dementors in Hogwarts: A History is actually that Slytherin was good at dealing with them, though there doesn't seem to be any detail on how he dealt with them."

"Well, that's something, anyway." Although he wasn't sure what. He flipped through The Shadow and the Grave, wishing Morton Umbre had thought to include an index. "This mentions 'methods of control known to the elect,' but... either the author wasn't one of the elect, or was and assumed either the reader already knew or didn't need to."

Hermione glanced over at Tom uncomfortably and picked up The Confinement of Magic again. "It might be classified, I suppose, which would be inconvenient." She tried not to yawn. "I'm trying the ones that look, er, least nightmarish to begin with."

Tom nodded. "I'll start at the other end, then, so we don't overlap right away." He eyed her curiously. "Are you all right? You look exhausted. How close did they get to you?"

"Oh -- I'm fine. Not terribly close at all. I've just been very busy this week." And every other week.

"Mm. Ginny said you seemed to be taking a lot of classes." He quirked an eyebrow. "Trying to break anyone's exam records, by any chance?"

Hermione's first thought was that she had to be more careful. Her second was the impulse for an indignant denial... but then, she couldn't truthfully say it hadn't crossed her mind, so she smiled a bit sheepishly. "There are just so many interesting things to study -- but now that you mention it...."

"That's okay, I am too. I figure I ought to be able to do better at classes than Voldemort if I'm not doing all that Dark Magic on the side."

"Or looking for secret chambers behind the plumbing in the girls' toilets?"

"Is that where it is? How embarrassing. I wonder if it's the same one I went into accidentally when I got lost my first week."

"I don't know. I imagine they could have changed things around since then."

Hermione felt more alert suddenly as she found a list of the instructions and restrictions placed on the Dementors of Azkaban -- but on turning to the appropriate page, she found that while the information would probably be very useful if she ever wanted to walk through Azkaban without being Kissed or otherwise getting too close to its guards, there were no details on the particular spells.

Tom turned a page and made a face. "Ugh. Well, there's not much in here on controlling them, but if you're curious about where they come from...."

Hermione looked up at him dubiously, "Should I be?" Curiosity won out, though. "It might have some clue in it...."

"Well, some arise spontaneously from places where there was a great deal of suffering and despair -- actually as spirits, and then they possess the nearest dead body. If you're Kissed by one, though, after what's left of you dies it becomes one as well."

Hermione remembered the dark blots converging on Harry and shuddered. "That's not very promising," she said in a nearly normal tone of voice. "It sounds as if the natural spells to control them would probably be necromantic."

"And therefore probably Dark, which is something I'd... really rather avoid. Still, the Patronus Charm isn't, so maybe there's something else along those lines. I wonder if that was an offshoot of something else, or... the end product of a line of research that included other spells -- related ones might be useful."

"That would be good -- I don't recall anything like the Patronus, but I do know there are spells to get rid of zombies, vampires -- I think there's a way to banish ghosts, though I shouldn't think that would work on a creature without a soul, would you? Then again, if they eat them...." She tried to imagine an abruptly starved Dementor and failed utterly.

"If we banish the souls it's already eaten, that'd probably make it hungrier, and we want to make it go away, not hang around thinking we're a buffet." He picked up the old Defense textbook again. "This doesn't really say much about what a Patronus is. If it's some kind of spirit, maybe there's a related one that's easier to call... and probably less effective, but even if it only buys time to run...."

Hermione set Confinement down and shut her eyes for a moment. Glowing silver, happy memory.... "It reminds me a little of some descriptions of a Pensieve. Of course, I can't think of any way to use one against Dementors even if we had one...."

"Unless the happy memories in the Pensieve would be like... holy water to vampires, or something. But Pensieves are a bit expensive to be playing around with -- or at least they were. Always thought they were interesting, though, and -- um." He bit off 'I'd wondered if there were a less expensive way to record memory.' Rather obviously he'd found one in his other life, but best not to go there.

"They still are. Maybe I should look up what the liquid is...." Hermione wrote "Pensieve liquid" under "Many spells may be necromantic." Her parchment promptly blanked itself.

Tom blinked at the parchment. "That's handy. Wish I'd had something like that my first year; I ended up keeping my notes in my head, because otherwise they'd get stolen."

"Biberis Atramentum, with a password if you think anyone else might try disenchanting your blank parchment," Hermione murmured. "I suppose Harry and Ron could guess I'd be interested but...." She shrugged.

Tom nodded, but when he opened his mouth to reply it turned into a cavernous yawn. "Er. Sorry. More tired than I thought. When would be convenient for you to meet in an empty classroom and see if we can get the Patronus to work?"

Hermione thought fleetingly about early tomorrow morning and discarded the idea at once. She wasn't at all sure she could wake up "early," and that wouldn't do at all. "After breakfast tomorrow, maybe?"

"I've got Quidditch practice tomorrow morning, but I'll have an hour or so before that should work." He thought for a moment. "Do you know the room two doors down from that squeaky suit of armor on the second floor? It was the Defense classroom when I started, but nobody seems to use it now -- I was late for my first lesson this year because I went there by mistake. We could use that."

"It does sound appropriate. Was Professor Lupin very annoyed?"

"No, actually -- I thought he would be, but apparently they moved the classroom when he was at school. Kind of an odd moment there, though."

Hermione put her chin on her hand and stared down at the book again. "I found a picture of Sirius Black from when he was in school. Every now and then I realize I'm still not completely used to wizarding pictures. He looked offended."

"It's hard to imagine anyone like that was ever a kid at school. It seems like they should just appear fully-grown somewhere." He chuckled dryly. "And don't think I'm unaware of the irony there."

And a picture from Tom's first year would probably look just as confused and offended if someone glared at it as the one from Black's seventh year had. That would explain the reaction. "You hardly could be -- though apparently that's the impression he wanted to give, come to think of it."

"A successful impression, going by Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. And from what he said... that first night, it rather sounds mostly like he was ashamed of -- well, me. And I suppose it's easier to be terrifying the less people actually know about you."

"Possibly." She turned the page and glanced up. "You don't seem like anything to be ashamed of to me. Mind, I'd imagine a Dark wizard would have a different idea of that."

"Oh, I've gone to great lengths to continue to be something Voldemort would be ashamed of," Tom said, but sighed. "It seemed like a much safer idea when his right-hand man wasn't wandering about."

"No doubt." Hermione laughed suddenly, drawing a have-you-lost-your-mind look from Tom. "I just thought -- if Ginny does happen to get upset about your researching Dementors, ask her why she's been reading up on hexes."

"Ginny's been researching hexes? Was this before or after the chameleons?"

She locked eyes with him. "Ron and I had mentioned if Black came after Harry and was paying attention to him, we'd try to attack from the side if we had the chance. She started this after the first rumor we heard about how Black might be looking for you to remake Voldemort."

"Ah." He smiled a bit self-consciously. "Well... that's good to know."

"She's experimenting with the possibility of conjuring a Ton-Tongue Toffee into someone's mouth. On the theory that this would make it very hard to cast spells."

"Undoubtedly. She might use a variant of 'Waddiwasi,' or at least use that as a place to start." He chuckled. "It would also be useful in case of, ah, 'banshee shrieking,' I believe is how she put it."

"As I'm fairly sure I'd have noticed if there were a banshee next door -- what?"

"One is. Or the next best thing, anyway, according to Ginny. Her roommate, erm, Briana Moran? The blonde who only seems to shut up in Potions, and then only when Snape's glaring at her."

Hermione made a note to have words with Briana. Gryffindor lost enough points in Potions without actively trying. "I haven't talked to her that much."

"According to Ginny she's not best pleased one of her roommates insists on being seen in public to be on friendly terms with a Slytherin. We're all vile, you see."

Hermione refrained from observing that she would probably have agreed with this last year, at least while conscious. "...Not a terribly unusual opinion, I'm afraid."

Tom snorted. "Well, it's not completely inaccurate; certainly there are more than a few fairly despicable Slytherins. But you don't see me going around calling all Gryffindors impulsive idiots, do you?"

"Well, not that I've heard, and I'm sure Ginny would have lost her temper with you by now." She smiled wryly. "I haven't always been very polite about your House, I'm afraid, but I do know better now. And for all some people say about which ones go bad...." She sighed. "Black was in Gryffindor."

"Huh. That I hadn't heard."

"I looked him up. The articles now keep saying how he killed thirteen people with a single curse. What they don't mention is that he was the one Harry's parents trusted to hide them."

"The articles may not mention it, but Malfoy knew. Couldn't wait to tell us all about it." Tom paused. "Does Harry know? I don't know if I should tell him, it seems like he'd... do something rash."

Hermione winced. "He knows. I told him."

Tom nodded, his face stony. "I hope they catch him soon. Even if it is Dementors. They must have loved him like a brother, to trust him that much, and he just threw them away."

"I can't even imagine...." Hermione sighed. "I hope they catch him before he finds Harry... or you... or Harry finds him."

"I can." Tom frowned. "Anyway, tomorrow after breakfast, then? We should probably each of us take some time tonight to think of happy memories to use, but I think we've about exhausted the library for now."

Hermione stifled a yawn and nodded, beginning to sort the books back into order. "I'll see you then. I think I have a few ideas...."

"Right." Tom paused in the middle of gathering his share of the books. "You sure you don't want to sleep in? I've got free time after Quidditch practice as well."

"After breakfast is just fine," Hermione said firmly. She couldn't go having a lie-in; she still had other work to do. "I'll just be going to bed a little early, tonight."

"All right. Just remember, you'll never beat any exam records if you're too tired to hold the quill." He grinned and walked over to Madam Pince's desk to check out.

"Hmph," Hermione said softly to the books before making her own way to the front desk. She did hope he was only teasing and didn't really suspect. Had Tom Riddle ever had a Time Turner? Not his first year, of course, but... later? Perhaps he knew about them, though most people didn't.

But that wasn't the important thing, really.

The important thing was to be able to do something about the Dementors.