Life as I Knew It

Chapter 27--Second Nature

Pansy quickly got ready, then she rushed to the Gryffindor Tower to find Hermione. This Hermione routinely skipped breakfast as she was constantly "watching her weight." Pansy knocked on the portrait, which the Fat Lady did not like at all. She waited for someone to answer while the Fat Lady muttered about how she had stood guard there for hundreds of years and had never encountered a more inconsiderate twit, and the nerve of some girls. Eventually, Hermione did open the portrait hole and, delighted, invited Pansy inside.

Hermione ushered her into a seat. "Oh my god, I was just thinking how I haven't seen Pansy in, like, forever! And here you are!"

"Right. We ate lunch together yesterday." Hermione opened her mouth, her face shining with perkiness, and Pansy decided to cut her off early. "It's not important. Listen, I need your help with something. I have to do some library research, and I was hoping you would come with me."

"Really? Me? I'm not really good at that kind of stuff." Hermione twirled her slick, polished hair around her finger. "Maybe you should ask someone else."

Pansy took her by the hand and pulled her toward the entrance. "I think you'll do. It's probably a lot easier than you realize."

Hermione followed her obediently. They walked in silence down three flights of stairs. The whole while Pansy was trying to exude reality from her body, which was just as hard as it sounds. It had never really worked that way before. In fact, it had always been pretty random when people returned to their former selves. That didn't stop Pansy from trying though.

"So," Hermione said as they walked into the library. "What are you researching?"

Pansy bit her lip. "Actually, I need to find out everything there is to know about Daphne Greengrass. Including her family history, pets, everything." The problem was Pansy had no idea where to start.

Hermione looked a little confused by this quest, but apparently she decided not to ask any questions. "Okay, well, I guess we should start at the card catalog."

Pansy had not known that there was a card catalog, nor did she know exactly what one was. Whenever she had done research in the past, she had just used the sources listed in her textbooks' indexes. "Right, no, obviously. Er, lead the way."

Hermione happily headed toward a... large wooden dresser. It looked hideously complicated, but Hermione just started uttering spells and suddenly slips of paper were flying from the drawers. Pansy assumed these were the infamous cards. Hermione handed over a stack. "These are all the books about Greengrasses or written by Greengrasses." Then she handed Pansy one last card. "I would start with this one on genealogy, so that you can determine her relationship to each of these. Then you'll know which books are more relevant. God, this is fun!"

It had finally worked; she had turned someone back out of sheer will. Or it was a happy coincidence. Maybe it was bringing Hermione back to her natural habitat that had done it. All Pansy knew was that if she played her cards right, Hermione might end up doing all the research for her. "Would you like to help me find this book?"

Hermione snatched the card from Pansy's hand and jogged to the stacks on the west wall. Pansy had trouble keeping up, and before she even got there, Hermione was heading back with the book tucked under her arm.

An hour later, Hermione had laid all the cards out in a web that correlated to the one they found in the genealogy book. There were no books about Daphne, which did not come as a surprise, but there were two books that referenced her father. Unfortunately, they were both in the Restricted Section. "Now what?" Pansy asked.

Hermione shrugged. "We could try talking to Madam Pince. She's kinda nice."

Pansy did not know if that was another change that had occurred, or if it was really that Hermione was so studious that the librarian actually was nice to her under normal circumstances. She followed Hermione up to Madam Pince's desk.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, we were wondering if we could look at a book in the Restricted Section."

The librarian looked down at them, as hard-faced and cruel as always. "I don't think so."

"Please," Hermione pleaded. "It's not for us; it's for Moonshyne. She's fallen awfully ill, and she couldn't come down here to get the book for herself. But you see, she really needs it."

Pansy tried to pretend she wasn't in shock, but honestly, who knew Hermione Granger was capable of such manipulation.

Madam Pince squinted her eyes. "You tell me what book it is and I'll get it for your friend."

Hermione looked down at the top card in her hand. "Unspeakable Deeds by Anonymous. Here's the card." She handed it over to the woman.

With a "humph," Pince was off to the Restricted Section. "I can't believe that worked," Pansy whispered.

"Yeah, no one ever refuses Moonshyne anything. It's kind of weird. Oh, and I'm sorry I was only able to get the one book."

"No." Pansy waved her hand. "That's better than nothing. So, Unspeakable Deeds? I wonder what he did."

"He's probably an Unspeakable," Hermione said as if it was the most obvious conclusion to draw. "All the books that really deal with Unspeakable studies are restricted. No one but other Unspeakables are really supposed to see them."

Right, well now that Hermione said it, it did seem rather obvious. Pansy tried not to let her embarrassment show. The librarian was coming back now with a large, shiny book in tow.

She laid it in Hermione's hands and glared at Pansy. "Be sure to take this straight to Moonshyne," she said. She turned her back on them without another word.

Hermione started walking as though in a trace. She held the book gingerly. "Do you have any idea what's in this book? The kind of knowledge at our fingertips. Oh, Pansy,..." She glanced at her companion. "Pansy?" she said, confused.

Oddly enough, Pansy had actually forgotten that she and Hermione were not really friends. Any second now, Hermione might really remember things, the way Draco had, and then she would leave, probably taking the book with her. "I just need to know what it says about Daphne's father, and then you can read it to your heart's content."

"Right." Hermione looked down at the book again. "Well, we can't read it here because we told Pince it was for Moonshyne."

"My room's just down the hall," Pansy said. She was eager to get on with it, although she could not be sure that this book would hold any answers about Daphne.

Hermione followed Pansy to the room and took a seat on the bed. Then she opened the book with awe. Her eyes scanned the table of contents, hungrily taking in every word.

"There's an entire chapter here about him. It's one of the last ones." Hermione pointed. "Chapter 79: Greengrass and Fausnight." She turned to the starting page.

"In modern day, there are two Unspeakables who stand out among the rest," Hermione read aloud. "Orpheus Greengrass and Morgana Fausnight have been partners in the Department of Mysteries since their days in training. Unlike most of the other great Unspeakable of yesteryear, Greengrass and Fausnight have worked in several fields within the realm of Unspeakable mysteries. In the past twenty years, their greatest contributions have been in the fields of Time, Brainpower, and Prophesy, specifically as each relates to the subfield of Memory. Recently they have also turned their attention to the subject of Death."

This was clicking in Pansy's brain. "Is there any more about Memory?"

"Oh, yes," Hermione responded. "Apparently they are the first Unspeakables to make major advancements in the field since the 18^th century. And they aren't just famous in England. It says that internationally, they are considered the greatest Unspeakables living today."

"Wow," said Pansy. "That's..." Her awe lessened. "It's revisionist history, isn't it? Snape is nice, and you're a vapid twit, and Daphne's father is the greatest man to every grace England with his citizenship. Still... that has to mean something, right?"

"I am not a twit," Hermione said indignantly. She grabbed up the book and marched out of the room. Pansy did not even bother to call for her to stop. It did not matter anyway. A few more details on Mr. Greengrass's work with Memory would have been nice, but all the pieces were there, and she was ready to talk to Daphne.