Free Will and Fate

Hermione sat with the book of counter spells balanced on her lap, a few choice curse words coming out every few minutes in between spells that had no affect on the parchment in her hand. Harry had given up attempting to help her with the task and settled into reading the pages of Dumbledore's collected notes. Hermione was determined to do it herself, even if she had to look through every spell book in the library before she was through. He didn't have the heart to suggest that it might be something only a Death Eater could open, something connected to the Dark Mark.

"Oh, honestly!" Harry looked up at Hermione's outburst. "Ignore me. I'm going to try something stupid." Pointing her wand at the parchment, she said, "Imperio. Specialis Revelio." As they watched, the parchment began to glow a bright blue, almost blinding in its intensity. The glow receded after a few seconds. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Hermione said, "Specialis Terminus," and the glow faded completely. Leaning closer, Harry saw that words were appearing on the suddenly aged parchment line by line, similar to the way Tom Riddle had responded to his writing in the diary.

Hermione frowned as the parchment filled with writing. "Why would anyone put a concealment requiring an Unforgivable Curse on a piece of parchment?"

Harry shrugged. "Because no one would ever think to try it."

She glared at him.

"Relax, Hermione. You did a great job."

She sighed and lay her head back on the sofa. "It just seems entirely too simple now that I think about it. It's like a password. Why didn't I try that before?"

"Honestly?" he asked. "Because it seemed too simple. You never take the easy way out of things."

"I'm going to pretend that was a compliment." She lifted the parchment to eye level and squinted at the small writing. "The bottom of this looks like a potion. All that work for this?" She dropped the page to her lap. "Maybe it was all a waste of time."

"I doubt it. Whatever it is, it's not invaluable. Snape and Bellatrix want it back badly for a reason." He picked up the parchment and began reading out loud. "The Key to Displaced Soul Restoration. Though there have been several experiments, none can be proven...effective," Harry read, squinting at the slanting writing. "This is the closest approximation of a Restoration Potion, but cannot be considered definitive. Some of the ingredients must be specific to the intended soul. Particular care must be given to the amount of blood and the purity of the source, which may determine the success of fusion. Experiments may be performed on ghosts to...I can't read the next few words."

Hermione stared at him briefly before snatching the paper from his hand. "This doesn't make any sense," she said, scanning the page. "Experimenting on a ghost? I didn't think there was any magic that could bring back the dead."

"There isn't as far as anyone knows. The parchment says it's not definitive," Harry said. "All of these notes are full of stuff relating to Voldemort. He's not really dead. He's not even really in spirit form. I don't know what he is." Harry eyed the parchment again. "Maybe Dumbledore thought experimenting on a ghost was okay because they can't feel it. Besides, if it can work on a soul belonging to a truly dead person--"

"It can work on You-Know-Who," Hermione supplied. "Then what was all the stuff in here about soul division and," she glanced at the page Harry had been reading, "the benefits of blood protection?"

Harry shrugged and shuffled the notes, putting them back in order. "I think Dumbledore might have been trying to figure out how Voldemort could come back after what he tried to do to Neville. In my time, he seemed quite interested in how Voldemort had gotten another body after Cedric was killed. All of it is related somehow."

"And we're sure Dumbledore wasn't trying to figure out how to bring him back himself?"

"Hermione, you can't be serious. That's the last thing anyone would want. Anyone who isn't a Death Eater."

She threw up her hands in frustration. "Well, I'm sorry, Harry. After all you've told me this week, I really don't know who can be trusted and who can't. It seems anyone could have a dark side," she said quietly. Hermione picked up the Key again. "I mean, look at this list of ingredients. Bone of a blood relative, preferably a close relation; Elixir of Life, Unicorn Blood, Re'em Blood, in equal amounts; human elements are optional. I assume that means some kind of body part or something." She frowned in distaste.

"Dragon's blood, wolfsbane, concentrated mandrake draught, sacrifice of a familiar, pure blood imbued with ancient magic, asphodel in an infusion of wormwood and valerian roots. This is disgusting, Harry. Who experiments with the kind of ingredients in this potion? What kind of person would know how this stuff goes together and be willing to experiment on an innocent soul to see if it worked?"

Harry didn't want to admit to Hermione that her questions were unnerving, but he couldn't help wondering if she could be right. It was one thing to want to prevent Voldemort from coming into a physical body and restarting his campaign to rule the Wizarding world, it was quite another to outline a way in which he could do it and let the instructions fall into the hands of a few of his followers. He hoped there was no chance Dumbledore was involved with Death Eaters, under the Imperius Curse or otherwise, but he had no way of knowing that to be true. He had been a great Headmaster at Hogwarts, but was he equally protective of the Wizarding public once he'd gained power as Minister?

Rather than admit to Hermione that he was concerned, he asked, "Could any of these ingredients be used for other potions? He does admit at the top of the page that this is all just a lot of guesswork. Maybe he was thinking of what could be used as a worse-case scenario. Combinations of other things." He knew he was reaching with that assessment and didn't blame Hermione when she gave him a skeptical look.

"I...suppose. There are twelve uses for dragon's blood. Dumbledore is certainly familiar with all of them," she added unnecessarily. She scanned the list of ingredients again. "I think asphodel and valerian roots are used in a potion together, but I can't place which one right now. I think it's in a more advanced book than the one we're using in class now. Maybe I can find out more about it in the library. I don't see why I should bother though." Hermione cast a pointed glance at Harry.

"This takes over a week to make, according to the instructions," Harry said. He read over the sheet again until he found a line he'd read earlier. "Plus, it can't be completed until the full moon. That's almost 3 weeks away. If this is a part of their plans, we can tell if Bellatrix or Snape are beginning to make this if they're gathering the other ingredients. I'm sure collecting some of this stuff in their offices or living quarters would be easy to track, at least by us. It's not really common to have a lot of this stuff lying around, is it?"

Hermione continued to look skeptical, but she didn't say anything as she placed the Key on top of the other notes.

"My guess is, they can start preparing for it without this, but they can't finish it without the instructions at the bottom. Snape has a good mind for potions," Harry said, "but even he couldn't remember all of these complicated instructions if he's never made it before."

Hermione shook her head and sighed heavily. "If any portion of this is experimental guesswork, why wouldn't Snape just try to make up his own potion? From what you said, he could probably do it."

"I don't know, but if you were him, would you want to experiment with Voldemort's soul with no idea if it would work? This has never been done before. There's no telling what could happen."

"I don't even want to think about it anymore." She rubbed both hands across her eyes. "Can we get out of here for tonight?" She raised her arms over her head and stretched her back. "I have a couple of essays I want to get out of the way before we start on this again tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's go back to the common room. I'm surprised more people in our House haven't commented that we're hardly ever around," Harry said. "Ron certainly noticed when I didn't come back to sleep in the dorm."

"Oh, people have noticed," Hermione said. She stood from the sofa and shrank the stack of parchment Harry held in his hand. "I heard a few spare comments from Parvati about how little sleep I must be getting since I'm so busy. I don't think she was talking about how much homework we have."

Harry smiled. "You never know. With you, she might have been."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to look around the room. "I always feel like I'm leaving something behind or forgetting something in here. I don't know." She turned back to Harry. "What are you going to tell Draco about the parchment? Does he really want to know what his father's up to? Can we trust him not to say anything? We don't have to tell him about your situation."

"No," Harry said without hesitating. "I don't want to tell him the truth. About any of it. Chances are good that if his aunt and father are involved, he's likely to be on their side. I don't care if he and I are supposed to be friends. Besides, Bellatrix mentioned him when she was talking about how to get to me."

"She probably only did that because he's your friend."

"I'll never know if that's true." Because you interrupted whatever she was saying, Harry thought. When Hermione frowned, he wondered, not for the first time, if she could read his mind. "I still don't understand why they haven't come after me again or gone through my things."

"I should think it would be obvious," Hermione said. "It'd be one thing if you were attacked at King's Cross, but Hogwarts is far too secure for someone from outside the school to come after you. That leaves other students and professors as suspects. Professor Snape wouldn't be able to cover it up if he or Professor Lestrange did anything to you here. Your mom would never let anything happen to you without investigating it till the end. Never mind that Professor McGonagall would try to find the truth as well, especially now that she knows he's after you. And Dumbledore...wait, are you still planning on telling him what we found?"

Harry paused for a moment. "No. You were right." Hermione smiled smugly after he said this. "I don't know about him. Either he gave them this information, though I hate to believe that, or he let it get stolen. If he was careless with it in some way, that means he doesn't realize how close it is to being used. I can't take that chance. And it's too complicated to explain how we came across everything."

"He's not going to think we stole it, not if I'm right."

"Right about what exactly?"

"Remember when I said I had an idea what the parchment might be? The Minister has had Magical Law Enforcement inspectors searching all over for weeks. They were stopping people outside Gringotts branches from here to France, conducting raids at people's homes, all kinds of things. I can't remember exactly, but there was something taken from somewhere inside the Ministry. I wrote to the Daily Prophet to ask for a few back issues. They described the searches in the paper, but I can't remember what was stolen or where from. I'm willing to bet the Minister is missing a certain notebook of parchment, or at least something connected to it. We'll know for sure when the Prophet gets back to me."

Harry stared at Hermione. He really had underestimated her intelligence. If she had guessed that days ago, without much evidence to support it, she was a hell of a lot smarter than anyone at Hogwarts gave her credit for.

"What?" A soft blush bloomed in her face. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You really are going to save me," Harry said. In a heartbeat, he'd closed the space between them and pulled her into his arms. "I don't know how I could've handled any of this without you." He swallowed hard. He wanted to say more, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Harry was just glad she couldn't see his expression just then. He had the feeling she might read more into it than he was ready for her to think. He still had a lot to consider. A lot that had to be weighed against the possibility that he wouldn't live through this. And a lot that made him want to live so he could realize the full potential of this life.

Hermione eased back from his embrace and looked up at Harry, her eyes wide and vulnerable in the low light. Her lips were parted as she watched the emotion play across his face and he knew she was trying to read him as easily as she did the textbooks stacked in her trunk. She leaned closer to him before pulling back and licking her lips. "What are you thinking about?"

His eyes lit briefly on the bed on the other side of the room and he resolutely closed his eyes. "I...I was thinking Dumbledore should take you to the hospital. If anyone's smart enough to cure me, it's you."

She blinked hard and pulled out of his arms. "What makes you think they need someone else to cure whatever's wrong?" Her eyes dropped from his as she stepped back. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. He knew she was thinking of the person she wished she was with at that moment. The Harry who would've taken the opportunity to kiss her.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I assume that whatever's wrong must be serious if it's kept me in the hospital for almost a week. If I'm even still there. For all I know, I've been released and could be anywhere. Like you said the other night, the whole situation with the Time-Turner is a theory. There's no telling when something happens to me or how. Or even if that was the problem. I can't even think about the possibilities until I find out what's going in the hospital, anyway."

"As long as the other you doesn't show up here, I think you'll be fine. Let's not worry about any other potential problems until we get some of this other stuff resolved. I don't think I have the energy." She grabbed Harry's wrist to look at his watch. "I really do need to get my homework done. Do you think it'll be safer for me to keep the notes and Key in my dorm? You know, in case they do come looking for it."

"I don't know if it'll be safer, but I don't mind it. I'm sure you'll get more done if you can look at everything immediately after you get an idea. Knowing you, the whole thing will be resolved by the middle of next week. Is there anything else we need to do before we leave here?" Harry asked.

Hermione slipped the pages into her pocket and shook her head. "Let's get back to the common room. I can get at least one essay done before dinner."

"I should probably get around to my homework too, if I can even concentrate." All thoughts of completing homework flew from both their minds as they stepped through the portrait hole and spotted the Minister of Magic waiting for Harry.