Hermione would have liked to meet outside. It was quite sunny in the park, and the flowers were blooming beautifully. Unfortunately, she knew she was often hard to see in bright sunlight and so asked the boys to meet her in Hog's Head instead. Rosemerta's was more pleasant, but they all knew too many people there to have an uninterrupted conversation. So, she found herself hovering over a chair in the back corner of the pub, rather bright for the dark corner.
The barkeep didn't seem to think that a ghost was worth helping, so he just ignored her, figuring she'd bring business in or go away. Hermione looked expectantly at the door. She knew she hadn't really explained herself well in the owl. How could she? One couldn't write 'Hey, I think it's time to disappear. Fancy a chat?' She knew the owls she sent were vague and hoped the boys would come. The trio needed to be back together for this.
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"Well, I'm certain we won't have everything figured out in the next few weeks, so OWLs will be done. These fifth years won't need me anymore, and I told the current fourth years who've asked that I won't have the time to do it next year. It's not really a lie, and they all seem to have accepted the fact that they'll be studying alone... Dobby does seem to enjoy being my hands and constantly pesters me for information about you, Harry. I think I could just, well, order him not to follow me around or help me anymore. Not that ordering Dobby to do anything- It sort of goes against everything- but I suppose I'll have to... The professors already know what I'm up to. Flitwick has offered to help as has McGonagall," she said systematically, as if she'd gone over it in her head several times already.
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"I suppose ordering Dobby to do other work might suffice. Is that how this works? Or do we need to actually find some way of investing his energy in something that isn't you? As I well know, just because he isn't around all the time, doesn't mean he isn't thinking about you all the time." Harry stifled a shudder. He didn't dislike Dobby, by any measure, but sometimes the elf creeped him out.
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"I could order him to be someone else's helper, but who? I'd say Moaning Myrtle, but I wouldn't wish that on poor Dobby. I imagine getting him to focus on someone else would be best. Better to over-do things than under-do them in this case," Hermione thought. Really, who needed Dobby? He was too short to help with Care of Magical Creatures and too enthusiastic to help in Herbology or Potions.
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"Or Myrtle, for that matter." Ron took another sip- frustrated with himself for saying something else tactlesss.
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"Dobby isn't the easiest to get along with," Hermione agreed. "Maybe I can get McGonagall to assign him to a very specific task which directly prevents him from helping me," she suggested, not sounding terribly confident.
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Hermione gave half a laugh, "The what's next is the hard part. See, there's lots of avenues to try. Some of the research suggest we need the body, some the anniversary of the death, some the location of the death, some the location of the burial, some the location of the ghost's center. As we can't exactly exhume me on my deathday and have the 3 of us and the body simulataneously in Italy, the Hogwarts library, and the cemtery... I mean, I'd rather not see my body at all and we can't very well side-along with it all over Europe."
Hermione sighed, "The only concrete thing I have to go on is the set up of the site. There are these enchantments we have to put up, and some runic diagrams that are suposed to be burnt into the ground. One guy said we had to have thestrals present, but I think that's superstition... I know it has to be the three of us. I know what it has to look like. I don't know where or when yet."
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"Well, I suppose it's safe to say that your next deathday is the most sensible 'when'. We should probably plan for then. That gives us..." Harry trailed off, trying to sort how long they have.
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"It's July 10th, so just over two months," she answered. "I don't suppose either of you spent any time with Runes since the castle, have you?" she asked, mostly rhetorically. The inscriptions were going to be a pain given that they didn't know runes. It as times like this that she missed hands. She could have drawn it all with a blindfold on.
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Harry looked sheepish and shook his head. "Sorry, you'll have to walk us through it."
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"That's no problem, really. I can owl you both the diagrams and we can see which of you has a steadier rune drawing hand. Of course, since it'll be written on the ground, the detail will be more difficult," she shrugged, confident that this was nearly as much of a problem as having no idea where they were supposed to do this.
She was silent for a moment and then something seemingly awful crossed her mind, judging by the face she made. "I, I've just remembered something I read a few months ago... Ron, did Millicent geact well after that card I senther over last Christmas? I mean, do you think she and I have made peace?" She gave Harry a brief but dark glance. Surely, he saw where this was going. "See, grudges may also bind a ghost to this plane. I nearly forgot about it."
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Harry let out a sigh. He definitely knew where this was going, and it worried him. He loved Mandy, but he knew better than anyone how hard it was for her to let go of certain things.
For the moment he stayed silent, thinking.
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"Don't worry about it. She doesn't have a grudge. " Ron didn't know if 'made peace' was the right way to say it either, but he didn't think the tenuous bond they shared was enough to keep Hermione here.
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"Good," Hermione said with a smile. "That just leaves- Well, I'll go through the research again and see if it's really neccessary. Anyway, it looks like what we've got is Ron taking me by my parents' house, Harry looking into Michael taking my place for the Order, and both of you giving the Runic diagrams a try. Am I missing anything?"
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"I think Harry can talk to what'zis face while Hermione and I visit her parents. If anyone if going to need time to let her go, it will be them. After that, Harry and I can work on the runes. Sound good?"
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Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it sounds like we're on track... Thank you both, really, thank you," she said with a bittersweet smile. "I'll owl you both shortly," she added with a tone of finality. No sense ruining their entire days. They had places to be.
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confusion_fall (posted by ![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
spectralstudent)