InsaneJournal

Hermione was sat cross-legged on one end of the settee, her brow furrowed as she looked down at the two books that lie on the cushion in front of her. This feeling of utter bewilderment was something she had come to associate with these books now.

Ron had dropped by that morning like he promised. Things were a little strained, but understandably so. Hermione didn’t blame Ron for feeling at odds with the situation. She had carefully explained that she and Percy were now living together, not meaning to hurt him, but just wanting to be completely honest with him. He’d accepted the news, as far as she could tell. He hadn’t said a lot, and she found it a lot harder to read him than she usually did.

The conversation had moved swiftly onto the subject of the vandalism at Hermione’s shop. Ron has asked his questions and Hermione had answered as well as she could. As far as she could tell, they didn’t have many leads yet, but she knew that Ron would be doing all he could.

She had made Ron a drink while they chatted, but the topic had eventually come around to the two books that had been sitting in Hermione’s trunk in the bedroom. That was why he was there, after all. She had told Ron everything she knew about them, which, admittedly, was not a lot, and explained how the first one was supposed to be in the Aurors’ archives at the Ministry of Magic. After that, the best thing to do seemed to be to just show him the books.

Leaving Ron on the settee, she had gone to the trunk in the bedroom, releasing the various protective spells that she had placed on it, and the ones that Percy had added too. After rummaging around to find the towel that she knew she had wrapped them in, she was startled to find that the books were no longer in the trunk. The towel was empty and the books were nowhere to be seen. She knew that she had not moved them, and was certain that Percy wouldn’t have either.

Sinking onto her knees as she double-checked every inch of the trunk, she turned when she heard footsteps approaching. Ron had obviously wondered what was taking her so long, and had come to find out for himself. He stopped in the doorway, clearly not too keen on the idea of entering that particular room, and Hermione looked up at him, confusion clearly written on her face.

The books had disappeared.

She had searched the entire room, throwing clothes from drawers and wardrobes until the whole bedroom looked like it had been hit by a tornado. At a loss about what to do, she had left the room, following Ron back to the settee as she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t going crazy. Ron had left a short while after, promising that he would try and find out how the first book had left the Ministry.

And now here she was. It was early evening now, although Hermione hadn’t noticed the day slip by, and she hadn’t even opened the shop. She had made herself something to eat and played with Rupert and Crookshanks for a while as she tried to figure out what was going on. Venturing back into the bedroom with the intentions of clearing up the mess, she had stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes came to rest on the pair of books sitting innocently in the bottom of the now-empty trunk.

Taking them out, she had carried them back to the living room, looking through them for any noticeable changes. They seemed to be just as they had been the last time she had looked at them. She had cast a spell over them to see if she could detect any form of enchantment that would have caused them to disappear, but she hadn’t found a thing. Either there was no enchantment on them, or the magic was simply too complex- or too Dark- for her to know how to uncover it.

She had bound the books shut with a simple spell, more in an effort to keep herself from reading them, than out of thoughts of protection, and now she just sat, staring at them, willing them to reveal something- anything- to her.