InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "That's right dead man!"

The Man Who Lived Twice (ilivedtwice) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2011-10-24 11:58:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: october 31 2003, character: harry potter, character: hermione granger

Brunch chat
Who: Harry and Hermione
What: Have brunch and talk about nightmares, and as much of the case as Harry can.
When: October 31st, around 11AM
Where: The Three Broomsticks
Rating: Worksafe, possible disturbing imagery within.

Harry caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror before he left his home. He looked pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He almost wished he still wore glasses, if that would help hide how obvious it was he'd gotten little sleep. he'd left work late, then been plagued by nightmare. Morning saw him not even pretending to be in bed, sitting at the table reading the Prophet and drinking coffee.

He left, eager to meet with Hermione. Besides simply wanting companionship with one of his closest friends, he had information for her, and likely she for him. That and he knew he could use her help. He arrived at the Three Broomsticks early, at about a quarter to eleven. He hadn't managed much more than coffee and toast since about 6:30 AM, but he was actually hungrier now. Not hungry enough to order before Hermione arrived though, so he merely settled down and waited at a relatively private table.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-25 07:02 pm UTC (link)

Harry's lips pursed as he thought. His hand nearly went to punch up his glasses, something he still had a tendency to try to do, forgetting now that after years of wearing them, he no longer did. He continued the movement and simply scratched his nose instead.

"Dumbledore used to tell me almost anything was possible, good or bad. People, muggles, used to come up with things to explain what they couldn't really rationalise. A lot of religion's like that. The Greeks might not have been different. I don't think there were exactly jars of suffering and blessings, but there might've been something that ordinary people chose to explain that way."

His brow furrowed. "Hermione, I've been thinking that maybe this Dmitri Zurlo, whatever he was doing in the Department of Mysteries, maybe he set off something, something that caused all those nightmares to happen. It's a bit too coincidental, I think, him sneaking into that particular department, and then only the same night have wizards, witches and anyone exposed to magic all have some sort of strange unexplained reactions. Did you come up with anything about nightmares?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weasley_now
2011-10-25 08:07 pm UTC (link)

Hermione lowered her voice and leaned in. "It's worth looking into. Remember there were people who didn't believe horcruxes existed either."

She then sat up and opened her bag. She felt around and pulled a few books up to the opening to read their spine before she found the one she wanted. Pulling it out onto the table, she opened the text to one of several pages she had marked. "According to this author each dream likely carries some sort of warning that ought to be heeded. Sounds a bit like divination except there seems to be more emphasis placed on the dream pointing to something that is presently going on in the preson's life rather than a future event." She pointed to a part of the text that outlined a variety of dream types. "From talking to others it would seem that each of these types of dreams occurred at various levels in different individuals." This bit of information was only the tip of what she had begun to find.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-26 05:54 pm UTC (link)

Harry smiled a little then, just a bare curve of lip. "We're used to believing in things most people won't at this point, aren't we?" He listened as she spoke and forced himself to pay attention. Hermione had been preaching knowledge for years; something the habit to sort of tune out was still strong.

"So it's possible these nightmares are warnings about something that'll happen? Or maybe something that's already happened? Did you find anything about magical disturbances that might cause nightmares?" Harry leaned forward, forgetting his food for the moment.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weasley_now
2011-10-26 08:41 pm UTC (link)

Hermione was in her element. She had spent all night poring over the books she'd taken from the library. Hermione was glad that she had chosen to look into more emotionally based dreams than their physical imagery. It seemed that dreams linked more to the psyche were likely to have magical cause than simple visual dreams.

"Rosalind Bungs mentioned that her dreams were more emotional than visual," she pulled out yet another book. "It would seem that a disturbance in energy flow is often accompanied with major nightmares. Often dark magic can be used to cause these interruptions in the general flow of the atmosphere. There are actually curses that can be used to get the effect, however they are usually more localized than what has happened."

She hated that at this point in time she didn't have anything more solid to share with Harry. She would definitely by cross referencing the legend of Pandora with various magical items.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-27 03:03 pm UTC (link)

"Emotional..." Harry mused, recalling his own. The first night the nightmare had elicited absolute fear, terror. Last night though, it was more along the lines of being tortured, by a clearly sadistic individual. He passed a hand over his brow, almost feeling that terrible pressure on his eyes again, to felt like they were going to-

He forced his attention back to Hermione, absently rubbing at his arm. The spot on his inner elbow was hidden by his clothes and didn't hurt or itch, but he knew it was there still. "I thought so. It's entirely possible then, that these nightmares were caused by some kind of dark, magical disturbance."

He pursed his lips and said quietly, "I've no proof yet but I think whatever this Zurlo figure was doing in the Department of Mysteries had something to do with this."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weasley_now
2011-10-27 04:55 pm UTC (link)

"I don't know whether she had a second night of terror," Hermione conceded. "Though the first night was definitely more of a play on an individuals emotions. I can't say about the second night because I didn't experience them."

She watched as Harry's hand moved toward his brow. It was a move she'd often watched him make over the years but hadn't seen in quite a few. Glancing around before she spoke, her voice full of demanding concern, she added, "Harry, whatever you experienced last night is obviously bothering you. I've not seen you reach for your scar in years. What did you see?"

As he continued talking about the disturbance and Zurlo she gave a simple nod. She wished she was still in contact with Viktor. Being a Durmstrang graduate he might have more knowledge on the situation.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-27 05:04 pm UTC (link)

Harry sighed. "It wasn't really my scar," he explained. "Last night I dreamed I was being tortured and whoever was doing it was really enjoying it. I couldn't see who though...because whoever it was was doing these terrible, horrible things to my eyes. I could almost feel it really hurting; it seemed so real."

He rubbed his eyes lightly. "Just thinking about it now almost makes them hurt again." His lips twisted. "It was so strange, Hermione. I couldn't get away, and I just kept hearing this high laughter; the more pain I was in, the louder it got." He wasn't sure if the voice had been male or female. He shivered and tried to go back to his food. "If anyone else dreamed anything like that, I feel sorry for them."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weasley_now
2011-10-27 09:56 pm UTC (link)

Hermione couldn't imagine having one's eyes taken. But the high pitched loud maniacal laughter, that was something she had experience with. A shiver went through her as the memory of the cruciatus curse and the few cutting curses LeStrange had hit her with were brought back to the forefront of her mind. Every so often she still dreamed of that night in Malfoy Manor and the pain never seemed to lessen. If Harry was already feeling the torture from just a dream, what would happen if these dreams were actually precursors to something even worse.

"We have to figure out what Zurlo was after," she said with final resolve. "Can you get a catalog of items from the Department? Search through it and let me know if there is anything you need me to find out more about." She knew he couldn't tell her everything on the catalog, and she didn't want to know what all the Department held. What she did know was that if he needed more information on something that could be of vital importance that he would tell her as much as possible without breaking confidence. Anything she deciphered on her own from there would become fair game for discussion.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-28 02:26 pm UTC (link)

Harry nodded. "I agree." He resolutely turned back to his steak, forcing himself to get something solid in his stomach. "And yeah I'll see what I can find." he knew that Hermione wouldn't press him to share things that he wasn't allowed to, so he'd have to give her what he could and let her discover things on her own. If they just happened to match his own discoveries, well that was just coincidence, right?

"Nothing's been reported missing, that I know of anyway, and I'm also checking to make sure there are no unapproved additions either. I don't know whether he was trying to take something or leave something behind." Whichever it was though, it had likely gotten him killed.

"This may just be a bit foolish, but you never know. Find out as much as you can about the first Pandora, and those boxes of hers, yeah?" I'll see if there's anything remotely close to that catalogued anywhere." Hermione was right. These legends often had some grain of truth to them. The philosopher's stone, a legend Hermione had informed them had been around ages, had turned out to be real. Harry had held it at the tender age of eleven. Maybe this was no different.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

weasley_now
2011-10-29 02:11 am UTC (link)

The entire time they'd been talking Hermione had been nibbling at the food on her plate. She took her last bite of bread and finished her butterbeer. As she did so, the dishes disappeared from before her.

"Pandora and the boxes," she nodded her acknowledgement of her new assignment. "I'm certain the library at the Ministry has more international texts than the Diagon Alley Branch. If you can bring me any books on magic in ancient Greece I would be very appreciative." She didn’t know exactly what the protocol was for getting books out of the Ministry library or even if they would allow them to leave the premises. Still it was worth a try.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ilivedtwice
2011-10-29 07:08 pm UTC (link)

Harry ate as much as he could before he slid his plate away and watched it vanish when he'd finished. He returned his attention to his butterbeer and nodded at Hermione. "I'll do what I can," he agreed, feeling a bit better already about having talked to her. If anyone could dig up some useful information, it would be her.

Despite the level of worry in the conversation, it was nice having a brief spot of lunch with Hermione, and Harry sat back. "I've the rest of the day off, but I might head back to the office now anyway and have a look around the library. I don't see any reason in waiting."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -