Progress

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. And as always, thanks to Cat (quaffswinegaily) for the Britpick. Don't blame her if anything sounds too Yank – I can never resist monkeying around with it when I'm getting ready to post ...

Chapter 6: Progress

Lunch was a rather more pleasant affair than she had expected, Hermione reflected later. Lucius and Narcissa had been the consummate hosts, charming, witty, and seemingly fascinated with their unusual guest. Hermione idly wondered whether they had ever had any sort of Muggleborn as an actual guest, rather than a 'guest' (read: prisoner or victim) in their home before today.

They engaged her in light conversation about the Ministry, while carefully avoiding any difficult topics. They asked politely after her family and friends, so she returned the favour and asked after Draco.

At some point, Hermione became aware that there was some sort of unspoken discussion going on between Lucius and Severus. It started when Lucius commented that he had heard good things about her work at the Ministry.

Hermione answered politely, "It's nice to hear that, Mr Malfoy, though I have no idea how you'd have heard anything about my work, considering it's all highly confidential."

Lucius said, "I have my sources, Miss Granger." He appeared ready to say something more, but Severus interrupted.

"This poached salmon is delicious, Lucius." Hermione was surprised by the abrupt change of subject. Turning to glance at Severus, she saw him looking at Lucius with an expression that could only be described as warning, as he continued, "Wild-caught, I presume?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow, looking rather surprised for a moment. Then he nodded so slightly that Hermione wouldn't have noticed it had she not been watching carefully for a reaction to Severus's unspoken challenge. "Naturally," Lucius said. "You know I serve only the best to my honoured guests." He then changed the subject again. "How are things at Hogwarts, then, Severus? Any new women on the faculty?" His glance slid quickly to Hermione and then back.

"No," Severus said tersely, glaring harder at Lucius. "Hogwarts is as it ever was, I suppose," he added after a moment.

Hermione glanced at Narcissa, who appeared to recognise the odd communication as well, but other than a single eye roll that seemed to say, "Men!" the older woman ignored it completely. Hermione decided not to bother trying to decipher what might have been communicated – after all, they had probably been having silent conversations nearly as long as she herself had been alive, and if Narcissa wasn't worried, she wouldn't be, either. Especially since she knew Severus wouldn't allow any harm to come to her.

The rest of the meal passed in light conversation, without any more cryptic looks passing between the two men, and soon enough, Hermione and Severus were on their way back to the library.

Severus reminded her that he would be happy to assist her in any way she might require, then resumed his perusal of the Lineage. Meanwhile, Hermione spent the next two hours digging through volume after volume on hexes and curses. Periodically, she thought she felt Severus's gaze on her, particularly whenever she found herself forced to disarm a particularly recalcitrant book. She never quite caught him looking, though – whenever she let her eyes wander his way (which was far more often than she cared to admit), he seemed thoroughly engrossed in his own reading. Beyond that initial comment about his willingness to assist her, he seemed perfectly relaxed and confident that she could handle the books on her own.

After a while, Hermione began to get frustrated. She felt nearly certain that she had discovered the nature of the blue spell; it appeared to be a relatively simple, though rather obscure, Sleeping Beauty Hex, dark only in the sense that someone would have to know to kiss Dumbledore to wake him had he been hit. The colour of the light in the photo of the hex appeared to match what they had seen. Just to be sure, Hermione had Flooed to the Headmaster's office to look in the Pensieve and confirm it; the colour did look the same, and now that she knew what to look for, she could read the incantation on the man's lips – quiesco complexo amor. If she was correct, it certainly hadn't hit Dumbledore full-on, but perhaps it had glanced off him? The overwhelming exhaustion Dumbledore was experiencing might be related to such an occurrence, mightn't it?

But that particular hex seemed unlikely to rend someone's magic the way Madam Pomfrey seemed to think it had done to Dumbledore. When she Flooed back to Malfoy Manor, Hermione found Severus pacing expectantly in front of the fireplace. "Well?" he asked without preamble.

Hermione sighed. "I really think that's the hex they used, Severus, but it doesn't explain his symptoms – not completely." She fell silent for a moment, wondering where to go from here.

She jumped when Severus said irritably, "That's it? The woman who couldn't manage to write an essay less than double the assigned length has only one sentence to report on this hex?"

Frowning, she said, "I'm not sure what you want me to say, Severus. You always seemed to want me to get to the point back then. I'm telling you, the wizard cast a Sleeping Beauty Hex, but it doesn't explain his symptoms."

"In what way? And how certain are you?" Severus demanded.

"I'm as certain as I can be without having been there to hear the words. The colour matches, and the incantation fits the movement of his lips. As for the symptoms, the exhaustion he reported fits, but he should have fallen asleep. True love's kiss would wake him if he had, and one would expect he'd be back to normal. But that hex should not have rent his magic; it shouldn't have affected it in any way except possibly to put it to sleep along with him." She shook her head. "I don't know where to go from here. I can only assume this hex is either only part of the problem or it missed him entirely and I've been looking for the wrong thing from the start. Or maybe it just glanced off him somehow?"

Exhausted herself, suddenly, Hermione fell silent again. She wished she could just go home and have a good cry. All this time wasted, when they didn't have it to spare. Unexpectedly, Severus said gently, "It was the most obvious possibility, Hermione. It could just as easily have been the correct answer. We'd have been fools to start with something more obscure."

Hermione sighed. "I know. You're right, of course. I'm just frustrated and worried. I'll be all right in a minute, I'm sure."

Severus took her gently by the elbow and led her back to a chair. "Relax. We'll have some tea and consider our next step." He called for Tilly, who quickly returned with a tea service. "Have a biscuit, Hermione," Severus said as he poured some tea for each of them. Hermione was surprised that he seemed to know how she liked it.

He handed it to her and she took a sip. "Perfect. Thank you," she said with a small smile as she considered the restorative powers of tea. "Have you had any luck with identifying the other people? Besides Beecher MacNair, I mean?" He had told her of that wizard's identity at breakfast, so she had promptly informed Harry and Ron by means of the Protean Charm.

"Yes, actually, while you were gone, I realised that the one who cast the hex was Octavian Rookwood. He's a distant relative of Augustus who went to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. The woman appears to be his wife. She's not English, so I assume he must have met her at Durmstrang."

"Hmmm," Hermione said. "Should I tell Harry and Ron, do you think? Or is that a waste of time, given that it wasn't their hex, anyway?"

"It's not a bad idea for them to be questioned regardless," Severus replied. "Who knows what mischief they've been up to recently, even if the headmaster's situation isn't entirely their doing?"

"Good point," Hermione agreed. She nibbled on a chocolate biscuit, then Summoned her notes and began paging through them again. She began to think aloud. "I wonder if we ought to have someone kiss the Headmaster anyway ..."

"It would have to be true love's kiss, wouldn't it?" Severus pointed out.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not," Hermione replied absently. "Certainly, if he got the full effect of the spell, it would require true love's kiss to reverse it, but since it appears to have been a glancing blow, any kind of fondness might do ..."

"Who do you propose, then?" Severus asked.

"Perhaps Minerva?" Hermione replied. "She's probably known him the longest, and they've always seemed very close."

Severus nodded. "That makes sense," he agreed. "I'll Floo her to let her know."

By the time they had returned to Severus's office for dinner, he was thoroughly exhausted and running out of ideas. Rather than making more small talk at Malfoy Manor, or putting on a good front for the student body, they had elected to share a meal in private and discuss what they had learned so far. For the moment, though, they were both eating quietly. It was rather soothing, Severus thought with some surprise, to share a quiet meal with a pleasant companion.

Having finished identifying everyone they had seen in the Pensieve, Severus had begun to assist Hermione with her research. Between them, they had nearly exhausted the resources of the Malfoy library. One more morning would probably do it, he thought. In some ways, that was good, he supposed, because time was slipping away.

Minerva had, indeed, kissed Albus, and when Poppy had checked him afterward, she had said he was definitely stronger, so it appeared that at least part of the problem had been resolved. Still, though Poppy no longer feared for Albus's life, she was now concerned that if the countercurse wasn't applied promptly, his chi would rearrange itself in such a way that it would fill the gaps left by the rending of his magic. At that point, the countercurse's effectiveness would be limited because there would be no place for the restored magic to go. Not disastrous or life-threatening, thank Merlin, but it would certainly mean that Albus would be far less powerful than he had been before.

Eventually, Hermione pushed her plate away and broke the silence. "I keep feeling like there's got to be something we missed in the Pensieve. I know we looked at it until we all agreed we had everything, but there just has to be something else there. Do you think that we were perhaps a bit too focused on Rookwood and his hex?"

Severus thought for a moment. "Perhaps we were. As I said earlier, it seemed the obvious place to start. We could look again before Potter and Weasley arrive, if you like." Even as he spoke, the fireplace flared and the two young men tumbled out.

"Are we late?" Potter asked, after greetings had been exchanged all around.

"No, we saved you some dinner," Hermione replied. "How did things go today?"

"We spoke with everyone else in the Pensieve. The Rookwoods and Beecher MacNair were all arrested after we questioned them under Veritaserum. Rookwood admitted to casting the Sleeping Beauty Hex like you thought, Hermione. Did the counterhex work?"

"Yes and no," Hermione replied, after a quick glance at Severus. He nodded for her to continue; he was tired enough to be content with letting her lead the discussion. "The Headmaster is stronger, but he must have been hit with something else, as his symptoms can't all be attributed to that particular hex. We were just about to discuss what else we can try."

Weasley asked, "What ideas do you have?"

"We were going to look at the memory again. Now that we won't be focused so heavily on the three in the forest, maybe we'll see something we missed. What about the Bulgarians? Nothing there, either?"

"No," Potter said. "They voluntarily both submitted to questioning under Veritaserum and provided Pensieve memories of their interaction with Dumbledore. It matched what we saw; there was nothing hidden or non-verbal or anything." He paused. "I'm out of ideas, unless another look at Dumbledore's memory suggests something. I really thought that hex must've hit him."

Hermione said, "I know. I guess it must've glanced off him a bit, since the kiss did help." She paused. "I guess we look at his memory again. Other than that ... well, I suppose we can try earlier in the day ... Maybe it was slower-acting than we considered."

Weasley suddenly said, "Damn! I can't believe we missed that."

Severus finally spoke. "Missed what, Mr Weasley?"

Looking a bit nervous, Weasley replied slowly, "We should have realised from the beginning that the hex Rookwood threw couldn't have been responsible for all Dumbledore's symptoms." He looked around at them, shaking his head. "Remember what Dumbledore said? He felt the effects of the magic before he decided to hurry back to Hogwarts. With the timing of Rookwood's hex, he wouldn't have had time to feel it and decide to Apparate back if that was the only issue."

A/N2: According to an online English-Latin translator: 'Quiesco' translates to sleep; 'complexo' translates to kiss (literally, embrace); and 'amor' translates to love. Thus, the incantation 'quiesco complexo amor' is my attempt to express a spellcaster's intention to make the spell's target sleep until a lover kisses him/her. I'm quite certain that it isn't proper Latin, but it does have a nice ring to it, yes? ;)