Reading and Talking

Disclaimer: If I owned any of it besides Aunt Amelia, Alana and Robin, then I'd have it printed in book form and make lots of money.

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Damage Control - Chapter III

Reading and Talking

Hermione Granger was doing what she did best; she was reading and absorbing the contents. Occasionally she frowned, occasionally her eyes widened and occasionally she even looked decidedly uncomfortable. Reading through the Philosopher's Stone took her barely more than a few hours, and then she started on The Chamber of Secrets. Blushing, she felt eternally embarrassed reading about her silly schoolgirl crush on Gilderoy Lockhart. But she quickly dismissed the embarrassment as soon as it crept upon her.

Silently she chided herself, 'Come on, you were 12 years old, and he was handsome...at least to any twelve year old!!! Even Ron's mum admired him!'

Alana entered the room and placed the pizza box next to Hermione on the bed. Then she settled in on the other side of the box, making herself comfortable.

"So... what do you think about the books so far?" she asked curiously.

"Hmm..." Hermione had just bitten into the first slice of pizza and finished chewing before speaking. "They are true. Everything I've read so far is fairly accurate, save for some very minor details. And from the way it's written, someone must have been keeping a constant and very close eye on Harry. Really, the only time Ron and I occur in the books is when we're together with Harry."

Alana's excitement was showing on her face, "Really?" she almost squeaked. "Goodness, Hermione, this is so exciting! Do you have any clues as to who could be behind all this?"

"No idea whatsoever. But I will find out if it's the last thing I do!" The determination was evident on Hermione's face.

Alana eyed her curiously. "And what exactly are you going to do about it?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure. First of all, I need to owl Harry and Ron so that we can meet up and I'll tell them about the books face to face. And then... I don't know... I guess we'll have to tell Professor Dumbledore eventually." She sighed; the mere thought of these Muggle books' existence unnerved her.

"Where are you going to meet Harry and Ron?" Alana asked eagerly. "Would you mind if I came along?" She looked hopefully at Hermione.

"Somewhere in Diagon Alley, I guess, maybe Fortescue's, Harry and Ron love that place," Hermione replied, regarding her cousin carefully before agreeing – against her better judgment, "And yes, I suppose you can come along. After all, it was you who enlightened me about the books," she added, more as an afterthought.

Alana looked delighted. "Oh, the ice cream parlour? I can't believe it really exists..."

The girls had finally finished eating and Alana moved to take the packaging and leftovers back to the kitchen while Hermione returned to the books to continue reading about her adventures at Hogwarts.

She stopped reading for a moment when she reached the account of herself, Harry and Ron in the Shrieking Shack when Professor Lupin praised her for being such a clever witch.

She chewed on her lip nervously. 'Someone must have followed us around constantly, to be able to pick everything up. Or maybe there was some kind of a charm that tracked us and another one that transmitted everything we ever said to each other... Her mind raced as she thought of all the possibilities, 'Time to hit the bookstore and find some information on tracking charms and the like.' An idea suddenly struck her. 'The British Museum is only around the corner... I wonder if they have a wizarding section...'

Hermione woke very late the next morning to Alana entering her room holding two steaming cups in her hands.

"Here, I thought you might need something to wake you up properly. I bet you didn't sleep much," Alana said as she handed her a cup of coffee.

Hermione grunted in thanks and tasted the black liquid. After stretching thoroughly and a few more sips of coffee she felt any remaining tiredness leave her body.

"Have you been to the British Museum lately, Alana?" Hermione asked her cousin.

Alana looked at her questioningly, "Not lately, no. Why are you asking?"

"I was wondering if there might be a section for witches and wizards in there that would help me with figuring out about these Muggle books. You see, when I read the Shrieking Shack scene in the Prisoner of Azkaban, I realized that someone either had to follow us around at all times, or rather, he or she followed Harry around at all times. But, we're often together most of the time, so they would get a good idea of what we're up to. And that just can't be possible. I mean, one of us would have noticed if we had been followed around, not just occasionally, but constantly for over 5 years, or who knows, it could have been even longer. The only other idea I came up with is that someone has been using a charm or a spell to track Harry, and another charm that would transmit every word Harry or anyone who is with him says." Hermione explained.

Alana nodded in agreement. "You have a point...but why the British Museum, of all places?" Like many people who lived in the area, Alana remembered one too many rainy days spent inside the British Museum during her childhood.

"I won't get to Flourish and Blotts until later this week," Hermione fell silent for a moment before vocalizing her thoughts, "Hedwig should be here some time today, then I can send a letter back with her for Harry. Then Harry will answer that and send her back here to me and by the time we've arranged anything it'll be tomorrow at the earliest... but I don't want to just wait around idly, so I figured I'll see if the British Museum has a section or library where I might be able to find some information on the charms I suspect are being used on Harry." Hermione looked at her cousin questioningly, "So... want to go with me?"

Alana looked at her watch, "Let's go after 2 pm, it's nearly lunchtime now and the museum will be very busy."

The girls got ready, shared some food and left for the British Museum, chatting all the way until they entered the large building which was nearly empty. Hermione looked around carefully to see if she would recognize any signs of magic happening.

At first she could not see or feel anything and she was starting to feel disheartened when she suddenly caught a magic sparkle from the corner of her eye. She pulled Alana with her and together they moved towards the direction the sparkle had emitted. They were greeted by an elderly wizard whose clothes had seen better days; his robes might once have been purple but now they barely looked a washed-out gray with a purplish tint.

"You young beauties looking for the wizarding section?" he inquired casually.

"Yes sir," Hermione replied. "I'm doing some research on charms and was wondering if the wizarding section here might help me find some answers."

The wizard eyed her curiously. "You've never been here before." It was a statement rather than a question.

"No sir," Hermione answered politely, "I'm staying with relatives who live nearby, but I thought it couldn't hurt to see if I can find some information."

"You've come to the right place then," he told her proudly, "We hold every parchment of every study relating to charms ever published in Great Britain, and many that have been published overseas as well," the wizard stated, obviously delighted that he was able to be of help.

Hermione's face lit up when she heard the wizard's words, "Brilliant", she smiled at him and he motioned for the girls to follow him into the Ancient Egypt department where he stopped at the tomb statue of Tjeti.

He glanced around and spoke in a low voice, "First things first, make sure there are no Muggles around, then you tap on Tjeti's left shoulder and you'll be able to walk through the wall behind it straight into the wizarding section. Turn to your left and you'll be in the library."

The girls thanked him before he turned to leave then waited for a group of Muggle teenagers to disappear. Finally, the area was empty and Hermione took her wand out and tapped the statue as the wizard had instructed. She led the way through the wall behind the statue and noticed that it now showed a narrow archway through which both girls entered. Alana gasped in surprise upon entering the wizarding section. To her right was a vast display of paintings, statues and sculptures of different magical creatures. The first one Alana looked at was a painting of a big, golden phoenix with a few streaks of red plumage, perched on the branch of an oak tree. But when she looked closer, she noticed that the phoenix was blinking at her.

Alana gasped, "Look, Hermione, the phoenix is blinking!" she exclaimed. Hermione was amused by Alana's reaction.

"Yes Alana, paintings and pictures created with magic appear very much alive, just like you read in the books," she replied, laughing.

"Yes, I know... it's just - I've never thought there was an entirely different world out there," Alana mused. "I mean, I know that magic exists, without a shadow of a doubt, but this is an entirely different level!"

Hermione looked at her with interest, "What do you mean, you know that magic exists?" she prodded.

"Well...," Alana started hesitantly, "It's kind of difficult to explain. I've always been convinced that there is a lot more to our lives than what we can see with our eyes. After I read the first Harry Potter book, I started having some weird dreams. In one, I was meeting with Draco Malfoy, but he was quite friendly and not horrible at all. Maybe it was just an ordinary dream, but it seemed far more real than anything I've ever dreamed. At one point, while reading Prisoner of Azkaban, I got interested in ancient runes, so I started to read everything I could find about them. Then I started experimenting with them. Like, whenever I entered the Dojo for training I would visualize 'Uruz' above my head and after a few weeks, my Sensei commented on how much I'd improved. I really had improved, so I decided to test my success with visualizing a rune further. I stopped visualizing the rune and suddenly I seemed to get stuck on some Katas, and even dropped in sparring. I've been experimenting ever since with other runes and with meditation and Martial Arts. I even started reading about the ancient stuff, religions that Pagans, Heathens and the like follow. And all of that can't just have been made up."

Hermione was speechless. Her cousin, a Muggle no less, was talking about magic almost as if it were an integral part of her life. Her mind was racing; she absolutely had to find out more about Alana's magical experiences, but now was not the time.

She looked at her cousin earnestly, "Alana, I really want to talk to you about this further, but now I think it might be better if we do what we came here for, otherwise this place will close before we find anything." Alana agreed, and they both made their way to the other side of the archway where the library was situated.

There was a vast array of shelves just bursting with books of all sizes and upon closer inspection, Hermione realized that the books were not only ordered alphabetically, but they were also sorted by different subjects. There were sections where charms was combined with other disciplines, such as 'Charms and Potions', 'Charms and Transfiguration', there was even 'Charms and Arithmancy'. Other sections sounded scientific, like 'Applied Charms - Unproven Theories', 'Applied Charms - Proven Theories', and 'Charms in Mediwizardry'. Hermione paused when she read 'Charms and Aurory', this sounded promising. An Auror would have to know how to stealthily use tracking charms as well as voice transmission charms.

"Right, we want tracking charms, so I suggest we start with the 'Charms and Aurory' shelves," Hermione stopped to think for a moment, "I think it's best if you start on this end and I start here and we'll meet somewhere in the middle. That way we can get through as many books as possible."

Alana agreed and walked to the other end of the shelves and took out the first book, Hermione did the same at the other end. Each slowly worked their way through one book after another without success and after a while, Hermione looked at Alana, who had let out a small sigh. Alana had stopped looking at a book and instead seemed to be concentrating while focusing on the bookshelves. She slowly moved to a different shelf, as if drawn towards it, and then she ran her hands slowly over the books.

"The book we're looking for is in here somewhere," she said, still focused on the books which were in the section labeled 'Applied Charms – Unproven Theories'.

Hermione looked at her oddly, "How do you know this?" she asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I was focusing with the intent of finding what we're looking for and was drawn to these few books." Alana shrugged, "It's not like we have anything to lose by looking, so we might as well check it out," she suggested.

Hermione agreed with her and Alana took a book out and handed it to her, then took another one out to read herself. The first few books did not yield any results; the very first one Hermione sifted through was a study of side effects in the user of semi-permanent cosmetic charms, which upon reading a few lines had her rolling her eyes.

'Oh Merlin, how could anyone be stupid enough to charm their nose straight every few weeks, or make their lips fuller...'

"I think I found something," Alana exclaimed and rushed over to where Hermione was sitting with a book in her hands. Hermione looked up and gasped as she read the title, 'Comparison of Stealth Magic and Muggle Spying methods' by Serena Secret.

'This looks promising,' Hermione thought and immediately grabbed the book from Alana's hands to skim through the pages. Alana positioned herself behind Hermione so that she could read over her shoulder.

'Very little is known about Stealth Magic in general. Those who are skilled in the discipline tend to pass it on to their children, which is the reason why certain Ministry departments such as the Department of Mysteries and the Investigation Unit have been employing witches and wizards from the same families for generations. The author of this study had the great fortune to speak with a wizard who had been formally trained in Stealth Magic. This wizard explained (with an air of arrogance) that it is easy to track people and listen to their conversations, even across continents without the person knowing that they are being listened to, but only if one knows how to perform the charms properly. Unfortunately, this wizard was not the least forthcoming with more detailed information. However, it was sufficient to confirm to the author that Stealth Magic is by far superior to Muggle spying methods, even more so as Muggles are entirely dependent upon technology, whereas wizards trained in Stealth Magic will only ever require their wands.'

Hermione's mind was reeling as she digested what she had just read.

Alana interrupted her thinking, "You know," she gazed at Hermione, "I wonder if your Professor Snape is trained in that discipline, what with his spying activities and all..."

Hermione suddenly looked aghast, "Oh Merlin, what if... what if the Death Eaters find out about the books?" She began to panic, "Then Voldemort will know in an instant that Professor Snape isn't on his side and he'll be killed in no time!"

Alana tried to calm her, "Look, let's go home and see if Hedwig is there. Harry promised you a daily letter so I'm sure that you'll get one and then you can send a note to Harry and tell him."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Hermione nodded. "Right now, there is nothing else we can do."

The girls made their way back out through the archway, which disappeared as soon as they entered the Muggle part of the British Museum. Hermione fervently hoped that Hedwig would indeed be waiting for her at her cousin's home and as soon as the girls opened the front door, a great, snowy white owl swooped down on Hermione.

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A/N

Big thanks to Tatiana for beta reading and improving. You rock!!!

The statue of the Tjeti is real – it can be found in the British Museum.

Reviews and constructive criticism greatly appreciated.