ABANDONED STARTER SERIES: THE DOCTOR / A REPLY FROM LONG AGO:

Hermione expelled a long, slow breath as she pushed back from the table, her brow furrowed and her eyes fixed as she rose and began to circle the small table slowly, her gaze never wavering as she scanned the symbols inscribed across the top of The Book.  She stopped after coming full circle and leaned forward, settling her palms on either side of it, turning her head this way and that, trying to see beyond the slight haze of what looked to be the last shield separating her from getting the clear view she so desperately craved.

Hermione leaned in as close as possible, her frown deepening as she felt the ward beneath her start to buzz in warning at her close proximity.  It didn’t faze her in the slightest, all her concentration was focused on a certain set of symbols that looked - - familiar…  If she could just get a better view!  Hermione was close, so close to figuring out what the first block of runes meant.  If she could, she’d have her nose pressed up against the shield trying to peer in, but she knew better, Merlin only knew what would happen if she touched it, even for a moment.  Hermione had been granted unfettered access to the artifact just yesterday, but had just in the last couple of hours been able to untangle the thick, complex wards surrounding it enough to get a closer look.  The final wards would have to be broken down in a series of spells and release wards she knew.  And, as was her guess, the answer to unlocking them was written clear as day on the book itself.  She just had to decipher it.  She snorted, sure thing…no problem.

The book had been discovered while Hogwarts was being rebuilt after the Great War.  A portion of the Slytherin dungeons had collapsed and while repairs were being made a previously undiscovered antechamber of the Chamber of Secrets was unearthed.

Its discovery however, was immediately silenced due to the curious artifact found in the antechamber: A Book.

  Technically it had only been revealed to be a book in the last couple of weeks, since there had been literally a shield of some of the most powerful defensive and protection curses Bill Weasley and his team of counter-curse specialist had ever seen.

Hermione had been called in once the initial “outer shell” of wards and curses had been lifted.  Her expertise was required to decode the intricate and ancient symbols etched across what appeared to be every available square inch of outside of “The Book” as it was being referred to.  Needless to say her interest had been piqued once she’d gotten wind about a tome being uncovered with a set of runes on it that neither Bill nor anyone of his specialist could decipher.  And they were no slouches.  Bill’s team was very well versed in Runes.  They only called in the “Big Guns” as Bill liked to call her nowadays, after he’d heard her call Harry such, referring to a Muggle comment she’d once made when she herself called in Harry to help with defensive spells on a project she and Bill had been working on together.  So, Hermione had been dubbed codename:  Big Guns.

And, in all honesty, they did need her.  Since she’d first gotten a glimpse of the book, nearly two weeks ago, on the third day, when the last out defensive wards were disabled, she could see immediately it was etched with a series of symbols she’d possibly never encountered before.  Hermione was salivating to get her hands on it and be able to turn the blasted thing over to see what was etched on the bottom.

Hermione shivered tugging her jumper tighter around herself and glanced around the huge antechamber.  They’d as yet been unable to remove the artifact from the school, or even from the chamber itself. Every time someone tried to take it out they were thrown none-too-gently clear across the room.  It had an aversion to even being moved… They’d tried everything they could think of to get it out and nothing was working; not apparating it, not flooing it (installing the portable fireplace was a feat in and of itself), not portkeying it… nothing.

So here it remained.

“If you get your nose hexed off don’t expect me to fix it for you.”  Hermione didn’t even blink at Harry’s snarky comment.  He came up beside her, crossing his arms, his wand held casually in his right hand as he gazed first at The Book, then up at Hermione.  “How goes it?”

She shook her head.  “Slow.” Hermione heaved a tired sigh and straightened up, twisting her neck and groaning in relief as it popped and cracked. 

Harry frowned.  “Mione, for Merlin’s sake, when was the last time you were out of here for a break?”

Hermione shrugged, “Monday?  I don’t recall,” she said vaguely, turning to another larger table beside The Book’s table that was piled with various tomes, many spread open and settled one atop another, stacks teetering precariously. She went over and ran her fingers across one page of one particularly large book and frowned.  “And before you try and tell me to leave, forget it.  You and I both know there’s something with this Book.  Something,” she paused, “big.”

Harry was busy circling the table The Book was settled on, much as she had just minutes before.  “I know,” was his flat reply. “How did you manage to move it?”

Hermione had settled at the reference table and was busily scribbling notes into a journal; she didn’t even look up as she spoke, flipping through pages and pages of the research she’d already begun to compile on The Book.  “I didn’t.  I transfigured the stone pedestal it was on into a table so it was easier for me to study it.  Went through several styles of tables before it stayed with this one.”

Harry looked up at her, “What do you mean several styles?”

“Apparently it didn’t like the tables I conjured.  Kept morphing them slightly, so I just decided I’d try something simple, practical.”

“It looks like one of the library tables upstairs.” Harry frowned, “Don’t you think?”

Hermione nodded absently. “It is.  It seems to like the Hogwarts library tables.  Not surprising really,” she commented offhandedly, “it probably originally was in the library.”

Harry fixed her with an incredulous look.  “Are you trying to tell me you think this book,” he jabbed his thumb at it and the ward around The Book crackled ominously, “was in the Hogwarts library?  Where students had access to it?”

“Possibly.  We know Voldemort stole many artifacts he thought would be important or useful to him and hid them throughout the school.  The ones that he had a fond attachment to were the ones he used as his Horcruxes, as we well know.”

“Hermione,” Harry’s voice became laced with an uncertain edge, “are you suggesting that we may have missed a Horcrux?” The implications of that literally made Harry’s stomach do uneasy summersaults and he shivered, his eyes landing on The Book once more, were now narrowed an wary.

Hermione looked up from her journal and slid it closed as she stood to walk over and stand beside Harry.  She saw Harry’s complexion pale and rested her hand on his forearm comfortingly. “Harry,” she began, but he when he didn’t turn to face her, she squeezed his arm gently, “Harry, look at me.  I don’t think this is a Horcrux.  However, we don’t know what it is.  It’s here in Voldemort’s chamber, so one must assume he was the one who placed all the wards around it to keep it guarded.  But, we don’t know what it was being guarded against.” Hermione crossed her arms and stared at The Book, her brow furrowing in thought, “Or even if Voldemort was the one who placed it here.  We’re just basing that on conjecture since it was discovered down here.  But…” Hermione paused, “this place has been so thoroughly checked so many times that it’s surprising it wasn’t discovered earlier.”

Harry tore his eyes from The Book and met Hermione’s.  “I suppose.”  His tone was even, but he already had that expression that Hermione knew all too well.  He was in ‘protect friends and loved ones mode’ and that meant he was going to do what he believed to be the best for everyone no matter what anyone else thought.  “But, I’m not sure what you mean by, ‘we don’t know what it was being guarded against.’”

At his mulish expression Hermione sighed and pulled away.  “Oh, Harry.”  She sounded exasperated.  “Think outside the box here for a moment, will you?   What if this book was not a source of great evil, but a source of great good?  One that Voldemort didn’t want to let get in the hands of anyone that it may cause him harm?  Or, what if it’s got some kind of power that he wanted access to and no one else?  We just don’t know enough about it yet to decide its fate.  Just, just have a bit of an open mind.”

Harry’s incredulous expression softened a bit and he snorted.  “Only you, Hermione, would defend the honor of a book.”  His lips turned up at one end for a brief moment and he nodded when she groaned again.  “Okay, okay” he said letting his grin grow as she rolled her eyes.  “I’ll think about it.”  He turned back to The Book then.  “It does make sense when you put it that way,” he conceded and nodded.  “It’s something I could see him doing…” Harry shook his head as if to shake off a chill and Hermione could see him visibly relaxing by degrees as he began to process the idea that The Book wasn’t necessarily a Horcrux.  Harry sighed, “I just imagine it being something full of misery and suffering.  It just feels that way.”

Hermione nodded, “It’s powerful, that’s for sure.  And,” she huffed, “uncooperative.”

Harry’s brows rose curiously, “Uncooperative?”  His grin was back and grew broad as Hermione looked up at him.  “It looks to me, Miss Granger, that you may have come across the one book in the entire world that doesn’t like you.”

“Pish-posh!” Hermione retorted waving a hand, stopping mid step, turning and practically running back to the table The Book was on, her eyes growing wide.

Harry’s wand was up and raised in an instant.  “What?!” he asked warily.  “What’s happened?”

Hermione was leaning in and grumbling under her breath, “Come on you little prat,” she muttered, “let me see!”  She gasped and Harry ground out again demanding to know what was wrong.  Hermione’s head shot up and she pointed at The Book, “There!” she exclaimed excitedly.  “That’s it! Harry!” she turned to look at him and back to The Book again, her eyes growing wider as the pieces began to fit into place. “That was IT!”

“WHAT was it?” Harry asked patiently, his eyes locked on The Book.

“Misery!”  Hermione beamed at him.  She spun around and made a beeline toward a darkened corner of the chamber.  Harry turned to follow her and his eyes widened as they fixed on her running toward, his gaze rising as he asked disbelievingly,  “What in the bloody blazes…” Harry took a few steps after Hermione, his expression becoming a mixture of amusement and shock,  “What are those?”  He was staring at three soaring bookshelves sitting in the middle of the darkened chamber.  They were freestanding and looked as if they’d been plucked straight from the library upstairs.

Hermione was up on a ladder, pulling herself along the edge of a shelf searching for a book, grabbing the edge and sliding along impatiently.  “Just some research books...” she said offhandedly.

“Just some…” Harry’s eyes grew even wider when he started looking at the spines and reading some of the titles.  “Merlin’s Balls, are these from the Restricted Section?”

“Ah-ha!” Hermione declared triumphantly, sliding a book off one shelf and climbing down, nearly loosing her footing as she did so.  Harry was there in a flash to grasp her arm and steady her; she smiled as she hopped down the last two rungs and rushed past him back toward The Book.  “It is the Restricted Section.”

Harry sputtered as he gaped at the shelves for a moment longer before turning back to her, goggling in shock at her back of her head. “It is the Restricted Section?”

“Yes. So?”  Her tone was a bit defensive and her words tossed over her shoulder as she walked, her nose already buried in the thick book as she flipped through the yellowed pages one after the other, scanning each quickly as she went; practically bouncing with anticipation.

“Yo – you brought the Restricted Section down here?”

“Well, yes.  It’s not as if anyone else is using it presently, Harry.”

Hermione’s tone danced around annoyance, though it was laced with enough frankness that Harry simply pursed his lips and scowled.  It took him a minute to shake it off while he stared at her before he chuckled in grudging admiration.  “Only you, Hermione…only you.”

Hermione sniffed; snatched up her research journal and flipped the pages open, set it down in front of The Book, not bothering to look up as she spoke. “Like I said, Harry:  Think outside the box.”  She was looking back and forth between the library book and her journal when she stood suddenly, staring at her journal and then moving to peer over The Book once more, before declaring in a triumphant whisper, “That’s it!”

She sat down just as suddenly as she’d stood and leaned back against the chair craning her neck up to stare at Harry, he couldn’t quite place the expression on her face.  “What?” he asked impatiently.

“I think I just figured it out…”

Harry goggled at her in surprise.  “You’ve figured it out?  Figured what out?”

Hermione had already turned back to the table, her head buried in her notes, she’d been spreading them onto the table, her quill busily copying down the symbols and flipping through pages of notes she’d been gathering for the past few weeks, she nodded absentmindedly and waved her hand, “Shush, Harry…I’m concentrating.”  He pursed his lips, folded his arms and grunted some non-committal response.

Hermione shot him a small, genuine smile and turned back, muttering quietly under her breath as she copied her symbols meticulously and Harry’s lips twitched despite himself.  She just looked so young, it reminded him of all those years sitting next to her in the library and watching her work quietly, diligently, just as she was right now.  He’d just moved to sit next to her when there was an ominous sounding crackle in the room.  Hermione and Harry’s heads both shot over to The Book simultaneously and they both shot up from their chairs, stumbling backwards.  The dull hazy shield that had been surrounding The Book was now glowing; Hermione reflected it was more of a glowing pulse actually.

That’s when they noticed the sound.  A low, dull thumping hum that was in sync with the pulsing light emanating from within the shield of The Book.  It almost sounded like a heartbeat.  Hermione moved toward The Book instantly and Harry grabbed her arm yanking her back and behind him in one swift motion.

“Harry!” she hissed, eyes locked on The Book, “Let go of me this instant!”

 “Mione,” Harry’s tone was low, ignoring her completely, “what did you do?”

Hermione was trying to get out from behind Harry and he was having none of it.  “I didn’t do anything! Oh, for heaven’s sakes, Harry!  Let me go!”

“What happened?  What changed?”

Hermione shook her head, “Nothing! I was ju- Oh.  Ohhh. ” Hermione bit her bottom lip, her face flushing hotly.  She yanked harder out of Harry’s grip and spun around, snatching up her journal and reading it over and cursed under her breath, she spun back toward The Book. “You little, clever, buggar you…” she hissed.  “You cheeky thing…” She waggled her finger and took a step toward The Book, ignoring the pang of worry that went through her as she passed through the pulsing light to get a first, really clear look at The Book.

“HERMIONE!” Harry yelled at her – “NO! Don’t g- ” his words faded the moment she passed through the pulse of light. She turned around to look at him, her brows knitted together – she took a step back toward him, but the ward pulsed and tossed her backwards, her hip and bum hitting the edge of the thick wooden table with a hard thud.  She bounced off if it and winced, rubbing her bottom as a shot of real panic overtook her.  She knew better than to raise her wand – that never had good results.  And on the inside of the ward it could be even more dangerous.

Instead, she began chanting a spell to disable the ward, but to no avail.  She could see Harry prowling around the outside, the ward was pulsing at a solid, steady beat now, growing and gaining in speed as it grew in size.  What had been just the size of a large serving tray was now nearly the size of the entire room.

Harry raised his wand and Hermione screamed from inside – fruitless she could see, she began waving her hands and then at the first sign of trouble the ward crackled and hummed and she watched Harry get bodily tossed from the inner chamber.

She was alone.

Moments passed and the thrumming of the ward begun to hum and pulse and beat as if the sound of a heartbeat – or something else, she’d never heard before.

Hermione spun around and stood, afraid to raise her wand,  eyes transfixed – as before her the room began to grow brighter and there, right in front of her materialized a…

Bright blue police box.