Based on the Harry Potter Series By J. K. Rowling
Chapter 36 “ The Beginning of the End?
Please Read & Review, it makes for better stories!
In the waiting area outside Percy and Peter’s room, anticipation was high and everyone was on their feet. The hospital director had just come out of the room with the attending Healer, leaving only Ginny with the two patients. Molly and Arthur approached Olga to inquire about the situation. However, before they could ask anything Ginny stuck her head out the door, spoke a few words to Olga, and then asked Harry to come into the room. Anticipation turned into anxiety a minute later when they heard Ginny yelling something to Harry.
Olga Windshine stood with her eyes closed, as if she were contemplating a complex mathematical problem and paying no attention at all to the turmoil around her. Arthur, trying to find out what was happening, opened the room door to see Harry standing over Percy with his hands on Percy’s head. Harry’s eyes were closed and he looked as if he was just standing there waiting for Percy to say something. But as calm as Harry looked, Ginny appeared dismayed.
Arthur, despite his concern for his daughter, first went to Harry to be sure he was all right. Before he reached Harry, Ginny had sprung forward and blocked his path. “Don’t touch him daddy,” she pleaded. Her use of the word “daddy” had more of an effect on Arthur than anything else. Ginny only used that when she was frightened about something.
“Ginny, what’s happened?” Arthur asked as calmly as he could; he could tell his daughter was fighting for control of her emotions. Looking back over his shoulder to find Molly, he only saw Olga, standing in the doorway, blocking it so no one else could enter. What astonished Arthur the most, though, was the look Olga was giving Ginny. It was calculating and piercing, as if she was watching Ginny in case she did something wrong.
After a few seconds Ginny relaxed and embraced her father. “It’s ok, daddy, I panicked for a moment but I’m all right now.” Then in a voice that reminded Arthur much of his wife, Ginny continued. “Olga, please let everyone in.” Arthur again looked back to the Director to see that the old lady was now ushering in friends and family.
When everyone had entered, Ginny simply took over.
“Peter is fine now, Mr. and Mrs. Martin. He’ll be able to tell you everything that happened, but he needs to eat and rest first. We have to ask that you remain here overnight, complements of the hospital, of course. If you like, we can arrange a suite for you and your son. I can have one of the aids fill you in on what will happen next.” Looking at the Senior Healer, Ginny made eye contact so he knew that he should escort the Martin’s out. Olga was leaning against the back wall, still watching Ginny.
“As for Harry and Percy, this is what I know: When I was alone in the room with Peter, he told me that Professor Snape needed Harry to probe Percy’s mind immediately. Peter was not being deceitful in this request, neither was the request from Professor Snape unreasonable. When Harry heard this request he immediately went to Percy and started the probe. You probably heard me panic a few minutes ago. When I saw Harry about to probe Percy all I could think about was what happened to Professor Snape. It just took me a minute to realize that Harry would be safe.”
Ginny paused to gather her thoughts but had no time, she was assaulted by questions from almost everyone except Olga who was still standing in back, smiling and nodding at Ginny. After a quarter hour Ginny put a stop to the questions. “Look everyone, a lot has happened today and we need to let Harry and Professor Snape communicate. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry. Mom, can we invite ourselves over for dinner?”
Molly had anticipated the question and started shooing everyone down to the first floor fireplace. Ginny walked over to Ron and Hermione to check on something with them.
“Is this alright? I know Harry and I were supposed to have dinner with you…”
“No worries, sis,” said Ron, putting his arm around his younger sister. “We can let it slide. Besides, I think I left the oven on and the roast is probably tough as leather. I’ll Floo to Hogsmeade first and turn the range off.”
After Ron left, Hermione stayed with Ginny a moment. “Don’t worry, Gin, Harry will be fine.”
“Oh, I know, that’s not what I’m concerned about. We never had the chance to finish our conversation with Ron and Harry. I need to tell you some things I’ve noticed lately.” The two friends walked out of the room leaving only Arthur and Olga with Percy and Harry.
Arthur, off a look from Olga, had lingered behind, telling everyone he would be there shortly. “Yes Director, you wanted to speak with me?”
“Mr. Weasley, I believe you witnessed something extraordinary tonight and have a question or two for me?”
Arthur was astounded by Olga’s ability to see questions or concerns within people, so he knew he should not be embarrassed to ask his questions. “Ginny, what happened to her? She just took over. Good heavens, she’s only seventeen!”
“Yes, she has a natural flair for Healing and leading. Actually, that’s not fair. Ginny may be the most skilled natural Healer of anyone I have ever known, including myself. She only lacks the experience of dealing with people and the required schooling. I have no doubt she would do well under different circumstances.” That last phrase caught Arthur’s attention, as Olga knew it would.
“What do you mean by ‘different circumstances?’”
“Ginny shared something with me the other day about what’s been happening with magic, and our world in general. I know she was planning on telling Harry and Ron tonight, but the events here disrupted her plans. If you would allow me, I can share her theory with you. I have come to accept it myself. For reasons that will become obvious, Ginny has been reluctant to spread this information around.”
Arthur cautiously nodded agreement, though he wondered what his daughter might know that everyone else in the wizarding community might have missed. “Very well, is this in writing or a verbal notice?”
“Neither. If you would allow me, I’ll simply transfer the memory directly to you.” Seeing Arthur’s nod of approval, Olga touched her temple with her right index finger and extracted the memory. Arthur was amazed at two things Olga had done. First, she required no wand for the memory transfer, and second, the memory strands were golden, not the usual silvery filaments. When she touched Arthur’s temple his mind reeled at the information transferred. For a few seconds, Arthur absorbed Ginny’s theory and then sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.
Too stunned to speak with Olga, Arthur left the room to return home.
“Percy, are you here? It’s me, Harry Potter.”
After two more “calls,” Harry finally sensed a distant presence and found Percy.
“Harry? How did you get here? What’s going on? I haven’t heard from Snape in ages.”
“I don’t know all the details, Percy, I was given a message by Peter Martin to find Snape. Is he here?”
“No, not any more. A while ago I was sharing a memory with him about Merlin, that was the last time I was with him.”
“Ok, Percy, I guess that’s where I need to go, too. Can you do the same thing to me that you did for Snape?”
“Certainly, Harry, but can you tell me what’s happening? You said that you spoke with Peter, is he ok?”
“Yes, he is. He’s at St. Mungo’s; he just woke up today.”
Percy was greatly comforted to hear this. “Thank God, Harry. Do you know what’s happening to me?”
Harry took a few minutes to share with Percy all that he knew. Most of it was old information, but some of the events since Snape had “died” were new. After hearing all Harry had to say, Percy asked him if he was ready to find Snape.
“Yes, let’s try.”
Soon Harry felt his consciousness floating away again.
Just as Peter and Snape before him, Harry awakened in a world very similar to, yet very different from, his own. Unlike a memory in a pensieve, Harry could smell and feel his surroundings; the entire experience was altogether fascinating. Looking all around his location, Harry noticed two distant figures. Assuming one was Snape, he headed in their direction. As he drew nearer, Harry saw that the one figure lying down was not moving and appeared dead. The other person resembled Snape and was sitting on a bench of some sort, reading a large book; but it was not until they spoke that Harry was certain who it was.
“I see you received my message, Harry. Thank you for coming.”
“Professor Snape?”
“Yes, it’s me, or what’s left of me. Was the Martin boy successful in his recovery?”
“Er”yes, he was.”
“And what about Percy Weasley?”
“He is still unconscious, but he’s improved over the past few weeks. What’s going on here? Is that man dead?” Harry was pointing to Merlin’s body on the ground.
“Yes, he is. It’s a shame you couldn’t meet him. That was Merlin.”
“Merlin? THE MERLIN?” Snape nodded.
“Hermione was just telling us about him and some of the documents she discovered about his life.” Harry was trying to put Hermione and Snape’s information together and make sense of it.
“Harry, you will need to sit here and read this book. I think it very likely that Mrs. Weasley is reading a translation of this very text. It’s not long but it gives us some important information about what’s been happening. I have finished it, so please make yourself comfortable and start. I don’t know how much time we have.”
“Time? Until what?”
“You will see. Please, read!”
After dinner at the Burrow, Arthur asked Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to join him in the parlor. Even with a fire roaring in the hearth, the winter chill permeated the room. Ron and Hermione were bundled in a knitted blanket on the sofa. Ginny joined them looking for more warmth also. When the three we comfortable, Arthur cast a silencing charm on the room to ensure privacy. Standing, and feeling like a high inquisitor about to accuse them of treason, Arthur began.
“Kids, I wanted to talk to you three, and particularly Ginny and Hermione, concerning some theories I understand you’ve developed about the problems we’ve been experiencing.” Hoping his opening statement would shock Hermione or Ginny into a response, Arthur was surprised to see Ron make the first move.
“Well dad, Hermione was trying to tell Harry and me about Merlin and some documents she had translated. Then Ginny tried to tell us something else, George Floo’d and called us to the hospital.”
Ginny followed her brother, continuing his explanation and adding what most of them did not know. “Dad, we’re not trying to hide anything, but both Hermione and I had wanted to talk this through with Ron and Harry first, that’s all. I was about to tell them my idea when we were called away.”
“Ok, what is this discovery you’ve made?” Arthur knew most of what he was about to hear, but having his daughter tell him from her perspective, not relying solely upon Windshine’s memory, might add some value.
“Well, it’s not just me, Hermione needs to tell you parts of it, also.” Looking to Hermione, Ginny saw an annoyed expression on her face.
“Mr. Weasley, the work I’ve been doing is part of a request Professor Snape made last year. I was originally requested to review ancient documents dealing with Threads of Magic and how they tied back to Merlin. We worked on this for a few weeks before coming across the documents we have now. We immediately suspected that these were important because they were encrypted with a code far more advanced than any other of their times. It took my friend Patty and I a week to break the code with the help of my manager, Keric Albemarle. When we finally broke the code and started the translations we immediately found references to Merlin and determined that these were the original texts for The Story In The Runes. But last night, when I told Keric about the discovery, he wanted to stop any further work so that we didn’t draw attention to the discovery; he’s afraid Scrimgeour will find out about our research. Keric also thinks Scrimgeour is responsible for Fudge’s death and that the body in Harry’s office was a warning for Harry to keep away from the research.”
“But Harry had nothing to do with the documents, did he?” Arthur asked.
“No, not directly, but he met with Fudge the day he disappeared and, I just found out about this the other day, Fudge gave Harry a memory of a meeting at the Ministry Investigation Committee. It was at this meeting that Scrimgeour first started suppressing a translation by a witch named Tumult. Madam Tumult had found part of the same story Patty and I are working on, but now she’s also disappeared.”
Arthur held up his hand for Hermione to stop her story. “I see why Albemarle stopped your work, Hermione. I’m sure he was concerned for your safety.”
“Harry had mentioned this to me, too, a couple months ago. I didn’t pay much attention to it, at that time we hadn’t found anything of importance.” Hermione was wondering if she should start watching her back more often, now. Ron was also quietly thinking he would be spending more time in Dover with Hermione.
“Have you seen anything suspicious at the office?” Arthur asked.
“No, not at all.”
“Alright, I’ll ask Alastor to see if he can find someone to keep an eye on you and Patty. Scrimgeour is ultimately in charge of the Aurors so it may not be wise to request assistance through the normal channels.” Arthur sat down on the love seat opposite the sofa and prepared himself for his next line of questions.
“Ginny, I think you have something to share with us also?”
“Yes, I was going to talk this through with Ron, Hermione, and Harry this evening, but…” Ginny was certain her theory was correct, but finally having to say it out loud was unnerving. “Um, the changes in magic over the past few months appear to have a pattern, of sorts…Harry told me about Thread Magic last October, when one of his students started showing signs of remarkably strong abilities. Professors Moody and Snape, and Harry and I thought that the changes may have something to do with the thread of magic he was using. Moody had some statistics drawn up showing that Thread Magic was increasing in intensity and Non-Thread Magic was decreasing.”
Ginny rose from the sofa. Her arms were covered with goose flesh, but this time it was not due to the cold. Obviously distressed, she needed to calm down for a few minutes before finishing her story. Hermione took this opportunity to tell her father-in-law of some research she had done before being moved to document translations.
“Non-thread magic is the magic that originated directly from Merlin. Thread magic, on the other hand, can be tied directly to one of the four founders of Hogwarts. When Patty and I were shifted to the document translation job I stopped my research into threads, it looked like a dead-end at that time. I’m beginning to wonder about that, now. If Harry can get some information from Professor Snape, it might help. Right now we are looking in two different directions. I just don’t know.”
Hermione was clearly frustrated. Her work in breaking the code had been so satisfying, but outside of the illegal copies of the Rune translations she had back at Hogsmeade there was no way to continue the research.
“Ginny, couldn’t we talk with Peter Martin tonight? He was with Snape…”
“No, Hermione! I can’t allow that. He has to rest and regain his strength.”
Hermione was a little shocked by Ginny’s forcefulness as well as her claim over Peter’s welfare. Arthur had seen this also and realized it was time for him to speak up. “Ginny, I know that you know more than you are telling us, so let me share something. Hermione, this will help you understand Ginny’s behavior, too.” Then Arthur said to his daughter, “Ginny, please sit back down with Hermione and Ron.” When Ginny had seated herself, Arthur continued.
“After you left Percy’s room this evening I spoke with the Director. Ginny, she showed me what you think is happening to our world and I agree with you. Ron, Hermione, what Ginny believes is that somehow Percy and Peter caused an event that is slowly destroying magic in our world. Whether it is thread or non-thread related has yet to be determined, but if the current pace continues it may only be a matter of weeks, or even days, before our way of life ceases to exist.”
Damn! What did she say to do? Sticking her head into the fireplace just a little too far, Patty Lee said, “the Burrow,” and was sucked into the Floo network and unceremoniously spewed out in the Burrow’s parlor. Covered with soot from head to toe, Patty choked and spat out the gritty dust from her mouth, and continued cursing.
“Damn stupid thing! What the hell happened?” Standing, Patty wiped more soot out of her face and eyes to see four startled people looking at her. The fact that she recognized the four people in the room did not mean that they recognized her, and Arthur Weasley drew out his wand and stepped toward the blackened figure.
“Don’t reach for your wand. Who are you?”
“Mr. Weasley, it’s me,” Patty said, but her words had no apparent affect on anyone except Hermione.
“Patty? Is that you?”
“Yes! Hermione, I was trying to call you but, but…”
“But you stuck your head in too far, right?” Hermione saw Patty nod, then took out her wand and said, “Scourgify!” But nothing happened. A low groan came out of the mouths of the four clean people as Patty stood there wondering what was wrong.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Weasley, I didn’t know where to go.” Patty’s initial annoyance was now gone and she looked far more upset about her condition than she should be.
“Patty, it’s just some soot, don’t worry. There are other cleaning spells Mrs. Weasley knows that can help.”
“It’s not that, Hermione, when I came home this evening from dinner my apartment was full of police.” Now Patty was becoming distraught as she told what had happened. “One of my neighbors found a body leaning against my door. It had…a, a, n-n-note nailed to it’s h-head.” As Patty finished her story she sat on the floor, still covered with soot, and broke out in tears.
Hermione knelt next to Patty and held her, trying to comfort her friend. Ginny went out to the kitchen as Arthur removed the silencing charm. Returning a moment later, Ginny was followed by her mother and the twins. Seeing the mess, Molly immediately tried to scourgify away the soot, but it had no effect.
“Mom, it doesn’t work any more. Do you know some other cleaning spells?” Ginny asked.
“We could take that the poor bugger out back and hose him off.” Suggested George, laughing until he saw seven pairs of eyes telling him they didn’t enjoy the humor.
“Ok, sorry!” George backed up, but Fred moved forward. “Patty? Is that you?”
“Fred!” Patty had not seen Fred until that moment and she buried her face in Hermione’s shoulder, but instead of hearing more sobs as everyone expected, Patty was laughing. “If it wasn’t so tragic I’d laugh more,” Patty said to no one in particular.
“Here you are, dear.” Molly Weasley had been mentally going through various cleaning spells. The best she could come up with was, “Endusto.”
“Well, you’re not exactly clean, but you look better,” Molly said, trying to put a bright side on the spell’s overall failure; still, there was some improvement. “Hermione, why don’t you take your friend upstairs to shower off?”
After Patty and Hermione left the parlor, Arthur did not bother chasing Molly and the twins out. He took a few minutes to fill them in on the situation and then waited for Hermione and Patty to return. In a corner of the room, George was sniggering about how, “that Patty must be some woman!” Fred just glared at him.
After a while, Hermione and Patty returned. Patty was wearing some of Harry’s old clothes; they were too big and did nothing to enhance Patty’s appearance, but they were clean, dry, and warm.
“Patty, you might as well join us. It sounds like you’re involved now, too,” Arthur sighed. “Fred, would you please Floo Alastor Moody and see if he can join us? And you can show Miss Lee the proper way to use the network.” A small smile turned up on the face of Arthur Weasley as he made the request and suggestion. Fred smiled brightly until he remembered what Patty had been through.
Hermione made a surprising suggestion. “Fred, would you please ask Moody to bring Dumbledore’s portrait, also?”
“WHAT? Exclaimed most of the people in the room. Arthur looked seriously at Hermione.
“Hermione, Dumbledore didn’t have a portrait painted, what’s all this about?”
“I’m sorry, dad, I didn’t mean to spring it on everyone that way. We just found out last week that there was a portrait painted, but only Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick knew about it. It was badly damaged after the Last Battle and Remus Lupin said Moody still had it. I thought that if it could be repaired we might be able to ask Professor Dumbledore if he knew anything about what was happening.”
“Ok, Hermione, we can try, but even if we can repair the portrait, that animation would not know something this deep.” Molly felt terrible shooting Hermione’s idea down. “But let’s try anyway, we might be surprised.”
“Good, well Fred, ask Moody to bring it along if he can find it.”
“Sure, pop. Come on, Patty, you can practice this with me.” Fred and Patty went off to the hearth to call Moody.
Harry had been reading for a few hours and was just about where Merlin had ended the story, and his life. Turning the last page, Harry then flipped back and forth between the last two pages as if he were trying to reference a previous comment or passage.
“Professor Snape?” Harry started, “I remember something from this part of the story.”
“Yes? I too recalled some passages from my childhood reading of the book.”
But Harry turned to Snape with a look of surprise. “No, it wasn’t from the story, it was something someone told me. What was it?” Harry asked himself. Then, with a mixture of amazement and sorrow, Harry recalled what it was.
“Bane! Professor Snape, Bane said this same thing.” Harry’s amazement prevented him from remembering that Snape had not been around when Bane had died. “I mean, a few days ago Hagrid called us over because Bane was dying. As Bane was talking he said something like ‘wizards beware, Mars and Venus are aligned.’ There’s a reference to something like this in the story, back here.” Turning the page back, Harry showed Snape the passage he was referring to.
“Here it is!” Harry exclaimed, pointing to the lines. “I promised peace and beauty…and love with me. My world would be their goddess, Venus…but they were choosing hate and war…where they stayed. They chose Mars, the god of war and destruction.”
Snape considered this, nodding as he thought more about Bane’s prophesy. “Yes, you might be correct. Harry, there is a definite pattern to what’s been happening the past few months. Your story about Bane intrigues me, did he say anything about the other centaurs in the forest?”
“Yes, he said he was the last, all the others had died.”
Snape considered this for a moment then continued. “Centaurs are not the only species of magical creatures to die recently. I believe you know of another.”
“The merpeople. They’re dying, too.” Then Harry remembered another meeting. “And Mandrakes. Neville told us about them a while ago.”
“Yes, I think I can see what’s happening, just not why it’s happening. Harry, I believe that Bane’s comment was referring to, and this is almost too impossible to believe, the rejoining of the world of Magic and the world of Muggles.”
Snape looked at Harry as he reached the same conclusion. “How does Merlin affect all of this?”
“There was a part of the story that spoke of magical creatures which Merlin created. I believe there is some sort of connection between what has happened in this world and what’s happening in ours.” Snape knew he was grasping a bit with this conclusion, but it was, so far, the only one that fit the evidence.
“Hagrid,” Harry commented sadly, “he’s been in poor health for months now.” The realization of what this meant suddenly depressed Harry. He wanted to leave and see his oldest friend. Snape saw Harry’s expression and tried to reason with him.
“Harry, the best thing we can do for Hagrid is stay here and try to find out if we can reverse, or at least stop, the problem.” Harry knew Snape was right, but it did not help him feel much better.
“Ok, you’re right. But what should we do?”
A very good question! “I believe we should start with the book. I noticed this when I first read it after Merlin died.” Snape took the book and turned to the last chapter. Marking that page with a twig he had picked up from the ground, Snape paged ahead to the point where the last part of the book started.
“Look here, about ten pages, blank, nothing apparent on them. At that time paper was very expensive and rare. I can’t imagine that even Merlin would be so wasteful.”
“Maybe he planned to write more?” Harry suggested.
“I think not. He’s been with the book for at least sixteen centuries and hasn’t added anything.” Snape opened the book to the blank pages and uttered some incantations, but nothing happened. Sitting on the bench next to Harry, Snape threw the book to the ground in frustration.
Since the events of September 19th, most members of the wizarding world had become accustomed to the shifts and changes in spells and their effectiveness. Until the night that Peter Martin returned to a conscious state, these changes had been generally subtle and manageable. Many wizards, like Rudy Keane, found no personal consequence in the way his powers changed. Some, like Harry Potter, knew of the changes but seldom found use for them. A few, like Rufus Scrimgeour, made an effort to understand the phenomena, which he had not experienced at all, until the explanation itself seemed more dangerous than its symptoms. There was also a small group of wizards, like Remus Lupin, who promoted taking no action, fearing a return to their previous condition. However, most wizards and witches coped as best they could; few of the changes had any serious effect on their long-term livelihood, until now.