Bab 90: Trying to gain Mage Sight

Hermione knew that she had failed in her friendship with Harry time and time again.

Now the least she could do was apologize to him properly and hope that he would forgive her.

That was why she had entered the Chamber of Secrets, hoping that he would be here and that she would at least be able to talk with him.

That plan of her had failed even before it could start.

Because she soon as she entered the Chamber, Besalla had swiped dropped her large tail in front of with a shake of her head, clearly indicating that Hermione was no longer allowed to even meet Harry.

That had hurt because she thought that Harry would at least meet her and listen to her apology before telling her to 'get lost'.

But knowing that he did not even want to meet her anymore had hurt.

Though she would have to admit that the prospect of a thousand year Basilisk acting as a guard dog was rather funny.

Still, he had told Besalla to stop her from entering the rooms where his lab was situated.

He had not told Besalla to kick her out of the chamber so she knew that there was hope.

Hope that he would forgive her this one last time.

And she do anything to earn his forgiveness.

With that thought, she took out a large stone from her bottomless bag and transfigured it into a chair and sat down upon it.

He would have to come out eventually. And when he does, she would get the chance to apologize to him. He may not forgive her but she had to try.

And she just knew that she would be waiting a long time before he would show himself to her so she took out a book from her bag and started reading.

Not noticing the boy who was staring at her from just a few feet away.

—————

"Do you feel any different now?" Harry asked curiously "See anything different?"

"N… no doctor." Test subject 0004 answered.

Harry just shrugged at his answer and continued transfiguring the horn jutting out of the test subject's forehead.

"See anything different now?" he asked after a few minutes and the test subject replied negatively once again and Harry continued.

He knew that he would not get success any time soon in this project of his.

After all, this was probably the most important project that he had worked upon.

And if he got success just on his first try or even one first day, then that would have been disappointing.

After all, he was trying to copy Selena's horn along with it's magical properties so that a wizard like him would be able to see or feel magic as well just like how the Horned Serpent did.

And he knew that if he gained magical sight then his understanding of magic would shoot through the roof.

And once that happened, he would be able to do… well, he didn't actuAlley knew what he would be able to accomplish once be was able to see or feel magic but he was sure that it would be something truly great.

So with that thought, he continued transfiguring the horn on the subject's head.

Selena was of course helping him from the sidelines and telling him if he was doing the right thing or not but even with her help, he was not able to get any substantial results by the end of the day.

Perhaps it was not simply about the horn but also about the nerves connecting the horn to the brain.

Hmm… he'll have to work on it tomorrow.

For now, he would work on transfiguring the kidney of those rats to see if he was able to make them immune to poison.

So far, he had met with limited success in that field as well and it was unlikely that he would create the perfect kidney anytime soon either. But just like he had said, all great projects took time and patience. And was willing to give all of his time and patience to these projects.

"Let's go Selena. I've run out of ideas for transfiguring the horn for the moment." With those thoughts, he went out of the room only to met with the sight of Hermione sitting near Besalla on a chair, reading one of the books he had gifted her previously.

"She's still here." Selena whispered in his ears and he frowned slightly.

It had been three days and the girl was still sitting here. Of course, she didn't spent all of her time as she had to attend her classes and what not but she spent the rest of her time sitting beside Besalla, waiting for him.

When he had first left the headmaster's office, he had been very angry and had decided to not forgive her anymore.

But the girl had shown a surprising amount of resilience in order to ask for his forgiveness and he knew that his anger would run out sooner or later and then he would probably forgive her for her mistake.

But he would never forget.

And he still had a bit of anger left from that day so he would let her wait for a few more days or even weeks before he decided to talk with her.

With those thoughts, he entered another tunnel that led to his second lab that was dedicated to his studies of the rats and what not.

And since he never removed his Shroud of Concealment, Hermione never even noticed his presence and continued sitting in her chair without the knowledge of his appearance.

—————

"The ministry declined your request?" he asked blandly, not really surprised by this move from the ministry.

"Yes. Apparently all the prime places in Diagon Alley had already been bought by other people." Andromeda said with some bitterness.

And he could understand why she was feeling so bitter. He truly did.

Andromeda was someone who had stepped upon the pride of Pureblood houses by declining a pureblood marriage and her marrying a muggleborn instead.

Until now she had been out of the radar of other people and the purebloods were content with that. But she opens a shop in Diagon Alley then she would come into full view of everyone and the pureblood girls who are not content with their betrothed will realize that they can indeed choose to defy their parents and do as they like with their lives.

And the traditionalist purebloods couldn't have that now could they.

So the ministry had instead banned her from stepping into the wizarding world by refusing her request to buy a shop in Diagon Alley.

And with no land available in Diagon Alley, the only place she could open a shop in was Knockturn Alley or perhaps in Hogsmeade.

But Knockturn Alley had a rather bad reputation and no one really went to Hogsmeade with the intention of buying potions so it opening a potions shop there would be a waste as well.

The funny thing Harry realized was that it was not Lucius or any other Death eaters that stopped her but old traditional witches and wizards that held seat in the wizengamot many of whom were as old, if not older than even Dumbledore.

The situation was made even funnier when he realized that most of these old men and women had chosen the light or the neutral side during the last war.

Seemed like saving tradition was more important to those old fogies than things like personal freedom and morals.

Harry had always found hypocrites a bit funny.

He had always found them a bit annoying as well.

So when he changes the magical world, those old fogies would be the first ones to go.

"Don't let this set back worry you too much." He said with a smile "Just brew your potions and wait. I have an idea that'll solve all of your problems and then you'll be able to sell your potions as you wish."

"Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes. That idea will take some time however. Maybe a year or two. So if you can wait that long then I'll be able to solve all your problems and more."

Andromeda gave him a skeptical look for a moment before she took a deep breath and thought about it.

"You know. The idea of opening a potions shop in Hogsmeade still sounds better to me even the shop won't be very profitable in that place." She said "But I don't think that the old fools in the ministry would let me go just like that either. In fact, I am almost sure that they would definitely try some way to get me to close my shop."

"In light of that, I think I would rather put my trust in you and see if you're able to live up to your promise."

"I will. Trust me." He said with seriously and she nodded before apparating away.

He looked at the empty space for a few more moments, wondering if he should get started with his plan already and then with one last nod, he apparated away from the place as well.