บท 122: The truth
The splitting headache you feel after overusing the Diadem was something that Harry was intimately familiar with.
That was why he had not expected Hermione to come to his lab the next day in order to help him.
Which was why he was so surprised when she did came regardless of her haggard expression and red eyes.
He could tell just from a look at her that she must be suffering a huge headache eve now. But Hermione was nothing if not determined and hard working.
Many give people credit to Hermione's great success in academics by calling her a genius, greatest witch of the generation or what not.
As if she was born with that talent.
As if she was better than everybody else and could simply read a book once and remember all of it's contents.
She was not a genius.
She was just a very, very hardworking girl.
She did not use a shortcut like the Diadem in order to gain first place in her class.
She does that by studying deep at night and staying in the library all year long while her classmates did other unimportant things.
Well, she probably did not study as much this year as she might have done in the canon storyline because of learning the new kind of magic but the fact that she was so good at that magic right now while Daphne and Penelope weren't was a testament to her hard work and her determination.
So he probably shouldn't be surprised that she came to help him despite having all the excuse in the world not to.
And that why when she looked at him with those pitiful eyes and asked why he had not told her about the Diadem ever before, he decided to tell a few of his deeper secrets in order to win her trust.
"Sit down." He commanded, clearly seeing that the girl was shivering with discomfort and only standing with her will power.
"No wait… Don't sit down. Instead, lay down on the sofa instead. You're not looking very good right now and I don't want to tell your parents why you lost consciousness once again."
At the reminder of her parents, Hermione gave a weak nod and started moving toward the sofa before almost falling down to the floor.
Thankfully, he caught her in the nick of time and then carried her to the sofa instead.
The foolish girl.
He gently laid her down on the sofa in the lounge outside his lab and covered her with a blanket. Then he took out a Pepper up potion and a calming draught and passed them to her.
She looked at the two vials with disgust and he knew why that was.
They didn't look good.
And they tasted even bad than they looked.
Unfortunately, it was how it was and he was finally able to force the girl to drink the two potions and could instantly tell by loose posture that she must be feeling better now.
"Now you want to know why I never showed you the Diadem. Is that right?" he asked.
She nodded weakly and he was suddenly overcome by her adorableness.
Jesus she was cute.
But alas, you don't pinch the cheeks of a patient. That was just basic common courtesy and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. So he refrained from kneading those cute fluff bags.
"The reason why I didn't told you about the diadem has a huge story behind it. And… well… that story holds very dark secrets. Do you still want to know?"
She nodded once again and he braced himself in order to tell her the story that he'd come up with last night.
A story that held 90% truth and 10% lies.
"Before we start. Let me ask you. Do you know what a Horcrux is?" he asked and of course, she shook her head.
"A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark wizard or witch hides a portion of their soul in order to attain immortality."
"The Horcrux is considered one of the most terrible dark magic out there." He explained "It was first created by Harpo the foul who used the dark ritual along with the murder of a person in order to create the Horcrux."
"Murder of a person?" Hermione asked, looking horrified that there were rituals in the world that required murdering people.
Of course there were.
Humans were capable of doing great things with magic but they were also capable of doing terrible things with it.
"Yes Hermione. Murdering someone in cold blood cause great harm to your soul. If the ritual is performed correctly then you could further harm your soul, effectively splitting it in two parts before sealing one of them in an object."
"But what does that do?" she asked, looking confused "I mean if a person dies and his or her body is destroyed, then what the point of having a soul inside a horcrux. Won't that just be something like eternal imprisonment." She shuddered at that thought and he shook his head.
"No. If a dark wizard whose soul is anchored by a horcrux dies, then his spirit does not go to the… next world. It remains here. In our world. And it can then possess other people or other animals to do their bidding."
"Possession?" Hermione asked and he nodded his head.
"Yes. And by using that possessed body, they could then make a body of their own using dark magical rituals."
"You can do that?" she asked, looking both horrified and curious "I mean… create yourself a new body with dark magical rituals. Would it work like the real body. With all the organs and what not."
He shrugged his head "I don't know. I've never dissected such a person. And to my knowledge, no one else in history has either. Though now that I think about it, the prospect does seem inviting. Who knows, maybe I'll make a project out of this one as well." He said with a grin while Hermione simply rolled her eyes at him. Not believing his words at all.
"So… you're saying that if someone killed Harpo the Foul and burned his body then he could still perform some dark ritual and return?"
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying."
Hermione looked confused at his answer and then asked "But Harry. What does that have to do with the Diadem?"
He gave her the 'look' and said "Why don't you take a guess?"
Hermione concentrated on his words for a moment before her face turned green and she at him with a terrified gaze "Oh Harry. That… that thing… was it possessed. Does it have someone's soul inside it. Am I… am I possessed now as well?" she touched her face all over the place in order to check whether she was possessed or not, her panic getting out of hand of had with each passing second before he clamped down on her hands and held them in place.
If she was a few years older, then this scene would have highly aroused him. But as it was, she was not even a teenager yet and neither was he.
"Calm down Mione." He said in an authoritative voice which had the instant effect of breaking her out of her panic. "No. The diadem was not possessed."
"But then… you said that…"
"I know what I said. And no. The diadem was not possessed when you wore it. But… it was once possessed by a soul. I removed it from the diadem near the start of our term though, so you don't need to worry about being possessed. Alright?"
"Yes. But, Harry… Do you know whose soul it was. You know. Inside that diadem." She asked, looking unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer or not.
"Yes Mione. I know whose soul it was." He said and took a deep breath before continuing "That soul belonged to Lord Voldemort."
Hermione's eyes widened at his answer and she let out a silent gasp before she started to panic once again at wearing something that once housed the soul of one of the darkest wizard in the history of wizarding Britain.
This time he did pull her cheeks.
He could have said that he did that in order to calm her down but truthfully, he just wanted to do it for some time now and gave in to his desires at last.
"Ary.. sop it…" she mumbled and he chuckled at her wordings and giving her a soft kiss on the cheeks before letting her go.
Her face turned crimson red at once and she looked at him with mock outrage while he tried to stop the smug expression that creped it's way into his face.
"Harry…"
"Sorry." He said in a tone which showed have not-sorry he was "But you're calm." He said with false cheeriness and she huffed while doing a bad job of looking annoyed.
At last she asked "So tell me Harry is, Voldemort still alive?"
A moment of silence entered between the two of them before he nodded his head.
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