The Mists of Memory

Chapter 4 - You Called me Marion

They read books all morning. Draco read three with attention, and then just skimmed through five others. He began to understand the depressed mood of the group.

'Damn, none of these even mention a Green Torch!' burst Draco closing the ninth volume of 'Magical Objects: Where to find them' and throwing it onto the table. He leaned heavily against the back of the chair, hiding a big yawn.

'In truth, the Green Torch is mentioned in a couple of books, but only as the weapon that Harry used to destroy You-Know-Who,' said Ginny entering the library and sitting next to Harry. He handed her a couple of books which she diligently started to leaf through.

'Yes, we all know how well that worked out,' Draco drawled sarcastically, getting up from the chair and approaching a wide bookcase.

Harry sighed. Ginny put a hand on his shoulder as she said, 'At least it did for a while.' Harry rested his right hand on hers and squeezed it.

'But was it worth it for a few years of illusion?'

Nobody answered. Draco guessed that he asked a question nobody could answer without hurting Harry's feelings. Hermione closed the book she was reading and stretched tiredly. Ginny frowned and suddenly all eyes turned to look at her.

'Look here...it talks about a kind of Torch,' she said, a little excitedly. But her excitement was short-lived. 'Ah no...it's only a trick for magicians!'

Five people snorted.

Hermione got up. 'I'd better go check on the roast,' she announced.

'I turned it five minutes ago and switched the oven off,' said Ginny. 'We'll have to wait for Ron to come back; according to the Clock, he's still far. You know that it's impossible to Apparate during the day, with Muggles everywhere.'

'I told Ron that it was a bad idea to visit the Burrow. It's true, however, that New Year's Day was just a few days ago and that someone had to go present them with our wishes,' said Hermione, staring at an empty chair which Draco suspected was where Ron usually sat. Then, she walked towards the door. 'I'm going to check his position too. Maybe he got closer while we were talking.'

Draco looked at the long row of books that was spread across the wall. While his eyes were on a volume that seemed to deem some interest, he saw the contours of the bookcase start to vanish. He blinked a few times but his vision didn't clear. Then he noticed that a shelf had been added.

'The Ministry has found more materials for us; as if the rubbish they've sent us already isn't bad enough. Useless books we're wasting our eyesight over,' said Harry, noticing that two other shelves had appeared.

Draco eyed him sceptically, and had a look at the new material. There were books of black magic and some volumes that he had caught a glimpse of in the Restricted Section of the library at Hogwarts.

'Isn't the location of this place meant to be secret?'

'It's top secret, in fact,' Sirius answered. 'Only Remus knows where to find us. He's working at the Ministry and he's the one who's getting us these books. They are not rubbish, Harry.'

'Perhaps they're not rubbish, but they are useless. For two years we've continued to leaf through them day after day, never finding anything more than mentions of my fight against Voldemort...or some magical tricks for Muggle magicians.' He crossed gazes with Ginny, who sighed and slumped her shoulders.

'Maybe you've been looking for it in the wrong way,' mused Draco.

'How do you propose we do it then?' cried Harry. Sirius gave him a strict glance. 'I mean...what do you think we could've done differently?' He reddened and lowered his sight.