I'm Dead

The Rita Skeeter of Her Time

They spent all afternoon in the library. Now that they knew what they were searching for, everyone was working much quicker and with more purpose, even Ron, to whom the contents of a library was practically alien.

Ginny had even managed to drag Fred, George and James out of their lair (kicking and screaming) to help them, and Al had found Scorpius easily enough. Deangelo Penzance, on the other hand, turned out to be much harder to find. It was like the grouchy, handsome wizard on the Chocolate Frog card had erased himself from all the history books, even the biggest, thickest, most ancient ones. This, of course, caused Hermione to despair, because if you couldn't find something out in a book where were you going to learn it?

At dinner, Mrs Weasley brought them all sandwiches and didn't even bother to ask why they were all in the library, because she was so astounded by the sight of Fred, George and Ron willingly flicking through the musty old pages of so many books. No one else bothered them – Teddy was working with Remus and Sirius, and everyone else had work to do either for the Order or outside of it.

When darkness started to gather in sections of the library, Hermione slumped forward onto the desk she was reading at, her book still open, and let out a groan. "He's nowhere to be found!" she wailed. "Why isn't he here? He's supposed to be one of the most influential wizards of the Founders' era!"

Seeing that Hermione was about to lose it, Ginny desperately looked around for some source of distraction. "Al, what did that Chocolate Frog card say again? Read it out to us."

Fishing the card out of his pocket, Al put his glasses on and read out, "'Deangelo Penzance, shown above, was one of the most influential wizards of the Founders' era.'"

"See!" came from the defeated shape they knew to be Hermione. Ron shushed her, making a few people look at him strangely.

"'He played a crucial role in the growth and improvement of the Wizarding world we know today, creating spells, curses and incantations that make up both the most commonly used and the most obscure spells we use today. Without him and a select few others, the world as we know it may not be as well developed as it is, though he may be better known for his alleged acquaintanceship with the four founders during the time Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was being built, though this theory has never been proved.'"

Everyone was silent for a moment. And then something clicked in Hermione's brain.

"His alleged acquaintanceship with the four founders! How did we miss that?" Sitting up straight, Hermione looked round at them all, beaming. "This is what we're looking for! Penzance's relationship with Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Hogwarts! They're the key!"

Rose let out a little, "Oh!" Everyone else, however, was still looking around at each other dumbly.

"Er, what's the key?" Hugo asked at last.

"Yes, yes, it makes sense now!" Hermione continued, as if she hadn't even heard him. Harry, Ron, Hugo and Rose rolled their eyes, knowing not to interrupt her when she was like this, while the rest looked frustrated at the lack of information they were getting. "One of the most influential wizards… Founders' era… and they needed… and he was obviously clever, if he… but what made him…"

"Hermione!" Ginny clicked her fingers in front of her friend's face, making her jump and stare at her wide-eyed. "Snap out of it! Come on, tell us what's going on in that head of yours," she coaxed.

"I was getting to it," Hermione huffed. "Rose, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think I do," she nodded.

"Right. Well, we know that Penzance created all these spells that we still use today, didn't he?" Hermione asked the group at large. They all nodded. "And wizardry wasn't fully developed in his time – there was still so much to learn about magic, which was part of the reason Hogwarts was set up." The bushy-haired girl checked to see if they were all with her. They were. "But Hogwarts was a school. It could teach magic to pupils all it liked, but for a school to be successful there's always got to be more to learn. More spells, more curses, more incantations, which was what Penzance worked on. And teaching all this new magic would therefore develop the rest of the Wizarding world. So who did the four Founders employ to explore all this unknown magic, make sense of it all, and create spells to control it?"