Hero of the Story || James Potter x Hermione Granger Fanfiction

29 | where there is light, a shadow appears

xxix.

where there is light, a shadow appears

(Sorrow by Sleeping at Last)

__________

July 15, 1978

Hermione stared at the blank parchment on top of her table and tried to formulate the proper words to tell Regulus that she finally had a plan for their horcrux hunt. She hummed under her breath and thoughtfully brushed the soft ends of her turkey quill against her chin, before dipping the nib inside the inkwell.

Regulus,

I think the next best thing to do for our mission is to procure the Cup.

The brunette paused, wondering if it would be wise to add more details in this letter. Regulus was living at Grimmauld Place, after all, and no doubt it would be swarming with fellow Death Eaters who were too blinded by Voldemort's promises of power and prestige. She'd rather he didn't get into trouble just by corresponding with her.

She finally decided the brief letter was enough and signed it with her initials.

"Bring this to Regulus Black of 12 Grimmauld Place, Toffee," she softly requested, running a finger over the owl's head. She hooted happily and flew out of the window.

Now, all Hermione had to do was to wait for his reply.

-ooo-

Toffee came back a few hours after that, this time with a new parchment tied around her claw.

Hermione was in the middle of reading Anne of Green Gables, which Mary had given to her last Christmas, when her owl arrived.

She set the book aside and excitedly unrolled the parchment.

Bloody hell, you have to elaborate more. This isn't some mere note passing in school.

R.A.B.

Hermione snorted at his snarky reply, imagining his smirky face whilst penning this letter. She noted that he didn't write her name, which was good. If ever the letter was intercepted, then no one would speculate that he and a Half-Blood Ravenclaw were brewing a plan to overthrow the Dark Lord.

She quickly grabbed another spare parchment from her table and wrote down her reply.

The Cup is most likely inside the Lestrange's Vault. I was hoping with your connection to the Lestranges, procuring it would be an easy task.

H.J.P.

"I'm sorry, Toffee," she said, sheepishly smiling at the family owl as she tied the letter around her foot. Their small, tawny owl hooted in understanding and affectionately nipped Hermione's finger, before flying out of the window once more.

-ooo-

'Easy task'? Biggest understatement of the century. The Lestranges are famously known for their paranoia. Their Gringotts vault is heavily warded. I'm not sure if the rumours are true, but they said there's an actual dragon guarding their treasures. With the addition of my crazy cousin to their family, the paranoia had increased ten-fold.

So no, HJP, procuring it is not an easy task at all.

R.A.B.

Hermione sighed in disappointment, but she'd expected this anyway. Even though she had Regulus as an ally, she knew getting the Cup would be really difficult. But amongst the other four remaining horcruxes, this one seemed the most feasible to get as of the moment. Riddle's diary was still most likely housed in Malfoy Manor. Hermione's head was still filled with Bellatrix Lestrange's torture in the drawing room of said house, and no matter how many times she tried to come up with a concrete plan to get the diary, Hermione always ended up balking and shaking with fear. Slytherin's locket may still be in Voldemort's possession and not hidden in the Cave Harry had described to her. The Gaunt ring, although perhaps easy to procure too, may be the most dangerous of them all. She remembered the unforgiving curse the ring had bestowed upon one of the greatest wizards the world had ever known. Hermione really wanted to get the ring, but only when she had already figured out how to destroy the horcruxes.