Chapter Text
Hermione Granger’s curiosity had often gotten the best of her. Being exposed to an entire world of magic at the young age of eleven could do that to a girl. Leading up to her arrival at Hogwarts she had devoured every magical book she could get her hands on, scouring details from every text she could and forsaking everything else in her muggle life for the sake of magical knowledge. Over the years, her know-it-all tendencies may have calmed a bit, but her intelligence and curiosity never did. Nor did her penchant for letting that curiosity lead her straight into trouble.
She knew that she had a tendency to pursue knowledge without fear of the consequences. But that thought was far from her mind when she was breaking into Rowle Castle in search of the ancient text she’d only heard rumors of. A text that held prophecies no one had ever heard of. Of prophecies that had all come true. Sure, she believed divination was a load of hogwash, but if the book spoke the truth… hell, it was too mad of a concept for her to even figure.
Breaking through the wards was surprisingly easy, something that barely even registered as she made her way swiftly across the large estate. The beauty of the castle unapparent as the moonlight guided her down the worn stone path to the door. The sound of the ocean crashing against the towering cliffs to her right, hardly soothed her nerves as she ripped open the front door with a blast of magic from her wand and stepped inside without even thinking of what could be waiting for her on the other side.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that even though the only living Rowle was locked up in Azkaban with no future of release for a long, long while, this house was probably bursting with dark magic. It didn’t slow her though, as she lifted her wand and stepped into the house. Casting a lumos, she began her search for the library.
As if the hulking viking’s current incarceration would keep her safe, she trampled through his family home without fear or hesitation. Finding quickly the cavernous room she was seeking, she methodically began searching through the tomes for the one she wanted. Logically, she knew that it would take some time to find it, but the thought was of little consequence as she climbed the ladders and scoured the shelves.
Her eyes began to droop as the sun rose over the sea beyond the windows, but she pushed on. Finally on the last shelf in the farthest corner of the room, stood a heavy leather bound book wrapped in magic. Surrounded by inconsequential dusty paperback books, and a shield of wards and curses, Hermione knew she had found what she was looking for.
It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky and her stomach was gnawing at her in hunger, that she finally worked through the wards surrounding the book. Pulling it off the shelf she slumped against the bookcase and tried to open the the heavy tome. It wouldn’t budge. She nearly screamed in frustration as she stared at the book in front of her. After all of that work .
She thought she must have been hallucinating when, before her tired eyes, golden words began etching themselves across the cover. True knowledge requires sacrifice. The words read, Only with the binding blood of the worthy will our secrets be revealed.
Blood. The book required blood.
For the first time since she’d begun her mission she hesitated. Blood magic was dark, powerful magic. Not something to be taken lightly, certainly not something to dive headfirst into without research. Sighing heavily, Hermione recalled all of the work she’d done to find this book. The days and months she’d spent tracking it down. The years she had obsessed over it.
Fuck it.
She used the small knife she kept strapped to her thigh to puncture the tip of her forefinger, drawing out the dark red liquid and letting it drip onto the cover.
One.
Two.
Three drops.
Before the world went black.