Endgame

Chapter 16

"Someone looks fresh today!" Hallie said to George as he walked in to the breakfast hall like a living zombie.

"I'm never drinking again," he said, gulping down a glass of pumpkin juice.

"You bet, mate," Fred laughed. "You were counting the stars last night."

"Oh Hals, you know I love you!" Hallie mimicked him.

"Shut up you two," he said, sighing while Hallie and Fred began to laugh. Hallie returned to the riddle and book she was working on.

"How's that going?" Fred asked.

"I worked it out," she replied, chuffed with herself.
"This morning."

"Tell us all about it."

***
Earlier that morning

"Before the truth unfolds," Hallie thought. "The pages of a textbook, the answers are in here."

"If I look at the riddle again, references to memory have been made three times," she turned the page. "A memory charm?"

Hallie began to flick through the pages of the advanced charms textbook. It wasn't until she had made it half way through that she found the page she was looking for. Unfortunately, it was ripped out.

"Ugh," she sighed, and looked up at the top. "Obliviate it says here."

She got up and walked over to Madam Pince who had rather got used to her appearance in the library these past few days.

"Excuse me, do you have any more advanced charms textbooks?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Blackwell," she said, bluntly. "All sixth and seventh year students use them this time of year for revision as their NEWTs are coming up."

"Ah that's understandable, thank you anyway," Hallie replied, walking back to her seat and looking at the book.

"Obliviate," she whispered quietly before remembering something.

"Fred and George!" It was like she had a Eureka moment. "They do charms, they will have that textbook!"

She ran away from the library, carrying everything in her hands. After receiving a few disgruntled looks from first year students, she made it through the exit and towards the exit.

***
Breakfast that morning

"Thank you for your copy, George," she said, patting his arm."Now, if I'm right about this."

She opened the textbook up and turned to the page that said obliviate. Luckily, the page was intact and together. She began to read down it. Finally, something clicked in her brain.

"Wasn't the ripped page obvious?" Fred asked. "Surely that would've helped you solved the riddle."

"No, because I didn't understand what was so important about this page. I needed to solve the riddle first " she sighed. "Now listen to this."

"The Memory Charm (Obliviate), also known as the Forgetfulness Charm, is a charm that can be used to erase specific memories from an individual's mind," she continued."The riddle said something about a spell that has made someone lose their mind. It meant memories, not sanity."

"Your mum," Fred said. "She couldn't remember the year before you were born!"

"Exactly," she nodded, "nor would she remember the night of that picture being taken."

"So how does this connect Malfoy and your mum then?" George asked groggily.

"This page gives you some history on the background of the spell," Hallie looked down again at the page. "These spells were used routinely by the British Ministry of Magic as they worked to keep the wizarding world a secret from Muggles."