If You Leave Me Now // Marauders

Chapter Thirty-One

"Is that even a thing?" Harry asked, confused. No one ever talked about grey magic.

"Much like the world, Potter, not everything is in black and white. People do what they must, even when people don't understand the reason."

Draco seemed to age in front of them, leaning against the wooden table. It had been many years since the end of the war, but on some days it felt just as real as when he was living it. After Azkaban, he had moved back into the Manor that seemed to be tainted down to its core with the slimy feeling of dark magic. Nightmares plagued him, still to this day, whenever he spent too long inside of it. 

He often wondered if the slimy darkness covered his soul in the same way in encompassed his home.

It was also eating away slowly at his mother, who never even bothered to leave the Manor since his father was sentenced. 

The room seemed to shift at the melancholy attitude that was around them, but Hermione carried on.

"It says that Merlin searched for years to find a partner that was magically equal for the ritual to work. They had to be powerful, but evenly matched."

"Quite a difficult task for someone like Merlin," Draco added.

"Which is why it took him years. He developed a way to test the compatibility with each partner by brewing a potion and using blood magic."

"Which does happen to be illegal now," Harry threw in.

"Semantics, Harry. Listen." Hermione continued, "He tested all of his apprentices and the only match that he ever found was Morgan Le Fay."

"But Morgan Le Fay was evil, I thought? We were always told as children that Morgana sought to overthrow Arthur and usurp the position as advisor and mage for the king," Draco said, confused.

"Of course you, a noble pureblood heir, would have been told that," she scoffed, "When Arthur was wounded in the battle of Camlann, they sought out Morgana for her extraordinary ability to heal, which was much stronger than Merlin's. Most modern people believe that she was portrayed as evil because she sought to protect the magic over the witches and wizards themselves. They painted her as a power-hungry and sexually deviant woman to vilify her, because why would a woman be able to be that strong?"

"So what happened when he found out they were compatible?" Harry asked, grazing over her last statement.

"They performed a complex ritual using the deepest parts of their magical cores. It doesn't say much more on it, but it does say that Merlin asked something of Magic. He killed Morgan Le Fay not too long after that, so some think that the Magic asked for payment."

"So, in theory, that would be completely useless because we can't use blood magic and commit murder?" Harry asked frustrated.

"Not necessarily, Potter. Were you not listening? Magic asked something of Merlin. We don't know that it specifically asked him to kill his equal. It could ask for anything. As for the blood magic, you two are Hermione Granger and The Boy Who Lived, Died, and Lived again. You could, quite possibly, get away with murder."

"Very funny, Malfoy. But how does this help us now?"

"I don't know yet, Harry," Hermione jumped in, "But there's only one thing stronger than magic, right? Someone could always ask if it comes down to it."

"What's stronger than magic?" Draco asked the two.

"Love," Harry replied, turning towards him, "Love is what ended both wars."

Talking about the war had always been a point of contention between Draco and Hermione. It was the very reason that they were at odds for so many years. Of course they talked about the obvious, their parts in the war with each other, but Hermione never volunteered any information from her side, nor did Draco.