Desperate Measures

Chapter 25 - Hermione's Summer

"Yes."

"Marked like that," Rookwood gestured towards the torc.

"Yes," Hermione said then added pointedly, "I'm sure you didn't expect any different."

"No, I didn't," Rookwood admitted. "But I just wanted to be sure. So, will you come?"

Hermione turned her attention back to the torc. She picked it up and examined it more closely. It felt right in her hands. "Your future will require a leap of faith," she murmured.

"Pardon?" Rookwood said.

"Something Trelawney said to me just before I left Hogwarts yesterday," Hermione said. "I thought she was just being batty, but now I wonder."

"She's batty," Rookwood said with a chuckle. "Never wonder about that. It doesn't mean she's not a true seer, however."

"So, I put this on and, just like magic, I'll suddenly become a calmer person," Hermione said. "My drive to learn everything will wane."

"No," Rookwood denied with a shake of his head. "Your desire to learn everything will be tempered. Right now, you're desperate. Your thoughts are always overshadowed by the feeling that you have to learn as much as you can right now, that there isn't enough time to learn everything you need to. Correct?"

Hermione nodded but kept her eyes on the torc. "Yes. Nobody really understands how I feel. They think I'm just obsessive."

"You are obsessive," Rookwood said. "Just as every Unspeakable before you and every Unspeakable after you. Nobody but us can ever truly understand the absolute desperation that we feel to learn everything. Putting on that torc will curb the obsession. You'll be able to enjoy other activities without feeling guilty about not learning a new fact every minute. But your drive to learn won't disappear. It's just that that nebulous thing that you've always been striving for will now be fulfilled."

"And I'll be your leader," Hermione said.

"Yes," Rookwood agreed. "You'll be our new leader."

"Just like that?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Rookwood said. "Just like that."

"Because the Gods have willed it," Hermione said in disbelief.

"Just so," Rookwood said calmly. "You won't be the first leader to not like the idea of divine intervention. The Gods must not mind, though, or they wouldn't have picked you."

"Lovely," Hermione said sourly.

"Will you join us?" Rookwood asked quietly.

Hermione looked up once again. "Tell me about these secrets."

Rookwood nodded. "Just days before Voldemort's fall the Unspeakables finally discovered how to modify the fidelius spell. The old version was one secret, one secret keeper. If a second secret was desired, a second secret keeper needed to be found. But we changed it, exponentiated it. Now, with one secret keeper there is still only one secret, but two keepers can hold four secrets, three keepers can hold nine secrets, four keepers can hold sixteen secrets..."

"And one hundred keepers can hold ten thousand secrets," Hermione finished softly in understanding.

"Yes."

"The Squirrel who shall reveal ten thousand secrets..." Hermione repeated. "To the King. To Harry's seventh son."

"So we believe," Rookwood said in agreement.

"And how many secrets do you hold right now?" Hermione asked. "Ninety-nine squared?"

"No, not yet," Rookwood admitted with a grimace. "We're working on it but it takes about a day to set up all the runic anchors around an area and cast the spell. There are only so many days in a year and we've only had this new spell for not quite sixteen years. Right now we hold 3,382 secrets."