"Madam Pince, I am so sorry!"
Hermione pulled Lia along, quickly leaving the library amidst the librarian's angry roars.
They didn't return to the common room but instead slipped directly into an abandoned empty classroom.
Hermione waved her wand, and the classroom door locked with a "click" as the curtains automatically drew shut, isolating them from all outside sight.
"Malfoy Manor?" Hermione's initial heat of emotion had passed, and she watched Lia weigh the pros and cons, confirming, "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Why not?" Lia asked back. "He brought the war to your family; this is a provocation.
For a provoking enemy, he should be made to pay the price."
Her logic was simple and direct, carrying the primal law of the jungle.
"But that's Lucius's lair, and it's heavily guarded." Although Hermione agreed to strike back, her reason forced her to consider the risks. "There are only two of us."
"Two people are enough." Lia walked to the open space in the middle of the classroom and stood calmly. "Besides, we aren't going there to fight."
Hermione looked at her.
"We're going there to 'take' things." A cunning smile appeared on Lia's face. "Lucius used public opinion to attack you, so we'll take what he treasures most as compensation."
"What he treasures most?"
"Galleons, antiques, magic books..." Lia's eyes narrowed slightly as the wildness within her was awakened. "And his pathetic little dignity as a pure-blood noble."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
She understood Lia's plan—they weren't going on a killing spree, but on a humiliating raid.
"How do we get in? Malfoy Manor has powerful defensive magic."
"Did you forget this?" Lia shook the shimmering powder from the Howler in her hand. "The Weasleys' 'Untraceable' Floo Powder.
It ignores any fireplace network restrictions. No matter how high-end the Malfoys' fireplace is, it's still a fireplace."
Hermione's eyes lit up.
Fred and George always seemed to send the most unexpected help at the most critical moments.
"Alright."
Hermione made up her mind.
She pulled the newspaper with her parents' clinic address from her pocket, and a burst of fire from her wand tip turned it to ash.
"I need to prepare a bit," Hermione said, walking to a corner of the classroom and beginning to rummage through her small beaded handbag.
Lia didn't rush her, just watched quietly.
She watched Hermione take out several Potions with various effects, and even a small bag of Pygmy Puffs.
"Ready." Having prepared everything, Hermione looked up at Lia.
Lia nodded to her.
Hermione took a deep breath, grabbed a handful of 'Untraceable' Floo Powder, and walked to the classroom's abandoned fireplace.
She had never imagined that one day she would step into that place, which she had only heard of in rumors as a symbol of pure-blood glory and darkness, in such a manner.
She threw the Floo Powder forcefully into the fireplace.
"Whoosh—"
A burst of emerald Incendio fire blazed up, but unlike ordinary Floo network flames, the edges of this fire flickered with unstable silver electrical sparks.
"Destination, Malfoy Manor!" Hermione shouted loudly.
She stepped into the flames.
A strong sensation of spinning followed, more intense than any Floo journey she had ever taken.
The surroundings blurred into distorted blocks of color as she traveled through an unstable space-time tunnel.
A second later, the world stopped spinning.
Hermione stumbled out of the fireplace and steadied herself.
The cold, damp air, mixed with the smell of peacock droppings, hit her in the face.
They had succeeded.
This was an extremely luxurious but poorly-tasted drawing room.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was a manicured garden where several white peacocks were strutting proudly.
A giant portrait of Lucius Malfoy hung on the wall, the man in the painting looking at them with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Intruders!" The portrait suddenly came to life and let out a scream.
Alarms instantly echoed throughout the entire manor.
"Quick!" Hermione immediately threw out the invisibility cloak, covering herself and Lia.
Heavy, hurried footsteps came from the hallway outside, and several House-elves wearing tattered pillowcases rushed in holding torches, looking around in terror, their scrawny bodies shaking uncontrollably.
"No... no one, Master! The portrait was mistaken!" one House-elf reported tremulously.
"Get out! You useless things!" The Lucius in the portrait waved his hand impatiently.
The House-elves retreated cowering.
The alarms stopped, and the manor temporarily returned to peace.
"We have to hurry," Hermione whispered under the invisibility cloak. "Lucius could return at any time."
Lia didn't answer. She closed her eyes, her nostrils twitching slightly as she distinguished different "scents" in the complex air.
"This way." She tugged on Hermione's sleeve and pointed toward a dark corridor leading to the basement. "I smell it."
"Smell what?"
"The smell of the vault and the library." Lia opened her eyes, an excited light shining in her blue pupils. "The richest scent of Galleons and old parchment."
Hermione no longer hesitated and followed Lia; the two moved silently through the corridor until they reached a heavy iron door carved with snake patterns.
Hermione recognized the defensive runes on the door that were imbued with hexes; any forced breach would trigger a curse.
However, this was no challenge for Lia.
She signaled Hermione to cast a powerful Silencing Charm, then extended a finger, condensing a small ball of ghostly green light at her fingertip, and lightly tapped the core of the door's runes.
With a tooth-gritting sizzling sound, those malicious runes were rapidly dissolved as if devoured by a natural predator.
With another push from Lia, the heavy iron door slid open silently.
Behind the door was a vast underground space.
Hermione gasped.
On one side were mountains of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, with various magical jewels and antiques shimmering with an alluring luster under the torchlight.
On the other side were rows of towering bookshelves filled with various precious magical texts.
Many were unique copies that couldn't be found anywhere else, and there were even several Dark Arts forbidden books whose covers emitted an ominous aura.
This was the accumulation of the House of Malfoy over centuries.
"We've struck it rich," Hermione couldn't help but whisper in awe, but her gaze was fixed firmly on the rows of bookshelves, her eyes burning with intensity.
"Do it!" Hermione said decisively.
She unfastened her small beaded handbag and cast a spell on it.
The opening of the handbag instantly became like a bottomless black hole.
"Accio Books!" Hermione waved her wand, freezing the books on the shelves one by one before they flew into the handbag like a stream of water.
Lia was more purposeful; she walked directly to the Dark Arts bookshelf, scanning every book with her Eye of Truth to pick out the forbidden books containing ancient and powerful strength, then tossed them to Hermione.
The two cooperated with perfect chemistry and extreme efficiency.
The library that the House of Malfoy took such pride in was being emptied at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Just then, Lia's movements suddenly stopped. She picked up a plain-looking leather notebook and brought it to her nose to sniff.
"Hermione," she turned her head, her tone a bit strange, "this book has your mother's scent."
Hermione froze and took the notebook.
Opening the first page, a line of elegant handwriting came into view.
"Granger Family Cooking Notes."
Hermione's heart gave a violent thud.
She recognized it; this was her mother's handwriting.
This notebook was something her mother had spent several nights putting together before she started school, fearing she wouldn't get used to the food at Hogwarts; it was a collection of home-cooked recipes filled with cute sketches.
She had accidentally lost it in Diagon Alley during her first year.
How could it be here?
Hermione's hand trembled as she flipped to the last page and saw a line of scrawled notes in quill, written in Lucius Malfoy's nauseating handwriting: "An object belonging to a mudblood, tainted with the scent of her kin; perhaps it can be used in research for some kind of blood curse."
A chill ran from Hermione's spine to the top of her head.
Lucius Malfoy had been targeting her since many years ago.
Lia looked at Hermione's face, which had instantly turned icy, and she reached out to gently touch the notebook.
"He wanted to use this to hurt you," Lia's voice was very soft. "So, we're going to take back double."
She turned around, walking toward the mountain of Galleons, and then made a move that left Hermione dumbfounded.
Lia spread her hands, a massive surge of magical power erupted, and all the metal objects in the entire vault began to hum.
She gave a low shout, and the piles of Galleons and jewelry were seized as if by an invisible giant hand, frantically surging into her small pocket. That pocket had clearly also been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
However, the Malfoy family's wealth was truly staggering. Even though Lia was using her full strength, she only managed to make that mountain of gold shrink by a visible half.
After finishing her big talk, Lia looked at the still-massive mountain of gold before her, her movements stiffening. She turned back to Hermione with some embarrassment, the tips of her snow-white cat ears flushing slightly red.
"Hermione..." she spoke softly, with a hint of grievance and a plea for help.
"It seems... it seems I can't finish taking it all, even if I double it..."
[The image I had while writing this was someone who just finished talking big like "Tonight I'm the top!", only to be overwhelmed until they're dizzy in the next moment...]
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