Was a picture of what looked like a triangular eye, its pupil crossed with a vertical line.

“I never took Ancient Runes, Hermione.”

“I know that; but it isn’t a rune and it’s not in the syllabary, either. All along I

thought it was a picture of an eye, but I don’t think it is! It’s been inked in, look,

somebody’s drawn it there, it isn’t really part of the book. Think, have you ever seen it

before?”

“No . . . No, wait a moment.” Harry looked closer. “Isn’t it the same symbol

Luna’s dad was wearing round his neck?”

“Well, that’s what I thought too!”

“Then it’s Grindelwald’s mark.”

She stared at him, openmouthed.

“What?”

“Krum told me . . .”

He recounted the story that Viktor Krum had told him at the wedding. Hermione

Looked astonished.

“Grindelwald’s mark?”

She looked from Harry to the weird symbol and back again. “I’ve never heard that

Grindelwald had a mark. There’s no mention of it in anything I’ve ever read about him.”

“Well, like I say, Krum reckoned that symbol was carved on a wall at Durmstrang,

and Grindelwald put it there.”

She fell back into the old armchair, frowning.

“That’s very odd. If it’s a symbol of Dark Magic, what’s it doing in a book of

children’s stories?”

“Yeah, it is weird,” said Harry. “And you’d think Scrimgeour would have

recognized it. He was Minister, he ought to have been expert on Dark stuff.”

“I know. . . . Perhaps he thought it was an eye, just like I did. All the other stories

have little pictures over the titles.”

She did not speak, but continued to pore over the strange mark. Harry tried again.

“Hermione?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been thinking. I – I want to go to Godric’s Hollow.”

She looked up at him, but her eyes were unfocused, and he was sure she was still

Thinking about the mysterious mark on the book.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ve been wondering that too. I really think we’ll have to.”

“Did you hear me right?” he asked.

“Of course I did. You want to go to Godric’s Hollow. I agree. I think we should. I

mean, I can’t think of anywhere else it could be either. It’ll be dangerous, but the more I

think about it, the more likely it seems it’s there.”

“Er – what’s there?” asked Harry.

At that, she looked just as bewildered as he felt.

“Well, the sword, Harry! Dumbledore must have known you’d want to go back

there, and I mean, Godric’s Hollow is Godric Gryffindor’s birthplace –“

“Really? Gryffindor came from Godric’s Hollow?”

“Harry, did you ever even open A History of Magic?”

“Erm,” he said, smiling for what felt like the first time in months: The muscles in

his face felt oddly stiff. “I might’ve opened it, you know, when I bought it . . . just the

once. . . .”

“Well, as the village is named after him I’d have thought you might have made

the connection,” said Hermione. She sounded much more like her old self than she had

done of late; Harry half expected her to announce that she was off to the library. “There’s

a bit about the village in A History of Magic, wait . . .”

She opened the beaded bag and rummaged for a while, finally extracting her copy

Of their old school textbook, A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, which she thumbed

Through until finding the page she wanted.

“’Upon the signature of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went

Into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small

Communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 759