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Chapter 36 and Three Quarters The Thirty-Day Karagoz
"I still don't get it," said Ron.
"Get what?" Hermione asked as she sat on the grassy knoll overlooking the Lake Revealio.
The Hogwarts clean up had been under way for a month now, but the grounds where still largely blackened from the great battle. The lake before them had been made by a falling giant.
Ron replied, "Xenophilius. He always believed in Harry. He did even when I didn't. He spent years writing to support him in the Quibbler and he even risked his life by telling all Wizards they must help Harry after Voldemort was in control. Then he meets the three of us in person and turns us in to the Death Eaters?"
Hermione shrugged. "The cowardly old bat was desperate. He would have done anything to save Luna."
"But turning us in? That's like killing another person's kid to get your own back. He must have known that Harry would be killed, and us too!", Ron argued. "I don't see how Luna could be who she is with a father like that."
As Hermione started to speak, but was interrupted by twin Xenophiliuses which aparated a few feet away with twin pops. She remained seated and eyed them both coolly. Ron, however, eager for some answers, stood and reached out politely to shake the hand of the closest Xenophilius, the one wearing a dirty nightshirt.
The man suddenly looked very uncomfortable and tried to back away, frantically avoiding Ron's touch. As he slipped on a wet rock, however, Ron reached out to steady him.
The moment the two made contact Ron was startled to see that he was helping a rough copy of himself in a dirty nightshirt. Ron's dirty double scrambled to his feet and started imitating Ron from a distance, contorting its features and learning his mannerisms. After a short time the two were indistinguishable.
Ron turned to the second well dressed Xenophilius, then cringed and tried to stop Hermione as she reached out to shake his hand.
"Hermione, wait!" Ron said, pulling out his wand with blinding reflexes. He was too late to stop them from making contact, however.
When the second Mr. Lovegood did not become a Hermione double Ron lowered his wand and watched with a puzzled frown. Hermione was very happy.
Had Lovegood used a Mrazius charm? Why the suddenly warmth for the man she regarded with distaste moments ago?
"A Karagoz!? But.." Hermione was saying. She was on her feet now, laughing and smiling.
"A Miss Granger, with an open mind!" said Xenophilius beaming.
She turned to Ron and mouthed, "You were right!" then spoke to Xenophilius.
"Mr. Lovegood, I owe you a big app..", She began.
"No, I'm the one who came to explain and apologize," Xenophilius said.
Hermione nodded, wheels turning quickly in her mind. She looked over at the Ron double then back to Xenophilius and said, "...but what about the time curse?"
Ron, still confused, walked closer to the two. "Mind filling me in? What is a cargas? That, copy of me I suppose?"
As all three turned to it, they were each startled as it went into violent convulsions. The dirty Ron double turned white, then it lay down, became still, smiled, and quite peacefully ... died.
It continued to transform and in seconds had solidified into a pile brightly glittering diamonds embedded in a rock.
Hermione watched solemnly. A tear ran down her cheek. It was very difficult to watch even a copy of Ron die. Ron put his arm around her instinctively.
Xenophilius, seeing these reactions, covered his eyes with his hands.
"That was supposed to be me, not Ronald," he said. "Not long after Voldemort returned I believe he hit me with a Plan-go-wrong curse. I was hoping it would wear off now that he is gone. "
Hermione looked at Xeno sympathetically. Working for several weeks on clean up duty she had learned many new and useful spells. She pulled out her wand and flicked it at him saying, "Esteemious Returnium!"
Xeno's ears popped and he stood up straighter. His inward pointing eye was now normal again and his teeth seemed straighter and whiter.
Hermione said, "Ron, a K-a-r-a-g-o-z is a type of puppet substance that models itself from a tiny bit of a person's essence. Viktor mentioned them once."
Ron winced a bit at the name of his old rival. She held his hand reassuringly.
"Old magic, the oldest in fact, but I thought they'd been ... " she said.
"Yes, redacted," said Xeno. "Removed from the face of the Wizarding world by Amyannieus the Wise long ago."
Xenophilius' two good eyes twinkled as he mentioned Amyannieus, then he continued.
"The Karagoz was judged to violate one of the primary magical exceptions because it becomes so REAL a copy, that creating one is in effect creating life..."
"But due to the extremely short time curse of the Karagoz, that duplicate person dies one minute later," finished Hermione.
"One minute, eight seconds," Xenophilius quibbled.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, then grinned.
"So a Karagoz turned Harry in to the Death Eaters?" Ron, said, starting to catch up.
"I'm afraid so," said Xenophilius apologetically. "A Karagoz can only guess what you would do in unusual situations not observed during training. When you didn't come to see me for months, I was convinced you would not pay me a visit."
"But we did. And we were there a long time", Hermione prodded.
He watched Hermione and answered the question foremost in her mind, "In Rook 4, the one you visited, was a horn from an Erumpet. My plan was this: I'd have my Karagoz print an issue of the Qubbler that renounced Harry. Then I'd call the Death Eater paper boys to come and get it and deliver it saying my owls had quit in disgust."
Ron listened eagerly, hoping it would all make sense.
"When the Death Eaters arrived," Xenophilius continued "The horn would blow and they would snuff it, along with the anti-Harry Potter Quibbler prints AND my noisiest most useless printing press!"
"Naturally, I knew they wouldn't free Luna no matter what I printed. I suspected my Karagoz might be taken to Azkaban and tortured. My informants in the Ministry were clear, however. It would be thirty-days before a prisoner with my record could be transported, processed, and so on. That's how I choose the time for the new time fuse. Thirty days."
"You can CHOOSE?" Hermione said incredulously.
Xenophilius nodded and continued, "My Karagoz would die a natural peaceful death before anything nasty started. I had only thirty days to find Luna, but I was fairly sure it would be enough time. Thanks to you, she found me first."
"But how?", Hermione said, bubbling with anticipation.
Xenophilius seemed to be calculating the results of telling them. A minute later he replied, "I'll need to make you secret keepers. Your entire life you will not be able to reveal what I'm about to tell you. Agreed?"
They nodded. Xenophilius drew pulled the triangular eye medallion from under his shirt, then drew his wand and cast the spell binding them.
He continued, "Seekers of the Deathly Hallows sought to break the oldest curse: the time curse," said Lovegood.
“Following the trail, about a year ago I discovered a solid diamond skull in the vast caves deep under Hogwarts. All age revealing spells and potions said the same thing. It was the Primordium."
Hermione succeeded in not rolling her eyes, barely. She said, "I'm trying to believe you, but that's impossible! The confirmed oldest non-natural artifact on the planet cannot be a carved skull because the tools to make the skull would have to be older!"
"Exactly!" Xenophilius ejected, as if everything was now answered.
Seeing their puzzled expressions, he decided to try another angle.
"You know from Care of Magical Creatures classes that different types of creatures have different life spans, correct?" he said.
"Yes, but what's an old skull got to do with that?" said Ron fidgeting. He was watching some activity in the distance as Hogwarts was prepared for tomorrow's reopening of the school.
Xenophilius continued, "Only using the Primordium as a standard was it possible to determine why one type of creature had a different time curse than another. Using an extract of Crumple Horned Skorkak, my brilliant wife was then able to find and reset the core clocks of some Peridibbles. She worked her way up and soon had an Erumpet that was more than 3 months old."
"That's like one of us living to 300 years," said a visibly impressed and excited Hermione to Ron.
"So the skull can extend life?" said Ron. He was drifting back now that they were both looking at him.
"The Primordium has no power over the time curse. It has no magical powers at all. It is just a ruler. " said Xenophilius.
"It showed us, however, that life extension, the counter-spell to the time curse, sought by powerful wizards throughout all time, could not be cast on the planet ... because life did not begin on the planet! This was the only explanation for a Primordium that is a skull of solid purest diamond!"
“Okay, sure, yes, fine.” said Hermione, giving up. It seemed to her that Xenophilius always required a leap of faith to follow. “You mentioned your wife…”
“It was a kiss that killed her,” Xenophilius said choking up a bit. All three paused and watched the sun begin to set until he could speak again.
“Luna was very young. We had traced the Primordium to the moon. It took us two years, but we managed to create a lunar portkey, moongills and … when we got there, it took us a month before we found the obelisks, shattered glass domes, and the old laboratory. That’s where it happened.”
.... [MORE SOON]