"The easiest way to keep the library safe is to have me cast a fidelius charm around the Black Library and make you the secret keeper." Alex eyes brightened. "That's brilliant! Then he'd never even be able to find it!"
Slytherin nodded.
Alex's face fell. "But, how would you get into the house? I can't let you in and my father certainly wouldn't allow it, and even if he did and you came back later, the wards would still say that you've been there, and I'm pretty sure using such a charm on someone else's property is illegal."
Slytherin sat back in his chair. "That's where it gets tricky and there's no safe way to do it. There are easy ways, but they're not safe."
Alex leaned forwards. "What are those ways?"
"The easiest way is for you spend a few months memorising every inch of the library with your occlumency, if its good enough. Then I place you under the imperius curse and cast the charm for you."
Alex paled. The words of her Grandfather came back to her — do not allow yourself to be trapped. "I…I don't know if I'm comfortable with that."
"Like I said, the easy, but unsafe way."
"What's the hard way?"
Slytherin shrugged. "Smuggle every single book out of the library over the next few months without your father noticing. But then you have to place the library at risk from outside parties. Probably myself, and I wouldn't recommend you do that."
Alex hesitated. That had been a very honest recommendation.
"Of course, you take a risk with the imperius-fidelius method too. I might make myself the secret keeper rather than you."
Alex shifted in her seat. "Are there any other methods?"
Slytherin started counting off on his fingers. "Use your occlumency to memorise every single book in the next few months and then write them all out again later…"
Alex blanched. Not possible.
"…Persuade your father not to get rid of the books…"
Urgh. If she tried to do that, he'd probably just speed up his plans. "…Arrange for your accident…"
father to
have an
She looked at Slytherin in horror.
"…Which obviously isn't an option, but I'm just listing them all off…"
She nodded quickly "…Arrange for your father to fall in love with someone you control and indirectly control him through her…
She snorted. That wasn't happening. "…Have a law passed that somehow makes his course of action against the law, which as head auror he'd be forced to comply with…" She raised her eyebrows. "…Not a chance…"
Her shoulder's fell.
"…Infiltrate the ministry department that he'd give the books to, probably the department of mysteries, and have your agents give the books back to you once your father handed them over…"
Magical Merlin, this was getting ridiculous.
"…Find a place in the house that your father doesn't know about or can't get in and move the books there instead…"
The Black Magic room! Oh… but her father did know about it, he just never went there. She scowled. Plus, it was too small.
"…Learn the fidelius charm yourself…" She perked up. "Could I?" "Unlikely."
Her shoulders drooped again.
"…Learn to throw the imperius curse, so that you don't feel uncomfortable having it cast on you…"
Her mouth made a small o.
"…Which requires someone to repeatedly cast the imperius curse on you so you can learn to throw it…"
Her mouth snapped shut. Well that was useless.
"…Buy several dozen library trunks, transfer the Black Library to them, and then hide them somewhere, maybe even somewhere as simple as your bedroom…"
"I don't have the gold to do that."
"…I do. But I'm not dumping tens of thousands of galleons just because you're a bit squeamish about the imperius…"
She pouted.
"…I'm not even sure if the family that makes expandable trunks even has that many for sale, or would agree to make that many to order…"
She frowned.
"…We could also full out assault Grimmauld Place, tear down the wards with brute force, and I'll cast the charm in person…"
She shook her head violently. "…I'm smiling again…"
She scowled. "I know, I can hear it."
Slytherin sighed dramatically "…The other option is to put up some kind of defence that isn't the fidelius charm, but that has exactly the same problem as casting the fidelius does…"
Alex stared at Slytherin's unmoving mask for a few more moments before dropping her head. "So, no other methods then?"
"Well, I did tell you the best… one… first…" Slytherin stalled. "Oh."
"What?"
Slytherin laughed, a deep dark laugh. "Oh, I'm being dumb." Alex looked up at Slytherin in surprise. "What?" "Wait just a moment."
They waited.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/