Hermione summoned a flagon of Calming Draught and transfigured a piece of cotton dressing into a cup which she filled. She held it and waited for a moment in which to give it to Harry. If she handed it over too soon, it would be thrown into a wall.
“No one responds perfectly every time,” she said.
“It can't happen again,” Harry said flatly. “I'm not going to risk it.
Hermione said nothing, and after a minute Harry slumped against her. She slipped the cup of Calming Draught into his hand. Then she rested her head on top of his.
“She's going to be alright,” she said. “I promise. She's alright.”
Harry nodded, and Hermione gave herself a moment to just be with him. Her best friend.
Most days it felt as though they lived in separate worlds.
The boy who saved her from a troll. Who she'd brewed polyjuice potion for. Who she travelled back in time with in order to save his godfather. The friend she'd taught the accio spell. Who she'd set up Dumbledore's Army with.
He had carried on as a hero, but somehow Hermione's path had split off from his.
He turned to her as a healer, but rarely as a friend.
She laced her fingers through his chaotic hair.
“Ginny is in love with you, you know,” she said. “Don't push her away. Don't do that to her. Don't do that to yourself. You're already both in danger because of this war. You shouldn't give up the happiness you have. Don't let Tom take that from you.”
Harry didn't say anything, but he downed the Draught of Peace while he kept staring at Ginny.
“Can she hear me?” he asked after several minutes, his voice sad and hopeful.
“No, sorry. I put her in stasis until her bones regrow and I can fix the cut. It would be dangerous for her to move when her brain is exposed. She'll be awake tomorrow.”
They sat together in silence for several minutes until a silvery bulldog came barreling into the hospital ward.
“Potter, Granger, mission debrief in five minutes,” growled Moody's voice before the patronus vanished.
Harry sighed and stood up.
“I guess I'll see you in there,” he said, stroking Ginny's hand one last time.
Hermione watched him walk out and then turned to Ginny. She cast a few diagnostics to confirm that everything was stable and regrowing the way it was supposed to. Then she went downstairs and got the knife out of the kitchen drawer before going to the dining room where Order meetings were held.
Remus and Tonks were already there, and smiled at Hermione when she entered and found her seat. Bill walked in a few minutes later. He and Fleur alternated meeting attendance so that one of them was always monitoring the prison. Charlie followed, still looking as pale as he had been when Hermione had announced that Ginny would be alright. Neville entered next, followed by Amelia Bones. Then Ron and Harry. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody entered behind them.
It was less than a quarter of the current Order. Only a handful of members were informed about the horcruxes. The Order had learned through hard experience the danger of letting too many know too much when their opponent was an accomplished legilimens. Molly and Minerva rarely attended any meetings although they were technically still in an intelligence tier high enough to receive all information. Severus only attended top level meetings scheduled with more advanced warning.
“Harry, Ron. We'd like a full report on your horcrux hunt,” Kingsley said without any preamble.
“There's nothing to report,” Harry said flatly. “We went all the way to Albania and couldn't find anything. We didn't see anyone or have any trouble until Lucius showed up.”
“How did Lucius find you?” Moody asked, his eye rolling across Harry and Ron slowly.
“I don't know,” Harry said, “we'd just started to set up camp. The wards weren't up but we'd been there less than fifteen minutes.”
“Where were you?”
“Somewhere either in France or Belgium, I think. Some forest. We were planning to apparate back the rest of the way tomorrow.”
There were several seconds of silence.
“Do you have anything else to report?” Kingsley asked.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and shook their heads.
Everyone's expressions hardened in disappointment.
Hermione took a deep breath and steeled herself. There was a chance that she was just being pessimistic, but given her track record in Order meetings she was not feeling particularly hopeful about the reaction to what she was going to announce.
“I have something to report,” she said quietly.
Flashback 13
August 2002
Everyone looked sharply over toward Hermione.
She laid the knife on the table and cast a quick spell to unwrap it.
“The mission wasn't entirely pointless. I think I've figured out how we can destroy the horcruxes, assuming we can find them. I've been studying how goblin-wrought weapons absorb anything that makes them more powerful. I wasn't sure exactly how the absorption worked; whether it involved a spell or not. But when I was healing Ginny, I noticed that the spots where the necrosis was still spreading had slight nicks in the bone. It gave me an idea, so afterward, I went and found the knife that was used to remove the curse.”
She lifted the knife up carefully.
“This goblin-wrought knife has the necrosis curse in its blade now. I confirmed in the kitchen and I can demonstrate it if anyone needs to see it. When the curse was cut off Ginny, the blade must have touched the necrosis somewhere and absorbed the magic. So when it touched the bones of Ginny's skull it spread the necrosis to new locations.”
Ron paled and looked ready to be sick. Hermione shot him an apologetic glance.
“Ginny is going to be fine. And no one could have known that would happen. A goblin-wrought blade was a logical choice because it would cut more reliably than a non-magical knife,” she said firmly to him.
“But it gave me an idea,” she continued, “about how we might be able to destroy the horcruxes. We know they're dangerous and hard to destroy because even Dumbledore got terminally cursed destroying one. Harry destroyed the journal with a basilisk fang, but we can't access those unless we can break into Hogwarts and get down into the Chamber of Secrets. But we have the sword of Gryffindor, and I think it might be able to destroy the horcruxes if we used it.”
The room was staring at Hermione blankly.
“It's goblin-wrought,” she pointed out, “and Harry used it to kill the basilisk. So, that means it should be infused with basilisk venom.”
She glanced around trying to gauge the reactions. Moody and Kingsley both looked thoughtful. Ron still looked ashen.
“It could be true,” Remus said slowly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “What you said about goblin-wrought materials is certainly accurate.”
“Do we know where the sword of Gryffindor is?” asked Bill.
“I think Minerva has it,” Neville said. “I think I saw it when I was helping with the garden at Caithness.”
“We'll ask Severus about the venom,” said Moody. “He'll know if anyone does.”
Harry and Charlie's faces soured visibly at mention of Snape.
“I can meet with him.” Hermione volunteered. “I need to discuss some details regarding potions and curses anyway.”
“Alright. Report to me afterward. We won't reconvene until next week,” Moody said with a nod.
“We should do something with that knife,” Remus said. “It won't be safe, someone might pick it up.”
Hermione pushed it into the middle of the table.
“It has some protective wards on it, but I'm not sure how well they stick.”