Severus looked pensive. “So he's been planning this for years then.”
Hermione was reeling; trying to reevaluate everything she thought she knew. Draco was playing a long game. She was merely a ripple in it, or a tool. She didn't even know.
Severus stared at her, his expression more tense than Hermione had ever seen. “He would be quite deadly for everyone involved if the manacles of his servitude were ever removed.”
Hermione nodded. Without the Dark Mark restricting Draco, it would no longer be necessary for him to appease the Order into maintaining his cover. If he was vying for power, getting his mark off was the next step.
Especially since Hermione had admitted that Harry didn't intend to kill Voldemort.
Severus gave a faint sigh and suddenly seemed old as he stared down at Hermione. “I'll admit, I expected the June attack to be the beginning of the end for him. With the punishment he submitted to, I assumed he'd be on borrowed time.” He eyed her carefully. “That it wasn't, I suppose, must be attributed to your exceptional care.”
There was a pause. For a moment it felt as though the world had frozen around her, then it shattered.
“You knew he'd take the fall for the attack in June,” Hermione said slowly, staring at Severus wide-eyed. “You, Kingsley and Moody. That's why you were willing to make the attack so elaborate and use so much intelligence. You weren't concerned about exposing him. You expected he'd be killed for it.”
Severus said nothing.
“Why — why didn't you tell me?” she finally said. Her voice shook faintly with rage.
“We didn't think you needed to know.” Severus shrugged. Hermione felt so enraged she thought she might incinerate the room around her. “We expected you to realise it eventually. When it became clear that you hadn't realised it — that you had formed some kind of attachment, or felt obligated to him — we concluded it would be advisable to let you try to heal him, given you seemed to want to. We thought it was the least we could do, after what was asked from you.”
“You expected I'd fail. That he'd be too far gone by the time I got there.”
Severus pulled a jar of fairy wings from a shelf. Hermione couldn't breathe. Every sound seemed suddenly a hundred times louder. The bubbling of the potions. Her own quiet, horrified gasps. She could hear her rising heart rate.
“You can imagine our surprise to find that he is instead even more dangerous than before. Our spy of dubious loyalty. So tell me, what did you do to Draco Malfoy?”
Hermione pressed her lips together for several seconds.
“Is that why Moody sent me? So you could ask me that?” she finally asked.
Severus said nothing.
Hermione looked away and twitched at the hem of her sleeve. “You helped poison him, right down into his soul. Runic magic is corrupting, always; it doesn't wear off. If I'd gotten there sooner — if you'd mentioned what had happened — I might have been able to treat him less drastically. But by the time I found out, I didn't have those options. My assignment was to hold him for as long as possible. When I spoke to Moody, he cleared me to do whatever I could. If you hadn't wanted me to heal him, you should have told me.”
“And what, precisely, is it that you did?”
Hermione swallowed hard. “I saved his soul.”
“What. Did. You. Do?” Severus said slowly.
Hermione was quiet and then she reached up and fidgeted with the empty chain around her neck.
“When — when I was studying in Egypt — before I left — the hospital head gave me a Heart of Isis. He thought I might need it for Harry.”
There was a deafening silence as Severus froze mid-motion over his cauldron.
“You didn't,” he said, his voice nearly vibrating with disbelief. “Do you know the value? If you'd sold it, you could have fed the Resistance for a decade. The closest thing to a Philosopher's Stone and you used it on Draco Malfoy?”
Hermione didn't blink. “I made a calculated decision. I couldn't have put it on the black market. Can you imagine if Tom got his hands on one? In less than four months, Draco saved hundreds of people. Hundreds. And hundreds more he at least spared a horrific death. He saved Caithness, and there was nothing strategic about it. He's not a monster.” Her voice grew bitter. “You helped poison him, and you didn't even give me a chance to try to save him. The rescues weren't enough. It wasn't enough to give us a victory. We were dying by inches until he came along.”
Severus' rage felt nearly explosive. His sallow features paled further and his eyes were glittering. “He played you for a fool, and more deftly than I would have thought possible. One orphanage and a set of runes on his back and you were convinced he was worth giving a Heart of Isis to. You are more a fool than Harry Potter.” He sneered at her contemptuously.
Hermione flinched. “He hasn't cut his arm off yet.”
“Do you think he'll inform you before he does? He is deadly. He is not loyal to anyone, and you have empowered him to become a Dark wizard capable of reducing the Dark Lord into obscurity.”
“There is more to him,” Hermione said, jutting her chin up as she met Severus's eyes. “It's not as though he knew I had it when he asked for me. Or planned his punishment. You should have seen him, Severus; he knew he was going to die from them. He was resigned to it.”
“Are you sure? It never occurred to you that he may have been manipulating you this entire time? After all, what exactly is he getting from having you? You aren't sleeping with him. He's teaching you to duel; he taught you occlumency. What benefit are you providing him?”
Hermione paled slightly, but she remained obstinate. “He's lonely. He doesn't have anyone. I am the closest thing to intimacy he has. I'm not the one who keeps extending our practice sessions. He knows I'm becoming a vulnerability for him, and he still can't help himself. That's how the runes work.”
“You have run out of time,” Severus said, his expression dismissive. “You have until the end of next month to demonstrate you have some kind of control over him. If you can't, you will turn over the most incriminating memories you have of him to Kingsley.”
Hermione stared at Severus, stunned.
“You can't expose him.” Her voice was shaking. “We need him. The Resistance thinks we're winning and it's because of him. Harry thinks we're winning. If we lose the intelligence, the Order won't be able to recover.”
Severus was unmoved. “Fortunately for the Resistance, Draco has made himself into quite a crucial figure within the Dark Lord's army. His death will destabilise things dramatically.”
“You can't — do that to him.”
“Why? Because he's your—? What would you even say you are to him?”
Hermione swallowed bitterly and refused to answer the question. “He will be tortured to death in the most horrific way possible, and you know that. The curse division victims would be lucky compared to what will be done to Draco. You — can't—”
Severus turned and stared coldly down at her. “Are you refusing orders, Miss Granger? Choosing Draco Malfoy over Mr Potter and the Order?”
Hermione froze and it seemed like time stopped as she struggled to breathe. She was collapsing inward. There was nothing left inside her.
“No.” Her voice was defeated. “No. I am loyal to the Order.”
Severus turned away. “If he hadn't been so overconfident, he could have protected himself with a Vow from you. Ego always is a Dark Wizard's downfall.” He sneered faintly as he stirred the potion.
Hermione shook her head.
“ Go ahead. You're already more than capable of getting me killed any time you happen to feel like it.”
“You're wrong. It wasn't some ego-based oversight. He's known. He's known this whole time that my memories could get him killed. He knew the Order set him up in June, even though I was too naive to. There's something else to all this, and we're missing it,” she said, gripping her hands into fists until she felt her nails cut into her palms.