Chapter End Notes
“I was told that putting the Resistance first was the same as saying 'wizards first' and that's only a step short of 'Purebloods first,' and then I was reminded that every human life is worth the same and worth saving,” is a paraphrased excerpt from Chapter 22 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Flashback 34
June 2003
Draco brought Hufflepuff's Cup to Hermione in less than a week.
She recognized it instantly from the pictures she'd seen researching. “You found it.”
He looked down at the ornate goblet in his hand. “I would have had it yesterday, but I'm going through the legal channels for vault access as well. It will be transferred to my name within the next month once the Ministry paperwork confirming Rodolphus' death goes through. Traditionally the process should take months, but it's being accelerated out of concern that Andromeda's daughter might try to claim it.”
Hermione studied him carefully. “Is there any record that you've been there?”
Draco gave a thin, closed smile. “None at all.”
Hermione's throat tightened. She didn't look at Draco as she swallowed and gave a sharp nod.
They couldn't afford any loose ends — but every death felt like an additional noose around her neck. She shoved the thought away.
She opened her satchel and pulled out the sword of Gryffindor.
Draco raised an eyebrow and studied it. “Do you usually carry a sword?”
Hermione stared down at the blade in her hands. “I got it last week. I knew you'd be efficient. I figured I should come prepared.”
Draco's eyes glittered. “How do we do this?”
Hermione gnawed at her lower lip. “I'm not sure. We should probably cast a barrier spell, to try to contain any potential backlash. Then, I suppose I stab it.” She gave him a small smile. “I've never stabbed a cup.”
“I'll do it.” He extended his hand to take the sword.
Hermione shook her head and stepped back, pulling the sword closer to herself. “No. I need to. There's very little information on horcruxes in books. I need to analyse and observe it when it's destroyed.”
Draco's expression hardened, and he stepped towards her; his eyes were flint-like. “No, you don't. You said Dumbledore was cursed destroying the ring. Give it to me, Granger.”
Hermione gripped the hilt more tightly and jutted her chin out as he closed in on her.
“Dumbledore was cursed because, for some reason, he put the ring on. I'm not going to wear it, I'm going to analyse it and then stab it. Harry stabbed the journal without any problem.”
Draco's hand closed around hers. “You're the healer. If it tries to kill us, you have a better chance of saving me than I have of saving you.”
She didn't loosen her hold. She looked steadily up at him. “I also specialise in analysing and deconstructing Dark Magic.”
He stared down at her, his expression a mask. Her heart started pounding, and she tightened her hold on the sword, half-expecting him to try to wrench it out of her hands.
“Draco, let me do my job.”
His expression wavered, and he let go of her hand. “Tell me what to do if something goes wrong.”
Hermione unclasped the bracelet on her wrist and held it out to him.
“This charm here,” she pointed at a small cauldron, “if you activate it, it sends my location to Severus.”
Draco's expression flickered, and his mouth twisted into contempt. “Snape is a double agent. I thought the Order had stopped trusting him years ago.”
“He's a triple agent. Reducing his official clearance level within the Order is a cover. He has the same clearance I do. He's known about you since the beginning. He's the one who convinced Moody and Kingsley that your offer was probably legitimate.”
Draco's expression was disbelieving.
Hermione gave a small sigh. “You don't need to trust him, but if I'm dying and not conscious to heal myself, he'd probably be the only person who could do anything. He's the one who contained the curse on Dumbledore.”
Draco's expression was mutinous, and he refused to touch the bracelet she was offering him.
The corner of her mouth twitched, and she lowered her hand. “You asked what to do, and I'm telling you. If something goes wrong, he's the one to call. Whether you choose to use it or not is up to you.”
The muscles in Draco's jaw rippled, and he snatched the bracelet from her fingers.
She set up a barrier around herself and built a web of analytical magic around the Cup. Horcruxes were such a taboo there was no record of the magic ever being analysed. Hermione understood the fundamentals, based on theory, but actually dealing with a suspended piece of mangled soul was a level of Dark Magic she had never encountered in any form.
She ignored the charmwork crafted by Helga Hufflepuff when the Cup was created and focused on the Dark Magic. The Cup was surprisingly unprotected. Voldemort must have assumed that the Lestrange vault had sufficient safety measures on its own.
The soul fragment had interlaced and entwined itself with the other magic of the Cup. Poisonous and malevolent, it seemed to sense it was being disturbed. Hermione worked quickly; if she had enough information on Voldemort's magical signature, they might be able to use it to find other horcruxes.
Her eyes darted up to Draco. He was still as a statue as he watched her, as though he were not even breathing.
She wrote everything down on a scroll and picked up the sword of Gryffindor. It was a perfectly balanced sword, but it felt unwieldy compared to a knife. She drew a deep breath and drove the blade into the centre of the Cup, splitting it in half.
There was an unnerving moment of stillness. Hermione snatched up her wand.
The air shifted and moved around her.
There was a long drawn out scream, and the soul fragment rose up from the Cup like a black wraith with scarlet eyes. For a second it seemed poised to strike. It appeared to detect Hermione and moved sharply towards her. Then it wavered and dissolved into thin air.
Nothing.
Hermione gave a small gasp and stood clutching her wand, her chest jerking unevenly as she tried to breathe.
She performed a quick spell to confirm the soul fragment was gone.
“It's done,” she finally said, flicking her wand and removing all the wards around her. “That — wasn't too bad. I thought it might be a lot worse than that.”
She looked up and found Draco was only inches away from her. He dragged her into his arms and gripped her until she was crushed against his chest. “Never — please, not ever again.”
She wanted to say no, but he was so tense he was nearly shaking. She found herself nodding slowly and saying, “Alright. I won't.”
Harry was like a lost lamb in Grimmauld Place. Ron had been placed on leave. He went to stay with his mother, while he grieved over Lavender and tried to come to terms with the guilt he felt over Kingsley's death.
Hermione found Harry standing listlessly near Ginny's door more often than not.
She opened the door after a visit with Ginny and found him standing blank-eyed outside the door. He had a black eye and cut lip, and his knuckles were split so badly there was still blood running down his fingers and dripping onto the floor.
His eyes brightened, and he seemed to come back to himself when he saw Hermione. “Is she alright? Is she doing any better? Do you think she's — do you think I'd be able to see her soon?”
Hermione stared at him, her stomach dropping sharply at his appearance. Harry was worryingly fragile. She had tried several times to convince Ginny to come clean and tell Harry she was pregnant, but Ginny was adamant that telling him would make things worse. Hermione had appealed to Moody; to her disappointment, he had sided with Ginny. Harry was in no condition to handle any additional stress, and the Order could not handle the breakdown of trust if the truth came out at such a critical point. Things were too precarious.