“Padma,” Hermione's voice was broken, strangled as she rapidly cast a diagnostic. What remained of Padma's organs were shutting down; the curse was minutes from her heart.
“Mione. They took — Ginny — to Sussex,” Padma said. Her voice was slightly garbled, and she coughed, the black liquid spilling out of her mouth and down her chin. “Ginny. Said — diseased — good subject.”
Hermione felt her throat close as violent, sickening horror swept through her.
Padma coughed again, and more acrid liquid spilled from her mouth. Hermione looked down at her; her heart felt like lead in her chest.
“Padma — I'm so sorry—” Hermione's voice broke. “I can't — I can't heal this.”
Padma's mouth twisted. “I know. Is Parv—?” She choked and coughed.
“I'm sorry, I don't know where Parvati is.” Hermione touched Padma gently on the forehead, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. “I'm sorry. I'll get you potion. It'll make it quick.”
Hermione started to move towards her potion cabinet.
“Don't bother.” Draco stepped forward from where he'd been standing.
Padma's expression was one of confusion and slow horror as Draco knelt beside her. Before Hermione could move, he rested the tip of his wand against Padma's forehead.
“Avada Kedavra.” He said it in a quiet voice, as though he were speaking the incantation rather than casting it.
There was a flash of green light. Padma's expression turned blank, and she went limp in the pool of her remains.
Draco stood and looked at Hermione, his expression cold.
Hermione stood frozen for a moment. “You have to mean an Unforgivable.”
“I never cared about the Resistance beyond that they were useful, and important to you.” His voice was indifferent. “It was quicker than a potion.”
She pressed her lips together and gave a small nod of acknowledgement as she knelt and gently closed Padma's eyes.
She drew her hand away from Padma's face, standing and making her way towards her potion cabinet.
Ginny was in Sussex because of the spattergroit glamours.
She felt dazed with horror.
The cabinet had been broken into and searched. The potion stores were a shattered, smoldering heap on the floor.
She drew her wand and started tapping spells along the walls until all the carefully concealed compartments opened. She pulled everything out, slipping them into a old beaded bag she'd put an expansion charm on.
“Granger, we're leaving.” Draco had appeared at the door.
“I have to get all this,” she said in a sharp voice. She gathered up all the potions she'd hidden. All the materials she had left over from the bomb. She put them all into her bag until there was nothing left. She pulled her knives out of the compartment in the floor.
“We're leaving now,” he said, his hand closing around her arm. “Weasley is gone. The Resistance is gone.”
He pulled her down the stairs and to the door of Grimmauld Place, his wand drawn. He disillusioned them both and apparated as soon as they were clear of the remaining wards.
They reappeared back in the shack.
“I have to get Ginny,” Hermione said the moment they landed. She dropped to her knees and started rummaging through everything she'd brought.
“She's in Sussex.”
“I know. I have to get her.” Her chest jerked, and she fought to keep her voice from wavering. “Oh, god—” The words were a low sob, and her hands were shaking as she fought to stay calm. “We have to go now. You — you can use me — take me there as a prisoner, and then once we're in, we can try to find her. Or — I can create a distraction, and you can get her.”
Draco's eyes were ice. “She is in Sussex. Subjects don't leave that building alive.”
Hermione shook her head. “I'm going to get her. If you won't help me, I'll just go by myself.”
His expression grew murderous, and he stalked towards her. “It would be suicide. You said no rescues. The horcrux has to be the priority. If she's so diseased they took her straight to Sussex instead of processing her at Hogwarts first, she's not worth saving anyway.”
Hermione swallowed. “Ginny is pregnant.”
Draco froze.
“She isn't diseased, she's pregnant, and I concealed it from the Order with glamours because — because it's Harry's baby.” She was starting to shake. “If she's at Sussex — the glamours I used — they won't trick a diagnostic. They'll realise — and — and—” her chest started to spasm as she fought to breathe. “There are things Vold — that the Dark Lord could do with Harry's baby. Draco — I have to get her.”
Draco turned pale and stepped away from her. Hermione reached towards him.
“He — he could use the baby to make another regeneration potion,” Hermione said. “It would — it could give him another ten years. I promised Harry that I would take care of Ginny and her baby. It was — it was the last thing I said to him.”
Draco went still as though she'd petrified him.
“Please, Draco.”
He wouldn't look at her.
“Draco, I have to get Ginny back.” She swallowed and forced herself to draw a deep breath. “I will — never ask anything of you after this. But — I have to get Ginny.”
She tried to touch him, but he flinched away from the contact.
“Granger—” His voice was cold. Unyielding.
I'll take care of them, as long as I live.
Anything.
“I'll leave the war,” she said, her voice desperate. “I'll stop — everything. If you get Ginny for me, I'll do anything you want, I swear. I'll leave. I'll never come back. Whatever you want — anything you ask — if you get Ginny for me.”
She touched the back of his hand, silently begging him to look at her.
She was met with silence.
She could almost feel Draco weighing it, evaluating her offer.
“Will you?” he finally said, turning to look at her, his eyes intent.
She met his gaze and gave a short nod. “I will.”
He studied her, his eyes narrowed and calculating. “Those are your terms? The Weasley girl, and you'll go?”
“I'll go. I swear.”
His eyes flickered, triumph and something — something else.
He looked across the room and nodded slowly. “Alright. If those are your terms, I'll get her for you.”
Hermione gave a low gasp as relief flooded over her. Her chest jerked, but she forced herself to stay composed. “Thank you. Thank you — Draco.”
The corner of his mouth quirked.
Hermione squared her shoulders and studied him. “What do you need me to do?”
He eyed her and his expression twisted derisively. “Stay here.”
She drew her chin down and furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at him. “Are you sure? I brought some things”—she gestured towards her bag—“I could—”
“It will draw less attention if I enter alone,” he said, cutting her off sharply. “If you want me get her out, you'll stay here and let me work without succumbing to your desperate need to insert yourself into everything.” His tone was cool and every word clipped.
He walked over to the far corner in the room and traced a series of runes into the wall. He slid his fingers across the wood paneling until there was a click. He pulled, and the wall shifted away, revealing a large selection of weaponry and dark artifacts.
He pulled several items off the wall and slipped them into his robes before turning to look at her again, his expression cold.
“I'll be back within an hour. Stay here.”
That was all he said before he vanished.
Hermione waited. She organised the contents of her bag. She went through Draco's healing supplies.