“Took you long enough,” Ron grumbled as Hermione exited the shop.

Hermione sighed, pulling at the sleeves of her muggle jumper as she squatted so Harry could cover the three of them with the cloak. She stumbled over an empty butterbeer bottle, Ron steadying her at the last moment before the silky fabric fell over her head.

“That shop is massive, Ron. It took me a while to see if Malfoy was still there,” she said a little breathlessly, pulling her arm from his hand.

Harry turned to her, his eyes wide.

“Was he?”

Hermione shook her head as they moved awkwardly back towards the joke shop and slipped in through the back door.

“No, Harry, he wasn’t. Though from the look of Mr. Borgin it seems like someone may have confunded him, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he slipped out the back door.”

The truth was that Borgin had been hit with a confundus charm by Blaise as Hermione left, in order to prime him from the memory charm. He’d given her a jaunty wave with a, “Happy Christmas!” as she’d passed. They all agreed it would be best for the shop owner to not have any memory of Hermione there at all and any time they would use the vanishing cabinet once it was fixed, they would make sure they were wearing their masks.

The last thing any of them needed was an old man blabbing to the wrong person that there were four Death Eater students at Hogwarts.

Finally, back in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Harry pulled the cloak from around them. Ron stood quickly, stretching to bend his back and Hermione pushed her mussed hair from her face. There was a rush of noise from the mass amounts of students inside the shop desperate to get their hands on the twin’s merchandise before the beginning of the school year. A particularly loud bang from the front room made Hermione jump and turn toward the noise while a handful of second years whooped at the giant puff of dark smoke that erupted.

“I still say he’s up to something,” Harry muttered, his face pinching in frustration. Then he turned to a shelf and kicked it. “ Fuck! If only you’d gone in a second before, Hermione!”

“This is my fault?” she asked incredulously, temper flaring at the sight of his. “Please explain to me how in the world this is my fault.”

Harry’s green eyes flashed, his breath coming in quick pants as he clenched and unclenched his fists together.

“I don’t know! You always question everything! You don’t trust me!” He stepped closer to her and for the first time Hermione registered how much taller Harry was than her. She had to crane her neck to look up at him. “I’m telling you – Malfoy is up to something. ”

His anger baffled Hermione. She could not understand where the sweet, even-tempered boy from a few years ago had gone. Standing before her was a boy on the cusp of being a man throwing a tantrum in the back room of a joke shop.

If only they could see their Chosen One now, she thought bitterly as his words stung her.

“Hey mate,” Ron said, placing a hand on his chest and pushing Harry back a few paces. “We trust you – Hermione trusts you.”

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

“I question you because I want to make sure you’re making the right choice, Harry! Look at what happened last year because we went running to the Ministry without stopping to talk about all the different options!” Her voice caught, anger giving way to despair. “ That’s why I’m here. That’s why you keep me around. Because I’m the one who thinks about these things.”

Ron blinked at her, his mouth opening and closing as if he could tell her she was wrong, but knew better. It was the truth and it was the first time she had ever spoken it aloud to them. Harry, however, had his back turned to them staring at a small display.

“Um… Mum says it’s time to go,” Ginny said quietly, stepping into the back room with them.

“Godric… That’s it…” Harry said, curling his hand over the small black candies in the giant bowl. “He’s a Death Eater.”

Ginny’s eyes widened in panic as she looked at Hermione, then her face smoothed. Hermione stepped toward Harry hesitantly and saw the Edible Dark Marks – They’ll Make You Sick! sign hanging above the bowl.

“Harry… there’s no way he’s a Death Eater…” Hermione said softly.

“Why?!” Harry snapped, spinning to look at her. “You saw the way he jumped about a mile in the air when Malkin touched his left arm.”

She gaped at his anger.

“Be… Because he’s only sixteen !” She grasped for a logical explanation, for what a Hermione Granger in another life would have thought if she didn’t have an identical mark branded into her skin. “There’s no way You-Know-Who would allow a sixteen-year-old to join.”

Harry groaned in frustration, his hands grasping his hair for a moment before falling with a slap to his thighs.

“Do we really know what You-Know-Who would do?! I mean – he’s a fucking monster , why wouldn’t he recruit sixteen-year-olds?”

Hermione took a step back and felt Ron’s hands close over her upper arms. For a moment she panicked, thinking he meant to restrain her, but his hands were soft against her. Though she knew it was meant to be comforting, she didn’t appreciate the way he pressed himself into her back and tried to shimmy out of his hold.

“Harry, you need to take a breath,” Ginny said in a business-like tone. “You’re screaming at the two people who have had your back since the very beginning. Is this really how you treat a witch who took a curse in the chest for you?”

Hermione felt a swirl of gratitude for Ginny – and Theo – that she was on her side.

She watched as the anger slowly faded from Harry, leaving something that looked very similar to how she felt.

Despair.

Hopelessness.

The weight of decisions wielded by men more powerful than he was crashing heavily over him.

“Listen,” Hermione said softly, stepping forward to take Harry’s hand. “Perhaps Malfoy is up to something, but that doesn’t mean he’s joined the Death Eaters. The world isn’t black and white, Harry. There are shades of grey – just like Sirius said.”

Harry’s shoulders dropped as he nodded, squeezing her hand.

“I’m going to keep an eye on him,” he mumbled, pressing his fingers to the scar on his forehead.

She sighed but nodded.

“Let’s get out of here before mum comes looking for us,” Ron said, moving over to pat Harry awkwardly on the shoulder.

Harry followed Ron out of the back room, leaving Ginny and Hermione to stare at each other – identical looks of worry on their faces.

“Gin…” Hermione said slowly.

Ginny’s face hardened and she nodded.

“I know… Theo won’t like it but… I’ll do my part as the distraction.”

Hermione gave her a sad smile before pulling her into a tight hug.

“Thank you.”