They all froze as a man and woman stepped out from around a large armoire. They were both squat and almost identical in appearance save for the woman’s longer hair. Clutching their wands tightly, they gestured to the bust.

“The Dark Lord will be interested to know you’re helping these two, Draco,” the woman said in a crass voice. “Very interested indeed.”

“And who the fuck are you two blast-ended screwts?” Theo drawled as if this were merely a minor inconvenience.

“Alecto and Amycus Carrow, the two Death Eaters the Dark Lord will revere above all others when we hand him Harry Potter!” the woman – Alecto – crowed.

“Oh, good for you,” Theo said conversationally while he snatched up the diadem. “Oi, Potter, catch!”

Theo threw the diadem at him and Harry caught it up as they all turned to run. The Carrows screamed, curses flying in every direction but the four of them dodged them easily through the many barriers within the room.

“Get to the door!” Draco cried.

“ Ignis aeternus! ” Amycus screamed from somewhere far behind them.

“Draco!” Hermione cried. “That’s fiendfyre!”

A roaring fireball pummeled its way towards them, the four of them having to throw themselves down another path in order to avoid it. But it didn’t dissipate, it merely consumed. They ran harder, faster as they tried to outrun the fire. Hermione could feel the heat clinging to her as she ran, every second or so throwing a glance over her shoulder to make sure Draco and Theo were still close behind.

“Potter, brooms! ” Theo yelled, pointing ahead to a group of old quidditch brooms leaning against a four poster bed outfitted in Slytherin colors.

“Oh no…” Hermione groaned.

“I’ve got you,” Draco said as they grabbed up the brooms, pulling her in front of him as they shot into the air.

A flame licked at Harry’s hand – the hand that held the diadem – and Harry cried, his grip loosened as they flew towards the door.

“Harry! It’s fiendfyre!” Hermione yelled.

“Yes, Hermione, well spotted!” he cried back.

“No! I mean – it’s fiendfyre! Fiendfyre destroys horcruxes! Drop the diadem!”

Harry looked back at her for one long moment before he dropped the tiara into the roaring flames below. Hermione tried to ignore the screams of agony that were issuing from the fire as it caught up with the Carrows, but couldn’t shut it out until another cry was mixed in.

The cry of Voldemort’s soul.

Ahead, the doors to the room opened and they shot through just as the room burst into flame. They hit the opposite wall, falling to the ground in a daze as the doors shut behind them, smoke billowing under the crack for a moment before the door disappeared.

They all coughed, feeling slightly singed and sore as they slowly made their way to their feet. Theo checked over Hermione first, casting a diagnostic spell before turning to Draco and eventually, Harry.

“How do you know how to do this stuff?” Harry asked between coughs, watching as Theo healed the burn on his hand.

“I’m the bloody healer of the group, mate,” Theo answered with a roll of his eyes as he stowed his wand back into his pocket.

“Come on, we need to get going,” Hermione said quickly.

Below the sounds of fighting carried its way up to them. Clearly while they’d been in the room, Voldemort and his forces had arrived at the castle.

Harry and Theo ran ahead of Hermione and Draco, who turned to look at her.

“Just the snake then, yeah?” Draco asked, his grey eyes glittering in the torchlight.

Hermione’s face fell and her pace slowed.

“Hermione… what is it?” Draco said warily, stopping beside her.

She twisted her hands in front of her, her heart beating in her chest.

“I don’t think it’s just the snake…” she whispered. “I… I think Harry is one too.”

Draco gaped at her for a moment, his mouth opening and closing.

“How… how do you figure?”

Hermione launched into her explanation of the night Lily died and the connection that had already been forged between him and Voldemort.

“When the Dark Lord asked me to open Harry’s mind to him – yes that’s why I had to learn legilimency – there were parts of Harry’s mind that were identical to the Dark Lord’s. Looked the same, felt the same – are the same. Then… after everything we learned about horcruxes, it just fits . When Harry was a baby and the curse rebounded, the Dark Lord’s soul attached to the only living thing in the room…”

“Harry…” Draco finished for her.

Hermione nodded, tears springing into her eyes.

“That means…” Draco said softly, cupping her cheek.

She shook her head – not a negation, but a request for him not to continue.

An explosion to their right shattered through their consciousness. Hermione stumbled, Draco catching hold of her and spinning until she was at his back, his wand brandished in front of him.

“Get the fuck away from her, Malfoy!” Ron cried.

“Ron?!” Hermione said, peering around Draco’s shoulder.

Ron was there, standing only a few feet away, slightly disheveled from the fighting below. He twisted his wand.

“ Crucio!” Ron yelled.

The curse hit Draco square in the chest, forcing him to the floor as he screamed.

“ Stop it, Ron!” Hermione screamed, pointing her wand at him.

Draco’s back bowed from the floor as Ron increased the intensity of the curse.

“You’re mine , Hermione! I’ll make you see reason!” He lifted the curse, leaving Draco panting on the ground.

“No, Ron, you won’t. I’ll kill you before you ever touch me again,” Hermione seethed, stepping in front of Draco’s stirring body.

Ron let out a barking laugh as he shoved his red fringe off his slightly mad face.

“Hermione, I know you – I’ve known you since you were eleven years old. I love you, there’s no way in hell you could ever kill somebody.”

Hermione didn’t say anything for a moment, merely smiled at Ron before she pulled up the left sleeve of her jumper and pressed her wand to the tip, summoning her robes.

“Oh, Ronald, you don’t know me at all.”

His blue eyes widened in shock as he watched her robes billow around her, watched the golden snakes slithering over her shoulders and winding around her waist. And just as her mask slid into place, she raised her wand.

“ Avada kedavra ,” she said calmly, watching as the curse hit his chest and the light drained from his eyes.

Hermione turned before Ron’s body hit the floor, reaching for Draco.

“Are you alright, love?” she asked in a panic, looking him over.

From her beaded bag she summoned the phials of potion that would help him, tipping them back into his mouth. Slowly, his shaking calmed and he was able to stand.

“I’m okay,” Draco breathed, shaking his head experimentally. “I’ll be fine.”

But before she could do anything else, her dark mark burned.

“Do you feel it too?” she asked, clutching her forearm.

“No,” Draco said, shaking his head. “It must just be you.”

Her heart stuttered, fear climbing in through her veins.

“I have to go to him,” she said softly, her voice wavering.

“I’ll go with you,” Draco said firmly, gripping her hand. “We stay together.”

She nodded but before she apparated them away, she closed her eyes. In her mind she stepped into her library and walked to her alcove of hidden knowledge and memories. She pulled out the book – Harry’s book – and opened it to a blank page, allowing all of her new revelations to fall inside, hidden from Voldemort’s view.

Shutting it, she conjured a box, placing it and many other memories inside before she closed and locked it.

Opening her eyes, she kissed Draco lightly before turning on the spot, pulling them towards the Dark Lord.

…

They landed in a small clearing of the Forbidden Forest.

Her eyes widened as she looked around. There, beside Voldemort, was a bound-up Hagrid – his left eye swollen and bleeding. When he saw her, he began to cry.

“Hermione! Get away from her, Malfoy!”

On the other side of Hagrid stood Lucius and Narcissa, their faces ashen as they looked over the pair of them. Hermione barely registered Hagrid’s cries until they were silenced by Voldemort.

“Couteau, so good of you to join us,” Voldemort hissed. “Tell me, what is your role in all this?”

Hermione paused for a moment. It was clear he was questioning her loyalty once more.

“My lord,” she said, dropping to one knee in front of him. “I believe Harry brought us here to find the elder wand.” Her mind was working furiously. “I believe he thinks it is hidden here within the castle.”

The muscles around Voldemort’s eyes rose, a sneer pulling up the side of his face.

“The hallows? The Potter boy is searching for the hallows?”

She blinked up at him, her face a perfect expression of confusion.

“My… my lord? I believe that is what he’s been searching for all this time, though I have never seen him find anything. What else could he be searching for?”

Voldemort paced slowly back and forth, his bare feet pushing the bracken and leaves aside until he finally came back to her, his robes swirling around him.

“He is too late, then,” he said. “For I already possess the elder wand.” Voldemort brandished the familiar looking wand in front of her. “I took it from the tomb of Albus Dumbledore.”

Her breath stopped.

Dumbledore had possessed the elder wand.

She understood enough about wand lore to know that you didn’t gain the allegiance of a wand by merely taking it. It had to be won or freely given. She wondered if that was why he was continuing to leave the country, continuing to seek out wandmakers.

The elder wand would not obey him because the elder wand had not been won by him.

It had been won by her.

“Bring him to me,” Voldemort said, tapping her cheek with a bony finger. “Bring him to me, Couteau and you will be rewarded above all others when our new world begins.”

She dipped her head in obedience.

“As you wish, my lord.”

As she pushed to her feet, she turned towards Draco, extending a hand to him.

“No,” Voldemort hissed. “Draco must stay here. We have much to discuss about what happens after you deliver the Potter boy to me.”

They looked at each other for a long moment and Hermione had never wanted to disobey more than now. But Draco merely stared at her calmly as he dipped his head, his voice drifting to her mind through his own form of legilimency.

I’ll find you, I promise.

And Hermione didn’t know what scared her more – the fact that she was leaving Draco or that she knew he wasn’t talking about this life.