Hermione sat on her bed, her gown pooled around her. She clutched the bag to her chest, forcing back the tears. Where was Draco now? Oh why hadn't she just made him come with her?

"Hermione? Can I come in?" Harry called from the other room.

She sat up straighter. "Yes. Come in, Harry."

Harry came in and sat on the bed with her. "Hermione…" he began, looking at her. He waited for her to look up before he continued. When she raised her head to look at him, he saw the answer to his unspoken question. "You really care about the little ferret, don't you?"

"Harry… I love him."

She heard him sigh heavily. "How did this happen, Mione?"

"I don't know." She told him, shaking her head. "I really don't know. Oh Harry, what am I going to do?"

"I don't know. But we'll figure something out. We always do. This is just how it has to be for now though."

"But it's not fair. I know it has to be this way, but why couldn't he have at least come with us?"

"Hermione, you ask that question, but you already know why. He has to do this on his own. He wouldn't want help from me and Ron." Harry stood up and offered her his hand. "Come on, dance with me, Mione. Neither of us is with the person we really want to be with tonight. At least we can enjoy some of it."

She smiled weakly. "Okay Harry." She placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She hummed quietly and they danced. Harry was a good dancer, though not as good as Draco. They laughed and talked as they moved. Harry swept her across the floor easily and spun her in a circle.

The sudden movement made her stop. Her hand went to her mouth. "I think I'm going to be sick." Harry handed her a small garbage can just as she began to heave. Harry held her hair until she finished. He caught her as she collapsed to the floor and helped her sit down.

"Oh, I'm sorry Harry." she said, setting aside the garbage can. "All this stress has been getting to me. I've been so busy and nothing seems to be going right. And I've barely eaten a thing all day." "It's alright Hermione. Do you feel any better now?" Hermione nodded and Harry stood. "Okay, then let's get you up so that you can get changed." He took her hands and pulled her to her feet again. Then he left her to change.

Hermione came out fifteen minutes later dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a loose knot. She walked into the kitchen and opened the stew, putting it on the stove to heat. When it was finished, she sat at the table with her bowl, Ron and Harry sat with theirs across from her.

"Okay, we need to know what we are going to do. Harry, how many more Horcruxes do we need to find?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked up from his bowl. "We only have two left. Dumbledore and I have been pretty busy. One of the two is Nagini, his pet snake. And she's always with him. So that only leaves the other. We don't know what it is yet though."

"Well, do you know where it is at least?" Ron asked, hopefully.

Harry nodded. "Dumbledore thinks it's at Hogwarts."

This brought up both their heads. "What?" Ron exclaimed, a little too loudly. "We were just at Hogwarts. Have been for the last four bloody months! Why didn't you tell us?"

"As I said, Ron. We don't know what it is. How can we find something if we don't know what we are looking for?" Harry countered.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I have to side with Ronald on this one. You should have told us. If you did, then you would have learned that I've been giving this a lot of thought. And I think I know what we are looking for." She opened her bag and pulled out her copy of Hogwarts: A History. Opening it, she pointed to a picture. "That's it. The lost diadem of Ravenclaw. We've already had Horcruxes belonging to the other three founders. This is what we need to find."

Harry pulled the book closer to examine it. "I've seen this before." He stated at last. "Last year. It was in the Room of Requirement. I saw it when I had to hide that potions book."

"Great. Perfect." Ron said, throwing his hands up. "Hogwarts is surrounded by Death Eaters. How the bloody hell are we supposed to get back in there now?"

"Relax Ronald." Hermione told him. "We knew this wasn't going to be easy."