Author's Note #2:
Dear ones, I'll be posting a new chapter once every two weeks from now on. So sorry to make you wait longer, but I have teenage chickens flying over fences and a full-time job competing for my attention. Rest easy, I'm still committed to this story and have much more planned.
(While I'm here, thank you thank you for all the feedback. I'm horribly slow at writing replies, so I can't get to everybody, but hearing your thoughts and feelings means so much to me.)
-Rubik

Things didn't feel better in the morning. Narcissa greeted me without warmth when I joined her outside, and the silence that followed was full of unsaid words. The sky turned from dark gray to melancholy blue, and the tree branches drooped overhead, shedding dew when the wind gusted. I shivered and pulled my coat tighter.

"I thought you liked to cut straight to the heart of things," I said, wishing she weren't still so angry, or upset, or disturbed, or a combination of all three. It was a little ridiculous; what did she expect me to do? I couldn't go back in time that far and make a different choice even I wanted to.

"We did, last night," she replied. "And all I found was a very childish unwillingness to do any kind of self-reflection. Or maybe that's only when the criticism is coming from someone like me."

I scuffed my boot in the dirt in frustration. "I know you don't approve of what I did, but you didn't have to be so melodramatic about it."

"Melodramatic?" She rubbed a hand over her face. "I exposed my most painful memories to you, and only hours later I found out you'd be willing to wipe them away like they're nothing if you thought I'd be better off. Of course I reacted strongly. I really ought to keep my distance."

"Why don't you, then?" I challenged, too hurt to respond to the rest of what she said. "In fact, maybe I should be the one keeping my distance. You're a legilimens. You might've been reading my mind this whole time so you could know exactly how to get on my good side."

Narcissa reared back, looking offended, then tilted her head and asked cautiously, "How good are you at occlumency?"

"What?" I asked, surprised by the question. "I don't... I don't know. I've only ever read about it."

"Salazar smite me," she muttered, hiding her face in her arms and letting out a stream of curses. When she raised her head again, she said, "If you had even a modicum of training, you would've known I have never attempted to invade your privacy like that. And now I need to ask you for a tremendous favor."

I ground my teeth. "I'm not exactly feeling charitable right now."

"It's for your own benefit, not just mine. Would you be willing to learn occlumency? It can help you resist memory spells of all kinds. I'm not a talented legilimens, but I could at least put you through some simple training."

Remembering how much Harry suffered in his training, I snapped. "Are you trying to punish me?"

"I'm trying to protect myself. I didn't realize you never bothered to learn how to properly guard your mind," she told me, crossing her arms. "You have no idea how rare it is for me to feel this close to someone. I'm afraid it's impairing my judgment. I've already told you more than I should have, and all I can do now is damage control."

"Getting to know each other isn't damage," I replied with a painful feeling in my chest.

"Hermione," she said, voice grim, "there are a lot of people who would prefer to see me behind bars or worse, and they might go through you to get to me."

I took a few slow breaths through my nose and thought about that. Guarding my mind hardly seemed necessary with Voldemort gone, but there were definitely people willing to invade my privacy to lash out at former Death Eaters and their allies. Even some of my mild-mannered coworkers complained about the light sentences of house arrests and a prison without dementors.

Narcissa ran a nervous hand through her hair. "If you're still thinking about working for the Department of Mysteries, this would give you a head start. They require occlumency training to at least an Official classification."

That was almost tempting enough. "What if I don't like the lessons? I don't want to suffer through them."

"I'll stop if you ask. If you're suffering, then I'm doing something wrong. All it takes is progressive overload, with time to rest, just like strengthening a muscle."

The prospect sounded much better if the lessons wouldn't be agonizing. I'd been a little curious about occlumency ever since Harry had to learn it, and always suspected I'd be better at it than he was. "Fine," I agreed, checking my watch and standing up. "You can teach me. How will this work?"

"I'll give you instructions now and then while we walk. Be ready to block me from your mind at any moment. For today, consider me your enemy," Narcissa told me, looking deadly serious as she followed me toward the tent.

"I don't want to think of you as an enemy anymore. That's..." My voice trailed off as she whispered the incantation and suddenly I was in my mind, my body seeming far away. This was nothing like the mental battles Harry had described to us. It felt like the curtains of my mind were parted with a clumsy but gentle touch. A bit of excitement bubbled up inside at the feeling of having her presence with me, trying to see my recent thoughts... like that time she was looking through the books in my apartment as if she belonged there...

Only moments later, I was aware of Narcissa's eyes locked onto mine and the real world surrounding me. I stumbled on flat ground as my mind and body reconnected.

"You did exactly the opposite of what I told you," she chastised me. "You're not supposed to welcome me in."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Do it right next time."

"Sorry—oops. But you weren't attacking. Aren't you supposed to attack and make me defend myself?"

"Not every legilimens will come at you like a sledgehammer. You have to be prepared to fight off a subtle infiltration as well."

"You weren't very subtle." I held the door flap open for her before I could remember we still weren't on good terms.

"Like I said, I'm not especially good at it," she replied, sounding a little prickly as she entered the tent. "This is the best I can do to get you started. It's worlds better than a crash course with Bella."

"Crash coursh on whuh?" Ron asked with a mouth full of pancakes as he ate breakfast with Harry.

"On table manners," Narcissa replied, jinxing his mouth shut. Ron glared at her with his loaded fork in midair, unable to speak or eat.

"If you're in a bad mood, don't take it out on Ron," Harry protested.

I smacked her arm and removed the jinx as we sat down to eat with my friends, eyeing each other warily.

Soon our tense group started the seventh morning of our mission. Ron walked up front on guard duty again with Narcissa at a safe distance from him while Harry and I trailed behind. It was hard to remember everything I'd read about occlumency back in fifth year, but a few things came back. There were three typical strategies: the empty mind, the fortress, and the hall of mirrors. The last one was a more advanced way to do it, distracting an attacker with extraneous thoughts to hide the important ones. That seemed most suited to me, given how many thoughts were always buzzing around in my head.

It wasn't long before Narcissa looked over her shoulder to meet my eyes. When I felt her at the edges of my mind, I thought hard about the most boring essay I could remember writing. She tried to push past the essay, but I stayed focused and there were only more pages behind it. It was over quickly, and she nodded in approval before turning to face forward again. I tried not to watch her while we walked, but I was constantly wondering when her next training attack would come. The phrase progressive overload swam through my mind like a shark.

I sighed and said to Harry, "I wish Narcissa and I could go back to the way things were yesterday."

"Er..." he said. "Weren't you disagreeing over something yesterday too?"

I shook my head. "Not really, that was... well, it's serious today. She doesn't trust me. And she's giving me occlumency lessons, which pits us against each other even more."

Harry tensed, hand reflexively going to his scar before hiding the gesture by adjusting his glasses. "Wait, hold on. Are you sure that's a good idea? When did this start? Why?"

"Just this morning. I don't think it'll be as bad as your lessons were," I told him, then recounted our early morning conversation, voice catching as everything started to overwhelm me.

"You're really upset about this, aren't you," Harry said when I'd finished, sympathy showing clearly in his face. "Mrs. Malfoy was too hard on you at the campfire. She doesn't know what it was like to be in your shoes."

"What if she had a point, and I dismissed her out of hand?" I looked away, trying not to cry but failing. "We were doing so well. She was really opening up to me, Harry, and now she's pulling away."

He rested a comforting hand on my shoulder, staying quiet for a long moment as the forest thinned. We'd reached the end of it, and miles of fields stretched below us. A few highways crossed the landscape, which seemed out of place after being in back country so long. Another town waited in the distance, making me dread what we'd find there, especially with how bad yesterday had been. I glanced at Narcissa again and sighed sadly.

Harry let go and broke the silence. "Is there, um, something you want to tell me?"

"Hmm?" I asked, rubbing my running nose on the cuff of my sleeve. "What do you mean?"

"Boy, I wish Ginny was here. I'm not good at these things. The stuff you're saying, uh... it sounds like, on top of everything else, Mrs. Malfoy might be scared of you two having more than friendly feelings for each other. And don't tell me I'm seeing things again. I'm not oblivious."

That brought me up short. "No, no, you've got the wrong idea. Okay, so there may be a bit of attraction, but it's unrelated to our problems. We sort of started a flirting game after she realized I um... I'm... I think I might... like women." I cringed and closed my eyes, hoping he wouldn't react badly.

"That crush on McGonagall wasn't just a one-time thing, then?"

My mouth fell open. "Harry! I did not have a crush on our professor!"

"Whoa, okay. Sorry. It wasn't even me who thought so, it was Ginny. But it's okay, I mean, whoever you like doesn't make a difference to me."

My shoulders sagged with relief, though I muttered vague threats of turning Ginny's own favorite hex against her. Was she right about Professor McGonagall? The desire to impress her, eagerly awaiting her classes in particular, that pleasure I felt whenever she told me I did well—it was a little suspicious, though I'd never looked at it in this light before.

Harry nudged me from my thoughts. "So the way Mrs. Malfoy looks at you when you're not looking... that's part of the game too? Who's keeping score then?"

"She looks at me?" I asked, a little too eager. "Why haven't you mentioned it before?"

"I thought it was that kind of competitive checking out that girls do, but yesterday I caught on. I don't really buy your explanation of a game, though. Are there rules? How many points do you have to earn to win?"

"Um... I don't know."

"What's the reward for winning?"

"Well, we... haven't thought that far ahead?"

Narcissa turned to look at me again and I frantically tried to stop thinking about her and our competition. I pictured quidditch games instead. Brooms, flying around, scoring points... wait, wait! She caught a flash of my fear and pulled at it, revealing the last moments of my conversation with Harry. She retreated from my mind, eyes flaring before narrowing slyly. I swallowed hard as she walked toward me, my eyes irresistibly following the curve of her swaying hips. Was she doing that on purpose?

"If you're discussing what I think you are, the game is its own reward," she said, winking at me but keeping several feet between us. "Hermione, may I steal you away for a few moments?"

Harry stepped between us. "You'd better not torment her in these occlumency lessons. I'll be keeping an eye on you." He turned to me and said, "Hermione, if she pushes you too far, tell me. I've been talking with the other aurors and found out that Snape's lessons with me were downright abusive. Don't let him be your benchmark. Your teacher isn't supposed to shred your mind and make you feel horrible."

Narcissa's face paled as he spoke. "Mr. Potter, I'm... I'm terribly sorry you had to endure his abuse. That's the old style of training, and I know how cruel it can be. Please believe that I respect Hermione's mind far too much to do it that way."

Harry gave her a long look, the muscles in his jaw tightening, then nodded and walked ahead to give us some space.

"Alright," she said, "a few instructions before the next attempt. You blocked me last time, but this time I found one of your real thoughts."

"Did you get the kind of training Harry had?" I asked.

"Are you familiar with the fortress method?" she went on. "I recommend combining it with your current technique. Having strong mental walls will give you more time to prepare distractions and separate yourself from your emotions."

"Is that how you protect your mind? Or do you do it a different way?" I wondered.

Narcissa continued advising me about techniques without answering any of my personal questions. Over the next several hours, sometimes she instructed me and sometimes I chatted with Harry or Ron, only getting breaks during guard duty. I blocked the majority of her attacks, but it was getting increasingly difficult. She pushed harder for longer durations, constantly checking in to see how I was doing yet never letting me slack off. I was almost enjoying the mental combat, except I couldn't ignore the hollowness, the sense of something held back.

Though I was grateful that no dementors had attacked us so far today, I missed the forest. The open landscape seemed dull and uninteresting, the air less rich with smells. We crossed the highways I'd seen from our vantage point at the forest's margin, drawing ever nearer to the next town. I tried to prepare myself for finding more soulless people, knowing it was unlikely for another town to have a wizard protecting it—and taking advantage of it. There was no visible smoke, movement, or other signs of life. We all fell silent as we approached it, in fear or respect for its inhabitants.

We reached the end of one of the streets a couple hours before dark, looking around at properties that no one had taken care of for months. A pipe had burst open in one building, leaving a thin frozen pond across the street and several yards. Doors hung open on cars and houses, and I got chills as I wondered if people had left them open while trying to get away.

"Hello?" Harry yelled. He amplified his voice and yelled again, with no response. "Okay, guys. Let's search the town. We'll look in every building until we find people, to be sure whether the ministry needs to send a retrieval team right away or not."

I did some quick math. "Harry, there must be over a hundred buildings here. Even if we only take five minutes per house, it'll take us an hour just to do twenty. What if we do a random sample instead?"

"We can't miss anybody. How about we break into two groups? That would be..."

"An hour for every forty houses," I supplied. "We'll still have to set up camp by the time we're done."

He shrugged. "That's fine. It's worth a little time to be absolutely sure whether there are any survivors or people without souls here. We're the forward scouts; this is our responsibility."

I nodded in acceptance, hoping we'd find someone sooner rather than later.

"Stay alert," he reminded us. "Two of us can take the east side of town, and the other two the west. Holler and send up red sparks if you're in trouble, blue sparks if you find anyone. We'll rendezvous at the far end of this street."

Narcissa and I paired up and went down one side of the street while Harry and Ron went the other direction. It would've been faster if we could call for the backup aurors, but they were only for emergencies, and this town was long past that. It was tedious, tiresome work having to search everywhere, but Harry was right. This was what we were here for. We went building by building looking for bodies, leaving a temporary X on each front door when the house had been checked. My mood sank lower and lower. I couldn't count the number of rooms I glanced into, the number of empty beds I saw.

After checking yet another abandoned house, I paused in the living room, seeing a photograph of a daughter and two parents, like my family. Narcissa came downstairs from where she'd been checking rooms and stood behind me. My shoulders tensed as I imagined the judgment rolling off of her.

"You accused me of treating my parents' memories like they're nothing," I said. "But their lives were at stake. I told you, I agonized over that decision."

Far from helping, my words only seemed to provoke her. "What makes you think you have the right to decide for them?"

I turned to face her and struggled to find a way to describe my situation. "The magical world is my world, so it's my job to protect them. They're muggles; they don't stand a chance against wizards. They shouldn't have to deal with magical threats."

"You're talking about them like they're children, but they're full-grown adults," she said, gesturing at the parents in the photo. "You should've explained the situation and asked what they wanted to do."

"I couldn't have explained it well enough," I told her, trying to make her see it my way. "They aren't used to thinking about the threat of someone reading their minds or torturing them for information. They might've made the wrong choice and ended up getting killed."

"Choosing for them is just a few steps away from disregarding their free will," she replied.

My temper flared, then faded into fear. "No, it's not," I whispered.

"You might as well have put the Imperius Curse on them and ordered them to go away and forget about you."

"It's not the same," I insisted. "How can you even say that! And what's your problem, anyway? You've used that curse!"

"On strangers and enemies," she said. "Never on friends and family. I'd consider that a terrible breach of trust."

My heart thudded in my chest. "It's not the same," I repeated, brushing past her on my way to the door. "We—we have more houses to check." I was shaking so badly I almost rolled my ankle on the step down from the porch. The sun was setting behind clouds, and the dim light made everything look faded and gray. I went through the next house in a daze, telling myself I hadn't taken away their free will. It was for their own good, and that had to make it different. It had to. She was wrong.

Neither of us said another word as we finished searching the houses and made our way to the few commercial buildings remaining. In the first shop, the atmosphere felt less dreary. There weren't such stark signs of lifelessness, and the darkening sky made it feel like we were simply dropping by after business hours. We lit up our wands to look around, then moved on to the office building next door. I looked through each of the cubicles in the center of the large room while Narcissa checked the private offices around the perimeter.

"Hermione," she called to me. I crossed over to the corner office where she was standing by a wall, looking at a calendar. She pointed to the date and said, "Look, someone was crossing out the days until May 29th. Could you put that in your report tonight? It might not matter what day the dementors came through, but it... it might be nice on their gravestones, or a memorial, whatever the ministry places here for them."

I sighed sadly and nodded, thumbing through the following months until I got to November, the present day. The world hadn't stood still just because Voldemort was gone. Now, six months later, we were discovering how widespread the aftermath was. I realized what today's date was just before letting the pages fall back to the way they'd been.

"Today is Remembrance Day," I said, getting choked up. "We shouldn't be fighting."

"What does that mean? Are you alright?" Narcissa asked, touching my arm with the most tenderness I'd felt from her all day. It pushed me over the edge and I started to cry.

"It's when World War I ended, after millions of people had died. Do you know about that? They called it the war to end all wars." I turned toward her and said through my tears, "Then my grandpa fought in the next one. He never talked about it with my mum when she was growing up, but he told me stories when I was old enough to ask about it, before he died. He saw some horrible things. I think he would've been really heartbroken to know I had to fight in a war too." Speechless, Narcissa watched as I conjured two poppies for us, pinning one to each our coats. "Muggles wear these for our veterans. We missed the right time for it, but there's usually two minutes of silence to remember the dead, and the living they left behind."

Blinking back tears of her own, Narcissa nodded and bowed her head. We extinguished the light of our wands. My unsteady breaths were the only sound in the room as we waited in darkness. More than two minutes went by before either of us moved. Narcissa's hands found me, pulling me into an embrace.

"We shouldn't be fighting," I said again, fingers curling in her hair. "Today of all days."

"I don't want to fight," she responded. "And I don't want to stay away from you. I suppose... I'll have to accept that we disagree or else keep arguing forever. Maybe your parents could've lived without remembering their daughter, but I don't know what I would've become without the people I love. I'd rather die than lose those memories, and I won't let anyone tamper with them."

"I promise I'll never do that to you," I whispered in her ear. It felt so good to be holding her again, to be held by her. "Are we okay?" I could feel Narcissa's heart pounding as fast as mine.

"We're okay," she murmured. I nearly melted into a puddle when I felt her breath ghost over my lips as she leaned back. The mental line I'd drawn between friendship and attraction blurred dangerously. I would've walked over hot coals right then just to have her kiss me, to touch me and forget the competition, forget everything. Her hands skimmed down my sides before pulling away like I'd burned her.

She lit her wand and hurried out of the small room, and I followed suit. We finished searching the office, her eyes darting away from mine each time we crossed paths. On our way out through the building's narrow entry hall, Narcissa turned suddenly. "Legili—"

Caught off guard, I shoved her, desperate to keep her from seeing my feelings. She seized my coat as if I'd pushed her off a cliff, falling backwards and pulling me with her until she was caught between me and the wall, limbs tangled together. The heat that had built up between us spiked to a new level of intensity.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized as we both tried to stand up straight, but my leg was embedded between her thighs, pressed too close to her center. Her hips rocked against me and we both froze. Pulse racing from a wave of arousal, I tried to untangle us delicately, only causing more friction. She bit down hard on my shoulder, muffling the sound that escaped her.

"Merlin," I gasped, wetness gathering. I wanted more of her, I wanted—

"Stay. Very. Still," Narcissa warned in a voice like velvet, slipping her arm down between us. I trembled with the effort it took to not move. Her hand eased my leg away, then slid back up my body to the zipper of my coat, fiddling with it like a present she couldn't wait to unwrap. "You're really testing me."

Not even sure what she meant by that, all I could say was, "I didn't mean to make you, um..."

"Just think of what you could do if you did mean to," she murmured.

My knees threatened to buckle at that. "Is it okay to move now?"

"Sorry, yes, whatever you need," she told me, letting a breath out. "Dammit, I shouldn't... I'm aware there's a bit of a power imbalance here. If I ever make you uncomfortable, I will absolutely back off."

"Which of us do you think is more powerful?" I asked, wordlessly making both of our wands flare brighter. "I think we're evenly matched."

She leaned her head back against the wall, deep breaths making her chest rise and fall hypnotically. "An experience imbalance, then," she amended.

"I bet you could help me catch up quickly," I replied, shocking myself with my own boldness.

She hummed and pulled me closer again, kissing the side of my neck and sucking lightly until my knees really did buckle. She chuckled against my skin before pushing me upright, hand in the center of my chest as she straightened her arm between us.

"Four things," she said after a moment of thought. "First, I know it was accidental, but for future reference I think it best if we avoid full body contact. I'm still married, Hermione. I have limits. Second, accident or not, it would be a crime not to award you a point after affecting me so strongly. Two to three, your advantage. Third, I recommend keeping your hair down to hide your neck. I may have left a mark."

"You said four things. That was only three," I pointed out, then realized she'd merely paused to gaze at my neck as I touched the tender skin there.

"Fourth," she continued, raising one eyebrow, "while that technique did effectively distract me from seeing your thoughts, you should stick to methods you can use in any situation. Legilimens."

Without warning, she was pushing into my mind again, and I scrambled to get my walls up. While she worked on getting past them, I imagined the forest as vividly as I could, filling my mind with those sights and sounds. By the time she broke through, there was nothing to see except peaceful trees.

"That's more like it. Excellent," she said after retreating. I glowed from her praise. "Let's stop until tomorrow. I think you've had enough for one day."

"Sounds good to me," I agreed, grateful that it was so easy to go back to normal after that... encounter. Or at least both of us were determined to seem normal.

We filed out through the door of the office building, the winter wind helping to cool down my body. The stars had come out while we were indoors, and I took a moment to gaze up at them. There were some nice things about leaving the heavy canopy of tree branches behind. Feeling no need to rush since we saw Harry and Ron weren't at the rendezvous point yet, we explored the remaining structures, which seemed far less ominous now that we were sure there were no suffering or soulless people in them. Whatever had happened here was long since over.

When we were done, I waited at our meeting place while Narcissa wandered off to find a good place to make the ward. Ron and Harry came down a side street several minutes later, trudging along wearily.

Ron dramatically collapsed in the overgrown grass on the side of the road. "Ugh!"

Harry laughed at him. "Get up, you lazy bum," he said, kicking Ron's boots in encouragement.

"So many stairs," Ron grumbled, rolling onto his back. "Why did there have to be so many stairs?"

I chuckled, going over to sit on the curb next to them. "I take it you didn't find anything?"

"Nothing," Harry confirmed. "You?"

"Nothing," I echoed. "Narcissa found a calendar that might show their last day, but no sign of anybody alive or dead."

"Isn't that kind of weird for a dementor attack?" Ron asked. "Maybe everybody escaped."

I shook my head. "All their cars are in their driveways. I doubt they could flee on foot." I waved to Narcissa as she came back and stood beside me.

"The ward is ready for us to make camp," she told us.

"What's with the flowers?" Ron asked, noticing the poppies on our coats.

"Is it the eleventh already?" Harry asked. "Muggles wear them today for people who died in wars. Can you make one for me too?"

"And me," Ron said, sitting up. "For Fred."

"If we were back in London," I said, conjuring one for each of them, "we could buy paper poppies and the money would go to charity. But it's still good to remember."

We walked together as Narcissa led us to where she'd set up the ward in a back alley. Once the tent was set up, we turned turns changing into our night clothes, re-pinning the poppies. We found enough broken pallets behind a shop to make a fire without needing to use the wood I'd packed. Harry and Ron went into a nearby deli and brought out four chairs for us. Nails and staples popped in the fire as I sat down and pulled out my report parchment. I idly checked the back for messages, then did a double take.

"Whoa, what do you guys think of this message from Kingsley?" I asked, reading it aloud: "'Be advised, reports coming in of several former Voldemort supporters disappearing from imprisonment. Timing and destination unknown, inside help possible.'"

"Oh, no," Narcissa whispered. "Did he say who's missing?"

"No, that's the whole message."

"Can you ask him about Lucius?" she asked, twisting her hands in worry.

I nodded and wrote her question down straightaway. I had to set aside my discomfort at another reminder that she was married. It shouldn't matter to me.

"I guess we'd better be careful," Harry said. "If they had help from inside the ministry, they might know our route. They could attack us to avenge Voldemort."

"As if we didn't have enough to worry about with the dementors," Ron complained.

Narcissa shook her head. "Of course you would jump to that conclusion. What if we're not the—ah, what if they're not the ones causing the trouble? Lucius isn't even allowed to have a wand." She tensed and muttered, "Salazar's snake, I've left him defenseless, guarded by people who hate him."

"The ministry would never do anything to him," Harry told her. "There are rules for how we treat prisoners, even Death Eaters."

"Yes, everyone who works at the ministry is a saint," Narcissa snipped. She ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed her neck, obviously not at all reassured.

Remembering all of her "choice adjectives" for Mr. Malfoy, I almost asked why she was so concerned about him. But as soon as the question formed in my mind, I realized that none of his faults would matter to her if he was in trouble. If she hadn't abandoned him by now, she never would. She'd repeatedly made it clear how devoted she was to her family. I'd really come to admire that quality, but it also made me ache a little for reasons I couldn't quite admit.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I wrote down a summary of what we'd found today. I checked the back periodically in case Kingsley happened to reply to the question, though I was fairly certain he'd left work by now and wouldn't see it until at least tomorrow morning. When I'd finished writing, I looked up and saw Harry and Ron chatting while Narcissa stared into the fire. She looked like she could use something to take her mind off her worry.

"Would you like to read with me in the tent?" I asked. "I've got several books you can choose from."

"Alright," she agreed, letting me lead the way into the tent. While I grabbed my backpack and started digging through one of its magical pockets, she sat down on her bunk and groaned, stretching her legs out across the floor. "How is it that I've gotten used to walking all day, but only a few hours in that town made my joints ache?"

"It's probably from all the twists and turns inside the houses," I guessed, pulling out books one by one. "Walking in a straight line is easier on your knees and ankles."

"Are yours aching too?"

"Not really."

"Ah, that's right. I forgot you were born yesterday. Just wait until you're my age."

"Not all of us were born before the Stone Age," I shot back, dumping a stack of books on her bed. I picked out one I'd already started and reached for the ladder to my bunk.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, shifting the books closer and reading their spines. "There's room to sit down here."

It was a little silly how giddy that made me. I grabbed my pillow and crawled onto the end of her bed, curling up around my book. She found one to read as well and leaned back at the other end. After a moment, she lifted her legs up and plopped her socked feet down right next to me.

"Oh, no," I said, both of us laughing as I tried to push them away. "No smelly feet beside me. Wait, are your socks mismatched?" I laughed harder, unable to imagine how someone known for wearing fancy clothes could let that happen.

"It's a fashion statement," she replied smoothly, pulling them off and throwing them under the bed. "Is that better?"

"I guess I can live with this," I said, smiling at her bare, dainty toes. Before I could second-guess myself, I started to knead her heel with one hand while opening my book to the last chapter I'd read.

"Can you live with knowing I've done some things I'm—I'm not proud of?" Narcissa asked, sighing as I worked on her tired muscles. "I've been giving you a hard time about your ethics, but you're right, I'm really not in a position to judge."

That was unexpected. I looked over at her, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. "Things I don't already know about?"

"Yes."

Chewing on my lip, I said, "I don't know. Will you tell me about them?"

"It's probably only a matter of time before you find out."

My hand stilled. "Could you make that sound a little more ominous?"

"Dead men tell no tales," she intoned, then gave me a weak smile. "Kidding. I haven't killed anybody. Though I might kill you if you stop that glorious foot rub."

Just as I started up again, Harry came into the tent and raised his eyebrows at me. He reached into Ron's backpack and pulled out a wizard's chess set, then headed back toward the door flap. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said with a grin, leaving before I could come up with a response.

Narcissa snorted in amusement while I groaned and tried to hide behind my pillow. "I never should've told him about our competition," I lamented, not really meaning it. "Or rather, I never should've confirmed anything when he guessed something was going on."

"No need to hide it from him. He cares about you. You have good friends, Hermione," she said softly. "I hope I can count myself among them, despite everything."

Despite everything. Everything so far? Or whatever she hadn't told me yet? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I decided. "You can," I told her.

With that, we both settled down to read, the last hours of the evening drifting by until we got sleepy and I returned to my bed. I'd pretty much never had someone who was interested in sitting there silently with me for so long, just reading. I could picture us doing this every evening, the perfect counterpart to our quiet mornings. But that was dangerous territory again. After our mission was over, we would be back in our separate homes with our separate routines. We were most of the way to Groesffordd now, the last town we'd have to investigate. As difficult as the trip had been so far, I almost didn't want it to end.