After much discussion it was decided that only Harry and Draco would go and fetch the Diadem. Harry rightly pointed out that manoeuvring unseen around the school was going to be tricky enough with two, but with four they would stand no chance. Which two was going was decided on necessity, Harry felt he needed to go and get the Horcrux while he needed Draco to take him to Snape's cottage. While the wards had been adjusted to allow Hermione entry she admitted she felt uneasy going there without Draco. With the plans firmly in place Harry and Draco said goodbye and Draco apparated them to Snape's cottage at the appropriate time.
Once they were alone the tension was palpable between Hermione and Ron. Since Ron's return the previous day he hadn't once mentioned Hermione's relationship with Draco and when she gave the blond Slytherin a kiss before he left Ron turned away from the sight. After a few minutes of awkward silence Ron started to head for the door.
"Ron, wait." Hermione called, stopping her friend in his tracks. "Can we talk? Please."
Ron sighed before turning back to face the girl that had almost been his. "I guess so."
"I'm sorry for the way you found out." Hermione started as the pair settled down on separate sofas. "I was going to talk to you about Draco, I never wanted you to find out like that."
"It wasn't the best way to find out what was going on." Ron admitted. "Although to tell the truth, no way would have been good."
"I'm sorry." Hermione whispered.
"What for?" Ron questioned. "I know you're not sorry you're involved with Malfoy. I've watched the pair of you together and as odd as it is, he makes you happy. So what are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry you're hurting." Hermione replied. "You're my best friend and I'm sorry I'm the reason you're hurting."
"I'm the reason I'm hurting Hermione." Ron sighed, running a hand through his hair as he slumped back on the sofa. "Things could have been so different if I wasn't such an idiot last year."
"What do you mean?"
"Lavender." Ron answered. "Instead of admitting how I felt about you, I jumped into a relationship with Lavender."
"Why did you?" Hermione asked. She' always wondered why Ron had chosen Lavender over her and hopefully now she would get her answers.
"Honestly, I have no idea." Ron chuckled bitterly. "I guess I just got caught up in all the attention she was giving me. She was there telling me how brilliant I was and I guess I just got dazzled by the attention."
"I suppose it's easy to get bowled over when someone is constantly singing your praises." Hermione replied.
"I still shouldn't have gone there though." Ron said. "I knew it was you I wanted, not Lavender. You're the one I should have been with."
"Yet you still didn't do anything about it, even when you split up with her." Hermione retorted. A few months ago the statement would have come out sounding bitter, but now she had moved on and there was no bite behind her words.
"I should have, shouldn't I?" Ron questioned. He hadn't said anything at the time because he thought Hermione had been mad at him because of the whole Lavender thing, but now he was wondering if in fact that had been his golden opportunity to get together with Hermione.
"Maybe the fact you didn't do anything says everything." Hermione replied. "I have a theory about us. As much as we've claimed to want each other in the past, I don't think we really do. I think deep down we both know we're better off as friends, so that's why we've never pressed for anything further."
"That's not true, I asked you out during the summer." Ron protested.
"After you knew I wasn't interested anymore." Hermione fired back. "Face it Ron, if we really wanted to be together we would be. We both could have acted on our feelings, but we didn't. We chose to remain friends."
Ron sat silently for a few minutes while he mulled over Hermione's theory. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. Over the years both of them had ample opportunity to change the nature of their relationship but in the end they chose to keep things the way they were. Hermione was right, they were meant to be friends and nothing more.
"I guess you're right." He admitted after nearly ten minutes of silence. "We're just good friends."
"We are." Hermione nodded. "And I hope my relationship with Draco won't affect that."
"It won't." Ron reassured his friend. "I admit I was really shocked by the revelation, in fact I think I still am. But as long as you're happy, I'm not going to interfere. And if you mention this to anyone else, I will deny saying this, but maybe Malfoy isn't all bad."
"Thanks Ron, that means a lot to me." Hermione smiled, feeling a weight lifting off her shoulders at the news that Ron wasn't abandoning their friendship.
"I'm not going to interfere or judge, but I don't really want to talk about it. I know you're together and I accept it, but I'm not interested in the inner workings of your relationship." Ron said. "And I would greatly appreciate it if you silenced rooms before getting it on. I really don't need to hear you and Malfoy shagging again, once was more than enough."
Hermione blushed furiously at the mention of how Ron had discovered her relationship with Draco. "That won't happen again, we thought we were alone."
"I should hope so." Ron muttered, before returning his voice to normal volume. "Anyway enough about your love life, we've got a war to win."
Hermione smiled at Ron's swift change of subject as the pair started to talk about Harry and Draco and their quest for the next Horcrux. Hopefully it would go well and by the end of the day more progress would have been made in the fight against Voldemort.
Upon arriving in Severus's back garden, Draco led Harry into the cottage and towards the front room. Harry felt strange being in the home of his least favourite Professor and he was glad when Draco went straight to the fire and announced the floo network was active. Handing Harry the pot of floo powder, Draco told the Gryffindor to go first. Harry eagerly took the floo powder and disappeared in a whirl of emerald flames.
Harry reappeared in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts and he had barely stepped out of the fireplace before it roared to life again and Draco emerged. Looking around the familiar room, and noticing that all the portraits of former Headmasters were blank, Harry jumped slightly as Snape stepped from the shadows.
"Severus, thank you for doing this." Draco said, stepping forward to greet the wizard he considered family.
"It's my pleasure." Severus replied. "I only hope things go as smoothly as you desire. Unfortunately I doubt they will, as we have a problem here."
"What?" Harry questioned. "Does it have anything to do with the missing portraits?"
"The missing portraits are a precaution I took a few minutes earlier. I've merely charmed the frames so the occupants think they want to be residing in one of their other portraits." Severus answered.
"You didn't want to risk anyone seeing us here." Harry nodded understandingly.
"Quite." Severus nodded. "Now back to the problem in hand. There's an increased presence of Death Eaters in the school."
"Why?" Draco asked, suspicious as to why there would suddenly be an increase in Voldemort's followers within the school.
"Because last night your presence was sensed in Hogsmeade." Severus answered, glaring accusingly at Draco. "I don't know what you were doing, and I think it's better if you don't tell me, but The Dark Lord knew you were there. He sent word you were to be killed by the patrols in the village, but luckily you seemed to have left before they caught up to you."
"How did he know where I was?" Draco asked. "He hasn't been able to track me before now."
"You apparated into a protected area, an area specially designed to only allow Death Eaters entrance. Of course he was going to register your presence there." Severus replied. "Anyway the upshot of it all is that he sent several more Death Eaters to patrol the village and school. Lucius was here earlier today to talk about upping the security and Bellatrix is still in the school somewhere."
"Shit, so we've got to avoid her as well." Draco muttered. "This is sounding more difficult by the minute."
"Well I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do to help." Severus sighed. "Whatever you want, you two will have to go and get it and return here. The password to get back into the office is Dragon's Hide."
"Thank you Professor." Harry said, appreciating the help they were getting from the man he knew didn't like him.
Severus nodded curtly, not entirely comfortable with Harry. "I suggest you get to it before it's too late."
"Of course." Draco said, before turning to Harry. "Come on Potter, how are we going to sneak about unnoticed?"
During the planning of the trip Harry had claimed to have a fool proof way to move around the school undetected, but so far he hadn't revealed it to Draco. Reaching into his backpack Harry pulled out a shimmery cloak and grinned at the stunned blond boy.
"A bloody invisibility cloak. No wonder you could sneak around so much during school." Draco muttered.
"It did come in handy." Harry chuckled briefly before returning back to being serious. "And it's going to come in handy now, let's get going."
Harry threw the cloak over both him and Draco and slowly the pair made their way out of the Headmaster's office. The trip to the Room of Requirements was slow going as they had to be careful not to reveal themselves and several times they had to dodge patrolling Death Eaters. Finally they reached the room in question and after producing the door they hurried inside and threw off the cloak.
"Bugger, I forget how messy this place was." Draco cursed. "This is going to take a while."
"We better get on with it then." Harry said.
Draco nodded and the two boys headed to opposite sides of the room to start their search. A little over half an hour into the search they still hadn't found the diadem, but they were now within speaking distance. After a bit of mindless chatter about the diadem Harry decided to broach a potentially tricky subject with the Slytherin.
"How would you feel about us facing Voldemort at Malfoy Manor?"
Draco stopped his searching and turned to look at Harry in shock. "You want to fight Voldemort at the Manor?"
"Yes." Harry nodded. "We need to have the advantage going into the final battle and I reckon the best way to do that is to take him unawares. He would never expect us to turn up at the Manor."
"That's because the security is top notch." Draco interrupted. "There's no way we can break through the wards without alerting everyone inside what's happening. Even the slightest probing will alert my father."
"I know that and I admit it's not going to be easy." Harry said. "I was sort of hoping you would have some insider knowledge. Maybe you know a way to get into the Manor without being detected."
"I really don't thinkā¦" Draco started, before trailing off as an old memory tugged at his consciousness.
"What?" Harry questioned eagerly. "Do you have something?"
"I might." Draco said. "Let's get on with the search and I promise I'll think about the Manor. I swear if there's a way to get inside undetected, I'll find it."
Harry went back to the search knowing the blond would do whatever he could to help them. Draco had already proved his worth in Harry's eyes and he had no doubt that if he could help with the Manor, he would do so.
"Got it." Draco shouted, nearly forty minutes later.
Harry rushed over to Draco to find the blond holding onto a silver Diadem. After checking it against the picture they had with them the boys were satisfied they had the real thing in their grasp. Placing the Diadem safely in Harry's bag the pair threw the invisibility cloak over themselves and left the Room of Requirements.
The trip back to the Headmaster's office was just as slow and steady as the earlier trip. However when they reached the gargoyle guarding the office and muttered the password they got a bit of a surprise. When the gargoyle moved, revealing the stairs, they came face to face with a smirking Bellatrix. Neither Harry nor Draco could control their gasps of surprise, and therefore revealing their presence to Draco's aunt.
"I know you're there, Draco." Bellatrix cooed, her eyes flicking from side to side as she tried to work out where exactly her nephew was. "And who do you have with you, the mudblood? Or maybe Potter himself."
Under the invisibility cloak Harry and Draco shared a panicked look. If they revealed themselves they were destined for a fight with Bellatrix, a fight that could potentially alert the other Death Eaters in the castle of their presence. However if they tried to move they risked revealing themselves by the sound of them moving and if they remained stationary they risked Bellatrix finding them by bumping into them. Whatever way they looked at it, it appeared as though they were going to come face to face with Bellatrix, whether they liked it or not.
With a resigned shrug Draco threw off the cloak and glared at his aunt. "Move, or I'll make you." He snarled.
Bellatrix laughed at her nephew as she moved further into the middle of the stairs. "It looks like you're going to have to make me, dear nephew. But we both know you don't have the guts to take me on."
Draco's grey eyes flashed as he took a step towards his aunt. After everything he had gone through these past few years he was more than ready to stand up for himself.
"Malfoy, don't do anything stupid." Harry cautioned, wondering if he should hold the blond back.
"Yes Draco, don't do anything stupid." Bellatrix mimicked. "Although I suppose it's too late for that. You can't get much stupider than aligning yourself with mudbloods and blood traitors. You're a disgrace to the family, Draco."
"Good. I'd rather be a disgrace than fight for that evil bastard you call a lord." Draco snarled.
Bellatrix snarled at the insult against Voldemort but before she could speak again Draco had advanced on her and grabbed her by the arms. Bellatrix wasn't weak by any stretch of the imagination but Draco had taken her by surprise and she found herself unable to get out of her nephew's firm grip.
"Let go of me." Bellatrix hissed, trying to stomp on Draco's feet. "I won't have a traitor like you touching me."
"You don't have a choice." Draco snapped back as he began hauling his aunt up the stairs. "Come on Potter, we can sort her up in the office."
Harry hurried after Draco, making sure to stay well back from his struggling aunt. From where Harry was standing Draco's grip on his aunt was starting to weaken as she constantly struggled against him and he didn't want to be in the firing line if she got free. Luckily Draco managed to keep hold of Bellatrix until they got to the door leading into Snape's office.
"Potter get the door." Draco ordered, unwilling to loosen his hold on Bellatrix.
Harry slipped round the pair and had just opened the door when it happened. Somehow Bellatrix had manoeuvred her hand in Draco's grasp and had clawed at his injured mark. Draco yelled out in pain as his aunt's sharp nails dug into his burnt skin.
"Get off you mad bitch." Draco yelled, yanking his arm from his aunt's grip.
As Draco pulled his arm away from Bellatrix the witch stumbled and lost her footing on the top stair. Before either Harry or Draco could react Bellatrix squealed loudly as she began to tumble down the stairs. Standing frozen at the top of the stairs the two teenagers watched as the witch fell out of sight, and seconds later they heard the rhythmical thumping of her body against the stone steps stop.
Coming out of the trance that seemed to hold them in place Harry and Draco ran back down the stairs. Lying crumpled at the bottom was Bellatrix, her body lying at an unnatural angle and blood seeping from her head. Gingerly Draco stepped forward to get a closer look at his mother's elder sister.
"She's dead." He whispered shakily. "I've killed her."
"It was an accident." Harry insisted. "She would have killed us if given the chance."
As Draco stood over his aunt's body, Harry heard the distant sounds of footsteps approaching. Not wanting to be caught he grabbed hold of Draco's arm and dragged him back up the stairs and into Snape's office.
"We have to go." He said, pulling the blond towards the fire. "Now Malfoy, move."
With a shove from Harry, Draco entered the fire and flooed back to Snape's cottage. Harry arrived seconds later and not trusting the blond to get back to Grimmauld Place on his own he grabbed hold of him and dissapparated them with a loud crack.
