Previously:
The Aurors had drawn their wands, and they ignored the teachers' protests as they headed straight for Slytherin Table, where Draco was sitting ramrod straight, his face an unhealthy shade of white.
"Theodore Nott," the first Auror in deep purple robes boomed.
Hermione didn't know who looked worse: Draco, holding onto his cup as if he wanted to break it, or Nott, whose face changed from confusion to outright horror.
"I've been sent to inform you that you are now under arrest for association and aiding of known criminals in the kidnapping case of Dorothy MacDougal by offering personal information obtained through your affiliation with Draco Lucius Malfoy and his relationship with her sister Isobel MacDougal."
"Excuse me." Professor Snape strode swiftly towards the Aurors who were proceeding to actually chain poor Theodore, who hadn't moved the slightest in his shock. "Would you mind enlightening me of the situation?"
"Please stand back, Sir," the Auror ordered, using polite words, but his tone was anything but polite.
The whole school gaped. Nobody had ever spoken in such a dismissive manner to Professor Snape's face.
"He will not be taken out of Hogwarts!" Professor McGonagall's voice boomed from the entrance of the Great Hall. "Would you mind to inform me on the audacity that takes place here? As the current deputy of Hogwarts, I demand—"
"Ma'am, we have our orders. Unless Dumbledore himself—"
"PROFESSOR Dumbledore," McGonagall interrupted him in a commanding tone, "is currently not in Hogwarts, and therefore I'm in charge as official deputy Headmistress."
The Auror ignored her and roughly pulled Theodore from his seat. "Get up, boy."
Shocked into stasis, Hermione watched as several teachers, lead by Professor McGonagall, followed the Aurors dragging Nott outside. Their voices still echoed in the Hall after they had exited. No one dared speaking a word until the noise faded completely.
For a split second, her eyes caught Draco's, and there was anguish in them. Hermione felt the angry urge to throw something at him. This was his doing, he really had not an ounce of decency left in him. Hermione actually hadn't believed he'd sent the report. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
Unexpectedly, Professor McGonagall returned after only a short while, effectively quieting the mass of gossiping students by calling the Head Students as well as Prefects to the front. "I managed to convince the Aurors to not take Mr Nott to London for now," she informed them. "Therefore, there will be some officials in Hogwarts. I have to ask you to take over responsibility. As there are no classes, you need to make sure everybody stays in line and returns into their common rooms after breakfast."
She dismissed the Prefects, asking Hermione and Draco to stay behind.
"Mr Malfoy, I'm afraid you are too involved in this, so I must ask you to stay in your common room and be available at all times." Draco nodded, not meeting their professor's eyes.
"Miss Granger, as Head Girl I think you should be there to advocate for the student in question."
"Of course, Professor," she said, but secretly she wondered if Theo would even accept her defending him. He had made his opinion of her quite clear on several occasions.
Hermione caught Draco's gaze one last time before she followed Professor McGonagall. There was something troubling in his expression. Behind his indifferent mask there was anguish at having betrayed his best friend, but below that anguish there was something different, and for a moment Hermione was sure she saw cold calculation shining in his eyes.
Professor McGonagall accompanied Hermione to the Headmaster's office where two of the Aurors were waiting with Nott and Professor Snape. Hermione was appalled to see that Theo was shackled to a chair, his gaze cast down and his face frozen in an expression of angry resignation. They treated him like a monster that needed to be restrained when he hadn't even protested his arrest. Theodore Nott, who was usually either railing or whining every time he opened his mouth, was now sitting mutely in front of them.
"Miss Granger here is our Head Girl and she will advocate for Mr Nott as she is a representative of the student body," Professor McGonagall declared.
"Miss Granger." The Auror in purple robes nodded at her in acknowledgement. "Take a seat." He indicated towards a chair next to Theo. Hermione would have much rather kept standing as the Auror in question made no move to settle down himself and now towered over her. "What do you know about the accusation that Mr Nott has his hands in the abduction of Dorothy MacDougal?"
Hermione shook her head. "I don't think he was in any way involved."
"Is that so? What is your relation to Mr Nott?" he asked.
"I am Head Girl and therefore responsible for the students. They come to me if they are in trouble, and I make sure they stay in line whenever the teachers are not present."
"And what are your personal relations to Mr Nott?" he asked leaning forward as if talking to a child.
"We don't have any personal relation. He is in Slytherin and therefore Mr Malfoy would be the Head Student in question he would turn to."
"How would you describe the relationship between Mr Malfoy and Mr Nott?"
She shrugged, feeling uncomfortable in her position. "They are friends, I suppose. I see them often together in classes and in the Head's Common Room."
"I understand that you and Mr Malfoy work together as Head Students." Hermione nodded. "So you meet him as well as Mr Nott quite frequently."
"I s—suppose." Hermione didn't quite understand where this was leading. She thought this questioning was about Theo and not about her.
"So I ask again: what is your relationship to Theodore Nott?"
"I—I'm his Head Girl," she repeated, uncertain.
"Miss Granger, I understand that you would want keep a relationship secret, considering what houses you belong to, but it is of utmost importance that you are honest. Are you or were you involved romantically with Theodore Nott?"
Hermione spluttered, her cheeks glowing red. Theo, who usually would have openly enjoyed such a situation and gloat at her discomfort, didn't move, his eyes cast down to his still bound wrists.
"Miss Granger is not the one who is here to be questioned!" Professor McGonagall interrupted the Auror outraged.
That moment, the other three Aurors entered. Their leader dismissed Professor McGonagall with a filthy look and turned to his men in expectation. "Nothing, boss. We combed the whole dorm and their common room. There is no evidence of his involvement."
The Auror in purple nodded. "He must have destroyed all evidence."
"Gentlemen," Professor McGonagall spoke in a commanding tone. "If you have nothing to validate your claim on Mr Nott, I must ask you to set him free at once!"
"Ma'am, I understand that you are concerned for one of your students but this is a serious matter. We have a testimony disclosing his involvement in the MacDougal case and as he is not willing to offer any information, we will need to search his memories."
"How can he offer information," Professor Snape finally spoke up, "when he is innocent?"
"No one asked your opinion on how to do our job, Snape," the Auror in purple hissed.
Professor Snape raised a brow, unimpressed. "I remember well how you are doing your job, Robards. And it is always wise to remind you how to do it properly."
"Severus," Professor McGonagall said softly. "Enough."
Robards shot Professor Snape a feral grin. "If you would leave the room now? We'd like to not drag this longer than necessary."
"I will not leave one of my students—"
"Severus," Professor McGonagall said again, putting a hand on his arm. "I will stay, Robards. This is not up for discussion." The stern glance she shot him, made Hermione wonder if she had been his teacher once. He nodded reluctantly.
Hermione was dismissed and sent back to her common room. She felt bad for Theo who still sat shackled to the chair, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Not once did he meet her eyes as if he couldn't stand the shame of the situation his friend had put him in.
Hermione couldn't quite fathom why Draco had sold out his best friend with such a badly constructed lie. It was as if he had wanted for it to be debunked in no time. Theo's memories would confirm that he was innocent. The whole trouble only brought Theo unwanted attention and misery. So why had Draco done it? What good did it do for him to have the Ministry focusing on Theo?
And then it struck her: He had done it to avert the attention elsewhere. She started to jog and then to full out run back to their common room.
It was empty.
Desperation settled in as she turned to his door and banged on it, calling for him to open up. When there was no response, she rummaged through her own room until she found her Joint Mirror and impatiently tapped the surface of the glass, but only the image of herself stared back at her when he didn't respond to her call.
Oh, Draco, she thought. This was not good at all; she wanted to cry from despair.
Hermione knew she had to report him; she had to let Professor McGonagall know. She rushed back the way she had just come. Her legs felt heavy, but she didn't allow herself to slow down.
To her surprise, the stairwell to the Headmaster Office was open and the door ajar. It was empty. Hermione entered, her heavy breath echoing unnaturally loud in the deserted room. Even the instruments usually tickling and chinking were silent for once.
"Miss Granger."
She turned, surprised to find Professor Dumbledore standing in the door as if he had appeared from thin air. His expression was grim, and he seemed to know exactly why she was there. "Where is Mr Malfoy?"
She shook her head. "He's gone, Professor." She wanted to say more, to tell him everything she knew, but her oath burned her throat. Professor Dumbledore seemed to know nevertheless. He nodded at her sadly.
"Then we can only hope."
"What did he do, Sir?"
"I'm afraid he went to Gringotts to retrieve something from a vault I have been unable to enter the last few months. Only someone related to the Black Family was allowed according to the Goblins, and we sadly don't have Sirius among us any longer."
Draco had fetched something from the Black Vaults? Was that his task? His lunatic aunt couldn't very well just march down Diagon Alley so she had been unable to enter the vaults, Hermione realised. And Narcissa was under house arrest and couldn't so much as lift a finger. But what had been so important to move it out of Professor Dumbledore's grasp?
Cold dread gripped her frightful heart at Professor Dumbledore's worried Expression.
"Albus?" Professor McGonagall came up the stairs to the Headmaster Office, looking older than ever before. "Lucius Malfoy has escaped Azkaban in a raid not ten minutes ago."
So Draco had fulfilled his task. Hermione shuddered.
Professor McGonagall then registered Hermione's presence. "Miss Granger. I think it is best if you were to go back to Gryffindor Common Room. I'm sure you'll be able to help out a little there and keep everyone calm and collected.
Hermione nodded. "What about Theo?" she asked, glancing at Albus Dumbledore who had moved further into the room.
"Minerva, I have to make a visit to Gringotts and see if what I have been trying to access is still there. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, Professor Dumbledore threw a pinch of Floo powder into the flames and vanished.
Professor McGonagall stared at the flaring flames for a moment before seemingly pulling herself back to the present and turning to Hermione. "Mr Nott has been released for now. They didn't find anything suspicious in his memories. But due to the circumstances, Aurors will remain here at Hogwarts and have a close eye on everything."
Hermione nodded. "I'll make sure everyone is in their common rooms," she promised.
Professor McGonagall agreed and released her with a wave of her hand.
On her way to the dungeons, Hermione already came across two Aurors patrolling the halls as if Hogwarts had turned into a prison. They watched her closely, but dismissed her with a glance at her Head Girl Badge.
The Slytherin Common Room was in upheaval. Hermione's presence certainly earned her some dirty looks. She wasn't welcome there, not even as Head Girl. Slytherin had always been Draco's responsibility.
Hermione took aside her Prefects. "Sadie, I'm here on behalf of our Head Boy to make sure everyone is in their common rooms. Did you count the students?"
Sadie nodded. "Everyone is present."
"Alright. If anything happens, I give you permission to seek out a teacher or myself."
"How long are they going to lock us up down here?" Hanley asked.
"I don't know," Hermione answered. "Don't worry, I'm sure they have our safety in mind."
"Bullshit! They're keeping us under control. Malfoy fucked up, didn't he?" Some Slytherins agreed, grumbling.
"Draco has left the castle," Hermione conceded. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you more. I'm just as clueless as the rest of us."
"As if you give a flying fuck about us! We're Slytherins! Nobody cares about us!"
"Shut the hell up, Hanley," Sadie growled.
Hermione swallowed. She understood how much truth lay in his words. This wasn't just the usually show of defiance that Hanley was known for. This was concern and frustration turned into anger.
She felt helpless because she know that she couldn't assure them that everything would turn out alright. She didn't know anything. The Aurors certainly were biased against Slytherins and who knew how quickly things could turn southwards from here on.
Nodding towards Sadie, Hermione assured herself that they would be all right before she left.
"Granger," Nott caught her just outside the Slytherin Common Room. "I don't like you," he said seriously.
She scoffed. "You don't even know me."
"I know you well enough. I know you want your friends to work harder to improve their grades, but secretly, you like that you're better than them. You're afraid of failure and strive to be perfect so no one can claim you're not a proper witch and you think Draco doesn't really believe you're beneath him or that your blood is dirty. I assure you he does and that won't change, no matter how long you make puppy eyes at him."
She scowled, she didn't like his line of thought one bit. "What's the point of this, Nott?"
"I'm just reminding you why I can't stand you, because I'm going to help you, and I don't want you to think I suddenly changed my mind about you and joined the little Gryffindor fan club."[LR3]
"Why would you help us?" she asked sceptical.
"Because you want to help Draco, and he's my friend."
"He betrayed you."
"He's my friend," he repeated, his expression grim. Nott had not forgotten, what Draco had done, but he was determined, whatever his plan was. Hermione was surprised to witness such loyalty. She hadn't expected that from a Slytherin.
That didn't mean that she trusted him. He could be a Death Eater just like Draco was. Whatever he wanted to do, it certainly didn't have Hermione's safety in mind. This could be a trap.
Hermione eyed him, trying to calculate his next move. "What are you trying to archive by antagonising me, Nott?"
He shrugged. "I'm just trying to convince you that I'm honest about this, and that what I am going to ask of you is not to set you up."
"Alright," Hermione decided. "What are we going to do?"
Nott grinned. "Visit Malfoy Manor."
"Wait, what?"
"That's where he is now, at least that's where the Dark Lord is."
"How do you—"
"I'm his friend," Nott stressed. "And we don't have time for your silly questions. We go there, get Draco out, and your little group of friends can finally do what Potter always wanted to do and die in an epic battle."
She frowned. "Why should I trust you?"
"I'm not… one of them, okay? The Aurors would know after rummaging through my brain."
"And how do you suppose we get out with Aurors everywhere?"
Nott shrugged. "Potter is quite good at sneaking around, isn't he? The only problem is that the secret passages out of the castle are all locked."
Hermione contemplated that, mentally listing all secret passages she knew. A slow grin curled her lips.
"No, there is one outside on the grounds! We just need to get beyond the wards, right?"
He nodded.
"Good, I'll meet you here in half an hour to get you out with Harry's invisibility cloak."
Nott sneered. "Keep your Gryffindor gadgets, I can disillusion myself. Where are we meeting?"
Hermione was perplexed for a second. Disillusionment wasn't taught in their classes, and it was definitely not an easy charm. "Alright... erm, outside at the Whomping Willow."
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
Hermione watched Nott disillusion himself with fascination. It was like a bucket of water was dumped on his head, just that the water made his features swim and then fade into the colours of the wall behind him.
"You forgot your right shoulder," Hermione pointed out.
She heard him curse and mutter the charm again.
"Good?" his disembodied voice asked.
"Good," she said, unable to locate him any longer. Only the tiniest blurr in the air indicated that something was off.
"Oh, and Granger, bring some spare. We'll need every helping hand."
She nodded into his general direction, feeling stupid talking to someone that wasn't visible. Then she hurried upwards to Gryffindor Tower.
If the Slytherin Common Room had been as mess, Gryffindor was even worse.
As soon as Hermione entered, they were bombarding her with questions, hungry for the latest gossip. She had to revert to threatening taking house points to get them off her back so she could finally wade through the students towards her friends.
"Harry, we—"
"Hermione, He knows!" He interrupted her, quickly pulling her into a corner and casting a Muffliato. "I just had a… one of those visions. He knows that we have been hunting the Horcruxes, and now he has gathered the remaining ones. He just got the last one."
Hermione swallowed. "I suppose I knew."
"You knew?"
"Dra—Malfoy is missing," she relayed.
"Wha—"
"Harry, please don't ask. I can't tell you more; I don't know everything, and I can't answer your questions," she said with an urgency that shut him up. "But I need you now, Harry."
"What are you talking about? We don't have time to waste, Hermione. We need to find Voldemort and destroy those Horcruxes before they are out of our reach forever. He keeps them with him for now. I saw it," he stressed.
"Alright." Hermione put her hands on his shoulders to calm him down. "I know where Voldemort is. And we will go there."
"You know?"
"Not said… he knows where Voldemort is."
Harry paused. "What does Nott have to do with this?"
"It's about Draco," she blurted out. He was about to say something, his eyes widened, trying to understand what she had just told him. Hermione beat him to it. "Harry, listen please. I—I need to help him, Harry, I can't leave him there. I just… I can't."
"What are you talking about, Hermione?" There was something dark in his tone, something confused and angry and worried.
"It's Draco. Voldemort is at Malfoy Manor, and Draco must be there as well."
"Malfoy, huh?" Harry's expression turned cold and distanced.
Hermione felt desperate. How could she explain him? She cursed the oath that prevented her from telling him everything so he would understand.
"Please don't ask," she whispered.
Harry looked at her long and hard, but then he exhaled, and his eyes turned soft. "You owe me an explanation after."
"After," she agreed.
They pushed through the crowd towards Ron who had been trying to calm down the first years, for once taking his Prefect duty seriously.
"You told her everything?" he asked, and Harry nodded.
"Listen, we need to get out to the Whomping Willow." She quickly let Ron in on their plan, skipping over the details and shaking her head when he opened his mouth to ask the most obvious question. "We don't have time now, Ron. I can explain afterwards, but now we need to get out of here."
He looked at her hard, then his eyes flitted to Harry and back to her. He nodded slowly.
"Let me get my cloak," Harry said.
"Don't forget the fangs!" Hermione called after him.
He disappeared to his dorm, drawing some looks from the gathered Gryffindors.
"Potter is up to something again," Seamus muttered. "What would he need bloody fangs for?"
"Whatever you are planning, I'm coming with you," Neville said, pushing his shoulders back and puffing his chest.
"Can I come as well? It's getting rather stuffy in here," a small voice said, and Hermione turned around to find Luna standing behind her.
"Yeah, Luna and I are coming as well," Ginny pushed forward and took stance next to the Ravenclaw.
"Luna, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked puzzled.
She shrugged. "I somehow got caught up in the wrong common room, and now they won't let me go to Ravenclaw tower."
Hermione sighed. "We can't keep you away anyhow, can we?"
Ginny grinned cheekily and shook her head. Nott had said that they'd need as many people as possible so Hermione didn't argue.
When Harry returned with his cloak under his arm, he looked rather unhappy at the small group that was waiting for him. Ginny's resolute stance seemed to rankle him especially, but he recognised the urgency of the situation and kept his mouth shut.
Three at a time they snuck out of the castle under the invisibility cloak until Harry came at last to fetch Hermione.
It had only taken them about ten minutes to get everyone else outside because the stairs between the portrait of the Toothless Werewolf and the tapestry of the Sneezing Sea Serpent had been unpatrolled by the Aurors so far.
Harry and Hermione slipped through the upper entrance, nearly avoiding two of the Aurors in the corridor and made their way down the stairs quietly. They didn't dare remove the cloak, which proved to be a lot safer, when two figures emerged at the lower end.
Next Chapter:
"You really had to bring Potter, didn't you?" A voice sounded from behind them.
They whirled around. Draco stood there, a frown on his face. "Bloody hell, Theo."
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We are getting closer to the final battle! Hope you are excited :)
Thanks to my betas Nora and KSB!
