For a moment, Harry Potter looked at his best friend blankly. Then, he spent three more moments looking confused. Hermione was treated to a moment of dawning comprehension - and then Harry Potter looked guilty. The hell? She thought, her mind working in overdrive to figure out what, exactly, he had done. Well, and somehow managed to keep all fingers and toes attached - perhaps she ought to check with Snape, he might be missing a couple.
"I-" Harry said, and broke off, his face looking uncertain (and still half guilty). "Shite, I wasn't supposed to tell you" Potter growled, his pacing back and double-time. "It's just I couldn't take it-"
"Take what?" Hermione asked, her curiousity getting the better of that sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach.
"You - not trusting me. Not telling me anything. We're friends, right? That means... not keeping things from each other!" Harry said this quietly - as if all the fight had drained out of him. It was that, far more than his words, that made Hermione pale.
"Of course we're friends, Harry! And that means looking out for each other - even when we make mistakes. I'm sorry," Hermione said, though she really wasn't, "I should have told you that Snape was there." Looking down, she said quietly, "I think that message he had was for me."
"What do you think he meant?" Harry Potter said, his pacing suddenly soft and relaxed.
"That he wasn't just acting on Tom's orders, of course."
"But three sets of orders?" Harry said, his green eyes pleading for Hermione to understand - and pretty please make it comprehensible for everyone else.
Hermione shrugged, and said softly, "He was the head of House Slytherin - are you surprised?" And now that Harry Potter thought of it, he really, really wasn't.
Hermione's brown eyes faced Harry's levelly, as she said, "He's plotting something - and he's not entirely loyal to Tom Riddle."
"You can't really believe that!" Harry said, throwing up his hands - his anger finding an outlet.
"If he had really been loyal to Riddle, he would have simply tried to kill me. I was standing there with Draco Malfoy - remember? Death Eater, nearly in the Inner Circle?"
Harry shook his head, in confusion, "No, that would have been the right move anyway - Draco Malfoy would hardly care if you lived or died, remember?" Frowning, Harry Potter continued, "So why didn't he?"
Hermione Granger tented her fingers in front of her face, before she straightened suddenly, "He can smell a plot from miles away. And we looked like a unified front."
"And he answered your question in front of Malfoy..."
"Yes, but incompletely..."
"Either he doesn't trust Draco, or he's trying to compartmentalize things." Harry said, frowning.
"Then he wanted to tell me that he's still on our side," Hermione let out a snort, "Or at least not on Riddle's."
"And that there's at least one more player in the game - probably someone we haven't accounted for."
"So keep our eyes open." Hermione said, her eyes sparkling. "Now, Harry, just what was it you were saying about not keeping secrets from friends?"
Harry had the grace to blush, and say softly, "I promised I wouldn't tell. But... now you know. I was talking with Draco Malfoy using legimency - mind to mind."
"And he didn't want you to tell me?" Hermione said softly, promptingly.
"No, as best as I can figure, he didn't want us depending on it - or using it in an emergency."
"He's right, so far as that goes. You should have told me earlier, though, Harry..." Hermione said, saying it more for form than because she believed it. "We're friends - you can trust me to not build a strategy around something completely unreliable, even if Malfoy doesn't!"
Harry Potter couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing, and laughed loud and long.
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