Harry stared as Ginny read out Pansy's message. The curtains rippled from some unseen breeze.

"What?"

Hermione guided him to an empty seat. "It must be Draco," she said, gracefully.

"But the Prophecy-"

"-Still rings true."

Hermione sighed. "Aion gave me three futures. One is already impossible. The other-" she shuddered, "too much sacrifices. The third is not ideal-"

"-Ideal!" Ron snorted, "We hand over our whole bloody fate to that shitty little ferret!"

"-But it's the only way," Hermione silenced him.

"What were the other two?" Lupin asked, wearily seating himself next to her.

"The first one was that the battle took place at Hogwarts. Neville kills the snake, and Harry kills him. But-"

"-Hogwarts has already been destroyed," Lupin sighed. "I guess when we forced Hermione to stay within its walls, we already forfeited that path."

"The second-almost everybody dies," she whispered, "The snake-his spy- overhears our plans to siege Malfoy Manor. We are ambushed. The last ones standing are him and Harry. Harry wins. But he-"

Harry's lips tightened, "probably dies because of his injuries and nobody can heal him?"

She gave a half nod. "Sort of." But she wouldn't say more. It didn't matter, anyway, since Draco knew what was expected of him. She hoped.

"But why him?" Ron crossed his arms in disgust.

"In terms of political power, the Malfoys are at the top of the ladder. If the sole heir rebels, then what would happen? Who would they follow? The rest of the followers would start to question the why-why would he do such a thing? Why was he not strong enough to survive an attack from a nineteen year old? Why was it the purest of the pureblood, and not that half-blood they had lost so many friends and family for trying to destroy who killed their leader? Why? Most of them are already questioning these things already, but are unwilling to act. This will be the impetus that tips the scale."

"Yes, but he won't succeed, not if the snake still lives." Moody clunked towards them, his displeasure evident on his scarred face.

"The snake," Hermione smiled, "Is our Decoy."

She pulled out her wand and cursed in the direction of the curtains. They split open, smoking, revealing a locked window, and a hissing Nagini.