After we'd finished lunch, I stood first.

"I'm going to talk to McGonagall."

"I'll visit the library. I'm sure something somewhere can be of some help, even outside the Restricted Section," Draco chimed as he wiped his lips.

"I'll join you," Hermione said as she stood. The blond cast me a wary glance, but I only grinned.

"Mione's an excellent researcher. If there's anyone who knows their way around the library, it's her."

"I won't bite, I promise," she teased Draco as he hesitantly stood.

A vice seemed to tighten around my chest as Hermione (confident) and Draco (awkward) left the table towards the library.

"Not that anyone asked, but I'll be visiting Hagrid. Have you gone to his hut since classes started, Harry?"

A twinge of guilt tightened the vice around my chest.

"Not yet… I will though, this weekend."

"I'm sure he'd be pleased."

"Right. Later."

"Later."

My legs carried me to the Headmistress's office, and I was surprised to find the staircase already descended. Is she expecting someone else?

Once ascended to her office, I hesitantly strode through the doors.

"H-hello?"

"Mister Potter, come in."

McGonagall was seated at the desk, shifting through papers which she set down once I'd approached.

"Were you… Expecting someone?"

"Yes," she answered dubiously as she eyed me over her half-moon glasses. "And here you are."

I frowned at the twinkle in her eye, but decided not to address it as I came to sit across from her.

"I'll get right to the point, then. Is there any way to remove a Dark Mark?"

Her lips pursed as she considered this.

"Many have attempted, to no avail. Despite this fact, you seem confident."

This statement sounded like a question, so I launched into my explanation.

"Morsmordre… It means death bite. I just did a Herbology project on antidotes, and I'm just wondering… Is there an antidote for death?"

Her wrinkled brow creased deeper.

"What Voldemort imprinted into his Death Eaters wasn't death itself, Potter. What do you know about the Unbreakable Vow?"

"Er… It's unbreakable? If you violate it, you die."

"Exactly. The Dark Mark works similarly, but not exactly the same. The source of the link has since expired, but the function remains. In other words, there is no longer an 'other party' to which the bond applies, but the bond itself persists. What do you think that means?"

She eyed me patiently as I turned this concept over and over in my head.

"It's… Never been erased, because the 'vow' has never been fulfilled. Voldemort never got his way." When she didn't respond, I followed this train of thought. "And it can't be undone because the 'other party' that initiated it is dead. But I don't understand why it didn't just disappear when he died?" When I killed him.

"Like I said, it works similarly, but not the same. There's precious little research about it, but…" Here, she leaned in conspiratorially, and I instinctively copied her. "One of the working theories is that… How to put this… If Mister Malfoy died briefly… His oath would be fulfilled, would it not?"

Shock seized my heart as I considered this. Draco… Die? My mind was a whirlwind as this notion passed through me.

"Isn't there another way?" I pleaded as the image of him bleeding out on the flooded bathroom floor flashed behind my eyelids.

"There are other theories, yes." She raised an eyebrow at me, and seeing my intently curious expression, continued. "He can't be released from this oath traditionally, because the caster is no longer with us, but…" She paused, and I was on the edge of my seat. "Since it acts more like a one-sided Unbreakable Vow, a third party could dissolve the link if they were a powerful enough spellcaster."

"What spell would they cast?" Quickly, maybe too quickly, I followed up with my own question. Here, another frown stole into McGonagall's wizened brow.

"That would be a question for a true master." My frown mimicked hers as I recalled all her mastery of spells. "I'm afraid it's beyond my own abilities, Mister Potter. I'm sorry."

"I see… Well, thank you for your insight, Headmistress. I… Assume you're aware how… Well my protection of Draco is going…"

Her lips quirked similar to a smile.

"I've no idea what you're talking about."

A humiliating blush stole into my cheeks at her knowing smile, and I hastily excused myself from her office.

"There is, of course, the possibility that we're barking up the entirely wrong tree with this antidote notion, you know," Hermione commented as she led me down a specific aisle of books.

"Y-yeah… I know…"

"Still, I'm surprised at Harry's creativity in applying his schoolwork to something like this. He can be unusually inventive at times, can't he?"

"He can."

She glanced back at me as she thumbed along spines of the books on the shelf she'd stopped at. Silently, she searched the rows, and I was impressed to realize she already had a specific text in mind that she was looking for.

"I'm… I'm sorry for calling you a mudblood." Her searching paused as I blushed down at my shoes. "M-my father is a bastard, and I used to want to be like him, but… I don't… Anymore…"

Another tense moment of silence passed between us as, I assumed, she formulated her reply.

"I'd say you've already paid for that in full."

I cast a hesitant glance up at her smug expression just before she resumed her search, and a tension I hadn't previously been aware of eased in my chest. I cleared my throat.

"W-what are you looking for?"

"Venoms and Their Antidotes, book six."

I followed cautiously beside her as she raked through the shelves, feeling terribly useless, until she finally stopped.

"Ah ha!" With a victorious flourish, she withdrew an enormous tome from the shelf and thunked it down on the desk. She drew up a stool before it, and I followed suit. "Venoms, unusual…"

"You've… Read volumes one through five?"

She shot me a dirty look, which I shied away from.

"U, U, Un, Unu… Unusual." Combing through the table of contents without an answer to my question, she flipped toward the back of the book and scanned the pages. My eyes curiously tried to follow hers, but she read a great deal faster than I, and eventually sighed. "No luck. I have another idea, though…"

As she stood and reshelved the book, I clambered off my stool and followed her quickly retreating form to a completely different aisle.

"W-what are we looking for now?"

"I'm looking for Advanced Medicinal Potions."

Stepping around her, I attempted to be helpful as I searched the AD's before her.

"Here it is," I announced proudly as I withdrew said text from the shelf. Again, it dropped to the table loudly. The look she cast me this time was still irritated, but somehow laced with respect.

"Thanks," she assented as she plopped herself before the book and flung open to the table of contents. Carefully, I sat beside her, a strange glow warming in my chest. She found what she'd been looking for, and hastily flipped through the pages before she finally paused. "Draco…" I swallowed as she sighed and turned her gaze up toward me. "I've been told I'm a very intense person, but you don't have to be so tense around me."

"I'm not-" I began, a flush creeping into my cheeks, but she interrupted.

"I love you for Harry, honestly. I think you're exactly what he needs." Shock silenced any retort I might've made as she continued. "You're both… Helping the other grow. Harry's lived a hard life, and so have you. But you're still different enough that it matters."

Of course we are. I blushed down at my lap with a frown. But that doesn't mean I'm helping him…

"You're different in ways that help the other. Honestly, if you can't see that by now, I worry about you."

A sympathetic smile spread her lips as I gaped at her, trying to formulate a response. When none came, I turned my inevitable smile down at my lap.

Just then, Harry came sprinting towards us. We'd both brought our gazes up at his panting form, waiting for whatever he must've had to urgently tell us.

"We need… A master spellcaster."

Hermione and Draco both blinked up at me as I leaned against the table. Before I could fully recover my breath, Hermione spoke up.

"A master spellcaster? What exactly does that mean?"

"I dunno," I answered honestly as I swallowed, finally catching my breath. "The Dark Mark is a one-sided Unbreakable Vow."

The shock that struck both their faces was unduly satisfying, but they exchanged a glance before returning their expectant gazes to me.

"McGonagall said a third party could dissolve the link if they were strong enough, but she doesn't know the necessary incantation."

"Brilliant. So we just need to find some random person who does happen to know the spell-" Hermione began sarcastically.

"And then you can do it!" Draco enthusiastically exclaimed as he lept up from his stool.

Hermione and I both offered him incredulous glances. After a swallow and a hand passed through his hair, Draco calmly continued.

"You're a powerful spellcaster. If we can find a master who can teach you…"

"Yeah, but who would that be?"

Our resulting silence sunk my heart, but after a few defeating moments, Hermione perked up.

"Dumbledore?"

I glanced between Hermione's confident smile and Draco's grimace as I realized she was right.

"He does have a portrait hung in the Headmistress's office. If I can catch him while he's there, I could ask him."