Without any distractions left for either the conspirators or Harry, everyone's minds drifted towards the final task.

"I wasn't prepared, not really." Harry kept saying. "If Neville hadn't helped me with the gillyweed, I wouldn't ever have survived, much less come in second."

This made Neville blush and mumble something about how it was nothing, but he had become something of a hero in Gryffindor. Even the Hufflepuffs, who were still staunchly supporting Cedric, had to admit that it was pretty impressive.

Hermione was happy that he had a humbleness to him - if Harry was overconfident, he would not want to be spending the hours and hours of studying, training, and preparation. He worked with a steady focus that she'd found more familiar with his seventh-year self. He was determined to survive and maybe even win.

That was important, because she, Draco, and Severus had ironed out something of a plan.

"I finally ran the equations in a way that makes sense." Hermione said, frazzled after a full day in her classroom.

Draco perked up. They were in Severus's office, as usual. "For the final battle?"

"Yes. Now, I added all the variables, triple-checked the equations, cross-referenced everyone who was at the graveyard. It's a ninety-two percent chance we can get rid of the Dark Lord for good that night."

"Let me see," Severus reached for the parchment.

Hermione snatched it back. "Hang on, before you get excited, let me explain." She smirked when he sat back down, wondering if Severus ever truly acted excited. "The scenario with any sort of hopeful outcome is very delicate. It requires a sequence of events to make it feasible."

"Alright, we get it," Draco said. "What's the scenario?"

"Erm, I need to replace Cedric at the end of the third task. Not so early that he doesn't get to participate and loses his magic - Merlin forbid - but soon enough that Harry and myself get taken to the graveyard instead of Cedric."

Hermione passed the equations to Draco. She started pacing around the room, tea forgotten on the desk. "The equations made it clear. It has to go this way, or he'll never be defeated. I don't like it. But if we line up these exact fifteen … in that order, and only in that order, Voldemort should be killed once and for all."

There was silence for a moment.

"Do you know how many ways that could go wrong?" Draco said drolly. "I'm up to seven at least."

Hermione snorted. "Eighteen, by my count. But it can work. It has to."

She passed the parchment to Severus, who was silent for a long moment. "You will need a great deal of practice to make this function as you've outlined."

"I know."

"It may fail." Draco added.

"I'm aware of that, too," Hermione said coolly.

They were silent. Hermione sat down, and waited for either of them to speak out for or against her plan.

"This is our best option."

Surprisingly, the comment came from Severus. "Although it puts yourself at a very high risk. It will need practice and thorough discussion to make sure we know our roles at every moment."

Draco set down his tea. "Do we need to tell Potter about this?"

Hermione shook her head. "There's no way he would allow me to go into the graveyard with him if he knew the plan. Knowing Harry, he'd try to keep everyone out of it and handle it on his own.

"No, Harry won't know it was me going with him to the graveyard. And if I have my way, he never will."

It was a sober group that disbanded that night, but Hermione mused that they had also been brought together in their plan. It was certainly the first time they had all agreed on something.

Before she knew it, Harry was being pulled down to the pitch, which had grown quite tall in its hedges. And while she loathed to help Barty Crouch Sr. with anything, she couldn't leave him to die as he had last time.

Instead, she and Draco stood vigil in the forest, waiting for Harry and Viktor to have their discussion over her romantic inclinations. It was half four by the time they started to wonder if something had gone wrong.

"He may not be coming, 'Mione." Draco said, tapping her on the shoulder consolingly. "He was prompted by the article last time, and he had you as his hostage too."

"But why did the article come out early? Why did he change his mind?" Some part of her mind figured she should be upset about being spurned, although she didn't miss being wandless and unconscious under the lake.

"I hate to speculate without more information," Draco said tentatively. "But it's possible she was catching on to the Heroine's identity and was testing you. To see if you'd react."

Hermione sighed. "I know. I thought that too. And I have a very different relationship with Viktor, it's likely just that. I don't know if I trust Nerida." She frowned slightly. "Should we distance ourselves as much as possible from the both of them?"

"No, I don't think so. Viktor knows too much about you to cut him out. Stay on good terms with both of them until we resolve this. We are so close to defeating the Dark Lord, I don't want to-"

Draco whipped around suddenly, and instead of continuing aloud, she heard a whisper in her mind. "Someone's here."

She raised her wand and stood at Draco's back. In tandem, they cast homunium revelio around their vicinity, stepping away slowly until they had cleared the area.

May have been an animal, said Hermione. We would have found them by now.

Draco nodded slightly, then relaxed.

"We'll stay until seven, and turn back." She decided. "And better start practicing those steps for the final battle."

The weeks following were a frenzy of work. Harry had taken to dragging Hermione or Ron into abandoned classrooms to practice defense - Hermione helpfully suggesting stronger, more offensive spells whenever possible. On top of that, Hermione, Draco and Severus were meeting four times a week to do some training of their own.

Hermione turned back so often that she had made another room for herself (and Draco, a few nights a week). They needed to be in peak condition, even Severus, to make this work. One particularly memorable night, Hermione fell into a conjured chair after a long practice session. Draco flopped down next to her, sweat shining on his brow. "Does it ever feel like we're missing something?"

She cocked her head to the side. "Like what?"

"I don't know, we keep practicing like we know what everyone else is going to do. Crouch will imperious Krum and he'll attack Delacour, we'll turn back and take Diggory out when he's helping Harry with the acromantulas… what if that doesn't line up?"

Hermione frowned. "It's not foolproof. Each one of those steps has some likelihood of going different than it did before. That's why we have to get our pieces down, so we're eliminating any of our own variables." It brought up a good point, though, of what happened when one of those went wrong. "We can look at the secondary likelihoods and tertiary even, but the most important elements are that we stay in contact and adapt to the situation."

Draco snorted. "If we're nothing else, we're adaptable."

AN: Thank you everyone for reading after such a long pause! I hope everyone is staying safe.
In this version of events, Neville actually does give Harry the gillyweed (instead of Dobby).