"The room of hidden things" Draco said.
"Ok, we get in, get it, kill it and get out" Harry said.
"Deal" Ron said.
"I think I know where it is, I've seen it loads" Draco said, pulling open the door and leading the way with Hermione on his heels.
The four of them hurried through small corridors between towering piles of junk, mounds of discarded objects, stacks of books and haphazardly placed things that Hermione didn't even recognise.
They rounded a corner and Hermione came to a sudden stop when she saw a figure standing there.
"Draco, such a joy" the person said.
"You really shouldn't say out loud, the room that you're about to walk into… It makes it easy for people to get in after you shut the door behind yourself" said another voice.
Pansy Parkinson stood before the group, flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione took a step back and tried to think of how they'd fight their way out of this while still getting hold of the diadem. Nothing was coming to mind.
"What are you doing here Pansy?" Draco asked.
"I could ask the same of you. Rumour had it you were kidnapped" she said.
"I asked first" he said, tilting his head to the side. He was playing her. He was putting on a show.
"I was woken up about 20 minutes ago and told to keep an eye out for intruders on the 7th floor" she shrugged.
"Well, I have things to be getting on with, I'm sure you understand if I say goodbye and ask you kindly to get out" Draco said.
"Ha! Not likely" she said, pulling out her wand. Draco, Hermione, Harry and Ron did the same, while Crabbe and Goyle also pulled their wands out of their sleeves.
"Do you really want to do this Pansy? With these two? Come on, you could have chosen more skilled body guards" Draco said.
"That's where you're wrong" Pansy said with an evil glint in her eyes.
Hermione saw it before it happened, Pansy flicked her wand and a jet of red sparks headed towards the group, but Hermione cast a shield at the same time, blocking Pansy's spell and rebounding it to a stack of owl cages.
At this, a battle was on, spells were flying back and forth, Draco was in fine form, as was Hermione. She had Pansy in an incarcerous spell at one point before the witch was able to free herself and run away between some piles of books. Harry and Ron were fighting Crabbe and Goyle, the cries of spells echoing off all the different things around them. The two seemed to have improved somewhat in recent months.
"GO!" yelled Harry, who was battling side by side with Ron.
Draco took Hermione by the hand and ran off towards a far corner of the room, between stacks and piles, dodging plants and objects, before coming to a stop in front of a large black cabinet that Hermione recognised as the one Fred and George had once thrown another student in.
"Bombarda!" Draco roared, aiming it at the cabinet and standing back as black shards of wood flew all around them.
"I'm surprised they didn't try and get in through here already" he said at her shocked expression, before turning to a nearby shelf and collecting what Hermione thought was an ugly tiara.
"That's it?" she asked
"Is your favourite book not Hogwarts a History? It's literally in the book. Plus, listen" he said, placing it closer to her. It was emitting a slight hum, which made her sure that this was it. Another piece of Voldemort's soul that they can destroy.
"Ok, now we need to find Harry and Ron and get out of here" Hermione said, suddenly quite aware that there were not yet out of danger.
Knowing that Draco had spent months working on the cabinet, she let him lead the way to the exit. He navigated narrow walkways, rounded corners with precise ease and jumped over hazards without missing a step. It formed a knot in her stomach knowing that he was doing this the whole time they were together, and she had no idea.
She could see the exit beyond a few towering stacks of junk and smiled at the idea that they had made it out with the diadem without another altercation. She was concerned that Harry and Ron hadn't made it, given that there was no sound, but she knew that sound in this room didn't behave how it normally did. Certain things seemed to echo whereas other sounds would die out straight away.
"Potter?" Draco called, slowing to a walk.
"Ron?" Hermione yelled.
They could hear the faint sounds of yelling, and Hermione took Draco's hand and ran off in the direction it came from. The exit was close, but she wasn't leaving without Harry and Ron.
They were running now, desperate to finish this job. Do what they had to do and leave.
They rounded a corner and Hermione ran full on into Crabbe, who grabbed her and yanked her away from Draco.
"Get your hands off me" she yelled as she tried to pull free.
"Goyle, I got myself a mudblood" Crabbe yelled over his shoulder as Draco squared up with his wand out.
"Don't" Hermine said, watching Draco's face turn red. "You know he's just as corrupted as you were 18 months ago. Stun him and let's get out of here" she yelled.
"Corrupted? What is she talking about?" Crabbe asked.
"He doesn't believe in any of it. He hasn't for over a year" Hermione said as she struggled in the brute's arms.
Crabbe released one hand and took out his wand, jamming it into the side of Hermione's neck. "Stop moving" he grunted, and Hermione immediately complied. "Back off Draco. Tell me what's going on?" he demanded, pointing his wand from Draco and back to Hermione.
Before Draco could say anything, Pansy came strolling around the corner, wand outstretched, levitating a tied up and unconscious Harry and Ron behind her with Goyle following behind.
"Don't you see, Draco is in love with her. Disgusting if you ask me. I wonder what his parents would say" Pansy said with a giggle.
"I wonder what the Dark Lord would say" Goyle said.
"Hmm, good question, I should call him" she said, lifting the sleeve of her robes. Hermione and Draco both gasped when she revealed the dark mark.
"What have you done? Women don't just become Death Eaters" Draco said.
'I'M SPECIAL!" she roared. There was something off about her, like Draco had hit a nerve.
"Come off it Pansy, you're nice to look at, they probably keep you around for fun. Is that it? How many of them did you have to go through before he decided that you're loyal?" Draco asked.
"Don't accuse her of things you don't know!" Crabbe spat, shoving his wand tighter against Hermione's throat, causing Hermione to cry out.
"Let her go" Draco said in an eerily calm manner.
Pansy looked from Draco to Hermione, back to Draco and laughed.
"Don't tell me you went and got yourself bonded to the mudblood? You'll ruin your family name, you realise that? What will your children be? How will you even look at them each day?" Pansy said with a maniacal laugh that reminded Hermione of Bellatrix Lestrange.
"ENOUGH! Let her go, let them go and you may walk out of here alive" Draco demanded.
Crabbe only held tighter to Hermione, his face wearing a sadistic grin and his hand attempting to grope places he shouldn't.
"Get your filthy hands off me" Hermione spat, attempting to kick him.
Pansy flicked her wand, seemingly placing a stasis on Harry and Ron, before aiming it at Hermione.
"This won't hurt… much" Pansy said before tilting her head and adjusting her wrist. Hermione looked to Draco, who seemed conflicted. Of course he would be, these people had been his friends his whole life. He had shared a dorm with Crabbe and Goyle, he had shared significantly more than that with Pansy. Hermione feared for a brief moment that he would allow Pansy to hurt her, but then she realised that even if he changed his mind, even if he realised this wasn't really who he wanted to be, even if he wanted to go back with Pansy, back to Voldemort, he couldn't. The vow he took in the dark damp cellar at Grimmauld place meant that he would save her. He would protect her.
And save her he did.
Without so much as the muttering of a word, Draco lifted his wand and knocked Pansy off her feet, before stunning Crabbe right between the eyes and sending Hermione to the ground. At the same time, he cast a 'finite' on Harry and Ron and accio'd their wands from Pansy, who was getting up off the floor. Harry and Ron instantly awoke and Draco threw the wands to them before facing Goyle, who appeared to be in shock at what had just transpired in the last split second. Hermione caught Pansy with a leglock spell, sending her back to the ground in frustration as Harry and Ron began duelling a revived Crabbe, and Goyle, who had just deflected a spell from Malfoy.
Pansy stood and began shooting curse after curse at Draco, who stood in front of Hermione, pushing her backwards down the row towards where they had come from. Harry and Ron were now holding their own, battling Crabbe and Goyle, deflecting sells, casing shields, sending stunners and non-lethal spells towards the two who appeared to be fighting to the death.
As Pansy's spells continued to miss, Pansy grew more and more frustrated, firing off at random things and finally, shouting a curse that Hermione had only ever read about. Fire spewed out of Pansy's wand with a fury Hermione had never seen before. She knew better than to stand and watch, so she turned and ran, pulling Draco with her.
"This way" she called to Harry and Ron, who had also abandoned the fight and fled in another direction.
The fire had taken on a life of its own, mutating, forming what appeared to be a pack of fiery beasts. Serpents, chimaeras and dragons rose from the flames, swallowing up anything that got in their path. Hermione turned a corner and met up with Harry and Ron, and together the four of them ran towards the exit, being hunted by the inferno.
"The exit is blocked" Draco said, stopping in the middle of the isle they were in. The fire was all around them, consuming everything. Hermione wished she had done more, seen more, run away with Draco when she had the chance. She didn't want to die here, consumed by fiery dragons and surrounded by centuries of piled up junk.
"Brooms" Ron yelled, pointing to a stack of old Cleansweeps that had been shoved under a pile beside them.
The four of them picked up a broom, Hermione reluctantly. She hadn't actually flown a broom in years, but on this occasion, there was no fear of heights or the worry of falling, all the fear was replaced with the drive to get on, kick off and not be swallowed up by fiendfyre, as she swung her leg over and kicked off hard, towards the ceiling.
Harry and Draco, with their seeker experience, shot off, heading up higher than the flames as Ron followed and Hermione came up behind. She knew where the door was, and it was only a matter of getting up over the flames and out the door and then they'd be safe. It was just there, within reach.
She headed for the exit as she watched Harry and Draco circle above, shouting words to each other. Below, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy were climbing a tower of mismatched furniture, calling out for help as the fire drew closer and couldn't be controlled.
Hermione hovered above the door and watched as Harry, Ron and Draco dove down towards the others. The first time, they reached but missed. Before they could circle around again, Crabbe lost his footing and slipped, falling backwards into the flames with a cry that echoed off the ceiling. Harry came around and made a grab for Goyle, taking his hand in a monkey grip and pulling him upwards. Hermione watched in awe, as Harry saved the life of someone who just moments before, had tried to kill him. She turned her head to see Draco dive for Pansy, who was balancing on the top of a pile of books, teetering dangerously. He turned the broom just in time and reached out, plucking her off the top with just enough time before the stack fell.
Hermione felt a sense of relief as Harry and Draco flew towards her with the flames hot on their tails. She watched once again, in horror, as Goyle, who had been saved just seconds before, tried to throw Harry off his broom and into the flames.
"HARRY!" She called, as he held on, swinging his legs back over the broom. Hermione was watching on helplessly as Harry tried but failed to get back on the broom while Goyle was kicking at him. She saw Draco yell something to Pansy, who was now seated on his broom before he flew at Harry and Goyle and launched himself off his broom and tackled Goyle. It all happened in slow motion, almost as though in a movie, surrounded by the eerie orange glow of the flames that made the scene equally as beautiful and scary. Goyle lost his grip on the broom and both he and Draco began to fall into the flames.
Hermione's screams echoed around the room as she saw the horror of realisation on Draco's face. Harry was fighting to regain his seating on his broom, and she turned and watched as Ron sprung into action, diving down into the flames.
Her eyes were filed with tears, and she looked on desperately, hoping that she wouldn't lose any of them.
"Hermione, get out of here" Harry called, as he now circled the air above the flames where Ron and Draco now were.
"I'm not leaving them" she called, hovering high above the door that Pansy has just exited out of, on Draco's broom. She wouldn't leave this place. If Draco perished in the flames, she may as well die too.
The realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. She knew, almost as if it was as plain as night and day, that if Draco died, she would not go on living. She looked on wondering morbidly if she should just throw herself into the flames too but stopped as she saw movement below. Ron shot up out of the inferno, like a rocket, holding tight to Draco, who was slumped over his broom. They flew through the smoke and up towards the clear air at the ceiling before Draco coughed and regained consciousness.
"The door, out the door!" Harry called.
Hermione dipped her broom and flew towards the floor, jumping off at the last minute and pulling the door open. Harry sped though just before Ron and Draco and Hermione followed on foot.
Everyone was sprawled out on the floor as if they had crash landed in the middle of a battlefield.
"Throw it in the fire" she called to Draco, knowing that one of the rare ways to destroy a Horcrux is fiendfyre. They hadn't ever considered it before because it was so hard to control, and that fact was now blatantly obvious. She was glad they hadn't ever tried.
She watched as Draco clumsily pulled the diadem from his jacket and tossed it back through the open door and into the mouth of a raging dragon. Harry clambered to his feet and shoved the door closed just seconds before the dragon inferno made it out and Hermione slunk back against the wall in relief.
There were seconds of silence where Hermione could hear nothing but her own heartbeat in her ears.
"FUCK, PANSY" Draco yelled, getting up and standing over a crying Pansy, as he coughed the soot from his lungs. He was here, he was alive. He was safe.
"I'm sorry, I… I didn't… think, I… I didn't… realise… I was just doing w… what I was t… told… you have no… no idea Draco. You don't know what he is like" she sobbed.
"I do know Pansy; I know probably more than you ever could. He lived in my house. That's why I got the fuck out of there... FUCK!" he yelled hoarsely, running his hands through his hair.
Hermione had never seen him like this, never interacted with him (as herself) in front of people he knew from his old life. She wanted nothing more than to go to him, hold onto him, feel his form in her hands, know that he was alive, and also comfort him for the loss of two people who had had grown up with. Two people who had been such a huge part of his life, but she couldn't. This version of Draco was one that she hadn't seen before.
She had seen horrible, nasty Draco, she had seen evil Draco, she had seen frightened Draco, imprisoned Draco, loving Draco, friend Draco… but this version, this Draco, angry Draco, who was standing there, berating Pansy, calling her out for what she had caused, was foreign to her.
She got up from her place on the cold floor and tentatively made her way to where he stood across the hall. She put her hand on his arm and looked to his face.
"Draco…" she said quietly, hoping to bring his attention away from his anger.
He initially shrugged her off, stepping away, looking to the girl cowering on the floor with nothing but contempt in his eyes. Once he looked up though, his demeanour changed, his whole presence changed and he engulfed Hermione in his arms.
Harry and Ron just stood off to the side, catching their breath, watching the exchange.
"I thought you were gone" she said quietly.
"It's ok, I'm ok" he whispered.
"Drake…" Pansy said quietly, standing up from her place on the floor.
"Don't speak to me. You almost just killed us all" he said.
"I know and I'm sorry" she said.
"Go away Pansy. Go back to the dorms, get the hell away from here" he said.
"What about them? What do we do?" she asked, looking to where the door to the room of requirement was.
"THEY'RE GONE. THEY DIED PANSY! You killed them" Draco said, stepping away from Hermione and towards Pansy.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.
"You did this, but still, I saved you! You owe me a life debt Pansy Parkinson and I will come for it" he said scarily, before shoving her away and watching her run off towards the stairwell.
The four of them stood there in silence for a while, taking in what happened.
"That's it. There's just the snake" Harry said.
"Would he know?" Draco asked quietly, wrapping his arms back around Hermione.
"I don't know. I think he knows that we're hunting them. I know that he checked a few places but… he doesn't know the extent of it. He can't know" Harry said.
"Find him Harry, look into his head and see where he is. We can finish this. We need to finish this now, before he comes here" Ron said.
The all looked on as Harry sat down and closed his eyes. In the silence, Hermione realised the magnitude of what had just happened. Draco sacrificed himself to save Harry and Ron almost died to save Draco. Crabbe and Goyle were dead and there was just one more Horcrux left.
"He's on his way. Its too late. We need to get to McGonagall" Harry said, standing up.
They didn't hesitate. The four of them ran in the direction of the great hall, navigating the corridors and stairs with ease. This castle was familiar to them, they knew every inch of it. They had grown up here, they had walked these halls, and now, it was life or death.
They didn't stop till they stood before the doors of the great hall. It was almost as tough words were not necessary. The four of them had just shared an experience that no one would be able to begin to understand. It was like the trap door from first year, the chamber of secrets, Sirius and Lupin, the Triwizard tournament, the department of mysteries and the death of Dumbledore all over again, except now Draco was part of them and they felt more whole.
They pushed the doors open and the four of them stormed into what appeared to be a post-breakfast meeting, just like Harry had asked for. Their gratitude for McGonagall exploded tenfold.
"Potter" she said, coming to a stop mid-sentence.
Draco took his wand into his hand at the sight of the Carrow's and Harry, Ron and Hermione did the same.
Snape stood from his place in the Headmasters seat and Draco put his arm out to stop Harry, just as Harry made to charge towards him.
"I told you Potter, he's on our side" Draco said quietly.
Every set of eyes in the room turned to look to the four of them, who, Hermione now realised, must have looked a sight. She glanced at the Slytherin table and saw Pansy sitting alone, her face blotchy with tears.
"Voldemort is on his way", Harry called, the taboo now irrelevant.
"And he will be happy when he sees that we've taken care of his little Potter problem" Alecto Carrow said holding her wand out.
It was almost instantaneous. Harry raised his wand at the same time as McGonagall, and the Carrow's started firing curses in every direction. Hermione was deflecting, shielding, firing spell after spell, everything she could think of, while they advanced down the centre isle of the great hall, attempting to place as few students in the midst as possible.
She felt like they were winning, she felt strong, standing side by side with Harry, Ron and Draco with her professors backing them up. She felt like they would win, like, the Carrow's were nothing. She felt great… until she didn't. Until there was nothing. Until a spell got around her shield and there was nothing but blackness.
AN - Sorry for the cliffy