Chapter 16: Realizations

Narcissa Malfoy sat beside her son's bedside, staring carefully at his blank expression. Her sister creaked open the door, walking to her side with a sneer and a hint of swagger.

"Catching a glimpse of the real Malfoy heir?" Bellatrix cackled darkly. "Finally realizing the mistake you've made in saving your pretty little mudblood?"

Narcissa sniffed pridefully. "It was a severe lapse of judgment, Bella. You've already had your comeuppance for my error."

"Indeed!" The crazy-haired witch's eyes grew exaggeratedly wide. "Yet I wonder – if Hermione was here before you now – what would you do?"

"I would let her die," she breathed darkly. "All these years without my son, and now look at him – a shell of the man he could have been."

"Mmm, Quite …" Bellatrix rolled her eyes apathetically. "Shame there's nothing left. It should comfort you at least that he was of service to our Master in the end. That slimy worm, Snape so conveniently forgot to mention a few of the Order's key members, and we caught glimpses of a way to get into Hogwarts undetected. We'll have to bring young Nott to our side, of course, since Crabbe and Goyle are nearly as useless as your son here."

She let out another low laugh.

"It's better this way, Cissy. With the way he was brought up—" She spat like she'd gotten a bad taste in her mouth. "—Blood traitors. Nasty things. Almost as bad as the Mudbloods I'd say."

A house elf popped into the room at that moment, setting a tray of victuals silently on the bedside table. Then she popped away without another word.

Narcissa turned to her sister sharply. "Leave us." Then she turned toward her son who took the food and began to eat absentmindedly.

Bellatrix gave him one last scathing look, muttering Blood Traitor before making her exit.

Draco ate his food without complaint, in slow, careful dullness. Behind his deliberate façade of a battered mind his thoughts truly raged. Having remembered his former life Draco was at a loss what to do, so he simply kept it all hidden, biding his time until he would act. The love he previously held for his friends now battled the close and constant memories of his hatred for them. His complete and utter loathing toward Harry was the most surprising.

Over and over he heard his own belittling comments, felt the begrudging jealousy, steeped in the bitter superiority he'd experienced as Draco Malfoy. But it was the memory of Harry using the Sectumsempra curse that kept the hatred embroiled in his senses. He felt it slice into his insides, and the constant, plaguing memory began to cast its shadow on the good times he'd shared with his once best friend.

Chewing slowly on the last bits of his lunch, Draco bitterly contemplated the chances that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were friends together at last – the Golden Trio – as they were always meant to be, and it filled the pit of his stomach with a curdling, twisting sense of envy, silently brewing and festering in the secret, unspoken reaches of his mind.

"I hope Draco's okay," Hermione said for the fiftieth time since Harry and Ron had joined her at Grimmauld Place.

Most of the Order and the Weasley family had once again taken up temporary residence in the dilapidated home as they continued to work out their plans to take down Death Eaters and try to get more people on their side, but the task proved difficult.

The shriveled blackness that had appeared on Dumbledore's hand last summer had now spread across most of his arm, and he had to constantly call on Snape to help slow the spread of the curse.

"Look…" Harry finally broke the silence of their thoughts. "I know it seems hopeless. Draco's gone, Dumbledore's not getting any better, Voldemort's numbers are still growing – but while there's even a bit of hope, we've got to keep holding on."

Ron nodded firmly toward Harry and turned to Hermione.

"Harry's right, Mal—Hermione," he corrected himself awkwardly. "Draco's fine I bet."

But Hermione wasn't convinced. She nor anyone else had heard even a hint of Draco's whereabouts, and she couldn't help but wonder what the Dark Lord had in store for him.

"Dumbledore's going to die soon," she stared hard at the ground. "We'll have to do all that we can to prepare and help Harry when that does happen."

Up until this point Harry had never mentioned his hunt for Horcruxes to anyone but Ron. Dumbledore had carefully instructed him to keep it from Draco, for reasons he hadn't understood until Draco had been taken. Now that he was certain Hermione was on their side he felt it was time to tell her everything.

"Hermione, there's something you should know about the lessons I've been having with Dumbledore."

The phrase 'Lessons with Dumbledore' triggered a flurry of visions within Hermione's mind, and she lifted her head amidst the scenes unfolding behind her eyes.

'Ron, you're making it snow...'

'...Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore...and try and destroy...wow.'

'...I'm going with Dumbledore to find the horcruxes. All of them...'

"Malfoy—" Ron shook her shoulder gently. "—Hermione. You okay? You don't look too good."

"I know about the horcruxes. I know everything," she could hardly whisper.

'Ron - Dumbledore's dead...'

'...Snape killed him. I was there, I saw it...Dumbledore was ill, he was weak...He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak - and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him-'

She saw Harry, broken with grief and surrounded by countless faces as they mourned their headmaster's passing. She saw herself dancing between Death Eaters as they poured in from the Room of Requirement, firing spell after spell. She saw Draco, running alongside Snape with a look of sheer terror in his eye.

"Oh, Merlin…" Hermione crumpled to the ground, shedding frantic tears.

"Hermione," Harry crouched by her side. "What is it, what did you see?"

"Death Eaters everywhere." Her voice was barely a whisper. "They took over Hogwarts. Snape…" she began hyperventilating. "Snape killed Dumbledore. I don't…I don't understand."

"Miss Malfoy—" The headmaster appeared from behind, making them all jump. "—Rest assured, if I died at Severus' hand in any alternate reality, then it was most certainly at my bidding. And I daresay he has proven himself enough to you in this world," he stared at Hermione.

But she still couldn't breathe properly, and more memories sifted into her consciousness.

"There was a cabinet, a broken cabinet. I can't get it out of my head…" She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about that cabinet made her feel terribly uneasy. And Draco...how he could descend to such darkness in any reality filled Hermione with an overwhelming sense of anguish. She began to sob, leaning into Ron's shoulder. "Oh, Draco, what have they done to you..."

The headmaster cleared his throat, and the witch poked up her head tentatively. "We must hope Draco is doing all he can to survive in his current situation, and we must do all we can to free him."

"You've been telling us for weeks we've been doing all we can," Harry cut in angrily. "If there's something you're not telling us, I think we've earned the right to know what it is."

Dumbledore peered at them gravely. "I have recently engaged in a great deal of research concerning the potion and enchantment under which Miss Malfoy and Mister Granger are currently bound. The case which caused the potion to be banned has become skewed, exaggerated, and factually questionable over time, but one detail from every known account remains."

Hermione held her breath.

"If one of the subjects of the Changeling Potion dies before both parties complete the requirements of the enchantment, they will remain dead in both frames of time, and the other subject will be restored to the time and place from whence they were originally taken."

"What?" Harry yelled. "So at any moment Draco could be offed by Voldemort, and he'll just be gone forever?"

Hermione clenched her jaw tightly. "What do you mean, 'requirements of the enchantment'?"

"It is the sole purpose of the potion - to truly understand one another...complete empathy."

"And when we do?" She could scarcely breathe.

"You will return to your proper continuum of time and space, and this world will be nothing but a memory."

"So one of us, or perhaps both of us, haven't achieved the expected level of empathy. Otherwise we'd have broken the enchantment by now."

"And thus lies the entirety of our dilemma. We must ensure that Draco remains safe, and you each must find the one, indiscernible quality that define each other's universal counterparts."

Ron let out a low whistle. "Is that all..."

"Unfortunately, Mister Weasley it is not. As you are well aware, Harry and I have finally begun our horcrux hunt without great success. Since the three of you have each proved your merit in varying ways, I have decided to extend the invitation of our journeying to both yourself and Miss Malfoy."

Hermione's mouth fell open. "Sir, do you really think we have what it takes to help?"

Dumbledore nodded. "So much, in fact, that I fully expect the three of you to carry on in our horcrux hunt after I have passed."

"But surely we'll have found the remaining horcruxes by then," she said somewhat hopefully.

"My dear, do not be surprised if your journey continues long after I am gone. I will prepare you as much as is in my power, but ultimately the burden will fall upon the three of you, and finally Harry, when the time to confront Voldemort comes at hand."

"Do you know - approximately, sir - how much time you have left?" She peered sadly at his blacked arm.

"I am not long for this world, Miss Malfoy, but do not fear that which you do not yet understand."

He said no more on the subject, but Hermione felt a keen sense of foreboding as they stood together, wondering what the coming months may bring.

It's silly that this was on hiatus for so long. There's only a couple chapters left. This was a fic from several years ago, so the POVs are a bit messy, but it was fun to reread and realize it's time to wrap this up. Thanks for reading! -V