Now we're getting closer to the end, with this chapter marking ten chapters left of the story. Even though I originally said that there'd be 23, things changed as I wrote the story so now it's going to stand at 24. Updates might become less frequent now, since I'm starting to get busy in my life but I had some spare time and I wanted to get this chapter out for you guys so I hope you enjoy it.


Within a matter of days, everything that Hermione had planned for came into fruition. As expected, Bill and Fleur's wedding had been a disaster and she had been forced to make an escape with Harry and Ron. Luckily, Hermione was always prepared for everything so they had managed to get away with the required essentials, including the box that Draco had sent to her. There had only been a few moments when Hermione was able to write to him given the fact that she was always surrounded once she went to the Burrow. But now that she, Harry and Ron were hiding out at Grimmauld Place, Hermione had a lot more private time to talk to Draco.

It was almost refreshing, being able to speak to him as a way of taking a break from everything that was going on with Harry and Ron, mostly because it was just frustrating for them to have made no progress with trying to find Slytherins locket after discovering who the elusive R.A.B. was. They'd tried searching Grimmauld Place with the hope of finding the locket, only to end up empty handed. That was, until they had been informed by Kreacher that the locket had in fact been at the house, but it had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher.

Of course it wasn't that surprising, since Fletcher had been a lower ranking member of the Order, so he would know where Grimmauld Place was. Then there was the fact that Fletcher was a renowned thief, so of course he would steal anything that looked remotely valuable. Once Harry had sent Kreacher to find Fletcher, the trio stayed waiting in Grimmauld Place as they waited for him to return. At the same time, Hermione was somewhat eager to see Fletcher again, since although she had seen him before the Battle of the Seven Potters, she had not been able to speak with him. Hermione had hoped that Fletcher had found out more about the books, because of course Hermione wanted to know the answers to everything.

So when Kreacher did manage to find Fletcher and force him into Grimmauld Place, he did give them the information that they needed to find Slytherin's locket. But there was just that small part of Hermione that needed to know the truth behind these books, and just how they had managed to get to a simple writing shop in Diagon Alley. Once Harry and Ron kicked Fletcher out, Hermione offered to escort him out so that he couldn't steal anything else, though Hermione had her own reasons for offering.

"Stupid bloody elf," Fletcher muttered.

"I'm going to ignore that and ask you something else," Hermione stated. "Did you find out anything else about the books?"

"Why should I tell you after you had me attacked by a damn elf?" Fletcher growled.

"Because you stole from us and left us out there to die," Hermione pointed out.

"I was protectin' myself!" Fletcher argued.

"Regardless, you still owe us. So you can repay that debt by telling me if you know anything," Hermione said.

"If you must know, I did some searching and looking. And I should thank you, Granger, because you helped me hit the jackpot. I managed to sweep the other set of books for myself and I only wish that I had the full set," Fletcher explained.

"Why? What's so special about those books?" Hermione inquired.

"They're centuries old, that's what. Almost as old as that school of yours. Heck, they even belonged to the founders themselves," Fletcher smirked as he reached into his bag.

Hermione gasped, "You're serious?"

"I don't joke about deals this good, Granger. Just look at this fine craftsmanship. And it's all mine," Fletcher grinned as he held out the other two books.

"What are you going to do with them?" Hermione wondered.

Fletcher scoffed, "What do you think? I'm gonna sell them. I could make a fortune off these babies. I wouldn't even have to work again once I sell these with the money I could get."

"You wouldn't," Hermione muttered.

Just the thought of Mundungus Fletcher having something as valuable as those books in his possession made Hermione's skin crawl. He didn't deserve to abuse the privilege of having something that was an important part of magical history. If Hermione had those books, she would study them and treat them with ultimate care to discover their secrets. Selling them as if they were nothing was not something that she would do.

"So, right now I will thank you for giving me the opportunity to have these books. You've really helped me hit the jackpot," Fletcher smirked.

As he made his way towards the door, this overwhelming sense of knowing what she needed to do came over Hermione, and she found herself casting Obliviate on Mundungus Fletcher and swiping the books from him before he could even realise what was happening. Hermione had only intended to wipe the memories of their conversations, and considering her past experience with the Obliviate spell, Hermione trusted her ability with it.

"Well…" Fletcher trailed off.

"You can leave now," Hermione ordered.

That's what happened, as Fletcher left Grimmauld Place with a somewhat dazed look about him. There was no way that Hermione was going to let him walk away with something as precious as those books. Now they were in her hands, and Hermione knew that she was going to do the right thing by them. But before Hermione could figure out what the deal was with those books, she had to figure out a way to get herself, Harry and Ron into the Ministry to get that locket off Umbridge.

~*•°•*~

Once again, everything that Hermione had planned for ended up going chaotic but as per usual, it helped that Hermione was always three steps ahead. So as Yaxley tried to stop them in their escape, Hermione whisked herself, Harry and Ron away to another location. Now it was going to be even harder for Hermione to communicate with Draco, since they constantly needed to be on watch and she would always have either Harry or Ron over her shoulder in that small tent.

But once Hermione did have a few moments to herself, she was finally able to manage to get a moment to read her latest message from Draco. After the incident at the Ministry, Hermione knew that word would spread about their activities, so it was no surprise to her that Draco had heard about it and that it was the first thing he mentioned.

Granger,

First of all, what the fuck were you thinking, breaking into the Ministry like that? I know that you're a reckless Gryffindor and all, but even you should have more common sense than that. Someone like you walking into the Ministry is about as dumb and reckless as Potter showing up to the Death Eater headquarters. To think I thought you were better than that. Anyways, I'm sure that you had your reasons to do something as stupid as breaking into the ministry so I'm just going to let this slide so I can vent now.

Hogwarts fucking sucks now, Granger. I never really appreciated it that much before and I even came to resent it, but now I wish that things could go back to the way that they used to be in the simpler times when Snape wasn't headmaster and we didn't have Death Eaters for teachers. Snape isn't actually that bad, since it's his new staff recruits that are causing the most problems. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Carrow's, but they're a pair of Death Eater siblings with a bit of a sadistic nature, kind of like my Aunt Bellatrix, but just not as fucking crazy.

There's already been a lot of changes around here. The Carrow siblings have taken over the newly vacant positions of Defence and Muggle Studies, though Defence is now just like Dark Arts where they force us to practice Dark Magic. Muggle Studies is now a mandatory subject too, and it's basically just Alecto Carrow spewing prejudice and pureblood superiority and how the muggles are inferior to us. It's a lot like if Umbridge was still running the place, since any misbehaviours are either tortured or forced to torture the younger students.

I'm always someone that the Carrow's look to first to provide a demonstration, and I fucking hate it. I couldn't even perform the Killing Curse, and they expect me to be able to use the Cruciatus Curse? You'd be happy to know that your little friends she-Weasley and Longbottom aren't taking any of this easily, and they're just about the only two willing to stand up to the Carrow's. Typical Gryffindors.

Wherever it is that you are now, you better keep your suicidal Gryffindor ass out of trouble because I think that I would lose my mind if I didn't have anyone else to vent to, since it's not like any of my friends could even begin to understand me.

Regards,

Draco.

That last sentence made Hermione smile, but then she frowned as well. Despite loving the feeling that came from Draco implying that he cared about her, she still felt bad that he didn't have anyone to be there for him in person. They could trade letters all they want, but nothing could really compare to having the support of someone by your side or a shoulder to lean on. This was also the first letter where Draco had mentioned what was going on at Hogwarts in her absence, and it only made Hermione feel confident that she had made the right decision to go with Harry.

As much as Hermione would have loved to be able to help her friends at Hogwarts, she knew that it would be too dangerous for her to be there. If anything, Hermione was safer on the run with Harry than she was going to school, especially now that there were new staff in the form of Death Eaters with their unorthodox disciplinary actions. But just being able to get a glimpse of the outside world through these letters was enough for Hermione, and she was more than ready to write back.

Draco,

It saddens me to hear what is happening at Hogwarts in my absence, since I can't help but feel like that maybe if I was there, I would be able to help more. But I know that I can help Harry more than anyone else in the world, and he needs as much help as he can get. We're on a mission right now, a mission that we need to complete if there is to be any hope of defeating You-Know-Who. We needed to break into the Ministry in order to make progress, so it was a case of maximum risk for maximum reward, and it managed to work out in our favour with only Ron getting splinched on our way out.

Things might be difficult now, but I hope that you are able to use that Slytherin resourcefulness like how I use my Gryffindor recklessness so that you can help in any way you can. You don't even have to be frank with Ginny and Neville, since it wouldn't do you any good. But if you could just help in secret, that would be more than enough. I wish that I could be there to talk to you in person, since I understand how it feels to not have your only friends understand you. It's difficult with Harry and Ron right now, because I feel like they're acting more on edge as we struggle to figure out where to go next.

As you figure out a way to help, I would also appreciate it if you were able to look into the founders of Hogwarts for me. Any information would be valuable, even if it's something as small as a signature trick or something that might seem insignificant at first glance. There's only so much information that I have on hand, and like I said, we need all the help we can get.

Regards,

Hermione.

It was almost strange how they wrote these letters like they were expecting to get them from anyone else. Even when they spoke together in the diaries, they always acknowledged each other first before continuing the conversation. In some ways, Hermione felt like it create some boundaries for each other because of how they addressed each other. She knew that Draco only saw her as a confident, but there was still a part of him that had to care for her deep down.

Thinking about the books made Hermione want to find out anything that she could, which was why she asked Draco to look into anything about the founders. It also helped for their Horcrux hunt, since they had assumed that Voldemort's other Horcrux's were something special to the founders. Hermione wasn't sure just yet how she wanted to bring up the books to Draco again, since she only wanted to reveal her secrets once she knew for sure just how this came to be.

For now, the two books that she had swiped from Mundungus Fletcher lay at the bottom of her extension bag, and Hermione had no intentions of using them any time soon.


And the plot thickens on the books. As much as the story is about how Draco and Hermione's own relationship develops, there's also a part of the plot that's about the secrets of the books that Hermione is one step closer to uncovering the truth about.