Hermione was sure she was going to throw up by the time they got to vault 948, and with the way the other two were looking, they weren't far behind. But she'd already disappointed them once on this mission; she wasn't about to do it again. As soon as they got into the cart, she couldn't help but replay that moment over and over, where she froze and Harry had to save her. He always had to save her. Harry hadn't said anything, and she wouldn't expect him to until they got out, but she was anxious about him bringing it up later. Would he be mad at her?

She felt his hand tighten around hers - of course he knew something was wrong. When he was unconscious, that part of him that flowed through her felt like it had been ripped right from her soul. She couldn't let that happen again if she could help it. She couldn't let him protect her anymore.

After what seemed like ages, they slowed a little and Griphook sighed.

"Damn. They did change it."

"How can you tell?" Ron asked.

"The Lestrange vault has… special protection."

"Why don't I like the way you said that, Griphook?" Harry groaned.

"Because you're not going to like what it is. Give me her wand, Granger."

Careful not to move too quickly, Hermione reached into her holster and pulled out the wand, handing it over to the goblin.

"Hold on." He barely gave them five seconds before the cart came to a halt and Harry, Ron, and Hermione nearly flew off of the front.

"A warning could have been nice!"

"I told you to hold on," Griphook smirked. He ran his finger along some of the seams under the steering wheel and a hinged door popped open. He reached in, turned a couple dials, and waited for a holder to pop out. When it did, he settled the wand into the holder and waited. A yellow light began slowly flashing, processing, reading. Then, miraculously, it turned green. "Marvelous. Now once again, hold on."

They knew to listen this time. Griphook sped off in a direction they couldn't determine, presumably following the wand's lead. There wasn't much more talking for the couple minutes they sped through the caverns, weaving through other tracks, and whizzing past other carts.

Eventually, it slowed and the wand popped out of the holder. Griphook put on the brakes and extended the walkway a little before handing Bellatrix's wand back to Hermione. They carefully stepped onto the ledge, Hermione keeping a steady hand on Harry at all times.

"I thought you said there was special security," Ron reminded him.

"You're very impatient, aren't you, Weasley? And you talk a lot," Griphook growled, rolling his eyes.

"It's his way of coping with stress," Hermione answered.

"Is not!"

"My point."

"Would you two shut up? It'll hear us."

"... What will hear us?" Harry asked cautiously.

A roar echoed off the caverns, one they were sure could be heard a hundred feet up, and Hermione's eyes widened.

"That."

"That's a dragon," she whispered.

"Yes, it is. Now come on." Griphook ushered them forward, and the roaring started to get gradually quieter as they stopped making noise. They turned a corner, and the nauseous feeling Hermione had earlier quickly came back as a pale, scrawny, grey-eyed dragon looked back at them from its spot chained to the wall.

"That's a Ukrainian Ironbelly," Ron whimpered, but his brow furrowed. "What's wrong with it?"

Griphook quickly grabbed a strange-looking instrument from a basket and handed it to Ron, ignoring the question, before getting one for himself. When he shook it, the dragon cowered away from the clanking noise, backing as far away as it could. "It's been trained to expect pain at the noise," he explained.

"That's barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It's saving your life, Granger. Would you rather me stop?" When Hermione didn't answer, Griphook continued. "Didn't think so."

They made it past the dragon and Griphook tossed the instrument to the ground with Ron following suit. Up several flights of stairs, multiple vaults were situated in the hallway in front of them, all with seemingly different mechanisms keeping them locked. A couple had key holes, some had vines, one looked like it had a wooden slide puzzle on it, and there were a few that were just solid steel slabs.

Griphook carefully walked past each of them, carefully observing the doors, before stopping in front of one of the slab doors and reaching behind him without even looking. "Wand."

Hermione handed it over and Griphook felt around the door for a couple minutes with his fingers. His eyes narrowed in concentration until he grinned, prodding the tip of the wand against a certain spot. To their surprise, the metal seemed to melt into itself, recessing in the shape of a smaller door to let them in. "You three are very lucky."

The door creaked open to reveal a large vault that was swimming in gold, treasures, artifacts, and objects that even Hermione couldn't name.

"Blimey," Ron uttered as he stepped in, his eyes about to pop out of his head at the sheer amount of wealth.

"Let's just find the horcrux and get out of here," Hermione sighed. The more she looked around, the more nervous she got simply because they were standing still. There were so many things in here, and a part of her hoped Harry wouldn't be able to identify it - it would just confirm her suspicions. "Accio horcrux."

Ron looked back at her with a laugh. "You really tried that?"

"That kind of magic won't work in here," Griphook explained.

"That's it. Up there," Harry pointed, and Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She tried not to cry; there wasn't time to cry. There wasn't time for anything except their plan. Through watery eyes, her arm bumped into something as she moved towards Harry - maybe a bracelet - and it fell. Hermione gasped as it began multiplying, then those began to multiply.

Ron moved to get out of the way of the bracelets and ran into something else, which started to do the exact same thing. The more they moved, the more they touched, the quicker the room was filling with treasures. Treasures, Hermione quickly noticed, which were now getting very hot.

"Everything you touch burns and multiplies," Griphook explained. "You need to hurry."

"Hermione, give me the sword and levitatie me up there. I should be able to reach it."

With unpracticed precision, Hermione pulled the sword and tossed it to Harry before grabbing her wand. "Levicorpus!"

Harry let out a grunt as he tried to right himself to no avail - the spell wouldn't allow it.

"Sorry, Harry!" Hermione called.

"It's all right. I think I can still get it. Just hold your concentration." He used one hand to push his hair out of his eyes and the other to reach the sword out towards the cup. He could hear (and feel) Hermione cry out in pain as the burning metal touched her skin, through her dress, rising higher and higher. The spell faltered briefly and Harry dropped a couple inches before she regained her concentration. "Almost there, Hermione!" Her pain was starting to affect him as well, but she moved him forward a little bit and he was able to hook one of the cup's handles around the blade. "Got it!"

He fell immediately as the horde reached Hermione's arm, burning through the thin sleeves of her dress and making her lose her concentration. The objects began multiplying around Harry, too. "Stop moving!" she yelled at Ron. Maybe that would slow things down a little bit. At this rate, they'd be buried and burned alive. She was lucky she was wearing a couple layers, but this dress wasn't going to make it out of the vault in one piece, she was sure of it.

Harry tried to stand, but a cup rolled under his foot and he fell forward, the horcrux sliding off the end of the sword and right in front of Griphook, who picked it up swiftly with a smirk.

"Griphook, give me the cup! We had a deal!" Harry tried as he crawled forward over whatever he could.

"The cup for the sword!"

"I need the sword to destroy-"

"The cup for the sword, Potter, or it's coming with me."

Incredulously, Harry tossed the sword to Griphook, who threw the cup to Hermione. She barely caught it with the weight of the treasure trying to hold her arms down and shoved it into her bag before he changed his mind. Griphook kept backing away towards the door and opened it back up, suddenly uncaring that the three of them were about to be buried alive.

"I said I'd get you in," he explained at their confusion. "I never said anything about getting you out."

"Griphook!" Harry yelled, but he was already gone while the treasure was still growing around them, now up to their necks.

It was Ron that found his footing first, walking through the gold like it was water and reaching out towards Hermione. "Grab my hand!"

His burned fingertips were barely visible, but Hermione managed to grab his hand, and they both hissed as sensitive skin met sensitive skin.

"We need to… get on top of it!" Ron gasped, but then they were buried, and the three of them stilled in an attempt to stop the growing again.

Hermione took a couple deep breaths to ignore the pain, reaching out to Harry's magic. You've practiced this, she reminded herself. Find Harry. It was hard - she could faintly feel Ron's magic coming through the fingertips she was holding onto (which gave her a surge of concentration - she definitely didn't want to die holding hands with Ron), and she could feel what she thought may have been the enchantments, then a block of something Dark she assumed was the cup. It was like untangling a ball of thread, except she couldn't tell where exactly the strings belonged or how they were tangled, but then, like he had just run full on into her bodily, Harry. He must have had the same idea.

Reducto! Reducto! Treasure exploded around them, flying through the air as it shattered into pieces. But she could see light and a brief glimpse of the back of Harry's head. And, with her view, she could breathe. "Ron!"

"Hermione!" Harry panted, reaching out his hand with just enough room to take hers. "Hold on!"

She kicked her legs as much as she could to help propel Harry forward. "Ron, swim! Harry's pulling us!" She wasn't even sure if he could hear her, but they were moving, if barely.

Then, Harry found solid ground - they were close to the end as the treasure spilled out the door. He pushed more out into the hallway, using every ounce of his strength to pull Hermione out. Once she had her footing and the treasure was only up to her waist, Harry let go and ran to the small lookout over the dragon. "Griphook!" he yelled again, but the goblin had grabbed one of the clanking instruments and was already halfway past the dragon.

Hermione pulled Ron through, who gasped for air as soon as he could, letting go of Hermione's hand and kicking some of the treasure, which just multiplied in the air as they bounced down the stairs. "Fuck him!"

"Ron, come on!" She ushered him forward and ran off after Harry, trying to ignore the way it hurt for her skin to stretch. They were definitely going to be using the rest of their dittany between the three of them. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he breathed out as he limped after her.

By the time they found Harry overlooking the landing, they had to duck behind pillars to dodge the spells from more guards that were shooting at them. They were stuck. This wasn't part of their plan; and Hermione found herself breathing a little heavier, panic starting to set in.

"Hermione, calm down," Harry called from across the walkway. "It's okay. We'll figure it out."

She looked over at him - his clothes were singed in multiple places all over his body and there were burnt patches on his face. She was pretty sure she didn't look much different. Her first instinct was to heal him. She had to heal him. But she couldn't do it from here.

Tears sprang to her eyes as the dragon got in on the fight too, and the heat from its breath made her own burns sear.

The dragon.

Could they?

There was no way. It wouldn't work.

Could it?

"What are you thinking?"

Hermione's eyes flicked between the two of them. "I've got an idea, but it's mad!"

"It's all we've got!" Harry answered. "We'll follow your lead!"

He trusted her. Even after she froze, he trusted her.

She couldn't let them down. This had to work.

Hermione pulled her wand out of the holster, sloppily aiming it at the railing on the overlook. "Bombarda!" It blew over the edge and Hermione didn't hesitate. She ran out into the hallway amid the worried calls of Harry and Ron and, spells flying past her head, backed up a little before sprinting to the edge and leaping. The jump felt farther than it looked, but the back of the dragon approached quickly. She grabbed onto one of the large, bony spikes on the spine and threw her leg over the other side to mount it.

"Come on!" she called to the boys, who she realized hadn't moved yet. Hermione ducked her head behind the spikes, trying to protect herself as much as she could from the guards. But now that they were shooting directly at the dragon, it was spouting back much more regularly, which gave her a little bit of a break.

A roar rattled her eardrums and vibrated underneath her as Harry and Ron joined her on the dragon's back, each wrapping their arms around a spike to get a good hold.

"Hang on! Relashio!" The chains holding the dragon's collar slid out of the rock and startled the dragon. It turned its neck around quickly, causing Hermione's leg to slip as she let out a scream.

"Hermione!" Harry released one of his arms and reached out for Hermione, who grabbed his hand to steady herself, but the dragon had realized it was free. Hermione had no other choice but to grab onto the spike and hang on for dear life, her legs swinging on one side of the dragon with Harry and Ron on the other. The dragon's breathing became more labored as it began to climb up the rock, chest expanding rapidly underneath them with unfamiliar exertion.

"Can't it fly?!" Ron asked.

"I don't know!"

"It's probably been down here its whole life," Harry called back. "It might not know how!"

Hermione gripped tighter, a little relieved that they were soon out of the range of the guards' spells. It was short-lived, though, as a cart holding more guards came barreling down the track towards them. But what could they do?

The dragon seemed to realize what was going on - it put a foot on the track to climb up onto it and pulled back as the track collapsed underneath the weight. But the cart and guards went with it. Hermione closed her eyes again, letting out a breath. "Come on, keep climbing," she whispered. "Keep going and you'll be free."

The attacks seemed to quiet after they realized that guards didn't have a chance against a loose dragon, and they relaxed a little as the small circle of light up ahead began growing larger and larger. Hermione was slightly worried where that light was coming from, whether or not it was an exit, but it didn't really matter. They had no choice.

They didn't speak as the dragon kept climbing and climbing, afraid that saying anything might spook the dragon. Harry did, though, reach a hand over to rest comfortingly on Hermione's arm. They'd be okay.

It was the lobby they were headed to, and Hermione immediately regretted her decision. She didn't have a lot in her Gringotts vault since her parents usually gave her Muggle money to transfer so she could buy what she needed, but she thought about Harry's. Would he be able to access anything in his vault ever again after this? This dragon was going to destroy the whole bank.

Glass shattered over their heads as the dragon crashed through the floor and into the massive chandelier above. Goblins scattered, running for cover, and after a few more seconds, they felt the warmth of the outside air. The dragon found its footing on the surrounding buildings and paused, taking in the new environment and sniffing the air gently. Harry had been right - this was the first time this dragon had probably seen daylight.

"Now what?!" Ron asked after a few seconds, and Hermione remembered they had to keep moving. Hermione pointed her wand at the building next to the dragon's tail and the blast startled it again, forcing it to keep moving forward with a small roar. She held tighter to its body as it stretched out its wings. It was an odd sensation, feeling the movement of muscles under her body, but she quickly realized she could probably count on one hand how many people would be able to say they'd felt this, and her, Harry, and Ron were three of them. So she took it in, the fact that she was on a dragon. Riding a dragon. And after stumbling over the rooftops, it took off.

Hermione really wished she could have a decent flying experience for once, but hanging onto the back of a dragon thousands of feet over London wasn't ideal. She tried not to look down, and instead, focused on Harry.

"That was brilliant, Hermione!" Ron yelled. "Absolutely brilliant!"

Hermione squinted against the wind whipping her hair around her face, and Harry turned to smile back at her. Her heart fluttered. They were alive. They were out. They'd done it. They had another horcrux. Now they just had to figure out how to destroy it.

After what seemed like an hour, she was just starting to kind of enjoy the ride, but when the air started to become more humid and a little warmer.

"We're dropping!" Harry called. Being closest to the front, he could see the best.

Hermione gathered the courage to look down and saw that he was right. A lake was quickly approaching, and they had no idea how big it was or where this dragon would end up taking them. They were already miles from Gringotts.

"I say we jump!" Ron suggested. It was probably for the best. They needed to keep moving and find a way to destroy the horcrux. The dragon wouldn't be of any more help now that it was free.

She didn't really want to fall from this height, but the middle of the lake was better than closer to the shore; it should be deep enough for them to be okay.

Though spring was approaching, the lake was still freezing, which felt great on her burns, but it took the breath right from her lungs as she fell. Luckily they all had a change of clothes, because she was tired of being cold.

But it was deep enough for them to fall comfortably and surface. The small waves made it a little hard to find the other two, but she spotted Ron's hair fairly quickly, but she didn't see Harry's right away. "Harry!" She swam over to where she thought she saw him, and after a few seconds longer than she was comfortable with, she finally saw his head pop out of the water as he gasped in air. "Harry, come on!"

Her voice seemed to pull him back and he swam towards her, all three of them making their way to the closest shore they could find. Harry helped her climb over the rocks in her heels before she immediately took them off as soon as they got to flat ground. "He knows," Harry panted as he began stripping off his shirt and pants. "You Know Who. He knows we broke into Gringotts, he knows what we took, and he knows we're hunting horcruxes."

Hermione reached into her bag for everyone's clothes, pulling them out and tossing them to the right person. "How is it you know?"

"I saw it," he quickly answered.

"You let him in?" Hermione cried. "Harry, you can't do that!" It had been a long time since Harry had a vision, and she'd really hoped that their bond had strengthened his resolve against Voldemort. But if her suspicion was right about Harry, there would be no way to prevent it entirely until Voldemort was gone. Had he let him in when he'd searched for the cup in the vault? Had all those Dark tendrils of magic she felt been Voldemort?

"I can't always help it, Hermione! I'm sorry. I know you're in this now just as much as I am-"

"Never mind! What happened?" Ron asked as he stripped down as well and started changing into his clothes.

Hermione didn't even care at this point - it was nothing Harry hadn't seen before and she didn't think Ron would say anything even if he did care. She wasn't about to freeze to death for the sake of embarrassment, so she used Bellatrix's wand to slide the zipper down and step out of her dress.

"He's… angry. And scared. He knows if we find and destroy all the horcruxes, we'll be able to kill him. I reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest." He hopped a few times to pull his pants up before continuing. "One of them's at Hogwarts."

"What?" Hermione answered, fingers on the button of her jeans pausing briefly until she remembered how cold she was. "Did you see it?"

"I saw the castle and Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her. We have to go there now." He pulled his sweater over his head as Hermione squeezed the water out of her hair and put her layers on as well.

"Now? No, we can't just rush this, Harry! I keep trying to tell you! We have… we have to plan and figure out what we're going to do!"

"Hermione, when have any of our plans actually worked?" He rubbed his arms to keep warm until they could get inside somewhere to fully dry off. "The supply run, Godric's Hollow, Gringotts? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

"He's got a point," Ron chimed in as he finished dressing as well. "But we can't just walk through the front door at Hogwarts with Snape as Headmaster."

Harry thought for a moment while Hermione pulled out a small vial of warming potion, giving them each a couple drops on their hands to help a little bit. "Well, we can go to Hogsmeade. Take the secret passage in the cellar at Honeyduke's. But… there's something wrong with him. I can tell. You know, in the past, I've always been able to follow his thoughts. My visions were… linear. But now everything just feels disconnected."

"Maybe it's the horcruxes," suggested Ron. "Maybe he's getting weaker as we destroy them. Maybe he's dying."

"No, it's more like he's wounded. If anything, he feels more dangerous." He locked eyes with Hermione. "If there was ever a time for those runes to come in handy, it's now."

"Harry, I'll give you all my magic if it means you'll succeed. You know that."

"I know." He wrapped his arms around her and she curled into his chest as much as she could for warmth. "Give me the Cloak. I'm sure he'll have both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley bugged. He'll know we're coming. At least the Cloak might give us a little more time to get away.

"Harry, all three of us are not going to fit under there," Hermione frowned, but pulled away to get it out of her bag.

"It'll be better than nothing, Hermione. Unless you have any other ideas."

She definitely wasn't good at improvising an action plan, so she shook her head. She had no idea if any of this would work, but Harry was right. Right now, they had to do the best they could.

On the plus side, the shared body heat under the cloak was very warm. Their feet were sticking out of the bottom, but their faces were covered, so that might help. Hermione threaded her fingers with Harry's before wrapping her arm around Ron's and Disapparating them to Hogsmeade.

The alarms were blaring the instant they landed, and Death Eaters weren't far behind. They ducked into the nearest hiding spot they could find, which happened to be the patio of The Three Broomsticks. Tables were stacked nearly on their sides, creating somewhat of a wall they could lean against. They curled in on themselves, trying to become as small as possible so the only thing sticking out of the cloak was a bit of Ron's shoelace. All three of them were panting softly, but with the alarm in the background, they didn't think they'd be heard. Hermione had a death grip on Harry's arm as she did her best to nonverbally cast a Disillusionment Charm on them just in case, but she had no idea if it worked or not.

The closer the Death Eaters got, the more Hermione pressed herself into Harry for protection, and he squeezed her hand back just as hard. He wanted to tell her he loved her, to kiss her, to do something to calm the fear he could feel radiating from her, but he couldn't.

The Death Eaters were at the table next to them.

They held their breath.

Another alarm sounded at the farther end of the alley, drawing their attention that way.

"What was that?" Hemione asked once the Death Eaters were gone and they were sure no more had lingered behind.

"No idea," Harry whispered. "Come on. Let's get to Honeydukes."

They couldn't take the main road, so they found themselves climbing through back alleys and over gates, through spaces they probably shouldn't be until they hit a gate Hermione had never remembered before.

"Shit," Harry sighed. "Now what?"

Something ruffling in the alley nearly gave them all a heart attack, and they spun, drawing their wands. Harry swallowed hard, trying to discreetly move himself in front of Hermione.

The noise Harry heard next, though, made him hold his hand up. He'd know it anywhere. "Sounds like Fawkes." Sure enough, from the shadows, the phoenix peeked its head out and gave Harry a pointed look.

"What's he doing in Diagon Alley?"

"I dunno…" Suddenly, Fawkes seemed to look around, spread his wings, and silently fly a couple blocks down the alley. "We need to follow him."

"Harry, are you mad?" Hermione hissed out. "We're trying to not get caught; we can't just follow a bird-"

"Trust me, okay? He's saved my life once, I'm not putting it past him to do it again."

Hermione took a deep breath that wasn't at all confident, but followed Harry diligently with Ron bringing up the rear to where Fawkes had stopped - a door that was partially cracked open. Wand still out in case of danger, he pushed the door open and Fawkes sped into the darkness and out of sight again. He felt Hermione's hand grip his jacket in protest, but he pressed on, through the door into a narrow staircase, until, under a single torch on the wall, a strange man stared at them for a moment before ushering them forward.

"Did you get a look at his face?" Ron asked Hermione as they followed Harry down the stairs. "For a second, I could've sworn it was-"

"Dumbledore. I know."

Wherever they were looked like a flat, with a small sitting area, a table with a few chairs, and a fireplace along with a couple closed doors. A painting of a young woman in a field hung over the fireplace, watching them carefully as they came in, and Fawkes had taken residence on a perch by the fire.

"I didn't know they had places like this in Hogsmeade," Ron muttered.

"I don't think you're supposed to." Hermione took in the space as her eyes adjusted to the light. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry in a mirror with a shard taken out of it that hung on the wall. "Harry… I can see you in this."

She looked back at him and he acknowledged her before looking down in the shard with a frown.

"You bloody fools!" the man huffed once he'd come down the stairs. "What do you think you're doing, coming here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is?" The first look had been right - this man definitely had Dumbledore's eyes, and Harry and Hermione both knew exactly who it was from Rita's book.

"You're Aberforth, aren't you? You're Dumbledore's brother. That's why Fawkes is with you. You're the one I've been seeing in here?"

"Yes."

"You sent Dobby, didn't you?"

"Where have you left him?" Aberforth asked softly.

When Harry didn't answer, Hermione took over. "He… didn't make it," she carefully explained.

A flash of sorrow flicked over Aberforth's face, but he quickly hid it. "Sorry to hear it. I liked that elf."

"Who gave that to you? The mirror." Harry pointed, eager for a change in subject.

"Mundungus Fletcher, about a year ago," he explained.

Harry's fists clenched. "He had no right giving that to you. It belonged to-"

"Sirius, yes. Albus told me. He also told me you'd be hacked off if you ever found out I had it." Harry took in a sharp breath. "But ask yourself - where would you be if I didn't?" He narrowed his eyes a little as if challenging Harry to answer, but he stayed silent.

Aberforth conjured up some food and drinks on a platter and set it on the table for the three of them. Hermione and Ron indulged immediately, remembering they hadn't even eaten breakfast before they left for Gringotts. Harry just watched on while they ate, his stomach growling a little. He didn't trust Aberforth just yet.

"Have you heard from the others?" Hermione asked when the silence became too heavy. "From the Order?"

"The Order's finished." Hermione stopped chewing. "You Know Who's won. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves," he scoffed.

"We need to get into Hogwarts tonight," Harry continued as if their conversation had never switched course. "Dumbledore gave us a job to do."

Aberforth quickly rounded to face Harry, and Ron swallowed hard. "Did he now?" Aberforth spat. "Nice job. Easy."

As Harry's fists clenched again, Hermione was tempted to go after him, but the prospect of food and drink was worth letting Harry be angry for a little bit. "We've been hunting horcruxes, and we think the last one is inside the castle. If you could just help us get in-"

"That's no job my brother gave you, Potter. It's a suicide mission. Do yourself a favor and go home. Live a little longer."

Harry wasn't backing down. "Dumbledore trusted me to see this through."

"What makes you think you can trust him, huh? What makes you think you can believe anything my brother told you? In all the time you knew him, did he ever mention my name? Did he ever mention hers?" He nodded to the painting, and Harry frowned.

"Why would he?"

"Keep secrets?" Aberforth asked, raising an eyebrow. "You tell me."

Harry was tired of this, and the more they argued, the more time was slipping through their fingers. "I trusted him."

"That's a boy's answer." Aberforth turned to face him again, and Hermione could feel Harry getting angrier with every word that came from the man's mouth. "A boy who goes chasing horcruxes and the word of a man who doesn't even tell him where to start. You're lying! Not just to me - that doesn't matter." Harry's jaw tightened as if Aberforth was purposefully pushing him, purposefully getting him worked up, to say the wrong thing. "You're lying to yourself as well. That's what a fool does. And you don't strike me as a fool, Harry Potter, so I'll ask you again. There must be a reason."

Harry took a deep breath before answering, feeling Hermione's comforting energy dampening the rage and frustration that was threatening to bubble over. It really did come in handy.

"I don't care what happened between you and your brother," he answered carefully, not breaking eye contact. "I don't care that you've given up. I trusted the man I knew." Aberforth's posture seemed to relax a little, and Harry knew that he'd won. "We need to get into the castle tonight."

Aberforth looked to the painting hanging over the fireplace. "You know what to do." The woman in the painting nodded before turning and walking down the small path through the field behind her.

"Where have you sent her?" Harry asked softly, not wanting to be too abrasive in case he changed his mind.

"You'll see soon enough."

"That's your sister Ariana, isn't it?" Hermione spoke up. "She died very young, didn't she?"

Aberforth looked between Hermione and Harry, his eyes hardening again. "My brother sacrificed many things, Mr. Potter, on his journey for power. Including Ariana. But she was devoted to him. She gave him everything but time."

He turned to go into one of the closed-off rooms, clearly not wanting to be any more involved in their plan.

"Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore," Hermione muttered, and Aberforth nodded and he left. "What?" she asked at the look Harry and Ron were giving her. "He did save our lives twice." She set her bag down on the table and opened it, pulling out another small glass container. "This is for burns. If we're going to Hogwarts tonight, we need to heal up as much as possible. I don't have much, though, so… use it sparingly." Her breath was shaky as she handed the balm over to Ron. "Harry, you need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"I don't care."

Harry frowned, staring at her. "What?"

"Please don't do this right now, Harry, we don't have time," she whispered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and starting to walk around the room.

"Do what right now?" She didn't look at him, so he kept going. "Hermione, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?! What's wrong?! Seriously, Harry? We're about to fight in a war and you're asking me what's wrong."

"If we can get into Hogwarts and get the horcruxes-"

"And how do you expect to do that?! You think this isn't it? Now or never? We don't even know how to destroy them even if we do find them, Harry," Hermione cried, tears finally breaking through down her cheeks. "We… we could die."

"I'm not going to die."

"You don't know that, Harry!" The pure amount of anxiety coming from her was more than he'd ever felt, and it was threatening to affect him as well. He could see terror in her eyes as she looked at him, and he realized he had to put all his faith in their runes.

"Hermione…" He pulled her into his chest and she broke down like he hadn't seen her since Ron walked out on them. He didn't want to tell her what he'd done with Fleur, not yet. When it was all over, if it worked, he'd be okay and he'd tell her. He just needed to keep the two of them safe. He didn't have a contingency plan, but for the first time, he was afraid he was going to need one, because if anything happened to him and this was Hermione just thinking about it…

He moved away onto to press a soft kiss to her head. "Trust me, Hermione," he whispered. "Please. We'll figure it out, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

After a little while, Hermione stopped crying enough to speak again. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I promise I'll do my best."

She took a shaky breath, but didn't move from his chest, listening to his heartbeat as if it would be the last time. "I love you, Harry."

"I love you too. Let's get healed up, okay?"