Beta love to the amazing CarbConnoisseur
"Hey. Can I come in?" Hermione hovered at the door of the library.
"Are you going to keep talking about dying?" Draco asked bluntly.
Hermione sighed, moving to sit in between Draco and Charlus on the sofa, pulling Draco's arm over her shoulder and burrowing into him.
"I don't want to die," she said softly.
"You could have fucking fooled me," he growled.
She shifted, taking his face between her hands and forcing him to look at her. "Draco….I don't want to die, but if I had to make the choice between saving myself or saving you, I'd save you, every time."
"No! Haven't I lost enough, Princess?"
"Haven't I?" she said softly.
"So why can't we both agree not to die?" he asked, slightly desperately.
"We could, but I'm not sure it's attainable."
"It is if I ward you both in this house," Charlus muttered, looking like he was genuinely contemplating doing just that.
"You know we'd break them, Grandfather," Hermione chided gently, letting go of Draco's face as she cuddled back into his side.
Charlus sighed, silently conceding the point. "Will you at least let us try to come up with a plan for Regulus that doesn't involve your deaths?"
"Of course. That was always the plan. I meant what I said; I don't want to die. I think…." she sighed, "I think that I needed to find some way to accept that my death is likely. Not because I'm wishing for it, but because if I don't…I think the fear will consume me. I've seen people I love die in horrific ways and I need to come to terms that it might also happen to me so that if it does….if it does I can maintain some semblance of dignity. I refuse to die begging."
Charlus blanched. "I'd really, really like it if you didn't die at all," he stated baldly.
"Me too." She smiled sadly at him. "But life has a tendency not to listen to my wishes, however much I'd like it to."
Draco shifted, pulling her onto his lap, burying his face in her curls. "I swear to fucking Merlin Princess, I'll set fucking blood wards if I have to. You can't die."
Hermione sighed, sinking into him. "Can we leave it as I'll try really hard not to?"
"I don't think that's good enough anymore," he said honestly. "Everyone is gone. I need you here, not with them. Here. With me."
"Oh Draco," she sighed. "I want it. I do. But I also need to end this. Every time I close my eyes I see them. All of them. I see what they did to them. I hear them screaming, begging, crying. I…I need to see that he's gone with my own eyes. I need to see them fucking punished."
Draco exhaled slowly. "I understand. I don't fucking like it, but I understand. So I'll make you a deal Princess. We will end this. Together. And if it looks like one of us is going to get hurt, we will activate a fucking joint portkey that we make and keep on us starting tomorrow. I don't give a flying fuck if you want to leave at that point or how fucking close to ending things you are. We do it. Promise me."
She looked at him and sighed, before pulling him down to kiss him. "Fine, but we don't activate just because one of us gets spooked. We have to actually be in danger. And Draco. Both of us, not just you sending me away."
He nodded, relaxing for the first time since she had started speaking to the Order.
"You can make something like that?" Charlus asked curiously.
"Oh…ah yes. Ilegal portkeys ended up being our speciality. We were able to experiment with them so that they can be linked to another one or two. We've already given one to the Prewett twins and Benjy Fenwick. I have a few more to make for some others."
Charlus blinked. "That's genius. Will you teach me?"
"Assuming you don't mention it to Dumbledore we can do that. We got permission from Amelia before we made the twins' ones, just in case."
Charlus laughed. "I can do that. Are you ready to go back?"
"Ten minutes," Draco murmured before Hermione could open her mouth. "Give us ten minutes."
Charlus nodded. "I'll see you down there then."
"Hermione?"
Hermione immediately stiffened. It was rare for Draco to use her given name. "Yes?"
"I…I meant what I said. I can't do this without you. You are the love of my life and…and if we're going to die, I don't want to do it without doing this." He shifted suddenly, sinking to his knees in front of her. "Aunt Dorea took me to the vaults the day Lily took you shopping in the muggle world. She still has access to the Black ones," he confessed, opening a jewellery box. "This belonged to my Great-Aunt Cassiopeia. She was…unusual for her time. Ironically, she refused to marry and devoted her life to research. She was fierce and intelligent and not afraid to stand up for her beliefs. The stories Mother used to tell me about her remind me a lot of you. This is not how I imagined this in my head, you know. I had imagined something far more romantic, but…I don't want to wait any more. Princess, will you marry me?"
Hermione pressed her hand against her mouth, wondering how on Earth she had any tears left. "Yes, you ridiculous man. Of course, I'll marry you."
Draco laughed, his face losing some of its hauntedness as he slid the ring onto her finger before pulling her to him so he could kiss her. "I love you, so much more than you'll ever realise."
"I love you too, you know."
He snorted, unable to hide the surge of elation that shot through him. She was going to be his wife. He hoped, more than he had hoped for anything, that they survived what was coming next. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't still scared she'd do something stupid and martyr-ish and sacrifice herself, but for just now, his girl had agreed to be his wife. It was the first step of those naive imaginings of so long ago and for just now, he'd take whatever he could get. "I'd be really fucking disappointed if you didn't Princess," he said softly, his forehead pressed against hers. "Stay with me for five more minutes before we're forced to relive that last fucking year?"
She nodded, dragging him back onto the sofa and dropping onto his lap, pressing her body into his as she held him as tightly as she could, her eyes on the pear-shaped black diamond surrounded by tiny regular ones that now decorated her left hand. It was stunning, if more ostentatious than she'd necessarily have chosen herself. She wondered if there would be consequences. Narcissa had a tapestry like the Black family tree, a wedding gift from her father. She wondered if Draco was on it, if when they got married she'd be on it too. Perhaps it was time to persuade Draco to reach out to his mother. It wouldn't do for the other side to realise where and when they came from. That would be disastrous for everyone.
Quietly they slipped back into the dining room, trying not to interrupt Dorcas Meddowes who was detailing her latest findings on the movements of several key Death Eaters with Benjy Fenwick chipping in with his own observations every now and then. It was fascinating to listen to, if slightly horrifying. The information they had been able to gather was invaluable, listing names and activities that Hermione had never even heard of. She silently cursed her lack of knowledge of the first war. She wished she had asked more questions while she had the chance. Although, how did you push for answers when those answers were undoubtedly painful for those remembering the dead. She knew better than most how much that fucking hurt.
She sat silently in between Draco and Severus. The moment she did, she felt Severus' hand sneak across to grasp hers, squeezing it slightly. His eyes widened when he felt the cold metal of her new accessory and his eyes darted down quickly before a small smirk pulled at his lips.
"Congratulations," he breathed directly into her ear. "I told you he didn't hate you."
She squeezed his hand back in acknowledgement before turning her attention back to Dorcas.
Once she had finished, Minerva turned to look at Draco. "Are you able to continue?" He nodded stiffly. "Very well…take your time. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult this is."
"We had no idea what objects the Horcruxes were," Hermione began softly. "But we knew we had seen the locket before. Kreacher was the one who cleared it up in the end. It had been in Grimmauld Place all along. We had seen it when we were cleaning the house, but Mundungus Fletcher had stolen it after Sirius' death. Dung told us that the locket had been taken by the bloody pink toad so we…hatched a plan. At the time, Harry was Undesirable Number One and I was Number Two, so both of us were wanted by the Ministry. Ron supposedly had Spattergroit, so he wasn't deemed missing at that point. The fact that Gin had gone back to school gave the rumour some credence.
The Ministry had implemented a Muggleborn Registration Committee, headed by Umbridge. It was.." Hermione shuddered. "It was fucking awful. We broke into the MInistry polyjuiced as employees in early September, but we got separated almost as soon as we got in. I ended up in the courtrooms with Umbridge where she questioned muggleborns, asking them where they had stolen their wand from and accusing them of stealing their magic. It was…almost like entertainment for her. It sure as fuck wasn't a fair trial. All of them were sentenced to Azkaban. Harry ended up stunning her while I stole the locket. We got out but it was so, so fucking close. Yaxley caught me as we apparated, which meant we couldn't go back to Grimmauld. We ended up in a tent in a forest. We operated out of it for months."
"Muggleborn registration committee?" Amelia queried faintly.
"Yes."
"Where was I?"
Hermione winced. "You'd been murdered during the summer before our sixth year, along with Emmeline Vance."
"Oh," she said softly, her face blank.
"During that time Voldemort was in my house." Draco's voice was hard. "He was….increasingly unstable. There was very little consistency in the way he behaved. You never quite knew when he was going to snap and torture someone. School was mandatory, for pure and half-bloods anyway. The Carrows had taken over teaching Muggle Studies and Dark Arts. They were…fucking useless teachers but they were vicious and insane. Severus tried to rein them in, but it was hard. Punishments were no longer the loss of house points. They encouraged the students to cast unforgivables on each other or they crucioed students themselves. Longbottom and Red were in charge of the resistance. Students eventually relocated to the Room of Requirement for their own safety because he was fond of using children to keep their families in line."
"Good Godric," Minerva breathed, her face twisted in disgust.
"We were in the tent for months with no real plan. We moved frequently, all of us taking turns wearing the locket."
"You wore it?" Charlus' voice cut through the room sharply.
"We didn't know what else to do. We couldn't risk losing it. It…it was fucking awful. It preyed on your worst fears and got inside your head. Before Christmas, we were starving and cold and disheartened. Ron couldn't cope and left us."
"He left you?" Gideon asked incredulously.
"You have to understand, the Horcrux really did play with your mind, and for whatever reason the locket horcrux affected him more than Harry and I. He was…the sixth son, born directly before the longed-for daughter. Everything he could have done, one of his brothers had already done it. He was…insecure about it, I suppose. He was worried about his family. Neither Harry nor I had any left to leave behind. He did and we had no way of contacting them to see if they were alright. Add in that we were slowly starving? Well…his famous temper got the better of him and he left."
"Fuck," Gideon swore, silently vowing to make his nephew feel less overlooked this time around.
"Indeed," Hermione sighed, rubbing her hand over her face tiredly. "Anyway, in our infinite wisdom Harry and I decided to go to Godric's Hollow. It was Christmas eve. We hadn't even realised. We….laid some flowers in the cemetery and realised an old woman was watching us. We were polyjuiced as muggles so she shouldn't have recognised us, but she beckoned us forward and Harry wanted to go. It was…Bathilda Bagshot. Sort of. Against my better judgement, we went. It was a fucking disaster. Nagini was wearing Bathilda's skin like a fucking Halloween costume and informed Voldemort that we were there. We escaped, barely, but Harry's wand was broken which put us at a distinct disadvantage.
One night Harry disappeared. It turned out Severus had sent a Patronus. Harry followed it to the sword of Gryffindor while Severus snuck into our tent to hand over potions and some staples I could easily offer an explanation for. Harry came back with Ron, the destroyed locket, and a new wand Ron had stolen from a snatcher. That was around early February. In March, Harry said Voldemort's name. He'd placed a taboo on it so the snatchers were on us immediately. I'd disfigured Harry's face with a stinging hex but the snatchers were less useless than normal and realised who we were. They took us directly to Malfoy Manor.
It was a fucking shit show from start to finish. Greyback dragged us in and Bellatrix noticed the sword that she believed was in her vault... She promised him he could have me once she was done before she sent Harry and Ron to the dungeons. Then she started trying to extract information from me.
Lucius forced Draco from the room. He came back just as I was beginning to think I was going to lose my mind. He had…incapacitated Lucius. Just as he got to the room, Harry and Ron burst out of the dungeons. Dobby, a house elf, had rescued the other prisoners. Harry told him to stay away unless he was called as he wasn't sure what sort of situation he was walking into. Harry and Ron managed to disarm and disable Bellatrix because she hadn't been expecting it, but it was…not quite enough to keep her down long. She caught Narcissa lowering the wards to allow us to apparate out. She murdered her just as we all escaped. Obviously, we took Draco with us. Harry and Ron…or well, probably just Harry, realised there was more to the story when it was obvious he was not ok with the state I was in. We ended up in Shell Cottage with Bill and Fleur Weasley along with Luna, a boy from our year called Dean Thomas, Griphook, and Olivander. Dean and Griphook had been brought to the Manor with us, but Luna and Olivander had been in the Malfoy dungeons for months."
"Sweet Helga," Amelia muttered. "No one questioned why Olivander just disappeared?"
Hermione shrugged. "Of course they did. Although we all assumed he was dead."
"Why take him?" Augusta asked with a frown.
"I…" she darted a look at Dumbledore. "Remember when we said something odd happened with Harry and Voldemort's wands at the graveyard?" Several people frowned before they nodded, casting their minds back to that seemingly innocuous comment. "They both had a phoenix feather core. The feathers came from the same phoenix. He wanted to know how to get around that."
"What aren't you saying?" Charlus asked sharply.
"I…fuck. The Hallows are real."
"The Hallows? The fucking three brothers' Deathly Hallows?" Sirius demanded.
"Yes," Hermione whispered. "Voldemort had heard of the wand. He wanted it."
"But it's a story!"
"I have no idea whether they actually came from Death. I doubt it but the Hallows as in the cloak, the stone, and the wand? Very much real. I've seen all three. All of you have seen at least one. Some of you have seen two."
Everyone's jaw dropped.
"Explain," Moody demanded tersely.
Hermione's eyes shot to Draco. He shrugged. "I don't know," he said softly.
"Fuck," she hissed. "Look, I don't see this going well. All I can say is having all three doesn't make you the master of death. If it did. Harry would have stayed alive."
"He had all three?" James asked.
"Yes. He was master of the elder wand, owner of the cloak, and he held the resurrection stone in his hand. And he walked to his death. And he died."
"Fuck. The cloak…."
"Yes."
"Fuck," he said again, his eyes wide as he suddenly began to realise how rare his cloak was.
Her eyes found Dumbledore's. "A wand doesn't make you any more than you are and you cannot bring her back. However much you wish it."
He flinched.