Chapter 6 - Next Steps

That coming night, Hermione had taken over guard duty at around midnight, which, apart from the cold (necessitating continuous warming spells) and the fact that she had to keep alert for any possible attack, was a relief to her troubled mind. At least this way she wouldn't have to talk to either Harry or Ron, and therefore have to either lie or keep things from them. On the one hand, it might be a minor thing what had happened with Malfoy, something that wouldn't be repeated and hadn't resulted in any harm to her; but on the other hand, Hermione didn't understand it, and so it made her wonder. And think. And reflect.

And still none of it made any sense.

Merlin, this isn't going to be easy to forget anytime soon, is it? Hermione pondered. While her mind was indeed busy, thinking in several places at once as usual, her senses were fully alert to her surroundings, causing her to be paranoid at even the slightest movement. The encounter that afternoon had been good for getting up her guard again, that was for sure, though in other ways it messed her up entirely.

Think, Hermione, think! And take it one question at a time, otherwise you won't get anywhere!

Now then, first thing's first, why had Malfoy given her wand back at the end? Sure, Hermione had outright asked him for it as a sign of trust, but like hell that it actually came off that way! "Trust" was one of the many things she and the Slytherin had never had for one another, right alongside "respect" and "liking". At best, she had tolerated Malfoy in their early years, even hated him for a while, and then gradually decreased him into obscurity in her mind, especially in the last year. Having Harry be obsessed with him was enough at the time; she didn't need to start seeing shadows too.

As for her wand, the more Hermione thought about it, absently glancing at it every now and then in her hand, if she was Malfoy, the only reason that she would give an enemy back there wand was if she had something more to gain by them having it, like, oh, say...knowing where they...

Crickey! Glancing down at her wand in horror, it occurred to Hermione just why Malfoy had given it back to her. Granted, she hadn't seen him do anything, and her eyes had been nothing if not glued to him the entire time, but...

Uttering a quick spell of an advanced nature, one which took down anything and broke it up into its most basic parts—including magical items, it should be added, though those were trickier to focus on—Hermione focused in on all the parts of her own wand, searching for something in particular. But, shockingly, she didn't find it: no tracker, hex, charm, absolutely nothing new that wasn't already there to begin with. It was her wand, completely untampered with.

Letting out a breath, Hermione undid the spell and then resumed checking the perimeter of the camp. But while she should have been relieved beyond measure that there seemed to be truly nothing out of the ordinary that she had brought back with her from that experience, the fact that she did was in itself the most alarming thing of all.

Maybe you're just giving him too much credit, Hermione, she chided herself. Who knows, maybe Malfoy did have a reason for not turning you in, but what?

She tried to review what she knew about him through all their years of school together, but that in itself was little enough. He was...er...definitely average in school, but a fair caster of jinxes and charms, fine at transfiguration and potions, and, ironically enough, quite good at D.A.D.A., so it definitely wasn't his prowess in magic. Granted, if Hermione had had her wand and especially if Harry and Ron did end up showing up, the three of them could give Draco Malfoy a fair run for his money, but he was gifted in hexes and knew other dark spells, so it would be tough going. At least, assuming that he'd picked up a few things from his family, Bellatrix in particular...

Was he just lazy then, and didn't want the trouble of having to fight hard to keep his bounty? Did he, like her, ultimately not want to risk injury? Hermione supposed she couldn't fault him as a coward for that, since it was only natural and she herself was the same way. She would put herself in the path of danger if that was what it took, but, again, no one exactly enjoyed doing that, or were mental if they did.

Something else then...something...

Wait a minute, she had it! Up until now, she'd been assuming that someone else might be nearby the entire time throughout her confrontation with Malfoy, but what if...what if he was alone? If so, not only would that make it easier to believe that he'd let her go, but it also explained why! It wasn't the work or even his own abilities that Malfoy would've doubted, but he would have definitely shirked the responsibility of turning her in! It made sense! Harry had already mentioned how Malfoy hadn't himself killed Dumbledore, and of course having the blood of someone on his hands at such a young age was bound to have its repercussions! Also, following that lead in logic, it also went along with how his first few attempts at killing Dumbledore had been indirect, never face-to-face.

If he were to reveal that he had found any one of their threesome though, Malfoy would be putting himself on the front lines for once, not only taking credit for turning them in, but also raising Voldemort's interest in and expectations of him. And, Death Eater or not, Hermione didn't think Malfoy was bloodthirsty, not with how Harry described that he'd been acting when he confronted Dumbledore; and no way could he have changed so drastically, not from how he had seemed when he had spoken to her earlier.

No, wait, he had changed, but not in the ways that would have been expected. He didn't seem particularly sadistic or even pleased with what he was doing by the lake; he just seemed tired, thinner, and maybe even a bit shaky. He was no longer the boy he had been, but he wasn't completely maniacal either yet; so then, what was he, and how did that affect his decision to let her go?

Hermione had no idea, but in any case...this line of reasoning, which did in fact seem the most reasonable at the moment, left her on uncertain ground and feeling even a bit regretful at how their meeting at gone. True, there was no other way that it possibly could have gone, given their history, but it occurred to Hermione that in her shock and awe, she had completely overlooked the possibility of counter-interrogation, getting information out of Malfoy on the things the trio didn't know, how like things were back at Hogwarts. Not that Malfoy would have felt obligated to tell her anything, but maybe...?

Maybe you're just giving him too much credit again, she concluded. Anyway, for the time being, she had deliberated the topic long enough, and now had to move on.

Her time on guard duty, bloody cold weather or not, was in many ways the best time, as it gave her a few undisturbed hours to herself to think. The subject of Malfoy and his strange behaviour aside for now, Hermione had to plot out their next steps, as usual always thinking ahead, always being prepared...

By the time the boys woke up the next morning, Hermione had come up with something like a plan that...was simultaneously a problem. It was something that occurred to her could not be overlooked though, so much as the boys might not like to hear it, she would have to bring it up.

Things got off to the rocky start right away though, judging by the looks on Harry and Ron's faces once Hermione came back into the tent at the appointed time for breakfast. Ron was off sulking in a corner and listening to his radio, his arms crossed and his back turned to them, whereas Harry was glaring at him in a way that made Hermione thankful that The Boy Who Lived didn't have his wand handy.

"Good...morning," she greeted hesitatingly.

Ron acknowledged her presence with an over the shoulder head nod. "What's for breakfast?" he asked.

"If you're so hungry you can cook it yourself!" Harry snapped suddenly. "I called you over twice already to help me get started, but you've just been sitting there like some—"

"Hey, we were waiting for Hermione to come in anyway!" Ron shot back, instantly jumping up from his seat and on the offensive. "She's been out there all night on guard duty, you want to leave her out?!"

"Well, I don't see why she has to prepare everything, especially after she has been out there doing something!" Harry countered.

"Are you saying I don't do my part?!"

"I'm saying that Hermione doesn't have to cook for us just because you won't get off your arse!"

"Oh, well excuse me!" Ron snapped. "Might as well add feminism and equal rights to your list of qualities, Mr. Chosen One! And while you're at it, how about you have her teach you how to bloody cook! Last night's dinner almost made me puke!"

"You think you—"

"STOP!" Hermione yelled, bringing their attention to her. Neither of them looked less hostile for even a second, but Hermione knew why at least one of them wasn't keeping a cool head. "Harry, give me the locket," she said, turning to him. "You've been wearing it all night and I know we said that might be a better idea because you're asleep, but it's clearly making your nightmares worse."

Harry grumbled a few words but nevertheless took off the locket and handed it to her. Once it was fastened around Hermione's neck, he blinked a few times and seemed to come back to his senses. Turning to Ron, he looked about to say something, but then just shook it off and went into another section of the tent to get their breakfast ready. Meanwhile, Ron simply cast an indifferent look towards Hermione and then sat down to listen to his radio again.

Maybe it'd be better to wait until they all had a full stomach before she said what she had to say...

Breakfast that morning was passed in relative silence—well, from the three of them, anyway, as Ron insisted on keeping it on until halfway through the report ended and went to static—but it gave Hermione time to review on how she was going to bring up the subject, and hope that neither of them would take to it too badly. It was going to be tough enough to talk about even with her wearing the locket, but then again it might just be the pessimism creeping into her reasoning because she was wearing it. One thing was for sure though: that regardless of who was wearing the locket or how much of its influence was present, Hermione was often the one being caught in the middle of the trio now, the one responsible for keeping the peace. She had to be on her toes, Horcrux be darned!

Once everything was tidied up and they set about to strategizing, Hermione brought up what she had been thinking of: namely that, even if they did manage to find more and more Horcruxes in the near future, they would have no way of destroying them. Both the boys had thought of this already of course, but what Hermione had to add put things in a different perspective.

"The fact is that this thing," Hermione said, gesturing down to the locket around her neck, "is starting to get at us already, sowing discord when there should be none. We all know that we need to work this through together in order to succeed, but just thing about it: even one more Horcrux on our hands might be too much for us to handle."

"So what are you saying?" Ron asked, his face grim but serious.

Hermione took a breath. "I think we need to shift our priorities for the time being and focus on first finding something to destory this Horcrux before finding another one."

In essence, it wasn't changing their mission any, but rather was adding to it by a side-mission along with what they already had to deal with. Harry looked thoughtful at the possibility of it, whereas Ron...well, Ron just looked peeved, but more than usual.

"Okay, so we find something to destroy the Horcruxes, no problem, and then what? We still don't know what the bloody hell they are!"

"Wait a minute, Hermione's right!" Harry cut in. "We need to take things one step at a time, and—"

"Oh sure, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Ron spit.

"What the hell are you on about now?"

"You want to know what I'm on about?" Ron baited. "Alright, I'll tell you. I think—"

"Ron, you're clearly on the wrong side of the bed this morning—go out and walk it off!" Hermione hissed, feeling her own hackles rising.

Ron stared at her in shock for a couple of seconds, mirrored by Harry who also wasn't used to their level-headed friend acting out this way, but in the end Ron did what she said and went out. Hermione gritted her teeth to keep from yelling something after him following the disgusted look he shot the two of them. Once he was gone though, Harry's own expression turned to concern, and he reached out and took Hermione's hand.

"Mione, what is it?" He glanced down at the locket. "You've only had it on for a couple of minutes, so why...?"

Hermione tried to ease the tension out of her body, relaxing her grip on Harry's hand. "I think it's getting stronger, Harry. Remember how before, at the beginning, we could each stand to wear it for a couple of days before things got this bad?"

"Well, Ron for less time than the two of us, but yeah," Harry supplied with a chuckle, making Hermione smile.

"My point is that something's changed, something that's making the effects of this locket worse." Hermione glanced at Harry with concern, trying to get past her own irritability that she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep because of guard duty last night. "How did you sleep?"

Harry sighed, staring down at the table in front of him. "Another dream like where I'm seeing things through his eyes, but not that bad this time. All I saw was him walking through an abandoned village or somewhere, but then there were signs in a foreign language. I don't think he's in Britain anymore."

Although news like this should be good, until they knew what Voldemort was looking for and why, there was no safety guarantee in that. Besides which, the distance made no difference to Harry's visions, and on more than one occasion Hermione had been worried sick at either hearing Harry's moans and screams in the night or rushing into his portion of the tent and find that he'd broken out in a cold sweat. It was just like back in their fifth year, gradually getting worse as Voldemort became more powerful.

"I've been thinking about the boy you said he saw, the boy who stole something that Vol—You-Know-Who wanted from Gregorovitch," Hermione said. Of course, the wandmaker was dead now—it had been Wizard World-wide news when it had happened, and right in Diagon Alley—but something about his death had never sat right with Hermione. Voldemort had killed him, no question about it, but...

"I was thinking that even though we don't know, he might have found out who it was and gone after him. After all, if he was a boy back when he stole it, he still could be alive now, though I imagine that he would be very old." Hermione tried putting the pieces together, though there was very little to work with. "Harry, we have to find out who that is and why You-Know-Who would be after him—and the only way to do that is if you can see him again somehow, put a name to a face to we have something to go on."

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Harry asked. After all, while Voldemort may very well infiltrate his mind with visions from time to time, there was no way that Harry could reverse it on him and use it to find something out even if he tried. It was advanced magic way beyond him and besides which...he was terrified to have Voldemort that close. Absolutely nothing short of it being the only way to win the war would Harry encourage that connection with Voldemort to be even closer.

Hermione shook her head, guessing at where his thoughts were going. "No, of course it wouldn't work just like that. I was thinking that you could take it out like a memory, and that way—"

"Hermione," Harry cut in. "We don't have a pensieve to work with."

"I can make one!" Hermione insisted. "It may only be temporary, lasting only a few minutes at best and nowhere near as complex as the one in Dumbledore's office, but it can work!"

"Really?!" Harry gaped at her, astounded. "I never knew you could do that!"

Hermione couldn't help but beam in pleasure, a natural reaction to every time she was praised for her cleverness. "Well, they never taught it in class, but I read about it—"

"—at the library," Harry finished for her, after which they both had a good laugh.

This of course brought Ron running, narrowing his eyes once he saw the pair of them having, it seemed to him, such a good time. "What's so funny?" he asked, feeling left out as always.

Becoming serious, Hermione turned to him and excitedly told him their plan. Since it had nothing to do with what they'd be talking about before he left the tent, Ron had no idea why they were so excited, as to him it only seemed like yet another side-mission; but, on the other hand, progress of any sort was welcome, so he was all for it.

"Okay," he said hesitantly, scratching his head with his free hand. "But won't you need some kind of ingredients for that? I mean, you can't just transfigure it from something or conjure it up, right?"

Hermione's face took on a somber look. "Yes, actually, I do need some ingredients."

"Brilliant," Ron mused. "And what would those be then?"

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek. "Nothing too complex except that..." She sighed, seeing both her friends staring at her so expectantly. "The most important parts are things I can only find in Diagon Alley."

"No, Hermione! Hell no!" For once, Harry and Ron were in perfect agreement, and it just figured that it'd be on something that Hermione had suggested for once. They had just spent the majority of their afternoon—after hurriedly packing up their tent and belongings following a near argument, to which Harry suggested they all cool their heads before discussing things, and then apparating to a new location—discussing the pros, cons, and necessity of going to Diagon Alley to retrieve what Hermione would need to make a pensieve, and yet both Harry and Ron were still adamantly against it.

"Mione, that place is crawling with Death Eaters!" Ron exclaimed. "I mean, never mind the Snatchers going 'round Britain looking for us, but you're practically turning yourself in if you go where they'll all be lurking in their spare time!"

"Oh yeah, Ron?" Hermione snarled. "And wasn't infiltrating the ministry a couple of weeks ago maybe just taking that same risk?!"

"That was then and this is now!" Ron countered. "Back then, we had a plan, 'Mione, we had a goal—and that goal was to collect a bloody Horcrux, so it was ten times more worth the risk than this codswallop!"

"It's not codswallop, Ron!" Harry jumped in, coming to Hermione's defense in spite of himself. Much as he also didn't want to risk his friend's safety like that again, he also couldn't agree with Ron that the mission didn't have some merit. "Look, you said it yourself that we're not getting anywhere with the Horcrux's, right? Well, at least until we figure out what to do on that front, we could try getting an edge on what Vold—"

"Harry!"

"Right, sorry," Harry amended, glancing at Hermione. "What he's doing right now, and that involves figuring out who it is he's after enough to leave the country for!"

"All based on a vision that you had while wearing the damn thing," Ron sniffed, glancing towards the locket. He stepped back. "It's bullocks if you ask me, and won't matter in the grand scheme of things if we don't destroy these things anyway. Right now, you're willing to put our necks on the line for just the smallest chance that—"

"It's not small, Ron," Hermione insisted, having calmed herself down a bit after Harry defended her plan, if not her specific idea at how to achieve it. "And besides which, you're both overlooking something: I'm not asking either of you to go with me." They both stared openly at her now. "In fact, it's probably better if you don't, since the three of us will definitely stand out more than one of us will."

"Even one of us will stand out, Mione," Harry said. "You know they're all looking for us."

"Exactly what I've been saying!" Ron cut in.

Ignoring him, Harry went on, "And even if you do manage to get what you need without any trouble, how will you find your way back to us? When we first started out on this thing, we agreed that splitting up was the last thing we'd do, and I say we stick to that. We need each other, Hermione, and none of us should do anything alone."

For once, not even Ron had anything to add to that, so both boys just continued looking at Hermione, waiting to hear what she would say. And although she sensed that she was outnumbered for once, Hermione did have other things she wanted to say, like how pensieve ingredients weren't the only things she would be looking for, or how she might even pick up a bit of news on their friends and family just by being around other wizards for the first time in weeks. It was risky, but with all that they could do, all that she could do just by going back to a central hub of the Wizarding World, it was worth it!

But the looks on Harry and Ron's faces stopped her flat from saying anything more. Neither of them were willing to listen, and had already made up their minds that it was too dangerous to risk anything. They would never consent to what she had in mind, and if it wasn't an unanimous decision, then...

"Alright," Hermione sighed, defeated. "We'll put that on hold for now and..." She glanced outside their tent, where the sun was rapidly setting—earlier and earlier each day, with autumn already upon them. "Come up with something else tomorrow."

The boys nodded, satisfied. "Who's on guard duty tonight?" Ron asked.

"I'll go," Harry sighed, standing up and taking out his wand. "Not like I'll get a decent night's sleep anyway, so I may as well take the shift."

"And I'll wear the locket and give you a break," Ron offered, his hand out towards Hermione.

It was the most amiable that the pair of them had been in weeks, and it touched Hermione's heart to see them, even for a moment, the way they had once been. With a grateful smile and a little added affection from their school days, which she herself had not forgotten feeling towards Ron, Hermione took off the locket and then placed it in his hand. Her own hand lingered there for a moment, causing both of them to blush, but then Hermione pulled back as she remembered that the Horcrux was still...well, evil.

After saying goodnight to them both, Hermione went to her part of the tent and pulled the drape that would ensure her privacy. Because she was a girl, obviously she needed it for times when she was changing and such, but this time the privacy she required was of a different sort.

Because, like it or not, Hermione Granger was not one to quit on an idea that she felt was good, not even when her own friends were against it. And she wasn't opposed to taking worthwhile risk, no matter that her friends were trying to protect her. She hadn't been afraid to confront the basilisk on her own in her second year, she hadn't been afraid to continuously use a time-turner in her third year and even hide the fact from her friends, and she hadn't been afraid to break the rules in helping Harry to form Dumbledore's Army in their fifth year.

Now, for their own good, she was going to have to break the rules again and...well, and pray that the risks were worthwhile enough for her friends to forgive her once they found out.

A/N: Much as I loved writing up the previous chapter entirely on Draco, this chapter on Hermione was just so fun to write that I had to make it longer and longer as well! In large part, this is due to the fact that Hermione has Harry and Ron to interact with, whereas Draco's mostly alone, but at the same time it was also a challenge to write those two in, as I wanted to keep their personalities intact and as close to the original as possible. Keeping the timeline of the books in mind, Harry and Ron were tense during this portion of their friendship as well, so I've brought that out more than how well they work together, but, again, I hope it's true to the timeline and therefore acceptable.

Next chapter we'll have a few interactions of a different sort away from the forest setting that's been the focus so far, so stay tuned for that!

Also, just as a note I HIGHLY appreciate ALL the reviews that you lovely readers have been writing, and please DO WRITE MORE! I'm really curious to know what readers are finding they either like or dislike about every chapter, and it's a great motivator to me to see that people are really getting into the story! So, thank YOU all readers! (Ahem, and of course, please do also follow and favourite to stay in touch for future chapters!)