Cambridge
November 9, 2006
Draco and Hermione had been in Cambridge for two days, and the tension between them had grown so thick, Ginny had started making crude comments. Draco spent his days exploring the townhouse, looking through old Black artifacts and relishing in a few old photographs he found of his mother. Hermione, unsurprisingly, discovered the library.
The most entertaining moment of their stay was when Dobby realized Draco was a Malfoy and seemed to go through some sort of existential crisis until Draco told him to treat Sirius as his master. Of course, this earned both Draco and Sirius a harsh lecture from Hermione on the ethics of owning house elves.
Draco and Hermione had yet to have a substantive conversation since their fight. Hermione was still wary of Draco and the secrets he had kept, and Draco felt betrayed over Hermione pulling a wand on him, regardless of whether she was justified in doing so.
There was a general sense in the house that they were all in the calm before the storm. Ginny, Hermione, and Harry spent a lot of time together going over the details of their individual ordeals, trying to identify previously unrealized connections. Sirius drank moderately and reminisced on his Hogwarts days, regaling whomever would listen about the tales of the Marauders.
They were eating dinner two nights after Hermione and Draco's arrival, and Sirius was explaining a particularly rowdy tale from Hogwarts involving a self-aware suit of armor, the Whomping Willow, and a poltergeist. While Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were in near hysterics by the end, Draco frowned, shuffling his vegetables around his plate.
Hermione furrowed her brows. "What's wrong?" she asked him.
Draco shrugged. "I've just – never seen any poltergeists or suits of armor around Hogwarts. Makes me wonder how radically different it is now."
Sirius looked a bit too drunk to really care, but Hermione recalled something Draco said in Aberdeen, shortly after they left the Uninhabitable Zone:
"...The older generation tells me it's not the same as it once was. Apparently, there used to be ghosts about, and the stairwells moved without prodding. Some even say that Hogwarts was once alive – not just sentient, but truly alive. I think she's hibernating now, waiting for the next class of students."
She considered, "Could this possibly be evidence of Voldemort having a negative influence on Hogwarts?"
"This was a Dumbledore theory, right? He thinks Voldemort is somehow negatively impacting the magical nexus Hogwarts was built on?" Harry asked. The group had already discussed Hermione and Draco's conversation with Minister Snape, and Harry considered Dumbledore no more sane than Voldemort.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, but I've spent substantial time reading about magic and Hogwarts in the library here. The books do agree with Snape and Draco's claims that Hogwarts sits on a magical nexus, susceptible to whomever currently holds power over it. I believe that's why the Hogwarts founders made it a school – assuming that as a place of learning, there would be a symbiotic relationship between its inhabitants and the magic. Think about it — students come to Hogwarts, they absorb the magic there, but they also give it back by performing spells, nurturing the grounds.
"But I've been thinking - what if, rather than students interacting with the nexus magic, it was instead a self-described Dark Lord who encouraged the use of Dark Magic? Perhaps he's using the magic from Hogwarts, so rather than a symbiotic relationship it is parasitic?"
"I don't understand, why would the relationship between Hogwarts' magic and its inhabitants turn from symbiotic to parasitic?" Harry asked, frowning.
Hermione blinked a few times and explained, "Think about it; when light magic is used it nurtures. When dark magic is used, it takes. So my theory is that Voldeort is somehow leeching nexus magic in some way. That could explain the decline in magical energy at Hogwarts..." She trailed off towards the end.
"What is it?" Harry asked, concerned.
"It's just," she paused, "everyone talks about Hogwarts as a life-giving force. We've hypothesized, and have a reasonable amount of evidence to support the hypothesis, that Hogwarts seems to have been losing its magic over the past fifteen years – since Voldemort claimed it. We also know, based on empirical data, that fifteen years ago the birth ratestarted to decline. For so long, we assumed the timing of the birth rate decline had to do with the nuclear attacks, or perhaps with the merging of the magical and non-magical. But what if the birth rate decline has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Voldermort?"
Everyone turned to Draco, who shrugged. "I don't know any more than you do. What I can tell you is that, as far as I'm aware, the Dark Lord believes that non-magicals are responsible for the birth rate problem."
"I don't know." Ginny looked thoughtful. "The timing is interesting – and I would love to see the birth rate problem be Voldemort's fault, but it seems like a bit of a stretch.
Hermione nodded. "You're correct of course, correlation is not causation."
"Still." Harry smiled at her. "It's worth considering."
Harry had taken to a sort of self-flagellation of watching the news every night after dinner. Ginny usually watched with him, while Sirius simply sat and read his old periodicals. Draco and Hermione rarely joined them: Draco found the news to be like listening to a foreign language, and Hermione was still too uncomfortable seeing her own face as 'wanted.' Thus, the pair came running from two different directions when they heard Harry scream.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, panting as she flew down from the library, watching Harry yell at the television and Ginny attempt to comfort him.
"They're dragging her through the mud, Gin!" Harry cried out.
"She knows what she's doing," Ginny reassured him.
"They're accusing her of having an affair! They're trying to discredit her!" Harry aggressively ran his fingers through his hair.
Hermione looked at the TV and read the bottom ribbon: Newly appointed parliamentary representative accused of cheating on her late fiancé Harry Potter. A series of photos were projected, showing her being friendly with a red headed man. "You think this is about the HPRA?" Hermione asked reluctantly. Harry had spent many a meal ranting about his namesake bill.
"Of course! This came out the day after Daphne publicly announced she would be speaking against the bill," Harry barked.
"So, just addressing the hippogriff in the room," Draco said innocently, "is there any chance the accusation is real?"
Harry rolled his eyes, and Ginny responded. "I was the one who introduced Daphne and Ron. They met maybe three weeks ago? I'm fairly confident that these pictures were taken after Harry's so-called death." She paused, then commented, "Though they do look kind of cute together."
"You people are confusing." Draco shook his head and left, not quite appreciating the political complexities of Harry's world.
"I can't let them destroy her reputation like this," Harry said, looking at Ginny.
She nodded. "Look, Robards thinks they're quite close to figuring out who tried to kill you. The vote's not for another couple of days, and hopefully, we'll be able to unveil the conspiracy by then."
Harry shook his head. "Tell Robards they have two days."
November 10, 2006
"Huh," Hermione said, noticing the familiar symbol on the binding of the book in the 'Family' section of the Black library. She pulled out the tome, gently wiping a thin layer of dust off with her hand, reading the cover 'RAB.' She frowned and started reading through it, her face growing progressively whiter.
"EVERYONE!" she shouted as she ran down to the living room, where at the moment Sirius appeared to be napping. "Sirius!" She poked him, softly at first, but eventually she started shaking him until he woke up.
"Wusit?" Sirius asked, a touch of drool dripping from his chin.
"Do you know who Regulus Black is?" Hermione asked.
Sirius' countenance completely shifted. "He was my brother – but he was a Death Eater. He died a long time ago; killed by Voldemort or on Voldemort's orders more likely." He looked at the book in her hands. "Why?"
She nodded and waited as the other three came downstairs before explaining. "I found this journal in the Black library. I believe your brother was secretly working against Voldemort," she explained, her eyes focused on Sirius.
A flash of emotion ran through Sirius. "That doesn't sound like Reggie."
"I almost didn't notice this journal, but the symbol on the binding was curious." She showed them, intentionally avoiding Draco's flash of recognition before returning to her summary. "He explains in here that he thinks Voldemort is immortal – that he believes Voldemort created Horcruxes in order to ensure he survives anything."
"Horcruxes?" Sirius physically shivered at the word.
"What are those?" Harry asked, frowning.
"I had to cross reference a few other books, but my understanding is they're objects that contain a piece of the creator's soul," Hermione started. "From what I've read, a Horcrux can only be created through murder – which makes sense in a dark magic sort of way. So, Regulus' theory is that Voldemort has made a series of these." She looked at Draco now.
"I've never heard of such a thing," he started, "but I have to admit, the Dark Lord doesn't exactly look human. I assumed it was from prolonged use of Dark Magic. So the desecration of his soul – that's as good an explanation as any for it."
"Does the journal explain why Regulus had such a theory?" Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. "Apparently, Voldemort took Regulus' house elf, Kreacher, to hide one of the Horcruxes. Kreacher told Regulus though, and Regulus was horrified and went back to retrieve it. Later, Voldemort ended up killing Kreacher, and Regulus never figured out how to destroy the Horcrux. So he left this journal and the Horcrux, a locket, in his old house, hoping that someone would find it and figure it out."
"A locket?" Sirius asked thoughtfully, considering the various odds and ends in the house, but he shook his head when nothing came to him.
"Okay, so let's assume this is true. Voldemort is immortal, what does that mean?" Harry asked.
"I think it lends credence to my theory that Voldemort's presence at Hogwarts is the source of the birth rate issue," Hermione explained, her eyes alight. "Think about it. We have reasonable evidence, based on Draco's experience in the castle, that Hogwarts is becoming less magical. We know Hogwarts is a nexus of sorts – though what that means precisely is still a mystery to me – so the next part of my hypothesis is based purely on conjecture.
"I believe there's a magical element to all life – not just magical life – that is connected to the Earth. An inherent part of the ecosystem. But what happens when someone who is immortal – physically incapable of dying – becomes the primary source of influence over a magical nexus? I think that magic stops allowing for human life – either because the magic doesn't identify a need for new human life, or because the magic has been turned dark and is no longer capable of providing life."
"So you think that somehow because Voldemort has made himself immortal, and he's currently influencing or otherwise occupying the magical nexus at Hogwarts, that he's responsible for the birth rate decline?" Harry summarized.
Hermione nodded. "That's my theory."
The room was utterly silent, everyone considering Hermione's words.
"There are a lot of 'if's' to that," Draco pointed out. "Aren't you worried that you're simply matching evidence to meet your theory?"
Hermione frowned. "I would ordinarily agree this seems to be a case of confirmation bias. But in this instance, given the level of kismet that seems to have brought us here, I think it's worth exploring. I'm not saying it's a proven hypothesis, but rather that it is one. And to be frank, this theory regarding the birth rate decline is more substantive than anything I found after two years of researching the issue in the Uninhabitable Zone."
Sirius grabbed the journal from Hermione, frowning at his brother's initials. He jumped when a locket fell out of the journal, burning his hand. "Ah!"
Hermione, ever the scientist, grabbed a nearby handkerchief to protect her hands before picking up the item. "This is it!" she remarked. "He must have spelled the book in some way to only reveal the Horcrux to a family member. Or perhaps he coded it to Sirius specifically, since Sirius was known to have ties to the Order!"
"How can you be sure it's a Horcrux?" Ginny asked, looking at the locket skeptically.
"Here." She gave it to Ginny, whose eyes widened the moment she touched the locket.
"Yeah. I buy that could be a bit of Voldemort's soul." Ginny shivered and backed away from the object, which now lay on the floor.
"Alright, so what now?" Harry asked.
"Unfortunately, the only way I can think of to prove my theory would be to destroy all the Horcruxes and see if the birth rate increases afterward," Hermione explained with a faint smile, aware of precisely how challenging her proposal was.
"How would we even go about doing something like that?" Ginny asked. "And how would we even know how many there are?"
"Well, I would have to explore more, but the number "7" seems to consistently be a magically significant number. If Voldemort made more than one Horcrux, which Regulus obviously believed to be the case, it may have been in order to split his soul into seven pieces, perhaps hoping it would provide him more power. That would indicate there are six Horcruxes, since presumably a portion of his soul still remains within him..." Hermione paused, biting at the inside of her cheek. "Perhaps further analysis of the Pureblood Manifesto could assist with identifying Horcruxes? Though the book isn't much of an autobiography…"
"Dumbledore!" Sirius exclaimed, standing up with the rest of them, looking sober for the first time in days. "He was the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, a group that fought Voldemort back in the 70s and 80s. They say he was the only man Voldemort ever feared. If anyone would know what Voldemort would use for a Horcrux and where to find them, it would be him."
"And I just so happen to have a portkey that goes to Dumbledore," Hermione pointed out. Her gaze shifted to Draco. "But I don't think I can be the one to go to Dumbledore."
"What is it?" Draco asked warily; the tension was still thick between them.
"I need to see Hogwarts," she explained. "I need to find this nexus, if possible. And we need someone on the inside – to take care of any Horcruxes he may have nearby."
"You're not serious," Harry interjected.
Hermione shrugged. "If Draco was sent to get me, then we have a perfectly reasonable explanation for showing up."
"It's dangerous! Besides, we can't trust him!" Ginny pointed out, her head gesturing towards Draco. "If Voldemort finds out what we're doing–"
"I won't say anything to him," Draco said, his voice steady. "I'm not loyal to him. Not anymore. I want him gone just as much as you all, probably more."
Hermione's eyes narrowed at his last words, trying to figure out what he could possibly be referring to.
"I want to believe you." Harry frowned at Draco. "But if Hermione's right, there's too much at stake. This is the future of humanity."
Draco was momentarily frozen, all eyes in the room watching him carefully. In a sense, they had all been waiting for that moment, where they had to decide what precisely to do with the Death Eater in their midst. It was just another reminder they were living on the edge of an oncoming storm.
"The Dark Lord killed my mother," Draco whispered, fixing his gaze on the floor.
"Oh no," Hermione's face fell. "But I thought you said she died in childbi–"
"Yes, that's what my father told me." Draco swallowed. "But Snape showed me a memory; he saw the Dark Lord kill her – I was maybe a month old." His gaze locked on hers, and she could see his vulnerability in that moment. This wasn't another lie or manipulation, this was something he truly believed.
"But—" Hermione attempted to recollect the conversation they had with Snape that day. "Why?"
Draco shrugged. "Snape said it was revenge."
Harry and Ginny looked to one another. "How can we truly believe you?" Harry asked finally, his face sympathetic.
"You're just going to have to trust me," he bit out.
"I think it's worth the risk," Hermione interjected. "Without him, I can't get to Hogwarts. And it's hard to imagine we can solve this otherwise."
Harry took a deep breath. "Alright, if you two are going to Hogwarts, then I'll go to Dumbledore."
"That's ridiculous, Harry," Ginny objected. "We can bring in Corps officers and other experts! You don't need to do this."
Harry shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, right now the only people aware of the Horcruxes, other than Voldemort himself, are in this room. We need to keep it that way. After tomorrow, I'm going." He smiled at Ginny. "I assume you're coming with me?"
She shook her head at Harry's antics, but agreed nonetheless. "Of course."
"Alright." Hermione pulled the portkey Snape had given her out of her bag, tossing it to Harry. "I guess that leaves Draco and I to figure out how we're going to get in and out of Hogwarts— "
"I'm more interested in the out than in," Draco drawled.
Sirius mumbled something, and a piece of parchment flew to him. "Here—" he gave the parchment to Hermione with a nostalgic look in his eye, "— this is the Marauder's Map; James, Remus, a traitorous rat, and I made it while we were at Hogwarts. In our time, we uncovered quite a few secret passageways in and out of the school. This will show you them, as well as the location of anyone within the school."
"Thank you." Hermione nodded to Sirius before turning to Draco. "If we can get to an Apparition zone, can you get us to Hogsmeade?".
Draco shrugged. "I don't see why not."
Hermione looked contemplative. "How will we communicate? Cell phones won't work at Hogwarts."
"Because of magical interference?" Draco surmised.
"No, because there are no cell towers," Hermione corrected.
Sirius smiled before summoning a few more items. "Two-way mirrors." He handed one to Hermione and the other to Harry. "And—" he handed Harry a shimmering cloak, "—if you're going on some sort of adventure, you should have this."
Harry looked at the fabric in his hands, mesmerized. "What is it?"
"Your father's invisibility cloak," Sirius told him, eyes distant as he relived an old memory. "He left it at my place at some point before we had a falling out. It really belongs to you." Sirius looked at all of them in turn. "So the lesson here, kids, is sometimes hoarding pays off."
There was a long stretch of silence as the reality of their plans began to sink in.
"Alright, so, tomorrow?" Hermione looked at Harry, Ginny, and Draco.
"Tomorrow."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Draco asked Hermione as they prepared for sleep, ending the silence that had marked their evenings in Cambridge since their fight that first night.
"I'm not sure," Hermione replied honestly. "But I think it needs to be done."
"There's only so much I can do for you when we get there," Draco pointed out. "I'll have to act loyal to him. And to be clear, I don't know what his plans are for you."
"And what about your fiancée?" Hermione asked, refusing to look directly at him.
"She doesn't mean anything to me," he told her, still leaving a dozen questions dangling. He was quiet for a moment. "Do you trust me?"
"I want to," she told him honestly.
"The last couple of nights, I've been thinking about, well, us," he started. "...And, you know, that night. I recall what you said to me, right before you kissed me. You said 'I still don't trust you'."
"I remember."
"What does that mean? How can you go to Hogwarts with me, but you don't trust me? You'll sleep with me, but then you'll turn your wand on me! I don't understand it!" he ranted.
"You're kidding me, right?" she asked, blinking. "You've been lying to me this whole time. You're part of the organization that attacked my parents –"
"And you've known all of that for weeks! You may not have known what I was lying about, but you knew I was lying. I'm not suggesting you should trust everything I say, but trust me." His eyes were wide.
"What are you even talking about? What's the difference! Who are you, if not your actions and your words? You want me to trust you? So do I! I want it more than anything..." she trailed off, blood rushing to her neck.
"Hermione." He stepped towards her. "I want you to trust me with you. Not with anything or anyone else. Those are – details. I want you to know that at the end of the day, whatever side I'm on, that I'll look out for you."
"Why?" she asked him, her eyes darting around the room, trying to figure out his meaning. She stood there, wearing a scant camisole and shorts, completely unaware of her effect on him.
"Do you really have to ask?" he said and closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers. He was demanding, and she responded at once, urging his mouth open with her tongue. He pushed her against the wall, his hands roaming, trying to use the pressure of his thumb and the graze of his fingers to tell her what words couldn't.
Her fingers crept up his shirt, grazing his sides, a response of sorts. He heard it in the words she almost said, saw it in the way her eyes would shift suddenly: she wanted this, wanted him, even though it scared her. She wrapped a leg around his waist, pushing her core against him. Her mouth froze as she moaned, a delicious, almost primal cry, demanding more.
There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn't have the words. How could he explain to her, in a way that she would understand, how profoundly she had affected him?
He pressed his hand into her shorts, lightly caressing her clit, eliciting more noises and a thrust of her hips. She clung to him, pushing against his fingers.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, kissing at her neck, sucking at a spot behind her ear while she continued to writhe under his touches. "I should have told you everything."
"Draco…" she moaned, shutting him up with a kiss. She clung to his neck, her legs beginning to vibrate from his movements. As though with just the right flick or rub, she'd collapse entirely.
He managed to move them to the bed, the pair stumbling in their haste to tear off their clothes. They lay side by side, momentarily separated until Hermione pressed forward, burying her fingers in his hair and biting at his upper lip. He let his fingers graze across her side, relishing her every shiver and twinge as she clung to him.
He wondered if she knew he had been stuck in the shadows before her – that his life in Hogwarts had been nothing but a reflection of reality. That meeting her, seeing the world through her eyes, had changed him profoundly. Or rather, allowed him to be more in a way he had never fathomed; more than simply a soldier, more than just the Dark Lord's pawn. She showed him that the world was more than simply magic and he could be a part of it.
Her hand brushed at his length, and her eyes opened, a desperate plea within them. He watched her, taking in the way her lip trembled, the preternatural way her hair expanded and contracted.
He shifted, hovering over her, poised at her entrance, still watching her, memorizing her every line and blemish. She wrapped her arms around his neck, forcing his lips to hers, urging him forward.
He buried himself within her, closing his eyes momentarily and savoring the feel of her moans as they passed from her throat to his. It wasn't like the first time. That had been the culmination of weeks of tension, a release of pressure. This was an apology and forgiveness wrapped together. A promise of sorts – that in spite of the chasm that had developed between them, he was on her side, whether or not she believed it.
As he continued to move within her, his legs beginning to quake, he felt irrevocably connected to her in a way that was both terrifying and exhilarating. They moved together, their hands wandering desperately and breaths growing heavy.
When they finally collapsed, breathless and light, a heap of limbs knotted together, he cupped her face with his hand, his gaze intense. "Because I love you, Hermione," he told her, finally answering her earlier question. He said it knowing she wouldn't reciprocate, knowing that her fear and distrust ruled her.
She looked at him, as though she were searching for something, and rather than answer, she kissed him gently. She tucked herself into his side, letting the silence and Draco's admission wash over them.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her.
"When did it happen?" she asked. "When did you stop being a Death Eater? Was it Snape?"
He frowned and watched her, wondering if that was truly what she wanted to know. "It was that night in Bath, at the concert. When everyone was singing together, the magicals and the non-magicals alike. It was as though for one moment, we were all the same. And I realized — the Dark Lord was wrong."
She nodded, though her eyes seemed far away, likely considering all of the ramifications of his statement or a thousand other little things.
"Do me a favor?" he asked. She looked at him expectantly. "Let's just think about right now. Because I don't know what will happen after."
She nodded, and he felt her relax, her breathing eventually slowing as she fell asleep in his arms.
November 11, 2006
The atmosphere at the breakfast table was solemn as everyone focused on their tasks ahead.
Ginny's fork clacked against her plate, and she turned to Harry. "Are you ready for this?"
He nodded. "Robards indicated on the call that the ring leaders of the conspiracy have been apprehended. So, we go to London, ensure the HPRA gets voted down, then portkey to Dumbledore."
Ginny let out an exhale. "Busy day. Fox is going to help us get to the Parliament Meeting House using the back entrance, so hopefully you'll be able to make a statement to Parliament before the press gets wind of you."
Harry gave her a slight smile. "I'm not going to lie, I'm quite looking forward to it."
Ginny rolled her eyes but smiled back before turning her attention to Hermione and Draco. "Here," she said, their wands appearing in her hand as she reached across the table.
Hermione closed her eyes momentarily as she placed the wand in its holster, feeling that now-familiar sense of warmth.
"You guys have your plan?" Ginny asked.
Hermione nodded. "Yes. Sirius will provide a diversion while Draco and I head to the Apparition zone. Then, Draco will Confound one of the guards at the checkpoint."
Ginny furrowed her brows momentarily. "Don't forget – offensive spells are typically identified by satellites within 60 seconds of casting. You'll need to move fast to make it from the checkpoint to the actual zone before you get caught."
Hermione gave her a slight nod, moving her fork around her plate and sending glances Draco's way.
After breakfast, the motley group said their good-byes. Hermione looked around her: the retired drunk Auror, the presumed dead politician, the young Officer, the Death Eater, and her – the scientist turned witch. It was strange; they had known one another for less than a week, but she felt them bonded in some way – through their secrets, perhaps. She truly hoped that they would be enough to save the human race.
Heads up: There will be an interlude dropping tomorrow or Tuesday. This is the Robards/Fox whodunnit interflude - so it is highly recommended that you read, or else you may find chapter 30 a bit confusing.
Thank you to my alphas/beta - ElizColl, Art3misia and Astrangefan for all of their help. I am also on Tumblr at canttouchthis87, where you can also find WEA 101.
I appreciate any and all comments and reviews!