A/N 1: Thank you all so much for your amazing reviews, and for your incredible patience. I've not been able to write nearly as much as I'd like to lately, but I'm working on this story as much as I can.

Chapter 31

"Welcome, dear friends, to the second episode of Potterwatch!" the ringing, upbeat voice of Lee Jordan echoed through the Room of Requirement, and Hermione peered around at the grinning faces of the DA surrounding her. It was Saturday night, and they had gathered around the wireless the Room had chivalrously provided. "I'm River, your humble host, and my first order of business is to apologize for the long wait since our first episode. We were kicked off the airwaves by a round of raids during the last month from those pesky Death Eaters. But we've found a new hidey-hole and we're coming right back at you with news from the Light! Before we carry on with our programme I will, with a heavy heart, announce those deaths that the Daily Prophet has neglected to report in their inaccurate news coverage of the Wizarding World…"

Hermione sat between Ginny and Professor McGonagall, who'd stepped into the DA Headquarters for the first time that evening, to raucous applause from the members. She was relieved to hear Lee's voice, as Professor McGonagall had stopped hearing from him and the other members of the Potterwatch team weeks earlier. Hermione listened attentively to the list of names Lee Jordan read out, and then bowed her head during the minute of silence that followed.

"And now to start our programme off on the right foot," Lee continued in a cheerier voice, "here is Royal to update us on the new Wizarding order."

"Thanks, River," came the deep, soothing voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt, "I want to start out with a general warning for everyone listening tonight. The Death Eaters have indeed begun bi-weekly raids over the past month or so. Be very wary during daylight hours, and do not under any circumstances open your doors at night." He went on at length about protective measures and appropriate points of retreat should listeners be faced with an invasion of Death Eaters. "The most important thing to remember," he continued, "is strength in numbers. The Death Eaters are employing fear tactics liberally now, and they are mobilizing divisive manoeuvres. Use passwords, friends. Use codes and revealing spells, and most of all, trust one another."

"Excellent instructions all around, Royal!" Lee said heartily. "And what would you advise for those wizards that live alongside Muggles in the current climate?"

"I would advise what we went over in the first episode," Kingsley answered slowly. "It costs nothing to cast a few protective spells and, for those Muggles who are injured, to employ some Healing magic."

"Thank you, Royal, for highlighting the importance of treating Muggles with compassion, as we know the Death Eaters have been targeting them regularly, and brutally." A short pause, and Lee went on again, "And now for the popular feature Pals of Potter, here is Romulus!"

"Thanks, River," the tired voice of Remus Lupin answered. "Despite the ever-tightening hold of the Death Eaters on the Wizarding World, there remain many faithful members of the Light working against the new order. Hogwarts, especially, has seen a strong wave of resistance from the group of students calling themselves Dumbledore's Army – " a wave of boisterous applause, whoops, and cheers rang out in the Room. Hermione waved for silence, which fell slowly as Lupin carried on, "… both with diplomacy and outright combat. We commend the work this determined group of young people are doing in order to prevent Hogwarts becoming a fully operational Death Eater stronghold. Be careful, dear friends, but do keep moving forward…"

The rest of the programme focused on more encouragement for members of the Order of the Phoenix, how to evade teams of Snatchers, and further Muggle and Muggleborn protection measures. At last, Lee Jordan took up the microphone once more.

"That's our show for tonight," he said with determined cheerfulness. "We should be back on the airwaves again early next week with another episode of Potterwatch! Twiddle those dials, friends, and use the password Sirius. Until then, keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night."

"That was brilliant!" Harry's cramped writing scrawled across Hermione's twinned parchment. She smiled to herself, imagining her friend's jubilant expression, so many miles away.

"I'm glad you two were able to listen this time," she answered. "Any developments on your end?" It was something of a loaded question; the boys had reached dead end after dead end, and Hermione could tell that it was starting to wear on both of them in different, disturbing ways.

"Nothing on the Horcruxes," came Harry's reply, and Hermione tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the messy writing. "But I really think there might be something there with the Hallows, you know. Dumbledore DID refer to them, I'm sure of it, in – "

Hermione couldn't forbear it, and so she cut across him, sending her quill into a rapid, untidy frenzy: "Harry, we've been over and over and OVER this. Dumbledore told you – told US – to look for Horcruxes. He never once mentioned the Hallows to you, and we know that the mark could be anything from a reference to the Hallows to an homage to Grindelwald, with whom Dumbledore was corresponding." She shook her head as her words disappeared from the parchment. She went on a moment later sure that, all those miles away, her friend was fuming. "I will give you that maybe Dumbledore and Grindelwald were making a tacit reference to an old Wizarding story, but I don't think it has any bearing on our mission whatsoever. Please, Harry, I'm begging you to drop this. Ron has told me that you've been unproductive lately, that he's been pretty much alone in figuring things out, and that you've taken a real backseat. You have to remember what Dumbledore instructed us to do!"

It was Ron's loopy writing that appeared next.

"He's gone, 'Mione. He…" the writing paused for a moment before resuming, "he's not doing well, and I don't think he needed that right now."

Hermione felt burning shame flare to life in her chest as she pictured Harry, his scar standing out more sharply than usual, slamming his way out of the small, smelly tent and into the middle of nowhere.

"I'm sorry, Ron. Tell him I'm sorry. I… I'm worried that things aren't progressing. I don't know how long we can hold our end here at Hogwarts. Things are on the upswing against the Carrows for the moment, but it can only last so long before they figure out how we've been besting them."

"I know, Hermione, but Harry he's… he's just sitting around, really. I try to get him interested in finding Horcruxes, but he just… won't."

"What is he doing?"

"I'm not sure. He just sits. On his bunk. He reads that barmy Skeeter book about Dumbledore over and over, and sometimes I can hear him muttering, but he won't say what it is he's trying to do."

Hermione thought about Harry. About the Horcruxes, and the Hallows, and the scar across her best friend's forehead. Her own forehead prickled as a thought arose in her mind.

"Has he been seeing into You-Know-Who's mind, Ron?"

The reply was instantaneous, as though Ron had been on the edge of telling her exactly what she'd been afraid of: "I think he might be trying."

"WHY?" she penned as quickly as she could.

"I'm not sure, but it's not like I can stop him."

"Ron, you HAVE to. You absolutely can't let him reopen that connection!"

There was a pause, and Hermione ran a hand through her bushy hair, trying not to imagine Harry sitting alone on his bunk, reading the thoughts of an ever more powerful Voldemort.

"How was Upper Flagley?" she wrote next, remembering the boys' plan to investigate the Wizarding village.

"Nothing," Ron wrote back.

And so they went over it again, she and Ron: the places they knew that Voldemort had lived or worked, had recruited or murdered, until the hour was late and Hermione finally had to tell her friend a weary good night.

"Watch your back, 'Mione."

"I will. And try to keep Harry on track. I know it's hard for him. Send him my love."

A brief pause, and then:

"And me? Do I get some love too?"

Hermione's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the large, well-proportioned letters. Her mind flashed to a pair of black eyes watching her before she thought of Ron's red hair and freckles, his long nose and wide grin. There used to be something there, but now…

"Of course," she answered a beat later, "my love to you both."

She was overseeing dinner in the Great Hall the next week when Malfoy caught her eye from the Slytherin table. Hermione glanced quickly at the High Table, to where the Carrows were conspicuous only by their absence. Snape presided over dinner from his place in the centre of the table, his gaze sweeping deliberately across the Hall. Hermione looked away quickly when his dark eyes landed on her, and then she glanced back at Malfoy, before nodding minutely, and excusing herself from the Gryffindor table five minutes later.

"Everything OK?" Neville asked in an undertone as she hefted her rucksack onto her shoulder.

"Impromptu meeting with the ferret," she said, using the DA code word for Malfoy.

Neville glanced down the table at Ginny, who faced the Ravenclaws that evening, and made a quick hand sign. The redhead nodded grimly, understanding that she and Neville would be in charge of supervising the remainder of the evening meal, as well as the return of the DA members to their respective Common Rooms.

"Parvati's on watch in Headquarters," Neville reminded her quietly. "She'll – "

"I know," Hermione said. "She'll send the fighters if need be. But I'm sure I'll be fine. I'd best go."

She smiled happily, feeling the forced expression fall away from her face quickly as she turned away from the Gryffindors and walked briskly out of the Great Hall. She did not look at the Headmaster as she left, but she could feel his intense stare following her.

"What?" she demanded as soon as she and Malfoy were alone, this time in a concealed alcove near the Slytherin Common Room.

"They're planning something," he said simply, his grey eyes intent and direct. "And it's coming soon."

"You-Know-Who?" Hermione asked, her usual brusque feelings for Malfoy giving way to a fear that rose along her back and sent shivers down her spine. Malfoy was usually so blasé, his manner so carefully calculated that she had often wondered whether he himself might be employing Occlumency during their brief meetings. Now, though…

"He's been asking questions about Hogwarts lately," Malfoy went on rapidly.

"Asking who?"

"All of us – the Carrows and me… and Severus. We all report the same things, but I think the Dark Lord has been summoning the Carrows on their own the last few times to get more information out of them."

"So you've all been what – lying to You-Know-Who about the DA and everything here?"

"Don't be thick," Malfoy said, so much contempt suddenly in his voice that Hermione felt herself blushing, "no one can do that and live. No, we've just been sticking with those facts the Dark Lord most wants to hear, and he's mostly accepted that, but it couldn't last forever with everything you lot have been getting away with."

"Getting away with?" Hermione spat, her voice rising. "That's what you call defending ourselves from your lot?"

Malfoy glanced over his shoulder at the tapestry that concealed them. Hermione had rarely seen him nervous. A suspicion ran through her, but she held her ground.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Yes. Getting away with," he said firmly, before continuing, "You watch the Carrows' comings and goings, don't you?" Hermione nodded. Malfoy took a step closer. "So you saw them leave this afternoon?"

It wasn't the way he said it, nor the careful expression on his face, nor anything in his eyes. It was the way he was turned toward her fully, shoulders and hips and even the toes of his expensive dragonhide loafers; he'd never given her his full attention before, not without physically telegraphing his disdain and antipathy. Soon… or NOW… it's happening NOW and he's brought me here to…

"When?" she demanded at once, feeling her stomach plunge. Oh, God, what if they're already… of course they are. "Damn it, Malfoy," her voice was a hiss, "where?"

"I couldn't stop them," Malfoy said, ignoring her question, and squaring his shoulders. He glanced down at where Hermione held her wand on him. "Blast me aside, Granger, and you'll know even less than you think you do now."

"You fucking traitor," she spat, and her wand hand shook with the force of her anger. "Tell me. NOW."

"Agree that you'll stay here," came his answer, and Hermione saw a faint blush rising in his cheeks despite his apparent composure. "And I'll tell you everything."

"Why? Why are you trying to keep me here?" But she already knew…

"Orders from Severus. It'll be over soon enough anyway."

"Last chance," she said, dismissing her roiling emotions as she brought her Mind's Eye up. Malfoy's nostrils flared, and he twitched his hand in a way that told Hermione he'd had his wand up his sleeve, but she'd already primed the spell:

"Legilimens!" she cried, and Malfoy's grey eyes widened as Hermione dove into his psyche.

A Mind's Eye came up immediately, confirming Hermione's suspicions. She stood in the drawing room of an opulent mansion – his parents' house? – the high ceilings, mullioned windows, and moving paintings spoke of wealth, and the flickering of candlelight around her made Hermione feel like she saw everything from inside a haze. The proportions of the house were off; it was a huge, expansive space that changed and warped oddly as she observed it, trying to discern the thread of Malfoy's feelings. There – a wisp of something that attempted to hide itself away behind a lavish sofa: she grasped it and felt… panicky defiance. The feelings suffused her as she pressed forward, entering a memory adjacent to the narrow, shifting space between the sofa and the bay window.

Memory-Malfoy knelt in a large circle of hooded figures – Voldemort himself stood in the middle of the circle, rotating slowly on the spot and fixing each Death Eater with his livid, scarlet stare. When his gaze met Malfoy's, that panicky defiance rolled through the memory, and Hermione felt Malfoy himself squirm psychically as Voldemort began to question him.

"And how go your studies, Draco?" the high, sickly voice asked.

"Very well, my Lord," memory-Malfoy answered at once.

"And do you convey the… lessons you learn among your fellow Death Eaters to your associates in Slytherin?"

"Of course, my Lord."

"Then why…" the voice became a dangerous hiss, "do I still see the noncompliance of so many students within the minds of your superiors at Hogwarts?"

"My Lord," came a woman's voice from across the circle. Hermione felt fear and hatred suffuse her when she recognized that voice. "My Lord, do allow me to attend the Slytherins at Hogwarts. I'm sure that with my instructions all resistance will fall away."

Voldemort looked towards the speaker, and then turned back to memory-Malfoy.

"Your aunt clearly believes that those in charge at Hogwarts are not performing adequately, Draco. I wonder…" the tall figure drifted sideways, "what you think of such an implication, Severus?"

Hermione felt her stomach clench, and she looked at where Voldemort's empty eyes were now fixed. A figure on its knees drew back its hood, and her professor's pale visage appeared. His dark eyes focused intently on Voldemort, his face set into lines of perfect nonchalance.

"It is preposterous, my lord," he said, his deep voice sonorous in the small space. "Bella would have the students torture and maim one another into compliance. She would have us cripple the next generation of magical practitioners before they can become loyal subjects to the new order. I, as you know, believe in the judicious use of force and the careful persuasion of young minds to our way of thinking. There may yet be resistance mounting at Hogwarts, but it is tempered by our ever-growing influence."

"My lord," Bellatrix rejoined in her rapid, rasping voice, "that is a position of weakness. SNAPE is weak. Allow me to attend Hogwarts and I promise you it will take but one example to turn the tide with my methods."

Snape, ignoring Bellatrix completely, looked only at Voldemort, who returned his gaze silently. Hermione felt herself almost buzzing with the dual needs to hang onto this memory, and to break the psychic connection and return to the Great Hall. If Bellatrix Lestrange herself is in Hogwarts right now…

"Who should the example be, Severus?"

The dark man paused for just a moment, his countenance betraying nothing.

"Neville Longbottom," he said, and Hermione felt herself blanch.

She ripped her psyche out of the memory, and severed the connection to Malfoy's splendid Mind's Eye.

"You let her into the castle?" she asked Malfoy, who glared at her.

"If you'd watched the rest of the memory," he spat angrily, "you'd have your answer. Go on, then. You're such a good, brave, strong Gryffindor – break into my mind again, Granger!"

"You prepared that memory, you dirty little ferret!" she heard her voice rising, felt electricity crackling through her wild hair. "You were distracting me!"

"I was letting you see that there was no other choice!" Hermione had never seen Malfoy so angry. "I was going to show you all of this, but instead you decided that I'm a fucking traitor and that you had a right to – "

"Shut UP!" Hermione shouted. "Tell me now what they're going to do!"

Malfoy glared at her, fury evident in every feature, before he spoke again.

"Severus convinced the Dark Lord to stay away from Hogwarts, but he accepted Aunt Bella's idea of making one of the DA into an example. She and a few others have gone to capture Longbottom's grandmother – they've been tracking Order members for ages, as I've told you before – and they're going to use her to – "

Hermione didn't wait for him to finish, and she blasted him aside when he stepped up to try and block her way again. She swiped aside the tapestry and raced through the dungeons and back towards the Great Hall.

A/N 2: Another cliff-hanger... I'll smack the backs my naughty writer's hands on all of your behalves ;). Next chapter is in the works and will hopefully be up next week.