Chapter 10

"Me?"

Draco looked at her like she had grown another head, and then down at the basilisk fang in his hand.

"Stab the diadem."

Immediately, two ghostly visions of Malfoy's parents burst forth, surrounded by a hazy smoke. Draco skidded back, catching himself with his hands and nearly knocking his head on the coffee table. Lucius sneered down at his son while Narcissa writhed on the ground, screaming in agony.

Draco ran to his mother with a cry and frantically cast a few shielding spells that went right through her, thudding into the rug. He tried to pull her up, but it was a vision, a projection with no substance. Uselessly, he reached down to her face, hand padding through to the floor beneath her. He turned to Hermione, terrified.

"Is this happening now? At my home?" His voice cracked in his desperation, and his body shook.

She shook her head. "He's manipulating what he knows about you. Just do it."

"My mother isn't –"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "It's just a projection."

Lucius curled his lip in disgust and pointed at Draco, who looked up at him from the floor next to Narcissa. "It's because of your failure that she suffers and will die. You're weak. You're pathetic. You're incompetent. Consorting with Mudbloods. You are no son of mine, blood traitor. I'll deliver you personally to the Dark Lord."

"Draco," Hermione called, trying to make him turn away from the vision. "It's not real. You have to ignore them."

"Maybe it's not real, but it's true." She could see the tears in his eyes.

"They're just your fears. There's always an element of truth to them, but that doesn't mean it's all true."

She took the basilisk fang from him and approached the tiara. Immediately, her parents appeared where Lucius and Narcissa had stood.

"You've always been a selfish, ungrateful daughter, Hermione. You abandoned us." Her father spoke with a disdain she had never heard before. She knew that it wasn't real, that it was just an illusion to defend the Horcrux, but it still hurt. She felt tears form in her eyes.

Her mother continued viciously. "We'll never forgive you for what you've done. Thinking you're better than us for having magic. You're dead to us. You won't be able to return our memories anyway. We're better off without you."

Tears dripped down Hermione's face. She couldn't help it. They may be safe, but she was terrified she'd lose them. Either because she wouldn't be able to reverse the spell, or because they wouldn't want anything to do with her after they'd recovered. Draco whipped his head around to see her, now understanding why she knew so much about Obliviation.

"See?" she sniffled, wiping her tears away. She handed him back the basilisk fang. "Voldemort's a slightly more intelligent boggart. He exploits fears and insecurities."

He looked at her with incredulity. "He's terrifying, Hermione. You haven't seen what he's done." He steadied himself and bent down to stab the diadem. Just then, her parents disappeared, replaced by an image of Hermione. Naked.

Hermione's jaw dropped. She turned to look down at Draco, kneeling in front of the tiara, looking as shocked as she felt.

"You think you deserve Gryffindor's Princess after what you've done?" her doppelganger hissed.

"Draco," Hermione whispered down at him. "Just do it. You don't have to listen to it."

He turned slowly and looked up at her, an agonized expression on his face. "Yes. I do."

"You sniveling coward," it continued cruelly. "Watching your teacher tortured and eaten by Nagini while you did nothing."

Hermione turned to him in horror. Was the Horcrux referring to Professor Burbage? She'd gone missing a few months prior and there had been no news on her whereabouts. Hermione felt sick.

"You're weak. Muggle filth were tortured in front of you. You didn't even have the strength to put them out of their misery."

Merlin. What was going on at Malfoy Manor now? Draco was bent over, clutching his head and gritting his teeth. His body heaved a sob.

"You almost killed Katie Bell." Her image was vicious, merciless in its condemnations. "She spent months barely alive at St. Mungo's because of your incompetence. The Weasley blood traitor nearly choked to death because of your ineptitude. You're completely useless."

Hermione swallowed. That was true. She watched him kneeling on the floor, the accused, and her standing above him, the accuser. It was terrible. And fascinating.

"You coerced me into having sex with you. Even a Mudblood would never touch someone as pathetic as you."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. It appeared that he didn't really believe the excuses he had been telling himself tonight.

Nothing the Horcrux said was untrue, really, and it was all coming straight out of Draco's own thoughts and fears about himself. He knew the gravity of his decisions. He knew they were wrong, and he didn't know what to do about it. Her doppelganger walked over to him, pointing down.

"You let murderers and rapists run free in a place with children because you were too cowardly to ask for help."

His body heaved a sob and his hand dropped to the floor, supporting himself.

"Albus Dumbledore is dead because of you." The voice changed from feminine to masculine, but still evil. "You started the war, but I will finish it!"

Hermione watched her eyes gleam red and her figure morph into Voldemort's.

"No one can stop me. The Order will fall apart. Because of you they are leaderless. I'll kill your mother anyway and live forever!" Voldemort laughed cruelly.

Hermione knelt down next to him and pulled on his arm. "Draco, he's human. He can be killed. And you're not the same person that you were last year. These visions show that."

Draco didn't move, seemingly determined to wallow in self-loathing. He heaved another sob.

She tried a different tactic and turned his face to her. "Harry destroyed one of these when he was twelve. Are you going to let him show you up?"

Draco looked up, expression clearing. He narrowed his eyes at her, tightened his grip on the basilisk fang, and rammed it into the diadem.