"So, am I understanding this correctly?" Hermione asked, after Pansy and Harry told her how they found another Horcrux. "After discovering that Salazar Slytherin's locket turned out to be a Horcrux you just assumed that the other Horcruxes must also have something to do with the Hogwarts houses?"

"Yup," Harry said.

Hermione's eyebrows rose slightly. "And you decided to go with Ravenclaw next because…?"

"I just felt like it," Harry grinned.

"You felt like it," Hermione repeated in disbelief.

"Uh-uh," Harry hummed, oblivious to her shock.

Pansy leaned it to fake-whisper into Hermione's ear, "It's a Chosen One thing. He just feels like something is true and it turns out to be true!" She laughed out loud. "Can you imagine?"

Hermione frowned, "No, not really… And how did you figure out it was a diadem?"

Harry and Pansy once again exchanged a look that only the two of them found meaningful.

"Well, Blaise gave us an idea about that," Pansy said while checking her manicure carelessly.

"Wait, Zabini?" Hermione asked taken by surprise. "He was here?"

"Yup," Harry said.

"When?"

"Like two weeks ago," Pansy said. "Duh, you were gone for a whole month, you didn't give us any messages, no news, no nothing, but we had to do something, so we just moved on with the plan. Good thing Blaise could help."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "So Zabini now also knows about the Horcruxes?"

"Yup," Harry said.

Apparently, they were telling everyone and anyone who was up to listen about the very hidden mission they were on, a secret that would destroy everything if it reached Voldemort's ears. And yet, she had doubted whether she was allowed to tell the High Reeve about the Horcruxes. She should've told him the first day – maybe by now, he would've come up with something.

"Okay, so how did Zabini know about the diadem?" she asked.

"He didn't. We told him our theories of what could it be and where could it be when he came here for the first time. He listened closely and then came back a few days later with this whole plan," Harry explained.

"Which was?"

"To talk to Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter," Pansy said.

Now it was Hermione's turn to look at them as if they were retarded. "Wow, that must've worked so well."

"It did because Rowena's daughter Helena is actually a ghost at Hogwarts," Harry assured her. "It was hard to convince her to tell me where the diadem is, though. Apparently, she had some sort of weird relationship with Tom when he was a student here, and he basically tricked her into giving away the diadem and made it into a Horcrux against her will. But Pansy," he gave his girlfriend a pointed look, "kept screaming and cursing and yelling at her to tell where the diadem was. Literally took a whole week until Helena was ready to talk to me again. That's when she told me."

Pansy snorted, "People just don't listen unless you threaten to kill them."

"Well, you can't threaten to kill a ghost, Pans," Harry said. "And see? I spoke civilly with her, and she gave me what I needed."

Pansy rolled her eyes.

"How did you destroy it?" Hermione asked.

"I did it with a Basilisk fang," Pansy answered. "Made me see and think a lot of horrible shit trying to survive, that one. But I've seen worse."

Hermione took a relaxing breath. "That's great news. Three more Horcruxes to go. What's next? Gryffindor?"

"I actually was thinking Hufflepuff," Harry told her.

Hermione's eyebrows rose higher and higher.

"Just trust his judgment, he's never wrong," Pansy added when she saw Hermione wanted to protest.

Hermione sighed, "Okay, Hufflepuff. What are we looking for exactly?"

"We were thinking that probably you could tell us."

Hermione thought for a few minutes, but nothing came to mind. "I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable on this," she admitted. "Maybe Zabini could help again?"

"Blaise has no idea," Pansy said, yawning. "But you know who is rather knowledgeable in all sorts of things related to heirlooms and artifacts? Malfoy. I thought maybe you wanted to ask him, but now you guys are in a fight, and I guess there's noo way you would go back to your fancy pureblood manor to question him about it. Really unfortunate, Granger, that now is the time you decide to be petty. But whatever, we're just going to have to find another way—"

Hermione groaned, "Jesus, fine, I'll go back and ask him. I'll just spend the night here, okay?"

Pansy grinned.

When Hermione came back to the Manor with the same Portkey, the living room where she landed was empty. She walked around and was about to call out the name when she heard a pop.

"Missis, you're back!" Mipsy exclaimed.

Hermione turned to her, "Oh, uhm, yes. I just… made sure that everything is in order at Hogwarts. And… there was nothing for me to do there, so I decided to come back," she said, her cheeks flushing with shame when she remembered how rude she was to the elf. "Mipsy, I'm so sorry I was so mean to you yesterday and that I forced you to open those gates, it was not my place to—"

"Oh, nonsense, Missis, you had all the right. You just didn't know some things," Mipsy answered smiling.

"You're right. I didn't know. Now I do." She went silent for a moment. "Is your Master… at home?"

Mipsy nodded, "Yes, Missis, he's in his chambers."

"Do you think I could see him? I have something to tell him."

The elf smiled, "Of course, Missis." And she took Hermione there.

He was sitting on the sofa in his room, reading through some papers, wearing a simple black robe. He heard her come in but didn't look up at her.

"Hi," she spoke out.

He gave her a side glance. "I thought you'd take longer."

But of course, he knew she would come back.

"Well, it turns out there was not much for me to do at Hogwarts," she said. "And I need to talk to you about something quite important." He still didn't look up from his papers. Hermione understood he was angry with her, but she was getting annoyed. "May I get your attention, Malfoy?"

She watched his body tense when he heard his last name. Then, he put down all he had been reading on the coffee table near the hearth and turned to her.

"I'm all yours, Granger," he stated, gesturing for her to sit on the armchair before him. She did. He looked down at her left hand. "I see you did not manage to get the ring off," he pointed out.

"I wasn't trying to," she admitted. "Cho helped me to clean the wound properly."

"I see," he mused, looking back into her eyes. "What did you want to talk about?"

Hermione swallowed. "Why didn't you tell me that girl you killed wasn't Pansy?"

A dark shadow crossed his face. "What does it matter?"

"It does. You made me believe it was her you killed. I know you couldn't tell me as it happened, but you could've told me afterward. You made me think—"

"So it doesn't matter if I kill a person as long as they're not close to you?"

Hermione closed her eyes as if in pain. "No…"

"It wasn't Pansy. Now you know. Happy?"

"Who was that girl?" she asked quietly, opening her eyes.

His expression was cold and unwavering. "Do you really want to know?"

No, she didn't.

Hermione took in a fortifying breath. "How did you do it? Why did that stranger look like Pansy and both Crabbe and Pucey knew nothing about it?"

"I need a drink," he stated, standing up from his seat and going to the small bar where he kept his hard liquors. He took out a bottle of whiskey and filled his glass, then turned to Hermione. "Want some?" he asked.

Hermione wanted to refuse instinctively, but instead, she said, "Okay."

He poured a second glass and gave it to her. Hermione sipped it, disgusted by the taste but enjoying the warmth it filled her with.

"I had a feeling everything's going to take a turn when Nott disappeared," he continued after sitting back down with a drink in his hand. "You know that whole story." Hermione nodded. "Basically, Pansy got trapped and when I got her out, I didn't know where to take her, so I thought Hogwarts was the best place. Fortunately, you found her, and everything went as planned. But it didn't end there. I knew Voldemort wouldn't calm down until he found Pansy and saw either her dead body or had a chance to kill her himself which he loves to do to those who betray him." He sipped the drink. "I have been anticipating something like that to happen for a few months now, so I started to experiment in the lab to make something similar to Polyjuice potion but with much longer-lasting effects. After lots of trial and error, I finally managed to concoct something that has an effect lasting for more than a week."

"How did you do it?" Hermione asked, amazed.

"I switched only the cooking time which was the trickiest part. And now instead of Horn of Bicorn I put Bezoar – quite impossible to find but I can always refill my stocks." His scarred lip corner twitched.

"Of course," Hermione said, amusing him.

"So, after I made sure Pansy was taken care of, I started looking for someone to feed the potion with her hair in it. I switched the girl's memories a bit so that she would recognize Crabbe whom I made sure would find her first. I also made sure she recognized me because I know Crabbe well enough to be certain he would bring her straight to me to kill." Hermione shivered but he didn't seem to pay attention to that, too lost in his story. "She spent a few days at Crabbe's – I don't know if he did anything to her, but I'm sure he waited for the big part." His eyes glistened in the dim light with what she believed was a memory of the torture and the kill. After a moment of silence, he turned back to Hermione. "The rest you were there to see. That's all there is to it."

She didn't want to think about that poor girl who had to take Pansy's place. She didn't want to think about the fear she felt, the pain she suffered, the unimaginable horror she'd been through before dying.

Hermione swallowed. "I appreciate that you told me," she said.

He nodded. "Is there anything else?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Yes. I wanted to talk to you about… what Harry has been working on in order to beat Voldemort." When he didn't say anything, she continued, "We are aware that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has a few of, let's say, possessions that make him immortal, meaning that until those objects are all destroyed, he will be impossible to kill. They could be anything, but what we've found so far have been fancy luxurious items, jewels and such." Hermione saw his gaze slide to the ring on her finger. She cast her eyes there, too. "Yes, it can be something like a ring, but one of those objects we've destroyed had been a ring, so I doubt there will be a second."

"You're talking about Horcruxes," he said.

"I—well, yes. How do you know about it?"

His expression soured. "A few places. Some my mother told me, some I found out from Voldemort himself."

Hermione gasped. "He told you?"

"Rather he let me figure it out. He was insistent that I know how to make one." He went quiet for a bit. "So, what are we looking for?"

Hermione shook herself out of the shock of this knowledge. "I'm not entirely sure, but Harry believes the Horcruxes must be related to the Hogwarts houses, and he thinks we should be looking for something related to Hufflepuff. Perhaps you have an idea of what it could be?"

She watched his face transform into a thoughtful expression, his eyes narrowing, lips going down, eyebrows furrowing, and gaze emptying, searching for an answer in his mind.

"There is a cup. Hufflepuff's cup," he spoke up after a long silence. Hermione had heard of it, albeit very briefly. "But I cannot be certain if that's the right one. I'll need to do some more research before I can tell you anything useful."

Hermione almost jumped out of the armchair. "Oh, I'll help you with the research! I'm very good at it."

She saw something like amusement shine on his face. "I know, Granger. But for now, go get some sleep. We both will be better equipped to think in the morning."

Hermione couldn't disagree with that, no matter how much she wanted to jump headfirst into researching.

"Okay," she said. "And thank you for sharing your thoughts."

He nodded again. She was almost out the door when she remembered to say, "Goodnight."

Hermione saw his lips quirk with something resembling a lopsided smile. "Goodnight, Granger."