Hermione stared at Draco's body, lying limp on the floor. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing. Hermione's hand began trembling and her new wand fell to the ground with a clatter. She got to her knees next of him, her mind going blank. The ring on her finger started shaking, turning into a stone-cold piece of metal on her skin.

Crookshanks came out of nowhere to sniff at Draco's body, meowing and giving his mom judgy looks.

She didn't know what came over her, but she also knew she needed to confirm her theory.

I'm right, I know I'm right, she thought.

But five minutes later, Draco still wasn't breathing.

She put a shaky hand on his chest, and gasped upon feeling a very weak heartbeat. His empty expression soon turned pained, his features into a grimace. Hermione flinched away when he grabbed at his chest as if trying to keep his heart from exploding, and she watched him in awe as he slowly sat up, looking around. He found her face a moment later, peering down at her without saying a word for a while.

"Dying hurts like shit," he gritted out finally.

Hermione watched his face carefully, searching for signs of anger, disgust or annoyance, but she found none of that. It was almost as if he was amused, proud of her. She regarded him as if witnessing a miracle. She had just killed him and here he was, sitting in front of her, alive and well, not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle in his robes.

"Honestly, I was expecting you to figure it out sooner, Granger," he said, a corner of his lips twitching. "Not the smartest way to check, though."

Hermione swallowed. She refused to say anything, only staring at him, still expecting for him to lash out on her at any moment.

"How long have you known?" he asked her directly, and she was forced to speak up.

"Since last night," she admitted. "Since you told me the ring wouldn't stop me from leaving any longer."

Draco's eyes glinted devilishly. He seemed enthralled by her. "And that's when you decided to kill me?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I wasn't certain then, but at night, I started thinking—"

"Ah, yes, because what better thing to do at night then to think," he grinned.

Hermione didn't let that disturb her, she continued, "—and I figured there were so many signs that I just missed. And I needed to check my theory."

"Your theory being…?"

"You're immortal."

Draco kept on watching her, that possessive and intense fire back in his gaze, urging her to explain further.

"There were so many signs, really, I don't understand how I haven't realized sooner myself…"

"What signs?"

"I—what?"

"You said there were signs, Granger. I'm asking what signs. I want to know exactly how you saw right through me."

Hermione pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes, hiding a half-smile. "You know, you weren't half as secretive as you thought you were being."

He cocked his eyebrow almost flirtatiously. Hermione gathered that getting killed made him an awfully lot more handsome. "Maybe I wanted you to find out."

Hermione mimicked his expression. "Then I succeeded."

"Tell me," he asked.

"Well, firstly, you told me yourself that You-Know-Who wanted you to know how to make a Horcrux, and that this is how you found out about his Horcruxes. When I first told you about You-Know-Who's Horcruxes, and told you they're most likely jewelry, you looked down at my ring. The same thing happened when I told you how we destroyed the first two Horcruxes."

"I did that on purpose," Draco said.

"Oh, yeah, you did. Anyways, even without you constantly staring at that ring as if your life depended on it, I could feel there was something off about it. By the way, when I went to Hogwarts, Pansy saw the ring, and she inspected it closely which made me a bit suspicious, but back then I thought that maybe because it's an important heirloom or something."

"It is," Draco interrupted her. "A very important heirloom."

"I wouldn't think of it any less. You wouldn't put your soul into something that was unworthy," she said.

"That's what makes me and Voldemort similar," he added quietly, looking at her attentively, perhaps trying to figure out her opinion on this.

Hermione knew she should feel disgusted, repulsed – if she found out that anyone else had made a Horcrux and gifted it to her, she would've been furious. But this was Draco, her Draco, and she knew he had no choice but to do what was expected of him.

"You're nothing like him, Draco," she said softly, taking his hand in hers, the one with the ring on it. "You-Know-Who is a monster and you… You're better than him in every way that matters." She paused for minute, gnawing at her lower lip. "Did he—did he force you to create a Horcrux?"

Draco's eyes darkened. "He didn't make me do anything, I created it myself."

"Yes, but—you said he taught you how to do it and—maybe he

"You just found out I committed one of the most atrocious acts of dark magic, and you still try to defend me, Granger," he stated, sounding almost disappointed.

Hermione swallowed thickly. "I am defending you because I know you would've never done it on your own."

"Then you know very little of me."

"That's what you want me to believe," Hermione continued, not ready to give up on him, not ever. "But I know a lot more of you than you want me to. Draco, I care about you." She moved closer to him until their knees touched. "I don't really care why you made this Horcrux because no one else besides us is ever going to find out about it." His eyes widened after hearing these words, his face turning from bored to shocked in milliseconds. "You don't have to tell me anything, but I would appreciate it if you did."

The look he gave her was one that she so rarely she even doubted it was real; but it was. His face was open and vulnerable as he watched her, rethinking her words over in his mind.

"You're right, Voldemort did encourage me to make a Horcrux, but he never forced me – it's not something you can force someone to do, a person's soul is free, and no amount of torture can change that," he began telling slowly and quietly after a few minutes of complete silence. "He did encourage me, though, he showed me how to do it. But I created a Horcrux not because of Voldemort, but because—" He stopped mid-sentence, giving her a strange look. "I made it because I needed to stay alive. I had to protect the one I care about, and I would be unable to do it if I was dead. I murdered my mother to make it. I don't believe it can get worse than that, even for you, Granger."

"Does You-Know-Who know you succeeded in making a Horcrux?" Hermione asked, ignoring the last part of his confession.

"No," Draco answered firmly. "He doesn't know anything, although I believe he suspects. But he never tried to kill me to confirm his suspicions, not like you."

"Sorry," she blurted out instinctively without thinking.

His expression softened. "Don't be. I'm glad you did it. Now you know and you can do whatever you wish with that information. I'm at your mercy."

Hermione looked down at the ring – the emerald glinted in the low light and the silver snake seemed to tighten around her finger, not uncomfortably.

"Weren't you scared to give it to me?" she asked.

"I wanted to give it to you. This ring is the only real thing I have left of myself, it's a part of my soul and it belongs to you."

She looked up at him, seeing his eyes honest and full for once – he wasn't hiding from her any longer.

"Thank you for trusting me. Know that I will not break your trust, and I will not do anything to cause you harm, Draco, not willingly, mot ever," she said, watching his eyes fill with barely noticeable sorrow.

The tension between them broke with his next words. "Well, at least now we know the wand is working."

Hermione stared at the wand she had thrown to the ground and leaned to the side to pick it up, feeling it's weight in her palm.

"Yeah…" she mumbled, smiling slightly. She looked back at him. "Can I go to Hogwarts now?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you so stuck on going there? What is it that you want to know that you cannot find here?" he asked, annoyed.

"Books aren't everything," she said, surprising Draco with these words. His eyebrows rose. "And I need to talk to Harry. If we want to kill Nagini, we need to do it fast, before You-Know-Who finds out we've been planning something. Harry is the one who might be able to tell me where they both are and help me plan how to get to the snake."

Draco watched her with no expression. "You're not going," he deadpanned.

"But what about—"

"You're not going alone. I'm coming with you."

She inspected him. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

She had noticed he avoided going to Hogwarts, so she couldn't understand why he wanted to go now. It couldn't be just to protect her, Hogwarts was a safe place for her, after all.

Draco jumped to his feet. "I'm fine," he said, and this time he actually meant it. And he did look like he was fine, despite the fact he had just died and resurrected. "I need to talk to Potter too," he explained when she kept on giving him strange looks.

Finally, she nodded, standing up next to him. "Okay," she said. "Let's go."

They Apparated by the Forbidden Forest. They walked through the fields to the castle, and all the way there Hermione tried to talk Draco into taking off his Death Eater's mask which he was stubbornly keeping on his face no matter what she told him.

"You're acting like a child," Hermione scolded him. "I don't understand why do you feel the need to intimidate the Order. None of them are going to attack you because none of them are scared of you. Half of these people you went to school with, and the other half were your teachers."

"We will see," was all he said, keeping the mask on.

There was a figure looming by the main entrance to the castle, and Hermione recognized too late that it was Neville. He had his wand raised at them, ready to attack.

"Who are you and what are you doing here!" he demanded.

Hermione went forward, raising her hands in the air. "Neville, it's me, Hermione… It's okay, we came here to talk to Harry."

"And who is that!" Neville gestured to Draco without lowering the wand.

"It's Draco, he's with me." Neville's suspicions didn't seem to lessen. She turned to Draco and hissed at him, "I told you to take that sodding mask off!" Then she looked back at Neville. "Go on, ask me something only I will know, and then we can go on."

Neville stared at her. "What's the color and the name of her cat?" he asked Draco. Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but Neville glanced at her to be silent. "No, he must answer."

Hermione watched as Draco evaporated the skull mask off his face, and when it was revealed to him, Neville had to take a step back. She was reminded that very little people had seen what the Malfoy heir looked like now, and she remembered her own reaction to his scared face and merciless expression.

"It's a ginger male cat named Crookshanks," Draco stated calmly.

Neville lowered his wand, turning to Hermione. "Why are you here?"

"We need to talk to Harry," she said. "Where is he?"

"They're having a meeting at the Great Hall. Follow me."

And so they followed Neville to the Great Hall. None of the four tables were fully sat, but it seemed that all the members of the Order that lived in the castle were gathered there. Snape was at the end of the Hall, heatedly explaining something to Harry and Pansy, while Hermione noticed the familiar faces of George, Angelina, Seamus, Dean, Kate, Anthony, Lee, Parvati and Justin. There were also McGonagall, Slughorn, Moody, Flitwick and Trelawney. The professors all watched Snape and Harry talk while George spoke quietly with Lee and Angelina, but when the three of them came inside, all conversation ceased.

Tens of pairs of eyes turned to them when Hermione and Draco started walking to the front of the Hall while Neville stayed behind. Harry was the first to recognize Hermione and the first to ignore the one who was with her – he moved to get to her, but Snape stopped him, eyeing Draco warily.

The tension in the Hall could be cut with a knife.

"I came here because we need to speak with Harry," Hermione said, her voice echoing throught the Hall.

Harry seemed like he wanted nothing more than to get to her, but Snape was still holding him down.

"May I ask why you felt the need to bring the High Reeve with you, miss Granger?" Snape sneered, cocking one eyebrow.

Hermione found these words strange – wasn't Snape the one who encouraged her to marry Draco? – but she didn't address that.

"I felt Draco could be useful on our mission," she said. "Of which's importance I know you're aware of, Professor."

Silence settled like a heavy blanket on them all.

It threatened to suffocate them until a slender figure jumped up from one of the tables and strolled towards them. Hermione saw strands of long yellowish hair before hearing the air was whooshed out of her lungs when Luna Lovegood hugged her.

"Hello, Hermione," she said softly, then looked at the man behind her. "Hey there to you too, Draco."

"Lovegood," Draco nodded his acknowledgement.

Luna's greeting made everyone exhale with relief.

"What are you doing here, Luna?" Hermione asked, not wanting to speak in front of everyone, but realizing she had no other choice.

"Blaise brought me here… He was scared something might happen—" She stopped mid-sentence, losing herself in her thoughts, then addressed Draco, "Have you seen him? How is he doing? I've been awfully worried…"

"He's okay, for now," Draco answered dryly. "He hasn't been attacked yet, but he's far from safe, and so are you. Which is why," he raised his voice on the word why, and it echoed through the Hall with all it's might, "we must get on with it and finish Voldemort off."

A wave of shocked murmurs washed over the Hall, but no one else spoke up. Finally, Harry freed himself from Snape and walked toward them when nobody stopped him, Pansy following behind him, looking at Draco suspiciously.

"I know why you're here," Harry said to Hermione. "Let's find a more private spot to speak."

Pansy grinned behind him. "I must suggest Slytherin common room. It's all empty anyway."

Hermione, Draco, Harry, Pansy and Luna found their spots in the Slytherin common room. Hermione expected some animosity between Harry and Draco, but they only exchanged a short dialogue.

"You've changed," Harry said to Draco, talking about his physical looks (at least Hermione hoped that's what he meant).

"You've changed too," Draco said to Harry, looking him up and down.

Now, for the first time Hermione realized how much Harry had truly changed throughout these five years, but she never noticed it because she saw him every day, and the changes were miniscule but accumulated to a grave change that some might find unrecognizable. Harry's hair now reached his shoulders, and he always wore it in a low ponytail to keep it out of his face but refused to let Hermione cut it since she was still a very poor hairdresser. There was a week-long stubble on his chin, and when he stood side by side with Draco, there were only a few inches difference in their height. He had grown quite a lot and became a man, but Hermione will always consider him the boy – her boy best friend.

They didn't speak much after that, coming to a common understanding.

Hermione explained what they here for since Cho had already updated them on Hufflepuff's cup.

"All that's left is Nagini," she said. "But we don't know where she might be. Maybe you have some ideas, Harry?"

Harry told them that he had been stalking Voldemort, reading his thoughts and spending quite some time in his head, even though Hermione had warned him not to do it, but of course, the moment she stopped supervising his every move.

"For god's sake, Harry, I told you to be careful! Just because you can read You-Know-Who's thoights, doesn't mean you should! It can expose you just as much, and then all will be lost!"

"I know, I know, Hermione, but listen… I know where he is… And where Nagini is…" Hary rushed to say.

"And where is that?" Draco asked harshly.

"They're at the Ministry. At the department of Mysteries."

Draco's eyebrows rose. "He has a safehouse. He wouldn't be at the Ministry."

"He wants you to think that. But he's there. And he's very protective of the snake, he knows we're after him, and he suspects you," Harry told Draco.

"Then we need to kill Nagini as fast as possible and destroy You-Know-Who for good," Hermione said, feeling her anxiety rise with every moment. "Tell us exactly where to find them and we'll be on our way."

"I'll go with you," Harry said.

"No!" Hermione and Pansy said in unison.

"No, Harry," Hermione continued. "You must stay here where it's safe because you have to be the one to kill You-Know-Who. Now, tell me where they are exactly."

Harry did tell her, although reluctantly. When he finished describing the place where Nagini was, Luna was the first to speak up, "Hermione, Draco, I'll be going with you. I'll help you kill the snake."

Draco shook his head. "Blaise would never forgive me if I'd let you come with us."

Luna gave him an uncharacteristically unkind look. "Well, he's not here to tell me off, so you will take me with you."

Draco only grimaced at that, but didn't argue further, turning to Harry instead. "I need to speak with you, Potter. Just the two of us."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, but he stood up. "Okay. Let's go."

"What could you possibly have to tell him?" Pansy demanded loudly, piercing Draco with her gaze.

"Pans—" Harry began, but Draco interrupted him, "That's between Potter and I."

With that, they left the Slytherin common room.

Pansy peered up and Hermione. "What's that about?" she asked.

"I've no idea," Hermione admitted, and she wasn't lying. She prayed that Draco wasn't telling Harry about the Horcrux on her finger now because that would ruin everything they had built up to this point; she knew Harry wouldn't be as understanding as she was.

To calm her nerves, she talked over their plan with Luna one more time to make sure everything was in order while Pansy looked around anxiously waiting for the two young men to come back.

Once they did, Harry seemed unrecognizable, looking like he had just seen the dead. He was pale and beads of nervous sweat shone on his forehead. He avoided all eye contact, and when Pansy jumped up to him, demanding to tell her what they talked about, he only said, "Nothing, Pans, nothing—serious… We just—came up with a plan for—another thing…"

Whatever their plan was, it couldn't have been anything good. Hermione turned to Draco, demanding answers herself, but his face was hard as granite and betrayed no emotions. His gaze found her and told her to be patient.

"It's time for us to leave," he told Hermione. "Lovegood, join us if you must."

They said their goodbyes, although Harry still didn't seem to have recovered from whatever he and Draco had been discussing. Hermione have him and Pansy one more apologetic look, and then they Apparated back to the Manor.