Time passed, and the winter began to thaw. Hermione was grateful for it – she had to keep finding excuses to go outside with someone to steady her magic with the earth elemental inside of her until Luna was ready for the coven bond. It was much easier to coax a friend outside when it wasn't freezing out.

Blaise seemed to realize something was going on with her constant requests for a stroll, but he didn't pry, to her relief – Snape had forbidden her to discuss what they had done with anyone, and she hadn't quite figured out a way to talk around it with her coven yet. Instead, Blaise seemed to take satisfaction in the fact that he was the one she came to most often – Hermione only went to Tracey or Millie if Blaise couldn't be found.

Blaise was the most fun to talk to, though. Tracey liked to tease her about Cedric, and though Millie's mini-lectures on pureblood customs were helpful, Blaise's mind worked more like hers. He seemed to assume that Hermione had always planned to take down the monster and save the school herself.

"I didn't think it would be a basilisk, though," he admitted. "You could have defeated pretty much any other kind of snake and saved the school easily, and it would have helped establish your name. But a basilisk… even Snape would cower to face that."

Hermione was loath to agree, but she did; if she was truly going to accept the risk of going after the basilisk to save the school, she was going to need a very good plan before she made her move. But at least she had time – with the diary in her possession, and Tom unable to possess her, there was no more chance of attacks.

Hermione studied, Hermione did her homework, Hermione talked with her friends. Life was almost normal, if one forgot you had to take a friend with you to the toilet every time you needed to go and the undercurrent of anxiety running through them all. With no further attacks, the security measures hadn't strengthened, but they hadn't lessened either, and Hermione was eager for them to be gone.

Tom Riddle was interesting to talk to, but he hadn't been terribly helpful in coming up with a plan to handle the Chamber of Secrets and its monster. They had taken to speaking in the odd fiery mindscape of Hermione's mind; using it helped exhaust Hermione's magic each night, and it was much faster than writing everything out. It also helped ensure that the nuances of body language and tone of voice weren't lost.

"I don't want the basilisk killed," Tom said flatly, folding his arms. "She's an ancient guardian. She should be honored."

"She's an extraordinarily deadly creature," Hermione argued. "With her around, uncontrolled, students will always be in danger. It's not like there's a safe use for a basilisk."

Tom rolled his eyes. "So?"

He was much more helpful in developing a plan to frame all the Heir of Slytherin business on someone.

"You'll need it to be obvious, but plausible with the evidence," he told her. "I got away with framing Hagrid because people were so desperate to believe. This time, with Dumbledore already suspicious, you're going to have a much harder burden of proof."

"How am I going to make it seem like someone is the Heir without your diary?" Hermione said. "Without you possessing a person, how could they become the Heir?"

"You just have to make it seem like they were acting as the Heir, even if they weren't," Tom said, eyes glinting. "People will spin their own stories around the evidence you give them. You just have to make it plausible – their imaginations will do the rest."

"I'll need to plant Dark magic on whoever I pick," she said. "Or something of Voldemort's, really, that could feasibly be used to open the chamber or control the basilisk." She gave Tom a considering glance. "…can you bleed?"

Tom looked affronted. "I beg your pardon?"

"Can you bleed?" she repeated patiently. "For that matter, if you did bleed, would wizards have a way to tell that it was Voldemort's blood? If they don't, it'd be pointless anyway."

Tom paused.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Certainly not here – this is a mental construct. But if I could manifest a body of my own…"

"And that's possible?" Hermione asked dryly. "How do you do that – steal someone's soul?"

"Well, yes, if I wanted a permanent one," he admitted. "But if I only needed a temporary one, one that could dissipate and send me back to the diary… that can be done with just magic."

"Oh?" She was intrigued. "What kind of magic?"

"No, Hermione." Tom's gaze was steady. "Just magic."

Hermione swallowed hard. "Oh."

The idea of purposefully draining her magic into the diary each night to save up enough so Tom could manifest a body was an idea that required further examination. It was certainly possible – she carried the diary practically everywhere with her now as it was, to make sure Tom couldn't possess anyone new, and it'd be a small change to use the diary to drain her magic into instead of levitating furniture until she couldn't anymore.

However…

Anything that could temporarily manifest the Dark Lord, in Hermione's opinion, required at least a week or two of careful consideration and forethought. She wasn't about to barrel into something as dangerous as this without being very careful and deliberate about it.

While Hermione was still thinking about her plans for handling the basilisk, she called the draft of her coven together in an old classroom one weekend. With such unsurety over what she would do, Hermione wanted to control and plan out the things she was sure about, and formalizing the pact of her coven was a good start.

"Is everyone still on board with this?" she asked. "Does everyone still want to be in the coven?"

"Yes," Blaise said immediately. "Yes, yes, and yes. Don't you dare make one without me."

Hermione laughed. "Duly noted, Blaise. You want to be in the coven."

"I'd like to." Luna smiled at her. "I'm looking forward to it, I think."

"Luna's still in," Hermione said, smiling back at her. "That's three."

Harry looked puzzled, while Susan looked amused.

"I thought we already were a coven," Harry said. "What's the difference between what we're doing now, and what we'd do as a coven?"

"What we would do would be much the same," Hermione admitted. "We'd still be doing ritual magic. But part of what makes a coven a coven is they bind themselves to the pact of the coven and to each other. It lets them share magic during rituals and in times of great need, and it strengthens the power of what the coven is capable of."

Harry's eyes went wide. "That's… that sounds like a lot."

"Think of it like arithmetic," Hermione said, suddenly inspired. "Right now in ritual, all our magic is added together. But when we're bonded as a coven, it's multiplied."

"Wow. Okay." Harry looked over at Blaise. "So we'd be able to do much bigger things?"

"If we wanted to," Hermione said, shrugging. "I don't have anything pre-planned, but we certainly could."

Harry considered for a long moment, before nodding slowly.

"I like what we've done so far," he said. "And… I'd like to continue to be involved." He glanced around at them all, giving them a small, tentative smile. "Binding magic sounds a bit dodgy, but if I'm going to bind mine to anyone else's, it'd be to you."

"Oh, Harry—!"

Touched, Hermione ran forward and hugged Harry, who laughed and hugged her back.

"Potter expresses doubts and gets a hug, but I get nothing for being sure?" Blaise complained dryly. "Not fair, if you ask me."

Hermione laughed and pulled away from Harry. "Fine. Hugs all around."

She went and hugged Luna who hummed as she hugged her back, clinging slightly to the older girl. Hermine smiled and tucked Luna's hair behind her ear as she pulled away, and Luna smiled up at her.

"I like your hugs," she said simply. "They feel nice."

"Hermione hugs are the best," Blaise agreed, snagging Hermione's hand and tugging her into him. She laughed, caught-off guard from losing her balance, and Blaise grinned as he wrapped his arms around her. Hermione wrapped her arms around him back, resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. Blaise's arms always felt nice around her.

When she went to pull away, she found Blaise's fingers locked behind her, trapping her in.

"You can let go now, Blaise," Hermione laughed.

"Nothing doing," Blaise said, his eyes flashing with mischief. "Susan hasn't answered yet. Until someone else requires a hug, there's no need to end mine."

Hermione rolled her eyes and squirmed inside of his arms, turning around to look at Susan.

"I realize that you've only been in one ritual with us so far, so this is probably the hardest for you," Hermione said, ignoring the fact Blaise was draping himself over her shoulders like a stole. "If you don't want to—"

"Hermione, you're brilliant, but you're really dumb sometimes, you know?" Susan's tone was exasperated, but she was smiling. "I've always wanted to join a coven. Always, ever since I heard about my mother's. And with all of you…" She gave them all a smile, glancing around. "You've been so welcoming right from the start, to say nothing of you helping me with my glasses."

"So… that's a yes?" Harry pushed, and Susan laughed.

"Yes, that's a yes," she said, her eyes bright behind her turquoise lenses. "I'd love to be in the coven."

"You have to let Hermione go now, Blaise," Luna said, and Blaise groaned as he let go of Hermione, Hermione laughing as she went to Susan.

"Then, welcome," Hermione said, hugging Susan, and Susan hugged her back enthusiastically.

"Thank you," Susan said honestly, her eyes shining up at her. "You have no idea what this means to me."

Hermione smiled back at her as she moved back to her place.

"Before we can bond as a coven, we have to make sure everyone's magic has reached a set maturity level so we don't accidentally stunt ourselves. This means we can't formally bond quite yet," Hermione said, glancing over at Luna, "but we'll be able to soon."

"Soon," Luna agreed. "Most likely by Beltane, I'm sure."

"The coven bonding ritual that we'll do is a set ritual that everyone does to make a coven," Hermione explained. "It mostly involves us bonding ourselves together and binding ourselves to a covenant and sharing our magic and power. It's said to be an incredible, transcendent experience, so we'll want to make sure we can all sneak away for the entire night for it. It will take a while."

Blaise and Susan looked excited, practically vibrating with anticipation. Luna was smiling serenely, while Harry just looked interested.

"After we all bond together as a coven, we'll be buzzing with magic and potential leftover from the binding," Hermione said. "We'll want to do a ritual soon after, if not immediately after – something big and meaningful, to cement the moment in our minds and make an impact in the world."

"And use up the extra magic," Luna added.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that too."

Blaise looked excited.

"So this can be literally anything?" he said.

"We're still just children," Susan pointed out. "We'll have a limited amount of power available to us, buzzing with bonding magic or not."

"What level of power are we talking, then?" Harry asked. "Calling fairies? Summoning a dragon? Raising the dead?"

"Raising the dead is necromancy, Potter," Blaise shot at him. "It's very Dark and illegal. The dead must be let to rest."

Harry held up his hands. "I was only asking! I wasn't suggesting!"

But Hermione was looking at Blaise consideringly, an idea slowly percolating in her mind.

"Not all necromancy is illegal, though," she said thoughtfully. "And as you said: the dead must be let to rest."