AN: Here's the second part as promised.


ART OF STEALING.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1997.

Lucius stood still as a statue, his breath stuck to the back of his throat. There, outside the lift, stood their very target, Dolores Umbridge. He resisted the urge to make any contemptuous facial expressions at her horrendous fashion sense to not arouse any suspicions. If puking pastilles were a person, it would look like her. She seemed to be arguing something with Pius Thicknesse but Lucius couldn't catch whatever it was they were talking about. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Granger slowly slipping her wand from the holster in her sleeve. He glanced at Weasley and saw her doing the same. Lucius stomped his right foot a little harder to catch everyone's attention and it did the trick. Granger and Weasley both relaxed but they were still clutching their wands behind their backs while Umbridge and Pius looked up at the sound.

"Ah, Bridges!" Umbridge exclaimed, looking at Weasley. "Have they finally finished setting up the courtroom?"

Weasley glanced at Granger, panic written across her features, before nodding in affirmative at Umbridge.

"Splendid! Well, Minister, that's one problem solved," the diminutive woman in pink bobbed her head enthusiastically before consulting on her clipboard. "We'll go straight down there now, Bridges. You'll find all the paperwork inside the drawer along the balustrade. Let's go then! Ten people today and one of them the wife of a Ministry employee! Tut, tut! Even here, in the heart of the Ministry!"

At the action, Lucius caught a glint on her chest and his eyes widened when he followed the trail of that glint, his eyes landing on the all-too-familiar locket with an 'S' engraved on the front. Granger and Weasley must've noticed as well because he heard them both gasped, fingers reflexively tightening on around their wands.

This isn't good.

The plan was supposed to find Umbridge alone, stun her, take the locket, erase her memory, and then disappear. They had hoped to catch her unaware inside her office but her being surrounded by other people especially the Minister of Magic himself was not part of it. Lucius knew that Pius wasn't really Imperiused by Yaxley. He had overheard the latter's conversation with the Dark Lord a week after Scrimgeour became Minister of Magic and appointed Pius as his successor in the DMLE. And besides, Yaxley may be a good duelist, but he wasn't that powerful enough to successfully bind someone experienced like Pius in an Imperiused Curse for an indefinite amount of time.

Umbridge stepped into the lift beside Hermione, as did the Minister and the two wizards who had been listening to their conversation. "Good morning, Albert, Mafalda, aren't you two getting out?"

Granger turned her head and looked at him, a weird expression on her features. If she weren't wearing Mafalda Hopkirk's face, Lucius might've guessed what she was trying to say to him but alas, to him, she merely looked constipated.

"No," Lucius answered Umbridge in Runcorn's deep booming voice and it seemed to be the right answer because Granger tilted her head in approval. "We… we thought the lift was going down so we both entered it. We're actually headed to level four."

"Whatever for?" it was Pius who answered this time.

"Archives," Granger squeaked. "We're looking if Ted Tonks have other listed homes in the Ministry."

"Ah," said Pius. "Travers sent you to help Runcorn?"

"Yes, Minister."

The golden grilles closed again and the lifts staggered back before plunging down back to where they came from. The only person talking inside the lift was Umbridge as she was listing off instructions to an annoyed Ginevra Weasley. Granger, on the other hand, was unmoving as the statue downstairs in the Atrium but she hadn't let go of her wand.

If his wand wasn't broken right now, the three of them could probably take over the other occupants in the room but even then, it was too much of a risk to do it anyway in such a public location. Who knows who might be on the other side once the lifts stopped?

"Level four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being, and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office, and Pest Advisory Bureau," the disembodied voice said again and the detached, monotonous tone was really beginning to grate on his nerves.

He and Granger stepped out of the lift, unfortunately leaving Weasley to the wolves. Lucius saw her anxious face sinking back out of sight, two wizards on either side of her, Umbridge's velvet hairbow level with her shoulder.

"Fuck!" Granger hissed beside him once the lift was gone. She started pacing there and Lucius clamped a hand on her shoulder to keep her still. The last thing they needed was for someone to look at them suspiciously.

"Language," he reprimanded out of habit.

"You're telling me off now about my language?" she snapped at him. "Ginny's stuck in there with them! And the locket! Umbridge was wearing it! Why did you say we were going to level four? You should've said we're going to the courtrooms with them!"

"Pius will be suspicious," he whispered. "Umbridge and the rest may be clueless, but Pius is quite perceptive. He would've caught the lie immediately. At least we can find Potter here and plan from there. We still have at least forty-five minutes before the potion starts to wear off."

Granger seemed to calm at his explanation. "Harry," she whispered back before blushing a deep shade of red. It was then that Lucius noticed that his hand was still on her shoulder. He removed it and took a step back, his right hand now laying limply at his side.

He cleared his throat to dispense the awkwardness that suddenly surrounded them. "Let's go find him."

Lucius led them to a shortcut he knew, one that wouldn't need to pass by the rest of the Department. Secretaries and assistants often used this route when they were asked to retrieve urgent files by their bosses. He inwardly cursed Runcorn's shorter stature. If he was his normal self, walking wouldn't be this slow with his long legs. As they reach the entrance, a bookkeeper was standing behind a desk, her head down.

"Is Randall Pyke still in there?"

The record keeper looked up, ready to snap at whoever disturbed her peace but stopped when she realized who was standing in front of her. "Yes, sir, he—"

Lucius didn't wait for her to finish and immediately strode inside, Granger still at his heels. He ignored the bookkeeper who was calling Runcorn's name. Lucius knew that the woman would require both him and Granger to sign at the enchanted logbook and that would definitely give their real identities away—something he had neglected to tell Potter before he left. They had to find the Boy-Who-Lived fast before the woman noticed that it wasn't Randall Pyke's name that was written on the log book.

The Ministry Archives was thrice bigger than the library at Hogwarts since it contained all records of magical individuals living in Great Britain and Ireland, alive and deceased, as well as all the laws passed since its formation in the seventeenth century. Lucius had been here more times than he could count, always looking for information that could benefit him. Sanctimonia Vincet Semper had always been the Malfoys' family motto but 'Knowledge is power' was Lucius' personal one.

It didn't take them long. Lucius found Potter's Polyjuiced form hunch over a nearby table, perusing a stack of documents.

"Harry!" Granger called and the Boy-Who-Lived jerked up at the sound of his name. He turned around and saw Lucius and Granger jogging towards him.

"What are you two doing here? I told you to find Umbridge!"

"We did," Granger said then glanced at Lucius warily. "She's downstairs in the courtrooms."

"Then why aren't you there with her?" Potter then realized that someone was missing. "And where's Ginny?"

Lucius suddenly heard movement from where they had come from. Bugger! They needed to get out of here fast. He grabbed Potter's shoulder to face him. "Look, Potter, it's a long story but right now, we have to get out of here. Security is going to come looking for Granger and me since we didn't sign on the log book."

"Bloody hell, why didn't you two sign it?" Potter pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Because the logbook will alter whatever name we wrote to our real name and we can't have anyone knowing we were here!" On the far end of the hallway, Lucius spotted three security looking for them. "We're leaving now!"

He bolted to the other exit he knew, one that would take them to Magical Maintenance. The route was a bit far off but he couldn't risk going back to where they came from. As they stepped outside the archives, Potter appeared beside him, keeping pace which wasn't hard since they were of the same height in their Polyjuiced form.

"I signed at the logbook," he said.

"Then they will see your name when they checked the records later. We have to be out of here before that happens or else they'll lock this entire place until they find you."

"But where's Ginny? We can't leave without her."

"She's down there in the courtrooms with Umbridge," Granger spoke behind them. "And Harry, we saw the locket. Umbridge was wearing it. We're sure."

Potter could only nod.

They stopped at the end of the hall leading outside the Magical Maintenance. Lucius glanced, left and right before continuing their pace. The lifts would be on the next turn, and he hoped to Merlin and Morgana that nobody was waiting for them there.

"Did you know that your ancestral home was built in the sixteenth century?" Potter said beside him. "Apparently, King William gave it as payment for something your ancestors did."

Of course, Lucius knew that. He was already instructed on the Malfoys' history from the moment he could read and write. The family took pride in their history.

"Did you know that King William is a Muggle?" Potter continued in an upbeat tone. "I thought your family hated Muggles?"

Lucius wondered about that too. Wondered what went wrong that made his ancestors despise the people they used to work with. He remembered reading about his namesake when he was nine. How Lucius I tried to woo the Muggle monarch but failed and ended up cursing her instead. Then, there was Nicolas Malfoy who killed hundreds of Muggles under the guise of the Black Death and therefore escaped the council's censure. He had looked up to both of those ancestors then—one for his ambitious nature while the other for his cunning. Still, he had always wondered what happened for his ancestors to harbor such hatred.

"What's your point, Potter?" he sent the annoying little prick a cutting look but Potter only shrugged indifferently, a small smirk playing at his lips.

"Can we just focus on the task at hand?" Granger glared at the both of them, her look lingering longer on her friend. "We only have half an hour left to get Ginny and the locket!"

At the mention of Weasley, Potter immediately sobered up. Lucius resisted the urge to thank Granger for her intervention even though some of her ire was directed at him as well.

They eventually reached the golden grilles without anyone getting suspicious. The lift started going down, down, down to level nine and as they stepped through the dim, torch-lit stone hallway, Lucius was reminded of that time he saw Potter down here with Arthur Weasley around two years ago. Apparently, he wasn't the only one taking a trip down memory lane.

"This brings back memories," Potter said.

"Indeed."

Potter led the way this time, having been here himself. They went down the flight of stairs on their left leading toward the court chambers. As Lucius reached the landing at the bottom, he felt the familiar, unnatural chill swept over him all the way to the deep, recesses of his bones, engulfing him in a cloak of despair and hopelessness. Not again, he sullenly thought. He suddenly had an aching need to ignite himself on fire just to stave off the cold that was expanding inside of him.

"Dementors," Potter said mostly to him. Lucius expected the boy to taunt him or say anything about his trip to Azkaban a year ago—his recidivation—but instead, what he saw was understanding and fear that almost matched his own and it made Lucius shiver involuntarily.

"What do we do?" Granger's fearful eyes flicked from him to Potter. "Umbridge has seen me and Malfoy leave at level four. The moment we step inside the courtroom, they'll know something is up."

As soon as Granger said the word 'seen', an idea suddenly occurred to him. "The cloak," he said and the two snapped their heads in his direction. "Can the Dementors see you while under the cloak?"

"I don't know," Potter replied. "They probably can sense me though."

It wasn't good but it was enough. As long as the Dementors couldn't see under the Invisibility Cloak, the plan could work. It will work, Lucius convinced himself because the alternative was not an option. He would rather kill himself than be subjected a moment longer in the presence of Dementors. The three of them huddled closer as he whispered the course of action.


Ginny sat on the balustrade beside Umbridge, pretending to take notes of what was transpiring in front of her. Every now and then, she would glance at the doors, hoping Harry and Hermione would come to rescue her. As minutes ticked by even Malfoy's sneering presence was a welcome salvation from this predicament she landed herself in. When Pius Thickinesse exited the lift on level eight, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was one less wizard to subdue. The courtrooms below the Department of Mysteries were mostly deserted according to her father and despite being outnumbered, Ginny was confident she can take on the three other occupants of the lift and steal the locket away but when they rounded the corner downstairs, all plans seemed to vanish in the instant she saw the tall, dark-hooded figures lingering in front of the courtroom chambers.

She never had any close encounter with the Dementors unlike Harry and Hermione and to feel them just a few feet away was enough to paralyze her from the neck down. Ginny didn't know how her friends managed to cast a Patronus charm then, let alone form a hopeful thought. The only thing that was keeping the Dementors at bay right now was Umbridge's cat Patronus merrily circling the room.

Now that Yaxley was here as well, Ginny truly felt hopeless.

Her rumination was interrupted when the wizard they were interrogating suddenly started screaming.

"No, no, please believe me, please! I'm not a Muggleborn, my father was a wizard, please! I'm a half— I'm a half-blood, believe me, please! My father, look him up, Darcy—William Darcy, h-he's a famous broomstick designer! He designed Oakshaft 79! I'm—"

Yaxley flicked his wand to silence the wizard. Ginny wanted to do something, to say something but she could only grip the edge of the table until her knuckles and hands turned deathly white.

"Take him away," Umbridge's soft voice rang clear across the room. Two dementors appeared in the doorway of the courtroom, their rotting, scabbed hands clutching the upper arms of the wizard who appeared to be fainting now. They glided away down the corridor with him, and the darkness they trailed behind them swallowed him from sight. Ginny gulped a lungful of cold, stale air. Harry, where are you?

"Next, Mary Cattermole," the squat woman beside her called.

And then Ginny suddenly felt something heating in her chest. She reached inside her blouse and pulled out the DA coin. I'm behind you, it said. Ginny stilled for a moment before relaxing. "Harry?" she whispered in time with Umbridge's voice.

"It's Hermione," the space beside her whispered back.

Ginny wanted to ask if Harry was with her but couldn't for fear of Umbridge hearing her. The interrogation continued and Ginny wondered if the incident minutes ago was just a figment of her desperate imagination. Umbridge held out a hand in her direction and Ginny fumbled with the stack of parchment in front of her trying to remember the name of the witch they were interrogating. Bloody hell, I can't remember her name!

"Mary Cattermole," Hermione's voice whispered near her ear, making Ginny jump in her seat. Umbridge and Yaxley looked at her oddly and Ginny tried to cover it up by coughing loudly. She finally found Mary Cattermole's paper and handed it to Umbridge's toadlike hands, eyeing the locket that faintly glinted in the dim room.

The interrogation resumed again where Umbridge listed all of Mary Cattermole's Muggle upbringing while Yaxley jeered beside her. The other two occupants in the room were merely looking straight ahead, a flat expression on their faces.

"Hermione—"

The doors to the chamber burst open and Ginny saw Harry's Polyjuiced form walking briskly towards Yaxley. Their eyes briefly met for a second before Harry's gaze moved to the empty space behind her.

"What is it, Pyke?" Yaxley snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"The Ministry is in lockdown, sir. Harry Potter has been sighted inside."

Yaxley shot up from his seat instantly, eyes alight with a manic gleam. "Where was he last seen?"

And then it happened so quick. Ginny saw Hermione's arm poked through the Invisibility Cloak, firing a stunning spell at Yaxley. The Death Eater slid to the floor in a loud thump while a flash of red light from Harry's wand hit Umbridge square on the chest and like Yaxley, she crumpled and plopped on the edge of the balustrade. The other two wizards scrambled off the balustrade as well to hide but Hermione and Harry paid them no mind. They were just harmless Ministry officials.

Hermione removed the Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it inside her beaded bag. The moment Umbridge lost consciousness, her Patronus also vanished and the Dementors started descending upon them.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled across the room and his familiar stag Patronus soared through and leaped towards the Dementors, making them fall back to the dark shadows.

"Take the woman and go!" Harry told Ginny. "Malfoy's waiting outside. He'll tell you what to do!"

Ginny nodded and rushed towards the witch who was bounded to a chair. She tried Diffindo and Alohomora but the chains wouldn't break. "I can't remove it!" she screamed across the room.

"Try Relashio!" Hermione shouted as she took the locket from Umbridge's neck, casting a Gemino charm to duplicate it.

The spell worked and the chains clinked before withdrawing to the arms of the chair. Ginny pulled a stunned Mrs. Cattermole to her feet.

"I don't understand…" she whispered, dazed.

"Go home, take your kids, and hide somewhere safe. Leave the country if you can. The Ministry isn't going to give you a fair trial. Disguise yourselves and run," Ginny said urgently as she pulled the woman towards the doors. She saw Malfoy standing in the hallway, on the lookout.

"You?" Mrs. Cattermole said, gazing into Malfoy's face. "But Reg said… he said that you were the one who submitted my name for questioning!"

"Me?" Malfoy asked confused before remembering that he was Polyjuiced into Albert Runcorn. "Perhaps I did."

"Where do we go?" Ginny asked him. Her gaze kept flickering between Malfoy and inside the chamber where Harry was trying to keep the Dementors away. She could see the fatigue on his face as the use of the Patronus charm was draining a huge chunk of his magic.

"There's a lift in the Magical Maintenance where it'll take us to the service entrance of the Ministry. That's where we'll go but she has to go to the visitor's lift," he nodded in Mrs. Cattermole's direction. "It'll be dangerous if we take her with us."

"Go," Ginny urged Mrs. Cattermole. "You heard him. Go!"

"But—"

"There are no Dementors there so you should be safe," Ginny pushed the woman. "Go and run!"

Ginny pulled out her wand as soon as Mrs. Cattermole finally disappeared. She was about to call Harry when she heard Malfoy beside her hissed.

Harry was running towards them now with Hermione following behind, the Dementors gliding towards them at an alarming speed. Harry tried casting the Patronus charm but could only manage to produce a weak, noncorporeal one.

"Expecto… Expecto Patronum," Hermione tried but nothing came out.

Ginny watched as one of the Dementors finally caught up to Hermione, its ghastly mouth opening to suck her soul out of her body. To hell with the Trace!

"Expecto Patronum!" Ginny's horse galloped around Hermione before chasing away some of the Dementors. She rushed towards her friend and helped her up.

"Thanks, Gin," Hermione mumbled weakly.

"We need to move fast!" Malfoy shouted. His arm was around Harry's waist, supporting his exhausted body.

"Go! We're right behind you!" she shouted across.

Malfoy half-ran, half-dragged Harry to the direction of the Magical Maintenance. Ginny and Hermione tried to follow but they were cut off by a group of Dementors at the first corner. Shit! She heard Harry calling out to her and Hermione and from the volume of his voice, she guessed that they were too far away for her to reach them.

"Double back!" she heard Malfoy yelled. "There's a secret passageway right after the courtroom chamber. It'll lead you directly to the Ministry holding cells. We'll—"

Ginny couldn't hear the rest of what Malfoy had said. She and Hermione already broke into a run, looking for the said secret passageway. The cold was starting to numb her legs and she hoped to Merlin that those foul creatures wouldn't follow them all the way.

"Here!" Ginny saw Hermione enter a narrow and dark hallway. Only two people at a time could walk there together and it was enough for them. The Dementors were still chasing them but the cramped path could only fit so few of them, their mobility completely hindered.

They finally reached the end of the passageway and into the Ministry's holding cell where it was filled with a large number of Muggleborns due for questioning. There were no guards and Ginny could only assume that Umbridge used the Dementors to transport prisoners back and forth.

"We need to do something!" Hermione said fervently and there was that part of Ginny that wanted to run to safety, to leave those people in the cells. This must be what the Slytherins called self-preservation, she grimly thought.

"Unlock their cells while I try to hold back the Dementors," she said before releasing her Patronus charm again, drawing forth the memory of kissing Harry in the Room of Requirement a year ago. Despite the fatigue, Ginny pushed through in driving away the Dementors long enough. She turned around and saw Hermione's Polyjuiced form starting to fade away, her bleach-blonde curls peeking out from the graying ones.

They really needed to leave now.

They managed to get out of the holding cell without being intercepted, but as they approached the lifts that will take them to the Atrium, Ginny started to have doubts again. Coming out of the lifts with nearly twenty accused Muggleborns would definitely attract unwanted attention especially if the Atrium was as full of people when they came here.

The DA coin in her pocket heated again before she could think of a plan.

At the Atrium. Polyjuice is gone. Where are you? -H

Ginny looked up and saw that Hermione was back to her normal self again.

"Ginny…"

"You too," she said.

The lift clattered open and the Muggleborns stepped off. Ginny's eyes frantically darted in every direction, trying to sense if they were in any immediate danger. Hermione then tugged at her sleeves and pointed in a dark corner.

"There they are," she whispered.

Harry and Malfoy were standing in the shadows with their head down, the crowd oblivious to their presence. Ginny and Hermione started making their way towards them but halfway through, a booming voice sounded from one of the lifts.

"Seal the exits! SEAL IT ALL!"

The wizards standing by the lifts looked up at the sound as well as the rest of the people in the Atrium. Yaxley burst through the lift, shoving witches and wizards who were in his way. And then his eyes landed on Ginny and she watched how that gaze went down to her clothes which Kathy Bridges wore only minutes ago, how an inkling of truth dawned on that brutish face.

"Call the Aurors!" he yelled as he fired a nonverbal curse at Ginny. "Potter is here!"

A shield was erected in front of her just in time before the curse reached her. She looked beside her to see Hermione in a dueling stance. The two of them parried curses with Yaxley until popping noises soon sounded off from around them and they were suddenly outnumbered.

"Come on!" Harry shouted at Ginny and Hermione as he ran for the fireplace, Malfoy not far behind.

The distraction caused Hermione's concentration to slip and one of Yaxley's curses hit her on the shoulder, making her stumble backward.

"Hermione!" Ginny yelled. Her eyes darted around for a distraction until she saw the horrendous statue. That will have to do. She hated that statue anyway. "Bombarda Maxima!"

The statue exploded, sending debris and a thick layer of smoke across the Atrium. Ginny took that as their chance and grabbed Hermione's hand. They jumped into the fireplace together as a curse sailed over her head. They spun for a few seconds before shooting up out of a toilet into a cubicle. Ginny kicked the door open and saw Harry and Malfoy standing there beside the sinks.

"Ginny!" Harry said, relieved until his eyes landed on Hermione's bleeding shoulder. "Hermione!"

"It's fine, Harry," Hermione assured him. "Just a scratch."

"That doesn't look like a 'just a scratch'," Malfoy remarked.

There was a gurgling noise in the cubicle behind them. Ginny looked around and saw Yaxley's menacing figure appeared before them.

"LET'S GO!" Harry yelled.

Malfoy seized Hermione by the hand and Harry by the arm while Harry grabbed Ginny before turning on the spot. Darkness engulfed her along with the compressing sensation that accompanied every apparition but Harry's hand seemed to be slipping out of her grip and was being replaced by something on her other arm. Amidst the distortion, Ginny caught Yaxley's angry face pulling her away and there was a warped screaming, and a flash of purple light. The sound of her flesh tearing made Ginny cry out in pain, but Harry's hand in hers was suddenly vicelike before she slipped into unconsciousness, the pain overriding anything.


Hermione was the first to open her eyes, and immediately sat up straight, wand in her hand. She quickly looked around until she finally saw her friend lying across the Persian rug of her mother's parlor room.

"Ginny," she called out. There was so much blood pouring out of the gash that ran from her shoulder all the way to the middle of her breasts. Hermione was in a panic. She needed to stop the bleeding immediately or Ginny will die from blood loss. "Shit, Ginny! Hang on please!"

She tore a large piece of cloth from her coat and pressed it on the wound to staunch the bleeding. It was something she had learned from reading her father's medical journals back when he was in university. But the blood still kept pouring and it was pooling underneath Ginny who was turning grayish-white against the green rug. The wound was too big for Hermione's hands to cover.

"I don't know what to do," she said despaired. "It's not working!"

She had seen Ron splinched before and it looked too comical back then unlike the gruesome scene before her now and Hermione, for the first time in her life, didn't have an answer to a problem.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!" Malfoy's voice thundered beside her.

"The bleeding won't stop," she looked at him with unshed tears in her eyes. In her peripheral vision, she saw Harry starting to regain consciousness. "I can't stop it. I don't know what to do."

"Bloody hell! Are you not a witch?" Malfoy slid beside him and yanked her hand away from Ginny's body.

"What are you—"

"Essence of Dittany," he said. "Do you have any in that enchanted bag of yours?"

"Essence… bag…" Hermione couldn't think straight.

"Snap out of it Granger!" Malfoy gripped her shoulder, the one with the wound and it was enough to make her brain function properly again. "Essence of Dittany, quickly!"

Hermione immediately plunged her arm inside the bag and grasped the vial of healing potion. She tried to unstopper it but her hands were violently shaking. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Malfoy's cold, large hands encircled hers, steadying it.

"Deep breaths, Granger," he said in a calming voice and Hermione let herself be swept away by the comfort it brought.

Harry then kneeled on Ginny's other side, looking at her with horror in his eyes. "What happened to her?"

"Splinched," Malfoy said as he carefully guided Hermione's hand to where the wound was. She squeezed three drops along the wound and they watched as greenish smoke billowed upward and when it had cleared, Hermione saw that the bleeding had stopped. The wound now looked several days old; new skin stretched over what had just been open flesh. Ginny's breathing eventually became steady but she still had that sickly pallor.

"How did this happen? And why are we back in your Mum's parlor room?" Harry asked, confusion written over his features. "I thought we were supposed to go back to Grimmauld Place?"

"I don't think we can go back there," Malfoy said, letting go of Hermione's hand and she suddenly felt untethered like she could float away any minute now.

"What do you mean?"

"Yaxley managed to grab a hold on Ginny when we Disapparated," Hermione explained quickly. "I didn't want to risk hurting Ginny so I waited until we were in Grimmauld Place and when his grip on her finally slackened, I cast a Knockback Jinx at him before bringing us here instead."

"Do you mean he's at Grimmauld Place? He can get in?"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione couldn't stop the tears now from pouring.

"Shh, shh, Hermione it's not your fault, okay?" Harry tried to soothe her but there was just a heavy feeling settling inside her chest that had nothing to with Dementors this time.

If she had been quick enough, none of this would've happened. She didn't regret freeing all those Muggleborns and she hoped that all of them got away but if she had been faster back when they were in the courtroom chamber, the Dementors wouldn't be able to catch up to her. And if she had managed to cast the Patronus charm, Ginny wouldn't have to come to her rescue. They wouldn't be separated from Harry and Malfoy. They probably would've escaped the Ministry quietly without alerting the Aurors or even Yaxley and they would be back in Grimmauld Place now.

Gloomy and oppressive though the house was, it had been their one safe refuge: even, now that Kreacher was so much happier and friendlier, a kind of home. With a twinge of regret that had nothing to do with food, Hermione imagined the house-elf busying himself over the steak and kidney pie that the rest of them would never eat.

"Should I bring Ginny upstairs to rest?" Harry asked her.

"You should. We'll be safe here for now but we can't stay long. We'll move once Ginny is okay."

Harry nodded before reaching under and carrying Ginny out of the parlor room towards upstairs into one of the guest rooms.

A heavy silence settled between the remaining occupants of the room but Malfoy was the first to break it.

"I need to tear the sleeves off," he said to her, his eyes focused on her shoulder. It was then that Hermione realized that her shoulder wound was still untreated.

"It's fine, I can do it myself," she tried to get the Essence of Dittany from him but he held it far away from her.

"You're still shaking," he insisted. "You're only going to waste it by pouring on the wrong skin."

Hermione didn't have the energy to argue with him and he was right, it was not just her hands that were shaking but her entire body as well. She turned her torso sideways, bringing her injured shoulder to him. Malfoy carefully placed the vial beside him before helping her peel away her tattered coat. He dumped it behind her before going back to her shirt.

"Here, use my wand," both their eyes widened at her words. Even Hermione herself couldn't believe what she just said right now. Did she really try to hand over her wand to Lucius Malfoy?

"No, it's fine," he quickly recovered from the shock, waving away her offer. Malfoy used his bare hands and carefully tore away the sleeve of her shirt but Hermione wince a little when the cloth touched the wound. "Does it hurt?"

"No, no," she reassured him. She didn't want to appear so fragile to him, especially to him. His earlier words were still ringing in her ear.

Are you not a witch?

Of course, she was. The way he said it though, rankled her deeply. Like it was solid proof that she wasn't part of their world, an outsider looking in.

Hermione gritted her teeth and hissed as he placed two drops on her shoulder, the wound closing and stitching itself back until there was only a faint pink scar much like Ginny's.

Malfoy stoppered the vial before handing it back to her. He then stood and offered his hand to her, ever the gentleman. Hermione didn't hesitate in slipping her hand into his this time and the warm feeling in her chest returned the moment she felt his skin touched hers.

"So, have you got it?" he asked.

"Got—got what?" she said with a little start.

"What did we just go through all that for? The locket, of course," Malfoy rolled his eyes.

She pushed her arm once more inside her beaded bag and pulled out the locket. It was the same as the fake locket with the ornate letter 'S' inlaid with many small green stones but something was different with it. It felt… heavy, but the weight felt the same.

She passed it to Malfoy, who turned it over in his fingers. Compared with the diary, the thing looked perfect, pristine. She remembered how Harry showed her, through Legilimency, what the diary-Horcrux looked like after he stabbed it with the Basilisk's tooth and how the stone in the ring-Horcrux had been cracked when Professor Dumbledore destroyed it.

"Can you feel it?" Malfoy asked in a hushed voice, as he held it tight in his clenched fist.

"Feel what?"

"There's a lot of Dark Magic stored in here. A lot darker than what I have felt before."

Hermione snorted. "It's a Horcrux. That's probably the darkest magic one could ever make."

"How are you going to destroy it?" Malfoy asked her as he handed the locket back. "You heard what the elf said. Even he can't destroy it with his magic."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I think I'll keep it safe for the meantime until I found a way."

Sudden awareness of what she was holding, of what lived behind the little golden doors, hit Hermione as she spoke. Even after all their efforts to find it, she felt a violent urge to fling the locket from her. After getting her bearings, she stuffed the locket back inside her beaded bag. She'll have to discuss this with the rest once they were well-rested.

"I should go clean up and see about lunch," she said, by way of excusing herself. This was the first time they were completely alone together again after the shaving incident a month ago. This was also the first conversation they had without it ending in an argument. Their interactions since they arrived at Grimmauld Place were mostly in the presence of either Harry or Ginny or both and if the two of them ended alone in the kitchens or in the library, one of them quickly excused themselves. "I'll bring you a change of clothes as well once I'm done."

Hermione didn't wait for an answer and quickly rushed to the door. At the threshold, she stopped. She just couldn't leave without acknowledging what he did for her today.

"Mr. Malfoy," she called out and the used-to-be-blond wizard looked up at the sound of his name. He looked so human right there with the ill-fitting clothes and the short-cropped, black hair. "Thank you."

Malfoy nodded in acknowledgment but as she was about to head off, his clear voice rang in the quiet room.

"Miss Granger," he said. "Call me Lucius."

"Call me Hermione then," she replied automatically. A beat passed where neither of them spoke. Hermione eventually turned around and headed upstairs. She felt like something tangible formed at that moment.

It was trust.


AN: How long can that peace last though?