AN: I've been searching for my glasses for 30 minutes only to realize it was on top of my head all along. My roommate thought I was going crazy when I started laughing hysterically. Anyway, here's a new chapter.
BROKEN WANDS & DREAMS.
OCTOBER 9, 1997.
Ever since that blasted diary incident in her first year, Ginny had developed a keen sense for danger. Like even the smallest hint of it would have her ears pricking like a hound and the skin at the back of her neck tingling. It was what had gotten her safe throughout her teenage life in and out of Hogwarts (not that there were many dangers, but still).
So, when the supposed Bathilda Bagshot in front of them motioned her spindly, frail-looking hands for them to follow her, Ginny didn't move an inch.
"I don't think this is a good idea," she whispered so only the other three would hear. "Is that really even her?"
"It is her. I am sure of it," Malfoy confirmed. "She was in the headlines of the Prophet when Rita Skeeter released her biography about Dumbledore, citing Bathilda Bagshot as her primary source."
"I remember her picture in the back of Hogwarts: A History," Hermione commented. "But she was younger then, so I wasn't sure."
"Does she even know who she is talking to?" Ginny asked. "We hardly looked like our usual selves. I don't think I'd recognize Malfoy here even if you place a nametag on his chest."
"I don't know how," Hermione replied. "But it looks like she knows who we are. She wouldn't have spied on us all the way here if she wasn't sure."
"I think she wants us to follow her," Harry stated.
"Err, I don't know, Harry," Ginny gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Bad would be an understatement since not only her ears were pricking and her skin tingling, but her hands were trembling from fear as well. Ginny had half a mind to grab everyone and disapparate out of here, but she wasn't as good as Hermione when it came to transporting more than two people.
"I agree with Ginevra," Malfoy nodded. "I do not think it would be wise to blindly follow someone we hardly know to Merlin knows where."
Ginny wanted to say something witty about Malfoy agreeing with her, but words were lost on her. Overcame with anxiety about the situation, she could only bob her head up and down eagerly in approval.
"But this is Bathilda Bagshot we're talking about!" Hermione protested. "She couldn't possibly hurt us, could she? She's friends with the Dumbledores!"
"And even if she did try something, there's four of us," Harry said. "I'm pretty sure we can overpower an old witch like her."
Ginny gave her friends a suffering look. Age was never the primary basis for the strength of a magical person. Former Headmaster Dumbledore was old, as well as Professor McGonagall and Ginny knew without a shred of doubt, they could take on more than ten people at the same time. And wasn't it just a minute ago that Hermione looked like she wanted to bolt out of here? And now she wanted to go with Bathilda Bagshot? She looked to her right to see Malfoy pursing his lips in disagreement as well. The world has really turned upside down if Malfoy is the only one seeing reason here, she thought.
But before Ginny could persuade them against it, Harry turned around and started following the old witch.
"Bloody hell," Malfoy beside her hissed then turned to the two of them. "As soon as I sense even the slightest hint of danger, we are leaving whether you three agree with me or not."
Ginny fervently nodded. "I'll be the one dragging Harry's stubborn arse out."
Malfoy's lips turned up at the corner, amusement glinting at his silvery blue eyes. He then looked at Hermione with a pointed look.
"Try that with me and I'll hex you to Hades and beyond," the brunette-turned-blonde witch snapped back. "I don't need to be told twice. I'm out of there as well if Madam Bagshot tries something. I'm just agreeing with Harry so we could get this over with quickly."
Hermione turned back and quickly made her way to where Harry and Bathilda Bagshot were headed. Ginny watched the interaction like a hawk before following her friends with Malfoy trailing behind them.
Lucius watched as the old woman he identified as Bathilda Bagshot hobbled back off the way they had come. The walk seemed like a funeral procession with how slow they were pacing. There was something ominously off about her that he could not pinpoint. It was the same feeling he would get whenever the Dark Lord was within the vicinity, dread trickling uncomfortably along his skin like a snake waiting to strike its prey.
The only thing that was keeping him from fleeing, vow or no vow, was the replacement wand he was tightly gripping in his right hand like the lifeline it was. Even though Lucius knew it would be useless should things turn sour for them, the thought that he still had it gave him a small amount of comfort.
After what felt like an eternity, the old witch turned in at a gate. They followed her up the front path through a garden nearly as overgrown as the one they had just left. She fumbled for a moment with a key at the front door, then opened it and stepped back to let them pass.
Lucius hesitated at the threshold. Why is she using a key instead of her wand? He couldn't feel any wards surrounding the house and the foul odor that came from inside made his prison cell in Azkaban smell like a freshly bloomed garden in the summer.
He locked eyes with Granger who was fidgeting a few feet away from him, her eyes wide with uneasiness. She was trying to convey something to him with that look, but he could not comprehend what it was.
Weasley then noticed them still lingering at the front door, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Aren't you going to come inside?" But Lucius noticed it lacked its usual biting tone.
He took a deep breath and, after an agonizing moment, finally step through. The odor of old age, dust, unwashed clothes, and rotten food intensified as Bathilda Bagshot closed the door behind him.
The woman shuffled past everyone, pushing Weasley aside as though she was merely a piece of furniture in the way, and vanished into another room.
"I'm starting to think this is a bad idea," Granger said in a low but audible enough voice. "This place feels so wrong."
Weasley huffed beside her. "I've been saying it since forever!"
"Look, we're just going to ask her if Dumbledore mentioned something to her about our mission or, at the very least, had told her where to find the Sword of Gryffindor. If she doesn't know anything then we'll leave immediately," Harry interjected then looked at the room Bathilda Bagshot disappeared to. "I'm not going to lie. This place is a lot scarier than the Shrieking Shack."
"I did not detect any wards when we arrived," Lucius shared and three heads swiveled in his direction, bearing three different reactions. "A Pureblood witch like her living in a Muggle area like this, I expected her house to be filled with all sorts of enchantments and repelling wards but when I was at the door, I couldn't feel anything."
Potter looked confused as if the idea of a magical home not having any form of protection was perfectly normal. Granger stared at him in mild astonishment, probably amazed that he could discern wards without having to use spells while Weasley looked sick with apprehension which was the only correct reaction, in Lucius' opinion.
"We really need to get—" Weasley began but was cut off when Bathilda Bagshot called from the other room.
"Come!"
A shiver ran up Lucius' spine, the command so eerily reminiscent of the Dark Lord's tone. Granger jumped beside her and subconsciously clutched his arm. He almost went along with his instinct to touch her reassuringly but held himself back. It was better if she was afraid. That way, she will keep her guard up around her.
Potter led the way into the sitting room with the three of them huddled closely following him. Lucius was now hyper-aware of Granger's hand still clutching his arm. The warmth emanating from her body was soothing his nerves.
Bathilda was tottering around the place lighting candles, but it was still very dark, not to mention extremely dirty. Thick dust crunched beneath the soles of their shoes and cobwebs lined the furniture and walls. And it seemed that old age had really caught up to her for she had lit the candles clumsily by hand, the lace cuff of her blouse in constant danger of catching fire.
"Let me help you," Potter volunteered. He was about to pull out his wand, but Weasley caught his arm and shook her head no so he took the matches from the old witch instead and finished lighting the candle stubs that stood on saucers around the room which were perched precariously on stacks of books and side tables.
Bathilda then fumbled for logs for the fire and that was when Granger let go of his arm to lend her assistance. Lucius glumly noted that the warmth he felt also left with her.
"Mrs. err, Miss… Bagshot?" he heard Potter call out, his voice shaking slightly. He was holding a picture frame in his hands. "Who is this?"
But Bathilda was standing in the middle of the room, watching Granger light the fire for her. "Miss Bagshot?" Potter repeated and he advanced with the picture in his hands as the flames burst into life in the fireplace. Bathilda then looked up at his voice. "Who is this person? The blond in the picture?"
The elderly witch merely looked vague, and Lucius could feel Potter getting frustrated.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Granger asked as she walked away from the fireplace towards them.
"The man in the picture, Hermione. He kind of looks familiar."
Lucius stepped closer so he could see who it was Potter was talking about. It was a man who looked to be in his early twenties with slicked dirty blond hair, a pair of mismatched eyes, and an aquiline nose. He could pass off as a Malfoy if it weren't for the color of his eyes, Lucius thought.
"Why did you ask us to come with you, Miss Bagshot?" Weasley asked, her voice raised a bit higher. "Was there something you wanted to tell us?"
But the witch ignored her and proceeded to walk away and headed towards the stairs. When she reached the bottom step, she motioned with her hands to follow her. But when they all moved, Bathilda shook her head with surprising vigor and pointed to Potter instead.
"I think she wants me to go with her alone," the boy said.
"But why?" Granger asked but Bathilda had already started climbing the stairs and Potter soon followed.
Lucius glanced outside the room and into the hall leading to the door. He had not seen Bathilda Bagshot perform some sort of ward that will prevent them from leaving but if she had indeed cast one, he will just have to order one of her companions to bust a hole through the wall so they could get out. The house did not have any wards after all. If it, unfortunately, collapsed in the process, well, no one could blame them.
"I'm going to follow them," Granger said. "I'll cast a Disillusionment Charm on me so she would not see."
And Granger was gone before any of them could protest.
"This place seriously needs an extreme makeover. Makes me wish I knew some of Mum's household cleaning spells," Weasley commented before glancing at him. "What are we going to do now?"
"We could look for something," Lucius suggested instead. "Anything that might help."
He pulled out his new wand and whispered Lumos. The tip flickered momentarily before lighting up, casting a bluish tone across the dank room. He felt an overwhelming satisfaction that his newly acquired wand was beginning to bend to his will quite easily.
"Not bad," Weasley remarked as she perused the stack of books to her left. "I wonder why she never got herself a house elf to help with the upkeep of this house. Are authors not paid enough?"
"That depends if their published work becomes a best seller," Lucius answered. He went to examine the other side of the room, the one where Potter found the picture frame he was holding.
On top of a bow-fronted chest sat many photographs. As the flame from the candle danced beside him, its reflection wavered on their dusty glass and silver frame. Lucius noticed tiny movements from the pictures.
He extinguished the Lumos spell and muttered a simple cleaning charm to remove the dirt, but the spell didn't work, merely emitting a soft breeze from the tip. Lucius sighed before trying again. "Tergeo," he hissed and this time the thick coating of dust vanished from the photographs and immediately noticed that half a dozen were missing from the largest and most ornate frames. He wondered whether Bathilda or somebody else had removed them.
To his right, he noticed a book that looked less dirty than the rest of the things inside the room. Upon picking it up, Lucius realized that this was the book Rita Skeeter had written about the late Albus Dumbledore. A note was stuck on top that was addressed to "Batty".
Dear Batty,
Thanks for your help.
You said everything even if you don't remember.
Rita
Ahh, so that is why, Lucius thought. This must be the reason why Bathilda Bagshot turned into an empty shell of the woman she used to be. There was no doubt that Rita Skeeter used memory charms on the unsuspecting witch, but it was likely executed quite sloppily. Lucius gave a snort of disgust. Granger would have done it without breaking a sweat and with the mind intact.
Rita Skeeter is a pureblood, isn't she? a voice inside his head mocked. Goes to show you that blood isn't everything.
Shut up, he hissed inwardly. Just because Granger was good at something does not make her completely his equal. Rita probably never bothered finessing her charms. She likely intended for Bathilda Bagshot to turn out this way.
The voice inside his head remained silent just as Weasley sidled up to him. She made a disgusted look when she read the note written on top of it. "That woman really needs to be taught a lesson. Do you know she's an unregistered animagus?"
That came as a surprise to Lucius. "Oh?"
Weasley nodded her head in affirmation. "It's how she spies on people. Hermione discovered it during the Triwizard tournament, and she even locked Rita Skeeter inside a jar in her animagus form. Serves her right for writing that god-awful stuff about Hermione and Harry."
"There was no truth to it then?" he taunted.
"I know what you're trying to imply," She glared at Lucius. "People don't understand what Harry and Hermione have, not even Ron himself who has been with them from the beginning. I don't know if he just simply refuses to understand them, or he just doesn't see. There are times when I find it hard to understand the two of them either."
She shrugged as if it was a normal thing, then Weasley looked at him with all the seriousness and wisdom of a person who had lived a long life. "But I trust them."
There was an underlying threat in that tone as well and Lucius knew it was time to drop the topic for good. "Do you mind shrinking this book? I would do it myself but I'm afraid my wand might explode it to pieces instead."
When the book was shrunk and tucked safely in his trouser pocket, they decided to check the other rooms for anything useful. The adjacent room was the kitchen which smelled a lot worse than the other rooms. It reeked of rotten meat and burnt wood and Lucius had to wonder what Bathilda had been doing all this time after Rita Skeeter turned her brain to mush.
"I feel like I'm going to puke," Weasley gagged, the collar of her shirt pulled up to cover her nose.
"We will make it quick before the rest of them comes down," he said. There was a small door across the kitchen counter and Lucius nudged it open. It was pitch black inside, so he raised his wand and chanted Lumos again. This time, the wand worked perfectly fine, much to his relief.
It was the bathroom or so he thought it was. The supposedly white tiles surrounding the room were covered in grime and mold. As Lucius was about to step away, his foot caught something on the floor and his entire body froze when he saw a large shedded snakeskin. He had seen that shedded skin so many times across the dark corners of the Manor for him to know who it belonged to. Every synapse in his system came to life all of a sudden. We must leave now!
"It's here," he said, fear and panic lacing his voice.
"What?" Weasley asked. "What's in here?"
"The snake, Nagini. It is here. This is a trap," he hissed. Weasley froze, her eyes went as wide as the saucers in Bathilda's sitting room. "Snap out of it, Ginevra! We need—"
A scream from upstairs tore through their panic followed by multiple crashes. Lucius grabbed Weasley's arm and dragged her upstairs, his new wand in his other hand. They arrived just in time to see the tail of the snake strike a blow to Potter's midriff, knocking the breath out of him and sending him across the room farther away from them.
"Confringo!" a flash of red light to his right alerted Lucius of Granger's presence. The spell missed the snake by an inch, blasting a chunk of the wall instead.
Potter used the distraction to roll away from the snake, narrowly avoiding the snake's tail which thrashed down upon the dressing table where he had been a second earlier. Fragments of the glass mirror rained upon them.
"I can't get to Harry!" Granger yelled at them, now dispelling her disillusionment charm on herself. She was halfway across the room and was trying to reach Potter who had fallen down panting.
The snake struck again but Weasley managed to land a stinging hex near its head. It recoiled and hissed at them angrily. It then landed its attention on the girl beside him and as soon as the snake attacked, Lucius shoved Ginevra away and its fangs landed on his arm. The force of the bite sent his wand spinning up toward the ceiling and in a quick move, the snake's tail whacked him on his back, leaving him gasping for air.
This is it. I'm going to die, Lucius frantically thought. He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst but abruptly opened them again when the snake let out an agonizing cry.
Granger rushed beside him, her arm snaking around his waist. Lucius groaned, his back throbbing with so much pain no wonder he was not passing out right now.
Another red light flew past him, and he looked up to see Weasley firing spell after spell. Everything was chaos as the snake thrashed around, frenziedly trying to avoid the witch's onslaught of attacks.
"He's coming! Hermione, he's coming!" Potter yelled on the other side of the room. His form was hunched over as if he was in extreme pain.
All-encompassing fear enveloped Lucius. The Dark Lord was alerted of their presence. They had to leave now because if the snake did not kill them, then He definitely will.
Nagini reared again but Weasley's two spells missed it. Lucius pulled Granger tightly to him and they rolled over, narrowly avoiding the smack of its tail. Granger tumbled towards Weasley and Potter, leaving Lucius in the middle—between the snake and his companions.
"Get out of here!" He ordered them. Then a heavy smooth mass smashed him to the floor, and he felt it slide over him, powerful, muscular— "Go!" he gasped, pinned to the floor.
He saw Granger shaking her head no as the snake coiled itself around his torso, squeezing the air from him. His brain was flooding with cold, white light, his own breath drowned, all of his thoughts slowly being obliterated except for that unadulterated look of fear from Granger's eyes…
Distant sounds came and then moments later, his vision slowly cleared and all the air in his lungs returned.
"—up! Come on, Lucius! Get up!"
The white spots had disappeared completely, and Lucius turned behind him to see a mass of black clothing coming from the doorway, the snake writhing a few feet away from him. It's him, his mind chanted. Get up, you arse! Move your feet!
"Lucius!"
He looked back to the voice calling him to see Granger holding her hand out to him. "Take my hand!"
The sight of her face and her outstretched hand gave him all the strength he needed. Without missing a beat, Lucius got up, ignoring the dizzy spell that came over him, and ran to her. As soon as his palm slid over hers, he felt himself leaping from the bed to the broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness, two screams reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair.
Somewhere along the squeezing of their bodies through the void, Lucius lost consciousness again, at peace with the knowledge that he was safe as long as Granger was holding his hand.
Several hours had passed since they narrowly escaped the attack in Bathilda Bagshot's home. The sun was starting to come up, the pure colorless vastness of the sky stretched over them. Hermione sat down at the tent entrance and took a deep breath of clean air.
Their escape from Godric's Hollow had been so slim that You-Know-Who seemed somehow closer than before, more threatening. Hermione wasn't thinking of a destination in mind when she apparated them out of there, her mind too clouded with fear to think rationally. The urgency was amplified when she saw You-Know-Who fast approaching them from the darkness.
She had apparated them to a small clearing in the Forest of Dean. Her parents had taken her here camping once. When everything was still not too strained between them. It had been a time, one when she rarely had accidental bouts of magic, so her parents decided to take her out as a reward for her good behavior.
Hermione recalled the panic and fear when they arrived and Harry was screaming in agony, clutching his head as he fell to the ground while Lucius slumped unconscious in her arms, his weight making them stumble over.
"What's happening?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know!" Hermione frantically pushed the blacked-out wizard off her, laying him gently beside her. "Go make sure Harry's okay. I need to check what happened to Lucius."
She fired off a litany of diagnostic spells on his form until she detected the source of his state of unconsciousness. There was a bite on his arm where blood was slowly trickling out. "Shit," she muttered. "What to do, what to do?!"
Hermione wrung her hands anxiously. She had to consider the fact that the snake had injected poison into that bite. If she didn't solve this quickly, Lucius' life might be in danger.
Snap out of it, Granger! She heard Lucius' voice inside her head. Remembering how he had acted quickly when Ginny was bleeding to death in front of her.
"Right," she took a deep breath and pulled out the essence of dittany from her bag. Hermione's hand was steady as she carefully placed a few drops on top of the wounds, and she watched as the liquid fizzled out immediately when it came into contact with the skin. The two small holes where the snake's fangs sunk in slowly vanished, leaving behind a faint pinkish dot on his skin.
Lucius' furrowed brow slowly eased out as he fell into a deep healing sleep. The steady rise and fall of his chest relieved the anxiety she felt about his condition. Hermione instinctively reached out and grasped his hand, which she noted was a little cold.
"Hermione!" It was Harry who called. He looked like he had been put through the Cruciatus Curse, his face looked pained while his body held little tremors. He stopped when he noticed Lucius lying on the ground. "What happened to him?"
"He was bitten by the snake. I already healed the wound, but I'm not sure whether the bite has poison or not," she answered. "How are you, Harry?"
Ginny was behind him looking worse for wear as well. Their eyes met for a brief moment before they traveled down to Hermione's hand which was still holding Lucius'.
She was forced to let go and pretended to dig inside her beaded bag instead.
Harry slumped across her beside Lucius. He glanced at him briefly, a look of worry laced his features. "He's seen Lucius, Hermione."
"Where is he now?"
"Back in Malfoy Manor," Harry gave her a grave look. "He's furious about the betrayal. He's taking it out on—"
He couldn't get the words out. Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat when she remembered the way Lucius reacted to Harry's vision regarding Narcissa.
"Did he..." Ginny trailed.
Harry shook his head. "No. He thinks Narcissa Malfoy could still be valuable alive than dead. The connection was cut off when she passed out from the Cruciatus Curse."
Hermione's shoulders slumped in relief. She looked at Harry who had a guilty look on his face. She didn't want to get him all the more gloomy about it so she decided to change the topic. Her legs were getting numb anyway.
"We should set camp here for the meantime while we all recuperate," she pulled out the shrunken tent from her bag, the one they had used before when they camped out for the Quidditch World Cup during her fourth year. She was thankful that Arthur insisted on giving it to them. "I don't fancy sitting out here in the cold. This place is off the trail Muggles usually pass through so we should be safe here."
Ginny tried to take the tent, but Harry beat her to it. "Don't worry, Gin. I got it," he started pitching the tent but it kept falling. Harry then stopped and patted his pants. "Uhm, has anyone seen my wand?"
Hermione saw Ginny bite her lip, tears swarming in her bright blue eyes. "Harry…" she called softly.
Apprehension crossed his features. Hermione felt her stomach drop. Had they left it at Godric's Hollow as well? The only wand she saw on the floor was Lucius' replacement wand which was safely stored in her bag.
"I— I dropped it too, didn't I? I must've not noticed it missing when my mind connected with You-Know-Who" he croaked. "I need to go back."
"No, Harry," Ginny shook her head. She reached into her pocket and handed it to him. "I'm sorry."
The holly-phoenix wand was nearly severed in two. One fragile strand of phoenix feather kept both pieces hanging together. The wood had splintered apart completely. Harry took it into his hands as though it was a living thing that had suffered a terrible injury.
"Harry," Ginny whispered so quietly Hermione could hardly hear her. "I'm so sorry. It must've snapped when the snake hit you with its tail."
"Don't be, Gin," he said mechanically. "If anything, it was my fault. I was the one who insisted we follow Bathilda Bagshot. If we hadn't then none of this would have happened. None of us would be hurt."
"What happened, Harry? What happened when she took you upstairs? Was the snake hiding somewhere? Did it just come out and kill her and attack you?"
"No," it was Hermione who answered. She closed her eyes as she recalled the scene. She could still smell Bathilda's house on her. It made the whole thing horribly vivid. "She was the snake, or the snake was her all along."
"W-what?"
"Bathilda must've been dead a while," Harry said. "The snake was inside her. You-Know-Who put it there in Godric's Hollow, to wait. You were right, Hermione. He knew I'd go back."
"The snake was inside her?"
Hermione opened her eyes again: Ginny looked revolted, nauseated.
"Malfoy saw its shedded skin while we were searching the kitchen, but we were too late in warning you two," she said. "I've never seen him look so afraid. I guess that answers the question of why she didn't want us to come with her when she went upstairs. Why she only wanted you to come."
"Once we were up in the room, the snake sent a message to You-Know-Who, I heard it happen inside my head, I felt him get excited, he said to keep me there and then…" Harry trailed off.
"The snake came out of Bathilda's neck," Hermione shuddered. "I was too scared to move. I couldn't move my legs or my arms. If you and Lucius hadn't come up, I don't know what could've happened."
"It wasn't supposed to kill me. Just keep me there till You-Know-Who came," he assured her. "If I had only managed to kill the snake, it would have been worth it. All of it."
Harry looked stricken as he glanced at his broken wand. Ginny closed the gap between them and enveloped him in a tight hug. "We'll get it fixed. We'll find a way."
"I'm not getting my hopes up, Gin," he said weakly. "Remember Ron's wand? They were not able to fix it. He had to get a new one."
Hermione's heart ached for her best friend. Losing one's wand was like losing an important part of yourself, leaving you fatally weakened, vulnerable, and naked. It's as though the best part of your magical power had been forcibly torn from you. She wondered if this was how Lucius felt all those times.
"We need to get Lucius inside the tent," she broke the melancholic silence that enveloped them.
Harry put his broken wand inside the drawstring pouch around his neck and helped Ginny with the tent. The two of them then levitated Lucius inside, tucking him in one of the beds while Hermione secured the perimeter of the tent with repelling wards and enchantments that would alert them if someone was within the vicinity.
She volunteered the first watch. She couldn't look Harry in the eyes as he stared off morosely into space. It was how Ginny found her, sitting by the tent's entrance several hours later. She was holding a cup of tea.
"The sun's almost up," she said. "You should take some rest while Harry and I prepare some food to eat. We still have a few of those cans you stored in your bag. I think it'll last us a few days."
"How is he?"
"Angry, sad, frightened. But mostly sad."
"And Lucius?"
"Still unconscious but he seems to be okay," Ginny answered, then the corners of her lips tilted into a small smile. "Though I don't know if he'll still be okay when he wakes up. I imagine he'll be sore all over." That got Hermione chuckling.
"I imagine he will be," she agreed.
They eventually lapsed into silence. Hermione took a sip of the steaming tea and thought about where they would go from there. It had been months since they began this quest and all they had collected so far was one Horcrux they couldn't even destroy. Despair was beginning to settle in the pit of her stomach. Despair at the thought that they were going nowhere, and that this search was all for naught. This quest was the only hope they had of beating You-Know-Who but she felt like they were just going in circles. One danger after another with each being so close to their own end.
They needed a plan but how can you plan when you don't know what you were going to do, which direction you were going to take, and what object you were searching for?
We are as close to getting rid of that locket as we are to finding the rest of them.
Lucius' words came to mind. How Hermione wished he was awake now. Reluctant she was to admit it but most of his opinions always held a point to it even if she disliked some of it.
Whenever she thought of Lucius right now, she couldn't help but see the look of pure fear and resignation on his face when he yelled at them to run and leave him behind. She knew without a shred of doubt that he didn't want to die but had come to accept it nonetheless.
And Hermione, bleeding heart that she was, couldn't just leave him behind. Even though it wasn't said out loud, it was an unspoken agreement that they were all in this together. Leaving him to die when she knew she could do something would be reprehensible and she was glad that Ginny had the same notion—or so she thought.
They had no time to think about it and it was beautiful, now that she looked back on it, the way the two of them fell into step. How Hermione rushed to Lucius, snatching his wand off the floor as Ginny fired spell after spell behind her until it hit the snake, forcing it to let go of his body.
Hermione didn't think she could do it but apparated them out of there she did without even splinching a single hair on their heads. Even though Harry was screaming her ear off beside her and Ginny was trembling with fear. Even when Lucius lost consciousness along the way, she held on.
"I realized that I haven't really thanked you properly enough, 'Mione," Ginny said dispelling the peaceful quiet.
"Whatever for?"
"For everything, really," her redheaded friend grasped her free hand in hers. "Ever since we started this quest you've been the one holding this group together. It's not easy, I know, what with Harry's mercurial mood and Malfoy's presence."
"It is hard," Hermione admitted. "I could've just fled someplace else. Watch everything unfold by the sidelines."
"Why didn't you?"
Hermione noted that Ginny's question held no judgment. Like she could leave now and abandon them, and Ginny would never hold it against her.
"I have a responsibility both as a witch and a Muggleborn," she answered. "This is my world too just as much as it is yours and Lucius' and I can't bear to see it destroyed by You-Know-Who."
Ginny looked at her then. "I want you to know that you can tell me anything. Even things you thought you couldn't tell Harry. I won't judge you or anything. Merlin knows I'm not perfect." The last part was said in a waggish manner though Hermione suspected that she only said it to lighten the mood.
She contemplated her friend's words. Hermione thought about telling Ginny. About her growing feelings for a certain older wizard sleeping inside the tent but held her tongue back instead. Voicing it out loud would only acknowledge what she felt to be true. And besides, Hermione wasn't quite sure what to make of her feelings yet. How deep this well of emotion of hers truly went. Whether she was only feeling this way because of the vow she and Lucius shared or something else at play that was out of her hands.
And even if it wasn't because of the vow, that the emotions she felt now were of her own volition. It was pointless to say it anyway because, at the end of the day, Lucius belonged to his family.
Maybe someday, when this was all behind them, she might tell Ginny about it. They could laugh it off as some silly infatuation. The naivety of youth. But for now, her feelings regarding Lucius would be shut away in a sealed box in the very back of her mind.
She squeezed Ginny's hand. "I appreciate it, Gin."
Dusting off the dirt from her pants, Hermione got up and made her way back inside the tent to rest, missing the look of disappointment that crossed Ginny's face.
