Hermione, Harry, and Ron watched as Draco disappeared into the crowd, headed towards Gringotts.
"Do we trust him?" Ron asked.
No-one answered, but Hermione wanted to. She realised that this was a test of his loyalty.
Hermione watched his silvery head until she couldn't see it anymore – they couldn't go any further without alerting the Death Eaters of Harry's presence. A faint flutter of panic started in her chest.
Harry was concentrating, his hand gripped over his wand, ready in case anything happened.
Her chest began to tighten even more, and she could hear the blood thumping in her ears. She started to breathe in and out slowly, trying to still the wave of anxiety from overflowing. Ron noticed her face start to lose colour. He nudged Harry, who turned to her.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"I- I don't know, I feel weird." She swayed on her feet. They moved her to a bench in the middle of St James's square. "My head, I can't think straight-"
Hermione's thoughts slurred and then all at once they crystalised, clarity invading her brain, except, it felt foreign.
If this goblin looks at me one more time, Merlin, I will kick him down the stairs.
Malfoy?
There was a silence, before she heard a rumble.
You have got to be kidding me.
I can hear your thoughts.
No shit.
It must be the binding… except, no accounts warned of this - I wonder if that means it's triggered by danger, or stress, or perhaps-
Granger. Stop thinking. I'm almost at the vault.
Hermione sighed in relief, causing Harry and Ron to exchange another confused glance.
"Hermione?" Ron asked, shaking her a little.
"I'm ok."
Don't tell them.
Why?
I don't know, just, not yet.
Alright… are you inside?
I'm there now – turns out the Lestrange vault has a lot of gold objects. I need to concentrate, I'll let you know when I've got it.
Hermione opened her eyes, which she didn't realise she closed, "it might have been a bad idea to separate us," she gulped, heaving herself to sit up straight.
"If he doesn't come out in five minutes, we're going in." Harry muttered, pacing back and forth.
"He'll come back."
"How can you be so sure Hermione? After everything he's done to us?" He rounded, genuinely perplexed.
"I know what he's done Harry. I just do and anyway, he apologised for that."
"Oh, well, if he apologised."
"Guys, look-" Ron interrupted, pointing to the sudden change in weather – a dark shadow cast over them. The sky seeped with what looked like black ink.
Malfoy.
I know, I felt it.
Hurry.
"I don't like this; they must've realised something's wrong." Hermione leapt up, "I'm going to get him."
"No. I'll go." Ron interrupted, "don't look at me like that – Harry, you can't, Hermione, if you were captured with Malfoy then that would be a bloody disaster, so I'll go."
Hermione bit her lip in worry, "just be quick, ok?"
Ron nodded, disappearing.
Malfoy, Ron's coming, you both need to get out of there now.
There was no reply. Hermione suppressed a whimper – she gripped the unfamiliar wand, turning it around in her hand, rehearsing healing spells in her head. Harry moved to stand beside her, poised and ready.
Seconds felt like hours and neither one of them trusted themselves to speak.
A crack and Ron burst forward, gripping a bloodied Malfoy.
Hermione wasted no time, grabbing them, sending them straight to the safehouse.
"What happened?" She shouted, laying Draco's unconscious body on the wooden floor.
"Goblins tried to stop us. Too many." Ron panted, removing his cloak to place it under Draco's head, "think it was a stunning spell that rebounded."
"My bag. Harry, my bag!"
Harry moved into action, throwing the bag to Hermione who summoned essence of dittany. She ripped Draco's shirt open without hesitation, revealing a slash against his stomach. She muttered a healing incantation, dropping the liquid into the wound, which hissed and started to heal.
She sat back on her heels, smudging tears from her face and watching. Everyone was still and then Draco sat up spluttering.
"Fuck." He rasped.
Hermione gasped, scrambling forwards, "are you ok?"
Draco looked up at her, a strange expression on his face. Ron coughed awkwardly.
He sat up and noticed his shirt was ripped, looking at Hermione quizzically.
"Did you get it?" Harry asked. Hermione glared at him.
"This?" Draco pulled a gold cup from the folds of his cloak, "here." He tossed it to Harry, who examined it slowly, surprised.
Harry felt the cup practically hiss in his hands, whispering to him. "Yep. This is it."
"So how do we get rid of it?" Draco groaned, standing up.
Harry and Ron hesitated, looking between one another.
"We have something." Harry responded, taking Hermione's bag, and pulling from it an ornate sword.
"Is that-"
"The sword of Gryffindor." Hermione finished Draco's sentence, smiling slightly.
Harry weighed the sword in his hand, "Ron and I will take it out there. You two stay here just in case." He gestured to the deck, from which Hermione and Draco would have a clear view.
Ron followed him out for moral support, glancing back over his shoulder every now and again.
"So, we can read each other's mind." Draco murmured.
"It would seem so, yes." Hermione replied, audible enough for him.
They stood next to one another, watching Harry place the cup on the ground, poised for him to strike it with the sword. It seemed like some bizarre pantomime to Hermione.
Draco felt the magnetic pull of Granger next to him, which he was careful to resist, crossing his arms tighter around himself and concentrating on the idiotic show.
"Ready?" Harry yelled above the wind.
"Now!" Ron roared back and Harry brought the sword down.
A colossal swirl of luminescent smoke poured forth, morphing into shapes of what looked like Harry's parents. Harry's eyes glazed over, and he lifted the sword slightly from the cup. He swayed, transfixed on the shape of his mother who beckoned him forwards with open arms, while his dad smiled, proud and strong in the distance. Harry foot twitched towards the vision.
"It's not real Harry!" Hermione screamed. Draco instinctively grabbed her, yanking her back. A shot of electricity jolted through him, and he dropped her arm as if it had stung him. Her head snapped up to him and she looked like she was going to say something before their attention was turned back to Harry and Ron.
The smoke turned from Harry's parents into Ginny, whose mouth was open, screaming emptily as a vision of Draco stabbed her in the back, his face grinning maniacally. It rotated around Harry, filling his senses so the sword hung limply in hand.
"Harry!" Ron tried to puncture the chaos.
Instead, Harry pivoted towards Hermione and Draco, in a trance-like state.
"Destroy it." Hermione locked eyes with him.
Harry came back to reality – he took one step and plunged the sword into the cup, holding the blade down as a piercing scream filled the air. The shadows fell to dust.
"That was definitely the worst one yet." Ron panted, slapping Harry on the back as they returned inside.
Draco stood still by the window, watching as the three of them laughed, celebrating another victory. Ron was pulling open the drawers and cupboards in search of food, while Hermione berated Harry for trusting in the visions. Harry looked down, nodding resignedly to the fact that his parents weren't coming back for him anytime soon.
The familiarity was too much for him, so he disappeared upstairs to the landing where he could see them from a distance.
He watched as Granger tucked her hair behind her ear, listening to Harry prattle on about his theories for the other Horcruxes. Her eyes became unfocused, and he could tell her thoughts had drifted. He brushed his stomach where she had healed him, considering why – if she'd let him bleed out then surely the binding would become null and void. He wanted her attention as a toddler might want to distract someone by throwing something at them. The three of them seemed to rely on one another in some co-dependent triangle. There was no space for someone like him.
Hermione watched Ron drift off by the fire, his cheeks slightly flushed. She nestled into the sofa, pulling her blanket further over her, transfixed by the flames flecking and dancing in different shapes.
"You alright?" Harry asked softly.
"Yeah." Hermione replied unconvincingly. Harry raised his eyebrows and cross his arms. She groaned, "ok, fine, I'm worried."
"About the Horcruxes?"
"About everything." She gesticulated, "Horcruxes, Malfoy…"
"Ah," Harry replied knowingly, "so this is about Malfoy."
"Shh, he'll hear you." Hermione shoved her hand over Harry's mouth.
He knocked her hand away, smudging his lips, "he's asleep," he whispered.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "doubt it," and readjusted so she was sitting opposite him, their legs tangled over the other.
"There's something going on isn't there?"
"I think so." Hermione admitted. "This is going to sound odd, but I feel drawn to him. I constantly think about where he might be and now, I just feel this dull ache in my stomach, and I know that's because we're not in the same room."
"Ache." Harry echoed sceptically.
"It just feels wrong if we're not right next to one another and I know how stupid it sounds, trust me," she scraped her hair away from her, wanting to explain how she could read Malfoy's mind, "it's just different now. I'm different."
Harry's face took on a serious expression, "we'll think of a way to reverse it. Forget about the magic."
"You know we can't do that. If there's a way to help, I want to help."
"You already are Hermione, maybe this is too much."
"So, I just sit here as what, a liability?" She repeated Ron's words. "You know I can't do that."
Harry shuffled, frustrated, "but it's him Hermione?"
"He's not so bad and he did get the cup." She mumbled.
"He did, I'll give him that, but he's still Malfoy."
She sighed, pulling the blanket further over her. Harry patted her knee and then stared off into the fire. They sat in silence, listening to Ron's snores.
"We're leaving tomorrow." He mumbled.
"I know." Hermione smiled sadly.
"Come on then, we should get some sleep." Harry heaved himself up, pulling her with him. "I think Ron's pretty happy there."
They walked upstairs; Harry peeled off into one bedroom which had his name engraved on the door, while Hermione stared ahead. She could tell which room Malfoy was in by the hum in her ears that grew louder the closer she was to the end of the corridor. She closed her eyes, listening to the coursing magic in a moment of indulgence, letting it calm her and focus her mind. She didn't notice herself walk towards it before she was outside his door.
Hermione brushed her hand over the 'Draco'. She heard him approach, almost as if she had summoned him. Her breath caught in her throat.
He opened the door, not surprised to see her there. His hair was matted around the front as if he'd been sweating in his sleep.
"Hello Granger."