Chapter 52

May 8th, 1997

Hogwarts

Hermione's ring was vibrating and so hot that it seemed like it was going to burn her skin. Before she knew what she was doing, she was up and running, abandoning her book bag on the floor of the library as she went.

The second floor. The second floor bathroom. Myrtle's bathroom. The one with the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. One of the boys was there and they were dying. She could feel it through the bond. The pain. It was unimaginable. Hermione felt like she might be dying too.

She shoved someone out of her way as she ran and they yelled at her, she didn't pause to see if they were alright. She didn't even care who it was. She had to get to the second floor. She needed to be there already; she felt light-headed. Felt the fragile beat of the other person's heart. She could feel the other third of their triad frantic with worry. She hated that she couldn't tell whether it was Draco or Theo that was hurt.

The sensations through their bond had never been so overwhelming. She could barely see where she was going through her tears. All the sounds around her faded to the sound of her heartbeat.

When she arrived after too long, far too long, at Myrtle's bathroom, Harry was there ripping at his hair, pacing and looking distraught. Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, took half a second to put two and two together and felt herself boil with rage.

"I wouldn't have used it if I knew what it did!" Harry cried when he saw Hermione running towards him. He didn't even question why she was there and that made her even more afraid. Something truly awful had happened.

He was covered in blood. Whose blood? Whose blood?

"What did you do, Harry Potter? What did you do!?" Hermione realised that she was screaming at him, but she couldn't seem to stop herself, uncaring if she gave it all away at this point. She knew who had to be in the other room dying. This close it felt like someone was carving her heart out of her chest while she watched the lowering of the knife. Draco was in agony. He was dying. And if Draco died, she and Theo were going to die too. But Hermione would take a lot of people with her first.

"I didn't know what it did," Harry cried again and Hermione resisted the urge to punch him, shoving him to the side so that she could run into the bathroom. "Hermione, don't go in there!"

She ignored him, running towards the sound of running water and Professor Snape's voice. Professor Snape was kneeling on the floor, wand in hand as he mumbled an incantation over and over as his wand worked in an elaborate movement over Draco's prone body. Draco's clothes were slashed open at his neck and across his chest, there was so much blood in the pooling water around him that it looked pink. His chest was barely rising and falling.

Hermione bit her own fist in order to prevent herself from screaming.

"Miss Granger, I need space to work." Professor Snape bit off. "Make sure Potter waits outside for Professor McGonagall, she's already been summoned."

Hermione wanted to argue as she fought back more tears.

"Miss Granger," Snape snapped at her, pulling her from her thoughts. "Go now," he commanded. "Make sure that he faces the consequences of his actions."

That finally pulled Hermione together enough that she went back outside choking back her need to scream, but when she looked at Harry all she could see was Draco bleeding on the ground.

The anger that she had been feeling for Harry since Sirius' death coalesced into something darker that she didn't want to name.

"Harry," Hermione said, her voice sounding cold to her own ears. "What spell did you use on Malfoy?"

Distraught, Harry shook his head as though denying the evidence in the bathroom behind her. "It said 'for enemies'—how was I supposed to know!" His voice was high as he tried to deny responsibility for the blood he had spilled.

"You used a spell from that book?" She hissed. "What were you thinking!? You used a spell that you didn't know from a book annotated by some unknown wizard. Are you the world's biggest bloody idiot?"

"I wasn't thinking! I just cast the spell. I thought he was going to cast the cruciatus!" Harry waved his hands, as he paced.

"Did he cast it?" Hermione snarled, unable to stop herself entirely from unleashing on the boy that up until today she would have called her best friend. "Are you hurt? Do we need to get you to Madam Pomfrey right away?" Hermione asked in a mocking tone of voice.

"No-no-no," Harry stammered, clearly confused by her tone. But before he could say anything else, Snape walked out of the bathroom just as McGonagall strode up.

Snape grabbed Harry by his collar, pointing to the blood on him. "Potter here has attempted to kill one of his classmates, but it appears that Mr. Malfoy will live."

"Are you sure the boy will be alright, Severus?" McGonagall asked, her voice thick with concern, eyes trying to find Draco beyond the bathroom door to be assured of his well-being.

"As sure as I can be," Snape responded, shoving Harry towards McGonagall. "Get him out of my sight."

"You'll be lucky not to be expelled over this Potter," McGonagall began lecturing the Gryffindor as she led him by the arm, presumably towards the headmaster's office.

"Miss Granger, please run down to the infirmary and tell Madam Pomfrey to prepare a bed for Mr. Malfoy."

Snape didn't have to ask her twice. Hermione had never run so fast in her life.

It was nearly curfew, but Hermione still hadn't gotten into the infirmary to see if Draco was okay. She was hiding near the entrance in the hope that she might be able to sneak in and make sure that he was alright.

Professor Snape walked out of the double doors and immediately turned towards her hiding place, "Do you want to see him, Miss Granger?"

Hermione hopped up. "Sir?"

"Come now, Miss Granger, we don't have all night." The Potions Professor scowled at her. "I won't waste your time pretending I don't know why you are loitering outside the hospital wing and you don't waste my time pretending you don't know what I'm speaking of."

Hermione nodded, half in shock at her dour professor.

He gripped her arm as she came nearer and whispered urgently, "Things will only get more dangerous for the three of you now. Draco will survive this, but there's no guarantee he'll survive Potter next time. You three need to see him as the threat that he is to you regardless of his role in defeating the Dark Lord. He was perfectly willing to use the Dark Arts against Draco today. If I hadn't known the countercurse, Draco would be dead. What more will he be willing to do to him as the war winds up?"

"Harry, Sir?" Hermione asked. She was still so angry with him, but he'd been upset earlier by what he had done, maybe someday she could get him to see how happy her soulmates made her, how she couldn't be complete without them. He was her best friend. Surely someday he could…

"Yes." Snape's sharp voice cut off her thoughts. "No sane wizard wants the Dark Lord to succeed, but Potter will never understand the bond that you have with my godson and Mr. Nott. Never. He will always be a threat to you three."

Hermione nodded even though she didn't want to believe it, she wanted a future where the fractured parts of her could come together and not be even more fissured.

"Come quickly," Snape commanded, leading her inside the hospital wing and towards the back corner. Draco was there asleep, his face tight with pain despite whatever draughts and potions that he had been given. Hermione could still smell the scent of his blood in the air, and she stepped forward to take his pale hand in hers.

"Shall I go fetch Mr. Nott? I sedated him when he first informed me that one of you was dying before I set out to find Draco. He was too hysterical to be seen publicly," Snape admitted in as kind a voice as Hermione had ever heard. "I'll have to wake him."

Unable to see through her tears, Hermione merely nodded, her throat did even working well enough to say the 'please' that her mouth tried to form. Snape turned and swept from the room without another word.

Hermione lost track of time after that. She sat there next to Draco's bed, silently crying as she held his hand. He could have died. Could she and Theo even survive if Draco died? She couldn't fathom finding out.

Theo wrapped his arm about her when he finally appeared. She let herself bask in his love, but she never released Draco's hand, and Theo laced his fingers with hers when she showed no sign of letting go, as though he couldn't bear to not touch both of them. She never wanted to let either of them go, not ever again.

"I have detention every weekend for the rest of the year," Harry complained. "Which I suppose is alright, but it's unfair that I have to miss Quidditch."

Hermione suppressed the urge to hex him so hard that he could never ride a broom again. It was the least of what she wanted to do to him.

"Harry, you nearly killed someone." Someone I love. "Is Quidditch really all you can think about? You're lucky that you aren't being put on trial and being sent to Azkaban!"

"I told you Mione, I didn't know what it did," Harry complained.

"Besides, wasn't he about to cast an Unforgivable?" Ron pointed out. "What was Harry supposed to do, let Malfoy crucio hi? The git deserved it, right Harry?"

"Right," Harry agreed, totally unrepentant, distracted by Ginny entering the room, a sappy smile on his face at the sight of the witch. Hermione wondered if Ron was feeding him love potions at Molly's behest. She found that she couldn't care less if he fell into Molly's trap now. "Completely deserved it," Harry continued, with a look on his face that made Hermione want to punch him. He could lose control of his life, she didn't care any more.

Hermione was going to make him repent, even if it took years. He'd pay for every drop of Draco's blood he had shed. She'd help him defeat the Dark Lord so Draco and Theo could be free and then she was going to do something awful to Harry Potter, she just didn't know what yet.

She had only ever used her intelligence for Harry's benefit, but those days were over. She was going to invent new and exciting ways for him to suffer.

She listened with half an ear to Ron lamenting that Harry hadn't used the opportunity to check Draco for the Dark Mark.

The rage was so thick inside her she was choking on it. She kept her face blank as she looked at Ron and Harry. She was going to choke them with it.