Chapter Forty Seven
Hermione finished putting on the pans of bolognese and spaghetti and flopped on the sofa with her cup of tea.
"It's at Hogwarts, isn't it?" she sighed.
Harry grinned, "Well! If only some genius had suggested that before?"
"Ha ha. Maybe it's because you're not a genius that we didn't believe you?" Hermione huffed light heartedly, pulling her tongue at him, laughing at Harry's pretend hurt face, "I just never wanted to believe it I suppose."
"I know what you mean." Draco sighed, "The idea we went to school with something so horrid, and never even knew it…"
"I think the bits of You-know-who's soul get smaller with every Horcrux he made." Harry said thoughtfully, "It's unlikely it had enough of him left to let us know it was there, not unless we were right next to it."
"Well, you do shock me." Draco smirked, "He does listen when we read to him!"
Harry rolled his eyes, "I shall go and see if I can talk to Daphne if you two are just going to be mean." he smiled.
"Awww we is sorry Harry!" Hermione laughed, her and Draco burying Harry in a hug leaving them all in a fit of giggles.
Draco settled himself back on the sofa as the giggles faded, "Is there anyway we can get into Hogwarts and then out again? Have the battle somewhere else?"
Harry shook his head. He wished he could say yes, that he was sure that they'd be able to just sneak in and out, but it wasn't that simple, not at all.
He knew that once he was back in school, there would be death before he left it.
"Then we have a decision to make." Hermione said, very matter of factly, "We're doing all right, on the run. It's not glamorous, and it's exhausting but we are safe. Others aren't so lucky, things are getting worse and worse out there. On the other hand, there will be a lot people hurt and killed when the final battle comes along. Do we wait, keep going as long as possible to give those people the best chance of being ready, at the cost of those who are in danger now? Or do we go to Hogwarts tonight and risk our army not being ready for us?"
"We should ask Daphne." Draco suggested, "She'll know what it's like there. Like it or not a lot of the people who end up fighting will be our age; just children. We can't rely on anyone else getting into the castle after us."
Harry nodded, and fetched the mirror from their bedroom.
"Hello!" Daphne said, as brightly as she could.
"Daphne you look awful!" Hermione gasped.
"Thank you, Granger." Daphne snarked back.
"What happened?" Draco asked.
Daphne let out a sigh, "I had detention with Umbridge, the quills are back and worse than ever. It was two weeks ago now, and I still look a state."
"You should of told us!" Harry said, letting out an exasperated huff.
"I didn't want you to worry!" Daphne protested, "I look awful, I know that! But I am getting better. And the last thing you need was to be worrying about me and make a mistake. I was going to call you today anyway."
"If it's been two weeks… how did she look when it happened?" Draco asked, more to himself than to Daphne.
She looked like she'd been awake for days, dark circles under puffy eyes. Her skin was deathly pale, the make up she'd put on making her cheeks look naturally pink over the whiteness of her skin. She looked like a painting of a noble lady dying of consumption from two hundred years ago.
"I don't really remember much from after it happened, and only the pain from the actual detention." Daphne shrugged, "I remember stumbling from the office, barely able to walk, and then I collapsed. Ron found me, took me up to his dorm and got me well enough to show my face for breakfast the next day."
"Ron? Really?" Hermione asked, wrinkling her nose.
Daphne laughed, "Yes. I even sent him with a message to Pansy."
"You trusted him?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise, "It's the same Ron we're talking about? Ron Weasley right?"
Daphne rolled her eyes, "He's not that bad." She could feel a natural blush forming on her cheeks, for once glad of her shocking appearance as it would hide the blush from her friends. She needed to work out how she felt herself before having to answer questions about it.
"Well… the world really is ending." Harry chuckled to himself.
"I need to tell you something by the way." Daphne said, ignoring Harry and changing the subject, "There have been Caterwauling Charms placed on Hogsmead; anyone out of doors after nightfall will set them off. There are also Death Eaters there around the clock, and swarms of Dementors."
"That's… that's hitting very close to the castle." Hermione said quietly.
"They'll be here by the end of the year." Daphne said, forcing herself not to let her voice break, "I'm sure of it. They're only not bothering to push forward as they have four of them here anyway."
Harry couldn't stop himself from flinching slightly as she included Snape in there. He knew Snape had left but there was something stuck in the back of his mind telling him that not all was as it looked, he just couldn't grasp it.
"Well, we needed to talk to you as well." Draco said, "We need to ask which plan you think is best, because both options, frankly, suck."
"Go on." Daphne nodded.
"We have destroyed one Horcrux as you know, that makes three out of six gone." Harry explained, "We sent Narcissa after Horcrux number four, we've not heard anything either way but we're taking it as a good sign."
"Is that what all the nonsense about Hermione being the heir to Slytherin was about?" Daphne asked.
Harry, Hermione and Draco nodded.
"Exactly." Hermione smiled, "We know that Bellatrix and Narcissa left together as planned, so that should be four out of six down."
"We think… we know, that number five is in Hogwarts somewhere." Harry told her, "But once we're in there, we'll be starting the count down to the final battle."
"Ok… I'm not sure where the decision comes in." Daphne said.
"Do you think we should wait?" Harry asked, "Wait for you all to be more prepared there or… or do we come now and just get it over and done with?"
Daphne puffed out her cheeks, letting all the air out at once, "We need more time." she shrugged, hating the words as they came out her mouth, however true they were, "We are getting there, but even another month or so would… it would give us the time to get… ruthless."
"Ok." Harry said, "So we wait. Give us a date? We're what, March 24th?"
"Beginning of May." Daphne said, looking at her calendar to visualise the days and weeks, "Maybe the end of April. I'm not going to give you a date as things may change, but about six-seven weeks. That'll give us the time we need."
"You are still being careful?" Draco asked.
Daphne laughed, "Yes… sort of. I mean, you know I got into detention…"
"Yeah you never said how that happened?" Hermione asked.
Daphne's face fell, her eyes flicking towards the door to make sure it was still closed, "He was here, You-know-who, he was in the grounds. I saw him… randomly on my way to the Come and Go room. He was doing something with Dumbledore's tomb. It was all cracked open the next morning. I was so shocked seeing him… I dropped my bag and Umbridge saw some papers about how to evade the Snatchers… it was careless and foolish of me, and I swear to every God listening I will not freeze again." she said fiercely.
"It wasn't your fault." Draco said kindly, "I think I would of frozen seeing You-know-who at school!"
Daphne shook her head, "It's even more important now. Neville is 'trapped' in the Come and Go room. He got caught by the Carrows mid lesson with a few others, they're all staying in there now, as they're safe. We can get into the Hogshead in Hogsmead through a tunnel but it means it's just me working from the school now. I don't have the luxury of freezing, even if it is what everyone else would do."
Harry wished he could break through the mirror and give her a hug, they all did. The shame and stress of her situation hung on her shoulders like lead weights.
"You're doing really well." Draco said with a smile.
"Thank you." Daphne said, with a genuine smile back at them.
"What did she make you write?" Hermione asked.
"I am a filthy blood traitor." Daphne said, proud that her voice no longer wobbled as she said that, something she was very proud of, "Not in neat little letters on my hand either…"
She lifted her forearm to the mirror and showed them the deep, painful letters.
"Oh gods…" Draco said, feeling sick at the sight of the ripped flesh but not wanting to show it.
"It hurt as much as it looks like it would." Daphne said with a bit of a laugh, "It's why Neville went into hiding, after seeing my arm… the Carrows eyes lit up with glee! They both wanted a try and we have no doubts that they would of killed Neville with the quill, Umbridge nearly killed me. I made it through the battle at the Ministry without feeling so awful afterwards."
"Make sure it doesn't happen again." Harry said firmly, "We can't lose you."
Daphne smiled, "Don't worry, I shall be here to annoy you for many years to come. For now though we've risked talking for long enough I think, I'll talk to you soon."
"You keep us more up to date!" Hermione made her promise.
"Tell everyone, end of April beginning of May." Harry said, "Stay safe."
"You too." Daphne smiled blowing them a kiss before tucking the mirror away.
She stood up and headed for the bathroom. She looked at herself in the large mirror that stretched over one wall. She really did look awful, but there was a new fire in her eyes. This couldn't last forever, she knew that but it had felt like there was never going to be a way out of all this. That this was the new normal.
Now there was an end though, a fixed date they could work towards. Daphne splashed her face with cool water and settled herself down in the corner of the common room.
She dug out her notebook and started scribbling more lesson plans. She'd learnt codes from the books Lily had given her, used by both sides during the war and she used them to work out all of her ideas now. That way there was no chance they could fall into the wrong hands again.
She would push everyone, including herself, much harder. They would add in basic healing and protection to what they were learning. They would all learn to kill, to fight as though their lives depended on it, for the simple fact that it did.
By the end of May they would either have won, or be dead.
It was a horrible thought really, but for some reason it gave her fire and strength to keep going. She looked over the plans she'd made for the coming lessons and nodded, it all looked hard but doable.
Daphne popped up to the dorm room to grab a cardigan and headed out to the Come and Go room.
Neville had the Marauders Map now, so he would probably see her coming. He needed to know that they were going to have more guests, as well as to push them harder.
Six or seven weeks.
It wasn't long, but it was just going to have to be long enough.