A/N: Thank you all so much for your comments, kudos and bookmarks! Thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter, too! You can find me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter seventy (literally never thought I'd be saying that haha...) and be on the lookout for chapter seventy-one!
Hermione was in panic mode after Dumbledore left, worried about his plans on taking Harry to go after one of those things. "What the hell is he thinking? He suspects that Harry is the only person who can defeat Voldemort and then he just takes him to find a horcrux?" she ranted, pacing back and forth in the library.
"Darling, even if I do not agree with his course of action, Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard," her father attempted to placate her, though she could see the worry in his grey eyes. "I am sure Mr. Potter will return in one piece."
"But... even if Dumbledore is so powerful, he was still horrendously cursed by another horcrux, and... that means that Voldemort's magic must be extremely powerful as well," she said, gnawing at her lower lip while she thought up a hundred different outcomes that all spelled death.
"I don't think that was ever in question," Rabastan said, looking a little bit amused. "I don't think he would have so many influential followers if he did not have the power to back up his ideas."
Though he was telling her the truth, it did little to make Hermione feel any better. She said as much to him. "Do you really think that he has things with Draco handled?" she asked, looking between the two other wizards. "He is an awful little bully, but I really don't think that Malfoy is capable of murder. Especially not of a wizard like Dumbledore."
Rabastan and Orion shared a look. "At least we know that he is aware of the plot on his life," Orion said after a while. "So, he must have some idea."
But, to Hermione, that wasn't exactly reassuring. Oh, why did she care so much about helping Draco Malfoy in the first place? She couldn't consider it for too long, because Regulus and Sirius returned not much longer, with the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw in tow.
"Salazar, I can't believe you were actually right," Rabastan said, using his wand to rotate it. None of them wanted to touch it very long, able to detect the adulteration lurking under its silver surface. "Missing for centuries and Sirius Black accidentally found it while trying to have a cheeky snog."
"Bit more than a snog, if I'm honest, mate," Sirius quipped, with a rather Slytherin looking smirk on his face. He'd been spending too much time with them.
"Ugh, gross," Hermione said, not really wanting to know that about him, if she could help it.
"Welcome to the party," Regulus said, rolling his eyes at her.
Kreacher called the assembled group to dinner not long after. They all sat around the table, while Rabastan filled them in on what had happened with Dumbledore. Hermione could only pick at her roast, her eyes constantly catching the ticking clock on the wall, worry gnawing away at her while she wondered where Harry was at that moment — if he was safe — if he'd found the horcrux he was looking for.
She was still on edge, even when they returned to the library. Her brothers must have known that she had a lot on her mind because they tried to distract her with questions about her wedding and promises that it would be just around the corner. Rabastan tried to lighten the mood by suggesting all sorts of things they could slash from the planning now that their mothers were no longer in control of the event, but it just made her feel more sad. She would have loved it if Walburga had still been alive to see her get married: her vision finally come to life.
Suddenly, the fireplace flared green, catching all of them off guard. Rabastan jumped from his spot on the settee, stepping in front of Hermione, his wand drawn, but his arm loose at his side. But, the voice coming from the other side of the floo had Hermione peeking around his shoulders.
"HERMIONE!"
It was Harry's voice and he was calling desperately for her help. She walked forward and fell to her knees in front of the fireplace, so she could look into his eyes. "I'm here, I'm here," she reassured him, wishing that she could give his hand a squeeze to let him know that it would be okay. "What do you need?"
"Oh, it's all gone to shit, Hermione," he said, shaking his head. "Please, I need you to come to Hogwarts now."
A hand pressed to her shoulder and she looked up to see Sirius. She wasn't sure if he was holding her back, but she was glad to have his grounding presence. "What happened?" he demanded, the muscle in his jaw tight. She knew that he probably wanted to go to Harry — James's son — just as much as she did. But, not if it was a trap.
"Dumbledore... Dumbledore is dead," Harry said, tears swimming in his eyes. He pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes, as if he could will himself awake from some sort of horrible nightmare. "We went to this cave and he drank a potion — he made me force him to drink it all. I didn't want to, but I promised."
Hermione bit her lower lip, trying to think over everything. Obviously, things on their mission had not gone well. She turned to look at the others. "Maybe we should go through," she said, thinking this would all be easier if they were in the same room.
Orion thought it over for a few seconds, before he was nodding gravely. He insisted on going through the floo first, then Sirius. Hermione and Rabastan went through together, while Regulus came through last. Once they were in the Headmaster's office, Hermione wrapped Harry in a tight hug.
Harry could barely hold himself up. "Dumbledore sacrificed himself to get the horcrux," he said, holding an emerald locket by its silver necklace, his knuckles white, like he was fighting to keep it from slipping away. "But, he was weak when he got back. Malfoy... Malfoy was there and he threatened to kill Dumbledore, but it was Snape that actually cast the killing curse."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione murmured, knowing that he had been very close to the Headmaster. "Where did Snape go?"
"I don't know," Harry said, sounding miserable. "Bellatrix was there too... and some other Death Eaters. I knew that I had to get the locket far away, so I ran. Please, we have to destroy it."
She turned her attention to her father, her eyes wide. "Draco said he was supposed to get Death Eaters into the castle," she whispered. "We need to ward this room, immediately."
"What do you mean?" Harry demanded, hearing her mention Draco's name. "How do you know that? Hermione?"
Orion ignored Harry's questions and immediately began casting wards to keep any unwanted visitors out of the Headmaster's office while they were talking. Hermione felt relief ripple through her as the first ward went up, knowing that her father was a master at this sort of a magic. She was certain that he would keep them safe.
"Hermione?" Harry repeated, growing a bit upset.
Hermione turned to her brothers next. "Sirius, you should go alert the aurors and if you can reach anyone form the Order, them too," she said, knowing that they would need wands to help defend the school. "Death Eaters at Hogwarts... I'm sure this warrants getting the Ministry involved. Especially with Dumbledore dead. Salazar."
Had he known the sort of chaos that he might have been leaving them to? Hermione thought rather meanly that he probably hadn't thought much further than tracking down one of the horcruxes.
Sirius didn't need to be told twice and was stepping back through the floo, headed directly to the Ministry. Alastor Moody might not like him very much, but surely all his good work up to this point would count for a bit of belief.
"Regulus, you should go and get the Cup and the Diadem," Hermione ordered. "Bring them back here. We should destroy them."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, again, pressing his hands to her shoulders.
Regulus ignored him again and did as he was told, going back to the safety of Grimmauld Place to retrieve the cursed objects.
"Hermione!" Harry shouted, not liking being ignored for even one second.
"Harry! I'm trying to hear myself think and you aren't helping matters," she said. "Now, you've asked me to come help, so here I am. Let me think."
They had talked a long time about when was the right time to destroy the horcruxes, as they all agreed Voldemort would probably already know about it. But if there was any chance that he was coming to Hogwarts and that there could be a battle, she would rather have him rattled, knowing his position was not quite as invincible as it had once been.
Finally, she turned to Harry to fill him in. "We have located two horcruxes ourselves," she said, without a hint of pride in her voice. "Once Regulus brings them here, we can destroy them all. That will be five horcruxes."
"But, what about the other two?" Rabastan asked, looking worried. "Seven horcruxes was overkill — even just one means that he cannot be killed."
"If he's coming here, he will have the snake with him," Hermione said, looking at Harry's bright eyes. "We think that the snake is another horcrux. That just leaves one. Maybe... maybe when we destroy these, he will unwittingly let you in... reveal some clue about what the seventh one could be."
"Yeah, okay," Harry agreed, though he looked wary. "Destroy them? How are we even going to destroy these? I tried a couple of spells and nothing seemed to work."
"Don't worry, Hermione has got that covered," Rabastan said, proudly wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "She's been practicing her fiendfyre for a few weeks now."
"Fiendfyre? Hermione, are you out of your mind?" Harry asked, earning a growl of displeasure from Rabastan.
"Do you think I would be trying it if I didn't think it would work?" Hermione snapped, her stress levels at all time highs. Merlin, she didn't remember Harry questioning her this much before. It was aggravating. "We've been researching horcruxes this whole time. No point in finding them if you can't destroy them."
"Yeah... yeah... that's smart," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, Hermione, I just didn't know what to do."
"It's okay," Hermione reassured him. Relief flooded back in when Regulus returned, with the Cup and Diadem in tow. "Quickly, put them all on the floor." She used her wand to push as much of the furniture away from them as possible, just in case her blaze grew out of control.
"Inside? You can't mean to do it in here?" Harry asked, even as he dropped the locket onto the pile as well. "Hermione, what if it gets out of control? You could burn down the whole school!"
"Of course I do," Hermione said, taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. "It's not as if I can go down on the grounds while we have no idea where the Death Eaters are. And, I don't want to go off the grounds in case he puts up wards to keep anyone else from coming in."
Harry looked at her weakly, realizing that they really had no other option. "Be careful," he warned.
She looked to Rabastan for reassurance. "You'll stay close in case things get... out of hand?" she asked her betrothed, the fear beginning to creep back in. She could still remember the feeling when her fiendfyre had grown too wild, looking for any living thing to destroy.
Rabastan gave her a half-smile that was somewhere close to devastating, his green eyes sparkling. "I'll be at your side, until this whole thing is over," he promised her, showing her that he had no doubt about what tonight was. They were going to face off against Voldemort — make a stand for the wizarding world right then and there. "Then we can finally have our happily ever after together."
She felt like her heart might burst with love for the wizard. "I love you," she told him as much. She wanted that future with them, a future that he had been denied for so many years.
But then, she pushed everything from her mind, determined to keep her focus on the task at hand. Raising her wand, she stared at the collection of objects in front of her. "Fiendfyre."