Chapter 15
The spread that Minty was capable of creating with little heads up was better than what the quartet had seen since the wedding. Roasted chicken, potatoes (mashed, boiled, and scalloped), green beans, two kinds of salad, and more lined the table while Hermione tried to think of the best ways to station everyone so no physical fights would break out. Wands, however, were another story.
Ron should definitely have an end spot, in case he gets too overwhelmed and needs to leave. I should think Harry would be a good fit to sit next to Theo, and obviously I would sit next to Malfoy. But Ron would not appreciate being separated from Ginny or Harry… Too close to Theo would mean potential tensions—
Granger, darling, Malfoy’s voice interrupted her, let the children sit where they choose. He came up behind her and brushed a hand over her hip. But you sit next to me.
She supposed she was blocking the entrance to the dining room. Moving, she followed Malfoy to the head of the table by the back wall. He pulled the chair out, but instead of sitting, he motioned his head at her.
But this is your safehouse? She didn’t want to take this position. Being the head of the table for a light dinner and strategy with tensions already high was a statement: she wasn’t looking to take over command of their group, and she feared that this positioning would send that message.
The table seats six, so someone has to take this one. His voice was calm, as if he had already known what she was going to say.
But why me?
“Are you doing it again?” Ginny’s light questioning tone interrupted. “In case you forgot, Nott and I were right behind you.”
With a glance at Ginny, Hermione took the seat at the head. “I will remind everyone that it is hard—nay impossible— to block him out.”
Malfoy sat to her left; Nott to his left, and Ginny on his left, across from Hermione. Unsure of how long Harry and Ron would be, the red-head started to ask Nott about his time in hiding, how he managed to hear news of the war, and what might be useful to know should they need it.
Hermione reached for the nearest plate, but Malfoy took her plate from in front of her and began to fill it with generous portions of the delicious meal. Slightly surprised, she let her hand fall to her lap and tried to listen to Nott’s explanation of how he managed to keep his clothes pressed without calling for his family elf.
“Wait—” Ginny interrupted herself with cackles “—you didn’t know how to press your own clothes? Aren’t you a wizard?”
Nott shot her a glare. “Yes, but I’m not seventeen yet, so I still have the Trace on me.” He grabbed Ginny’s plate and began filling it like Malfoy had done for Hermione. “Besides, Ginger, I wanted to know what it would be like if I needed to disappear somewhere Muggle. Hopefully it would have been somewhere tropical because I would hate to live in the frigid winters of Scotland without proper heating charms.”
When Harry and Ron came through the door, Ginny snorted and almost choked on the chicken she was eating. Ron shot her a look, less of concern for her choking and more for conversing with the Slytherins so openly.
Harry took the seat next to Ginny, leaving Ron across from Malfoy.
I almost regret seating you at the head. His voice sounded resigned. Now I have to look at Weasley while I eat.
Hermione sighed. “Alright, so let’s eat a bit and then we can discuss what to do next.”
The meal was mostly silent. Tense and oppressive, all that could be heard was the occasional scrape of cutlery and someone asking for a dish. Ron was extremely reserved in his eating, taking minimal bites and finishing before everyone else did. He sat stoic and brooding until Theo set his fork and knife down with a flourish.
Another moment of tension passed. Harry turned to look at her. “How much do they already know?”
Ron scoffed. “Everything, most likely.”
“Shove it, will you?” Hermione snapped. She was not going to make it through the night if this was going to continue. “Malfoy has had all the knowledge I have had since last year. I say we divide and conquer. Malfoy already has access to two of them, so we can get those, then focus our attention on finding the identities of the last two.”
“How does Malfoy have access to two of them? Just how long has he been an informant?” Ron spat the last word.
“Merlin, what did Kreacher tell us yesterday? The thief is in Malfoy Manor’s dungeons right now.” The aim of this joint information exchange was to get the information and plan. They have been focused on the wrong things for too long, and Hermione was not in the mood to reason with Ron anymore. “The reason I know Malfoy has access to the second is because Dumbledore left him a location the night of the Astronomy Tower.”
“You mean the night he became a murderer.” The whispered words struck cords in everyone, except Malfoy, who stayed lethally still.
“Ron!”
“Mate, you can’t accuse him of that with no proof.”
“There’s no way to prove it was him, is there?”
“Watch yourself, Weasley.”
Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Theo came to Malfoy’s defense, speaking over one another with no clear lines. All Ron did was sit back and smirk at the blond across from him.
Malfoy stood; the defense halted. The blond walked around the table, right up to Ron’s space, sat on the edge of the table, and smirked. “Tell me something, Weasley, you have been sulking your way through the summer, attaching yourself to Granger in the hopes she stays home by herself while you go out and fight the big, bad men to save her. Why?”
When there was no answer, Malfoy leaned closer. “Is it because you feel powerful, knowing there’s a girl waiting for you to come home from the glory and heat of battle? You’d sideline the one person who will do anything to ensure your safety and the safety of your family and friends? Or is it because you know that there is something worth protecting when you see her?”
Still no answer. Malfoy got up and walked along the table behind Harry and Ron. The shadow from the candlebra glided along the table, illuminated the hidden fury in Malfoy’s gaze. Hermione felt the hair on her arms raise, as though the temperature was steadily dropping. But Malfoy continued on. “See, Weasley, I think you finally realized the truth. Mistake after mistake, argument after argument, she took you back. Theo and I placed bets on how long until the three of you made up in school. And I won every time because I knew she would forgive you before the thought of an apology even crossed your pathetic little brain.
“So, with everything going on in our world, I think you finally realized she was what you wanted, and you would do whatever it took, including stashing her and your sister far away from the war, to keep her safe and in your orbit. But she’s too important to be on the side. And you see that now that she’s half the key to the downfall of the Dark Lord.” He came around to stand behind Hermione’s chair. His arms leaning on the back of it, fingers brushing against the stray curls.
“But while you were searching for a place to hid her,” the words rested themselves against the silent, strained expressions of Harry and Ron, “I was killing to protect her.”
Ron’s chair hit the floor with a thud. He didn’t say anything, just looked down at everyone and stormed out of the room.
Hermione looked at the remaining people seated. Ginny’s head was down, staring at the plate with unseeing eyes. Theo stared up at the ceiling, eyes clouded and mouth moving around words no one could make out. But Hermione was terrified to look at her best friend. She heard his screams from that night in the back of her head. The panic and agony of losing another father figure, another man who meant something to him, that shrouded him like a cloak while they packed their belongings after the headmaster was laid to rest.
“Harry,” she whispered.
“You lied.” Her heart broke.
“No,” her voice shook. “I didn’t. I swear.”
His green eyes were jaded when they met hers. The missing life from them was enough to crush her. “You said you didn’t know. You said you didn’t see anyone up there.”
She tried to open her mouth, tried to explain that she didn’t know at the time. She had had suspicions, but she didn’t know. She couldn’t move her mouth to make the flimsy excuse. All she could do was hang her head and accept there was no way out of this hole that was gradually growing deeper.
“I want nothing to do with you if you keep lying,” Harry spat. “I’m going to bed. Find a way to get the two items before the week is up. Then I think Ron and I will head out for recon on the next phase.”
When he stood, Harry looked around the table at them, falling on Ginny last. “Are you hiding anything from us?”
“I-” she didn’t finish.
“Nevermind. Goodnight.”
The entryway to the hall was filled once again as Hermione’s best friend fled the room.
Ginny was on the bed in their shared room, head hung and shoulders shaking from the quiet sobs, when Hermione found her after dinner.
The remaining four occupants of the dining room were silent until Malfoy gave a quiet cry. He looked at Hermione and told her I have to go before nodding to Ginny and Theo and apparating away.
Of Theo, Hermione, and Ginny remaining, Ginny was the first to leave, following Harry’s footsteps down the hall. Theo remained in his seat, eyes up and mouthing quietly, and Hermione couldn’t take the silence. She started cleaning up the table before Minty appeared and shooed her away.
Hermione came to stand in front of Ginny, then she knelt so she could be eye-level. “Gin?”
“He’s completely serious about leaving us,” she whispered. “Ron wouldn’t even let Harry open the door, just told him that liars weren’t wanted in their room.”
The brunette grabbed her red-haired friend by the arm and crushed her in a hug. Hermione knew the temper of Harry and Ron was harsh and unyielding, only time would allow them to see reason. Or when they needed Hermione for something or other.
She shh'ed and tried to get Ginny’s sobs to come down, aware that despite how large the safehouse was, it was probably not sound proof. She didn’t want them to have the satisfaction of hearing how their words affected Ginny.
“This whole planning session went horribly wrong, and I’ve got no idea how I would’ve changed it.” The shaking of her shoulders had eased, so Hermione let her go to find a place to sit. “I thought Harry would have realized the probability of Malfoy killing Dumbledore after he knew about the prophecy, but I didn’t think he’d take it so hard that he’d decide to leave.”
Hermione shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest. “I swear I didn’t lie, to you or to Harry. Malfoy only told me earlier before dinner because I outright asked him. He said he would have left Dumbledore alive, but the headmaster threatened to give me over to the Death Eaters. That’s why he’s dead; he tried to bargain my life for knowledge, for a chance at another advantage in this stupid war.”
Ginny’s face turned cruel. “The old man would have lost us the war for information he could have asked you for in a few days. Harry said he was weakened from their private lessons already. What in Merlin’s name were they doing?”
“Looking for the locket horcrux,” Hermione answered. “Apparently they went to a cave, and Dumbledore drank a potion that was meant to harm whoever tried stealing it. But it didn’t matter since Regulus Black got to it first.”
There was a knock at the door. Both girls whipped their heads to look, unsure who would be on the other side. A voice answered before either of them got off their beds. “It’s Theo.”
Ginny got up to answer it. The friendliest boy in the house came to sit on Ginny’s unoccupied bed. The red-head lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “What if I didn’t want you sitting next to me?”
“Please,” Theo laughed, “everyone wants to sit next to me.”
A small smile made its way to Hermione’s face. “What can we do you for, Theo?”
Ginny did sit by Theo.
“Well, with the amount of sulking that was leaking through the cracks of Potter and Weasley’s room, I figured the two of you would be much more stimulating in terms of finishing this war.” For the heaviness of the day, Theo seemed to be at ease inside passive aggressiveness. “I know Draco probably left to do whatever needs to be done after his grand revelation at dinner, so I assume Granger will relay whatever his side quest will be to him.”
At the phrase side quest, Ginny’s bitterness seemed to lessen, and she let out a snort. Hermione’s small smile grew, but she wouldn’t vocalized her amusement.
“I guess we could start planning instead of sulking,” she said, voice betraying her attempts at indifference. She would be lying if she said it didn’t hurt that Harry and Ron had no preparation for going on the run and then turned around to leave her and Ginny for their own adventure. “I was hoping we could have Malfoy locate the whereabouts of a locket and procure a cup from his aunt’s vaults.”
Hermione didn’t dare voice to Malfoy what was happening. He has been silent since his departure, and with Theo mentioning that he might be with Voldemort, it wasn’t worth risking. She knew Voldemort knew of the prophecy, but she didn’t know if he knew who the prophecy was about.
Ginny nodded. “If he can get both, that would lessen the amount of things we need to track down, and maybe Harry and Ron won’t have to leave.”
Theo tutted at her. “Ah, ah, ah, you’re forgetting, even if we get the things you’re looking for, which by the way what are you looking for, you have no way to get rid of them if they need disposing.” He shrugged. “Maybe send the Delightfully Dull Duo out to find that.”
“First, let’s focus on making sure Malfoy stays near enough to get the two items, then we can decide what to do with them,” Hermione said, yawning through the last bit.
An incredibly trying day flitted through her drowsy mind before she could hold it back. On the other bed, Ginny and Theo were discussing the current state of the Quidditch leagues since Theo had not kept up with them after going underground. Hermione fell asleep to worries over her friendships and Ginny’s narration of laws Voldemort’s Ministry passed in terms of the international Quidditch relations.