His eyes lingered on her face before looking away. "I don't have a vial. I would need to procure one."

"Excellent. I'll wait here." She returned to her bench, plucked up her book, and opened to the page she was last on.

She pretended to read innocently until she finally heard his shoes shuffle toward the doors, disappearing.

Her shelves trembled, begging her to think about sliced throats, a tight fist of red hair and jeering men—

A lake with still waters. She breathed deep, tasting blood from where she'd bitten the inside of her cheek. She tucked Ginny away onto a top shelf next to Harry.

Some time later, just as her book on the history of magical Asia had taken her interest again, the Conservatory doors opened. She looked up, and her breath caught to find Narcissa looking for her amongst the leaves.

When her blue eyes landed on her, Narcissa smiled, folded her hands, and said, "Tea?"

Hermione felt a warmth return to her body that had been absent for hours. Followed by a stab of guilt that she had someone who sat with her for tea. With a quick smile, Hermione nodded and shifted her discarded books off the second seat.

Narcissa did what she did best — distracted from the horrors outside Hermione's gilded cage with her truly pleasant company. Hermione felt her body urging her to relax into the familiar comfort of it, but she resisted.

After a pause where they both turned to a book in their laps, a cup of tea on each side table, Narcissa said, "I heard you went to Edinburgh Castle last night."

Hermione darted a sideways glance to find Narcissa's lips curling into her tea. "Yes," she managed.

"I haven't had the pleasure of attending a gathering there. Nor do I have any intention to." She took a long sip.

Hermione swallowed, wondering how much Narcissa knew about her son's activities there. The things he witnessed. Turned a blind eye to.

"It wasn't to my liking either." Hermione stared into her teacup.

Narcissa patted her lips and placed her teacup on the end table. "When they were in my house, there was little I could do about that kind of behavior. It was… a powerless feeling, Hermione."

Hermione blinked up at her, hardly daring to breathe.

"And even then I wondered, 'How can I not stop this? How can I possibly stand by and allow this to happen?'" She shook her head. "But I had little choice in the matter. My principles were overruled by the need to keep my family safe." Narcissa pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "I think it's a common philosophy amongst us Malfoys," she said with a smile. "Survive. In dangerous times, let pragmatism be the death of principles."

Narcissa turned her eyes on Hermione for the first time, a fire in them that Hermione had seen the night before in a different pair of eyes. "And once they've underestimated you — strike."