"If Harry..." she tried, breaking. Ginny clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide and watering.

Luna released Hermione's hand, nudging her to move, and Hermione was up, crossing to Ginny, pulling her into her arms, and holding her as she broke into pieces, voice echoing against the tiles in strange patterns.

She mouthed words against her ear, telling her how sorry she was and how much she wanted things to be different. All the clichés that sounded awful when said aloud, but when breathed into Ginny's fiery hair, they made sense. She told Ginny about Dolohov, about his hands and his eyes and how she wished she had killed him when she had the chance.

Ginny quieted, and Hermione pulled back to hold her face between her fingers looking into her eyes and breathed, We will survive this. I will find you.

Ginny nodded.

Hermione stepped away, feeling every eye on them. She turned in a circle, meeting the stare of each girl, reading the fear and the exhaustion. She ended on Pansy Parkinson, who held her eyes.

She couldn't speak for herself. Couldn't give voice to what she wanted to say to them. She looked down, maybe she could spell it again.

Grapes again. In a bowl near her feet. Hermione reached down, plucked one from the vine, and looked directly into Ginny's red eyes and extended it to her.

Not alone.

Ginny nodded, and took the grape from her fingers.

She felt the room breathe, drinking in the peace.

The door banged open.

She sprang away from Ginny, grabbing more grapes, like it was her intention for being in the center of the room.

She listened for Dolohov's heavy boots, but they didn't come. She looked to the door.

"Well, hello everyone." A tall young man sending them a dazzling grin.

Marcus Flint. He'd gotten his teeth fixed.

"Granger," he nodded at her. "Lovely to see you again." He let his eyes trail down her torso, tilting his head as he took in her hips and legs. He looked down at a piece of paper in his hand, eyes running down the page. He frowned. "Ah. Of course not." He looked up at her again, sighing dramatically. "It would have been too good to be true." A smile.

Hermione stared at him, moving slowly back to her side of the room.

Raising his voice, he announced, "Let me see Mortensen, Fawcett, Jimenez, and..." His brow lifted. "Parkinson."

Two girls slowly stepped forward. Hermione eyed the open door, just making out Yaxley's boots beyond the frame.

"For what?" Pansy snapped.

Flint searched the room for her, finding her in her normal corner. He smirked. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen..." he murmured. "I have a new potion to test out," he announced. He gazed around the room, eyes landing on Hermione again. "Something that could be quite lucrative in this current... market. I needed some test subjects. And here you all are." He grinned.

Hermione shuddered from her shoulders down to her fingertips.