THE VICTORY AT HOGWARTS
Sunday, 2 May 1999
at seven o'clock in the evening
Hogwarts Castle

She felt dizzy as her brain whirred, scrambling to process the information. 2 May was ten days away.

The water sloshed as she shifted to her knees, looking up at him. "You'll go with me to get the basilisk fang? On that night?"

"No." Draco took a step backward, tucking the invitation away. "You will stay at the party with Mother. I will go."

Anger sparked in her veins, tensing her muscles. She wouldn't be kept to the side in this — he needed her.

Forcing her shoulders to relax, she said, "You can't go alone, Draco. You'll need someone to help you—"

"I know." A heavy sigh poured from his chest, and he reached for her towel. "Get dressed. We're leaving in half an hour."

She stared at him blankly as he handed it to her. "What? Where?"

"To see Blaise."

She opened her mouth, but he was already slipping out the door. Her shock began hardening beneath her skin. Blaise could help him, but so could she. Stepping out of the tub, she quickly dried herself off, threw on some clothes, and raced through the passage to his room just as he came in through the door, holding a vial in his hand.

The sight of it startled her. "What is that?"

He lifted it into view — the tattoo antidote potion. "I grabbed some from our supply." She frowned at him, and he added, "For Giuliana."

"Oh," she said, blinking. "Quite right." Her mind spun to another long-forgotten thought, and she grabbed his arm. "We need to get one of these to Oliver. We can go to see him directly from—"

"Granger, we can't do that." His eyes drifted across her face as she gaped at him. "There's no Pansy who can pretend to be Wood. If someone discovered that he escaped while Theo was away—"

"I'm not suggesting he escape. We can just give it to him so if something does happen to Theo, he at least has the option to—"

"And you really think he'll stay put at Nott Manor once he can leave?"

"Yes, I do." There was a long pause. Hermione let her fingers fall from his arm.

Draco shrugged tightly. "Agree to disagree, then."

She felt something itching at her as he stepped around her and paced to the fireplace.

"Oliver loves Theo. He wouldn't gamble with his life. Even if it meant sacrificing his own freedom."

Draco glanced over his shoulder. "You don't know that."

Her lips parted as she searched for words. She did know that.

Before she could think of how to explain, Draco was reaching for the jar of Floo powder at the fireplace and tilting his head to the side. "We can talk to Theo the next time we see him."

Hermione let out a short puff of air and shoved her thoughts aside. This wasn't about Theo's feelings, or hers. This was about destroying the Horcrux. When she joined him at the fireplace, he tossed the powder into the grate, called out, "12 Grimmauld Place," and tugged her into the whoosh of the flames.