Draco was silent behind her.

"It might escape our notice at first." Her spine tingled from a long-buried memory of cleaning dusty old rooms and tossing aside broken lockets. She reached out to her shelves on instinct, and was surprised to find she could shut the book without much pain behind her brow. "But this time we're looking for it. It can...sense danger. So I suspect we'll know when we get close."

And with that, they arrived at the rock face. It was a smooth stone — the same one she'd seen weeks ago in Lucius Malfoy's memory. Draco tapped his wand against the stone just like his father had done, and with a tremble of magic, the door shook free. It slid to the side, revealing the black cavern inside.

They stood for a moment, staring into its depths. Hermione forced her lungs to drag in air.

Draco turned to her, and sliced his palm with his wand. His eye twitched when he watched her do the same with hers. He tore his gaze to the blood dripping down his wrist, and sent it spiraling upward with a flick of his wand.

"My blood will start to fade from your system after an hour." Another flick, and the droplets arced toward her hand.

She watched the red beads seep through the cut in her palm, weaving beneath her skin. Her blood felt warmer as she imagined it intertwining with his, slipping through her veins and curling around her heart.

The wound closed. Hermione blinked at her smooth skin as Draco took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the spot.

"So if something happens to me in there, don't dawdle."

She jerked her head up. "Don't say that."

His brows drew together. "I've read up on barriers like these. A simple blood share lasts eighty minutes at best. The magic requires the blood of a living Malfoy—"

She ripped her hand from his. "Stop talking like you're going to die."

He stared at her as though she were the stubborn one. "I'm just being practical."

"Well, stop it," she snapped.

His throat bobbed. Then he stepped into her, and her heart stopped when he lifted his hand to brush his fingers across her necklace. He paused on an emerald below her left collarbone.

"I replaced this stone."

Hermione glanced down as Draco tugged at the gem, holding it up in the moonlight. There was the faintest of shimmers around it — a glamour.

He set it back, and his eyes flickered to hers. "The tattoo antidote is inside. A simple Severing Charm will suffice."

"That won't be necessary. We'll be leaving together." She turned away from him, stepping up to the threshold before he could see the wetness in her eyes.

She cast a number of curse detection spells at the entry, her focus returning with each wave of Daphne's wand. All were negative. Taking a sharp breath, Hermione cast a Lumos and stepped forward into the inky darkness.