His greatest weapon is fear.

Her legs pushed her to standing, and she stared down the edge of the staircase. Voldemort didn't want anyone finding what was at the bottom. He'd planted a loop to sew doubt in their minds, and along with it, fear. But Hermione knew what he'd hidden down below.

She turned around, and her eyes caught on the moonlight on the walls. Maybe she had to believe. And believing meant looking forward — not looking back.

"Draco." Her voice was a firm command. "Walk behind me."

He stopped his searching and glanced up at her, his eyes wild. "What?"

"Walk with me, and whatever you do, don't turn back to look at the exit."

Something in her face must have convinced him, because his eyes seemed to clear. He nodded, and Hermione stepped off the landing, her wand held aloft. She paused a few steps down, waiting for Draco to join her.

"Draco?"

"Hermione," he said.

She started their journey downwards again. The steps were circuitous, spiraling into a never-ending abyss. Whenever panic gripped her, she focused on the sound of his breaths. The rhythm of his footsteps, light but steady behind hers.

After seven flights of steps, their footsteps synchronized. She sped up, then slowed, but only one pair of feet echoed off the stones.

"Stay with me," she said. No reply.

She stopped cold, her ears straining for the sound of Draco's breath, but there was nothing — not even the sound of dripping water. But she had to trust that he was there. She couldn't doubt it. She couldn't look back.

A thicker smell reached her nostrils, and she resumed her pace. Her limbs grew heavy, but her mind was clear.

There was only the beam of light from her wand in front of her. There was only her breath. There was only the warmth in her blood, whispering that she wasn't alone.

Ten flights of steps. Doubt crept in, quick and biting, like ice in her veins. Still, she continued, her eyes wide and her fingers tight on her wand.

Another landing, and she felt her lungs constrict. The doubt rushed in faster, creeping up her legs and inching towards her ribs. And just when she was about to spin around in terror, a door materialized at the bottom.

Her heart began hammering in her chest. She still couldn't hear Draco, but she said, "Don't stop. Don't look back."

With seizing muscles, she took the final flight of steps down, pausing only to pull the door open and step through. And when she was fully inside, she whipped around to find Draco stepping through after her, his pupils blown black. She threw her arms around him, gasping.

"I thought you were gone. I thought something had taken you—" Her voice shook as she dug her fingers in his robes, needing proof that he was there. That she wasn't imagining him. He stooped to bury his face in her neck, holding her close.