He paused for a moment and seemed to be weighing what he was about to say next. “Weasley will be dead within the week. There's no reason for you to stay. You can't remain active; it will be easier for me to work if the Dark Lord assumes a victory. If he thinks the Order is still a threat, it will make finding any remaining horcruxes more difficult.”
Hermione's mouth twitched. “Fine,” she finally said in a tight voice. “I can collaborate long-distance initially.”
Draco's eyes flickered for the briefest moment, and she knew it was his intention to make the arrangement permanent. He would do everything in his power to prevent her from ever returning to Britain if he thought there was any risk from it.
She swallowed and stared at him.
“I'll go on one condition.”
She watched Draco tense and calculate.
“Ginny Weasley, she has to come with me.”
“No.” His expression was cold. “You said no rescues.”
“It's not a rescue. She's at a safe house. Only Ginny. I won't—” she wavered, and her throat caught, “I won't ask you to save anyone else. But I have to take Ginny with me. I won't go without her. She's just at a safehouse. I can go get her.”
His jaw clenched, and there was something unreadable in his expression.
Hermione pressed forward. “I have to send word to the safe houses, make sure they know that the Order is compromised and tell them to go to ground. Then I'll get Ginny, and we'll — we'll go.”
She stood. She was leaning so heavily into her occlumency she felt almost removed from her body. Physically, she was shattered with grief. There was a pain in her chest as though her sternum were refractured. A phantom pain that always seemed to occur when she was stressed.
But she was managing to occlude the mental aspects somewhat.
Draco shifted as she extended her wand to cast a patronus.
She flicked her hand in the familiar motion and said the words.
Nothing.
She swallowed hard and forced her occlumency walls more firmly into place, taking a deep breath before she tried again.
Nothing.
Not even a wisp of silver light.
She stared down at her wand.
Harry had taught her how to cast a patronus. Her otter.
As she stood there, she realised she'd probably never see it again. Her throat hurt from the effort it took not to cry.
Harry was dead. He was dead. There was nothing she could do to bring him back. Even in the magical world, calling back the dead was nothing more than fairytale.
Every happy memory she'd had was tainted, turned to ashes. Her past was an endless expanse of loss. Her childhood, with parents with new lives and new names and no recollection that they'd ever had a daughter they'd been proud of.
All her years at Hogwarts were defined by a war she'd now lost; by people she'd lost.
She gripped her wand until her knuckles turned white, and slowly lowered it, swallowing hard.
Don't think about it. Make it through the day. She had to get Ginny. She'd promised Harry she'd always take care of Ginny.
That was all she could focus on.
“I'll have to go to the safe houses in person,” she finally said after struggling for a moment to make her voice work. “My patronus spell doesn't seem work anymore.”
“No.”
She looked up, her jaw set. “I have to warn them, Draco. I'm not going to run without warning them. I have to go get Ginny. None of that is negotiable.”
Draco's eyes flickered. He looked down and gave sharp sigh, as though he were disappointed by something.
“Granger…” he said after hesitating for moment. “The Death Eaters have your prison. They have all the Order safe houses as well.”
The room tilted under Hermione's feet. She stumbled backwards and nearly fell. “What? Why didn't you tell me?”
She started towards the door, and Draco caught her by the arm and wrenched her back. When she tried to break away, he pinned her against the door, his expression furious. “This — this is why I wasn't going to tell you. You idiot, you'll throw yourself into a trap.”
She stared at him, and a cold sinking sensation came over her. Her fingers closed around his wrist as she stared at him, disbelieving. “You intercepted me and brought me here so I couldn't go back.”
Draco's expression was hard. “That wasn't the Dark Lord's entire army at Hogwarts. He's been concentrating the troops here for the last month. Once the reports regarding the attack at Hogwarts came in, it was clear your safe houses would be vulnerable. Where do you think the rest of the army was sent?”
Hermione felt devastation flood through her, as though she were bleeding to death from it. “You kept me here, unconscious, for hours.” Her voice was raw with grief and betrayal. “I could have gotten them out if you'd given me a chance.”
Draco's expression was cold and unapologetic. “You couldn't have saved them. You would have died or been captured along with everyone else.”
“Well, we won't know now, will we? Since you never gave me a chance—” Her voice broke.