Hermione looked up in the direction of his voice. She could only dimly make out his light-coloured hair before her vision slipped away again. She leaned her head back against the wall to steady herself.
"I was a healer..." she said. "I wasn't — they didn't let me — fight."
She furrowed her brow, trying to understand. "But Ginny got out? I got her out?"
"You did."
"But she was dying — when you — when you killed her. Why?" she asked, her voice small and pained.
There was a silence before Malfoy spoke.
"She was in Sussex for experimental research."
A low sound of horror tore itself from somewhere deep inside Hermione.
"The Dolohov's curse development division..." her voice shook and trailed off. She made out Malfoy nodding in the shadows.
She doubled over and threw up.
The noise she made from the pain of the apparition was animal. She collapsed against Malfoy and discovered she was soaked in what appeared to be shiny, putrefied remains. She could only see it for a moment before her vision wobbled away again. She choked back a sob and tried blindly to wipe her hands off on her equally soiled robes.
Malfoy muttered several cleaning charms and the smell around her faded. He shoved her back onto her bed.
"Three days," he said and she vaguely heard him leave.
Hermione wanted to stay conscious. So she could grieve and try to process what she had learned, but her mind felt faded. Like she couldn't quite reach...
She pulled on her clothes until the buttons tore off and then shoved them onto the floor. She peeled the stockings off with her toes and tried to rub away the sensation of snake coils from her skin.
It was two days before she could see reliably. The pain in her head prevented her from keeping any food down. The room swam when she tried to sit up or stand.
She had nothing to do but think.
When Malfoy walked in on the third day she forced herself to sit up and look at him steadily.
"More questions?" he said coolly as he surveyed her.
Hermione shook her head. He looked faintly surprised.
"Well, one, I suppose," she said after a minute.
Malfoy waited. She gathered up the threads of information; all the inconsistencies she had collected in her mind over the months. She had finally drawn them up into something cohesive.
Hermione took a slow breath before she spoke. Then she met his eyes.
"The war has stalled," she said. "Even though it's still officially ongoing in parts of wizarding Europe. It's not being treated as significant or consequential anymore. In fact, based on the coverage, I suspect that there is likely to be an armistice announced soon. In the past two years, aside from conquering Britain, there has been almost no progress since Harry died."
Malfoy was silent; his expression carefully closed.
"In fact, almost nothing has happened since Harry died. Voldemort's entire campaign stalled once he defeated Harry. Because..." she hesitated only slightly, "there was something connecting them. They were tethered somehow, probably from when he tried to kill Harry as a baby. That was why he and Harry would end up in each other's dreams sometimes and, I'm sure you remember how Harry could speak parseltongue. That's why when Voldemort used the Killing Curse — to kill Harry at Hogwarts — it didn't work at first—"
Hermione's voice cracked and she swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. There was a new pain slowly starting to bloom through the back of her mind. She ignored it.
"That's why he had to recast the curse on Harry. Because of the tether. But — it wasn't just Harry. The way he's immortal...Professor Quirrell, the diary your father had...somehow your master figured out how to bind his lifesource to animate and inanimate objects. And the Order knew about it. That's why he knows the attack this month was the Order and not some new Resistance group. Because the assassination attempt wasn't an attempt. Thicknesse wasn't the target. Umbridge wasn't either. The pendant she sometimes wore. The locket. I saw it when she was training us. It was his. One of his tethers. Whoever it is, the last Order member, they figured out what it was and killed her to destroy it."
There was the faintest narrowing of Malfoy's eyes. Hermione cocked her head to the side as they studied each other.
"I believe I missed the question," Malfoy said after a moment.
"I haven't asked it yet," Hermione said calmly, trying to ignore the throbbing in the back of her head that was steadily growing as though there were a scalpel being driven into the base of her skull.