It had been three days since Harry was stabbed, and in that time nothing had happened. Well, nothing that actually did anything; the Aurors had come to the school and asked a lot of questions, but got a lot of students and staff honestly saying they had no clue what had happened. Obviously someone was lying, but without a witness or any evidence all the Aurors had to go on was the answers given, and whoever it was didn't lie bad enough to raise suspicion. There was also a new temporary Potions professor. Apparently Slughorn had had the position before Snape and had agreed to come back again for a few weeks to fill in for Professor Potter, who was currently practically living at the hospital with Harry.
Hermione and Ron hadn't left the school again, but neither had they been to class even once. The two teens had practically demanded an all-access pass to the restricted section and were pouring over the books looking for anything useful. Well, Hermione was hitting the books, Ron was reading for five minutes then scribbling down notes for ten minutes as he tried to work out who it was who had stabbed his best friend. Other students joined them when not in lessons: Neville, Susan, Hannah, and a few others all came to try and find anything useful, but so far there hadn't been much luck. Worse, they were no closer to a solution than when they started, and they feared that the professors' tolerance for their bunking-off class wouldn't hold out much longer.
The worst part for Hermione was the date. Halloween was only a few days away, and she was getting increasingly anxious. Something bad always happened to or around Harry on Halloween, and if he was still in a coma at that point she was worried about his chances of surviving it this year. She couldn't help the feeling that there was a Deadline, with a massive capital D. So she threw herself into every book on dark artefacts she could find, hoping to find some clue that could get the knife out of Harry's shoulder.
Sirius and Charlus were swapping shifts at the hospital, one would sit with Harry in the chair next to his bead for twelve hours and then once the other came they went to get some food and some sleep, and they repeated this pattern every day. Still, neither man was getting anywhere near enough sleep, mostly because despite their schedule they were normally back in under four hours, having quickly eaten, changed, and squeezed in maybe two hours of sleep.
"I think I have an idea," said Ron before he stood up and went to leave the library, only to stop when he felt Hermione pulling on his arm.
"What, what's your idea? Do you know how to get that knife out of Harry's shoulder?" Hermione sounded desperate, like she would give anything at this point.
"No, I have an idea on how to get that information. I'm best off doing this myself, though, you keep with the books," Ron said. He didn't want Hermione to help with this one, if it went wrong and something happened to Hermione then Harry would kill him.
"If you have a plan, I am coming too," Hermione said matter-of-factly, no different than 'the sun is hot' or 'ice is cold.'
Ron hesitated but relented. It would take far too long and draw far too much attention to actually convince Hermione not to help, and by then doing what he planned would be impossible. "Okay fine, then you get to go check Potter Manor for something I need." Now that he thought about it, Ron would have needed her help anyway as she was the one keyed into the Potter wards.
"What do you need?" Hermione asked cautiously. She knew Uncle Charlus would give anything he had to save Harry, but she respected the man too much to want to steal from him. Ron explained what he wanted and Hermione's eyes went wide. "Do you really think he has any?"
"He's a Potion Master, so I am hoping so. Because we don't have the time we did back in second year," Ron answered. "How long do you think you will need?"
"I should be back in two hours. If he has any I'm pretty sure I know where it would be." Knowing what her job was and having a pretty good idea what Ron's plan was because of it, Hermione left him to make her way down to the statue of the one-eyed witch again.
The passage was easier to walk through the second time mostly because she had the idea to cast a cushioning charm on her head so she could walk a little faster without the constant worry of knocking her head on the low ceiling. The cellar of Honeydukes once more summoned the shopkeeper as soon as she entered and to keep the man from getting annoyed by her using his shop as her own private way in and out of Hogwarts, she bought herself a few large bars of chocolate. That was rather welcome for her as well, as she hadn't really been eating much for the last few days and the walk down through the tunnel had taken a toll on her. She availed herself of the shopkeeper's Floo and stepped out into Potter Manor.
Hermione called out to the manor in case there was anyone home, but there was no answer. She made her way upstairs to the family-only floor and over to Uncle Charlus's private Potions lab. This was where she hesitated. Uncle Charlus had been pretty clear with her that she wasn't to enter this room without him because he often had potentially dangerous potions brewing. But it was to help Harry, so she only hesitated long enough to remember to put a Bubble-head Charm on herself. Then she unlocked the door with a spell and walked right in.
Thankfully, the Potions lab had nothing brewing in it when she walked in. Hermione realised that made a lot of sense because Charlus would have closed this lab down for the time he was at Hogwarts. Not because he wouldn't be brewing, but because he would be doing it in the school rather than constantly coming back here. Hermione started looking through the potions that Charlus had stored here. A lot of them were labelled as an experiment with a lot of reference data, like the date it was brewed and what Charlus did differently from the standard recipe. If Hermione wasn't here on a mission, she would have found it all fascinating.
Eventually, Hermione found what she was looking for, an entire cupboard filled with potions of questionable legality that could only be opened by someone who was keyed into the wards of the House as family. Clearly when Charlus had designed the security here he intended his family to have access in an emergency. Inside, Hermione found half a small bottle of what she was looking for: Veritaserum. Enough to have half the school selling their secrets. A quick read of the bottle told Hermione she only needed three drops as a dose, so she quickly grabbed some empty small vials and measured out a dose into six vials and pocketed them. She returned the rest of the bottle to the cupboard and left.
-ϟϟϟ-
While Hermione went to hopefully find the Veritaserum, Ron went looking for the other things they would need, namely Harry's invisibility cloak and his map. Both of those were in Harry's trunk in the dorms, so nobody would even question Ron going in there for them. It took a little longer than he expected to find the map because Harry had the habit of keeping it between the pages of one of his books, and Ron had no clue which book it was in, so he was left just trying book after book until he found what he was looking for. Still, he found it in time to see Hermione disappear off the map as she walked down the tunnel to Hogsmeade. That meant Ron had some time before she would be back, so he lay back on his bed and started to study the map. If this was going to work then they would need an out-of-the-way location to pull it off.
-ϟϟϟ-
Charlus wasn't just sitting idle at Harry's bedside. He had an idea and was doing his best to work out if it was a good one or if it was completely crazy. They already knew that Harry's blood was being sent somewhere, they had tried to block it, but like a vanishing cabinet wards didn't seem to affect it. However, what if he could send something else through, like a potion in Harry's blood? Could he potentially poison the so-called Dark Lord from his connection with Harry, and if so, could he do it without harming Harry? Any potion in Harry's blood would first be acting on Harry, so he couldn't just poison Harry. He couldn't even first give the poison and then an antidote, because the antidote would be transmitted just as easily as any poison.
What he needed was a potion that Harry was immune to, that was transferable through the dagger, and that Voldemort would suffer long-term debilitative harm from. While he was at it, maybe he could find a potion that grants immortality, gives muggles magic, tastes like chocolate, and can even be used to clean windows. In other words, no chance. What he could really use was the formula for the potion Voldemort was reborn in, as making a counter-agent to it that wouldn't hurt Harry should be possible. The process wasn't too dissimilar to creating an antidote for a magical poison.
-ϟϟϟ-
Hermione found Ron waiting for her just inside the Hogwarts end of the secret passage when she came back. He was sat on the floor with the Marauders' map in his lap, his wand lit up so that he could read it. When he heard her coming, Ron looked up and asked if she was able to get any Veritaserum. She confirmed having it and asked who their target was.
"Well I say we start with Malfoy," Ron said.
"What's with you and Harry always blaming Malfoy? I know he is an absolute twat with a very punchable face, but he isn't behind everything that happens here. We made that mistake second year," Hermione said, sitting down to sit next to her friend, her knees rubbing against the wall in front of her despite her back being against the wall behind her.
"I don't know if Malfoy has anything to do with it, but we do know that Voldemort is involved, Malfoy's daddy is in prison, and Malfoy blames Harry. That gives him the motive to do it, and even if he didn't do it, the most likely person to have done it would have been one of the Death Eaters' kids. Malfoy knows who they all are, so even if he doesn't know who did, I'm sure he has information we can use to work it out even if we have to question a few more of them," Ron explained.
Hermione thought about it for a few minutes while Ron kept looking over the map, but finally she decided that Ron was right. Malfoy, even if he didn't know who did it, would likely have a list of people he could make an educated guess would do it. There were far worse starting points.
She was just about to agree to it when Ron spoke up. "Hermione, you should just let me do this and go back to the library where you have an alibi."
"What. Why?" Hermione demanded, hurt that her friend would think she could abandon Harry like that.
"Hermione, I am about to kidnap the last Malfoy, force-feed him Veritaserum, and make him spill all the secrets he knows about Voldemort and the Death Eaters. You know it doesn't matter to me, but you are a muggleborn. If we are caught, you would likely get the Dementors' Kiss. Imagine what it would do to Harry to wake up from his coma only to find you were a soulless husk? I may not agree with it, but as a pureblood, I have a far better shot at not even ending up in Azkaban. So please don't ask to come with me," Ron said, not looking at Hermione the entire time because he knew how hurt she would be.
"So I'm supposed to just go sit in the library while you risk everything for my Harry?" Hermione demanded, not even realising she referred to Harry as hers.
"If you don't want to risk making things worse then yes," Ron said, deciding that being blunt was the best way to do this.
Hermione stood up in a huff and thrust the vials of Veritaserum at Ron, not caring that she stepped on him twice as she climbed over him to get to the doorway back into the castle. She couldn't believe that Ron would do that to her, excluding her for her blood status. 'He was just as bad as the Death Eaters' the thought rattled around in her head. She knew it was bullshit as soon as she thought it. Ron wasn't trying to hurt or exclude her, he was scared for her with good reason, but it still didn't stop it from hurting.
She had half a mind to go and grab Malfoy herself, but there were two problems. One, she had given Ron all the Veritaserum, and two, she wasn't sure that Ron wasn't right. Logically, his argument made sense, breaking the law like that would be so much worse for her than it would for Ron. Emotionally, however, her heart was screaming at her that she had to stand by her friend and do whatever she could for her boyfriend. And yet another part of her was screaming it was her life to risk, while the last was almost ready to have her crying her eyes out at the thought of what Harry would go through if she, one of the few people he considered family, ended up with her soul destroyed.
Maybe if she was operating on more than eight hours of sleep in the last three days she would be able to come up with a better solution, but all she could do was retreat into the library and hide in one of the more secluded spots and just let herself go and cry it all out.
-ϟϟϟ-
With Hermione safe, Ron got on with his plan. Studying the Marauders' map revealed a small hidden room behind a painting of the ground floor. It would be more than enough for what he wanted, so he set about getting it ready. For the most part getting it ready just meant silencing charms on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Ron was pretty sure that Malfoy would at least try shouting as loud as he could and Ron didn't want to be interrupted before he could finish asking the questions he needed to ask. Well, that and getting a few chairs to sit on from a close-by and unused classroom that was being used as a store room.
That done, all Ron had to do now was capture Malfoy. He pulled on Harry's invisibility cloak and left the room with his wand in one hand and the Marauders' map in the other. Right now Malfoy was in the Great Hall eating his dinner. Ron considered stuffing the cloak and map in his pocket and going to get his own dinner. After all, he couldn't capture Malfoy in front of so many witnesses. But he decided against it; he didn't want to have to quickly abandon his meal and rush out if Malfoy got up to leave early.
So, under the invisibility cloak, Ron walked into the Great Hall and walked around the outside until he was standing just behind Malfoy, just far enough back that there was no chance anyone suddenly getting up would bump into him.
Malfoy was laughing it up with his friends. "Looks like the weasel and the mudblood haven't turned up for dinner again. I bet they are both still in the library, trying to look for a book to save their precious Potter. It's not going to work. When the Dark Lord wants you dead, there is nothing that can save you for long."
"So you think the Dark Lord was behind this?" asked Pansy.
"Well not directly, but he would know who he can trust in the school, wouldn't he? Who wouldn't hesitate to stab Potter? Who would be Slytherin enough not to get caught? Perhaps someone who lost their father to Azkaban because that stupid half-blood couldn't do the only thing he was good for and just die last year like he was supposed to," Malfoy said.
That was enough for Ron; he was now convinced that Malfoy was hinting at something. Ron wasn't the only one either, because a bunch of the Slytherins from Death Eaters' families were crowding him and trying to learn more.
"Now, with Potter gone and Dumbledore in disgrace, it's only a matter of time before the Dark Lord frees our loyal fathers and we can finally set about fixing the magical world. I can just see it now, Father as Minister for Magic signing the execution order for all the mudbloods."
"What makes you think your father would be the Minister for Magic?" Pansy asked. "Wouldn't the Dark Lord be the minister?"
"No, the minister is an administrative position. The Dark Lord isn't going to want to sit around all day filing parchment and signing documents. That's what the most loyal families are for. The families that have provided a real service."
Ron waited, but as dinner dragged on he was getting impatient. He tried to think. What would Harry do? What would Hermione do? What would his father do? What would Professor Potter do? What would the twins do? It was that last one that gave Ron the brainwave he needed.
Fred and George had a lot of prank spells, and one of them had to be able to make Malfoy want to get up and leave the table. He didn't want anything flashy or obviously magical, so he had to think. Then he remembered the twins using their father's wand before they got their own to cast a bowel-loosening charm on Percy. They had learned the charm because Ron had eaten a massive block of cheese and their mother had needed it to set him right, but had left the book where the twins could find it. It would be perfect, Malfoy would just think he needed the bathroom. Ron quickly cast the charm and waited. Malfoy took a minute, but he was soon excusing himself, and Ron followed.
Ron almost stunned Malfoy as soon as they were out of the hall, but realised he didn't want to have to deal with the after-effects of not letting the blond git use the bathroom, so instead waited and stunned the boy on his way back. Ron quickly floated the unconscious Malfoy up and then took off the invisibility cloak and threw it over Malfoy. That way if anyone came along, they would just see a student walking around somewhere normal during a time students were normally walking around.
He quickly got Malfoy into the secret room, dropped him in the chair, and tied him to it with an Incarcerous Charm. Ron then poured one of the vials of Veritaserum down his throat, before hitting him with the Renervate charm. Malfoy woke up, already dazed and under the effect of the potion, so he didn't react that much. He just asked where he was and what he was doing there. Ron, already back under the invisibility cloak, refused to answer any questions. Instead, he asked one of his own. "Draco Malfoy, what is your most embarrassing secret?
"My mother used to dress me up in witches' clothes for a few hours a week and we would have girly tea parties because she missed not being able to have a daughter," Malfoy said in a monotone.
At first, Ron couldn't help but laugh. But then he thought about what would have happened to him if his sister hadn't been born and was just glad his mother never had this idea. But the question had done what it was supposed to, and he now knew that the truth serum had taken effect, so he started asking questions.
"Do you know who stabbed Harry?"
"Yes."
"Who stabbed Harry?"
"A loyal follower of the Dark Lord."
That was a frustrating answer, but Ron knew how to get around it. "What is the name of the person who stabbed Harry?" Veritaserum questions was a game a lot of magicals played when they were young, and like chess Ron was pretty good at this one.
"Draco Abraxas Malfoy, heir to the House of Malfoy and rightful heir to the House of Black," Draco answered.
That reminded Ron of the other part of Veritaserum; it only made the drinkers speak what they believed to be the truth. Malfoy would believe himself the rightful Heir Black, even if it was actually Harry and Malfoy was wrong. There was a fundamental difference between a lie and just being wrong. Ron wasn't surprised at the revelation that Malfoy was the one who stabbed Harry. There was a reason that Malfoy was at the top of his suspect list, and it had almost nothing to do with him being an insufferable prat. Didn't stop him from punching the self-centred bastard hard enough to break his nose.
"Where did you get the dagger?" Ron demanded.
"The Dark Lord handed it to me," Malfoy again answered in that potion-induced monotone.
"How do we remove the dagger from Harry?"
"You can just pull out the dagger."
"How do we remove the dagger without killing Harry?"
"It is impossible for you to remove the dagger without killing Potter."
The words were like a punch to the gut. There was nothing they could do, his friend was going to die. Then a little glimmer of hope refused to die. Malfoy had said that they couldn't save Harry, not that Harry couldn't be saved.
"What needs to happen to save Harry?" Ron demanded.
Malfoy stuttered, he was fighting the potion and didn't want to answer. "Noth… nothing… you… aahhh! Only the hand that wielded the dagger can remove it."
Ron was relieved. He could actually feel the tension leaving him as the truth that he had a way to save his best friend sank in. Of course it wasn't fixed yet, and now he had the problem of working out how to get it done. He had kidnapped Malfoy and forced him to take Veritaserum, he couldn't just go to the D.M.L.E. with this. Or could he? He had done this alone, and if he went to the D.M.L.E. then wasn't there a thing about a lower sentence? Maybe if he did that then he could get just a rap on the knuckles.
No, that was stupid. No matter what he would be kicked out of Hogwarts. What did he need right now? He tried to think. Then it hit him, he needed time. And the best way to get that was Obliviation. If he removed Malfoy's memories of the last few hours, he would go back to dinner. Then Ron would have all the time he needed to talk to Professor Potter and work out what to do.
The problem was the Obliviation spell. They had started the theory, as it was important for the Statute of Secrecy that all students needed to know the spell before finishing their O.W.L.s. N.E.W.T.s were a choice, and making a Muggle witness forget what they just saw was important. The problem was that while Ron knew the spell and the wand movements, he hadn't ever actually cast the spell before. He tried to think of what to do and came up with the obvious answer: Hermione. Ron stunned Malfoy again and, after checking the map to make sure Hermione was still in the library, he rushed off to get her.
He found Hermione at the back of the library sitting on the floor, her back to one of the shelves crying. Seeing her state, Ron immediately felt guilty. He knew this had to be his fault for getting Hermione involved and then just sending her away like that. He had been thinking of this like a chess game: moving pieces around to achieve his goal and protecting the valuable pieces. He had totally forgotten that the pieces were people, people with feelings.
He sat down next to her and put an arm around her. She leaned in against him. "I'm sorry Hermione, I'm a total ass."
"You were right though, I'm useless. I'm just a liability that you need to protect. Harry would be better off without me, but I don't think I'm strong enough to walk away."
"What a load of hippogriff shit," Ron said forcefully. "First you are far from useless. Even if you weren't a bloody scary witch sometimes, without you Harry wouldn't be half as strong as he is now and I would be repeating the third year for the second time. And I was wrong earlier. I never should have sent you away. I was so focused on protecting you that I forgot you don't need it. In fact I'm here because I need your help."
"What happened?" Hermione demanded, using her concern to browbeat her insecurity back into place. She knew she would end up sobbing herself to sleep tonight, but if there was an emergency she wasn't going to sit around moping. Ron quickly explained how he had caught Malfoy and interrogated him, and how Malfoy had confessed to being the one to stab Harry and only he could remove the dagger.
That immediately lifted Hermione's spirits. "So we just need to tell the D.M.L.E and Harry will be safe?" She asked, hoping she understood Ron correctly.
"Well that's one option, yeah. Only… that would see me expelled, if nothing else for kidnapping Malfoy and forcing him to take Veritaserum. I thought we could speak to Charlus about it, but to do that we need Malfoy to not run to a professor or even run home and then to another country. And I haven't got the Obliviation spell down yet." Now that he thought about it, this was a major hole in his plan, because if Malfoy hadn't been guilty then Ron would have needed Hermione's help anyway to modify his memory to keep him from talking while he caught the next person.
Hermione agreed, and they rushed down to the secret room Ron had set up. Malfoy was still inside unconscious, and Hermione asked what memory she should give him. She wrinkled her nose in disgust when Ron said a bad trip to the bathroom but agreed when Ron told her what he had done. She quickly changed Malfoy's memories and they left him Confunded outside the toilet, where Ron woke him up while under the invisibility cloak. By now, people were just coming out from dinner, and so they returned to the Gryffindor common room to work out how they were going to talk to Charlus.