Stylistic Harmony

Chapter Seventeen
Breakfast the next morning was quiet, the implications of the attack on the Ministry sinking in. Hermione sat with the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors, along with Ginny. Two empty chairs were left, they hadn't heard from Harry and Ron, she could only assume that the lines of communication were shaky or that they were too busy. As it was Sunday, her and Ginny planned on heading to the library to research, anything that would help the boys in their mission. Both girls, however, had other things on their minds. Hermione's dream was plaguing her, the image of Draco, beautiful and broken thrown at her feet kept replaying in her mind every moment. Every time she looked at him, she wanted to throw everything away and flee with him, to somewhere where neither would be found, but their roles in the war were to important. Ginny couldn't get Blaise out of her mind, the small taste he had allowed her was slowly wearing her down, driving her towards him, without Harry to keep her grounded she knew it would not be long until she succumbed to the inevitable. They were both broken from their train of thought by McGonagall asking them to report to her office later that day, Hermione and Ginny exchanged a worried look, and decided to head to the library to talk about it. Ginny had also decided to replay Blaise's actions to Hermione, maybe the Head Girl could talk some sense into her, after all Hermione was the most loyal person she knew.

Across the Hall, Draco was surveying the rest of the school. Most of the students were talking in hushed whispers, some were pointing and staring at members of Slytherin. Those who had lost family members in the attack were gone, Hogwarts' numbers were slowly depleting, people were afraid. It was carnage, just as Voldemort had planned. The Gryffindors were the worst, they looked defeated, the loss of their two heroes marring there confidence. Hermione looked distant, he had no doubt in his mind that she was re-living her dream from last night over and over. The look on her face broke his heart, and he vowed to make Voldemort pay, even it that meant helping Harry Potter destroy him. He turned to Blaise and said,
"Meet me in the library in half an hour, we got work to do." The Italian nodded, Draco upped and left the Great Hall heading for his dormitory. Unbeknownst to most, there were in fact two versions of Hogwarts: A History, the regular edition, written by Godric Gryffindor, and a second written by his nemesis, Salazar Slytherin. This unorthodox version held secrets only known to the founders of Hogwarts, secrets that they had not wished be unleashed on the world. However, when Slytherin had left the castle after his altercation with Gryffindor, he had betrayed those secrets to paper, only four copies were ever made, two were destroyed, one was trapped, forever buried within the Chamber of Secrets. The final copy was in Draco's possession, his Father had managed to procure it, presumably to hand to the Dark Lord, but Lucius was incarcerated before he had had the chance. Draco had extracted the book from the Manor's vast library in his sixth year, in the hope that it may have provided some aid to him in his task, fat lot of good that was. He had cast the book aside as useless, but now he was sure that the book may provide some help. Ever since his mind trip into Potter's head (what a hideous experience that had been), he had been thinking of possible items Voldemort used for his Horcruxes. The book may offer some clue. Rummaging through his trunk he found the book stashed right at the bottom. Snatching it up, he flicked through it and said to himself,
"Bingo." With that he headed out the door to meet Blaise.

Ginny had gone to the bathroom so Hermione was left in the library, she had scoured the shelves for every possible volume relating to the Hogwarts founders, and was now sat surrounded by mountains of books. She delved deep into the pages, making note of anything that struck her as important, she was so engrossed in her task that she did not notice the dark haired boy sneak up behind her. He planted feather light kisses down her neck, making her jump. She turned around to find Blaise smirking at her,
"BLAISE! You frightened the life out of me!" He laughed,
"What you doing Cara?" She smiled a little, she hated lying to people, especially Blaise and Draco, but she had sworn an oath to Harry to keep Voldemorts Horcruxes a secret, so she lied,
"Erm, extra work, Head Girl stuff, McGonagall asked me." He didn't believe her, but he sighed,
"Alright Cara, keep your secrets. Although, you know I could torture it out of you." He sat down in the seat next to her, pulling her closer, she laughed,
"Behave yourself, Ginny will be back like any second. And I know you wouldn't want her to see anything that may ruin your chances." He just smiled,
"Fine then, spoil my fun." She went back to her books, he lounged backwards in the chair, whistling inanely, she turned to him, and said with annoyance in her tone,
"What are you doing here anyway?" He shrugged his shoulders,
"Dunno, Draco told me to meet him here. He seemed all determined about something or other." Hermione frowned, with those two here as well the chances of her and Ginny getting anything done were slim. Blaise undoubtedly would be teasing Ginny no end, wearing her down until she gave in, and Draco would fix her with that glare that would make her squirm in her seat, making her want him to take her on top of the desk. A noise behind her made her look up, Ginny, having seen Blaise sat next to Hermione had walked into a chair, banging her leg. Hermione sprang up and said,
"Ginny, are you alright?" Blaise laughed, Hermione gave him a look and he threw his hands up as if to say "What?" Ginny was rubbing her leg, totally thrown out by Blaise's presence. A voice rang out through the stacks, followed by Draco looking throughly annoyed,
"Blaise, stop fucking around, leave them alone." Hermione led Ginny to sit down, giving her blond lover a thankful wink. He nodded, and grabbed Blaise by the shoulder yanking him to the other side of the library. Ginny looked around at the huge pile of books on the table in front of her, Hermione was furiously jotting down notes, she snapped her fingers in front of her face, breaking her concentration,
"Hermione, what's the what? What are we looking for?" Hermione handed her a book, a pen and a piece of parchment,
"Look through the book, note down anything you find about anything to do with items belonging to the Hogwarts four. Possessions, houses, etc. Harry needs us to find anything that will help him and Ron." Ginny got to work.

"Draco, what the fuck are we doing in the library, on a Sunday, looking through old, dusty books?" Draco shot him an annoyed look, then remembered that he hadn't actually relayed to Blaise what he had discovered. He looked over his shoulder, the library was empty, save for Hermione and Ginny, Draco lowered his voice and said,
"I ran into Potter just as he was about to leave the other morning, we had, lets call it a conversation. Anyway, I did a little mind invasion on him, idiot never bothered to learn Occlumency, and I found out the key to putting Voldemort in the bloody ground." Blaise's head snapped up, his interest sparked, he looked intrigued,
"So Potter knows how to destroy Voldemort and he's done bugger all to go through with it?" Draco chuckled,
"If it was that bloody simple I would have done it already. Tom Riddle, the little half-blood wanker who became our illustrious Dark Lord created six Horcruxes. Six pieces of his soul, destroy them and Voldemort is nothing more then a man." Blaise was confused,
"Horcruxes? I thought they were just theoretical?" Draco shook his head,
"Apparently not. The information I gleaned from Potter's head told me that two Horcruxes have been destroyed. A diary that Riddle used at Hogwarts, and a ring. He and Dumbledore went to destroy a third, but it was a fake." Blaise raised a hand, interrupting him,
"Hang on, how do we know what items Voldemort used? There's a million and one things that he could use. I mean from what it looks like, Hermione and Ginny are also researching something or other, and our little lioness was pretty tight lipped about what they were up to." Draco looked triumphant, producing his 'alternative' version of the school's history book,
"The items are things that mean something to the Dark Lord. The ring belonged to his ancestors, the diary chronicled his time here. The fake was a locket, the real thing belonged to Slytherin himself. Potter thinks that the others are also items belonging to the founders." Blaise stood up and paced the floor, his brow furrowed in deep thought,
"So, something of Hufflepuff's, Ravenclaw's and goody two shoes Gryffindor. I assume you're thinking is that this alternate version of 'Hogwarts: A History' may help identifying the items and locating them?" Draco smiled slyly,
"Exactly." He opened the book to the first page and started reading, Blaise sat by, noting down anything of use.

By the end of the day Hermione and Ginny were exhausted and no more informed about possible Horcruxes then before, the entire day had been a fat waste of time. They had collapsed in the Head's common room completely disheartened. Their meeting with McGonagall was a bust to, although the Headmistress had told them that Harry and Ron were alright, and requested that they continue their research. In all the 'excitement' Ginny still hadn't told Hermione about her encounter with Blaise, the news of Harry and Ron taking priority. However it was weighing so heavy on her mind that if she didn't tell someone soon she felt her head may explode, she turned to her friend,
"Hermione? I need to tell you something." Hermione looked up intrigued, she had been interested to know why Ginny had been on edge all day, and had practically turned to jelly when she had seen Blaise. She made a concerned face,
"Sure Ginny, what's up?" Ginny looked around checking that the Head Boy wasn't loitering in the shadows somewhere, and then proceeded to tell Hermione of her encounter. Hermione listened intently, her reaction remaining impassive, however, inside she was rejoicing, Blaise had totally got under Ginny's skin and her friend was actually considering throwing caution to the wind by entering into a relationship with the Slytherin. Hermione smiled inwardly, her Italian lover would be thrilled. Ginny finished her story and looked to the Head Girl for some form of comforting words, Hermione coughed, and bullshitted her way through every pro and con she could think of, the pros heavily outweighing the cons. Ginny looked a little taken aback, she had thought that Hermione would have yelled at her for being so stupid, telling her to forget all about Zabini and concentrate on helping Harry, but she seemed to be encouraging her slightly. Ginny was confused,
"Hermione, what's with you? You're practically telling me to go shag Blaise Zabini, Prince of Slytherin and Death Eater to boot! There's something going on isn't there?" Hermione couldn't help herself, she felt guilty,
"I...I...no of course not!" Ginny flared up,
"I don't believe you! First you're tearing strips out of him, then he's calling you weird names! Now you're pushing me towards him, have you lost your mind?! What about Harry and Ron?!" Hermione's anger was rising, here she stood listening to this crap, she didn't understand. Hermione snapped,
"Shut up! You have no idea do you? Harry worships the ground you walk on, I have saved that boy's life more times then I can count and yet all I get is 'Oh, maybe not Hermione, you'll get hurt. We'll protect you Hermione, you're to pathetic to look after yourself.' Well I'm tired of them treating me like an imbecile. At least I get treated like I'm worth something when......" Hermione stopped talking. Ginny leapt up from the sofa,
"When what, Hermione?" Hermione faced her, eyes dark,
"Forget it Ginny, do what you want. But don't come crying to me when Harry starts treating you like shit!" Ginny glared at Hermione like she didn't know her, she was acting, well she was acting like a Slytherin, and Ginny knew that she had been on the verge on admitting why she was all different recently. Ginny got right up in Hermione's face.
"You're different Hermione and something's made you change. I don't know if I like it." Hermione laughed out loud, smirking,
"Oh I'm sorry Princess! Sorry that my new attitude to those two utter idiots pisses you off. Yeah I've changed, I've realised that I don't need them to coddle me anymore, I can hold my own." Ginny scoffed,
"God Hermione, don't you realise how selfish you sound! What's gotten into you?" A voice emulated from the darkness of the stairwell, a deep drawling tone, Hermione and Ginny's heads whipped around, Hermione smiled sweetly, he grinned wickedly,
"That'd be me, Sweetheart." Another voice rang out, indigo eyes shone,
"And me too."

Draco and Blaise's time had been well spent. The book had provided them with vital information ascertaining to Voldemort's Horcruxes. They made the decision to talk to Hermione that night, feeling that Potter would probably listen to her more then them. They left the library before Hermione and Ginny, heading back to Blaise's room, ensuring to take their notes and the book with them. Draco poured a glass of fire whiskey, thinking over their discovery. Blaise was smoking out the window, thinking about Ginny, she looked so cute today when she banged her leg. It made him want her more. He chuckled. Draco looked over at him, he had a stupid smile plastered on his face, Draco scowled,
"What's got you so happy?" Blaise smirked, he hadn't told Draco about the other day,
"The little Weaselette. She is totally smitten with me, and I don't think it will be too much longer until she give's in." Draco laughed,
"Her resolve isn't much then? Its been what a day and a half since Potter left? She must've wanted you for a while beforehand!" Draco poured Blaise a drink and handed it to him, "So what's the next move?" Blaise smirked,
"Wait until she comes to me. Inevitability, its undeniable." Both turned at the sound of shouting, Ginny, yelling at Hermione, Draco was out the door in an instant, Blaise on his heels. The blond came to a halt before he hit the bottom, Blaise almost slammed into him. They listened intently, Hermione was now shouting at Ginny, Draco could feel her anger running through his veins. Blaise felt Ginny's, and Hermione's, it was an intoxicating cocktail. He looked at his friend, the blond's eyes had turned a dark, stormy grey. From what they could hear, Hermione had almost divulged their secret, and they both knew that Ginny was no idiot, she would figure it out. Draco looked at Blaise,
"What now Genius?" Blaise thought hard, the only way to rectify this situation was to come clean, make this threesome, a foursome. Draco was thinking along the same lines, "Time for plan B?" Blaise nodded,
"We bring her to us." Draco nodded his head in silent agreement, stepping to the bottom of the stairs. From his vantage point he could see Hermione and Ginny, Hermione's power was screaming out at him, he waited for the exact right moment. Ginny was screaming at Hermione,
"God Hermione, don't you realise how selfish you sound! What's gotten into you?" Exact right moment, he stepped forward out of the shadow,
"That'd be me, Sweetheart," he drawled, their head's spun in his direction. Hermione smiled sweetly at him, he shot her his wickedest smile. Blaise stepped beside him, smirking,
"And me too."