They All Love You

part thirty-four

60 minutes before midnight

Hermione could hear a muffled Pansy and Blaise introducing themselves to both Mr and Mrs Weasley downstairs, but she was still staring at the journal Draco left her a few days ago and the obscurities that came with it. 

Dipping her quill in the ink pot, she wrote down 'bananas' as a testing word, but after she had neatly written it down- it disappeared. Vanished. 

It drove her mad that she had no clue as to what was going on and what type of charm there must be on the journal- but she wanted to know why the journal wouldn't keep anything she wrote inside of it. Pulling her silver dress farther down her thighs, she wrote another sentence in neat cursive: 'It's new years eve' to see if the journal did the same thing again, and it did.

But before she could groan and flip the cover shut, she squinted as another neat handwriting appeared at the bottom of the page, saying: 'No shit'

Flabbergasted, Hermione pushed her chair closer to Ginny's cramped desk as she grabbed the journal with such tightness and curiosity that after a few moments, the second handwriting vanished just like Hermione's did. 

Before she could write anything else to try and see what was going on, Ron came stumbling in the room, making her jolt back in surprise.

"Hermione...erm, I think Theo's wants to see you-"

Hermione quickly got up to catch Ron before he could fall out flat on the floor, and gagged at the fire whiskey stench exuding from his clothing, "Ron, you're drunk and it's only eleven!"

"I'm noter drunk."

Hermione pushed him up against the wall for his own sake's balance and left him in the hallway as she clonked down the staircase to find Theo. She waved quietly at Pansy and Blaise (both in conversation with Bill, Fleur and Molly) as she went over to the kitchen island where Theo sat in deep thought.

"Are you alright, Theo?" Hermione asked as she sat down next to him.

Something was particularly off about him; his posture was bent, he seemed hunched over onto the island, and his eyes seemed to be glued in one spot on the wooden counter top. "Theo, is something wrong?"

He turned to look at Hermione's concerned eyes, "I think my mum's dead."

"What are you talking about, Theo? I thought you said she's hiding in the French countryside as of a few weeks ago?"

Theo shook his head, "I just received this letter. I dunno who sent it. Read."

Hermione searched his face with bewildering eyes as he limply pulled out a small crinkled parchment paper from his trouser's pocket and handed it to her. He seemed so...exhausted.

Hermione took the parchment eagerly and mumbled the writing on the page, "As the Nott family chose the wrong side, a new year of the dark arts will reign profousley with no mistakes this time. Consider this a proposal, as second chances are never given out. Join us unlike your father, and unlike your mother, who have suffered their fate. There will be no flaws this time. There will be no contingencies. Only victory for the fallen Dark Lord's legacy. You see, the time of darkness has already begun. It's only a matter of time that traitors will be dealt with. Traitors like you. The new juror awaits your decision."

Her brain fuzzed as she re-read the words in disbelief. This had to be a harmful prank. A joke! There was no more dark arts in the wizarding world, yet it seems otherwise now. She didn't know what to think. Her eyes met Theo's saddened eyes in complete shock. "Who the hell sent this to you?"

"I don't know. An owl's my guess, but it was in my beaded bag so it could've been given to me earlier. It has to be fake, right?" Theo nearly pleaded.