𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍-𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘙𝘠 𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘛𝘌𝘙

Chapter 18

Lovesbitca8 TAKES CREDIT THIS IS HER WORK - FOUND ON AO3

Ginny.

Hermione stared down at the piece of paper between her fingertips.

Her bookshelves shuddered as a heavy tome pushed forward, opening to flashes of scarlet hair and mischievous eyes. Ginny was alive, and waiting for her help...

How do I kill him? — GW

Her handwriting. Her words. Her fire.

Hermione screwed her eyes shut. Either the strawberry-blonde girl knew Ginny, or someone with access to both girls had served as the go-between.

She took a shaky breath, stilling her trembling shelves. The note didn't seem like a ruse. Polyjuice Potion wouldn't allow someone to replicate Ginny's handwriting, and the note did fit with her theories about Cho and Charlotte. Girls were quietly revolting against the Great Order, using notes at the Lot parties to communicate. But Ginny had been locked away for over a month now.

A weight dropped in Hermione's stomach. How long had Ginny been waiting for her response? Weeks? Or were there other methods of communication that she wasn't aware of?

Hermione examined the paper over and over, looking for anything else important, and then tossed it into the fire. She watched the parchment crackle and curl.

How do I kill him?

Ginny Weasley had direct access to Voldemort. "The Dark Lord's pet," Cirillo had called her. She was close enough that she believed she could kill him.

Hermione paced her room, thinking of how to answer. The problem was that killing Voldemort wasn't even half of the battle.

Nagini.

Nagini had to be first. If Voldemort died before Nagini, it wouldn't be good enough. The night the Killing Curse had rebounded, when he first tried to kill Harry, he hadn't died because his Horcruxes kept him alive.

As the final Horcrux, the snake had to go first. And there were only three ways to kill her. Fiendfyre, basilisk venom, or the Sword of Gryffindor.

There were only two people alive that knew about the snake — her and Ron. Ginny could be the third. Dumbledore had allowed three people to know after his death.

How long had the strawberry-blonde girl been holding onto Ginny's note, waiting for her moment with Hermione?

Hermione stopped her pacing, bracing herself on the fireplace mantle. Who was she? Who was the strawberry-blonde? She didn't recognize her, but that wasn't necessarily a cause for concern. Lots had been taken from multiple countries throughout Europe — some were even Muggles. And being magic suppressed and under the Carrows' watch made it extremely unlikely that any of the girls would have access to a bottomless supply of Polyjuice Potion.

She thought back to Charlotte. Cho. The girls taking hands under the table with glass in their knees. There was a system in place — a network. And the strawberry-blonde was just a cog in the machine.

If they were going to survive this together, Hermione would have to trust her.

She raced to her desk drawers, taking out spare parchment. She ripped pieces and tested their size under the collar until she had a pile to work with. After a few tries, with a sharp quill point, she figured out how to get the maximum number of words on the scrap. But as she looked down at her small print drying on the parchment with concise words, she realized the implications of her words.

Fiendfyre, basilisk venom, Gryff sword. Nagini first.

If they were caught... she was handing over the keys to it all. Not even Dumbledore had written it down.