The Seven and The Hidden Child

Chapter 38

"You know," Blaise said while throwing a skull of a dead Hogwarts student on the ground, "this isn't that bad."

Hannah reached across the skull she was smashing with a rock and slapped him as hard as she could. Blaise winced, but shrugged, knowing he deserved it. He grabbed another skull and threw it against the floor. The skull shattered under impact, the bones fragile from sitting in water for years. Nothing was inside. 

Ginny groaned and laid on her back, coincidentally landing her head on Hunter's knee. She smirked, mostly to herself, eyes closed. Hunter didn't pay much attention, busy sifting through smashed bones. 

"Granger, how the bloody hell are we supposed to know when we find this memory?" Draco asked. He was leaning back against one of the snake statues, not bothering to help. Out of the dozens of skulls smashed and broken, the rotted bones lying across the floor, Draco had not touched one. 

"You know, Malfoy, this would go so much faster if you helped. I don't know what we're looking for. It could look like one of those wisps from a pensieve. It could be a scroll or paper. It could be nothing for all I know. Can you just stop being a selfish prick and crack open one of these dead Hogwart's students scrolls?" Hermione huffed, throwing her hands against her lap, a skull flap in hand. 

"Feel better?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in what she detected as amusement. 

Hermione rolled her eyes, mumbling a 'no'. She turned over the skull flap in her hand. Her friends surrounded her all looking for a piece of the puzzle, the one key to moving on in the prophecy. Nothing. The skull had nothing. 

Dejectedly, she stood up, stretching her legs out, bending backwards. Hermioen went back over to the pool of water. She kneeled down next to her newly discovered twin. The water was murky, a brown tint that made the skulls look dirty and old. Hermione mentally rolled her eyes. The bones were from the very first generations of wizards and witches to learn at Hogwarts. She tucked a piece of hair bhind her hair, brushing her fingers through the strands. 

"Was I wrong to just jump into this?" she whispered. 

Blaise had been leaning over, elbow deep in the water, pulling out bones. Her sat up, bringing a skull with him. His fingers looped through the eyeholes, the murky water rolling down the curves and dripping back into the water, rejoining where it had been moments before. He set the skull in between them, taking his fingers out of the eye sockets. He shook his arm, splashing the water off of his arm and landing all around them. 

"I'll admit, it was fast. This past month just feels like it went by so slowly. But once I foudn you, really found you, it seems like this has been a lap aroudn the quidditch field on a Firebolt 2," Blaise admitted, "I just wish we had been able to talk more before this started."

"Would it be wrong to just give up?" Hermione asked, tears gathering at the base of her eyes, staring off at the giant face of salazar. 

Blaise took a deep breath, taking his time to exhale. "No. But you're not going to just give up. There's a person out there, stuck and imprisoned. I saw you in action during the battle. If you're anything like that girl you were four months ago, you're not going to give up until this person is freed." 

Hermione pressed her lips together tightly, making them barely visible. She sighed heavily, wanting to be the breath she released, escaping and no longer held to its duty. She shook her head slightly.

"We've known for a short time that we're twins and you already know me better than I know myself."

Blaise shrugged, reaching down into the murky water once more to grab another skull. He said, "You knew it, Hermione. You knew all along. You're not going to back out of this, even if you have the option to."