Living Death

- chapter seven

The following morning Harry was practically bursting to tell Hermione and Ron of his discovery, and not only had he seen you, but he had solid evidence of your existence clutched in his palm.

Upon taking his leave, Harry had retraced part of the route he'd seen you take, and that's when he saw it. Your necklace. He knew it was yours the moment he spotted it by the light of his wand on the floor. He remembered Malfoy bragging about getting it made for you specially and making you show it off to everyone. It was an exact copy of the snake engraved into the ring he always wore, but made into a pendent. He cringed a little at how disgustingly couple like it was, despite the fact you both always denied any suggestion of the sort.

And here he had it in his hand, sat at the great hall table with Ron by his side, eagerly awaiting for Hermione to make her appearance so he could reveal all.

"Cant you just tell me, then tell Hermione?"

"No Ron this is important, I need you both to hear the once" Harry leaned in closer to Ron and lowered his voice slightly "because if Malfoy somehow pokes his nose in, we're dead meat"

They both slowly craned their heads around to glance over at Draco who was sat, in solitude, looking down absently at the toast rack in front of him. He noticed their glances though and briefly lifted his head and locked eyes with them before they quickly snapped their necks back around.

"Bloody hell.. If looks could kill" Ron scoffed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Maybe that's what happened to Y/N" Harry joked under his breath, causing him and Ron to break into small smiles.

"And what are you two grinning about?" Hermione's voice arrived before she did. "I don't see either of you being particularly helpful to my latest investigation"

She sat down and slammed her books down beside her bowl of porridge, flicking open to a page in some tatty old book she'd acquired, reading out historical records about accidental deaths of witches and wizards without checking to see if either of the boys were listening.

Harry interrupted her mid-way though a ramble about failed potion brewing deaths. "Hermione that's brilliant, really it is, but it may interest you to know that I have actually been doing some researching of my own"

He sent a knowing look to Ron but Ron look back at him with a perplexed expression and raised his eyebrow a little as he looked back to Hermione, even he was surprised that Harry was getting involved in it all now.

"And what exactly have you found out?" Hermione questioned, folding her arms. Clearly, she doubted his attempts.

"She's alive" He opened his palm to reveal the pendent in his hand, holding it in the middle of the table for them to see. Ron leaning in closer and narrowing his eyes with a slightly worried expression.

"Transfiguration gone wrong? She's a necklace?"

Harry and Hermione both gave Ron a short look.

"Honestly Ronald, you're being ridiculous" Hermione rolled her eyes and looked back to Harry "And why does her necklace prove she's alive?"

"Because not only is this her necklace, but I saw her on the map" Harry said with a proud sort of smirk. Both Hermione and Ron sat up a little more, eager to find out all the details.

"I went to investigate because she was walking the corridors last night, and I would've bumped into her if it wasn't for Snape sniffing about... at first I thought she was a ghost but this proves she's definitely alive if she dropped this"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other as if to try and think of an alternative explanation but even they were stumped. "Well.. I didn't anticipate this at all." Hermione said, bitterly tucking into her bowl of porridge, as she had just wasted most of her morning looking up witch death records of the past a hundred years. "If she is alive, then why exactly have we all been told she's dead?"

Harry shrugged and looked back at the necklace in his hand "I don't know, I didn't get that far"