Braving the Past

Chapter 51: Reunion of Friends

"They know I killed him."

"They don't know anything yet. Just stay calm."

"You saw them, they're one wrong look away from eating me for breakfast!"

Hermione blinked her eyes open to find Ginny already awake, listening to the conversation unfolding. They met each others' eyes, saying nothing.

"Yaxley goes off on his own assignments all the time. The Dark Lord trusts him. There's nothing to suspect yet."

"Draco, please!" Blaise took a few shaky breaths before continuing in a near whisper. "He's going to kill me. You know he will."

A sigh was released. Malfoy.

"If we leave," Malfoy said, "there will be a bounty on our heads. There's no turning back, you get that, right?"

"There's already a bounty on my head - if not now, then there will be soon. I brought it on the moment I killed Yaxley instead of revealing that shell cottage."

It was at this moment that Ginny shot out from under the covers.

"I'm sorry, you discovered what?"

Blaise and Malfoy stuck out their wands at the unexpected intrusion before remembering the girls were there. Malfoy eyed the ceiling and rubbed a hand down his face, lowering his wand. Blaise, on the other hand, looked frantic, sweat beading on his forehead and upper lip. He let out a quick breath, shoving his wand in the pocket of his trousers.

"I expect you heard all that?" Malfoy questioned, head cocked as if he already knew the answer.

Hermione's cheeks heated.

"You weren't exactly quiet when you came in," Ginny retaliated, unashamed as always. "Now what's all this about my family's old cottage?"

The boys exchanged a look.

Ginny crossed her arms. "Unless you think keeping it a secret is a good idea. No worries, just get us all killed when they come hunting you with pitchforks."

"Pitchwands, more like," Hermione put in, trying to ease the tension.

"Would you like to tell them," Malfoy asked Blaise, his gaze pinned on the wall behind them, "or shall I?"

Her shoulders slumped. James would have appreciated the joke.

"I killed Yaxley," Blaise said, addressing Ginny.

"Yeah, we got that part," she responded.

"Because we found something."

"Yep. That, too."

"Something that would have changed everything if he had taken it back to the Dark Lord."

"Get to the point, Zabini."

"I know where your people are hiding," he finally resolved, shoulders tense.

Hermione watched Ginny's reaction. Her sudden stillness, face impassive.

"Okay," she finally said. "So you found where they were set up. That doesn't mean they're -"

"They're alive, Ginny."

A small crack in her mask. The twitch of a muscle.

She was quiet for several seconds before asking in a near whisper, "How many of them?"

"Enough. And it might be time for a reunion."

"Who -"

"Hold on, I'm sorry but we can't just go there," Hermione interrupted. "If there really are survivors, we could be followed - we could be putting them all at risk."