Granger's Wolf

Not Even Zabini

Hermione and Blaise extended the cottage and added two more rooms; one for Blaise and the other for Narcissa, then conjured simple furniture for each. Narcissa hadn't left her room since she arrived at the cottage. No one – not even Draco – could enter her room, only Baloo was allowed inside to heal her injuries. Draco, for the first few days after they came back from the Manor, didn't come out of his room and didn't eat the meals Baloo prepared. He shouted at Blaise to leave him alone every time he tried to get Draco to eat or leave his room, and Hermione couldn't summon the courage to try herself.

In the meantime, Hermione and Blaise had become close to what you can call friends. When they were at Hogwarts, she always had the impression that Blaise Zabini was quiet and reserved, but then she found out that he was much more open than Draco. He easily told her that he didn't believe in Pureblood superiority, that he had been forced into a community that believed in it, and that he joined the Death Eaters because he couldn't leave Draco. She learned that Blaise loved Draco like a brother, since they were kids, and was willing to do anything for him.

He told her that Voldemort had forbidden Draco from taking the Wolfsbane potion, which would allow him to keep his human mind during the full moon – a harmless wolf. Voldemort also wanted Draco to fully lose his humanity, become a heartless creature like himself, and so he assigned him tasks that were so terrible they left Draco broken. He had to bring Muggle newborns for Greyback to eat, had to bring the mothers to watch, and then kill them, not with an Avada; that would be too quick, he would burn them alive. Blaise told her that after each one of those sessions, he vomited for hours and cried himself to sleep. Hermione knew then that Draco had daily vivid nightmares about those missions, because she heard heart-breaking screams coming from his room every night. She was conflicted between pitying him, and being terrified of what he did. Hermione tried, more than once, to ask Blaise about why Draco had helped her, but he would always change the subject.

Hermione sent a Patronus to Harry and Ron telling them that she was alright and free, and that she wanted to join them, but she never got an answer. She used the coin they had been using for their DA meetings, but still, they didn't reply. That worried her to no end. They couldn't be dead, or the entire Wizarding World would have known already. Had they run into Snatchers? Had the Death Eaters captured them?

She went on with her research on Horcruxes in private using the books that were, thankfully, still in her beaded bag. She kept thinking about the memories Dumbledore showed Harry and the Horcruxes they knew about. She noticed that he used valuable objects: his own diary, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, and Salazar Slytherin's locket. Choosing such precious objects was a stupid choice in her opinion; one could turn a random coin into a Horcrux, toss it in a river, and nobody would ever find it.

From Dumbledore's memories of Tom Riddle, she knew that he valued Hogwarts and his education greatly, he even offered to teach at Hogwarts, so if one of the Horcruxes was Slytherin's Locket, then did he use other things that were Slytherin's? Or an object from each founder?

There was something new on her mind as well. She had been bored and reading The Tale of The Three Brothers in the cottage's copy of Tales of Beedle The Bard when Blaise glanced at what she had been reading then asked her,

'Do you believe in the Deathly Hallows, then?'

'The what?'

He explained everything about the Hallows, showed her the symbol, and told her that the Peverell brothers were believed by many to be the three brothers in the story.

'They exist. I found the symbol of the Hallows on one of the Peverell's graves.'

Did Harry know about the Hallows? He couldn't; Dumbledore hadn't told him. And If they were real, surely Voldemort would be after the Elder Wand? Would Harry stand a chance against Voldemort if he possessed that wand?