Unless You Tell Them to Everyone

As they approached the seventh floor corridor, things became silent. Not that it was extraordinarily loud before, but yells could be heard from a distance. But just then, things became eerily silent, and when Hermione and Draco skidded to a stop in front of the Room of Hidden Things door, the sound from their shoes could be heard bouncing from wall to wall, echoing loudly enough to leave a ringing in their ears.

Suddenly, a bone chilling voice rang throughout the hallways of Hogwarts, leaving every last being rooted to their spot.

"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and they shall not be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."

"We're running out of time," Hermione breathed. They both ran in to the Room of Hidden Things, then split up and ran down different aisles of misplaced junk on shelves. "Hurry, Draco! We need to find it!" Hermione yelled out.

"I know, Hermione! I'm going as fast as I- Hermione! Come here!"

Hermione let a smile pass her lips, knowing by the excited tone in Draco's voice that he had found it. He kept yelling for her, and she followed the voice to a back aisle where a triumphant Draco was holding the exact tiara Hermione then remembered seeing on Rowena Ravenclaw's statue's head.

"Draco! You found it!" Without thinking, Hermione leaned forward and planted a hard kiss right on Draco's lips, much to Draco's surprise and enjoyment. "We need to destroy it!"

"How in hell are we going to do that? We don't know where the sword is!"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Draco, a basilisk fang can destroy a horcrux."

"Where are we going to get a basilisk fang Hermione?"

"You're thicker than you look, you know that? The Chamber of Secrets!"

"We can't get in there! You need to know Parseltongue!"

"I know how to say 'open', Draco. I've heard Harry speak dozens of times."

"Alright... I don't know when you've been wrong before. Lead the way."

Hermione and Draco left the Room of Hidden Things with the diadem stored precariously in Draco's pocket, ready to fall out at any moment. Draco kept a hand over it as they made their way down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where Hermione wasn't surprised to hear Myrtle's cries from a far off toilet.

Hermione looked for the sink with the snake (Harry and Ron had recounted their adventures in complete detail, details Hermione remembered clearly) and said something to it in mimicked Parseltongue. After a moment of hesitation, the sink began to groan and creak, and Hermione and Draco stepped back. The sink opened up to reveal a giant hole and Hermione instinctively grasped Draco's hand.

They inched forward tentatively, and Draco whispered, "Are you sure you want to do this? I can go down there alone."

"Absolutely not! Ready? We'll jump on the count of three. One... two... three!" she yelled, and they slid down the muddy, slimy, makeshift slide. They followed the chamber just as Harry had done five years prior, until they came to a long hallway with the gigantic head of Salazar Slytherin at the end of it.

"This is it," Hermione said quietly. She squeezed Draco's hand tighter as they made their way towards the skeleton of the gigantic snake. "We just need one fang."

They approached the skeleton, and even with very obvious evidence of its death, Hermione still shivered with fear at the sight of the snake. "I'll get it, love," Draco murmured before detaching himself from Hermione and approaching the snake.

He leaned down, grabbed a fang, and began to pull at it, pulling it left and right until finally, it gave, and Draco held it in his hand. He pulled the diadem out of his pocket and set it down on the ground before bringing the basilisk fang down on it, breaking it in two.

A loud shriek was heard, echoing through the chamber, and all of a sudden water started pouring from all the fountains in the room. "We need to get out of here!" Draco yelled, grabbing Hermione by the hand and pulling her towards the exit.

The diadem continued to make a loud shrieking sound, as if a woman was getting stabbed repeatedly, and both Hermione and Draco determined it must be the sound of Rowena Ravenclaw, or possibly Helena.

They raced towards the exit, then darted through the tunnels, until they came to the opening for the muddy slide. They scrambled up it, trying their best to keep their footing, until finally Hermione thought long and hard to conjure up some stairs. They got out easily, sealed the sink, and headed back for the Great Hall.

That's when they heard Voldemort's voice again.

"If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste... I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour... I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you... I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

Hermione almost fell to the ground, and would have if it weren't for Draco supporting her arm. "He's going to do it, Draco. I know Harry better than he knows himself. He would do anything to keep the rest of us safe. We need to find him. And fast."