Кассандра Клэр - Draco Veritas

"They say people in a coma can hear when they're spoken to, sometimes, even if they don't show it."

"I know it," said Harry, with finality. His voice was gritty with exhaustion.

He raised himself up a little, and looked around the infirmary. "Where's Ron?"

"He said he had to talk to Remus about something, remember? He's probably with him in his office."

"And Sirius?"

"He's down in the Potions office with Snape," Hermione said. "I told you that before."

"Have they had any luck finding anything?" Blaise asked. She had taken Draco's hand, lacing her fingers through his. Ginny felt a burst of resentment, which she tamped down fiercely. Real love is generous, she told herself, it is not jealous, it is not destructive, it is not-Oh, bugger it, she thought, and turned away from the bed, from the sight of the redheaded girl who was not herself holding Draco's hand while his life inched away. She found herself staring down at Hermione, and at her open book. Across the top of the page was a woodcut drawing of a winged serpent; below it a symbol like a sharply rayed star, oddly familiar.

"I've seen that symbol before," Ginny said, trying to remember exactly where. "What does it mean?"

Hermione, who had been replying to Blaise, stopped and sighed. "It's the rune for silver dragons. I've been reading up on them as much as I can, hoping to find something…"

"It was on Harry's runic band," Ginny said, suddenly, glancing towards him, though he didn't seem to be listening. "I remember, because…"

Hermione slammed her book shut, drowning out the rest of Ginny's words. Her face was white. "Harry, do you mind if Ginny and I go talk in the corridor?"

Harry shook his head, barely looking at them. "Do what you like."

Ginny found herself hustled unceremoniously out of the infirmary, glancing back over her shoulder as she went to cast an apologetic look at Blaise. Out on the landing, Hermione checked to make sure that the door was firmly shut before she spoke. "Now finish what you were saying," she said, peremptorily. "The symbol was on Harry's runic band?"

"Well, I never looked that closely at the band when Harry had it," Ginny admitted. "But I saw it when Gareth was wearing it. I looked at it because I was surprised he had one just like Harry's."

Hermione looked as if she were about to clutch at her head. "Gareth? You mean back-in-the-past Gareth?"

"Yes, but he wasn't in the past, he was in my bedroom." Seeing Hermione's expression, Ginny hastened to reassure the other girl that she hadn't been seeking illicit time-traveling booty. "With Ben. They came forward in time to give me something. You see…"

Hermione was blessedly quiet during Ginny's explanation, only nodding on occasion. When Ginny was done, she said, "I've never heard of anything called a flora fortis, myself."

"Well, maybe you don't know everything," Ginny said, vexed.

"It's been suggested." Hermione's tone was acerbic; Ginny sometimes forgot just how dry and almost emotionless Hermione got when she was very, very upset. "Anyway, it sounds as if they didn't have much to say to you that was all that helpful. Just a lot of muttering and a bouquet of dubious usefulness. But you saw the silver dragon rune? You're sure?"

Ginny nodded.

Hermione bit her lip. "I don't want you saying anything to Harry. Do you understand?"

"Why not?"

"Because," Hermione said slowly, "if he finds out that he's been wearing the means to save Draco all these months, and now he's destroyed it, then…" She shook her head. "No. He can never, ever know."

"He'll have to know eventually, Hermione," Ginny said.

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Hermione said, her dark eyes flashing, and Ginny remembered something that Draco had said once, that Hermione had taught him what it meant to be utterly ruthless in love. "It's a moot point, anyway. That bracelet's gone. It no longer exists."

"Yes, it does."

"No," said Hermione with conscious patience. "Harry destroyed it. You know that."

"It exists. It exists in the past."

"GINNY." Hermione dropped her book seized the other girl's wrists. "You can't change the past, do you understand that? Look what happened last time you messed around with time travel."

Ginny tried to draw back, but Hermione's grip was like iron. "You don't think I've thought about that? But this is different, Hermione. This could work. This could save him."

"No," Hermione said again, but Ginny saw the flicker in her eyes. "It's destined, Ginny. I talked to Ron about the visions he had, back at the fortress, how he saw the Dark Mark and the Ministry on fire, and how all of them came true. You know what else he saw? He saw Draco lying dead in a bed, and Harry crying over him. That's the future, Ginny. That's what's going to happen. We can't change it."

"I don't believe it," Ginny said stubbornly. "The future isn't made until it happens. Do you want to let him die and know you didn't do everything you possibly could to save him?"

"Do you want to bring another Tom-sized disaster down on all of us? How many people have to die before you stop being so reckless?"

This time Ginny pulled her wrist back. "When I freed Rhysenn," she said, her voice tight with the effort not to cry, "she told me I was the only one who could save him. The only one. And I thought about it — I wondered what I could do that no one else could. I thought maybe that she meant because I love him so much — but I'm not the only one who loves him, I don't even know if I love him more than anyone else does. What I can do that no one else can do is go back a thousand years into the past. That's all I've got."

"But you don't even have the Time-Turner," Hermione said. "Dumbledore took it away from you."

"And I'm going to get it back," Ginny pivoted and marched off down the hallway.

"Ginny!" Hermione called. "Ginny, wait!"

"She won't, you know," said a voice behind her. "She never does when she's like that."

Blaise had come noiselessly out of the infirmary and was looking at Hermione with open curiosity, as if she were a peculiar bug. Her eyes were red, but her expression dared Hermione to remark on the fact.

Hermione had no intention of remarking on it. Blaise could cry buckets over Draco for all she cared; she had more important things to worry about. "We've got to stop her," she said.

"I don't see why," Blaise retorted. "Stop her doing what?"

With a sharp hiss of exasperation, Hermione whirled on her heel and stalked after Ginny, who was already out of sight. Not that Hermione didn't know her way to the Headmaster's office. "She's got some harebrained idea about going back in time again, trying to find the antidote there."

"There? 'In the past' there?"

They had reached the stairs. Hermione nodded grimly.

"Well, could she?"

Hermione paused with her foot hovering over the first step. "That is not the point!"

"Seems like the point to me," said Blaise reasonably.

Hermione set her foot down on the step with a thump, and glared at Blaise. "After what happened the last time she decided to mess around with time magic?"

"Granted, that went poorly," Blaise acknowledged. "Although I do believe everything happens for a reason." She touched the barrette that held back a lock of her hair. "But the time before that, didn't she use her time magic to bring forward an army that defeated Slytherin and saved all your lives?"

Hermione gaped. "How did you know that?'

"From Draco," said Blaise. "He told me about it. Many times. About how she flew that dragon and saved him, too. I used to think he was just making it up to annoy me, or worse, that it was some perverse sexual fantasy of his. He could be very strange. Did you know — "

"No," Hermione interrupted hastily, "and I don't want to, either. It is true.