I blink and I'm awake. My head is on the sofa, my cheek pressed against the plush fabric. When I lift my head, I feel Draco's hand on my back. My head stings. No better than an ache, but at least different.

"You're awake," Hermione's voice says.

I press my fingertips against my hairline, they feel freezing. I shuffle until I am facing forward. Draco moves his hands, one on my shoulder holding me up and the other on my thigh. The brightest of the room magnifies the stinging, so I close my eyes and focus on the pressure behind each of Draco's fingers into me. His grip is firm. It's real.

"Yes," I manage to make my lips move. The words actually feel like they are mine. I thought them and now they are out in the world. The body that I inhabit might be shit at being a body, but at least it's mine.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Hermione asks.

"Give her thirty seconds maybe, Hermione?" Ron's voice chimes in. He's speaking to her softly. It's a kindness that he doesn't use too often when I am around. Draco and I must make him angry.

I look over at the others, all sitting in the room, even if it makes me squint. Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Harry. They are wearing the same clothes as they did earlier. Hermione is not wearing the wool coat. Maybe she never was. My eyes find the clock. It's been less than ten minutes since I last checked.

My head turns, albeit barely, towards Draco. He isn't wearing the suit that I thought he was wearing. He's older too, and healthier even though his face looks nearly green.

"I think two memories slipped through," I say, trying to haphazardly put the thoughts together. I lick my lips. "Canned soup, I think. Tomato."

"You drank a lot of that while in hiding," Draco's voice is quiet. He looks away from me and towards the others.

"What else?" Hermione presses on.

I look at them, scanning their faces. Hermione does not look any older than she did last I saw her, although I suppose her face is less thin. Her jaw and cheekbones were sharper, but only slightly. Her hair was dirtier too.

I only would have seen Hermione once during the war. I was in hiding for all of it but one day.

"Did you see me too?" Luna asks.

I look at her but then look away.

"It was brief," I say. My eyes go to my hands. They can move. "I remembered part of the memory alteration. It's strange without context."

"Nothing else?" Harry asks.

They are looking at me. I know it wasn't Theo who did it. Maybe I will tell them, but not this second. Draco killed Theo. Draco already has enough to handle knowing he killed someone who didn't do the things that Draco thought he did. Coping with the disappointment of only a partial memory is enough for now.

"No," I say, and I know they will be able to tell that I am lying. It is a part of the plan.

"We can only help if you give us all the information," Hermione points out.

When I say nothing, Ginny huffs. She walks out of the room, her hair swinging behind her in its ponytail. Ron leaves to follow her.

"You can talk about Easter," Luna says, her voice as high and light as usual. "We already know what happened."

I take in a deep breath, rehearsed.

"I saw Hermione," I say. "I heard a scream."

It's easier to say it in a disembodied way. Not her scream but a scream.

"What happened with your memory?" Draco asks.

"Theo was asking me questions I couldn't remember about second year," I offer. My head stings and I exaggerate a wince. "I was tied to the chair."

None of them speaks. Luna offers me a tightlipped smile, while Hermione and Draco look at each other. Hermione's head nods a bit, and then she stands and walks out the room.

"Do you need help getting upstairs?" Draco asks.

"I'm fine," I insist. "It's probably best I stay put."

"You should rest," he says, pointedly.

I turn my head to the doorway. He wants me out of here as soon as I possibly can be forced up the stairs. They are going to talk, and they don't want me to hear it. Well, I suppose we both are hiding things from one another.

So, I stand. Draco moves to brace me, but I brush him off. He trails after me while I head down the hall. He watches me go up the staircase, not leaving when I hit the top.

They are going to be chatting with one another, and I'm not going to be in the room. If I'm lucky, and I don't consider myself lucky, they won't be taking Draco to Azkaban just this second.

I pace around my room holding my wand. I don't know any spells that would help me eavesdrop and there isn't enough time to find a charm that would serve that purpose. Maybe there is a charm that would quiet my footsteps so that I could sneak downstairs. This could be a game where I think of strategies without implementing any of them for the next ten minutes.

The ear on the string.

I grab it out from within the confines of my bag and head over to the staircase. I move quietly and carefully, the steps a practiced routine. The material of the string is quite gross, but I still lower it down over the railing, waiting and waiting to hear a sound.

"Well, it is entirely possible that she could experience further flashbacks without needing tears, is it not?" that voice belongs to Hermione. "Just because we cannot make another potion does not mean the current treatment hasn't worked. Perhaps she will remember more tomorrow."

"And if she doesn't, then she's taking the portkey before I have to leave for practice," Ginny's voice snaps. "You're lucky I am even letting him stay here this weekend!"

"Gin, we've already explained to you how long it's going to take to make the wall trap look legitimate," Ron is the one who speaks.

That is all the information I need. I pull up the string and snatch the ear in my hand. Then, I sneak into the bedroom and hide the extendable ear in my bag. I have to make it look like I was trying to get into their meeting. Draco knows I am stubborn. He will never believe that I'm sitting ideally. So, I need to let him catch me so that he doesn't know that I know what's happening, but I simultaneously need to seem like I am making an effort to remain hidden. I could steal Harry's invisibility cloak, but I'm sure that is in his office and I'd rather they didn't know that I've poked around inside.

Ron used a disillusionment charm when he came to find me after I ran.

I go to the charm book and look through the index until I find the charm. It is only really good at camouflaging people in their surroundings. I won't be totally invisible, which will help with my endeavour. With that in mind, I cast it on myself. It seems to work well enough. I move down the hallway until I am at the staircase. They creak so very much, given the age of the house. I keep to the edge until I get close to the bottom. Once I'm two-thirds of the way down, I press my foot against the staircase as hard as I can.

The creak is loud. The muffled voices in the room stop. I don't move, except to tighten my chest and stop breathing. I want them to see me, but I want them to think I don't want them to see me.

Draco steps into the hallway. His eyes scan down towards the kitchen before moving toward the front door. Then, he turns to the staircase. Surely, he must notice me. Now, my heart actually begins to race.

"You still cast a shadow with a disillusionment charm," he points a finger toward me, his hands tracing the air.

I look at the wall behind me, and sure enough, my outline is clearly visible against the wall. He comes towards me on the stairs, and I remove the charm. With his hand on the small of my back, he forces me up onto the second floor and doesn't stop until I enter our guest room.

"Why can't I know what's being said?" I ask. "I feel fine. You should let me stay downstairs."

He flicks his wand, and light flashes out of the tip. It hits the walls and coats them.

"You're putting up a containment charm?" I demand.

"Yes," he moves to leave the room.

I force myself to hurry after him, "I do not like being held captive."

"I don't like being spied on," he answers, and then he storms out of the room.

"I am cashing in my second question," I say. He told me that I have three. I'm saving my last, but this second seems like the perfect risk. "Tell me what is going on!"

Draco spins around in the hallway to stare at me, "you didn't play fair when you tortured yourself, so I guess I'm not playing fair either."

My feet push myself after him, only stopping when the light of the barrier appears before me. I could try to figure out how to escape it, but my headache is bad enough and I don't need to actually get out. Not now, anyway. I know I cannot cast any dark magic into the hallway, but I can cast light magic.

"Accio Ogden's," I say, to prove my point.

I hear a crash downstairs. After a few seconds, a bottle of Ogden's flies into the room. I catch it with my hand. When I take a sip, despite the bitter taste, I want to smile. I've bested them. They do not know what I know. Yet, I am still scowling.

~~~~~

Oop, the tension is rising. Jane/Marty is putting her Ravenclaw skills to use here. What do you think is next in her plan? I'd love to know in the comments!