A/N: Thank you so much guys for 120+ votes on this story! It means a lot. As I told, here is the second part of chapter 24. This part will be longer than the previous one. Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter!

Standing before them was none other than Ronald Bilius Weasley. 

He covered the distance between them in four long strides and stood beside Hermione and Harry. He sat on the other side of Harry and hugged them both, feeling the familiar touch of them before his darted to see his sister on the next bed. 

He gave Harry a squeeze on his shoulder and then stood up. He sat on Ginny's bed and took her hand in his. Rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his finger, he asked, "How long? How long has she been unconscious?"

"Miss Weasley and Mr Potter were brought here around three hours ago, And he woke up an hour ago. But, Miss Weasley hasn't yet." Madam Pomfrey answered his question.

Ron nodded and turned back to Hermione and Harry. "You feeling alright, Harry?" He asked him.

Still crying into Hermione's shoulder, he said, "Y-yes. But G-Ginny..." He trailed off towards the end.

"Ginny is a strong girl. She is a fighter and I know she will wake up very soon. She will be fine." Hermione said as she looked at her unconscious best friend, while rubbing Harry's back.

Ron looked at her and nodded and turned back towards his sister.

"I am sorry to cut your time off, but Mr Potter needs some rest. You will have to answer Headmistress McGonagall's questions when she will be back here, and that will be tiresome, so you need to rest, Mr Potter." Madam Pomfrey said.

Harry just quickly shook his head in reply, as a child who had been to sleep, when he clearly wanted to sleep.

Hermione pulled away a little so she could look at her best friend's face and said, "She is right, Harry. You need to rest. And when you will wake up, you will find Ginny sitting beside you, scolding you for blaming yourself for everything. You don't want her to see you like this now, do you?"

Harry silently shook his head in reply.

"Then rest, Harry. We will be here only. Call us if you need anything, okay?" Hermione said and wiped his tears with her hand. Kissing him on his forehead in a sisterly way, she pulled away and helped him to lay down. She put the blanket over him and removed his glasses, keeping them on the table beside his bed. Ron walked towards them and patted Harry on his shoulder as he finally closed his eyes, letting sleep over take him.

'I need to find that bloody Mayfair.' Draco thought as Hermione and Ron came towards him and Madam Pomfrey. 

"Did Headmistress McGonagall's reply came?" Madam Pomfrey asked Hermione. 

She shook her head and said, "No. I sent my patronus informing her about this just as you told and it should have reached her already. But she hasn't replied anything yet. But I am sure she will be here soon."

Madam POmfrey nodded and went away, telling them that she will be in her office and to call if they need anything.

When he saw Ron making his way back to Ginny, Draco pulled Hermione a little close to him and asked, "Do you remember what Mayfair told you about the place where he spends most of his time when he hasn't got anything to do?"

Hermione thought for a moment and then said, "He told me that he spends most of his time in the Room of Requirement."

Draco nodded in reply and was about step away when Hermione grabbed his arm and asked him, "What are you going to do, Draco?"

"I need to find him, Hermione." He answered simply.

"But, I don't think he would be there now. Madam Pomfrey said that he was missing and I don't think that he would be in the school now." Hermione said.

"There are some things that Voldemort taught his death eaters. They might come in use. I don't think anyone else knows about them and that could be the reason they were not able to find him." Draco told her.

"I will come with you." Hermione told him, determination clear in her voice.

Draco was tempted to say yes but he shook his head and said, "No, they need you more than I do, Hermione. Stay here with them." He pointed her towards Ron, Harry and Ginny. 

"But Draco, I-" She tried to protest but he cut her off.

"Hermione. Please, listen to me." He said and pulled his arm away from her. 

Hermione nodded and Draco walked away from her.  Just as he was about to step out from the Hospital Wing, Hermione called him.

Draco turned around as she said, "Please don't do anything to him."

Draco understood her concern for him. Even if everyone told him that he was guilty, she would not believe it unless she saw it herself. It was a lesson she had learned when she thought Draco was guilty and didn't give him a chance to explain. 

So he looked her in the eyes and said, "I won't, Hermione. But if he tries to do anything at first, then I can't promise."

Hermione nodded and Draco closed the doors behind him as he stepped out, not before taking a last look at her.

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Draco ran as fast as his feet would carry him to the Room of Requirement. There was a highly chance that Andrew Mayfair wouldn't be here now, but he just wanted to check once.

'The place where Andrew Mayfair spends most of his time.' He thought and walked three times until the door appeared and he opened it.

Walking inside, he saw it was empty, just as he had accepted. 

It was a simple room. There were some couches and a few armchairs, a coffee table, a fireplace, some chairs with a table in the corners and finally a wall full of books. It was warm and cozy. It seemed like a kind of place where Hermione would prefer to study. He had been here with her once before, when the library was full of people and she had wanted some peace to study properly and he had happily accompanied her.

He carefully walked around the room, checking the space behind each couch and armchair. He checked every corner and even the space under the tables, though he did not believe that Andrew Mayfair would hide under there. "You could never believe him fully." He muttered as he checked each and every space available to hide someone, believing his statement the reason behind this. 

When he was finally done with that, he stood in the centre of the room and pulled out his wand. Pointing his wand at nowhere in particular, he said the incantation, "Quam diu est quod fui!"

It was a spell that Voldemort had taught them before his seventh year had started. It had helped a person to find out how long has it been since a person was there, if you thought about that person while saying the spell. It also had the added benefit of removing the Disillusionment charm from anyone if a person had a doubt about that.

When you said the spell and pointed it at a room, the room would be filled with a light. If it was a light, it would mean that it had been an hour since a person was there. If it was a blend of red and white, it would mean two hours. If the light was in red colour it would mean three hours and so on. A person was able to find out the time only if it had been less than a day since a person was here. 

Just as Draco casted the spell, thinking about Andrew Mayfair in his mind, the room was filled with a light of blue colour, telling him that it had been five hours since he was there.

"If it has been that long, then he probably hasn't attacked Weaslette and Saint Potter, as it is now almost four hours since they were attacked. And as far as Hermione knows him and according to what he told her, he always comes here before breakfast." Draco said as he put his wand back in his pocket.

"It would probably take a person more than half an hour to go from here to the place they were attacked, and even more to hide from being seen by all the ghosts and Filch and his bloody cat who can literally sense anyone. It would probably take around an hour. And seeing the amount of curses that Weaslette and Saint Potter took, that fight would have atleast taken an hour." Draco continued but was stopped when he heard his stomach grumbling.

Normally, that would have irritated him since he was really hungry now but this time, it gave him a sudden idea. "Today breakfast started an hour late then usual due to some unknown reasons or more likely McGonagall known reasons. And Hermione and I were on our way to the breakfast when we were told of the attack. So they were attacked most likely around five o' clock today. And Mayfair was here till about four o'clock. And this doesn't give him enough time to attack both of them. So Mayfair wasn't behind that attack." He concluded as he looked around the room once again.

"But where is he now?" He asked himself as he made his way towards the door. He was about some metres away from the door when he saw something on the couch. 

It was a book, no scratch that. It was a diary. And written on the front was the name of the owner. 'Andrew Mayfair.'

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The silence was awkward between them. 

She was still standing on the spot where she had some minutes ago when Draco had left. And Ron was sitting on Ginny's bed.

Hermione didn't know what to do. She wanted to hug him. She was really happy to see her friend and she had wished some days ago when she had received his another letter that he would come to visit them, but she didn't want the circumstances to be like this. She had hoped for a happy and peaceful circumstance. But that was not the case here.

She stood at her place, watching him trying to hold back his tears. 

Ever since Fred's death, he had become more emotional and sensitive towards his brothers and sister than he was ever before. Even if they got a little scratch, he would worry all the day for that. And now, when he saw his sister like this, you couldn't expect him to be calm and cool about everything.

Hermione swallowed before covering the distance between them. She placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. 

Ron turned around and stood up, hugging her tightly. 

"I missed you, 'Mione." He said, his head resting on top of her head. 

"I missed you too, Ron." Came Hermione's muffled reply from his shirt. She pulled away and saw that he was clearly trying to hold back his tears. 

"It's okay to cry, Ron. It's okay to cry for your sister. No one is going to judge you here, believe me." Hermione said patting his upper arm. 

"How are you so calm in this situation?" Ron asked her, watching her through his tears.

"Trust me, I am not. I think it is just that I am better at pretending that I am calm than others. We all need someone to be strong right now. So I thought, why not let the strong person be me?" Hermione said as she smiled sadly at him.

"You can't be strong forever, Hermione." Ron said.

"I know. But let me be until I have no more strength to be. Then you can be the strong one?" Hermione said as she chuckled at hugged Ron.

He hugged her back and said, "You don't know how much you are helping us by just doing this. But, I assure you, if there is even a second where you feel that you can't do this anymore, just tell me. I will support you throughout. And be the strong one." He promised her.

Hermione nodded and said, "But for now, take out your emotions, Ron. You need that." Ron nodded and she rubbed his back while he cried on her shoulder.

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Draco hated invading someone's privacy, but he had to do that. He needed to know about Andrew Mayfair's whereabouts and his diary could help him.

So he picked up his diary and opened it, all the while praying, "I hope you wrote where you would be today, Mayfair." 

He flicked through the pages and was about to go on the last page when he caught someone's name. Someone very familiar to him. 

"Why is her name in this?" He muttered as he read the diary.

Dear diary (I still don't know what to call you?!)

Hope you are doing good. You gonna ask about me? Well, to be honest, I don't know. I really don't know how I am right now. I would be sad for a moment and the next, you would find me smiling. Though I can't assure you that smile would be real or not. 

Anyways, something weird happened today. I told Hermione everything. About Amelia, Voldemort, my parents, everything. And I think I actually feel better now that I have told her about it. I really like her, diary, like really. It's not just any crush or anything. I like her. She is really special to me, you know. She is a great girl and I am glad that she accepted, even if as a friend, after knowing everything about me. She didn't hate me, or got scared from me when I told her how Amelia died. She even comforted me when I broke down. She didn't hate me like I had expected her to, nor she judged me for my relations with Voldemort, rather she saw me for who I am, something that never happened before in Durmstrang.

Well, everything was going perfectly well until Draco heard everything. Yeah I call him Malfoy sometimes but I will always write Draco here, that is until something major happens. He was under a Disillusionment charm and I don't know why I didn't recognize it. Anyways, we fought afterwards and he told me to stay away from Hermione, that I am a bad news for her. But who is he to tell me what to do and what not to? I know I am not good for her, but at least let me spend time with her as a friend only. Well, it is past curfew and I need to go now, I don't want somebody to catch me, ehh? 

Until I write again

Yours Andy 

"Why is he referring to me as Draco here? He is a weird fellow." Draco muttered as he got to the last page. To his pleasure, it had today's date. He took a deep breath, crossed his fingers and started reading.

Dear Bonitatem (Hermione told me this, it's Latin for goodness) 

You like this name? I didn't really know what else to give you for a name. You are a goodness in my life, the only thing whom I can rely on. The only one whom I can trust to not get irritated when I bother you, even after midnight. Don't get me wrong, I know I can trust Hermione for that too, but I obviously can't bother her all the time, you know. And also, wouldn't want to get caught roaming after curfew by Filch or his bloody cat, who can literally sense anyone. 

Draco snorted at this. He remembered himself saying exactly these lines a few minutes ago. Maybe we are similar after all, he thought as he remembered Hermione telling him this. He shook his head and continued reading.

Hermione had a English to Latin dictionary and I thought of searching in that, she happily lent me her book, mind you. I don't know why I chose Latin. I guess the reason was Voldemort. Most of his spells were in Latin and they were a symbol of evilness. And you, are a symbol of goodness, you are supporting me since I came to Hogwarts in my fourth year and haven't left me since then. So I guess, I am rebelling against him, even though he is dead.

Coming to the point, let me tell you the real reason I am bothering you at around four o'clock in the morning. I had a nightmare about Amelia's death, and I don't know why, I just want to visit her grave today, like right now. I don't know how I managed to get here without getting caught, but yeah. She really liked this part of the day, early morning. We used to walk around when I came here, it actually felt really good. So yeah, I am going to visit her grave now. You know where it is. It is at our favorite spot, the small hill behind the Shrieking Shack. It is a small hill, but you could look over the whole Hogsmeade from there. Nobody knows about that place since it is close to the Shrieking Shack and I usually convert it to look like a small land full of garbage  to other people (with a spell I found in a book). So yeah, only I can see it. And maybe anyone else who knew about the spell 'Quam diu est quod fui', which I don't think anyone else knows except his death eaters and I think they wouldn't be interested in a place like that. Anyways, I should go. 

Probably writing after I come back,

Yours Andy.

"I am coming, Mayfair." Draco said as he created a copy of his diary. He shrank the copy and put in his pockets and walked out of the room.

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Draco was walking through the corridor when he accidentally bumped into someone. 

"Ouch, I am sorry-Goyle?" Draco said as he looked at his housemate. 

"Malfoy?" Goyle asked him.

"Long time no see, huh?" He joked.

"That's because you chose to ignore me, Draco." Goyle said as he narrowed his eyes at him.

"I didn't ignore you, Goyle. We all needed some space after Crabbe's death." Draco said as he remembered his old house mate.

"Yet you didn't think of your friend. You didn't come to ask me how I was dealing with this." Goyle said.

"I hate to break this to you, Goyle, but we were never friends. You were like, I don't know, a follower of me and I was like your leader. We never shared the bond of friendship, Goyle." Draco said as he looked at him. He didn't want to say this, but he had to.

"That's because you let your pride over take you." Goyle said bitterly.

"I don't have time for this." Draco said as he started to walk past him but something that Goyle said stopped him.

"Well then I guess I have only Andrew to talk to." Goyle said.

"Wait, what? Why would you talk to him?" Draco asked as he turned around.

"Because he is my friend?" Goyle said.

"Friend? When did you two even become friends?" He asked him.

"When you started ignoring me. I found Andrew crying one day. I sat with him and talked to him throughout that day. We then started meeting for dueling sessions too. He helped me to improve. After some time, he told me everything about him. Actually I overheard him muttering about something to himself and I asked him, so he had no choice but to tell me the truth." Goyle said.

"I need to talk to you for a moment." Draco said as he grabbed his arm and led him to an empty classroom.

He closed the door and casted a spell so that no one would be able to hear them.

"Did he tell you anything about Voldemort in particular?" He asked him.

Goyle thought for a moment and then said, "Why should I tell you?" 

"If you won't cooperate then I can even force you to tell me about that. You know that perfectly well. You owe me many times, Goyle. Consider this as a payment for them." Draco said.

"Whatever. I don't think it is worth to risk my life for saving his truth or anything. He just told me that he is the Dark Lord's nephew and some things about him that no one knows, except him, and me now." Goyle said as he shrugged.

"What did he tell you?" Draco asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Something about the Dark Lord's eight horcrux." Goyle said.

This threw Draco off guard. "You are lying." He said.

"I don't expect you to believe it. I didn't myself at first, either. But just think this. Do you think the Dark Lord will make seven horcruxes, all the things of importance and not his first ever medal that he earned. He won a competition or something, fairly if I may add. So he decided to make it a horcrux. He used to carry it everywhere. It was added as a safe guard when out seventh year was about half way through. Only Andrew knew about it, since he heard him talking about it. He had killed someone to make that. Andrew wanted to tell everyone about it, but he didn't, when the Dark Lord got to know that he knows and kidnapped his parents, threatening to kill them if he told anyone. So he didn't. But still, for some reason, he killed his parents before the battle even began. But Andrew didn't tell anyone, I guess he didn't have the courage for that. I think he may have a idea of where it is now, but he didn't tell me." Goyle told him.

"I need to find Hermione." Draco said to himself but Goyle heard it.

"That mudblood? You became rather close to her, don't you think? She forgets her place sometimes. She is nothing but the filth underneath my shoe. Don't give her that importance, Draco." Goyle said darkly.

"Shut up! Don't call her that and if I become close with he or not, that's none of your business." Draco said as he opened the door and walked out from it.

"Of course it is my business, Draco. You are my friend, whether you think of me as your friend or not." Goyle said, even when there was no one to hear him.

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Draco was about to enter the Hospital Wing when he heard voices inside. 

"He is innocent!" He recognized this as Hermione's voice. 

"And what proof do you have? He is a death eater, Hermione!" Came Ron's shout.

"An ex death eater, Ron. He was cleared of all charges by the Ministry. They didn't find him guilty. Besides, Draco brought us some time, and enough time to escape at the Manor. He saved us, Ron! And he changed for the better after the war, I know that." Hermione tried to reason.

"I don't have time for Weasley's accusations. I need to find Mayfair first." Draco told himself and ran towards the doors.

He quickly ran towards Hogsmeade, to the place he had mentioned in his diary. Sure enough, he found that place and muttered that spell. The place changed before him and he found him sitting near a grave.

"May-Andrew!" Draco shouted as he ran towards him.

"Draco? How did you find me here?" Andy frantically asked as he stood up and came near him.

"That doesn't matter now. Just answer me one thing honestly. Are you friends with Goyle?" Draco asked as he panted. 

"Um...why are you asking that?" Andy asked him.

"Just answer the question, please Andrew. For Hermione, please?" Draco pleaded him.

"Yes, I am friends with him." Andy answered.

"Did he find you crying one day and you both talked throughout that day?" Draco asked him.

"Yeah, that's true." Andy answered his question.

"And do you both have dueling sessions?" He asked him, thinking that he couldn't exactly him about Voldmort's horcrux. 

"Yeah, we do sometimes." Andy answered.

"Did you know that Weaseltte and Saint Potter were attacked today?" Draco asked him.

"Who-oh, you mean Ginny and Harry. I didn't know. How are they now?" Andy asked him, panic clear in his voice.

"I think you should come with me." Not giving him a chance to answer, Draco grabbed his arm and led him towards the castle.

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"Hermione!" 

Hermione turned around to see Draco and Andy in the Hospital Wing. She was about to run towards them, but McGonagall stopped her.

"Where were you, Mr Mayfair?" She asked him.

"He is not being the attack, Headmistress. He wasn't in the castle since four o'clock today, I assure you. But I need to tell something to Hermione." Draco quickly said, ignoring the looks of confusion on Andy and McGonagall's faces and ran towards Hermione.

He pulled her towards a corner and told her everything. By the time he was finished, Hermione's jaw had dropped.

"But Voldemort died in front of us!" She told him.

"Ancient magic, Hermione. One can fake his or her death. I know, I have read about it somewhere." Draco said.

"Do you believe Goyle?" She asked him.

"I confirmed some things with Andrew and I think that Goyle is telling the truth." Draco told her.

"Then we need to act fast, I guess. Voldemort would want to rise again and we need to destroy that horcrux before something bad happens." Hermione told him.

"Who will do that but?" Draco asked her.

"I will go." Hermione told him sternly.

"Then I will go with you, Hermione. You are not alone in this. I know it may be dangerous but srill, I will come with you. And you won't be able to make me change me mind, so don't even try for that." Draco told her.

"Thank you, Draco. I know you won't change your mind, and I would need you on this. But we need someone else too." Hermione said.

"Who? Saint Potter? You know he is not in the state for that." Draco said to her.

"No, not Harry. Someone else. Someone without whom this mission won't be successful." Hermione said. 

And Draco clearly didn't want that person to go with them when Hermione told him that person's name.

A/N: That was it for this chapter. It was longer than the last one and was 4300+ words. Hope you liked it. There was much description and I hope it wasn't boring. Random question: What would your job in the Wizarding World would be? Tell me in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you!

Next chapter on 1/3/20 (Sunday).

Until next time.