Hermione studied the Prophet angrily, frustrated that she couldn't put the pieces together yet.
She had a quill and a bottle of bright red ink, with toast and marmalade floating in front of her that she occasionally took a bite from, and she was circling more clues to be added to her investigation.
This time, there was a huge headline about the Death Eaters:

ESCAPED DEATH EATERS SPOTTED IN LONDON

Yesterday evening, at roughly noon in London, Britain, a man by the name of Charles France was walking to work at the Ministry of Magic when he saw a shape move past him and into the trees nearby. Curious, he followed only to be confronted by none other than Rodolphus Lestrange, husband to the now deceased Bellatrix Lestrange.
Rodolphus made many attempts at killing Charles, but was unsuccessful due to his apparent health problems and shape. He was said to be stumbling around and shooting Unforgivables and trees that were ten feet away from Charles. He was quickly put under arrest and had a trial hours later, when it was discovered that he had been looking for an object belonging to people called the Peverells. Ministry workers are still looking for people known as the Peverells and working to keep them safe from any other Death Eaters.

Hermione dropped her toast and slapped her forehead at the Ministry's stupidity. How could none of them know who the Peverells were? Or at least have the brain capacity to figure it out?
She circled a few more things in red ink before she heard a familiar voice behind her. "I think you dropped something."
She turned to see Harry grinning down at her and cleaning up her toast and marmalade mess with his wand.
"Thank you. I forgot I dropped that." She says gratefully, and then shoving the prophet and her papers into her bag before he could see them.
"You're welcome. So, did you like the flowers?" Harry asks casually, trying to hide his nervous shaking fingers. "I heard roses were your favorite."
Hermione frowned. "If roses are my favorite, why did you give them to Ginny?"
Now Harry was frowning. "I didn't give Ginny any flowers."
Hermione shrugs, hiding the flicker of hope that had started inside of her. "Well Ginny came into the dormitory practically skipping and with a bouquet of red roses in her hands. She said that they were sitting outside the dorms and that you had given them to her."
Harry sighed, running his hands through his hair while Hermione tried not to find that attractive. "Crap. Now Ginny is gonna think that I... crap."
Ginny came into the Great Hall then, nearly skipping just like she had before, and with Ron in tow behind her. She ran up to Harry and gave him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, beaming at Hermione after she did so.
"Good morning! Thank you for the flowers, Harry. Though I would have preferred lilies." Then she walked off to sit by Romilda and Parvati and to tell them all about what had just happened.
Harry scowls then, and is about to explain to Hermione that Ginny had it all wrong, when a voice piped up from behind them.
"Granger."
Harry and Hermione turned to see what Ron was already scowling at, and saw that it was none other than Draco Malfoy. Harry, Ron and Hermione had saved his skin less than a year ago, but that didn't mean they would be best friends forever. Maybe just less rude to each other. But Draco wasn't focused on them, he was looking at Hermione expectantly.
Hermione smiled warmly at him and Harry felt his stomach growl with jealousy again.
"Hi Draco." She shoved the quill and ink into her bag and turned around, getting up off the bench. "Are you ready?"
He smirks. "That's what I should be asking you, Granger."
And the pair walk off quickly without another word to Harry or Ron.

Draco led Hermione into the dungeons, where it was cold and she shivered while goosebumps erupted on her skin. Rather than leading her into one of the classrooms, however, he led her right into the Slytherin common room, which was deserted that morning.
"Right, we'll have to be quick so long as we don't want to be late for our class." He murmurs, taking her up into the seventh year boys dormitory rooms.
The Slytherin dorms were very green. Green walls, with black four posters and green rugs here and there. Draco was as far into the room as you could get, the very last bed, and his side of the room was neatest out of everyone elses.
He turns a small Quidditch model of Viktor Krum, and the floor opens up to reveal a Penseive hidden under the floorboards. It rises up so that it was level, and then Hermione could see all of the memories swirling around in the white and blue substance. Draco leans against the stone rim of it and explains something quickly.
"These are all the memories I have. I took their memories, Yaxley's Rodolphus's, the Carrow's... all of their knowledge is in here, but for now I was going to give you their memories about the Peverells and their backup plan with the Dark Lord... but all of them had heavy locks around their mind, and there were some areas that I couldn't extract memories from, and those areas are likely the ones you will need the most."
He started to extract the memories and put them in phials for her.
"Thank you, Draco. You're helping me a lot with this... and I think your the only person I've told about this little project besides the Ministry."
Draco smirks. "You haven't told Potter and Weasley yet?" Hermione notices with satisfaction that he doesn't say 'Saint Potter and Weasel'.
"No. I'm... I'm not ready to tell them yet. Harry finally is having a real year at Hogwarts, where he doesn't have to worry about Voldemort," Draco noticeably flinches here. "And I don't want to ruin that for him. Ron deserves the same thing."
"And you don't?" Draco murmurs then, placing all of the phials in a small, burlap bag the size of her fist. He hands it over to her, and she drops it into her bag. "I understand that you told the Ministry that you were working on figuring it out and that you want to help, but honestly Granger you deserve a year without worrying too."
Hermione shrugs. "Not everyone gets what they want."

Their first class as History of Magic, and so of course everyone was nearly asleep fifteen minutes into the lesson.
Naturally, everyone but Hermione, who was scribbling notes down about the discovery of werewolves and prodding Ron and Harry with her elbows every time they nodded off.
When their lesson ended, Hermione stayed behind to talk to Professor Binns about the Peverells.
Binns was always kind to Hermione, and he would let her stay behind and talk with him during lunch or a free period if she was fighting with her friends and wanted to get away from them. For once, that wasn't the circumstance.
"Professor Binns, I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment?"
Binns looked up from his long scroll and smiled at her. "Miss Granger. Lovely to see you. And of course you may."
"Professor, I was wondering if you knew anything about the Peverells? Or the Deathly Hallows?"
Binns hardly seemed fazed as he answered her question. "Yes, I believe that Mr Potter was the owner of all three of the hallows before, correct? And if he was than that means he was and is the Master of Death."
Hermione nods. "Yes, and if someone were to somehow reunite them, they would be the new Master of Death. And with the power of all three of the Deathly Hallows, is it possible that they could bring someone back to life? Completely?"
Professor Binns stops then, staring at her. It takes him a moment to respond. "Yes, if they had the correct potion to fix the Elder Wand that Mr Potter snapped, and another potion to combine it's power with... yes, it is possible."
Hermione frowns then, scribbling all of this down on a piece of parchment. "Do you know what those potions are?"
Binns shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. But I must prepare myself for my next class, and I do hope I have been helpful."
Hermione nods, starting to exit the room.
"Oh, and Miss Granger?"
Hermione turns, now standing in front of the door.
"One person knows of that potion, for he invented it, and that would be Severus. I suggest you have a talk with him."
Hermione chokes back tears at the thought of her old Potions teacher. "Professor Binns, Severus Snape is dead."
Binns smiles knowingly at her. "He is dead, you're right. But, you can still talk with him. I suggest you ask Mr Potter about that."
And then he turned and walked through the wall, leaving her to think about everything he had just said.