The ceremony was quick but painful, every breath was suffused with an unendurable ache. Wands were raised and tears shed. When Hermione eventually took her seat on the Hogwarts express she stared longingly out the window at the fading castle in the distance and wondered what Draco was looking at, where he was and what he could see from wherever he was being kept. Knowing he was still alive due to the incessant tugging of the invisible string was all she had left and she was thankful for its writhing presence inside her, reminding her of what she faced losing.