"I'm not going to give up. There's a reason I was always called insufferable, you know, and it's only half because I liked to know as much as I could." Hermione breathes out, scrubbing at her eyes with her sleeve before she winces. She realises, now, that the mark on her face matches Harry's eye and she breathes out, wondering if that was half of the purpose of Alyosha's choice to cut her there.

She swallows, looking at him again, tilting her head and feeling something come over her. She breathes out before she offers Harry a weak smile.

"I told Ridire, you know. I told him that if the choice came down to you or this war, down to you or him, I'd choose you. He knows that I'm not entirely loyal to him. But Lancelot talked to Solais for me, at the audience. She means to destroy the sigil, Harry. I know it doesn't undo what I did, but - she didn't lie to me. She just didn't tell me the entire truth either."

It's not enough and she knows it.

"I'll do whatever I can and I won't make the same mistake again. I'm sorry, Harry, for everything that happened, for all that I did. I'm so sorry."