This is just a short one shot that I based during the last book. I think that JK Rowling always hinted towards Draco not really wanting to be a fully fledged deatheater, I just wanted to have a go at fleshing that idea out a bit. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think (good or bad I really don't mind). Thanks for reading.
Hermione peered into the darkness trying to assess her surroundings. She reflexively reached into her pocket searching for her wand in order to cast the lumos charm, so as to give her a little light to identify her surroundings. To her great surprise she found her wand was gone. After spending half a year on a hunt for horcruxes, constantly being tracked by deatheaters who wanted her dead, it wasn't often that she let her wand out of her sight.
"Don't worry Miss Granger, you're not the only one. They took them all from us when they bought us to this God forsaken place." wheezed an elderly man.
"Mr Olivander?" Hermione questioned tentatively, afraid that her guess may be horribly wrong.
However before the elderly man could reply, somebody launched themself at Hermione. "Hermione Hermione! Is it really you? You're alive, we knew you were alive!" Luna Lovegood was on the verge of tears as she clutched Hermione closely.
"Yes Luna if things are unchanged then we are all alive, all three of us, but where am I?" queried Hermione.
"You're in in one of the basements of Malfoy Manor. I have been here since christmas, and goodness knows how long Mr Olivander has been down here." Luna whispered in Hermione's ear.
Somehow the name was comforting to Hermione. In the deadly world in which they were now living, her old school time enemy seemed like a good guy. She knew that he hated her, always had done and probably always would. But she didn't believe he had it in him to let her die.
She let the question escape her mouth before she could stop it "Is Draco here?"
A cold laugh broke free from the prison which was Mr Olivander's chest. "Much good he'll do you he's as good as the rest." Hermione felt her heart sink, she never truly believed Malfoy wanted to be a deatheater.
Luna squeezed her hand in a comforting manor, Hermione could make out her grey eyes shining in the dark "his father has him in his control." Luna whispered so only Hermione could hear.
Several hours later Hermione was curled up in a corner, trying desperately to think of a way out of this room. She had thought of over fifty spells that would help her to escape, but the absence of her wand was like taking half of her body away from her. They were the golden trio for a reason, they were only brilliant when there was three of them. Harry and Ron were good at the non magical side of the challenges they faced, not her. She couldn't fight for her freedom, she didn't have the will to cling to a horcrux whilst it smoldered away the flesh of her hand. She didn't give up however. She hoped that Ron wherever they had taken him, had a plan to use his strength to overcome their captors and she prayed for it to work. She prayed that Harry was still alive for them to rescue. The door swung open making a loud bang when it hit the adjacent wall, the sound echoing around the room. Silhouetted in the light of the door was a figure that Hermione would never forget, Draco Malfoy. She sat up straighter, he had finally got her under his power, but she would never succumb and beg for his mercy. His eyes locked with hers, in the dim light she saw his mouth form the word "Granger". He looked at her for a long moment, Hermione thought he was weighing up all his options. Should he torture her now, or later, kill her, now or later. But he did neither, he turned and shut the door. She heard his footsteps moving further and further away from the door. Hermione moved further and further into her corner.
Late that evening, at what Hermione guessed to be around eight, they heard elevated voices from the room above which they had worked out to be the main meeting room for the deatheaters. For the first time Hermione heard the voice of Lord Voldemort, and it sent shivers down her spine.
"Why Draco, would you personally wish to torture the little mudblood?" The snake like hiss echoed around the room, all eyes settled on Hermione. Her breath caught in her chest for a moment. So he did have it in him, she thought, he was going to torture her himself.
"My Lord, she has been the bane of my life for the last six years, but the fools at Hogwarts would have expelled me if I so much as pulled a hair from her head." Malfoy sounded sincere, Hermione suddenly realised how deep hate could run. She merely hoped that she could endure his torture with dignity. She didn't want to turn into a groveling mess. Not in front of Malfoy.
She waited for Voldemort's verdict "You put forwards a convincing argument Draco, you shall do what you will with the muggleborn, but keep her out of our sight. She was put in a basement for a reason." Hermione heard the cruel laughter of those above, and she willed herself not to let the tears fall.
She sat awaiting her fate holding Luna's hand. When the door opened once again, she rose of her own accord. Malfoy grabbed her hands which were tied behind her back and marched her out of the room, Hermione did not fight him.
"Move it Granger" He said loud enough for the rest of the deatheaters to hear what he was saying. They marched across a courtyard and into a lesser used part of the house, Malfoy had to use his wand to light the corridors, Hermione could pick out cobwebs hanging from the lamps. She figured Malfoy didn't like to be disturbed whilst he was torturing people. He opened a door into a room which would once have been marvelous, but which reminded her of the rooms of Grimauld place, no longer loved. Malfoy pushed her through the door surprisingly without pushing her to the floor. He pulled the ropes from around her her wrists, letting them drop to the floor.
"You're sadistic Malfoy, you want me to fight you!" Hermione whispered absolutely disgusted.
Malfoy moved to the bed, Hermione noted that this was formerly a bed room. He sat on the edge with his head in his hands. He sucked in a long breath and looked up. He waved his wand, lighting all the candles in the room. Hermione gasped when she saw his face. It was sunken and hollow, he reminded her so much of Sirius, the empty shell of a man.
"Do I look like I'm enjoying this lifestyle Granger?" He asked " Does it look like it gives me any pleasure?" He got up and moved towards her, she noted that he was now a full head and shoulders taller than her, he was bulkier than when she had last seen him and she doubted she would be able to fight him off. "Do you really think I'm going to torture you?" He asked sounding thoroughly repulsed at himself.
Before she could stop herself she let it slip out "No."This was against all of her instincts, but she couldn't see this broken man torturing her. Looking into his eyes, she realised they were not the desensitized orbs of the other deatheaters she had encountered. In his eyes she could see every kill, every scream.
"His face contorted with pain, as he turned away from her. In a quiet voice he began to speak. "They haunt me, in my sleep. They come back to scream at me once again. They scream at me to stop."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because If I do, my mother dies, the whole Malfoy family dies. I don't care for myself anymore, I don't care for my father either, the sooner he falls the better for us all. But my Mother Granger?"
"If you're asking for some form of forgiveness Malfoy..." She let her words fade away unable to complete them.
He walked back towards her, his hand came up to cup her face. "How are you still alive Granger?" He asked somewhat tenderly. The anguish had disappeared. She gasped at the warmth of his skin, which she had always thought was made of stone. She steadied her breathing and thought of her answer.
"I have something to live for." Their eyes locked, and he brought his mouth down to hers. The feel of a human touch, someone who needed her, made tears fall down Hermione's face. Harry and Ron needed her, but neither of them needed her in this way, they needed her brains and her companionship. As Malfoy pulled away from her she opened her mouth to speak. "Draco..." All she could manage was an utterance of the emotion she was feeling. He pulled her into his chest and held her there. Throughout the night they poured their emotion into each other, as they filled the night with their love.
The morning came and the sun filtered through the muggy window. Hermione lay on the bed facing Draco, she pushed his hair from his eyes and ran a finger along his nose. He looked so innocent right now. She wished she could keep him this way. She realised that it wasn't only people like herself and the members of the order that were suffering, even people like Draco Malfoy were. It was because of this that she had to keep fighting. She had to get out of this manor with Harry and Ron and find a way to kill Voldemort. She wouldn't have been included in this mission if they didn't need her. She let her hand fall to Draco's chest and she bent to whisper in his ear. "Draco... come back to me"
He stirred and opened his eyes to look at her. She saw no ghosts there right now, but she knew they would return. She leant to his ear once more and whispered "Have something to live for. Live to see him fall." She then got up and began to put her clothes on. Once fully dressed she sat on the bed and watched Draco do the same. He came to sit next to her, letting his lips meet hers for one final time. She held out the rope for him to bind her wrists. He looked at her in confusion.
" You can't help me escape, you and your mother would be killed." He nodded in agreement with pain in his eyes. He gently moved her hands to behind her back, she smiled when she realised that her ties were significantly looser than previously.
He looked once more into her eyes "You..." He was struggling with something, but she gave him time. "You, Harry and Ron, will all be in the basement together for an hour this morning." She couldn't believe what she had just heard, Draco had called Harry and Ron by their first names with no insult attached. She took his hand. He smiled at her in return. "Wormtail still feels extremely guilty, he is the ideal target." With this he hoisted her from the bed, taking her hand as best he could they walked in silence back towards the courtyard they had passed through earlier. It was here that Draco dropped her hand and gently took her by the elbow, she tried to make it look like she had spent the night being tortured, hoping nobody would guess that her and Draco had been healing one another in the way that they had. He walked her to the basement she felt his lips come into contact with the bottom of her neck, where nobody would see. His breath was hot on her neck and sent a shiver down her spine. She felt the corners of his mouth pull up into a smile before he drew back.
"I hope you learnt your lesson Granger" He exclaimed loudly before pushing her softly into the basement.
Draco was forever grateful to Hermione, and she to Draco. Although they never spoke of their night together, either to each other or to their closest friends, both knew that without it they would not have gotten through the war. Hermione saw Draco cast away his deatheater persona after the war, she sat at he back of the church at his wedding and at the christening of his son. He watched her marry Ron, knowing that Ron was the best man for her, he was a killer, and she deserved better. The ghosts of his past never fully left him, but with time and contemplation, the pain eased. Hermione never forgot how close she came to giving up in the basement of Malfoy Manor, and whenever she came close to giving up on anything, she remembered, that there is always somebody who needs you, somebody who needs you to keep going.