Author's Notes: This fic was originally written as a gift for peskywhistpaw for the final round of the dmhgficexchange. I've made some slight edits to make sure the story flowed better, but tha's about it. This fic is an AU of Deathly Hallows where Hermione was left behind at Malfoy Manor.

Warnings: depiction of non-graphic torture, mention of Fenrir's fixation on Hermione

Disclaimer: I own neighter Harry Potter nor any of it's characters, they are the property of JK Rowling.

I.
Since her imprisonment at the Malfoy Manor had begun, Hermione Granger had developed a schedule.

Her mornings began with a Death Eater bringing her a barely edible breakfast; then she would be dragged out of her cell to the main hall of the manor to be tortured. This would last a few hours until they grew tired of her lack of response or she lost consciousness.

After that, her afternoons were mostly free for her to do what she wished, such as counting and naming all the stones in the cellar, imagining what her friends and the Order were doing, or planning revenge against her captors once she escaped (though she had to admit that the last was a bit dark for her, and it frightened her somewhat what she could come up with, but as the torture increased she slowly ceased to care), or just touching the Deluminator Ron had slipped into her pocket somehow. Her free time was only interrupted by frequent visits by her captors to threaten her and deliveries of food (after all, one couldn't have captives starve death) or, much more infrequently, one of her captors would come and heal her major injuries (just enough so she wouldn't die during an interrogation).

However, after the most recent Cruciatus-induced blackout, she woke up to find her situation dramatically different. Instead of the dark and bleak cellar, she found herself in a well-lit room. There was a comfortable looking armchair sitting in front of a stone fireplace in one corner, and book-filled shelves on the wall; she was laid out on a four-poster bed and next to her on a dresser table was a pitcher of water.

Her new surroundings kept her off-balance for a few moments before she mentally shook herself. The Death Eaters, obviously deciding that physical torture wasn't working, had changed their tactics. They probably thought if they started showing her some mercy, she would be more likely to betray her friends.

Well, that wasn't happening, but still, maybe she could somehow use this to her advantage. She could feed them false information, and maybe, when one of the Death Eaters wasn't paying attention she could snatch their wand and Apparate out. Then she could use the Deluminator to find Harry and Ron.

It wasn't the most full-proof plan but it was the best she could come up with at the moment. She sighed, looked around the room, and finally decided to read one of the several books it contained.

A few hours later, she heard a small knock on the door and she looked up from her book to see Draco Malfoy walking into the room with a tray of food. Malfoy was certainly not in his peak physical condition; he had grown very thin over the year, his skin was paler than she had ever seen it, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His usual arrogance was also missing; he seemed nervous and withdrawn as he walked like someone who was excepting to be hit.

Yet he still somehow managed a remnant of his old "I'm a Malfoy and therefore superior to you in every way" smirk. "Dinner, Granger. The chef has prepared his finest gruel and crust of bread for your enjoyment."

"Sounds delightful."

He rolled his eyes and handed her the tray; he then took a seat in the chair beside the fireplace. She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged listlessly, "I'm supposed to stay here while you eat to make sure you don't starve yourself or something."

"Great."

"'I'm better company than Aunt Bellatrix."

"Only slightly."

"That hurts, Granger, that really hurts."

The banter nearly brought a smile to her face; it was so easy to imagine herself back in Hogwarts exchanging insults with Draco in the halls or before classes. Which was probably the reaction her captors wanted, as the familiarity, even an irritating familiarity, would make her more likely to slip up and spill secrets. She could never let her guard down around Draco, especially if his bringing her food was to be a regular thing.

Still any companion who wasn't about to threaten or torture her into unconsciousness was very welcome to Hermione.

II.
The Death Eaters were still fond of their physical torture.

Bellatrix was still her main torturer and she loved to implement a combination of her knife and the Cruciatus Curse; which while painful, was still better than the times Fenrir was at the mansion. Those times, he would come up with Bellatrix and during breaks in the torture, would get close up to her face and whisper about how much he wanted to bite her. She would shudder hours later at the remembrance of his face inches from hers, the flashing of his teeth, and the sound of his voice.

The Death Eaters who healed her still stopped by, though not as much as she wished they would, but they were largely no comfort. Either they would be stone-faced and silent or they would insult and threaten her.

Draco was another constant. He brought her meals every day and every day he would stay until she finished. She was getting used to their banter and even his sometimes vague but searching questions about her friends which she always had to deflect before she accidentally revealed something.

The routine wasn't working for everyone, however. Bellatrix was becoming increasingly enraged after every session which meant Hermione was suffering more. She was more often reduced to unconsciousness and for longer periods of time.

She was adjusting to it.

Draco, however, was not as quick to adjust.

"Merlin, Granger, wake up!"

She groaned as she felt someone roughly shaking her awake.

"You better not be dead, Granger!"

Even in her state should couldn't help but think what a git Draco was being. If she had just groaned, then of course she couldn't be dead, now could she?

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a frightened Draco leaning over her and trying to shake her awake. When he realized she was conscious again he let out a sigh of relief and helped her to her feet. However, as she was still busy, she managed to lose her balance, and fell back into Draco, who not expecting her to collapse, stumbled and fell.

Draco was thus left lying flat on his back with Hermione on top of him.

"Ouch," he said louder than necessary.

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't hurt you that badly."

Her hands had somehow ended up in his hair, which was very soft. It figured; even in a dangerous situation, Malfoy's ego would never allow him to have greasy or unkempt hair.

"Whatever, Granger. By the way, is that your hand touching my hair?"

She could feel him smirking beneath her, the stupid Ferret. With a slight aching in her arms, she moved her hands away from his head and tried to push herself to her feet. She was half-way up but her knees were still weak and she soon fell back on top of him.

"I don't think I can stand by myself."

He smirked again.

"That's what all the girls say."

"Idiot."

He rolled his eyes, and muttered something that sounded like "Mudblood," which she promptly decided to ignore.

She felt his arms around her waist, and before she could ask him what he was doing, he shifted both of them on their sides. After that, he then got to his feet, pulled her up with his left arm wrapped around her, and shifted until she was leaning with her weight on him.

The two slowly walked over to the bed, where he helped her to a sitting position, followed by handing her the usual tray of food. As was also per usual routine, he sat on the chair by the fireplace, although this time he watched her without saying anything.

Hermione still kept one eye on him while she ate. She was sure this had to be a trick of some kind, some way of trying to make her trust him completely and play into some kind of trap. But as she studied him, he look quite far from being a master manipulator; he had a hollow, almost saddened expression on his face and she recognized it as a look she probably got more and more often these days.

She remembered Harry telling her how upset Malfoy had been at the prospect of actually murdering Dumbledore and how, when he had the perfect opportunity up on the Tower, he couldn't go through with it. With his reluctance to murder their past headmaster, and now his actions towards her, maybe he wasn't the perfect model Death Eater like they had thought him to be after all.

He managed to bring her out of her thoughts though when he finally did speak: "She's going to kill you at this rate."

"I didn't know you cared, Malfoy."

He looked offended as he glared at her.

"I don't want you to die, Granger, no matter how irritating you can be."

His glare had become intense now and she stared back at him in confusion; she didn't think he'd take her feeble attempt at a joke so seriously. But after a few moments, he broke his stare.

Why did he even care? He hated her and Harry and Ron.

Though, she had to admit it was nice that someone in this messed up place actually cared whether she lived or died.

"Weasel, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about."

And that moment was over.

She shot him an annoyed look and continued her meal in silence. He obviously hadn't changed as much as she had previously hoped during their conversations.

Still, unbeknownst to her, this would still be a turning point for their relationship.

III.
"Hello, Malfoy. W-"

"You need to escape."

She was momentarily stunned by this development. He gripped her by the shoulders and forced her to look up at him; his normally gaunt and withdrawn expression was replaced by a weird combination of desperation and earnestness.

It felt weird having him this close to her. Not good, not repulsive, just weird. Before the war, many of the female Hogwarts students, at least Slytherin ones, probably would have killed for the chance to be as close to Draco Malfoy as she was at this moment, never mind the circumstances.

Wait, why was she even thinking about this now?

The captivity must have been toying with her thoughts more than she had previously thought it would…

Draco surely felt somewhat weird as well, for he suddenly pulled away, looking at the floor.

"It's just, you're not going to last much longer, Granger. And I get that Potter is some big Chosen One who's the only one who can kill V-" he cut himself off. "He's the only one who can kill You-Know-Who but fat lot he's going to be able to accomplish when the brains of the operation is stuck here."

She could only stare dumbly at first. "What?"

He exhaled slowly.

"Look, Granger. I can't live like this anymore. This may be hard for you to believe, but I'm not exactly having the time of my life here either; my parents aren't considered top Death Eaters anymore. If I'm not being made miserable and made fun of by my own family, I'm just ignored."

"So, the life of a Death Eater isn't as fantastic as you thought it'd be then?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"But if I help you, Granger, then you can help Potter and Weasel save the day. Which, if we're all still alive by then, means my family and I get out of Azkaban."

She couldn't help herself, she had to laugh. "Very selfless, Malfoy, very selfless."

Still, even as she laughed she thought that maybe, perhaps she was being too hard with him. And he did have to worry about self-preservation, which was like Malfoy. So maybe he could be genuine about helping her out too.

"I'm your best bet at getting out of here."

That sobered her up into realizing she might as well trust him. And thus they spent the next half-hour coming up with a workable plan. In the end it was decided that Hermione would blurt out false information as soon as Bellatrix came up, as she barely even gave Hermione a chance anymore. Hopefully, the half-mad witch would be too excited that she would hurry off with the information. Then Draco would come up under the pretense of taking food to the prisoner; he would give her his wand, make it look like she had caught him by surprise and attacked him, and then she would Apparate out and find Harry and Ron. While much could still go wrong, it was the best that they had, and it would have to do.

She would be gone by tomorrow, if all went according to plan that was.

However, a strange sense of foreboding still filled her as Malfoy collected the tray to bring back down stairs. She couldn't think of just leaving him there.

"You know, they aren't going to be thrilled that I escaped on your watch."

He smirked at her.

"I didn't know you cared, Granger?"

She hadn't exactly realized it until this moment, but she did in fact actually care about Draco Malfoy.

IV.
The plan went off perfectly; Bellatrix, undeniably enthusiastic that she had finally got something seemingly worthwhile out of Hermione, rushed off to report it to the other Death Eaters. So far, so good.

Draco was in the room a few minutes later; he haphazardly deposited the food tray on the bed and handed her a wand and one of the heavier looking books.

He spread out his arms. "Let's get started, Granger. I know you have to make this look realistic but could you avoid hitting me in the face too hard. It's a good face, I don't want it to get damaged."

She did not move or even smile at his joke.

He looked at her inquisitively. "We don't have that much time. Get on with it!"

Instead, she dropped the book. Before he could say anything she stated, "Sorry, change of plans."

Before she had time to change her mind or even ask his opinion, she grabbed his arm and Apparated them both out of Malfoy Manor.

V.
When they landed in the forest, this time it was him who was lying on top of her.

It took a few moments for the world to stop spinning but when it finally did she laughed; after the never-ending horror of Malfoy Manor, the outside world almost seemed like a wonderful dream. However, the rock pressing into her leg and Draco's weight soon proved that it was very real.

But Draco didn't seem quite as happy to be away from that place as Hermione was. In fact, he was staring down at her with an inscrutable expression on his face.

"What?" she asked with a huge grin on her face.

"Why did you take me with you? This wasn't part of the plan."

She rolled her eyes. "I couldn't just leave you there. It wouldn't have been right."

He just kept staring.

She sighed. "Fine. I guess it's because for whatever reason I actually care about you. I couldn't leave someone I cared about in that horrible place."

She hadn't known how it happened, whether she leaned up while she was speaking or if he had leaned down, but they were soon kissing. She wasn't really that knowledgeable when it came to kissing; after all, she had only kissed Victor, who was kind of messy, and Cormac, who was a bit too handsy. But kissing Draco actually felt really nice, even if nice nowadays only meant someone this close to her wasn't going to harm her.

They broke away after a few minutes and he rolled off of her but he stayed close enough to her that their arms were touching. Trying to act like nothing had happened, which was fitting for Malfoy, he asked what was next. "So, what's the plan?"

She reached into her pocked and pulled out the Deluminator. "Ron used this to find Harry and me before we all got taken by Snatchers. Once we figure out how to find them with this, then we'll Apparate to them. Oh, and I'll also need to pick up a wand from somewhere.

He shrugged. "Sounds simple enough. Whatever, you seem like you know what you're doing."

"Good, glad that you actually trust me, Draco. Because we better get a move on, I don't like being out in the open like this any longer than we need to be."

"Did you actually call me Draco?"

"Why not? After what we lived through, I'd say we're on a first name basis then."

With that, the two walked deeper into the forest and slowly Draco actually reached out to take Hermione's hand. After a brief moment of surprise and hesitation, she grabbed his hand back, and even wrapped her fingers through his.

This didn't mean that they loved each other, far from it. They probably didn't even like each other yet. But after all they had been through together, it had to be the start of something. They cared about each other too much for it to mean nothing.

Author's Notes: Please read and review. Constructive criticism is accepted.