Friday 13th November

She was in the darkness. There was someone sitting on her chest trying to stop her breathing. Blasts of bright light hit her eyes and flashes of faces as she struggled to lift her arms to move the heavy weight.

She must have been back at the Manor. She saw Draco Malfoys face so close to hers and then Harry was there too. He was trying to talk to her but she couldn't hear him. It must be Malfoy. He must be trying to kill her. She starting kicking and punching out at him.

Harry was back. He looked like he was shouting now and holding her arms. Was he helping Malfoy? No. No, Harry was her best friend. He must be trying to save her. She needed to help him so she kicked and punched out at Malfoy again and again until another face appeared.

They opened her mouth and poured something into it. It smelt like a hospital and tasted like liquorice so she spat it out. It must be something to kill her. It was Narcissa Malfoy. She was helping Draco.

She panicked more trying to get to Harry, trying to get them to stop but she couldn't.

She was losing her strength as the air was ripped from her lungs. She was dizzy now and her movements slowed. The blonde woman held open her mouth and poured another vial of the liquid down her throat as she looked at the faces above her. She could do nothing but let it happen. She was completely helpless, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Harry was back. Betrayal plastered all over his face. I'm sorry he mouthed, soothing her, stroking her face telling her it was going to be okay until the darkness took her again.

.x.

Saturday 14th November

She woke suddenly coughing like she had sand in her throat. Everything was dry. Her eyes, her mouth, her skin. She opened her eyes slowly and painfully. She was in a small room with dark grey walls lit by a lamp on the beside table next to her. Her left leg was lifted in front of her, held from her knee to her ankle by a sling attached to the ceiling. She was wearing pyjama shorts. She could see her bare leg, a small scar freshly healed on her calf. She tried to lift herself up to move the sling from her leg but helped in pain when she did.

She saw stars and a burning sensation coursed through her leg . Just like it had when she had jumped from the window.

Dean. Where was Dean? And where was she?

"Dean." She tried to say but coughed again. She turned her head to the bedside table, finding a glass of water waiting for her. She tried to lift her right arm up but was met with searing pain again. She cried out seeing a long deep scar running from just below her shoulder to her elbow joint.

She had no idea where she was, she was alone and she couldn't move. She must have been captured by the other side. If she was alive it meant that nothing good was to come for her future. They would be keeping her alive for information that they would torture out of her. And that's when the crying started. This is where she would die.

All of a sudden the door opened and there stood Narcissa Malfoy looking across the room at her. That confirmed it. She was in the Manor, just as she had dreamed. But it wasn't a dream. This was her reality.

As she looked at the tall dark haired woman she saw what looked like disgust pass across her face. She felt a rumble pass through her chest before she screamed. Her scream however, came out of her as choked cry because of her dry throat.

She covered her face with her left hand, the only hand she could move as tears streamed from her eyes. She thought of her friends, Harry, Ron, Ginny and she thought of Dean most of all. She cried for him. She remembered the way he had fallen still under her touch and the way his mouth had lolled open before she was shoved aside. She cried for her loneliness. She cried because she was terrified. She cried for Dean because she was sure he was dead and right now she wished she was dead.

She heard frantic footsteps on the floor. This was it. They were coming to take her to them and they were going to torture her, or worse...

Draco Malfoy burst through the door and her breath caught in her throat. He stared at her, his eyes boring into hers. He was going to do it. He would kill her and she would die hating him. Just as she had lived hating him. He called out to someone else but she didnt hear a name. Reinforcements she thought. She stared at him tears falling fast but the sobbing had stopped.

The hyperventilating had kicked in. She couldn't breathe again. This is when she saw Harry. She was hallucinating. He ran towards her bed and sat next to her. She felt the bed dip but it was just in her mind. She was alone and she would fall into the darkness again soon.

She could feel him stroking her face and holding her hand and telling her to calm down. He made her feel so safe. Hallucination Harry made her forget where she was. He felt so real.

"Hermione... It's okay I promise."

She looked into his eyes. They were the same green eyes of her best friend. The lightening scar indented into his forehead. She could see his messy hair and best of all she could smell him. He smelt like Harry.

"Are you real?" She whispered, coughing lightly as she felt his fingers on her cheek. He looked behind him and nodded his head. She heard a shuffling of feet and the closing of a door before he turned back and smiled at her.

"Yes, I'm real." He leant down and kissed her head and she breathed him in.

"They're going to kill us." She whispered tears glossing her eyes again.

"No." He said pulling back and firmly shaking his head. "We're safe. I promise you. Please trust me. You're safe, okay?"

She saw a new feint scar on his chin, then looked behind him to the doorway. No Malfoys watching any more. Did she hallucinate them instead?

"Water." She whispered again. The crying drying her throat even more.

"Oh sorry, here." He held the glass to her lips and she drank hungrily until it was empty. She gasped for breath and Harry returned the glass to the bedside table. She looked deep into his eyes. Confused.

"Where are we?" Her voiced cracked.

"We're at another safe house of the Order." Another safe house. They were in a safe house before and they were attacked. The fight... Dean.

"Dean?" She asked even though she knew.

He shook his head slowly at her tears forming in his own eyes. "He didn't make it... I'm so sorry."

She nodded frozen at his words. She already knew he would be, but the truth hit her like a tonne of bricks. Dean was dead. Dean was dead. Dean, who she had grown up with and laughed with at school. Dean who she had lived with and slept with and been near everyday for the past four months had gone. He was her confidant. She told him everything and he wasn't here any more.

Her face wrinkled and the tears fell again. Then the uncontrollable sobbing started and her chest shook with the force of her sobs. Harry pulled her into a crippling hug and she felt his own tears fall onto her forehead. The pain in her arm seared at the pressure but she relished in the pain it bought. It was nothing compared to Dean. His last moments had probably been of immeasurable pain. Had he been scared? Of course he had. She remembered exactly how she felt watching him. It must not have been even half of what he went through. And then nothing.

Harry hugged her tightly as if trying to take her pain away until the whimpers stopped and the tears dried up. He pulled back and took her face in his hands kissing her head then resting his forehead on hers. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her top. The tears had subsided but the pain was still stabbing in her chest.

"How long has it been?" She whispered.

"Three days."

"Is everyone else okay?"

"Yeah. Everyone else is fine."

"Did I dream them? "She nodded towards the door.

"No, they're real."

"What.." She began to ask another question but Harry cut her off.

"Shhh, look you need rest." He lifted a small bottle off the bedside table. She squinted and saw it was labelled 'sleeping draught'.

"No." She shook her head. She didn't want to go back to sleep. Her dreams were black and it terrified her.

"It will help with the pain. I promise you, you are safe. Please trust me."

Trust. Would she had given him her trust so easily? She was in a house with Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and his mother. Whatever this was.. it was not normal. "Do you know what my middle name is?"

He looked at her confused for a moment, opening his mouth to speak until the cogs started turning and he smiled.

"Jean. Your middle name is Jean. Your birthday is the 19th September. You, me and Ron... we're best friends. Ron's middle name is Billius. Me and Ron first met you on the Hogwarts express. You were helping Neville find his Toad. We lived in a tent for months searching for Horcrux's. You destroyed Helga Hufflepuff's cup. You broke my wand, you cut my hair, we..."

"Okay... Okay. I'm sorry." She could feel her eyes welling up with tears. She felt guilty. She should have trusted him. This was Harry.

"Don't be sorry. I'm proud of you for checking." He looked into her eyes and she smiled. She wiped her eyes on her top and when she had finished he held the dark vial in front of her face again.

"I will stay with you until you wake up. I'll be here the whole time. I won't leave you."

He unstoppered the bottle and lifted it to her lips. She didn't want to drink it. She was stubborn. She wanted to stay awake and have him explain all this to her but she was tired from the tears and the pain in her leg and arm were getting worse.

"You stay right here." She demanded and Harry nodded. She drank the liquorice flavoured liquid quickly and rested her head back against the pillow.

Harry got off the bed, moved the bedside table away from the mattress then with a flick of his wand he enlarged the bed to fit the extra space. He climbed in and pulled a blanket over both of them, her healing leg still sticking out of the covers. He rested his hand on her left hand on her stomach, careful not to touch her right arm.

"I could use a sleep anyway." He said smiling and kissing her forehead. She smiled to him and held his hand tighter until the sleeping draught took away the pain and her worries and her consciousness.

.x.

Sunday 15th November

Hermione woke many hours later to gentle snoring in her ear. Harry lay next to her with his eyes tightly shut, mouth open, his breath ticking her face. She looked at the clock on the far wall. It read just after 5.30. There was a sun and moon on the clock and the sun was glowing. It must be 5.30 in the morning.

She tried to close her eyes and fall back to sleep but her mind was alert and going into overdrive thinking of all the questions she had for Harry. He leg was still suspended in front her but the pain now just a dull ache. She found she could move her right arm but it gave a twinge if she moved it too quickly. She shuffled trying to get comfortable but ended up waking the sleeping boy beside her.

She watched as his eyes flitted open and rested on her. He rubbed his hand over his face mumbling.

"What time is it?"

"A little after half five." She whispered. He moved to his side facing her fully, his head was resting on his arm tucked under his pillow. "Wheres my wand?" She asked.

"In the drawer. Do you want it?"

"No, not now."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"No."

"I know. Silly question really."

She started up at the ceiling and released a long sigh.

"What's on your mind?"

"Everything..." She sighed again then turned back to him. "Did Malfoy help you find Nott?"

"Not exactly... Theo is here too."

"Theodore Nott?"

"Yeah." Harry responded.

"Is he on our side?" She questioned. There was obviously so much she had been kept in the dark about.

"Very much so."

"How long has he been helping?"

"Theo joined us as soon as the killings started after the War. He fled from his Father, sought out Ron of all people and joined us."

"He helped us capture his own Father?" Harry nodded slowly. This was unbelievable. He must have been very brave to leave his Father and betray his family. She only wondered what he had been through to push him over the edge...

"What about Malfoy?"

"Lucius was sent to Azkaban for thirty years. Lifetime ban of using magic. He probably won't ever leave. Not that I'm sad about that... Narcissa got a three year suspended sentence. No magic for six months. That was lifted three weeks ago and were lucky it was. You might not be in such a good shape without her..."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him and gave him a stern glare. It was her 'Really? You're bringing that up now?' face.

"Draco also had a year suspended sentence. Three month magic ban. When they initially returned home they were attacked by Lestrange and the rest of them. Narcissa went to Andromeda for help, she contacted us and the rest is history."

Hermione was gobsmacked. "It's that easy? They're just on outside now?"

"No it hasn't been easy. Not one part has been easy... but were getting there slowly."

So much information had been kept from her. She felt annoyed and angry. It had been her and Ron and Harry for years, going this alone. Now she was being pushed out and kept away from it all. She was a target before and that never used to be a problem.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't allowed. Barely anyone knows."

"Who knows?" She asked.

Harry paused before speaking. "Ron, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Neville, Kingsley and a few other seniors."

"Barely anyone! Blimey Harry that's half of the Order." That was a kick in the gut. Ron knew too. Harry and Ron knew and she didn't. She looked at the ceiling again contemplating the past four months wondering about all the other information she hadn't been told.

"What happened to me?" She whispered. Lost in her own thoughts.

Harry took a deep breath. "You broke your leg when we jumped. The bone came through the skin hence the scar on your calf. Narcissa reset your bone and healed up the wound. It's healed but it's going to be sore for a few more days.

"Your arm was sliced with a diffindo spell. You lost a lot of blood but it was minor compared to your leg. Ginny patched that one up and Narcissa healed the wound again.

"You had concussion and minor abrasions from the falling debris but that's all been sorted now.

"Dean was also hit with a Diffindo. He was buried yesterday."

Tears filled her eyes and she continued to stare at the white ceiling. She focussed on the plaster peeling off where it met the wall.

"How did they find us?" She turned and look at Harry who had glossy eyes like her.

"We don't know." He sniffed. "We expect an imperious curse was used on one of us but we really don't know. We're working on it."

A few seconds of silence passed between them. Something had seriously gone wrong for someone to have given away a safe house. And now she was in another.

"How long before we can leave?"

"We won't be leaving... This is our new home for the time being."

"With them? Harry we can't stay here!" She didn't want to be here with them. They had hated her and she had hated them. How did he expect this was going to work?

"White Rabbit was our safe haven and now that's gone this is the safest place for us."

"What about the Burrow? Or Grimmauld place? I can go there, I can stay with Ron.."

"For the same reason we were placed into White Rabbit in the first place. They will be watched night and day by The Ashes. One sight of you and they will attack immediately. I can't even go there. We're enemy number one."

He was right. That didn't stop her from wanting to be around her friends right now rather than round two Slytherins that she had only bad memories of and a Slytherin Mother that despised the ground she walked on. And who had explicitly told her so many years ago.

"Harry... you called them Theo and Draco." She questioned.

He nodded.

"Are you friends?" She pressed.

"Not friends... allies you could call it."

"Any other bombshells your going to drop on me?"

"This one you might like... Neville lives here. His Grandmother passed away just after the War. He gave up the house to the Order to use as a safe hospital so he lives here now."

"Wow." At least she would see Neville. She missed him a lot. They had become close since the end of the War and then she had to go into a safe house. They kept in contact with letters but it wasn't the same as seeing him. "Does everyone get on?"

"I wouldn't call it that."

What would he call it then? Did he have to stop fights? Pull Neville and Draco apart before they killed each other? Was this the happy harmony she was being dragged into? "I don't like this Harry."

"You don't have to. But we have to deal with it."

"I'm not going to sit around like I did at the other safe house. You got to leave White Rabbit and help, so I'm going to do the same here. Use me Harry, please. I can't stay here with them doing nothing all day. If I'm going to be here you are going to keep me occupied."

He lifted himself up so he was resting his elbow on the bed and the palm of his hand on his cheek. "This place is the planning hub. The dining room is full of our plans, what we've found so far, houses we are watching, things like that. We can't very well keep you away from it when you live here, so yes, you can be involved."

"Does that mean I will get to see the others?"

"A few of them, the ones who know about this safe house."

This at least was a positive. She would not sit around and be useless. She would try to help. Not even for her own sanity, but for her future. And for Dean, who's future was cruelly ripped away from him. Their possible future together broken apart.

"Harry... I'm starving."

He chuckled at her then called out. "Kreacher."

A loud crack was heard echoing round the small room and making Hermione jump before she saw Kreacher standing next to the bed.

"Master Potter." He drawled out and bowed low.

"Kreacher, can you bring us a cup of tea each? And some crumpets?" He looked to Hermione for reassurance and she nodded. "With lots of butter and jam." She smiled warmly at Kreacher and he disappeared with another loud crack.

Suddenly the door burst open and in flew Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott wands outstretched in front of them. Hermione screamed and closed her eyes not knowing what was happening. She wished now she had said yes to her wand.

"We heard a bang." Draco asked panting slightly as he looked around the small room. His eyes rested on Harry and Hermione tucked under the covers and cocked an eyebrow.

"I think the banging was intentional..." Theo commented as he chuckled watching Harry go a shade of pink under their questioning eyes. Hermione opened her eyes to see the two boys now in the centre of the room, wands down by their sides.

Draco at least wore a t-shirt over his underwear but Theo only had on his boxer shorts. Hermione's eyes grew wide at the sight of his tanned chest and averted her eyes quickly to the bed covers feeling her face flush.

"Give it a rest guys. It was Kreacher, he's bringing us up breakfast." Said Harry sitting up and moving off the bed to scoot Hermione against the headboard.

"If I'd have known breakfast in bed was an option I would have joined you. Room for another?" Hermione looked up at Theo and he winked at her. She looked over at Harry and her eyes bulged at him. Draco smirked.

Harry turned to Theo giving him a questionable glare. Theo held his hands up in peace before Harry turned back and pulled Hermione too quickly up the bed, banging her head against the headboard.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry Hermione!"

"Get out of the way Potter, we don't need your clumsy arse making her worse."

Malfoy walked over to the bed and pushed Harry out of the way. He loosened the straps on the hoist holding her leg holding and slowly moved it lower until it was just hovering off the bed. He then turned to Hermione and started to tuck his arms under her back and legs.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione said taken aback at his forward nature. He carefully lifted her up the bed and put her down so her back was now resting against the headboard.

"Doing what Potter can't." He moved the pillow so it sat behind her back and re-adjusted the hoist so her leg was comfortable. A huff came out of her mouth and the words followed without thinking about what she was saying.

"Not too dirty for you?"

"Ha!" The exclamation came from Theo's mouth as he watched their exchange with wide eyes and a smirk.

Draco's hands stilled over the sling for a fraction of a second as he turned to her and scowled, taking in what she had just said. He turned back and finished adjusting the sling.

"Don't get too excited, Granger. It's not something I'm going to be making a habit of." He dropped his hands and turned towards the door storming past Theo who raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"Play nice now, children!" He said as he turned to watch Draco pass into the hallway. He turned back and looked solemnly at Hermione before tucking his wand in his boxer shorts. "It's good see you, Granger." He held her stare for a few seconds, winked again with a smile then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Harry looked over at her and gave a small grimace of a smile before Kreacher appeared with their breakfast.