Thank you so so so so so much for the great response to the first chapter! Don't forget to read the epilogue for The Way We Weren't.


Chapter 2

It was dark when Hermione finally awoke. Panic set in. She didn't know this bed or this room, and it terrified her. Her body, already in pain, tensed as her breathing sped up. Her eyes were finally beginning to acclimate to the moonlit room. The first thing she spotted was Draco Malfoy asleep in a chair, feet propped up on the edge of the bed, beside her. A memory, fuzzy though it was, returned. He had rescued her from the dungeons.

"Ma...Malfoy?" she said hoarsely.

He was quickly roused from a light sleep by the mere whisper of his name. With a snap of his fingers, the lights turned on and he sat up. "I figured you'd be asleep for a couple more days," he commented. ""What's wrong?"

"Where am I?" she wondered, taking in the expensively decorated room.

Getting to his feet, he moved around the bed to the small table where dinner had been set up for her. "How much do you remember?" he asked, returning to the bed with a hunk of buttered bread and a fresh glass of water.

She ate ravenously. "Not much," she said after finishing off her second glass of water. "I think I blacked out after she started cutting me. I remember being Crucio'd only a couple of times. Then I woke up and you brought me here."

Draco nodded and began to fill in the missing pieces. "My mother knows you're in here," he shared. "She tended to your wounds, and thank Merlin, was able to get your arm to stop bleeding. Bellatrix's knife is charmed. The wound never goes away, never fades, and it takes forever for the bleeding to stop. Used it on me once. Tried to carve worthless into my arm. She got to O before my father came in and blasted her across the room."

"Is that why you're helping me?" she wondered. "Or are you just prepping me for round two?"

He shook his head and sat back down in his chair. "I've seen what happens to prisoners," he told her. "People have been tortured and raped and murdered in my home, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I couldn't stop Bellatrix from torturing you, but I can prevent all of them from doing it now. Well, at least to you. Who knows who'll they bring back next."

"But you hate me," she mumbled, looking down at her now clean fingernails. Merlin, she couldn't remember the last time they weren't caked with dirt and blood.

"Well, I can't remember a time I was ever able to utter the phrase, 'you're wrong, Granger,'" he replied. She eyed him with a questioning, confused look. "Feels kind of good, actually. Technically, you're right, I guess. I was told I was supposed to hate you, so I did. When this whole mess started, I realized it was stupid. If the only reason I hated you was because of your blood, then it wasn't a good enough reason to begin with. If it eases your mind any, I didn't rescue you from the dungeons because I like you. I want Potter to win."

Hermione's head snapped up. "You do?" she asked, sure she hadn't heard him correctly.

Draco nodded. "I just want things to go back to normal," he said. "And Potter winning accomplishes that. Sure, I'm going to prison for the rest of my life, but at least people will be safe again."

"Are you going to let me go?" she asked. "You obviously think I'll be of some use to Harry. Otherwise, you would have left me to die down there."

He winced at the word die. Getting to his feet, he moved back to the table and buttered another slice of bread. This time, he sat down on the side of the bed and handed it to her. "I don't know how to do this," he admitted. "I just need you to promise that you won't try to escape. I'm no good to you if they find out that I'm the one who took you. My mother knows. She won't say anything to anyone. I don't care what happens to me. I just don't want her to get hurt because of this."

Hermione nodded. "I won't," she promised. She had no desire to have Narcissa Malfoy's death on her conscience, especially after all that Draco had said she had done for her. "But Malfoy, they're going to figure it out. Someone is bound to go down there looking for me. I'm sure they think there's more information they can torture out of me."

"Is there?" he wondered. She tensed up and averted her gaze. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

Hermione shook her head. "No, it's fine," she replied. "I was expecting you to ask."

But he didn't press the subject anymore. "Is there anything you need?" he asked instead.

"I'm a bit tired," she admitted.

He moved back to his chair and nodded. "Get some rest," he advised. "The room is warded so that only my mother, the house elves, and I can get in or out. You're safe here, Granger."

Hermione nodded and settled back against the pillows. "Did I, um, say anything while I was asleep before?" she wondered.

Blond brows furrowed. "Like what?" he wondered.

"I don't know. The boys always teased me for talking my sleep," she shared. "I just wanted to make sure I didn't say anything...incriminating."

Draco shrugged. "You twitched a lot," he told her. "There was some pleading. I assumed you were having a nightmare. Inky brought up some Dreamless Sleep for you. You didn't say anything I could take back to the Dark Lord."

"Does it scare you? What you're doing by helping me," she asked.

"A little," he admitted. "I can't hide you in here forever, and you're too weak to move now. I've seen other Death Eaters get punished for far less severe crimes. Rowle took the first bite of food at dinner one night, and You Know Who stunned him. Aiding the enemy could have some serious ramifications."

Death.

Death was the serious ramification, and yet he was risking his life for a muggleborn. Nothing anyone could do would change his mind either.