Chapter 2  Hurry up and Heal Already

Hermione awoke with a heavy weight draped around her abdomen and curiously looked down to find out the curious object. It was an arm. She followed the arm slowly to its owner. A man with blonde hair and a pointed face and beneath his eyelids, beautiful bluish-grey eyes; she really did love blue eyes.

She glanced at his hair; she had always wondered whether his hair really was baby soft. In the end she couldn't help but reach her arm up slowly (with a little difficulty, they hadn't worked with her arms yet) and brushed her hand through his hair. It was confirmed. Draco Malfoy had baby soft perfect blonde hair! Hermione smiled inwardly at her discovery but snapped her eyes back to Draco's when she felt him stir.

His eyes met hers and he simply stared at her for what seemed like hours. Although it was only about a minute it was evident enough to Draco that Hermione wasn't going to try and hurt him with the small amounts of energy she had started to possess. He slowly smiled at her and sat up withdrawing his arm from around her. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep but felt slightly satisfied when she didn't have a fit.

He snapped his fingers while never taking his eyes off her and food appeared in front of her. He lay on his stomach leaning on his one arm while he helped her eat a sandwich by guiding her hands as she started to move independently again. Her eyes hardly left his only at times when she was glancing at her food. She seemed mighty pleased that she was finally closer to eating without help again.

"Today we're going to take you walking again and then you can come back here again and sleep. OK?" Hermione stared at him. She wasn't sure if she was okay with it or not. She wasn't sure if she like being taken care of by Draco or Blaise for that moment but realized she didn't really have a choice. It wasn't like she was going to get miraculously saved by Ron and Harry as it had been six months. She wondered what had happened to them but decided to mention that later, she had more important things to ask.

"Why am I here?" Draco looked at her as if she had six heads before answering.

"Blaise and I are helping you get better so you can get back to your life." Hermione shook her head softly.

"No, why am I here? In Malfoy manor…why was I brought here in the first place?" Draco sighed and sat up properly again leaning against some pillows and stared down at Hermione. She was giving him the look. You know the look that says 'tell me now before I hex you'. Normally in this state considering Hermione didn't have her wand Draco would throw the situation right back in her face but he decided against it and figured that in such instance that honesty was his best course. He sighed again before beginning to speak.

"No idea." This definitely wasn't the answer Hermione was expecting. She was ready to hear him talk about his evil father kidnapping her or him working for Voldemort and him kidnapping her but then having an epiphany and started to help her. Hermione was not pleased with this answer.

It took her a little more than two minutes to get her voice back and her thoughts back on track to glare and him and her lips to thin.

"What?"

"I said I have no idea." Draco said as if thinking that Hermione didn't hear him the first time.

"What do you mean you have no idea? I am in your house, was in your dungeons and you are completely oblivious to this whole thing?!" Hermione said her voice slightly rising, though not much for she hadn't been talking much.

"Well…yeah. I mean my dad died a couple of months ago…when we got you out of the dungeons, the only reason I knew about it was because people from the Ministry came in and told me there was another human presence in the house, so I figured I'd check out the dungeons…" Hermione shook her head in disbelief. She began to wonder how much longer she would've been down there if Lucius Malfoy had never died. She wondered if she would have stayed there for the rest of her life until she died because no one knew she was there.

"What about Harry and Ron?" She couldn't hold back. There was no better time to ask and now she was desperate for information.

"Um…see actually that's the thing…no one has seen him in months. He's not dead," he said quickly from the look that sprung itself upon Hermione's graceful features. "But they still haven't seen him. A lot of people in the Order said there's a rumor that Dumbledore left him something to do and – "

"How do you know people in the Order?"

"Blaise and I have contacts there. There weren't many but a few people have given me a full pardon and I've actually been pretty useful for them lately." He said matter-of-factly.

Hermione just stared at him. Did he think that because he's been useful that it makes it all better? This was his house! She was sure he knew the real reason and it wasn't a pathetic coincidence that she was miraculously found in his dungeons.

"Bullshit." Draco sighed. See? She was right.

"Hermione please believe. I would never purposefully physically hurt you." Oh what a nice little technicality there. So he knew that his mudblood bullying had upset her? How interesting.

"Can I go walking now?" Draco sighed again.

"Absolutely," He rose from the bed and helped her out on the other side. He picked her up easily, as if she were a feather and carried to the room she was in last time. Things were so clean in this house, it was eerie.

"Take it slowly ok? I don't want you to hurt yourself." Hermione rolled her eyes and let Draco half support her as she forced her legs to move a couple of centimeters. She didn't slip today and was able to stand completely by herself without help for more than five seconds. She was proud of herself.

"Who knew lying in a dungeon could make you stop walking and using your muscles properly." Hermione mused. Draco looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What? Last thing I remember was it being ridiculously dark but I was definitely able to move."

Draco's face fell he seemed torn about something…did he feel guilty for leaving her in his dungeon? He must have known. Stupid liar he was.

"I wish I would've known sooner." He whispered.

…Or not.

"You mean you really didn't know?" Draco looked at her, the pain relevant in his eyes. Why did he even care? Why was he even trying to help her? Shouldn't he be killing her by now? Oh wait, that's right, he's the Order's bitch right now. The Order who left me in that stinking dungeon…

"I had no idea. I should've known, I was such an idiot. But I've found you now." He said smiling down at her as he carried her back to her room. He laid her on the bed softly and covered her with the blanket. Hermione sighed in content, it was warm.

"Draco…" He turned to look at her from the door, he was about to leave. "Can you stay…and talk to me, until I fall asleep?" Draco nodded and quickly made his way to her side. He lay on the bed with her, on top of the covers and began whispering to her immediately anything that came to his mind.

Hermione smiled softly as he listened. She inquired about the stuff he did for the Order and he had only too much to say about that.

"Well first it was stuff like sneaking around with the Dark Lord's plans, but they got Snape for that so now Blaise and I are stealing fragments of materials that the Dark Lord is using and they got people researching about what magic he's done to it and what he's using it for and such…"

It sounded like the Order wasn't giving up. That was good, especially with Harry and Ron apparently AWOL. She bet they were Horcrux hunting. It was the only reasonable explanation for why no one would be able to find them. No one was supposed to know about the Horcruxs. She wondered if Draco knew.

Well there could be no harm in asking him right?

"Draco?" She whispered. He slightly jolted. He had thought that she had drifted to sleep during his rant about the Order; she was so quiet and still…apparently not though.

"Hmmmm?" He hummed.

"Do you know what Horcruxs are?" There was a long pause; either he was racking his brains for a scrap of information that he might have read, or he was deciding whether he should tell her or not. She wished she could see his face so she would know the answer.

She was currently tucked closely into Draco's chest as he had miraculously been transported from on top of the covers to under them without either of them noticing. He now had his arm wrapped snuggly around her and was holding her as if he let go, she would run away. Hermione scoffed at the thought. Yeah right.

"No." He finally admitted. "But I have heard the term in conversation a couple of times…why?" Should she tell him?

"Well, they're pieces of someone's soul cased in a separate, physical object. Voldemort has seven of them." Draco didn't say anything. Hermione lifted her head up to see his grave expression.

"That doesn't exactly sound great…"

"No, it's not. That's why Voldemort didn't die the night he attacked Harry."

"Huh…that makes sense…" Hermione sighed and settled back into his arms. He held her tighter letting out an exhausted breath. "I should tell the Order."

"Oh please don't!" Draco looked down at her, again raising his eyebrows in concern. She didn't want the Order to know? What is wrong with her?

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Because Harry doesn't want them to know, it's his wishes and you should respect them."

"Hermione what are you talking about? I think you spent one too many months in that dungeon of mine." Hermione scoffed.

"Your right on that one, but my brain is still in tact thank you very much. Dumbledore left this for Harry to do. He was the only one that knew. The more people who know about it, the bigger chance that someone lets it slip; I'm going to trust you to keep your mouth shut." She said, her voice getting stronger and more commanding with each word. Draco smiled. If Hermione was giving him chance to prove himself to her, well he wasn't going to mess it up.

"You go it Hermione. I promise not to tell anyone, not even Blaise." Hermione nodded into his chest.

"Thank you." Oh the things he did for her.

"Hermione, go to sleep now." Hermione began to protest but Draco shushed her. "There'll be lots of time to be awake later, I promise. Sleep now. I'll be here when you wake up." Once again Hermione nodded and closed her eyes, pulling herself, if possible, even closer to Draco.

It felt good to have someone near her again. She had been so far away from humanity for so long that she forgot what it had been like to sleep with someone (Ron), she forgot what it was like to talk to people and have them hold her and touch her. It was such a new sensation again that she wanted to be close to anything right now. And so she cuddled up to Draco as she slept. He certainly didn't seem to have a problem with it.

And he didn't. The night he found Hermione curled up and broken in his basement changed his life forever. How could he let someone that he had, at one time, felt something for, perish like that. His feelings came back to him that night if almost like they had never disappeared in the first place and he had decided quickly that he was going to work his hardest to make sure that nothing happened to her again. Not while he was around.

Just then Hermione mumbled softly in her sleep.

"Draco…"