Hermione had bandaged her arm up and so far, had managed to stop the bleeding and keep it clean. This was only made somewhat easier by the fact that Malfoy had done a quick clean in her cell with his wand so there was less chance she might die from an infection.

Every so often, she would remove the bandages from her arm and check to see if the letters on her arm were healing. They weren't. She assumed that the blade used to create the cuts was embed with some kind of dark magic.

Malfoy was still bringing her meals, only now, it was daily. She thought, at first that it was kind of him, that maybe he was trying to make her time here easier to bear. But as the time wore on more and more, she thought that perhaps he was trying to get her to talk.

She only spoke enough to ask what day it was and how long she had been there for. He always answered and lingered, but she never wanted to talk further. After all, he was Draco Malfoy! She knew that she had now been there for three weeks and spent most of her time wondering about Harry and Ron.

She thought about the slim chance of her leaving this place in one piece, physically and mentally and thought that once this whole thing was over, she may go on to lead a normal life with Ron. That idea seemed so far away, so implausible, so unrealistic that she soon stopped thinking about any kind of future altogether. She could only think of the present. She wondered if Harry had been able to find another Horcrux yet or if he had been captured. She was certain that if he had been, she would know. There would be celebrations all throughout the Manor if the Harry Potter was captured.

Every now and then, she would hear voices from the other cellar and although she was desperate for another person besides Malfoy to talk to, she didn't dare call out. She didn't know why, because she no longer believed that it was death eaters. She was certain that the Malfoys had other prisoners.

As she thought about possible locations for the rest of the Horcruxes, she failed to hear the approaching footsteps on this particular day. She quickly sat upright when the door opened and she banged her arm on the side of the bed frame, making it bleed.

When Malfoy stepped into the dark room and lit the lamp, Hermione was tending to her bandages. He stood still for a moment, taking in the sight.

"Let me help" he said, setting down the tray on the bed.

"No way" she answered. "I've been doing this myself all this time and I will continue to do it myself" she said.

"You're making a mess of it, let me use magic" he said.

Again, Hermione refused, almost out of spite. No way would she allow Malfoy to get anywhere near her.

"Just leave me alone" she said.

At this, Malfoy turned and left, leaving the tray of food behind.

The next time she saw anyone, it was three days later. She had begun to wonder if she would die down there alone and was even beginning to think that she wanted to see Malfoy again. She was picking at the thread hanging off her bandages when Malfoy entered her cell.

"How's the arm?" he asked as he set the tray down on the bed.

"Fine" she answered. She hated him more than anything, but he was the only person she had seen in weeks and the only person she would see, so she sucked up her pride and allowed herself to communicate with this creep. "Actually, the bandages are a bit tattered" she said.

"Let me help you" he said, looking into her face for the first time. His eyes had dark circles underneath them and he looked as though he hadn't been sleeping well. Hermione thought that he actually looked much the same as she felt.

"What are you even doing here? Why aren't you at school?" she asked, removing her bandages slowly.

"Duty calls" he answered, indicating towards his left arm where Hermione knew he carried the dark mark.

"I guess you're happy. After all, it's what you've always wanted, isn't it?" she said, attempting some kind of communication with her captor.

"You would think so" he answered, taking the tattered bandages from her and mending them with his wand.

"What do you mean by that? I would have thought this is your idea of heaven? Having me trapped down here, running around after You-Know-Who, part of his inner circle of goons. Your life's aspiration, I thought" she said.

"You think too much" he said.

"Well…" she began, looking around the empty room, "…I don't have much else to do down here" she said.

Draco looked around the room and nodded in agreement, handing the mended bandages back to her.

"You're right. Well, if it's any consolation, I don't have much to do either" he said.

"You have your freedom at least" she said attempting to bandage her arm.

"Not really" he answered. "I'm trapped in this place just as much as you are" he said.

He stood watching her attempt to re-bandage her arm, before stopping her.

"Here, let me do it" he said. She reluctantly allowed him to bandage her arm and was surprised with the skill in which he did so. She found herself relaxing somewhat and suddenly stiffened.

"That's fine, I can do it myself now" she said. "You can go now" she continued. There was no way she was going to let her guard down around him.

Malfoy shot her a strange look before turning and leaving. The exchange between them was the strangest thing Hermione had experienced in weeks. She hated him and he hated her, but this was almost as if they weren't themselves. As if this experience had made everything that had happened between them in the past non-existent. He was almost… kind… to her. Something she had never thought he was capable of. It didn't make up for the years of torment, torture and name calling, but he was the only other person she had contact with, so she thought it was time to see if she could communicate with him in any kind of way.

When she saw Malfoy again the following day, he brought her some books.

"Here, this will stop you thinking so much" he said, as he set the tray down on the bed and put the bag of books on the floor. When Hermione didn't thank him, he spoke again "You're welcome" he said.

"I'll thank you when I've got light to read by" she said.

"I suppose that's a bit of an issue" he said. "How about I leave the lamp lit when I go?" he asked.

"Well, in that case, I would thank you" she said.

"Fair enough" he said.

"What did you mean when you said you're trapped here like me?" she asked, taking a bite of a sandwich.

"I'm not allowed to leave the Manor" he said, sadly.

"Not even to go back to school?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Why?" she asked, sipping a cup of water.

"They need me here" he said vaguely.

"And you don't want to be here, you said?" she asked.

"No, I don't" he said, looking to her.

"Why?"

"It's not exactly pleasant" he said.

"Look around Malfoy, the whole world is unpleasant" she said.

"Well, at least you were able to be out on your own for a while, not having to worry about all of this" he indicated to the ceiling above him.

"That's what I told you" she said.

"So there is more to the story?" he asked.

"Is that what you're doing down here? Trying to get information out of me?" she demanded, suddenly realising that she was giving away too much information with barely any prompting.

"No, no I'm not. I just… I'm curious" he said.

"Curious, yeah right. Whatever I tell you, you'll run off and tell dear aunty Bellatrix and she'll probably take to my other arm" Hermione snapped.

"I never wanted any of this" he said, a little too loudly.

"Any of what?" she asked, just as brashly.

"I didn't want to be part of this, to be torturing people, to be holding people captive. This isn't what I thought He wanted… At first" he said, sadly.

"What was it that you thought, Malfoy? This is what His aim has been all along. Torture, pain, control, elimination of muggles. How could you see that it was any different?" she asked.

"Because I was brought up to believe different, that's why!" he said. "When you grow up being told about how muggles are all dirty and they infect your blood if you get close and how they're dangerous, what else are you supposed to believe?" he asked.

"You're supposed to think for yourself!" Hermione said calmly.

"Your blood is the same as mine" he said quietly after a few moments silence.

"Yes" she said.

"I feel so stupid" he said.

"You are" she answered.

"Top in all my classes after you left, thank you very much" he said with a smirk.

"I bet you love that" she said.

"It's not so bad actually" he said.

"I do miss the competition though" he said.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, I am currently preoccupied. Otherwise id consider returning to beat you in exams" she said.

Just as Draco went to speak, a shrill voice sounded from above.

"DRACO!"

"Bellatrix… What fun it is to serve her" he said as he rolled his eyes.

"You can leave you know. If this isn't what you want. Just go" Hermione said.

Draco just looked at her and exited the cell, leaving Hermione to think about this sudden news.

Was Malfoy changing? Had he just been sucked into a life that his parents wanted for him because he didn't know any other way? Why was he being so forthcoming with her? These were all questions she didn't think she would ever get answers to.

She browsed through the bag of books and was surprised when she found that she hadn't read most of them. She picked one at random and started to read.

After a few hours, the lamp on the wall burnt out and Hermione took that as a sign to go to sleep. The book had been quite enjoyable and she was almost ¾ through. That night, she slept well for the first time since she arrived. She had finally had some kind of conversation that didn't involve silver daggers being dragged through her skin, and somehow, she was finding herself craving more.

The next day, or whenever it was when she woke, she found herself waiting for Malfoy to arrive. Not that she was eager to see him exactly, but she wanted to find out more, to have a conversation with someone. Sure enough, Malfoy arrived soon with another tray of food. This time, the tray consisted of meat and vegetables with some sweets. Hermione hadn't seen such food since leaving Grimmauld Place.

Draco sat the tray down on the bed as usual and stood to one side.

"You can sit if you like" she said as she pulled the tray towards herself. "Where did you get this from?" she asked.

"My mother makes amazing food" he said. "I told her that you're ill and need something more than left overs.

"Oh, how kind" she said, sarcastically.

"Hey, I put my neck out for you to get this, be thankful" he said.

"I am, thank you" she said, trying to put some sincerity into her words.

Malfoy sat for over an hour, holding the awkward conversation with Hermione. She wasn't pleased that he was her only contact, but he did the job, nonetheless. When he left, he left the lamp lit again and Hermione spent her time reading.

The following days travelled by in much the same way. Malfoy would bring decent food and they would have some awkward conversation, sometimes they asked genuine questions of each other and occasionally they each let slip something personal about themselves.

After a week, Hermione found herself eagerly waiting for Malfoy to arrive and had even attempted to wash more thoroughly in the basin and somewhat tame her hair. She knew she must have looked terrible as it had been more than a month since she had seen anything beyond the cell she now called her home.

Malfoy arrived with the usual tray of food and Hermione sat and ate while he told her about what was happening in the outside world.

"There has been no word of Potter and Weasley at all" he said when Hermione chanced asking.

"That's a good thing, I suppose" she said.

"We just released the other people we had in the cellar next to yours. You might know the girl, Lovegood?" he said.

"Luna was here?" Hermione asked.

"Her father was printing things about Potter in his magazine that You-Know-Who didn't approve of" he said in an offhand kind of way.

"Well, thank Merlin she's alive" Hermione said.

"She was nicer than you were, in the beginning. She just kind of went into this strange fantasy place in her head and stayed there" Malfoy said.

"That where she lives, permanently. She's a good friend" Hermione said. "Who else was there?" she asked.

"Olivander" Malfoy said.

"Olivander? The wand" whispered Hermione.

"What wand?" Malfoy asked.

"You-Know-Who is after a particular wand. He obviously thinks Olivander knows where it is" she said.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Don't ask questions you don't really want the answers to" she said before changing the subject.

The two sat talking for a while longer before Malfoy had to leave for his secret duties. Hermione didn't ask him about what his role was as a death eater, apart from tending to her. If she thought too much about it, she actually didn't want to spoil the pretence that they were both captive here.

Day after day the two spent their time talking. Hermione lived for those brief moments where she had someone to talk to. They had begun to talk more and more about their own lives, about their childhoods and about their thoughts, desires and passions. Malfoy stayed for longer and longer each day until he had spent almost the whole day in the cellar at the end of the week.

Hermione hadn't ever thought it would be possible that she would ever hold down a civil conversation with Malfoy let alone be spilling her deepest secrets to him. The times she spoke to him though, it was almost as if he was someone completely different. He was no longer the arrogant twit she had known him as for 7 years. He was just as lonely, just as afraid and just as desperate as she was.

During the times when she slept, Hermione would dream about her life before the war, before going on the run, before she had erased her parents' memories and sent them away. She dreamt about the boys and wondered what they were up to. She dreamt about what the trio may have been doing if she weren't being held captive. She also dreamt of an ornate cup that had the Hufflepuff crest on it. She knew she had never seen it before, but for some reason, it was important to her that she obtain the cup. When she saw the cup, she also saw Snape.

It happened so suddenly, that one day she woke up with a start and strongly believed that the cup was a Horcrux. She had no idea how the idea was planted in her head, but she recalled her first night at Malfoy Manor and remembered Snape telling the death eaters that the cup had been in the Lestrange's vault. This gave Hermione a new sense of determination. No longer was she going to accept her fate as a prisoner in the dungeon of Malfoy Manor. She had to come up with a way out.

That day, when Malfoy arrived, she had come to the conclusion that she had to recruit him to help her.

"I need to get out of here" she said.

"You and me both" he said.

"No, I mean it Malfoy, we need to get out of here, both of us. Help me escape and you come with me!" Hermione begged.

"Granger, you're crazy" he said.

"No I'm not, I'm saner now than ever before. I know what I need to do and you're the person who can help me do it!" she said.

"What exactly is it that you're suddenly so desperate to do?" he asked.

"I need to get into the Lestrange's vault" Hermione whispered.

"You are definitely insane Granger" he said.

"Can you get us out of here or not?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know, maybe, I'm not certain. But if I leave, I know he'll kill my family" he said, reminding her of the conversation they had about why he joined the death eaters in the first place.

"Why did you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Take the dark mark"

"Well, father was in prison and my family had disgraced the Malfoy name. It was up to me to salvage whatever I could" he said.

"Couldn't you have just run away?" she asked.

"He said he was going to kill them. He was going to break my father out of Azkaban and kill my mother and me right in front of him" he said.

"Oh…"

"So I had no choice. I had to take the mark and I had to complete the task he set me" he said.

"After everything you've done, after what your family has done… He will not kill your parents. He needs them. People like You-Know-Who keep those around who are useful. Your family is incredibly useful. I'm sure that your absence won't be that big a deal" she said, trying to both comfort and convince him.

Malfoy pondered this idea for what felt like the longest time.

"Just say I can get us out of here, why do you need to get into the vault?"

"I can't tell you that" she said.

"So I'm just supposed to trust you?" he asked.

"Trust Dumbledore" she said.

"What does he have to do with this?"

"Everything! Please, just trust me" she begged.

"Alright, but we need a plan" he said, looking into her desperate eyes.