All I can really say is that life and health problems, do not mix well with trying to write fan fiction. I just hope you guys will be able to forgive me for taking so long to get this chapter up, and let me know if you can, what you thought by reviewing this story. x


I opened it, being careful not to tear it anymore than it already was:

'Mudblood,

My father wants you to join him for dinner tomorrow. The key opens the wardrobe, which has appropriate attire in it.

Feo will apparate you to the dining room at 5pm, be ready before-hand - Father will not tolerate lateness.'

My breathing hitched at the sudden realisation that in around 24 hours time, I'll be dining with a Deatheater, and one of Voldemort's most loyal ones at that. Shit. He's probably going force me to answer all sorts of questions about Harry, and his whereabouts. He could torture me until I answer him, until I lose all of my morals and inhibitions and beg him to stop...until I tell him everything. My goodness what's the matter with me today? I don't think I've ever been so defeatist in my entire life. If Malfoy thinks I'm just going sit and wait to be tortured until I betray my best friend, he is sadly mistaken.

Draco POV

"I trust you delivered the letter to her?"

The trembling elf nodded, bowed, and set off to making sure that the Manor presentable before father arrived.

I gave a loud exhale; everything was going according to plan. Thank God the Mudblood isn't causing any troubl-" SMASH!

Fucking hell, was that noise from Granger's room? I half-ran through the corridors expecting the door of her room to be hanging from it's hinges, but there it stood solid and straight as always. Earlier that day, I charmed the door so it could only be opened by an exact key or a very powerful blasting spell. I knew that the witch was pretty capable of wandIessly casting alohomora on the locked door. I patted my trouser pockets... where was the fucking key? For all I know, the witch could've smashed her dinner into a million pieces, and sliced her wrists open by now. And God knows, the last thing this family needs is to fall even further into the Dark Lord's graces than we already have. I was instructed to keep the girl alive and healthy, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let her do something that'll get her killed.

I pulled out my wand from it's holder in my shirt's sleeve, and in my anger and impatience, casted "Expulso" at the door. The spell struck the door, which caused an explosion that slammed the remains of it into the opposite wall with great force. Immediately my gaze fell onto Granger laying face down on the floor, with several pieces of broken porcelain, wood, and spilt soup, surrounding her. One of her arms was bent awkwardly underneath her, and the other was bent at a strange angle. She didn't look like she was breathing. I walked closer to her still form, "Granger?" I murmured tentatively. Silence.

No. No. NO! This can't be happening. I will not fail this task! My wand slipped out of my loose grip and clattered on to the ground. My vision became blurred by my tears of frustration. Stupid, fucking girl! Why won't she answer me? Why won't she move? My God. I'm dead. She is dead, and so am I.

All I had to do was babysit her for 3 days and I can't even do that. If the Dark Lord doesn't kill me for failing, then my father most definitely will.

Hermione POV

I laid as still as a corpse, until I heard Malfoy's erratic breathing, and realised that he was crying. For the first time ever, I was the cause of his crying, instead of the other way round. I felt an unnecessary sense of triumph over him. Sure, he was probably crying because he knew his father would be furious with him for letting this happen, and not that he was actually sad for my apparent 'dead' state. But I still couldn't stop a smirk forming cruelly on my lips. My plan was working, I was going to see Harry and Ronald again!

I opened my eyes ever so slightly, he was standing close to me hunched over, with one of his trembling hands resting lightly over his eyes, obscuring his view of me. His other hand hung uselessly by his side. Where was his wand? I opened my eyes a little wider and lifted my head, confident that he couldn't see me. I scanned around at the pieces of wood hoping to see something wand-shaped. I glanced quickly up at Malfoy, - he was still crying. I looked up at the hand that should've held his wand, and continued my gaze downwards, and that's when I saw it; long and ebony, with a pretentious silver handle with a snake etched on it. I slowly stretched out the hand that wasn't underneath me towards the wand, careful not to make any fast movements that could attract his attention. I caught onto the silver end of it, and began to pull it towards me, just as cautiously, worried that the silver would drag noisily across the floor. When I finally had it clutched firmly in my grasp, I briefly debated what hex to use on him. If he was crying now, he would be a blubbering mess when I was through with him...

I rolled over onto my back so that I could get a better aim at him, but whilst doing so I rolled onto a particularly sharp piece of porcelain, and involuntarily drew in a pained breath. His head snapped up, and he straightened his form, and glared at me in disbelief, his surprised eyes glanced at the wand in my hand. Then his nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. "You-, you...". He seemed to struggle to find words. And then he lunged down towards me. Thinking fast, I kicked my two feet forward and hit his shins with such a force that he lost balance altogether, and he was falling on top of me, but I rolled over out of the way, and rose quickly. He fell onto his hands and knees and cried out in pain, as his flesh was cut by the shards of ceramic. He reached out to grab at my legs, to knock me off balance, but I was faster than him. I pointed the wand at him, and yelled the incantation "Stupefy!", and a jet of red light flew out of the tip of the wand, and hit Malfoy smack in the face, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell onto his back and landed with a THUMP. He groaned, and for a moment I thought he would spring up and try to grab me again, but he just laid there, the only movement coming from him was his chest steadily rising and falling.