"Rise and shine Granger," Draco greeted Hermione callously as he pulled back the curtains on her window. The sun shone in, hitting her straight in the eyes and blinding her. "It's just you, me, and my mother today, so there's no excuse for you to not come and eat,"

Hermione grumbled as she got out of bed, not appreciating her morning wake up call. So this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life, the Slytherin Prince barging in whenever he pleases, she thought bitterly.

"Here's your wand," he said, handing her back the magical stick that had been taken away from her. "It can only do simple spells now, nothing complicated, and definitely nothing dangerous,"

"Great," Hermione mumbled.

Fifteen minutes later and she and Draco were once again on their way to the dining hall, Draco always a few steps ahead of her. Sheesh, he walks as if he were on a mission.

"Good morning Hermione," Narcissa said warmly as the two of them came in and took their seats. "We missed you at dinner last night. Are you feeling better rested now?"

"Yes, Narcissa, thank you," Hermione said, shooting Draco a thankful glance. He had actually made good on giving an excuse for her.

They all started piling food on their plates and began to eat. Narcissa was pleased to see that Hermione's appetite had returned, and that she was beginning to grow more comfortable around the Malfoy Matriarch.

"Now Hermione," Narcissa said. "You told us about your family yesterday, but I want to hear more about you. What do you like to do?"

Still taken aback by Narcissa's interest in her life, Hermione found it difficult to begin. "Well…as you know, I enjoy reading and writing. I've always loved listening to music, so when I'm home I try to catch up with all the new songs that have come out while I was away,"

"Muggle music I assume?"

"Yes,"

"We'll have to get some for you then. I myself have an affinity to music. I couldn't imagine being without it for over half the year. What else dear?"

Hermione spent the rest of the breakfast conversation telling Narcissa her favorite past times. Like having girls' nights with Ginny, playing the board games her family had collected over the years, doing jigsaw puzzles, and playing a few muggle sports.

"You should teach Draco a few of those, I'm sure he'd enjoy them," Narcissa said.

"Not likely," Draco commented, earning an amused look from both his mother and Hermione. The clock then struck ten, alerting the household to the time with a loud chime. "Don't you have somewhere to be mother?"

"Oh yes, thank you for reminding me Draco. I'll see you two tonight then,"

"What about lunch?" Hermione asked.

"Unfortunately my errands will keep me from joining it with you, but I look forward to seeing you later. Goodbye darling," she said, kissing Draco on his temple before leaving.

"Bye Mum," Draco scowled. Hermione had to work hard to suppress a laugh. Seeing Malfoy uncomfortable always made her day. "I suppose we should start with your tour of the house now," he said, standing up.

"I suppose so," Hermione said as she did the same, and followed Draco out. It seemed that stalking Draco around his house would be another thing Hermione would be doing for the rest of her life.

"The Manor has four levels, this is the second and main floor. On the first floor we have the house elf quarters , the laundry, and the kitchens. That straight ahead is the entrance, and you'll have no reason to ever go through it," he said, pointing to the two insanely tall doors across from the dining hall. "As you discovered last night this here is the grand ballroom, we use it for large parties, celebrations, etc. That next room is the sitting room where guests go to sit and talk their lives away. And this door-"

"Is not to be opened under any circumstances?" Hermione finished for him.

"Precisely. Down this way we have the regular ballroom, for smaller celebratory gatherings. That's the main floor lavatory," He took her down the stairs that led to the bottom level. "And then of course here's the kitchens,"

"Why good morning Miss Hermione," David greeted her kindly. There was now a woman sitting at the table with him. "May I introduce to you my wife Anne,"

"How do you do young miss," Anne lightly bowed her head. "David tells me you will be a permanent resident of our household?"

"Yes, I will be. Draco's giving me a tour of the manor right now,"

"Be sure to say hello to my dear friend Demeter on the third floor- I was visiting her last night, which is why I wasn't here. It's so nice to have another woman in the house; all I hear are men, men, men. And it's equally delightful to see young Master Malfoy with a lady friend. We've all waited so long for him to have one of those,"

Hermione let out an involuntary snort that she managed to disguise as a cough. As ridiculous as the insinuation was however, Hermione couldn't help but blush. When she glanced over at Draco she noticed his cheeks had gone a slight shade of pink too.

"And this is where we leave," he said quickly, steering Hermione away from David and Anne.

"Be sure to visit whenever you're hungry!" David called.

"What about those other rooms?" Hermione asked. Next to the kitchens had been three other doors.

"Rooms of no consequence, don't ever bother with them,"

Once again Draco was in front of Hermione and he was leading her back up to the second story and then continued to the other staircase to get to the other levels. "This is the music room," he said once they were at the third floor, opening the first door on the right. "You got your piano, violins, cello, harp, and every other symphonic instrument you can think of,"

He closed the door and then proceeded to the first door on his left. "This room turns into whatever you want it to be, much like the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts," he explained, not opening it.

Draco was going over everything rather quickly, and even his steps seemed to be in haste. Hermione could barely keep up with him, and hoped she remembered everything he was telling her.

"Geez, slow down Malfoy, it's not like we have anywhere else to be," Hermione complained.

"That may true, but I don't want to spend my whole day showing you my house,"

"Maybe you should move into a smaller one then, that'd make it go faster,"

"Funny Granger,"

"And why can't you walk next to me like a normal person? You're always a good five steps ahead of me. Does standing next to me bother you that much?"

"Now that you ask, yes it does. It'd mean we were equals Granger, and we are not equals,"

"You're insufferable," Hermione grumbled.

"As are you," Draco replied uncaringly. "Now moving on-"

"Hold on, that's the portrait of Demeter. I'm going to go say hi,"

"Fine. Make it quick though," Draco said, leaning himself against the opposite wall.

Hermione didn't even bother to say anything back as she made her way to the vivid portrait of the goddess of the earth. She was standing at the forefront of a landscape of golden, billowing fields. In the sky the sun shone brightly, lighting everything up. "Good morning, are you Demeter?" Hermione knew the answer, but thought it polite to ask anyway.

"Yes I am," the goddess smiled weakly. "You must be the new Lady of the house,"

"That would be me," Hermione sighed. "You're portrait is beautiful,"

"Thank you. I just wish…" Demeter looked down with sadness in her eyes, unable to finish what she was going to say.

"I know how you feel," Hermione sympathized. Hermione wished she could reach in and comfort the woman. "You get her back, you know,"

"Oh I know, but not for another few months. Till then it's just me and my golden field of grain,"

"Chop, chop Granger," Draco tapped his foot impatiently.

"You better go, miss, young Master Malfoy isn't known for his patience," Demeter said. "It was a pleasure meeting you,"

"You, too," Hermione smiled and then she went back to Draco.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Do honestly not pay attention to the paintings in your house Malfoy?"

"Just the ones that open,"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's the Greek Goddess of the Earth, Demeter. She makes things grow. She has a daughter Persephone who grows things with her. According to Greek myth, Persephone was taken by the God of the Underworld, Hades. Another one of the gods was sent to retrieve Persephone for her mother, but not before Hades could get her to eat some pomegranate seeds. Because she had consumed food while in the Underworld, Persephone was bound to return there for a period each year. Right now is one of those periods, and so Demeter is left in the world of her painting without her daughter,"

"I see," was all Draco had to say. He wasn't stupid. He saw the parallels between Persephone and Hermione. The only difference was that Hermione wouldn't be saved, and get to return to her family. As long as the Dark Lord needed her she would have to stay here. The chances she'd see anyone from her previous life were slim to none. Not wanting to bring this up at the moment, he just moved on. "This next room is my father's personal study. No one goes in there except for him and those he invites,"

Like with the room of requirement, Draco didn't open the door to his father's study, and instead directed Hermione towards the set of double doors at the far end of the hall. "I'm sure you'll appreciate this room," he said, pushing the doors ajar.

"Whoa," Hermione breathed as she walked in. It was the grandest library she had ever seen to be inside someone's home. Everyone she knew just had a few shelves against some walls, or a small room dedicated to books. This however, was far more superior to all of those. All Hermione could see was shelves upon shelves of books. The room was circular and had a high ceiling with a sky light at the top, and the only other window was a standard size one to the left about three meters from the floor. Everything else was covered in books. Opposite the entrance way was a spiral stairway that led to the second and third story walkways that circled around the room so you could get to the books higher up. "I think I've died and gone to heaven. We can finish the tour here Malfoy, unless there are important things on the fourth floor besides our rooms,"

"I figured you would say that, and no, the fourth floors just bedrooms," Draco said.

"May I?" Hermione asked, taking a step towards the books.

"Knock yourself out,"

And with that blessing, Hermione darted around the room, and began picking up everything she found interesting. Draco just shook his head and relaxed on one of the couches in the middle of the room. Soon Hermione had a decent stack of books she had compiled from the first level and set them on the low table in front of Draco Then she made her way to the second story.

"How do I get to the ones up there?" she asked him, pointing to the shelves clearly out of her reach.

"You see those large square tiles the walk way is made of?" Draco said from his spot on the couch. "Stand on one and say 'up',"

"Are you serious?"

"Just do it Granger. Don't you trust me?"

"You really have to ask that Malfoy?" Hermione snickered, but she decided to do what he said anyway. "Up!"

She let out a little shriek as the floor beneath her started to rise up. "How do I get it to stop?!"

"You tell it to stop," Draco said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Hermione said the word and the lift came to halt.

"That is amazing," she said awe. She spent an even longer time tackling that level of books.

"Granger, the library's not going away anytime soon," Draco finally said, noticing the colossal pile that had formed on the small table. "If you spend all your time picking books then you'll never get to actually read them. Ow!" Draco yelled as a book fell on top of his head, courtesy of Hermione. She sat down on the couch adjacent to his and set down her recent collection before grabbing a book from the top of the pile and flipping it open. Draco picked up the book she had so nicely dropped on him and read the title.

"Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. You were serious about me reading this weren't you?"

"Of course I was, and how lucky of you that it was already in your library. I didn't take the Malfoys as ones to have a collection of muggle literature,"

"I wouldn't know. It's not like this is a place I come too often," Draco retorted. He was about to fling the book to the side when he realized he had nothing better to do and might as well read it. Before he knew it he was halfway through the story without any intent on putting it down.

"Malfoy…Malfoy!" Hermione snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"What?!"

"Isn't it time for lunch?"

Draco looked up at the clock, and then heard the chiming of its bells. It was noon. He had become so immersed in the tragic tale that the time had just passed him by. Hermione was right, it was time for lunch, but he really didn't feel like getting up. "Let's just eat in here," he said.

"Eat in the library?"

"Yeah. You can technically eat anywhere you want in the house, we just prefer to eat in the dining room together most of the time. Since it's just you and me, we can just stay here today,"

"Sounds good to me," Hermione said, sitting back with her book again.

Draco called his personal house elf Wren and told him they'd be eating in the library for the day. Wren bowed and popped away, and a few minutes later he popped back in with a platter of sandwiches. Draco and Hermione consumed them as they continued to read their books.

"Hey!" Hermione shrieked as Draco threw the book he had just finished reading at her head.

"Doesn't feel so great does it?" he said, alluding to her action a few hours before. "That was a terrible story,"

"And yet you looked completely enthralled by it," Hermione said, setting the book on the table.

"Some people take revenge way too seriously. None of these characters had any mercy,"

"It's called a tragedy for a reason,"

"Yeah it was tragic. Then again, there's so much careless and violent bloodshed it's almost comical,"

"Leave it to you to find amusement in other's pain," Hermione muttered, going back to her book.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco shot, pulling the book away from her and tossing it to the side.

"It means that you don't care when people get hurt, and take pleasure in it most of the time, especially when it's instigated by you,"

Draco scoffed. "You think you know me so well, don't you Granger?"

"I know enough," Hermione said curtly. "I know about that night in the astronomy tower,"

Draco's face fell. He stared at her, and in return her eyes bored into his.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, quickly tearing away from her gaze.

"Yes you do,"

"Just drop it Granger," Draco growled.

"What if I don't want to?" Hermione teasingly egged him on.

"Just. Drop it." He said sternly. He returned to look at her again, his eyes hard, and unrelenting.

Hermione knew the conversation was over. She looked away from him and grabbed another book from the pile. They once again enveloped themselves in silence as the hours of the day passed them by.

"So Hermione, tell me about your friends," Narcissa asked as she, Hermione, Draco, and Lucius sat at the dinner table that night.

"Well there's Harry of course, and the Weasleys," Hermione began to answer. Both of the male Malfoys snorted, and Narcissa gave them dirty looks. "I'm closest to Ron and Ginny out of them,"

"Some of my best friends used to be boys too, Jerrick and Christopher. I still think about them from time to time and wonder where they are," Narcissa said.

"You're not friends with them anymore?"

"No, once I started dating Lucius we fell out of touch. It's my fault really, I decided I wanted to spend more time with this guy over here than them," Narcissa said, giving a half smile. Hermione wanted to ask Mrs. Malfoy if she regretted that decision, but didn't dare with Mr. Malfoy sitting with them. "Anyway, please continue dear- how long have all of you been friends?"

"We met on our first train ride to Hogwarts, but didn't become friends until Halloween when they saved me from an escaped troll. After that we just kind of bonded, and we've been together ever since. Being Harry's friend does come with a price mind you," Hermione laughed.

"Indeed it does," Lucius Malfoy finally spoke. The whole table froze at the sound of his voice. Not one of its other occupants had expected him to say anything the whole meal. For a moment they thought those three words would be the only ones he would utter, but he continued. "You've been chased by dementors, nearly attacked by a wolf, had to break into the ministry of magic, dueled with dark wizards, and probably many other things that the public doesn't know about, all before you've even come of age. And now you're here, all because you chose to attach yourself to the boy of all boys. Tell me Ms. Granger, is it worth it?"

Hermione sat there stunned. She thought about everything Lucius Malfoy had just said. All of it was true. She had encountered many things over the past few years that may have been avoided had she not decided to follow Harry. If she weren't being held at Malfoy Manor she'd be out with him right now, on a mission to collect the horcruxes, so they could destroy Voldemort, the darkest wizard in history. Being Harry's friend meant being in danger. Unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy had a point. Was it really worth it?

"Yes," Hermione finally said, her voice shaky. "Every minute."

Yes, being Harry's friend had a clause that said you'd be in constant mortal peril, but it was for the good of humanity, and that was worth everything. She'd follow Harry to the ends of the earth if it meant saving those she loved.

"How was your tour of the house Hermione?" Narcissa asked, trying to lighten the mood her husband had dampened.

"Very nice," Hermione answered, her speech still slightly unsteady. She managed to get it back as she continued to talk. "The library is beautiful. We actually spent most of the day in there,"

"I take it you and Draco are becoming friends then?"

Hermione couldn't help but notice that Narcissa had a hopeful expression, as if she anticipated something to happen between her and Draco. Hermione looked over to the boy in question, and though he was quite focused on his plate, she could still see his flushed cheeks. "We're getting there," she stated simply, and she felt oddly satisfied when Draco reddened even more.

"I was surprised there were muggle books in the library," Hermione said, steering the subject back to books and away from her and Draco.

"Oh I put those in there," Narcissa smiled. "They were selling them in Flourish and Blotts so I bought a few of them and thought they were absolutely wonderful. What did you read?"

"Pride and Prejudice,"

"Oh I love that one. The classic story of the pompous, rich man falling for the headstrong, lower-class girl. It may be fiction, but it's nice to think two people can set aside their differences and admit the love each other," Narcissa sighed. Hermione didn't miss how her eyes flickered between hers and Draco's.

"I'm going to read Much Ado About Nothing, tomorrow," Hermione told her, once again taking the topic away from something Narcissa couldn't allude to her and Draco.

For the rest of the meal, and even a little after, Hermione and Narcissa discussed books they both enjoyed, while Lucius and Draco had their own separate conversation.

When Draco dropped Hermione off at her room that night he only had one thing to say.

"Just to be clear Granger, we are not friends,"

"Never said we were Malfoy," Hermione said casually.

Draco stared at her for a second, his eyes travelling from her eyes to her mouth and then back again, and he even took a step towards her. Hermione could feel her stomach start to gather butterflies.

"Like I said," he whispered. "Just being clear." He then turned away and into his room without even saying goodnight.

Hermione stepped into her room and closed the door. I said we were getting there, she thought, clarifying to herself what she hadn't been able to him.