AN: I'm so sorry. The end of school was really tough, I spent a night in the hospital and this chapter fought me tooth and nail. I totally understand if you hate me now and I wll grovel at your feet for forgiveness. Thanks for reading!
When Hermione woke up, she wasn't sure where she was. All she knew was that it was cold and her arm was killing her. She looked around anxiously, quickly identifying that she was in the dungeons of the manor and she was covered in blood. She looked for wounds on her body but found none, the blood had to be someone else's. Turned around and saw the group of 30 or so death eaters (those of them that were new were also covered in blood) standing quietly in a blob as if they had been watching something terrible happen. She searched the crowd for Draco, he looked concerned and when she found her father's eyes she felt shame; He looked pissed. Before she got a chance to wonder what the hell she had done to incite his wrath she realized he wasn't staring at her in anger. He was staring at a guilty looking Bellatrix Lestrange. When Draco saw she was awake he rushed forward to help her up. He stared at his aunt with disgust and dragged Hermione away from her as quickly as he could.
"I'm sooo sorry, did I hurt the itty bitty mudblood?" Bella asked in an acidic but childish tone. Voldemort's frown deepened. He tilted his head slowly and raised his wand.
"What did you call my daughter?" his voice was stone cold and monotone. The temperature in the room decreased by ten degrees. When Bellatrix didn't respond he raised his voice and asked again. "What. Did. You. Call. My. Daughter?" He had lost his air of calm; anyone with eyes could see the rage plastered on his face. Everyone knew that no matter how fond the dark lord had once been of the crazy black haired witch, she would die before the night was up and she would not enjoy her death one bit. Bellatrix began to back away fearfully; even she knew she wouldn't make it out of the manor. The deadly calm that had re-consumed Voldemort gave everyone in the room a chill; especially the frizzy-haired, wide-eyed witch that had both literally and metaphorically backed herself into a corner.
"LEAVE!" Voldemort's cold, angry voice resounded off of the stone walls of the dungeons. The now more fearful group of death eaters quietly and quickly moved in unison towards the door to the upper levels of Zabini Manor. The group shook as they heard the blood curdling screams of the end Bellatrix Lestrange's life, the walls and floors of the manor shaking.
"Dray, What did that crazy bitch do to me?" Hermione asked wearily. She felt as if she had been hit by a bus and then sent through a meat grinder. Draco shook his head as he fought the flush of anger he felt rising in his cheeks. He grumbled something unintelligible before clearing his throat.
" Where do you want me to start? With the part where she tried to kill you or the part where she sent you flying into a wall with so much force you almost broke your neck? When neither of those 'Brilliant' ideas worked she tried to turn you inside out." Draco's eyes were blazing and his voice had gotten loud enough that one of the house elves had backed into a corner and was on the verge of tears. Even Hermione was tense, she had backed as far away from the enraged blonde as their tangled hands would allow.
"I'm sorry I asked, I just don't-" She was on the verge of tears. Draco softened immediately. Although he was still flushed, the tension left his face and he crouched down to her level.
"No, no, no love it's okay. I didn't mean to upset you!" The Elf slowly came out of the corner and walked around the couple and into the group of gawking death eaters, offering refreshments and light snacks. The teens declined and congregated behind the couple. It was time for them to get back to school; seeing as tomorrow was a Thursday, they needed to salvage as much of the night as possible. The sea of black walked out of the manor and slowly popped out of the yard. They regrouped in front of the gate to Hogwarts before heading towards the secret passage into the dungeons and heading silently into the Slytherin common room.
Hermione examined her forearm with complete amazement. She had expected receiving the mark would be considerably more painful. The dull ache she felt seemed to be nothing compared to what Draco had seemed to experience when he had received his. Another quite perplexing facet of her new "tattoo" was the color; instead of the regular black it was green. The snake seemed more active than the ones present on other death eaters' arms.
"Draco?" Draco's head whipped around in surprise. The sudden break in the silence had startled him. "What in the hell is going on with my arm?" Her voice cracked making her sound even more distressed than she was. Grey eyes shot to her forearm and then widened in surprise.
"Not really sure love." His head was cocked in confusion, his lips pursed in consternation. "Probably nothing. If you're worried we can-" She cut him off.
"I'm fine." She smiled in the way a tired and frustrated mother would, tight-lipped and exhausted. "Can we just go to bed? I'm tired." Draco smiled at her and took her hand, leading her from the common room and into her own room. With a chaste kiss to her forehead Draco left his beloved for the night.