AN: Here's another update, hope this suffices for some of you that have been wondering what's up with Hermione and Draco. I'll be expanding on it from here on out...as well as complicating other things.


She gripped the pillow to her chest tightly, her chin burrowed into the soft edge as tears burned trails down her cheeks. She wanted to hate him for their conversation, wanted to forget everything that had happened during that one messed up, mistaken evening. She sometimes hated herself for it.

"You're not a bad person."

"Yes, I am." The clink of metal shackles as they fell from her wrist.

"Draco…"

"Hermione?" She was broken from her daydream by a soft knock at her door. Ginny's head appeared around it and the redhead waited to be beckoned in. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Hermione wiped quickly at her eyes, tossing the pillow up the bed as she got to her feet.

"Harry was asking about you. He said he hasn't seen you all day."

"I'm fine, really." Hermione reassured her younger friend. "I'm just a little sentimental today, that's all."

"Hermione." Ginny said gingerly on the edge of Hermione's bed, one finger tracing the red and gold stripes of the comforter. "What is there that you aren't telling us?"

"Ginny, I…" Hermione bit her lip and shook her head. "I need my secrets. Please don't ask me to share them."

"It's getting to you." Ginny accused, caramel eyes worried as she watched the older girl pace tirelessly by the window. "I saw you talking to Malfoy today. Did he say something?"

"No." Hermione sighed and paused to look out the window, swallowing against the thick emotions building in her throat and chest. "He didn't say anything."


"Theo." It was a hissed whisper that woke him from sleep, one eye open as he rolled onto his back to try and see who was shaking him. "Theo, wake up."

"Hermione?" He sounded like he had swallowed a bag of rocks, obviously a heavy sleeper.

"I can't sleep." She was visibly shaking, her face paler than normal. He sat up in bed, the sheets pooling in his lap. He used her arm to pull her down closer, her legs crawling up onto the mattress as she curled up under his arm.

"You're trembling like mad." Theo frowned and wrapped both arms around her shoulders, trying to calm her. "What happened?" He felt her shake her head. "You can tell me."

"It was just a nightmare, but I don't want to sleep alone." She pressed her side tighter against his, her fingers digging almost painfully into his skin.

"Ok. It's ok. You can stay here, it's ok." Theo gently patted his hands against her back, chin resting firmly on the top of her head. She let out a few shaky breaths and then withdrew slightly, turning on her side and sliding beneath the sheets. Her cold feet pressed against his legs as she drew the sheets up to her chin. Theo slid down onto his back, one arm behind his head. His mind raced with the possibilities of what could have shaken Hermione like this.

He waited until her breathing slowed down enough for her to be asleep before he rolled onto his side, one arm tucking around her waist as his face was lost in the wild tangle of hair splayed over his pillow.


She could feel the thick, warm liquid against the skin of her neck, the small rivulets leaving hot trails down from her wound. She wanted desperately to reach up and press a hand to the bleeding, to see if it would ease the pain. Her hands, however, were chained to the wall above her head, her wrists held limply in heavy metal. Bellatrix had dumped her here, a snarling promise to return burning worse than the cut on her throat.

"Granger?" It was a soft voice, but still a recognizable one. Her head flew up from the wall, her eyes searching from behind her hair for the owner of the voice. "Granger, I am…" The metal gate swung open carefully, a pale hand wrapped around the last bar to hold it open.

"Come to finish off your aunt's handiwork?" Hermione couldn't help the hateful edge to her words, her anger driving her towards nastiness. Draco Malfoy stopped short in the cell, his face registering shock and confusion. His mouth opened but Hermione beat him to it. "Do you like it?" She turned her head, twisting her neck until she felt the gash on her throat open and bleed again. "Does it make everyone here feel better that the Mudblood bleeds as red as the rest of you?"

"Granger, stop." Draco looked paler, if possible, and Hermione could have sworn he was shaking.

"Stop?" Her laugh was cold and echoed dimly through the cell. "Why? Why should I stop first?"

"Granger, I didn't…If I had…" He was looking everywhere in the dungeon but at her, as if looking directly at her would bring him harm.

"If you had known, you would have stopped it?" She spat, climbing clumsily to her feet, the shackles digging into her wrists painfully as she pulled against them. "You could have ended it all by telling the truth! You could have told them who we were! And you didn't! You let them take us and do this to us!"

"I didn't know she-"

"You're pathetic." Hermione snapped, falling back against the wall. Her head was spinning, perhaps she was losing more blood than she realized. Draco finally brought his eyes to her face and his gaze immediately flew to her throat.

"Oh, fuck, Granger." He suddenly seemed worried, too worried, and she couldn't help but stiffen as he stepped towards her. "I should…You need to let me heal-"

"Don't you touch me." She growled, closing her eyes against the throbbing in her head. "Don't you dare try to help me now."

"You're going to pass out."

"Why do you care?!" She screamed the words at him and then sucked in a deep breath, her vision blurred and faint. She collapsed, her knees buckling. She could feel the puddle of her own blood that sat on the collar of her shirt, sticky and warm and awful against her skin.

There was a cool hand at the joining of her shoulder and neck, careful and soft words whispered near her ear. Hermione turned her head towards the sound, trying to focus on what looked to be a glowing figure before her.

"I'm so sorry."

The cool hand rested against her cheek. It was a welcome contrast to the heat that had been pouring from her wound.

He had the most beautiful eyes when he cried.


Hermione awoke with a start, her legs jerking wildly and colliding with someone else's.

"What the hell?" A sleep laced grunt startled her even more, her hands clutching the sheets beneath her. "Hermione?"

"It's ok." She rasped out, trying to calm her breathing. Theo's warm hand grabbed her wrist gently, tugging a little bit until she settled back onto her side. She allowed him to envelop her entire frame within his, taking some comfort in the cage of his long arms.

She waited until he fell back to sleep before burying her face in the pillow, allowing tears to slip out quietly as midnight silver eyes haunted the back of her mind once more.


She could feel smooth fingertips brushing ever so lightly against her scalp, burning a soft rhythm into her head while she slept. She stirred a bit, turning just barely onto her back and cracking one eye. With a groan she threw herself back into the pillow, knowing that her eyes were puffy and red.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Theo teased, leaving a butterfly kiss in the hair near her temple. "We've slept right through lunch."

"It's a Friday." Hermione mumbled into the soft satin pillowcase.

"Well that's wonderful news." His voice bounced into the flesh of her shoulder blades, exposed by the tank top she had worn to bed. She hummed a response and nestled deeper into the warmth of the bed. His forearm flexed tight around her waist, eliciting a smile from her while she closed her eyes. "Stay here all day with me."

"Not all day." She giggled, laughing a little louder when he grunted and pulled her closer. "We have to eat sometime."

"I can think of something I can have to eat without ever having to leave the bed."

"Theo!" Hermione smacked the arm over her waist as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "That's horrible."

"Horribly good, I can promise you that." She felt the smile against her shoulder blades and heard it in his voice.

"You're such a boy." She rolled her eyes and turned onto her back, her head twisting towards his. His hair was sticking up at odd angles like she had never seen before, the bags under his eyes more pronounced in his sleepy state. Theo just grinned and began walking his index and middle fingers up from her stomach towards her chest. She narrowed her eyes at him and swatted his hand away lightly.

"Not at all? Not even a little bit?"

"Theo."

"Fine." He plopped his head down hard on the pillow, pressing his lips into the top of her shoulder. "But you didn't say anything about not trying to convince you." Hermione laughed as he left a trail of little kisses from the top of her shoulder to the side of her neck, her laughter diminishing to a soft sigh when he bit lightly on her earlobe.

"Stop it." Her attempt to get him to quit was halfhearted, the hand she had been using to push him away grabbing around the back of his neck.

"I really don't think you want me to." He managed to get the words out between nibbles on her neck and ear. She merely bit her lip and wriggled on the sheets for response. His hand, which had been wandering aimlessly in circles across her stomach, moved with an initiative up to her throat, the space between his thumb and index finger cradling her ear, snatching her face to his as he captured her mouth in a kiss. Hermione, powerless and drunk on sleep, nearly melted into the mattress but managed to keep a grip on the back of his neck, fingers tangling in a few strands of hair. He took the opportunity to move his hand back down her now writhing body, grabbing the leg farthest from him and flinging it over his side, forcing them closer. His palm slid smoothly down the back of her thigh, his fingers darting underneath the flannel shorts she wore and gripping the soft flesh he discovered. A small whimper escaped her throat.

"Wait." She somehow managed to break from his lips, her voice raspy and uneven. "Just wait."

"Hermione." It was half whine, half command. She kept her eyes closed, bringing her bottom lip into her mouth for a few seconds. "Please." He squeezed the back of her leg to emphasize his point.

"Theo." She could feel the rapid beating of her heart pounding against her ribcage. Delicately, she moved her hand from the back of his neck to the place on his bare chest right above his heart, letting his pulse sear into her palm. He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose then rubbed his nose to hers briefly, flirting with the idea of kissing her lips once more. Hermione was frighteningly aware of how much of him was pressed against her, and how desperately she too was holding onto whatever skin of his she could touch.


AN: Please be kind and leave a review for me...