As the door swung violently inwards, hinges screaming in protest and smashing into the wall behind it, Hermione pulled herself into a tighter ball trying to block the noise out. She had a pounding headache which hadn't shifted for days coupled with retching up the nonexistent contents of her stomach. Justin had been trying for the last hour to get her to drink the foul water from the sink in the corner. She had been stubbornly refusing, insisting the water wouldn't make her feel better. Justin was insisting it was better than nothing. As the door smashed into the wall, Justin rose from his crouched position next to her and turned to face the figure standing in the door. There was silence. Hermione uncurled herself to look up and squinted towards the door, she could see a silhouette standing there unmoving. Feeling particularly irritated from the loud painful noise she grumbled a weak "Fuck off," under her breath before trying to make herself comfortable.
"You want to watch your language Granger," Draco sneered, relaxing his stance slightly.
"I said fuck off Malfoy," Hermione replied, groaning as the nausea hit her again as she tried to move.
"Malfoy?" Justin questioned, moving to stand a bit further in front of Hermione "What are you doing here?"
"Oh you are dim, must be another Gryffindor" Draco drawled, "How many other Malfoy's do you know?"
"You're wrong Malfoy," Justin retorted, advancing towards Draco "Now leave."
"Watch it, you don't want to go making life more difficult for yourself," Draco growled, watching as the figure drew closer to him.
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh "Shut up the pair of you," she snapped.
"Ooooh, Granger's got her panties in a twist!" Draco laughed, "What crawled up your ass and died?"
Hermione groaned again and heaved herself over the side of her bed, coughing and retching for what felt like the millionth time "As if," she said breathlessly "you actually give a fuck. Get out. Leave me alone."
"Well that was disgusting," Draco muttered, taking a step back, Hermione let herself fall back onto the bed and wiped the sweat from her brow. She was breathing deeply trying to regain her composure, Draco leaned forward and asked "What is wrong with you Granger?" The only response Draco got was a groan as she turned herself away from him; it was Justin who answered his question.
"She's sick Malfoy," Draco took a step towards Justin "Well that much is obvious."
"Shut your mouth Malfoy, if you're not going to help you may as well leave." Justin retorted angrily, stepping towards the outline of Draco.
"Well, well, well, the mystery man has found some courage. Shame I can leave here and you can't." Draco teased, relishing in being able to talk to someone different even if it was a barely conscious Granger and her loyal bodyguard.
Hermione lay listening to Draco and Justin bickering, the sound of their voices grating against her fragile head. She found herself becoming more agitated by the pathetic school rivalry, were they not aware something much bigger was going on at the moment? When Hermione heard Justin draw in a breath to respond, her temper snapped. Throwing herself from her bed, she launched towards the boys, swaying as she walked from her light headedness, stopping to stand between them.
"SHUT UP MALFOY," she said vehemently "I am so sick of this! This never ending circle of hate. Who gives a shit what house you were in." Hermione felt the room spin and took a deep breath before continuing "In case it had escaped your notice. We are prisoners. The psycho upstairs could kill us any day now. Grow up." As she stood breathing deeply, trying to keep her eyes focused, ignoring the lights popping before her eyes, Justin and Draco stood in a stunned silence.
"Well," Draco said, "I think that answers the question of what crawled up your ass today." Hermione turned to face him in the gloom and cracked her hand across his face, the slap reverberating against the walls in the dungeon. The pain that lanced through her hand and body following the slap was a surprise and had her crumpling to the floor whimpering in seconds. As white lights flashed across her eyes she felt unconsciousness creep up on her, thankful she might finally get some sleep, she allowed herself to fall into the darkness.
"What the have you done Malfoy!" Justin demanded, before stooping to Hermione's level on the floor, clicking his fingers trying to get her attention.
"I didn't do anything!" Draco responded, "She hit me!" Draco would have been lying if he said he wasn't confused by the turn of events, she'd hit him before and then crumpled in pain. As he stood towering above them both, it occurred to him to cast a Lumos charm to light up the dark dungeon. Resting the beam of light on Granger crumpled on the floor, he noticed how she had her hand curled against her chest. His mind flashed him back to the horrific night of the Death Eater initiation where she had fell in a similar position and he realised she had hit him with the same hand she had put in the fire.
"Granger," Draco said, "Let me see your hand." When he got no response he lowered himself to the floor beside her and spoke again "Granger, let me see your hand."
"What's wrong with her hand?" Justin questioned, looking toward Malfoy in confusion.
Draco ignored the question and clapped his hands loudly in front of Hermione's face trying to get her attention, when she didn't respond he knelt on the floor, grabbed her wrist and began pulling the injured hand towards him. Making himself comfortable Draco began to unwind the bandage, looking up every now and again to see if Granger had moved.
"What are you doing?" Justin questioned again standing up from the floor and looking over Draco so he could get a better view. As Draco began to reach the end of the bandage Justin caught sight of the raw blistered skin covering Hermione's hand. "What happened to her hand!" he exclaimed. Draco let the last bit of the bandage fall to the floor and drew Hermione's hand closer to his face so he could inspect the damage, as he did so he replied to Justin.
"She was forced to put it in fire. I didn't realise it wasn't healing." In the silence that followed Draco cast his mind back to fifth year when they had been taught basic healing spells. He vaguely recalled one spell to heal minor burns and wondered if it would work on a burn this severe. Slowly he bought his wand level with her hand, angling it so the light fell on her palm which had been burnt the worst. Drawing in a deep breath and concentrating he muttered the healing spell, watching as the faint blue light penetrated her skin. Reverting back to the Lumos charm he watched in wonder as the skin healed slightly. He hadn't thought about her injuries since he had left the dungeon, his main mission had been to keep his mind occupied and mostly he had succeeded. As the skin finished healing Draco felt a slight burst of pride, he had done something worthwhile. Drawing in another breath he cast the spell again on a different patch of skin. He worked silently for the next few minutes, repeating the spell until her whole hand was pink with fresh skin. Draco guided her hand and placed it on her other hand that was thrown to her side where it had been resting since she fell. As he rose from the floor she let out a slight whimper and stirred on the floor, at her movement Justin stepped forward and the wand light illuminated his face.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Draco muttered upon seeing Justin's face "I take it you didn't go back to Hogwarts then Finch-Fletchley?"
"Obviously," Justin replied testily "Did she damage her hand when there was the Death Eater initiation?"
Draco sighed and looked at Hermione's body on the floor, flicking his wand lazily he once again levitated her onto the bed before turning to respond to Justin in a flat voice. "Yes, to earn their Mark they had to torture her. Goyle put her under the Imperius Curse and made her hold her hand in the roaring fire. Crabbe and Pansy were also there but Goyle did the most damage."
"Whoa," Justin exhaled "She told me she'd got her injuries from the initiation but not what they'd done."
"Would you?" Malfoy questioned "I know I won't be sharing what they've done to me."
Justin stood awkwardly staring at Malfoy, had he just heard that correctly? Malfoy had been tortured in his own home by the people he had dedicated himself to? Before Justin could ask another question Hermione grumbled in her sleep and he turned his head to face her, watching as she groggily pulled herself upright and looked around the dungeon. As she prepared herself to stand up from the bed there was another loud echoing crash and she flinched away from the sound.
"What was that?" Hermione asked immediately.
"I think it was the door," Justin replied as he turned to look over his shoulder "Malfoy's gone."
"What happened? Why am I back over here? What did he do?" Hermione questioned irritably.
"Well, you smacked Malfoy and then passed out I think. He tried to ask you about your hand but you were gone, then he took the bandage off. It looked awful Hermione." Justin replied solemnly.
"He took the bandage off!" Hermione exclaimed bringing her hand up to eye level trying to examine it "What the hell did he do that for!"
"I think you hit him with your bad hand and that's what caused you to pass out. After he took the bandage off he muttered something about it not healing." Justin answered, Hermione exhaled a soft
"Oh!" before continuing "That must have been why I was sick. The burns hadn't healed when I looked the other day. It must have got infected."
"I think he healed your hand Hermione," Justin replied "He had hold of your wrist and his wand was giving off this blue light, he kept repeating the same spell."
"How strange," Hermione replied softly "I don't understand. That's the second time he's helped me and then vanished before I could ask him why. It has to of been him that night of the initiation, this proves it. I wonder why he's doing it?"
"He wasn't giving much away, maybe he's changed? Just be careful, he might still be a Death Eater." Justin sighed, he strolled over to the other camp bed and threw himself down, turning his head to face her he said "At least you sound better."
Hermione didn't reply and it wasn't long before Justin's snores filled the dungeon, her mind was quietly racing, why did Malfoy keep showing up here? Was he actually trying to help or was this all part of some unknown plan to win him respect among his fellow Death Eaters? Lying back against her pillow, Hermione gently stroked the new skin on her hand, surprised at how soft it felt. She did feel better and again it was due to Malfoy and his actions, could there really be a sinister plan behind his out of character kindness?