WARNINGS: Self-harm descriptions in this chapter. If this triggers you then please don't read. The usual dark subject matter is also present.

Author's Note: This chapter takes large amounts of inspiration from Thomas Harris' 'The Silence of the Lambs' and its 1991 film version starring Anthony Hopkins. So, there will be references. I still don't own Harris' book, and nor do I own the film version. All rights go to their respective owners and I am NOT doing this for profit.

Chapter Ten – Quid Pro Quo II

'Good afternoon, Miss Granger, or is it morning? I can hardly tell the difference anymore.' Draco said as he looked back into her honey-brown eyes.

'It's afternoon, Draco.' Hermione said, and flickered her eyes away from his. She said nothing for a moment as she tried to figure out what to say next.

'You're here because Bulstrode realises he needs you to get answers out of me.' Draco said with a tiny smile. 'Or perhaps because you desperately want to find your sister-in-law?'

'No. Ginny's not my sister-in-law, and I am here because I wanted to see you.' Hermione was shocked by the sincerity in her words.

Draco's smile grew by an inch. 'People may say you love me.'

Hermione took in a breath at his words.

'It is a pity about Ginny Potter, she is a pureblood witch after all. Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock.' Draco said, although his words weren't especially taunting, as one might expect from his choice of words.

'Draco, do you have any idea who it could be that has taken Ginny? Anyone? A visitor, or a school friend perhaps?' Hermione asked, losing her cool just a bit, as she was practically begging him to tell her the answer. 'Please, tell me the truth, Draco.'

'Hmm, Ginny Potter … Weasley…sorry, don't know where that came from, the thought just popped into my head.' Draco said and looked confused at his own words.

'Although…forgive my ignorance, Granger, but I am right in thinking that Ginny Potter is also a Weasley?'

'Yes.' Hermione replied, hopeful in more ways than one.

'Hmmm…Weaslies, red hair and hand me down robes…' Hermione couldn't hold back her gasp: Does Draco remember his past? 'Very red hair, red like fire, red like the Sahara Sun, red like a rose, red like a strawberry, red like a sunburn, red like Mars, red like a tomato…' Draco was trailing off into some kind of manic tangent.

'Draco, could you please just tell me what you know.' Everything about Hermione in that instant was pleading with the patient. '…red like blood red like jam red like rubies red like ribbons red like shark week red like…'Draco grinned as he watched Hermione's jaw drop. 'Your face.'

Draco howled in a fit of bursting laughter. It was so loud, boisterous, and playful, sounding, that Hermione found herself putting her hand over her mouth as she found herself going to laugh with him. Draco's grin grew as he saw the laughter in her eyes, showing his white teeth.

I shouldn't be laughing when Ginny's life is in danger. Hermione soon regained her composure and placed her hand back on her lap as she spoke. Her face then held an expression that was a mixture of desperation, fear, and begging. 'Please, Draco, listen to me. Be serious. We don't have time for any of this now. Who has taken Ginny Potter? You must know who has done it or you wouldn't be grinning like you have the upper-hand, as you are.' Hermione said.

'Ah, but we don't see time in the same way, do we, Hermione? This is likely all the time you'll ever have, for these questions.'

'We can talk like this later, we don't have long, now -'

'No.' Draco stopped her.

'I. Will. Listen. Now.' Draco emphasised every word he said. 'Its quid pro quo again, Granger, and I have given you something. Although you fail to see it, but nevertheless, I require something from you in return.'

'What?' Hermione asked, wondering what on earth it could be.

Draco's expression turned completely blank. 'Back when I had a dream about you lying on a dark floor, and you later came to be my therapist you showed me your "Mudblood" scar and proved to me that my dream was real. How did you feel?' Draco said, his words were spoken at a staccato speed.

Hermione stared at him. She didn't want to talk about this, especially not now. But I have to, she thought. I have to talk about it for Ginny's sake. For baby James' sake, for Harry's sake.

'I felt scared. Petrified.' Hermione said very quietly. She knew it wasn't enough as Draco continued looking at her with a primarily a blank expression still, but his grey eyes were then alighting with curiosity. 'I thought I was doing to die. The pain almost – in fact it was – so terrible that, in that moment, I wished I would die. It was so horrible and that woman – Bellatrix Lestrange – had such a terrible, horrifically piercing laugh – yes, death would have been far more preferable.' Hermione said. Her eyes began to glisten with small tears that did not fall.

'And? What got you through it? Tell me, Hermione, what got you through this terrible ordeal?' Draco asked in a direct but soft tone of voice. His eyes never left her face.

'My friends. My beliefs that the Deatheaters were evil and I wasn't. The fact that I came out of it alive and we won the war. My boyfriend Ron who loved me throughout it -' Hermione was about to say "throughout it all" but stopped herself. This was because there was that awful pang inside her heart that did not truly believe that what she was about to say was true. Yes, she believed Ron loved her, and yes, Ron did help her through some of it but not "all". In the forest, Ron had left her and Harry, and whilst she understood that the Horocrux around his neck was a part of it. The sceptic, or perhaps the cynic, in her heart wondered if it was because he didn't love her enough and that was why the Horocrux had got to him so badly.

'But what causes you to doubt yourself? Or rather, what causes you to doubt that Ron loved you throughout…?' Draco said, a hint of eagerness seeping through his generally monotone tone of voice.

I really DON'T want to talk about it. Not with him. Not with anyone. It is wrong – it's against every rule to talk about yourself with your patients as a therapist and as a healer. I shouldn't. For Merlin and God, Hermione, would you get a grip on how utterly wrong it is. OK, I need to just stop thinking and think up another way of getting him to tell me what he knows. There must be another way. There just has to be.

Except…there isn't. The fact that Draco attacked Bulstrode, an Auror shows he has the upper hand. The fact that he can toy with me like does, shows that he has the upper hand. If I want to know what he knows then I have to obey him. I have to do what he says. I just have to.

For Ginny.

With that last thought, Hermione took a breath her air and swallowed her pride.

'I doubted him because he left me in the forest during the Second Wizarding War. I doubted him because although he was wearing Voldermort's Horocrux which made him angrier and easier to manipulate. A part of me wonders why his love didn't come out on top of all that. I know it seems stupid, and it hurts that I even think that way, when it really wasn't Ron's fault.' Hermione said, and her voice became as pained as her face.

Draco's face went completely soft as he gazed into her honey-brown eyes, the honey-ness of them seemed to be growing more and more apparent, as those eyes laced with tears. 'It's not stupid.' He whispered back to her, and then he said: tell me, please Hermione, just one more question and you'll get your answers. But tell me, what do you see when you look down at that "Mudblood scar" on your arm?'

Hermione gulped in air. 'I see victory over prejudice.' She answered as she sat much taller in her seat.

Draco smiled. 'That was too easy for you, wasn't it? Now tell me what you feel when you see that scar?'

Hermione thought. 'I feel anger and triumph blended into one singular emotion.' Hermione answered truthfully. 'But then, above all else, I feel…' Hermione found herself hesitating as she was unsure about how to say the next part.

'Say it. Say it. Hermione, please. Say it.' Draco whispered in an authoritative but eagerly desperate voice. The blank mask was gone, and he was quietly hissing in pain as he leant towards Hermione, as if the closeness would allow him to suck in more of her words.

'…Pain. When I look at the scar I feel and see pain most of all. It hurt so much.' Hermione's voice broke slightly as she told him the truth. A trickle of tears fell from her pretty brown eyes, filling with emotion that would be painful to look into a pensieve at.

Draco leaned back. He nodded slowly and then looked away from her and down at his Dark Mark. He turned so that it was visible to the muggleborn witch. He then raised his opposite arm and moved it so that his forearm adorning the Mark was in Hermione's view.

Draco placed his opposite hand so that it was hovering over the Dark Mark. He then stared down at it, as if he was trying to burn a hole in it. Hermione frowned. She watched his face and didn't realise until a minute later that Draco's forearm was suddenly pouring with thick, fresh, crimson-coloured blood that was landing onto Draco's body and onto the bed. Draco's face remained somewhat emotionless as he continued to use (what must have been) wandless magic to lash into his Dark Mark.

'Stop! Draco! You're hurting yourself!' Hermione exclaimed in horrified surprise. She stood and immediately went to get her wand but Dennis Creevey [who had been stood still and witnessed their "quid pro quo" in astonishment the whole time] beat her to it.

Dennis's wand-hand pulled back behind his ear before he snapped his wand forward to point at Draco's wound. 'Reverterpullulare Vulnera.' Dennis said in a sharp, crystal clear voice. His wand let off a light that could only be described as that curious purplish-white shade that you sometimes see in a lightning bolt.

The effect of the spell had the blood on the hospital bed vanish and spring back into Draco Malfoy's wound. Draco screamed out in agony and fell from his hospital bed onto the unforgiving floor.

'Dennis, that's enough!' Hermione cried. Dennis flushed with embarrassment and put his wand away. Hermione ran around the hospital bed and knelt beside Draco.

'I'm sorry, Healer Granger; it was just a healing spell they taught us during Auror training for fast wound-healing.' Dennis explained.

'What's going on in there?' Bulstrode shouted from outside the Infirmary.

'N-Nothing too major, sir. Malfoy just tried to hurt himself.' Dennis quickly shouted back.

'No-no-no-no more magic.' Draco whimpered, his frightened eyes looking up at Hermione.

'Okay, okay, Draco. But please, stay still while I use a find a non-magical solution.' Hermione said and began to think.

'No magic, no magic!' Draco cried over and over. She saw the tears falling from his face. Despite Hermione's past apathy towards Draco Malfoy, his tears made her heartbreak more than just a little.

'Alright Draco. But I need to stop the bleeding, okay? And to do that without magic, I'll have to touch your injured arm. Is that alright with you?' Hermione said softly.

'That might be dangerous.' Katana said from beside the door.

Draco looked at her with scared eyes and nodded quickly. 'I know that, but Draco is my patient and right now he needs physical help.' Hermione reasoned. Katana said nothing as she watched the scene unfold. Hermione turned back to Draco. 'Just please don't harm me.' Draco shook his head like a small child would.

Hermione took hold of her wand and conjured white muggle bandages, some white tape, and some medical scissors. She then held out her hand for Draco to place his arm into. His eyes told her "don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me", as he took a leap of faith, and shakily placed his cool arm into her hand.

Hermione inspected Draco's wound carefully. Blood was still oozing from the spot where his Dark Mark would be (she couldn't see it then for the blood) and it wasn't stopping. However, it doesn't look like he needs stitches. So, Dennis's spell must have done a little bit of good, at least. I don't need Lacey's help to heal this. Hermione noted before proceeding to wrap the bandages around Draco's wound. She soon moved onto cutting the white tape and securing the protective and neat bandages with it. That should stop the bleeding.

'Help me lift him back onto the bed, Dennis.' Hermione said. Dennis was only too happy to help. Hermione could tell that he felt guilty about the healing spell not working as well as it should have. It was easy enough to accomplish their task, as Draco's body seemed far lighter than it should do for a man of his age: it was as easy as lifting a twelve-year-old boy.

'You still wake up sometimes and hear that witch with the piercing laugh, don't you? You see her cutting into your sensitive flesh, don't you, Hermione?' Draco said as he settled down onto the bed. The way Draco whispered her name like a caress made it seem like her name echoed around the room.

'Yes.' Hermione whispered back.

'And I know that somewhere deep of inside you, there's a part of you that wishes to save Ginny Potter, so she doesn't have to bear a scar like you do.' Draco stated in a hushed voice. His eyes locked on hers and his fingers crept down the mattress of his hospital bed to meet hers (which were rested on the edge of that same bed). He stroked her finger softly before letting his hand drop away from her.

'I do. I do.' Hermione whispered.

'Thank you Hermione.' Draco's whispering of those words lingered in Hermione's ears longer than they physically lasted. 'Thank you.'

'Tell me the name, Draco. Just tell me the name.' Hermione pleaded with him.

Draco sucked in a breath and looked down as they both heard footsteps walk into the Infirmary.

'Auror Bulstrode, I presume. You seem to know each other.' Draco said and looked back at her face.

Hermione Granger stared back at Draco Malfoy.

'Time to go.' Said a Lucian orderly (his name was "Crane"). He took Hermione by the arm after he walked in with Bulstrode and three other orderlies.

'It's your turn, Draco. Tell me the name of the person who's taken Ginny. Ginny Potter.' Hermione said, as Crane tried to make her leave Draco's bedside.

'I'm sorry, Ms Granger, but you're getting nowhere with this.' Bulstrode said from behind her.

'And Leland told us to tell you that Malfoy needs rest. 'Crane said, and he was so strong that Hermione had no choice but to go with him.

'Hermione.' Draco shouted just as she was unwillingly nearing the door. She turned to see him looking at her with another curious expression. 'Don't forget to ask Potter about the case flies of The Blood Sucker's victims.' He said. Hermione then pulled up her wand and, before Crane could drag her away from the inside of the Infirmary, she cast a spell to pull up the blind and open the window next to Draco's bed. She did this so that he could see the sunlight flooding into the room and hear the birds outside.

'Well, it goes without saying, but today is on my list of the most pointless ideas I've ever had.' Bulstrode grumbled as he walked out of the Infirmary, and Katana shut the Infirmary door behind them. Hermione watched with annoyed eyes as the orderlies spelled the door shut.

'I doubt I'll see you again Ms Granger, and while I can't truthfully say, that it's always been a pleasure, I can say thanks for trying your best in there. So, thank you, ma'am, and good day.' Bulstrode tipped his fedora hat to Hermione "one last time", before he and his colleagues left her. The orderlies soon left too when Crane released her arm.

As soon as they were gone, Hermione sunk to the ground and the tears flooded down her cheeks.

I can't believe I just gave away parts of myself to Draco Malfoy, of all bloody people, like that. I didn't even learn anything about Ginny.

'I can't believe none of those idiots realised that Zinnia was in a full body bind.' Nurse Parvati Patil said with a laugh as she removed her coat from Zinnia's body. Parvati then removed the body bind curse with her wand. Zinnia's eyes snapped open and she did nothing but run away as fast as she could from the two other witches in her presence.

Parvati then turned to Hermione, who had her head in her hands as she sobbed. 'Hermione? What's wrong?' Nurse Parvati Patil asked. Hermione realised for the first time that Parvati hadn't left the hall next to the Infirmary.

'I failed, Parvati. For the first in my life, I truly and terribly, failed.' Hermione cried harder. Parvati knelt and moved Hermione's hands gently away from her face. Parvati helped Hermione stand back up.

'Tell me what's all this about, Hermione. You can't have done that bad. I didn't hear a lot of it, but I heard Malfoy shout something about "case files"?' Parvati said with a raised eyebrow.

'Yeah…Malfoy just ranted on a lot about Ginny being a red head…' Hermione told her friend.

'But I thought he couldn't remember anything?... You know what, never mind, just tell me what else?' Parvati asked excitedly.

'I don't know anymore, Parvati. He just played games with me mostly, but then, at the end of our conversation, as I was being dragged out of the room by Crane, he seemed to stop playing games, and told me to ask Harry about the Blood Sucker victims case "flies" which I guess really means "case files"…oh my god, Parvati, that's it!' Hermione suddenly realised.

Parvati frowned. 'What's "it"?'

'The case files. What if the person who has taken Ginny Potter only abducts red heads?' Hermione said, wiping her tears with her sleeve, as she put two and two together. 'Parvati, please come with to the staff lockers. I need to contact Harry, right now.' Hermione said. She grabbed Parvati's hand and ran to the locker-room.

'Why the lockers? You don't need more than a pen and paper to send him an owl?' Parvati asked, panting as they ran.

'Because a mobile phone is quicker!' Hermione replied as they reached the locker-room.

Hermione speedily opened her locker and pulled out the mobile phone she rarely ever used and prayed that Harry Potter still used his.

Her prayer was answered. 'Hermione? I'm kind of busy right now. What's wrong?' Harry said as he answered her phone call.

'Harry. I've found out some information that could lead us to finding Ginny…' Hermione began to explain. She then had hope.

Author's Notes:

Special Shout Out to PeculiarDollx and Green Eyed Lana for reviewing chapter nine super early. You guys rock, I can't thank you enough. Thanks to all my followers and those who have favourited me and my story(ies). I love you all.

The healing spell that Dennis used in this chapter ("Reverterpullulare Vulnera") is a spell invented by me (. It was inspired by Snape's spell "Vulnera Sanentur"). The history of the healing spell in this story is that it was created after Snape's death by Aurors who needed a fast-acting healing spell if another battle should ever rise. Spells like this would also allow Dark Wizards to be tried in courts rather than die by curses used to bring them in. It doesn't work as well as it should hear because Dennis DID NOT use a song-like voice when casting the spell. The words of "Reverterpullulare Vulnera" are Latin in orgin. Revertere in Latin means 'turn back time' and 'pullulare' means to spring forth. "Vulnera" means wound. Thus, another name for it is "The Spring Healing Spell."

Please note the reason for the very, very, early update (even for me) is that I am going on holiday on Tuesday night to Rome, Italy (UK time). For that reason, it is unlikely I will have an update for any of my stories again until at least next week.

In the meantime, please leave a review telling what you thought about Draco and Hermione's "quid pro quo"?

Happy Reading!

Love,

Fantasticlavendercrystals xx