Draco stood by the bedroom window, looking out at the large garden below. He had been hiding out in his room all day as he plucked up the courage to speak with Granger. After being stuck in the house for a little over three weeks Draco knew the time was coming when he had to make a decision, he could either speak to Granger about trying to escape or accept that once the first part of his task was over he would be dead. The brief conversation he and Granger had indulged in the previous night gave Draco hope that she would at least give him a chance.
Deciding to speak with Granger before he chickened out again Draco left his room and knocked on the door next to his. Draco wasn't even sure if Granger was in her room, he had heard her moving about throughout the day but wasn't sure if she was currently upstairs or down. Getting no answer Draco took a chance at pushing open the door slightly and peeking round the edge. Finding an empty room Draco shut the door and headed downstairs to find the witch he was currently cohabiting with.
Draco wasn't the slightest bit surprised to find Granger sitting in the library, surrounded by books. He wasn't an idiot and had known right from the beginning of their entrapment that Granger was researching the wards, hopefully looking for a way to escape. However Draco wasn't sure how Granger had planned to escape without him knowing about it, it was something he would have to ask her about.
Draco stood watching the witch for several minutes before entering the room fully. "Granger, we need to talk." He announced, sitting down at the table where she was sitting.
Hermione had been so busy studying the books in front of her she hadn't noticed the blond until he spoke to her. Hastily she shut the book she was reading and looked across the table, finding a nervous looking Malfoy sitting opposite her.
"What about?" She asked cautiously.
"Escaping." Draco replied, smirking slightly at Granger's shocked expression. "We both need to get out of here and the only realistic way to achieve it is to work together."
"What makes you think I need to escape?" Hermione asked. She was pleased that Malfoy had been the one to approach her about escaping but she wanted to make sure he was genuine before agreeing to work with him. "I could just wait around until my friends rescue me."
"Since when does Hermione Granger sit around and wait for her idiot friends to save her." Draco snorted. "The girl I know is perfectly capable of saving herself."
"That almost sounds like a compliment Malfoy." Hermione said.
"Almost." Draco agreed. "Anyway the point is it's too dangerous to wait around and hope your friends find you. Do you know what The Dark Lord plans on doing to you?"
"No, do you?" Hermione asked.
Draco nodded. "Yes, I'm not sure when but apparently when he feels the time is right you're going to be killed."
Hermione paled at the revelation, she always knew it was likely that her death was part of Voldemort's plan but hearing it confirmed was rather disturbing. "How do you know this?" She asked quietly, still digesting the news.
Draco was quiet for a moment as he wondered how much to tell the witch sitting opposite him. "Because guarding you is only half my task. When the time comes he expects me to be the one to kill you."
Hermione stared at Draco in shock, amazed that he had admitted so much to her. Hermione wanted to ask him if he was going to follow Voldemort's orders but the words wouldn't come, despite her trying to speak at least three times.
"Just so you know, I can't do it." Draco said, sensing Hermione's unspoken question. "I know what you think of me, but I'm not a killer."
"I know you're not." Hermione said softly. "Despite everything I don't think you're a bad person, Malfoy. I'm not sure you know exactly who you are yourself but I think if given the opportunity you could be a pretty good person."
"That almost sounds like a compliment Granger." Draco said, mimicking Hermione's earlier comment. He was actually quite surprised by Hermione's words and had no idea how to react to her believing in him.
"Almost." Hermione smiled.
"So do you think we can work together?" Draco asked, bringing the conversation back to the original topic.
"Yes, but I have a few conditions." Hermione said hesitantly.
"That's fine, I have a few of my own." Draco shrugged. "You go first."
"Number one, we have to be honest with each other. We're never going to get anywhere if one of us is keeping secrets."
Draco nodded. "Fine. Anything you want to know just ask, although I warn you now I won't talk about anything personal."
"Okay." Hermione was slightly disappointed by Draco's refusal to speak about anything personal as she had hoped to get to know the blond Slytherin better, he was proving there was more to him than she had thought and Hermione was slowly becoming more interested in finding out who the real Draco Malfoy was.
"Any more conditions?" Draco prompted Hermione as she seemed to get totally distracted.
"Yes." Hermione nodded. "I know that we're going to argue and it's probably only going to get worse once we're out of here but we have to try and get along better. When we do argue we have to avoid hexing each other."
"That's fine, but I hardly think we need to worry about hexing each other."
"Really, and why's that?" Hermione asked.
"You don't have a wand at the minute." Draco said, wondering if Hermione had forgotten that small point.
"Oh." Hermione looked slightly sheepish as Draco pointed out her lack of wand. Over the last few weeks she had gotten used to being without her wand and had forgotten that she wouldn't automatically get it back when they escaped.
"Maybe it's something we can try and fix before we escape." Draco suggested. He knew that ideally it would be much better for their escape that Hermione had a wand so that she could use magic if necessary.
"Maybe." Hermione said quietly. The fact that she had no wand and was essentially useless in regards to her magic was casting a shadow over Hermione and she couldn't help but dwell on how impotent she would be in the upcoming escape.
"Do you have any more conditions, before I start on mine?" Draco asked, trying to get Hermione to refocus on the task at hand rather than dwell on her lack of wand.
Yes, I have one final one." Hermione said, vowing to concentrate on the conversation and not worry aver something she couldn't change. "When we do escape, obviously we'll be going to the Order. You have to promise not to deliberately wind people up, especially Harry and Ron."
"Actually that condition works perfectly with one of mine." Draco said. "I'm perfectly prepared to be civil and not cause trouble but you have to promise I won't be treated too badly. I know I'm a Death Eater and have done bad things but I just want a chance to prove that there's more to me than that."
"Don't worry, I'll be making it perfectly clear that you're on our side and deserve to be treated with respect." Hermione reassured Draco. "After all there's no way I can actually escape from here without your help, that should help people when it comes to trusting you."
"Thanks." Draco said quickly, he didn't like having to ask Hermione to make sure he wasn't treated too badly but he knew it would be easier for him to behave if other people didn't wind him up. "My other condition also involves Potter and Weasley. I don't want them knowing about my nightmares. I know they're bound to ask you about what's been happening but I'd rather you didn't mention them."
"I wouldn't do that. That's your private business and has nothing to do with me or my friends." Hermione said. "Although there's a good chance they'll find out if you're still having them when we escape."
"Damn, I hadn't thought of that." Draco muttered. It was bad enough that Granger knew about his nightmares but the last thing he wanted was for Potter and Weasley to find out about them.
"Have you tried using a sleeping draught?" Hermione asked, thinking of some way that Malfoy's dreams could be stopped before they escape.
"I'm allergic to one of the ingredients." Draco shook his head, wishing his nightmares could be solved by a simple sleeping draught.
"Which one?" Hermione asked. "Maybe we could find one without that particular ingredient."
"I'm not sure which one. The problem first became apparent when I was little and the healers tried various versions of sleeping draughts and found I was allergic to them all. All the various sleeping draughts use the same three core ingredients so they figured I was allergic to one of them. They could have tested to find out which one but there didn't seem much point as it's impossible to make a sleeping draught without all the core ingredients." Draco said, surprising himself by how much he had told Hermione without even thinking.
"I wonder if we could make one using different ingredients." Hermione mused.
"Don't bother, Granger. Severus has been trying to find a solution for the last year and if he can't make a sleeping draught that I can take no-one can." Draco said.
"Maybe we can look into muggle ways of trying to stop your nightmares." Hermione suggested. For some unknown reason she found herself really wanting to help Malfoy with his nightmares.
"There's not exactly an abundance of muggle literature in the library, Granger." Draco said. "So unless you know about muggle techniques to get rid of nightmares then I think I'll just have to cope."
Hermione sighed, knowing Malfoy was right. Her experience with getting rid of nightmares came down to her experiences when she was younger and the advice her father had given her.
"I don't think I know enough." Hermione admitted. "There were two ways my dad helped me get rid of my nightmares when I was younger, but I don't think either of them will appeal to you."
"We'll never know unless we try." Draco sighed, settling into his seat and propping his feet up on the table. "Come on Granger, let's hear your words of wisdom."
Hermione glared at Draco before speaking. "My dad always said the best way of getting rid of nightmares was to talk about them. So when I had nightmares my dad used to make me talk about them, I more I spoke about them the less scary they seemed and the less I had them."
"We established last night I don't wish to discuss my dreams." Draco said stonily, he had visibly stiffened at the idea of discussing what haunted his nights. "So what was his next bright idea?"
"When talking didn't work or I refused to talk about my nightmares I used to sleep in my parents bed. Dad used to say that having someone else with you kept the nightmares away."
"Now that just sounds like a handy excuse to get into my bed, Granger." Draco smirked at Hermione who was obviously embarrassed by her second suggestion.
"I didn't say I was offering my services, Malfoy." Hermione glared at the smirking blond. "I would rather get disturbed every night than sleep next to you."
"Good, I wouldn't want you getting any ideas." Draco said, swinging his feet off the table and standing up.
"Wait, where are you going?" Hermione called as Draco began heading towards the door.
"I'm going to get something to eat, Granger." Draco called back over his shoulder as he continued out of the room. "I'm starving."
"Well if you didn't hide away all day, you would have had your breakfast and lunch." Hermione retorted, standing up and following Draco into the kitchen.
Hermione stood in the doorway watching as Draco made himself something to eat and drink. Draco wordlessly handed Hermione a cup of coffee and she sat down at the table while Draco finished his meal. Once he was finished eating Draco magically cleaned his dishes before turning back to the witch sitting opposite him, he knew she wanted to talk some more after following him from the library.
"Why are you so eager to escape?" Hermione asked. "I know you're not a Death Eater by choice but why try and abandon Voldemort now?"
"If I don't leave now, I'll be killed." Draco admitted. "The Dark Lord made it clear that this task is my last chance with him. When I fail, I'll be killed."
"What if you don't fail?"
"We've been over this, Granger. I'm not a killer." Draco sighed. "I will not be able to kill you when he tells me to. We need to get out of here before that day comes, otherwise we're both dead."
"What about your mother? Won't she be in danger if you run away?" Hermione hoped she wasn't pushing her luck by inquiring about Narcissa but she wanted to be sure that Malfoy wouldn't back out of their deal over concerns about his mother's safety.
"Yes, she'll be in danger but before I left home she made me promise that if I got the chance to escape to take it. She doesn't want this life any more than I do." Once again Draco was surprised by how easy it was to admit his private business to Hermione. "Hopefully Severus can protect her from The Dark Lord's wrath."
Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, at least now she didn't have to worry about Malfoy backing out of their deal.
"I have one more condition." Hermione said. Malfoy's speech had reminded her of something she had meant to mention earlier.
"You can't just keep adding conditions, Granger." Draco protested.
"I know but this one's important." Hermione said.
"Fine." Draco sighed. "What is it?"
"You have to stop calling Voldemort, The Dark Lord. I know that's what you're used to calling him but it won't help you settle in with the Order if you go around referring to him in that way."
"I'll try, but I can't promise it won't occasionally slip out." Draco winced slightly at the thought of calling The Dark Lord, Voldemort. No-one he knew dared called him anything other than The Dark Lord and he knew it would take a bit of getting used to.
Hermione smiled at the worried looking blond. "It'll get easier. Most of the Order still can't call him Voldemort, most just circle around his name vaguely. I think Harry and I are about the only two who can say his name without a problem."
"Maybe that's because you and Potter didn't grow up knowing all about him." Draco said.
"Probably." Hermione nodded. She knew that despite the awful things Voldemort had done she and Harry weren't as affected by his name as they hadn't been brought up to fear it.
"Do you want to go back to the library?" Draco asked, eager to drop the subject of Voldemort. "We can discuss our plans and what information we have about the wards."
"Sure, although discussing what we know won't take long unless you know a lot, I've found very little useful information." Hermione said, standing up.
Draco sighed and stood up to follow Hermione into the library. He hadn't actually made much progress with the wards and had been hoping Granger knew more than him. Obviously if they wanted to escape they would need to do a lot more research, although hopefully things would progress better with the two of them working together.