The two of them spent the next few hours in the Library, rotating between practicing their Patronus', reading, and sitting next to each other holding hands and talking.

The clock chimed seven in the evening when an elf arrived telling them it was dinner time. Over dinner, Lucius and Narcissa told her the exact time and day that the Order should strike the Manor. Lucius would be the one to set the fiendfyre free and as the first flames would shoot up, the Order was to disappear. The four of them would then take their animal forms and vanish. Death Eaters would arrive on the scene later, discovering the mansion destroyed

In their animal form, the summoning of their Dark Marks shouldn't work, so Lord Voldemort will be forced to believe that they are dead. The potion would be complete in roughly three weeks, and the adults supposed they would need a few days to get used to their new forms and then the Order was free to attack. Narcissa explained all this to Hermione, who was nodding the entire time.

"So the first of June?" Hermione asked, to which the adults nodded. "Okay, in a week we will have to add the rest of the ingredients to the potion and then it needs to simmer for two weeks, being stirred every other day." Draco nodded about the potion and after that the conversation was over and the four of them ate in silence.

Harry Potter had just stepped outside the beach safe house to get some fresh air when he saw the pale blue light coming towards him. He watched with squinted eyes as he realized it was a Patronus…yet he could not recall any of the Order who had a flying Patronus. As it got closer, he recognized it to be an owl.

The owl flew down and settled in front of him, "Harry." Harry's heart nearly stopped at hearing her voice. It was Hermione!

"Everyone!" Harry bellowed, drawing their attention. Remus and Arthur were the first outside, followed by Ron and Bill Weasley.

"Before you start to speculate, it is me. Hermione Granger. When we first met, it was on the train and I fixed your glasses." Harry laughed faintly. "I am fine, I promise you I am. Draco and Lucius and Narcissa have only helped me, and have never hurt me. I promise you they have truly switched sides. I don't want to reveal the entire scheme of our plan, but it involves a group of the Order laying Seige upon the Manor. Don't worry, only the Malfoy's and myself will be here. After the shields are breeched, Lucius will let out Fiendfyre, which will be your signal to disappear. We will also escape. Once the Death Eaters arrive, the manor will be destroyed and we will be supposedly dead. I won't tell you how we will escape, but I promise that after it happens, I will seek you out. On another note, Voldemort knows that you are hunting Horcruxes now, after you broke into Bellatrix's vault at Gringotts. She questioned me…I hope you have managed to destroy it, whatever it is. Nagini is definitely a Horcrux, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We will be ready for the attack at the beginning of June. I've got to go."

Everyone stared as the owl vanished into the air. Ron let out the breath he had been holding the entire time. "She's okay." It was more than anyone could have asked for—even if Snape had already told them about the Malfoy's switching sides and everything, this was the first amount of proof that they had she was okay. Harry and Ron wondered why her Patronus had changed however.

The Order went back inside to discuss who would be going along on this rescue mission.

The potion ingredients were set to be added tonight, Hermione had set out the ones that needed to be added, in the proper order, and with instructions laid out for Draco. Narcissa had received an owl from Bella that a few Death Eaters would be coming over for dinner, so Hermione was going to be locked into her cell room for the evening.

It was lunchtime now, and Hermione's stomach was decidedly upset. "I will keep them busy, Darling," Narcissa assured her, taking the girl's hand, "they probably haven't had a proper meal in a while, and I've told the elves to prepare a full course meal with several desserts. If their bellies are happily full, I am sure they will not remember you are here, and if they believe Draco is busy with his father doing something in his study, they should be here just long enough to eat." Narcissa was sure of herself, but Hermione was still uneasy. Hermione knew for a fact that Bellatrix was equal parts crazy and unpredictable.

She couldn't trust for anything to go smoothly that night.

When it was ten minutes before the Death Eaters were set to arrive, Draco escorted her to her room. He magiced away her bed and replaced it with the cot, and hid all of her personal items in his own room. She changed out of one of Narcissa's old dresses and into a ragged dress that was shapeless and stained. Draco then touched his wand to parts of her face, causing bruises to appear. He kissed each one lightly as he worked, causing her to giggle faintly, despite everything.

He then bit his lip as he thought. "Maybe a serious injury will also get them to leave you alone? I am a sadist, after all." He tapped his wand to her collar bones and neck, and arms. Bite marks appeared at each site. He then pointed at her clean and tidy fingernails and they then appeared to be filthy and broken, her pinky ones were missing entirely. He then pointed at her exposed knees, causing bruises and lacerations to appear there as well. He pointed at her ankle and made it swell up and bruise darkly, giving it the appearance that it was broken. He then pointed at her face again, causing a few of her teeth to go missing. She laughed faintly at her new appearance, even though it churned her stomach uncomfortably. He looked apologetically to her and kissed her forehead.

"I will come for you as soon as it is safe." She nodded as he left and she sat down, getting as comfortable as she possibly could.

Draco meanwhile, navigated through the house to the room that housed the bubbling cauldron. He watched the clock and counted down the seconds until he needed to start adding in the rest of the ingredients. While he counted, he looked over the notes Hermione had left and chuckled faintly. She didn't seem to trust him in his own potion brewing ability because of her detailed instructions.

Draco heard the uproarious laughter of the Death Eaters in the main dining room all the way from his location and he let out a calming breath. He glanced at the clock again and with a clenched jaw, he started adding in the ingredients.

Narcissa sat at the main hall head seat at the table as the death Eaters surrounded her. They dug into the food like animals. Bellatrix sat to her right, Rabastan and Rodolphus next to her. Fenrir Greyback, Scabior, and Waldin McNair sat down the table on that same side. On the other side of the table sat Antonin Dolohov, Alectus and Amycus Carrow, Avery Sr. and Avery Jr., and Severus Snape. They all ate hungrily and greedily, with the exception of Alectus, Amycus, and Severus who had popped in from Hogwarts.

The conversation picked up about the recent victories the individual death eaters had accomplished after the first course was over. Narcissa listened intently, but did not add much to the conversation. When the second course of pork ribs was taken out, the conversation died again. Alectus soon excused himself for the lavatory and Narcissa pointed him in the direction of the nearest one, which was also in the opposite direction of Draco or Hermione.

When he returned, Narcissa relaxed faintly. There were no new sightings of Potter, it seemed, after his debacle at Gringotts. Lord Voldemort had been extremely distraught at hearing Potter was searching for his Horcruxes and had immediately searched out to find them all; he checked for the locket in the cave to find it gone; the ring was gone, and of course the Cup was gone. With fervor, Voldemort went to the nearest muggle town and killed everyone he came across.

He then ordered Nagini to never stray from his side, and he then set his sights upon Hogwarts, the location of his last Horcrux. He was sure it was safe there; and with Snape at the school Potter wouldn't be foolish enough to look there or even think of it. As of right now, Voldemort was staying at the Greengrass' mansion.

At the end of the dinner, the Death Eaters left immediately, with the exception of Bellatrix and her husband. They wished that Lucius and Draco had been a part of the meal, but Narcissa explained that they were busy.

Bellatrix then asked her sister about the girl, and if she had revealed anything helpful. Narcissa shook her head, explaining that she spent a lot of time unconscious from Draco's severe beatings. At this moment, even, she was up in her cell knocked out. Bellatrix laughed at that, but then the two Lestrange's bid their goodnight and left.

Narcissa waited quietly for a few moments before she called the elves in to clean up the mess, after they ate what they wanted, and then went to find Draco. Draco was still adding in the ingredients and stirring, so she went up to Hermione instead.

Lucius was sitting with her when she walked in, which surprised her because he had told her he would remain in his study, but the two had been talking about something. Narcissa informed them that they were alone in their house again. Hermione sighed with relief and stood and hugged the woman. Narcissa noticed all of her new accessories and was so glad that they were nothing but a glamour. With a wave of Narcissa's hand, the magic dissipated and the girl looked herself again.

"Draco was very clever this time," Hermione informed his mother, "he broke my foot, so that if any of them did wish to see me, they couldn't really do anything bad with me so injured." Narcissa smiled, but something told her that wouldn't have stopped Bellatrix.

Lucius and Narcissa excused themselves and Hermione took a quick shower. When she came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, she gasped loudly at seeing Draco sitting on her bed. He had been flipping through a small book but dropped it, at the sight of her.

"I'm so sorry!" He spluttered, looking away. Hermione smiled, despite being embarrassed.

"It is okay. I was so eager to get clean, I forgot to get clothes. Do you mind waiting while I get dressed?" She asked while she walked towards her closet. She stepped inside and after peeking out to see him staring a hole into the opposite wall, she dropped the towel and quickly pulled on a pair of pajamas. She used the towel to dry her hair and she joined Draco at the foot of her bed.

"Mother tells me the evening went as planned?" Draco asked, Hermione nodded her head.

"No one bothered me," she sounded as relieved as Draco felt. "How is the potion?" She asked.

"Coming along nicely," he responded, taking her hand, "though even Weasley could have gotten it right with your amount of instructions, it was like you didn't trust me or something…" He laughed faintly, but saw the guilty look in her eye.

"I just wanted to make sure it was thorough, in case you had any questions." She shrugged her shoulders and looked away; he chuckled and wrapped an arm around her.

"You can go look at it in the morning, now; I think you should get some sleep." He kissed her on the temple as she nodded. She gave him a quick hug and then walked around her bed and lay down. He smiled at her and then went across the hallway to his own bed.

He had just laid himself under the covers when his door opened quietly, "Draco?" Hermione asked in a whisper. Draco sat up curiously at her silhouette.

"Yes, Hermione?" He asked in a whisper.

"Oh, well it sounds foolish, but would it be okay…If I slept here tonight? I fell asleep and instantly woke up with a nightmare…" he could almost see her blushing. Draco scooted over and lifted up the blanket.

"I could never tell you no," he said with a chuckle. She sat down on the bed next to him and lay down before she said anything.

"Thank you," her voice was barely louder than a breath. He kissed her forehead and rolled over, so he was cuddled up behind her.

"No need for that, Hermione," he said in her ear, "go to sleep, I'll keep you safe," he promised. She fell asleep soon after that, but Draco remained awake, watching her sleeping figure. He felt truly blessed to have her there, for her to trust him like this. He couldn't imagine how he deserved it, but he held her tightly against him and fell asleep with a smile on his face.