Days later, Hermione was sitting in the back corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her head was leaning to the side against the wall. She stared at the grooves in the stones that made up the walls of the cell. She tried hard not to think about how hungry she was. However, that only left how cold and scared she was. Draco had given her his cloak which Hermione had only taken after protest. Her own cloak, along with her socks and shoes were regrettably still in the operating room where Snape had healed her. Hermione sighed in frustration. She didn't dare complain though. It would only serve to make them both feel worse.
Hermione glanced at Draco who was pacing up and down the length of the room muttering something about 'stupidity' and an 'obvious set-up'. He looked angry. Hermione couldn't tell if it was directed at himself or Voldemort. But deservedly so, Hermione thought. He'd been double-crossed and he hadn't even seen it coming. He had been blinded by grief. Too busy trying to comprehend something he'd never thought possible to worry about anything else. He'd walked right into a dungeon cell without even thinking twice. And now, like Hermione, he was stuck waiting. When and if Harry showed, Hermione knew the chances of making it out alive were still very slim.
"Draco, you're making me nervous." said Hermione, watching him go back and forth.
"Sorry." Draco muttered and came to a stop. He remained standing however, and stared at the door.
"Feel free to sit down." Hermione offered. Seeing him so tense did nothing to calm her own nerves. He automatically sat down and crossed his legs. Still facing the door he closed his eyes and began massaging his temples.
It occurred to Hermione more than once that Draco was a very proud person. But too proud to cry for the loss of his own family? Or to show how frustrated he really was at being trapped indefinitely in a small room with little to no light? Hermione didn't understand. His calm irritated her. However she also felt that if he were to break down then she couldn't possibly stand a chance.
"He's still going to kill me." said Draco suddenly. Although they had both assumed this, neither had said it out loud. It was almost as if he'd just realized it for the first time. "My father is on his deathbed and he still plans to kill me!"
Finally! thought Hermione, Signs of humanity!
Draco whipped his body around to face her. "You awake over there?"
"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking that this has become less about your father and more about you." Hermione answered.
"What do you mean?" asked Draco.
"Oh come on! You made nice with a mudblood! That makes you a 'blood traitor'. Not only is that a seriously dumb move for a death eater, your butt was already on the line! If you ask me, Mister High and Mighty up there has been looking for an excuse and you went and gave him one!" exclaimed Hermione.
"So much for cunning, eh?" Draco said.
"That's not it." said Hermione, shaking her head, "He wasn't counting on your lack of cunning. You are very cunning. It's not even that you care. It's that from his point of view, you care about the wrong things. The only things he has any use for is power and control. Things like love and friendship are completely over his head."
"That will be my downfall. Yours too. Potter's and everyone else who happens to disagree with him." said Draco bitterly.
"That's not true. Draco, even if we die right here in this room, even if Harry dies trying to stop Voldemort, he will never truly be successful." Hermione argued.
"How do you figure?" asked Draco.
"Because, there's always going to be people who disagree with him. He can't stop them all, forever. Muggleborns and half bloods will always be there to stand up for themselves. There will always be pure bloods who sympathize with them. Someone will eventually take him down. And even if no one ever does, he will never be satisfied. He knows he's not worthy of living in the pure blood society he hopes to create. He will always try to compensate for the fact that in terms of blood status, he's the same as Harry. He's related to muggles and he can hate that from now until he dies but no matter what, nothing is going to change it." explained Hermione.
"Admirable sentiments but if it's all the same to you, I prefer the scenario where we make it out alive." Draco commented.
"Well yes, I wholeheartedly agree. There's just a heavily warded door preventing our escape, the fact I can hardly walk and the fact that nobody knows we're here." Hermione responded.
"Wrong." Draco shot back, "Snape knows we're here. He'll get us out. He'll tell your bloody Order of the Phoenix where we are and Potter will come. You'll see."
"Where exactly is here?" asked Hermione.
"I'm not exactly sure. Some abandoned house. It's not very big. We're just outside some muggle town. That's about all I know." answered Draco.
Hermione seemed to have lost her previous conviction. "We're going to make it, right?"
"Of course. If you think for one second Potter won't move mountains to rescue you then you're out of your tree! Besides, I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible for him to die." answered Draco.
Hermione smiled, thinking of Harry's adventures in the last six years. Naturally this year would be no different. Everyone knew he'd survived more than practically any fully grown, fully trained wizard ever had. He would survive once more. He had to. Harry was resourceful, he was strong, brave and really did have more luck than anyone Hermione had ever known.
Just then a loud blasting noise sounded from outside their cell. The noise caused the room to shake and Hermione let out a small involuntary scream. Draco instinctively moved closer to her. The noise came again, louder this time and Hermione covered her ears.
"What is that?" she whispered fearfully.
"No idea." Draco muttered as he positioned himself in front of her.
The door burst open and light came flooding in causing Hermione to squint. When her eyes adjusted she saw that with the light came in Greyback once more. Hermione clutched Draco's arm in fear. She'd rather stay locked up forever than ever lay eyes on him again.
"Nasty, difficult wards the Dark Lord has on that door, wouldn't you agree?" laughed Greyback, "Lucky for me, they're weaker from my side."
"What the hell do you want?" demanded Draco, glaring at him as though he were still at school, trying to scare a first year who had interrupted him.
Unfortunately, Greyback was no first year. He smirked at Draco's already defiant attitude, "Touchy today, aren't we Malfoy? But I guess if I was stupid enough to walk into a prison cell and close the door, I'd be a little upset too."
Hermione felt Draco tense under her firm grasp of his arm. True to his fashion though, he remained rooted to the spot. He was so unlike Ron or even Harry both of whom would've already started trying to curse Greyback into oblivion. He was probably trying to figure out the course of action he could take to remain unscathed. Hermione decided that no such course existed. At this point Hermione was just hoping to survive.
"If you aren't going to explain why you're here then leaving would be your best option." Draco threatened.
"Do you think you can defeat me in a duel, Malfoy? I hate to break it to you but there won't be any duel. It is time." said Greyback.
"Time for what?" Draco snapped angrily.
"Come on, boy. You can't be that stupid. Time for your execution! The Dark Lord has graciously given me the honour." answered Greyback.
"NO! Don't you touch him!" cried Hermione. She immediately clapped her free hand over her mouth as if surprised by her outburst. Both Draco and Greyback directed their gazes to her.
"Ah, the little mudblood. I'd almost forgotten about you. Don't worry, as soon as I'm finished with this blood traitor, we can pick up where we left off. What Snape doesn't know won't hurt him." Greyback said.
Hermione began to tremble and she forced back the tears that threatened to fall. From above they could hear similar blasting noises to the ones caused by Greyback outside the cell. She felt Draco pulling his arm from her grasp. He had quickly whipped out his wand and had it pointed at Greyback's chest.
"Don't you have children to bite? The more werewolves the merrier. Isn't that your motto?" Draco spat, reverting into his old role of taunting his adversary.
"Not until you're dead, Malfoy. The Dark Lord promised a nice prize for my trouble." countered Greyback, his own wand now pointing at Draco.
"There's something you should know about the Dark Lord. His word means nothing. I guarantee everything he promised is a lie." Draco declared.
"Well a blood traitor would say that wouldn't he? I guess he'd say just about anything to survive." Greyback replied, "Well, I hope you enjoy pain, Malfoy."
And before Hermione even had time to blink, Greyback sent out a non-verbal curse, taking Draco by surprise and sending him to the ground. Hermione screamed, recognizing the effects of the Cruciatus curse. It was not a pretty sight, seeing Draco writhing around and screaming in agony. If only she had her wand! Hermione glanced around frantically for something to help her. Meanwhile, Greyback had ceased the curse, levitated Draco and flung him into the wall.
Shit, shit, shit! Hermione was panicking but then she saw it! Draco's wand was lying a few metres away completely unnoticed by Greyback. It wouldn't be the same as having her own wand but it would have to do! Hermione seized the wand and sent the Protego spell at Draco. It worked and he immediately fell limp from Greyback's efforts.
Greyback was not impressed. "That was a bad move mudblood. You're going to regret that!"
"I don't think so. If you hurt me, Voldemort will have your head." Hermione did her best to sound braver than she felt.
"You're as stupid as he is." said Greyback pointing to Draco. "The Dark Lord only cares if you die. He won't mind if I rough you up a bit."
Instead of answering Hermione aimed and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Greyback's limbs flung together and he fell over on his back, stiff as a board. She apprehensively walked over to him making sure the spell had a strong enough effect. It appeared strong enough but Hermione had no idea how long it would last.
"I may be a mudblood, but I am certainly not stupid!" Hermione sneered at him. She then made her way over to Draco. The noises from above were still sounding. They made the room shake. Hermione ignored them and carefully rolled Draco onto his back. He was still alive. That was a good sign.
"Draco, how bad is it? Can you walk? We have to get out of here while we can!" Hermione cradled his head in her lap and brushed his bangs out of his eyes.
"I'm fine." Draco panted. He tried to get up but was unsuccessful.
"Ugh, no you're not. This is bad, very bad." Hermione groaned. The room shook violently yet again.
"What the hell is that?" Draco demanded. He forced himself to sit up.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter. We need to leave!" answered Hermione.
"HERMIONE!"
Hermione whipped her head around in time to see Ron flinging his arms around her. "You're okay!" He said happily, "I can't believe it!"
"Ow, Ron! Be careful, would you? What's going on? How did you get here?" asked Hermione.
"Snape told the Order where you were! A bunch of us came to fight. We came to get you!" answered Ron.
Hermione glanced back at Draco who gave her an 'I told you so' expression. She glanced back at Ron who was now giving her a questioning look.
"What happened here? Is…is that Greyback?" asked Ron, peering over at him.
"Yes. He was going to kill us. Ron we have to get out of here." insisted Hermione.
Ron paid no attention however. He was now glaring daggers at Draco. "You! What the hell are you doing here? Wasn't bad enough you had to pretend to like Hermione, was it? Had to kidnap her and try to kill her too!"
Hermione had to hold Ron back as he tried to punch Draco. "Ron, stop it! You don't understand! He protected me!"
Ron stopped and faced Hermione. "He hurt you. You almost died. You can't possibly be standing up for him. Must be the lack of food. Come on, Hermione, I'll get you back to school and you'll be better in no time!"
"He did no such thing, Ronald! We were both kidnapped by Greyback. Draco protected me from him and every other death eater here since we got here! I refuse to go anywhere without him." She then plopped down beside Draco ignoring the incredulous looks she was getting from both boys.
Ron's jaw dropped then closed then dropped again. "Hermione, you can't…what?...fine!"
"Fine, what Ronald?" Hermione prompted her friend.
"Fine, we'll take him with us. I think you've gone completely daft, though." Ron conceded.
Hermione grinned in victory and Ron left to find help. She then stood and began helping Draco do the same.
"You lied." said Draco blankly.
"Um, yes. I did do that." Hermione agreed sheepishly.
"Why?" Draco demanded.
"Are you serious? Look at the state you're in! No one here is going to help you anymore, Draco. If you stay here, you'll die." Hermione replied.
"But it's my fault you're here." countered Draco.
"Do you want to stay here?" Hermione shot back.
"Of course not." said Draco.
"Well then, stop looking for excuses, already!" insisted Hermione.
Draco opened his mouth to argue some more but Ron came back through the door with Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks and Lupin. With some quick wand work, a pain relieving spell was cast on Draco and Hermione and they were both able to walk as if completely uninjured.
As they made way to leave Hermione cried, "Wait!"
"What's wrong?" asked Tonks.
"Where's Harry?" asked Hermione worriedly.
"Hogwarts." answered Moody, "Ginny Weasley sustained a minor injury and he took her back."
"But what about Voldemort and the other death eaters" asked Draco.
"They appear to have fled the area. Seemed to think they no longer had the advantage." replied Lupin who looked as though he was trying to contain a grin.
"Mind yourselves now. Those pain relief spells don't last very long." added Moody.
The plan now was for Tonks and Lupin to escort Ron, Draco and Hermione back to Hogwarts, while Moody collected Greyback and took him to Azkaban. Hermione couldn't be more relieved to be leaving this awful place. She was glad that no one had been seriously hurt in the effort to rescue her. Glad to be getting a good meal and a decent night's sleep. She was glad most of all however that Draco was coming with her and that he wasn't going to die at seventeen in some dank, cold dungeon cell alone.
Once they had gotten outside the house Lupin turned to face them. "Okay, we are going to apparate to just outside Hogwarts grounds. Hermione and Draco, considering your conditions, it's better for you to side-along apparate with Ron and Tonks. Everyone ready?"
Everyone nodded. Hermione took Ron's arm and Draco took that of Tonks. One second Hermione was experiencing the unpleasant feeling in her stomach that came with apparition and the next, she could see the towers of Hogwarts reaching towards the sky.