Um. Honestly, I'm not even going to make excuses. College work is definitely a lot and all my writing got shoved aside for it.

Thank you AngryBritishGuy for just leaving "..." as a review. For whatever reason, that was very inspiring.

Huge thanks to all the reviewers! You guys help me keep writing, and I really appreciate it.

Day 19

Hermione was deteriorating rapidly. She knew there were weeks left for her, maybe days. Draco Malfoy knew too. Bellatrix knew, and she was loving every second of it.

The Gryffindor really wished she could formulate some kind of escape plan, but her mind wasn't working. Every idea she concocted revolved around the youngest Malfoy's help. Not Malfoy as a minor player, but Malfoy as the main component.

She was laughing bitterly somewhere deep down, because Malfoy would help her, just not the way he needed to for this insanity to work.

"I wanted an owl."

The duo had been sitting in the dimly lit dungeon for several minutes in silence, while Hermione slowly, meticulously ate the soup the blonde had brought her.

"What?"

"I wanted an owl," she repeated quietly, staring blankly at the wall. "I thought maybe I would feel like a real witch if I had my own owl."

Draco didn't respond for a moment.

"Your eye looks better today," he finally said.

"It's not swollen shut any more."

More silence interrupted their stilted conversation.

"You made this tea?"

"Yep."

That explained why it was absolutely disgusting, not that Hermione would say that aloud.

"Malfoy."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"Very subtle. I'm very impressed."

Hermione sat next to Ron with a pointed glare.

"What was subtle? I haven't done anything, have I?" He asked, clearly playing dumb.

"I guess Malfoy just chose to hang out in the common room at all hours of the morning. He definitely wasn't waiting for someone then."

Ron set his spoon down and turned sheepishly to his best friend.

"We could talk about this with Harry?" The redhead suggested.

"Last I saw he was making out with your sister, so I think he'll be a while."

"I will throw up on this table."

"If you knew I had nightmares, why didn't you guys come to me yourselves? Why Malfoy, and why now?" She asked.

Ron's face grew serious immediately.

"We've tried. Ginny, Harry, me, we've all tried to talk to you about it. What happened to you. We want to understand, really we do," he sighed heavily. "But Ginny realized we couldn't help you, and she thought maybe ferret boy- sorry... Malfoy could."

Hermione laughed.

"And you went along with it?"

"Honestly, a few months ago I wouldn't have. But, a friend of mine helped me realize that you have to talk to someone who's shared your experience to find healing. Harry and I aren't that someone for you... as much as we'd like to be. If Malfoy helps you sleep through the night, then so be it. We all love you more than we hate him."

The brunette threw her arms around Ron who nearly slid off his seat.

"Dennis was so good for you," she whispered, before leaning back with a sly grin.

"How..."

The grin on her face grew wider.

"No more Zabini and Nott for you!"

"You set him up on a date with a Hufflepuff?" Blaise asked incredulously.

Daphne turned to give Blaise a look of complete disgust.

"For your information, Susan is a lovely woman who happens to be in Hufflepuff, a house full of people who won't stab you in the back. A nice change from certain people," she snapped back.

"Okay, well then you're subjecting "a lovely woman" to Theo?" Blaise countered, with a sneer.

"What is your problem? I am trying to do a nice thing for our friend and you are- I don't even know what you are!"

"He's been talking about her nonstop since some unholy hour of the morning, and he isn't listening to any of my thoughts about Draco. Remember him? Draco, who I want to come back where he belongs unlike some people."

Daphne sat back against her pillows, still glaring at the Italian in her doorway.

"Have you considered maybe giving Theo a rest on the Draco thing. It's all you two talk about these days, and it's stressful to him."

"Who else am I supposed to talk to Daphne?"

She coughed pointedly.

"What?"

Boys could be so obtuse at times, she thought.

"Me, Blaise. Your girlfriend. Daphne Greengrass. I've been giving a lot of thought to who may have attacked Draco, and I've compiled a list and been wheedling it down."

Daphne produced a crisp piece of parchment covered with her perfect handwriting. Some names were already crossed out.

"These fifteen seem the most likely to me, but I doubt all of them were involved."

Blaise looked down the list. Everyone listed was a death eater's child.

"Pansy?" He asked, reading the last name listed aloud.

"I know she's our friend, but I don't know who to trust. Her father was high in the Dark Lord's ranks, and she was never clear about her allegiances in the war."

"I don't know. She was there when Theo and I tried to warn Draco on the train..."

Pansy had snuck away the moment the fight erupted, and they had barely heard from or seen her since.

"I'm not saying she nearly killed one of her best friends, but I'm not saying she didn't."

It was 1:48 P.M. on Friday October 23, 1998. Harry and Ron were eating a late lunch, waiting for Hermione to join them after her last class. The second Hogsmeade trip of the year was the following Saturday, and the trio was looking forward to seeing the town for the first time since the Final Battle. Ginny was at Quidditch practice with the chasers working out new strategies for their game against Slytherin the following Saturday. Malfoy was unaccounted for, but likely in a back corner of the library alone.

Owls arrived with news during breakfast and dinner, which was why it was such a surprise to see Pig come soaring in at exactly 1:48 in the afternoon.

Ron barely looked up, occupied entirely by a large bowl of pumpkin soup.

"Ron!" Harry shouted, but it was too late.

Pig crash landed directly in the bowl, stumbling forward to drop a letter in front of the redhead. Ron picked the owl gingerly out of the bowl and grumpily set him down on the table. The owl hooted softly, and fluffed his feathers, spraying Ron with even more soup before flying off.

"Bloody hell. I miss Errol."

"No you don't," Harry shot back.

Ron used a spell to clean his robes and picked up the letter.

"Who's it from?"

"Mum," Ron answered.

He was nervous now. Something must have happened to Fred. Maybe he'd woken up... or maybe he wasn't ever going to.

"I can't read it... do it for me won't you?"

Harry took the letter from his friend's shaking hand and opened the parchment quickly.

"Ron-"

"Granger! Merlin... what are you doing?"

Hermione leaned against the door, looking unimpressed at Malfoy's shirtless state as she glanced around the boys dorm room.

"Have you seen Harry and Ron?" She asked finally, looking back over at the blonde who had finally pulled a T Shirt on.

"I thought you were their babysitter, not me," he muttered grumpily.

"I was supposed to meet them for lunch... nine hours ago."

She walked over to Harry's trunk and rummaged around for a minute, emerging with a folded piece of parchment.

"I'm not suddenly your best friend Granger. Beat it."

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Hermione sat down on Harry's unmade bed, completely ignoring the indignant former-Slytherin a few feet away.

"What is that?"

She shushed him.

Against his better judgement, Malfoy moved closer to the brunette and leaned over to look at the parchment.

"They're not here. Malfoy..."

Hermione trailed off anxiously, looking over at the only other occupant of the room.

"I don't have the first clue. Ask McGonagall. Send them an owl. Floo them. I don't care, just get out of here."

"She's meeting with Kingsley. I already sent an owl. I sent a patronus and it couldn't find them. I'm not stupid. Nothing."

As the minutes ticked on, she was becoming increasingly more harried, entirely losing her calm facade.

"Wrists."

Hermione stilled her hand, staring absentmindedly at the wall just past Malfoy's head. He sighed heavily, realizing she wasn't going anywhere until the wonder duo returned.

"Is Hermione still in class?"

"What Ginny?" Ron asked tiredly.

"Where. Is. Hermione." She enunciated crisply.

"Yeah! Where is our resident bookworm? We could use some intelligence in this room," George added. "With Fred back from the dead the average IQ in this room took a dive."
"Watch it! I might not be allowed out of this bed, but I was never known for following the rules anyway," Fred laughed.

"You guys didn't write and tell Hermione that Fred woke up?" Harry asked.

"Of course not. She's always with you two," George rolled his eyes, as if that should have been obvious.

"Bloody hell."

"What?" The twins said simultaneously, then turned to each other and smiled.

"We, uh... didn't tell her."

"We're dead," Harry groaned.

Ginny took a deep, calming breath.

"Idiots," she muttered, standing up to make the floo call.

I hope this was satisfactory to tide everyone over for a few weeks. That's all left in the semester, and Christmas break should be a great time for me to get some more of this out.

Please review! You guys are amazing, and thank you for sticking with me even though updates are wild.