The smell was maddeningly nostalgic and it was grasping at her, enticing her to endure more of it. Tempting her to open her eyes and…it was then when she heard the voices. Voices; dim at first but then which became clearer and clearer. Voices so horrifyingly familiar. Voices she couldn't possibly hear, not when she's still inside the Malfoy Manor. Not when he-

"She's coming zo" It was the enchanting voice of Delacour. No, Weasley now. Fleur Weasley.

"About time" Bill Weasley. "How're you doing there 'Mione?"

With vexing difficulty she pried one of her eye open. Then the other. The newly married couple was staring down at her with a mixture of worry and relief.

"Water" She mumbled, the first word that she was able to say when she got her mouth working.

Fleur conjured a glass of water with an, "Of course"

Hermione gulped down the water in a swift motion, her throat more parched than it has ever been before,

"Where am I?" She looked up, noticing that Bill was no longer there. Fleur took the empty glass out of her hand before placing Hermione's palm in both of hers. "Shells cottage"

There were so many questions, one too many that it made it impossible for Hermione to voice a single one. How did she get here? How did she survive? How is he alive? What happened to Harry and Ron? What…happened?

Fleur squeezed her palm gently, "Worry not Hermione. Bill went to fezch Harry and Ron. I'm sure zey're on zeir way 'ere"

"Where are they? Are they ok?" Fleur nodded, "Fine. Everyone'z fine. Well ezcept for…Anyway zey are interrogating him now"

Numbness settled within her, a feeling she wasn't quite accustomed to, "Who are they interrogating, Fleur?"

Maybe the tone of her voice was worrying, maybe her expression was what that had Fleur on her toes. "Why, Malfoy of course. Draco Malfoy!"

In a swift motion, Hermione was out of her bed and had started walking out of the door. "'Mione. You muznt go, 'Mione!"

Malfoy was here. She sure as hell wasn't going to sit idle when Harry and Ron could be doing god knows what to him. Not to mention what kind of nuisance Malfoy would create, provoking her two idiotic best friends.

"'Mione!" It was Luna. She was sitting languidly in the window seat, a single daffodil in her hand. "Oh this is nice. I was wondering if you'll ever wake up"

Hermione grimaced, not sure whether to smile or not. How long was she out? "Oh. Uh, Luna. You're alright"

Luna stood up and walked up to her, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "I am. Thank you. I wanted to thank Draco as well. Harry and Ron wouldn't let me"

"Thank him for what?"

She gave her a concerned look, "For saving us of course. All of us"

"Luna, do you know where they are keeping him?" When she nodded Hermione prodded with a slight raise of her eyebrows. The blonde girl then pointed towards a door in the opposite side of the hallway, "That room"

They were keeping him in a room? That was…nice?

"Thank you" Not bothering for a reply, Hermione dashed towards the room.

She could not hear any noise from the other side so either they put a silencing charm on the room or there wasn't any spells clashing across the room. Taking that as a good sign, Hermione pushed open the door.

"Why should we believe you?" It was Harry.

"'Mione!" It was Ron.

"You weren't supposed to get out of bed" Bill.

She barely glanced at them, her eyes searching for one blonde, silver eyed man. He wasn't hard to find. Lying on the big queen sized bed was Draco Malfoy, a huge bandage wrapped across his torso. His eyes scarcely open.

"What happened to him?" She turned back to her friends.

It was Draco Malfoy who replied though. "I have to thank my beloved aunt for this little gift" His voice though raspy had not lost its drawl.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron snapped and then held out his hand for Hermione. "Why did you come here? We were going to wrap this up and head to your room"

"Fleur mentioned…him" She did not take Ron's hand. Despite herself she inched closer to the bed.

She gave Harry a long, hard stare. "Leave us"

Ron shook his head at that but Harry was sporting his calculating look. She was counting on Harry to give in but then he mimicked Ron. "No. You might end up killing him" She thought she heard someone snort.

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes, the temptation to do so was ridiculously strong, though. "Believe me harry, I'm not going to kill him"

"Even so" He held out his hand and this time Hermione took it. She wasn't left with much choices. "You need to know what happened" They then led her out of the room, away from Malfoy. "Don't mind me. I'll stay put, it's not like I have anywhere to go"

"Shut it, Malfoy!" Ron grumbled before clicking the door close.

Harry led her to the kitchen where Dean and Luna was residing. "Dean!" Hermione beamed. "I didn't know you were captured"

He swung out his arm and said slyly, "A prisoner, no more"

"Did you thank him?" Luna asked grabbing everyone's attention. "Thank Draco?" She continued.

Hermione shook her head.

"Well, that's a pity. I do think he deserves our gratitude" She then went back to reading her Quibbler. "Whatever happened to father?" She mumbled, still reading.

"Uhmm we don't know Luna. Hopefully he's alright" Harry answered, a flamboyant blush spreading to his cheeks. She mmm-ed in return.

Hermione turned to face Harry, "What is Malfoy doing here?"

He shook his head before nudging his glasses high up his nose. "Believe it or not, 'Mione, Malfoy saved us"

"Kind of" Ron interrupted. Harry agreed with a nod, "He saved you"

She dismissed, or tried to dismiss the hammering in her chest, tried to not get swirled in the overwhelming feeling those words evoked in her. "Why?" She knew why. Dear god…She gulped down the cry that arose.

"Merlin knows. We couldn't get him to talk"

"Tell me what happened? Exactly what happened?"

And then they told. Told about the way Malfoy pushed Hermione out of the way in the nick of time just before the chandelier crashed on her. Told about him raising his wand against his family. Against Bellatrix.

"I gotta tell you, shocked Merlin's underpants out of me" Ron mumbled. "He handed you over to me, you know? Before he turned around ready to fight that crazy woman"

"That still doesn't explain how he is here" Hermione prodded on. "If he saved us and was ready to fight Bellatrix then-"

"I grabbed him" Harry interrupted.

"And would you please tell me why you did that?" Ron grumbled. "He's still such a brat" Ron supplied seeing Hermione's frown.

"It was a big step. Going against everyone like that to save us. He would have-"

"Died" Hermione completed.

"Yes" Harry nodded. The whole room, it seemed as if had stilled. Even Luna had put down the Quibbler and was listening intently. "Voldermort would be as much after him as he is after us. Like it or not, we have to work with him"

"He died" Something that had been prodding at the back of her mind came right out, urging words out of her mouth before she even realised she was thinking them. "He died!" She said again, this time with more vehemence.

Dean was staring at her as if she was speaking gibberish. Luna nodded her head as if understanding, which was unsettling to say the least. Ron mumbled out a, "Holy shit, she's right! Lee said so himself on the radio"

Harry gave her this strange look. "Well now we know that he didn't. What if that was something Voldermort did? To…to…I don't know something"

"Harry" Hermione murmured. "Remember that person who saved us? What if…?"

"All this time?"

That was an answer Hermione would like to know herself. Very much so. "Only one way to figure out" She said, staring at the closed the door. The closed door behind which remained all the answers she needed. And the one person she yearn for.

"No help" Ron said quickly squishing that thought away. "He is as much of a git as he was back in Hogwarts"

"Let me talk to him. Harry, I know I can get through to him"

"What makes you so sure?" Her best friend asked.

"He saved me"

Knock knock.

"See, even if I told you crackheads to bugger of you will still come to disrupt my beauty sleep. So don't insult my intelligence by knocking" Was the charming reply.

Her hand was shaking uncontrollably and she had to remind herself to breathe. She was going to meet Draco. After that fateful day, she was going to talk to him again.

I trusted you…

Her own words came back to taunt her. Can she trust him now? Can she put her heart on the line again?

"Do it, Hermione" Luna, who was standing a few feet behind her, said. "Go in"

Taking a deep breathe hoping that confidence would swirl within her, Hermione placed her hand on the doorknob. Seems like confidence was something far beyond her reach. She clicked the door open, determined to go in with or without it.

"Oh and Hermione? Thank him" Luna called out to her.

And then she opened the door ajar.

There he was. Lying on the same spot he had been before. Like he had promised. Hermione closed the door behind her, walking towards him with slow, hesitant steps. Light coming through the window striking him in a way that made him seem almost mystical.

His hair had grown within the past year; now almost shoulder length. His face sallow, gone was the spirited face of an adolescent boy. His eyes closed, his long lashes teasing his cheekbones as they ever so swiftly fanned around them. His lips…dry.

He had gotten thin.

Very much so. Thinner and paler. Ghostly. The dark patches under his eyes was blindingly evident as they stood in contrast to his pallor.

Her eyes noticing the changes in just a split second and then halting over the bandage that covered the whole of his trunk. A bandage which must have been white once upon a time but was now red stained. He was badly in need of a new dressing. She looked at the contents around him, noticing that Fleur had it in her mind to keep all of his medicine in the room.

"You know you can keep gawking at me all you want, but you will never have me, Potter" Draco drawled, his voice seemed more worn-out than before. He opened his eyes carefully, his infamous smirk in place.

"I'm not Harry" Hermione whispered when his eyes locked on hers.

"No" His voice hoarse. "No, you're not"

(Flashback)

She was staring at him, hot tears flowing down her face. "You lied to me" A mumble. Something she wanted to scream it out. Something she wanted to say over and over again. Repeatedly. How could he? After everything…

"You proved me wrong. You are everything that I was scared of. Everything I was convinced you're not"

"Granger" He started, taking a step towards her. She backed up.

"No. Don't come near me" She hastily brushed away at the tears ignoring the ones that were replacing them. "You made me lie to Harry and Ron. My Best friends! You told me that you had a plan"

"I do"

"NO. MORE. LIES"

"This doesn't prove anything. Granger I swear, this doesn't" He gestured to his arm. The same arm that sported the…mark.

"I trusted you…God help me I trusted you!" With that she spun around and ran. Ran until it was only the echoes of her footsteps that lingered.

He didn't call her back. Didn't run after her.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

Her legs refused to work and she simply could not get herself to say something. Say anything. So much had happened in that last year. Her sixth year. So much which she could not change. Which he couldn't change.

"Get on with it" It was Malfoy that broke the silence. His piercing silver eyes had not left hers since she had come inside, "What?"

"Get on with the interrogation. It's not like I saved the whole lot of you or that I'm in need of immediate medical attention. I mean, we can take all the time interrogating me. Merlin knows your two pathetic loser of friends have been doing that. For the past 3 days and counting"

Hermione's glare was as equally hostile as his. "Are you done?"

Taking his grunt as a confirmation, Hermione moved towards him. Somehow, within a span of a few seconds he not only managed to boost her up with self-confidence but he managed to get her all riled up. Why was she scared to face him in the first place? Ron was right, Draco Malfoy is still as much of a brat as he was back in Hogwarts.

"What are you doing?" He asked when she started to peel off the bandages.

She ignored him.

He tried to intervene. SMACK!

"Hey!" Malfoy rubbed at where Hermione hit him. "What was that for?"

She glared at him. Never mind that he saved her. Never mind that these past few weeks she had thought that he was dead. Never mind that the last time they talked, things ended on a rather emotional note. Never mind anything since he had managed to do the one single thing that he was always so good at doing.

Rile. Her. Up.

"Since it's of your opinion that we have neglected in giving you the proper medical care, why not start now?" She managed to say even as her teeth gritted in frustration. In her haste, she managed to tear of the dressing rather crudely.

"Please Granger. Don't bother being gentle" Was the snide remark.

Her train of thoughts died at her lips, the sarcastic comeback forgotten as his wound came into view. She realized that till then, she had misjudged the severity of the wound. "You weren't kidding, were you?" she whispered under her breath, taking it all in.

With a quick work of her hand, she started to dab at the dried blood that had decorated his wound. Even as she did so, fresh blood kept replacing them.

"Does it hurt?" She asked, a quick look at Malfoy confirming her question. He chose to ignore it.

"Where's your wand, Granger?"

She opened the lid of the potion that was kept brewing on the desk beside his bed. "You need to shake it twice before applying" Malfoy added.

She did as she was told. "Left it in my room in my haste to…well…come here" That got Malfoy smirking vilely. That was soon brought to a stop, as soon as she applied the potion. He hissed as the liquid droplets surrounded his wound, smoke arising from it in clusters.

"Feels like its burning me up"

Hermione, despite her will, gently caressed the skin surrounding it, trying to provide some kind of comfort. "It is" She simply said. She then went on to re-apply a new covering with fresh gauze, ignoring the slight fact that only mere seconds before she was stroking Draco Malfoy. He looked the other way, too happy to accommodate her in ignoring that fact.

What followed was the loudest silence she heard. It got her on edge and how she managed to finish his dressing was beyond what her state of mind could handle at the moment.

"There" she mumbled.

He looked down at her handiwork as well, "That should hold for a couple of hours"

Couple of hours? "It needs to be changed that frequently?" He shrugged in response. "Salazar knows what kind of dark magic was inside that woman's knife"

"Bellatrix"

He looked at her then and nodded. "My aunt"

The look he was giving her compelled her to keep her gaze fixed on his.

"You saved us" His nod, so slight, that had Hermione not been staring at him with such attentiveness, she would not have seen it. "Why?"

He laughed, a humourless laugh. "I think it would be obvious Granger"

Her heart, which up until then had been miraculously beating at a normal rhythm picked up its pace. "It doesn't make any sense" She could barely hear herself over the sound of her blood whooshing through her veins.

"Doesn't it?" He asked, gone was slight arrogant look he had been sporting. This look was…familiar. This look was only for her.

Involuntarily she cast a look at his forearm. The same forearm that was still featuring the horrible mark. The same mark that claimed him as one of them. "It's kind of a permanent thing, Dark Lord made sure of that"

"The Dark Lord?" Anger quickly replaced whatever it was that she was feeling. Now the fast beating of her heart was not because of apprehension. No, it was wild, unchecked, fury. A fury that would manage to make anyone, Ron and Harry included, to scurry away in fear. Malfoy though, just raised one perfect brow at her.

"Yeah. It's what we call him in case you haven't noticed"

"You're just one of them aren't you? You're still one of them" Hermione swiftly stood up, making quick work to dump all the used up bandages to the bin.

"You're not going to believe me when I tell you otherwise so why even bother?" Was the charming drawl.

This made her laugh. A horrid, cold laugh. A laugh which left her wanting to cry. To bawl her heart's desire. She wasn't going to do that. Not in front of him.

"If you have trouble digesting this then let me jog your memory. Now, why don't you think of the last time we spoke? That would be the first time you saw this imprinted one me" His voice was rough. Angry.

Draco Malfoy was angry. And it was directed at her.

Despite her will her thoughts drifted back to their sixth year.

"Harry suspects that you're up to something"

"What did you say?"

"I defended you, of course"

"Promise me something. Promise me that you will have faith in me no matter what"

"What do you mean?"

"Something…just trust me. Can you do that?"

"Draco…you're scaring me"

"Granger…"

"Is there something I need to tell Harry about?"

"No. It'll make things worse. Just trust me. I have a plan"

"You told me to trust you" Hermione glanced over at him. He nodded, "You don't do well on your promises, Granger"

"You killed Dumbledore, Malfoy!"

There it was. The reason, out there. She could hear Harry's words repeating over and over.

"Do you think he would have done it? Draco?" She had asked.

"No. He was lowering his wand when it happened"

She needed his confirmation though. She was desperate for his words. Words that could somehow set her free. Even if it's for a bit. Even if it still means that he was behind all of this.

Malfoy's eyes were incomprehensible, "Yes" He nodded.

Hermione had been recipient to many curses. Including the most pleasant Cruciatus curse. Had known pain in every level and had managed to surpass them and survive. Yet this, this was one kind of pain she can't fathom. One word, managed to shatter every little broken piece of her heart into a million other tiny pieces. She had seen good in him. Believed good in him. For some ridiculous miracle, he had shown that he was capable of being good to her. Him lying there; injured, was yet another example of that.

Despite it all, he was admitting to cold blood murder. Murder of their former headmaster.

"…Well then" She mumbled, after what felt like forever.

"I'll take the full responsibility for it"

"You told me that you had a plan. Was that your plan?" Her breath hitched. She hated herself for it.

When he didn't answer she was forced to meet eyes with him. "No" He gently shook his head. "I am to be blamed for Dumbledore's death but…" He exhaled loudly. "But that was not my intention. Far far from it. You have to believe me, Granger"

"You just admitted to murder…" She began.

"You have to believe me" His voice louder than her, leaving her no choice but to listen. "Because you know me. The real me" It was said with such a plea that the million pieces of her heart constricted painfully.

"Do I?"

A whisper.

"Are you going to disregard everything that happened in our sixth year? The last year that we were together?"

Together.

She shook her head. The first tear falling freely from her eyes, landing none too gently on her cheek and sliding down to meet her lips. "No. But I can't disregard what happened at the end of that sixth year either, Malfoy"

"There's so much to tell you. So much that you need to know" He lifted his hand to her, beckoning her.

She looked at the pale fingers then looked at his pale eyes. Then back again. She then chose to ignore the outstretched hand.

"Why did you save me, Malfoy" She asked instead. His eyes searched for her a little longer before letting his arm fall with a thud. "If you have to ask that, then I believe that there's no reason for me to answer that"

Hermione decided not to pursue on that topic, knowing that it would be a wild goose chase. "If Harry hadn't grabbed you then…"

"I knew damn well of the consequences, Granger"

"Yet you still chose to do all of that?" She asked, her tone that of condescending.

"Yet I still chose to do all of that" His of confirmation, with a streak of stubbornness. "The only thing that I worry about now is that I didn't get my mother to safety"

This made Hermione forget her resolve and move towards him. "Your mother…Surely they cannot-"

"Surely they can"

She knew what she had to do. Knew before she uttered the words. "Well then we'll just have to get her out of there, don't we?"

He started shaking his head way before she managed to finish her sentence. "No. No saving her. No playing heroes again. No need for doing any of that. I didn't risk my life to get you to safety so that you could let it all go to waste and put yourself in jeopardy again"

"This is your mother, Malfoy!"

"I KNOW! I have a plan already in my mind, I'm just not sure if I could make it work"

"I'm not sure I trust your plans, Malfoy", "Well that's nothing catastrophic since you don't trust me either" Just like that, they were once again back to the 6th year argument. Hermione shook her head, her feet making its way to the chair once again.

"You can't hold onto me for that"

He waited until she sat down. "I'll let it go as soon as you forgive" His voice was soft.

"Malfoy. You let them in and I-"

He placed a hand on Hermione's, effectively shushing her. "I'm not talking about the night at the astronomy tower"

His eyes said it all. And then, all of a sudden she knew what night he was talking about.

No. Her features, her expression, everything, begged him not to continue.

"It was never my intention to take advantage of you that night"