A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

I'm sorry about this being late, but I've been quite busy since school started. I'm going to put in my planner when I need to post (when I put things in my planner they almost always happen when they're supposed to, as I live by it). From now on, I'm going to post once a week. There is a poll on my profile for you to vote on which day! I will close the poll next Tuesday, so get your votes in!

I finally added in a scene with more Draco/Hermione interaction than usual. Happy reading!

I once heard redemption was like pushing an unmoving object up a steep slope, and that's what I thought about while Zabini was approaching me. He looked slightly sympathetic, and I promised myself that I'd remember that. I wouldn't hate him for what he was about to do. He was now close enough to touch me if he reached his hand out, and I closed my eyes, focusing on my own heartbeat.

After three beats, he struck. The back of his hand surely left an imprint across my left cheekbone. I could taste the blood in my mouth, but all I felt was adrenaline. The hits continued and spread out. Again, and again, and again, and again. Before I knew it, I was no longer in the chair, but rather lying on the floor, and still tied up. I took a few hits to the stomach, at least two to the ribs, and many more across the expanse of my upper body. I could feel myself scream, but I didn't hear it. I felt like it wasn't actually happening to me, as if I was dreaming, or watching it happen to someone else. Eventually, I blacked out.

I woke up sometime later with Zabini prodding my right cheek—as it was left mostly unscathed—and offering me water. I was untied, and as I tried to sit up, I fell back down with a whimper. It hadn't been so painful earlier, but now it hurt like hell. I tried to stay as still as possible, meaning I didn't reach for the water again. He seemed to understand, and brought the water to my mouth, allowing me to drink. He explained that he was allowed to heal any broken bones or major injuries, but the visible bruises would be glamoured. He told me I did better than he expected, but that I was still a girl (he chuckled when he said this), and that I was free to go when he was done healing me. He also told me that there would be a battle soon, and that my training would be pushed forward because of it. He told me Lucius would explain what I was supposed to do tomorrow after my lesson with him.

He waved his wand over my body several times, the pain residing a little after each one, and then left the room. I hadn't said a word. I felt as if I was suspended in something unnamable, and his words were still sinking in. it wasn't like he'd said anything hard to understand or unreasonable, it's just that I was processing things abnormally slow. Without even really considering what I was doing, I got up and slowly limped to my room. Everything hurt, but I supposed I did feel better about myself…but it was probably because all I could think about was how much my body hurt, particularly my left hip. It must have had some nasty bruising. I quickly ran a hot bath and submerged myself in it. My hair was caked with blood, and I refused to sleep that way when I didn't have to. Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep with the hot water soothing my aches.

-Draco-

There was an uncomfortable pull in my chest for the last half of the day. It didn't exactly hurt, but it was painful enough for me to not forget about it. To distract myself, I was sitting in Father's office as he did some paper work for our company. After a while of silence—except for the rustling of paper and the scratching of his pen—he looked up at me. I didn't notice at first, keeping my hand pressing against my chest. I looked up, meeting his eyes, and a small, sly grin appeared on his face. It looked like he'd just won a major battle or screwed over someone who'd pissed him off, and I was automatically weary.

"What?" I asked him, my pitch a little higher than usual.

"Nothing, son. Why does there always have to be something? It seems you're in some discomfort," he said gesturing to my hand—which I'd just moved away from my chest—and his smirk grew broader.

"There always has to be something because, with you, there always is something," I replied, ignoring his inquiry about my chest. "I need to get out of this room. That shit-eating smile of yours is creeping me the hell out," I said before quickly making my way out of the room. I could hear his laugh echoing down the hall after me.

He knew what was happening to me, if something actually was happening to me. The uncomfortable feeling in my chest was actually growing more, so I decided to turn in for the night, as it was getting late anyways. As the pain started to lessen, I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway, and a door slamming clumsily. I vaguely wondered who it was before sleep took me.

-Hermione-

I woke with my entire body shivering uncontrollably. I was still in the bathtub and my freezing limbs were numb. I blindly reached for the stopper, and pulled it with numb fingers. I could feel the water draining slowly, and the slightly warmer air was a relief. I reached towards the faucet, turning on barely warm water, gradually making it hotter, until I could feel my toes again. I relaxed my muscles with a sigh. I pulled the stopper again, and pulled my aching body out of the tub. I grabbed my towel, ignoring the pain in my left shoulder, and wrapped it around my body. I winced as I got dressed, and nearly broke down into tears when I accidentally bumped my hip with the closet door. It was going to be a long day, especially because I wasn't allowed to take anything to relive the pain.

My training with Lucius seemed to go quickly that day, particularly because he distracted me from the pain in my body by forcing me to focus on my mind. At the lesson's end, he explained to me what I was to do after leaving the lesson. I vaguely remembered that Blaise said my training would be speeding up.

"Voldemort has informed us that a battle will be taking place soon. He also suggested that we speed up your training, as he expects you to be ready—at least mostly—by the time it takes place. I've decided to go ahead and start your flight training with Draco, as it will be less taxing than any others I could have you start. If I put you with Bella you'd get overwhelmed because of the intense amount of training, and Voldemort isn't here to train you in wandless magic as of yet." I shook my head in understanding.

"When does the flight training start?" I asked surly. I really didn't want to be on a broom at all, and the prospect of Malfoy teaching me anything was definitely a put off.

"At six o'clock tonight in the back field." I nodded and left the room. I grabbed a pear and a book, taking both with me to read until I was to meet Malfoy.

I glanced at the clock and it read "5:52". It was a little early, but I decided to go ahead and make my way to the designated field. I could see his shadow long before I got close enough to see his features. The sun was starting to go down, but there was still plenty of light. As I got closer, I saw the two brooms at his feet, and took a nervous gulp. I was much more afraid of flying than I'd let on, but I really didn't want him to know that. He seemed decent as of late, but I knew him to be unpredictable, and I didn't feel like being made fun of. The entire situation was made worse by the fact that I was sore all over, especially my hip. I wanted to smack Blaise for that quite badly. I hobbled my way toward him at a slower pace than I was used to.

-Draco-

I could tell she was nervous before she got close enough for me to make out specific features. Her shoulders were slightly hunched over and she was walking rather slowly. She also had her arms crossed in front of her chest, which over the years, I've recognized to either be bossiness or the façade of bossiness to cover up her nervousness…depending on the situation. I stopped my peculiar train of thought when she got closer. She didn't look up at me right away, which I was grateful for. She just stood in front of me—albeit proudly—waiting for me to give her some sort of instructions. She was visibly shaking. Perhaps this will be harder than I originally thought, I mused to myself. I started with a deep sigh. I needed to at least be civilized if I wanted to keep my skull attached to my body.

"I need to see you on a broom before I can decide where to start. I assume you know how to properly mount one, as you took the same lessons as I did at Hogwarts," I said as politely as I could manage. She took a shaky breath, and without saying anything, mounted the broom. I could tell right away that she was uncomfortable. I slowly walked around her, inspecting her position from several angles. She was silent the entire time, but her eyes followed me whenever I was in her line of sight.

"Okay. It looks like this is going to be harder than I thought. You really have no idea when it comes to flying do you?" I asked, with only a little disbelief. She cleared her throat.

"I've none at all. I don't even like sitting on it to be honest," she said frowning. She was clearly still uncomfortable. I couldn't tell if it was more because of my presence or because of the broom. Her feet were still touching the ground, so I guessed the former.

"I can tell," I sighed deeply again. "Look Granger, I'll be on my best behavior during your training. It seems that you're uncomfortable enough on the broom so try not to be so uncomfortable around me. Relax. I promise I won't bite," I said without feeling. She nodded slightly and finally met my eyes. Hers were overly watery. "You're not crying are you?" I asked appalled. She quickly blinked several times, clearing her eyes.

"No; I wasn't crying. Why would I cry? I'm just nervous," she defended. I knew she was lying but I let it go. It wasn't any of my business anyways. I shrugged.

"Kick off of the ground into a hover," I instructed. I wouldn't let her go any higher than a few feet without fixing her position, but I needed to see exactly how afraid she was of that broom before I tried to get her to actually use it. She took a broken breath, and her knuckles turned white on the broom stick. I waited patiently for her to continue, and a few seconds later, she pushed off the ground. She was only three or four inches off the ground when she let out an ear-shattering scream. Panicked, I rushed and pulled her off the broom. She was hyperventilating and clinging to my jumper.

"Granger! Granger, calm down," I demanded now that my panic was gone. This whole situation was starting to make the harsh feeling in my chest return, and I was getting more uncomfortable by the minute. She seemed to return to normal as quickly as she'd started panicking, and I separated her from my person.

"I'm sorry about that," she said feebly. I nodded as an acceptance.

"Shall we continue?" I asked, motioning to the broom. She didn't look any less nervous, but she grabbed the broom again anyways. "Just sit on it again," I instructed. Once she was seated, I explained to her what it was that I was going to do so I didn't get hexed into the next century.

"I'm going to position your hips, which means I will have to touch you. Don't hit me." She looked at me hesitantly, but nodded anyways. I was starting to become unsettled by her silence, as I'd never known her to be so quiet. "Can you give me some sort of verbal acceptance of what I just said?" I asked, sarcasm seeping through my voice. To my surprise, she snorted.

"Go ahead. I promise I won't bite," she repeated my earlier words with a forced smirk. I would have been annoyed if I hadn't have known it was fake bravado and she was about to break down in tears.

A/N: I want to thank my betas DustNight25832 and Ms. Jane Doe for helping me out tremendously. I'd also like to thank all of my lovely reviewers: CarlitaM, Twizard2013, Arangogirl, BrightestWitchOfHerAge16, Snapesbloodredneko. Thanks to everyone who liked/favorited. I also want to thank everyone for their patience, even though it was only a couple of days.

Please let me know what you think in a review? Thank you for reading!

On a side note, are you a member of the Bro Army? (If you don't know what that is, then the answer is probably no.)