a/n: Thank you all for the favs and follows! Glad to know that some of you seem interessted in the story! Any guesses where this is going? And this is my first sunday-chapter - I made it in time (well here it is shortly after midnight so I still have a lot time left). Suprising for those who know me, I know. And I can also assure you that the next chapter will be in time, too. Lots of love!

Day 120 since Zabinis arrival

Nothing exciting had happened in the past two weeks. Nott had not reported any new fights, but he had spoken very little in general. Hermione could hear him and Zabini arguing often, mostly over Zabini's arm. It didn't seem to heal well.

"The wound does not close," Zabini reported on day one hundred and twenty neutral. Already in the last few days he didn't seem to be particularly interested in the wound and Hermione wondered if he was taking care of his arm. Probably not, because Nott used to scold a lot.

"Where's the bandage? Did you take off the bandage? Damn it, why did you take off the bandage?" Nott shouted angry. Hermione had leaned against the door to understand them better. But what Zabini said next, she didn't hear, and so she pressed her right ear firmly to the door.

"Shit, can't you see the wound isn't healing?", Nott hissed.

"The bone stays in," said Zabini.

"We're going to run out of murtlap-essence, damn it."

"Then you'll have to go get some. Harvest, steal, buy, what do I know?" suggested Zabini and Hermione could practically hear him shrugging his shoulders. That made Nott angry and he threw one of the chairs over.

"Fuck, man. Fuck!" Nott shouted upset and Hermione could hear him running through the room, not stopping and she was sure he was grabbing his hair.

"Don't shout."

"Shut the fuck up." But Nott no longer seemed angry, more absorbed in thoughts. Surely, he was thinking about how he could get more murtlap-essence – or better still dittany for the wound and skele-gro for the bone. She was sure he hadn't really grown together yet. "I'm thinking."

"You can do that?"

"Asshole"

"I know." Zabini grinned, Hermione could basically hear it.

"The market is open today," Nott said and then the steps stopped. He had stopped walking. "But I don't have any gold."

"You haven't had any gold for weeks," said Zabini. "You steal, Nott, in case you haven't forgotten. You're a thief, and only if you're lucky you meet Daphne, who gives you something. Or Pansy. But Pansy's not nice enough to help you. You know how she is..." Hermione found the conversation a little more interesting. Nott and Zabini hardly ever talked about other former Slytherins, Death Eaters or acquaintances. "She's one of them, isn't she?" Nott didn't answer, but Hermione assumed he was nodding.

So Pansy Parkinson was a Death Eater. What else did Hermione expect? Well, Nott and Zabini were here, not fighting on the side of the Dark Lord, and stealing from the people they were supposed to be friends with. Because Nott and Zabini didn't want to be Death Eaters. At least Nott didn't, Hermione knew that.

At some point, he had told her why she was here. It must have been around day 40, just a few days before he tortured her to fainting. Nott had come to her in the dark room and had placed a tray of food on the floor in front of her. He had been very tired, Hermione remembered that well. He had had some small wounds on his face and the faint light from the door gap had allowed her to see patches on his fingers. To this day, she didn't know what had happened to him, but it was not uncommon for him to get hurt. After that, she saw him several times with small wounds on his hands, arms, and face. She never felt sorry for him.

He had told her how she got here.

Nott had pulled her into one of the open fireplaces in the Ministry and had appeared somewhere by floo. Hermione didn't know where, didn't know what happened after that. She had lost consciousness – whether through tiredness, pain, or a shock spell she didn't know. Nott said she should be grateful to him. He said he saved her life. The first time he told her, she had spit in his face.

"Fuck!" he had shouted at the time. "Stop it! Stop or you'll be tortured!" Hermione would have liked to have said "do it", but she had been silenced and could only stare at him, collect more spit in her mouth and prepare for her next attack. "You need me, and I need you. So, listen carefully. You're gonna act the way I want you to, and you're gonna do what I say. When we leave this hole in a few weeks and go to the Order, you're gonna say exactly what I told you before. That's all. If you behave correctly, you can go back to your friends."

Hermione could still remember how confused she had been. She had not understood anything, had sat in front of Nott, and looked at him in amazement. Nott had given a bitter laugh.

"You fucking mudblood, you don't understand anything. Nothing!" Nott had laughed. His voice had been scarily hollow, had hurt Hermine's ears and caused her headaches. "I want to join the Order. I want to join the Order. Fuck, I want to be part of the Order. We're going to Grimmauldplace, you and me. Yeah, I know where they are, fuck, I've been tracking your little friends for the past few weeks. They're so fucking obvious, I wonder how no one's ever found them. We're going there, and I'm going to trade you for protection. They have to protect me, fuck."

Hermione had her eyes wide open and her hands clenched in fists. Nott knew where Harry and Ron were. It was not allowed to be true; it was simply not allowed to. And Hermione didn't understand why Nott wanted the protection of the Order. She didn't understand it until today. He could just go back to the Death Eaters. They would certainly welcome him with his name, one of the twenty-eight, into their ranks. But Nott didn't want to go to the Death Eaters, which Hermione might have understood on the day Nott told her about his plan, but in time she understood it even more. Nott seemed to loathe the Death Eaters.

They had never gone to Grimmauldplace. Just a few days after Nott tortured Hermione to fainting, he told her that the Death Eaters had found the Order's house and blown it up. No one had been home except Kreacher.

Nott had been incredibly angry and had not given her anything to eat for two days. After that, he had never spoken of his plan again, but Hermione knew that he was still searching for the new location of the Order. Hopefully Harry and the others had learned to be more careful, Hermione thought. At first, she thought Nott had betrayed them, but now she had rejected the theory. Nott wanted to be part of the Order. He would never destroy his mission by telling one of his Death Eater friends about Grimmauldplace.

Hermione had been secretly waiting for almost three hundred days for the moment when Nott would come into her room and tell her that they would now leave and go to the Order. But the moment did not seem to come, and Hermione lost hope.

"From what I've heard it seems so," Nott said and Zabini grunted quietly. "Fucking Death Eaters." There it was again; Proof that Nott was different from what Hermione had expected in the first few days here in this room. It didn't make him any better in her eyes. Nott made use of the Crutiatus.

"It's probably because of her father," Zabini said.

"You have a Death Eater father, too, Blaise," Nott hissed. "And you're here anyway."

"You know Palmatius, he-"

"Stop apologizing for their behavior, for Salazar's sake! It's Pansy's decision, and she's fucking made up her mind! Fuck man, we can't help her anymore either," Nott said angrily and then the steps started again. He ran through the room again, first to the table, then past the sofa until just outside the door.

"That's alright."

"Nothing's fucking alright," Nott moaned. "I have to be fucking careful when I'm out there. The shitty disillusionment spells don't work anymore because of those fucking control spells. So, I can't even change my appearance or make myself invisible. That makes everything a thousand times harder. Fuck, Blaise."

"I know. Keep your head down and don't act conspicuously."

"As if your tips would help me. You were fucking recognized the last time you were out. Because of your fucking carelessness, I almost had to chop off your arm." Blaise didn't answer. "I bet Pansy told the assholes about me when she saw me. I'm sure that's why the control spell exists."

"The control spell isn't just about you, Theo."

"I know."

Control spells. Control spells were meant to uncover spells. Gringotts had put control spells on their doors to see when thieves would come who had changed their appearance polyjuice potion or magic. They were complicated but incredibly helpful spells, especially in times like these.

"I'll take your coat, okay?" Nott asked.

"Don't you think a coat would be a little conspicuous? It's April."

"It's raining, I was just upstairs this morning," Nott said grimly. "I'll take your coat." Hermione heard Nott go to the sofa and push it aside. Then it was quiet, there was a quiet squeak for a moment and then Hermione lay down on the floor. She was alone. Zabini never spoke to her. Probably Nott told him not to.

She started her exercises. Mostly she only did sit-ups but today she also included a few push-ups in her program. She did the exercises until she collapsed tired and curled up on the floor. Then she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she heard her stomach growling. Nott hadn't brought her any food today.

Hermione crawled to the door and pressed her ear to the wood. Nott didn't seem to be back yet, or he was asleep, for it was very quiet; No conversations or footsteps were heard. Both Nott and Zabini were silent sleepers.

Hermione banged on the door and she was frightened by the noise. Nothing happened. Perhaps Zabini looked at the door waiting. Maybe he wasn't there either.

"Wake up!" Hermione said. "I'm hungry." No answer. She lay down on the floor in front of the door. She waited five minutes before banging on the door again. "Nott! It's probably already evening." Still no answer. Nott wasn't home.

But then Hermione heard footsteps and sat up. Through the gap under the door she could see the soles of Zabini's shoes and moved away a bit from the door. Then nothing happened again, and the soles disappeared. Hermione was almost disappointed, but she had expected nothing else.

Hermione heard it ringing, then there was a quiet bang. The soles reappeared at the door gap. Zabini opened the door and Hermione was surprised to keep her hand in front of her eyes, so as not to be blinded by the light from the room behind the door. Surprised and with her eyes folded, she looked up to Zabini. He bent down and placed a tray of food in front of Hermione.

"I don't know if Theo will be back today. It's already after eleven," Zabini said. "I don't know if Theo is coming back at all." Zabini didn't seem too disturbed by the thought that his friend might have been captured or killed. He had probably come to terms with this idea a long time ago. "What will I do with you if Theo doesn't come back?" He didn't expect an answer from Hermione, and she didn't give him any

Zabini opened the door completely and Hermione snapped her eyes even closer. For several seconds she was blind, and her eyes were burning.

"You could let me go," Hermione said, but even as she spoke, she knew this would not happen. Although Zabini was the more sensitive of the two former Slytherins, he was still Zabini, former Slytherin.

"Granger, you know the only place Theo and I are safe. I can't let you go."

"I won't say anything, I promise."

"How are you going to find your little friends? They've spread all over the country. Before you find Saint Potter, the Death Eaters will have you and torture you for information. You tell them where I'm hiding, and I'm fucked. I'm sure I won't let you go." Unfortunately, Zabini was right. Hermione didn't know where Harry and Ron, Ginny, Luna, and everyone else were. They were well hidden. "And if Theo does come at some point, he'll behead me if I let you go."

"What if he's not back in two days?" asked Hermione, but her tone was not very hopeful.

"No, Granger. Eat." Hermione looked at the tray. A glass of water, two slices of bread, one of them the crust and an apple, which was already brown in some places. She assumed that Nott had to buy not only potions, but also food. "And after that – sleep."

"I just slept," Hermione said dryly. "How's your arm?" Zabini showed her his wounded arm. The wound shone and Hermione swallowed. That didn't look good. Zabini needed dittany as soon as possible, otherwise his arm might decay.

"Shit, right? But the bone stays in and the pain is not so bad anymore." Hermione only nodded and then turned her gaze away. She picked up the bread crust and nibbled on it a little. "The wound will close soon." Hermione didn't really know. She wasn't medically skilled, but it didn't look good for Zabini's arm.

Zabini watched her eat a slice of bread and half of the apple. Then he left the room and closed the door behind him, but Hermione did not hear the click with which Nott always locked the door. She wasn't locked in. But she didn't get up, didn't run through the door, and didn't overpower Zabini. Although his arm was injured, Hermione would not win a fight. She didn't have a wand, he did. Besides, she didn't know where the exit was. After analysing the conversations between Nott and Zabini over the past few days, she had come to the conclusion that it must have been a trapdoor. That would also explain why there were no windows here – they were in a bunker, underground.

Hermione sat quietly on the floor and ate her food, then drank the glass of water, which magically filled four more times. Her fluid intake was too low. Of course, she didn't eat enough, but that was the smaller problem. Nevertheless, she noticed how her body had changed. She had never really been curvy in any case, but now her arms and legs were like young trees with their thin, delicate trunks. After all, Hermione tried to maintain a few muscles by doing her exercises.

And because she was so worried about her condition, she decided to do more sit-ups.

It couldn't have been a quarter of an hour before there was a loud bang and then a scream, rumbled words, and curses. Nott was back. Hermione recognized his voice at once and his use of insults was unmistakable.

"Shit! Man, fuck, Blaise, what the hell! What the hell, you bastard? What are you standing there?"

"Shut up, man. You can't decide where I stand. What the-"

"Don't say anything!" Hermione had pressed her ear firmly against the wood of the door again listened.

"You fucking fell on me. Maybe you first check to see if someone is under the door before you come in."

"Excuse me." A strange voice. Hermione didn't know who it was. The voice was that of a girl, soft and with a small sigh at the end of the word.

"Don't fucking apologize," Nott said.

"No, it's nice that she apologized, Theo," Zabini chuckled.

"Salazar, you're acting like children."

"What's she doing here?" Zabini asked. Hermione could hear the girl snorting. "It's not safe."

"It's safe," Nott said confidently.

"You've seen her what? - three times outside and she fed you twice? And you think she's on our side? Theo, she's a Greengrass. Does the name mean nothing to you anymore?" Hermione breathed in loudly. Daphne Greengrass. Blurred, she remembered the Greengrass girl with dark hair and bright eyes. When Hermione was in first grade, she found the Greengrass very pretty.

"Your name is fucking Zabini! And?" Nott shouted angrily. Zabini did not respond to Nott's comment, which seemed to make the latter particularly angry. "I'm Theodore fucking Nott and I don't want to be a Death Eater and Daphne's a fucking Greengrass and she doesn't want to be a Death Eater. Why do you trust me, but not her, you bastard?"

"Stop calling me a bastard, Theo. Do you even know what that means?"

"Of course, I know what that means, you bastard."

"Salazar, Theo," Greengrass sighed, and Hermione almost couldn't understand her. "Calm down."

"I don't want to calm down."

"Salazar, Theo. I'm not going to send her away, I can't even do that. She knows where we are now, so she has to stay here too," Zabini said. "But she can't go out."

"I'm not telling anyone anything, Blaise," Greengrass said. "You moron really think I'm one of them, don't you? No, never. Not after they hanged Lucius at the Manor last week. Astoria saw it and told me about it. I don't think there was a reason for the murder. The Dark Lord just felt like it." Well, that was a new piece of information Hermione stored. Lucius was probably Lucius Malfoy, a high-ranked Death Eater. Former Death Eater.

"Lucius is dead?" Zabini asked in disbelief.

"Astoria told me exactly how his neck cracked," said Greengrass coolly. "He's certainly dead. And since I don't want the same thing to happen to me and everything that's been happening at the Manor lately is garbage anyway, I tried to find Theo. And I found him. I want security, Blaise, not betrayal or war."

"What about Astoria?" Zabini asked. "She's your little darling, you never let her out of your sight."

"Toria has been brainwashed," Greengrass snorted. "She follows father everywhere and idolizes the Dark Lord. I can't help her anymore." Hermione was shocked how sober Greengrass told everything that was going on. It was as if she was unaffected by the war and its aftermath.

"I'm sorry for you, Daphne." That was the first time Hermione heard Nott apologize.

"You're not serious, Theo. You've never been able to like Toria."

"She's a cheeky goer," said Nott.

"So, she doesn't know about us and your escape plan, Daphne?" Zabini asked.

"No," said Greengrass. Zabini did not answer, perhaps shrugged his shoulders, or nodded; Hermione didn't know.

"Well, Lucius is dead," Nott directed the conversation back to him. "What a shame." His voice was full of sarcasm.

"You liked him when we were kids," said Zabini.

"I was a stupid kid and I liked him because I had to fucking like him in order to be friends with Draco – oh shit, how's Draco?"

"I don't know," said Greengrass. "I haven't seen him for almost a month, but he didn't look too good already. It's all very heavy on him."

"Salazar, why does he have to be such a fucking daddy's boy?", Nott hissed.

Hermione had almost forgotten the existence of Draco Malfoy – or rather repressed it. The blonde boy with the pale skin and the cold eyes had made her school time hell. Well, he had at least tried, because over time she had learned to fight back. The punch she gave him in third grade had been the peak of the Granger-Malfoy enmity, and Ron made sure that the moment was not forgotten. Hermione wondered if Ron was still making as many jokes as he used to.

"What's he like?" Zabini asked. "I mean, you know ... he said that he ..."

"He got the mark, Blaise," Greengrass said bluntly. "Three, almost four months ago, shortly after you disappeared. He was broken. He's still broken. The Dark Lord's duties are terrible. I don't know exactly what Draco has to do, but it's destroying him."

"Fuck!" Nott shouted and then there was a loud noise. A chair had flown against the wall and this time Hermione was pretty sure that a leg had fallen off. Then it was quiet for a few seconds.

"So, it's just this room?" Greengrass asked, but then her gaze must have fallen on the door to Hermione's room. Hermione did not move, sat silently in front of the tray on the floor and waited. "What's behind the door?" Hermione heard Greengrass' footsteps, which were much easier than those of Nott and Zabini. "What's behind it?"

"No, Daphne!" But Greengrass had already opened the door and the light flooded Hermine's room. "Why wasn't the door locked, Blaise? Why wasn't it locked? Fuck, man, fuck!"

"I brought her food when you didn't come back. It took you so long."

"Daphne stopped me, damn it, and we had to hide in between. Why didn't you lock the door? "

"I forgot!"

"What the hell, Theo. What did you do? Is that Granger?" Greengrass asked panicky as she looked down at Hermione, who looked up with her eyes clasped. No one answered her. Hermione, who by now got used to the light quite quickly, could see that Nott and Zabini gave each other hesitant glances. "Is that Granger, for fuck's sake?"

"Yes," Zabini said and Nott moaned.

"You could've lied, man. Look at her! She looks shitty, you hardly recognize her." Hermine's hands reached into her hair, then into her face. Did she really look that different? She hadn't been able to see herself in the mirror for months. Appearance had never been important to her, but it would disturb her immensely if Nott had disfigured her.

"No one lies to me!" Greengrass hissed and then assessed Hermione. "How long have you had her here, Theo? Salazar, how did you get her here in the first place? People think she's seriously ill or even dead. There's a bounty on her – twenty thousand gallons. Hell of a lot."

"I've had her here since the beginning," said Nott. "I dragged her out of the Ministry."

"So, it's true? That you really only went to the Ministry to take a hostage? People talk about you, Theo. There are some guesses that you have her" Greengrass said. "So, you weren't there to fight?"

"Who am I supposed to fight for, Daphne? Nobody wants me." Zabini muttered something and Greengrass nodded.

"She doesn't have any furniture," Greengrass remarked. "You don't have a bath at all. Will you let her go out when she needs to go to the bathroom?" Zabini shook his head. Hermione felt like an animal in a zoo. Dirty and stupid.

"If she... does it, then it disappears. I have enchanted the floor," Nott said slightly ashamed.

"Oh, Theo! I could cut your head off – how can you be so inhuman? And she's supposed to help you? Hermine Granger, the girl who had to live in her own shit because of you, is supposed to put in a good word for you at the Order. Are you crazy?" Nott had told Greengrass about his plan and this gave Hermione hope that he might eventually find the Order and be she would able to join her friends. "Get up, Granger." And Hermione got up. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt an uncanny confidence in Daphne Greengrass. When she stood up, she stroked her sweater, which smelled disgusting. She hadn't even washed herself since she was here. Greengrass also smelled the stench, turned her nose, and spelled Hermione's clothes cleanly. It felt incredibly good. Hermione felt as clean as never before, although this was not true.

"What are you doing, Daphne?" Nott asked unsettled.

"She sleeps on the sofa with me," Greengrass said confidently. "And tomorrow we'll go upstairs and wash up. Don't talk back." And there was no talking back.

a/n: There will be more on Daphne in the next chapter. I'm excited to hear what you think about her.