Summary - Hermione is injured in the first few weeks of the war months and remains stuck at Grimmauld Place, which has also become the place of refuge for misplaced magic folk.

When Harry and Ron bring home a Death Eater prisoner and task Hermione with the care of them, she finds it one of the most difficult tasks for her to complete.

Why?

"I just want to know one thing" he began, causing her to retreat and shake her head. "How could you look at me the way you do? How can you come down here every day and look into my eyes with such... Such... Indifference?" he continued. She closed her eyes, knowing where this was going. This was the thing she had feared. This was the reason why she had agreed to silencio him. To keep him from speaking to her. There was so much that no one else knew. So much that only he knew. So much that she didn't want him to say out loud, because then it made it all real.

"Have you forgotten everything? Don't you remember anything at ALL? How could you forget?" he went on. "How could you just..."

"YES! Yes, yes, ok, yes I remember, Merlin be damned, of course I remember. How could I forget? You were my tormentor for years, Malfoy" She cried out.

"But then?" he asked.

"But then..." she breathed.

"Hermione…" he whispered, gripping the bars with his long fingers.

She looked at his fingers on the bars and her own hands twitched as she held them was still as she could. Her first name on his lips sounded foreign but as soon as he said it, it sent her spiralling back to the year before, when things were very different. When she was different and certainly when he was different too.

Hermione made her way down the stairs of Grimmauld Place, beyond the basement kitchen, beyond the damp basement storage room, through a metal door and into the dimly lit cellar.

She had stopped actively hunting Horcurxes when she had been injured. She didn't think it was necessary, but since she began her relationship with Ron, he had insisted on keeping her safe.

So much had changed in just the short few months since death eaters, disguised as ministry officials, stormed Bill and Fleur's wedding.

They had fled to Grimmauld place and had slowly been joined by Remus & Tonks, Tonk's mum Andromeda and her husband Ted, Dean Thomas, the Creevy brothers and Dobby, as well as others who would stop by often, like the Weasleys and random Order members.

The house had been cleaned and cleared of dark magic, and as the weeks wore on, rooms were added with a spell similar to the one used to create wizarding tents. The first time she walked down the hallway after it had been altered was a bizarre experience to say the least. There were now at least a dozen doors that stood no more than a few inches apart, however when you entered, the space was the size of a very generous sized bedroom, each with its own attached bathroom. Having been taught the spell by Andromeda, she used it on the first floor to create a library, a meeting room, a makeshift medical room and a second living area. The ground floor contained the main living space, a small drawing room and a bathroom while the kitchen, dining areas and brewing room were in the first basement level.

Hermione had initially been tasked with hiding the parents of muggle born witches and wizards, in much the same way as she had done with her own. She had successfully hidden Mr and Mrs Creevy, however, upon her return to their house to collect some sentimentals, she had been attacked and barely made it out with her life. It was then that Ron realised how much he cared for her and doted on her day and night throughout her recovery, till eventually, they shared their first kiss and fell into an easy romance.

The hunt for the Horcruxes had been arduous, to say the least. While Hermione was recovering, Harry and Ron had been working on strategies to find them, or at least figure out what they were. So far, with the help of Dobby and Kreachure, they had been able to locate and retrieve the real locket; just.

That was only half the battle, though. The locket had proven impossible to destroy; the three of them, plus anyone who happened to pop by tried every method that they could come up with, all kinds of spells, some that boardered on dark, even, yet it remained intact, exuding its dark energy. Hermione had researched and researched and come up with very little. She eventually hypothesised that the sword, which was impregnated with Basilisk venom, would do the job, but that just added another item to the lists of things they had to find.

With so much time on her hands, Hermione quickly became skilled at many things. The Order had started looking to her as their potion's maker, their medi-witch and their all around problem solver. The days where Harry and Ron would go searching for the sword or for clues about the Horcruxes, Hermione would stay back and study so that they could be ready for whatever was to come.

It was late in the afternoon one day when there was a commotion at the front door of the townhouse. Hermione had been brewing in basement with her wand in her hair when she heard the sound. She quickly placed a stasis charm on the pain potion and ran up the stairs, to find Harry and Ron wrestling a third unknown individual into submission.

"Hermione, immobilise him, quick" came shouts from Ron, who had his knee in the upper back of the individual whose cloak was now up over their head. She pointed her wand at the person on the ground and wordlessly immobilised them without knowing who on earth they had brought back.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" she asked, brushing the hair from her face.

Ron stood and kissed her temple, smiling down at her from his height.

"We caught a death eater" he said, puffing out his chest.

"Not just any death eater" Harry said, looking down at the bundle of black robes on the floor.

Hermione frowned at the idea of having a death eater anywhere near her, however, she was confident in her magic, so knew that he was not going to move.

"Who did you get?" she asked, as she bent down and pulled the robes down from the head of the person.

She quickly jumped back when she saw who it was, the unmistakable platinum blonde hair, the perfectly tailored robes.

"Malfoy!?" she gasped, a little too loud as she jumped back and looked from Harry to Ron and back again.

"Yeah, well, it was a fluke really, long story but Harry thought to grab him and apparated us both here so we can try and get some information out of him. You know You-Know-Who is living at Malfoy's place?" Ron said.

"Ron, I don't know about this" she said, looking down at the back of Malfoy's head. He was still immobile on the floor lying face down. He was perfectly harmless, but Hermione knew that having him there could only be bad.

"Mione, I thought that we could set him up down in the cellar, keep him quiet till we need him. That way he won't say anything to you when you have to tend to him" Ron said as he put his arm around her tiny frame.

"Tend to him?" she asked.

"Well we can't very well let him starve, can we?" Ron said.

"No, I suppose we can't" she said quietly, staring down at the person she realised was now her captive. If she survived this, she was now guilty of kidnapping.

AN- Welcome back to my current work in progress. I don't like having them, I don't like having an update schedule. I will update three times in one day then not again for a week. So... Enjoy.