It was a horrible night; rain as heavy as the burden on Draco Malfoy's shoulders. Somewhere in the distance the death eater could hear thunder rumbling across the hills and he counted the seconds between each clap; it was definitely getting closer. That would at least give him an excuse to finish his patrolling and head back to Edinburgh castle, or at least that was the plan until he saw movement down an alleyway, nothing overly suspicious; people walked down alleyways all the time, however in this instance he had felt like someone had been watching him for the last half an hour at least, matching his route around the city. With that he held his wand a little tighter moving toward the alley, the light only getting darker the further in he went. All of a sudden a mutter of breath and a slight hand movement was enough to warn him of the spell that flew toward his head.

Soon enough, Draco was firing spell after spell at the attacker, trying to see their face but it was useless, the hood of their robes made it all but impossible. He wandered for a moment whether he should call for back up but his conscience and sense told him not too; this was a member of the resistance and if they were high up they were valuable to him. Not valuable in the sense that their capture would get him in Voldemort's good books, but valuable in the way that they could get him away from Voldemort, away from the hell he had always lived in. He realised now,as he narrowly ducked a stinging hex, that his plan was far easier said then done and with a sharp intake of breath he darted out from the wall he was using as a cover, hands held high, body tense waiting for a spell to hit him that could be his last. It was silent for too long, or maybe that it was the seconds felt like hours when you were the one dancing with the devil.

"Malfoy?" An old yet familiar voice rung out into the darkness. A light emerged next followed by the sound of hesitant footsteps as they grew closer "Don't move...Drop your wand" They demanded; the instruction only caused him to naturally clutch his wand tighter and he hesitated a moment. He couldn't just hand himself over here and now, look like he was easily giving up; Voldemort's right hand man wouldn't do that and if it was found out that he had practically surrendered at the drop of a hat then his name would be top of the hit list. In the blink of an eye, he dropped his wand but instantly muttered a wandless spell that grazed the leg of the girl in front of him. Her reaction was impressively quick, but not quick enough and she staggered back a little from the force and the pain it flared up. With that Draco lunged forward grabbing her arm, he didn't want to give her enough time to get out of here, and apparated them away.

*Hermione POV*

The whole thing felt like a whirlwind and she didn't know how her evening had started with a mission to track the usual route of the head death eater to end with her currently being dragged into Edinburgh castle, her vision currently impaired and a severe limp from her leg wound. She sucked in a breath as another shooting pain ran up her leg and Draco's vice grip only tightened even more around her wrist.

"Shut up, Granger" He whispered and she heard another door open and he dragged her in before gently closing the door behind them, muttering various incantations to lock and silence the room. The minutes before he spoke felt like hours to Hermione; she could feel the hairs that were raised on her back, the short and shallow rhythm of her breathing and her blood humming in her veins, fear running through them. "Don't do anything crazy" Was all he muttered as her vision began returning, specks of light filling the smuggy black. It took a few minutes and a lot of blinking before she could see clearly again and she found herself, knelt on a dark emerald rug in a room darkened due to the curtains with the occasionaly stripe of sunlight making it round the corners of the materials. The room was rather sparse and the everything was either green, black or silver. The bed in the corner screamed high status and forest green curtains fell around the sides of the four poster.

She dared a look at the Blonde man stood in front of her, his eyes stoic and cold, hand tightly grippping his wand and she bristled slightly "Where the hell am I?" She hissed, although she was rather certain that she was currently in Draco Malfoy's bedroom.

"My room" he replied shortly, watching as she attempted to stand which only resulted in her hissing in pain and reluctantly siting back down and instead reach for where her wand should be.

"I've taken it" He informed and her dark doe eyes flashed to his instantly, a look of thunder crossing her features

"You better start talking, Malfoy" she snarled.

"I'm on your side" he said. It was said so quietly that Hermione was certain she had in fact misheard and it took a few minutes for her mind to process.

"What?" She replied stupidly and received a scoff in return as the blonde man rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Granger, you're not that stupid. I said I was on your side" He replied simply and she narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head and throwing her arms up a little in frustration.

"Yes, I know what you said but what do you mean? You can't stand there telling me you're on my side when you just snatched me, injured me and now have me locked in your bedroom within Malfoy Manor with Merlin knows how many death eaters below us. Not to mention the countless innocent people you have killed, my friends you had murdered just so you could keep being Voldemort's little pet. Those are not actions of someone who is on my side" She sneered. Malfoy moved quickly shoving her against the book case, which shook slightly at the force and the impact left her winded. She didn't let it show as she matched Draco's glower.

"I did what I had to to survive, Granger. Get off your fucking high horse; we've all killed, Just because the people you killed weren't innocent didn't mean they didn't have a family who loved them, who they were trying to protect" He pointed out, taking a deep breath and letting her go, stepping back and running a hand through his impeccably kept hair. "It can't go on like this. I've been doing what I'm doing for years, protecting myself, protecting my family in this Kill or be killed life. I've been waiting for you and Potty and Weasel to actually do something, but all you've done is squirreled under ground and done fuck all. Your occasional killing of a death eater or blowing up of a ministry building barely does anything to Voldemort" He explained, not leaving any room fro her to speak. Not that it mattered anyway because Hermione was having an internal debate about whether to trust him or if this was all some grand scheme to take out the resistance once and for all. She knew some of his words had truth; the resistance was barely affecting Voldemort and his reign of terror, they were the equivalent to a small fly that occasionally buzzed around you until you easily swatted them away. It wasn't like they weren't trying, it was just that few people wanted to even think of assisting the resistance in fear of being found out. "So, I've got to do something. I can't keep waiting for you guys to do something, I want to make a proposition; I'm the dark Lord's right hand man, there's barely anything I don't know about the ins and outs of the death eaters and I can act as a mole" He offered, raising an eyebrow at her as she continued to remain silent.

"How can I even trust you, Malfoy? I know how much of a reward you would get for handing me in, for being the death eater that captured one of the golden trio, you only ever work to get somethig out of it and youLd get far more out ofhanding me to Voldemort than you would from acting as a double agent and putting your life on the line. I know you, Malfoy, you're a coward you wouldn't put a cause like the DA before your life"

"The fact you are sat in my quarters, with your vision and largely your health, rather than downstairs in the drawing room with them torturing you before being chucked in the dungeons, proves exactly why you should trust me. Just having you in here, hiding you rather than taking you straight to Voldemort, would result, in the very least, my torture if not my death" He pointed out. She continued to stare at him, processing what he said and when she didn't respond, he let out a frustrated huff and ran a hand through his hair. "Look Granger, We've all changed in this war. I'm not the boy I was at Hogwarts. Like I said, this has gone on too long, I've realised its time to stop being a coward and actually fight for what I want"

"Why did you bring me here then?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. They won't look for you right under their noses, it wouldn't make any sense for Hermione Granger to just be camped out in Malfoy Manor" He pointed out. "And I can't let you go back to the DA yet. I need your help in getting them to accept me, because do you really think that if you just reappeared back at the base after going missing, with Draco Malfoy in tow it wouldn't result in them thinking you're under the Imperius and they won't Avada me where i stand?" He said, grabbing multiple potions before turning back toward her "Besides you're injured and that will need fixing"

Hermione remained quiet again and she could tell by his occasional cussing and sighing that it was beginning to irritate him.

"Your silence is unnnerving, you were never this quiet at school" He muttered, walking toward and reaching for her in a gentle manner that she didn't associate with a Malfoy. She instinctively flinched away, on the defensive immediately and that only cause another series of swear words to escape his lips "Merlin, Granger, I'm not going to hurt you. Don't be stupid, it doesn't suit you" he stated, slipping one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders lifting her up.

It felt beyond surreal to be in the arms of Draco Malfoy. It was much more comforting than she would ever like to admit and over the recent years he had grown into his lankiness and had a modest amount of muscle. She winced in pain as her leg was jostled a little, her shock from the fight, the injury and the capture beginnning to wear off and making her aware of the injuries she had sustained. He placed her down with an elegance and grace that no death eater should possess. The pillows that surrounded her next were so inviting that she found herself having to fight to keep her eyeslids open. She was only partly aware of Draco busying himself with fixing her up "Rest Granger, You're going to need your wit about you for the next few days" He commented quietly and probably for the first time in Hermione Granger's life she actually listened to Malfoy.

Hey everyone,This is my first Dramione fanfic and my first fanfic since I was about 13/14, so 6 years is a long time to go not writing. Therefore i apologise for any spelling/grammar mistakes i make. Especially grammar mistakes, because i'm awful with grammar. Any comments and suggestions and whatnot would be greatly appreciated.I have a rough idea of where i want this to go, but for now I'm just letting this take me wherever the wind blows!Have a snazzy day !x!Long-Hair-Dont-Care