It was cold.

The dark cell was a prison just like the limits of her body that were physically being pushed. She needed time to heal, and she wasn't getting it. Lucius was coming more and more, and in what seemed like only hours he was back. Narcissa had tried to come back to Hermione, but Lucius had cut her off at the door and told her to go back to her room.

As the rusty hinges of the iron door opened again, Hermione didn't even look up. She knew who it was.

"Miss Granger, it is rude not to acknowledge someone when they enter a room." Lucius' drawl was just like Draco's except his was pure hatred. Hermione closed her eyes, willing herself to lift her heavy head. She did so, and Lucius looked surprised.

"When someone worth acknowledging comes in, I'll make sure to stand up." She said quietly, meeting Lucius' dark gaze.

"Do you think you are brave?"
"No." Hermione closed her eyes briefly. Harry, think of Harry.

"Do you think your precious Harry Potter is brave?" Lucius said, smiling when Hermione's eyes snapped open with a look of fear across her face. She took a deep breath and answered slowly.

            "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he has courage. Unlike you. Unlike Voldemort."

Lucius laughed bitterly, shaking his head in mock concern.

"Courage. What is courage compared to power?"

"Power corrupts." Hermione retorted quickly.

"So does courage. Have you ever thought about just how 'brave' your hero is?"

"He is brave." He was trying to make her mad, he was trying to get to do something. She wouldn't do it. Not for him...if not for her own sake, then she would be strong for Harry. Draco had done it...she could too.

"You know every time that he has been pronounced a hero it was really just a game to him. He knew about the sorcerer's stone, he knew about the chamber of secrets and Voldemort and he fraternized with a murderer. Or did you think that he just stumbled upon those facts? He planned each and every incident. It's a hero complex."

"Harry is brave." She heard every word he said, and it sunk into her like venom. It's not true. He's lying to you.

"You don't believe me?" Lucius seemed to be proud of himself when Hermione didn't answer right away, but waited to see what she would say.

Hermione focused on the stone behind Lucius' head, daring herself to loose strength and pass out. Darkness was seeping into her vision, but she pushed it away. Think of something else, she commanded herself. Hogwarts, a History: Chapter One...what was chapter one? She couldn't remember, the fog on her senses was taking control of her mind.

"What about Draco?"

Hermione unwillingly took her attention away from the stone and looked a Lucius. How did he know about her and Draco? Lucius saw the movement and sneered.

"I know what is going on." He said, as if giving an answer to her. Hermione felt sick, like she might throw up. Not an option. Defeat is not an option.

"It's really too bad Draco will arrive here too late to save his precious mudblood girlfriend."

"I don't care if I die." Hermione lied, a small wave of warmth running through her arms and legs. "You should though."
"Oh really?" Lucius looked amused, and Hermione silently calculated how long he had been there. A few minutes at most, but definitely the longest he had been in the cell and not beaten her...If only she could keep him talking...

"Unlike you, I'm not afraid." Hermione said, trying her best not to let her smarting eyes take away from the pain it was to talk. Every word was excruciating on her lips which were cut and already bleeding. Use it. Use the pain.

"Afraid?" Lucius snorted and looked down at Hermione. "How old are you?"

Hermione was taken aback by the question. Was he on to her?

"I'm 16."

"Yes, well, mudblood, I'm much older. I've seen things you only have nightmares about, and I have lived to tell the tale. I can tell by the way your eyes are shining that your in pain. You have no idea what pain is."

"Draco does. You made sure he did."

"Yes, and I'm proud of it." Lucius said, his eyes flashing with some sort of hidden emotion. Hermione took it and added to the feeling of hope growing inside of her, sending a small shiver down her spine.

"Do you like power?" Hermione asked, hoping he would not hit her. He did not register any emotion on his face but instead looked down at Hermione. "You must."

"I will ask the questions mudblood." Lucius said and Hermione inwardly knew she was gaining even more.

"You think you have power with Voldemort, don't you. But you don't. You think that I am the one with the misconstrued ideas of who people are? You are the one who's fake and powerless. Harry is already more of a man then you  ever were."

Lucius reached down and grabbed Hermione's chin and pulled her to standing. She wanted to scream with the pain but she only stood up quicker, knowing that for once he had not tried her arms behind her, which would help her. Lucius leaned in and tightened his grip on her face, a cold angry smile on his face.

"It's not you we're destroying. You are just the bait."

Hermione felt an intense cold sweeping through her, into her very bones. If Harry or Draco were coming for her...

"That's right. You figured some of it out, but if your rescuers come for you- which I am sure they will, you will have lead them into our plan. We have Dumbledore under our control- we will kill Harry Potter finally. And you will have the blood on your hands."

Lucius smiled and pushed Hermione back into the stone wall. A sickening crack rung through the cell and she fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Too bad you'll be dead before they come." Lucius said with a small smile, looking down at Hermione. He walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

*

Two soft pops and Draco and Harry were standing just outside of Malfoy Manor, just far enough from the town where spies might be.

"We have to figure out how to get in." Draco said, biting his bottom lip. Harry looked over and frowned.

"Don't you have a backdoor or something?" Harry asked, his brows knit.

"Yes brilliant idea, you go first, and then when your head rolls back to me, I'll run away screaming like a pansy." Draco spat out, and was supremely caught off guard when Harry laughed.

"Pansy?" Harry said, almost doubled over. "God, Draco, that's the worst comeback you've ever had. Maybe ever. For anyone."

Harry stopped laughing and looked at Draco, a small smile still on his face.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked suddenly, as if noting for the first time Draco's intensely tired and pale face. "It wasn't your worst comeback ever, I was just..."

Draco shook his head, and rubbed his neck tiredly.

Hearing a pop behind them, Harry and Draco both turned around to see Ginny Weasly standing there.

"Ginny?" Draco breathed, suddenly feeling too old.

"What are you doing here Ginny? Didn't you read the note?" Harry asked, his face angry. 

"I read it." she said, plainly annoyed. "You thought you could just run off and leave Ron and I to stay behind-"

"Yes, that would be precisely what we thought we could do, but I guess we were mistaken. Why the hell did you come here?" Draco spat out the words, not bothering to hide his aggravation.

"I'm coming with you." Ginny set her chin, and Draco knew there would be no dissuading her.

"What? Why? Ginny, we need you to go back." Draco looked over at Harry who was staring at Ginny intently with a look of concern across his features. Draco shook his head- he had argued with Ginny before and he knew she was a match for him...

"I would, but I have to come with you."
"Weasly, can't you go back to your boyfriend and snog about for a bit and then get back to us?" Draco said quietly, as Harry tried to say something.
"I don't have a boyfriend." Ginny turned and glared at Draco darkly.

"Well, go find someone else. Oh wait...but you would do that anyway..." Draco said, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Draco." Harry's tone was warning, and Draco turned to Harry.

"You can't shelter her Potter." Draco said his anger building for some unknown reason. Maybe it was the fact that he was so cold he was worried his toes had fallen off. Or that he was home. Whatever the reason, he was getting angrier. "She has to go back."

"Listen, Draco, I just had to come to-"

"Save it." Draco said, cutting Ginny off. "Go screw someone."
"THAT IS ENOUGH." Harry said so loudly that Ginny jumped and Draco felt his anger evaporate. "Hermione is in there, we have to get to her before something happens. Ginny go home."

Ginny raged a battle within her which showed on her face- anger, disappointment, anger, a glare for Draco, more anger, and finally looked at Harry.

"Fine." She said and with a small pop, apperated back to Hogwarts.

"What was that about?" Harry asked, rubbing his forehead. Draco shrugged and looked at Harry.

"How do you know something hasn't already happened. To Hermione?" Draco asked.

"I don't want to think about it." Harry said simply, reveling everything Draco need to know. Harry was scared. The great Harry Potter, his rival, was scared, and for once Draco didn't want to pretend to feel superior.

"I've got an idea." Harry said his voice stretched and tense. "You're going to have to bring me into the house."
"As what? My boyfriend?" Draco asked. "Listen Potter, that might be something Millicent would be happy to see, but I'm pretty sure that won't fly-"

            "No, as a prisoner. From you to your dad- it's me he wants anyway."

            "How will that work?" Draco asked, absently thinking about if it would be cold if he passed out in the snow.

            "You could say you brought me from Hogwarts or something." Harry said, brushing his hair back from his eyes. "I don't know, you're the mastermind here, why don't you figure it out?"
            Draco's attention snapped back to Harry with a jolt that visibly made him almost fall over. Something about the plan that was forming in his mind seemed to simple and had the possibility of working, which was dangerous. If anything happened to Harry, Hermione would never forgive him.

            "What if I say I saw you snooping around, trying to find Hermione and I bring you inside...then, if we get Ginny to come back and create a diversion, then you can go down to the dungeons to find Hermione...and I guess I'll deal with dear old dad."

            "What about Voldemort?" Harry asked his skin prickling and his scar starting to burn.

            "He's not in the manor." Draco said, turning to look at the forbidding building against the dark slate sky.

            "Are you sure?" Harry asked, touching his scar which was warm and making his head feel light. "It feels like he's close..."

            A branch snapped behind Harry, and he heard the other boy suddenly take a breath that caught in his chest. Draco whirled around to see a man with white hair and a small cruel sneer on his unseemly fair, pointing his dark wooden wand at Harry's temple.

            "Hello father."