An~ Well folks, it looks like I will be able to continue this story after all. As you should know, I will be changing the times and dates of what happened to fit the fifth book, so Hermione will have only been at the camp for about a year. I would like to take a moment to give silent thanks to the beautiful Ms. Rowling for not completely ruining my plot yet. THANK YOU!!!!!!! Of course, then I would have to yell at her right away for killing off one of my favorite characters. *sniffle*

I also apologize profusely for the wait I put you guys through. I am so sorry; I just had this case of writer's block, and could not think for the life of me how to finish the chapter. *ducks flying piles of fruit and veggies, including an oversized watermelon chucked by Stacey*

Chapter 8

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"You don't know me, and I'll never be what you want me to be…"

            I don't know what happened. I guess I just lost control. Her accusations and excuses just had this way of lighting my last fuse. I had to prove to her somehow that I was telling the truth and it seemed the only way possible for her to understand. I had jumped up and came at her. I shoved my arm in her face and began screaming. She needed to understand, to believe, and I was getting frustrated.

            Her eyes opened wider, in astonishment, as she realized that there was no dark mark. And she couldn't accuse me any longer because everyone knew that the dark mark could not be hidden in any way, so I had to be telling the truth. As I had continued to hold it in front of her, she leaned back into the wall behind her. That's when I realized how much I had been scaring her. I backed off, and turned my head. I guess I was a little apprehensive of what her reaction would be, so I turned my head, avoiding whatever look she might have prepared for me.

            She moved away from the wall, and sat back down on the bunk. I heard a few of the other inmates entering the cabin. The sounds of their chatter were muffled by the closed door, and I realized that we had only few minutes before the lights would be turned off. I looked back at Granger, who had suddenly obtained this fascination with something on the ground. Or was she thinking? I decided to break the silence that had followed my own outburst.

            "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But I need you to believe me. We're running out of time and Dumbledore needs both of us." She looked up at that last part.

            "You've said that several times now. Why would Dumbledore need me?" Goodness, if I were her, I'd be asking why no one had come for me until now.

            "I'm not quite sure; he needs several of us, though. But I only just recently found out where you were. We've been looking for you for a long time. And now that we've found you here, Dumbledore is planning on getting everyone out of here." I was hoping she would get past my outburst and start cooperating with me. Her expression softened, and I think she began to accept the idea of me being on her side. She was still contemplating everything though. The problem of trusting me was a serious issue, because she knew it would affect everyone else here. I respected her for that. I respected her for considering the others before her. Suddenly, she looked back up at me.

            "Alright, Malfoy. I will trust you. But if I find out that you are leading us into a trap, and any one of us gets killed, including me, I will make it a point to haunt you even in hell."

            Well, then. I'm glad I wasn't leading them into a trap. She was dead serious though. She was looking at me with this intensity that burned through to the back of my head. I looked back at her, and nodded, accepting the terms of her agreement. We still had a few minutes left before lights out, and I wanted to speak to another cabinmate before then, so I got up to leave. As I headed towards the door, Granger stopped me.

            "Truce then?" she asked.

            "What?"

            "Truce. You know, where you and I agree not to rip each other's throats out or anything, and work together peacefully," came the sarcastic reply. I knew what she meant, but I wanted one more thing before that could happen.

            "I have one more favor to ask though," I started. She shot me a calculating look.

            "Depends…"

            "I just wanted to know if you will accept my apology for how I used to treat you." I stated simply. That definitely caught her off guard. She brought her hand back down, in thought of my recent request. I know that we needed to move on to other pressing matters, but I needed to know if she would forgive me of all the times I had made fun of her, and made her life miserable. I looked at her again, hoping that she would at least relieve me of that burden. I guess it worked, because then she started to speak up. She hesitated at first, a little unsure of herself, but then went on.

            "Yes, I'll accept it. You seem to have really changed, though you really are starting to scare me," was her reply. I started at the last part. How had I scared her?

            "What do you mean?" I was really confused now. Then I saw the hint of a smile on her face, and realized that she wasn't being serious.

            "Well, the fact that the Malfoy I used to know wouldn't be caught dead apologizing to a mudblood, much less speaking civilly to one, kind of unnerves me. It's going to take me a while to get used to this," she admitted, laughing quietly to herself. I also noticed how casually she referred to herself with the old nickname I used to call her. It used to make her cry to be called that, but now, it seemed as though it was second nature to her. All at the same time though, I felt this big wave of relief wash over me, as I realized that she actually forgave me. I returned her smile.

            "Think of what it was like for me. I mean, the concept of actually being nice to people, well, it sure was enlightening," she started to laugh again at my attempt of humor, and the tension from before was slowly starting to lift. Somehow, I knew that we were going to get along fine after this. She had basically the same reactions as Harry and Ron. At first, they had trouble believing me, but soon, they got used to the idea that I had changed.

            But what had mattered the most was that they accepted my apology and forgave me. Now, Granger had done the same, and I felt as though I had finally set everything straight. The three Gryffindors were the ones who I tortured the most, and now that I had finally apologized to the last of them, I felt that I could now move on. I could take care of the other apologies later, now that I had gotten the major ones over with.

            We both looked away from eachother, not really knowing what to say next. There was an awkward silence as we both looked around the room, trying to avoid having to talk to the other. I was waiting for her to speak, to say something, anything to relieve the dead silence that had filled the room, when I go fed up with it.

            "So then, I guess we better start planning how to get out of this place," I spoke up. She turned to look at me, and had this odd look on her face, as though she was dying to tell me something.

            "Actually…"

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            Well, before the lights went out, Granger, or Aguila, as I had to call her for now, explained to me the plan that she and some of the other prisoners had come up with. I had to admit, it was pretty good. They had thought of everything, down to who was going to be doing what, and where. The only flaw in their plan was what they were going to do once they all escaped. Apparently, they thought they'd be able to make a run for it, and survive. What she didn't know, was that Carceris Crudelis was at least fifty miles from any form of civilization. So, as the lights overhead went out, Aguila and I sat in the dark as we tried to come up with a way of getting everyone out. Then, the light bulb started flashing in my head.

            "Portkeys!!!" I whispered a little loudly.

            "Shhh, keep it down or the guards will come. And what do you mean portkeys?"

            "I can talk to Dumbledore and get him to set up portkeys all over this camp, so that we can transport everyone there at one time-"

            "That would be great, except that you are here, and Professor Dumbledore is at Hogwarts. And even if, by some miracle, you were able to speak to him, how would you be able to make the portkeys?" She did have a good point, though it was an uneducated one.

            "First of all, I can apparate to Dumbledore's office, speak to him, and bring back the portkeys with me. The only things you need to make a portkeys are the objects themselves, and a simple charm. If I remember correctly, Dumbledore is quite good at charms. I thought you would know this, seeing as how you used to be a bookworm." I added the last part just to keep her on her toes. Her eyes went wide in frustration, but then she screwed up her face in disagreement.

            "Wait, you aren't old enough to apparate! And I'll have you know that even though I may have been a bookworm, it doesn't mean I know everything."

            "You are forgetting that I grew up in the Malfoy household. I've been apparating since I was twelve. And imagine what everyone will say when I tell them that you actually admitted you, Hermione Granger, don't know everything. The catastrophe it would cause!" I put on my best look of shock, horror and amazement. I think I'm going to love teasing her like this. Once again she shot me a look of exasperation.

            "Well, then, how are you going to apparate without alerting the guards? The minute you disappear, they'll know, and everything will be ruined." What happened to the smart Granger I remembered. Maybe she just wasn't thinking clearly tonight.

            "That is why I would take off the bracelet thing, before I apparate, and leave it here. They won't even know I'm gone." I stated simply.

            "Once again, that's a bright idea, except you have to figure out how to get the thing off first." Man, she really wasn't thinking, was she?

            "Once again, you forget that I am a Malfoy, and I did happen to sneak in here. When they "caught" me, they took a wand, but they didn't know that it wasn't really mine. There are ways of concealing things like wands with simple charms." I watched as she tried to calculate what I said in her mind.

            "So you have your wand with you?" I pulled my left shoe off, and took out one of the strings that held it together. They had let us keep our shoes in the building where thy brought everyone through for "registration", lucky for me. I held up they shoestring in front of her, and muttered the charm that the Professor had taught me. The string immediately transformed itself back into its true shape, my trusty wand. Aguila's eyes went wide in disbelief. I don't think she had seen a wand in a long time.

            "You've had that with you this entire time? Do you have any idea what things you can do with that here?" Her eyes were now well on their way to popping out of their sockets. In a way, the whole situation was quite humorous. She looked really funny with her eyes like that. It started to get scary, though, as she started looking at my wand as though she was going to attack it.

            "Well, actually, yes, I can do many things with a wand. As a matter of fact, the possibilities are practically limitless!" The sarcasm and mockery was quite evident in my reply, and once again, she got angry.

            "Oh shut up, you know what I mean. Do you have any idea how long we have all been hoping to come across some misplaced wand or something like that? We have combed the entire grounds that we have access to, searching for anything with magical abilities in it. You are quite lucky that you haven't shown that to anyone else here, because you might not have survived the attacks." She was still looking at the wand as though it was the One Ring. (Thought you fellow LotR fans would like that;})  You'd think she had never seen one before.

            "Well then, I guess I'm lucky. Now, if you will get over your fascination with a piece of wood, we just might be able to plan out just what we're going to do. Seeing as how it's already quite late, and sleep isn't something that is easily missed here, I say we plan on taking care of this tomorrow. Perhaps, in the morning, you and I can talk with your friends, and run the portkey idea by them, and see what happens from there. Does that sound alright to you, Smeagol?" (couldn't resist)

            She had been caught off guard, because she had been staring at the wand again, and I put it back in my shoe, as I asked her the question. She snapped out of her trance, and looked back at me.

            "What did you just call me?"

            "Never mind. Well, does that plan sound good or what?"

            "Yes, that's fine; we can talk to the others at breakfast." I got up and headed towards the door. "Well, goodnight then." She also got up as I opened the door.

            "Goodnight then, Mal- Bran."

            I walked out, smiling at her slip up. It was going to take the both of us a while to get used to calling each other by names, instead of insults. I headed towards my bunk in the dark room. The others were fast asleep, tired from their long day in the sun. I had no idea how I was going to survive tomorrow with the enormous lack of sleep I would have.

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A/n~ Not my best, I know. I wanted to go on but, I figured I've tortured you all long enough with the wait, and I am suffering from lack of new emails alerting me of reviews, so I shall stop here for now. What to look for in chapter nine…Hermione's thoughts and reactions to the newly made truce. Yaaaaayyyyyy!!!!