This update is a lot sooner than my last one. I really have to apologize for that! (meaning that my last update took forever!)Anyway, enough of this. Read on!

There was a pregnant pause between the two of us that I could almost taste. I could hardly believe that those senseless words had come out of my mouth. Wasn't I supposed to be the most intelligent witch of my time? What was happening to me? Or more to the point, what was Malfoy doing to me?

The silence dragged on and on until I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Look, forget I said it. It was just the feeling of inevitable death talking." I twisted around and strained my eyes in order to try and see his face. It was a pointless action but seemed to be one I couldn't help performing.

I opened my mouth to try and explain my words away some more when a door was suddenly thrown open. Bright light flooded in and my eyes, accustomed to the darkness, began to tear. I blinked, then squinted at the figure standing in the door way.

It was Lestrange, of course, but not the same Lestrange I recalled from those many years ago. That Lestrange had been whole and hearty. He had seemed strong and powerful, able to do anything for his monstrous master. But this Lestrange, he was a whole new person. Scrawny and bent over, his body showed the wear of running from aurors for years.

He stepped closer, and my eyes, now accustomed to the light let in by the open door, were able to make out the scars and the marks of war on his face. A chunk of his nose was missing, and a long scar ran from his left eyebrow to his chin left him looking piratical. Lestrange was pale and haggard, obviously a man long out of his prime, yet he still had one thing left from his glory days. The deep black of his eyes still held the fanatical look that had caused him to murder at least a hundred people for a monster and an insane belief.

"So I see my guests are finally awake." his voice, barely more than a croak, held a distinctly triumphant tone. "I've been waiting for quite a while."

I continued to stare in fascinated horror at his fanatical and definitely mad eyes, but he was no longer looking at me. Instead, his gaze had transferred to someplace behind me. I knew without a doubt that that was where Malfoy had to by lying with his hands tied just as mine were.

I turned my head to look at him, but he was staring straight back at our captor. His eyes, I noticed, had iced over completely, so it wasn't too much of a surprise to hear his wintry tone when he said, "And we're extremely sorry to have kept you waiting, Lestrange."

Lestrange nodded as if apologies were his due, then turned back to me.

"Ms. Granger, is it not?"

I struggled to sit up before I answered.

"That's correct." I said in a voice that mimicked the flatness of Malfoy's.

"To call my reaction surprised, at discovering he two of you traveling together, would be an understatement. If I remember correctly, there was never any love lost between the two of you during your time at Hogwarts, correct?" Lestrange actually sounded as if he were curious about my days at Hogwarts. Of course I knew all this politeness was a façade that covered an animal that lurked within this man, but I was still surprised at his solicitousness.

"You are correct. Malfoy and I have never had any liking for each other." I finally answered.

"Then why did you help him? Surely you know who he is."

"She helped because it was the civilized thing to do." Malfoy answered. "Of course, one can't expect you to understand that since you haven't a civilized bone in your pitiable body."

Lestrange's face turned ugly with rage and he took several steps forward. Though I hated it, I couldn't halt the compulsion to scoot back so I ended up sitting next to Malfoy, and though I glanced at him, his eyes were still trained on our captor.

"If you touch her, I swear to you, I'll make you sorry." The threat, though uttered in a soft voice, made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Because Malfoy managed to scare me even though his threat hadn't even been voiced at me, I felt compelled to elbow him. When he finally looked down at me, I hissed quietly, "I don't need you to make threats on my behalf. I'm perfectly capable of defending myself."

Instead of answering, Malfoy frowned down at me as if I were a recalcitrant child then turned to re-engage in a staring contest with Lestrange. I wanted to fold my arms over my chest and pout but unfortunately, my hands were still tied behind my back.

"So protective, Draco." Lestrange taunted. " Surely you don't feel anything for the Mudblood? Even I didn't think you could turn that traitorous to your blood."

"As half of my blood is my father's, I feel no compunction to honor it. So yes, I could actually be that traitorous." Malfoy's voice, if possible, turned even colder and emptier with those words. Obviously, there was much about Malfoy's past that had to do with his father that I didn't know, and because of the tone of his words, I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

"But one of Potter's," Lestrange spit the name venomously, "most religious followers?"

Malfoy studied his fingernails in a show of boredom. "If you must know, I have no interest in her. She is, as you say, nothing but a Mudblood."

His words brought a strong surge of anger and I couldn't resist hissing, "You bastard!" to Malfoy. To my complete disgust he showed no sign of even having heard me much less showing any sort of reaction. I subsided barely resisting a disgusted snort. The pig.

"Then why so protective of her?" asked Lestrange, and to all appearances, he seemed to be just curious, not completely mad.

"She has done me a favor in her helping of me so I will help her."

Lestrange glared, "You were never one to repay your debts before, Malfoy."

"None of the debts I've owed before were to honorable people so there was no need to honor them."

Malfoy held himself completely still as Lestrange silently digested his words. His show of calmness and apathy towards the situation, however, did not fool me because the arm that was pressing against my own was practically vibrating with readiness to go on the attack.

Lestrange suddenly focused on me and he smiled in a way that ran disgusted shivers down my spine. He moved as if take a step towards me. "Then you won't mind if I take your companion to another room and-"

"Just try it." I looked at the emaciated man before me with a calm face but I knew my eyes were burning with fury. "Go on, you revolting man, try it."

Lestrange turned apoplectic with anger. "That was a mistake, Mudblood." He advanced on me but before he could take 2 steps Malfoy stopped him with a few words.

"Take any more steps and you'll regret it, I promise you." His voice was quiet, his words uttered politely, but the intangible waves of venom and violence that accompanied his words brought even a chill to me.

I was no longer able to look at Lestrange's gaunt and incredibly surprised face, nor was I able to look at Malfoy's. Instead I looked everywhere but at them, and that was when I noticed the room where we were in. It appeared to be an old storage room that had been destroyed of all its belongings and contained nothing of worth. However, over my left shoulder I saw a broken body-length mirror with all its long dangerous shards on the ground before it, as well as a large rock that must have been the thing that had broken the mirror in the first place. Immediately, I saw the way out of this horrible mess, but how to distract Lestrange?

I turned towards him again and saw that he and Malfoy seemed to be engaging in a silent battle of wills. I barely resisted rolling my eyes. Men.

I ignored my niggling conscience and launched into step one of my escape plan.

"So, Lestrange, have you got the balls to try anything? Or are you scared of one unarmed muggle female?" I asked in a scathing voice.

My extremely instigative question managed to penetrate the concentration of both men and they both turned to gape at me in surprise.

Lestrange was first to snap out of it and an ugly expression of hate and madness filled his face. He stalked towards me and reached to snatch me up, however, I was already scooting backwards with a not so feigned look of panic on my face. When I judged myself to be close enough to the broken mirror I allowed myself to slip and fell completely down on my back. Malfoy unwittingly took my cue and launched himself at Lestrange in a fluid motion that managed to impress even me. He had gone from a sitting position to stand and jump Lestrange all in one second without any clambering. Being a rather clumsy person myself, I couldn't help but be impressed. However, none of that was the point.

Malfoy and Lestrange immediately started to grapple. And Malfoy was actually doing pretty well, considering his hands were tied in front him. I watched, somewhat awed, before I remembered what it was I was supposed to be doing. I immediately sat back up and scooted the bit more I needed to reach the broken pieces of the mirror. I felt around with my hands until I reached a piece long enough. Gripping it tightly in one hand despite the sharp edge, I began to saw frantically at my bonds.

I tried not to listen too closely to the thuds of flesh hitting flesh and hoped that Malfoy would be able to hold up against Lestrange for a few more minutes. Malfoy did, of course, outweigh and outreach Lestrange, but I had heard that madness always gave people superhuman strength and Lestrange was most definitely mad.

After what seemed to be hours but were really just minutes, my bonds were finally cut. I quickly brought my hands in front of me and massaged the soreness but a particularly loud grunt managed to remind me of what I still had to do. I quickly hunted up the large rock I had spied earlier and got to my feet. I saw that Lestrange and Malfoy were currently rolling around on the floor and Malfoy seemed to be holding his own, although madness and anger still shone brightly in Lestrange's eyes.

I quickly snuck up on the pair of fighting men and waited for my opportunity, which came when Lestrange rolled on top of Malfoy and began to choke him. I approached from behind and raised my right hand as high as possible. I saw that Malfoy's eyes had widened when he had seen me, or it could have just been the fact that Lestrange was choking out all the air from him. Whatever it was, before I lost my chance, I brought my hand down with all the strength I had and the rock thudded against the back of Lestrange's head with a sickening crack. He stilled for a second before collapsing completely on Malfoy.

All was silent in the storage room before I heard Malfoy's disgruntled voice.

"Get this smelly bastard off of me, Granger."

I threw the rock aside and dusted my hands off.

"Perhaps I won't." I murmured while I massaged my wrists.

"Granger.." he growled threateningly.

"But I'm just a worthless Mudblood, Malfoy, you said so yourself. I don't think I'm supposed to touch Lestrange's exalted, purebred body."

"Don't start that now, Granger."

"Oh all right." I approached and bent down. I rolled the unconscious Lestrange over then straightened. I studied Lestrange's lax face. It seemed to be even paler than it was before.

"I suppose I killed him." I said in an empty voice. It had been years since I had killed during the war and this seemed to be so entirely different from back then.

"Good." muttered Malfoy as he sat up.

I turned away and told myself it didn't matter if I had killed Lestrange because he had planned on killing us anyway. He had killed too many muggles and magic folk to count. He had deserved to die.

But I hadn't deserved to have to be the one to kill him. I couldn't help let a small sniffle out.

"Merlin! I can't believe it matters that much to you whether or not he's dead!" I heard him scoot around but didn't bother to face him. The vicious brute didn't deserve an answer.

"This ought to help you sleep at night, Granger. The bastard is still alive. Apparently Lestrange has an even harder head then you do." came Malfoy's somewhat disgusted voice.

I whirled. "You aren't joking?"

"I wish."

Immediately I felt better and not so nauseated. "That's good." I murmured. "Very good."

Malfoy studied Lestrange's prone body. "We should probably kill him anyway."

"What? No!"

"He'll come after us again." he warned.

"But we can't just kill him!"

"Why not?"

As if he didn't understand. "If we kill him now then it will be murder, not self defense."

"He's got my mother." Malfoy growled.

"All the better to let him live." I answered in what I thought was a logical voice.

"I'm not following."

I glared. "Well right now he can't exactly tell us where your mother is, can he? We'll need for him to wake up, but first we need to get out of here, get to New Orleans, get your magic back, then let him come after us. We'll be prepared then."

"I still think we should kill him. Then we can look for my mother." Malfoy glared back.

"You're so fucking pigheaded." I snapped.

Malfoy seemed to be in shock.

"That's right. I said fuck." I silently dared him to comment. When he didn't, I continued. "So, you can stay here and try to kill Lestrange with your hands tied together since you're so determined to become a murderer, but I am leaving. Why don't we just call it quits as a team because I honestly don't think you're worth the trouble, cold-blooded murderer that you are." I spun around and stalked towards the door.

From there I went up a flight of stairs, through a rundown house, and eventually stepped out onto a porch that looked out into vast nothingess. However, I was still angry at the ridiculously attractive man downstairs who I had begun to think had a soul, so I ignored all the sensibilities that I had grown up clutching so tightly and began to walk.

It had been stupid of me to begin thinking that Draco Malfoy might actually have a soul. To begin thinking that there might actually be some humanity in him. It was ridiculous, really, the betrayal I felt with the realization that he could kill so callously and so easily. It was almost as sharp as the betrayal I felt with Harry's actions. Which was stupid because Draco bloody Malfoy didn't matter to me.

At all.

Malfoy was nothing.

Why had I thought he had changed?

Fury at him and at myself kept me walking steadily for another fifteen minutes before I finally slowed.

I was so tired of being wrong. I was so tired in general. What had I been thinking to come here to America? This was no land of opportunity for me. Just another place to get disillusioned once more.

Malfoy's words rang mockingly in my head.

"… She is, as you say, nothing but a Mudblood."

God, I was so stupid. Malfoy would never see me for anything but another worthless Mudblood and I was an idiot to think that maybe he could. I was an idiot for even wanting him to. The circuits in my head had definitely been fried by my experience with Harry fucking Potter. I could say his name. HE didn't matter. No man mattered. They were all stupid. And worthless. And bastards. The whole lot of them.

Harry for his betrayal. Ron for his disloyalty. Lestrange for his madness. And Draco Malfoy just for being Draco Malfoy.

I stopped walking because my knees suddenly felt weak. All I wanted to do, then and there, was sit down on the dirt in the middle of nowhere and have a good, long cry.

What had I been thinking coming here?

Just think, if I hadn't gotten the insane notion to come to America and make myself over, I'd still be in London in my comfortable flat, with my comfortable life, my comfortable experiments, and with the normal, comfortably cold weather. Instead I was here, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the clothes on my back, in the hot, hot sun. I had been crazy to think I could redo myself.

I began to trudge on.

I'd always be boring Hermione Granger. Always striving to be the best so that I could prove myself to everyone who looked down on me because I hadn't been born to wizarding parents. So that I could prove that I deserved the magic I had.

Boring Hermione Granger who had always been out to prove herself but denying it to everyone, including herself. I laughed caustically.

What a time for another self-realization.

I walked some more and so deep was I in the scathing thoughts about myself, that it took me a while to realize that there were footsteps behind me. I tensed and whirled.

Only to find Draco Malfoy walking sedately behind me.

I huffed and stared at him. He stared silently back.

"What," I enunciated, "do you think you're doing?"

He took a step forward. "Following you."

"I told you to leave me alone."

He shrugged.

I gritted my teeth. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Leave me alone! Leave!"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "No."

A thought entered my head and I tensed. "Is.." I couldn't get the words out of my tight throat.

"Get it out, Granger." The words were just indifferent enough to make me grind my teeth.

"Is… Is Lestrange still alive?"

Malfoy studied me silently, the expression on his face inscrutable.

"Does it really matter?"

I felt my heart sink and tears burn the back of my eyes.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Why?"

"Because.." Because I don't want you to be a murderer. Because I don't want to believe that you're capable of such cold-bloodedness. Because I want to see that you have some humanity left. "Because it does."

"Can't give me a solid reason, Granger?"

No, I can't and won't, I told him Malfoy silently. I refused to show him any more vulnerability. I wanted, in regards to him, to have none.

"Well, no matter the reason." Malfoy shrugged. "He's still alive. Unfortunately."

I released the breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"You're not lying?"

"He's as alive as anyone can be after being boshed on the head with a good sized rock." Malfoy grinned. "Good job, by the way."

I searched his eyes and wished that he was as easy to read as Ron was.

"You're not lying." It was more a statement then question.

"No, I'm not lying." Impatience finally showed. "However, I did truss him up nice and tight. I hope you have no objection to that."

"That's fine." I nodded. "Just fine."

"Good." Malfoy studied my face a moment longer then began walking. "So where are we heading towards?"

I hurried to catch up with his long strides.

"I'm not exactly sure."

"Not sure?" He stopped abruptly and faced me. I shaded my eyes and looked up into his angry eyes.

"Well, I was angry after I left you in the basement so I kind of just walked off into a general direction without bothering to look." I admitted.

"You mean," he began in a dangerous voice, "that we've just spent the last half hour walking towards nowhere?"

"We're walking towards somewhere. I'm just not sure where?" I finished in a weak voice.

"You," he announced in the voice of one making a grand statement, "are stupid."

"I am NOT!"

"Then how do you explain this?"

"A moment of insanity?"

"Or stupidity."

I began walking again and glared at the arrogant man. "It's your fault."

"Please explain that piece of thinking to me." said Malfoy sarcastically as he easily kept pace with me.

"If you hadn't made me so angry I would have looked where I was going when I left the house. Besides," I finished smugly, "you didn't have to follow me."

"So I was supposed to let you wander off by yourself?"

I jabbed Malfoy in the chest. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you."

"Of course you don't."

"Look, I'm not the one who has a time limit on how long it is before he goes quietly, or not so quietly, insane, Malfoy."

"That hardly signifies." he answered pompously.

"Oh? And why not?" I challenged.

"Because I have a month to fix that little problem whereas you wouldn't last a day out here on your own."

"Don't be such a fucking chauvinist." I retorted.

Malfoy smirked at me. "Oh please, Granger, you were counting on it back there."

"Back where?"

"Back in that house with Lestrange."

"I have no idea what you mean." I sniffed.

"You deliberately provoked Lestrange into attacking you with the hopes that I'd come rushing to your defense, thus giving you time to cut yourself free." Malfoy smiled a touch too smugly.

He was right, of course, but the infuriating man didn't need to know that.

"You're becoming delusional already, Malfoy." I gave him a fake, concerned look.

He laughed. "You can take credit for it. I thought it was a particularly clever little ploy. However, despite its cleverness, I do wish you had found a less painful way to provide a distraction."

I dropped my façade of innocence. "Nothing else would have been half as enjoyable as seeing Lestrange beat you into a bloody pulp."

"Yes, I'm sure." Malfoy smiled wryly.

I smiled back at him before I remembered.

I was nothing but a Mudblood to him. He hadn't killed Lestrange, but he was still capable of it. I shouldn't let myself get so comfortable with him because he was entirely too dangerous to me.

My smile faded.

Why was it he was so dangerous to me?

"A galleon for your grim thoughts?" Malfoy's voice intruded into my thoughts.

I shrugged lightly. "They're hardly worth that much, not that you have a galleon."

"Oh yeah."

We walked in silence for a while. I glanced around at our surroundings and noticed the sun was going to go down soon. I couldn't suppress a shiver. I had no desire to be out in the open at night and alone with Malfoy. I glanced at him and that was when I noticed he had a bag swinging off of his right shoulder.

"What's in the bag?" I asked quietly.

He glanced down at me then away. "Oh this and that."

"What sort of this and that?"

"A few old Daily Prophets I found when I searched the house.. Some food.. Your wand."

I grabbed his arm. "My wand! You found it?"

"It was in Lestrange's back pocket."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"Well give it to me."

"All right, all right."

He swung the back pack looking bag in front of him and opened it. And that was when I saw it.

The Daily Prophet issue that had torn my life apart. The one with Harry and Ginny on the cover. The one that announced my being jilted to the world.

Malfoy held my wand out to me but I stared at nothing but that Daily Prophet.

"Granger..?" he waved the wand in front of my face. "You there?"

I shook my head slightly. Malfoy couldn't have seen it yet. If he had seen it already he couldn't have resisted mentioning it and since he had said nothing about it, then it was logical to assume he hadn't seen it.

"Yes. Give me my wand." I snatched it from him. I needed to come up with a plan to get that Daily Prophet issue from him.

Malfoy looked at me in surprise.

"I didn't know you were so desperate to have your wand back."

"I'm.. I'm very attached to it." I muttered. I needed a plan. I refused to allow Malfoy to know about my embarrassment.

"I can see that." Malfoy zipped the bag up and swung it onto his shoulder again. "I suppose we should stop and rest soon. It's starting to get dark."

I tried not to stare at the bag. "Of course."

"Now that you have your wand, maybe you can find out where we are."

"Sure."

I could feel Malfoy staring at me.

"Maybe I should carry the bag now." I suggested suddenly. "After all, you've been carrying it all this time.. It only seems fair."

"That's all right. I don't mind."

I nodded.

"Well maybe I could have the Daily Prophets?" I asked with just a tinge of desperation.

"What?" Malfoy studied me as if I had some strange mark on my forehead.

"Its just.." I fished around for a reason, "I didn't get a chance to keep up with the wizarding world before I went to America."

Malfoy was silent for a while. When he finally spoke, it was suspiciously.

"That's a lie."

"Excuse me?"

"You had a Daily Prophet in that hideous bag of yours. I remember."

My insides froze but I pasted a puzzled look on my face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. I remember because you were particularly protective of that Daily Prophet issue."

I laughed hollowly. "Malfoy, I didn't have a Daily Prophet in my bag. You must have seen something else."

Malfoy stopped and studied my face. "No," he said slowly, "I didn't."

I looked silently into his questioning eyes, then away.

"Why do you want my Daily Prophets so badly, Granger?" Malfoy asked softly.

I didn't answer.

He stooped down and swung the bag in front of him. "If you won't tell me, I'll just find out."

I turned and walked a few steps away.

Malfoy rustled around in his bag and it was quiet for a few seconds. I clenched my hands and eyes shut while I waited.

Finally, he spoke. "Harry Potter elopes with Virginia Weasley, daughter of Minister of Magic."

I'm not exactly sure why, but this chapter was a lot of fun to write. It didn't take me as long, and it seemed to come a lot easier. Maybe because the plot is starting to move a bit faster. Anywho, I hoped you guys enjoyed! Here's a poem for you all.

Draco has now found the truth
Hidden deeply within the lies,
Hermione can no longer hide the hurt
It is spilling from her eyes.
The plot is moving quickly now
Lestrange is still alive,
New Orleans is still far away
Will they get there or will they die?
So if you'd like to see what happens
And you wish to see it soon,
Reviews will help my muses flourish
Which in turn cause new chapters to bloom.

By: Piper 1019

I had a poem of my own up here but it sucked ass, and one of my reviewers was so kind as to write a revised one for me which I absolutely LOVED! So thanks a lot Piper1019 fcr the poem

PS. I'm also looking for a serious Beta who knows their grammar. I've been getting a lot of reviews that say I need help with grammar, and I'm definitely not disagreeing. So if you're interested and even willing to Beta my old chapters, just email me or leave a review!