Hauling all the men into a pile on the side took the dark haired man a good two hours, and during that time he refused to let himself look at the girl lying in the middle of the dimly lit room. He could see her naked outline, but no more. After moving the men and tying their hands and gagging them with their own clothes, he stood at the edge of the room, wanting to go see who it was, but dreading what he would see.

Slowly, the man crept to the center of the dark room. He could see her clearly now, each curve of her exposed body glistened with cold sweat. Her face was hidden with waves of soft dark blond hair, now soaked with sweat as well. Stooping, he did not reach out to remove the covering layer of hair. Had he really recognized that face, while she was dancing? The sweet curve of lips, the slight hesitation when the music started to play? Or was it all he mind going crazy from being trapped in a tiny cell for two years, digging a tunnel with a spoon? Slowly, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Those closed eyes, the slightly turned up nose, the sweetly curving lips—

"Hermione!" Harry Potter collapsed on to the floor, weeping, laughing, heartbroken, exhausted. He had found her, after thinking about her with every teaspoon of dirt he removed in those two years, thought about the look on her face when she realized he was not dead, but had come back for her. And now she was….Harry pulled himself up off the floor. He hadn't felt for a pulse. Maybe, maybe she was still alive..

"Please, Hermione. C'mon, please" he muttered like a madman, grasping her hand, and feeling with all his might—

"Ohmygodohmygod! Hermione you're, please wake up, you're alive,ohmygod!" Harry's voice was a raspy hiss .He was laughing, crying, pulling her still limp, still naked body into a hug, feeling her warmth, trying to make her wake up.

Harry sat there for an hour, holding Hermione. Waiting for her to wake up. As he adjusted his position, her eyes fluttered and opened. The man holding her looked down, and tears filled his eyes.

"Hermione, you're back." That voice, that face. She knew them to belong to only one. Harry Potter. Suddenly, Hermione knew what had happened; She had died, and now she was with Harry in the after world.

"Oh, Harry, you did die! And so did I! What are we to do? I can't be alive, because you are dead." Harry looked confused.

"Hermione, we're alive…" She stared. Harry was alive? And he had been there? That meant he must have been one of the men grabbing her. Realization dawned on her face, and she shoved away from him.

"You filth!" She screamed, "I hate you! How could you even think of doing that to any woman, but to me? How dare you even look at me!" She started crying. How could he have done it? How could he have – raped – her?

Hermione collapsed into a heap on the dirty floor, sobbing. Her best friend. So desperate for a woman, he raped his own best friend.

Harry stared at her, completely taken aback. How could she think he would do that to her? His best friend?

"Hermione, how could you think that? I would never touch you like that, unless you asked! Do you think me a monster?" Of course, she hadn't seen him in almost three years, so who knows what she thought about him.

Hermione, still crying, looked up at him.

"You'd touch me if I asked you?" Harry mentally swore. Why had he had to let it slip like that? Now she thought him a man whore, and a monster to boot!

"That's not the point," He ignored the question, "The point is that I waited until most of the men were drunken on their own lust, and then I knocked them all out with stones, and gagged and tied them." Hermione understood; He was the dark man in the corner who ignored her dancing.

"You were the one who didn't watch me dance." It came out more like an accusation then she'd meant. Harry blushed slightly, the color showing bright on his pale undernourished skin.

"Well, I did see you're dance before the men got to you. Very, er, provocative." An embarrassed smile flitted over her face.

"Well, you see, I mean, I've never done that before. I just, I think it was the music…" Harry laughed a barking, hollow laugh.

"No sweat, 'Mione."

A.N: Well folks, it seems that breaking my story up into three bits has made it seem a lot shorter than it did as a whole. I will try to find the time to update, but I will have to trash this comp soon, when my friend finishes re-formatting my new comp. Yes! I will finally have Windows XP, as apposed to the W. 98 I've been living with for the past seven years….

Later, -Toria