A/N – THANK YOU for all your lovely reviews! Sorry to have kept you waiting so long for this. I didn't have my files with me when I went home for Easter. I have written quite a lot more of this now, so hopefully will aim to post once a week. I know where we're going, but not how long it'll take me to get there! Obviously I own none of these characters. They all belong to JKR; I'm just playing with her toybox! Thanks to my beta LinZE (check her out – she's good!). Please let me know your thoughts, and if there are any improvements I can make on future chapters. Thankyou!

Chapter 3

Minerva McGonagall had been enjoying a quiet game of chess with Albus Dumbledore when she had been summoned by Poppy Pomfrey to the hospital wing. Hermione had been asleep when she got there, tossing and turning. Poppy and Severus explained to Minerva as best they could the what had happened, although they still weren't entirely sure as they had not been able to examine Hermione yet. In her troubled sleep, she had called out the name of one of the other students, Draco Malfoy. Both she and Severus had surmised that he was behind the incident in the dungeons, although it seemed hard to believe that one of the students was capable of this. Severus had wanted to go and speak to Malfoy, but she had stopped him. He was too angry, and she thought it wasn't wise to let him do anything when he was in this state. Besides, Hermione seemed to trust him, and that was important. She was quite capable of dealing with Draco Malfoy, she had argued, and Hermione needed him. He had not been able to deny the logic behind her argument, and had reluctantly agreed to stay with Hermione. She strode down the corridor, her robes billowing out behind her. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so angry with a student. She went into the Slytherin common room and marched up to the seventh year dormitory.

"Draco Malfoy, I need to see you now. Get dressed immediately. I'll be waiting in the common room."She swept out of the room, leaving behind several very confused seventh years.A few minutes later, Draco emerged from the boy's dormitory, and came into the common room looking paler than usual.

"I think we'll go to my office Mr Malfoy. Now please." She marched out of the room, and all the way back to her office at the other end of the castle. Once they were inside, she pointed to a couch. Draco didn't think he'd ever seen her as angry as this. Her lips were drawn up in a thin line, and her eyes were stern and cold. He sat on the seat silently, waiting for what was coming next.
"I have just come from the hospital wing Mr Malfoy. Miss Granger is not doing very well." She saw his hands tighten on the underside of the chair; heard the sharp intake of breath. "Perhaps you could shed some light on the situation. What on earth possessed you?" She was shouting now, needing to release the anger that was lurking beneath the surface.

"I had no choice." Draco's voice was quiet, and he didn't look up. "I had no choice. I never wanted to hurt her."
"Oh really, you didn't want to hurt her? Well that's all alright then, isn't it?" He was shaking, but she didn't care. Let the little so-and-so shake. It would do him good to feel a bit of fear. "Do you know what you put that girl through? I don't know exactly what happened in that dungeon but I have a pretty good idea Mr Malfoy, and I don't know that she'll ever get over it. So I think you'd better tell me why you had no choice."
"I had no choice, I had to do it, I had to." He repeated the words as though they were a mantra. He looked at her for the first time, and she saw that he was hanging on by a very thin thread. She had seen that haunted look before, and she knew that this was part of something bigger. Her anger abated slightly, and she moved towards him. "Why didn't you have a choice Draco?" Her tone was slightly softer now. "Why did you need to do this to Hermione?" She was insistent; she had to get to the bottom of this. Somehow the gentleness in her voice made it all worse.

"I had to, you don't understand, I had to." He was struggling for control now.
"I want to understand Draco. I need you to explain to me why you had to do this. I don't think that you would have hurt Hermione like this if you were acting of your own volition. I need to know who put you up to this. I need you to tell me."
"I can't. I can't explain this to you, and I can't tell you why, but you have to believe that I didn't want this to happen, not to her or to anyone, but I had no choice."

Minerva sat down on the couch next to Draco, and put her arm round his shoulders. He was very tense; his breathing shallow and fast.
"Alright, Draco. It's alright now." She pulled him to her, cradling his head on her shoulder. "Alright, sweetheart. It's all going to be ok." He tried to pull away, but she held him close. "How can it be ok?" he screamed. "How can it be ok after what I've done? How can you even bear to sit next to me?" He was fighting like a wildcat to escape her grip, but she was holding him tightly. He stopped fighting , and sagged against her, crying.
"Alright, Draco. It's alright," she repeated the words quietly, trying to calm him. "Ok, sweetheart, it's alright." Gradually his sobs slowed, and she felt him begin to relax. "Do you think you could tell me what's going on here Draco? Can you trust me?"
"I can't explain. I can't tell anyone."
"Try me, Draco. I'm not here to judge. You've done something very wrong, and you know that as well as I do, but I think there's more to this than meets the eye. I know that you're scared of someone, but you have no real reason to protect the person who made you do this. Draco?" He was staring resolutely at the floor again. She brushed a strand of hair from his face, and wiped away a tear. "Look at me Draco. I want to help you."

He raised his eyes to look at her, wanting to trust her, wanting to tell her everything, but not knowing how to, or where to start. How could he explain to her?
"Come on Draco, talk to me. This is important. Come on." Draco looked at her soft eyes, full of compassion, and before he knew it the words were pouring out of him and he was telling her everything.

"I didn't have a choice, professor, really I didn't. If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else, and believe me that would have been worse. Really, a lot worse. My dad wouldn't have been as nice as I was." Minerva tightened her grip and held him closer as she heard his voice tremble. "He knows how I feel about Hermione, but he said that if I didn't do it, then he would … and I'd better do it properly, or he'd do it again, and punish me as well … I tried to be gentle, I really did … You have no idea what my father would have put her through." His voice broke, and he blinked back tears.

Minerva realised with a jolt what she felt should have been obvious right from the start. She had been there when Severus had returned from his little midnight meetings with Voldemort, had seen the state he was often in. She had sat with him and held his hand whilst Albus had patched him up, and she had rocked him back to sleep when he had woken himself up with his nightmares. She should have realised that Lucius Malfoy, a staunch member of Voldemort's inner circle, would employ similar tactics. She had always known that the man was a sadist, but she never realised that he was capable of doing this to his own child.

"I think I can guess. You don't need to guess though do you? You know what it would have been like, don't you?" She was speaking quietly, but she was holding him extremely tightly. Draco could see tears in her eyes. She made an effort and pulled herself together. "Draco, none of this is your fault. I need you to know that. This is not your fault. Your father has a problem, but that problem is not you." She pulled away, and looked at him.
"Look at me, Draco." She cupped her hand under his chin and gently turned his head to her. "Whatever happens, it's going to be alright, I can promise you that. He's not going to hurt you again. I won't let him." He met her gaze, and she saw not the arrogant upstart that was on show to the world at large, but a very frightened boy looking at her. She wanted with all her heart to make his pain and hurt go away, to make him whole again and it broke her heart to know that there was little she could do for this broken child. Well, she would do the little she could if it damn well killed her. She pulled him close again and kissed him gently on the forehead.
"I want you to come with me to the infirmary. You're exhausted. Professor Dumbledore will want to talk to you about this evening, but not tonight. I know this isn't going to be easy for you, but I'm going to ask you if you can be brave. I promise you won't be on your own. I'm not going anywhere until I know that you're asleep for the night." He looked at her gratefully.

"Come on, let's get you into a bed," she whispered. She had to half carry him to the infirmary as he was dead on his feet. They got him undressed and into bed in a side wing, as far away from Hermione as possible, and Minerva sat with him until he fell asleep, holding his hand and stroking his hair.
"No one's going to do anything tonight, so I want you to sleep and not worry about anything. Everything will look better in the morning, and I'll come and see you then."
"Please don't leave me."
"Child, I have to sleep, but I shall be outside in the main ward. I'll be here if you need me I promise."
"Thank you." He had sunk into sleep then, exhausted by the events of the evening, comforted by the presence of the deputy head.