Disclaimer: I own jack.

A/N: Thanks to all my lil reviewers! You guys are super-cool. I hope to have a new chapter up in a couple days. And yes, Draco is finally in this chapter! Sorry to keep you guys waiting, but does not absence make the heart grow fonder? :)

"Oh no oh no oh no oh on oh NO!" Hermione whispered as the elevator descended to the lobby of St. Mungo's.

"This is horrible!" she screamed in her mind, "How could this happen? What am I going to do?!"

Hermione quickly tucked her hair behind her ears and pressed her clothes, trying to destroy their sloppy wrinkles. She tried to collect her composure and eliminate the shock and fear from her eyes. The elevator panel beeped and the doors opened as the elevator reached the lobby.

"Here we go," Hermione whispered. She readjusted the pack on her back and took a step out into the lobby. "Calm, stay calm, be calm," she mumbled as she glanced around terrified, looking for the familiar greased back and slick Slytherin who lived to make her want to die. "Well, where the hell is he?" she said out loud. A prim hospital teery (teery: a witch similar to a nun) scoffed and glared at her as she overheard Hermione's outburst. Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to keep searching, but she still couldn't see the skinny little ferret anywhere.

"Feeling better?" a smooth tenor voice asked behind her. Hermione reeled around to meet the speaker.

"Do I know you?" Hermione asked skeptically as she glanced the young man up and down. "Are you Draco Malfoy's cousin or something?" she asked. He did look a lot like the annoying kid she remembered from school the year before. He had the same white blonde hair only it wasn't slicked back. It was longer, wavy, and fell loosely past his chin and almost touched his shoulders. He also had the same icy grey eyes and characteristic smirk permanently attached to his lips. He wore a black long sleeve t-shirt with a wide neckline, showing off muscular shoulders and neck, promising a well toned body where the shirt covered. A black fur cloak was draped casually over one of his shoulders. Hermione glanced back up and her eyes fell into his. He took a step toward her and picked up her pack where she had laid it by her feet. He threw it over his shoulder and leaned his face into hers.

"Come now Granger, don't you even recognize me?" He whispered. Hermione scoffed as she realized this was her mysterious rescuer, finally seen and revealed. He wasn't what she had expected though. When Fiona told her it was Draco she figured it would be the same ferret boy she knew from school. It seemed though, that fighting with CLAW and finally hitting his growth spurt over the summer had favored him.

"He's quite nice to look at," Hermione thought. Hermione scoffed at herself and forced this thought into the back of her, "This is Malfoy! He's been nasty to me from the moment we met."

"Where's the car?" Hermione asked taking a step back and glaring at him.

"Car? Wizards don't use filthy muggle cars, not civilized ones anyways," he said with a jeering laugh, "My dear Hermione, you will never have to ride in one of those terrible muggle inventions again as long as I and the rest of CLAW continue our duty." He gave her a smile, which seemed a bit rusty, as he turned and put his arm around her and led her toward the opposite side of the lobby.

Hermione gritted her teeth as she tried to contain her rage. "How dare he come in here and treat me like I'm some old friend," she thought, clenching her fists. She stopped and shook his arm off her.

"I want you to tell me about this CLAW organization and the "Return to Eden" campaign everyone is always going on about," Hermione ordered sternly. He let out a laugh, obviously entertained. "I'm not joking Draco, I want to know and I want you to stop treating me like we're friends because we're not," she said sharply.

He stared at her, letting no emotion cross his face. He reached his arm out to her, but she only took another step away.

"Don't touch me," Hermione barked, "I don't need you to be my keeper. I'll find my own place to stay."

He let out an annoyed sigh, which distracted Hermione. Before she knew it Draco had lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides and preventing her from escaping. To Hermione though, this was not aggressive. Draco held her gently, but securely in his grasp and enveloped her with his warmth.

He tilted his head down and whispered in her ear, "Listen, I will tell you everything you want to know in good time, but this is not the place and time to make a scene, so just calm down. History can't change itself, but I am sorry for the way I've treated you. Now you've been through a lot and need to get out of this hospital, so please just relax and come with me." He turned and looked into her eyes and placed his hand over hers. "I promise everything will be okay." He released her and took a step back. Hermione just stood there, as if hit by a stunning charm. Draco untied his cloak and fastened it around her shoulders. "Here," he said, "You're cold as ice. Now, lets go."

Hermione took a step forward and Draco once again placed his arm around her shoulder and led her to the Floo network. They stood in line for a couple of minutes until they reached the front. Draco dropped a couple sickles into the goblin guard's jar as they went to the nearest open hearth. He took a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the flames.

"Malfoy Manor," he said firmly. "What?" he asked as he realized Hermione was smiling.

"You called me Hermione," she responded, staring into the bright green flames.

"Yes, and you called me Draco," he replied, "It seems as if times have changed."

"Or hell has frozen over," Hermione added as she leapt into the fire.

"Or maybe we've both changed for the better," he said to himself as he followed into the flames.

When the flames began to die, Hermione found herself standing next to Draco in a black marble fireplace.

"Come on then," he said, urging her out of the hearth. She lightly stepped out and took a look around. She stood at the base of a master staircase made of the same black marble. Her reflection blinked back at her from the gleaming floors. "Welcome to Malfoy Manor," Draco's voice said, echoing off the stone rafters at least ten stories above. The staircase had dual steps forming a semi-circle, and then uniting to go directly up to the next level. Glancing up in awe, Hermione saw that a massive chandelier made of gold hung over the center of the great hallway. Gold serpents studded completely with jewels wound around the chandelier, mouths open to attack, revealing actual fangs. Directly below the chandelier was a colossal emblem, obviously the Malfoy family seal. It was pure gold, melted into the marble, forming the outline of two vipers intertwined and looking up to the constellation Scorpio where each star was an enormous glowing diamond.

"It's quite breathtaking, I know," Draco said as he came and stood next to Hermione.

"Breathtaking wasn't the word I was picturing," said Hermione.

"What then?" he asked, turning and looking at her.

"This hall looks as if its purpose is to impress, but mostly intimidate and scare," Hermione replied.

Draco chuckled, "Yes, that is one purpose of it. The fangs of the serpents are made of actual basilisk fangs my ancestor Lucifer the Bloody gathered when he single-wandedly brought an enemy basilisk down in the Fifth Dragon War of the Black Era."

"The Black Era?" Hermione asked, "That was five thousand years ago."

"Well, the Malfoy's have been around for quite some time. Lucifer the Bloody is considered the first Malfoy and founded our family tree," Draco said with a proud smile.

Hermione nodded, then asked, "And what about the Scorpio? What's that for?"

"Oh, that's our family's guardian sign. It's kind of a pre-destiny thing. Every Malfoy is born during Scorpio's reign in autumn," Draco said, "Enough of the history lesson though, let's go."

Draco took Hermione's arm and led her to a lone rug lying at the foot of the fireplace they had entered from. Standing on it, Hermione gave Draco a sarcastic look as if to say "Well, what now?" He responded by firmly saying "Dining Hall" and returning her a look that said, "Watch and see, Smartass." Before Hermione could question, the rug began to hover, then shot straight up a few stories. Hermione screeched as it came to a halt, then immediately shot down a stone corridor rounding corners without slowing down. They came to a stop a little less than a minute later in front of a pair of large wooden doors engraved with silver and iron fastenings. Hermione realized she was gasping for air and inhaled.

Draco turned to her and smirked. "It's okay, you can let go of me now," he said mockingly. Hermione looked down and realized she had clutched onto his robes and was grasping the fabric for dear life.

"Oh, right, sorry," she said slightly blushing. He just simpered again and stepped of the rug now resting harmlessly on the floor.

"Ready to eat?" he asked her.

"Sure, I guess," she replied glancing around. He strode toward the door with Hermione closely following. As he neared the doors they swung open gracefully and allowed the pair to enter before quietly shutting again. The iron locks clicked behind them as they walked into the dining hall.

The dining hall was yet another magnificent display of wealth and coercion. Stone floors and walls were filled with eerie shadows from the torches flickering in the air currents. Large iron chandeliers hung every few feet with several candles lit and waving back and forth. Huge tapestries of battle scenes with Malfoy's throughout history hung from the rafters. One large banner displaying the family seal hung above the head chair of the table. The table was stone, but an immense tablecloth made of which appeared to be Dragonskin covered the entire length of the table and hung almost to the floor. The table could hold seemingly a hundred people along its entire length, but only housed two at the moment. Draco approached the two figures at the far end and Hermione followed, continuing to glace around in awe and suspicion.

On reaching the end, it was obvious who the two figures were, Draco's parents. His father sat at the head of the table in a large chair with emeralds and black pearls implanted into the wood. The arms of the chair seemed slightly mobile, as if they could reach out and grab food right off the plates. The legs were clawed at the feet and one actually seemed to be tapping a toe. Hermione had only seen something like this once ever before. That chair was made from the wood of a whomping willow like the one Rom and Harry had damaged five years ago at Hogwart's. Lucius Malfoy set his fork down and stood up to greet his son. He wore black robes similar to Draco's only more flowing and all trimmed with fur.

"Seems a little girly," Hermione thought. Draco's mother stood as well, her forest green gown swishing softly with her movements. A large emerald necklace ornamented her neck where the less than modest neckline dipped down.

"I'm glad to see you are finally home son," Lucius said with a monotone.

Draco gave a small bow and said, "I'm glad to be home father."

"I see you have brought the young lady you saved a few weeks ago," Lucius said.

"Yes father, you gave consent for her to stay with us until school begins again. What with her being a refugee, she had nowhere else to go," Draco said. Hermione's anger began to grow.

"I hate it when people speak as if I'm not even here..." she thought.

She looked up and saw that Lucius had left his seat and drew near to Hermione. He put his arms on her shoulders and gave a cold smile. "Well, my dear, you are safe now from your barbaric forerunners. I promise that you will never have to risk entering that disgusting world of theirs again. You are with your own kind now, and safe," Lucius said with a tone as if she had been in a concentration camp.

A look of disgust overwhelmed Hermione's face as she said with extreme control, "You do know I am muggle born?"

"Yes yes child, I have been informed of your family history. I know very well you are the result of non-magic muggles," Lucius answered casually as he picked a piece of lint off her sleeve.

"And you're...okay with that knowledge?" Hermione pushed.

"At one point, I would not have been, but times have changed," Lucius said. He traced a finger along the CLAW emblem sewn onto his robes and said, "Many personal standards have changed because of recent events. My son and I now care about preserving our world and finally removing the muggle threat from above our heads. Over time then, there won't be any worry about what type of blood goes into Hogwart's and becomes certified for magic because it will all be from magic parents. So even though you do not have the best heritage in my standards, you are a permanent member of this society, and my son and I have sworn to protect that, mudblood or no."

"How considerate of you," Hermione said sharply through clenched teeth.

Hermione cringed at that word, mudblood; it had eluded her for months and it stung her to finally hear it. It meant she had really returned to the magic world, where she, in some eyes, was an unworthy citizen simply because of her blood. Lucius gazed at her confused, as if he had said nothing wrong at all, but did see where it hurt her.

"I apologize, I will no longer use that term in your presence," he said, then smiled, "We are all adjusting after all. I just want you to know you are welcome in my home."

Hermione wanted to yell and scream and cry right there. She wanted to tell him just where he could shove this "Return the Eden" campaign and throw his invitation for a perfect future right into a pile of dragon dung. She wanted to cut herself and let her tainted blood stain his robes and ask if it looked dirty to him. Draco nudged Hermione and brought her back into reality.

She looked right into Lucius' eyes and said quietly, "I thank you for your hospitality." With that Lucius seemed satisfied. He returned to his chair and began to complete his dinner. Draco's mother also repositioned herself in her seat.

"Please, you two, sit and eat, I'm sure you're both famished," she said softly, smoothing the fabric of her gown and retrieving her fork.

Hermione couldn't stand to stay in that hall for another instant, not with that man who felt as if her were her savior because he was taking in a poor, lost, mudblood soul.

"I will not let him pity me, there is nothing about my life I regret and if anyone should be pitied it should be him, with his nose all stuck in the clouds and his quest for self-righteousness with this CLAW organization," Hermione screamed in her head.

"I'm terribly sorry," Hermione said bitter sweetly, "But I feel very weak. I don't think I could really handle a meal at this time."

Lucius redirected his eyes from his plate to Hermione.

"Poor thing, you've been through so much, you must be exhausted, I'm sure," Draco's mother said, giving Hermione a sympathetic gaze. Hermione nodded, anything to get her out of here.

"Draco, please take the lady to her room and help her get settled in, she needs a good night's rest and tomorrow we can see if you're feeling any stronger," Lucius said as he took a draught of wine from his goblet.

"Yes father," Draco answered with an obedient bow. "Come on," he whispered to Hermione, beckoning for them to depart. They left the room silently and the locks clicked behind them once again as they left. Hermione let out an extremely happy sigh when their presence was gone. "They were like dementor's, those two, drain the happiness right out of you," Hermione thought to herself. Hermione snapped back into reality again and turned to Draco.

"I'm sorry, you're not angry for me wanting to leave are you?" she asked gently.

Draco smirked, "Actually, I didn't really want to be in there either. They can drain the life right out of you."

"That's what I thought too," Hermione agreed.

"Come on," Draco said, pulling Hermione onto the rug, "I'll take you to your room. I picked it out myself." Hermione groaned. She didn't really like these magic carpets and remorsefully let it lift off the ground.

Anywhere, just as long as it has a bed," Hermione said as she yawned. Unknowingly, she clutched securely onto Draco's robes.

Draco smiled at this and whispered in her ear, "I know you are just going to love the room I picked out."

"What?" Hermione asked curiously.

Draco smirked, "You'll see..."