Disclaimer: To the tune of Proud Mary - "Rowling, Rowling, Rowling wish I was her..."

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For the next three days Draco Malfoy slipped in and out of consciousness as the damage to his body was repaired. Hermione, although largely satisfied with the work she had done on Malfoy, consulted with Madame Pomfrey on the finer aspects of his healing amd gained assurance that she had indeed done exactly the right thing. It was then, that Madam Pomfrey apologized for taking so long to tend Draco's injuries herself, Moody, it appeared, had told Pomfrey that Malfoy was not seriously injured and merely suffering from exhaustion, something that had earned him a heart felt slap when she had seen what poor Hermione had had to cope with in her absence.

In those days Hermione divided her time between caring for his wounds and fending off the inevitable temper tantrums from Ron with regards to Malfoy's presence at Grimmauld Place. Upon discovering that Malfoy had, not only brought Tonks back to them but was, indeed being cared for by none other than Hermione in one of the upstairs bedrooms, he had screamed bloody murder. It had taken the combined efforts of George and Fred and a well aimed jellylegs jinx from Ginny to keep him from charging up the stairs and killing Malfoy.

Although it had taken days, Tonks had made a startling recovery from her injuries, due in no small part she said, to the fact that Malfoy had gotten help when he did. Remus had barely left her side since she had returned and it could not be plainer that she was thrilled.

After days that seemed to run into each other; Hermione finally sat, exhausted, at the kitchen table with the other members of the Order for a late supper. Tonight was Tonks' first sojourn to the main dining room since her return and she ate Molly's delicious Weasley's Wizard Hotpot with an expression closely resembling bliss on her still bruised face.

"So, planning on telling us what happened then?" Moody asked, as tactful as ever.

"Alastair Moody!" Molly cried, "Tonks will talk, if and when she is ready!"

"I'm just sayin' that we'd be better off if we knew…" Moody grumbled into his spoon.

Remus squeezed Tonks hand under the table in way of support and she took a deep breath and sighed.

"Molly, it's OK…really, the Order has every right to know what happened, in fact, I can't think of any reason not to tell them what happened." Tonks said softly, as she raised her glass of water to her mouth.

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"It was during my patrol at Coates Crescent Farm, you'd know naturally, that we'd had reliable intelligence that Death Eaters had been using it as a drop off for hostages and dark materials. I was patrolling with Ulrich Eaton and Oliver Wood that night; we had just cleared the outer buildings and were on our way back to the main farmhouse when we were ambushed by six Death Eaters."

Molly Weasley listened, gave a slight shudder and stared intently into her coffee cup, she had not been the same since Percy had been killed, and the mere mention of Death Eaters was enough to send chills down her spine. That all her children were now actively involved in the fight against the darkness brought her no comfort, and little sleep.

"Eaton was felled by an Avada right away; if it's any consolation at all, I don't think he even saw it coming. Being the senior member on duty, I yelled at Oliver to apparate back to the Order and let you know what was happening and bring help - I thought I would be able to defend myself, and I would have, if it hadn't been for one of the bastards' apparating in right behind me. I heard him chanting Crucio over and over again, but I wasn't quick enough to block it the first time, and by then it was too late for me to defend myself."

Tonks shook her head as she explained her ambush by the Death Eaters.

"I know they broke my wand, they used it to cast the Dark Mark above the farm before I passed out; I don't know how long I was out, all I know is that when I came to, I was chained in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. "

"Malfoy." Ron snorted as he slammed his glass down onto the table, sloshing pumpkin juice onto the table and earning him a filthy look from his mother.

Tonks looked at Ron sympathetically, the kind of look an adult usually gives a child who cannot possibly begin to understand the complexity of the situation being discussed by the 'big people'.

"Malfoy Manor is as close to being the headquarters of 'Voldemort Inc' as you can get, and you're right Ron, when I opened my eyes in that dungeon, the only people I saw there, were two Death Eaters and Draco Malfoy."

"I knew it!" Ron yelled, leaping to his feet and punching the air with his finger. "He hasn't changed, you all think he's some kind of saint because he brought Tonks back, but he's not. He's the same low, cruel ferret that he always was."

"RONALD WEASLEY! Before you injure yourself jumping to conclusions," Tonks yelled, her face flushed and her eyes filled with tears of rage. "Draco was there was because he was a prisoner; manacled and chained to the wall just like me, completely and utterly helpless. The two Death Eaters I told you about were there TORTURING HIM! In fact, I only came to because I heard him scream. When I looked, I could see they were slicing into his chest with a knife."

Remus squeezed Tonk's hand once again, and she ignored the baleful looks from Ron as he battled with the idea that Malfoy could be anything other than a vicious, malignant Death Eating Slytherin scumbag and continued her explanation.

"The first time the Death Eaters came for me they used Sectumsempra. I had thought Crucio was as bad as torture could get, but if it was possible, they found more ways to inflict pain. They would ask me repeatedly, between beatings, what I knew about the Orders plans. I would tell them to go to hell, or make up something ridiculous and it would start again." She took a deep breath. "When the physical torture took to great a toll on me, they started with Legilimency – thank Merlin that you and Snape trained us Moody or they would have been able to access everything."

"Draco was in bad shape, he'd been there for months before I got there. He'd been tortured on a daily basis, and all at the apparent behest of his asshole of a father. He and I barely knew each other, even though we're related, but when they came for me, he fought for me, he insulted them and even attacked them so that they would focus on him and not me. It never worked, but that he even made the effort surprised me."

"Our whole lives were defined by a two meter length of chain and the routine set by the Death Eaters sent to torture us. On one occasion, after Draco had been particularly mouthy to them, they decided to throw a Boggart into the cell with us, without our wands, we were at the mercy of our darkest fears." She shuddered at the thought. "I kept trying to think of happy things; after all, what could possibly scare me after what I was going through? But Draco, he was weakened with lack of food and the constant torture; I think I must have seen Draco's mother tortured and dying 100 times that night."

"Do you know why Draco was there?" Hermione asked softly.

"Oh the Death Eaters made no secret of that. After he failed to kill Dumbledore, he was considered a liability – he knew too much about the plans they had and people within the organization. He was on the run for almost two years when Voldemort finally got wind that he was hiding somewhere in Scotland, they used his mother as bait to flush him into the open and then they hunted him down like an animal. The Death Eaters took great pleasure in torturing Draco, it was like a sport to them to see how much pain he could take before he gave in and passed out."

"But what about Lucius, didn't he try to defend him?" Hermione asked, appalled.

"The one and only time that Lucius came down to the dungeons, he stood there, looking at Draco like he was nothing more than dirt under his feet and then spat on him and walked out." Her voice became a whisper. "When he left, he told the Death Eaters to do whatever they wanted with us, we were of no consequence." Tonks said her voice breaking. "I think whatever love Draco had for his father, died that day."

Draco listened from the doorway, leaning heavily against the door frame, blonde hair sticking to his sweat beaded brow from the effort of getting down the stairs.

Hermione had noticed him a moment ago when he had come downstairs and she looked at him with her eyes filled with sympathy.

"Love is not something a Malfoy knows how to do Tonks." He said softly.

To Draco's surprise, it was Arthur Weasley who spoke first, as he got up from the table and helped Draco to a chair, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Then, my boy, it's a good thing indeed that you belong to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black!"

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