Hermione didn't know what to expect when she and Ginny arrived at the Hospital Wing, but she was happy to see that Jo had already been cleaned up and set back to normal. She looked tired, and Madam Pomfrey was clearly making her stay in bed and rest, but she was otherwise alright.

"Hey guys..." She said sheepishly. "Uhh, I guess you both know -"

Hermione put a hand up to stop her. "Jo, I am sorry you've been dragged into any of this, but I know for certain you are brave and kind, and a damn good healers' apprentice."

Jo stared at the older girl for a moment, and then broke out into a wide smile. "Well...thanks Hermione. I just wish I could tell you who got me. They came up from behind and hit me with a stunning spell before I could even turn around."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "It's alright. I think the person involved is very good at keeping their secrets. There will be Aurors here today, and Curse Breakers. They will hopefully be able to help Malfoy get back to normal."

A cough behind them startled everyone.

"Normal? Granger, I doubt our lives will ever be normal. There will always be people who resent me for what my family did...and resent you for being here..." His words were labored, and she could tell he regretted that they were true.

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean we duck our heads and hide away. Or in your case, lay down and die."

"How inspirational, Granger..." Her name was cut off as a moan ripped through him. His eyes fluttered closed and his neck arched painfully.

"Malfoy? Malfoy!" Hermione didn't even realize she had yelled his name until Ginny put a hand on her arm. Before she could even reach him, Madam Pomfrey appeared.

"Please, ladies. We're going to have to get him into another ice bath. I hope the Ministry sends someone soon. I don't know how much longer Mr. Malfoy can hold on."

Hermione and Ginny stared at the witch, stunned. They had never seen Madam Pomfrey look so adrift. Her eyes were shining with the threat of tears, and it was clear that she too had not been sleeping much over the last week.

They managed to carry the thrashing Malfoy to the tub, and clothes and all he was quickly dunked into the water.

"Malfoy...Draco, you have to hold on." Hermione urged him, hoping that he could hear her.

"You have to hold on..."

The whisper surrounded him, but he couldn't see her. He was alone again, trapped in the darkness of his own mind. The Room of Requirements rose up around him, though it kept growing smaller and closer to him with each of his ragged breaths.

Screams filled the room, and he covered his arms with a dramatic flinch. The screams of the damned. The screams of someone he once called "friend".

"It's all my fault. I let him die. So many people died because I wasn't strong enough. I should have done something. I should have told someone..." The old dark thoughts were back, screaming through the room where his life should have ended.

"People died because you were too weak. Because you were stubborn and arrogant. People were tortured. People lost loved ones...What right do you have to be here? To stand where they stood?"

It was Professor Lupin, his face twisted in an anger that Malfoy had never seen on the man in life. His wife, the woman he knew to be his estranged aunt, stood with a similar anger on her face. They were united in their hatred of him, and he cowered as they grew closer.

"Draco- Draco, please hold on. You can't die like this..."

He could hear her again. The specters that haunted him shifted and changed. It was now Bellatrix.

"If you had been stronger, we would have won. You betrayed the Dark Lord. You betrayed your father!" Her shrill voice reached out to him, and he could remember the times she had struck him for failing the family. He could remember bruises. He could remember stinging hexes and enduring the curses when she was especially upset.

"That's enough, Bella. Draco won't do it again. He won't fail again..." His mother's voice cut through the Room of Requirement and everything went white. She was the only thing he could see. Her face was strained, but kind.

"I know it's difficult my son, but you can't give up. You can't stop here. You have a purpose and you must fulfill it. You must make this family proud. I know we raised you to be a hard man. A man after your father...but now you must be a man in spite of him. Make yourself a great man in this new world. Save yourself. Be good to someone like that angel of a girl who helped give you this second chance." His mother held his face like he was a child, her strong fingers forcing his jaw upwards as she had so many times. "You are a great man. Or, you will be. But not if you give up here."

Draco nodded. He could hear Hermione's voice calling out to him once more, a tether to that place of pain. A tether to the only happiness he'd felt in years.

"Draco, she is not safe. Whoever is after you will go after her for saving you. Hermione Granger is not safe!"

With a start Draco opened his eyes. Dark brown eyes stared right back at him, and the relief that filled them made his heart feel whole.