When Hermione woke up, she began firing whiny questions with startling precision. Draco was absently levitating a paper plane, his back to her. She lay in a heap on the floor, where he had dumped her. Just because he hadn't left her to die or be carried away by gypsies or whoever it was making off with members of Potter's notorious trio didn't mean that he was suddenly her best friend.
"Where am I?" she demanded, "Malfoy, is that you? What happened?"
He caught the plane, plucking it neatly out of the air. The action made him miss simpler times, when winning a game of Quidditch had seemed important. Granted, it had only seemed so because he had wanted to beat Harry Potter. That had never changed but the stakes had become higher as the two of them grew older.
"You're awake," Draco yawned, "Took you long enough,"
She stood up and walked around his chair, planting herself in front of him and placing her hands on her hips. With that blazing mane of hair, she looked a little bit frightening.
"What. Happened?" she demanded furiously.
"You fell unconscious and I moved you,"
Her face twisted in anger and she fumbled for her wand. Smirking, he pulled it from the waist band of his pants and dangled it teasingly in front of her.
"Naturally, I took this away while you had your little nap,"
"You… "
"Come on Granger, an eloquent person such as yourself can surely come up with better insults than that,"
She frowned suddenly, "You didn't call me a mudblood,"
"What?"
"This is one of the longer conversations we've had and you haven't said it yet," she peered at him curiously, "Why not?"
Why hadn't he? Did he feel differently about bloodlines now that Voldemort's regime had fallen? He wasn't sure. Somehow though, her presence wasn't bothering him as much as he had expected it to. Perhaps he was ill.
"How about we make a deal?" he said, ignoring her question, "I'll tell you what happened if you tell me why it's my help you're after,"
She exhaled loudly through her nose, "I think the Ministry is involved in this somehow. You are one of the only people I know for sure isn't secretly helping them,"
"Why are you so sure of that?"
"Because you're a Death Eater and you are laying low. Most of the other people like you are either in prison or would be… unhelpful to me,"
He considered that. She tapped her foot impatiently.
"So tell me what happened,"
"You got hit by a stunning curse. Maybe someone was trying to kidnap you to finish their collection," he told her.
"And you saved me?"
He frowned, "I guess I did,"
"Are you feeling okay?"
He laughed bitterly at that, "I am deliriously happy. My life is fantastic and everything is going according to plan," he spread his hands, "Who knows, maybe I should change tactics. So, how can I help you?"