Sorry short one today, classes have started again and I got a new job! I shall keep updating don't worry I won't disappear again.

Disclaimer: You guys know the drill.

Draco

The first thing he registered was something wet steadily trickling down his head. There was a weird ringing in his ears and muffled noises going on around him but he couldn't break through the bubble of silence. It seemed like a never-ending haze, almost as if he was submerged in a pool of a gelatinous substance and the more he tried to get out of it the more stuck he became. His eyes wouldn't budge as he tried to open them and his mind wouldn't connect to anything that would tell him what the hell was going on. He was just swimming.

And then the pain hit him. It was so sudden and abrupt that he tried to scream but his voice wouldn't make a sound, his lips wouldn't move an inch. The pain engulfed him, surrounded him and that was all he was aware of.

And then the memories came just as suddenly,

The noises and going out into the hall.

The dark-cloaked figures advancing on me, the fight.

Granger!

Shit, Granger.

I have to get up, where's Granger? What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I fucking move?

The world crashed back onto him and his senses exploded around him. There were loud voices shouting incomprehensible things, the pain increased beyond measure and he was finally able to pry his eyes open and force his body into an upright position.

"Malfoy! What the hell! Lay back down you've lost way too much blood!" Potter's voice rang in his ears as he tried to make out the hazy form of the dark-haired man in front of him.

"Shut the fuck up Potter!" he growled and tried not to wince in pain as he pulled his body to semi-stand up.

Lifting his hand he felt the wet substance on his head and brought it down to his eye-level to find it was blood. Great, just great, this whole fucking thing was great.

Then he took in the disarray that his flat was in and the aurors that were scrambling about the place. He did not; however, find the face he was looking for. He fixed Potter with a fierce gaze that would make his own mother cower in fear.

"Where the hell is she?" Draco asked the man in a deadly calm voice.

Potter fixed his glasses and cleared his throat, his expression looking grim.

"Gone," as soon as the words left his lips Draco was pounding his fist through the nearest wall.

All of the aurors in the room stopped and stared as the ex-Death Eater pulled his bleeding hand out of the wall and spun around to face their Head Auror. No one tried to intervene of course, because who would want to get between the Boy-Who-Lived and the even deadlier Malfoy Heir? The two were possibly the most powerful wizards in the world with the exception of Granger which was most likely due to her extensive knowledge of charms and curses and her know-it-all attitude in general. These two were on opposite ends of the danger scale, with Harry Potter being the slayer of Voldemort and the all-around good-doer and Draco Malfoy, while starting off a cowardly Death Eater became a mysterious and quite adept wizard who was known to dabble in the dark arts. He looked even more intimidating, covered in blood and muscles tensing underneath his soaked shirt.

No one messed with Malfoy, and Harry Potter knew this, but really, Granger was his best friend and he did kill Voldemort so maybe he was feeling lucky.

"Malfoy! Calm the fuck down!" Potter yelled, "She's my best friend and they fucking took her! She could be dead, or almost dead by now, so instead of fighting me let's go and find her!"

"Shit Potter, you're actually sounding sensible today," Malfoy grumbled and then paused, "I hope this doesn't mean we're friends or anything."

"Of course not Malfoy," Harry responded, and the two shared a small smirk.

The other aurors present were quite baffled at the semi-friendly ending to the wizards' exchange and watched in confusion as the two disapparated with a crack.

"I hope you know that you're bleeding in about four places that I can see, I don't even want to know where else, not to mention that huge spot of blood on your head, you're going to have quite a knot there later, " Harry stated eyeing Draco as they searched through files for some kind of clue to help them find Hermione, "Why don't you take care of that while I look?"

"Right," Draco rolled his eyes, "Look Harry, I know your little Golden Trio was into that buddy, buddy, I love you shit. But trust me the real world isn't like that. I can handle my own shit, and you can mind your own damn business."

"Draco," Harry started, in that annoying, concerned tone of voice that Draco really wanted to punch in the face.

He didn't hear the rest of what the other man was saying because he suddenly noticed a pattern in the files that seemed very familiar. Eerily familiar, actually.

"Shut up Harry," Draco stated calmly, which cut Harry off abruptly as he noticed Draco's expression.

"I think I've got it," he said in amazement, "I mean I know I've got it. Look at these files, in all of them what's the common denominator?"

Harry looked at the files Draco passed him and after a couple minutes he shook his head.

"I don't understand there's no pattern."

"Potter, look closer!" Draco demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes and glanced back at the files, comparing them until he caught what the other man was talking about.

"You've got to be kidding me," Harry growled, "Let's go get Zabini and Ron."

Draco nodded his agreement.

The two men stood quickly, and after exchanging a look, disapparated.

Hermione

Pain endless, agonizing pain.

There was screaming ringing through her ears and as her consciousness came back to her she realized that the screaming was hers. Even more pain slammed through her and her coherent thoughts were gone as she fell back into unconsciousness.

When she woke up again, Hermione's hands and feet were shackled to the wall. She pried her tear-filled eyes open to get a good look around her. As she found herself in a dark cell in what was most likely a dungeon, her stomach dropped in dread.

"Well, well, well," a smooth, crisp man's voice hit her ears suddenly, "The mudblood is awake."

The pale blonde hair of Lucius Malfoy came into her line of vision and her anger rose to a new level.

"I don't know what my son finds particularly intriguing about you, filthy mudblood, but once he realizes it is I who has you he will come to save you, only to find you dead. Then he will finally have nothing keeping him from leading the Dark Lord's faithful army to destroy your kind!"

Hermione couldn't help but feel like the man sounded like a deranged supervillain from one of those muggle cartoons.

"You're crazy," she told him slowly.

He raised an eyebrow at her and then hit her with another cruciatus and the pain overtook her again.

This time when she woke up there was a breeze that made her shiver, after a quick check she realized that she was naked. Panicking, she pulled at her shackles but it was unsurprisingly futile.

"You've grown even more beautiful since Hogwarts."

What was it with these Death Eaters and their slinking out of the shadows obsession?

The dark-haired wizard stepped into her line of sight and she gasped as she recognized Theodore Nott. She had, had a slight crush on the quiet book-wormish boy when they had been at Hogwarts. He was never part of the Death Eater crowd like Malfoy had been. Maybe he was there to help her?

He inched closer and closer to her, and she was getting the feeling that he was not in fact her savior. She was really missing her blonde sexy protector right now.

And yes she was referring to Malfoy as her blonde sexy protector.

Theodore Nott had every bit of the beautiful aristocratic features that Malfoy had, he was just on a different side. His dark hair and forest green eyes offset his pale skin to give him that tall, dark, and handsome look. He was more muscular than Malfoy, but in the body builder way that Ron and Viktor Krum had, while Malfoy's muscles were more refined and lean giving him an athletic look.

Nott's hand came up and caressed her jaw line and so she spit in his face.

"That was not a very smart move," Nott growled.

Hermione couldn't help but agree with him as he grabbed her chin painfully between his fingers.

"You're mine now mudblood," he hissed in her ear.

Fuck, she was screwed. This bloody idiot was going to rape her. Right, she needed to think here, ignore the slimy bastard tonguing her breasts, and figure out how to get out of here. Her eyes snapped open as a thought came to her. She was really going to be working hard in order to concentrate here. Closing her eyes, she visualized her shackles disappearing. After a couple of minutes her wand-less magic worked and they silently fell off. She took a deep breath and then brought her knee up into Nott's crouch. He howled in pain and she made a break for the cell door. She made it outside the cell before she was thrown to the floor, her head cracking as it made contact. Nott's figure was blurry, and Hermione's brain was so muddled that she couldn't figure out if she was inching herself up or down or away.

Searing pain in her stomach refocused her vision, and she looked down to see a knife lodged in her stomach. Her brain was still moving slowly and she didn't register what it meant to have a knife in her stomach; so she kicked out at him again and again hoping to cause as much damage as she could as she kept moving in the opposite direction. She got another blow to the face from his fist, and soon after felt blood dripping from her nose.

Finally, she felt herself made immobile and she realized he had done it to her with his wand. He pulled the knife out of her stomach and the pain engulfed her, she screamed, and screamed and screamed, and then she felt him pulling her legs apart and she figured she was going to die anyways so she might as well try and throw his spell off of her. Concentration went a long way and in a wonderful moment she felt the spell lifted. Taking a deep breath, Hermione threw a wand-less jinx at him and he was thrown off of her. She pulled herself shakily to her feet, grabbed his discarded wand and stood over him as Harry, Ron, and Blaise stormed into the dungeon.

The edges of her vision were flashing with black spots, and the room was getting fuzzy. Nott's groan from the floor brought her attention back down to him. She really, really wanted to tear him apart; with his own wand. As she raised her arm up she wavered on her feet and a warm hand gently grasped her wrist from behind and an arm wrapped around her waist. Panicking, she weakly fought against them until she heard Malfoy's lovely, smooth voice in her ear; so much like his father's and yet completely different.

"Love, you'll regret that later, trust me. He deserves much worse than death, and don't worry I'll give it to him."

Hermione fell back into his arms and as her consciousness was once again leaving her, she felt something warm being wrapped around her, with a very lovely scent on it. Harry, Blaise, Ron, and Malfoy's voices echoed around her but she was falling into a beautiful place and she wasn't scared, because it was serene and wonderful and she could just feel the goodness that resonated out of every inch of the place.

Not quite as happy with this one. Let me know what you think, what could have gone better. Thanks y'all.

~Ace~