She stared at him from across the table. They had made a habit of meeting here every night after dinner. At first it was just coincidence, at least that's what Malfoy called it. Hermione knew better than that though. Both had shown up in hopes of finding the other waiting there. She couldn't explain this dance they were doing. It had gone on for nearly a month. Mostly they talked about nonsense; they would discuss rumors floating around the castle or things they read in a book or the paper. There were times though where the conversation would take a serious turn. Hermione liked these times the best. It was the only time she was able to peer behind the façade he portrayed.

"I was mean to you because I resented you."

Hermione laughed at what he said, "What for?"

"You were the brightest in our year. After growing up in my household, being fed all that nonsense about blood purity, it enraged me that my best simply wasn't good enough."

"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

He scoffed, "you didn't grow up with my father."

"What does that mean?"

His lips turned up at the corners, "It means you live with the fact that you are never good enough. My father strived for excellence. He strived for power and he taught me to want the same. I spent most of my school life being chided for allowing an 'inferior being' to get the better of me."

Hermione shook her head, "he was a foolish man."

"No," he shook his head. "He was weak. He allowed his ego to tear his family apart. It was more important to be feared by all than loved by those closest by him. Even at his lowest point, we were nothing more than bargaining chips for him."

"Is that why you took the dark mark?"

Draco looked down at the table, "No, I did that on my own volition. My father had already been sent to Azkaban. We were sitting ducks. I did what needed to be done to keep my family safe. But that turned out to be my biggest mistake. It didn't make me any safer. It put a target on my back. I was set up to fail."

"Why not run?"

"Where was I going to run to? The order? If word got back to Voldemort that I had switched sides my parents would have been slaughtered."

Hermione nodded her head. She knew as well as he did that Voldemort would have punished him if he had tried to switch sides.

"The more I saw, the more it became clear that I wanted no part in any of it. I didn't want to see Potter dead. I didn't want to kill Dumbledore. I couldn't kill him. That night in the astronomy tower was the final straw. After that night, everything changed."

Hermione closed her eyes and thought back to that night. She remembered it like it was yesterday. That day changed everything for her as well.

"I know I haven't said it before but I want you to know that had I been able to do something, I would have."

"What are you talking about?"

Draco reached across the table and grabbed Hermione's arm. He pulled up her sleeve revealing the scar left by Bellatrix, a mar on her skin that reminded her of darker times.

"This," his thumb rubbed over the jagged raised writing on her skin, "that night I was a coward."

Hermione pulled her arm from him and pushed his sleeve down.

"It's in the past."

She looked down at the table, her eyes avoiding Draco's. He had hit a nerve. Hermione still had nightmares about that night, about the things Bellatrix had done to her. She wouldn't talk about that night. Not here, not now.