Hours later Narcissa summoned the house elf to her side. She, Bellatrix, Lucius and Draco had been taking tea in the sitting room.

"Grafl. Perhaps you should go offer some scraps to our guest in the cellar. Find her something quickly and return to me. I have chores for you." With a wave of her manicured hand, Narcissa shooed the elf away and turned back to her sister, "You were saying, dear?"

Draco stood up and collected his used tea things, "I am going with Grafl. Perhaps the best time to collect information is when the promise of food is in the offering."

Bellatrix clapped her hands like a schoolchild, "Wonderful idea, Draco! Are you sure you don't want any assistance? I would be glad to accompany…"

"Thank you, but no," Draco quickly interjected, "I intend to concentrate intently on the task at hand, so I would prefer not to be disturbed."

Lucius nodded, "Very well, son. Your mother and I have business to attend to away from the manor. There are pressing issues involving the escape we must discuss. I hope we can manage to provide some sort of damage control to the situation. We shall be gone till late in the evening. You pry what you can from the girl. With you in charge, I expect results." His stern tone matched his icy stare. "Narcissa. Bellatrix and I shall go ahead. Join us when you have finished with the elf." He and Bellatrix both stood, spun on the spot, and disapparated with matching pops.

A third snap signaled Grafl joining them in the sitting room, holding a small tray upon which was perched a pitcher of water and a goblet, a scrap of bread, and a bowl of thin broth.

"That will do, Grafl. Draco will accompany you. When you are done beat the rugs, clean the kitchen, and do the crystal and the silver. We will be dining with my sister this evening, so make dinner for Draco and then tend to the greenhouse. The belladonna and nightshade are both looking over grown and I think my moonwort is ready for harvesting. Do not," Narcissa smiled gently downward, "and I repeat, Do Not, puncture any of those pods. I need them whole." Despite her imposing character, Narcissa behaved compassionately towards her elf when she was alone or with her son. She might seem cold to those who did not know her, but Draco understood that this was a carefully well calculated act that fooled even his father.

"Draco, Darling? Good luck, my son." She ruffled his hair gently and patted his cheek, then disapparated.

"Master…Master Draco will go with Grafl to see the prisoner?" Grafl's wide blue eyes stared at the floor.

"No, Grafl." Draco said kindly as he took the tray form her, "You go attend to the other chores, I will go to…the…the prisoner. Please do not come down to the cellar. I will come up when I am hungry."

Draco turned away from Grafl and began to make his way to Granger's cell, walking slowly down to the cellar so as not to spill everything. He unlocked the door with a flick of his wand and watched as the torches cascaded light into the room. Granger lay limply on the table looking worse for the wear.

"Granger, are you awake?" Draco drew up a table and chair from midair with his wand and placed them near Granger's head.

"Malfoy."

"How are you feeling?" He set the tray on the table and moved so he was looking over her.

"What?" A flummoxed look clouded Hermione's face.

"I asked how you were feeling," Draco said as he rolled his eyes.

"I heard you the first time." Her voice was dry and gravelly, yet still held a tone of skepticism, "I just never expected pleasantries."

"Granger," Draco could feel his nostrils flaring, "Shut it. Forget I asked." He turned his body to pour water in the goblet.

"I hurt." The damning words pierced his ears as though they had been shouted. Draco gripped the goblet hard and swallowed. She had said it so softly she couldn't have expected him to hear. He would pretend he hadn't. He didn't want to. He knew he was the cause of part of her pain, a part she surely felt but had no idea of.

"I brought you food."

"I'm not hungry. Just please go away." The manacles clinked lightly on the table, sounding dull and heavy.

"You have to eat or you'll starve."

Hermione sighed, "Really? Is that how it works? Hmm….what a pity." Her head turned to nestle her arm, facing away from Draco. He watched her chew her bottom lip in thought.

"Come on, Granger. Look. There are some things I need to ask you and well, here, I can feed you and then we can talk." Feeling slightly helpless, Draco plopped indelicately in the chair and picked up the spoon from the tray.

Hermione's head snapped Draco's way and her eyes narrowed in anger, "How bloody kind. Do you honestly think I would tell you anything? How thick are you?" She hissed, jerking her body involuntarily in her frustration. "OW!" The abrupt howl issued from her lips followed by a sharp gasp of pain.

'What? What the hell!" Draco panicked and jumped from his chair, allowing the spoon to fall from his fingers and clatter on the floor. He edged toward the table as she started to cry, great racking sobs causing a small flood of tears.

"It…h…hu…hurttsssss….."

"Jeeze, Granger!" Draco ran his fingers quickly over his face, then reached for his wand and tapped the manacles holding her prisoner. As they sprung open, he could see the damage they had already done. Hermione's wrists were bruised, raw, and bloody. The right looked painfully crooked at a rather odd angle, as though perhaps pulled a little too hard and sprained or broken. "Get up and walk around a bit, you're probably just sore."

Draco put his wand away, lifted Hermione to a sitting position, and gently pulled her to her to her feet. When he let go, she stood shakily for a moment, then plummeted, catching herself on her left wrist, just as her face hit the cold stone floor. She continued to weep, laying face down in the dust and scrunched into a tiny ball.

"I want R...Ronnnn an…an…and..Ha…Harryyyy!" The statement, barely audible between the sobs cut right through Draco. He could feel his mouth twitch and his eyes sting. Oh, she wanted Potty and the Weasel to save her, did she?

"They've gone. They left early this morning. Quickly, very quickly in fact. I think they must not have cared to find you. You are in the same cellar, after all. You would think they would have at least spent a minute to look." He spoke with a tone of nonchalance, though inwardly he seethed.

"No." Her stricken face lifted slightly, "They wouldn't…just…just go."

"Well," Draco sniffed kneeling down in front of her, "Perhaps they were just too busy getting all the others out to think of you. Perhaps they thought you could handle escaping without them. Perhaps you aren't as important to them as you dreamed."

Hermione struggled to push herself up one-handed, her split lip trembling madly. Sitting on her knees with her head lowered to her chest, she mumbled, "It's probably easier this way."

Draco reached out a hand to set on her cheek, thought better of it, and snatched it back to his side. "Why don't you stop playing the tragic little heroine for a bit, get up on the table, and eat something?"

A slender hand reached up to press shaking fingers to her mouth, "I told you I wasn't hungry."

"Fine." Draco stood and made to reach for his wand.

"I've never felt so weak and violated…"

Hermione's tiny voice clenched at his heart, striking a tender nerve.

"…it's like my heart has been raped. And everything has been taken from me."

At those words an angry and shameful dam broke in his soul, "SHUT UP, GRANGER! It's YOU that has made you feel weak, no one else. If you want any chance of surviving this situation you have stupidly gotten yourself in, you will shut your damn mouth, quit feeling so damn sorry for yourself, and listen to me."

Draco bent and pulled Hermione up, scooping her gently in his arms. Upon hearing her surprised intake of air, Draco had to shut his eyes quickly so as not to plant a kiss on her shocked mouth. He deposited her on the table and dropping into his chair, he stared intently at her. The left arm cradled the right as she turned away so that she would not look at him.

"Hermione. I can help you. I can keep you safe, but dammnit, you have to stay alive long enough to let me! I need information to keep you alive day to day, information only you can provide to save yourself. At this point the only way you can do that is to stop regarding this cell as your finality and eat. I must leave you for the moment. I will be back down in one hour and I expect you to be ready to talk." As Draco spoke, his hand slid from the chair to the table, from the table to the side of her thigh. He gripped it lightly, feeling it tense and then relax slightly.

Hermione furrowed her brow obviously perplexed and a bit suspicious, "Why? Why do you even care if another mudblood lives or dies?"

Draco removed the hand from her thigh and ran the fingers carelessly though his hair. "Because," he murmured softly, "because maybe I'm just tired of all of this. I'm sick of never knowing if I'll be alive or dead the next day and whether or not I would be better off. And…well, maybe I owe you, Granger."

He stood, walked swiftly to the door, and fumbled at the latch.

"I don't underst…"

Draco did not stay to hear the rest of the statement; he just slipped through the doorway, whispering, "Because I need you to forgive me." The latch locked tightly behind him.