Thank you to not only those of you who have reviewed, but also to those who have added this story and me to your Story/Author alert and Favorite Story/Author. Enjoy Chapter 8.

Draco scanned the room with his eyes but saw no one. He couldn't move. His body ached too much. He tried to speak but found that his mouth was too dry and his throat was on fire. If only he could get some water. Then he heard the door open. A woman with a small frame and glowing blonde hair walked in with a tray of potions.

As soon as Fleur saw Draco was awake she dropped the tray. At the sound of glass breaking, Bill rushed to see what was going on. "Fleur, what's wrong?" He didn't need her to answer though for he saw himself. "I'll go get Hermione."

At her name, Draco wanted to smile. He wasn't sure where he was but if Hermione was here then everything was okay.

Fleur spoke delicately to him as she took an empty glass and waved her wand. Water appeared in the glass. She placed a straw in the glass and held it to his mouth. She had to lift up his head but he didn't care if it meant he got a drink. When he was done she gently laid his head back down on his pillow.

He spoke for the first time in a week. "Where am I?"

"Ze Burrow." He gave her a questioning look. "The Weasley home." She started scanning him to look at his wounds. She got to his arm which was wrapped in a bandage. She decided not to mess with it in case he didn't remember what had happened. "Do you remember what happened?"

He closed his eyes. He was about to speak when someone stopped in the doorway.

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"He's really awake?" Harry asked Bill shocked.

"Yes." Bill then left for the kitchen.

"Thank goodness. Maybe Hermione will actually sleep now." Ginny spoke only concerned for Hermione.

"I don't think that's the only reason she hasn't been sleeping." Harry replied knowing Hermione feared sleep because every time she closed her eyes she recalled the moment she was tortured.

Ginny shrugged. "Should we go up there?"

"No I think Hermione needs some time to sort things out with him."

"Do you think-"

"Yes. She cares for him too much as he does for her." Harry knew that Ginny would ask if he thought Hermione and Draco would end up together and he knew the answer for sure.

"How do you know they care for each other?"

"Because you won't quit telling me." He smirked at her and she blushed in return. "And she cares for him because she hasn't left his bedside since the after the funeral, except to use the loo and eat, barely, just waiting for him. And he obviously cares for her because he was disloyal to Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard, for her."

"And how would you feel about that?" Ginny nudged him.

"I don't know yet."

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Hermione didn't speak. She couldn't speak. They hadn't expected him to pull through and now that he was awake she just couldn't quite believe it. She hurriedly went and sat on his bedside taking his hand.

Once Fleur had left the room, shutting the door behind her, Hermione spoke. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left and then this happened to you and you didn't deserve it, any of it." She spoke quickly as she always did when she was excited or nervous.

"Hermione," His voice was weak. She had begun to cry. His breathing became heavier and right on cue Fleur came back in with another tray.

"I'm zorry to interrupt. Draco, how are zou feeling?"

"Sore. Weak."

"You need zo drink zis." She helped sit him up a little then she handed him a vile filled with red liquid. "Itz horrible so itz vetter juz to gulp it." He followed her orders and chugged the ghastly tasting drink. "And zou zould veally eat. I made zome zoup." She started handing him the bowl but he made a face.

"I'm tired."

"Then you zould zleep. I will leave the zoup here for when zou vake up."

He nodded and Fleur gracefully left.

"I guess I should go too." Hermione started to get up but he grabbed her wrist.

He swallowed hard like it was painful for him to speak. "Please, stay."

She nodded and sat back down on the bed. "It was Bellatrix wasn't it?" His eyes widened. "She tortured you." She started to cry again. "She came back and she tortured you and left you for dead because of me."

"Not because of you." His voice was shaky.

She rolled her eyes and looked away. "Why'd you come here?"

"She brought me here."

Her gaze shot back at him. "Bellatrix Lestrange was here?" He nodded trying to speak as little as possible. She looked down again. Trying to change the subject, she said the first thing that popped into her head. "We had the funerals the morning after."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

She shook her head furiously. "You were in a horrible condition thanks to me."

"Please don't blame yourself."

She got up and started pacing. "But it is my fault. If I never would have asked you to betray Voldemort then Bellatrix would have had no reason to do this and if I would have never left you there on the bridge you wouldn't have been alone and her opportunity to attack you would have been slim."

"I'm glad you made me leave them and as for leaving me on the bridge, Bellatrix would have found me with you and she would have done the same thing to you and then killed us both." He coughed. "But," he stopped midsentence not sure if he wanted to go on.

"What?"

"You owe me some sort of an explanation." He wanted to know why she abandoned him on the bridge and left him there alone.

She inhaled deeply fearing this moment. "I just thought it was too soon."

"And you didn't think of that before you asked me to switch sides?" His tone was slightly cruel but still hoarse.

She wiped a tear away with her sleeve. "I wasn't expecting you to come and snog me in front of the entire wizarding world."

"But it sure as hell felt like you were kissing back." He coughed again.

She looked away knowing he was right. When he kissed her she felt like the luckiest person in the world, Wizard or Muggle. Just his touch made her heart race and when he looked at her with his silver eyes, butterflies multiplied in her stomach.

He spoke again after he took another swig of water. "Why are you second guessing it? I betrayed everything I've ever known and feared for you. Does that not mean anything?"

Every word he spoke made her melt. She wanted to tell him that he was right and that she was sorry and that she never should have left him on that bridge. She was about to say something but then she had a pain in her left arm. She looked down. Her arm was covered by her tan sweater sleeve. It itched madly so she started scratching but soon blood was seeping through her sleeve.

Draco grabbed her arm. He lifted her sleeve angrily and what he saw made him throw his head back. She saw a tear escape down his cheek.

"Draco,"

"I should have done something. I should have stopped her."

"What I went through was nothing compared to what you had to endure."

He turned his head to her. "I need to show you something." She looked at him quizzically. He started unwrapping the bandage on his arm. When he was done, she gasped at what she saw.

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