A/N: All right, time for some backstory! Here's where the plot deviations start to come into play... :)

*** 11 – Making Sense Of It All ***

Liz sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. There were so many thoughts floating through her mind right now, that she didn't even know what to do with them all. She wanted to try and make sense of it all, but she couldn't even fathom where to begin. She wasn't Liz Cooper, as she had believed for so many years, but in fact Hermione Granger. She was a witch, and by the sound of it, quite a brilliant one. She had a husband and a daughter, and many friends who had been searching for her since she had vanished. It was overwhelming.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock at the door. "Come in," she said softly.

The door opened to reveal a veil of red hair that was quickly replaced by Ginny's tentative face. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Liz said with a gentle smile. Ginny gave her one back, and shut the door behind her as she approached the bed. She sat down and gazed sadly at Liz.

"I wish there was something I could say to make it all better. I can't imagine what you're going through, but I know that it's taking its toll on you. Like Draco said, we won't push you into anything. We just want to help you in whatever way we can."

Liz let a tear slide down her cheek as she looked over at Ginny. "What am I going to do, Ginny? I can't remember any of this. Everything I've known and believed in is a lie."

Ginny moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her. "I know it's hard, but we will find a way to help you. Dumbledore has been working night and day for the past few years on different ideas to recover lost memories. If anyone can come up with a solution, it's him. The only other person who could do it is –"

"Who?" Liz asked.

Ginny's cheeks flared with embarrassment. "You," she confessed. "Hermione."

"Tell me about her," Liz requested. "Hermione. What was she like?"

Ginny couldn't help but smile. "She was the best friend I ever had. Loyal and brave, and so smart. No one could even come close to her in intellect. Well, except for Draco, that is, but even he couldn't match her. I think that was one of the main reasons they hated each other so much."

"They hated each other?"

Ginny nodded. "Draco is what we call a pureblood. His parents were both magical, and each of their parents were, and so on, and so on. Hermione was a muggle-born. Her family didn't have a trace of magic in them. No one really knows why there are some witches or wizards like that, but they are. Anyway, Draco's father was a cruel man who was convinced that purebloods were superior to all other magical beings. He instilled that same belief in Draco. So when Draco and Hermione first met, it was a disaster waiting to happen."

"And this went on for a while?"

"Nearly the whole of their time at Hogwarts."

"So what happened to change it?"

"Well, Draco's father was killed during your sixth year at school. It really shook him up. He thought his father was invincible. Draco knew that Voldemort's ideals weren't all they were cracked up to be, and eventually realized that his father was a fool for believing in him. He started to think that maybe everything his father had taught him wasn't all true. So, when he went back to Hogwarts after summer holidays, he really tried to change his ways. Hermione helped him through all that."

"How?"

"Well, he was made Head Boy, and she was made Head Girl that year."

"What's that?"

"Basically, Hogwarts takes two responsible students every year, and makes them Head Boy and Head Girl. They are the go-to for students. They supervise any events, and usually have to plan them, they patrol the halls at night to make sure that students are in bed, and are responsible for the prefects, which are another group of responsible students who help them with the various duties and events."

"I see."

"Anyway, Hermione and Draco were forced to live together that year as Heads. Neither of them was thrilled about it at first, but they decided that they needed to grow up, and bury their differences. They actually became friends, but that all changed the day…"

"What day?"

Ginny took a deep breath. "The day Hermione was kidnapped."

"You mean from the hospital?"

"No. She was taken from Hogwarts one day. A group of Slytherin students – the House where the majority of the students turned to the Dark Arts," Ginny explained, noticing the confusion on Liz's face. "A group of them decided it'd be a laugh to take Hermione and perform dark magic on her. While she was on rounds one night they ganged up on her and collectively stunned her. At least, that's what I assume happened. There's no way they would have overpowered her one by one. Anyway, they then took her into the Dark Forest, where there were some Death Eaters waiting. These students were trying to get in Voldemort's good books, and thought that kidnapping and torturing Harry Potter's best friend would be a good idea."

"What happened?"

"They chained her up and tortured her for hours. They put a silencing spell on her so that she couldn't scream. But Hermione was an extremely talented and powerful witch, who could perform spells without a wand, and without saying a word. So every time they put the silencing spell on her, she would counter-act it within a few minutes. But they still managed to do some serious damage to her. We barely recognized her when we found her."

"How did you find her?"

"Draco. He had overheard the Slytherins talking about kidnapping someone to get in Voldemort's good graces, and took this information to Dumbledore. When Hermione didn't return from her rounds at the normal time, Draco put the pieces together and figured out that she was the one who had been taken. He again went to Dumbledore, who called for Harry, Ron and I to come and help in the search…"

*FLASHBACK*

"I don't get it!" Ron shouted angrily, pacing the length of Dumbledore's office. "Why would they take her?"

"Mr. Weasley, I believe that their reasoning has already been explained to you," Dumbledore replied gently.

"Why is he here anyway?" Harry asked, pointing to the lone figure that stood by the door.

"Please remember, Mr. Potter, that if it were not for Mr. Malfoy's willingness to come forward with this information, we would have no idea who had taken Miss Granger, or that she was even missing at all," Minerva McGonagall said crisply.

Ginny stood silently to the side, taking in everything that was said, while still trying to process what was happening. Her best friend had been taken by a group of Slytherin scum who were just trying to impress their beloved Dark Lord. The idea made her sick.

"What can we do?" she asked quietly.

All eyes in the room flew to her, and all the shouting stopped immediately. They all seemed to suddenly realize the gravity of the situation. Dumbledore gazed at her sadly. "We must split up. Since it has only been an hour since Miss Granger was supposed to be back, we can assume that she is not far from here."

"Not far from here?" Ron said in disbelief. "If they had gotten her outside of the grounds, they could have apparated anywhere!"

"They won't have gone far," Draco stated from his spot near the door. "These kids aren't that smart. They'll want her to be found fairly quickly once they're done with her."

"How do you know this?" Harry asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Remember who my father was, Potter. This is the kind of thing I grew up around."

"I don't like it," Ron huffed.

"Like it or not Weasley, none of us have a choice in this. We need to move quickly. They probably don't even know that we've found out she's missing."

"So you think we should split up?" Ginny asked Dumbledore.

He nodded. "Into pairs. Two of us search the castle, two head for Hogsmeade, and the other two can look in the Dark Forest. If she is not in any of those places, I will call forth the Order to find her."

Ron and Harry whipped their heads at the mention of the Order. Their eyes settled on Draco, wondering what he would do with this information.

"Relax Potter, I already know about the Order," Draco said calmly. When their faces showed disbelief at his attitude, Draco turned his gaze to Dumbledore. "You might as well fill them in."

"Mr. Malfoy here has been a spy for the Order for some time now. It is because of him that we were able to avert a complete crisis during the battle at the end of last year." Dumbledore was of course referring to the battle in which Draco had been ordered to kill him. He hadn't, of course, and Snape had managed to help him cover the whole thing up so it looked like Draco was still a faithful servant of the Dark Lord.

Harry and Ron remained shocked, but Ginny stood there indifferent. All that mattered to her was getting Hermione back. "We need to get going," she whispered to no one in particular.

Everyone seemed to silently agree. "I will go into Hogsmeade and see if there is any evidence of her there," McGonagall announced.

"And I will take care of the search of the castle," Dumbledore continued. "Mr. Malfoy," he said, catching the attention of the blonde-haired boy. "Would you please search the Dark Forest? You know where the Death Eaters like to meet in there." Draco said nothing, but nodded quickly. "Very well," Dumbledore said, turning to Harry, Ron and Ginny. "The three of you will each go with one of us, and we will search as a team. Is there anywhere you would prefer to go?"

"I'll go into the Forest," Ginny said, without hesitating.

"No," Ron and Harry both replied. They both looked ready to continue their argument, when Ginny snapped.

"Look, I know you don't like Malfoy, and I can at least tolerate him. It's the easiest way. Besides, it's most likely she'll be there. Harry, if you walk in there, you're an instant target, and Ron, you know how your temper can be. Now this is not up for discussion. Ron, go get Harry's map and help Dumbledore with the search of the castle. Harry, go with McGonagall and see if she's anywhere in Hogsmeade."

Everyone was struck dumb when she was finished. Satisfied that they would now listen, she turned to where Draco was standing by the door to see him with a small smirk on his face. "Let's go," she said in a no-nonsense voice. He stood up straight, and held open the door for her as she walked through. Halfway through, she stopped and turned around and walked back to Harry. She said something that Draco couldn't hear, and he saw Harry give her a cloth that he held in his hand. She turned back and went through the door with Draco in tow.

"That was quite the display back there," he commented as they hurried through the main entrance to the school. She said nothing in return, now letting the fear for her friend take her over. Silently, they ran towards the Dark Forest together. Once inside, she looked to Draco, who took the lead.

After only a few minutes of walking, Draco grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her behind a bush. He held his finger to his lips to indicate that they needed to be silent. Together, they peeked around the bush, and Ginny had to physically bite her tongue hard to keep from crying out.

In the small clearing in front of them, various wands lit the darkness. There were probably about fifteen people there, all of them wearing black robes, and some with the pointed hoods raised. They were laughing at the sight at the other end of the clearing.

Ginny felt the tears spring to her eyes as she saw Hermione. She was being held up by a set of chains that were draped over a high tree branch and attached to her wrists. Her clothes were practically shredded, and Ginny could see large amounts of blood on her body. Hermione's head lolled to the side, resting gently on her arm before dropping forward. In that moment, Ginny could clearly see the deep gashes that marred Hermione's beautiful face. She wanted to kill these people for what they'd done, and was starting to rise from her position when Draco pulled her back down. She looked at him confused, and he leaned in to whisper to her.

"Look Ginny, I know how you're feeling right now. I want to rip them apart for this too. But we need a plan. Now, I know you don't trust me at all, but right now that's not what's important." Ginny, shocked not only that he was using her first name but also at his confession regarding the Death Eaters, nodded. "Now, I don't want to sound cowardly, but I can't be seen. If I am, my cover will be blown, and any hopes we had of me getting more information on Voldemort will be shot."

Ginny thrust something into his hands, and he realized that it was the cloth she had taken from Harry. Looking it over, he realized that it was his invisibility cloak. He had seen it on him in their fifth year, and had been quite impressed by it. A plan began to form in his mind, and he whispered in Ginny's ear again. She nodded solemnly, and he pulled the cloak over his head as she rose to face the group in front of her.

"Let her go."

Ginny's deadly voice caught the attention of the group, and they stopped laughing for a moment. When they realized who they were looking at, the laughs started again.

"Well look who it is, it's the youngest Weasley."

"Trying to save your little friend?"

"You'll wish you hadn't when we're through with you."

Ginny raised her head defiantly. "I think you'll be the ones regretting what you've done when I'm through with you." They all laughed raucously, and she took this momentary lapse in their attention to fire off a few quick stunning spells and a couple of her famous bat bogey hexes to distract them.

"Why you little –"

"Stupefy!" she shouted at the man advancing on her. Keeping them in front of her, she shot spell after spell at them, holding their attention. Behind them, she could make out random jets of light coming from the trees, and hitting the angry men in front of her.

"Hey, she's got help!" one of the men shouted, realizing that there were spells coming from two different directions. Half of the men that were still conscious turned to find the source of the second attack, while Ginny worked at fending off those in front of her.

It didn't take long, but soon they were all unconscious, and she stood, breathing hard, staring at the mess of limbs in front of her. There was one man still standing across the circle, and she watched him be knocked out from a spell from an invisible source. She started to bind the unconscious men, but stopped when a jet of red light sailed right past her cheek.

She knew it had come from Draco, and she spun around to see why. A rather large Death Eater had been quietly sneaking up behind her, and Draco had managed to stun him before he got any closer. He had saved her. She stared into the clearing, where she assumed he'd be, and gave him a grateful smile. The cloak tumbled off of him, and his silver eyes were soft as he sent her one back. Ginny finished binding the men, and made sure that they were all unconscious so that no one would know it had been Draco helping her.

While she did this, Draco made his way over to where Hermione dangled from her tree. He quickly released her chains with his wand, and caught her as she fell to the ground. He carefully lowered her down so that her upper body was leaning against his chest, and he gently pushed aside her light brown curls to get a better look at the wounds on her face. Ginny was at his side at that moment, and she watched his face curiously as he studied Hermione. If she hadn't known better, Ginny would have sworn she saw reverence and love in his eyes. Pulling her gaze away from him, she focused on the girl in his arms, and felt tears spring to her eyes as she fully took in the damage to her friend.

"Oh Merlin," Ginny whispered, reaching for Hermione.

This seemed to snap Draco into action, for he turned to Ginny, still holding Hermione securely in his arms. "Ginny, I need you to go to the castle, and get Madam Pomfrey. Tell her what's happened, so she can be ready for Hermione. Tell her that they seemed to mainly use the Cruciatus curse, along with Sectumsempra. Those seem to have done the most damage. You can conjure a Patronus, right?"

Ginny nodded. "Harry taught us how to last year."

"Good. On your way to find Madam Pomfrey, send your Patronus to Dumbledore and McGonagall and let them know what's going on as well. Have them come here to get these guys to the Ministry."

"What about you?"

"I obviously can't move as fast as you if I'm carrying her," he said, sadness floating into his voice as he indicated to Hermione with a nod. "Besides, I need to try and heal her as best I can before I move her. Snape taught me a way to counter the Sectumsempra curse, which should buy us some time."

Ginny nodded, and without a word, took off for the castle. She glanced over her shoulder only once, and caught sight of Malfoy still cradling an unconscious Hermione in his arms, as he waved his wand over her.

Ginny managed to send out her Patronus rather quickly (using the memory of her last girls night with Hermione as her inspiration), and continued her race to find the Hogwarts Healer. She found her in her office, and quickly relayed Draco's message. Madam Pomfrey was moving instantly, running towards the main entrance as she waved her wand to pull out various potions which would be ready upon her return. As they hurried towards the entrance to the castle, they bumped into Ron and Dumbledore who had been alerted by Ginny's Patronus. As they reached the entrance and the doors swung open, Ginny couldn't help but cry at the sight that befell her.

Striding up the steps as quickly as he could while still being careful was Draco Malfoy. He was flanked on either side by McGonagall and Harry who both had worried looks on their faces. Draped across his arms was the battered and bloodied body of Hermione. But it wasn't the sight of her friend that made Ginny cry. It was the look of sad determination and desperation on Draco's face.

*END FLASHBACK*

Ginny swiped at the tears that had escaped her eyes as she spoke. Liz had tears in her eyes as well, but stayed silent as Ginny continued her story.

"Hermione was in the hospital wing for nearly a week before she regained consciousness. Ron, Harry and I visited her every day, but Draco never left her side. He slept and ate in the room with her for the full week. That's how I knew that he'd changed. The old Draco would have dropped her there and gone back to his normal life. But in the few months of living with Hermione, he'd changed. I'm not sure how, but I know she did it. He became more human. I think that was when we all accepted that he wasn't the boy who had tormented us in earlier years. He'd grown up.

"When Hermione woke up, he was the one to tell her what happened. He was the one who held her as she cried at the end of his tale. And he was the one who held her and calmed her after she woke from every nightmare that followed. After he brought her back to the castle, they were almost inseparable. He'd changed into an entirely different person."

"Sounds very romantic," Liz mused.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, they still fought a fair bit, but it was because they were both stubborn to a fault." Ginny and Liz both chuckled at this. "He loved her so much, and you could tell she felt the same. I think it had been starting before she was taken. She became very defensive of him and their friendship, or relationship, whatever it was. But after that happened, they were both goners."

Liz smiled at Ginny. "Thank you," she whispered. "I still can't remember, but thank you for telling me that."

"Don't worry," Ginny said as she rose from the bed and walked to the door. "You'll remember in time. I promise." She smiled and left the room.

Liz laid back on her bed and thought about all that Ginny had said. This did help to explain the butterflies she felt in her stomach whenever Draco was in the same room. Maybe the memories were still there, holding on by a thread, and she just needed to grab hold of them. She knew that she was in the right place for that, and that the people around her would help.

Sighing softly, she decided to find out as much as she could about Hermione's life. And she knew that she couldn't do it sitting alone in this room. So she stood up, and strode to the door, determined to find someone who could tell her more.