A/N- Here's chapter two! I know it's a bit of a filler but it's important that we get Hermione's story out of the way. Well, not ALL of it is told, because Draco's still the cruel arrogant git from school to Hermione...At least in this point in the story ;)

WARNING. This scene involves mild discussion/thought of rape. Nothing graphic, but I just thought a warning would be a good idea.

THANKS SO MUCH to all of those who reviewed/faved/followed. I really appreciate it! :)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, there would be a scarf of sexual preference. (If you don't know what this is from... look it up)

Chapter Two

"It all began in the summer of 1997, when Harry, Ron and I were hunting Horcruxes,"

Draco opened his mouth to ask what kind of animal a Horcrux was, when Granger raised a hand to stop him.

"A Horcrux is a piece of someone's soul that they place in an inanimate object by killing someone else. It makes the owner of the Horcrux immortal, even if their body itself is dead. They can exist in the most pitiful of forms. It's a dark bit of magic, to split your soul, and the objects that are used can possess people, talk to them…" The brunette looked lost in thought, and her sentence trailed off slowly. Draco fidgeted in his chair, causing a metal button on his pants to scrape gently on the glossy wood. Granger snapped out of her memories, and continued talking, "Anyways… Generally people only create one Horcrux, splitting their soul into two, one half which is still in their body. Voldemort, however, split his," Granger's face darkened considerably, "Into seven,"

Letting out a low whistle of shock, Draco commented, "That explains the whole not dying thing,"

"Yeah," Fiddling with a strand of her hair, the witch continued, "Where was I… Ah yes, 1997. So Harry, Ron and I were hunting for Horcruxes. We started immediately after Bill and Fluer's wedding. We were ambushed, if you remember," Draco did remember, he had been there. The screams of those people, running from the Death Eaters… Running from him. "Things got pretty rough while we were travelling around, although we'd been planning it since the end of sixth year," That bit of information shocked Draco. Weren't Gryffindors supposed to launch into things without thinking? "Ron and Harry got into an argument one night, I remember, itw as nearing Christmas… It was over the stability of our findings and it led to other, deeper blows," A sad look wrestled its way onto Hermione Granger's face, "Ron left us,"

Draco suddenly had a very strong urge to punch something.

"It was hell, just Harry and I. Not like he wasn't a good friend, and a great fighter, but we were no longer a trio. It's difficult doing things with just two when you're used to three. Then Harry left one night while he was on watch. When he came back, Ron was with him. They also had the sword of Gryffindor, which they had found in a nearby lake. Harry was dripping wet and Ron was so happy that he'd destroyed a Horcrux…"

"What was it?" Draco interrupted suddenly.

"What?" Granger had gotten wrapped up in her own story, being carried away by the nostalgia, "Oh, you mean the Horcrux?" Without waiting for an answer she kept talking, "It was a necklace, a locket that was once in Number 12 Grimmuld place."

Nodding his head absently, Draco waved his hand, requesting her to get along with the story.

"They later found out that Severus Snape had placed the sword there… We never stole it from Gringotts," Granger's tone was accusing and it would have been no better had she been pointing an angry finger at him and flat-out stating it.

You just stood there, watching her being tortured, and you KNEW they didn't get it from your aunt's vault, you KNEW how difficult that would be...

"Well," Her hands were in her lap, fiddling with the hem of her pastel shirt, "You know the rest,"

He did know the rest. His aunt had cast Granger aside, a cruel smile playing at her lips. She'd told Draco to do what he wanted with the girl. Draco had hesitated. He had no desire to violate someone like that: he had seen other Death Eaters do it often enough. He might have been in Slytherin, but he was not a sadistic bastard. Under duress from his father and the sneering men in the corner, Draco had done what he needed to do to ensure that he would not be Crucio-ed into oblivion. But her eyes, her golden-brown eyes, full with tears after the deed was done, were the worst part of it all. They had told him without words that he was forgiven, that she understood that he couldn't do anything else. The tears were also a challenge, a challenge to resist and fight his cowardliness. They were a guilt clause, but they were empathetic because she knew he couldn't stand up and fight. She understood.

"I… Granger…"

"No matter!" Her unusually chipper tone scared Draco. More than the eerie silence, "On with the story, eh?" She smiled slowly, her eyes becoming glazed over, "We broke into Gringotts. That was quite fun, I got to ride a dragon," Smirking at the double meaning, the blonde leaned back against the chair, "Then there was the battle," Granger's face fell, and the blonde felt a certain sinking in his stomach. Ah. That.

"You don't have to if you don't want to,"

The gentleness in Draco's voice shocked him. He was not getting all soft for a mudblood. But those tears…

Sighing in agreement, Hermione nodded, "Right. Well after Voldemort triumphed, Ron, Ginny, Neville and I ran. Luna was with us, but she wanted to go home to fetch her father first," Catching the water brewing behind her lids, Draco understood what exactly had happened to Luna when she tried to get her dad, "It was then that I discovered I was pregnant."

Draco closed his eyes briefly before opening them. Granger had been pregnant during the final battle? Granted she didn't know, but… Perhaps it is Weasley's kid. The forced ignorance clouded Malfoy's brain. He'd wait for Granger's explanation.

"Well, that made everyone angry, as you can imagine. We were on the run from the darkest wizard alive. Neville was sick. Ginny was mourning. Ron was confused…. We had never slept together… And we were ambushed. By snatchers, and Ron was taken. We saw the news in an old Prophet a few weeks later. He was dead." The tears in her eyes were threatening to fall now, "So Ginny, Neville and I kept moving. We went to Italy for a while, so I could have my baby. The place seemed safe enough, and we were in the muggle world when I gave birth. We had all agreed that I would give my child to an orphanage once he was born but as soon as I set eyes on him, I was in love," At this statement, Granger's expression grew dreamy, "He was so perfect, with tiny little toes and tiny little fingers… I held him and I knew that I never wanted to let him go," Laughing at a distant memory, she continued, "I punched Neville in the face when he reminded me that we had a job to complete,"

Draco snickered. Leave it to Hermione Granger to punch Longbottom over an unwanted baby.

Sniffling, the witch continued, "We were back in Britain, much to my arguments. Ginny and Neville convinced me that it was the right thing to do; we had to kill Voldemort and then we would be safe. I put up the strongest wards I know around the tent we were living in, and often times I stayed with Ronnie when they went out to fight,"

"Wait," Draco held up a hand to halt her words, "You named your son Ronnie?"

"Don't be daft," Granger scoffed, "It's a nickname,"

Before Draco could ask what for, she was talking again, "We were near Hogsmead for a few days, searching for something. Gods, I don't even remember what for. Anyways, we found Winky… do you remember her? Mr. Crouch's house elf?" Draco (who did not keep track of the house elf activity in the pureblood community) shook his head, "It's a long story as to why she was at Hogwarts, but we found her hiding behind a trashcan in an alleyway, completely drenched in blood, sobbing her little eyes out,

"We discovered that the blood on her was not hers; she claimed that she had been in the middle of a fight, trying to stop it. We never did find out exactly why she was hiding in the wizarding town late at night. However, we needed help and she was offering it,"

The blonde raised a hand, as though to ask a question in class, "Yes, er, what did you need help with?"

Granger shrugged, "With Ronnie, of course. Winky would look after him if Neville, Ginny and I needed to fight off Death Eaters. If things got too bad, we agreed to have her apperate with him to a pre-destined safe area in Australia,"

"Why…"

"My parents live there. I didn't have a chance to restore the memories I'd taken from them after the war but I figured that they wouldn't turn their noses up at a helpless child on their doorstep,"

"Restore…. What?" Draco was completely confused at this bit of information.

"Never mind. It's another story for another time," Granger responded impatiently, as though she wanted to get on with the saga she had been telling.

"Ok, ok, sor-ry," Draco put both his hands up in mock defeat, "Go on,"

"We were in the middle of London, posing as muggles to catch up on a Death Eater's trail. We were going to ambush him and force him to give us information. It was Neville's idea, and we had been tracking the guy for months. While we were out, however, several of Voldemort's 'most elite' discovered where we had left the tent. They broke through our wards and k-killed Winky… And they took Orion away,"

Orion… She named her son after a constellation?

Suddenly, Granger's hands flew to her hair, tugging at it angrily, "I was so stupid! I should've been a better mother, I should've stayed with him! But we were all so scared, we were mourning the losses in our families, and trying to end a bloody war! What was I supposed to do? I should've thought of his safety, but I was so selfish! I was so-so… selfish…" Tears fell loose from her eyes, tumbling down her tan cheeks in rivers. Draco was appalled with the woman's outburst. Why was she so guilty? Her son was fine! She couldn't change the past, so why bother obsessing over it?

"Sorry," Granger wiped her hand across her cheeks, banishing the tears from her face, "I'll get back to the story,"

Draco gave her a calculating look, "Do you want something to drink?"

"You already asked that," Hermione's eyes flickered to the fridge, a thirsty look overtaking her eyes, "But…"

Standing immediately, Draco walked across the cool kitchen floor. Snatching a tall glass from a wooden cabinet, he turned to the sink, filling it with cold water. He placed it in front of a suspicious Granger. The blonde sat back down, watching as she eyed the glass like it might jump up and bite her.

"For the love of God, Granger, it's not going to kill you," He snapped. She nodded and sipped it before settling back into her seat.

"Well, we ended up at Malfoy Manor," Horrification swept over Draco, They had taken her, and her son there? As a child, he had especially hated the dark rooms and stiff furniture, though he despised it more when Voldemort started residing there. It was, on any account, no place for children.

"They killed Neville," She said it as though she didn't know him, but Draco saw the pool of tears forming again behind her eyes again. War had broken everyone involved but, as it seemed, Hermione Granger most of all, "They kept Ginny and I for… other purposes…"

Draco had an odd feeling that he knew what exactly those other purposes were.

"They threatened me in so many different ways," Granger's voice had fallen to a hushed whisper. Draco didn't know if it was to prevent her son in the next room from hearing or if she couldn't even talk about it properly, "They eventually discovered the only thing that could break me," Her voice cracked on the next line, "My son. They threatened to kill him, to torture him, to cut his limbs from his body, to take a knife and—"

"Granger!" The blonde cut in angrily, a knot forming in his stomach at what she had just said, "Please, don't, I don't need to know the—"

"But I have to!" The wild-eyed witch cried, leaning forward. She slammed her hands on the wooden table, palms down. The sound echoed off the walls, "I have to because I'll never get through it otherwise!" Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she relaxed, "And I did the one thing I knew would save him, would save us," She began to rub her left forearm gently. Meeting an appalled Draco Malfoy's eyes she stated simply, "I sold myself to Voldemort,"

There was a moment of silence after her revelation. Draco was lost in thought. She did it to save her son, such a Gryffindor thing to do. She just has to be so damn selfless all the time…

"Ginny died too," Tears leaked from her big brown eyes once more, they caught on her lower lashes. Beneath the fluorescents, the drops of dew looked beautiful.

Wait… what?

"It was the night before I was supposed to become a Death Eater. I told her to do the same, to save her life. She told me she would. But… but when it came down to it, after my arm was burning like someone had stuck a candle to it, after my son was safe and I thought we were going to be safe from the torture, you know what she did? She looked into Voldemort's squinted red eyes and she said, 'You killed Harry Potter, the man I love. Burn in hell'. And she was Avada-ed on the spot… by your father," Throughout her monologue, Granger's head had been downcast, but when she said the last sentence, she gazed up at Draco. Blood rushed to his face; he could feel it.

"He's not my father," Draco growled, his upper lip curled in disgust, "I loathe him with every fiber of my being. I hope he rots in Askaban and, even then, doesn't get closure. I hope he goes straight to hell,"

A small smile graced the lips of the watery blonde across from him.

"There's the Draco I know and love," She joked, sniffling into her glass of water as she drank. Draco didn't return it, in fact, he frowned. Where had that come from? He had never expressed the hateful feelings he had been carrying around before.

"Well," The brunette moved forward, her speech hasty, as though she wanted to gloss over the gritty details, "A few years passed. I became rather good at blocking my thoughts from Voldemort, while at the same time leading him to believe that I was a faithful servant. I had to… to kill people. Innocent people who had no idea that wizards even existed. He claimed that it was the only way that I would prove to him how loyal I was; I was killing my 'own kind'. I… I was so disgusted with myself that I couldn't look in the mirror. But I had a plan you see, I had a bloody plan.

"I did it during a meeting. They still didn't trust me with a wand, even after four years, so I waited. I attacked a newbie, that's what we called the new recruits, and stole his wand. Neville, Ginny and I had gotten rid of the last Horcrux ages ago. Then, I went to the dining room, made sure Ronnie was nearby for a fast escape, waited for the rest of the Death Eaters to clear out and…"

"You killed Voldemort," Draco breathed, completing her sentence. Granger merely nodded, pursing her lips in thought.

"I decided to come to America. I lived in D.C. for a while but it was too much commotion. So a few weeks ago I left. I thought that my mum had some family out here, but I wasn't sure," Sighing, the emotionally exhausted woman finished off her water, "That's it, really,"

"You're not that annoying book worm that used to parade about Hogwarts, are you?" Draco wasn't sure why he asked, but the words slipped out without thought.

"No," Hermione said distantly, "I suppose not,"

And then she stood, gathered her son, and they were at the door. Granger had promised a magical paternity test that would be in the form of a potion. Draco had accepted, but it was all a blur. He was too busy thinking about the petite woman standing in front of him. She had killed Voldemort, she had become a Death Eater to save her son, her innocence had been stolen from her by a cowardly Death Eater spawn at age seventeen. And as he closed the door, Draco Malfoy could only think of one thing.

If she, a mudblood and a single mother, could do all that…

Where did that leave him?