Chapter 4

This time, when the soft morning light filtered through the curtains and hit Hermione's eyes, she woke up to a different feeling. She was hungry! But hungry was very welcome compared to other feelings of the past…hours? Days? How long had she been here?

It had been late morning when she had left the camp, and she had wandered around for…maybe three, four hours? How long had she been outside before Draco had brought her in? And how long had she been dead to the world on Draco's couch?

She thought about it. It was defiantly dark last time she had woken up. At least a day. That meant she hadn't eaten for at least a day and a half. It also meant Ron and Harry were probably frantic trying to find her.

She sat up carefully, and was pleased to find she could. She felt stronger, but still weaker than normal. She needed to eat something.

Wrapping the blanket tightly around her like a dress, Hermione stood up and took proper inventory of her surroundings.

Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. The room was filled with soft light and muted green tones, with rather ugly golden angel statues over the decorative fireplace. There were also some hideous paintings gracing the walls. It all looked expensive...but garish. There were bookshelves lining one wall, and Hermione made a mental note to check it out later.

Hermione walked into the dimly lit hallway. The lights were on, but it looked as if a few of them had gone out. A few were blinking in a rather horror-film sort of way.

Hermione made it a few doors away when she heard sounds coming from one room. The door was ajar, and she quietly opened it enough to see what was inside.

Draco Malfoy lay on top of the comforter in a huge four-poster bed. The room was done in emerald greens, and a Slytherin flag hung on the wall. Obviously, this was his actual room. There was no fireplace in the room, so that explained why she had been sleeping on a couch. Her room must have been nearer the entryway, too. She stored that information into her mind for her eventual escape.

He had a book open, lying over his chest. It rose and fell with his soft snores. He looked like he hadn't meant to fall asleep; he even still had on his shoes.

Hermione fought an internal war: The smart thing to do would be to use this opportunity to grab some clothes from the wardrobe by the bed, sneak to the kitchen and steal some food, and then get the hell out of there. Hermione doubted that the horcrux was there, seen as how Draco Malfoy was living there. No way would old Voldy put him on guard of his most important possession.

But then…he had saved her life. There was no gain in it for him; in fact, it could have gotten him in trouble with his fellow death eaters for not reporting it.

But she had no way of knowing that, did she? A group of them could be on their way as she stood there, trying to figure out what to do.

But for some reason, she just knew that wasn't the case. She didn't think someone who had dragged her in from the snow and nursed her back to health could just go ahead and kill her. And when he had put her back to sleep….

She blushed at the memory of his eye's meeting hers. Of his body almost on top of hers…his hands on her hips…

She shook her head violently. She must have hallucinated that. The problem is, it should have been an unpleasant hallucination, yet when she thought back on it…she wished it were real.

'What is wrong with me today!' Hermione thought, focusing back on the sleeping form of Draco. Sleeping, he looked so peaceful. Not at all like the cruel boy she had known for the past seven years.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was standing over him by his bedside. His hair had gotten out of place in sleep, unlike it's usual gelled back style. A spiky lock, crispy with gel, was flung over his eye, just above a purple bruise. Hermione reached out to push it back in place when she mentally gave herself a mental slap. She clutched her outreaching hand in her other hand, as if she was afraid of what it might do.

She quickly turned to the wardrobe by the bed. Opening up the large doors quietly, she chose a crisp white shirt and some black slacks. She would have to roll the sleeves and bottoms up, but it was better than nothing. She didn't even bother with the wizard robes- they'd only make her trip. She was about to select a long fleece coat when she heard a rustling from the bed. Her view being blocked by the wardrobe door, Hermione slowly closed it.

Draco was sitting up, staring at her.

"What are you doing?"

Hermione looked away sheepishly. "I, er…was going to get something to wear."

"And you didn't just wake me up and ask me like a civilized person because….you were planning on running back out into the frozen landscape without a wand again, right?"

Hermione tried vary hard not to look even more guilty than before.

"You were going to take my wand, weren't you? Fat chance- I keep it on me at all times Granger." He stood up and stretched, pushing his hair back in place.

"I, I wanted to get dressed…" Hermione mumbled.

Draco glanced down at her. "Then put that all back. My dear aunty Bellatrix probably has something lying around that would fit you better." He said, dripping with sarcasm. Obviously Bellatrix was not his favorite person. In other words, he probably wasn't there because she had invited him.

Hermione grimaced. "Honestly…I think I'd rather wear this…" she said truthfully, not wanting to wear anything that awful woman had worn.

Draco snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you would." He sighed. "Fine. But don't bother returning them. I mean ever. I don't even want them after you've worn them."

"You don't have to be all defensive." Hermione said

"Defensive? What the hell do you mean by that?"

"I mean…well, you saved me. You did something…nice. You don't have to up your usual bad-guy routine times ten just to counteract that. What are you afraid of? That I'll go around telling people you saved my life and ruin your reputation as a jerk?" she snorted "Not likely. I would rather this story not go around, myself, thank you very much."

Draco rolled his eyes and turned around and walked out of the room. As he shut the door behind him he said, "Just get dressed and shut up."

***

Hermione walked out of the room and followed her nose into the kitchen. Draco was…cooking?! Who would have thought that was possible. For a moment, Hermione flashed back to her arguments with the boys. They had expected her to fix all the meals during their little mission, and it had annoyed her to no end. And here was Draco-Freakin-Malfoy, in front of a stove making…pancakes, of all things. It was all so absolutely ridiculous that she burst out laughing.

Draco turned around, startled. "What? Have you gone crazy again?"

Hermione could only shake her head. Gasping for air, she managed, "Just…nothing…nevermind…"

Just as she was able to quiet her laughter, her stomach growled. Loud.

"uh, huh. Just as I figured. You make me drag you in here, give you some clothing, and now I have to feed you, too? Pathetic."

"How long was I out for?" Hermione asked as she sat down at the table, ignoring his comment. "Sorry, I would help out…I'm just….I still don't feel up to par yet. I don't think I can stand up much longer…"

Draco's harsh look seemed to dissolve, his eyes softening. He walked over with a tray of pancakes and sat down opposite the table from Hermione. "Yeah, well…lazy Mudblood, just eat some damn food."

"Gladly." Hermione said, and began to eat faster than was all-together ladylike. She would bother with yelling at Draco about the "Mudblood" comments once she had some energy.

"To answer your question, I found you Tuesday afternoon."

"What day is it now?" Hermione asked in between bites.

"Friday morning."

Hermione almost spit out her food. "Fri..Friday!? I've been here more than two days?! Harry and Ron, they'll be so worr…" Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth, horrified.

Draco stared at her, a forkful of pancake frozen halfway from his plate to his mouth. He placed the fork back down onto the plate. "Of course, they're out here with you…I should have figured that…"

"Please, Malfoy!" Hermione cried, jumping out of her seat and stepping towards Draco. She placed a hand on his arm lying on the arm of his chair, crouching down just below his eye level. "Please, please don't tell anyone they're here. It was a slip up, I shouldn't have said anything."

Draco turned to look at her. He seemed much paler than was usual. "It wouldn't have been such a big deal, having you here. I probably wouldn't have been in too much trouble if they found out. I could have pretended you had just arrived, and I had wanted to interrogate you before sending out an owl."

Hermione shivered. This was just a cover-up story, right? Or did he really mean to…interrogate…her?

"But this…" Draco continued. "Granger, do you have any idea how much trouble I'll be in if I knowingly let Potter wander around without telling anyone I know where he is? Do you know what they'd do to me?!" He sounded scared now. He was staring at his plate as if he wasn't really seeing it.

Hermione felt a pang of pity for the boy. It wasn't like he was the only one their age having a hard time. Voldemort was making everyone grow up way too fast, especially Harry, Ron, and herself.

But Draco was in a slightly different situation. Everything he had thought was good and true had turned out to be evil and wrong. It was absolutely ridiculous that he had become a death eater, but then didn't it make perfect sense? His whole family was made up of pureblood fanatics. In fact, that he would change his mind, or at least refuse to kill for Voldemort's cause, was downright amazing given his upbringing. He was stuck in the delicate situation of falling somewhere in the middle in this battle. A death eater, but a reluctant one. Even Harry felt that Draco was a victim in all this, that day when he couldn't kill Dumbledore.

"Malfoy…D, Draco? Doing the right thing, it isn't always easy or safe." She pointed to herself. "Case in point? There are those of us risking everything every day to stop all this pain Vol…He Who Must Not Be Named has caused. I'm not asking you to go out of your way to defy him, or to go all "hero" or anything. I'm just asking you to forget I said anything. Ok? Please?"

Draco looked up at her "Why? Why the hell should I risk myself for… Potter?"

"Because I know you don't really want to see anyone die. You don't want to cause anyone to die, either." She said with conviction.

Draco just continued to look up at her. His eyes weren't looking through her though: he was very focused on her, focused on what she was saying.

He reached over with his free hand and grabbed Hermione's hand, which was still grasping his arm.

Hermione could feel the tension in the room, the weight of Malfoy's decision. Such a small decision: Just forget that the chosen one was near by. And yet the consequences would be great for one of them either way he chose.

"Look, they're probably not even in the area anymore. That was days ago." Hermione tried, squeezing Draco's arm, willing him to agree.

"Right…they just gave you up for dead and left." He said, sarcastically. He sighed. "But it makes sense, them being on the run and all. They wouldn't stick around too long, right? It's only logical they would leave you behind." He smirked, obviously not buying it, but silently agreeing not to tell.

"Thank you." Hermione said quietly. She realized his hand was still covering hers, gripping it tightly. She felt her face flush red, and tried to pull her hand away. Draco tightened his grip.

"But I can't let you just run off and join them. You have to stay…here." He said, somewhat harshly.

"So, you're just going to keep me prisoner here?" Hermione exclaimed, disbelieving. How was this any better than getting captured by the enemy? Well, technically Draco was the enemy. Crap!

Draco sighed, letting go of her hand. "Just eat your damn pancakes."

"But, what do you plan to do? How can you just expect to keep me here and not have me be thoroughly pissed about it!" She all but yelled, standing up and backing to her chair.

"Look, what do I do if you get captured while fighting with your little dream team? What if they use veratiserum? I do not want anyone to find out you've been here, let alone that I didn't even bother looking for Potter!"

Hermione shut her mouth suddenly and plopped down in her chair. It was true, she was already asking Draco to –gasp- put himself at risk to help others. Can she really expect more out of him? It made sense, actually. Her leaving could turn his moment of good deeds around on him, make him suffer for helping her. She just couldn't bring herself to ask more out of a guy who's giving nature is next to non-existent as it is.

But what if Ron and Harry found the mansion? No, rather, what about when they find the mansion? Draco had no idea that that was exactly why they were here- he thought they were just on the run!

Hermione had a vision of Ron and Harry dodging security spells and scaling the walls to rescue her. After they couldn't find her in the snow, they would turn to their last shred of hope that she was alive: the mansion. Even if they gave her up for dead, their only option was to find the mansion, find the horcrux.

The horcrux! Why was Draco here, anyways? Not to guard it, surely. Was it in Gringotts, afterall?

Hermione gulped down a mouthful of pancake. The least she could do was check it out, see if she could find it. If it was here…well, Draco be damned, it was more important she gets that Horcrux to Harry, Ron, and the sword of Gryffindor. Or is that "For the Greater Good" thinking?

Hermione didn't like that line of thinking.