Ok I am sorry again for the delay. School got really hectic, but I decided to make sure to get a chapter out today as a birthday present to myself, and you all! Please forgive me for taking so long, to try to make up for it, this is my longest chapter yet! Thank you all so much for the positive reviews I've gotten so far, please keep them coming!

Chapter 5

Draco motioned to Blaise and they both left. Hermione glanced up, confused. They hadn't said anything. What was she supposed to do? She needed to know what they wanted her to do. She stood there lost in her own jumbled thoughts for a few minutes, feeling the walls around her closing in. She had no where to stay. She had no one to talk to. She had nothing she could do. All she had was herself, and that wasn't saying a whole lot anymore.

After a while, the door slowly opened. Warily she turned to face the person entering the room, and was surprised to see it was Draco. He walked over to her and stared at her in silence. Hermione stared back into his face, searching for something. Anything. But he gave nothing away.

He grabbed her upper arm and walked swiftly out the door. And she followed him. He led them through dark hallways that seemed to wind in all directions. Finally he stopped at a seemingly empty stone wall. After stating the password, the stones rearranged themselves into a large doorway, and she silently followed him into what appeared to be the Slytherin common room. She shrank against his side as the Slytherins inside glanced up and narrowed their eyes. Some part of her mind noted that it was strange that she would feel safe with him, but it appeared her shaky trust was well-founded. One glance from Draco and the Slytherins quickly went back to their previous activities. Draco strode down a nearby hallway, gripping her arm even tighter. She didn't complain. There was something comforting in the way his grip proved he wanted to have her with him. No matter what his reasons were, he was the only one left who really wanted her presence.

They were apparently headed for the end of the hallway. There was a single door located right at the end that had the name "Malfoy" clearly embossed on its surface. Draco tapped his wand on the handle and it opened to show a lavish bedroom, with an enormous four-poster bed, draped in black satin sheets, and rich mahogany drawers and shelves. There was nothing in this room that was cheap in any way. As was expected of course. It did belonged to Draco.

"You will stay with me. I will not waste space by giving you your own bed. You will sleep on the floor or with me. You will sit with me through meals. You will attend your own classes. Notify a house elf to move your belongings here, but do not take up a lot of space. It should be like you are not even here. I am going to go ready myself for bed. You will remain in here."

Hermione heard everything he said, but made no motion to acknowledge him. Her eyes slid over the room slowly, taking in every inch of her new prison. Draco watched her carefully, waiting for a response, but the response never came.

"Granger. I didn't expect you to give up so easily." He said, and her gaze shot to his face.

Her voice came out hoarse. "What did you think would happen when you took everything from me?"

"I expected you to put up a fight and find a way out. I wanted a new challenge."

"You destroyed my life for a game?"

"No. I have a duty to the Dark Lord to get rid of spies. I was doing that duty. You were just in the wrong place."

"Why do you follow him? Voldemort is a half blood himself!"

"That is a lie! Don't speak ill of Him!"

"His name is Tom Riddle. His mother was a witch. His father was a mug-"

"SHUT UP!"

Hermione shrunk back, cowering against the wall behind her. Draco's face was flushed and his breathing was heavy. Slowly he calmed down. "Even if what you say were true. Which I simply do not believe. My father would never fall for the lies of a Mudblood. It would not matter. He would kill my entire family for any disobedience. I will not let anything happen to my mother just because I couldn't follow an order."

About to retort, Hermione stopped. Finally she understood. And her thoughts flew in all directions with the new information. It wasn't the lack of love that drove the poor boy in front of her, but a strong love for his mother that kept him moving. That was something she could respect. It was also something she could work with.

"What is she like?" Hermione whispered.

Draco slowly sat down onto his bed and ran his hand through his hair. There was a pause and then he began to speak. "She is very intelligent and beautiful. She loves reading and gardening. My mother used to love to host parties and make everyone around her happy, especially me. She has never treated me with anything other than love and she has a soft spot for everyone. My father calls her weak. She would probably be as far away from the Dark Lord as she could if she didn't have the duty to our family, but if anyone knew that, she would be killed. My father...my father tries to...convince her to change her views. It's making her very thin and very quiet. She is a shadow of who she used to be. I wish I could do something to make her happy again. But all I can do is keep her alive."

There was fatigue and sadness in him that Hermione had never seen before. She could see how conflicted he was. His absolute trust and faith in his father who had been a god in Draco's eyes for so long was warring with his love for his mother. She couldn't fathom what it must be like knowing that your own role model was torturing your mother every single day. He must be slowly coming to see how evil his father was, but not understanding how the "perfect man" could be so flawed. Hermione felt the strongest urge to comfort him. To tell him everything would turn out. To help him save his mother. But before she had done anything, Draco jumped to his feet and swept out of the room.

Three days passed with no mention of what had transpired that night. Hermione was starting to believe it had been some strange dream. The only thing that changed was the way Malfoy treated her. He tiptoed around her like he was ashamed of himself. Maybe he was uncomfortable with showing any emotion to her at all. Blaise's day of control passed without a single order which was taken as a very bad sign. He must be concocting some terrible plan to carry out the following week. It was odd, but the only ones who were treating her poorly were her former friends. Ron especially seemed to be convincing everyone to avoid her like the plague, or even to mock her. The halls echoed with "Slytherin whore!" and "Traitor!" everywhere she went. Her teachers no longer called on her in classes. Their actions ranged from completely ignoring her existence, to stares of disappointment, to outright scathing remarks if she attempted to raise her hand in class. Surprisingly, her one place of solace was in Malfoy's room. She sat in silence, did her work, and slept. Today was almost the same.

Hermione had been asleep a while, having finished all of the possible work she could complete very early, but around midnight she suddenly woke up. It didn't take her long to find the reason why. Malfoy was moaning in his sleep. She sat up from her place on the floor, but she couldn't quite make out his face in the darkness.

"Malfoy!" she said, trying to wake him. "Malfoy!"

Finally she got to her feet and moved over beside the bed. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly. Malfoy's eyes shot open and Hermione leaped backwards. The look of fury on his face was terrifying. When he stood, she knew it wasn't good. He stalked over to her trembling body and roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her face upward. "What the fuck were you doing? Trying to kill me in my sleep?" he yelled right in her face.

"No! No of cours-"

He backhanded her across the face. "Don't you dare lie to me bitch!"

Hermione's eyes began to well up with tears. Malfoy roughly grabbed her and then shoved her backwards into a table. A frame fell off, shattering around her feet.

"Now look what you did you clumsy whore!"

Shakily she moved to pick it up, leaning over. He pushed her down to her knees, grinding the broken glass into her skin. Blood started to pool around her legs. She watched it spreading as tears began rolling down her cheeks. She grabbed the broken frame before her blood damaged the picture and turned it over. It was a picture of a grinning young Draco, surrounded on both sides by his parents. She barely had glanced at it before it was snatched away from her. As he cast the cruciatus curse on her, she focused her mind onto that one smiling boy's face. The pain in her body was excruciating, but in her mind, all she saw were those grey eyes looking happily into the camera.

When the spell ended, she barely had control of her muscles. Slowly she lifted her head, and after taking a moment to catch her breath, she forced herself to speak. "You were having a nightmare." And the older version of that happy little boy stared down at her in solemn silence. She imagined what he must be seeing. There she was, tear-stained cheeks, swollen, red eyes, bruises already appearing all over her body, barely able to support herself, and blood now coming from gashes all over her body as she had writhed in the glass during the spell. She was as filthy as he grew up learning she was. But his reaction surprised her. He pointed his wand at her and began saying healing spell after healing spell until all that was left was the bruise from where he had grabbed her chin. He walked forward slowly, and lifted her to her feet.

"Thank you for waking me," he said, before completing the spell on the final bruise.

Hermione turned and knelt to the ground, quickly sweeping the bloody glass into her hand. He looked at her with an expression nearing amazement as she went to throw out the shards. Silently she moved to her bed on the floor as he sat in his own bed. His eyes followed her every movement. As he laid back and rolled onto his side, he spoke one more time. "Why don't you sleep up here for tonight."

Hermione turned her head slowly to look at him and then step-by-step made her way to the bed. Carefully she eased beneath the covers, making sure to stay as far from Malfoy as possible. She lay awake, listening as his breathing evened and he fell back asleep. This situation was getting more and more confusing. He attacked her one minute, then tried to make her comfortable. He was obviously moved by his mother's kindness to everyone, but he acted as his father did. He was way more complicated than she had ever realized, and part of her really wanted to figure him out.

The next day dawned quickly, but she woke up feeling much more comfortable than she had in a while thanks to her stay in the bed. There was no mention of the previous night, but she hadn't expected any. They both got ready for breakfast in silence and began the long trek to the Great Hall. Halfway there however, they were ambushed by Harry and Ron, and their focus was entirely on Hermione.

"So you do sleep with him you slut! I never expected you to stoop so low that you fucked that scum!" Ron shouted.

Hermione quickly glanced to Malfoy looking for any kind of order, but none came. He just looked at her and she knew it was up to her to deal with this problem. "Ronald, I have never had any form of sexual activity with anyone."

"Hermione," Harry growled, "we saw you in the Map last night. We know you're sleeping with that ferret."

"Thanks to you two I have nowhere else to go! I slept in his bed, yes. But did I have sexual intercourse with him, no."

Ron barely let her finish. "That's a load of bullocks! I bet you give it up to all of those nasty Slytherins whenever they want. You're disgusting!"

Then it was Harry's turn again. "I told you not to stay with him."

"You said you hoped I didn't for my sake! And you know what? He's been better to me than either of you these past few days! Who is the monster now? I can't believe I put up with you idiots as long as I did. You!" she said, turning to Ron, "never know when to keep your damn mouth shut! Who I choose to be around is my business, and you have no right to make judgements about things you do not understand. I am not and have never had sex with anyone! And you!" she continued, turning to Harry this time, "just because you are everybody's hero doesn't mean you can order everyone else around. You are not the perfect little savior everyone else thinks you are! You wouldn't have been able to do anything without me! ANYTHING! I helped you through the puzzles first year, helped you figure out the Chamber second year, I have solved everything for you every time and you just take it for granted! Sending me off to spy for you alone! I thought you were my best friend, looking out for me. But you don't care about anyone other than yourself and your 'oh so terrible life.' Screw both of you. I hope you find someone else to do your thinking and your dirty work for you, because I will never ever forget this." And with that, Hermione shoved past them and continued on her way to breakfast, nearly forgetting that Draco should be leading.

Then things happened very quickly. She heard bodies turn and the rush of air, and then someone yelling "protego" behind her. Spinning around, she gasped at what she saw. Ron angrily had his wand pointed at her, but the real surprise was Malfoy. He also had his wand pointed at her, but it had been him who had called out the spell to protect her. Right before her eyes she saw Ron go to switch his attack to Malfoy and before she could do anything, he had sent a hex flying toward Malfoy's face. A huge gash opened up across his forehead, but he barely flinched.

"Weasel you think that is going to cause me pain? You have no idea what I am able to deal with. Now run along with your Pothead and I'll go ahead and pretend none of this happened. Attacking a fellow student with her back turned. Tisk tisk. Only think what the professors would have to do." As he spoke, Hermione rushed to his side, wand out. Silently she healed the gash in his forehead and cleaned off the blood, before turning her wand threateningly on her two old best friends. She couldn't believe they had acted like this. There was no hope for them ever regaining trust in their judgement.

Draco smirked and put his arm around her waist, watching the two Gryffindors slowly back away. Fury was etched across both of their faces, but they were at least intelligent enough to understand the consequences if they didn't leave. They didn't turn their backs until they were disappearing around a corner.

As soon as they were gone, Hermione began fussing. "Why did you protect me? You should have just protected yourself! I can't believe they hurt you like that! You didn't do anything! You should have let them just curse me. It's my fault! All of it's my fault-"

"Granger stop. I'm hungry. We're going to breakfast." Draco said, removing his arm from her waist. She followed him silently, watching him out of the corner of her eye. Right before they entered the Great Hall he turned his head slightly toward her. "We are getting that damn map from them before this week is over."

A week ago Hermione would have been appalled at the idea of Draco Malfoy getting ahold of the Marauder's Map, but now she was all for it. Anything to get ahead of the assholes she used to call friends. It was starting to seem like they weren't as good as she always believed they were and maybe Malfoy wasn't as bad as she always believed he was. As they took their seats at the Slytherin table, Hermione was already constructing a plan in her mind. They didn't stand a chance.

That night when she told Draco that she could handle getting the map back, she expected him to want to know her plan. To question her. To maybe even forbid her from doing anything. But he did neither. He simply glanced up from his book, gave a slight nod, and went back to reading. She left the room a bit shocked, and then nervously went to begin setting the scene for her plan. She approached a nearby room and tentatively knocked on the door. A few minutes passed in silence as she anxiously read the nameplate over and over again. Finally the door creaked open.

"Well, well, well, so Draco finally let the Mudblood out to play."

"I...I need you to help me."

"With what exactly?"

"I need you to hurt me."

He grabbed her hair and dragged her into his room. "Interesting request. Why?"

Though she was gasping from the pain, she made sure to say the perfect words. "Re-revenge," He let up a little. "On Potter and Weasley."

He contemplated her words a moment before kneeing her in the stomach. "I'm interested in seeing this play out." He said as she doubled over in pain. "But you're going to pay for me helping you this Friday."

All she did was nod, and then spells began flying. She was thrown backwards into the door, and cuts sprung up all over her body. Soon there was no clear spot on her body, but he did not stop. As she began to black out from blood loss, he stopped.

"As much as I was enjoying this, I think I can wait until later to finish you off. I'd much rather see what you pull with the Golden Boys. Look forward to Friday. It will be a night you never forget." She tried to focus on his face, but he shoved her out the door and slammed it on her hand. She heard the crunch of broken bones, but through the pain everywhere else, she barely registered the new feeling. Gingerly she got to her feet and began walking away from the doorway. Glancing back to see her blood smeared across Zabini's nameplate, she began to laugh hysterically. Going to see the one man she feared the most these days to help her get revenge on her best friends. She could hardly believe this was real, but remembering Draco's voice yelling "protego" she steeled herself and limped down the hallway and out of the common room. She would make them pay for reducing her to this. Her mind replayed the image of Draco's blood running down his face. She would make them pay for hurting Draco. No matter what.