A.N. Ok so here we are! For all of my old readers, this is new! Please try to contain your excitement ;). For new readers, well all of this has been new. Thank you soooo much to all of you who put this story of your favorites and story alert! And a special thanks to those of you who took the time to review! I love all of you.

Lets move on to the story shall we?

08-29-2013 New and improved!

Disclaimer: Everything recognized does not belong to me.

The first thing Hermione registered as she fought to pull her mind from the fog was the stiffness in her arms and legs. She tried to move to relieve some of the pressure and felt her heart lurch. She couldn't move. Hermione wracked her mind and tried to sort through her disjointed memories. Breathe Hermione, no sense in flipping out now. The last thing I remember was...and then everything flooded back. The panic won and she strained against the ropes, tearing the skin around her wrists and ankles until her strength ran out.

She sagged onto the cold floor and forced back the tears that that were pricking the back of her eyes. Hermione was so angry with herself. There was no one else to blame.

Hermione shoved down the bitterness and tried to school her breathing. There has to be a way out of this. I'll be fine as long as they don't take me to...him. Collecting herself, Hermione began to formulate a plan. She was wand-less, but being a Muggle-born had its advantages. She did not need a wand to fight.

She had just decided on a course of action when the door to her cell was thrown open. Hermione hid her surprise and struggled to drag herself into a sitting position. Her pride refused to let her face whoever came through that door lying down.

It seemed that she waited for an eternity for someone to come through the door. Her plan ran through her head again and she tensed ready to make her move. But when she saw the man that walked through the door all of her hopes flew out of the proverbial window.

Draco took his sweet time making his way to her cell. He was looking forward to lording his position over her. It was nothing less than she deserved after how she treated everyone in school when she was a prefect; most especially after how she treated him.

The first thing that greeted Draco as he sauntered towards her was the most defiant and haughty glare of one Hermione Granger. Draco laughed, really laughed. He really hadn't expected her to change too much over the years, but the look she gave him was classic Granger. For a moment he expected her to deduct points from Slytherin. It was just like the old days. And then she opened her mouth.

"Malfoy, you area a sick piece of work. What do you want with me? I don't remember you ever lacking in intelligence, but you really must know that you will get no information from me. What..." Draco silenced her with an impatient flick of his wand and a non-verbal spell.

"Would you shut up woman." Granger cocked her head at him indignantly. Draco knew she was calling him all sorts of nasty names and probably imagining ways to hex him in her head. He shook his head slightly as he moved slowly towards her. The girl never ceased to amuse him.

"Granger, Granger, Granger," he chided softly. "I never expected you to grace our halls. I did hope, but I was sure that you would be intelligent enough to stay away." Draco sent her a patronizing smirk. Granger returned the sentiment and spit at his feet. Draco's sneer morphed into a look of disgust as he gracefully sidestepped.

"Now, now. How very unladylike of you." Draco schooled his features to his mask of general indifference. "Your behavior disappoints me, but what more could I expect from filthy Mudblood scum." Granger's face was nearly purple and she was shouting at him despite the silencing spell. "I will lift the spell but you will speak at a civilized volume. Agreed?" Draco released her with another slight flick of his wand.

"Malfoy. What is it that you want?" Draco scoffed at her.

"My God Granger. You really do have a one track mind." Granger narrowed her eyes and sent him another fiery glare.

"No. I just don't have the patience to sit here and argue with you. You know that I won't tell you anything. What. Do. You. Want." Granger spoke as if she were spelling out a very hard concept to a child and Draco chuckled mirthlessly.

"Oh my dear girl, you have no idea what you are in for. Do you remember that night with my aunt? You were so brave then, but your courage will do you no good. Bellatrix," he hissed out her name as if it were a curse, "was severely lacking in creativity. She was reckless and impatient." Draco took a step closer to her and leaned menacingly.

"When I am done with you, you won't remember what it felt like to have courage." When he saw the rage in her eyes falter slightly Draco smirked in triumph.

"Well Granger, since you've been sitting behind the desk a little too long, teaching healing why don't we start this slowly?" He spit out the subject with contempt. It really did amuse him that the brain of Potter's operations had settled to teaching snot nosed children at Hogwarts. He raised his wand and began.

"Crucio."

Pain.

Pain seemed to be all that her battered body was capable of feeling. They had been at it for days and the curses Malfoy had thrown at her were stronger than anything she had felt before. A few of them she had found herself on the wrong end of during the second war, but these felt so much worse. She knew that curses like these fed off of the caster's intent and she knew that Malfoy hated her. He had made that perfectly clear during their years of school. But this. This was too much. Even Draco Malfoy didn't deserve to become this monster. No one's soul should be this tainted.

Through the hazy sheen that had slid over her exhausted mind, Hermione thought of her students in Slytherin when she first started teaching. They were just like he had been as a student. They were malicious to be sure, but they could be faulted only for ignorance. As their professor she had tried to break down the prejudices and show them that her blood meant nothing, affected nothing. There had been no one like this for Malfoy and he had embraced the beliefs of the Dark with a zeal that was terrifying.

Not able to withstand the pain any longer, Hermione's mind slipped into unconsciousness.

Draco resisted the immature urge to storm out of the room. He began to pace the small cell and silently cursed the woman at his feet. He had forgotten just how inferior she could make him feel. Her stubbornness was driving him absolutely insane. Honestly, it wasn't as if he hadn't expected this, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

Ceasing his pacing, Draco sneered down at her crumpled form one last time before striding angrily to his study. He knew that one of the books on ancient Dark magic he had rescued from the Manor before the Ministry raid would hold the secret to breaking Hermione. Grabbing a few books from his extensive library, Draco stalked over to his desk and poured over the texts.

Hermione was ripped from the sanctuary of her unconsciousness by the brute force of yet another curse. The power of it seized her body and sent chilling waves of pain down every inch of her. So far he had not gotten any information from her and for that, she was proud. However, Hermione did not know how much longer her body could endure the strain. Granted, many of the hexes and curses Malfoy threw at her had somehow been modified to slowly repair the damaged tissue, but the constant wear and tear from the physical and mental assault was becoming too much for her to bear. Hermione swore she would never give in and allow him access to his mind. There was too much at risk for the ones she loved. Besides, she knew that he would show no mercy even if she gave him what he wanted. Why has no one come for me, Hermione thought with despair. Surely by now Neville had gotten in contact with Harry after I disappeared from the campsite.

After what seemed an eternity, the pain left her and Draco stepped into her line of sight.

"Alright Mudblood, we have been at this for far too long. No one has come for you and no one will. They will never find this place even if they wanted too. Somehow, I feel as if a professor is not valuable enough to stage a full scale assault; even if you are Potter's little mobile library. How long has it been since he has even turned to you for help?"

Hermione tried to stop the tears that were stabbing at the back of her eyes. She had not spoken to Harry in about a year, but she knew he was busy trying to track Malfoy and his gang down. Still, it had always stung a bit when she had separated from Harry and Ron when they chose to be Aurors and she decided to go back to finish her education at Hogwarts. The second war against Voldemort had been over so she had not seen it necessary to join them.

Draco laughed mockingly. Her silence was answer enough. "So are you ready to give in?"

"Never," she choked out. No matter how upset she was with Harry and Ron, she would never betray them.

"So be it," Draco growled and raised his wand again. All of his research yesterday had provided him with a particularly nasty curse that should achieve his goals spectacularly. Granted, the curse would probably kill her, but not before he had what he wanted. Draco drew a breath, but the words died in his throat. Something in the back of his mind rebelled against him and prevented him from casting the curse. Draco attempted to throw up his mental walls to defend himself, but he could not block out the invading consciousness.

Hermione slowly opened her eyes and peeked out from under her lashes at Malfoy. She had been braced for a new round, but when nothing had happened she had begun to wonder if he was still even there. Sometimes he moved too quietly for her comfort. Not that anything about him was all that comforting to begin with.

What she saw made her jaw drop. Draco Malfoy was just standing there, wand raised and poised to strike, but his face was a mask of confusion and some other emotion she just couldn't place. It was quite possibly the first time during her captivity that she had seen any emotion other than rage or that infuriating calm show on his face. Hermione watched, astonished, as his face slowly shifted from confusion into a terrifyingly murderous glare. Without a single word, Malfoy spun sharply and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Draco forced his hand through his hair and furiously paced the length of his study. He was still struggling to regain control and force the other consciousness out of his mind. Now that he was away from Granger, it had faded into barely a whisper caressing the edges of his mind, but it was there nonetheless. The sensation was odd. The "other" presence had a strange feel of familiarity and easily meshed into his own consciousness if he was not careful. This kind of failure was something Draco rarely experienced. Once he had mastered Occlumency, no one had ever been able to penetrate his mind, with the exception of his father.

He growled in frustration. Every muscle fiber had been invested in casting the curse and yet, the "other" was able to stop him. He could not allow this weakness and was so irritated he had to fight the instinct to just kill her and get it over with. Sensing his growing resolve to destroy the woman, the "other" reared up again and tried to force back his thoughts of cursing her. Draco fought, but to no avail.

And just like that, he knew what he had to do.

Hermione didn't look up as she heard the door swing open, hinges squealing in protest. She didn't have the energy to care. Her body had started to go numb and Hermione knew that whatever he had come to do, she probably wouldn't live through it. She would not beg for mercy. So Hermione settled back, closed her eyes, and emptied her mind of thoughts of her friends. If she allowed herself to despair, it would almost certainly show on her face and she would not give Malfoy any such satisfaction.

Malfoy stalked into the room and stopped in the center. He made no move to curse her. Instead he just stood there glowering down at her. Accepting that this was just another strange torture she raised her head to meet his look and returned it with a defiant glare. She would face whatever waited for her with all of the pride and audacity that had earned her a place in Gryffindor many years ago.

Her fierce glare ripped Draco out of his thoughts and he sneered down at the woman. Draco begrudgingly wondered at her strength to be able to give him such a look when he could so clearly see the panic hidden beneath her arrogant glare. A large part of him still wanted to just hex her into oblivion; information be damned. But he couldn't. Draco could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, any more than he could kill the infuriating woman in front of him. Trying to kill Granger had brought the "other" and he was curious, and more than a little scared by it, even though he would never admit that to anyone, let alone himself. In his mind it was she who was responsible for this presence in his mind. Part of this was to save his pride. It stung less if there was only one person who could best him, even if that person was of inferior blood status. The thought of another person out there strong enough to penetrate his mental defenses was a possibility that he did not allow himself to entertain.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Draco strode quickly over to her and jerked her up into a standing position. A look of shock barely had time to flit across her face before it was replaced by a grimace of pain as she lost consciousness. Draco cursed under his breath as he scooped her up into his arms. Her body had been in worse shape than he had anticipated. The plan he had so carefully constructed over the past couple of hours would fail if she could not move on her own.

When he entered the study Draco set Granger on his couch before he moved to his rather large potions cabinet behind his desk. He always made sure to keep as many healing and counter potions around as possible. His work wasn't exactly a walk in the park and he never knew when they would prove useful. Removing the necessary bottles, Draco walked back to the couch, knelt beside Granger's head. If not for the sound of her shallow, raspy breaths, he would have thought that she was already dead. Her skin was ashy and she was terrifyingly still.

Draco placed the bottles on the floor beside him and selected a deep blue vial. He poured small amounts into her mouth, coaxing her to swallow by rubbing her throat, until she had consumed the entire bottle. It did not take long for her breathing to steady and the color started to leak back into her slowly relaxing features. After several more potions Draco finished up with a few muttered spells and a pepper-up potion. The latter did not take very long to start working and soon Hermione was blinking her eyes open. She sluggishly surveyed her surroundings in confusion and then met his eyes as if she wasn't sure who he was for a moment. When she realized what was going on and she gasped and pulled away from him, a look of fear and apprehension plastered on her face.

"W-what...why...ho," she sputtered, unable to fully comprehend the situation.

Draco cut her off harshly. "Hush, Granger. We don't have time for this."

She shut her mouth and struggled to gain composure. Seated on the couch, she turned her attention to her clenched fists in her lap and waited for him to explain.

"We don't have much time. It won't be long before they notice that you are gone and when they do, they will come after us both. I need..."

"Why are you doing this?" Draco suppressed the urge to curse. He would like very much to have an answer to that question as well. He opened his mouth to snap at her again, but just before he had the chance, Draco felt the unmistakable pressure of someone trying to gain entrance to his mind. The strength of the assault on his mental protections staggered him. Unlike the neutral presence of the "other" that had sneaked up on him, this consciousness was dark and vile and was ripping through his barriers with malice. Draco collapsed on the floor and held his head in agony. He could not suppress the groan that forced its way from his lips. There was no way he would be able to withstand this attack for long.

Right as another wave of searing heat washed over him, Draco heard the sound that he had been dreading; the sound of sirens. Someone had raised the alarm.

A.N. Alright then, what did you think? Did you like it? Do you have concerns? Review! :)

Thank you once again to Mistwood (was Pontus-x) for the Beta work the first time round! You are wonderful!

Until next time,

Summer Orchid