A.N. Holy cow! I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw how many people put this story on alert/favorites! I think I had the silliest grin on my face for hours! You guys are so awesome! All of you are amazing! Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and adding!

08-29-2013 Not much has changed, just a few things here and there.

For a moment Hermione could do nothing but stare. One second Malfoy had been glaring daggers at her and the next he was on the floor clutching at his head. Her head was spinning and the screeching sound of the compound alarms certainly didn't help. All of her thoughts and feelings that had built up over the past Godric knew how many days were crowding in. Her eyes darted from Malfoy's wand laying on the ground a foot away and then back to Malfoy himself. He was groaning and she noticed his skin had taken a deathly pallor, not that she particularly cared.

She lunged for his wand and was about to make a break for it when she heard a particularly strangled sound coming from the man on the floor behind her. Hermione nearly cursed and knelt down beside Malfoy. She couldn't leave him. There had been something in his eyes the last time he had entered her cell. Something off. If she didn't know him any better she would say he looked frightened.

Surely she had been seeing things from the pain. Hermione had to resist the urge to pinch herself. Something told her that there was more to the situation than she had seen. Nothing was adding up. Besides he had healed her, hadn't he? Really healed her. Before his spells had just healed the wounds, but left her weak and suffering in the aftershocks of the torture. Now she felt nothing. Her pain was gone and there was not even a hint of stiffness in her body. Hermione scoffed in disbelief and cursed her healer instincts.

Hermione was wrenched from her thoughts by several cracks of Apparition. Panicked, she took Malfoy's wand and began to ward the door of the study with every defensive spell that she could think of. She couldn't take any chances. Close by she could already hear the shouts of Death Eaters approaching. She had to find a way out and she was taking Malfoy with her. At the very least the loss of their leader would be crippling to the new dark order and the information he could give would be invaluable. Surely that would be enough to justify saving him.

After securing the room Hermione turned her attention back to Malfoy. He had ceased writhing, but his breathing was shallow and his face flushed with fever.

"Malfoy, tell me what is going on. Let me help you." Hermione flinched at her own words. There was still a large part of her that wanted to Avada him and be done with it. No one would blame her. In fact everyone she knew would love for him to be eliminated. But she conceded that it would be more prudent to keep him alive. Only he knew the identities of all of the Death Eaters, allies, and where their bases were located.

She waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. Hermione wasn't even sure that he had heard her. He looked barely conscious. Deciding to give him something for the pain, Hermione reached over him to grasp one of the potion bottles on the floor. She was about to uncork the small vial when one of Malfoy's hands shot out and grabbed her wrist in a vise like grip.

"Granger. You have to listen to me. We have to get out of here. Those sirens mean that they know you are free and they will stop at nothing to get you back. They will know that it was me who set you free, so now I'm in just as much danger as you. I trained these men. They are nothing short of ruthless. I can get us out. You have to trust me." His voice was laced with pain, but was no less commanding.

"Why?" Her voice was bitter and harsh even to her own ears. Hermione was not very keen on the idea of trusting the vile git. No matter how much pain he was in, she felt nothing for him but hatred and a small tinge of pity. There would never be a possibility of trust between them. She searched his eyes for any sign of deceit, but all she found was a silent pleading and behind it was the look she recognized as fear. Hermione swallowed her anger and nodded her head, agreeing to listen.

Malfoy began to speak again but his words were stifled as his back arched in pain and another groan ripped from his throat. Hermione felt a rush of concern as he was left gasping from the assault and tried once again to speak.

"We have...to get out. I will...explain after we..get away." His voice was little more than a strained whisper and Hermione could see how much it took out of him to speak.

"How? How are we supposed to get out of here?" Hermione watched as Malfoy drew on the last of his strength and she leaned in closer to catch the instructions he whispered into her ear.

Draco was losing his mind - literally. The "other" was shrinking back into the depths of his mind, moving as far away from the probe of the second invading consciousness as possible. Draco didn't have the time or the energy to think about this. It was all he could do to keep up his mental defences. He couldn't remember the last time that he had been forced to fight this hard, or ever having to defend himself from such painful Legilimency. Not even his father's most invasive prying had hurt him any more than a mild stinging hex. This pain was like Crucio on steroids bouncing around in his scull.

Draco fought back a wave of nausea as the probe clawed past the mental defenses around his memories. He scrambled to shield his them only to have his barriers swatted away before they were even complete. What the invader was sifting around for Draco had no idea. It wasn't going through his memories, just trying to get past them for something deeper. There was nothing he could do but try and slow the probe down while he waited for Granger to finish her task. He prayed to all the powers he could think of that she would hurry. As much as it pained and disgusted him, he would not last very long without her.

So he was left to struggle for control. In the two minutes it took Granger to return with the necessary items Draco felt absolutely drained. He barely even had the strength to give her the final instructions. It was nearly all he could do to talk and ward off the attack at the same time. He clenched his jaw against the pain as he reached into his robes and handed the slim black book he kept in a pocket over to Granger. She would need the incantation inscribed inside to complete the spell that would allow them to escape as well as the photo sealed to the inside of the cover so that she would know where to Apparate. If she didn't follow all of the steps exactly the wards around his safe house would tear them to shreds.

In the middle of his instructions Draco paused. The probe had halted. He could only assume that the invader had found what they were looking for. Slightly panicked, Draco spoke the rest of the instructions as quickly as he could. Whatever the intruder planned to do, he had no intention of being around to find out.

No sooner had the last word left his mouth than Draco's strength failed him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Hermione nearly dropped the potion in her hand in shock when Malfoy suddenly collapsed and stopped moving altogether. She cursed loudly. With the complexity of the spell she had had no intention of preparing the potion and incantation on her own. Somehow Malfoy had devised a spell that made someone's Apparitions temporarily untraceable and it was a complex process. There was also instructions for mixing a potion that would serve as a key through the wards of the Apparition point. She had never heard of wards that required that kind of key which meant that she had to put her full trust in the very bloody and untrustworthy hands of Draco Malfoy, evil incarnate.

Hermione sighed dejectedly and got back to work. She didn't have time to panic and stress over the details with her usual levels of obsession, so she did her best to focus and limit her curiosity. Already the shouts from outside the study were growing louder and closer. She tried to ignore them as she continued to mix various potions into a large cauldron. He must have brewed portions of the potion in advance so that he could assemble the concoction more quickly should the need arise. Hermione wondered if he knew something like this was going to happen in the first place or if he was just that paranoid.

When all of the potions and various ingredients had been added to the cauldron Hermione picked up a wicked looking curved dagger. This, she decided, was her least favorite part by far. Pursing her lips in disgust, Hermione drew the blade across her palm and held it over the cauldron until there was a small red pool sitting on the surface of the potion. She lifted Malfoy's hand, only little eagerly, and did the same. As his blood joined hers in the cauldron, there was a small hissing noise and the mixture began to boil furiously. After a few moments the potion stilled and turned a cloudy gray and a fine mist settled over the surface. Hermione sighed with relief. All that was left was the incantation.

Hermione took up Malfoy's wand again and began what she knew would feel like a six mile long spell. She assured herself that everything would go well and without any hitches. Most of the spell was familiar to her, but she still had to reference Draco's notebook every once in a while just to make sure.

After she waded through about half of the incantation Hermione nearly lost her concentration. The noise had finally reached the study and there were Death Eaters banging on the door, calling for the Dark Lord. She fought to maintain her concentration and sped up her casting. They were definitely out of time.

She finished the spell in record time and rushed to scoop up the now silver potion into a cup so that she and Malfoy could drink, but she was interrupted by the noise of splintering wood. Down the center was a jagged crack. She couldn't breath and could only stare as some unseen force reduced the door into a pile of splinters.

Hermione sat like a deer in the headlights as a lone Death Eater swaggered into the room. He had the hood of his black cloak pulled down low over his head so she couldn't make out his face. For a moment everything stood still and it seemed like all of the air had been stolen from the room as the hooded man stood watching her. Behind her she could see the still bodies of other Death Eaters. But she didn't have time to be confused. Hermione jerked Malfoy's wand into the air, re-warded the room, and set a shielding charm around herself and the incapacitated Dark Lord just in time to deflect a nasty looking curse from the Death Eater. As she turned to scoop up the potion, Hermione could hear her shield whine and strain as it was hailed with spells. The shield was too weak and she prayed it would hold up long enough for them to get out. She tipped back the cup of potion and ignored the metallic taste as she gulped it down. Hurriedly she refilled the cup and pressed it to Malfoy's lips.

He wouldn't drink. Hermione groaned in desperation as the shower of spells picked up in frequency and severity. She filled his mouth with the liquid and coaxed his throat, begging him to swallow the potion. After what felt like entirely too long, he coughed and somehow managed to choke down the mouthful. Hermione nearly sagged with relief, but she didn't have the chance to celebrate. As she shrugged on a bag of Malfoy's supplies and reached out to grasp his arm so they could Apparate, her shield failed. She was so shocked that she barely blocked a curse aimed for her head. Hermione stood as she fended off the fierce attack. It was too risky to Apparate both Malfoy and herself to safety with all of the spells flying around. For the first time in four years Hermione cursed her decision to teach at Hogwarts instead of join the Aurors with Harry and Ron. Her dueling skills were not what they once were. She was struggling to hold her ground against the Death Eater.

As the Death Eater calmly began to circle she finally saw an opening. Hermione fired off two quick slicing hexes, the first to distract, the other aimed at his wand arm. She followed them with three rapidly shot stunning spells. As she predicted, the Death Eater dodged the first slicing hex. The second was aimed for where she knew he would dodge, but before he was hit, he quickly sent off a spell of light purple light and by the time she realized where it was heading, the spell slammed into Draco. When she looked back at the hooded figure, he was in a heap.

Without pausing to enjoy her victory Hermione knelt back down beside Malfoy, took one last look at the photo he had given her, and Apparated them both out of there.

A.N. Well, there is Chapter 3! I hope you liked it! Huge thank you to Mistwood, my wonderful Beta! You are amazing! Be sure to go check out her current fic, A New Beginning. It is absolutely great!

Alrighty then, be sure to review! It will make my day and maybe I won't kill off any major characters. Just kidding, I would never do that :). Tell me what you think of the chapter! Guesses are welcome and encouraged.

xoxox

Summer Orchid