A.N. Hello again! I am so, so, so sorry for how long it has been since I last updated. I've been dealing with school, sickness, a car wreck, and physical therapy. Excuses, excuses I know. Will you forgive me if I say that I have the next 20 chapters mapped out? Well I do! And I am going to try my best to update once a week. Also, I don't have a beta right now, so pardon any mistakes!

Disclaimer: I own everything that is mine. The end.

Since it's been so long, here's a little summary:

Draco has become the leader of the new dark regime after the defeat of Voldemort. Hermione was captured while on a school camping trip and tortured for information. For reasons unknown, Draco sets her free and is injured in their escape to his hidden safe house. Unfortunately for Hermione, she soon discovers that once she get's in the wards over the house will keep her from getting out. Since she is trapped in the house with Draco, she decides to dig for any useful information he might have only to find his memories completely gone. When she investigates further, Hermione finds remnants of spells that modify behavior. If that wasn't odd enough, she gets sucked into Draco's dreams through an unfamiliar spell Hermione found in his library that she uses to communicate with Harry. Inside she finds that part of Draco's soul was locked away and he isn't too happy about the situation. This new found discovery is just another piece of the puzzle that she is bound and determined to put together.

Chapter Nine

Hermione had finally reached her limit. The whole situation was too twisted and she didn't know how much longer she could stand it. Everything had happened too quickly and she hadn't even had time to process what had happened to her, let alone what Draco had gone through if what she had just seen was any indication. Not so long ago she had been a captive and the torture that she had….no, she couldn't let her mind wander there. And now here she was, stuck in the middle of some crazy drama she couldn't even begin to understand, left despising the compassion she felt for her former torturer.

She leaned up against Draco's door, her whole body shivering. It was all too much. Too much. Her hands grasped at her hair as she slid down the frame to the floor. For God knows how long she had been strong. But she didn't think that she could do it anymore. At least, not on her own. Unfortunately, she couldn't figure out a way to bring in someone else for backup. All she had were her dream visits with Harry until she could figure out how to bypass the wards on Malfoy's accursed house.

Shoving her emotions to the back of her mind, Hermione tried to focus herself and forget her bitterness. She needed Harry. Even though he wouldn't have any answers, he was the only one who knew the truth of where she was and what had happened. Besides, there wasn't anyone else who had been there for her like Harry had since they were children. She could always count on him. Even his most reckless moments were predictably Harry. He was her not so traditionally stable rock.

It was a good thing they were supposed to have a meeting tonight, so he would already be waiting for her. At least, she hoped he still be asleep with how late she would be traveling. Too unstable to move with any great speed, Hermione used the wall to stand. On still shaky legs she willed herself to her bed. Just the short trip across the hall was too much for her as emotionally and physically worn down as she was. By the time she sat on her bed it was obvious that she wouldn't need any help sleeping. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out and back at her apartments in Hogwarts. She tried not to look around, afraid of what she would feel when she was already feeling like glass. Quickly she focused her mind on Harry and it was not a moment later that she felt herself being tugged into his dreams.

When the world settled she opened her eyes and when Harry moved into her line of sight, the damn on her emotions broke. Hard. She heard Harry's rushed footsteps as she collapsed into a puddle of tears. Quite literally unfortunately. Dreams are funny that way even when they aren't your own.

Feeling Harry's arms wrap around her only made the tears come faster and before she knew it, she was sobbing into his chest, his shirt fisted in her hand. Bless his heart, Harry just held her close and stroked her hair as he waited for Hurricane Hermione to pass. She didn't know how long she cried, but then she didn't much care. Even if she was sitting in a very wet puddle. She knew the tears would have come eventually and it was better that at least she wasn't alone.

When her sobs subsided to sniffles, Hermione pulled herself away just enough to see the rather large tear stain on the front of Harry's shirt. Beyond embarrassed, she pulled her shirtsleeve down and tried to mop up the mess.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I…," her voice cracked through the last stubborn tears and hiccups until Harry cut her off with a soft brush of his hand on her tear stained face.

"This is my dream, remember? It's nothing I can't fix." He winked at her and the mark on his shirt, as well as the now gigantic puddle underneath them, vanished.

"Right," she choked out. And then she laughed in earnest until Harry stared at her in alarm. "I'm alright, Harry. Merlin, I can't remember the last time I cried like that." Harry's face softened and he grabbed her hand.

"It's no wonder with everything that's been going on for the past three months." She began to nod as she wiped at her face and froze as she processed his last words. She could literally feel every drop of blood drain from her face.

"Three…three months," she whispered. "How…how in God's name has it been that long? How long have I been missing? How long have I been stuck in this house? God, Harry I…."

"Hermione, calm down," he said firmly taking a hold of her slight shoulders.

"I knew I had been gone for a long time, but Merlin."

Harry nodded in sympathy. "It was more than two months until you contacted me and we just met four days ago."

More than two months. The words echoed around in her skull and dragged her thoughts into dark places. She and Malfoy had been in his house no more than three days when she had first contacted Harry. That meant that she had spent around two months in that cell! Being tortured. She roughly yanked her attention away from that dark cell and tried to focus. It wasn't easy when there were so many unanswered questions. All she was sure of was whatever concoctions Malfoy had no doubt given her had to be incredible strong if she had withstood months of torture. Hermione didn't even want to know what she had looked like when he had carried her out of her her attention back to Harry, she saw that he was still eyeing her with a very concerned look on his face.

"I'm alright, Harry I promise. It all just got to me. Let's move over to the sitting room. I'm tire of sitting on the floor."

Harry gave her a hand up and uttered not a word as they moved into the dark, but comforting sitting room of the house on Grimmauld Place.

"So what has been going on," Harry finally asked. "You almost missed our meeting tonight and then you show up in tears? Did Malfoy do something to hurt you?"

"No, not lately or intentionally at least," she said warily. "Honestly, I was going to skip my meeting with you tonight." And she filled him in on everything that had happened during the past days. The furrows between Harry's eyebrows deepened and she went on to tell him what happened in Draco's dream that night. He was quiet the entire time and she had known him long enough to know that it wasn't always a sign of courtesy. "Whatever I thought was going on is nothing compared to what happened to him. I already had an idea that he had been forced, but it never occurred to me that he was conscious and aware the entire time. From all the spell work I found in his mind and what I can assume from his dream, it looks like someone constructed a whole new person from the original. Whoever did this to him trapped away a part of his soul, his innocence and all of the qualities they didn't value and locked them away in the back of his mind. That part of him was powerless to do anything but watch as he murdered, tortured, and did Merlin know's what else. There's a part of him that's still sixteen in his head and is traumatized beyond belief."

Harry remained quiet for a moment longer after she finished.

"So it do you think it's like when Voldemort split himself into his journal? Independent, but aware. Who did he kill?"

"I'm not sure that he killed anyone. It's almost like that, but I don't think he split his soul on his own. The two pieces of his self are not completely separated."

"And what kind of person do you think Malfoy is now? You said that he isn't his evil self that he was before, but if the good part is sealed away, we can't trust him. We can't be sure what he will do."

"All of the compulsions and modifiers they put on him just increased everything that made Malfoy the pain in the ass that we knew and hated during school. It was just magnified until he was dangerous for the most part. They took his childish prejudices, learned or not, and cranked them up into full blown hatred. They made his anger a thousand times worse and literally dictated some of his emotional reactions. Now he's just a very, very watered down version of all of his bad qualities, which aren't all that bad in the scheme of things, and he lacks whatever compassion he had in the first place. He isn't evil now, just difficult."

harry seemed to accept it readily enough, but she could tell there was more going on in his head than he was letting on. And he would continue to stew over it until he was satisfied he had all of the angles. His time as Head Auror had blessedly made him more analytical. Finally he sighed and dragged his hand roughly through his already messy hair.

"Every instinct I have is begging me to get you out of there, but our spies have come across a piece of intel that is hardly comforting. The other side is desperate to find you and Malfoy and the standing orders are to bring you both back dead or alive. The only thing I can get from that is there is somebody who was pulling Malfoy's strings and wants to hide that pretty badly before we can get our hands on him. They want him gone just as much, if not more than they want you dead." He paused and tugged at his hair again. "Tell me about the wards on his house."

Hermione sighed a bit more dramatically when she thought back to her analysis. "His wards are crazy, Harry. I'm not even familiar with half of them and I'm sure a good bit of them are dark. There are so many intertwined around the property that it's just one big complex mess. It really is a miracle that I got in even with the physical connection to Malfoy. Godric only knows what would have happened had I tripped one of them."

Harry nodded for the umpteenth time, leaned to rest his head against the back of the love-seat, and stared at the cracks in the ceiling.

"As much as I hate it, I think it's best that the two of you stay there for the time being. You need to figure out how to fix the tampering with Malfoy's soul and mind. Maybe if he didn't split it on his own like Voldemort did, then it can be fixed. And that un-fog his memories as well. If we can get his memories back that should tell us who's running the show." Hermione joined him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"What I don't understand is why whoever is behind this chose to go through all the trouble of modifying a poor, but definitely misguided, sixteen year old boy instead of finding someone who suited their needs. Why taint an innocent child like that?"

Harry snorted, "He was hardly innocent Hermione. As much as I dislike the guy, and I really, truly do, he definitely did not deserve this. If you're right, and some part of him really did witness everything that happened over the past years…." Hermione's heart clenched a bit at the thought. Needless to say, they might end up with a very broken shell of a man when all things were said and done.

"I wish there was some way of extracting his memories without him having to remember. I'm afraid if we re-unite the pieces that his mind won't be able to survive. Malfoy was never an evil boy. He was just raised in a horrible environment." Harry chuckled and shifted to look down at her through narrowed eyes.

"This isn't one of your pet projects like the house elves, Hermione."

"I know," she scoffed. "Okay, maybe he's a bit of a prick naturally too."

That made them both chuckle and they proceeded to laugh over Hogwarts memories, particularly of their favorite white ferret. They relaxed together like they hadn't in years. Even though it was just a dream they both savored their time together helped each other forget the outside world.

After a time they decided to part. Harry would be needed soon on the outside.

"Alright Hermione," he said through a yawn as he stood and stretched. "Do whatever you can. Honestly, I can't say that there isn't a part of me that hopes that this doesn't work and Malfoy ends up falling apart, but for everyone's sake most of me wishes that is does work. I, for one, have had enough of war and Malfoy at least deserves to have to live with his memories. It might be too harsh a punishment, but if that's the only thing we can do, I'm willing to take that chance."

Hermione merely nodded and hugged him once last time. As she was tugged away she heard Harry yell a reminder to meet him in their agreed four days.

After Hermione left, Harry sat back down on the love-seat in front of the fire that he didn't truly feel. There really was a part of him that wished for Malfoy's suffering, whether he had been in control of his actions or not. Harry knew his bitterness against the man was unjustified, but it was hard for him to let go of the hatred. After the Battle of Hogwarts he had been able to get over most of it. Having seen how the death of Crabbe affected Malfoy along with the added pressure of trying to keep his family safe while under Voldemort's thumb had torn him apart. He knew that, at least in Malfoy's mind, his actions had been justifiable. Hell, Harry had seen first hand how strained he was when he stumbled upon Malfoy in Myrtle's bathroom during sixth year. And then when they had been captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, Draco had refused to identify him. Harry had been able to forgive him then for being an arse.

It was not until Malfoy had taken up the mantle of the new Dark Lord that Harry regretted his easy forgiveness of the boy and his hatred had resurged with even more strength against the man.

And now? Now he had to re-evaluate his feelings towards the prick all over again. Part of him wanted to continue hating him, but Harry knew what it was like to feel as if a part of you is evil. He didn't envy Malfoy the self-loathing that would no doubt come from getting his memories back.

Harry sighed and grasped his hair in frustration as he felt himself being dragged out of sleep by the never-welcome sound of his alarm.

A.N. It's a bit short for being my first update in forever, but I hope you enjoyed it. Things are starting to come together a bit. Let me know what you think! Oh! And if you would like to help me with this, I will offer you cyber sweets!

Oh! And you can thank Glorioux for this new update. She has always been there to remind me not to abandon this fic. Thanks for all of your help with this story! Check out her amazing stories ^^.

Because of all of you lovely people who have read, favorited, followed, and reviewed I am picking this story back up. Thank you for all of your support!

xoxo

Summer Orchid