Back in the hallway, Hermione looked at Draco. "I need to ask you a question before this goes any further."
"He thought I was Lucius," Draco replied, staring at his reflection in the glass window of the door, as if he hadn't even heard her question. "He thought I was my father."
"I believe so," Hermione told him cautiously. "Now I need you to answer me honestly."
"Yes," Draco answered, turning toward her, his face void of all emotion. "You want to know if my father tortured people using the Cruciatus? The answer is yes."
"That's not my question," Hermione said, looking in to his eyes. "Malfoy, I need to know if you used it. I need to know if you have any victims in this wing because I can't have something like what just happened to Al, happen again. These people trust me, they trust in what I'm doing and they trust that they will be safe here. I cannot have you trigger an episode in one of my patients, I just can't allow it."
"Yes," Draco said, the memories flashing through his mind as he struggled to maintain his composure. "Yes, I tortured people using the Cruciatus curse. But you don't have to worry about them being in your wing, Granger."
"Why is that?" Hermione asked, though she felt she already knew the answer.
"It was after I failed to kill Dumbledore, I was given a number of prisoners to torture for information," he explained, his eyes unfocused. He could feel himself suffocating in the memories. "In a moment of weakness, I just...I couldn't take their screams anymore. They just wouldn't stop screaming."
"What did you do, Malfoy?" Hermione asked quietly.
He looked at her with hollow eyes, all traces of the arrogant Malfoy he'd come in with were nowhere to be found. "I killed them all."
His words hung between them in the silence of the halls of the wing. Hermione stared intently at Draco while he stared intently at the floor.
"Why?" Hermione questioned, breaking the silence.
Draco continued to stare at the floor and didn't respond. Hermione watched his fists clench and unclench as he sought to maintain control of his emotions.
"Why, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, again. "Why did you kill them?"
"Because I couldn't bloody keep torturing them," he snapped. "They were supporters, all of them, who had fallen out of favor with The Dark Lord so he deemed them traitors and told me to get out everything I could from them. They were good Death Eaters so I did them a favor and I killed them."
Hermione looked shocked by his admission and Draco immediately felt disgust with himself for telling her so much.
"So to answer your question, Granger," he replied, composing himself, the air of superiority and the look of contempt returning to him. "Yes, I used the Cruciatus but not on anyone here."
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. She thought for a moment and said the last words Draco expected to hear. "You did the right thing."
"Excuse me?" Draco asked, gaping at her in disbelief.
"You took away their pain," Hermione told him, her face unreadable. "Voldemort would have killed them in the end but not before they ended up like one of my patients here. You ended what would have probably been months of agony and torture for them and you gave them peace. In the middle of pure evil, you did the right thing."
"Bugger off, Granger," Malfoy replied, still shocked by what she'd said. "I don't need you to tell me what I did was right."
"Fine," Hermione answered. "Let's go, I have to finish my rounds and we're behind."
They finished the hallway they were in and, at the end of the hallway, stopped.
"We're going to the branch corridors now," Hermione told Draco. "You're going to know the people in these rooms."
"I doubt it," Malfoy said. "Or if I do, I doubt it's anyone I give a damn about."
"Very well," Hermione replied, deciding it was best to let him see who was there on his own. "Let's go."
The branch hallways were designed the same as the main hallway, 5 doors on each side. Hermione stopped in front of the first door and took the chart from the wall. She glanced over it before handing it to Draco.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Draco said, not reading it.
"Familiarize yourself with the patient," Hermione answered. "Read it."
"Just tell me what the deal is like you did with all the others," Draco told her, taking a step toward her with the chart held out to her.
"This patient was tortured with the Cruciatus curse every day four times a day at least for several months," Hermione said, crossing her arms so Draco couldn't hand her the chart. "He was also the victim of two other curses, one that makes you feel like you're drowning even though you are not and another that makes you feel as though you've been set on fire."
"I know what they are," Draco told her. "I've seen them used."
"Well," Hermione replied. "Now you get to see what they've done. Look at the chart, Malfoy."
Aggravated, Malfoy gave a cursory look at the chart. "So it's a bloke and he's a bit chubby and he's doing poorly, I get it."
"Oh for Merlin's sake Malfoy, look at the patient's NAME," she cried.
He gave her a glare before looking down at the name at the top of the chart and he felt his stomach drop.
"What kind of game are you playing at?" Draco spat, waving the chart at her. "What is this?"
"What do you mean, what kind of game am I playing?" Hermione answered, confused.
"Gregory Goyle?" he replied, raising his voice, throwing the chart at her but it missed and clattered to the ground instead. "That's who the patient is? Gregory Goyle?"
"Yes?" Hermione said, bending down to pick up the chart and placing it back on the door. "There's no need to shout, I told you you'd know some of the patients and I knew he was your friend."
"That's not possible," Draco replied, his voice getting even louder and his pale face flushing with color.
"Lower your voice!" Hermione told him again. "I assure you, it's quite possible that one of your precious Slytherin purebloods is a patient here."
"That's not it," Draco shouted, turning his back to her, his hands clenched in fists. "That's not it at all."
"Then what is it?" Hermione asked now thoroughly confused. She was shocked by Draco's reaction and wasn't completely sure what to do.
Draco whirled around and took a menacing step toward her and said, "Goyle can't be a patient here because Gregory Goyle is dead."
A/N: It's 5:30 in the morning, I'm so tired but the reviews I got made me so happy I decided to upload another chapter before I go back to doing my homework. SO sorry about the cliffhanger, I promise I"ll upload another chapter later today! I keep forgetting to say this, THANK YOU to everyone who is reading my story and to everyone who is reviewing. You're the greatest! :)