"Are you alright?" Hermione asked Draco, concerned. "You look a bit, well, more pale than usual."
"Are you starting to worry about me, Granger?" Malfoy sneered. "How Gryffindor of you."
"You're fine then," Hermione said with tight smile. "Let's go back down to the lab."
They walked down the hallway and into the lift in silence. Once they were in the lift Draco called for it to stop. Hermione looked at him alarmed.
"Goyle mentioned you stay with him," Draco said accusingly.
"Yes, I do," Hermione replied cautiously. "I make sure he's okay."
"He said that you do it for some of the others too," Draco continued in the same tone.
"Yes," Hermione said.
"He said you do it for some of the others of us," Draco told her. "Who is us?"
"You really don't know, do you?" Hermione said surprised. "It was all over The Prophet right after it happened."
"I was a bit busy to read the paper, Granger," he drawled. "Who else is in that wing?"
"Let's go back to my office," Hermione said. "I think it's best if we talk about this there."
She called for her lab floor and a few minutes later they were back in her office with the door shut. Hermione sat down at her desk but Draco stood on the other side.
"Alright, out with it," Draco demanded. "Who else is in that wing? What don't I know about?"
"Sit down," she replied wearily. "And I'll tell you what happened."
"I'd prefer to stand," he said, stiffly.
"Fine. Only a day after Harry defeated Voldemort, the Order began to round up the remaining Death Eaters," Hermione began.
"I know that," Draco told her. "I was one of them, remember? You're not telling me anything I don't already know."
"Let me finish," Hermione said patiently. "As part of that, we began to do full searches of all the homes of Death Eaters, looking for dark artifacts, etc. What we didn't expect to find were survivors. I mentioned to you we found Al in the Lestrange basement, we also found about 40 other people in basements of other Death Eater homes. They'd all been tortured, abused, and were all severely malnourished. Everyone we found was brought to St. Mungo's. 10 of them died shortly after being brought here. The remaining 30 now occupy the branch corridors of the Unforgivable wing."
"So that's where you found Goyle?"
"Yes, we found him along with three others. They are all in his end of the corridor."
"So that's what Goyle meant by us," Draco said. "He meant he and the others he was found with. Who are the other three people?"
"Vincent Crabbe, Millicent Bulstrode, and Theodore Nott," Hermione told him.
As Hermione listed off each of the names, Draco felt a quick stab in his gut. "They're all supposed to be dead. All killed by the Order."
Draco sank into the chair across from Hermione's desk.
"The same way Gregory was supposed to be dead?" Hermione asked him. "Also killed by the Order? Malfoy, I assure you they are very much alive and doing better now than they were in the dungeon we found them in."
Draco dropped his head into his hands and muttered something under his breath.
"What did you say?" Hermione asked.
Draco lifted his head and clenched his fists. "I said, where were they found?"
"Malfoy," Hermione hesitated before continuing. "It doesn't really matter where they were found. Only that they were and now they're here safe and being cared for."
"Where were they found?" he asked again, louder than before.
"Honestly, I can't remember, it was years ago and it hardly matters now, I-"
"WHERE WERE THEY FOUND, GRANGER?!" He screamed, gripping the arms of the chair.
Hermione's mouth dropped open at his use of her name.
"Malfoy Manor," she replied before she could stop herself. "We found them in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor."
Draco looked as if he'd been punched in the stomach. He slid from the chair to the floor and stared blankly at Hermione's floor. Unsure of what to do Hermione walked around her desk and sat on the floor next to him.
"It isn't your fault," Hermione told him, looking at him as he looked at the floor.
At her words, his head shot up and he met her eyes with his. They were so full of anguish, Hermione wanted to reach out and touch him.
"They were my friends," he said, struggling to speak. "They were my friends, I thought they were dead. The things I did. The orders I took. Because I thought they were dead. I was TOLD they were dead. I believed what I was told. But they were alive. They were a few floors below me the entire time. It was all a lie."
Draco suddenly jumped to his feet and began to pace Hermione's office. Hermione stood as well and took a step back.
"Do you know what else I was taught? Do you know what else I was told?" Draco asked, looking at Hermione and running a hand through his hair. He continued without waiting for an answer.
"I was taught that purebloods were superior to all others. I was told people who were muggle born were Mudbloods, beneath us, not worthy to LIVE in our world. I was told that Muggleborns weren't worthy of their magic just because they didn't come from a long wizarding line. That's what I fought for, that's what I was willing to die for. After I lost my friends, I believed it even more, how could a side that would take my friends be right? But it was my side that lied about my friends. My side that took my friends. Everyone I grew up with, everyone who I fought with, is in jail or dead for what we were taught, for what we were told."
He stopped walking and whirled to face Hermione, breathing heavily. "How could a side that would take my friends be right? Oh god."
"Draco, it's okay," Hermione started to say but he rushed toward her and grabbed her by the shoulders and shouted.
"IT'S NOT OKAY, IT'S NOT OKAY BECAUSE EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING WAS A LIE. I LOST YEARS OF MY LIFE BECAUSE OF LIES, I SPENT TIME IN PRISON BECAUSE OF LIES, I WOULD HAVE GIVEN MY LIFE AND TAKEN YOURS, GINA'S AND THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE LIKE YOU WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT ALL FOR LIES. ALL BECAUSE OF SOMETHING THAT I WAS TOLD."
Draco let go of Hermione abruptly and she stumbled backwards. He turned away from her and ran his hands over his face and through his hair again. This time when he turned around, he had tears streaming down his face, and as if all of the anger left him, he collapsed to the floor. Hermione rushed to him and this, time, didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around him. He clung to her as he sobbed. Hermione didn't speak, just held him as the sobs shook his entire body. Neither knew how long they stayed that way but eventually Draco's cries quieted. Hermione though, didn't let go and he didn't either. They sat on her floor, unmoving, until Hermione shifted away from him and sat across from him. Draco stared at the ground.
"Look at me," Hermione said.
Draco continue to stare at the spot on the floor.
"Look at me, Draco," Hermione said again, hoping her use of his first name would get through to him.
He looked up at her. "The war is over. What's done is done and the past is the past. Now, you get to start again. No one gets to tell you what to do anymore. You decide. You do exactly what you decide. You don't have to do what you were told."
He stared at her as her words sunk in and for the first time since he was 14, Draco felt like he could breathe again. He let out a rush of air and looked at her. "How will I know what to do?"
Hermione smiled and leaning forward, took his hands in hers. "I'll help you," she said. "Blaise and Pansy too. You're not alone."
"I'm not alone," Draco repeated. "I'm not alone."
Neither spoke after that, Hermione simply looked at Draco as he processed everything that had been brewing for months. Draco on the other hand, just stared into Hermione's eyes. She'd leaned close enough that he could see the dark brown of her eyes, small freckles on her cheeks, her lips. Then, without thinking, Draco leaned in and captured her lips with his.
A/N: This chapter and the chapter after it were probably the most difficult ones to write. By the time I finished this chapter, I'd successfully broken Draco Malfoy, something that I felt had to come in steps with one, final climatic thing being what set him over the edge he had been dangling on. This situation seemed like something that would break him, break his faith in what he'd been taught and told. But once I'd broken him, I had to figure out how to rebuild him. Then I realized, unknowingly to me and to Draco, I'd already built him a support system. All I had to do was use it.