Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 21

"Harry, I can't leave," she whispered.

"What? Hermione-"

"I've tried to escape since the first day, but it's impossible." She tried to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. "I don't know where we are or how long it's been. I can't use magic and I can't write to anyone," her eyes locked onto Draco's for a moment before she looked back to Harry. "I can't get out."

There was silence as both wizards tried to let the situation sink in. Harry turned to Draco, who looked back at him with a blank face. "Malfoy, lets try to work on the wards." Draco blinked a few times, not taking his eyes off of Hermione and nodded.

Wands out, they worked simultaneously, trying various charms to try to remove the wards that surrounded them. After a few moments, Draco stopped. "Potter," he whispered. "This- this is dark magic." He walked out of the kitchen, into the hallway and made his way to the front door. Harry followed with Hermione at his side.

He had his hand less than an inch away from the door, as if caressing the wards around it. His eyes were closed as he made to put his hand on the door knob. Hermione gasped and Harry put his arm around her. Draco put his hand on the door knob and immediately removed it. "It can't be," he said to himself.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"These are the same wards the Dark Lord used to keep us in after-" he stopped and shook his head. "This can't be."

Harry turned back to Hermione. "Grab your things, Hermione, we're leaving."

"She can't leave, Potter. It's impossible with just the two of us." Draco turned back to face Harry, unable to look at Hermione. "It's almost impossible..." He felt his watch burn on his wrist. It was the watch Ginny had bewitched to sent him a message. He tapped the watch with his wand and the numbers turned into letters that wrapped around the dial and spelled out: 'Ron arriving soon. 5 min.' "We have to go." He looked up at Harry who was staring at Hermione. Hermione had her eyes closed.

"Please, Harry," she whispered. "Please don't leave me." She looked up at Draco. She dropped to her knees. "Malfoy, please don't make me stay here anymore. I forgive you. I read your letter and I-I forgive you for everything."

"Malfoy, what can we do?" asked Harry. Bending down to pull Hermione off the floor.

"I-I don't know. I would have to read up on this spell. We don't have time. Wait, did you say you read my letter? My owl got in?"

"Yes, I wanted to write back, but your owl..."

"You got my letter?" he asked again. The alarm he had set on his watch went off. He snapped out of his shock and turned to Harry. "Potter, it's time. We have to go now!"

Hermione looked bewildered. She looked frantically from Harry to Draco. "You're leaving me?"

Harry was torn between staying to confront Ron and leaving with Draco to figure everything out. He looked at Draco, who shook his head at him. "We'll be back for you as soon as we figure this out. I- I promise."

Hermione was heart-broken, but she knew they were doing the right thing. She threw her arms around Harry and said, "Don't take too long, now." She smiled softly at him, a smile that broke both Harry and Draco's hearts.

Don't let them see what you're feeling, Draco, he heard a cruel voice in his head. Hermione and Harry were taking a moment to say goodbye. He took the time to really look at her. She's obviously changed over the time she'd been missing. She'd gotten thinner and there were dark bags under her sad eyes. Her hair was much longer than he'd ever seen it. No longer an unmanageable bush, it fell in long golden curls. He turned away, wanting to give the other two more privacy. You're too close to this, he heard the voice again.

"Malfoy," he heard Hermione's voice behind him. He turned to face her, keeping his face emotionless. "Thank you." She took a step towards him, and she saw him tense up. She cautiously put her hand up to his face and stroked his cheek. Draco closed his eyes when he felt her touch in his skin. "Malfoy..." He heard her say again.

Draco took a step back away from her. He opened his eyes and stared down at her. No longer able to keep his emotions in, Hermione saw the mixture of emotions in his eyes. She looked at him curiously as he turned away from her and apparated away. She turned back in time to see Harry give her a small smile before he apparated as well.

Draco appeared in his study. He dropped his wand and fell to his knees. He felt hands pulling him up and shoving him into a chair. Draco blinked away the tears from his eyes and looked up to Harry.

"It's alright, mate, we'll figure this out."

The floo went off signaling the arrival of Ginny Potter.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Blaise sat at his old desk in his old room at Malfoy Manor. He'd unpacked his things with a flick of his wand and had began to read through a book while waiting for any sign of Draco's arrival. He was still unable to believe Draco and Harry Potter had somehow become friends. It was only a few minutes after he'd poured himself a drink when the house-elf popped into the room to announce that 'Master Malfoy' had arrived and was having a drink in his study.

Blaise made his way out of the room and down the hallway, taking his time to notice that most of the old paintings of the ancestors of the Malfoy house were gone. They'd been replaced with Muggle paintings, mostly landscapes. At last, after a few minutes, he'd reached Draco's study. Walking up to the door, he heard Draco's voice, followed by one he recognized as Harry Potter's and a female voice he did not recognize. He paused for a long moment before knocking on the door.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Were you expecting anyone, Malfoy?" asked Ginny as she walked over to open the door. He shook his head but motioned for her to open it.