Hermione jumped off the bed, the situation she had created was too awkward and she had to defuse it. Walking again for the first time in what seemed like ages proved to be difficult. Her legs felt heavy and she swayed in a funny way, and she tripped over her own feet.

"It feels like I'm learning how to walk allover again." Hermione thought out loud.

Draco who was still sitting on the bed, his pupils dilated, looked at her for a minute before shaking his head slightly and standing up.
"Try to keep the clumsiness to a minimum, then." he said hoarsely before leaving the room without another word.

Draco maneuvered his way through what used to be his home and had become a graveyard haunted by death eaters. He finally made it to the library room with the least possible amount of communication with the men that were scattered allover the Manor. Closing the door with a wave of his wand, he sat down on the first arm chair he found. Tough days were waiting for him and a single mistake could bring everything crumbling down. His thoughts kept straying back to Hermione's unexpected gesture. He had wanted to ask her why she did it, wanted to warn her not to touch him again, but he didn't. He was too confused by her action...and he wasn't even sure if he didn't want her to touch him again.

He had to remove her from the manor as soon as possible. While he secretly congratulated himself on coming up with the brilliant idea of hiding her in the one place they would never look at, he knew she can't be kept under their noses for long. His aunt had started noticing he spent more time in his room than usual and she keeps urging him to go on a search for the the runaway girl. If he postpones Bellatrix's request anymore she might start having suspicions; something he couldn't afford.

He sat there for hours, thinking, assessing his choices, the ones he made and the ones that were made for him. When sleep finally found its way to his eyes he stood up to go back to his room then decided against it. Sleeping on a chair seemed more comfortable than sleeping with Hermione Granger in the same room again.

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, the room was eerily silent and she couldn't sleep. Looking around, she realized she's all alone, Draco hadn't come back at all. He was probably disgusted by what she did earlier, Hermione had berated herself enough because of her stupid gesture. It was nothing serious, she decided finally, I am a naturally sympathetic person, that's all. A naturally sympathetic person that needed a shower! Hermione got off the bed and headed to the adjoining bathroom. She was shocked at the reflection that looked back at her from the mirror. Her hair desperately needed a brush, her face looked pale and almost yellow, her neck was dark in color and so were her legs and arms. Nothing a shower couldn't fix, she thought.

Stepping into the bathtub she reveled in the sensation of having war water wash over her, she moved her legs almost childishly. It was incredible how people took so many things for granted. Being deprived of her independence for the past couple of days made her appreciate it even more.
She waved her wand and a brush floated in the air until it rested in her hand. As she brushed her hair, she couldn't believe she let Draco Malfoy, her childhood bully and one of her worst enemies see her looking like that. But he wasn't an enemy anymore, was he? He had done everything to prove he wasn't but what if all of this was an act? She needed to make sure, her mind had been going through the different ways she could possibly use to make sure Malfoy was not setting her up and they all came down to Veritaserum. But how could she convince him? That, she had to figure out. Hermione closed her eyes and dozed off, waking up hours later at the sound of a persistent knock on the bathroom door.

"Yes!" She yelled.

"What have you been doing in there all this time, Granger? Why weren't you answering me?" Draco's voice inquired from the other side of the door.

"Just a minute." She said before stepping out of the bathtub, washing her body hastily then drying it off. She waved her wand sweiftly over her clothes, cleaning them then put them on as fast as she can before opening the door.

"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep." She apologized, putting her wand on the bedside table before sitting on the chair facing the dresser and brushing the rest of her hair.

"You fell asleep...in the shower?" Draco's brows furrowed in bewilderment.

"It was a very comfortable one." Hermione remarked at Draco's reflection in the mirror, lifting her chin up in defiance before directing her focus back to her hair.

Draco who was supposed to be reading the book in his hand, hadn't flipped the page once since he opened it. He had been watching Hermione from beneath hooded eyes, her hands were moving rhythmically over her hair, braiding it. He could see her moving her eyes from his reflection to hers, she wanted to say something, he could tell.

"What is it, Granger?" He finally asked.

"So, I'm Granger again now? You're becoming very confusing, Malfoy." Hermione provoked. Her eyes lighting up at the fact that she got to throw his words right back at him.

Draco chuckled at the cheeky response before putting down the book and resting his arm at the back of the sofa he was sitting on. "What is it?" he repeated. "You have something to say, say it." he added

Draco Malfoy was capable of actually smiling! Hermione mused, she tried to remember if she ever saw him chuckle the way he did minutes ago, or smile at anybody and she realized he never did, not even with his Slytherin friends..not in front of her anyway. Malfoy was capable of smirking, leering and maybe snickering but smiling was not something she thought he was able to do. It was a pleasant sight. Hermione mentally slapped herself at the sound of her last thought. Bellatrix's torture had apparently affected her mind!

"How I can I be sure you're trustworthy, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, her voice clear as she turned to look directly into his eyes.

"What do you mean?" He looked puzzled, his eyes narrowing at her.

"I've been thinking for quite a while now, and I think there's only one way that I could be sure I can trust you." Hermione explained.

"And what would that be?" Draco asked tilting his head to one side.

"Veritaserum." She finally answered after a long pause.

Draco opened his mouth to argue but he paused to think about it. So what if he did drink the potion? He wasn't lying to her and he shouldn't be afraid. But it wasn't that he was afraid of; he was afraid she'd go too far, abuse the situation to ask too many questions. One he wasn't willing to answer.

"Alright." He agreed quietly and hardly suppressed a smile as her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "But how do I know I can trust you?" He challenged.

"What do you mean?" Hermione looked puzzled.

"How do I know you won't take it too far? Ask irrelevant questions? Ask about things that I don't want you to know?" He inquired

"I won't. I'm only interested in making sure you're not lying to me. But you're right, there's no way I can prove this. You'll just have to trust me. I trusted you before and now it's your turn." Hermione persuaded her eyes never leaving his.

Draco held Hermione's gaze for a long moment before standing up and summoning his potion box with a wave of his wand. As he opened the box, two similar flasks lied next to each other, one of them was half empty, it contained the rest of the fake Veritaserum he gave his aunt earlier, and the other was full of Veritaserum, the real potion. His hand moved unsteadily from one flask to another as he mulled over his choices. He could use the fake potion, she wouldn't know, he could fool her. Finally, he picked one of the two flasks, closed the box and turned to face Hermione.