Hermione couldn't believe Malfoy agreed so easily to drink the potion, she almost thought he was playing at something but when he turned and handed her a flask filled with a familiar transparent liquid, she realized how desperate he was. Malfoy was -just like the rest of them- trying so hard to protect the people he loved. She opened the flask, smelled it, scrutinized it then closed it again.

"Give me the flask." he ordered as he sat on the chair next to her bed.

"Right now?" Hermione frowned. "Yes, let's get this over with, we don't have time." he said, "The antidote is in my left pocket, just in case." he added with a subtle warning

Walking in little steps she handed him the flask, he opened it, tilted his head back and let a couple of drops run down his throat. He closed his eyes for too long she almost thought something was wrong with him, but then he opened them and looked directly at her. Nothing seemed different about him, only his eyes shone brighter than usual.

Hermione wasn't sure how she could handle the situation, she had never interrogated somebody before, so she gathered her wits and tried hard to find her voice, she could do this.

"How long have you been a death eater?" she asked finally

"A year, more or less." Draco replied

"Why?"

"It seemed very tempting at the time."

"And it's not..tempting anymore?"

"Definitely not."

"Then why didn't you...stop?"

"There's no such thing. You can never stop being a death eater; it stays with you forever." he brooded

"I meant...haven't you ever thought of switching sides?"

Draco remained silent for a while, an agonized look passed over his face before answering "All the time."

"Then why didn't you act upon it?"

"I tried, more than once. It's not as easy as it seems from your side."

"What do you mean, from my side?"

"I mean things are easier for you, aren't they, Granger? All the right choices came to you on a silver platter." Malfoy sneered

"And you didn't make your own choices?"

"Not most of them, but I sure made some on my own."

A question popped to Hermione's mind and before she could stop it, it came out. "Why didn't you kill Dumbledore when you had the chance to?"

"Couldn't." the word came out as a low tremble.

"You didn't know how to use the spell?" Hermione pushed further

"I...I had the skill...but..not the willingness." Draco stammered, the agonized look back on his face again, stronger this time.

Hermione sensed she was straying off the point, she could see Malfoy fidgeting in his chair, struggling with words he obviously hated to say. She was so tempted to push him a bit more, ask why he didn't do it, but she had already promised not to delve in too deep, he asked her to trust him once and he didn't disappoint her-to her utter surprise- she had to do the same now.

"You said you wanted to help the order, were you lying to me when you said that?"

"No." a more comfortable Malfoy replied now.

"You said you wanted a safe place for your mother in return, is there anything else you left unsaid? Did you lie about that too?"

"No and no. I said what I wanted in return and I don't want anything else."

"Where does your loyalty lie, Malfoy?"

"My family."

"How could that be when your father is a death eater and your mother apparently wants nothing to do with this war? That's almost impossible."

"Almost, I'm trying to do the impossible now."

"Aren't you loyal to.." Hermione paused, this one was tricky, if she doesn't use the right name he might find a loophole in her question, her most important question. "Aren't you loyal to the dark lord anymore?"

"No!" Malfoy seethed.

That was enough, Hermione thought. She knew what she needed to know and this interrogation had been uncomfortable to her as much as it was to him, she wanted it over. Part of her hated that potion, the thought of having all your thoughts and feeling easily exposed to anybody who simply asked the right questions was terrifying; it stripped you of any privacy, any protective layer you might have formed. Even torturing someone to get information out of them, left them with a choice, she thought grimly.
But one last question had been playing in the back of her mind ever since this interrogation started, one she desperately needed to ask, she had that question for years and there was her chance at getting it answered, how could she miss it?

"One last question, Malfoy." Hermione finally said, unable to fight the temptation. He raised an eyebrow at her, tilting his head to one side.

"You used to give me bloody hellish time at Hogwarts, why do you hate me so much?" her question came out with a sigh.

Malfoy closed his eyes, pursued his lips tightly and bent his head down, shuddering greatly. He stood up, panting heavily, his eyes were teary and he let out a loud groan before falling to the floor.

Hermione panicked at the sight, she remembered the antidote and crouched next to Malfoy's writhing body, frantically searching his pockets for the antidote, she finally found the tiny flask. She struggled to place his head on her lap, forcing his mouth open she dropped some of the liquid then closed the flask. Malfoy's face turned blue, he pushed himself off the floor, coughing and spluttering loudly for a long while before his breathing finally went back to normal.

Kneeling on the floor, one hand on his knee the other on the floor supporting his weight, Draco raised his head slightly, his eyes were flaming, reflecting the light that came from the near lamp, he glared at Hermione furiously "You said..I could trust you." he thundered

"I didn't mean any harm!" Hermione defended herself, taken aback by the tone of his voice "I thought it was a relevant question." she lied.

"And how is that?" he demanded

"I thought you'd say you hate me because I was...because of my blood status, it seemed very obvious to me and I thought that was an important question. If you still held the same elitist views I think you do, then I can't really trust you one hundred percent." Hermione explained, lifting her chin up.

"You're lying through your teeth, Granger." Draco accused, his face impassive once again but the cold fury in his voice said that he wasn't as impassive as he pretended to be.

Hermione started to say something but he cut her off "Have you gotten the answers you wanted?" He asked

"Yes, but you must know tha.."

"It doesn't matter, Granger. We leave tomorrow at dusk. Can you fly on a broomstick?" He asked, his tone now back to normal.

"Of course I can." Hermione gulped at the thought, she hated flying, it wasn't her strength point at all.

Draco turned to look at her over his shoulder for a minute before turning fully to look at her, "Can you fly on a broomstick, Granger?" he repeated his question, stressing his words this time.

"Yes!" Hermione answered in frustration.

"How do you expect to have any chances at survival when you're such a horrible liar?" Draco grimaced at her.

"Well, some of us don't need to have the morals of an alley cat in order to survive." Hermione yelled at him.

Draco paused for a second, looking at her; the words apparently hit home. "Those must be the lucky few, then." he mocked

"I'll rephrase my question. Are you good at flying a broomstick?"

"It's not exactly my strength point but I can fly if I had to. Can't we just apparate?" Hermione asked desperately.

"I can, you can't. No witch or wizard can apparate to or from the Malfoy Manor except a Malfoy_" he informed "_and I'll take it that you can't fly a broomstick properly, you'll have to ride with me." he added with a frown.

"That's ridiculous, of course I can fly on my own." Hermione argued, appalled at the idea of having to share a broomstick with Malfoy.

"It's not my dream come true either. But unless you're very skilled with flying I can't trust you with flying on your own, I'm not sure about the weather and we'll have to fly on a great height to avoid being seen. I can't afford having you falling and breaking your neck; because honestly, Granger, after that stunt you pulled earlier, I don't think I'd be tempted to go back for you if you fall for your death." Draco taunted.

"I told you I didn't mean any harm!" Hermione insisted.

"And I told you it doesn't matter. Get some sleep, you'll need it." he ordered.

Draco bent down, picking up the two flasks that fell to the floor, he summoned his potion box and placed the flasks carefully, looking at the similar flasks, now back again next to each other, part of him wished he had picked the half empty one. He had never drank Veritaserum before and he never wanted to repeat that experience.

His own words sounded like somebody else's, as if his tongue had a mind of its own. And the worst part was when he tried to stop it, to lie. His head burnt as if he had immersed it in flames and his jaw hurt from struggling to keep his mouth shut. Hermione's question took him by surprise he almost answered immediately, but he was relieved he was able to hold it in. And although he felt like strangling her for breaking her promise, he felt eternally grateful that she was quick at giving him the antidote, maybe she really didn't mean any harm after all.

This time Draco didn't try to leave the room, he knew he was going to end up waking up in the middle of the night and going back anyway. He headed to the shower hoping that by the time he was done, she would be already asleep.