Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!

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If it hadn't been for the war and the many trials that came with it, Hermione and Draco may have found themselves in different situations.

Unfortunately, the places their circumstances had forced them into eventually led to Hermione being slammed against the lacquered floorboards of Malfoy Manor while Draco's deranged aunt crawled over her like a rabid animal.

"Now then, my dear," Bellatrix Lestrange began with an odd look in her eyes and a wicked grin on her lips, "You and I can have a proper chat, can't we?"

Hermione jerked and writhed in a futile attempt to free herself from her captor as Bellatrix pushed her wand against the flesh of her smooth, unblemished forearm.

The more Hermione wrestled, the more Bellatrix made an effort to press the entirety of her form against her, until Hermione gasped for breath as Bellatrix threatened to crush her chest.

She watched an evil malice light up Bellatrix's dark eyes as she opened her mouth to speak the incantation that would bring nothing but pain.

Held down, powerless, exposed, and waiting for the inevitable, Hermione grasped onto the forlorn hope that her end would be quick.

Reduced to useless tears as Bellatrix painfully dug the tip of her wand into Hermione's flesh, she couldn't help the whimper that escaped her throat.

"What was that, Mudblood?!" Bellatrix demanded as she squeezed Hermione's wrist in her hands, purposely pushing her long, lacquered nails into the skin, "I'm afraid you'll have to speak up!"

Hermione looked away from her captor as she tried to control the tears of bitter defeat that ran down her face while Bellatrix leaned in, intent on listening to the pounding of her heart while she prepared to put her unfortunate victim through what was to come.

The blast of bright light that exploded through the room surprised both women.

Hermione heard him before she saw him.

"STUPEFY!"

Bellatrix screamed as that burst of magic hit her squarely in the back and sent her tumbling forward, off Hermione, and into the dark corner of the room, still and unconscious.

Hermione sat up with a jolt, anxious to discover her savior's identity and thank him with eager gratitude, Harry or Ron, whoever it had been.

Her heart skipped a beat when she realized who stood in front of her with his wand drawn.

"...It's you!" Hermione called as she clambered to her feet.

Draco's heart broke that the woman he loved couldn't even manage to say his name after he had saved her life.

Did she hate him that badly?

Had he truly squandered any and all opportunity at ever winning her affection?

"Yes, Granger……" He said as he lowered his wand once a quick glance told him he had successfully incapacitated his aunt, who lay in a groaning heap across the room, "...It's me."

During one of the most dangerous nights of her life, Hermione found herself awkwardly fumbling for words the way she had so many times before during her Hogwarts days.

The rich dominance that Draco's presence brought was as overwhelming as it was calming.

It mortified Hermione to think that all she really wanted to do was bask in that feeling.

Forget Harry, forget Voldemort, forget the whole lot of struggle, strife, and peril, she would abandon it all to crawl into a nest with Draco, somewhere safe, and rest with him there.

Draco's Legilimency skills were nowhere near as refined as Voldemort's, but as he watched Hermione's amber eyes soften, instinct hinted at her thoughts.

"...Did she hurt you?" He asked as he swallowed dryly, forcing himself to do something other than gawk at the beautiful woman in front of him.

"I……No." Hermione said quickly as he came back to her senses, "No, I……I'm alright. She just frightened me a bit."

Draco began to think of a response before pounding footsteps echoed from the hallway.

He and Hermione both looked in the direction of the sound before he snapped his eyes back towards her and hissed, "For what it's worth, I wish that things were different. I wish that you would have come here tonight under different circumstances, without all this-"

"-Without the war?" Hermione asked with a wry smile.

Draco nodded silently as the footsteps came closer.

His pulse pounded.

Draco was no fool, he realized that no one's survival was guaranteed, including his own or Hermione's.

"I…….." He began as he furrowed his brow, "Listen, Granger, if I never see you again, I just want you to know-"

Draco took too long choosing his words.

It all happened in a blur.

One moment, he had stood in front of Hermione, trying desperately to at least confess some portion of his heart's great burden and the next, he stood in the same room, surrounded by a horde of Voldemort's followers while his father scowled down at his mother as she attempted to heal her sister.

"Lucius, she's only been stupefied, but it's awful." Narcissa said with wide-eyes as she turned to gaze up at her husband.

"We can take her to the Dark Lord, Cissa." Lucius nodded, "He can set her right immediately, have no fear."

As Narcissa worried over her elder sibling, Bellatrix groaned in her arms and slowly began to move.

Draco had never felt more conflicted as he watched the scene.

While remorse and guilt gnawed at the corners of his soul, he couldn't ignore the biting urge to do more damage to his unhinged aunt for daring to touch what was his.

He swallowed dryly as he caught his own mistake.

People had been right, he had been spoiled all his life, denied nothing.

No matter how much he wanted her, no matter how much he loved her, Hermione Granger was not his and most likely would never be.

His grey eyes flickered over to the window while he thought.

There seemed to be little promise or hope in the world for Draco Malfoy at all.

His money had failed to save him from servitude and despair.

Even the grand mansion he had been born into failed to act as a comfort to his broken heart.

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"Was that Bellatrix I saw, lying in a pile back there?" Ron scowled as he, Hermione, and Harry sat around the fire back at their campsite later that evening.

"Yeah……" Hermione nodded, "It was."

"Decent work then, getting away from her." Harry nodded, "She may not be Voldemort, but she's mad. I've seen her do things that made absolutely no sense at all. She could have killed you for any reason at any time."

"She may have, if I hadn't had some help." Hermiome said as she cleared her throat.

Harry and Ron exchanged questioning glances.

When their silent communication found them both missing information, they turned to Hermione and spewed their inquiries.

"Help?"

"What do you mean I'd you hadn't had help?"

"...Surely you aren't talking about Malfoy, are you?"

"Well…….." Hermione shrugged as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "Bellatrix had me pinned against the floor. She's not a heavy woman but her weight seemed unbearable, crushing. I couldn't get my wand….She certainly had hers, ready to use it. The next thing I know, there's a flash of light, a shout, and she's soaring across the room, away from me."

Harry and Ron were intrigued.

"Who did it, then?" Harry asked.

Ron waited silently to hear.

"...Malfoy." Hermione confirmed as she glanced between her friends' faces.

Gasps of surprise and scoffs of scorn issued from both Harry and Ron as they exchanged an entirely new set of skeptic looks.

"Rubbish." Ron huffed.

"No, it's true!" Hermione nodded, "I don't think he's as like his parents as we think. I believe he's more of an actor playing a role at this point."

"If he was any good," Harry snapped, "Then he'd do a bit more than throw Bellatrix off you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione scowled.

"He could have come to us." Harry scowled, "He could have…..I dunno, been a spy or something."

"A spy against the world's greatest Legilimens?" Hermione scoffed, "He'd be killed before the week was out!"

Harry shrugged as he turned and looked into the campfire, "I dunno why you're defending Malfoy, all of a sudden, but alright."

Ron boldly climbed out on an emotional limb as he frowned at Hermione and asked, "Tell the truth, Hermione...Do you fancy him?"

Hermione's eyes widened as she scoffed in offense, "You've so much as asked me that before, Ron!"

"...And I'm asking you again." Ron frowned, "I don't think you told me the truth the first time….Or maybe you just didn't tell yourself."

"Both of you are being ridiculous!" Hermione retorted as she leapt to her feet.

The fire crackled while she threw a hateful scowl at both of them, generated from her own wounded feelings and aching heart, "No, of course I don't fancy Malfoy! He did save my life tonight and it sickens me that you two are so deeply entrenched in an entirely different set of prejudice you can't even show the least bit of gratitude!"

Without another word, Hermione stalked off to her tent, changed into her nightclothes, curled up on her cot, and silently wept.

She wished the war was over.

She wished Draco had been on the other side.

As she closed her eyes, she wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around her.

Out at the fire, Harry and Ron blinked at each other in disbelief.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked as his features twisted into a frown.

Harry shrugged again as he stoked the fire.

Between Voldemort, the Horcruxes, and the impending battle he would face, Hermione's emotional woes were the least of his problems.