Relives previous spells.

many strange things in her life. But nothing came close to what she saw now:

The Slytherin snake and Gryffindor's princess sitting side by side on a bed.

If her fourteen-year old self had seen this, she would've thrown a blue fit. Pansy smirked at the thought of that.

She sat on Draco's desk and watched Draco speak to Hermione quietly. She could barely hear them but one thing was sure – Hermione Granger was not doing well. Where was that know-it-all attitude and the bloody Gryffindor pride? This Hermione looked at Draco with...

Adoration.

Yes, that was the word for it. Hermione looked up at Draco like he hung the moon. Like he was the only reason the world (or her world, at least) existed. She seemed to cling onto every word he spoke, her eyes fixated on him and no one else, her fingers clutching Draco's like he was her lifeline.

Pansy couldn't remember Hermione ever looking at anyone that way. Not even the Weasel, back at Hogwarts. Pansy wondered if Draco could see what she saw.

Or maybe he couldn't. The smirk on Pansy's face grew as she catalogued the minute details. The unusual warmth in his eyes, the way he leaned towards Hermione as he talked before pulling away, his fingers interlaced tightly with hers.

Well.

Guess there were still miracles during a war.

Finally, Draco straightened. Hermione slowly turned her gaze to the Slytherin witch, and Pansy grinned. "Hello, Hermione."

Hermione looked startled before her lips lifted in a weak smile. "Hi."

"I'm Pansy Parkinson." Ignoring Draco's annoyed growl, Pansy grasped Hermione's hand in a firm shake. "I don't suppose you remember me? Fellow schoolmate, Slytherin and one of your many arch-nemeses?"

Hermione's eyes grew wide, her eyebrows knitting together faintly. Pansy could practically see her trying to recall. It was an alarming sight. Who knew that the cleverest witch of their year would be reduced to this?

"Draco, a word?" Pansy threw him a meaningful look. He hesitated. Noticing the anxious look on Hermione's face, Pansy turned to the girl. "We can talk in here. You just have to muffle your ears."

She couldn't believe herself. She – Pansy. Being kind to Hermione. But the look on Hermione's face made her feel like she'd done the whole world a favour. Hermione let Draco muffle her ears and sat quietly next to him.

Their hands, Pansy noticed, never separated.

For good measure, Draco shut the door with a quick wave of his hand. Pansy didn't have to look to know that he was bolting it with magic locks. He was terribly private that way. No wonder none of them knew about Hermione's existence.

Once Draco was done, he turned to her. "What do you want, Parkinson?"

"How about you start from the very beginning? Like, were you searching for her?" She knew that she'd hit the nail on the head when he remained silent. "Alright, so you were searching for her. When did you find her?"

"The patrol I took over from Theo."

"The Quarry? That's about – " Pansy did a mental calculation. " – a week ago, then? We truly are losing our touch if we couldn't tell that you were hiding a fugitive in your room." She shook her head in mirth when Draco's eyes flashed amusement. "What was she doing there?"

She'd never seen Draco second-guess himself before. But, at that moment, he did. Hesitation glimpsed his features and he chanced a quick glance at Hermione.

"She was captured," he said at last.

"By who? And for how long?"

His jaw clenched. "I don't bloody know, but it's been three years."

It took an effort for Pansy to remain indifferent to the revelation. A lot of things could happen in three years. Painful things. Atrocious things. Horrifying things.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Pansy asked, at last. Her voice sounded unfamiliar, kinder, and she knew that Draco was surprised.

"Keep her hidden. Talk to her." His gaze drifted to Hermione again and Pansy felt her chest tighten.

Not out of jealousy, no. Pansy loved Blaise dearly. But the way Draco looked at Hermione was an awful lot like the way Blaise looked at Pansy herself. Whether Draco knew it or not, Pansy could tell that his feelings ran deep.

But nothing good ever came out of people who loved during a war. She was already prepared to die; and she woke up everyday thinking it could be her last. The only reason why she held on, and would continue to do so, was for Blaise – whom she loved. For Draco – whom she would forever be indebted to. And even for Theo – whom she wanted to see happy.

And now, as much as it irked her to admit it, there was one more reason to fight the cause she fought so hard for. If Hermione Granger could be the reason for the war to end, somehow, then Pansy would protect her at all costs.

"Alright." Pansy smirked when Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "Surprised? I can be nice, you know."

"Pansy Parkinson being nice? Never thought I'd see the day."

"Hello kettle, this is pot."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Hermione was startled to see a stranger sitting by her side when she woke up. Instead of silver eyes, she met green ones.

"Hello, Hermione."

Pansy Parkinson. Draco's friend. The only other girl in the apartment.

Hermione struggled to sit up, but broke out in a fit of coughs as her abdomen began to ache. Pansy touched the tip of her wand to Hermione's ribs and a pale blue light streaked out, instantly soothing her.

"Better? Now drink this." Pansy pushed a bottle into her hands and waited for her to drink, before she added, "I'll be keeping you company today. Draco had to attend a meeting with the Dark Lord."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Draco has never told me about what he did before. Not explicitly, anyway."

"Can you guess what he does?"

"Yes. I know he's a Death-Eater...and he searches for people...and he – he said he uses the Unforgivable curses."

"He's right." Pansy spoke measuredly, as though waiting for Hermione to voice her opinion. But when Hermione didn't reply, she smiled and added, "That's what we all do because we're Death-Eaters. But Draco's something else."

"Really?"

Pansy didn't miss the glimmer of interest in Hermoine's eyes, or the way the girl shifted closer to her. "Well, Draco's sort of the Dark Lord's favourite. He sets the rules for the rest of the Death-Eaters – and Blaise, that's my boyfriend, reinforces them and makes sure they're kept. Draco, along with Theo – that's the other bloke living here – also interrogates the important prisoners; Draco has a knack of getting really useful information out of them. And, sometimes, he joins me in hunting down people. I'm a Snatcher. In the Dark Lord's inner circle, so I have the dark mark," Pansy paused to drag up the sleeve of her sweater, "but one of the head Snatchers."

Hermione flinched when she laid eyes on the mark. "I-I don't want to – "

"You don't have to look at it." Pansy pulled down her sleeve and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down on the bed next to Hermione. "That mark you saw on me – did you see it on the people who captured you?"

"I don't...I don't want to talk about it."

"Then let me see it." Pansy smiled when Hermione's eyes widened. "I'm skilled at Legilimency. The three of us are, ever since Draco taught us. We use magic to gather memories. With a single spell, we can navigate through your labyrinth of thoughts and dig up past events you believe you've forgotten. If you allow me to, I would like to view your memories. It wouldn't last for more than five minutes, and it wouldn't hurt – "

Hermione had been listening with rapt attention and she began to nod.

" – but you will revisit everything." Pansy's tone was grave. "In those five minutes, your mind will be filled with nothing but memories of the past. But it will be over before you know it. And you will never have to tell me what happened, because I'll already know it."

There was a pause. And then Hermione managed a nod. Pansy's smile widened.

"Okay, let's begin. You can think of Draco if you want." Hermione's hand immediately went to the phial hanging on the chain. When Pansy noticed the fingers on her other hand still twitching, she felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. "Do you want to hold my hand?"

"Yes, please." Hermione slipped her hand into Pansy's.

"Take a deep breath."

She followed Pansy's words as the wand tip brushed her forehead.

"Legilimens."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

There was something different about Hermione.

Draco detected it immediately when he returned that day. She sat on the bed with a vacant expression on her face and her fingers still grasping the phial. Her silence was far more unnerving than anything else.

He paused. "Granger."

Her head snapped up. Then the calm expression on her face crumpled as she reached for him. Letting out a strangled sound, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest. "Draco?"

He hesitated, then drew his hand up to rest gently on her head. Her brown curls were soft beneath his palm, the warmth of her body spreading heat through his own. "Yes?"

"Thank you for finding me...I knew you would, eventually."

His hand stilled on her head. "What?"

"I-I heard you so many times. Leading the Death-Eaters and finding others. And I could hear you staying every time...asking if anyone was there."

"Where were you?"

"Everywhere. They never kept me in a place for a long time. I-I think they put silencing charms, so no one ever heard me."

Guilt swept through him and he tried to move away. But her grip tightened around him. She slid her fingers up to his arms and his muscles clenched beneath her touch.

"Please don't blame yourself," she whispered. "Hearing your voice every once in awhile – that was enough."

He closed his eyes. His throat was raw and he couldn't stop his voice from catching this time. "I am sorry, Granger, I – "

I tried. So hard. But it just wasn't enough. It was never enough.

"You found me," she whispered, softly in the silence. He felt her lips press briefly against his chest and he let out a shuddering breath, his chest tightening painfully and deliciously, he couldn't decide which. "And – and that is enough."

But it wasn't.

Because as she continued to stay calm, his suspicion grew. Something had happened during the time he'd left her with Pansy. He'd actually naively believed that his friend could take care of her.

So when Hermione was out cold after taking the sleeping draught, Draco stormed out, leaving the bedroom locked and muffled behind him. The other Slytherins were in the living room. Blaise and Theo were playing Wizard's Chess, but Pansy sat there with a distant expression on her face.

His eyes narrowed. "Parkinson." Her gaze flew to his. "I need a word with you."

He didn't miss the way her hands shook as she got up. Ignoring Blaise and Theo's curious stares, he led her to the inventory. The moment the locking and muffling charms were set, he whirled round to face her.

"What did you do, Parkinson?"

Pansy folded her arms across her chest, trying but failing to look defiant. "I tried to help."

"You broke her."

"I didn't– "

"Yes, you did. I told you to be careful around her, I told you not to push her until she was better – "

"She's not a fragile doll, Malfoy!" Pansy exclaimed at last, the venom in her voice stopping Draco mid-rant. "She's a person, not an object! She can't be broken! She is far stronger than you give her credit for. If any one of us had gone through even a third of what she's gone through, we would've lost our minds by – " Pansy trailed off as Draco's expression grew murderous.

"You used Legilimency on her?"

"I – "

"You don't fucking use Legilimency on Hermione Granger!"

Pansy met his gaze as boldly as she could. "Yes, you do, if she needs help. And she needs help, Malfoy, or are you too thick to see that?"

"Don't you think that if I wanted to use Legilimency on Granger, I would've used it by now?" Draco spat, his lips twisting into a menacing sneer. "But using that spell forces her to remember every single thing she had to go through. Revisit every single bloody minute of torture."

"And you think I don't know that?" The exasperation in her voice made him pause. There was a beat, and then she sighed. "I do. I told Hermione that too. But she let me view her memories because she couldn't say them out loud."

Draco didn't say anything, so Pansy took it as a good sign to continue.

"We've all been using Legilimency as a weapon for so long that we forget what it's really for – to piece bits of a story that we've long forgotten back together. Think of it as a form of treatment. Granted, it's a little unorthodox; but this is a war. You don't wait for things to get better. You fight to make things better. And the sooner Hermione learns to face her monsters, the better – "

"What are you saying, Parkinson?"

Pansy stopped. "Don't you want her to go back to Potter and the Order?"

"No." Draco didn't miss a beat.

And Pansy finally realised what she'd glossed over all this while. The bigger picture she hadn't bothered to see because she was so adamant that it was a ludicrous thought to even entertain. She'd seen from Hermione's memories that the girl was terrified of losing Draco. She just didn't realise that Draco was equally as terrified of losing Hermione. It was a thought that intrigued her but unsettled her all the same.

"Draco," she started gently. "You can't keep Hermione here forever."

He was silent.

"She's not broken, you know? They tried to break her." Pansy didn't miss the way he visibly flinched. "She just kept fighting back. That's why they kept her alive. Do you want to see – "

"No."

Pansy's eyes narrowed. "You had better not be acting like she didn't get tortured because that's bloody delusional – "

"It's not that. I'd just rather she tell me at her own pace, whenever she's ready."

"Okay." Pansy understood. She hadn't meant to rush Hermione either, but now that she'd found out a very important piece of information, she didn't regret using Legilimency at all. She wondered how Draco would take this new turn of events. "Do you want to know who captured Hermione?"

Draco's head shot up. Pansy braced herself and let out a breath.

"Death-Eaters from the inner circle."