The hallway is quiet apart from a steady dripping from the floors above; a busted conduit of water releasing its contents off the third floor and down the now unmoving stairs. The dark water drips steadily onto the ground of the corridor Hermione is crouching in and pools at her feet.

It's dark.

And cold. Ugh. She shivers as she skips over yet another puddle of murky water and waves her wand to rekindle the Lumos charm. The wan light flickers almost in protest before growing stronger.

"Stupid light," she mutters absently, missing a beat as the charm stutters again.

The hallway is plunged into sudden darkness for a split second and her foot lands straight in ankle deep water; the cold rushing over the mouth of her boots to pool between her toes.

"Ah! Stupid water," she exclaims in quiet aggression; leaping away from the offending puddle, only to land in yet another and another.

The continuous splashing of her feet echoes noisily in the hallway and Hermione curses again.

"Stupid war, stupid Death Eaters," she mumbles. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Merlin, woman, are you trying to get killed?"

Hermione yelps in shock, spinning around with her wand clenched tightly in her palm, only to illuminate a familiar pallid face she hasn't had the misfortune of seeing in over a year.

"Malfoy? What the-," she chokes out, clutching her chest in casual shock, before remembering herself and stammering out a hasty Petrificus Totalus.

The look of dry disbelief Malfoy throws her way is so cutting that she actually winces. Her spell bounces off the shield he's conjured and they both watch it deflect against the wall.

The water keeps steadily dripping somewhere behind them both and without Hermione's Lumos charm there is only darkness around them.

She waits, in the near silence, and hears Malfoy wait with her. His breathing is strangely steady, compared to her rabbit heartbeat, but she figures it because he had the opportunity to tail her this far and she was the one who'd been surprised.

That isn't good- she'd let her guard down. That or Malfoy was an eerily quiet stalker. It's not entirely her fault to be honest because everyone thinks he's dead. The silence is uncomfortable now. Some part of her is aware that this isn't how many of her battles usually go. She roots around inside herself for some battle reflex but somehow comes up short.

"Well," Hermione starts, rolling her wand in her hands. "Um, I did the petrifying thing."

Malfoy scoffs in the dark. Familiar and out of place. "So?"

"It's your move? You can," she offers, shifting in place. "You can try a Crucio or something."

She isn't sure why she's talking to him.

"I genuinely cannot for the life of me generate enough fucks to do any such thing," Malfoy sighs long-sufferingly.

"Well," she mutters, rolling her eyes at the statement. "You can just say no."

"Didn't I?"

"In so many words."

"I felt the situation called for it."

"Okay," Hermione sighs. This was getting too odd. "Well. I'm going to go on ahead. Bye."

Shaking her head, the witch turns slowly to leave. The strangeness of the moment drowns under the weight of her weariness, barely noted. Pushing the interaction away, Hermione mutters a quick Lumos and hopes that no one else is inside the corridors as well.

Clenching her wand again, she tries to reduce the squelching her damp boots make by walking with extreme care. Knees bent and arms out for balance, she avoids the next three puddles with ease and manages to reduce the squelching to squeaks. A sudden swish of air behind her makes her pause, and then Malfoy is there again, quiet and pale.

"So what's the plan? Making yourself a target are we? Human bait?" he asks, with very little disdain.

"No," Hermione retorts quietly, shooting a glare in his direction. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you making so much noise?"

"I'm trying not to," Hermione snaps, pointing down at her extra careful steps.

"You look utterly ridiculous," Malfoy states, stopping in his tracks to raise a brow down at her. "Though that's nothing new."

"Nice to see the death toll has brought your sense of humor out," Hermione bites, taking a big normal step and cringing at the squelch her shoes make.

Malfoy squirms too. He looks around them, waving the tip of his wand with a wordless Lumos.

"You're very loud," he says.

"And you have no reason to still be here," Hermione points out, stabbing towards him with her wand.

"I'm heading in the same direction," Malfoy shrugs and she knows its a lie.

"No, you're not."

"Maybe I am," he counters.

"Maybe? What kind of s-,"

"You're doing a splendid job of not being a human target you know," Malfoy grits out through clenched teeth, storming ahead of her suddenly with a swish of robes.

His wand light dims to nothing just as a shout echoes in the corridor before them.

Everything happens in a split second.

Hermione darts around Malfoy's frame to see a flash of bright red hurtle their way. They jump apart, allowing the curse to pass by with a hairsbreadth to spare, and then Malfoy is grabbing her wand and thrusting it in front of them, his mouth moving silently.

The red spell flares up once more but the Incendio Malfoy casts hits its mark faster- followed by a hasty Silencing charm.

The figure at the end of the corridor bursts into flames and silent screams, and Hermione wastes no time in snatching her wand back.

"What the fuck was that?" she snaps, pointing her wand at the blonde's throat.

"That? The guy who tried to kill you is now burning," Malfoy snarks, edging away from her.

"You stole my wand!" she snaps, barely remembering not to shriek.

"I merely commandeered it for purposes beneficial to you, woman, honestly-,"

"Don't you have a wand?!"

"Well sue me for not wanting to leave a calling card for killing my own people-,"

"Give me one good reason you shouldn't burn too," Hermione seethes, annoyed at her own confusion.

"Oh now you want to kill me?" he protests. "After I practically save your sorry arse?"

"You... wait, what? Why?" Hermione asks.

"Very coherent Granger. McGonagall must be proud."

"McGonagall is dead. Now tell me what the heck you think you're doing!"

Malfoy narrows his eyes at her. "Literally just killed the guy trying to kill you, Granger."

"No, he tried to kill the both of us."

"I'm pretty sure no one on my side wants to kill me right now."

The witch scowls at that, wand wavering. Malfoy senses her hesitation and lifts a hand, slowly knocking the tip of her wand away from his neck with the back of his knuckles.

"I'm going to see who I hit," Malfoy announces, rolling his eyes at her half-hearted protest. "Ten points to me if its Rowle."

He trudges ahead, boots clicking mutedly against the marble floor. Hermione grimaces as he goes, confusion and annoyance welling inside her like a storm. She watches his shiny white hair bob as he avoids the puddles and her grimace turns into a harsh scowl. Her arms return to their leaden state as the adrenaline leaves her system, leaving her whole body tired and weary.

It's like Malfoy himself put it: she cannot, for the life of her, generate the necessary fucks to deal with this situation. So she kicks off her noisy and damp boots one by one, turns on her heel and marches back down the way she came. She walks quickly and quietly and doesn't light her wand. Doesn't stop to realize she isn't breathing- just holding her breath and speed-walking away from the man who is probably crouching over the burned corpse of a death eater and trying to place who it is. She lets her thighs feel the burn of her speedy exit and is ridiculously relieved when she turns through a ruined alcove and sees the chaos of the fight still raging on across the Quidditch field.

She can tell them that her path through the castle was compromised. They wouldn't mind. It isn't like she's on any big missions anyway.

She turns to apparate down there, the suction of the spell already dragging her in when she hears Malfoy whoop from all the way back inside.

"It's Gibbon! Close enough- I win."

She paces the rooftop she's stationed on with barely concealed annoyance. It hadn't been her fault that Ron had mishandled the Greek fire on the last mission. She'd told them to let her take the point. But no. Nobody listens to little old Hermione Granger.

And now they're all stuck with small hit and run missions. She kicks the parapet wall running along the edge of the rooftop and grunts at the pain it causes.

She can't afford to break a toe while on duty. Not when the payload is so close within their reach. They've been tailing the supplies ever since the order went out from the Death-Eater controlled Ministry. She risks a quick glance over the waist-high wall and sure enough, the humble transport truck is stationed right where they'd been told it would be in the brief.

Around her, in the remains of the small town buildings that surround the square, are the rest of her team; hidden away till the signal is seen.

Hermione scuffs her boots against the wall and startles at the noise. Hastily, she backs away from the wall; and even though she is invisible to most, she feels nervous anyway. She hunkers down beside a chunk of an outdoor grill that had been destroyed some time ago in a battle she hadn't been in.

She's never been to this town before. Now, it stands deserted- bare of all humans except for the hidden Order members and the payload's sole courier. It looks reminiscent of an old western film, with the broken brick buildings and the wooden structures that have been splintered apart by the previous battle. She wonders absently whether it had been pretty.

Footsteps from the fire escape alert her to someone's arrival and she hopes to God that its Ron for whatever reason.

It's not.

The figure is far too tall as it comes up the stairwell and far too quiet. Long spindly hands reach for purchase on the wall to haul the person's weight over, and Hermione prepares to blast them off.

But her orders are to be quiet. She can't make any noise to impediment the success of her mission. Any sound could alert the driver of the truck to some suspicious activity, so she cannot risk the body falling backward and through the already creaky fire escape.

The figure straightens and flicks open their cloak. It's a dark affair, double-breasted with dull buttons and far too long to be efficient. She stares dumbly as the figure removes the blurring spell over their face and nearly smacks herself for not Avada'ing him on sight.

Malfoy's brilliantly white head reflects happy rays of sunlight as he crosses over to where she was supposed to be and peers down at the payload. He jauntily flips a golden coin into the air twice and returns it to a breast pocket.

No. Hermione shakes her head. No way. He is not sabotaging this or ruining it or killing them or whatever it was he was here to do.

"Malfoy," she hisses. "MALFOY. Get down! They'll see you."

He startles and ducks down, safely hidden from the others' sight by the parapet wall.

"Granger?" he whispers incredulously.

"You twit," she snaps viciously, scuttling to where he was. "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he frowns, eyes darting around the rooftop, in search of her no doubt.

"No, you cannot. Answer me or I will Imperio you," Hermione grits out. "Are there others?"

His grey eyes flick over to where she crouches beside him, invisible, and then continues with its search to place her.

"It's just me Granger, don't get your panties in a twist," he offers, rolling his eyes. "Where are you? Are you actually here or did I trigger some kind of alert system?"

"Shut up," she grouses. "Tell me you're not here for the-,"

"The golden payload? Why yes I am, love. Medicine and vegetables and fresh linen? Can't let you lot have that, can I?"

His cheeky smirk infuriates her even though he looks dumb talking while facing the wrong direction.

"You said there weren't others!" she growls, inching forward with her hand on her wand.

"And there aren't," Malfoy insists, palms up in front of his chest as he sinks lower against the parapet wall. "Just me. Now, are we going to have a problem?"

"Yes the hell we are, Malfoy!" she snaps in disbelief. "We need those supplies- we've struggled enough for this. If you're not here by snake face's moldy decree then kindly fuck off!"

Malfoy snorts and shakes his head. "Snake face. Real mature, Granger. You're very passionate- I can see the appeal to the likes of Weasley- but I must decline."

"What?" she mutters. "You're going to stop us? You?"

"That I am," he says, absently tapping his breast pocket.

"Why?"

"That payload goes through this town to the docks. There's no way you're getting this to Scotland by land so by sea it goes. The only shipping village nearby with a functioning dock is the muggle one down by this very coast and it is far too untouched by the war to be dragged into this, unfortunately."

"And what? You're concerned the poor fishing folk of Cadgwith, Cornwall are going to be marked by our presence, is that it?

"Sure?" he shrugs.

Hermione conjures ropes to bind around Malfoy's frame, coiling tight around him to his surprise.

"Wait, Granger-,"

"No, you shut up. There is no way that you're sabotaging this for me. No. Way." Hermione hisses vehemently. "Those supplies will go to the injured and hungry who really deserve it. People who fought for what is right-,"

"Granger, enough. I know this tirade-I've heard it a dozen times from you and Potter and every bleeding-heart Gryffindor that's tried to kill me. Get rid of the bonds. Now. Time is running."

His eyes dart across the rooftop, still trying to place her.

"Time's up for you I guess," she shrugs, before rising to her feet.

A light flashes from the clocktower in the town square, and Hermione peers over the edge of the wall to spot the poor sod paid to transport the payload to the Ministry.

She hopes she's the one to detain him. She has her hand on the parapet wall, ready to leap over soundlessly when she hears Malfoy shuffle.

"What-," she begins, turning to face where the blonde sits.

"Sorry, Granger. But this town isn't big enough for the both of us," he says, clearly proud of the tacky, Muggle line.

His voice is followed by the loud pop of apparition- familiar and unnecessarily loud.

Beside her, the ropes sag to the ground and when she turns back to the payload, she spots Malfoy standing on top of the vehicle.

"You absolute prick!" she mutters angrily, before vaulting over the wall, wand slashing.

She aims four Stuns at his head before dropping her attack to cushion her fall. Ron is shouting crazily from the balcony across the square, and even the courier has his wand out.

All wands point to Malfoy and by the sounds of distress coming from the entire effort, Hermione's educated guess is that nothing has yet to hit him.

"Get off the payload Malfoy," she urges angrily, firing wildly. "You're literally surrounded!"

"What in the bleeding hell is going on?" Ron exclaims, his barrage of spells pausing for a brief second. "The courier! He's off! He is heading right...Sadie! My right- Sadie tail him!"

The skinny man hears the command and bolts faster down the street, firing blindly over his shoulder.

On top of the payload, Malfoy has set up a strange ward around the whole vehicle. Their attacks bounce off harmlessly and he crouches to start blazing a hole through the top of the driving compartment.

"You've got to be kidding me," Hermione grits out, darting towards the stationary truck the second his back is turned.

Ahead of the payload, the rest of her team press on despite the confusion. Ron manages to duck close, blasting the vehicle enough to make it rock.

"Don't destroy the truck!" Hermione hears Padma chastise loudly. "Ron calm down! We can't set it on fire!"

Everything is going to shit.

Malfoy glances up, pausing in his laborious efforts of breaking in. He mutters something and flicks his wrist and the magic shielding him pushes outward. Hermione has just enough reflex in her to drop and roll under the vehicle, watching through the space as the exploding barrier knocks Ron and Padma clear off their feet and back into the buildings they came from.

Wasting no time she rolls back out and reaches for the door closest to her, throwing herself into the driver's seat just as Malfoy drops into the one next to her from above.

"Ah!" he exclaims when he tries to get behind the wheel and crashes into her solid form. "What the fuck?"

"Pretificus Totalus!" Hermione snaps, aiming her wand at his head, but the second her wand flares Malfoy throws a punch that luckily hits her arm, knocking the spell up through the roof of the vehicle.

"Granger?" Malfoy says in askance. "Morgana's tits woman, why are you everywhere?"

"Get out of the car, Malfoy."

"I think not," he says haughtily, and Hermione gives up her wand to punch him in the face.

Outside, Ron throws a strong Reducto at the side of the vehicle that thankfully misses the driver's door and only blows the top of the hood clean off.

"I'm inside, dammit!" Hermione tries to shout at him, but Malfoy has his wand out so she jerks around.

"Expelliarmus," she gushes so fast that even she's surprised when the spell works and his wand snaps towards her.

She throws another punch at his face and leans over to toss his wand out of the gaping space above their heads.

"Ugh Granger, come on," Malfoy whines, but remains rather unperturbed by it all. "And do get out of the vehicle- I'd be loathed to have to take you with me."

Hermione ignores him, casting a quick freezing charm his way; smirking when his affronted gasp freezes in place.

The vehicle rocks under another barrage of spells much to Padma's intense horror, and thinking quickly Hermione summons her Patronus to worm past Ron's attacks. She sees the moment he realizes where the otter came from and smiles when the constant battering against the payload ceases.

"It's fine!" she calls in the now blessed silence. "I've got it! Target secured!"

She fires off a happy shower of sparks to indicate her position in the vehicle.

"Malfoy?" she hears Ron ask as he trots past to inspect the contents in the back of the truck.

"Petrified," she says smugly, glancing over at where he sits, frozen.

"Good," Ron mutters. "Where in the everloving heck did he come from? Kingsley is going to have a field day with him when we get back."

She hears Sadie call in, dragging the courier back into the square. Padma is retreating to help secure the flailing man.

Hermione feels smug and knows she shouldn't, but they would've lost hadn't it been for her quick thinking. She lets her gaze slip back to Malfoy and frowns.

What was he thinking? He couldn't have expected to just... drive away, could he?

What an idiot.

He doesn't look an idiot though, despite how much his face annoys her. His sharp features are frozen in an accusatory gasp, but his eyes hold no panic. No fear.

He has not lost. It doesn't sit with her well and she loses some of the heady smugness.

Hermione is just about to suggest that they remove Malfoy's body from the vehicle when she sees it.

There's a warning glow emanating from a pocket on his chest and she remembers the coin and everything clicks just in time. Her hand fumbles for the door and she falls backward out of the vehicle- her body barely escaping the vacuum pull of the portkey that has just activated on Malfoy.

It takes all of five seconds for the payload to disappear, and Hermione remains on the ground for another whole minute as Ron rages and rages, thinking about how utterly ridiculous this was becoming.

Padma wants to chase it. She outlines a way to seek intel on where Voldemort might have instructed Malfoy to go. It may take a while since they no longer have the resources to track portkeys, she says. But Hermione knows that isn't going to work because Voldemort didn't send him anywhere.

For some reason, she doesn't want to tell them. This isn't the Death Eaters getting their stuff back safe, this is something else. It's a part of something else that she can't quite figure out just yet. Something resurfaces from their interaction earlier up on the rooftop.

"Where the bloody hell did that portkey go?" Ron curses, kicking at a wall.

"Cadgwith, Cornwall," Hermione mutters, remembering.

"What?" Sadie asks.

Hermione shakes her head. She has no idea where he went, she tells them, or why he was even here.

When they return, Moody informs them that there was nothing they could have done about it. Malfoy was hard to get intel on these days, he tells them.

Two years after the Battle of Hogwarts, with over a thousand dead, Draco Malfoy has gone rogue and Hermione Granger lost fair and square. Twice.

The damp cells are dirty and stink of rot and decay. Thick sludge coats the floors and Hermione hates how it sucks at the soles of her shoes. Beside her, Neville is mumbling about the escape route. He is no longer stout and stocky, having traded it in for gangly height and firm features. His hair is shorn close to his scalp and an ugly scar tears past one ear until it reaches his jaw.

He continues to mumble under his breath. It calms him to repeat the plan to himself.

Out the dungeons. Left at the hall. Pause with targets till command. Down through the atrium. Left. Left. Home run. Do not enter the maze.

Malfoy Manor is ridiculously complex and vast, stemming from the fact that it has been standing since the acquisition of land through violence was a thing. Neville had told her that. He knows a lot about everything.

A treasure trove of trivia. It is not comforting but she lets him ramble on nonetheless.

The cells so far have been empty of any occupants, but they expected that. Luna and the others are being held in the lower levels. Where the wards are tough and the live security even tougher.

They reach the stairwell leading down together and split to flank the entrance. Neville nods at her and Hermione takes the lead, wand held in front of her.

When Neville casts a strong Muffliato over the stairwell, she is ready. The second she sees the dim light of the lower dungeons, she fires off two loud Reductos, aiming at nothing. The sound shocks and disorients the guards long enough for her to press in; throwing up a quick protego before aiming Stuns at their heads. One hits the ground, unconscious, but the other guard fires back with a harsh Crucio that blessedly bounces off her shielding charm. She turns to face him and is met with the rugged features of Thorfin Rowle. His ugly sneer sends a jolt of fear down her spine, and Neville picks up the attack for her.

Hermione falls back into the stairwell thankfully and begins work on the wards. She is good at dismantling them now. She is one of the best they have. The wards are tricky, being ancient blood wards to boot, but there is nothing too complicated. She worms her way through the intricately woven magic barrier just beyond the exit of the stairs and is able to render them inert just as her Protego gives way.

Rowle's attack hits its mark and Neville drops to the ground, jerking violently. Hermione sees him go down and chokes back on a shriek. She feels anger coil tight in her gut as she snarls, stepping over her friend with an angry slash of her wand.

Her first spell knocks the Death-Eater back hard, his head cracking against the far wall.

"Sectumsempra!" she intones, aiming for his heart, and the curse hits heavily.

She ignores Rowle as he drops to the ground, bleeding profusely. His choking gasps echo in the damp dungeon. He will be dead in a few minutes.

Hermione steps over to the second guard who'd fallen unconscious and casts a binding spell over him. She kicks away his wand, tosses an Order issued portkey on him, and hopes that whoever is on duty back at Grimmauld Place will beat him up a little before Kingsley interrogates him.

Behind her, Neville staggers to his feet, wiping a bloody nose.

"Never gets easy," he says shakily, and Hermione knows they're losing time, but she pauses to mutter a simple healing charm to help ease a fraction of the pain.

Neville acknowledges it with a small smile and moves to let Hermione work on unlocking the first cell's wards. Inside is an unconscious or dead Ginny Weasley. Her gut is tight as she forces herself to walk past and open the next cell. When Neville doesn't cry out when he goes in to retrieve Ginny, Hermione knows that her friend is okay and allows herself to relax minutely.

Luna peers at her through the bars of her cell, face bruised and blonde hair a riot. Her mouth moves yet there is no sound, and for split second Hermione is afraid that they've muted her. Then she remembers that magic exists and casts the counter for a Silencio. Luna gasps aloud in relief and leans her forehead against the bars.

"I knew you'd come. I just knew," the blonde says, voice unnaturally raspy and low.

"We're sorry it took so long," Hermione says, eyes stinging with unshed tears.

Luna only smiles. She staggers through when her cell is opened and reaches for Neville immediately. He shoots Hermione an apologetic look before ignoring the mission and hugging his girl as best he can with Ginny slumped over his shoulder.

Hermione sighs and moves to the next cell. She releases Colin Creevey and Parvati Patil, both looking better than Luna and reaches the final cell. She peers in and nearly misses the prone figure lying headfirst in the muck. It is almost entirely covered with the grime of the floor and only parts of the body show through. She winces, hoping the person is okay, but all of her targets are secure.

There is no one else who should be in here. Their intel had been very clear. The Malfoy dungeons are notorious for holding Order captives alone. They didn't just waste time on erecting blood wards for everyone.

She signals for Neville to leave, and he does so. He has to lead them out while she flanks. It would take them some time to reach the first floor of the dungeons so she figures she will have time to catch up.

Working on the cell's locking ward, she breaks through, but it takes longer than it had for the others. The figure doesn't stir even as she sloshes up near its head, and it doesn't seem to register anything when she grabs a shoulder and flips it over.

A face of muck is all that reveals, and she feels disappointment well in her, seeing the drying blood mixed in with the mud on the body's chest. She drops to a crouch and places a wary finger on the figure's neck, feeling for a pulse.

Nothing.

She pulls back, casts a rudimentary shocking charm- hoping against hope that the voltage is enough to jolt something back to life.

She tries for a pulse again.

A weak thrum of blood answers her questing fingers and she withdraws, satisfied. Hermione sits back on her heels to cast the basic healing and stabilizing charms, thinking that they should be enough till the person gets proper care. She pulls a thumb across the body's eyes and down a cheek, shaking her hand after to dislodge the muck off her finger. The pale skin shining back at her almost contradicts the life she knows is now flowing inside the body. This person looks dead.

Maybe she should leave.

The dead guy's chest suddenly heaves and grey eyes stare into her own, flicking open with such vigor that she scrambles back, a hand on her wand.

"Granger?"

Fuck's sake...

"Malfoy," she gasps out, hand leaving her wand to clutch at her chest. "Go back to being dead."

"Can't," he wheezes. "You saved me."

She winces at that. "I suppose I did."

The blonde struggles to sit up and fails, arms slipping in the muck. He thuds back down to the ground and groans. Fresh blood blooms across his chest, seeping through the muck and grime that clings to his clothes.

"Care to help a fellow man out?" he asks, voice raw and hoarse.

Hermione crosses her arms and sniffs.

"What's this about?"

When she stays silent, he rolls his eyes and snorts in pain.

"Is this about the supplies I commandeered?" he asks, attempting to sit up again. "That was a fair win, Granger. Five against one. Not my fault I was better prepared."

"It was a waste."

"It was also four months ago."

"It was an absolute waste of well-needed supplies, and you know it."

"The good muggle fisherfolk of Cadgwith, Cornwall were immensely pleased with the supplies. I'd say it wasn't a waste," he coughs out, slowly crawling onto his knees with shaking arms.

"Muggles? What did they even need it for?" she presses, confused. "We're the ones fighting-,"

"I dunno," he coughs. "Maybe they're the ones stuck in between a fight they can't win, fight or hide from."

"You said they wanted nothing to do with us-,"

"Nothing to do with you. Or them. Or anyone."

"Since when did you give a shit about muggles?" Hermione squints.

"Don't get excited," he chortles, choking on a bit of blood he'd hacked up. "I was just someone willing to do some work for some coin. Someone with the means."

Malfoy stops to hack out great, body-wracking coughs, and Hermione is sure the whole castle has heard him.

Manor. Whatever.

"There's no muggle town that hasn't been destroyed in a Death Eater attack, used as a safe point by the Order or been a battleground for both parties. The good folk of Cagdwith were just smart enough to adapt. Now stop being bitter and help me up."

She isn't sure why but she moves anyway, arms reaching to support Malfoy's lumbering ascent. His weight is stifling, but he manages to get his feet under himself without toppling them both over. He reeks of the coppery scent of blood and tangy sweat. Hermione wrinkles her nose in disgust and steps away from him.

"Kind of you to assist me for a whole minute," Malfoy snarks. "Heaven awaits thee, o battle angel Granger."

"I sure hope so," she mutters. "I resurrected your sorry arse."

Malfoy grins at her. It's a mad grin; his teeth shining through the grime on his face like a bright beacon. The grin of a man who saw death but made it back in time. "That you did."

She turns to leave, keeping an ear out to track him as he follows. He is not as silent as she has come to expect, his feet landing heavily with each step. She wonders how far Neville and the others have gone and whether she will be in trouble for abandoning them.

Behind her, Malfoy snorts.

"So you got Rowle," he says, appraisingly, stopping to kick at the dead man's head. "Ten points, Granger. Nicely done."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: HEY everyone. this is just something I started writing on AO3... it's being slowly updated there as well, although it is a little ahead. I write under the name usherrthaaa there... join me on AO3 and come say hi!

anyway... hope you like the storyyy :))