Draco was exhausted. He'd been on edge all holiday, holing up in his room unless the Dark Lord demanded his presence or his mother requested he join them for dinner. A few nights he spent at Blaise's, but most of the time he was trapped in the Manor.

The day after Christmas, he'd been pulled into an attack in Hogsmeade and he'd begged every deity he could think of that no one from Hogwarts was in the town at the time. He hadn't been on the front lines of the battle and instead stuck near the back to only do what was necessary.

When the cry came for them to disapparate, he knew things had gone poorly and didn't waste any time returning to the Manor. The next morning, he found out two Death Eaters—neither of which he knew—had been killed. He wondered about the casualties of the townspeople but didn't have to ask around with Dolohov bragging about killing a dozen himself. The papers reported several casualties on both ends, but the article only listed the number of deaths Hogsmeade had experienced. As the number 42 stared back at him, he wanted to vomit. 42 people dead in Hogsmeade and only two murdered among the Death Eaters. The comparison was disgusting.

By the time he was on the train back to Hogwarts, the paper was back to ignoring the actions of Death Eaters and no more mention of Hogsmeade appeared. He wondered, as he walked up to the Head's dormitory, if Hermione would be angry with him for participating in such an event. He could tell her he hadn't done anything, but his presence there alone may be enough to upset her.

To his surprise, when he stumbled into her as he walked into the dorm, she looked relieved. She jumped up from the couch and threw her arms around his shoulders, distracting him enough that his trunk dropped to the ground behind him.

"I was worried you'd be hurt," she told him, her hands moving to his face to look him over. "The papers reported several deaths on both sides and then I heard so many had died in Hogsmeade, I wondered if you would be okay."

"I'm perfectly unharmed," he assured her. Many of the other Death Eaters had been injured or stupefied, but he had been far enough behind to return home uninjured. "Only two of us died, though several were injured."

"So you were there?" she asked. She still didn't look angry, but he could almost sense disappointment. He sighed. "You were apart of the attack?"

"Yes," he admitted. Her hands dropped from his face but he grabbed hold of them before she could pull away. "It's not like that, Hermione. I stayed in the back and only cast stupefying charms."

"You were still there," she reminded him.

She proceeded to tell him she'd been in Hogsmeade the day before. Her, Ginny, Neville, and Luna had gone to Rosmerta's for Christmas and been walking back to Hogwarts at that same time only a day earlier.

Draco's mind flashed back to the arguments in the Manor; some of the Death Eaters had wanted to go on Christmas just to cause more destruction. Only his father had been able to convince them not to waste time as everyone would be inside for the day. If they had gone on Christmas Day and Hermione had been one of the casualties, Draco wasn't sure what he would have done.

"There would have been too many questions if I hadn't gone," he insisted. She didn't look convinced. "I spent so many nights at Blaise's and they'd started to notice. My father was the one who forced me to come just to appear united with them."

"I suppose you were also forced to have dinner with Voldem—"

"Don't!" Draco yelled, covering her mouth before she could finish the word. The name was muffled but Hermione looked absolutely furious. She pulled her face away from his hand and yanked herself free of him entirely.

"How dare you!" she hissed, "First you join his league, then you act as if you can control me. I'll say his name if I damn well please. I'll say it a hundred times! Vold—"

"No," Draco interrupted, silencing her with his wand. If she'd looked mad before, she was about to combust now. Her lips moved rapidly as she (he assumed) cursed him. Before she could too far into her rant and say the Dark Lord's name without him recognising it, he blurted, "It's taboo, now."

Her lips stopped moving, but she still looked furious.

"It's taboo and anyone that says his name is tracked down by Snatchers," he said. Her anger morphed into confusion and wariness, so he removed the silencing charm. "It happened over the holiday. Greyback suggested anyone who was called the Dark Lord by anything other than the 'Dark Lord' was likely aligned with the Order."

"How do you—"

"It's not a secret," Draco said, waving off her question. He'd figured she'd know about the Order as the Weasleys had been apart of it in the First War. It was all but confirmed the entire family was apart of it now and Dumbledore had definitely not died without first making sure someone or thing was fighting the Dark Lord in his absence. "Even uttering his name will alert the Snatchers and they won't stop until they find you, so yes, I am going to prevent you from saying something that could land you in the paws of Fenrir Greyback."

There was silence. Hermione had clearly not expected that, but how could she have known? It wasn't like the papers were publicly mentioning the Dark Lord's name was taboo. They'd only covered the disappearances of various wizards and even then, the comments had been short and not very informative. The lack of publicity the anti-Voldemort articles received only led Draco to believe the Ministry and much of the papers had been overtaken by the Dark Lord's followers.

"Can I write the word?" Hermione asked. Draco frowned. Why would she want to write the word? "Harry and Ron won't know and I'm certain they talk about him. I have to let them know!"

She was already off to find a parchment before Draco could actually answer the question he had no real answer for. Meanwhile, he was left trying to figure out what to do. He knew what his father would want him to do, but Draco wasn't in the mood to place a tracker on the parchment and report back to his father where her letter ended up. If Potter and Weasley were discovered after her letter arrived wherever they were, she may not piece things together, but he'd still feel incredibly guilty. He didn't need to ask to know the Dark Lord would likely kill the two boys as soon as he got his hands on them.

"Hermione?" Draco asked, causing her to pause her letter. "You know I'm a Death Eater. You've seen the stupid mark on my forearm. Why do you still trust me?"

"Because you're you," she replied without thinking.

Draco was both confused and warmed by her answer. She hadn't needed a single second to think about her answer and he figured that was a true testament to their friendship. Things had gotten harder with the brewing war, but Hermione had been a constant in his life since third year. Evidently, she didn't think things between them had or should change.

"But how do you know it's safe to trust me?" Draco asked.

Her head tilted to the side as she looked up at him. This time she did take a moment to think.

"I just know it is," she replied with a shrug. "With Harry and Ron, things were easy. With you, things are easy. I guess when it gets a little harder, I'll be more cautious."

"Hermione, I'm apart of a group that wants you dead," Draco reminded her. She just blinked at him. "My father has hated you since day one and I spent all of our holiday having dinner with people who talk about torturing your kind."

"Do you enjoy it?"

"What?" Draco asked. Why would she ever think he enjoyed that sort of thing? It was despicable and he had to use magic just to distract himself from the particularly morbid or disgusting topics.

"Do you enjoy it when they talk about those things?" she repeated. Draco shook his head quickly and she smiled. "You're not a bad person, Draco, but you are surrounded by bad people. Someone who can be surrounded by and forced to join bad people but can keep his good beliefs is someone worthwhile."

As if she hadn't just said something that completely changed his life, she picked up her quill and returned to writing her letter to Potter. With a soft hum, Draco wandered up to his room to unpack his trunk and think about just how much he loved Hermione.