He'd lost his fingers for that small act of mercy, and Hermione thinks now that maybe that was when it began. Hermione suspects that when Draco spoke releshio, it was the one word that had changed everything. Maybe that was when they had become connected, inextricably. When it all began. When he saw her bleeding and ruined on the floor of the manor, when Voldemort tore away his fingers for his mercy, and, later, when she discovered that he had suffered for her. Maybe there had never been any other possible path but them being together, after that. She doesn't know if this is the truth, but it's a good thought to hold onto, right now. It helps with the fear.