It has been a while now since Hermione has been able to believe that Malfoy will be back to help her. As her thirst has grown and cracked her lips and grated her throat raw, and as her stomach has churned and twisted and hunger has become a constant companion making her lightheaded and dizzy, she has given up on him. Maybe, she has thought to herself on the rare moments she's been conscious of much more than hunger, thirst, and strange delirium, he's decided she's too much of a risk. Or maybe he was too closely watched to be able to come back down. Or maybe he had been sent away on a mission and wasn't even in Britain anymore. Or maybe, it has all been a trick from the beginning, and this is just the method of torture and breaking that Voldemort has chosen for her.