Title: Silver and Cold

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter character's but

I must thank J.K. Rowling for making these wonderful characters.

Summary:

Draco Malfoy never expected to see Hermione near death at Diagon Alley,

But then again he ever expected to help her

Chapter one:

A name to be scared of

The name Malfoy has and will always be feared. Its two syllables end shivers down a person's spine and anyone smart enough knows to quickly step out of their way. The Malfoy lineage had always consisted of dark and powerful wizards whose loyalties always lay with the Dark Lord of their time. The Malfoy family had always been male dominated, sons being preferable to daughters. Some parents were so horrified at the prospect of having a daughter that they would dispose of her immediately.

Horrible, isn't it.

There are two things you never mention in the Malfoy household. Money and Politics, you'll probably end up dead. Wealth, fame, and a reputation was usually passed down to very Malfoy heir, unless you had done something to disgrace the family name. Malfoys are easily distinguished due to their blonde hair and horrid attitudes.

But, the Malfoy line was slowly dying. With Lucious stuck in Azkaban and Narcissa dead the youngest and the last Malfoy knew nothing was going to be the same again.

The strong taste of the Galliano burned Draco's throat. Centuries of constructing a well disciplined blood line down the bloody drain. Taking another sip emptying the bottle he quickly threw it aside where there were about ten or more similar cups.

"Another."

"Don' you thin' that' enough for a kid like youself?" asked the bar tender on duty that night.

Draco sneered; lately it was getting harder to get drunk. Looking at the pile of drained cups Draco grimaced, another hundred. "Look kid, why don' cha go home, with mummy and pops."

"They're dead," two words spoken evenly monotonous and yet those words were the worst the bar tender had ever heard. "Look kid, I can' keep yous' here."

"Fine," Draco said as he strode out the bar not even reaching the point where he was drunk enough that he didn't know his surroundings. The night was quiet and chilly, the winds bit into Draco's skin but he didn't mind. He had been numb for a real long time. Wizards and witches alike darted from shop to shop only buying the essentials, hood covered their faces.

Draco ignored them. If they knew who was hiding underneath the hood he had no doubt that they would run screaming. Death, it was surrounding him gently, slowly, but surely. The Dark Lord was reaping his vengeance on the Wizarding world and no force could stop that. His army was vast many going to his side after Fudge was found dead. The Aurors suspected that the new minister was next.

Draco snorted, that vampire couldn't find Voldemort if he marched in front of him waving a white flag. Malfoy kicked a random rock on the pavement.

Malfoy, the other pureblood families couldn't understand the pressure that came with the name. All they understood was the money, looks, and reputation, sometimes Draco wondered if the muggle born were as bad as he was raised to believe.

Lately he had been questioning everything around him.

Or maybe he was thinking too much, like that Gryffindor Granger. Draco stopped as soon as he felt his foot connect with something. Speak of the fucking Devil.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Great, Super.

'We can't even joke anymore' Draco thought sourly as he saw the body of Hermione Granger, the know it all, the book worm, that bloody Gryffindor. What was she doing here, in this damp place unfit for even rats? Wouldn't the ministry protect one of the members of the Golden Trio? Why wasn't Harry or that damned Weasly with her?

Too many questions and too little answers, Draco carefully weighed his options. Either he saved her arse from freezing and become a hero Yadi yadda or bring her in to Voldemort and be his greatest servant. Malfoys never believed in Destiny or Fate, but Draco did and whether it was fate or destiny he brought Hermione to Malfoy Manor.

ds

She was running away, a curse grazed her head.

Damn, that was close.

They were following her. "Ginny, we have to split up!" Hermione's voice was hoarse and strained. The snow made soft squishing soft as Hermione ran momentarily glancing back at Ginny who had taken the left while she herself went straight. Apparently the Death Eaters preferred her to Ginny as almost all of them were on her heels, literarily. One of the Death Eaters was close enough Hermione could feel his breath.

"Crucio!"

Hermione felt immense pain both mentally, physically, and emotionally. She felt as if her world was collapsing around her. Closing her eyes didn't help Hermione, she still felt the pain.

Then the world went black and Hermione found herself floating. There was no more pain but there was an intense feeling of being cold. When Hermione tried to move her arms she found that she couldn't even move her fingers.

She was basically helpless.

When Hermione regained conciseness she expected herself to be in a cold dungeon with only a rotting corpse as a room mate. Instead she found herself surprisingly warm and in a highly comfortable bed. Next to her was a roaring fire, the walls were colored in a deep red with a picture of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and a heart warming smile.

Where was she?

The thought of awaiting her death settled in her stomach like jell-o. Damn it, Hermione thought angrily, I'm supposed to be in Head Quarters right now! Surely they would see that she was missing and Ginny would have noticed that Hermione's body was nowhere to be seen.

A house elf apparated at her side, "Would the Mudblood like something to eat?" it said with much disgust. Hermione wrinkled her nose in disapproval. "Where am I?" she said with as much authority as Hermione could muster.

"The Mudblood is in Malfoy Manor, staining the poor Mistress's bed with her unworthy fingers, Chimera's poor mistress-"

Hermione ignored the house elf's ranting. She was in Malfoy Manor, laying in a bed comfortably she might add, and she wasn't dead yet. Amazing

"Then the poor Dragon brought Mudblood here, imagine that, poor Dragon such unworthiness on his clothes, Chimera now must wash his clothes three times!"

"Silence." The voice was cold and emotionless, it could only belong to Draco Malfoy.

"The Dragon graces this unworthy house-elf with his presence-"

"Shut up," Draco's eyes still held that cold fury Hermione remembered from their yeas at Hogwarts, she almost shuddered as his silver gaze lazily landed on her, "bring us some coffee, you do like coffee?" Hermione nodded and with that Chimera disappeared into the kitchens.

"Do not take this act as sympathy Granger."

"Then why did you do it? Why did you rescue me from certain death? Why did you rescue me knowing that it would diminish your Master's chances of winning this god forsaken war?"

"That is none of your concern; you will leave as soon as you're well enough."

"Aren't I well enough now?"

"If you take your leave now I will read about how they found your mangled body in an alley as I eat breakfast. You were near death when I found you."

Chimera appeared with a pop, two steaming mugs of coffee in her hands. "Here are the coffees The Dragon ordered unworthy Chimera to do." then the house elf disappeared with another pop.

"Why do they call you "The Dragon?"

"Draco means Dragon; I think you'll be better within two days."

With that and a curt nod Draco left the room leaving a bewildered Hermione alone.

That night Hermione couldn't sleep, she kept having these awful images that involved Draco killing her when she slept or the Voldemort appearing and then killing her. Whatever the theory was it ended with Hermione dead and Draco reading about it while eating breakfast.

She had to get out. As soon as Hermione tried getting out of bed a new house elf appeared.

"The Dragon told Kitty not to let the miss out of bed. He will be most angry with Kitty if Miss gets out of bed."

Wrinkling her nose Hermione ignored the elf and proceeded towards the door as soon as she touched the door knob as leg locking hex hit her," The Dragon also said thet Kitty could use force if necessary."

With an angry sigh Hermione felt herself be levitated into bed.

It was going to be a long night.