Title: Trapped Behind You

Author: relativelypositive

Rating: T for now

Category: AU/Romance/Drama/Humor

Summary: Hermione was missing for an entire month, but she never left the library. He was all she had, the only one that could see or hear her. It was up to Malfoy to save her, but he didn't know it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related and I make no money from the use of the characters created by JK Rowling.

Chapter 1: The Trap

"That is not going to help the rumors."

"What's not?"

"Watching him all the time."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Harry waved a hand annoyingly in Hermione's line of sight. She smacked it away with a scoff. They were quietly studying in the library, and she was already thoroughly annoyed that she had to study at a regular table in the middle of the room. Her study room, the room she spent hours in almost every day, was being appropriated, and she wanted to know why.

Hermione watched an elderly gentleman float up to the second floor of the library, a tremendous trunk following obediently behind.

That's who stole my spot! What is he doing here?

Following not-so-obediently behind was Draco Malfoy. He was stopping at tables to greet his acquaintances, terrorize the young students, and flirt with anything in a skirt.

Well, almost anything.

It's not that he ignored her. When he first walked in he had made a scan of the room, located her, winked, and moved in the other direction.

She had rolled her eyes. At herself. It was not that he had winked at her; it was that she had been looking at him, which provided him with the opportunity to wink at her. Why did she look up when he came into the library? She just didn't know.

For some reason she couldn't fathom, Malfoy was on her radar. She didn't know when it happened or why, but she always knew when he was nearby. It was merely a nuisance until Malfoy became aware of the change.

Suddenly he was paying attention to her. From far away it was covert, with winks or slight nods and smirks. She was fine with that. She could ignore that.

When he wandered close to her, and it was always him coming to her, his comments were full of vitriol. He told her she was annoying, and messy, and persnickety, and snotty (which was funny coming from him), and just generally inferior. Everything he did or said was outrageous around her anymore. He was being an obnoxious attention seeker, and it was unsettling. She tried to ignore him. Harry and Ron constantly stood up for her while she just went back to studying.

Malfoy ignored the boys, which made them madder, and continued to send nasty barbs to Hermione, while she pretended to read.

Then the rumors started.

Hermione sighed heavily as she thought of the swirl of pity that followed her everywhere. There's the poor girl. In love with Malfoy, and he will never give her the time of day. She ignored it the best she could, but it had been weeks, and it never let up.

She knew Malfoy had started the rumors. He thought it was fun to mess with her. He knew full well that she did not have a crush on him.

Funny thing was, she never got the feeling that he liked her, either, just that he couldn't stand her not finding him attractive. So he resorted to pulling her pigtails, metaphorically. He wanted to think he was irresistible, and to Hermione he was completely resistible.

Malfoy's conversation was getting closer, and it was, unfortunately, interesting to Hermione.

"Mother insists. Every three years like clockwork. I am the only student important enough to require a portrait."

Malfoy stopped at the table next to where Harry and Hermione were studying and perched on the edge. He angled himself towards them, but addressed the rest of the room. "It really is the most boring process…all the complaining…stop being so attractive! Stop raising that jaunty eyebrow! Your hair is just too lustrous, how will I ever capture its essence? Really, it's such a bore."

While Malfoy was busy being obnoxious, Hermione took advantage of his preoccupation with himself to creep away, quietly climb the stairs, and follow the old man into the study room.

Hermione took a moment to notice that her table had been removed. She watched the man dodder around for a minute, then decided he wasn't going to acknowledge her. She eagerly approached the portrait painter, desperately wanting to know how the process worked.

"Hello, sir, my name is Hermione Granger. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about magical portraiture?"

"Granger…Granger…how do I know that…Granger…." The old man turned to her and back away from her, never making eye contact, grumbling and muttering away as he set up a giant easel and canvas. "Hmmm…Granger…Potter? Yes…Potter and Granger…Mudblood Granger…Mudblood…Granger"

Hermione froze, then backed away, taken aback by his rambling nastiness. "Excuse me, sir, but that is uncalled for!"

The old man turned and focused on her for the first time, and Hermione felt a bolt of terror. She knew him from somewhere. Somewhere bad.

"Incarcerous, Silencio, Petrificus Totalus," the man calmly ordered and went back to setting up his supplies. "Showed up at the perfect time, really. Couldn't have been better. Better that young Malfoy isn't included. Never trusted that family. Think they're more important than the Dark Lord, they do!" Now finished, he once again turned to Hermione and looked her up and down. "Always thought this would be an effective way to dispose of a body. Never been in the position to test my theory. Until now."

Who was this man? Why was he doing this?

The perfect way to dispose of a body? What?

Hermione was terrified, but couldn't help but be fascinated by what the man was now doing to the canvas. She was trying to memorize the enchantments and wandwork he was using. Her mind was going a mile a minute.

Escape! Scream! Get help! Escape! Alert the school to the presence of a Death Eater! Remember the spells! Escape! Don't let him get away!

"You are transparent, even now. Know what happens to a person if they are enchanted into a painting before there is an image to connect to? Me either! My guess is that you will cease…to…exist." Finished with his spellwork, the man advanced on Hermione. "Did you know that physical objects can be embedded into a portrait? Usually cursed objects and jewelry for safekeeping. Occasionally a retired wand. It's there, but you can't see it. I am about to put you into this canvas with no way of communicating with the outside world. No mouthpiece. No body to control. One. Less. Mudblood."

Hermione felt her body become less substantial as it made contact with the canvas and become incorporated inside. Incarcerated.

She was trying to scream, but the spells were holding, even now.

She did not know that in her terror she was screaming for the one person that was supposed to enter the room. The one person that could possibly see what was happening and stop it!

"Malfoy!"

A/N:

We will be in Malfoy's world for a while now.

Completely new story, not connected in any way to Out of Hand. For those waiting for updates to the sequel to Out of Hand, I'm thinking I'm going to delete what I had and return to it when I have a clear vision of where it should go.