Chapter One: Alleyway Danger
"When do I get off?" Hermione shouted.
"11:30!" someone shouted back.
Hermione yawned as she looked at her watch only to see that it was only 11:00. Why did she insist on working nights? Not only was it creepy to go outside and it be dark but she was also very tired. Being fresh out of Hogwarts she was still not used to staying up at night and sleeping during the day. Thoughts of Hogwarts then brought up the subject of Ronald Weasley. He had insisted that she work in a Muggle community to "stay out of harms way" as he put it. Then when she had applied for a job with the Ministry he had prevented her from being hired, though she had no idea how. That was the worst day she had ever had. Being turned down for a job at the Ministry, despite her intelligence, because of "complications." She knew full well that Ron had told them not to hire her.
"Excuse me miss. Could I get a Brandy over here?" said a tired looking man.
"Of course sir. I'll be back in a moment." She replied, still thinking angrily that she could be asleep by now if she worked at the Ministry.
Hermione went up to the counter, mixed the brandy and walked back to the table only to find none other than Neville Longbottom staring right back at her with his brown eyes.
"Fooled you huh?" he asked, talking the drink from Hermione's hand.
"Gee I would have been able to see right through that if I worked at the Ministry." Hermione said spitefully.
Neville smiled at her as he finished off the Brandy. Hermione still had the same attitude she had in Hogwarts, anyone who stood in the way of her and her career was evil and that's all there was to it.
"Come on, Harry and Ron are only concerned for your well being." Neville said sweetly, obviously trying to make Hermione feel better.
"Psht. Well being my ass. If they were concerned for my well being why did they tell me that I should work at a bar on the night shift hmmm? I could get mugged or raped on the way out of this building! How safe is that??" Hermione snapped. "Plus there is the little end of Hogwarts incident. I won't ever forget that.
Neville stared at her, not in all the years he had known her had she voiced a single curse. Hermione stared right back; she knew that Harry saw her point, even through the shock he was experiencing from her use of language. Neville's expression softened and he smiled at her. He knew that Harry and Ron didn't want her hurt but what they didn't know was that they were hurting her…only in a different way. Keeping her from her dreams was only making her life more miserable. Plus…well he didn't really know what had happened at the end of the year but he was sure that they had done it to protect her.
"Well I think you can handle yourself. I mean…" Neville lowered his voice so none of the muggles would hear "…you were the brightest witch in our age."
"Yeah I'm so bright that they wouldn't ignore Harry and Ron's stupid excuses at the Ministry and hire me."
Before he could answer a small beeping sound distracted him. He looked down to see his magical beeper beeping. He stared at it for a while and then looked back up at Hermione with a look that clearly said 'I'm really sorry but I have to go.' Hermione nodded and he got up.
"I gotta get back to my shift anyway." She muttered as he walked off.
A few more minutes past by and more customers ordered more drinks to drown out what they thought was misery and sorrow ('Muggles are so weird' she kept thinking as she served each of them). She made light conversation with the ones who weren't completely intoxicated.
"Hey Hermione your shift ended ten minutes ago!"
Hermione looked down at her watch and saw that her shift did indeed end ten minutes ago. She yawned again before she set down her tray. She smiled at her new friend. She couldn't believe she had made friends with someone who had blue hair. She shook her head and continued to smile.
"See you tomorrow night Jess." She said as she waved one last goodbye and left the building.
She walked around the corner and onto the street. With a sigh she thought about taking a short cut. After all it would be easier to get home. She passed an alleyway that lead into the wizarding world and stopped. It would get her home faster. She turned down the alley and walked, hoping not to run into anyone or anything. She felt very safe until she heard a low growl. Please be my stomach please be my stomach she thought desperately. A flash of red scales told her it wasn't.
A large red scaly tail whipped out and threw her back against the brick wall of the alley. She groaned as her vision went in and out of focus. She could feel blood seeping down the back of her neck and her elbows from the impact. All she could see was red flashes of light off of scales…this was a Chinese Fireball. She knew from watching Harry fight that Hungarian Horntail in fourth year that it would be difficult and maybe even impossible to escape on her own. She needed help, but at this time of night who would be there to help her? Who would be walking around at almost midnight on a weeknight? She gritted her teeth to keep her mind off the pain she was experiencing.
With another low growl the dragon advanced on her. Its eyes were glinting maliciously as it watched her writhe in pain on the ground. A small puff of smoke issued from its snout. The dragon drew in a huge breath; it was about to breath fire. Hermione's eyes widened in fear and she yelled the only thing she could think of.
"HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!" she screamed.
On the magical side of the alleyway someone was passing by and heard her scream. Figuring it was a Muggle he dashed into the alley to prevent them form seeing anything magical. To his surprise he ran into someone very familiar being stared in the face by a Chinese Fireball. The dragon spit out a huge mushroom shaped ball of fire directly at Hermione. The stranger ran and managed to push her out of the way, but not before she got a burn on her stomach. He set her down and ran back at the dragon. He aimed right at its eyes and screamed "Lumos Maxima!" He knew the light would blind the dragon for just long enough so that he could get both of them out of the alley.
The dragon let out a roar and stumbled back into the shadows. The stranger ran over to Hermione and lifted her up so he could carry her out of the alley. He got halfway down the street and set her down against a wall. He looked her up and down and saw the burn on her stomach and blood on the back of her neck and elbows. His eyes traveled to hers and he saw that she was struggling to speak.
"W-who are…are you?" she asked weakly.
"Shhhh. Don't talk. You're really hurt. I'm going to help you." The stranger answered.
"Why…is your hood up? I-I want t-to know w-who y-you are." She stammered.
He shook his head. Her eyes went glossy and her head fell back against the wall. He put his hand on her neck and checked for a pulse, it was still there. 'Good, she's still alive.' He thought. He picked her up and apparated to his house. Slowly he laid her on the couch and left the room. He walked down the hall and tried to call her parents so that they wouldn't be worried about her. As he waited he thought about his actions.
He had just saved someone who he had taunted and tormented for years. Seven years to be exact. Hogwarts…it had been so good for him to go there. That's where he had made friends…and enemies. And yet this person who was once his enemy was now helpless and he had helped her. He had saved her when, during his Hogwarts years, he would have laughed at the sight of her being mauled by a dragon. No, not in seventh year, not at the end at least. He heard what Potter and Weasley had said to her. He felt so sorry for her. He didn't know why but suddenly he did. The sight of her crying had suddenly changed how he felt. Not to mention that his father was killed in a raid.
FLASHBACK
Hermione smiled as she saw everyone gathered on the grounds for the end of Hogwarts party that Dumbledore had given them permission to throw. The whole seventh year was on the grounds. Everyone in their finest attire to celebrate the last evening they would spend at Hogwarts as students. She spotted Ron easily and ran towards him. She smiled at him and he smiled back. His smile faded a little and she knew something was wrong.
"Ron…what is it?" she asked knowingly, being friends with someone for seven years kind of gave you the advantage on telling when there was something wrong.
Harry approached slowly and he looked at Hermione with a very fake smile on his face. She looked from Harry to Ron and back to Harry. Something was obviously going on between them. She was determined to find out, even if it killed her.
"We have something to tell you…" Ron said sheepishly.
"Well?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Hermione…we…we…"Ron began.
"We just had to tell you that…we never wanted to be your friends." Harry finished.
Her smile faded and she looked at them with a confused expression. This had to be some kind of end of Hogwarts joke between them. They were joking. They had to be…they just had to be.
"W-what?" she asked.
"We…we want you to leave us alone. Stay away. Just…we don't want to be your friends anymore." Ron said.
Hermione looked down at her feet and frowned. Had they just used her for homework help and then decided that now that they had graduated that they didn't need her anymore? She nodded and looked back up at them with one last smile and then walked off towards the lake. After all they had been through; they just got rid of her.
After she was out of earshot Harry rubbed his forehead and Ron groaned.
"I can't believe we did that. Just…told her we didn't want her to be friends with us." Ron said.
"I know but…it's better for her to be sad and angry than to be dead. You know Voldemort isn't gone. You know that he's after us. I don't want Hermione to die. She's done so much for us and I want her to have a normal life. I don't want her to have to live in fear of being killed. It's better this way. It might not seem like it now but…it is." Harry said.
Hermione sat by the lake and cried. It seemed only yesterday that they had all been fighting that Mountain Troll together and now she was alone. They had just dropped her like she never mattered. Like she was an unwanted freak.
"You do realize you're getting your dress dirty right. It seems a shame to ruin that wonderful green fabric." Said a drawling voice.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione snapped viciously through her tears.
The blonde behind her sat down and stared off into the deep blue sky. Hermione looked up at the sky as well to avoid meeting his cold grey eyes. She heard him sigh and saw his shoulders move as he shrugged.
"Look I uh…heard what Potter and Weasley said. I'm sorry." He said quietly.
She turned her head and looked at him as he stared off into the abyss. He certainly was acting strangely. This was not like him. Being kind and saying sorry for something that was definitely not his fault. Approaching her without being forced to. Not calling her a Mudblood.
"Why do you care? It's not like you're my friend or anything. Why are you being so nice anyway?" Hermione said angrily as she wiped away some of her tears.
A small laugh escaped Malfoys' lips and a smile crossed his face. He continued to stare off into the dark sky as he thought about what to say. How should he explain?
"Well Hermione my father was the one who forced me to be cruel to everyone here. He had spies all over to keep an eye on me. But now…well let's just say that I can be myself now. It sounds kind of lame I know…" he said with a slight cringe.
Hermione let out a little giggle but stopped when she realized who said what she was laughing about. She shook her head slightly, still with a smile on her face. She saw him grinning out of the corner of her eye and this made her smile even more. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he had pretended to be. Maybe…just maybe. Soon another song started and she hummed the tune happily. For some reason being around this "new" Malfoy had made her happier. He turned and looked at her as she began to softly sing the words.
"You wanna dance?" he asked with a trace of pink in his cheeks.
"Um…yeah…yeah I do. Unless you're trying to get in my pants in which case no." Hermione replied sneakily.
"Of course not. That's not me anymore." Malfoy replied as he took her hand.
Ron and Harry watched as they slowly danced. Ron was especially angry. Just because they weren't friends anymore didn't mean that she had to go off with Malfoy of all people. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at them angrily. Harry looked at Ron and could tell he was angry. It had to be this way though…it just had to.
"Well uh…" Malfoy began.
"Y-yeah…" Hermione said.
Slowly the music faded and they separated. They both shifted nervously on their feet. Both had small nervous smiles on their faces. Suddenly a bell rang out, telling them that it was midnight. Hermione looked back at Malfoy before speaking.
"Thanks for uh…making me feel better. I should get to bed though. The train leaves very early." She said
"You'll need your rest." Malfoy finished. "Thank you for trusting me and…goodnight."
"Night." Hermione replied as she walked off towards the castle.
As he thought he heard someone pick up the phone, the voice was male. Malfoy realized that it was her father and he shivered as he thought of the consequences for calling and her father answering.
"Hello?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Erm yes Mr. Granger." Malfoy said nervously.
"Who is this? Do you know where my daughter is?!" he asked frantically.
"Sir calm down. She was attacked last night but should be better soon. She's sleeping right now. I'll have her call you when she gets up." Malfoy replied.
"You'd better or I'll trace this call and find you!"
"That wouldn't be wise. Then you would be held responsible for revealing the magical world to the Muggles."
"Oh you're one of her friends…well you'd better have her call."
"Yes sir. I should be going. She needs some treatment."
"Alright. Bye."
"Bye."
He hung up the telephone and walked back in the living room to check on her. He heard her groaning and he walked in front of her. Her eyes were slowly opening and she was holding her stomach where the burn was. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain from the expression on her face. Malfoy listened as she mumbled about a dragon. Then her eyes came open and she saw someone looking at her. She jumped slightly and tried to remember how she had gotten here instead of ending up at her parents house. Then she looked directly at the person who was in front of her and her eyes widened.
"MALFOY?!" she yelled.