Disclaimer: My dreams have told me again and again that I am JK Rowling. But alas. I am not. I don't own the Harry Potter series, much to my dismay. Nor do I aim to make profit from it.

She found him on the floor. Slumped against a set of dirty steps that led up to a building she took no notice of. She couldn't see his face; only the silhouette of his crumpled form and the way the limited light fell upon his hair. She had been in the library all day, absorbing all the information she could manage before the doors were inevitably closed and she was politely ushered out of the building. When she wasn't at Hogwarts she felt almost as if she had no purpose, and by spending countless hours acquiring all the knowledge she had access to, she was able to partially fill the void that her absence from the school had created.

She was on her way home one night, taking a shortcut she knew she shouldn't ordinarily take, when she stumbled across the person she least expected to see in such a close proximity to her home. There was no mistaking him; his silver hair and his robes giving him away. The way he was laid, almost lifeless in the cobbled street, made her jump to the worst conclusions.

"Malfoy?" she said, inching closer to him, her wand ready in her hand just in case.

"Leave me alone" He retorted. His voice still holding the same malice it had always done, and no doubt always will she thought. His body hardly moved, and his eyes remained shut but he couldn't mistake her voice. It was sickly sweet and innocent; everything he despised. He could never forget that voice in a million years.

"Are you okay?" Her voice was almost as cold as his, just a hint of concern warring around the edges.

"I told you to leave me alone you infernal woman" He all but snarled at her, his head lifted up and his eyes snapped open to glare viciously at her. His head was in a whirlwind. He couldn't understand why she had stopped and approached him, let alone asked if he was okay. 'Who the hell did she think she was?' his internal voice screamed at him. Although inside he knew it was wrong of him to think such a thing, he was in her world now. Everything that was once his he had forsaken, and it had forsaken him.

"Do you realise that's the first time you have called me anything but my surname or mudblood?" She asked in a hard voice; determined to match his coldness.

"I am well aware of that." he replied in a tone of finality.

Hermione, not one to be beaten, was determined to find out why he was invading her usually peaceful town, and with an action that went against all of her instincts she took a step towards him.

"What are you doing here?" She said through clenched teeth; his presence was staring to wear on her, and the fact that she had exhausted herself by reading all day made her more irritable than usual. Not that she would ever accept the fact that Malfoy was within a million miles of her with anything more than contempt.

"What do you think I'm doing here, Granger? You're top of your class in everything, you work it out" He spat at her.

"I don't know. I don't even care" her voice was resigned; she had had too stressful a day to deal with Malfoy.

"And so the natural order is restored" He said with a bitter laugh

"Excuse me? Have you lost your mind as well as your dignity?"

"Quite possibly. We are destined to hate each other. We are natural enemies. Why would you stop in the street and ask if I'm okay? I think the evidence points to you having lost your mind as much as I have"

Hermione laughed. Maybe she had lost her mind. Asking Malfoy if he was okay, of all people; what was she thinking?

"You looked dead. I was making sure that you were"

"Sorry for the disappointment" Draco laughed bitterly once more before replacing his head on the cold stone of the step on which he was laid, hoping to Merlin that she would leave him the hell alone.

Hermione hoped to God she would never have to see Malfoy again.

A.N.

So quite a short start to this; my first Dramione! I just figured this was as good a place as any to stop and didn't want to drag it out unnecessarily. The next chapter/s will probably be longer (I hope) but we'll see as this progresses. Also I'm awful at writing dialogue so sorry if I killed it.

Another thing. I'm not entirely sure yet when this will be set but for now I'll say the break between sixth and seventh year. Just don't hold me to that.