A/N:

Well this is the story that pops my fan-fic cherry. I'm new to this and I would love constructive criticism! I also realize that some of what I write will not completely correspond to the books, and this is fine with me. But if you're nit-picky and it bugs you, feel free to let me know in a review or something! I also plan on having the next chapter longer, and maybe a better intro into the story. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: If any of these characters or the Harry Potter books belonged to me, I would be in the Caribbeans right now...buuut it's 20 degrees here, so they're obviously not mine.

Prologue:

She saw him. She watched him run through the portal, through which only death eaters could enter, and she knew he was lost. It's funny sometimes how the complete loss of hope can affect people. It makes some people give up, but not her. It made her fight harder.

With renewed vigor she sent curses hurling at the burly death eater in front of her, sending him crashing to the ground. She fought viciously for what seemed like hours with the second death eater that came over and replaced his fallen comrade, until something caught her eye, Professor Snape running with a blond haired boy behind him.

Her emotions over took her. She swiftly kneed the death eater in a not-so-friendly place, and turned to run after Harry, who was sprinting after them.

As the two teens ran, one after the other, and quite oblivious to the other, they caught up with who they were chasing. Harry ran to duel Snape, still not noticing his friend was behind him. She ran as fast as her legs would go and as quietly as she could to the distraught teenager heading towards the gates.

She felt like time was slowing down as she reached out and grabbed his arm. He spun around, wand drawn, to face whoever had touched him.When he realized whose face he was staring into, he instantly looked away.

"What have you done?!?!" She screamed at him, while she backed up. She couldn't bear to have him attempting to reach out for her. "You're a murderer... You're a liar!. But what's worse is you're a COWARD!!"

She noticed how he was shaking, barely standing up. Her heart told her to run to him, to help him, but her head told her to let him have it, then let him go. And she always listened to her head, at least back then. "I should kill you for what you've done" She shakily informed him.

He was in shock, staring at the ground, shaking, starting to sweat, and Malfoy's don't sweat. He could hear her words, but they were jumbling together. He couldn't focus. Nothing was making sense to him. Nothing except that fact that he hated losing control like this, but he was slightly used to it by now.

"Instead I'm letting you go." She quietly announced, her voice cracking.

He looked up at this. He was no longer shaking, instead he was looking deeply into her eyes. He had his self-control back now. He was brought crashing back down to reality. He held his breath, internally begging her not to say the inevitable.

She had to make this quick or she would lose her resolve. She felt her heart shatter as she said the words she could never take back. "I never want to see you again, Draco. You were obviously a mistake. A big, big mistake."

For the first time that night he felt pain, horrible, horrible pain. Everything terrible he had ever experienced (which added up to quite a heavy weight) seemed to crash down on him at once. This whole night felt surreal, his whole life felt surreal. She couldn't be serious, she was all he had.

"It's really over?" He choked out in a near-whisper.

She glanced up the road where she could make out the outline of Harry trying desperately, and failing desperately to duel Snape. She very faintly heard Snape laugh at her best friend's attempt to curse him again. For some reason unknown to her, when she spun around to the blonde boy, she was even angrier than before.

"What did you think would happen Draco?!" She screamed at him, absolutely furious that she couldn't hate him, but trying her very best to, "That I'd leave with you?! That I would join him?!! I wanted you to CHOOSE!!!"

"FUCK GRANGER!!" He screamed back, his shock and pain turning into anger, as it usually did, "YOU NEVER ASKED ME TO CHOOSE!!!"

And she knew it was true, she hadn't. She had always assumed he would just know that she wanted him to. Just as he had trouble telling her about his family, she had trouble telling him what she wanted from him. Because she was desperately afraid he would refuse to give it to her. That he would leave her, and she couldn't handle that. So she was leaving him, at the worst possible time.

They heard something coming in their direction. Snape was running towards them, he grabbed Draco, not noticing Hermione until he had already knocked her down. As he saw the young man try to think up an excuse for her being there, he saved him the trouble. "I already know, Mr. Malfoy, the other teachers may choose to see only what they wish, but your little affair was quite obvious to me. Now, we have to go. There isn't much time."

And with that the two men ran. She didn't even bother to get up off the ground as she watched them. She sat there as hard rain started to pour on her face and lightning lit up the skies. He looked back at her once before Snape yanked him out of sight. And the reality of what he had done, and what she had done, hit her like a slap across the face.

The next time she would see him, nothing would be left of the man she loved. He would be bloody...and cruel...and hard...and it would be on opposite sides of the battlefield...or so she thought.