I OWN NOTHING! I am not JK, I am simply playing with her dolls to amuse us all for awhile. XD

The war had just barely finished settling its debris amongst the wizarding world the first time he saw her again there in Hogsmede…

He had just pulled himself away from the growing crowd when the reason for his never ending headache, all too unknown to her, bounced her way out from the back of the Leaky Cauldron and right into his very sight. Draco had found his eyes locked against her, strolling to smooth his body down into no particular bar stool to hover amongst the shadows, watching her like a stalker eying his pray. His long legs stretched out before him, those sharply silver hues rolling in his deep scoff as he watched her flitter around with what appeared to be half the Gryffindor gang close to her side. She moved so carefree, so careless…

The last time he'd seen Hermione Granger, she was reaching up in the darkness, a painful gurgle spattering blood onto her lips while she cried out, trying to drag her half conscious body out of the flaming woods surrounding her as the war raged on. She looked truly awful but even as painful as it was to watch her fail time and time again trying to find her feet, it wasn't as mind shattering as it had been to hear her screams echoing coldly through the Malfoy manor in the silence that usually answered back.

Draco bitterly lifted his hand to motion to the bartender for a drink, those aristocratic features contorting into a low scowl to etch deep into the lines of his face at the memories flooding his senses once again.

He was so tired of hearing her scream...It was the only sound he heard echoing in the darkness no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. Draco's elegant fingers coiled firmly around her wrist, dragging her up from the ground in a clamoring of feet and dirt with little protest from her faltering limbs. Dried leaves and matted blood stuck to her hair as Draco tried his damnedest to tug her arm over his shoulder, pulling her in tight along his waist while he ducked out of the line of fire. That night on the battle field, there outside Hogwarts, there was nothing but screams and shouts deafening around a haze of smoldering curses and withering bodies but the Prince of Slytherin swallowed his pride to dragged a half conscious Hermione Granger from the twisted smoke with the sickening snaps of spells whipping through the air around them. It was all Draco could do to keep Hermione close and maneuver her to ready his wand at counter spell without spilling them both back to the dirt below them but he somehow found the energy despite the struggle.

She weighed near nothing but her dead weight was still nearly impossible to haul in all the chaos, leaving them stumbling with the rushing wind slammed into them from either direction even in there in the cover of trees. Hermione crumpled hard to the ground, Draco falling to his knee over top of her, his arm covering her face and his wand drawn as he streamed lines of curses out into the blindness. He had no idea how long he'd spent dragging her unconscious body, toppling over in the line of defense and forcing himself up to repeat the same sad pattern before he'd finally managed a safe path out into the back of the clearing. Too bad the short persona triumph was short lived…

Draco wasn't aware of the breath he'd been holding when he'd tried his best to fold her down into the plush of grass from his arms, his face tight, teeth gritted until he could detangle his arms from her. It wasn't until then that he'd realized how bad she truly looked…and what a shame it really was. Don't get him wrong, if she hadn't looked like she was about to die, he might have actually left her there to fight the good fight or whatever but right there and now…he wasn't sure if she was even alive and the thought made him sick.

There wasn't much left of her sweater at this point and where her skin wasn't slashed, bruised, or caked with blood, and from what he could see, was raised in a fine sheen of goose bumps and swollen, red lines. He could have left her, he could leave her still…he could have taken her, he could have ran with her, gotten her out of here, really gotten her out of there…but Draco just stood there, staring at her, mindlessly pulling his own black button down off from his own tattered body.

She never stirred, even when he bent to kneel over top of her once more, slowly, carefully this time. His thoughts were vacant but his actions were delicate, carefully sliding the fabric up her arms, adjusting her up in the slightest to tug it over her shoulders. The length of his fingers trembled as the moved to close the midnight black fabric over her chest, bending her arm to lay it across to help her hold her own modesty when she was obviously unavailable to do so.

He felt like a creep. It was a funny feeling to have in the mist of so much dying and bloodshed but he couldn't leave her there. It hadn't taken long for the heat to catch up with any where either one of them were however, the screaming booming louder around them now, but Draco remained kneeled over her fallen form, one hand thrusting his curses out in a deathly precision, his opposite arm covering her face from the harsh assaults whizzing by.

Draco had been so caught up trying to keep her safe that he'd nearly thrown his own body back when her cold fingers jerked up to snatch hold of his forearm covering her face so closely, scrambling back a few paces on his knees as she tried to sit up. Wide chocolate orbs were staring openly at him, her hand clutching the shirt tight over her chest as she stared at him hard and bewildered. She'd made it to her elbow, half propped on the ground, no longer moving as she watched him swallow where she'd backed him up on his knees but she never flinched.

She just sat there, rigid as Draco thrust his arm and wand high into the sky, shouting hard as he sent a vibrant, florescent green beam shooting high into the night sky and twisting the smoldering clouds above them. The light screamed straight through the clouds, tearing a line in to night and shining a beacon straight down to the junction that was them in the map of this war.

Neither one of them reacted when Potter's unmistakable shout sounded out, calling for Hermione, Draco's arm still up cast, unable to bring himself to look at her again as he stood upright. His arm lowered to his side, his wand still gripping hard in his grasp but Draco smiled, genuinely, for the first time at the sight of scar head making a bleak spot appearance far in the back clearing of trees. Hermione jolted to sit up, her eyes somehow managing to widen then some, that Gryffindor spirit alert as she whipped her head round to see Potter in a full sprint to her aid. Her motions moved quick, turning her head rapidly back to Draco but by the time she'd returned her sight…he was gone.

"Can I buy you a drink for saving my life? Or did I really just hit my head that hard like Harry thinks and imagine the whole you saving my arse thing?" Seemed Draco didn't have the opportunity to remember all the shattered, horrific memories for a few months prior because the woman who had replaced the girl that had been haunting his nightmares was standing behind him where he'd taken refuge, there at the back corner in his memory lane solitude.

Draco's hair had long since been chopped short since the trials, his sideburns left long to leave the lengthier strands on the top to tug up in the front. If he was a muggle born, Hermione would have said it reminded her of a faux hawk but she felt awkward enough as it was standing there staring at Draco Malfoy's back to make a joke about his very unlike him hair style that he was sporting. That casual Malfoy smirk was light against the corners of his lips when his hands settled against the scarred remains of the bar top, slowly lowering them to his lap as he slid round to face her. Hermione's lips parted in a sigh, unaware she had been holding her breath when she tilted her chin up to greet him with a soft, nervous smile light on the side of her own mouth. At least he turned around…as long as he didn't curse her, throw something at her, on her, or yell at her, this might not turn out so bad.

Draco dressed suavely in a dark grey suit, perfectly tailored against his body from the cuffs against his black polished boots to the collar leading to the midnight black button down and adjourning tie loose around his neck in the late hour. He had yet to actually look at her, his eyes down on the ground between them as he ran his thumb and forefinger a crossed the dangerous curve in his jaw bone, lightly scratching the dark scruff that Hermione was sure he hadn't shaved properly in a week. She was just opening her mouth once again to disclaim what a poor idea this had obviously been before he had a chance to make a fool of her when he lifted those sharp gray eyes against her, his pale brows lifted with that easy drawl straightening the length of her spine.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard if you think I'd allow you to buy me a drink under any pretense, Granger." Draco lifted a single digit between them, straightening his own back and posture as he added, "But, if you'd like to sit down, I'd be happy to offer you a drink under the gratitude that you're the first person to say anything but 'I hope you and your family die, Malfoy' from our dear old Hogwarts." He was motioning to the stool beside him with that casual Malfoy charm, his head cocked and hand open down to it like he hadn't just said something that made her heart cringe in a way that also made her want to hurl…but that was Malfoy for you.

"I knew it was you…" Hermione gracefully moved to sit herself down on the stool, sliding back to cross her long legs between them as he angled to face her there in the dim light. Her lips were crimson in the candle glow from the bar, her features shimmering a low bronze from the curve of her cheek bone to the long dip of muscles in her calves peeking out from the knee length chiffon dress she was wearing, barely holding on to the curves of her frame. This wasn't the fragile being he was protecting through the woods…

Hermione was leaning forward over the bar ordering a drink from the barmaid, her elbows on the countertop, hands clasped in front of her, leaning up off her stool the first time Draco noticed the long, black lace arm bands, for lack of Draco's better description, that covered her from elbow to knuckles. Her hands moved to slide the fabric of her dress better beneath her, seating herself more comfortably once she'd finished her task, turning back to him rather abruptly to interrupt the furrowing question on his brow with one quick statement.

"I still have your shirt."

The ever growing thoughts Draco formerly had wrapping his face eased off with a small scoff lightly to himself, the corner of his mouth tugging up in a smirk when he fixed those storming hues against her once again, "I thought you might have burnt it if you realized it was mine, truthfully." He took a small drink from the clean liquid swimming over the ice cubes in his glass, watching the light tint of rose creeping on to her cheeks from over the rim of his glass, her smile awkward and soft in her down cast glance as she admitted, "I thought about it, truthfully."

Draco chuckled, lifting his hand to motion to the bar keep as she set the drink down in front of Hermione to place it on his tab before she could offer any protest. Her thinly arched brows were inching in against themselves, fixing him with a low stare but Draco only rolled his wrist, waving off her irritation and prompting her to continue.

"I know it's silly but I haven't even washed it." She drew a sharp breath, hazelnut hues lifting wide as she too lifted her glass before her lips, stirring its contents with the small black straw lingering inside.

She looked so cold that night…he wasn't sure what to say to her now and just as the last time he'd seen her, she'd left him sitting there, staring at her without motion like a moth caught in her flame. "Why didn't you assume I was about to kill you?"

Hermione shook her head and laughed outright, "Harry and Ron both said that you probably were about to!" She was still laughing at the remembrance, so astounded that she completely missed Draco's annoyed glare loaming on her at her humor in the situation.

"And you didn't believe that?"

"No…" she stifled her laughter with her long fingers laying lightly over her lips before brushing her long chestnut strands off from her bare shoulder, "Your shirt was covered in your own blood, sweat, and dirt…and you gave it to me. Off your back." Again, Draco said nothing, taking a long drink from his glass to finish its contents, setting it on the bar mat in front of them. "You didn't have to help me and you didn't have to do that…it meant a lot. It still means a lot when I have a hard time forgetting. Ron hates it…thinks I'm holding on to some delusion that there was any good deeds done in that war. Especially by you."

Her hands were folded in her lap now, cradling her drink, her head tilted up to focus on him better. Draco set his elbow to the scarred surface of the bar top, sighing as he offered her as much truth as she'd offered him, "I tried to keep tabs of you for awhile after that night but it became hard without endangering you further. I wish I could explain that like I know you're going to want but I cannot so please, skip the encyclopedia of questions that I don't have in the remotest, Granger…" That easy Malfoy drawl was awfully rushed off his lips, dying off the end of his sentence like he was unsure he was ready to stop talking but Hermione was all too quick to pick up where he'd left off.

"I tried to testify on your behalf as a character witness but they threw it out. Said my opinions were prejudice." Draco's mouth was a bit agape in the very un-Malfoy like stunned expression befalling him, shaking his head slightly as it sunk in, clearing his throat a bit awkwardly and patting his chest to force it down. He looked over to his drink a bit irritably that it was still not refilled yet where it rested, still on the mat, before he turned his attention back onto her trying to casually ignore his frantic thoughts crashing waves behind the storms of his eyes. This wasn't right. He had to gain control of the situation or he'd never be rid of this.

Hermione was sipping her drink from her straw now, tapping her ankle lightly where it hung when Draco reached up to take her left hand down and away from her glass, folding it in between his own hands, "are you still with him?"

Chestnut hues eyed both Draco and his question wearily, her glass still in her opposite hand with her elbow resting on the counter top now when his fingers slid up her forearm towards the top of her individual arm band as Hermione managed to stutter out, "Wwho…Ronald?" Hermione frowned to herself at her own stagger from the mere touch of his fingertips tingling around her elbow, "We're dating…I mean, yes. Yes, Ronald is my boyfriend." She was so distracted at her own explanation of her relationship to the last person on earth she thought she'd need to explain it to that she hadn't even noticed him start tugging her sleeve down until she felt his knuckles brush her wrist. Hermione had tossed her glass onto the bar top as quick as she could, moving to recoil her arm, her fingers snatching to tug the lace back up but Draco's hand shot to clasp over it before she could make a move.

"Granger…" It was still there. Mudblood. Viciously carved into her skin, dark and brutal, rough and scarred beneath his touch. He could feel the scarring of her soft skin scraping beneath the pads of his fingers, daring him to deny it. It was still her…This light creature that smiled like she'd never met him, glowing in the amber tints of the room was still that girl that spattered blood against his walls as she cried in agony.

"Let go, Malfoy." Her legs were untangling, her heels making a small click to the ground as she began to stand up, her expressions dark and narrowed against him but he was already standing tall in his counter. "Hold on, freckles…" Draco was trying to swallow the distaste down his throat and off of his tongue when he moved her, tugging hard to pull the fabric back up securely to her taste, rounding it over her elbow before he lifted his gaze against her once again, "I'm sorry, alright? The normal Hermione Granger that I am used to is not…this. I had to be sure."

"So should I pull up your sleeve and flash your dark mark so I can be sure it's really you, Malfoy? Because the Malfoy I am familiar with wouldn't offer me a seat next to him if it was on the last bus out of hell. The Malfoy I know wouldn't be seen in public with me let alone buy me a drink. Let's not forget save my miserable life…"

Draco held his own left arm out in front of her as he released her, "If it'll suit you." Hermione scoffed and shoved his arm back at him, folding hers both over her chest as he continued, "Listen to me, Granger…I'm saying that I am sorry." It was the second time he'd said it in the last five minutes and it deserved her attention if nothing else considering it was only the second time she'd heard it out of his mouth in the entire near seven years she'd known him. After all, she'd just lashed out and called him a Death Eater and he hadn't so much as flinched to retaliate.

"I'm sorry that I've hurt you because I know you've hurt enough and truthfully, whether you choose to believe this or not, I have no intention of causing you anymore." Draco paused before her, pursing his lips momentarily before he continued, "So before I go proving otherwise let me say that it was nice to see you tonight, Granger, but I should be going now." He was reaching inside of his suit jacket, pulling out a beautifully designed business card with calligraphy writing etched on the front, moving to fold it into her hand with his feather light touch. "It's a much fonder way to think of you but perhaps you have a hard time forgetting some night…and the shirt isn't enough…it could be nice to see you again."

"I have Ronald you know."

Hermione wasn't sure why she'd said it. Maybe it was the way his words were smoothing off his lips in such a low velvety way but the phrase didn't seem to bother Malfoy even as he adjusted his jacket with a mild shrug after settling a few bills face down on the counter before them, "he wasn't there for you that night, I was, and he isn't here tonight from what I can see…so perhaps the situation will arise that he won't be there for you again. Perhaps not. It's only an offer, Granger." Draco had not only adjusted his clothing but he'd suited himself up in his Malfoy swagger as well, bowing lowly to her like it was some diplomatic gesture before taking a few steps back, motioning to her with a wave of his hand, "a secret amongst former enemies."

Hermione had turned to face his retreating form and she couldn't help but laugh softly at his statement, refolding her arms, card and all over her chest as she shook her head at him while he turned and made his way off into the crowd. For anyone else it would have been a dramatic display but for Draco Malfoy to bow down to her in any way shape or form, let alone in a public environment left Hermione with a rather girlish grin.

She hadn't been entirely sure what she'd expected when she'd mustered the courage to approach Malfoy after months of personal wonderings but this certainly wasn't how she had expected it to play out. For months she'd wondered about him, why he'd chosen the actions he had and she'd plotted numerous ways to confront him on the matter once they'd all settled back at Hogwarts for the year but she couldn't stop herself when she saw him here at The Leaky Cauldron tonight. It seemed her overzealousness only left her more confused than where she started from as she stood there on her feet with a rather unnaturally graced smile light on her lips as she watched him disappear for the second time in her life with just as many questions as every time he'd appeared.