Chapter 1 - The Attack

Hermione Granger was sitting in her bedroom, on the chair in the corner. A large book resting in her lap as she was lost in the pages. This was no usual book for Hermione to be reading though, this was a book about the dark arts. Hermione felt that she needed to understand them like she understood normal light magic, it'll make things easier to defend herself against or to use if needed. She wasn't so sure about if she should at the end of the year, as she borrowed many books from the library and the headmasters office at Hogwarts. Hermione felt that if she engrossed herself into these kind of studies, that makes her just as bad as any dark wizard. She finally convinced herself that if she were to use it for a bad purpose, it was bad. So far she was only reading on these things, that couldn't be bad.

After finishing the last chapter of the book, she sighed and set it down on the floor next to her. Hermione felt like her head was swimming in all the new information she had been learning the past few weeks of the beginning of summer break. She felt stressed, she only had a month with her parents before she was going to erase their memories, something she decided was the best way to protect them from any Death Eaters, as they wouldn't be in London for long. Tears formed in her eyes, but Hermione had to blink them away. This was for Harry, this was for Ron, this was to save wizard kind. Ron nor Harry knew of her sudden plan, but she wanted to keep it that way before they made her change her mind in some way.

Picking up the book, she stood up and headed for her dresser drawer, opening it she took out a small bag, something that was easy to carry. Hermione had put a charm in the inside, making it possible to carry everything she needed. She already put all her books in the inside, unless there was one she needed to read. Opening the bag, the book in her hand dropped inside, Hermione then closed the bag and the drawer. Looking up outside her bedroom window, the sun was just beginning to sink behind the houses across the street. She sighed once more.

Looking around her room made her stomach feel all queasy inside, only one more month here. That was it. Hermione just didn't know if she would ever see this place again, she could be dead, or Voldemort could win the war. She then heard her mother calling her name as dinner was ready. Taking one more glance around the room, she took a deep breath and headed down the stairs with a forced smile on her face.

The neighborhood was quiet, and just a few moments before, all the lights on the houses vanished, making it pitch black. A warm breeze could be felt if one were to step outside or open their window, the only sound was the rustle of the leaves in the trees surrounding several houses. Then out of nowhere, a small group of men, all dressed in midnight black cloaks, appeared. No one saw or heard where they had come from, but they were there and they were ready for a mission.

"Keep quiet and get this over as soon as possible, we are to not upset our Lord in anyway." A voice hissed to the group. They all nodded, their white masks hiding any kind of identity they owned.

"Alright, lets go." They marched forward with long strides, and the man up front raised his wand towards the front door of the home.

"Reducto!" The house shook as the door exploded, the death eaters made their way inside, ready to cause harm to anyone who lived here.

As the house shook, it caused Hermione to wake up from a dead sleep with a gasp. Jumping from her bed, she looked out the window and could see the last of the men in black cloaks running into her home. Hermione gasped once more, she reached over and grabbed her wand from the bedside table. Breathing deeply, she gulped and without a second thought threw her door open and took in her surroundings from the top of the stairs. The death eaters were destroying her home, breaking family pictures, destroying vases, and any other earthly possession her family owned.

She paid the death eaters no mind as she looked wildly around the room. Hermione breathed a bit relieved, her parents were no where to be seen, they hadn't found them yet. She prayed they were still in their bedroom.

Pointing her wand towards the door, she said "Colloportus." There, they should be locked in for now. Hermione quickly shot down the stairs.

"What do we have here?" The first death eater asked, his voice amused as he spotted her.

"Is this the mudblood we came here for?" The man behind him asked.

The name 'mudblood' didn't bother her anymore, but the way it was said, with so much evil into it, made Hermione flinch.

"You wish." Hermione was able to ground out.

They all laughed. "You and what army?"

Hermione knew they were referring to her, as she was still in her pajamas, and her feet bare.

Without a second thought, she shot a spell at them "Stupefy!" The man talking up front jumped out of the way.

"Get her!" He yelled, they all started shooting hexes at her.

Hermione ran from the stairs and into another room, she found herself in the kitchen. She hadn't felt this scared since first year, when the troll had attacked the girls dormitory. Hermione looked around, and as she felt a spell shoot past her ear, she skidded and ducked behind the counter.

Her heart beating fast, she took several breaths and jumped up.

"Flipendo!" Just as fast as she said is, Hermione was behind the counter once more.

She heard a large crash, and then a thump as the person she just stunned fell to the ground.

A few seconds had passed, and the house was eerily quiet, then she screamed, as a spell shot forward and hit the glass window across from her. It shattered across the whole kitchen, and Hermione covered herself with her arms, as the glass attacked her skin and left them bloody. When she looked up a death eater was standing over her, laughing.

"Avada Kad-" Hermione knew what he was doing, quickly rolled out of the way as it hit where she just was. The glass on the floor quickly cut into her legs and more into her arms.

"Locomotor Mortis!" She pointed her wand towards the man, as his legs snapped together and he fell forward.

She shakily stood up, the glass digging into her bare feet, Hermione could hear the crashing inside of her house, as they continued to destroy it. Looking around the room she saw that there were two death eaters on the floor. The man she just knocked over, raised his wand ready to hex her, when Hermione quickly disarmed and then stunned him. His wand flew into her hand, and then taking careful steps, trying to avoid the glass as much as possible, she hurried over to the other man on the floor whom she knocked out earlier, and picked up his wand as well.

Hermione figured that the leader of the group had sent those two death eaters after her, while they caused havoc.

Peeking from behind the kitchen door, there were two death eaters heading for the stairs, maybe to find out who else was home. The last death eater turned away from the room and went into the dining room, giving Hermione the chance to attack.

"Conjunctivitis." She said quietly, point her wand at the two men, they both stumbled backwards, as they had gone contemporarily blind. The one on the left bumped into the man on the right, and they bother tripped and fell down the stairs loudly. Groaning, and looking around confused due to the blindness, the man who hadn't lost his wand during the fall quickly pointed his wand around the room quickly shooting spells looking for the attacker. Hermione ducked back into the kitchen, and when she had her chance, quickly poked her wand out once more.

"Stupefy!" And the man standing crashed into the stairs, but this time out cold. Hermione repeated the process with the wandless man.

Hermione thought she had finished them off, when she heard a noise behind her and turned around. There was still one more death eater.

Shocked for a second, he said "What-" When Hermione had already hexed him with a flipendo jinx. He quickly flew backwards into the wall, but he quickly picked himself back up.

"Granger... Thats whose house we were attacking?!" He said, pointing his wand at her.

Hermione's grip tightened on her wand, pointing it right back.

"Who are you, why have you attacked my house?"

The death eater simply replied. "We kill muggleborns, remember?"

His voice sounded familiar to her, she didn't know from where though. His reply sounded almost forced in a way. "Do you even want to do this?" Hermione asked, the last question she would have imagined asking a death eater, as they wouldn't have signed up if they didn't want to do it.

The voice growled, "Why wouldn't I? Expulso!"

The exploding hex headed straight for Hermione. "Protego!" She called out.

The spell rebounded and headed straight for the death eater, but he quickly jumped out of the way. He went to send another spell back at her, when the last hex exploded as it hit the wall. The small explosion was so strong, it sent him flying and he was rammed into the wall by the stairs. The impact had cracked the mask, causing it to easily breaking into two and falling off as he stood up.

Hermione stood there shocked. "Malfoy!?"

He looked up at her with a glare, raising his wand once more.

"Incarcerous!" Malfoy shouted. Hermione attempted to jump out of the way, but her shock caused her to react too late. Ropes shot out from his wand and tied her up, she quickly lost her balance and fell over.

Malfoy walked up to her, leaned down taking her wand, and the others she had stolen.

"What are you going to do, kill me Malfoy?" Hermione demanded, angry tears forming in her eyes.

He looked around the room at the passed out death eaters and then back at her. His angry face had depleted.

"If I was going to, I would have by now."

Hermione felt the shock that ran through her. "W-What?"

He took a deep breath like he was going to reply, but then looked away, hands curling into fists.

Hermione's heart was still beating fast, as she tried to form the words she was going to say.

"You don't have to do this Malfoy, why did you become a death eater in the first place?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

He turned back towards her, glaring. "You think I had the choice? He would have killed me, he would have killed my family!" Hermione knew that 'he' meant 'Voldemort'.

She took a shaky breath. "That doesn't mean that you have to kill too, or be evil as well. Please, let me go, let my parents go."

He was shaking now, not in anger, but fear. "You know I can't do that."

Hermione didn't understand. "Why not?!"

"You damn well know why!"

Hermione then understood, he would be killed.

"Then let me go, let me help you. I- I could send my parents away, we could fake their deaths, we could fake mine! Just please, you don't have to do this."

He looked at her, clearly thinking what she said through.

"Can you actually do that?"

Hermione nodded, fearing that he would let the other death eaters kill her when they woke.

"I can. And we don't have much time either, they could wake up and wonder why you haven't killed us yet. Just please, don't let them do this."

He stared at her once more, but pointing his wand at her and saying the counter curse. She felt the ropes disappear, and she shakily stood up, glass still woven into her feet.

"Okay," she said, putting her hand out. Malfoy glared at her once more, before carefully giving her wand back.

"Follow me." She started walking up the stairs, past her bedroom, to her parents. They should still be in here, as she had locked their bedroom door.

Performing the counter spell, she carefully opened the door. Her mom was in tears as her dad sat on the bed next to her, trying to comfort her mom.

"Mum," Hermione said. They looked up, and relief flooded both of their faces. They rushed forward embracing her.

"Thank god you're okay, what happened? We tried to get out but the door was locked from the outside!" Hermione's dad said, as they stopped hugging and took a step back.

Hermione looked behind her, seeing Malfoy from the doorway. He referenced his head towards the stairs that lead down, and Hermione understood, they were running out of time. Her parents hadn't notice Malfoy yet, as they were too worried about their daughter.

Tears welled up and started to pour down Hermione's face.

"Mum, dad, I'm so sorry." She said.

Her mom's eyes widened as Hermione rose her wand.

"Honey, what-?"

"Obliviate."

Her parents gave Hermione a fixed gaze for a few moments, as the spell heavily affect them. They then around in a dreary state, grabbed their suitcases, and started packing. Hermione was crying the whole time, her father picked up the phone and called someone. Within the next five minutes, her parents were in a taxi, and they had left, headed for the airport.

Hermione quickly dried up her tears, and turned to Malfoy, who was silent the whole time.

"Okay, I have one m-more thing, t-to do." Her voice was shaky.

Malfoy looked at her, and for a second she thought she saw concern in his eyes, but they were gone just as fast as it had appeared. They both headed down the steps, Hermione's eyes red and face blotchy. She told Malfoy to stay where he was as she headed towards the dining room, Hermione returned into the living room levitating two chairs.

"I thought that you could say that I got away, as if I'm spotted somewhere, they would know you were lying."

Malfoy frowned, but didn't say anything. Hermione sat the chairs in the middle of the room, and while taking a deep breath, shot out a very complex spell. The chairs then reacted by giving off a bright light, disorientating their vision, and then finally when the light dispersed, lying there were the fake forms of Hermione's parents, looking cold, still, and dead.

"There." She said shakily, staring at the chairs with a pain filled face.

Without giving Malfoy another look, she turned around and headed up the stairs. She quickly changed out of her clothes, shoved all her belongings into her never ending bag, and slipped on a pair of shoes, as it hurt deeply due to the glass wounds she had. She walked back down the stairs.

Malfoy was still there, waiting. They looked at each other awkwardly, before Hermione decided to break the silence.

"Thanks, Malfoy. Thanks for letting me save my parents and myself, I'll forever be in debt to you."

He surprised Hermione by shaking his head. "Your house has been destroyed enough, I think you don't owe me anything."

She sighed, and looked around the room. The couches were flipped upside down, cotton everywhere, pictures, vases, the TV, cups, plates, and practically everything they owned except the bedrooms were in pieces.

Hermione gave him a worried glance, he nodded, and she just gave a sad smile. Without another word, she left her house. Hermione knew that this would probably be the last time she ever saw it, but gathering up her pride, she never looked back, not even once.

Okay, I'm really bad at action scenes, but I hope this one turned out okay. Please review, as I'm a person who needs a lot of motivation. Thanks!

-NErD/Cheyanne-