Chapter 1 - Help Me…

The night was beautiful. A star-crossed lovers night, a moth-weight kiss night, a listen-to-the-dark night. This was a night to remember.

It was the night that had lured him out. She was a temptress of sweet autumn air, of a pearl-white moon that brought back memories. Memories of when the dark was familiar and he had almost been able to touch the stars.

But now she had shown her true nature, a poisoner, an unraveler of life. Because with the gentle glow of moonlight and starlight came the enemy: a cloaked silhouette he had learned to loathe. And now he was on the run.

He was always running, really. Running from the world that threw him away. Running from the life that had taken its own twisted path. Running from those who still insisted on pursuing him, even though he had tried hard to knock them off the trail.

The truth was, he was tired of running. Of always being scared, of waking each day not knowing if it would be his last.

But it didn't matter, because the only thing he lived for was to run away.

The figure cloaked in black was gaining. Cursing, he sped up, pushing his legs and lungs to the limit. The city melted away, replaced by the thump of his feet on the sidewalk and the beat of his heart and the ache in his side. Inwardly, he scolded himself. He should have known better. What an idiot he was – he should have never been walking out at night in the first place.

What had he been thinking?

He abruptly turned a corner, hoping to confuse the Death Eater. Or the fighter for the Light. They were all the same now, for while the Dark wanted to kill him and the Light wanted to capture him, they both had the same final goal in mind: his defeat.

For Draco Malfoy was an enemy of the world.

He stared at the brick wall in front of him, his exhausted brain taking a second to register what it meant.

Dead end.

His already pale skin turned, if possible, even whiter. He drew his wand, turned around, and faced his opponent, the figure's face still concealed beneath the hood.

"Expelliarmus!"

Still in shock, Draco was caught unprepared. His wand flew out of his hand, landing in the darkness beside him, and he was thrown against the bricks. He landed face-downwards, wincing as his face hit the asphalt. He started shakily to his feet, hands groping frantically for his wand.

"Avad- NO!" the figure's voice suddenly lost its icy quality and became high pitched and frightened. Draco furrowed his brow, temporarily abandoning his attempt to retrieve his wand in confusion. Where had he heard that voice before?

The stranger was now on his knees, trembling. "NO! Don't make me...please..." And then the hood fell back, the stranger's face finally revealed in the silvery moonlight. Draco's eyes widened in shock.

Granger?

She was deathly white, her lips, by contrast, a pale rose. The moonlight caught the streaks of tears on her face, and her caramel eyes, once filled with laughter, were now pools of anguish. Then she caught sight of Draco.

"No…Get away! I don't want to – Avada Ked – NO!" She shrieked, and burst into tears. Draco's fingers brushed something thin, but then his wand slipped through his grasp and rolled to a patch of moonlight a few feet away.

"Draco...help me..." He looked over and saw that she was unwillingly rising to her feet, as if some invisible force was pulling her up. Then she raised a trembling wand-arm.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Draco dived for his wand, narrowly missing the spell. Bricks and debris rained down on him as it hit the building. He leaped to his feet and pointed his wand at Hermione.

"STUPEFY!"

The spell hit its mark, and she fell in a crumpled heap. Draco waited a few second before approaching: the Hermione he remembered was hard to overpower. She lay still as he carefully turned her over. She looked so peaceful, the moonlight shining through her almost-translucent eyelids. You would never had known, thought Draco wryly, that she had a tongue that could slice through steel.

Since she didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon, he leaned against the wall that wasn't completely destroyed and thought the situation over.

The simplest thing to do would be to leave her here, but that seemed...wrong. Who knows what could creep up on her while she was unconscious?

But then, she had tried to kill him. And tried to stop herself. It seemed like someone or something was trying to control her...unless she had suddenly gone over to the Dark side. He grinned at the thought of Granger bossing around the Death Eaters. But little Miss Know-It-All would never work for Voldemort willingly. Maybe the Light had finally decided they were tired of chasing him and just wanted him dead. Only one way to find out...

He carefully rolled up her sleeve, then recoiled in shock. The Dark Mark was imprinted on her creamy skin, pulsating in that familiar way that now disgusted him.

He drew away from her. He would leave her, this was her problem, no way he was going to take a Death Eater with him...

Draco…help me…

He cursed. He couldn't leave her that way, looking so naive and perfect. The Draco Malfoy who would have left her defensless was long gone, and he could no longer act as heartless as he once was. Besides, his curiosity had been aroused. What was Granger of all people doing with the Dark Mark on her arm?

He sighed and picked her up, groaning under her dead weight. Staggering a little, he stepped back onto the street, the black cloak of night enveloping them both.

Help me...

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A/N: Don't worry; both characters will be more-or-less back to normal in later chapters. Draco WILL be his usual snobby, asshole self, and Hermione WILL be her usual hate-Malfoy, know-it-all self. And before you attack me for making Hermione try to kill Draco, please remember that murder is a crime punishable by the law. So please refrain from stabbing me with a spork. Thank you.