Disclaimer: you ALL know I don't own harry potter.
Note: This is a little something I wrote ages ago. I have to give you a major fluff warning!! Also, it only has three chapters. I just decided to post it cos my friend ( a total HP obsessive) read it and said it was really cute… so anyway, here it is. Its after book 4, so I guess it'd be during book 5, but I wrote it before book 5 came out.
Anyway, enjoy.
Chapter 1
"Oh, damn it!" Hermione said as the approached the road back up to school.
"What now?" Ron moaned.
"I forgot, there's I book I was gonna get… I'll run back, you guys go up, and I'll meet you back at school." Ron and Harry starred open mouthed,
"We aren't supposed to be down here alone Hermione."
"I'll just be a second." She said, turning round and running back into Hogsmeade.
"We should really stop being surprised when she breaks school rules." Harry said, still looking down the road after her.
"Hmm, you'd have thought we'd have gotten used to it by now." They shrugged, and continued back up to school.
Hermione raced back through Hogsmeade and into the small bookshop there. She went right to the back, where the few muggle books were kept, and searched for the latest Phillip Pullman, even as she smiled to herself imagining Ron's reaction to her reading fictional books about magic and alternate dimensions. She found the book she was looking for and paid for it. As she stood by the counter, she nearly missed the blond haired boy who walked past her to the same section she'd been in. She smiled wryly, well I never, she thought, watching as Draco Malfoy searched through the rows of muggle books: Ron and Harry will love this. She left the shop, still smiling to herself, and stopped dead in her tracks as a piercing scream filled the town. Hermione looked in the appropriate direction, and saw people fleeing from the five black-cloaked figures walking down the centre of the street, wearing masks. Deatheaters! Hermione thought. As she turned to run, another girl rushed past, knocking her to the ground. Hermione hit her head, and her vision blurred. Trying to clear her head, Hermione looked up to find the dark figures closing in, only metres away. She scrambled to her feet, but could barely keep her balance, let alone run. A deep, grainy voice sounded out from behind one of the masks,
"The dark lord is risen, mudbloods and muggles will finally fall!" the leading deatheater raised his wand, pointing directly at Hermione, "Crucio!" as her body was wracked with indescribable pain, Hermione felt a weight hit her, and someone grabbed her wrist, dragging her into a side street, out of the range of the curse. The person had their other arm around her, supporting her as they helped her run. The pair didn't stop running until they were out of Hogsmeade and just inside the Hogwarts grounds. Even inside the grounds, they hid to one side, and Hermione slid to the ground, her head pounding.
"Are you ok?" her rescuer asked, his voice seeming miles away. She held her head in her hands in an attempt to still her vision.
"I will be… if you'd just tell the landscape to stop spinning…"
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Hermione lifted her head to finally see who it was that had saved her. Her eyes flew wide, and her jaw actually dropped. "Malfoy!?" she shook her head, surely she still wasn't seeing right. When she looked again, Malfoy was still there, looking genuinely worried and slightly…apologetic? "Malfoy… but why?"
Now he just frowned,
"They were gonna kill you." He said simply. She nodded,
"Well duh. But… I thought you hated me?" Now he smiled slightly, seeing what she meant,
"Hey, you're a… muggle born Griffindor; it's kinda my job." He was pleased to see he'd made her smile. "But I don't want you dead."
"But isn't your dad…?" Malfoy hung his head,
"Just because that's what my dad is, doesn't mean I am too… I know I've said things… I guess I've done things too… but it was all just pissing around… I never figured… I guess I never really thought it would ever come to this. Name calling, playing pranks… that one thing. Killing people is totally different." Hermione smiled sympathetically at this whole different side to Malfoy. She was sure he hadn't even intended to say any of it – he was in shock, just as much as her.
"Malfoy, I… I didn't realise."
He shrugged,
"Anyway, are you ok? Cos we should get back to school before someone comes looking and my rep. is totally smashed."
Hermione grinned at him,
"Yeah, I'm ok. What should I say? I just ran?"
He nodded. She cocked her head to one side, "Y'know Malfoy, you really aren't as bad as you put on."
"Whoa there Granger, just cos I saved your life, don't go getting any ideas that I'm a decent person. I really don't go for this 'good at heart' crap."
"Oh god no, never." She smiled. Hermione wasn't sure if she was more shocked or pleased that he smiled back, almost laughed.
"Come on, I'll stay with you until we see anyone else." He said, helping her to stand. As they approached the front steps, Hermione paused, so that Malfoy could go ahead, and it wouldn't look like they were together. He glanced back once to be sure she was still standing, and continued.
"Malfoy?" Hermione called out at the last second. He turned, eyebrows raised in question. "Thanks." She said with a tilt of her head. He gave her a last half-smile and entered the school. Hermione waited long enough for him to have reached the dungeons, then headed straight for Dumbledore's office.
That evening, after lots of fussing, and Madame Pomfrey finally being convinced she wasn't about to drop dead, Hermione returned to the common room, where Ron and Harry sat together looking very worried.
"Hermione!" Ron cried as she walked in, leaping out of his seat. She smiled softly, and joined them.
"Are you ok? McGonagall told us what happened, but we weren't allowed to come see you!" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok." She assured them. "Just a bit wobbly."
"Is it true, though?" Ron asked eagerly. "That they used…?"
"Cruciatus? Yeah." She replied. Harry winced sympathetically,
"God, 'mione." He said, "We shouldn't have let you go back… or if we'd gone with you…"
"Harry, I really am ok." She said with a slight laugh.
"What d'you go back for, anyway?" Ron asked. Hermione smiled, and showed him the book. He rolled his eyes, "Oh, lord!" he cried, "You nearly got killed for the raving's of some lunatic that doesn't have the first clue what magic even is!" Hermione grinned as this was almost word for word to what she'd expected. She and Harry shook their heads, and they continued to talk long into the night as they often did. Hermione kept her word, and didn't mention a word of Malfoy's involvement in the afternoon's excitement.
