Disclaimer: If Harry Potter belonged to me, my life would be complete…but hey, once the seventh book is out, my life will be pretty damn good! Everything belongs to JK Rowling.

Title: The Untold Story

Summary: The war goes on after Dumbledore's death, with Hermione by Harry's side and Draco in hiding after his inability to kill the headmaster. The quest to find the Horcruxs is underway, but at the same time, the story from the moment the young wizards started school is unraveling from Hermione and Draco's point of view. And their story is one deeply hidden in shadow and fear.

Author's Note: This is a very strange concept, I know, but I will be completely 100 true to the books, only changing what was never said to begin with. Lines from the book will be used. This is the story JK Rowling never told, the one that doesn't follow Harry but explores what happens when Hermione and Draco are not in the narrative. It is told from their perspective, with their hidden thoughts that we don't know about in the actual book. So, with that said, if I get any information wrong (which I am hoping I will not because I am researching this pretty extensively by reading the books and taking notes on them), please let me know and I will fix it ASAP. Also, I'm going to be putting in a lot of what I feel should happen in the seventh book, although I won't answer every single question we all have, and a lot will be added that would never happen in the actual book, as the point of the story isn't to be the seventh book but to focus on Hermione and Draco. This is rated T for now, but I may switch it to M later. Thanks for reading!! One more note: for those who read my story Go to the Devil, I WILL be updating that soon, I just have to have a bit of inspiration hit me.

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Chapter One

Killing Shadows

This is our untold story.

Sunlight crept in the window, seeping through and killing the shadows the night had bred. It was rather symbolic, the still figure in the corner of the small room mused. It was what they were setting out to do…kill the shadow with light. Eliminate the force who would throw the entire world into darkness if he had his way. Capture the servants of this dark creature…every single one.

The light slowly made its way up the boy in the bed's body, caressing the quilt he was curled up underneath, easing the tense lines the night's dreams had brought on. His black hair shined softly as he instinctively turned over, hiding from the light that would wake him and plunge back into the world where his troubled dreams were carried over into reality.

Hermione heard someone else in the house moving, and slowly uncurled herself from the uncomfortable chair in the corner, stretching out her aching muscles. She allowed the light to hit her, but it wasn't nearly as kind as it had been to Harry. She quickly shut her eyes against the sharp pain that one who has become accustomed to darkness feels when the light assaults them once more. It illuminated the dark circles underneath her eyes and the shallow hollows beneath her cheekbones.

A soft knock forced the girl to slowly open her eyes and she walked quietly to the door. Opening it, she found Ron, smiling at her sleepily.

"How is he?" The question, however simple it might have seemed, was a loaded one. Harry was by no means alright…witnessing Dumbledore's death had taken its toll. When he had returned to the Dursley's to get as much protection as he could from the magic his former headmaster had provided, the Order had moved in with him, setting up a small operation camp. They wanted Harry to be the first to hear any new information and they needed to be able to look after him, as his mentally weakened state would be altogether too easy for Voldemort to attempt to enter again. Of course, the Dursleys had been far from happy at this turn of events, but arguing with a group of fully-grown wizards had proved to be too much for them and they were currently going about their lives and ignoring the group as much as humanly possible.

"It wasn't too bad of a night, the usual nightmares, but he seemed better." A lie, but Ron looked as if a little weight had been taken off his shoulders, and Hermione was more than happy to carry it for him.

"Good…now get some sleep, 'Mione." He smiled at her and touched her hand softly. She knew he wanted to take it, to pull her to him, and she wouldn't have resisted. A moment passed, and Ron's face became a little flushed as he quickly grinned again and slipped past her.

Sighing, Hermione went to her room. Sleep was a treasured commodity for the girl. When she wasn't watching over Harry as he slept, she was with him and the other members of the Order. Planning. Always planning. She was blissfully grateful then, every time she was able to crawl into the makeshift bed set up for her in the Dursley's former sitting room. As she rested her head on the pillow and enjoyed the heavy feel of the blankets enveloping her, she thought about her night with Harry. Thank Merlin his room was charmed to be silent, for his tortured screams would have woken the entire house.

"Don't do it Draco….Headmaster, I saw him on the map…the Room of Requirement…I knew…I knew…Draco…"

Draco. Every time Harry had forced out the name, it had hit her like a physical punch in the stomach. The boy's face swam in her mind. Those grey eyes that had seen her at her weakest…had seen parts of her that even her best friends could never even imagine. The dark crevices of her mind, the shadows in her soul…those were where he lurked, waiting for something, anything, to make her remember what she would never be able to forget.

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Hermione leaned against the wall of the train for a split second as she walked away from Harry and Ron's compartment. To actually meet the boy she had read so much about over the summer…she felt a little faint at the thought. She saw Neville ahead, still searching for his toad, and felt a little lead of happiness, and then shame, at the thought that there was at least one person who seemed more out of sorts than she did.

Her stomach lurched again, something it had developed a habit of doing since she had received her Hogwarts admissions letter. She wasn't stupid, and knew she was entering a world where she, a Muggle-born, was the minority. As she had buried herself in books about this foreign universe, she realized how extensive and dangerous the prejudice she would have to face was. While she was determined to prove herself and rise above this, she knew it wouldn't be easy. Add this to her near incapability to make friends…she was better with books than with people, and knew it…and her stomach was churning.

Before she reached Neville, three boys stepped out from a compartment in front of her. The twinge of jealousy she had felt a moment before with Harry and Ron reemerged. Everyone already seemed to have friends. She hid it well, though, and inspected the boys, ready to lecture them on getting dressed as she had Harry and Ron. She knew she sounded bossy, but it was the only way she knew how to address her peers. As soon as she got a better look at the group, however, she bit her tongue. Two of the strangers were enormous, thick boys with scowls plastered on their faces. They flanked the third boy, nearly hiding him from her sight. All she could see was a flash of almost snow-white skin and sleeked back silvery gold hair. When he stepped out to face her, his eyes locked onto hers and she drew in a sharp breath. They were like the sky after a terrible storm. They stared at each other for a moment, both of their faces left unguarded. Just for a moment. Then his eyes hardened, melting from storm clouds to molten steel. His lips twisted into a sneer.

"And who are you?" His sneer deepened as he ran his eyes over her frizzy hair, her uneven teeth, and her petite frame. She felt every thing she had ever been self-conscious about come rushing back.

"Hermione Granger." Her words were steady, but she felt tears prickling the back of her eyelids.

"I'm Draco Malfoy. You must be from Muggles…I've never heard your family name. And I presume you've never heard of mine for that same reason, although I assure you, you will soon enough." His voice had inherited even more haughtiness at this revelation.

"Yeah…I'm Muggle-born."

"Figures. No pureblood would allow their appearance to be so neglected. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone I need to meet. Crabbe, Goyle." At the sound of their names, his two lackeys stopped chuckling stupidly at their leader's fun and shoved past Hermione, clearing the way for Draco. As he brushed past her, he glanced at her once more, the smirk on his lips faltering for a moment, replaced with what could only be described as surprise, as their skin touched. However, within a split second the cold returned to his features once more and he turned away, leaving Hermione with tears in her eyes and pressed up against the wall.

She had known it would be hard, but she couldn't imagine what kind of training Draco must have had to make him be that cruel. She was a firm believer in the fact that all people were inherently good…but for an eleven-year-old to be that prejudiced…she shivered as a wave of premonition passed over her. The time she was to spend in this new world wasn't going to be easy. Bracing herself, she pushed herself away from the wall and hurried over to Neville, who was barely containing himself over his toad.

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As Hermione was drifting off to sleep, Draco Malfoy was just waking up. He grimaced as he shifted away from the stick that was digging into his side through the thin blanket he was sleeping on. He heard Snape - he had ceased calling him Professor as soon as they had left school grounds, as he was quite sure the man would not be teaching at Hogwarts again – muttering as he walked out of the surrounding woods into the clearing where Draco was lying.

When Snape reached Draco he looked down at him, a grimace on his face. "Wake up. I think they suspect I know where you are, and they might have followed me."

"I thought you said you had convinced them."

"I did…but you know Bellatrix, she doesn't trust me and she's been whispering things to her Lord that I'm afraid might hurt us."

"But surely she knows if He finds me, I'm dead!"

Snape helped the boy to his feet, a sneer on his face. "Don't be so naïve, Draco…Bellatrix would sacrifice you in a moment to take my position by Voldemort's side."

Draco sighed as he looked down at himself. His usually immaculate robes were filthy, and his frame had diminished from the sleek Seeker's build it had been into a half-starved imitation. He could have hit something, but he had already done that, repeatedly, as was shown by the just-healing cuts on his knuckles. If only he had been able to say those words…those two simple words…Avada Kedavra…and finish the old man. Life would be so much simpler. True, Snape had done it for him, for reasons still unknown to Draco, but that wasn't good enough for the Dark Lord. He had failed, and that was more than enough reason to kill him.

Since that night, Snape had been hiding him in different places, telling Voldemort that Draco had escaped and ran off. He wasn't important enough for the Lord to spend much time looking for him, so Draco believed, but for some reason Voldemort had been enraged and had been sending parties of Death Eaters everywhere he thought Draco might go.

As for Snape, Draco was thoroughly confused. As they had been fleeing the grounds, he hadn't allowed the other Death Eaters to even wound Potter, and once they had escaped he had lapsed into angry silence, only breaking it to yell at Draco for not informing him of what he had been doing sooner. Suspicions that the boy wouldn't let rise to the surface were bubbling up…what Dumbledore had said about Snape…

"It just so happens I trust Professor Snape…"

At the time, Draco had scoffed, but now doubt was creeping in. Dumbledore had been a very powerful wizard, and for him to trust somebody like Snape must have taken something huge.

Snape grabbed his arm, leading him into the thick branches that surrounded their little clearing. Draco was lost in thought about the fateful night as they struggled through the branches, going to a destination only Snape knew.

"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer…You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts…so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it."

Draco winced as a branch whipped his face and realized his long fingers were trembling. He could still feel the panic as Dumbledore's words had caused him. He had to do it. He had worked all year for this…Voldemort would have him killed…would have his family slaughtered.

"You are afraid to act until they join you."

"It's you who should be scared!"

"But why? I don't think you will kill me, Draco. Killing is not as easy as the innocent believe…"

That word…innocent. Draco had let Death Eaters in to his school, had almost killed two of his fellow classmates, including that horrible Weasley, and Dumbledore was calling him innocent. It had hit him like a ton of bricks. This was his last moment of true innocence. He was leaving his childhood behind tonight. He could never go back. He could never return to the days where he had been finally happy. He had ruined that. He kept his composure, though, drawing strength from the fact that Dumbledore was praising him on his plan and was weakening. He had done it. Voldemort would bring him to his front ranks, he would be the youngest to be so close to the Dark Lord…it was what he had been raised to do and he was finally going to do it. He would finally make his father proud.

"I got the idea of poisoning the mead from the Mudblood Granger as well."

As soon as the word slipped out, Draco had felt his stomach clench. He had never been able to stop using it, even when... Thinking about her made him squeeze his eyes shut, willing the memories to disappear. Yes, he had forsaken his happier days.

"Please do not use that offensive word in front of me."

"You care about me saying 'Mudblood' when I'm about to kill you?"

It was something she would have cared about. No. He wouldn't think about her.

"Let us discuss your options, Draco."

Shock. There were no options…how dare he say there were options? As Snape quickened his pace, Draco's mouth drew in a thin line as he clenched his teeth. He wanted to stop the next part of the memory, the part that haunted him day and night.

"I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!"

His mother, with her slender frame…the one who would stand up for him against his father. The one who was so fragile, so beautiful…the one who didn't want this fate for her son but wasn't able to stop it.

"I can help you, Draco."

"No, you can't. Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice."

"He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise…Come over to the right side, Draco…you are not a killer."

"You're at my mercy…"

"No, Draco, it is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now."

And his wand had dropped…he wouldn't have gone through with it, Draco knew that now. There had been a way out. He would have been safe. And then the Death Eaters had arrived, and were yelling at him to do it. Fenrir Greyback, with his promises to eat Draco's classmates…the entire world had been blurred and he hadn't been able to stop shaking. All his thoughts of courage and greatness were gone, replaced with fear and doubt. Then Snape had come…

"Severus…Severus…please…"

Dumbledore had been pleading. And then Snape had killed him, without a second thought. They had fled, Snape had screamed at him to run…and Draco did. When Snape had grabbed his arm, the hippogriff screeching behind him and Disapparated, Draco had blacked out. What had he done?

"Draco! Snap out of it, boy, and look at me."

Draco slowly clawed his way out of the terrible memory and gazed at Snape, who was standing in front of him, a harsh expression etched in his face. "Sorry, Severus."

"Where were you?"

Draco didn't answer, opting to stare at the ground instead.

"Fine." The lines eased out of his former professor's face and he gestured to the house in front of him. "This is a house I purchased out of the funds granted to me by your father before he went to prison in case you ever needed anything you couldn't buy yourself…the Dark Lord doesn't know where it is, and you will be safe here…for now. I think I know a way to get you back into his good graces, but we need to meet with some associates of mine before that happens so you know exactly where you stand. There are many things you do not know, Draco, and you must be taught them before you are able to return to the Death Eaters…do you understand?"

Draco stared at the house in front of him. It was small and dirty…completely unsuitable for a Malfoy. But Snape's claims sounded promising, and so he let a small smile grace his stony face.

"Understood."

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"Hermione!"

Strong hands where shaking her, and for a moment Hermione almost let his name graze her lips. Red hair seeped into her consciousness just in time, however, and she bolted to a sitting position. "What is it?"

"Snape's back." Ron's face was ghostly pale beneath his freckles.

All sleepiness left her and Hermione sprung out of bed, hastily pulling a sweater over her nightclothes. "What?!"

"He just walked right up to the door, Tonks answered it and had him at wandpoint in about three seconds. Lupin, Moody, my parents, and Harry are downstairs with him now…they all have their wands out and he handed his over, but we wanted you there before we let him start talking."

As he talked, they rushed downstairs. The Dursleys were in the living room, pointedly talking about the weather, and Hermione flew by them without a second glance. There, in the kitchen, she saw him. His greasy black hair and hooknose made her want to scream…he had killed Dumbledore. She looked over at Harry, who was red in the face and clenching his jaw, green fire dancing in his eyes.

Snape looked at her. Straight at her. She felt him enter her mind through Legilimency, and was about to scream, but quickly the words formed and she shut her mouth with a snap.

I know, Hermione…I know what Draco knows…

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A/N: Please review! I'd like to hear what you guys think of this concept…it's exceedingly difficult to write because I have to be constantly checking facts, so I need to know if this is worth following through! Thanks for reading!!