Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me at all.

Note: Okay so this is the first chapter of my first fic! -confeti- Anyway reviews would be awesome and let me know what you think!

Counting Trees

Her hair splayed out in a messy mass of curls as she brought her head down on the desk a fourth time. She pounded her fists on the arms of her cheap swivel chair none too gently. How did this keep happening? He was there and then in flash he wasn't! Why, why, why, why? This just wasn't fair! Hermione growled and actually felt her eyes tear up in frustration. How did this happen to her? She was not a vain, egotistical person, but she was the brightest witch of her age dammit! And yet, the king of blaringly obvious, the sire of outspoken opinions (most definitely unwelcome opinions), the patriarch of the infamous, and one of the most well-known people in the wizarding world today, was one-step-ahead-ing, planning, and hiding circles around her!

She picked her head up and glared at the digital clock on the wall, the numbers glared back at her in the angry red forms reading: 11:57 p.m. She had worked a fourteen hour day, not including the time she had spent before the office even opened. She was the first one to arrive this morning, and she was by far the last to leave. A long sigh emitted from her mouth as she pulled the manila folder together haphazardly and stood, simultaneously pushing six empty Styrofoam coffee cups into the trash bin.

The portraits in the ministry halls blinked at her groggily being woken by the echo of her footsteps. She stepped out into the almost morning chill and apparated to her flat. Leonardo meowed at her from his high perch on the sofa as if reminding her that she'd once again broken the resolution to come home at a decent hour. He jumped gracefully down and padded over to her on the linoleum flooring, making figure eights around her ankles signifying that he was ready to be fed. She placed the can of cat food by the fridge and removed her shoes and coat throwing them over her large and overstuffed bag, fully intending on doing nothing other than showering and sleeping. She was exhausted, she needed rest and could work on the case tomorrow; Hermione mantra-ed herself, it didn't matter that it had been a full month since she'd had any kind of significant lead. No, that didn't matter now, what mattered was that she needed sleep. It also didn't matter that she was mainly doing guesswork, and that he was still out there winning the hide and seek game they were playing, her mind added in a cynical, sarcastic way. Oh, and it didn't matter that people's lives were still being ruined by that man, while she lay asleep in her bed. An arrow of guilt speared her heart. She raced back down the hall and snatched the manila folder back out of her bag. Leo looked at her oddly, almost as if seeing through her, could he tell? Could he possibly know what had made her like this? Of course not, answered logic. "Stop it." She ordered the cat as he stared at her calculatingly. He couldn't possibly understand what had happened.

Back in her bedroom, she pushed away the loosed memories she'd just seen and opened the file. Numbers, descriptions, and text all attacked her eyes. She began what she'd done for the past month, really what she'd been doing ever since first year at Hogwarts; she studied.

-DM-

He lay back down on his threadbare cloak; he couldn't sleep at all, again. He couldn't shake the feeling that the animals could still see him even though he had cast wards around this place. Maybe they could, he thought. Maybe they could even feel his fear of them seeing, as if they could talk and tell the world where he was. He knew exactly what the punishment for working with his lord was. The kiss, a fate far, far worse than death, even hell would be better. The only hope he had at living with his soul and dying with it for that matter, however broken it may be, was continuing; faithfully killing people. To make it more bearable he would blink at the exact moment he cast the curse, and he would think to himself, that no one was truly innocent, that he wasn't killing pure people. He kept seeing them though, those that had died by him, one woman in particular. She'd looked so familiar, she looked like a fine woman, and she was a Christian too. She had hope after death; he'd tell himself when he woke up from one such nightmare. She'd believed in something better, while he just tried to survive here. She had large brown eyes, and a kind motherly look, not beautiful, but there was something in the creases of her face that appeared lovely. She was not large or shriveled at all, aging gracefully, probably not even that old about fifty-four he'd guess. He didn't know her name, he knew who she was though, and he'd easily seen the same woman in a mudblood he'd gone to school with. She was Granger's mother, not only in looks, but in character. She'd sat down before him. She didn't try to fight him, just made herself comfortable lying down on her couch, closed her eyes and smiled. Her lips mouthed a silent prayer and then, "Okay, I'm ready." She'd said; it was like she was laughing at him. Draco took her life that instant, blinking so that he didn't see, and then left without touching a thing.

He envied her, she was so hopeful, so at peace with the world, and here he was fighting just to keep on. His mind taunted him with dreams of her, the woman's image would sneak up on him at random moments, and she would haunt him every time he'd point his wand at another. He tried extremely hard nowadays to avoid muggle raids. He bet she'd known this was going to happen to him after she died. For some reason though, he'd also bet that she believed that he had some reason left to breathe.

Draco turned over trying to get in a more comfortable position, though it didn't matter, he was still resting on firm ground. He faced the trees, daunting in their size and hiding whatever lay deeper in the forest, and he began to count them. His mind lulled into a haze at such a tedious task. There were hundreds of trees around him, just at this spot. By the time he reached thirty-two, he was in a fitful sleep.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! I would love some feedback and a review would be great!

Liz

1,197 words