Disclaimer: none of the characters or anything you recognise belongs to me. That honour lies with J.K. Rowling.
This is the revised version of my original chapter. Hope I have managed to improve it, even if just a little bit. :)
A young 15 year old bushy haired girl closed her eyes as the three men in black cloaks slowly stalked towards her. She couldn't believe it had finally come to this. Hermione Granger was going to die in a filthy back street alley because she hadn't used her wits when walking home from the shops.
Her 'brilliant' mind hadn't come to the conclusion that Voldemort had returned only the previous month and that her life may be in danger. She was a muggleborn and best friends with Harry Potter for goodness sake. She might as well have sign over her head flashing, 'kill me. It would kill two birds with one stone!'
Her eyes were closed tight, her fingers lightly scratching the wall behind her as she tried to keep connected to the world as long as she could. She felt the little bits of mortar fall to the ground as she scratched harder and harder as the panic set in.
She heard a chuckle from one of the men who had been slowly approaching. They seemed to be enjoying the look of pure fear adorned on her face as she heard their feet scuff the uneven ground of the alley way.
"I do love it when the little beasts put up a fight. It was always my favourite lesson at school, care of magical creatures. The one thing I learnt from that lesson was that every creature has a weakness. Beasts like you…your weaknesses are your friends, your love and your virtue." His voice sounded gravelly, as though he was heavy smoker, Hermione couldn't help hearing the detached voice in her head whispering out 'you don't often see smokers in the wizarding world do you?'
She whimpered as a second voice softly spoke, "what shall we do with her then?" Though his voice was soft, some of the curses he had been throwing as her earlier in the chase she knew him to be ruthless. She remembered his eyes staring in her own when she had first bumped into them, they seemed so blank and void of life.
"Reckon we could have a bit of fun? It's been ages since the missus has given out and it would be a shame to let this one go." A third voice rang out, unable to keep the whine out of his voice.
She let out a sob as she felt a finger slowly move down her cheek and chin. Her eyes flew open and looked into a silver mask of a death eater. It seemed to tilt to the side as though studying her and debating whether to give in to his friend.
"Well the Dark lord didn't say we couldn't have any fun with the mudblood…Fine have your fun Jeaves." He said stepping aside to let the eager man rush forward.
Hermione tried to lean back into the wall, her eyes wide as the man in front of her rubbed to hands together in anticipation. She could almost imagine the sinister look behind the silver mask and Hermione shook her head as tears quickly ran down her cheeks.
"I would say this will be fun for you mudblood and that it won't hurt a bit." His head rolled backwards and he laughed towards the darkening sky, "But we all know that's a lie."
He rushed forward and Hermione let out a scream, her knee and arms moving upwards in a weak attempt to defend herself against the oncoming force. She heard a sudden exhalation of air and a loud groan as her knee connected with something soft.
She grinned as she realised her knee had connected with the area of his body he had only been thinking with only moments earlier.
In the confusion as the man's allies rushed forward to see what had occurred, Hermione had darted around the three men. Her only thought was to get as far away as possible. Tears were still running down her face as she ran down the streets of Hampstead, its inhabitants choosing to ignore the young girl as she ran panicked down its streets.
She finally stopped a mile away from where the attack had occurred, leaning against the wall that surrounded Hampstead Heath. Her breathing heavy and her lungs burned from over exertion. Her sobs were coming hard and fast as she realised how close she had come to a torturous death.
She was bent over double, her hand leaning on the wall as she tried to breathe deeply trying to calm down.
She stood up straight as her breathing became calmer and her tears slowed down. She wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her jumper and looked around the streets. The three deatheaters hadn't managed to find her, probably hadn't noticed she had managed to run off until they had realised what she had done to the whiney one.
She deeply inhaled and slowly walked back to her house, her eyes looking around the street for any sign of the danger returning. She pushed away the memory of how she got to be cornered in the alley way. She would talk about it when she was calmer, when it wasn't so fresh.
She just felt so stupid in getting in that situation when she was meant to be the brains of the trio.
She shook her head to get rid of unwanted thoughts; it wouldn't do to think of that now.
She stumbled up the steps up to a large, imposing red door with a big brass knocker on. She fumbled around in her jacket pocket looking for her front door key, pausing slightly when she noticed the rip in her sleeve.
She raised her key towards the keyhole when the door flung open, a petite woman with large curly hair and red rimmed eyes stood in the doorway. With a sob her mother Dawn Granger hurried and took Hermione into her arms hugging her tightly.
"Hermione! Where have you been? I've been worried sick!" She paused when she finally checked over her daughter. "What's happened? Why are you covered in cuts and bruises?" Dawn pulled Hermione into the house and pushed her towards the kitchen.
"Sit down! Sit down and I will make you a cup of tea." She quickly moved towards the kitchen, busying her hands by setting up four mugs and putting the kettle on.
Dawn turned back towards Hermione leaning back on the kitchen counter. She appeared to have calmed down, the action of making a cup of tea and having her daughter back in the kitchen, sat at the table, seemed to have removed the dark thoughts. "What happened?" she said simply.
Hermione looked towards her mother, her right eye beginning to bruise and turn a deep purple, it was beginning to become difficult to see out of it. "I was attacked" Hermione said with a shuddering breath before smiling weakly, "but I managed to escape." A small nervous laugh escaped Hermione when her mum simply stared at her.
Dawn seemed to have just gone into shock, simply staring at her Daughter as if she couldn't believe how calmly she was speaking of her attack.
She shook her head, her brown curls swinging slightly before turning round to pour the hot water into the kettle and then adding milk. Hermione had learned from a young age her mum dealt better with difficult situations by keeping her hands busy. She couldn't help but smile sadly towards her mum.
"I will make you some cheese on toast, I can imagine you're hungry." Dawn said without looking round.
Within minutes a plate full of cheese on toast was pushed towards her and Dawn sat down beside her.
"I thought I had lost you sweetheart, I love you so much, it would kill me if something was to happen." She brought Hermione to her for another tight hug; Hermione nuzzled into her mother's hair, smiling at the comfort such a childish gesture had given her.
Dawn kissed Hermione on the forehead before pointing towards the plate of food and ordered, "Eat. You must be starving."
Hermione nodded before tucking in, "Mum, I don't get why you're so worried, it's not even curfew yet? How did you know something had happened?" She said after swallowing her first mouthful before taking a second bite.
Dawn looked up with a look of panic before sighing. "You will probably find out tonight anyway. You're godfather was the one who told us that something was amiss."
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed together as she opened her mouth to question her mother. She didn't have a godfather, it was only her and her parents.
Suddenly the door slammed and two pairs of shoes could be heard walking down the hallway along the wooden flooring. Hermione smiled as she heard her father, Robert Granger, rush in, "She back? Wha-? Hermione!" he said running towards her, clutching her to his chest. "You're okay my baby, you're okay." He buried his face in her thick bushy hair and Hermione could have sworn she felt Rob shudder before pulling back, pushing the hair out of her face. "Never do that again, do you hear me!" Hermione simply nodded before he pushed her back into the chair so she could continue eating.
She took another bite of her toast, before turning towards the kitchen entrance, stopping mid chew when she saw who was stood there. It was the one person she would have never expected to have been present. There stood Severus Snape, Potions master, staring at Hermione with a look of relief she would have never expected from a man like the professor.