"Look who it is boys"

Hermione recognised the familiar drawl of Draco Malfoy, although she hadn't heard it quite some time. He was had of course been the resident Death Eater when they had been at Hogwarts and he was also one of the last remaining Death Eaters, still to be captured by the ministry's top auror teams, which of course included her now. Any normal person would have been controlled by fear at the though of facing a rouge death eater and a group of his thugs on their own but this was Hermione Granger and she was no more intimidated by Malfoy than she had been at the age of 11 when he'd been calling her a mudblood.

She put her hands into the pockets of her jacket where her phone was and called Harry's number, knowing that if he could hear where she was and who with he'd be straight here with a team and that would be another Death Eater caught.

She heard Harry answer with a hello, so she spoke to Malfoy in a calm, confident voice.

"Haven't seen you in a while Malfoy, of all the places to show up you chose the alleyway on my way home." She couldn't remember the name of the street but she knew Harry would know where she was, after all he and Ron had walked it enough times with her. All she had to do now was keep him talking till Harry arrived.

"The Gryffindor Princess. No Potter? You pair were always inseparable along with Weasley. How times have changed." A cruel harsh laugh escaped his lips as he marvelled at his luck in finding her alone in an alley. "Been looking for you Granger, you're the top of my list. The top of our list."

It was then at the emphasis on the word our, that she realised how many men where standing behind him, glaring at her through the Death Eater mask's, all with their wands out pointing at her. The deathly look in Draco's eyes made her shiver. She clutched at the wand in the back pocket of her jeans; she had been wise in making it invisible to her attackers.

"It's very unwise to attack an auror you know." She was glad her voice came out confident and not sounding as scared as she really was.

"An auror? You?" He scoffed as he moved towards her. She was now backing up and was getting unbelievably close to the wall that would keep her cornered while the slimy git attacked her. "You're a bit small if you ask me. Small, fragile and very easy to break. As we're about to find out." He grinned maliciously at her. True, she was quite small for an auror and it would be very hard for her to hold up in a physical attack but armed with a wand and she was as strong as the next person. She was the brains behind their operations and often noticed things that others didn't; therefore she was a valuable weapon to her team.

She was now back against the brick wall and whatever they were about to do to her would be cloaked by the night's darkness. There wasn't a living soul around that would help her and the streets surrounding the alley were full of shops and businesses that would have been closed at this time at night. She was completely alone, that's when the reality of what she had walked into sunk in. She was alone with a Death Eater who had managed to avoid being killed in the final battle and had avoided Azkaban. He could snap her in half with his bare hands. He could make sure she never got out of this, she could die here staring into the icy grey eyes of her oldest enemy, Draco Malfoy Was she willing to die so that he and his group of Death Eaters would be caught? He was very dangerous and he had back up.

Okay think Hermione think she commanded herself. She continued to analyse her situation and her options. She was brought back to reality was a sharp punch in the face.

He was obviously wearing a ring of some sort as she could feel the warm liquid cover her left cheek. In a flash she brought her wand up to his smug face and poked him with it under the chin. The look on his face was priceless as he realised he was attacking the smartest witch of their time and she was armed, all her defence's lay in the small piece of wood. Magical or not that scared her as she frantically thought of any possible way out of this. She was so focused on the blonde in front of her that she didn't notice the group of thugs had moved to surround her. She was blocked in and she defiantly didn't see the large masculine hand reach out and snap her wand. She was defenceless. She threw a well aimed punch at his smug face just as she had done all those years ago and she heard the satisfying crack as she broke his nose. Her foot connected with his shin and she felt hands circle her ankles as someone tried to restrain the brunette. A blow to her stomach brought her to her and the wind was blown out of her. She sat there on the damp floor of a London alleyway with her head in her hands struggling to breathe. The distant sound of echoed off the concrete floor and Malfoy's head snapped round to see a large group of shadows rounding the corner. His smug grin turned to anger as he realised she had slipped through their plan and found some way to contact them. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her to her feet so forcefully she heard the bone snap and pain instantly shot up her arm. She felt the poke of a wand at the base of her neck as he dragged her round to face the group of Auror's that stood in position with their wands at the ready. The first thing that she saw however was the bright emerald green of Harry Potter's eyes. The look on his face plainly said he was going to kill Malfoy. She also noticed the bright ginger hair that belonged to Ronald Weasley, who was a quidditch player not an Auror and who had obviously insisted on coming to save his best friend, proberly against the wishes of his pregnant wife Luna. She experienced a moment of pride as she thought of Ron going against everything to come and help save her and catch Malfoy. That moment was short lived however as Draco's hand roughly gripped her chin and pulled her face to his as best he could.

"Ah Potter and Weasel, either they do care about you mudblood or they want to look good in the papers. Most likely the latter" his voice was dripping with venom towards Harry and Ron. They, after all were the downfall of his lord, who had been killed during the final battle. They had spent their 7 school years despising the boy who had grown up as his father had wished into a follower of lord Voldermort. He had betrayed Dumbledore and put the school in great risk.

"Put her down!" she could hear the protectiveness in Ron's voice as he called out from the group, she hadn't realised that her legs had buckled and Draco had put his arm around the base of her neck to keep her elevated from the floor and had replaced his wand to her temple. Her breathing hadn't gotten much easier and she was now gasping for breath. This is how people who drown must feel, she thought, the lack of air.

"Say goodbye to the Gryffindor Princess boys"

"Avad…" the words were only halfway out of his mouth when then were overshadowed by a strong voice belonging to the one and only boy-who-lived.

"Sectum sempra"

Hermione dropped to the floor on her knee's along with the bleeding body of Draco Malfoy. She watched as Harry ignored the spells being cast at the other death eaters and speed towards her. He knelt down in front of her.

Green eyes meeting brown.

"Got you Gryffindor Princess" he whispered in her ears as she collapsed in his arms, shaking with fright.