Restoration of a Brilliant Mind

The result of their stupid mistake was the disappearance of their best friend. Apparently Malfoy wasn't anywhere to be found either. But Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley couldn't think of where they might be. All they remember is their friend, Hermione Granger, dueling against Draco Malfoy at the library in London last night.

They had gone to the library to see what magical books they could get their hands on. Hermione had a tip off from an anonymous person with a rented black barn owl. The owl had interrupted their dinner at Grimmaulds Place a few hours before they journeyed into muggle London to search for hidden wizard books in their library. They should have realized that something was going to happen.

It wasn't really a trap per se but it did turn into a fight against Death Eaters. The Death Eaters just weren't expecting them either. As it turned out their tip was from a normal wizard who didn't want to be involved in the war but wanted the right side to see victory. He didn't know that the Death Eaters would find out and seek this new information for themselves.

Harry and his two friends had arrived at the library and were searching in the basement of the building for the hidden texts when they heard the arrival of their enemies. They grabbed what they could and were on their way to sneaking out when Pettigrew spotted them. A full out fight began. Curses went flying everywhere from everyone.

"Hermione run!" was heard being screamed over the noise by Ron.

She looked over and saw him struggling with two Death Eaters. Rudolphus Lestrange and Theo Nott Sr. were hurtling curses at him one after the other in a constant battle of strength and speed. Ron was rapidly losing. Hermione stunned the Death Eater she was in battle with and ran to help him.

She saw him take down Nott and was then interrupted by Lucius Malfoy as he jumped in front of her and started shooting curses. She began her duel with the senior Malfoy. A powerful and rather handsome man, Lucius could have anything he wanted and at that moment he wanted to kill a certain mudblood. Hermione knew it was probably a losing fight so she used all her resources to defeat her opponent. She wasn't one of the smartest witches to go through Hogwarts because she didn't know how to improvise.

Behind Malfoy a few feet lay the body of the Death Eater she stunned a few minutes ago. An unusual burst of aggressiveness had her pushing Malfoy back a number of steps until he was flat on his back tripping over the body of his comrade. Not a second later she had him stunned also.

With a small victory smile on her face at her quick thinking she moved on to help her friends. Coming across Ron who had no problem with his opponent she continued on to find Harry. She couldn't find him so she went looking for any Death Eaters that might be sneaking around. She had the books in her pocket so she wasn't worried about anyone getting away with their information. As she walked around a bookcase she came across a bent over Draco Malfoy checking for a pulse on some woman. Apparently satisfied with his findings he got up with a smile on his face and turned around in shock at Hermione's presence.

He went into an instant dueling pose and shot an unforgivable at her. She was ready for his attack and blocked his curse easily. As she felt another of his curses graze her arm she started to scream at him. "Come on Malfoy. Is that all you have? I thought you could do better than that."

In his rather casual and cold voice he responded to her taunt. "Careful mudblood. That's how people get hurt." He continued to shoot unforgivables at her like no tomorrow.

Ron's screams caught her attention and gave Malfoy the chance he needed. Her wand was in his hand, broken, and tossed aside before she realized she was trapped. He started to advance on her and with his wand pointed directly at her heart he was about to end their duel.

With a quick thought Hermione pulled a knife from inside her jacket. It had a small handle for her to easily grip it and a four inch blade. A dangerous sort to be playing with. She lunged towards him and then fainted to the right as he threw a curse at her. When another curse grazed her arm the knife fell out of her hand and she tumbled to the ground. The knife landed with a thud between the two of them.

Malfoy smirked at her and her predicament. She was in trouble and knew it. There was nothing she could think up off the top of her head like she did with his father. No opportunities presented themselves to her.

He advanced on her slowly and she knew that he was savoring the moment. She wondered if this was his first kill or something. He took far too much pleasure from it for it to be though. She had to stop thinking about him killing her and get herself out of the situation first.

The next few minutes seem to happen very quickly. He had lunged at her and she had grabbed his wand from his hand. She pulled with all her might and managed to tug the wand from his hand. It fell underneath of her and as she sat on it she heard it crack and snap. He growled at her in anger and fury as he lunged at her again. This time the knife was again between them and they saw the opportunity. Rolling into a pile and grabbing at the knife both their hands landed on the blade and handle when they were pulled away by the naval.

The last think Hermione remembered seeing was the Death Eater woman's cold, dead eyes. Not his first kill.