Summary: After a war-torn Wizarding world comes to grips with its lost heroes, Hermione finds a hero of her very own. Rated M for a reason…
Hermione awoke when she heard her stomach grumble loudly. Instinctively she clasped her arm over her belly, and rose from her makeshift bed. Bleary-eyed, she snatched her wand from the dirty ground and apparated to a random place that she had seen on one of her many treks for food. She only pictured large, shady trees, a cobblestone drive, and a street lined with shops.
She would wander the streets, memorizing where she had gleefully found a half-eaten apple and other scraps of food so she could just keep apparating. Just keep running. Hermione brushed the tangled and muddy hair out of her eyes, distantly remembering when her hair used to be silky curls that framed her round face.
Her face was anything but round now, and was completely gaunt. The lack of color on her cheeks made her almost unrecognizable. Her youthful glow had left her face and the rest of her once curvy body. Her hands were disgustingly dirty all the time, and she cringed at her current state. These were sad times for the Wizarding world, or so she thought. She really had no idea where she was in Muggle London, nor did she care. She had no idea what the date or time of day it was. Again, nor did she care. Ever since the dark day that Voldemort had overthrown all of the Ministry's authority, Hermione had become a nomad in order to save her life. She did not know what was going on in the Wizarding world nowadays, but she feared that it was as dank and dreary as it was when she left it. With a melancholy look on her face she thought, 'But what life am I saving? Is this really living?'
Everyone she knew had either been incarcerated or killed at the hands of the Death Eaters. Her parents were murdered in their car when they were driving home from King's Cross Station at the start of Hermione's seventh year. When she heard the news, she remembered her utmost distress, which caused her to faint on the spot. She didn't eat for weeks afterwards, and everyone could see her swollen, red eyes after bouts of crying. This worried those closest around her, although they all knew her inner strength. What would they all think of her now? A brief glint of shame crossed her eyes as she knocked over a pile of rubbish.
However, as soon as her friends had been put into Azkaban for defying the Dark Lord, or been captured and put into seemingly endless dungeons, Hermione knew it was time to make her escape. Although she could have changed her appearance and rejoined the Wizarding world, she had no access to the funds that she had accumulated at Gringott's after her parents' untimely demise. Any attempt at this would have caused the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters to renew their search for her. She would have been homeless and even more miserable due to the random killings that always happened at the hands of the Death Eaters. She would have lived in constant fear if she returned, so she was forced to stay in Muggle London as she could blend in with the masses of homeless people.
Hermione painfully walked down the cobblestone alley, picking lightly at the rubbish bins that lined the sordid way. She admitted to herself that she was no good at being homeless as her cleanliness always came first. She was always scared to pick up a moldy piece of bread, or to steal whatever food a rat had dragged out of the bins. Being the brightest witch of her age had made her a bit haughty when it came to digging through disgusting heaps of mold and disease.
Her feet were scarred from innumerable blisters that she just stopped caring for. Before, she would attempt to bandage them up and use magic to heal them but nowadays she simply had no energy. She was slowly dying from living on the streets. Hermione often thought that she had no reason to live any longer as everyone thought she was long deceased. 'Do they still care…do they still look for me?' She looked behind her and cursed as she left a small blood trail. "Scourgify!" Hermione weakly exclaimed as she pointed her wand at the sad little red spots on the cobblestones. It would not do for some stupid Muggle to follow and discover her. After all, she was supposed to be dead to the Muggle world and "missing" to the Wizarding world, which made things complicated. She grimaced as they only faded slightly. So much for being so powerful.
Sitting down in an alley that was quite a ways from the street, Hermione picked at her destroyed clothing and attempted to eat a sandwich that she had found. However, the smell around her only made her gag and she sighed at her condition. 'Look at yourself. What has become of me? What am I going to do?'
Just as she was contemplating whether it was worth it to live through these miserable conditions, a door opened nearby, causing Hermione to start. She cowered a little, ashamed that she had to live in hiding like this. 'Heh… you'll probably blend in with the dirt anyways…'
Just as she was going to get up to try and scamper away, a blond haired young man appeared before her. She hadn't heard his footfalls. But then again, she really didn't have the strength to pay attention to her surroundings. She bit her lip and again tried to smush herself into the bags of garbage that she was sitting against. She cursed as they made a rustling noise, catching the attention of the tall man in front of her.
Hermione gasped and tried to bring air into her lungs, but everything had become cold. Her stomach felt like lead and her hands turned into ice. She was looking into steel blue eyes, which had always held a hint of grey. Whereas before they were always malicious, right now they just looked surprised and a bit shocked.
"Granger? Hermione Granger?!" The young man's calm voice echoed in the homeless woman's ears, but she could not determine what he was saying. She fell forward and retched into the gutter before his feet.
"M-Malfoy…"
Draco caught the dirty little thing before her forehead smacked against the cobblestones (something Hermione would have preferred than this utter humiliation and fear.)
'She fainted…' Draco picked up the girl and apparated to his estate, his face etched with a permanent expression of disbelief. He had stumbled across the Hermione Jane Granger, once hero to the Wizarding world, and thought to be dead. He laid the supposedly-dead-woman on a chaise in the front room of his manor and summoned three house elves to attend to her.
"Marta, fetch Miss Granger some clothes. No, none of my mother's old things. Something suitable for a young lady. Rotty, draw up a bath and make sure that she is taken care of. She has not eaten for Merlin knows how long." He paused to take a breath, and ran his fingers through his pale locks. This was a lot to take in. "And Willy please make something for her to eat. Anything that she wants when she is conscious."
Draco dismissed the three diminutive creatures and all but sprinted up the stairs to his study. He perused past Daily Prophets for all news regarding the elusive Hermione Granger. None had shown that she was ever spotted, seen, captured, killed, or maimed. There was simply no news about her. She was an afterthought in everyone's mind now that she was thought to be dead.
Although when the Dark Lord was in power, he refused to think that the bright witch was deceased, and clearly did not underestimate her. Although Voldemort was ignorant and misguided by prejudice, he knew well not to underestimate an enemy. However, the Dark Lord had long been deposed by Draco Malfoy, so he wondered why the witch had not come out of hiding at that time.
He thumbed through the paper that contained this headline, "Malfoy: Savior to us All?", and shrugged at the story that was written. It really wasn't everything that the Daily Prophet chalked it up to be. The old fool was simply getting annoying with his dark, demonic presence looming over the Wizarding world. Draco did not answer to anyone, and he had seen the light about Voldemort's beliefs regarding blood status. So, he simply had done away with the disgusting things that were keeping him alive and freed the Order members from Azkaban. The only wizards and witches to take their places were Death Eaters that did not fall in rank under Draco.
A pop of apparition startled Draco to drop the Daily Prophet that was hanging loosely in his hands. "Master, the young miss is done with her bath and is wanting to see master. I have put miss in the Amethyst room."
"Excellent choice, Rotty, thank you." Draco dismissed the house elf in a friendly manner, not in the cruel way that his father would deal with them. Draco had become a changed man after he was rid of the influence that his father had over him. The man was no good to the Malfoy name and he fully intended to right the wrongs that had occurred due to his family.
Granger could probably be the first.
He skipped every other step when he made his way to the Eastern wing of the manor, where most of the bedrooms resided. The Western wing was mostly untouched as this was the wing that his father and the Death Eaters had taken over. After a few quick strides, he rapped assertively on Hermione's door and listened for the rustling inside.
"J-just a minute…" Hermione weakly replied. She padded over on the soft carpeting to the door. When Rotty had first taken her to this room, after rousing her with a nice bath, she deemed it absolutely breath-taking. The entire room had a light purple and creamy theme, causing her hand to float to her mouth as she stood absolutely flabbergasted. There was a cream-colored loveseat against the huge plane of glass that could not even be called a window, and she was mesmerized by the lavender silk curtains that let in the sun's rays. The bed was extremely fluffy and covered with a purple satin comforter that looked as if she could simply sink into it and never wake up.
Hermione tentatively placed her hand on the metal doorknob, and shook slightly. "Granger, it's alright. Open the door." She closed her eyes and slowly opened the door to see Draco Malfoy standing behind it. Hermione quickly looked at the ground and fidgeted with her hands before she looked up at Draco's gaze.
Hermione looked so different to him. She had lost that carefree, girly appearance that had gotten her so much attention during her last year of Hogwarts. She appeared skittish and very unlike the headstrong woman that he had begun to respect. He cleared his throat; the tension was stifling.
"Would you like to come eat?" Draco offered his arm to the small girl, but was not offended when she did not place her small hand on him. It was too much, he guessed. She weakly nodded and he led her to the dining area.
Hermione had little time to look around at the grandeur of Malfoy Manor while she was fainted in the hands of little house elves. However, she did look now.
She expected the Manor to be as dark as it was said to be, but Malfoy seemed to have done some redecorating. Sunlight cascaded over every staircase, portrait, chaise, Oriental rug, and lavish furnishing. It looked very fitting for a "manor" rather than a place where Dark revels occurred. Hermione shuddered and followed the young man in front of her.
Draco pulled out her chair, and then helped her get situated. He felt pity when he looked at her stick thin body that was completely engulfed in the white tunic dress that Marta had picked out. She looked washed out, although her cheeks were flushed from what he deemed to be shame.
He had barely spoken a word to the small creature that was sitting next to him, feebly trying to feed herself. He was surprised that she had not gotten pneumonia or something worse from being exposed to the elements.
"Erm…um…Granger I'd like to help you, you know. Get better." Draco coughed out a simple statement, but it caused Hermione to turn her frame to regard him.
"But…won't you be killed for this or something?" Hermione had still thought that the Dark Lord reigned, but then again she had been in hiding for a couple of years now. Draco's quizzical look caused her to retreat again until he realized that he was embarrassing her.
"Gr-Hermione, the Dark Lord is gone now. Everything has been restored while you were in hiding, although I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it." The look of awe that crossed Hermione's face was refreshing. She could still show spirit and emotion. "Did you do it?" She asked simply.
"I had help from your friends." He replied.
"My friends?! They're alive? They're out of Azkaban? What are they doing? Are they looking for me? Do they know I'm here?" Hermione blurted out so many questions that she had to pause and catch her breath. When she was on the streets she didn't have anyone to talk to so this was a bit of an exerting task in itself.
"Please, don't tax yourself. I don't know what your friends are doing but I DO know that they haven't been looking for you. No one has. Everyone has thought you to be dead except for me and Voldemort." Draco bluntly told Hermione just about everything she had missed since she was all but wiped off the face of the Earth.
Tears sprang to her eyes. "But wouldn't they want to know for sure? Don't they…miss me?" Her whole body began to shake. What of Ron? Did he still love her?
"I…I'll contact them for you and arrange a meeting. Although, I believe it would be best for you to regain your health here rather than move in with one of those dunderheads. I can hardly imagine that they'd care for you after these atrocities." Draco's arrogance shone through as he tossed back his silvery-blond hair. He was dissatisfied when Hermione nodded weakly. Who was he to force her to stay here?
"That is to say, Granger…you can leave whenever you want. But I'd like to see you make a full recovery under my wing. I owe you a lot." Draco looked at her sincerely and gently rested his hand on her fragile wrist for a second or two. He didn't want her to recoil or think him to be a threat to her. He really did owe her her life for she and her stupid friends were the ones who gave him the courage to escape his father's clutches.
"I...um…I have done nothing for you Malfoy." She started to fidget and get uncomfortable. This was going to be hard on them both as Hermione found it hard to not be sheepish, and Draco wanted to bring her out of her shell.
"Right, well we can talk about that another time. Can I show you around?"
Without waiting for an answer, Draco rose and took Hermione gently by the arm in order to show her things that he knew she would enjoy about the Manor. He showed her the great library that also gave Draco a fair amount of joy, and the stables in which his prized horses resided. After he thought that he was over-exerting his knew companion, he returned her to the Manor and showed her back to her room.
"Goodnight Granger." Draco smiled briefly before retreating to his own room. He hung around a bit and pressed his ear to the door and heard faint crying. Had he done something wrong? He wasn't sure. He decided that after reading a bit he would return to check up on her. This was probably too much for the girl and he resented the fact that he had been so eager to show off for her. Even though she held miniscule resemblance to the old Hermione, he still thought her beautiful and spirited.
He would bring that back to her.
Hermione was engaged in a fitful sleep as soon as she had stopped sobbing. The humiliation of this situation had been too much. Why did Malfoy of all people have to find her in this state? It was like getting bad marks on an exam and having to tell Malfoy about it. He was seeing her at her lowest. This was not how a proud Gryffindor was supposed to appear.
After Malfoy perused a particular advanced potions book that had been gifted to him by Severus Snape, he lightly tiptoed back to Hermione's room and slowly opened the door.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the familiar dark hair splayed out across her satin pillow, and her small frame swallowed up by the lush blankets. He gently pulled them back to slide in next to her, and was happily surprised when she nuzzled her head into his chest. His arms came to rest chastely on the small of her back, while her tiny ones were fisted at his chest.
He fell asleep smiling.
--Well that was Chapter 1! I hope this was good enough for you guys! Please review, I love it! The title means "Hero without Friendship", which will be explained. I think it is pretty self-explanatory though!