**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter the amazingly talented JK Rowling does…I just enjoy playing with her characters.

**Warning: This story will include violence, torture, and sexual content. If these are themes you are not comfortable with please move to another story.

**This story begins before Ron had left the group in the late fall. They had found the necklace but had yet to go to Godric's Hollow or the Forest of Dean. Harry had said the name in a fit of temper while wearing the Horcrux…not because of the deathly hallows (because they don't know about those yet either). Harry and Ron are off on their own and won't come into play for a while. Please leave comments and let me know what you think.

**NEW: I have moved through each chapter over the last two weeks and edited everything. There were no major changes but a lot of smaller details added and grammatical errors corrected.

Chapter 1:

Darkness shrouded him as he ran through the night hunted by four heavily cloaked men in masks. His heart was racing, beating in his eardrums as he pushed himself faster down the street. The men had disappeared when he looked back over his shoulder once more. Drawing on the last of his strength, he redoubled his efforts, noting he was almost there as the apparition point was finally in sight.

Just fifteen feet more to go, ten feet to go, his body ached as sweat trickled down his pale face. Five feet to go, he surged forward, Wham! One of the masked figures rammed into his side knocking him back several feet from his goal.

"Going somewhere boy" the man snarled, pinning his captive down. The platinum blonde-haired body grappled with him, trying to push him off as he struggled to hold onto his wand.

"Get off me, Greyback" he yelled as he continued to struggle.

"Hold still young Malfoy, I've got my orders and it's not to bring you back alive" he said with a howl of laughter as he lifted his left hand. Draco's eyes widened with fear as he struggled under the larger man's weight, noticing his extended claws. Through his panic he tried to concentrate on his magic as he watched Fenrir Greyback's hand slice through the air, striking him hard enough to snap his head to the side and leave behind three gaping wounds.

It took all his energy not to cry out from the impact and the burning pain radiating from the right side of his face. The werewolf laughed viciously as Draco tried to steady himself, wondering idly where the other three figures had gone. "I'm going to enjoy this" Greyback said with a menacing smile "all those times you and your father talked down to me. Well look who's fallen out of favor with the dark Lord now, look who's equal with the mudblood scum" he jeered. With a deep breath, Draco closed his eyes and focused his energy on wandlessly preforming everte statum.

A loud bang rent the air as Greyback was thrown backwards off of him giving Draco the chance to scramble up off the ground. As he staggered to his feet, he made a beeline to the apparition point; fueled by fear and pure adrenaline. Greyback growled in frustration as he launched himself at the blonde-haired wizard with both his teeth and claws bared. Catching him mere feet from the apparition point, Draco cried out and crumpled to the ground as the wolf's claws sunk deep into his side before ripping across his chest.

Blood poured from the wound as Draco raised his wand and shouted "Immobulus" stilling Greyback in mid-swing. Wrenching himself from under Fenrir's frozen body he crawled the last few feet to the apparition point before struggling to stand and disapparating with a pop.

The familiar tight squeeze pressed in upon his body as he twisted through the air. A few moments later he appeared in the town of Upper Flagley. The town wasn't very large in size as it was nestled between two hills and sitting at the edge of a large river. The cobblestone streets were lined with creek stone ivy covered homes with tiled rooves and neatly trimmed lawns.

This was a community that held wizards and muggles alike, which attributed to the street lamps dotting the darkened lanes. Draco had been here a few times in the last few months when he and his fellow Death Eaters were searching for one wizard or another. He was glad the apparition point was in one of the darker alleyways so he could avoid people as he made his way to an abandoned cottage.

The last time he was here, he had stumbled upon it as it sat on the edge of town, surrounded by a cluster of trees. A low stone wall, with a kissing gate entrance, encircled the stone house and overgrown yard. The front door and window shutters were a faded light blue and pealing from the weather.

Draco ambled up the narrow stone pathway before stumbling over the small step of the covered porch. His robes were soaked through with blood and he was becoming light headed as he pushed the front door open and heaved himself inside. He knew he didn't have long, he needed to heal these wounds quickly or he was going to die.

He slammed the door shut and leaned back against it, breathing hard as he reached up to wipe the blood from his chin. Stepping away from the door he crossed to the stairs in an effort to head to the bathroom before he lost consciousness.

"Stop" he heard a low voice say "I don't know what you're doing here but you…you need to leave" the voice wavered slightly. Something about it sounded familiar "I…I don't want to hurt you, please…just go." Draco whirled around to face his opponent and was caught off guard to see the curly haired brunette he'd tormented throughout school. Her olive tone freckle kissed skin was illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window. "Malfoy?" she hissed.

"Granger" he whispered while he shook his head trying to focus as the room started to spin.

"How did you find me?" she demanded, her voice growing louder with anger. He noticed she had her wand trained on him though his hung limply at his side. He honestly didn't have the strength for this.

"I…I wasn't…" he said weakly through sharp breaths "I swear…just…just running." She looked confused as he started to take a step forward "Just…finish me…please" he said breathily before collapsing onto the hardwood floor.

To say Hermione Granger was shocked to see Draco Malfoy, her nemesis from Hogwarts, standing by her front door was an understatement. She had been living in this cottage for little over a week after stumbling upon it in a rainstorm. Harry, Ron, and her had been separated while running from snatchers and she had apparated to the first town she could think of, Upper Flagley.

They had abandoned the tent, but she still had her beaded bag with her as she combed the streets looking for an empty house to rest in before deciding her next step. After nearly an hour she had found this house and proceeded to place several protective spells around it, spells she must have forgotten to erect after coming in late from the market.

Though the place had been dirty it held a variety of furniture including two worn leather couches, green and blue pin striped wingback chairs, area rugs throughout the house, a dining room table and chairs, large comfortable beds, and a few nightstands. The walls were faded earth tones with dark stained baseboards and crown molding accentuating the hardwood floors. If there hadn't been a war going on Hermione would have loved to live there permanently.

The kitchen was large and open with a white porcelain farmhouse sink, brown marble counters, and cream-colored cabinets. Everything about the place made her relax and feel at home. When people questioned her presence in town, she explained she was renting the little cottage; she even went as far as altering the real-estate agents' memory to keep up appearances.

That evening she had just come downstairs for a cup of tea to help her sleep when she had heard the front door open. Immediately blowing out the single lit candle and disillusioning herself, she stood in the corner to watch the black robed man enter her house. Her first thought had been to wonder if it was the original owner…that was before she saw the wand clutched in his left hand.

Silently she watched him stumble towards the stairs before deciding to reveal herself. Initially she had planned on sending the man on his way…by force if necessary. But after she heard the pain-riddled words he spoke and watched him collapse onto the floor she couldn't stop herself from rushing to his side.

Her selfless attitude knew that something was terrible wrong by his ashen face and shivering body. Gently rolling him onto his back she felt something sticky on her hands and pulled back from him as she noticed the blood pooling around his body. Without hesitation, she flicked her wand and levitated him upstairs to the second bedroom which overlooked the back yard and dense forest.

As he hovered in the air above the bed, she vanished his bloodstained robe and button-down shirt; exposing his bloodied flesh. Turning she pointed her wand at the fireplace and brought crackling flames to life to illuminate the room before igniting the surrounding candles to see him better.

Standing over his unconscious body, she began murmuring a few spells to stem the blood-flow before summoning a blood replenishing potion from her beaded bag and pouring it down his throat. She gathered two basins of hot water and rags to clean his wounds thoroughly before attempting to heal them. There was no point in risking an infection.

As she washed away the blood she couldn't help but gasp at the torn and ragged skin. She saw how the wounds started on his right side and tapered upward across his muscular chest; intersecting with the thin scar Harry had given him the year before. Though she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that this was in fact Draco Malfoy, the bigoted pure-blood whom had tormented her throughout their school years and the Death Eater who had tried to kill Dumbledore, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

She had seen wounds like the ones upon his face once before and knew they were cursed marks from a werewolf. Bill Weasley, Ron's eldest brother, had been ravaged by the psychotic Death Eater, Fenrir Greyback, last year. Though it hadn't been a full moon Bill still ended up with a few wolfish tendencies…and that was only with the markings on his face. Pushing the worrisome thoughts to the side, she continued to clean the blonde wizards' wounds before changing rags and moving to his face.

Hermione might despise everything about Malfoy's attitude but she couldn't deny he was handsome. He had soft platinum blonde hair that was cropped short and barely touched his forehead, a strong jawline with aristocratic features, haunting grey eyes that flashed with emotion, and a lean chiseled body due to his seeker training. In short, he was one of the most handsome and intellectual men she had ever met…but his attitude and narrow-minded ways kept them from associating.

As tenderly as she could, she scrubbed the blood from his neck, chin, and cheek. After she wrung the rag out again and moved to clean by his ear his hand shot out and grabbed hold of her wrist. Her chocolate brown eyes snapped to his open steel ones and she saw confusion cloud his features "Granger?" he asked, his voice cracking from thirst and exhaustion.

"Yes Malfoy, it's me…please let go, I need to finish cleaning your wounds before I can heal them. I'm almost done. Rest now" she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. He squinted his eyes in confusion as he looked down at his chest and glanced around the room slightly dazed. Shifting slightly, he tried to raise himself to get a better look at the wound but caused it to tear more, allowing blood to trickle down onto the bedspread. "No! Don't. Please lay back, I've not healed you yet."

She pushed him back down by his shoulders, surprised at how easily he slumped backwards. Probably from the blood loss she thought as he groaned in pain. Turning to her beaded bag once more, she summoned a pain potion and pulled the stopper out before wrenching his jaw open and pouring it into his mouth. Draco sputtered from the onslaught but swallowed the rest down, instantly feeling relief. "Thanks…Granger" he muttered before passing back out.

Exhaling sharply, Hermione quickly finished removing the last of the bloodstains and began to mutter the healing song spell, vulnera sanentur, she had learned from McGonagall while at Order Headquarters. After several attempts and variations she'd learned, she found the wounds had barely changed.

Smacking her forehead, she recalled that cursed wounds didn't close from healing spells and she thought long and hard before extracting her books on werewolves from her small bag. She quickly found the section she was looking for and read about the ointment Madam Pomfrey had used on Bill. Tossing the book aside she summoned all the potions, salves, ointments, and bandages she had in her bag and rifled through them.

Biting her lower lip, she considered her options. She didn't have the awful smelling ointment but she did have some essence of dittany, blood replenishing potions, calming draughts, sleeping draughts, and many others that wouldn't be as helpful. After she administered another blood replenishing potion, siting him up and slowly pouring it down his throat, she began to disperse droplets of dittany across his wounds. Upon contact they began to pop and sizzle; as she finished the last mark she looked back at the others and saw they looked days old with angry red new skin.

Pleased with the results she bandaged his body with clean gauze and finally lowered him onto the bed before removing his pants and shoes and covering his body. With a few flicks of her wand she doused the candlelight, lowered the fire to a warm glow, removed the medicines and cleaning rags, and warded the room so he couldn't get out.

She recalled he had dropped his wand downstairs and refused to return it until he was healed and she could see him on his way. Steeling her nerves, she went to her own bedroom at the end of the hall, warded the door, and climbed into bed to sleep wondering yet again if she had just made a huge mistake. She knew if Harry and Ron had been here, they would have told her she was a fool and probably let Malfoy die, but that wasn't her. She couldn't stand by as someone lay dying before her, no matter how cruel they'd been to her…well except maybe Voldemort and Bellatrix.