DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story along with references from the Harry Potter books 1-6 belong to the wonderful J. K. Rowling. The humble fiction story here belongs to me.

Chapter 1

He's watching the Mudblood.

He's done nothing else for the last four weeks. It's the last thing he wants to do, but he has no choice.

Ever since Draco Malfoy's flight from Hogwarts that night with Professor Snape, he has known he was walking a narrow line. The Dark Lord is definitely not happy with him. Even though Snape carried out the orders for him, Draco still failed the Dark Lord. And the Dark Lord knows it.

What Voldemort doesn't know is if it had not been for Draco's mother and her safety, he would never have taken the Dark Mark in the first place. He was meant to die trying to kill Dumbledore; He knew that. The Dark Lord was so angry with Draco's father that he wanted to punish Lucius Malfoy with the death of his only son. What the Dark Lord does not realize is his father could care less what happens to Draco. He has never quite lived up to his expectations, after all.

Draco was standing in the Death Eater's circle with Snape after it happened, waiting for the Dark Lord to order his death immediately. Instead, he got a new assignment. When the Mudblood Granger gets home from Hogwarts, watch her. The Dark Lord is planning a trap for Harry Potter so that he can have him at his mercy at last. Draco is to observe every movement she and her family makes until the time is right to set the plan into motion.

Draco sat in what he's come to regard as "his tree." There is a rather comfortable place in a low-lying branch that is well-camouflaged and perfect for him to sit in. While he's been here under an invisibility cloak watching the house, Draco has been alone with his thoughts. The last place on Earth I want to be is here spying on Granger. I have spent the last six years making her life as miserable as I could, and now I have to just sit and watch her while she goes about her pathetic existence. To live like a Muggle! Who in their right mind would ever want to do that? I guess if your parents are Muggles like Granger's, you really have no choice. Like you would choose to be a Mudblood, anyway...

And if I were honest with myself, I would admit that I stopped thinking of her as pathetic and a Mudblood weeks ago. Not since I've gotten to know her...

It's funny how his way of thinking had changed since leaving school. There is no more Slytherin and Gryffindor, purebloods and mudbloods, gold and green. There is just simply war. The ugliness of it made Draco ill.

His 6th year at Hogwarts had been his worst. Constantly being on guard, trying to fulfill his duty to the Dark Lord, afraid of dying. He had talked to Moaning Myrtle a lot – about death, about life, about being made fun of. He knew he had been a bully. It was expected of him. Being a Malfoy, you were required to act a certain way. He had played his part perfectly. Torturing Granger had been necessary to keep up his mudblood-hating image, and he admitted to himself he had enjoyed it. Now, the thought left a bad taste in his mouth.

Watching Granger like this, seeing her not on her guard, gave Draco a whole different impression of her. Now, he wished he had told her how beautiful she looked at the Yule Ball in fourth year. He would love to tell her how impressed he was when she stood up to him all the times he had hurled insults at her. Now, he wanted to tell her...he really wasn't sure what it was he wanted to tell her.

The house is a modest house. Just two stories with a nicely tended little garden. The perfect Muggle dwelling. They never close the drapes on the windows, so he can see almost everything that goes on in the house. Don't they know a war is going on? They talk to each other. They have dinner together. They even take walks together. Why, it makes no sense, even though a small part of Draco longs for such a relationship with his parents. His mother loved him but was always terrified of his father, even with Lucius in Azkaban. Draco has always been such a disappointment to his father that if he ever smiled at him he would think he was mad. Now I'm a death eater like he is. We must both be mad.

I'll be glad when this assignment is over so I can get back to Malfoy Manor and figure out how to escape with Mother and go someplace safe. Besides, it just doesn't feel right to be here. Somehow I don't like the idea of Granger and her family as pawns for the Dark Lord's amusement.

The family is carrying out one of their nightly rituals. Granger and her mother watch some type of program on the Muggle television before they go to bed while Granger's father reads in the squashy armchair in the corner. The room where they sit is a simple room, a few more comfortable furnishings and some family portraits on the walls. They have no idea how easy they are making Draco's job. If they did, they would close those drapes and hide in the cellar. Instead, they are laughing together at something that happened on the screen. It won't be long now and they will retire for the night. That's how predictable they are.

And then I get to pretend I'm alone with Granger.

As if on queue, Hermione Granger stands, hugs her mother, and ascends the staircase to go to her room. The light comes on in her bedroom, and she sits down at her dressing table to brush her hair. Draco almost feels guilty about spying on her private time, but he does have a job to do. He has learned a lot about Granger in the last four weeks. Like how she likes to dance by herself sometimes in her room at night when she thinks no one is watching, and how she also likes to read fluffy romance novels in addition to her beloved textbooks.

I can see myself dancing with her there in her room, our bodies pressed close, her head resting ever so lightly on my shoulder. Then I tuck her into her warm bed and read to her until she falls asleep...

Draco remembered when she first came to Hogwarts. Her hair was so wild and bushy then, an absolute mess. And her teeth! She had the biggest front teeth he had ever seen, that is until she had them shrunk in fourth year after getting hit in the mouth with a Slytherin jinx. She has really changed now. Her hair, no longer bushy, is sleek and shiny as she pulls the brush through it for her customary 100 strokes. Draco could almost reach out and touch it. I bet it feels like spun silk running through my fingers...

She puts down the brush and just sits there. She looks in the mirror for a moment, frowning at her appearance. She looks so fragile there, not like the same girl who actually slapped Draco in the face in third year. She looks worried for a moment. What's worrying you Love? Just tell me and I'll make it all better...

Draco leaned closer to see what was bothering her, and he was concentrating so hard on her that he didn't realize his foot made a sound when it slipped on a branch below.

Inside the bedroom, Hermione Granger heard a sudden noise outside and looks to the window, her features frozen in fear.