A/N: I am SO sorry that I only wrote one chapter of this story and then abandoned it! I had lots of positive feedback from the first chapter and I feel so bad for making you guys wait so long for the second one, but here it is. Please forgive me? I will be working on this story properly now, along with a few others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hermione stared, unable to believe what she was seeing. Draco Malfoy... on her doorstep... coming to her flat... Hermione felt almost violated. And what was he doing here... he was supposed to be in Azkaban, locked away forever for murder...

Her astonishment turned to anger, and she instinctively reached for her wand... only to remember, a moment later, that it was hidden away. She could never get to it in time - he would attack her, silence her so nobody would hear her screaming, kill her like he had killed Ron, the boy she had never revealed her true feelings for and now it was too late...

All because of the person now standing in front of her.

Shaking with fury, Hermione took a step back, intending to slam the door on him. She never wanted to see his face again; she wanted to curse him into a million tiny pieces, but now she would settle for alerting the Ministry of Magic to his presence here... he must have escaped somehow, she didn't know how he could have, but he had done it, hadn't he, he was here...

She staggered backwards as the full force of what was happening hit her. A flashback from that terrible night flooded her brain...

Hermione was terrified. She was trying not to show it, of course, trying to keep the Gryffindor bravery intact, but deep down inside her, she was petrified. So many people had died already; the final battle was raging around her, and she herself was having a fierce duel with Fenrir Greyback.

He had been after Ginny; he had taken a perverted kind of shine to her since they had met that one time. Hermione knew what Greyback was like - he wanted to cause pain, and suffering, and slow deaths. She wasn't going to let him do that to Ginny.

Ginny had been oblivious, in a furious duel with one of the Death Eaters whose name Hermione couldn't recall. Greyback had tried to sneak up behind her. He was in his human form, but that made him no less terrifying. His teeth were gleaming as he licked his lips, and the expression on his face disgusted Hermione. She had seen what was happening and blasted Greyback off his feet with her wand. Snarling, he had turned and come for her, and now Hermione was fighting for her life, while all around her good people were doing the same, being killed for the greater good, and maybe she would be next, but she had to keep fighting, they had to keep the hope alive...

"Hermione?"

He had spoken; and Hermione blinked, pulled from her reverie. He had used her first name, as opposed to "Granger" or, even worse, "Mudblood".

What does it matter what he's calling you? a voice in her head screamed. He's still a twisted, evil person, no matter what!

"Get out of here," Hermione said, her voice a lot calmer than she felt.

Malfoy's face was paler than usual, and Hermione could see he was visibly shaking. "Hermione, please..."

"No," Hermione said at once. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say, Draco Malfoy. I don't know how you got here, but you're a filthy, evil, twisted excuse for a human being and I want you to get off my doorstep now before I kill you myself!"

Her voice had risen to a shriek, and Malfoy flinched. Hermione turned to slam the door, planning to write a letter to the Ministry straight away, but Malfoy spoke before she could shut the door.

"They released me."

Hermione turned around, slowly, shock and horror etched into every inch of her face. "You're a liar."

"I'm not," Malfoy begged. "Please, listen to me... they let me out, yesterday, the first thing I did was come and find you..."

"Stop lying!" Hermione shrieked, taking a step forwards to shout in Malfoy's face. "How dare you come here, Malfoy? How dare you speak to me, how can you look me in the eye after what you did?"

Malfoy bowed his head to look at the floor. Rage was bubbling up inside Hermione; she had a strong urge to hit him, just like she had done in their third year at Hogwarts after he had insulted Hagrid. But this... this was different... Malfoy had murdered one of her best friends, and nothing she could do would satisfy the urge she had to make him suffer for what he had done... nothing, except maybe seeing him get the Dementor's Kiss after they realised he had escaped.

"I'm going to the Ministry," Hermione said shakily, reaching for her jacket hanging next to the door. She didn't have her wand, so she couldn't stun Malfoy or tie him up, unless she used physical force... but there was no way her strength would match Malfoy's. Did he have his wand on him? Maybe he hadn't, they must have confiscated it when he was sent to Azkaban, that was probably why he hadn't attacked her yet...

Malfoy held up his hands. "I promise you, they let me go."

"THEY COULDN'T HAVE!" Hermione bellowed. "YOU'RE A MURDERER!"

Malfoy blanched at these words. "I know what you think of me," he muttered, unable to look her in the eyes. "I don't blame you... I would feel the same, if I was in your position."

"Damn right you would," Hermione snapped. "You make me sick."

Malfoy reached into his pocket, and Hermione flinched as he pulled out his wand.

What was he going to do to her?

To her shock, he held the wand out. "We need to talk," he said. "You can take my wand. I promise, I won't do anything to hurt you."

Hermione hesitated. She didn't want to talk to him. "What about?" she asked suspiciously. Was this some sort of clever plan, did he have Death Eaters waiting to ambush her as soon as she let him into the flat?

There are no Death Eaters any more, she reminded herself. Voldemort is dead, and the Death Eaters are locked away forever. You're safe.

But she didn't feel it. She felt vulnerable, standing there with a killer on her doorstep, a killer who was now saying he wanted to talk to her and offering up his wand.

There was only one thing to do. She reached out and took it. Malfoy's face registered relief for a second, which changed at once when Hermione shouted, "Incarcerous!" Thin ropes flew out of the end of her wand and wrapped themselves around Malfoy's wrists and ankles, tying his hands and feet together.

It had been so long since Hermione had done magic that she thought she would have forgotten how to do it. To her surprise her spells were as strong as ever, and although Malfoy's wand felt strange in her hand, it felt good to be holding one again. She wished it were her own. Maybe she should get her own wand out and try a few little spells...

No, she told herself. You gave up that life, remember? There's no going back to it now.

"Hermione -" Malfoy began.

"I don't trust you, Malfoy," Hermione said through clenched teeth. "You're a liar and a murderer and I am notifying the Ministry right now about you escaping." Ignoring his protests, she flicked his wand to levitate him into the air and into her flat, where she deposited him on the sofa and left him while she went to fetch a pen and paper.

She didn't have her own owl, of course, but maybe Ginny would lend her Pig?

Crossing the room, Hermione picked up the telephone and hesitated before dialling the number. She noticed Malfoy looking at the telephone with faint curiosity and a hint of disgust, and turned away from him. Evil bastard.

"Hello?" Ginny answered, as Hermione knew she would. They had only got a telephone at the Burrow so that Ginny could ring Hermione; none of the other Weasleys used it.

"Ginny, I need a big favour," Hermione said. "Can I please borrow Pig to send a letter?"

Ginny sounded puzzled. "What for?"

"It doesn't matter, but it's an emergency," Hermione stressed. "Please, please?"

"Will you come for lunch on Sunday then?" Ginny asked hopefully.

Hermione bit her lip. "OK, OK, if I can borrow the owl?"

"Sure," Ginny said happily. "I'll send him over now."

Hermione put down the phone and turned back to Malfoy. He was staring at her, and his grey eyes were glittering, not with malice, as Hermione had expected, but of something entirely different... remorse?

Don't be stupid, she told herself sternly. He's got no remorse at all. He hates you, and he hated Harry, and Ron...

"I was telling the truth, you know," Malfoy said quietly. "They let me out of Azkaban."

"Shut up," Hermione snapped. "I don't want to hear it, Malfoy. I just want you back where you belong, behind bars." She got up and swept from the room, into the kitchen. Putting the kettle on, she felt her eyes burning with tears and blinked them away furiously. All there was to do now was wait for the kettle to boil, Pig to appear, and then Malfoy would be gone from her life forever.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Next chapter... Hermione and Malfoy have a talk.