This part does not have any Harry Stuff... sorry

Had he recognized her? She chewed on her lower lip waiting for yet another bolt of bad fortune to hit her.

Her heart thudding against her chest she stared back at him. What was the point of trying to look away now? If he recognized her there was nothing much she could do about that unfortunately. But had he? He wasn't giving any indication as to whether he had or not and it was making more anxious. His stormy azure eyes were calculating as he stared her down.

After what seemed like years he shook his head slightly and the satisfied smirk returned and he began to walk past her...making sure he didn't even brush her. "Go lick the kitchen floor where you belong mudblood...oh wait the Malfoy kitchen floor is too clean for the likes of you" He added gleefully causing tears to raise in Hermione's cinnamon brown gaze which she kept hidden. Then he walked off with a swish of his cloak much like his bastard of a father. Why was she taking his insults to heart? She was quite used to them afterall. She sighed and followed the house elf to the kitchen.

Draco Malfoy on the other hand continued out of the door slightly confused for some strange reason.

Those eyes were so familiar... and yet it couldn't be who he thought it was could it? She was dead. She was supposed to have died with the last war.

He shook his head frowning. Was she alive after all this time? Wouldn't his father have known if she was alive? She was afterall part of the golden trio that the dark lord had wanted completely and utterly destroyed.

He strode over towards the stables where the family horses were kept and headed towards the snow white stallion that stood out amongst the other darker toned horses. The horse neighed and whinnied as his master approached him and ran a hand down its snowy wild mane. The horse looked untamed and wild unlike the much perfected and groomed horses that stood beside it and yet it looked to be the strongest.

He mounted the horse with practiced grace not even bothering to saddle the creature. Could it have been Hermione Granger? The Hermione Granger of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and Wizardry? Nah. The girl would kill herself before giving in to this position in his house of all places. That was something he had begrudgingly admired about her. He hated her guts, yet she was one of the rare people who had dared to stand up to him.

A cold frown crossed his face as the memory of her punching him in their third year came to his mind. She hadn't left a physical scar on his face, yet the embarrassment of mudblood Granger punching Draco Malfoy had caused him to be a joke in school for a while, although no one had actually dared to laugh at his face. He had never gotten a chance for revenge.

It had almost been like a game between the two of them. Tough mouthed, arrogant conceited Malfoy and part-of-the golden-trio, witty know-it-all Granger. He smirked at the thought.

He shook his head. He was starting to digress from the original topic which was the new mudblood. Those brown eyes of Grangers seemed to have been branded in his mind from all the time he had seen them glaring out at him and this girl he had seen a few minutes ago had the same piercingly soft cinnamon gaze. Maybe she was Granger, but then maybe she wasn't and he wasn't about to waste his time thinking about a stupid mudblood who didn't deserve to lick the dirt off his boots.

And yet wanting to do something didn't mean you always did it. He had absentmindedly drifted towards the back part of the house and had now a good view of the very large kitchen with its many house elves and the two mudbloods working busily making ready supper.

His searching stormy orbs found what...or rather whom he was looking for. She was now dressed in better clothing. Not even the Servants of the Malfoy household were allowed to look unclean. It was dishonorable and the 'noble' Malfoy's should not be exposed to such uncleanly-ness.

Hermione on the other hand didn't notice the piercing blue eyes that followed her every move calculatingly.

She was chopping onions, her eyes watering from the strong vapor. Yes even with the magic, they were forced to do work manually. She wiped some of the tears - that were brought not by the onions alone- by the back of her arm and blew back a curl of brown hair that had fallen into her face before looking towards the other girl who looked to be around a year younger than her. She wondered how long the girl had worked at the Malfoy manor for. She didn't look all that bad considering she was a servant in the house of the minister for magic.

She finished chopping the onions and headed for the cupboard looking for a pan, which brought her to stand next to the girl.

"Hey there" She murmured softly. And the girl looked up. She was average looking with short black hair that she had pulled away from her face with black hair pins, hazel eyes and a slim figure.

"Hey" The girl replied uninterestedly continuing with her work. Why was the girl being so cold? Hermione would've thought that it would be nice to have another girl working in the same house. Didn't the girl feel lonely?

"I'm Jane" Hermione tried again starting to do the dishes after handing her chopped onions to a house elf nearby. All she got in reply was a grunt.

She took a deep breath and tried yet again to converse with the girl, still completely unawares of the electric gaze following her movements. "Have you worked here for long?"

Finally the girl looked up. "Listen, I don't know you I don't want to know you ok" She snapped finally. "You'd act like my best friend one minute and the next you'd be off telling Lord Malfoy tales on me and I'm already done with being ...being punished" She muttered and moved away from Hermione leaving her open mouthed.

Would another person in her own position do such thing? How could they rat out on someone who was facing hell already? Perhaps to get more respect in the house? Hermione wasn't dumb enough to believe that a Malfoy will ever respect a muggle even if they had died trying to help.

She scowled. She was Hermione Jane Grange and she never gave up on a person. She strode over to where the other girl was standing by the window facing the back garden and caught her by the arm as the girl tried to walk away with a huff.

"I don't know if someone did that to you but I can give you my word...I can promise you on everything I believe that I would never do that to anyone. We are all in the same pit and pushing someone into a deeper hole isn't going to help anyone get out of it" She let out a breath and looked at the girl who was eyeing her with what seemed to be a more pleasant look, although slightly suspicious still.

"Can we start again please? I'd really like to have someone in this damned place that I could actually relate to" Hermione added more confident in her words now. "I'm Jane" She held out her hand.

"Raven" The other girl seemed to have warmed a considerable amount to Hermione as she took Hermione's hand with her own well worked callused hands. "And to answer your earlier question I've worked here ever since…well since the whole thing started"

Hermione winced slightly. God this girl must have been through a lot. Serving the Malfoys for two years wouldn't be fun.

"How about you…where did you work before now?" The girl seemed quite willing to chat now.

"Erm no where really, I just wondered about in the streets and just the other day I got…assaulted by a pure blood" She replied wincing at the memory of his hands on her. "And I kind of lost my temper and scratched his face...and next thing I know I was at the slave trade center" She muttered shrugging.

"You scratched a pureblood! Go you!" The girl said sounding rather gleeful making Hermione let out a little giggle. Something she hadn't done in a very long time. It was nice to actually talk to someone like Raven. Come to think of it that named did suit her very well.

"By the way Jane, we have an audience" Raven murmured suddenly whispering and making Hermione look up, causing her to meet the stormy blue hued gaze she and come to hate over the years. They were fixed on her unnervingly studious and calculating and he didn't even bother to look away when she looked up. Was he guessing who she really was? She certainly hoped not.

She pulled her gaze away and continued her work mentally kicking herself for allowing looking at him for so long. Was she crazy to be baiting him like that!? Yup she was.

Daring to look up once more She caught the horse's snowy hair fly against the wind getting going across the back garden with an amazing grace and she knew the grace was not up to the horse alone but depended on the rider's control. She watched thoughtfully as it started to ebb away from her view. She had never guessed that Draco Malfoy would be interested in riding but then again they were pretty much the wizerding royalty. He rode with an amazing grace and skill even without the saddle and the sight which sent her heart fluttering into a land of wistfulness. How she would love to ride free like the wind... she shook her head. That was never going to happen now though was it?

"Yeah, looks fun doesn't it?" A voice murmured. Raven, next to her was wearing a far away look. "I used to have a horse, back home. An Arabian stallion. He was the best" She whispered tears forming in her hazel eyes. "I wonder what's happened to him, probably the same thing that happened to my parents huh?" She added with a sigh and Hermione reached out and hugged her in a sudden impulse.

"I know how that feels...I'm sorry" She murmured when a house elf interrupted them with more work. The table was to be set and after a very exhausting supper arrangement the two girls finally got a chance to have a long chat.

"It's not so bad really. I mean its Lucius who's horrible. Narcissa likes to keep herself to herself and Draco...well it just depends on his mood. All in all its not as bad as people think it would be here since Lucius is hardly ever home. He's always off running errands for you-know who" Raven seemed chatty once you get to know her and quite sarcastic. She was excused before end of the supper since the Malfoy's decided one person was enough to clean the kitchen and do the dishes.

Which Hermione can safely say was almost impossible and it was past 2 am when she finally finished and managed to sit on the floor for a few minutes, utterly exhausted and drained of every ounce of energy.

For the first time since she came to the house the real picture of the rest her time here sank its sharp teeth into her mind. But Hermione Grange didn't give up...how long was she going to keep telling herself that? She wondered how long it was until she cracked and gave into death. Not too long she hoped.

Just as she began to get her breath back and started to drift off into a world of real nightmares that she found more comforting than reality, the sound of the door slamming open made her look up at her midnight/early morning visitor which was of course none other than her old school enemy. Draco Malfoy.

He stood at the door still in his day clothes, his blue orbs narrowed at her. "Aww the mudblood is tired on her first day" HE taunted smirking and she wondered if he had actually come to the kitchen at 3 am just to taunt the little bit of energy left inside her.

"She stood up straightening her clothes and averting her gaze from his into the floor instead. "Can I help you...Sir"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you" He snapped back and she obeyed by the slightest raising of her head still not looking directly at him. "You seem somewhat familiar" He added scowling. "I don't associate with mudbloods if I can help it but I know you don't I? From somewhere" Perhaps the heightened thudding of her heart could be heard outside. OR maybe he noticed the blood drain from her face leaving it as pale as a sheet.

"What's your name mudblood?"

"Jane Sir" Hermione replied keeping her eyes on the wall behind his pale platinum hair that was illuminated by the moonlight.

"Jane what?" HE snapped and she hesitated. She hadn't thought of that but before she could come up with a reply he added with decided arrogance. "Perhaps it's along the line of 'Granger'? hmmm...that's a common mudblood name isn't it? A common filthy mudblood name"