ok, here's the next chapter, thanks so much to the people that reviewed, please keep it up! now just so you know, there will be more smuttiness but not yet. i didn't want to draw it out with ron because he's not the one that hermione's meant to be with of course! but dont worry, there will be more smut... hehe. enjoy!

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Hermione couldn't believe her luck. One of the most wanted men in the world had just landed in her kitchen, leaving a disgusting bloody mess everywhere, and begging her for help. She hadn't seen him for three years and now here he was, as if not a day had gone by. As if they could just pick up where they left off…

Hermione couldn't do that. She wasn't ready to forgive him for what he did to her and she certainly wasn't ready to let him back into her life. Besides, he was a criminal! Worse than that, he was a Death Eater!

'What are you doing here, Malfoy?' Hermione said coldly, looking around for a knife or something to protect herself with. Malfoy was now having a coughing fit on the floor and blood appeared around his mouth. Hermione looked away in disgust. Malfoy swayed towards her unsteadily but fell to the floor with the weight of trying to hold himself up.

'Hide me,' he breathed, trying to get to his feet again, 'Please…' he reached his hand out towards her but Hermione backed against the wall looking horrified.

'My husband will be home any minute!' she said viciously, trying to keep the fear from her voice. She didn't think he would hurt her, but the Malfoy she thought she knew had died long ago. The man before her was a complete and deadly stranger. 'And - and when he gets hear, he's going to kill you!'

Malfoy's eyes widened and Hermione saw a flicker of fear appear beneath the grey.

'You don't understand,' he said eventually with some difficulty. Hermione let a high-pitched, scared laugh.

'Understand what? That you're evil? That you've murdered millions of muggles?' Malfoy looked more urgent now and his eyes were darting around. They fell on the tea towel on the table, which he grabbed and wiped his mouth with. Hermione gasped indignantly. 'Hey - !'

'Please, Hermione, I need help,' he coughed again and blood spattered onto her tea towel, making Hermione wince. But ignoring this, she squared her shoulders and spoke as evenly as she could.

'Damn right you need help, mental help!' Malfoy was now looking at her pleadingly.

'You don't understand,' he repeated. Hermione could see the blood still dripping steadily from his shoulder. She shivered. She had always hated the sight of blood. When she said nothing Malfoy continued, every word looking as if it cost an immense load of effort.

'What you've heard about me -' he began, but Hermione cut him off looking disbelieving.

'Don't deny it!'

'- it's not true. Come on, Hermione, you know me -'

'I thought I knew you!' Hermione shrieked, losing her cool completely. Her shock had given way to an anger like she hadn't felt in years. She was pissed.

'I'm still that man, Hermione -'

'Don't call me Hermione!'

'- I'm still that man you l -'

'Don't say it! Don't you dare say it!' Hermione could feel tears welling up in her eyes. 'How dare you come here, Malfoy! How dare you drag me into your mess of a life!'

'Hermione,' Malfoy made a move as to grab her hand but Hermione pulled away, 'You don't know what you're talking about.'

'No, Malfoy, you don't know what you're talking about!Now get out of my house or I'll -'

'Or you'll what?' Malfoy had suddenly pulled out his wand and was pointing it at her, his hand shaking slightly. Hermione's eyes widened in fear and she wished that Ron would hurry up and get home. Malfoy was obviously violent and unstable. She didn't recognise the man standing before her. As one last tear slid down her cheek, Hermione stared at him with hatred.

'Your luck's run out, Malfoy,' she said quietly, 'Ron will be here any second to finish what he started,' she nodded towards his shoulder and Malfoy's face darkened.

'He got a lucky shot,' he said thickly, his wand still pointed at her. She looked at him.

'Why are you here?' she said defeatedly, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice. 'Why are you getting me involved in your twisted life?'

Something in Malfoy's eyes flickered for a moment, but his voice remained steady when he spoke.

'I need you to heal my shoulder.'

'Why can't you do it yourself, you've got a w -'

'I said,' Malfoy growled loudly, cutting her off, 'That I need you to heal my shoulder.'

Hermione whimpered as several sparks flew from his wand in his anger. Suddenly there was a crash in the room next door as Ron fell clumsily out of the fireplace.

'Hermione!' he called, sounding excited, 'You'll never guess what!'

Quick as a flash, Malfoy started forwards and grabbed Hermione roughly around the waist, pulling her around the doorway in the opposite direction to Ron's voice. He pushed her against the wall, just out of sight, and pressed his hand over her mouth. Hermione stared at him, horrified, as his wand dug into her throat threateningly.

'Don't say a word,' he hissed at her as Ron's footsteps grew louder.

'Hermione?' he called, looking around the kitchen. He didn't notice the blood on the floor, and tuned around to look for her upstairs. As soon as Malfoy removed his hand, Hermione opened her mouth to scream to Ron. But before she could utter a single word, Malfoy replaced his hand and silenced her with a look of fury, his wand now digging painfully into her neck.

'Please don't hurt me!' she whispered against his hand. He looked at her in disgust and turned to look around the room. They were standing in a sitting room that looked clean and barely used. There were no more doors except for the one that lead back to the kitchen.

'Hermione?' Ron was coming back down the stairs. Malfoy looked around in wild panic and Hermione whimpered quietly, his blood dripping onto her shirt. As Ron's footsteps drew closer, Malfoy looked down at Hermione pleadingly.

'Please, Hermione,' he whispered. Hermione stared at him. She could see the desperation and fear in his eyes, and more than that she could see the pain that he was trying to suppress as his blood continued to flow from his wound. It would almost be pitying, Hermione thought, if he wasn't a mass murderer.

But his eyes…something about his eyes made Hermione nod silently. Malfoy let out a breath of relief and released her as Hermione pointed towards a large cupboard nearby. Malfoy nodded his thanks to her and got inside quickly, just as Ron poked his head around the door.

'There you are! Didn't you hear me calling?' Ron looked at her concernedly. 'Hermione - are you alright?'

'Yes!' Hermione said breathlessly, 'Yes, I'm fine! Come on, let's get out of h -'

'Hermione, you're bleeding!' Ron suddenly spotted the blood on the front of her shirt and Hermione looked down in confusion.

'Oh, that!' she tried to laugh and shrug it off, 'That's just a little cut!'

'Let me see...' Ron pulled her towards him gently and began searching for the cut. Hermione began to panic. Any second he would realise that she wasn't cut at all, and he would know there was somebody else here. She needed to distract him.

'Uh, Ron…come here…' she caught him by the cheeks and pulled his face towards her, kissing him sweetly. Ron was extremely surprised but quickly forgot about the blood to kiss her back.

'Let's go upstairs…' she whispered suggestively, taking his hand.

'Wait, I didn't tell you the good news!' Ron suddenly paused and grinned at her. 'We found Malfoy!'

'Really?' Hermione said nervously, glancing towards the cupboard.

'It was so great, Hermione, I cut him up pretty good before he managed to get away,'

'That's good…' Hermione said vaguely, pretending this was news to her. 'Come on, you look tired, why don't you go to bed?'

'No, no, I'm starving!' Ron headed back into the kitchen and Hermione followed him slowly, hovering anxiously in the doorway. Noticing the blood on the floor, she quickly threw a nearby tea towel on top of it before Ron saw.

'Tell you what? I'll serve you your dinner in bed, how about that?' she said desperately. Ron grinned at her.

'You're great, you know that?' he said, starting towards the hallway. 'I'll just go see how Sky's doing…'

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief and hurried back to the lounge next door. Making sure that Ron's footsteps had faded away upstairs, she dashed to the cupboard in which Malfoy was hiding.

'That was too close!' she hissed as she opened the cupboard door. 'You need to lea -' Hermione froze when she noticed that Malfoy was lying at the bottom of the cupboard, unconscious.

'Shit!' she muttered, dragging him out onto the floor. She raced back into the kitchen and found her bag, then took out her wand and hurried back to his side. Muttering a few well chosen words, she stopped his wound from bleeding and mended it as well as she could. But she must have been incredibly nervous, for there remained a long, narrow cut that was raw and bloody looking. Hermione sighed. That would have to make do for now.

'Enervate!' she whispered, pointing her wand at his chest. Immediately Malfoy gulped for air and his eyes flew open. He gripped her tightly around the wrist and Hermione dropped her wand. When he saw who it was Malfoy relaxed, though his hand remained on her wrist.

'I fixed you as best as I could but you can't stay here, Ron will find you,' she whispered to him as he stared up at her groggily. For the first time, he smiled.

'Thank you, Hermione,' he said, his voice dry and raspy. Hermione snatched her wrist away in annoyance.

'Don't call me Hermione!'

'Alright, alright. Granger,' Hermione stood up in disgust, eager to get rid of him as soon as possible.

'Wrong again,'

'Mrs, then?' Malfoy sat up slowly, grimacing in pain. He seemed a lot calmer now that he had stopped bleeding and that Ron was gone. Hermione glowered at him.

'That's Mrs Weasley to you.'

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hmm a lot of tension going on between these two isnt there? what did you think?? :)