Best Part

Chapter 01: Hermione's Foolishness

The amount of surprise and astonishment that Hermione Granger felt right at that moment was immeasurable.

Having walked down the dimly lit alleyways of Knockturn Alley for about ten minutes now, she was at a shock at how nobody had as much as even bumped into her by accident. Apparently, this was understandable because she was, after all, concealed underneath the Invisibility Cloak from which she "borrowed" from Harry Potter. Despite this, however, she was starting to grow tired and irritable, especially since it was getting pretty humid underneath the thick fabric of Harry's cloak, but just when she was about to succumb to her discomfort and end up in defeat, she was reminded of the reason why she was even sneaking around Knockturn Alley in the first place.

To clear things, yes. If it hadn't been for Harry's constant bickering and ill-hearted assumptions of how Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater, she would have happily gone home after collecting some items for school, those of which she needed to obtain for the upcoming year, and she would have had all the time in the world to pack her belongings for the second to the last year she will be spending at Hogwarts. Though Hermione had been particularly meticulous when it came to her things and packing and just the entirety of it, she could not stand Harry Potter's provocative and evidence-lacking accusations any longer, so she opted to prove him wrong, that Draco Malfoy was most certainly not a Death Eater.

Hermione had to be honest to herself, though. She had no idea why she had given in to her impulses right now. She didn't know if it was just in her stubbornness and her natural drive to always prove others wrong and be in the right.

She had asked to be excused from her group just when they were all about to head home, making up a little white lie and telling them that she needed to run a quick errand before retiring to her own humble abode. She had no clue as to how she managed to smoothly take Harry's cloak from his knapsack and why she chose to disappear into the pathway heading to Knockturn Alley, the direction by which she had seen Draco Malfoy head to earlier that afternoon. Heck, she didn't even know why she badly wanted to prove Harry and his assumptions wrong, disregarding the fact of how simply biased they are. This was Malfoy after all. The Draco Malfoy, who had been her best friend's sworn mortal enemy at school and somebody who didn't exactly play a pretty relevant role in her life, somebody who wasn't even the tiniest bit nice to her either. For the first time in her life, Hermione was bewildered as she allowed her impulses to take over the steering wheel, pushing her bright mind far into the backseat.

She was all the more surprised that at that point in time, her analytical thinking was not even worthy of sitting in the shotgun.

Hermione heaved a muffled sigh as she trudged onwards, continuing her search for a tall, skinny boy in a dark suit. As she walked aimlessly around the unfamiliar maze of Knockturn Alley, tiptoeing silently past shady-looking magical folk, she searched around with desperation, but to no avail.

All of a sudden, Hermione found herself frozen on the spot as she watched a familiar tall boy with platinum blond hair walk right past her from a crossroad, heading straight to her left. Malfoy, the thought of his name enflared the almost simmered down source of hope Hermione had left and as she slapped out of her short trance and unrooted herself from the spot she had previously been frozen in, she turned to her left and followed an oblivious Draco Malfoy.

At first, Hermione closely followed him, hot on his trails and leaving little to no space between herself and him. As she continues to track him, however, she realizes that she has been somewhat following him into an endless maze of dim and unfamiliar alleyways. Suspicion boiled within her as she forced herself to fall behind just a few feet back as she closely examined Malfoy's behavior. She snatched a glance at Malfoy's pale face and, though calm, she sensed feelings of fear behind the facade. His eyebrows were furrowed, eyes reverberating with worry. She didn't remember him to be this troubled, at least not at school nor around her. There was just something about the aura he gave out even from a few feet away that was threatening Hermione's curiosity and stubbornness and it was an ultimate sign of warning, but she was not able to help herself.

She hadn't even noticed that she had completely lost sight of him. Amidst all the endless observations and conclusions she had jumped into in her train of thought, she couldn't believe she actually allowed herself to get distracted. Malfoy was gone and nowhere to be seen. She was frustrated now and she was nearing the breaking point of her anger. The humidity of being underneath Harry's cloak that, then, became the cause of her extreme sweating and irritability was not at all helping, too.

Looking around, Hermione made sure that she was alone. With a strong, frustrated huff, she groaned and unveiled herself from the safety of the Invisibility Cloak, which she now draped on to her shoulders.

"Shoot," she muttered.

Hermione stared angrily at the brick wall in front of her, glaring daggers down at it and as she made her move to kick at this very wall in exasperation, she feels a hand cover her mouth and a strong arm wrapping around her body and the next thing she knew, she was pulled into a dark, windowless room.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Welcome and thank you for the time you've spent reading this first chapter! Just a little backstory on the origin of this fan fiction. I wrote this story ages ago at the embarrassing age of around thirteen to fourteen and devastated at how badly it was written, my pride for the plot opted to rewrite it!

Actually, this chapter was already written a little while back as well, but I guess clumsiness always gets its way. In other words, yes. That version of this chapter was accidentally deleted and I was EXTREMELY bummed for a long while, delaying the republishing of this fan fiction once more. But hey, here it is now! And although, I am more proud of its preceding version, I've given this one my best shot as well and I can only hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed rewriting it. Thank you and see you on the next chapter!