Chapter 1
"Hermione, wait!"
But Hermione didn't hear him. She had already thrown her traveling cloak over her shoulders, shoved her wand into her pocket, and stormed out the front door.
Ron chased her to the door of their flat in wizarding London only to see her already crossing the street and showing no signs of stopping.
Hermione had come home to a scene that had never even entered her nightmares…Ron, her Ron, in bed with Lavender!
That…ugh! Hermione felt a flush taking over her face. Ron's voice was still calling after her, but Hermione pulled her hood up to keep the London rain at bay, put her head down, and kept walking.
She wandered the cobblestone streets, avoiding the few magical passersby with ease. She didn't care where her feet took her, as long as they continued to carry her away from her shattered dreams.
Tears began to stream down her face, but she didn't try to stop them. They blended with the rain that drenched her, and a chill began to settle into her bones. No one took notice of her as she passed, and she couldn't help but wonder if she was really so unremarkable in spite of herself.
She came to the edge of the city, but she continued on. It was already dark, and although she had her wand, on a normal night she would have been concerned about her safety. This night, her mind was far too preoccupied to worry about such simple things.
She had no job. She had quit her position at the Ministry mere days ago because she and Ron were preparing to settle down and maybe even have a child or two. She knew that she wouldn't be able to be a stay-at-home mother forever, but Harry believed it might help her nerves to spend some time away from the Ministry, and she agreed.
She had no apartment. Everything was in Ron's name, and as much as she wanted to kick him to the curb and force him and his…Lavender…to move out and move on, she knew it would never work.
And now, obviously, she had no fiancé.
In the cold, crashing rain, she felt alone.
Suddenly, the brick path she was walking on vanished beneath her feet – one of the bricks had come loose and left a hole in its wake. Hermione, distracted by her racing mind, caught her toes on the lip and tumbled to the ground, hitting hard.
Cursing and rolling over to grab her sore wrist, Hermione looked up at the pitch black sky, feeling fresh tears well in her eyes.
Frustrated, Hermione sat up slowly and scooted herself to lean against the brick pillar on one side of a wrought iron gate before her, but she didn't pay it much mind. She just cradled her sore wrist and wondered if it was broken.
Finally taking some slow deep breaths, Hermione realized how cold it really was out in the rain. Now, she was thoroughly confused, had no idea where she was, and had no desire to actually go home. Maybe she could stay the night in an inn…
She reached into her pocket for her purse only to find it wasn't there. She only had the presence of mind to fetch her coat and her wand before storming out the door.
"Brightest witch of your age…" she mumbled under her breath, frustrated with her own rash impulses. Feeling her hopelessness grow, she sighed before yelling over the thunder, "Could this get any worse?"
"Careful what you wish for," a cold voice cut through her.
Hermione gasped and leapt to her feet, pushing further against the brick. "Lumos!" The tip of her wand illuminated the bars of the iron gate but little beyond it.
"Who's there?" she asked, her voice trembling more than she intended.
As if on cue, a flash of lightning illuminated the cold, angled features of the last face she expected to see.
On the other side of the gate stood Lucius Malfoy.
Even in that split second, he was just as intense, cold, and intimidating as she remembered.
"Mister Malfoy?" Hermione stammered. "What are you…doing here?"
"Considering this is my property, Miss Granger, I believe the more appropriate question is what are you doing here?"
Hermione flushed. She was in her twenties, for goodness sake, and yet just the sound of his drawling voice and a flash of his cold grey eyes made her feel like a child in the middle of Flourish and Blotts once more.
"I…" she began, before realizing that she didn't have a particularly good answer. Somehow, through all of her wandering, she had ended up at the front gates of Malfoy Manor. Just when she thought her evening had hit rock bottom…
"Articulate, as usual, I see."
Hermione fumed in silence, still keeping her wand raised, unsure of what to expect of the former Death Eater.
"Well, Miss Granger, you may freeze out here with your pride and poor decision making, or you may come in. The neighbors talk, you know, and I would hate to have them find a frozen Mudblood on my front porch come tomorrow."
And then, the gates swung open a crack.
Out of everything that she expected him to do in that moment, that was certainly at the bottom of her list.
"…What?" Hermione stuttered, unable to comprehend the fact that Lucius Malfoy had just opened the gates of the Manor for her. A…a mudblood.
"Seriously, girl? Brightest witch of your age? Are you coming inside or planning to catch cold and perish uselessly on my cobblestones?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed, and the grip on her wand did not loosen. "…What are you doing?"
"Trying to be a changed man, but you're making it rather difficult. Now, are you coming, or should I just leave you to your fate? "
Sighing and realizing she didn't have much of a choice, Hermione tentatively slipped between the gates and inside the Manor's grounds, wand still at the ready.