Disclaimer: All my characters are JKR's – all hail. Well, the situations are my own. I'm not making any money off it.

Chapter Five

Shit.

Hermione froze.

Oh my god.

She had come out of the passageway too fast in her haste of getting away from the Death Eater.

A tall, platinum blond man was standing there in front of her, in the old study hall. And he could see her, too, and was eyeing her hard. She recognized him as an old school rival.

Of all the stupid situations she had gotten into lately, this had to be the worst.

~

Surprisingly, Hermione had found Cho Chang easily. She had been walking openly in the school corridors. Hermione followed the petite figure by cutting through with secret passages rather than directly through the open hallways.

Hermione had been wondering where Cho was going, but one final swish of her long raven hair told her that Cho had entered Moaning Myrtle's out-of-order washroom, the place Hermione, Harry and Ron had once used to plot their secret deeds.

Coming out from behind a statue of Annelie the Angry, Hermione stood at the doorway. Cho's back was to her, but Hermione saw her light a candle, and mutter a spell. Hermione watched as Cho seemed to be analyzing the sinks, tapping them with her wand. It took a second because Hermione realized that Cho might have been looking for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

After a few minutes, Hermione took a cautious step inside and a nervous breath. "Cho?"

The small witch whirled around, wand brandished.

"Please put the wand down," Hermione blurted. "It's me, I'm – I'm – well, Dumbledore sent me to find you." Oh, smooth. You don't even know if it's the real her! It could be a disguise you know!

Cho Chang's eyes widened as she peered at Hermione's face. "You went to Hogwarts, didn't you?" 

"Yes…" Hermione said awkwardly. 

Cho Chang lowered her wand only a little. "How do I know you're not an impostor?"

"I'm Harry's friend," Hermione said immediately. "I know you were a Ravenclaw prefect and Head Girl a year before I was."

Cho paused, but put down her wand. Generally, she didn't look all that worried that Hermione might have been a fake. In fact, she broke into a smile. "Hermione Granger, right? I've heard about you, you're Harry's best friend, the really smart one?"

Hermione nodded. Now that she was face-to-face with Cho, she was seeing the face of the old acquaintance more clearly. The flickering light from Cho's candle highlighted the delicate features of her porcelain doll face, reflecting off her shiny black hair and emphasized the folds of her midnight blue dress robes. She was very pretty; Hermione could see easily why Harry had had such a big crush on her as a preteen. Despite of herself, Hermione's eyes turned to the plain old training robe she was wearing, and tugged self-consciously at the hem.

Cho glanced around quickly. "I wanted to stop at Hogwarts before I leave. I know that You-Know-Who is after me."

"Oh. Well, okay." Hermione began. "Dumbledore just wanted me to tell you that, to leave. Go to Asia, it'll be safer. You-Know-Who is sending Death Eaters after you…"

 "I know. Thanks for coming to warn me." Cho nodded and gave her a grateful smile. "I heard Moaning Myrtle's washroom had the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Well, she's gone off somewhere now –"

"There's not much point in trying to get in," Hermione said.

"No, I guess not." Cho said with a sigh.

"Why are you here?"

Cho's expression turned slightly urgent. "Hermione, you've got to tell Dumbledore about this. You-Know-Who is after something and I think it's hidden inside the chamber. You have to get to it before he does – "

They were interrupted by a noise outside.

"Death Eaters!" hissed Cho. Hastily, she blew out her candle. "Hermione, just tell Dumbledore that, since there isn't any point in me trying to get in. But he'll find a way – anyways," She rushed away to the door. "Thanks again, Hermione."

Before Hermione could reply, Cho had slipped out the door. Hermione followed after her, but peered out into an empty hallway. She could hear muffled male voices down to her left. There was a passageway that lead to a little-used studying hall behind the tapestry across from her. Hermione scooted forwards, and disappeared behind it.

Hermione ran through the narrow walls quickly, and came to another tapestry door. She pulled it back, and burst into the hall it lead to.

Unfortunately, someone was already in the room.

~

Draco tensed from behind the pillar and instead, came out to face her.

Granger.

There he was, standing in the middle of the empty, vaulted hall, and there she was, at the doorway in the wall, holding the tapestry open with one hand. She was wearing some sort of tight black outfit that clung to her body, and her hair was all messy. From the looks of it, he surprised her as much as she surprised him.

They stood there for a few seconds, both of them tense, staring at each other. Draco wasn't really sure how to face her.

"Malfoy," she said. It was a statement.

"Granger," he growled back.

In an instant, her wand was out. Draco drew his also.

"So then, Granger," he said carefully, "Come back to school to study?"

Her brown eyes flashed dangerously. "I see I haven't beaten you to it, Malfoy."

Draco smirked. "Not so safe anymore without Hogwarts, is it, mudblood? You and your pathetic bodyguards scared yet? Oh wait, Scarhead and his sidekick aren't here, you're all alone."

Draco thought he saw Granger twitch slightly as she adjusted her grip on her wand, now pointed as his head. "I can protect myself, Malfoy."

Draco jerked out of the way just as a flash of red light and the spell, "Expelliarmus!" zoomed past him.

You're asking for it now, aren't you?

"If you want to duel, Granger, you should bow first," he said coldly.

She glowered furiously at him. "Why don't you bow first then?" she retorted.

"If you're a little more polite, Granger, maybe I'll be easier on you," Draco said smoothly.

"How do you know if I'll be the one needing to be easier on you?" she snapped.

"Perfect little Head Girl; so sure of yourself," Draco tsked softly. A pink tinge went to her cheeks. Draco snickered under his breath.

"And what about you, Malfoy? Your father's not here to fight your battles for you," she said haughtily. With that, she yelled, "Stupefy!"

Malfoy dodged out of the way, just in time. He pointed his wand. An orange flame shot wards her. Hermione ducked, the fire barely missing her hair.

Malfoy stood there, laughing at her.

Stay calm, Hermione, you've got to stay calm, she thought. But her heart started to pound faster against her will.

"Hydrogena!" A blast of water shot towards Malfoy.

Malfoy cried out as it hit him in the face. Yes! Hermione thought triumphantly. Water over fire!

But the Water Spell was hardly strong enough to keep Malfoy down. He now looked angrier than ever. With his blond hair loose and plastered to his forehead, he wiped the water from his eyes.

Hermione aimed to Leg-Lock Malfoy. But he was ready; he jumped out of the way.

"Sabernicum!" Malfoy yelled. Hermione couldn't help screaming as a sharp blade shot out the end of Malfoy's wand and neared seared her in the side.

She scrambled up.

"Serpensortia!"

A black serpent came out of Malfoy's wand and immediately towards Hermione. It wrapped itself around her leg and up her torso to her neck.

Don't move, don't look scared. Malfoy smirked at her. The snake's warm body was around her neck, waiting for orders to bite its victim. If you look scared it's going to bite you!

"As soon as I order it, it will bite." Malfoy said casually. "It is poisonous."

Hermione bit hard on her bottom lip. Don't. Look. Scared.

"The poison will take time to kill me. I can still kill you first," she said.

Malfoy turned his ugly smirk directly to her. "Goody-little Granger, I hardly believe you or your little Auror friends would know an illegal dark curse, much less use them."

Hermione glared back at him.

"Don't make me use the Cruciatus on you, mudblood." He said, sounding bored. "It would hurt."

The snake twisted harder around Hermione's neck. It's just an illusion. Hermione subtly pointed her wand towards it and muttered a reversing spell. To her relief, the snake disappeared.

"Expelliarmus!" she yelled. But Malfoy had yelled it at the same time! She felt her wand force itself away from her fingers and a clack as both their wands collided in midair and fall to ground, roll away from them, all the way across the room.

Hermione panicked and ran after her wand.

Malfoy jumped at her and grabbed her by her shoulder.

She thrust a fist over at him. Useless. Hermione kicked at his shins desperately. Malfoy grabbed her left wrist. She tried to move towards the two wands a few meters away, but he wouldn't let go of her. If she could get to the wands, she could throw his out the window and fly away…

"Tell me why you're here." Malfoy ordered.

"Why don't you tell me then," she said. "Let go."

"Don't you know it's dangerous here, with all these Death Eaters running around?" Malfoy said mockingly sweetly. He wrapped his other arm around her waist to further restrain her.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione hissed. "And it's none of your business."

Malfoy tightened his arm around her. Then he leaned over her shoulder to whisper into her ear. "You'd be much safer off with Potter and Weasley to save you from any…Death Eaters that might want to hurt you."

She felt his breath on her ear. Hermione shivered. They were words of advice; but from him in this situation it was a mock.

"Let me go," she said through gritted teeth. Hermione aimed an awkward backhand slap over her left shoulder. Malfoy immediately pulled away from her, yanking by the wrist away from the wands. He dived for them. In a crazy instant, Hermione jumped onto Malfoy's back and hooked onto his neck with her arm.

"Ahh!" he yelled. Malfoy pushed Hermione off him and pinned her down onto the ground.

He now had Hermione in an awkward, unmovable position. He held her by the arms down, his knee pinning her legs to the floor. His wet blond hair was dangling down, just a few inches from her face. Hermione was helpless but she turned her head far to one side and refused to look up at him.

A few moments of silence followed. Only their breathing could be heard.

"Let…me…go," Hermione forced herself to say.

"I should bring you to my master." Malfoy told her quietly. "He would want to have you as a captive, and be very happy with me, don't you think?"

Bring her to his master? He could kill her on the spot if he wanted to.

Though he'd had to do it without magic and she would put up a fight.

A very feeble fight. Hermione was good at martial arts, but she wasn't exactly willing to bet that she could beat Malfoy. 

Oh god.

Draco was trying to think of something to do. He had her, Hermione Granger, pinned underneath him on the floor almost completely in his power. He didn't have his wand, but neither did she. But he could still torture her, kill her, give her up, whatever he wanted…

Her face was turned far to the left, defiantly refusing to make eye contact with him. Her hair was as tousled as ever, a stray strand hanging over her face. The roots of her hair were slightly damp from perspiration. Her berry-red lips were pursed stubbornly. Their bodies were frighteningly close. Draco could see the profile of her face shape, her cheeks and long eyelashes.

The short robes and leggings she was wearing were plain, but was tight and showed off her curves.

He could ravage her right there.

Hmm…that was an idea.

A sudden image suddenly entered Draco's mind. They were in that same position there then, but her robes would be open and she would be lying on them naked. Her white skin would be warm on the cold stone. He would have her sweating hard and gasping for breath. Her breasts would be heaving, her nipples erect and her legs would rub against his body and he could press himself against her and lay hard kisses over her lips and neck and her fingers would be in his hair and he would…

Bang!

Dammit, someone was at the door.

~

A/N: Yay! They finally met. I really hope that wasn't too cliché for a Hermione/Draco first meeting! If it was, I'm sorry! And whoops…cliffhanger. Anyways, if you think that was too cliché, please tell me so in your review.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed my other chapters!! Lena, Katte, hyper_shark, Late-Summer-Night, Blanche Dubois, Landry Anne, LuckyDuck, scythefire, Sucker For Romance, snow_queen, draco-lover, Sora Ketsueki, of course Hell's Hauntress, hyde, and Mikomi Kume, and unfortunately, Metallic Angel, Potterfan, No-name and Master Woo. Keep on reviewing! Love lots.

And special thanks to Hell's Hauntress for publishing them for me while I was on vacation in Europe. Now that I'm back, I've got a lot better idea of what London, Paris, Rome and other cities look like (hmm, Draco and Hermione's European honeymoon, not a bad idea…) As well, thanks to Hell's Hauntress and Mikomi Kume for beta-work.