Draco Malfoy silently ascended into the shrieking shack. He immediately saw Hermione's form crumpled up on the floor, not six feet from him. The student who nearly got him expelled. What was she doing here? Not that it mattered. What an opportunity, he thought with an evil smile playing around his mouth; she didn't know he was there. The advantage was his.
"Expelliarmus." He whispered. Hermione turned around in complete surprise to see her wand fly out of her pocket and into his hands. He snapped it in two over the top of his knee.
"Hermione." He said, advancing on her, his tone full of malice and threatening. "Fancy meeting you here now." He said slowly. "Is this yours and Weasley's new love nest? Didn't think he could afford something so grand," he scoffed at the dust and dirt covering the shadowed, wrecked room. He turned and looked at her up and down, a sick smile ebbing on his pale, pointed face. "Or has he left you all alone again?" He said with dripping false sympathy. Even in the dim light she could see hatred glinting in his cold gray eyes.
He reached inside his cloak and lazily drew out a long, thin blade, with a serpent's head handle, its emerald eyes glittering in the semi-darkness. He appeared to be contemplating it. "Do you know what will happen if I take your blood tonight, according to Trelawney?" He asked softly. "The Dark Lord's conquest will be guarantied. Bet you wish you'd have taken my generous offer now." He took another step closer and Hermione scrambled to her feet to back away.
"I tried to do you a favor and this is the thanks I get." His voice held a dangerous mock congeniality. "Having to clamber through this dump just to get into Hogsmeade."
"A favor!" She started incredulously. "You think that was a favor!" She knew it would have been best if she could have remained calm, but there was no chance. Not after today. She shouted these last words at Malfoy.
"Shut your filthy mouth!" He snarled so loudly, and so angrily, the words cut through Hermione like a whip. Seeking escape, she looked for the opening through which she had entered. With a splash of hope, she realized she was much closer to it than he was, and she made a break for it.
"Immobulis!" He cried. Hermione froze instantly under his spell. He stepped up to her, drew back his arm and caught her across the face with a wicked blow. She fell to the floor, cheek stinging with pain, she saw the shards that had earlier caught her reflection. She grabbed one and tucked it under her sleeve. Wand or no wand, she wasn't going down with out a fight.
"Dirty blood, Granger. Let's see if we can burn it out." He drew out his wand and hissed a spell, sending white waves of heat over her,scortching her skin. She could have screamed, but her voice was lost in her shock. He reached down and tried to pull her up by her collar, but a struggling Hermione managed to slash his offending hand with her shard.
"Arg! You bloody cow!" He screamed, staring at his bleeding hand. "You're going regret that, mudblood." He seized her wrists and slammed her hard against the wall again, making her drop her makeshift weapon. Her whole body panged with upset, and her mind reeled at the situation. How was she going to get out of this?
He fixed her with a penetrating stare, his icy eyes alight with cruelty as he pulled her back once more and forcibly slammed her into the wall again, this time her head catching the brunt. Pain traced over every inch of Hermione's burned body. Her vision flickered and she thought she might black out.
"I'll teach you for the last time, mudblood, who is the superior." He raised hisblade to her throat, and this time she had no tool, no strength to fight back. She though she might have been hallucinating when she saw a pair of large hands. They came from behind and seized Malfoy's head, yanking it backward and twisting it sharply with a nasty resonating crack. He was thrown down, revealing no other than Ron, standing behind him, his face was dark and contorted with rage. She began to slide down the wall, part in weakness, part in shock of seeing Ron, part in utter relief. He caught her before she could fall, and grasped her in his arms. He spoke; his voice possessed by emotion. She heard these words before her world faded to black.
"Oh, Hermione. I'm so sorry."