Chapter three: Snape's reappearance!

Hermione ripped the plastic casing off her sandwich and bit into it. She glanced at her watch, "Great – late again." she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yo, Hermione!" She heard Ron's voice behind her and turned around. "You guys are late again!" she shrieked. Then she stopped. It was only Ron – where was Harry and Ginny?

"Chill, Hermione." Ron said.

"Where are Harry and Ginny?" Hermione asked Ron, looking over his shoulder. He grunted, "Them? They went shopping for some stuff they need for their wedding. God, I can't believe my younger sister and best friend are getting married!" He said 'getting married' in a disgusted tone.

"Oh, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes. "The wedding won't be till a long time after and you're just afraid of commitment."

"Wha-? I am not." Ron retorted. He cast a glance at her sandwich. "What's that? Looks eurgh."

"Stop that please, Ron. It's tuna." Hermione replied, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Muggle food, eh?"

"Yeah, it's fish." Hermione replied, ignoring Ron's look of disbelief and then she spotted Ginny and Harry. "Oh, there they are!" She waved at Harry and Ginny who were approaching, carrying shopping bags. Ginny seemed to be glowing radiantly. Ah, happens to all about-to-be-married women, Hermione thought.

"Hermione!" Ginny squealed, rushing towards Hermione and the both of them hugged. "I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

Hermione laughed and pulled away, "I'm fine. You looked great – really." She said and Ginny smiled as she linked arms with Hermione, walking into The Three Broomsticks. Harry and Ron followed behind, Harry complaining, "I can't believe it. Hermione didn't even say anything to me."

"What, you jealous?"

"Obviously not, but it was like I was invisible!"

"You'd better not let Ginny or Hermione hear that – they'll think you're one petty man."

"Hear what?" Ginny and Hermione turned when they heard their names.

"Oh, nothing." Harry said sheepishly.

"You're one lucky guy, Harry." Hermione said, smiling. "You should be honored to have Ginny."

"Ah, yes." Harry exchanged a smug look with Ginny, who turned to Hermione, "You should get yourself a nice guy too."

"Oh well…" Hermione flushed as they took a booth and Ginny handed the shopping bags to Harry. "I guess I've been too busy." Hermione said.

"Busy?" Ron stared at her. Then he remembered something. "Oh yes, we've heard about your job!"

Hermione scowled slightly. "Yes I've heard about that too." She said bitterly.

Harry said, "How can you be busy when you've got no job?" The moment he said that, he flushed red. Oops.

Ginny sighed impatiently. The guys were so annoying! "Oh, Hermione. It's a blessing in disguise then. Now that you're, um, not so busy at work, it's the best time to find a date!"

"Wow, thanks." Hermione said sarcastically. "But I don't think I want to date right now."

After a few more drinks and two hours of chatting and reminiscing on the days at Hogwarts, they decided to leave. Harry and Ron were paying for the drinks while Ginny and Hermione waited outside.

"So, what are you thinking of doing now?" Ginny asked, glancing in to check if the boys were done.

"Oh nothing much, look for another job I guess." Hermione replied. She looked around and then she froze. She knew that white-blond head anywhere! She looked into The Three Broomsticks frantically to see if Harry and Ron were still inside.

"… you'll get one in no time. After all-,"

Hermione decided that either Harry and Ron or Malfoy were to leave. Either one of them. And she could only make Harry and Ron leave.

"Ginny, will you guys be going back soon?" Hermione cut Ginny off.

"Um, I'm not sure yet. We could be doing some shopping. I'm not sure… maybe you want to come to The Burrow to hang out? You haven't been there in a while!" Ginny said excitedly.

"Oh, oh okay then." Hermione replied half-heartedly as she watched Harry and Ron leave the pub, laughing about something. She shuffled them off into the opposite direction of where Draco Malfoy was.

Finally, while they were safe out of where Draco was, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled to herself, thinking of seeing the fun Weasley family again, and then she thought, how come she was trying to save Draco Malfoy so much anyway?

------

Wiltshire, Malfoy Manor: Draco Malfoy is said to be spotted at the Malfoy Manor, witnesses include Mrs. Heather McCarthy, aged 86 is said to have spotted the only heir of the Malfoy…

Draco squashed up the newspaper. When did I ever go back there? He thought angrily. This woman, she's already 86, what does she know? Those dumb asses, believing such crap!

He took a swig of his drink. God, this sucked. Now, he was even more alone. He had nothing to live for or no one to live for.

He took one last drink and threw some money onto the table to pay for them. Then he walked out, checking to see if there was no one. Of course, there wasn't anyone. It was late at night. He only left his house at night. The new bartender didn't seem to also recognize him.

Suddenly, someone cried out in the dark. "Ouch! You again?"

Draco's mouth fell all the way to the ground. How many times did he have to see this girl? She had seemed to bring him so much fucking bad luck. God!

"I should be the one saying that, you Mudblood!" Draco spat out.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Hermione screamed back at him. "Do you know you have absolutely no right now to even say my name?"

"That will only happen in your dreams, Mudblood!" Draco yelled back, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. What did she want? He didn't even do anything to her. He pushed past her, and headed off.

"Ew, you reek of alcohol, you idiot." Hermione mumbled as she watched him walk off. Then she spotted something he dropped on the floor: The Daily Prophet. She picked it up and smoothed it out.

She smirked at the headline. "You went back to your old lair eh, Malfoy?" she called out to him. He stopped, "Don't believe everything you read, Mudblood." He snapped.

"Oh?" Hermione said. "Then how come this lady apparently spotted you?"

Draco whirled around. "I thought you were supposed to be the brightest witch ever at Hogwarts. Couldn't you see that the woman is already 86? How good could her damned eyesight be?" he snapped at her.

Hermione scowled. "How many people could have looked like you?" she said sarcastically.

"Many." Draco growled. "I couldn't have known it better myself. I did not go back there."

"And on whose account should I believe you?"

"Shut up, Granger, go away and stop bothering me okay. I have absolutely no reason to go back there."

"Oh yeah? What about your mother? I haven't heard from her at all. What, is she dead?" Hermione smirked, feeling smug. The moment after she had said it, she froze. Shit, he would come raging at her again! The last time she just called his mother a 'bitch' by mistake and he came charging at her!

"Uh, Malfoy, no-,"

But Draco Malfoy seemed to be very quiet. It was absolute silence Hermione was hearing as she could even hear the ringing in her ears. Hermione felt her heart thumping in her chest. She knew he was unpredictable. Now, what was he going to do to her?

Then she saw a small single tear roll down Draco Malfoy's pale face. Oh, God, what's gone into him?

"M-Malfoy?" Hermione asked softly. "Wh-what's wrong?"

He seemed to snap out of his trance, and then with one hand, he swiped his tear away and turned to leave. Hermione stared after him as he left. She opened her mouth to call him but nothing came out.

Then she realized what she had done. 'What, is she dead?' Damn it, Hermione. Since when had you been so mean to someone? Even though it was Malfoy… Something must have happened to his mother.

She decided to be nice for once.

"Hey, Malfoy, what's up with you?" She ran up next to him as he walked and walked beside him. "I mean, it's unlike you to walk off without a mean comment to me…"

He stopped and stared coldly at her. "I don't wish to tell you, Granger. And stop following me again, will you?" he asked before continuing to walk.

"It's not like I really want to follow you." Hermione said, shrugging. "I'm nice, okay."

He grunted, "Yeah right."

"What?" She protested. "You've got to lighten up, it's all…" She stopped when Draco turned into a dark corner out of Hogsmeade. "Hey! I'm talking to you."

He didn't reply but continued down the alley and out of sight into the darkness, heading towards The Shrieking Shack. There's no way I am going in there, Hermione told herself. She turned and walked back slowly to her house, trying very hard not to think about Malfoy's tear sliding down his face.

Why had that happen in the first place? Something must have happened… and it involved his mother.

-------

Draco turned, trying to get a glimpse of whether Hermione was following him. Good, she wasn't! That girl was so annoying – back in school and still after four years. He still wondered why she hadn't raided on him with Potter. After all, The Golden Trio had always seemed to want him dead.

Remembering the Golden Trio, Draco felt a tinge of sadness – not because of Potter and all his lame doings but that the three of them had each other for support. He had no one, except his mother, but now she was gone. He was alone. He had no one to lean on for support, he had no family.

Suddenly, the spot on his left forearm – where he bore the Dark Mark – started feeling hot. Then, someone appeared out of nowhere.

Draco jumped up. It was Severus Snape. Draco asked with caution, "What are you doing here?"

Snape drawled. "I've heard about your mother." He stared at Draco. "I came for you."

Draco froze, "But I do not intend you go with you."

"But you do not have any family to be with now. Your mother's gone. Come with me, The Dark Lord wants you to join him."

"I have absolute no intention of joining him."

That made Snape very angry. Indeed, he did resemble the anger of Lucius' when Draco tried to defy him of any way. "What did you say?" Snape snapped at Draco. "What did you just say?"

"I… don't wish to repeat myself, Professor Snape." Draco replied, emphasizing on the word Professor, which was a big mistake, made Snape even angrier. He went up to Draco and forced Draco's left sleeve up, revealing the Dark Mark and Draco's distorted arm.

Draco gave a yell, "What do you think you are doing?" he said. "Let go of me!"

"You see this!" Snape spat, showing his yellow teeth. "This is the mark of your loyalty to the Dark Lord. DO NOT ever speak of him like that!"

Draco yanked his arm away and shoved his sleeve back down. "I was forced to bear this mark." He said, glaring at Snape, who was glaring back. "Thank you for your concern about my mother. Good bye." Draco said, turning around and marching off. He felt good. Standing up to his father would have felt even better but it was too bad he was off in Azkaban.

A/N: I know the story's kinda lame but review and give me comments on how I should improve it, cos I'm VERY hungry for reviews. Sigh, I always get close to none sometimes and that makes me very sad. Yep! Pleaseeee….

Thanks. I'm a desperate writer here.

: D