The remaining weeks until school started back where exactly the same. Everyday Hermione would sit in Ron's room staring out the dirty window hoping that it was all just a bad dream. Whenever she was asked if she was hungry, she would silently shake her head and continue to stare out the window. Ginny became very worried for her friend. Hermione didn't want to do anything. Everything reminded her of Ron.

How could he leave her?

"DRACO!"

The former platinum blonde young man winced Miss Figg's shrill voice filled his room. She's starting to sound like her cats, he thought.

"DRACO! COULD YOU BE A DARLING AND FIND MR. NIPPY!"

"She keeps running away for a reason," he muttered under his breathe. He slowly rolled out of bed and into the bathroom. He stared into the mirror until his eyes became focused and he really saw himself. His now-black hair was completely dishevelled and he had a three scars running down his left cheek. "Damn, cats." He turned away from the mirror and walked back into his room to check his closet. As usually everything was piled at the bottom of the closet. He picked up a pair of jeans and a shirt and sniffed them. They smell like cats. He groaned when he looked back at the bottom of the closet and saw a tiny kitten.

"FOUND HER!" he yelled back. He picked up the kitten and set her outside his door. The kitten sat and stared up at her. "Well, go on then." Mr. Nippy wasn't getting the picture. Draco nudged him with his foot. "Go to Mummy." The kitten still refused to move. Draco left the door open and walked back to his bed. After a quick search of the sheets he found a squeaky toy. He went back to the door and threw the toy down the hall. As he expected, the kitten ran after it, and Draco closed his door again. He hated cats ever since he came to Miss Figg's house. Too much of something can be quite aggravating.

He didn't bother to shower or comb his hair. He didn't really care about his appearance anymore. He didn't care that his shirt and jeans were covered in cat hair (well, he did a bit). He didn't care about anything since he went into hiding.

Right after Snape killed Dumbledore, Draco ran with him in fright. He wasn't going to kill Dumbledore; he knew he couldn't. He wanted to consider the Headmaster's offer to switch sides, but before he knew it, he was running across the Hogwarts ground. Too many things were on his mind when it was time to apparate and instead of appearing at the Death Eater's meeting place, he landed half a mile away. He hid out in the back of the Leaky Cauldron for a couple of weeks. A lost child found him there asleep. Thinking he was dead, the child ran to their dad who happened to be a member of the Order.

After Draco was hospitalized for about a month he was given the choice of being set free and being allowed to rejoin the death eaters or switching sides and work for the order. If he went back to Voldemort, he would be killed for not immediately returning. The only option he saw was to switch sides. The Order thought it best if he was removed from the wizarding world for a while until things calmed down a bit. They consider Miss Figg's house the best place to hide Draco. Few wizards knew of her being a squib and she still had a undetected connection to the wizarding world.

Draco put on his old beat-up sneakers and went outside to the front yard. In the front yard stood an old tall oak tree. Draco had gotten Mr. Nippy down from it numerous times. After he brought he kitten down he would go back up and look over all the houses. He would never admit it, but the highlight of his day was watching the sunset.

He fell asleep in the tree for a few hours before Miss Figg called him again to clean out all the litter boxes.

"I should run over her cats with one of those muggle cars," he commented climbing down from the limbs of the old tree. He often found that he talked to himself. He tried to socialize with other boys his age in the neighbourhood, but they all were too interested in robbing stores and beating up kids for money.

It took all day to clean out every single one of the cat's litter box. Her cats multiplied like rabbits. It was almost sunset by the time he was done. He went back outside for his daily view of the sunset.

As he watched the sun sink lower over the horizon, he thought to himself. Was anybody else watching the same sunset? Were they feeling the same as he was?

Sunset always brought Hermione disappointed. It was another day and there was no sign of Ron or Harry. Sitting there everyday was starting to drive her crazy. She would never find them this way. She would have to take action. Maybe she could find out where they were going. She didn't know why she was desperate to find Ron. Maybe it was because he stole her heart. Maybe it was because she wanted to protect him. Maybe it was both.

Harry had told her and Ron about the reason he had to go back to the Dursleys' every year. She figured she could stop there first and ask if Harry had been there yet. He had gone straight to the Weasleys' after school ended. If he hadn't, she would wait for him. Ron would surely be with him.

But she couldn't go as herself. The Dursleys wouldn't invite in or even talk to 18 year old wizard. She had to force them to listen. Then, it clicked. Fleur. Fleur had gotten a whole set of hair care products as a wedding gift. It was possible that her old brush was still somewhere in Bill's room where she had stayed. She checked the trash first. Nothing. Maybe the brush was already long gone. So, she opened all the dresser and desk drawers. Bingo. Fleur's brush was in the desk that Fleur had put all her things on.

Yet again there was another obstacle in the way. She had no Polyjuice Potion. It would take a month to brew some, and by that time Harry and Ron could be on their way. The only other way was a body modification spell, but she didn't know any. The only person who may have read some female modification spells was Ginny. The magazines she read always had their set ideas of beauty that Hermione didn't approve of, but she was desperate.

"So, I need you to make me appear older so I can convince the Dursleys to speak to me."

Ginny stared at her hands for a while. She really didn't know if she do the modification spells or make Hermione go back to her usual sulking mood. But on the other hand, Ginny did miss her brother and Harry. It would be nice to see them again before…

"I'll do it. But promise me you stay out of trouble. I can't lose my best friend."

"I promise that if I don't find out anything, I'll come right back. You can trust me."

"I know I can. Now, what do you want to look like?"

Hermione buttoned up the jacket of her business suit. She doubled checked that her ebony hair was in a tight bun. She was slightly overweight with a 5'10 frame. Her skin was a light chocolate brown with a few freckles on her nose. Her eyes were very big and she had a wide nose and plump lips. She went over what she had to say once more and walked up to number 4 Privet Drive and rang the doorbell.

A tall, bony woman answered the door. This must be Aunt Petunia. Hermione put on a very stern expression and crossed her arms.

"Has a Mister Potter been here this summer or recently. He's in very much trouble with the Ministry of Magic."

Aunt Petunia frowned at the word 'magic'. "No, hasn't been here this summer. He doesn't live here anymore. When that Bumblebee man died he wasn't required to come here anymore. Will I be in trouble for previously housing a criminal?"

It was hopeless. She would never find Ron or Harry. Harry wasn't under Dumbledore's spell anymore. Why hadn't she thought of that before? Her walnut-coloured eyes began to tear up.

"Thank you for telling me, Mrs. Dursley. Thanks for your time."

Mrs. Dursley quickly shut the door in Hermione's face. Her cheeks were wet with tears as she turned and walked back down the sidewalk. She staggered along not really knowing where she was going. Things seemed surreal. She finally collapsed onto a lawn and bawled. She thought she was really in love with Ron and he had left her. She hated him. She never wanted to see him again. She pulled out her wand, uncaringly, and reversed the age spell so she went back to 17. She set herself back to her normal weight and was about to change her appearance when her wand was snatched out of her hand.

Draco woke up to a loud scream. He assumed it was Miss Figg and started his dress routine. He went downstairs to ask Miss Figg which cat had gotten out now, but she wasn't awake.

"Hmm, I thought I heard her." He started back up to his room, but froze when he heard the female voice again. It sounded more like someone crying uncontrollably that time. It seemed to be coming from in front of the house.

The first thing he saw was the wand. His first instinct was to take the wand away. He could risk his hiding place.

"What the hell are you doing!" he yelled, but regretted it as soon as he said it. The girl looked miserable enough. "I'm sorry, it's just that you had your wand out in a muggle neighbourhood. I didn't mean to yell."

The young woman looked up at him with her big brown eyes. He had seen those eyes before, but he couldn't remember where. She was very pretty. He wondered why she was sobbing on his front lawn at 5 in the morning.

"Um, is there anywhere I can help you?"

Hermione was very hungry. She hadn't eaten in so long and her stomach was growling loud enough for the young man to hear. His face was out of focus as of a mixture of tears and her sleepiness.

"I take you're hungry," the young man chuckled. Hermione nodded.

"Let me help you up." The young man helped her to her feet and half-carried her inside the house. It smelled strongly of cats. When she was lowered onto the couch she stretched out over it. It had been a long couple of weeks and she was exhausted.

Draco put the strange girl's food in the microwave it would be rude to wake her up. She obviously needed to rest a while. He thought about the way she looked at him. It reminded him so much of someone. It frustrated him that he couldn't remember. He was usually pretty good at remember details. Draco went back into the living room and looked down at the pretty young woman. He wondered what had brought her there and why she was in such a condition, but he would have to wait. If she stayed, it would take a while for her to adjust to her new surroundings and the new people. He knew firsthand.

She must have not been in the muggle world before. Maybe that was why she was crying. Maybe she was lost.

His mind went back to her eyes. The mystery of her eyes just bothered him so much. Where had he seen them?

A/N: Please, Review to help me.