A/N: Sorry it's late! It was harder to write this chapter than I thought it would be.

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Clandestine

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Chapter Four: Questions and Answers

Hermione opened her eyes to a headache so intense that it felt like her head was about to split in two. She sat up, wondering what happened. She looked around, her eyesight slowly regaining focus, and spotted a man in a black robe laying a few spots away from her on the floor. Upon seeing the man, she quickly remembered what happened. Death Eaters had attacked Diagon Alley and after getting separated from Ron, Ginny ad Harry, she had gone into Flourish and Blott's to hide. There, she was attacked by a Death Eater and she had been hit by the Cruciatus Curse. She heard someone cough, and her eyes snapped to a person sitting close to the stunned Death Eater.

"Malfoy! What are you doing here? Oh wait, let me guess. You were here to watch your little Death Eater friends attack innocent people," Hermione said while drawing her wand and pointing it at Malfoy.

"Well, Granger, if it weren't for me, you would have been dead, so I think you should be thanking me rather than accusing me of something you know nothing about."

Hermione snorted, "And why exactly did you help me?"

"If I hadn't stunned him, he would have held the curse long enough for you to go insane or die. I would have let him kill a filthy Mudblood like you but all that would do is cause problems."

"Whatever, I need to go find Ron," Hermione said, walking past Malfoy to get to the door. Just as she was opening the door to step out, she thought she heard Malfoy say "ungrateful Mudblood." Ignoring the rude comment, Hermione made her way down Diagon Alley, towards the Leaky Cauldron where she hoped her friends would be waiting.

Diagon Alley was barely recognisable. Most of the once brightly coloured shops were scorched and destroyed. Looking up the street, Hermione could see that a fire was still smouldering at Gringotts. Everywhere she looked, Hermione saw Healers tending to the injured, and Aurors questioning those who were still on the streets. Once she reached the Apothecary, which was right next to the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione saw a group of Aurors standing watch over a group of people in black robes, tied together by a magical chain. She strode over to them, and informed them of the stunned Death Eater in Flourish and Blott's. While two Aurors went to claim the Death Eater, another one questioned Hermione.

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"Yes, he was rather large and he had a black moustache."

"Hmm. That sounds like it could be Macnair. Can't be too sure though. Did he say anything to you that sounded important?"

Hermione was about to tell him how the Death Eater was supposed to bring her to Voldemort, but she was not sure if she should until she talked to Harry or Dumbledore. Finally, she decided it was best not to say anything.

"No, he didn't say anything at all."

"Okay, well thank you for letting us know where he was. You should be going now. Diagon Alley is far from safe at the moment."

"I just have one question. What exactly happened?"

"Well, it seems as though He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wanted to display the powers of his Death Eaters to those who were not around when You-Know-Who first came to power. Some people got a glimpse of their power at the Quidditch World Cup a few years ago but they wanted their power to be fresh in every ones minds. They ambushed Diagon Alley, one group coming from Knockturn Alley, while another group came from the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. From there, they set buildings on fire and killed random people. It was terrible. By the time we got here, most of them had already apparated, but some stuck around and we got them."

"That's terrible. It has been so long since they last attacked and this time, they attacked such a busy area. Thank you for telling me what happened. I best be off."

With that, Hermione went to the Leaky Cauldron. Once inside, she quickly spotted Harry, Ron and Lupin and ran to them.

"Oh my gosh! Thank Merlin you are all alright! I got separated from you and I didn't know if you got caught in the ambush and I was just so worried!"

"Hermione! We were really worried about you too! What happened?" Ron said, looking anxiously at her. He had been a nervous wreck since he noticed she was no longer with them.

Hermione relayed what had happened, including the part where Malfoy had saved her, at which time Ron's mouth was hanging open and Harry looked very confused.

"But why would he want to help you?" Harry asked.

"Well, he said something about how killing me would cause problems but I don't know what he meant by that."

"Well, we should probably head to the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley insisted we all go back but we weren't going to leave without you so Lupin said he would stay with us. Everyone is probably still really worried. You were gone for nearly three hours," said Ron.

With that, they apparated to the Burrow, anxious to be somewhere they felt safe.