Chapter One: Disturbing the Peace
It was a bright and cool autumn day, and 17-year-old Hermione Granger was reading quietly by her new favorite spot in the open air. It was a cluster of rose bushes just near the edge of the lake outside Hogwarts castle, and she loved it purely because it gave her privacy and quiet time to concentrate.
One can imagine, therefore, how annoyed Hermione was to have her peaceful silence interrupted by a loud crashing, stumbling sound coming from the front doors that opened into the Entrance Hall.
Irritably looking up to see who or what had made the noise and disturbed her precious peace time, Hermione was surprised to see her best friend Harry Potter making a mad dash from the front doors onto the grounds, and he was obviously distressed.
Assuming Harry was in trouble or looking for her, Hermione got to her feet quickly and waved him over, not shouting his name for fear of attracting more unnecessary attention that his loud entrance had not already caused.
Seeing Hermione waving frantically at him, Harry sprinted over to her, and Hermione yanked him by his robes to her spot behind the bushes out of view of everyone.
Gazing at Harry from head to toe, Hermione observed that his face had a few more new cuts and scratches on it, and the effort from running hard began to show itself in the pink flush rising in his cheeks. She concluded that the scratches on his face were most likely from his most recent Occlumency lessons and paid them no mind. Concerning the reason why Harry would choose to tear through the castle, however, Hermione was perplexed.
"What happened, Harry? Who are you running from?" she asked him.
Before Harry got a chance to open his mouth, Hermione's second question was answered quickly in the form of a livid-faced Draco Malfoy, who had just appeared at the open doors to the Entrance Hall that Harry had run from.
How Hermione could tell that it was Malfoy she did not know, because at the moment, he bore a striking resemblance to a mutated grindylow. He was covered from head to toe in a slimy green liquid Hermione recognized as stinksap. Because this wasn't a normal fashion for Malfoy, Hermione immediately suspected foul play. Oh, she was going to love hearing this one.
Harry followed Hermione's gaze towards Malfoy, and his face immediately became alight with worry, and he crouched even further behind the bushes. Seeing Harry's now terrified expression, Hermione's emotions quickly changed from anger to confusion. Why is Harry afraid of Malfoy all of a sudden? Hermione thought to herself.
Given the two rivals' history together and Hermione's ability to read Harry like a book, she knew intimidation and fear would normally be the last things on his mind when it came to Malfoy. Something was definitely up.
Crabbe and Goyle, along with a few more of Malfoy's troll-like henchmen, showed up moments later beside him. Malfoy, his face set with the expression of one intent to kill, commanded them to search the grounds nearby for his assailant. Doing as they were told, the boys split up and began looking around.
"Harry, what happened? What did you do to him?" Hermione hissed, automatically assuming Harry was to blame for Malfoy's current state.
Unfortunately, Hermione's semi-silent reproach was enough to engage the curiosity of the Slytherin search-and-destroy party. The boys pointed out the group of bushes Harry and Hermione were hidden behind, and started towards it.
Harry turned his head back towards Hermione with a panicked, horrified expression on his face.
"I swear, Hermione, this time it wasn't me! I'll explain it all to you later, but for now can you please hide me or do something quick!" Harry desperately pleaded with her. Malfoy and his gang were now just about to circle the bush to the part where both Hermione and Harry could be easily seen.
Acting on the first irrational thought that crossed her mind, Hermione gave Harry a hard shove in the shoulders to where he was no longer in a kneeling position, but lying flat on his back. She then straddled him and sat on his knees.
Looking utterly confused, Harry looked up at her. "Hermione, what are you…" but Harry never got the chance to finish his sentence because at that moment, Hermione bent down and caught his lips in a deep kiss.