Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. If I did, would I be writing fan fiction? (grins)

Thanks so much to orderly chaos for all of the help! You are so awesome!

Somewhere in London

Draco Malfoy sat in a large armchair, contemplating what he was going to do next. He had two choices: 1) he could choose to not do as Voldemort had instructed him to do,via a letter from Snape, with the knowledge of knowing that he could possibly have been instrumental in his mother's death (it wouldn't take long for the Death Eaters to find his mother, even though she had taken care to hide herself per his instructions) or choice number 2) he could do as he had been instructed by Snape, kidnap the mudblood and Weaselette, therefore making the Dark Lord happy. He would not become like his father, but he didn't know how he else he was going to keep himself and his mother safe. He surely wasn't going to go running to Potter and his precious Order. So that left him one choice. He had to do what he had been commissioned to do: he had to kidnap Granger and the Weaselette on the proper day at the proper time and take them to the Dark Lord. He already knew that he could get the youngest Weasley very easily, but how to get the Mudblood? As he sat thinking of various ways that he could get her, one crept into his mind that could be practically foolproof, if it was pulled off without a hitch. A maniacal grin came upon his face as he began to formulate his plan.

Diagon Alley

If anyone took the time to look around Diagon Alley, they would see shops lining both sides of the street, the windows papered with newly made Ministry of Magic posters that beheld numerous warnings. One would see hundreds of witches and wizards, old and young, scurrying about for their wares that were needed, and Knockturn Alley. No one seemed to notice the man that was slumped on the ground at the start of Knockturn Alley. But one person did take notice of him in the form of one Hermione Granger. She was in Diagon Alley, buying her books for her seventh year. She had stopped in at the Weasley twins' shop to say hello, which was crowded as always. She talked to Fred and George and asked them to please be careful who they sold their merchandise to. When asked why they should do such a thing, she quickly told them in a low voice about what had happened at Hogwarts. They said that they would take some caution, but business was business. Hermione bid them adieu, and left their store to buy that rest of her purchases. Once she had bought everything that she needed, she decided to walk through Diagon Alley. While walking, she passed by Knockturn Alley. She looked down the alley with disgust in her eyes. As she went to pull her eyes away from the alley, her eyes fell on a man that looked familiar to her. 'There's no way that I could possibly know him at all, he's just some poor wizard.' But as she continued to look at the man, a startling realization hit her with the force of a truck. She ran over to the man and knelt down in front of him, taking in his features. He was very filthy, and smelled of something awful. His hair was very unkempt, as were his robes, and he had a bit of a beard growing on his face. His eyes were closed as though he were sleeping. Now that Hermione had gotten a closer look at the man, she knew who he was. 'How could it be him? There's no way that it could be.' She knew that she needed to get out of here, before something bad happened to her. She had already passed her apparition test, having done so just before going to Privet Drive to retrieve Harry. She gathered her things in one arm, held onto her wand with her hand, put one arm around the man as best as she could, then thought of the place that she wished to go to, and disappeared with a POP!

Near Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Hermione appeared in another alley that was right next door to Grimmauld Place. The safest place that she could think of right now was number 12. She couldn't take him back to her home for obvious reasons, and she wasn't about to take this man to the Burrow, as much as she loved it there. She looked out, making sure that there weren't any muggles walking past. There weren't any, and the street had no cars driving on it. As quickly and carefully as she could, she managed to get herself and the man inside of number 12. Once inside, she carefully shut the door behind her, so as not to set off Mrs. Black's portrait. She levitated the man to the closest couch she could find, laid him down on it, then placed her schoolbooks on a nearby end table. She sat down on the coffee table, which was rare for her to do, as she hated sitting on tables, and looked the man over. He was still very much asleep. She pondered how on earth this could have happened and what was she going to do. She needed to tell someone, and she knew exactly who to tell, but she didn't know quite how to tell them. She would just have to tell them, that was it. She scurried about, looking for parchment, a quill and ink. She sat down and the desk and quickly wrote out a letter to someone who she was very close to. She carefully explained that she had found someone that was unconscious, who she knew, in an alley while doing her shopping and had brought that person back to Grimmauld Place. She asked the person that she was writing to come as soon as they possibly could to number 12 and signed it with a flourish. She sent the letter off with her owl that she had bought, Neptune, and sent her off with the letter to Harry. Hermione went back to the couch where the guest was laying. She waved her wand and taking care, she levitated him upstairs into a bedroom and placed him on a bed. She sat there in amazement thinking about how quickly her day had been turned upside down.

Some time later, as Hermione was cleaning downstairs, she heard the front door open and close. She immediately went to see who it was that was there. Harry, Ron, Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny had all come in answer to Hermione's letter. She took a moment to look over Harry. He had gotten quite tall, as had Ron. His black hair was still as messy as ever, his green eyes were just as bright, although there was a bit of hollowness to them now. Hermione could see that Harry didn't like being back in this home. She walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"Hi, Harry. I'm glad you could finally come."

"It's good to see you again too, Hermione," said Harry as he hugged her back. "So what happened? Your letter didn't say much."

Hermione sat down with a sigh, wringing her hands. "I know. I don't even know how this happened, or how this person could have gotten where they were. I mean, one second, I'm shopping, and the next, I see them," Hermione babbled.

"Hermione, slow down," said Ginny.

"Harry, I don't know how to tell you this. You're going to think I'm going mad or something," said Hermione.

"We won't think you're going mad, Hermione. Just tell us whatever it is that you have to tell us," said Ron.

Hermione took a deep breath.

"Well, Harry, I'm not quite sure how to tell you this, but the person that I found in an alley is…"

Yeah, I know, you probably hate me by now, lol. Please review!