DISCLAIMER- I don't own anything.

Chapter 1

Hermione hurried along the street. The sky was growing darker by the second. She kept walking and hugged herself with both her hands as the temperature of the air kept dropping.

A few minutes later there was a loud thundering sound which made her gasp. When she looked at the sky she saw a flash of light and everything went dark before returning back to normal again. Hermione was definitely not scared by those events but did feel a little unsafe and she wanted to go back in her cozy, little flat. She started taking bigger steps and clasped the coat closer for warmth.

The next moment she collided into something hard as a result of which she lost her balance completely and fell backwards. Almost instantly she felt a searing pain in her right ankle which made her grimace. 'I am never going to wear those heels again' she thought to herself. She tilted her head, only to find Draco Malfoy looking down upon her.

As usual he was dressed in complete black, resembling the sky and his pale face was a stark contrast to it. Hermione winced even more after seeing his face. He offered her a hand but she ignored him and tried to stand up on her own. Her ankle was burning and she knew she needed support but she was a stubborn witch. With great efforts and after straining her ankle a little too much she finally managed to stand up but lost balance again although Malfoy caught her with ease. If her ankle was not dislocated before she was sure it was now. As soon as the realization hit her that she was in Draco Malfoy's arms she moved away and took the support of the fence.

"I won't bite you Granger" Draco said with a roll of his eyes.

"Whatever. Just stay away from me." She retorted.

"You haven't changed at all" he drawled.

"And you too are still the same arrogant, cunning-"

"That is enough! I thought I would help you but you're just too fucking-"

"Help?" she scoffed, "you must be joking-

She was cut off by a loud thundering sound and seconds later heavy droplets of water started falling. Soon it was raining heavily.

"Fuck!" she swore under her breath. She didn't have an umbrella and she wouldn't dare to apparate anywhere when she could barely even walk. She took a quick look around but most of the street was empty, it seemed that everyone had scurried back to their homes due to the gloomy weather.

Malfoy on the other hand was holding an umbrella in his right hand. He was looking at her, as if waiting for her to say something. Hermione knew she needed his help but her ego wouldn't let her ask for it so it so she stayed silent. Draco walked away from her with a roll of his eyes and Hermione couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She tried to walk but could hardly even limp and the heavy downpour was only adding to her list of troubles. The fat rain drops soaked her hair and in a matter of a few seconds she was completely dripping. The pelting rain was accompanied by howling winds. They blew ferociously, with a swishing sound which gave her chills. The intimidating weather made her feel uneasy and the realization hit her that she was completely helpless.

Reluctantly, she turned and saw Malfoy walking a few yards away from her. She knew this was a bad idea but she didn't have any other option and she certainly didn't want to spend the night in the middle of some street and catch a cold.

"Malfoy!" she shouted at the top of her voice. He kept walking.

"Draco!" she tried again but her voice was muffled the raging rains and winds. She tried a few more times but without any success. Only when she had lost all hope he stopped in his tracks making her breathe a sigh of relief.

He walked up to her and stopped a few inches away. "Did you just call my name or was that my mind playing tricks on me?" he mused.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I did call your name"

"And why would you call for an arrogant, cunning, toxic-" he began in a mocking tone but she didn't let him finish.

"Seriously?" she groaned. Even at this time he had to play his games. "Incase it isn't obvious I need your help" she huffed, still standing under the rain while he was nice and dry because of the goddamn umbrella.

"Really? Would you lower yourself that much to ask for my-"

"Shut up Draco! Why can't you act like a mature person for once and not be so dramatic!" she snapped at him. He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Please I'm freezing" she added in a desperate voice.

Draco didn't say anything, only extended the umbrella in her direction, offering enough space for her to get underneath it. Hermione immediately lunged towards it and almost fell onto him, again all thanks to her broken ankle. Draco stumbled backwards a little but recovered quickly. "Bloody hell woman!" He exclaimed.

"I just want to go home" Hermione said.

"I'm afraid you can't do that but I can take you somewhere else" he replied as he took out something from inside his coat, a coin. Hermione realized that the coin was actually a portkey but by this time she didn't care about anything but wanting to get away from the rains and portkey travel was much safer as she wouldn't splinch herself. She grabbed onto it without any hesitation and a moment later they were gone.

...

They appeared in a large living room seconds later. Hermione recognized it as the Malfoy Manor. As soon as they arrived she took her hand away from his and hugged herself tightly. She was shivering and droplets of water were falling off from her wet hair and clothes on the polished floor underneath.

"Mippy!" Draco summoned and a second later an elf appeared in front of them. "Go and get a towel for Miss Granger" he said. The elf nodded and disappeared with a pop.

"You should sit down" he said, unsure of what else to say.

"It's so cold" she whispered. "I bet you're having fun watching me like this, aren't you?"

"Well, to be honest you do look kind of pathetic, shivering like a little kitten" he smirked, "but as much fun as this is, I don't want you freezing in my living room."

She was quiet. There was another clicking at which Draco scowled. "What sound is that?" he asked to no one in particular, looking everywhere. It was a few seconds later that he identified the source of the sound and the realisation hit him.

"Is that the sound of your teeth chattering?" he bend down to look at her face. Her teeth were indeed chattering and she was rubbing both her palms against each other.

Mippy appeared with a towel and Draco wrapped it around her shaking shoulders. She grabbed it and held it closer to herself.

"I'll get you some clothes so that you can get changed" he said and left her alone. Hermione sat quietly in the room, waiting for him. She had been to the manor only once before and those circumstances were nothing less than horrifying. The tall and dark walls gave her the feeling that Bellatrix, the crazy bitch was still looming here somewhere in the darkness.

He arrived a few minutes later with some clothes in his hands.

"What is this?" she furrowed her brows.

"It's an old dress of my mother's. This was the only thing that I could find at the moment or would you rather wear one of my shirts?" he questioned, in spite of being well aware of her answer.

"No thanks. This dress will do" she said in a flatly and stood up. The pain was making her grimace.

"There's a small room here where you can change" he said pointing in the direction.

Hermione successfully took one step before losing balance and she would have surely fallen again if she hadn't grabbed his arm.

"Ouch! My leg fucking hurts!" she complained.

"I had told you long ago that heels are not your cup of tea" he said casually.

Hermione couldn't roll her eyes hard enough at the statement. They just started walking or rather limping in Hermione's case. Once they reached the room Hermione left his hand and was at a loss of words. She wanted to thank him but saying it now would make things awkward so she just walked inside and closed the door behind her.

Once inside she wasted no time and immediately started taking off her clothes. They were completely wet and felt very heavy on her body. She took her coat off easily but the shirt and jeans clung to her skin making her struggle. Finally she was naked and she wiped herself dry with the towel although her hair was still moist.

She picked up the dress with both her hands and frowned on inspecting it. It was white in color and seemed a little too ancient because of the frills and design but she didn't have any other choice and the cold air of the night was making her shiver so she slipped into it. It had full sleeves and covered her knees but it was almost translucent. So much so that without any bra she was sure her nipples would be clearly visible from a long distance away and its plunging neckline wasn't of much help either. There was a nagging suspicion in her mind that he had purposely given her this particular outfit but she dismissed it.

She emerged from the room by taking a little support from the walls. Now that she was wearing dry clothes she felt much better but she wasn't warm enough. She had hardly walked any further when Draco emerged from one of the rooms on the opposite side. His eyes lingered on her body for a little longer than necessary and Hermione felt conscious under his gaze and avoided eye contact.

"That's much better. You should rest now" Draco broke the silence.

"Yeah. I could spend the night in one of these rooms" she said looking at the doors.

Draco looked in the direction and frowned. "No you can't, the guest room is upstairs.

Hermione didn't look convinced. She knew she wouldn't be able to climb those huge stairs.

"Those rooms haven't been cleaned since Merlin knows how long. You can't spend the night there" Draco finished as a matter of fact.

"I cannot climb all of those" She finally exclaimed.

Draco scoffed. "That's it? I can't believe you were making a fuss for such a little thing"

She opened her mouth to retort but stopped midway as Draco bent down abruptly. He snaked one arm around her waist and the other under her thighs and picked her up. "Is this okay" he asked. Hermione was taken aback but managed to a little nod.

She was blushing but was trying hard not to show it. Draco started climbing the stairs one by one and Hermione felt like a little child in his arms. On the top of it she had no idea what to do with her hands. Leaving them hanging in the air would be weird and putting them around his shoulders would imply something else, something she was scared to even think about but eventually she did wrap them around him for support.

He placed her on the bed of the guestroom gently and Hermione muttered a quick 'thank you'. The little elf appeared an instant later with something that Hermione didn't recognize in his hand. "What's that?" she enquired in a slightly suspicious voice.

"It's a salve, it will soothe the pain for now" he said and sat down on the bed beside her feet with the gel in his hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked. He merely raised his eyebrows. "What does it look like Granger? I'm applying this on your broken ankle"

He took her right foot in his hand and rubbed the salve on it in circular motion. Hermione looked at him with disbelief. "Who are you and what have you done to the real Draco Malfoy?"

"Very funny Granger"

Hermione didn't look one bit convinced.

"What" he said defensively, "do you really think I am that bad of a person that I don't care about anyone?"

"Since when did Draco Malfoy start caring about his ex-girlfriends?" she taunted.

He looked into her eyes before responding "since he dated Hermione Granger".

A/N – That is it for the first chapter. Please tell me your views and opinions about it. Constructive criticism is accepted.

I really have a very good feeling about this story and have a lot of things planned. I swear I won't abandon this story. No matter what I am going to complete this. I have already finished the first few chapters so stay tuned.