Chapter Two

Break In (Sort Of)

Hermione folded her ears angrily. "Now I'll never get back in!" she meowed. "My work will never get done, I'll be fired, I'll have no job, Harry and Ron and everyone else at the Order will be mad at me… Oh no, what if I never get back to human form?"

Hermione sat outside the door, unmoving, and yowled repeatedly. She yowled and yowled, but no one ever came to the door, and soon the lights in the kitchen window turned off, followed by the bedroom windows, and she was alone, sitting on the doorstep still begging to be let in.

The land around the Burrow looked very dark and empty. She looked around warily at the shadows across the lawn, the only light coming from the moon. There was no sound, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves of the trees. She sat for a moment, frozen half because she was afraid and half because she hoped maybe Mr. Weasley or Harry or Ron or someone might Apparate there suddenly, and they'd realize it was Hermione and turn her back…

Seeing nothing else to do, she walked out into the yard cautiously. There was no point just sitting there… she should go find a place to sleep for the night… in the morning they would realize she was gone and something was wrong, and she could come back, they'd know it was her and everything would be fine…

She went down the driveway in front of the Burrow and out onto the road, searching for someplace, but out here it was mostly all countryside…

She walked on and on for what seemed like an hour or more. The whole time she occupied herself with worrying. She tried not to get too far from the Burrow; she always kept it in sight. Eventually she gave up and sat down on the side of the road, feeling alone and hopeless.

Crack. The sharp, loud noise pierced the night air. Hermione's sensitive ears turned toward the place it came from: behind her. She turned her head, ducking down.

There, in the shadows, she could see a tall, lean figure in black robes walking quietly down the road. The darkness hid his face, but she could hear him saying something under his breath, and he sounded angry.

It was a Death Eater.

Crack. The second time, Hermione didn't jump as she had before but still flinched. The Death Eater turned around. Another shorter person, also in black robes, had appeared behind him. Hermione could tell it was a woman.

"What are you doing here?" the first one said. His voice was especially hostile now.

"Shut up!" the woman hissed. "You want them to find us?"

There was no reply from him, only an empty silence. Hermione stayed extremely still, knowing that if she moved, they'd see her and probably kill her. After all, they wouldn't care about a cat, after all the people they'd tortured and murdered.

The woman started to walk briskly over to him. He turned his back and hurried away from him.

"Don't you run from me!"

"Run!" he spat, stopping and turning to face her. "Who said I was running? I have a job to do, don't I?"

"Don't do it now," she said. "Wait until later."

He stood rooted on the spot, not saying anything. Hermione thought for a minute. Job… If a Death Eater was talking about a "job", she knew it couldn't be good. He was probably going to go murder someone. But there was only one house out in this area…

Hermione's ears folded. The Weasleys were all with the Order; it could be any of them… Ginny or Ron… And of course they'd all want to get their hands on Harry, but wasn't Voldemort waiting to kill him himself?

Whatever the case, she had to get back to the Burrow before the Death Eater could make up his mind. She couldn't just wonder around until morning now, in the kind of situation she was in…

"I'm just nervous," the woman said. Her voice sounded motherly now. "I mean, the last time you were given an assignment like this…"

She trailed off and the silence continued. The other Death Eater only shifted, as if he were uncomfortable with the conversation. While they were distracted, Hermione began to pad across the ground slowly and silently.

"Yes, but…" the male Death Eater began, "if I don't do it…"

"I know," the woman sighed. "I know what might happen. But you're my only son, I worry about you, Draco…"

Draco?! This Death Eater just meters from her was Draco Malfoy? The one she and her friends had despised so much in school? That Draco? Hermione was so surprised, she forgot to keep quiet and kicked a rock along the dirt.

"What was that?" Malfoy said, whipping around immediately, wand raised. Hermione didn't move out of shock. She was filled with dread, looking at the black figure in the darkness, those silver eyes glinting malevolently in the night. She thought he would see her for sure…

"Damn mice," he said, his hand falling to his side, still clutching the wand. Hermione nearly fell over. She was trembling; her heart was beating violently fast…

"Draco, really – " Malfoy's mother started again.

"Not right now," he said. "I told you, I have a job to do, so stop worrying about me, I can damn well take care of myself, all right?"

There was no reply from her. Hermione realized she'd have to go now if she was going to go at all, so she continued forward, scuttling and keeping silent, then when she was a far enough distance from them, she ran as fast as she could, seemingly gaining speed with each second. She was at the front door of the Burrow much sooner than she thought she would.

Hermione frantically began scratching at the door. Maybe someone would think it was Crook-shanks coming in from his night hunt…

Then she stopped. Of course! Hermione had put a cat flap into the back door when she'd moved in for Crookshanks. Why didn't she think of it before? Her mind really was gone to her tonight…

She ran around to the other side of the house. Right in the back door was the dark flap towards she bottom. She hopped inside and through several pairs of shoes and boots into the back hallway. It was just as dark in here as outside. Fleur, Bill, and Molly Weasley were all upstairs sleeping. Ginny and Mr. Weasley must have come home from the Order's latest meeting a long time ago.

Click. The sound was so soft, Hermione was sure that if she had still been a human, she wouldn't have heard it at all. It was followed by extremely faint footsteps and what she thought was the rustling of robes.

He's coming, she thought. Tremors of fear ran through her small body. She crept into the living room and over to the door leading to the kitchen, which was open a crack. She peered around the doorframe and saw just what she had anticipated.

Malfoy was coming, walking lightly, wand held out, right towards the door Hermione was looking through right now. The front door was wide open behind him. She had to act quickly.

The witch-turned-cat, always good at coming up with strategies, glanced around the room. Her amber eyes came to rest on the hearth in which a small fire still crackled. The Weasleys' bag of Floo Powder rested on the shelf above it, besides innumerable pictures of the family, all redhead-ed and grinning.

Hermione ran over to the floral print armchair by the fire, hopped up onto the back, then onto the shelf. She took the heavy bag in her mouth and hopped back down. She could hear Malfoy standing right outside the door now, his breathing slow.

On the hearthrug, she picked at the tassels keeping the bag shut until the cloth sagged over to show the glittering powder inside. She heard Malfoy's hand on the doorknob now.

She butted the bag with her head, pushing it toward the fire, heart beating fast now…

The door swung backward without a sound and Malfoy stepped in silently. She almost would not have heard him, but she felt his presence. It was as if the excitement inside her had induced an extreme sensitivity to the air… The bag was almost to the fire…

"What the – " Malfoy sputtered under his breath, and she knew he had seen her. Though she had expected him to, it still surprised her. She turned quickly, knocking the bag over.

Perfect. The powder spilled out across the fireplace right into the flames. They rose up to twice their size, roaring and now a bright green color.

"Hm… Arthur, did you hear something?"

Both cat and Death Eater stood absolutely frozen, not daring to move, listening intently to the voices upstairs.

"Actually I did…" came Mr. Weasley's reply.

"Maybe you should go have a look…"

"Molly, you've done this several times in the past week, it's just Hermione's cat coming in, remember?"

"It might not be this time…"

Arthur sighed. Hermione heard a bed upstairs creak, then she heard his feet hit the floor. "Damnit all!" Malfoy hissed. He pointed his wand at her. "You damned cat…"

Hermione leapt forward, sprinting across the floor toward him. Malfoy seemed to be trying to decide whether he should waste a jinx trying to defend himself from a cat, and as he stood there, Hermione bit him on the leg.

Malfoy stifled a yelp and staggered a little, trying to get her off by vigorously shaking his leg.

"Get – off – you – bloody – cat – " he whispered angrily.

Hermione just dug her teeth down farther in his skin. He continued to try and shake her off. So far her little plan was working perfectly… And now the Floo Powder might not even be needed… She could hear Mr. Weasley coming down the stairs, yawning.

"Molly, there's nothing in the kitchen," he said. "Wait, why's the front door wide open?"

"Great," Malfoy whispered through gritted teeth. "OUCH – "

He tripped and hit his head on the shelf where the Floo Powder had been with a loud thump. Hermione was sprawled out on the floor right where he would fall soon if she didn't move. She dashed out of the way; he crashed to the ground and landed in the neon green flames, right where Hermione had accidentally run into at the same time.