Bittersweet
by cenagurl
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I just borrowed some characters from Ms. Rowling so I can fulfill my insatiable hunger for a d/hr romance… got me? Good.
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Chapter 2: Desperate
It was raining, and Hermione Granger held the urge to hurl her resistant umbrella in the streets. Of all the times her umbrella wouldn't budge, it really had to be during a stormy weather.
She balanced her groceries on her arm and again attempted to tug at the umbrella, which, Hermione found relieving, finally opened. She had been walking on the sidewalk when the rain suddenly started pouring, so now she was practically soaking wet, but at least her groceries were safely tucked in her cloak.
Leaning the body of the umbrella on her left shoulder, she started walking towards the subway, her boots creating splashing sounds against the muddy sidewalk. She inwardly hoped the special bread she brought wasn't soaked, or else Ron would be spitting mad.
He had specifically requested that particular bread before Hermione left Grimmauld Place to shop for food and other supplies needed at the Order's headquarters. Hermione had let him taste it when her parents had sent to her all her favorite pastries (she had taught them all about the owl mail) at Christmastime in their seventh year. Hermione felt her heart clench at the sudden thought. Her parents…
Hermione hastily tried to blink her tears away. Her parents had been murdered just a month ago, by the Death Eaters of course. Their main target had been Hermione, who was considered a great threat to Voldemort's success, but when they wouldn't tell them where Hermione had gone for the summer, they were instantly killed.
She fervently wished they didn't suffer during the ordeal.
It was a good thing, though, that she had already graduated then. Now she worked as a Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, and during holidays, she was also able to do secret missions for the Order.
But now she didn't have a home, a family.
Hermione was sinking further in her thoughts that she was unaware of a hooded figure watching her intently from an obscured alleyway.
Narcissa had been watching the girl for about fifteen minutes now. She quickly recognized her, as she remembered the time they were introduced to each other at the World Cup four years ago. After the introduction, when she, Draco, and Lucius had been seated in their place, her son had begun his usual rant about the saint Potter, the pauper Weasley, and the mudblood Granger.
She fully recalled her son's expression as he raved about the filthy little mudblood that beat him at every subject and dared not to acknowledge his superiority as a pureblood. No, the look didn't just contain hatred; she had the feeling that her son also held a certain hidden respect for the girl.
And during the chaos when the Dark Mark appeared, Narcissa had watched from a distance how Draco had cruelly and indirectly warned the girl of the danger. That's when she concluded that her son did not fully hate the mudblood.
He just hasn't realized it yet.
Narcissa watched as the girl started to walk by her, and she didn't waste the chance to grab her by the shoulder and haul her inside the dark alleyway. The girl screamed, but the noise was drowned by the heavy pitter-patter of the rain and the roars of the thunder.
The girl began to dig in her pockets for her wand, but Narcissa had already pointed her wand at her chest. The girl went rigid, and Narcissa leaned towards the girl and whispered in her ear, "I won't hurt you," then put her wand away from the cowering girl.
"Lumos," Narcissa said, and the tip of her wand lighted up, giving her a fair view of the girl in front of her, who looked deeply frightened. When the girl saw the face of the person who had pulled her in the alleyway, her mouth dropped open.
"You—you're—you're--"
"I'm Narcissa Malfoy, and I'm here to ask for your help."
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A/n: First, no Hermione, and now, no Draco! avoids stones from angry readers I'm so sorry! I promise they'll appear together soon, and when they do, I swear I'll make it a very good chapter!