Hi guys! I am back!! I know it's been ages since I last updated but I have been so busy with school that it was really impossible for me to update at all! I'll try and update sooner now as I already have the next chapter all planned out in my mind. Don't hate it, I wrote it after a long time and undoubtedly, my writing has gone rusty! This chappy is in Hermione's point of view. I wanted you all to get to know something about her as well. Hope you like it! And review and let me know how I can improve… Now, on with the story!

"So… You and Malfoy huh?! New chums??"

"Are you totally nuts Ginny! Me befriend that pawn of Satan? I'm telling you sweetheart, start paying attention to the expiry dates of the mayonnaise, salsa and tinned fruits that you are eating all together…"

"Eww!"

"Shut up Harry! It's delicious." Replied Ginny Weasely who was perched on the top of the kitchen table at Hermione's flat, where she was temporarily staying as her own was being renovated. She did not care how much she was disgusting her friends and older brother as she ate the above stated food items by mixing them directly in the tin of the canned fruits.

"I swear Ginny, these cravings you have to eat strange-"

"Not to mention disgusting…"

"Yeah, thanks Ron… foods, one might think you are pregnant!"

"C'mon Hermione! It's good! Don't you ever have the urge to do something different, strange and rebellious sometimes??"

Hermione Granger could do nothing but roll her eyes to the ceiling and mutter "honestly" to her best friend and turn around to look at the kitchen clock. It was 8 in the morning. There was still an hour and a half before she and Harry and the rest of the aurors had to report to the head for the case they had been working on.

Hermione lived in a pretty, spacious (having four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a big drawing room and a dining room) and a comfy apartment which she had inherited from her grandmother. Being an only grandchild, she was the heir to her gran's possessions and her grandmother was, saying it very modestly, rich… Hermione had been destroyed when she had died as she had been very close to her but yellow fever at her age, death was pretty inevitable. But at least she had been happy to go, she would be with her husband again whom she loved 

but death had done them part. Her parents too doted on their only child and she never had any financial, or to speak, any sort of problems at all.

Her parents lived at an hour's drive from her home and she was on great terms with them too, so were her friends! Harry, Ron and Ginny were like children to Mr. and Mrs. Granger who had always wanted a family as large as the Weasely's.

Harry Potter, her best friend lived in the flat two stories above her (she lived on the seventh floor). When she inherited her flat, Harry was also eager to buy a living place of his own (he was more than happy to leave the Dursleys forever) near her so that the friends could stay close and not grow apart ever. Ron had not bought his own house and stayed sometimes with Harry as being a Quidditch star, he had to travel a lot and purchasing a home would be foolish. He remained in a place for a maximum of three weeks. This was what he told everyone but Hermione and Harry knew that the real reason behind his decision was that he was too much of a baby to live without his mother's cooking!!

Ginny, on the other hand enjoyed living alone, or at least out of range of her brothers, mother and father. Being an only and the youngest girl in a family full of overprotective brothers and a fussy mother, she enjoyed her freedom immensely. Not that she didn't love her family! She loved them all to pieces, but they could be a little overbearing sometimes... Ginny worked in the ministry in the department of Magical Law. She had just started working there, finishing her training as an advocate, six months earlier. She had the potential to become a great lawyer as she had won all three small cases that had come her way by now.

Grown to a full height of five eight and a half (one and a half inch more than Hermione) which was a characteristic of the Weaselys not to mention her long waterfall of red hair (which reached the small of her back) she was an impressive figure in the dull and dreary court rooms of the Ministry of Magic. Though, people would not believe that the beautiful and aggressive lawyer Ginny Weasely was the same person who was still sitting on Hermione's kitchen table eating whatever first came in her hand in Hermione's kitchen shelf!

This morning found Hermione, Harry, Ron (who was in London for another week and was staying with Harry) and Ginny in Hermione's kitchen trying to make some breakfast even though none of them except Ginny could cook well. Harry could make eggs but nothing else, Hermione could only make bacon and Ron knew how to make tea. They always ate breakfast together whenever Ron was in town. Whenever he wasn't, Harry and Hermione, sometimes joined by Ginny (who lived in a building in the next block) would go to the nearby Starbucks café for breakfast.

Harry, in the middle of making scrambled eggs for all of them had told them all about their new case (leaving out the details of course) mainly about how Hermione was in Draco's team. 

Hermione was in the middle of reading the newspaper when Ginny had commented on her predicament...

Ron did not like it at all. He was confused as to how he should react and was muttering incoherently when Ginny's next dialogue broke him out of his reverie…

"Ooh! I am so happy for you Hermione. When are you two gonna start dating? And please can I be the maid of honor??"

Everyone's reaction to this statement was priceless!!

Harry's hand twitched violently and an egg fell from his hand and smashed into the buttered frying pan! Hermione's newspaper fell on the kitchen table and she sprayed the person sitting next to her with the coffee she was halfway through drinking, who happened to be Ron! Poor guy, who was still in his pajamas, was covered in hot black coffee thanks to Hermione and dropped the butter knife with which he was buttering the toasts, in the butter dish. The butter flew on contact with the splattering knife and smeared itself on his face and chest (some of it went in his hair as well!). All three of them looked at Ginny as if she had gone mad. Ginny on the other hand looked as if she was trying very hard not to cackle maniacally in their faces at the reactions she had received!!

"ARE YOU BARKING MAD GINEVRA?"

"Me and that slime ball?! Eew Ginny, I thought you had taste and standards!"

"Hermione, please throw away any out of date eatable from your house. If you do not have time, I'll come and do it for you every week. At least we won't have Ginny going crazy on us…"

"First of all Ronald, kindly refrain from calling me by my full name. I am not mad. YOU are the one who needs to see a healer about your eyes if you can't see how perfect they are for each other. Secondly Hermione, I do have taste and standards!! And once you open those brown buttons stuck on your face, you would see that he is an exquisite specimen of male species… And thirdly Harry, I checked the date on this tin and these fruits do not expire until the end of the world."

"…"

"Ok, until the next three months…"

"I refuse to take any of this madness anymore!" Hermione finally stood up from the kitchen table but not before throwing Ginny a dirty look. "I am going to get ready."

"Good idea, we have to leave in 45 minutes…" Harry replied shaking his head hopelessly at the red haired girl and going back to his eggs which were now scorched black.

"And I am going to take a bath!" Ron disapparated to Harry's apartment after wanking Ginny's ear slightly who in turn hexed him and he got covered in big flying bogies! As if he was not already dirty enough!!

Hermione walked into her bedroom. Having already taken a shower, she opened her closet to bring out the black auror robes which she had started wearing three days ago. Yes, three days had passed since they had started working at their case. Not making any more sense out of the records, they had resorted to questioning people under suspicion. But, they had no luck for a long time. After questioning what seemed as the thirtieth crook, even Arun had started losing his cool.

It was highly frustrating to question crooks but they were the ones who had any information if something fishy was going on. She and Neville had been surprised and bemused at how scary Harry could become while questioning!

Undoubtedly, Malfoy, too, was a pro at the job. He moreover looked like he was enjoying doing that stuff! And Hermione grudgingly acknowledged his expertise… She was very happy to be able to learn from the best but she would admit thinking that over her dead body!

Malfoy was amused while teaching her and told her that she would be able to do it easily. All she had to do was switch on her mini McGonagall mode and the crooks would be spewing out their innermost secrets… The nerve of the git! She had wacked him hard on his back with his own file for that comment!

It had been difficult at first. First two somehow realized that she was new and were cocky with her. They stopped only when she brought out her wand and put it on their necks threatening them with all sorts of destruction spells she knew. And Malfoy laughed through it! He had to oversee her first five sessions. Though he certainly wasn't as amused as three crooks hit on her! Hermione only remembered hearing a forced snicker as she slapped them!!

It was not before yesterday afternoon that they had any luck. Blaise had found Mundungus Fletcher in the depths of Knockturn Alley where he had been bragging as to how he knew that something big was about to happen and it would give the useless aurors of the ministry some work instead of snooping around petty thieves and stealing their trinkets. He arrested him at once and brought him to the ministry where Harry and Malfoy went to work on him. After an hour, they finally came out and told them all what they had come to know.

Mundungus had said that ex-death eaters were involved but it was something which was not related to Voldemort or any revenge on old order members. He had refused to say anything more but had said that something was about to happen the next day in the housing area in Diagon Alley. Not able to get anything more out of him, Harry and Malfoy had started formulating plans after discussing everything with Smith. Then, both of them had talked to the rest of them about what they were planning for the next day.

Today, they were to stay guard in Diagon Alley starting from noon. Hermione was excited. It would be her first field operation. Thinking about it even made her restless which amused Harry to no end! He told her that it was not necessarily going to be exciting but she ignored him!

Quickly putting on her form fitting robes (so that they would not hinder while running and other things), she brushed her long hair and tied them in a long braid. She put on a bit of eye shadow and mascara and ran a chap stick over her lips and declared herself ready for the day.

She heard the shower going on in the adjoining bathroom indicating that Ginny was taking a bath. Hermione took a moment to look at herself. Even though she was not athletic and toned like Ginny, Hermione could say that she did not have a bad body. Not that she cared but many boys had asked her out and she had denied them and sent them on their way with a sharp word before Harry could scare them away! She wanted someone who could appreciate her intellect and independence, not her face or body. No wonder she had had only three serious boyfriends till date, two of them being Viktor Krum and Ron!!

Harry called out to her and she quickly put on her sneakers and ran out of her room!

Leaving Ginny on level one, Harry and Hermione hurried to the Auror Department. Blaise, Arun and Sara were already there and were waiting for the rest in the meeting room. Harry went up and took the chair on Smith's right and Hermione seated herself opposite to Sara and next to Arun. All three smiled at her warmly and greeted her and she reciprocated. Hermione looked at her watch and saw that it was 9:25 a.m. ….

The door opened to admit a harried looking Neville and Terry Boot who was clutching a plastic up full of steaming coffee. Neville sat down next to Sara and Terry next to her. Hermione smiled at both…

"Boot, does this look like the canteen to you?" Smith asked, his voice bordering on angry and amused…

"No sir! Sorry sir!"

"Drink it or throw it…"

Terry Boot looked down at his steaming coffee. Hermione could feel the heat radiating from the cup. Nopes! No way could he gulp it down. And she could clearly see on his face that he would become the living dead without his morning coffee!

He tried to drink it but it probably burned his tongue judging from his expression. Smith was still looking at him half amused and half annoyed. Then Terry, with a resigned sigh went and threw it in the bin.

Hermione looked at her watch again. It was now 9:40. Hermione let out an impatient sigh. This was ridiculous! Her team leader had not arrived yet and today they had to finalize their plan of action...

Tapping her fingers on the table, she glanced at the head of the table and saw William Smith reading some official looking documents in his file. Beside him, Harry and Blaise were immersed in a deep conversation... Sara was filing her nails and on her side, Arun was looking as if he was meditating with his eyes closed and Terry Boot was looking as if he was having immense trouble in just keeping his eyes open. Neville was the only one who did not understand what was happening and was warily glancing at Smith time to time.

9:48 a.m. This was beyond limit! Hermione could not understand how the head of the Auror Department accepted such behavior from his aurors. Draco Malfoy was so getting it today—

Suddenly, the door opened and Malfoy entered looking and smirking as if he owned the place. He sauntered towards his chair on the left of Smith's and seated himself as gracefully as a king would on his throne. Hermione glared daggers at his royal highness and was about to utter a scathing remark when Smith beat her to it…

"Decided to grace us with your presence finally huh? What's the problem boy? We are here to help you… Is it the diarrhea again or do you have some mental or physical afflictions? Or perhaps some sort of drug addiction which would disable you to function properly before a certain time?"

Hermione couldn't agree more!!

Hermione, Terry and Arun were all sitting in Malfoy's office. Though she hated to admit it but the moron had taste! His office was sophisticatedly decorated in a way that shouted out I AM RICH!! A big highly polished mahogany desk was placed beside the big window, behind which Malfoy was seated. Hermione could see a few pictures of a woman who could be none other than her mother and another picture of his mother with his father. Hermione could see that she was a vision when as happy as she seemed in the moving pictures and she wondered why he did not inherit anything good from his mother… Narcissa Malfoy was known for her generous donations, unlike her husband who only donated when he needed something done by the people he was about to impress, for the needy. If only she could rub off on her son, who was the epitome of meanness and evil and all that was bad an—

"Guys, we cannot let go." Draco Malfoy stood up, towering above them all and looked at them with what Hermione deciphered as emotion… "We all have worked very hard to gain victory over the evil. We have finally been able to make peace and coexist with other life forms and we are not ready to let go. We will not let them overtake. We are going to overpower them and not let them threaten the world in which we live, in which our children are going to live… So, let's try our best to do our best and whatever it takes to do our best today…"

Ok, Hermione was dreaming! This was certainly not the man she knew by the name of Draco Malfoy… Maybe Smith was correct… But whatever it was, he was certainly taking heavy doses of it…

"And if we do not catch more miscreants than the stupid saint Potter's team, I am going to personally skin you all alive!"

She heaved a sigh of relief, the idiot was alright!

"But Draco," Arun now stood up and said to Malfoy, "We don't even know what we are supposed to be on the lookout for!"

"Well Arun, Smith did say today that he could make a shrewd guess that whatever we are going to face today would be something really out of the ordinary. So, I believe our best shot is going to be on the lookout of even the slightest of discrepancies. Our wands are going to be connected to each other by spell. If any of us are in mortal danger, everyone's wands would glow and heat up. My wand is connected to Potter's so all the aurors would be able to come on the attack scene…"

"Our positions, Malfoy?"

"I will decide them when we reach there, Boot. Be on the ready to be able to capture anything or anyone that comes your way. Kill only if you can't help it."

This did not sound at all right to Hermione…

"Malfoy! We are not killers. We are aurors! How can you even ask us to kill someone?!"

"This is your next lesson Granger… Even though, as you say, 'aurors are not killers', an auror can kill in self defense, or if the opponent is annoying him to hell…"

"I can't believe you can be so juvenile about something so serious!"

Arun went to Hermione and tried to cool her down a bit as she looked every bit as if ready to fight and pounce on him…

"Calm down Hermione, even though he is wording it improperly, this really is a lesson in auror training and you may perhaps learn its importance after today. And Malfoy, can you stop messing with her?"

Malfoy just smirked at her and she really wished he was not her team leader… Ooh, if only their places would exchange!

"I am not messing with anyone Arun! She is the one whose got her knickers in a twist!"

"I will not stand for any nonsense from you. We are not at Hogwarts, let me remind you…"

"You do not need to remind me of anything Granger. But let me remind you of something… Who is the team leader over here?"

"……you."

"And who are you going to listen to?"

"………you."

"So, when I say that you are going to be positioned at the end of the main street we have been assigned next to a dark dingy alley way and a bar, are you going to decline?"

Hermione could swear she saw at that moment, a gleam of triumph and challenge in his eyes as he spoke to her… Oh, how she'd love to claw them out!!

"…No. But let me tell you, I can be professional about this too and-"

"Good girl!" Malfoy, sat down back on his chair with a victorious look on his face. "Now go and get me a steaming black coffee and mind you, don't spill a drop!"

"I refuse to act like your servant!"

"Stop! Please! You guys are giving me a bloody headache! First Smith, now you. I have not had my morning coffee and if you keep going on, I am surely gonna burst a vein and then you'll be one auror less Malfoy! How are we going to defeat Harry's team then?"

Hermione rolled her eyes to the ceiling… Men are all immature pigs!

Now, when their head had said that this case was not going to be some sort of party, Hermione had thought it would be dangerous and exciting. She had been eager to finally be able to use the expertise she possessed on the battle field. But whatever she had thought of doing, it was certainly not this…

She was standing in a children's park near the houses of the wizards and witches that lived in Diagon Alley, wearing a pink colored robe which matched with the cotton candy she had on a stick and was selling to any little child that came on her way. In the middle of the green and lively park, she looked every bit as a happy go lucky cotton candy seller, but for the amazing frown which had stuck on her forehead…

This was totally ridiculous!

Malfoy had positioned Arun and Terry near suspicious areas round the corner of the street. He himself was near the end of the road which merged into a forest whereas she got stuck in the middle of swings and children and flowers and damned cotton candy!!

Hermione Granger would not stand up for this sort of silly and unfair prejudice. Men were being macho and stuck her in a place where they expected the least danger. Hell! She would have been happy with the place Malfoy had described for her in the office. Oh, he was so dead when she got her hands on him…

"Hey Miss, can I have some cotton candy?"

She looked down to see a little cute boy with blonde hair and black eyes missing two front teeth, grinning up at her. Hermione's frown instantly turned into a wide smile as she handed 

him some candy and ruffled his hair as he ran back to his friends who were pretending to play Quidditch on small plastic brooms… Her heart melted to the ground!

Who would be heartless enough to harm these lovely kids!!

She would be surprised!

It was now dark. Past eight, Hermione was sure and nothing had happened yet. She was sitting on a bench in the park and waiting for something to happen for the last eight hours…

Malfoy had apparated there thrice to check on her. When he came the third time, Hermione had snapped at him saying that he needn't come here again and again. She was not some sort of novice or a frail doll who could not take care of herself, to which he had just laughed and apparated away, not before taking a packet of cotton candy from her and stuffing it in his mouth. What an insufferable and immature git!

Something snapped behind her bringing her out of her thoughts. Hermione quickly jerked and turned around, wand on the ready and already in action mode… Only to discover a small puppy looking at her with big brown eyes!

She sighed and walked over to the poor creature and picked it up. He cuddled into her arm and she couldn't help but smile!!

Then, she heard another crack behind her and turned again, wand on the ready and this time, on battle mode… Only to discover a blonde ferret looking at her with narrowed grey eyes.

"Granger! What the hell is that in your arms?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him…

"It's a puppy, you moron!"

Malfoy looked at her as if she had gone mad-

"You do realize that we are here for something much more important than finding homes for wild beasts?"

"Wild Beasts?? C'mon Malfoy! This sweet thing is not a wild beast… And what are you doing here again anyways? Didn't I tell you that I can take care of myself perfectly well?"

"Believe me Granger, I get no pleasure from the company of an insufferable, goody two shoes know-it-all like you. It's just that…"

He broke off looking away.

"Go on. Kindly inform me as to why you are being so considerate towards my pathetic life form?"

"Potter and Smith would kill me if anything happened to you…"

"Hah! I never thought I would be alive to see the day where Draco Malfoy would be forced to babysit any living thing! This is priceless!"

Malfoy got an enraged look in his eyes as Hermione continued to laugh.

"Fine! If you cannot appreciate decency on my part, then there is no need for me to show any to you!"

Having said that, he disapparated in thin air with a faint crack sound. Hermione turned towards the bench again, still laughing slightly and cuddling the tiny puppy in her arms. She looked up at the sky. The stars shined like bright and stunning diamonds against the inky darkness of the sky. The full moon shined brightly, scattering a soft white moonlight over every fixation in the small park…

Suddenly, the tiny puppy started cowering in her arms. Concerned, Hermione petted it gently but it continued to wriggle and then, it started yelping, making noises in the calm silence…

Then, Hermione heard a few cracking sounds behind her and the puppy started literally howling. She turned around, wand in position with every important-in-the-situation spell on the tip of her tongue when she saw something that rendered her speechless…

How could she be so dumb?! And it was the full moon night too!

Why, in front of her were standing 5 men who were right now, in the process of turning into werewolves!