I don't own any of these characters, JK Rowling has the pleasure. The plot is mine.
Draco stood on platform nine-and-three-quarters, he was frantically looking around for Hermione, hoping and wishing, that she was smart enough to come to her senses and not go with Harry on his wild goose-chase. He couldn't see her, he especially got more worried when he spotted Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, but didn't see Hermione.
The boy's parents had already left, and this was the perfect time to slip away, Draco took that opportunity and walked straight into the barrier that separated the Hogwarts students and the clueless Muggles. He stepped out onto a busy walkway where workers were rushing all around him, he felt slightly foolish because he didn't know where to go or how to get out of this place.
Draco stopped a pretty girl, probably in her twenties, and turned on the Malfoy charm, he asked her how to get out and where to go if he wanted to go to, for instance, the Forest of Dean. The girl said that it was in a place called "Gloucestershire" wherever that is and told him he should get on a train going to a place called "Bristol" and transfer onto a more local train which would most likely stop at the nearest station. Merlin, these Muggle places have some pretty weird names, Draco thought.
Draco was glad that he'd passed his Apparation Test so he didn't have to transport in those grotty, stinking trains. He pulled out a rucksack out of the trunk and whispered the undetectable extension charm, and dragged his school trunk into the toilets, it was empty. He levitated his trunk into his bag and put it on. Walking out of the toilets, Draco tried to look as normal as possible, but he didn't feel normal, as he was carrying a school trunk which was rather damn heavy.
Twice Draco considered going back to the Hogwarts Express and getting on the train, forgetting this whole task, but then he remembered that Hermione won't be going to school this year, she wouldn't be taking her NEWTs or graduating, that made Draco carry on, he wanted to bring her back with him so that Hermione could take her NEWTs and graduate.
Draco stepped out onto the busy streets of London, quite a few people side-stepped him, he glanced at his watch, it was nearly nine o'clock in the morning, so people were on their way to work. Draco followed the commuters until the crowd started thinning, which took about half an hour, he kept glancing around, looking for an alley which he could Apparate from, and stared at the Muggles all around him talking into small rectangular-shaped boxes, weird.
Finally, Draco found a secluded alleyway where he could Apparate. He set down the rucksack, who knew a mostly empty school trunk could weigh so much? And slouched against the wall, he took a deep breath and pulled his hawthorn wand out of his pocket.
Draco put his wand back into his pocket and stepped towards the trees that belonged to the Forest of Dean. He looked around suspiciously, wondering if any Muggles saw him, but luckily he was hidden behind a wooden hut.
"Merlin, Hermione, where are you?" Draco whispered to himself whilst he stared at a map of the forest, it was massive!
"Who's Hermione?" Draco turned to see a very pretty redhead staring at him. For a nano-second, he thought that it was Ginny Weasley, but then he remembered that she was sat on the Hogwarts Express, eating pumpkin pasties with Longbottom and Looney Lovegood.
Draco considered turning on the Malfoy charm, his brain told him too, but his conscience told him otherwise. Eventually, he decided not too.
"Um, well, Hermione-"
"Is your girlfriend?" The redhead sighed, her emerald green eyes stared past him, at the map behind Draco.
"Uh, yeah, kind of," he stuttered, unsure whether he could really call Hermione his girlfriend.
"You mean you like her but you just haven't asked her out yet?" The girl smiled, "by the way, I'm Jane."
"Hi, I'm-" Draco wondered for a second if he should tell Jane his real name, she might be a witch and know of the Malfoy family, but surely, she would've recognised him? "Draco, yeah, I'm looking for her, and her two friends, two guys. One has, um, dark brown hair, green eyes and glasses, the other guy has blue eyes and, um, ginger hair. Their both about my height. Hermione has brown hair, curly, a bit wild, and brown eyes-"
"Oh! You mean Ron and Harry! I didn't meet Hermione, but they told me about her, they're camping for a school project or something. I think they're staying in the woods-y bit, under the trees-" Jane rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Could you point me in the right direction?" Draco asked, his usually expressionless grey eyes pleading, hopefully.
"Yeah, sure! I could call you if I see them, if you want? Um, do you have a mobile?" Jane bit her lip and pulled a small, silver box out of her pocket.
Draco's face formed into a frown, what in the name of Merlin's pants was that? It started beeping in Jane's hand and Draco had to clamp his teeth on his tongue to stop himself from screaming.
"Oh, sorry, I've got to take this," Jane sighed, pointing in the way in which she thought Hermione was staying.
He headed towards a little footpath that went through the depths of the forest. He stumbled off the gravel a few times, whispering "Homenum Revelio", but nothing worked.
Draco had been walking through the thick, closely-packed trees for at least an hour when the trees started thinning and he reached a field full of tents, it reminded him when he went to see the Quidditch World Cup three years ago.
Muggles were laughing and chatting rapidly all around Draco, some young girls stared and giggled behind their hands, they were obviously distracted by his good looks, white blond hair, mysterious grey eyes and pale skin.
Draco was frantically glancing around, looking for any sign whatsoever of any use of magic. When he couldn't see any sign of either Hermione, Weasel or St. Potter, Draco turned back to face the forest, it was about two in the afternoon and the sunlight was bouncing off the green leaves, making the forest floor look almost magical.
The blond decided to make his search for Hermione extra thorough on the way back, he tried shouting her name a few times, and trying to reveal any human residence nearby.
Hermione was sat just outside the tent that she'd borrowed from Mr Weasley, she was on lookout, waiting for someone from the Ministry to turn up or maybe someone from Hogwarts.
She fiddled with her wand, flipping it up in the air. Hermione was bored, she wanted someone, only a Muggle, to walk past along the gravel path, to give her some excitement, some adrenalin to pulse through her system. Usually Hermione didn't crave danger, but this is what it did to her, being so bored made her want something to happen.
An hour or so later Hermione heard the crunch of gravel, she sucked in a breath and gripped her wand tightly. She slowly stood up, trying to not make any noise, and tiptoed towards the edge of the barrier.
"Ouch! Ow!" The person approaching grumbled as they came into view. It was a boy, the same age as Hermione, with pale skin, white blond hair and instantly recognisable grey eyes. Malfoy.
"Merlin, Malfoy. . ." Hermione breathed almost soundlessly.
Malfoy kicked at the gravel as he walked along the path, why would he be out here? In the Muggle world, where he believed all the insignificant people lived, Hermione wondered. He kept glancing around, as if he was expecting someone to jump out on him.
"Merlin, Hermione, where the hell are you?" Malfoy muttered, sounding annoyed, but his voice filled with passion as he said Hermione's name.
Hermione stared blankly at the boy, someone whom she had hated ever since she'd known him, he'd hated her, he called her "Mudblood" or "Granger" but never, ever by her first name like he just had.
Malfoy pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it, he stared at it and after a couple of seconds put it back. Malfoy shoved his rucksack off of his back and plonked it down against the tree that set the boundary of Hermione's Protego Totalum charm. If Malfoy tried to cross that invisible line he couldn't, it would be like walking into a brick wall that wasn't there.
Hermione was stood on the grass so if she moved it would hardly make any noise, she shuffled closer to Malfoy, he was holding his wand and whispered "Lumos."
Malfoy started rooting through his bag, he held his wand between his teeth so he could have at least a little light to see what he was looking for. Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other, there was a soft crack where she had placed her foot on a few twigs and they broke. Malfoy's head snapped around and dropped his wand from his mouth, he stood up and started muttering swear words under his breath.
"Hello?" He said, glancing in all directions.
Hermione had to clamp her mouth together to stop herself from replying and asking why he was here and what did he want.
"Hello? Who's there?" Malfoy said more loudly. He started to walk along the border.
Hermione inhaled deeply and legged it over the threshold back to the mouth of the tent.
A rustle of the fabric and Ron popped his head out.
"Who was shouting? Some Muggles?"
"Uh, yeah, a couple of kids playing chase," she muttered, staring at where she'd last seen Malfoy.
"Oh, good." Ron winked and disappeared back into the tent, oblivious to the fact that their former classmate was just sat along the boundary a few minutes ago.
Draco picked up his rucksack and speed-walked all the way out of the forest, ignoring when that Muggle who helped him earlier was asking him if he found Hermione.
He found the hut he'd Apparated to earlier and pulled out his hawthorn wand. Where to next? Ottery St. Catchpole, Draco thought.