Chapter One

The day was hot and horrendously moist. It had rained all the previous night and in fact, had only just let up.

Hermione's hair was a wreck.

Usually, her hair was merely "bushy"… today, her hair might have easily been categorized as "bushMAN."

Determined to look her best, Hermione pulled out an old hair straightener covered in dust – for today, she would be with Alan. And as we all know, Hermione believes that Alan is all that is good and beautiful and perfect… therefore, she must become, for that day, all that is good and beautiful and perfect.

Today, that meant her hair must be straight and she MUST have make-up.

On muggy days like this day, any woman who knows anything about make-up or hair will know that less is more – meaning that Hermione should probably have opted to be herself that day, rather than pretending she was someone else.

Love (even puppy love) makes humans stupid.

Finally giving up on beautifying herself the Muggle way, Hermione turned to her wand, scraped off the mess she had made on her face with eyeliner and started from scratch.

When she had determined she was at least presentable, she left the house, wand hidden discreetly.

Fast forward a couple hours.

Hermione waits for Alan at the park down the street from his house. Alan shows up twenty minutes late and he is stoned. He smells earthy and unusual to Hermione, but having never been exposed to drugs, she makes no connection. To her, Alan merely looks and acts like he has not been able to sleep well.

The pair decide to take a drive in Alan's car, a Volkswagen that to him is new, but in reality is actually a heap of junk. They drive for awhile, finally ending up in Wiltshire so Hermione can meet some of Alan's bandmates.

After meeting said bandmates, Hermione and Alan take a stroll around, past the town and into a section of large houses and mansions, slightly removed from the town.

And whom should she meet strolling down the way, but Draco Malfoy.

Let's recap, shall we?

Draco Malfoy is a schoolmate of Hermione Granger. They have loathed one another since age 11, when both were admitted into Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. This loathing is brought along because Draco is what wizards refer to as "pureblood." Hermione, on the other hand has been given life by Muggles and randomly became a witch, all on her own. Disdainful of her impurity, Draco has become quite the asshole, making Hermione's front teeth grow such that she resembles a badger, as well as many other highly amusing pranks over the years.

At this moment, Draco happens to have been taking a walk with his good friend and distant cousin Abraxas Yaxley. His eyes fall on Hermione in recognition and he freezes.

Hermione, almost in the same instant, becomes aware of her archenemy and pauses a moment. Alan notices her faltering and looks around, his eyes resting on the pair of boys, both very obviously rich.

For one reason or another – perhaps it was the drug – Alan decides it's a good idea to greet the boys.

Mistake.

The moment Draco sees that Alan has opened his mouth, he pulls out his wand in one fluid motion and aims it directly at his forehead.

"What're you going to do with that?" Alan sneers, believing the boys to be something bordering retarded, "poke me or something?"

Without realizing a very real danger, Alan attempts to impress Hermione by performing a rendition of a snooty, rich boy poking him with a stick in the forehead.

Hermione laughs halfheartedly, then yanks on Alan's arm to follow her along a small path through the woods. Clearly they will be out of harm's way there. She could only hope Draco would let them be.

It appeared he was going to, because they left relatively unmolested. There was, however, a glace.

A glance so epic, it might as well be re-dubbed "the glance."

It was the glance that started everything. Piercing, cold gray eyes met warm, soft brown eyes. The differences clashed and then melted before freezing, a cesspool of everything that had ever passed between the two people, obvious only to themselves.

The glance was mutually broken, but both felt its power and both were affected. It was that moment that Hermione knew her life was about to change. She did not acknowledge that she knew it, but the knowledge was there. It waited.

Once Hermione and Alan had broken through the path and were a long way out of earshot, Alan questioned her on the meeting, "An acquaintance of yours?"

"I suppose you could say that," she replied, colder than she'd intended. "We go to school together."

"Someone you don't normally hang out with, I hope. What a nutter! Trying to blow a hole through my head or something, waving around a dumb stick like that…"

This launched Hermione into an over-cautious explanation of every possible thing Draco could have intended toward Alan, excluding the actual reason.

Somewhere along the line, Alan got bored of her ramble. At this time, his brain is finally being inhibited by both the incredible high he has achieved, mixed with the vodka shots he's done recently. The something human inside him disappeared.
Alan is not all that is good and beautiful and perfect, as Hermione is about to find out the hard way.

.

.

Perhaps it was the glance that alerted Draco something was amiss in the woods. Maybe he simply caught a look at Alan and read everything that Hermione had skimmed over about him. More than likely, Draco was simply just better adept at reading the bad in people – and Alan screamed bad.

The kind of bad that everyone can see but the victim. There was something about Alan that Draco just did not trust.
Gesturing to Abraxas to follow, the boys cast a silencing charm on themselves and made their way along the trail. Why Draco was determined to follow the pair, neither boy new, most especially not Draco himself. He chided himself several times for allowing himself to be too curious.

Then they heard the screams.

.

.

There was hot breath on the back of her neck, and she was truly frightened. For once in her life, words were beyond comprehension. Not for the first time in her life, she was terrified – but never in this way, never in this situation
Blood was rushing to her head and she threatened to pass out, but past experience fighting alongside her friends had taught her that passing out at this moment would be bad.

This fear was new. This was not the fear of Lord Voldemort's return to wreak chaos across the globe. This was not the fear and pain that comes with the death of someone close. This was not the fear of being killed.

This fear was different.

She cursed herself for not having studied her wandless spells. Had she understood them better, words might still have failed her. Fear was all that existed.

"Please," she managed.

"Stay awhile," Alan coaxed in a wannabe calm voice. He was a predator and women were objects to him, prey. This little deer had been idle and carefree too close to the lion's den.

He twisted her arm violently behind her, making her cry out for the first time.

It occurred to her that she should scream, or attempt a wandless spell, something. So she screamed. A few tears ran down her face as a hand tightened around her windpipe. Her voice was cut off and her hands raced to the aid of her neck, desperately clawing and fighting, just to stay alive.

"Accio," she croaked, making an attempt. Her mind was clouded over from lack of air. The spell did not work. She tried again, receiving only more failure.

A couple more seconds and her trained mind had failed her. The clouds became far too thick. Fog claimed her and she knew no more.

.

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Author's Note: This is a re-do of my fic, "Summer's Surprises" completed sometime around... sayyyy... 2004 or 2005-ish. I hope my writing has grown better.

The main purpose of this fic is an update. I have become bored as of late and wanted the same plotline to be given another shot... with a challenge. I am now preparing to write this, post-Deathly Hallows. Therefore, those who have read the original story will find it is quite a bit changed.

I hope you are enjoying this thus far.