Draco.

He was fuming. Hermione had arrived home grinning merrily, wittering on about her joyful catch up with that oaf Hagrid while he had been worried beyond belief concerning her whereabouts. How could she just do that to him? It was nearly midnight! What the hell was she thinking?

"Oh, I'm glad you had a nice time!" he mocked her sarcastically. The smile soon vanished from her face and was replaced with a look of total confusion.

"What? Look… I'm sorry I was gone for so long, it's just Hogwarts was the first place I thought of after your psychotic father tried to kill me!" She retorted, sounding frustrated. Draco knew exactly what his father had done; it didn't excuse her to going running off and leaving him scared to whether she was okay. What if she had gotten hurt?

Draco then realised he was being one of those over protective people who wrapped their loved ones in cotton wool. But then he also realised that he truly didn't give a crap. He did care for Hermione and wanted her to be safe. He didn't want her skipping off to god knows where.

He remembered his father's vile threats; they made his stomach twist violently which is why he had punched him.

He sighed and massaged his forehead deeply with his fingers. He could the frustration building up quickly. On one hand, he knew Hermione was a strong and independent woman who wouldn't want to be closed in. But on the other hand, he simply wanted to hold onto her and never let anyone hurt her ever. Especially not his own father.

"I'm sorry…" Hermione grumbled after moments of uncomfortable silence.
"Me too…" Draco agreed. He couldn't stay angry with her for too long, not with the innocent little looks she was giving him. Fuck, she was beautiful. Her large, brown eyes made all the tension simply flow away. He then recounted to her what had happened after she had rushed from the Manor.

"You know, my father utterly changed once you had left… he went back to being almost normal within a few seconds, it was extremely odd…"

Hermione frowned thoroughly seemingly perplexed by this,

"Really? So you think he acted like that just I was there?" She asked, a slightly shakiness occupying her voice.

"Perhaps" He nodded, placing a finger against his lips in thought, "He's never been like that before…"

So many different ideas and questions raced through Draco's mind. Had his father really changed because of Hermione? If not, how long had he been going through these absurd changes and what was causing them? Draco was desperate to find answers but dare not go back to the Manor, not for a long while.

Perhaps his father was experiencing some sort of dark illness that caused him to act that way. Draco prayed this was the answer as he hated seeing his father in such a state, he had been Draco's role model growing up and now he was nothing more than a darkened animal. It was awful.

His head began to ache due to the pace of his thinking, so he sighed again heavily and fell back onto the sofa. Hermione doing the same and wriggling in close to him.

"So now what?" He wondered, placing an arm around her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh, I have a few ideas…" Hermione smiled cunningly, beginning to unbutton his shirt. Draco shivered under her gentle touch and was inches from ripping her own shirt off, but before any of that could commence, there was an abrupt tapping sound at the window.

A small, woody brown owl stood patiently waiting to be let in. It was dark and it was hard to get a good look at the bird but Draco knew did not recognise it at all, which worried him greatly. Attached to its leg was of course a letter. But how did anyone know this address? No one knew that they even lived here… or did they?

Hermione.

"You better let him in" Hermione told Draco, halting with her fingers still at his buttons. She was surprised at her own eagerness of wanting him so badly. It had overcome her in a matter of moments. The thoughts that had been going through her head nearly made her visibly blush. However, this stupid owl had now interrupted what would have been a wonderful experience.

She watched as Draco lifted himself up from the sofa and strolled over to open the window. Instantly, the owl hopped inside chirping happily. It was very cute and Hermione suddenly wished that she had one of her own. She never felt the need to before, but this one was just too overly adorable not to make her want one.

Draco unlatched the letter from the little owl's leg and it flew off quickly.

"Ohhh…" Hermione groaned as she watched the small creature flutter into the night's sky. Draco raised his eyebrow at her playfully.

"I'll buy you an owl if you want?" He said smirking at her saddened expression. She giggled,

"Yeah alright, now just open the bloody letter."

He obeyed her and began unfolding the parchment. However as he read, his smirk disappeared and he looked utterly shocked.

"What's wrong?" Hermione wondered, "Who's it from?"

Draco didn't reply immediately, but then coughed to clear his throat and mumbled almost inaudibly, "My father…"

She gasped quietly at this revelation. How did he know their address? Had he been stalking them all this time? The hairs on the back of her beck stood up in fear. She did not like the idea of Lucius Malfoy prowling outside in the bushes. She beckoned Draco back over to the sofa so that she could also read the letter. He slumped down beside her and mindlessly handed her the letter, looking simply disgusted.

Hermione hesitated; she didn't know whether or not it was a good idea to read the letter, but her curiosity got the better of her.

Son,

Since your departure, I have very much been craving something that your beautiful, young mudblood will able to provide. If you do not bring her to me within 24 hours, I will have no choice than to hunt you down. And this time, I won't let you get away.

If you are reading this, you can see I already have means of tracking you. So do not try to run. I repeat, Do. Not. Run.

L.M

Hermione's eyes widened upon reading the letter and her heart began to beat rapidly. What she read disgusted her horrifically; she could still envisage Lucius' crazed eyes piercing through her. It made her skin crawl. There was no escape. Perhaps he was bluffing? Or maybe he didn't know what he was saying, Draco did say the changes were not intended, but this didn't calm her nerves in the slightest.

She glanced up at Draco, who had gone as pale as a winter's morning and was staring with a blank look etched on his face.

"D-Draco…" She stuttered, begging herself not to panic, "What are we going to do?"

A/N: And the darkness continues! I am going to try and update more regularly from now on! I hope you are enjoying!