Hermione ran through the ever-narrowing alleyways of Knocturn, dodging past darkly dressed witches and wizards who seemed surprised by her speed.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath outside of a tea shoppe. She looked up at the darkening sky and realized she would need to change back into her clothes as it would be raining soon. She hadn't thought much past that.

Hermione turned down a small alley which dead ended after a turn. Glancing back and satisfied she hadn't been followed she turned to her garments, clutched to her chest. She dropped her jeans to the dirty street below and removed her examination gown. She had just begun to shrug into her jumper when she heard the low rumble of thunder and the equally low rumble of a sinister-sounding voice.

"Well, well what 'ave we 'ere?"

Hermione was blind, tangled in her jumper. She didn't know the voice but it didn't sound friendly. She quickly pulled down the jumper, getting her head through the turtleneck, trying to shove it down over her bare legs and underthings.

He was a young man, perhaps twenty five. He had long, black hair and dark eyes. He wore faded black robes and he was holding her jeans.

"I-I'd like those back-," she began, defiantly tipping her chin.

The man pulled the jeans behind him. He approached her, slowly.

"Now then, if I were to give you these…what would you give me in return?"

Her eyes grew wide as she suddenly realized how alone she was and how precarious of a situation she was in.

She took a step back.

"W-what do you want?"

He snickered to himself and took another step in. Her breathing sped up.

"Oh, I don't know…,"

He was in front of her now. One more step and she found herself suddenly pressed between the man and the wall behind her. Without warning he grabbed her by the hips and shoved her back against the cold stone wall.

"…what do you think you might have that I'd want."

His hand went to her jumper…

under her jumper…

It took Hermione a moment to register the fact that the man was no longer standing in front of her. He had been brought to the ground by a man with a red streak in his hair. The two men lunged at each other and the younger tried to go for his wand. Then she recognized the man was Scabior. Scabior knocked the wand away and turned towards Hermione.

"You alright?"

She nodded and then he was turned back, holding the younger man down. The younger man struggled away, swinging for something. He reached into his boot and Hermione saw a glint of the metal of a small knife.

"He has a knife!"

Scabior reared back and the man came after him with the knife this time. Scabior edged away from his wildly swinging blows. The younger man sliced at him as Scabior moved, trying to grab him by the arm in order to wrestle the knife away. The younger man finally lunged at him, knocking him off his feet and took the opportunity to press the knife into his throat. He grabbed Scabior by the jacket and hissed at him.

"You bloody fool."

He moved his hand to Scabior's neck, saw the vein wildly pumping there.

'Yes', Scabior thought. 'This is it.' A pathetic ending to what he hoped had not been an equally pathetic life.

He closed his eyes.

"Stupefy!"

He heard the words but he wasn't stunned. Then he realized what had happened as the younger man slumped to the ground and revealed the figure of Hermione, pointing the discarded wand at the man.

Scabior put his hands up, unsure what was going to happen.

"Are you alright?," Hermione asked as she slowly lowered the wand.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said.

Scabior stood slowly, trying to gauge her. She still held the wand and she could do just about anything she wanted. His eyes darted from the wand to her face. Her expression didn't give anything away.

"What's the plan?," he asked softly.

Hermione seemed to realize all of a sudden she held a wand again. In fact, she held the power in the situation. She could hex him into oblivion if she wanted.

She seemed to consider this for a moment, looking down at the wand. When she looked back at him her eyes were wet.

"You came for me?," she asked him, bringing her eyes to his, her voice coming out much smaller than she had intended.

Scabior didn't reply but he took a step towards her. She didn't move. He took another. He crossed over and picked her jeans up off the dirty cobblestones. Thunder rang out.

He walked to her slowly and offered the jeans to her.

When Hermione took them she looked him right in the eyes and swore she thought she saw a glimmer pass behind them. It was brief, but it was a flash of something.

They stood there, unmoving for a moment as the rain finally came down upon them in droplets. He spoke first.

"Look, I know this 'ent what you wanted. But this is what it is now and I can't change it."

He paused for a moment, studying her face before continuing. "I can help if you let me."

Hermione didn't say anything but she looked at him. It was hard to tell if tears ran down her face or if it was simply the rain. Regardless, he knew she was upset and it had been a hard day. He reached out his hand to her as he'd done several days ago.

"Let's get out of the rain."

She nodded at him as the rain fell freely on them. She stepped in closer to him and he wrapped his arms around her, running his left hand down her arm to the wand they now both held tightly.

He closed his eyes and thought of home. And then they were gone.