25Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.
Chapter 1
It was fairly late not to mention dark when Hermione Granger left the library gates after midnight for the fourth time that week. As she was strolling through the long cool corridors she realised that she left her favourite quill on the desk where she could always be found after dinner. It was her favourite corner to study in. It was quiet and in the best position between the normal library and the restricted section to which, being Head Girl gave her special dispensation rights to which she took full advantage of. Not wanted to lug all her heavy textbooks and bag all the way back to the library, she quickly set them on the ground in a small dark alcove used mostly as a window and set about returning to the library. She'd taken no more than a few steps when she could have sworn she'd heard footsteps echoing from behind. But when she stopped so did the ghost steps. Convinced she was too exhausted to be sane she continued to the library unaware of the presence stalking her.
She yawned. "God I'm tired. Time for bed. Can't believe I left my friggin' behind. God I can be so fucking stupid sometimes I swear to God!" She cursed to herself.
"My, my, my Granger not only are we out of bed after curfew but swearing. To yourself. In the hallways. Well you'll have to go now that you're clinically insane. Too bad really. Well actually no, not really! Have fun packing!" Draco Malfoy sneered from the shadows, stepping into the pale moonlight, bathing him in an almost ethereal glowing resonance. Hermione figured he'd probably look angelic if he wasn't a pathetic demon.
"Argh! Merlin's beard, Malfoy! Well the hell are you doing sneaking up on people like that?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she said as she clutched at her frantically beating heart.
"Heart attack huh? Sounds nasty. You enjoy that now. I will." He smirked back at her. "It's your own fault. You're wandering around here talking and swearing like a lunatic to yourself. I couldn't help myself!" he replied.
"Yes of course you couldn't you bloody weasel! And at least I wasn't sneaking around scaring people stalking the hallways. Besides, I'm allowed to. As Head Girl I can go wherever whenever I like as you full well know being Head Boy. Still amazes me you got the job at all. Who did Daddy have to pay off or threaten for you to land yourself this title, Malfoy?" she countered with an evil glint to her once fatigued eyes.
Malfoy's face turned suddenly thunderous. "Don't you dare talk about my family like that!" he yelled, advancing on her with every word. "You have no fucking clue what my life's like and what I've been through!"
Hermione responded the only way she knew how around this man. Defensively. She rounded and began shouting to his face. "No of course not! No one knows a thing about you oh other than you're an elitist prat who loves torturing my life and the life of every innocent and sane person until there's nothing left but ashes and ruin. You love bringing people down to your despicable level! Although you are from a family of death eaters so I suppose I'm not surprised! Ha! What you've been through! Malfoy you wouldn't know the first thing about hard work and pain! You've never lifted your perfectly straight manicured finger from the silver pocket of Mummy and Daddy and I don't predict you will any time soon! So don't preach to me how hard your life is and the emotional drain of living the high life when that's not even possible! You would have to have a heart first and I'm positive that's one thing you can't buy! There's nothing there but I cold piece of…of …flint!" She burst in a fit of pent-up rage and emotion, slowly registering the impact her words would have.
Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks, inches from Hermione's firm albeit shaking face. His face a veneer of barely subdued wrath. Smooth as water before the pebble hits. A storm Hermione could tell was about to shake the boundaries of her expectations.
He took her arms and began to roughly walk her backwards. "Who the FUCK do you think you are all fucking high and mighty?! What you think you're a fucking shining beacon of human perfection?! You are a motherfucking MUDBLOOD! You are disgusting! A stain on the wizarding society, tarnishing the once pristine generations of genuine and REAL wizards and witches! No, you didn't ask to be a mudblood but you didn't have to! You're ALL mistakes and you in particular drive me crazy!" By this time Hermione couldn't have recalled where she was going if her life was on the line which she felt perilously close to at the moment. They were walking so fast, his left hand now on her neck as she blindly staggered backwards. She began stumbling but he kept on pushing her and forcing her to go back towards corridors so cold she couldn't believe they could still be part of the main concourse. It was terrifyingly dark. Damask and damp enough to evoke images of horrifying actions, all of which led to her either inches from death or a school one Head Girl short. Suddenly, they were falling.