The Death Eater and the Heroine

Chapter 1 (During The War)

Footsteps sounded through the Forbidden Forest.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Raggedy pants were heard.

"Faster!! We're almost there!!!" Harry shouted.

Ron ran after him. Hermione tried to keep up the best she could.

"Aaahhhh!" Hermione's scream pierced the air. She was flung head over heels over the tree root she had tripped over.

"HERMIONE!!!!!!!" 2 loud voices sounded. Loud footsteps were heard as Death Eaters picked up their trail.

"I'm ok! You go ahead! I'll catch up."

Harry only hesitated for a minute before nodding and running farther into the darkness.

Hermione allowed herself 1 minute to calm down, then she got to her feet and ran after Harry and Ron.

She ran deeper into the forest. Soon, she couldn't hear the pursuing Death Eaters, but she couldn't hear Ron or Harry.

"Harry? Ron? HARRY!! RON!!!" She was on the verge of a panic attack.

She ran in the general direction of Hogwarts, but she was even more hopelessly lost.

Hermione pulled out her wand. "Lumos." The wand lit up. "Point me, Hogwarts." The wand pointed in the direction opposite to the one she was going. She groaned internally and set off. Then she heard the click-click of claws on rocks and a low growl. She spun around frantically. A short distance away, Fenrir Greyback stood, a silhouette in the moonlight. Hermione spun in a circle. She was trapped by trees. There was no way out. She was going to die.

"Well well well. What have we here? A little mudblood, all by herself. I can taste your filthy blood all the way from here." Fenrir's low growl sounded.

"You'll never get me." Hermione hated the way her voice trembled. Then her eyes widened as she realized she had just given herself away, as she had been cloaked by shadows up until then.

Greyback's eyes widened in glee. "Not just any mudblood, but Potter's!! Oh, this is too good. The Dark Lord will reward me for such a prize. Oh yes, it will crush their spirit when their precious Gryffindor Princess, the Heroine of the light is dead! Mmmm, you will make a tasty meal."

And he pounced, shifting into a man-wolf in midair. His nails and fingers lengthened into claws. His face grew into a snout and razor sharp teeth could be seen. Yet his figure was still vaguely humanoid.

Hermione turned away, waiting for the death blow. I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry Ron. Goodbye.

The blow never came. She turned around to see red jets of light and the swishing black fabric of cloaks. Death Eaters would never attack their own, so it had to be Harry and Ron! She almost cried out their names, but something didn't feel right. For one thing, it felt like one person, not 2.

Platinum blond hair flashed across her field of sight. Malfoy?

"Stay back!" Yup, definitely Malfoy's voice. More hexes and curses flew past. Maybe this was just a dying hallucination...

A red curse hit her and sent her flying back into a tree, where she hit her head and slumped down to the roots. Half-conscious, she saw Malfoy erect a shield charm and run over to check if she was ok. From the corner of her eye, she saw Greyback creeping up. "Granger! GRANGER!! Are you alright? Can you hear me? Please, say something!!" His eyes were streaming with tears and he was panicking. She could feel something wet, warm and sticky flow down her head. Greyback was even closer now.

"Dra...co..." She croaked. Malfoy's expression turned to one of elation. Then one of fear as Greyback pounced towards Hermione. She readied herself to finally die, but platinum and black whirled past her faster than she could follow. A body covered her protectively and a high shrill scream of pain sounded out. She curled into a ball as the scream was followed by a loud shout and blast. She stayed in her position until the forest settled back into silence. She slowly lifted her head.

The body of Fenrir Greyback lay on the forest ground a metre away from her. It was bleeding and a look of shock was permanently frozen on his face. She shuddered and turned away. She took a step towards the edge of the clearing, and stepped in something wet. She looked down.

Draco Malfoy was lying injured, gashes across his back. He was bleeding heavily, staining the ground brown. Hermione dropped to her knees. "Oh god. Malfoy, Malfoy, can you hear me?" He had no response. Hermione turned him onto his front and ripped open his shirt. 3 long gashes glowed red and bled. She poured dittany on them, then bandaged them up. He opened his eyes a bit and groaned. "Her... mi... on... e" She shushed him and picked him up, and carried him in the direction of Hogwarts.