CHAPTER 1: APPARATING WITH SOMEONE WITHOUT PERMISSION, IS CALLED KIDNAPPING

Hermione shallowed her breathing, so much so that to anyone who saw her, she would have looked like a doll leaning against the brick wall in the dark, and in an alleyway behind a seamstresses' store, no one would even glance at her twice.

Her already pale skin looked paler in the moonlight, almost translucent, as though she had been locked away from the sun most of her life, and her hair by contrast looked black in the darkness.

She peeked through a crack in the wall, a shadow slinked past swiftly, followed soon by one or two others, whispers emitting from between them as they searched.

For her.

Hermione turned away, and sighed quietly to herself, her fingers curling into a fist in anger, digging into the wall behind her in a silent punch of frustration.

Two years.

It had been two years since the wanted posters had become completely official and spread worldwide. Two years since the whole wizarding whole had been after her, since her two best friends had begun to hunt her down, since the last time she'd really talked to anyone.

How was she supposed to live out her life as a young woman of twenty-five if anyone who saw her either ran away or began to attack her?

She should have been out and about with her other single friends, enjoying the many great male specimens out there in the world, yet here she was, hiding behind a brick wall, in high hopes that people passing by would presume that she was an inanimate object.

Well, obviously, the universe had something against her.

Hermione glanced at her watch and ground her teeth in frustration, peeking through the crack in the wall to the street over, where the three Aurors under Ron's command, where searching for her carefully.

She had no idea how Ron of all people had caught her trail so fast, managing to ignore the false leads she'd thrown his way to follow her back to America of all places. If she hadn't been in the situation she was in right now, she would have even commended him for it, but right now, it just made her mad.

Why did he have to suddenly become smart when it was her life in danger? Where were these brains when they'd been trying to find Horcruxes?

It was three in the morning and she'd been hiding behind this bloody wall for well over three hours now, her legs were getting stiff and her lips were turning blue. Her fingers were prickly from the after effects of pins and needles, and the cold seemed to want to eat away at her flesh, but she couldn't move too much.

Even the slightest noise could get her caught and that would be the end of Hermione Granger. She'd receive the Dementor's kiss before she even got a chance to explain anything or get a fair trial. Of all the things to do now, getting caught wasn't on the list.

"No trace of her. Are you sure she isn't really in America right now? This could have been the false lead," a voice whispered. Hermione leaned her ear against the wall and listened keenly, desperate to hear as much about what they knew about her as possible.

"No, Ron's sure she wouldn't leave England yet. Come on, she's definitely not here. We should report back and check up with Harry anyway."

For a second, there was silence and then the sudden "CRACK!" of magic and only the smell of singed smoke remained as the men after her dissaparated away.

She let out a heavy sigh of relief before slumping against the wall, trying to rid her fingers and toes of the tingling of stiffness so that she could get going again.

They were getting closer and closer to getting her nowadays, and she didn't like it. As proud as she was that her former department was getting better at following clues and traces of magic, the fact that it was being used against her wasn't particularly giving her a fulfilling feeling.

She rolled her shoulders and stood up, wincing as her legs groaned at the sudden movement and her spine cracked. Her bones couldn't take much more of the hiding stiffly behind walls and running through backstreets like a common thief. Sooner or later, she was going to trip over something and get caught.

Hermione stretched quickly, tilting her head to the left and right, and slipping her wand out from her sleeve, readying herself to disapparate away, when she heard the distinct sound of someone's footsteps creeping up behind her and reacted without thinking.

She threw up a quick shield around herself, as a hex, quite well aimed, if she had time to admit it, came flying towards her. However, Hermione was a professional, her shield protected her, though it shattered with the force of the hex, something that hadn't happened in a long time.

She blinked, surprised that whoever it was attacking her had so much raw magical power and was almost hit with another spell that hurled towards her at alarming speed. She barely managed to duck as the spell missed her by centimetres and hit the wall behind her, showering her with dust and debris.

Who was this? Who had managed to find her even after the other Aurors had left? How was it possible for someone to be here, fighting her right now?

She moved away from the wall, keeping her bearings as best as she could in the darkness, not wanting to cast lumos to see her attacker. She heard the rustle of a cloak from behind her, and ducked as another spell came flying towards her head.

Her attacker was good, probably had some training, and light on his feet. Not Auror good, but good.

She twisted around and swiped his foot from under him, or tried to at least, but he'd already anticipated this and jumped away. She narrowed her eyes at this, not liking that he'd managed to see through her attack so easily.

Perhaps the fact that she hadn't sparred with anyone in a while had made her rusty? Rusty enough for someone not even in the Auror department be able to keep up with her?

She stood tall and listened keenly, narrowing her breathing so that she could hear better. His footsteps were light and constantly in motion, understanding that she was trying to figure out where he was. She could see the shadow of his figure in what little light there was, but he was moving around faster than she could keep up without using magic.

Obviously he'd cast a silencing charm on himself that she hadn't been able to cast on herself.

He threw another spell at her, this time trying to be clever and manoeuvring it so that even though it looked like it was meant to trap her legs, it would fly up and hit her torso and knock her out, but he hadn't managed to learn the one thing that Hermione had- wordless magic. She heard the spell and knew it well and managed to avoid it easily, back flipping through the air to land away from where the spell had been cast, trying to keep him in front of her.

She identified his pattern; he was all about attacking, no defence at all. She could practically smell the confidence that he had in himself. Whereas all Aurors were taught from the beginning that the best defence was the one thing that would end up saving your life, this man believed that she wouldn't be able to force him to defend himself.

His lack of defence meant that the expectant thing for her to do was break his attacks and force him to defend, something he obviously wasn't good at.

It also meant that he had no idea who she was.

If he'd known that the woman he was trying to attack was Hermione Granger, she was sure that he would have sent something more serious than Ginny's infamous Bat Bogey Hex at her next.

He'd come across her by chance and probably thought she was a petty criminal and decided to figure it out. So, at least she wasn't completely incompetent at losing traces.

She just had really bad luck. Fantastic!

Another spell came at her and she had to cartwheel away to avoid getting hit, landing on the heels of her feet. He was good, she admitted to herself begrudgingly, he had a good knowledge of spells of a wide variety, but he didn't seem to care what he was trying to hex her with.

He was chucking random spells at her now; frog-speech and pimple hexes, he wasn't interested in capturing her, but knocking her out or confusing her enough to give him enough time to figure out who she was.

Who was this guy? He was just as good as Harry really. Getting frustrated, she took a chance and muttered "lumos maxima." The bright light was almost blinding, but she ignored the slight pain it brought her eyes as she searched around herself for her attacker, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he dissaperated without her noticing?

There was a sudden "CRACK" as he reappeared behind her, and the moment she turned to face him, she heard him gasp and then he disappeared again.

For a second, she panicked, believing that he'd gone to get the Ministry or the Aurors, but she heard him reappear again, behind her, his breathing a little uneven like he was excited or afraid.

What was wrong with this guy? Why hadn't he called in back-up? Or did he think he could handle her himself? She dispelled the light spell and gritted her teeth in frustration. That spell had been a mistake, casting it had only given him an advantage of finding out who she was.

He definitely hadn't been expecting to see the infamous Hermione Granger here, hence why he'd been trying to throw child-play hexes at her, thinking that perhaps she was just some desperate bimbo.

He threw a charm her way, meant to disarm her easily, but she jumped into the air, bouncing off what remained of the wall to land behind him. Well, now that he knew who she was, he wanted to disarm her, which meant that he probably did know her. Hermione rolled her eyes mentally; her face was on every poster covered wall in London, so of course he knew her.

What person in the magical world didn't know about her right now? There were probably mothers telling their children stories about how Hermione Granger would come and eat them up if they brush their teeth. The next generations' dental hygiene would be better than ever, if nothing else.

"Can I at least know who you are?" she asked the night air, feeling slightly stupid. There was a moment of silence and then she was jumping and ducking away as three separate spells zoomed towards her head.

"I'll take that as a no then?" She muttered to herself, landing on her left knee and staring into the dimness with her eyes narrowed, trying to figure out where he was. Nothing, she couldn't even see a trace outline of this guy.

Thinking quickly, she pointed her wand straight up above her head, "sequin forum" she whispered, watching the pale blue light tear itself from the tip of her wand and form itself into a ball before zooming directly behind her.

In what little light it cast, she saw the glimpse of bright, almost white hair and her confusion grew. Was this some old man who was managing to keep up with her?

The ball of light switched pathway and flew to the right, and then again to the left, following the movement of the man she'd made it track.

She followed the movement with an amused smirk, standing up swiftly and sent a stupefy hurling towards him. He disapparated and the blue light following his form disappeared too. Hermione clenched her teeth, and narrowed her eyes in annoyance. The spell that she'd used just now had been one of her own.

It had been on the list of spells that had been stolen two years ago, one that she had tested out before she'd given it to Kingsley. A clever tacking spell that was useful in the dark, its only weakness was that it dispersed if the object or person it was tracking disappeared, so did it.

Had he known that, or was it a stroke of pure luck?

She waited, listening keenly as he attempted to appear right behind her to surprise her, but she'd been expecting it and ducked under his arms to appear behind him, her wand pressed against the side of his neck, her other hand holding his wand arm behind him.

For a moment, the subtle smell of mint and vanilla caught her attention as she pulled him close to her form to trap him, and her mind whirled in excitement, like it was familiarising itself with the smell, and in the moment of hesitation, she felt him tense as if readying himself as he grabbed onto her arm with his free hand and freeing himself with brute strength.

Not letting go of her arm, he turned her around and quicker than her muddled mind could keep up, two strong arms circled her waist, pulling her to his torso, her arms trapped to her chest, so close that the warmth of his breath hit her neck and made her tense in discomfort.

And then he disapparated; taking her along with him.

Hermione closed her eyes tight, her stomach churning at the sudden travel; her head pounding as fast as her heart. His grip on her was tight and secure, he seemed aware of what would happen if he happened to let her go accidently in the middle of disapparation.

Where was he taking her? The Ministry? The Auror Head office? Was this why he hadn't called backup then? He wanted all the credit for bringing in the wanted criminal by himself?

Two years of running ruined in moments by some stranger that smelled nice. Damn it! And of all the things to get distracted by, it was the way he smelled?

The moment she felt her feet land on the ground, she struggled out of his grasp, though he let her go easily, and fell to her knees, taking in deep breathes so that the sickness of unexpected disapparation could pass.

It was far too quiet for this to be the Ministry, too calm for it to be the Head office of the Aurors, where the hell had this guy taken her? Straight to the Dementors? But she felt no depression or sadness or unnatural cold, the tell-tale signs that Dementors were nearby.

She glanced up, her stomach finally settling and for a second or so, her heart stopped its beating in shock and surprise as that tiny dose of fear that she'd hidden away for so many years ago, resurfaced in her mind and her blood seemed to freeze in its path.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite criminal bookworm! Granger! Fancy meeting you here! Whatever brings you to my humble abode?"

Hermione felt her heart palpitate and her left eye twitched in an automatic and familiar irritation. Of all the people in the world who wanted to catch her, only one person would dare to kidnap her and call her "Granger" in such a neurotic way at the same time. Only one person would casually bring he back to the one place that gave her nightmares and act so bloody cocky about it.

Only one person would be stupid enough to call her a bookworm to her face when she was this angry, even if he knew how much it irritated her. The idiot with the stupid pish-posh voice that matched his stupid pish-posh complexion.

Only one person would ever even dare drag her here of all places and that was...she turned around and came face to face with familiar steely sliver-grey eyes that glinted in subtle mischief and platinum blond hair that could be mistaken for white in a dim, dark alleyway. That highly annoying smirk that made her want to throw blunt, heavy objects at him.

The idiotic, stupid and highly annoying... "Ferret!" Hermione growled, grasping her wand tighter and glaring at a grinning Draco Malfoy.