Fought Against Love & Evil

Chapter 3 - No Way Out

Hermione turned and looked directly into Draco cold grey eyes. She was sitting in the stairs of Malfoy Manor. Draco looked at her in disgust, he saw her hair messed, a few scratches on her cheeks and her jeans torn. Hermione shivered and looked away. She got up.

"Why are you here, Granger?" he asked her in a angry tone.

"I honestly don't know, I didn't know this was your house, and this beast attacked me so I ran here, it seems like he can't get through the gates because of a charm" Implied Hermione who was annoyed and brushed of dirt from herself.

A smirk grew on Draco's face, he seemed evil yet frustrated. "I see you met Kevin, the ogre" he smirked. He walked back inside and made to shut the door when Hermione called "Draco...". To his annoyace he opened the door slightly again and gave her a stern look.

"Get out of here, mudblood" he said angrily. Hermione shut her eyes and breathed in, that word still stung at her. It was childish to even get hurt from name calling but it hurt Hermione. She opened her eyes. "How do I get out of here? I'm not going through the front gates, that ogres waiting to eat me" she told him and slouched back into the first step outside the house.

Draco sighed and opened the door fully and stepped out the house. Hermione wasn't facing him, but she heard his footsteps come closer to her. "Right, Granger...three options, you walk out the front door and say hello to Kevin" he sniggered and smirked, "Of you can go through the exit round the corner of this house and you'll see a gate, after you go through there's a maze that leads back to Diagon alley and last option is to go through the meadow at the back of the house, where there maybe lurking some unfriendly ghosts, banshees, ghouls and such" He stopped talking and Hermione's eyes widened. I looked at his aghast but all he did was chuckle and smirk at Hermione's reaction.

"What?" I blurted out. "Is this place a house or a death trap?" I asked.

"Well sorry, Granger, we're a rich family and a family that..." he shuddered a little "..supported the dark side, we need the best protection of the house" He said. "Even though it was all here when we bought this house, we added the ogre though" he said smiling.

Hermione stood up once again, she stared at Draco a little then she gazed at the house. It was huge. It was atleast 5 storys high, there were countless windows which suggested countless rooms. The door itself was huge and so was the porch. "It there anyway, I can get out alive...well whats the points, I might aswel give the orge a meal and get myself killed, I can't go home" she whined a little. "I'll take the ogre death route" she said a picked up her little suitcase.

Draco burst out laughing, Hermione didn't turn back. She was used to the sneers and laughing from him years back. All though Draco felt as if he hadn't laugh in ages, his eyes were full of tears and his cheek mucsles started to ache. He stopped.

Hermione continued to walk to the gate and the growling grew loud once more. Hermione shuddered. "Oi, Granger" she heard him call out. Hermione turned abruptly.

"What do you mean, you can't go home? You fell out with your family?" he asked. Why on earth was Draco asking this? Why did he bother to? You'd think if a Malfoy saw a mudblood on the streets homeless, they'd find it hilarious and have no sympathy, yet there was Draco asking me why I had no home to return to.

"It's not everyday a mudblood lands on my doorstep after 3 years saying she'd homeless. And you Granger? Homeless? This some kind of joke?" he exclaimed while walking towards Hermione.

"Come in..." he said to her.

Hermione choked and her eyes widened again "What...?" she said.

"My dad's not home...he's gone..for a bit....so no-one will mined...and my mum....she'd not well really and she probably won't even know you're here" he told Hermione.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She was speechless. A malfoy that was brought up to hate muggleborns, esspecially the one that was friends with Harry Potter, to whom his parent's master hated and wanted dead.

"Are you mad? Why the heck do you want me in your house?" I asked him absolutely bewildered.

"I'm not like that anymore, alhough I can't stand you, I've mended my ways. I spent 3 years regretting what I did. You maybe a muggle-born but the wizarding world has changed since." he claimed. Hermione didn't move, she felt as if her feet were glued to the ground. No-where to run. Hermione nodded a little. he flicked his head to the right, indicating Hermione to come in, and she did so.

She walked through the large door, she swore it was colder in the house than it was outside. The door closing shut made her jump, but Draco didn't say anything and brushed past her. He opened the door to the living, the same living room she had been in 3 years ago because totured by non-other than Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione whimpered a little why entering the room, she dropped her suitcase on the floor with a bang. All them images from 3 years ago flashed through her head. Her blood-curdling scream echoed in her ear, and the scar mudblood on her arm started to tingle a little. Hermione ran from the room pushing Malfoy to the side. He stumbled a little and moved Hermione suitcase to the side.

Hermione walked down the long hallway breathing heavily. Draco caught up with her. "Where's the bathroom" Hermione asked him and avoided eye contact.

"Through there" he said pointing down the hall. Hermione followed his instrustion and came across the bathroom. The bathroom was bright and clear, it had whites tiles everywhere other than the rest of the house that was all black. It was so white it was almost as if looking directly at the sun. It hurt your eyes. Hermione shut the door. She cleared her face and wiped all the dirt of her clothes. She was still breathing heaviliy.

She walked out the bathroom to find Malfoy standing right in front of her. She got startled and back away. "I can't stay here, I'm sorry I can't..it's not normal" She said and walked back down the long corridor to get her suitcase. "It's just not normal, i'm sorry".

Draco stormed after her too, he had long legs and caught up with her. "Then what is normal? Me calling you mudblood? Me laughing at you? me hating your guts because you're a muggleborn? Fine, well get out of my house you good for nothing mudblood and don't come back or I'll torture you again and spit on you without a hint of regret" he said and finally stopped me by walking in front.

I exhaled "I didn't say that was normal....and I though you said you spent 3 years regretting what you did? All I meant was, I got myself into a mess and hiding here won't help." she explained and pushed past him again. She entered the room that gave her nightmares and grabbed her stuff.

"Fine...." Draco said and escorted her to the door, he opened it and gestured Hermione to leave.

"I need to get past the ogre" she said in a slow voice. "Hmm, what's that I hear, you need to get past the ogre? You can't do that without my help, and I won't help so seems like you're stuck here" he shut the door and smirked. It was dark and there was no light, but with a click of his fingeres, the lights came on and Hermione could see Draco's pale face. She could tell he'd grown, but he looked much better. His hair was shining in the light, his sharp chin complimented the suit he wore that was buttoned up to his neck. And his skin looked smooth and soft. Hermione however still looked a mess.

"Granger, I'm trying to help. I want to make up for all them years" he said in a low voice. " I don't know how I'm helping, but since you have nowhere to go and your family don't know, you can stay here" he said and took Hermione suitcase off her.

Yet again she had no choice. She followed him up the stairs. Hermione knew this was wrong, bad and what if Harry and Ron did find out the truth. She had no job, America rejected her but she'd staying with Malfoy, she knew they'd kill her.

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What do you think so far?! Draco is trying to be nice and make up for all the hatred years ago. So he let her stay. The romance will start, but there will be fight and arguement, you can't expect a Granger and Malfoy to be in the same house and not fight xD But we'll get to the love parts soon.