Born The Day You Kissed Me

"Malfoy? What in the world, how did he get here? What happened to him?" Hermione thought frantically. She examined his face, and saw that his left cheekbone and above his left eye were severely bruised. "Malfoy," she said as steadily as her voice allowed her. He didn't speak. She tried to nudge him awake, but he didn't move either. Then, as if things couldn't possibly get worse, it started to rain in thick sheets around them. "Oh my, what should I do? He's unconscious! I can't just leave him here; he will freeze to death, or get hypothermia for all I know. Oh what to do, what to do...."

That's when her eyes fell upon her tree house. Since magically lifting him was out of the question, she would just have to drag him there. She knew that she couldn't make it all the way back to her house.

She grabbed his robes tightly and as gently as she could, dragged him over, trying her hardest to avoid all the mud that was around them. Thankfully, her tree house was only a few feet away from where she found him. She pulled him through the door, and shut it quickly, and pushed him so that he was lying on his back in the center of the room. She took his hand once more, and shivered at the coldness of it. The room was extremely chilly now that the sun was completely gone, and Malfoy was getting bluer as the time passed. She had to get him something warmer; his robes were soaked due to the rain. She ran back to her house, thinking of all the things that she needed..."Okay he needs blankets, bandages, towels, dry clothes, maybe a flashlight, oh, and something warm to drink...."

* * *

Draco Malfoy awoke; his head was spinning and he couldn't tell which direction was up. He tried opening his eyes up, but found that that sent pain shooting through his head. He felt that he was lying on something hard and cold, but he couldn't move, for every inch of his body ached. Even breathing was extremely difficult. He lay there, and tried to steady his breathing and listen for someone, anyone. He felt like he was paralyzed and could never walk again, and he tried to call out, but his voice didn't work. He heard loud thunder and rain fall on the roof. "A roof? Okay,that rules out being outside...." He tried opening his eyes again, and this time could get his right eye to cooperate with him. This proved to not help much since it was pitch black wherever he was.

A huge crack of thunder broke right over head and caused his eyes to open fully, and for his breathing to rapidly increase. "Where in the hell am I?" He searched for his wand and uttered, "Lumos." He looked around and saw an armchair and a small table with three chairs next to it. This place was not familiar at all. He backtracked to what had happened that night. "Okay, I was in my room, and Lucius called me to his office. He gave me a portkey to get back...and he took me...somewhere, oh, I can't remember. Where did he take me? Who was there? What were we doing, and why did I have to come along?"

His train of thought was suddenly broken when he heard another loud bang, but this time it wasn't thunder. "Nox," he whispered frantically. He heard someone, they had shut the door to the room he was in, and again he tried to call out.

"Hello?" his voice cracked.

"Oh! You startled me, I didn't realize you had woken up," a smooth and calming voice said. A warm light flickered throughout the room and the weak scent of vanilla filled his nose. He was trying with all of his might to focus his eyes so he see clearly. He felt someone, a woman by the gentleness of her touch, pick up his hand. "Good, you have warmed up. You scared me there for a minute, Malfoy."

"Malfoy...only a few people call me Malfoy. Am I hallucinating or does she sound an awful lot like Granger...." Blinking furiously and fighting to focus his eyes, he looked and could make out two beautiful brown eyes looking back at him with concern. "Bloody hell! It is Granger!" He suddenly regained his strength and abruptly pulled his hand away from hers.

"What? Where the hell am I? What happened? And most importantly, why the hell are you here?" He yelled as loud as his voice admitted. He sat up too fast for his lack of strength, and quickly sunk back down when his head threateningly began to throb.

"Actually, I was hoping you could be the one to tell me why you are lying unconscious in my backyard, Malfoy."

He didn't answer her, but lay there silently willing for his excruciating headache to go away. He had gotten used to Granger's attitude, considering he lived with her. He was head boy and she was head girl at Hogwarts this year. Even though they shared living quarters, they barely ever saw each other. It was as if they had made some mutual agreement to ignore each other as much as possible. She spent most of her time in the library or with Potty and the Weasel in Gryffindor common room anyway.

"Can you try and sit up for a while, I need to tend to your face. You have got some pretty bad cuts," Hermione said, obviously trying to be patient with him.

He slowly sat up and scooted over so that he could lean against the armchair. He tried to keep still as she washed up the cuts on his face.

"Mind telling me how you got these cuts, Malfoy?"

Draco continued to sit there, completely silent. He had been wondering that for the past few minutes as well. Where had he gotten these cuts? He had no memory of them.

"Well?" She said, sitting back and reaching for a thermos from her bag. "Here, drink this."

"Why are you being so nice to me, Granger?" he asked, locking eyes with her.

She sat there for a moment, silently staring into his eyes debating with herself whether they were slate or silver. After a moment, she shook her head and hastily replied, "For heavens sakes, Malfoy. Even if I hate you with a passion, doesn't mean I am going to leave you out in the rain to die."

He just looked back at her, and continued to drink his tea. "This is actually quite good, Granger."

"Don't you change the subject, Malfoy. How in the world did you end up in my backyard? In a muggle community? What is going on, because I'm pretty sure that you didn't wander out here on your own. Are there Death Eaters in my backyard now, Malfoy? Why did you all come here? What was it for? What did they do to you?" the questions poured from her mouth before she could stop them and she was only silenced from Malfoy's callused hand abruptly covering her mouth.

"Shut up, Granger!" he hissed dangerously. "Look, I don't know the answers to any of your questions. I am trying to remember, but I can't, okay? The last thing I remember was being back at Malfoy Manor, and being called to my father's office, all right?" he closed his eyes and shook his head, racking his brain to try and remember something, anything. But alas, he could think of nothing.

"Do you think that they put a memory charm on you or something?" she asked quietly. He hadn't really thought of that possibility, but it seemed to fit with the story. It certainly explained why he couldn't recall how he ended up here.

"They might have. I don't even know who they are though. I know I was with my father, that's all," he glanced back at her, and was shocked to see the look of concern in her eyes. He finished off the drink she had given him, but he still felt cold.

"Here," she said, handing him a towel and pile of clothes.

"You've got to be joking! You think that I, Draco Malfoy, am going to wear muggle clothing?" he said staring at her in disbelief.

"Well, yes. Unless you would rather stay in your blood and rain soaked robes. It's up to you," she laughed a little at his bewildered look. "At least I grabbed the black pants, and not the red ones."

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked her, as she was standing at the doorway now.

"I'm going back up to my house now-"

"I thought this was your house," he interrrupted her, with skepticism and humor written on his face.

"Haha, very funny Malfoy. This happens to be my tree house. My dad built it for me when I was five," she explained. "I'll come back in a while, I'll let you get changed."

He watched her leave and thought quietly, "Well, I guess it could have been worse. At least Lucius didn't desert me in a forest by the Weasley's house...."