Silver- mypseudonym

AN: I started this story as a response to SheriLovingLecter's Vixen about a year ago. Her story is brilliant, and I suggest you go read it after you read mine, of course. Anyway, our stories started from similar bunnies, but they are going off in very different directions. I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 1 The Attack

Hermione Granger decided to spend the summer after her Hogwarts graduation staying with her parents. She hadn't really been able to be with them much in the last few years because she was always hurried off to the Weasley's or to Grimmauld Place. True, Dumbledore didn't approve of her being within her parents' home even now.

Hermione wasn't dumb. She knew that the war was getting worse. She could see it in the faces of the Order members she came across. She could read a little about it in various papers- wizarding and Muggle alike. She, however, was a fairly well trained witch in matters of defense. Sure she wasn't an Auror, and she wasn't even a member of the Order yet, but she'd bought and learned spells from several defensive magic books. She also just so happened to have been the best in her year. Her plan was to place a wide array of protective charms on the property before she left in the fall. She'd even placed a few charms when she arrived.

Hermione awoke one night having felt the wards activate. This happened anytime someone or something crossed the property line. It was late, so Hermione didn't really want to go check it out. She'd already surveyed the property twelve times that day due to the post man, a neighbor kid selling something, another neighbor coming for tea, and a variety of animals crossing through the back yard. She couldn't just ignore it though, so she blearily climbed out of bed, grabbing her wand off the night table.

When she was just about to leave her basement bedroom, she heard the footsteps upstairs. Intruders it was then. Hermione could have kicked herself for not getting up sooner. They moved quickly. Hermione moved silently from her room to the top of the stairs. Here she crouched and listened, knowing they wouldn't be able to see her, but she could hear them if they were on the main floor.

She heard someone coming down from the second floor.

"Well?" a voice, Lucius Malfoy's asked impatiently.

"The Muggles are dead, sir."

"Well done Nott."

Another man with heavier footfalls came downstairs.

"It appears that the Mudblood is not here." the third man reported.

"What do you mean, not here?" Lucius asked.

"I searched every room up there. One bedroom contained the parents, the others were vacant."

"No, she's here somewhere. Did you feel it when we came in? There were wards on this house. The spells would have alerted her if someone crossed the property line." Lucius snarled.

"She could have left." the second man suggested.

"Dammit Mulcibar. She's not going to leave her Muggle parents sleeping in a house she knows is being attacked by Death Eaters. The girl's a Gryffindor. Mangy lions never think of themselves first." Lucius snarled. "No, she's probably hiding from us. Find her. Search every nook and cranny of this house. We'll burn this place to the ground if we must."

Hermione's parents were dead. She knew if Death Eaters came upon them they would be killed instantly if they were lucky. Now though, Hermione had to figure out how to leave the house. She had placed a ward so that you couldn't apparate directly onto the property. She would have to get over the property line before she could do that. Hermione crept quickly but very quietly back to the basement. She found her way in the dark to the back door, opening it and praying to whoever was listening that it didn't squeak. It didn't.

She transformed quickly. She'd become an Animagus during her final year of school as a personal project. She researched it thoroughly and completed all the necessary exercises in the privacy of her Head Girl quarters. She had managed to achieve an animal state in the spring. It would come in handy now, as her animal form was smaller, darker, and swifter than she. She ran out of the house and sprinted for the woods just beyond the back yard. They would offer her the best cover. Midway across the yard though, she was hit with a spell, a full body bind by the looks of it. She was still conscious, and yet she could move nothing.

Someone walked up to her from behind and picked her up roughly by the back of the neck. It didn't hurt, but it was rather uncomfortable. She would have growled at the treatment alone. She was turned to find Lucius Malfoy looking at her with a satisfied expression. Hermione wanted to bite him, if only she could. The body bind kept her locked in Animagus form as well.

"You are an exceedingly curious looking creature. Are you a dog or a cat?" Lucius asked. Hermione noted that she must have regained use of her mouth, since she was now growling aloud. She couldn't mover her neck or head though, so biting him was looking rather improbable.

The two other Death Eaters came running up.

"We've looked everywhere, Lucius. There was a room in the basement that looked to be hers, but there was no sign of her anywhere." Nott explained.

"It's nearing daybreak, so we must go anyway. Cast the mark, and we'll be off." Lucius ordered. Mulcibar turned and Hermione had to see one thing she wished she would never, a Dark Mark blazing bright above her house. The three men walked off into the woods, Lucius still carrying her roughly. Neither of his cohorts asked why Lucius carried with him this strange creature. It was his operation, and he was clear to take any souvenirs he wished. If he wished for that to be the family pet, then so be it.