"Away With My Heart"

Well, I promised you a sequel, and here it is! This is the Prologue, hence why it is so short. Let me know what you think so far. I am open to reviews and suggestions. I would like to know if there is something here you hoped you would have seen, or what you want to happen next! *Note: if you have NOT read Wandering, Wondering, Why?, you might want to before reading this.

Prologue

December 02, 2004

Have you ever wondered what might have happened, had you gone down a completely different path? What might have happened had you taken the wrongdestiny? Was that wrong destiny really the right one to begin with? I ask you this, as a soul searching for mercy. I wonder, sometimes, whether or not i took the right path. Were my stars aligned in the right place? Am i pondering too much in too deep water that i cannot quite paddle over?

This fact, this one, I do know, is that, where I have ended up certainly feels right enough to me. I am happy. Aren't I? Does it matter not to the human eye that I sometimes still dwell in the past I promised myself was tucked so far deep in me? I do not know. I know, though, that I want to be happy, no matter what I do, no matter what the path... I want, I will, I am... happy.

-Hermione.

Hermione Jean Granger. Associated with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Twenty-four years old, and in a steady relationship with Ronald Weasley. She felt in place with her life, well matured from her years in Hogwarts, and from the many learning experiences of her work.

Hermione never felt so much purpose flowing together so fluidly. She felt right, she felt stable. She was in love. What else could a woman of her age ask for?

Walking through Diagon Alley, she hummed peacefully, going to Flourish and Botts for Ginny, who was unable to leave her Quidditch Practices long enough to get some book Harry needed. For some odd reason. Hermione knew to never ask, and instead did what she was told for her two best friends.

Hermione laughed to herself. She'd made it to her destination, relief that she was almost done, and could go back home soon. She stretched her fingers to the golden door handle, and was shocked when another set of fingers met it at the exact same time. Hermione jerked her hand back, purely out of instinct, and snapped her head up to apologize.

It was to her surprise that she laid eyes on a very familiar set of stormy grey ones.

She stepped backwards, and the other person stepped forward. Hermione stumbled over air, and the hand of that very familiar person grabbed the lapel of her jacket to prevent her falling. Hermione blushed a profuse red colour. It was underneath her lucky stars that she would come face to face with the past Hermione thought she'd tucked deep enough within her brain.

"M...Malfoy..."

Hermione's brain flashed with memories. The attraction... the sex. Anything she could have possibly feared coming back, came back all at an instant.

Draco Lucius Malfoy, though, did not look unphased by anything. Not even an inkling of their past was written on him. Only a blank expression that Hermione was currently killing herself to decode. The older Draco Malfoy stood there, eyes wide, and lips closed securely. Would he even attempt to speak to her?

"It's... It's been a while." Hermione breathed. She figured, while she had him, it would be rude not to at least small talk.

He still remained quiet. Still remained standing there, like stone.

Hermione pursed her lips.

"Well then..." she then said, reaching once more the door handle.

She was shocked again when Draco's hand met with hers. His icy fingers, having been exposed to the winter air, wrapped around her gloved ones. She could still feel it... the zing of electricity she felt years back. The last time he touched her... the last time he...

No! Hermione shook her head, and jerked her fingers away from his, appauled. Her face was now flushed red, but try as she may, Hermione could not evade him. She could not shake the feeling that had overwhelmed her upon even laying eyes on the boy. It was like she looked back in time. Draco had barely aged since Hogwarts. He was still beautiful... his hair was still absurdly blonde, and those eyes... Oh, those grey eyes were the same crystal clear they had been six years prior.

Hermione had aged, but to good measure. Her curves were curvier, and her hair was a little less bushy. Rather, Hermione looked way more feminine, way more appealing than she had while in school. Maturity had done her exceptionally well.

"Are you not going to talk?" Hermione was becoming a little annoyed at Draco's silence.

From what Hermione could tell, she knew he was struggling to say the right thing. Certainly, he was thinking about the same things she was. Their past was a factor, it was still unexplained as to why Draco had played Hermione so long ago. Hermione thought she got over it when she and Ronald got back together. She thought losing her virginity to him didn't count since she was convinced that she was nothing but a toy in his game.

It did count. She couldn't try to fool herself.

"If you're not, then will you excuse me?"

Draco, then, stepped aside. He watched with his grey eyes as Hermione brushed past, and into Flourish and Botts. She looked back at him through the window, covering her collar with a hand to try and gain back the breath she'd lost. She was flabbergasted, bewildered, and angry all at once... and she wasn't so sure she could bring it up to anyone once she returned home.