I was surprised to not find myself tied down to anything when I came back to reality.

I was left on the kitchen floor, the last place I remembered being. Draco Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. Reminders of our fight in the kitchen still lingered. The telly was still going in the next room.

A dull headache drummed in the back of my skull. Groaning, I sat myself up against the refrigerator. Through the kitchen way, I saw the door open, and Neville came in. He ran straight for me the second he realized I was down.

"Jenelle." He crouched in front of me. "What happened to you?"

"Slow down, slow down. Headache." I put a hand against my head. "We're not alone, Neville. We're in a territory war."

"Huh?"

"She means, Longbottom, that you're in my territory, and I'd appreciate it if you were out of it," came Malfoy's voice. He entered the kitchen, his wand pointed at Neville's back. "On your feet. You and her both."

Calmly, Neville aided me in standing on my feet. I gave a curt look to Malfoy, who looked between the both of us. Neville put himself a little more in front of me.

"Your territory?" was Neville's response.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Yes, my territory. Meaning that I found this place first, and I'm not letting you take it." His eyes narrowed. "Why are you two here, anyway? How did you even manage to get in here?"

"If you were really serious about not wanting house guests, you should have invested in protective spells," I boasted. "Forgot that memo, did you? Which actually brings to mind, how did you get in here? We put spells around this place."

"Oh, I know. I'd been ready to walk back into here when I saw movement. I figured since I was within the perimeter I might as well wait until I could sneak myself back in. I wasn't about to let others steal this from me."

"Why are you here?" Neville threw the question out.

"Like I told her, it's none of your concern," said Malfoy.

"Put the wand down."

"So you can, what? Hand me in? I'm sure I'm wanted for something that I didn't want to be involved in."

"So you're running," I stated.

Malfoy glared at me. "I'm not running, I'm living."

I ignored him. "Mummy and Daddy won't protect you from whatever is after you?"

I hit a nerve, because Malfoy was starting to shake now. His wand wavered. "You have no idea what I'm going through."

"If by some godforsaken reason it's similar to ours, I'd be willing to listen."

Neville looked at me like I grew another head. "Jenelle, you're joking."

"I'm not. Yeah, he knocked me unconscious, but he's afraid. He feels threatened."

"He's also right here," Malfoy voiced.

I waved his comment away, keeping eye contact with Neville.

"He could be bluffing," Neville insisted.

"I'm not."

Now I looked at Malfoy. "If we're running from the same thing, then perhaps we can work something out."

"It's not going to happen."

"Look, if it really means that much to you, we'll leave you alone," Neville suggested.

It was my turn to give him the weird stare. "We can't just leave it and let him be protected by our spells!"

"We don't need any more trouble than we've already got. It's not worth sharing a place with a Death Eater."

"Hence why you should scram," Malfoy threatened.

"Oh, back off," I groaned. "I don't want to get into another row with you."

"Why? Afraid you'll lose again?"

Now it was my turn to scowl. "I say we arrest him and hand him over to Auror authority. You'll join your Death Eater pals in Azkaban."

"You can't arrest me on speculation!" Malfoy's voice rose. I could tell the mention of the Wizard prison spooked him, his color was pretty pale. Considering he was pale to begin with, that spoke volumes.

"Like hell we can't."

Light shone through the windows towards the door. My motive to have Draco Malfoy in Auror custody was thrown out. Just as I stepped into the living room, I was tackled to the ground as the windows above shattered. Light went out, plunging us into the dark.

"Stay down," Neville whispered in my ear. He moved from me, crawling towards one of the shattered windows. I cringed as I heard him move over the glass shards. I looked back into the kitchen to see Malfoy nowhere near by. He's fled, the bloody bastard.

I decided to crawl behind the couch, still out of line of sight. Nobody approached the broken windows. Light grew brighter and brighter. Bullocks. Just as a silhouette came into view, a red spell was blasted towards them. I covered my head with my arms as spellfire exchanged over me.

I flinched when I heard something fall on the floor beside me. Peeking out, I hastily grabbed my wand, slowly positioning myself on my knees. I backed towards the kitchen opening. Just as I was there, spellfire aimed for me. I quickly blocked the attacks, taking cover on the opposite wall that Malfoy was positioned against.

"You led them here, it was a trap!" he hissed at me.

"It wasn't us!" I whisper-shouted.

"Come off it. How else would they know? I was trying to avoid them!"

"And you think we weren't?" A few rogue spells passed through the kitchen opening, right between Malfoy and I. "Look, we don't know each other, but we're going to need to work together to get out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere with you two."

"Never said you needed to. I just need you to help us make our exit. You can make yours when you see fit. You wouldn't have given me my wand back if you didn't want to work together."

I watched Malfoy, who looked to be seriously considering my bargain. When he dipped his head, I took that as indication he was on my side, however brief. He made a gesture for me to stay where I was, and I happily obliged.

I wasn't expecting him to walk straight into the line of fire.

I peeked out as spellfire was exchanged. Neville, hunching over and close to the ground, retreated to me. He threw a few spells to help Malfoy out, but I knew his priority was me.

"Never thought I'd see the day where Draco Malfoy would be on our side," he panted. He looked towards the living room.

"He's giving us our out, he'll find his," I assured Neville. "Let's get out of here. Somewhere, anywhere, as long as we get them off our backs."

When Neville grabbed my arm, we Disapparated, leaving Malfoy to battle Death Eaters on his own.

Our new destination was unfamiliar. We weren't looking at a small town, or a city. Instead, we were before a small wooden cottage in the middle of scenic nowhere. I looked to Neville, who started heading for the home.

"Where are we now?" I asked, trailing behind him.

"Hopefully some place they won't go looking for you."

Somebody was in the cottage, light shined from the two front windows.

"Are we expected?"

"No."

"Then how can you be sure this will be a safe place?"

"I know the owners."

I kept my head on a swivel, even after we arrived at the doorstep. Neville did the Muggle thing and knocked against the door. I heard the patter of footsteps, and the door opened to reveal a woman with a sloppy ponytail, and a brown-eyed, surprised expression on her slightly freckled face.

"Neville?" the woman asked. "What are you doing here?" She peeked around him to notice me. "Who's this?"

"Sorry I didn't give you a head's up, but...It's kind of a long story."

"If you're looking for Ron, he's still at the office."

"I wasn't. Like I said, a bit of a story. Um, could we come in?"

"Um, yeah, sure." She stepped away to let the two of us in. I heard the door shut. "Can I get you anything at the moment?"

"No, we're good, thanks," I said on both behalves.

Neville and I found ourselves in the small den room. The walls were brick. A fireplace existed which had a fire fading, two couches, both opposite each other, and a telly opposite the fireplace.

There were very few wizards/witches I knew that had tellys in their houses. Those were usually the Muggleborns, or those who had a Muggle parent.

"What brings you here, Neville?" the woman asked.

"Me," I said sheepishly. "Sorry. Jenelle Murphy."

"Hermione Granger."

My heart skipped a beat. "Never really got to officially meet you, you know, with your adventures with Harry and Ron and all." Wow, Hermione Granger. She was almost as famous as her best friend, Harry Potter. Ron Weasley lives here, too. They're together. More like engaged, if the ring on her left hand was anything to go by.

Hermione seemed to blush at my babbling. The heat in her face disappeared. "What makes you think you're the reason you're here, Jenelle?"

I glanced at Neville. "Death Eaters are after me. They tried to take me when I was getting off from work. They invaded my home and forced me to run away, so now Neville has personally assigned himself my bodyguard until the Death Eaters get caught."

"I'd heard about an incident in Hogsmeade. That was you?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Why would they target you specifically?"

I rolled my tongue in my mouth. "I might have gotten sharp with one of them when he tried to flirt with me. He didn't take rejection very well. He had a group with him, but one was taken to Azkaban. Four are still running around if I remember right."

"Ron would know. He's been checking out tips about any suspicious activity. We can ask him when he gets back."

"I was thinking, Hermione, hoping really, that maybe Jenelle could crash with you two for a little bit," Neville brought up awkwardly. "Just until I figure out our next location."

"It won't be a problem." Hermione sounded chipper about the idea.

"She won't be here for too long, we need to keep moving so they don't follow our trail. And I don't want to endanger you any more than Ron already does."

Hermione snorted. "As if being in danger is a foreign concept to me. I can handle being someone's protector for a few days, Neville."

"Do I get a say in this?" I piped up. "I need to get back to my family and make sure they're safe."

"That can't happen, not with the danger you're putting them in right now," Neville said firmly. "Going back will put them in even more danger."

"It would be just a quick pop-in."

"And that would be all the Death Eaters would need if they're still scoping Godric's Hollow out. We can get an Auror to your house to check it out and give a report back."

"Swear that you will."

"I swear. You're not going to make me do an Unbreakable Vow for that, are you?"

"That's a bit extreme."

"If I get everything squared away, we can move you tomorrow. Sound like a plan?"

I nodded. "Go. Hermione and I can bond while you're away."

Neville gave Hermione a serious look. "Don't let her do anything stupid."

"As if I would!"

"You must be in some really deep trouble to have your own bodyguard," Hermione told me as Neville left the cottage.

"The Aurors didn't assign him to me, he assigned himself."

**While Draco made an appearance in the original sequel, Through Thick and Thin, he was never in the first book. Somehow this little detour for Jen and Neville worked itself out while still managing to tie into the original content.

Oh, when things come together!**