Chapter 1

1997

Hermione shivered as another gust of cold struck her, shakily putting out a hand to steady her cauldron. The wind had been blowing at gale forces all day, making the brewing of the potion a nightmare. But Hermione had become convinced that this was their final hope, and it was with that resolve that she gritted her teeth to stop the chattering, and had gone back to work.

The idea had formed in Hermione's mind a couple of months ago, back when the three of them had been safe at the Burrow. It was a last resort option, but she had always been the type of person who liked having a plan B to turn to. It was now that Ron had left and Harry had been captured that she knew it was time to try it at least. As the days were passing she was becoming hopeless, and this for her was like the last sight of a loved one before going blind, the last note of a sweet song before going deaf. This for her was the last possible chance of victory before the weight of an entire war on her shoulders crushed her to dust.

Hermione glanced up into the sky with despair. Ron was out there somewhere, anywhere, probably being hunted by death eaters this very second. She didn't know how he'd survive; he had never had much magical talent, but his bravery had always pulled him through. That and the fact that she and Harry always had his back, just like he always had theirs. Until now that was; now he had left and was on his own, and had nobody to blame but himself for that.

Hermione had felt her feelings for Ron diminish over the last few days. As his betrayal sunk in, she realised that he was not the boy she thought he was. He had promised to stay, and still he had gone, even when she begged him not to leave. She knew fine well that the locket was affecting him, but he should have been able to fight it. She had, Harry had! Only Ron had broken his promise and caved under the pressure.

She still worried about him, and she was still scared by the thought of losing him. But the want to kiss him and be in his arms forever was gone now, and it was never coming back. He was back to being her best friend, and even then it would take her some time to forgive him for all he's done. That is if any of them got out of this alive.

The potion in front of Hermione turned a slimy green colour, and with a quick reference to the book, she was glad to realise that there was only one more step till the potion was ready. She patted the long grass around her, looking for her knife to chop up the next ingredient. Stretching out our arm to reach for it, she accidentally knocked the potions book off her lap, and as she bent to pick it up, her hands fumbled, causing the book to fall on the grass again. It splayed open, the pages creating a perfect arc, and she sighed as she stooped to pick it up again; her back aching from the night's sleep on tough ground. There, on the inside front cover of the book, she caught a glimpse of the Hogwarts logo. Its bright colours stood out on the pasty library sticker, a sight that she used to be so accustomed to seeing. Her mind began to reel back, all the way back to Hogwarts, when she was still just any other student.

Back then there had been no constant worrying about being killed. Even more importantly, there had been no constant worrying about the people she loved being killed. There had been no times when she wondered if, in a few years, there would be any good left in the world at all. No times when she truly believed that death may be the better option over life. Yet, even in the calming security of Hogwarts, she had still known that such a horrific time could come. So she had gone to the place she felt safest, the place where she could get answers: Hogwarts' library.

She was surprised when she had entered it to find all the tables empty, was there no one else in this school that appreciated the unimaginable amount of knowledge to be gained here, so large that no one person could ever learn it all. Sitting at a table, Hermione used the silence as a chance to think about the books that would be useful if she had to leave Hogwarts to help Harry.

By the time it was past curfew, she had three humungous stacks of book to take from the library, ranging from 'A muggle's guide to survival' to 'Dark wizards and their inner minds'. Appreciating the fact that she couldn't take them all, she started to eliminate the books that weren't going to be necessary for their fight. She had laughed when in the end she had kept the book about muggles and put back the one on dark wizards, thinking not for the first time about how bizarre it was that, despite the fact the muggle book would be more useful, Voldemort would choose the other option every time.

Then Hermione had done something which had seemed dreadfully awful back then: taken books from the library with absolutely no intention of putting them back. At the time she could hardly believe she had been so rebellious; but now that she had seen it all, such a small act like stealing seemed like nothing. She had hidden them in her suitcase until she got to the Burrow, where she had been sure she would have plenty of time to study them. But she hadn't anticipated Mrs Weasley's desperation to keep them apart, to the point that she ensured they had no free time to see each other. Also meaning no free time to read and organise crucial preparations.

Fortunately she had packed the essentials before Harry had arrived and before Mrs Weasley had taken an extreme interest in task assigning, but still she hadn't had much time with the books. During small breaks she had managed to learn a little about edible plants, just in case they had to hide in the forest (which, with the gift of hindsight, was a very valuable use of time.) But it was only on the last night, just before the wedding, that Hermione had time to scan over the potions book that held instructions for disillusionment concoctions, including the infamous Polyjuice potion.

She had been looking at the book for about half an hour when her concentration waned; she found herself turning the pages without any notice of what was on them, especially since she knew the majority of it. She sighed, tempted to give up, but thought she might as well read the last few pages. Her eyes widened with surprise though when she found a potion that had been dedicated the whole of the last two pages, as everything else had been previously half a page, a page max. Her focus was regained, and on closer inspection she found it to be a very complex potion, and a very powerful one. It had many ingredients that were not even to be found in Snape's cupboard, even ones she believed to be mythical. The potion's purpose: to rid the drinker of their greatest concern.

Her biggest concern was the war. This potion gets rid of the drinker's greatest concern. This potion could end the war. Hermione had no control over the feeling that encompassed her; the feeling that if all else failed then she could place her faith in this. She involuntarily smiled and she knew what she had to do. She had to find all the ingredients of this potion as soon as possible, no matter how difficult that may be.

As the potion turned a deep purple, Hermione was dragged back to reality. She felt freshly reminded of all the hope this potion held, and with that thought in mind she ladled the brew into a cup and swallowed the disgusting mixture in a single gulp.

Well, I have been reading a lot of other's Tom/Hermione fics and I have fallen in love with this couple. So when I got the idea for my own story, I immediately started writing. Well I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please tell me what you think