Prologue.
She held the locket, the chain felt cold around her neck and she despised it. She despised most things nowadays, it all seemed pointless, she wasn't needed, she didn't contribute. Of course this wasn't true, Hermione knew this, but the thing around her neck could trick her mind in ways she could not even imagine.
His voice rang through her mind, she had to make sure her companions could not hear him as he whispered sweet lies. She knew this was not him, there was no possible way it could be. He would no longer speak to her, and she would no longer speak to him. She hated the locket, it only made her feel worse, she did not want to feel the way she did. And yet she found herself longing for the nights with the locket, so she could once again hear his cold voice as it echoed throughout her mind, leaving traces of doubt in it's footsteps.
He would visit her when she wore it, calling her, begging her to come back to him. It would be a lie to say she did not consider it, she was tired, in every sense of the word. She rejected the offers of course, telling him she needed to say, the locket would then change it's tune, telling her she meant nothing, not to him, not to anyone. Perhaps this was true. He may not have cared for her in the way she imagined, and maybe that would be for the best - but now she would never know.
The voice was certainly not him, however much they sounded alike. The worst part was she knew it, yet she continued to listen, the voice continued to caress her, and she hated herself afterward. She hated herself a lot these days. Hermione regretted her decisions, her actions, what she said, but most of all what she didn't say.
The locket amplified these feelings and loathings. She had to bite her lip to stop her from screaming.
This was her fault. She was to blame, and she knew that. She took responsibility. She wished it had not happened, she tried her best to prevent it, and now she has to face the consequences. She gripped the locket tighter, "Please," she whispered. Whether she was begging it to stop, or to continue she did not know.
A/N: I apologise for the shortness! This is the prologue though, and I would love it if you reviewed it. This is an A/U Dramione fanfic. I thought I'd try something different. The next few chapters will be Hermione thinking back. Paragraphs completely in Italic are the present.