Chapter One – Getting Away With Murder
Hermione Granger's deep brown eyes opened wide. She never expected this to happen to her. Hermione was intelligent beyond her years, careful, and courageous. Nothing ever caught her off guard and she was nothing but logical. She could easily ignore her emotions and think things through rationally before taking action. She had faced numerous villains in her life alongside Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter, but not even that war could have prepared her for this horror. Never had those attacks been made on her personally and she wasn't ever alone in those battles.
Five years ago after the Golden Trio had graduated, Hermione took a route that surprised even Harry and Ron. Instead of going to a prestigious college or university that she had been easily accepted into, she had decided to open up a business. The battles had tired her and she longed for a place where people could relax and feel at home. Hermione decided to open up her own bookshop for both wizards and muggles alike, a place where they could interact with each other and not even be aware of such statuses. The store contained her personal favourites and Harry had donated a lot of his money to ensure her dream would succeed.
Business had boomed surprising her and her friends, causing a huge demand and huge shipments for magical and ordinary books. Hermione was quite proud of the collection of books she possessed and was able to share with others. Many familiar faces come in to reunite with old friends or to unwind from their new lives. Hermione also had a café inside run by her friend Meredith. They both helped each other out and they were happy with the success they were blessed with.
Life had changed for the better for all of them after the war. Harry and Ginny had gotten married quickly in a very private ceremony. The press was furious they didn`t have any pictures they could include and that no one was given an exclusive. Harry wanted to forget his fame and Ginny helped him with that coming from her humble background. What surprised everyone was when Ron and Luna started dating. It seemed like an odd couple, but Luna's calm nature countered Ron's fiery temper. Her weird personality was overlooked by her loyal and trusting personality. Hermione was fiercely happy for her friends even though she hadn`t lucked out in that department. Ron and Hermione had agreed long ago that there was nothing but friendship between them and Hermione refused to settle with anyone she only partially liked. She wanted to fall in love with someone and wasn`t going to rush it like other girls her age by going out to the bar all the time.
Today had been an ordinary day filled with ordinary people and the thought of that kept surprising her. How could such an ordinary day turn into this disaster? Hermione had just received a new shipment of books that she had been eager to open. It contained some very valuable books about Egyptian myths and prophecies. She loved reading about exotic places hoping one day to be able to visit them.
Her store was dark, but lit by the full moon and candles floating around. One of her wards went off and she ran to get her wand, but by then it was too late. Five black silhouettes with clown masks entered her store and started destroying her store. One person went to where she kept the money she had earned while the other one was searching through her valuable books. Hermione tried to get to her wand quietly, but was stopped when strong hands pushed her into the wall knocking her head back into the wall. Screaming out in pain, the man hit her to control her and restrain her. Her silent screams couldn't escape her mouth as she heard the most evil laugh she had ever heard in her life. It was as if this man hated her and was finally getting revenge on her. Around her, the others were torching her store putting fire to her most prized possessions. Hermione fell in the man's grasp and he started brutally kicking her in the stomach making her feel useless. She tried to hit, bite, do anything back, but the cold clown mask was just staring at her laughing. It felt like ages passed before he released her. Another silhouette grabbed the man urging him to get out of there leaving a broken Hermione in their wake as they escaped the destruction they had created.
Hermione crawled painfully trying to escape the flames overwhelming her life's work trying to remain alive. Slowly she managed to get outside the store, but as soon as she was on the pavement the world went black.