A/N: The storyline for this has been wrestling in my mind for quite some time now, and I've finally managed to write it out properly and to my liking. The plot is still heavily in the brainstorming stage, so updates will not be very frequent until I get everything sorted out. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of broken dreams."

- S. A. Sachs

Prologue

She staggered in the ruins of the stone castle she once thought of as home. How different it looked, now that the regal school was reduced to nothing but rubble and dead bodies. There was no one alive, not a single creature breathing other than herself. It had been a miracle that no one had noticed she was alive.

Her eyes fell to the body lying before her and she choked back a sob. With wide eyes, she crumpled to the cracked marble floor, grasping the cold hand tightly, hoping to feel a pulse. "Wake up," she pleaded to the boy. "Open your eyes! You're alive! You have to be alive. You're the Boy-Who-Lived, so why are you dead?"

Drying her tears, she knew she had to escape. Hide somewhere and lay low until she figured out what went wrong and why Voldemort had lived. The Snatchers would be coming sooner or later to assess the damage and the number of survivors. She had to act fast.

Feeling immensely guilty, she searched around for a wand. She was definitely not going to use Bellatrix's walnut wand; she shuddered in disgust, thinking about its unyielding characteristics whenever she held the bloody wand. After a moment's thought, she pulled it out of her pocket and snapped it cleanly, feeling a certain sense of satisfaction as she made sure it couldn't be used by the horrid witch any longer. Serves both her and the wand right, she thought to herself.

Surprisingly, she found quite a number of wands. She found Wormtail's chestnut wand, but its brittleness hadn't felt balanced in her hand. She found Ginny's yew wand, and although it was much better than both Wormtail's and Bellatrix's, it still felt off when she tested it out. After a few more tries, and feeling very much like an eleven-year-old at Ollivander's again, she found an ebony wand very much like her own, and also Draco's hawthorn wand. Draco's wand had a similar feel to it, and so she pocketed it, liking the feel of the ebony wand a bit better. Of course, neither of them quite matched up to her beloved vine and dragon-heartstring wand, but unfortunately that wand was lost.

She then found the body of a student—a Ravenclaw girl named Lisa Turpin—whose height and build matched her own, so—after apologizing to the corpse—she transfigured the Ravenclaw's facial features and clothing to look like her own, flawlessly faking her own death.

Realizing that anyone would recognize her wild hair in a heartbeat, she conjured a mirror and proceeded to alter her features, trying to stay as close to her normal appearance as possible. Her hair became a shade darker and her riotous curls straightened to loose waves. She gave herself high cheekbones, an upturned nose, and green eyes, a homage to Harry. As she contemplated her new appearance, she decided her eyes were a little too similar to Harry's, and turned them a tad darker, more forest green than emerald. Satisfied, she vanished the mirror, and crept out of Hogwarts.

-o-o-o-

"A butterbeer, please," she requested to Abeforth in the Hog's Head. "And are there any rooms available?"

Abeforth nodded curtly, slamming a dingy bottle of butterbeer on the bar counter. "Rent is fifteen galleons a month."

The price was a tad high, but she couldn't expect much more in these times, so she agreed.

"Oi, there," A voice said from behind her, "Don't rent a room here. They're terrible and a waste of money."

Flinching from the sudden interruption, she immediately tensed and put a hand on her wand, ready to defend herself if she had to. She whirled around to face the owner of the voice, her eyes narrowed. But then her eyes landed on a surprisingly familiar face. "Oh! It's you!"

The man smiled, "You recognize me?"

Bollocks, Hermione realized she wasn't Hermione Granger anymore, but a different persona. "I believe I saw you a few times in passing, back in our Hogwarts years," she said airily.

"Remind me of your name then?"

"Alessandra Leto, Ravenclaw," she replied smoothly, lying through her teeth. "I was a quiet student, so it's not surprising if you don't remember me."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that in these rough times you have to live in these conditions. I couldn't possibly ignore a fellow classmate! Why don't you room with me, instead? I'm actually looking for a roommate at the moment."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "This isn't a pathetic attempt to shag me, is it?"

He laughed, "Of course not! I have a girlfriend. And besides, you're not my type."

"Deal," she said. She had a small feeling she should have been more wary, but she had been so relieved in seeing a fellow former-DA member. And despite the gut instinctual reaction, she managed to get along with him surprisingly well. As months passed by, slowly, her guards lowered, and she believed she had found a true friend.