Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

In the last days of summer following Dumbledore's death, Hermione Granger awoke with a gasp, shooting upright in bed and almost hitting her head on the low ceiling.

"What is it 'Mione?" Ginny Weasley questioned, her eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Just a dream," Hermione breathed, relaxing a little. "It was just a dream." She smiled shakily at her friend in reassurance; then her expression changed to confusion. "What are you still doing up?"

Ginny was seated at a small desk in the corner over a long piece of parchment, writing by the light of a small lamp. "Writing to Harry – an owl arrived not long after we went to bed."

Harry, Lupin, and a few others had left several weeks previously to hunt down another Horcrux.

Hermione perked up again at the mention of their friend's name. "What'd he say? How is he? Did he say when he'd be back?"

Ginny laughed sadly. "No." She looked down at her desk and fiddled with the quill which lay there. "Just to take care and he'd be back as soon as he could."

"I'm sorry Gin." The response was quiet, the voice full of sympathy.

"It's o.k." Ginny ventured non-commitally. "I just hoped he'd be back for the start of school…you know?" She looked up at her friend.

Hermione's eyes were sad. She nodded. "Me too."

Though Hogwarts had been closed indefinitely with its headmaster's death, other wizarding schools around the world were doing the best they could to take on the students that had been displaced. The Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, Luna and Neville had all been accepted to Beauxbaton's, and those of them who were planning on attending were doing so along with a large protective attaché.

Ginny left the desk and came to sit at the foot of Hermione's bed, pulling the covers around herself as well, tucking her knees up to her chin. "Is he going to come back, 'Mione? I'm so scared he won't….I find myself thinking all the time 'which of us is going to die in all of this?'" She looked up at Hermione, tears glimmering in her eyes, desperation on her face.

Hermione sighed miserably. "I don't know Gin." She was silent for a moment, and then sat up in resolution, her eyes glittering in anger. "But we can't think like this - it's what You-Know-Who wants! We need to stay positive, or there's no way we're going to win."

Ginny shook her head slowly. "I don't know if I can. Losing Dumbledore…well, you've seen the way the adults have been acting. They try to act like everything's ok, like we should go off to school like we usually do, but we all know the situation is bad. All those Aurors who have died, Tonks in St. Mungo's…and things only started a few months ago! How long before more of our family and friends are dying, 'Mione?"

Hermione was silent.

"I see him dying in my dreams, 'Mione, every night. Over and over. And when it's not him, its one of the rest of us…And soon it will be true." Ginny was crying now.

"I know. I dream it too." Hermione reached over and put her hand on the younger girl's. "But we have to try, or we have no chance at all."