AUTHOR'S NOTE: So this is it. My fanfiction. It won't be a masterpiece, but hopefully good enough for you all. My first language is Swedish, therefore I'm probably going to sound awkward sometimes. You just have to be patient with it, I guess.

I wish you all a merry time!

Ps. Disclaimer - of course, I don't own J.K Rowling's world nor do I earn money from my fanfiction *sigh*

Prologue

Sometimes Hermione Granger got the feeling that things turned out the way they did for some particular reason so that the later consequences could turn into something else for some particular reason and so on in an eternity.

She felt that every little move you made could change your whole future. For example if she wasn't in that bathroom Halloween night in her first year, she would probably not be the best friend of Harry Potter and would have been spared all the horror that came with it. Not that she regretted it, hell no! She didn't regret anything; not for one single second! All those moments filled with laughter and friendly teasing. All those moments where she knew that whatever happened, she'd still have her friends made up for all the bad things.

Hermione let the Locket of Salazar Slytherin twirl between her fingers as she watched Harry Potter warm his hands over a magically lit fire. Ron had been gone for a week, ever since they had that massive fight. Hermione guessed that he'd most likely never come back. She curled her fingers tightly around the locket, as if it could reveal its secrets if she did. She felt a faint pulse from another human radiating from the center of the locket. The locket fell to the ground as her grip loosened, her jaw dropped in confusion. Harry heard the locket hit the ground and quickly stood up from the fireplace and hurried over to Hermione.

"What's wrong?" he asked and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. His gaze shifted between the locket on the ground and the confused expression on Hermione's face. She looked up at him and saw his confusion mirroring her own, having no idea how to answer him. Harry took her silence as a refusal to answer his question, so he tried asking again.

"Is it Ron? I'm sure he-."

"No," Hermione interrupted.

"It's not him. I think I felt a heartbeat from the locket!"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He drew his wand from its pocket, pointed it at the locket and assumed it was the right thing to do. Hermione waved his wand away.

"Why, Hermione? It could be dangerous! We've had that locket for weeks now and no one else has ever noticed a pulse! What do you think that means?"

Hermione took the locket from the ground, earning a frown from Harry. She stood up and smiled a little to ease the tension.

"I don't really know, but we're going to find out!"

She put out the fire with a wave of her wand and entered the tent after Harry, as she carefully locked the opening behind them.

Well. That's what would've happened if Hermione had decided to speak up. They would've been up the whole night, discussing possible explanations as they closely examined the locket. When morning came, they would have fallen asleep in an exhausted heap, after adding the pulse problem to their growing "Problems-with-Destroying-the Horcruxes" list. However, Hermione, for some particular reason couldn't bring herself to tell Harry about the worry-inducing pulse. He already had too much to worry about!

Hermione curled her fingers tightly around the locket. She felt a faint pulse from another human radiating from it. She loosened her grip, her mouth wide in confusion as the locket fell to the ground. Harry heard the locket hit the ground and quickly stood up from the fireplace and hurried over to her.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. His gaze shifted between the locket on the ground and the confused expression on Hermione's face. She looked up at him and saw his confusion mirroring her own, having no idea how to answer him. Harry took her silence as a refusal to answer his question, so he tried asking again.

"Is it Ron? I'm sure he-"

"Nothing to worry about," Hermione quickly interrupted. She patted Harry on his hand that rested on her shoulder, took the locket from the ground and stood up. A reassuring smile played on her lips as she faced Harry.

"I'm just tired," she said calmly, "we both are, I guess. Let's go inside, make ourselves a cup of tea and go to bed. Sitting here outside in the coldness won't do us any good at all, I'm afraid."

Harry nodded, but he couldn't let go of the feeling that something was wrong. He put out the fire with a wave of his hand walked towards the opening of the tent.

"I'll make the tea, Hermione, you have done enough for today."

As Harry reached the opening he noted the silence. There were no footsteps coming closer, and no answer came from Hermione. He quickly turned around, wand drawn and wide-eyed. Hermione was gone. Gone! No, that couldn't be! She was just here mere seconds ago! Oh. He did sense something. A smell. It was a nasty smell, metallic and slightly burnt. It was that kind of smell that stuck to your nose for a couple of ours, even if you had taken the source of the smell away. Most people hadn't smelled it, but Harry had. He had smelled it three years ago on the graveyard when Voldemort resurrected and more recently in the cave the same night Dumbledore was killed. It was a smell that, for those who knew of it, simply couldn't be mistaken - the smell of powerful, dark magic.

Author's note: I'm so sorry, the first chapter wasn't supposed to be here as it was before.. I've deleted it now. It wasn't even betaread nor finished xD