After the death of Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort's reign was absolute and the wizarding world was in complete chaos. Since Lord Voldemort's only true fear was gone, his attacks became more prevalent and much more horrendous. He attacked any and all who stood strong against him and or refused to join him. Arthur and Molly Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Professors Flitwick, Slughorn, and Trelawney, and Hagrid were among the many that had lost their lives. Many, however, did join him in order to simply not die at his cruel hand. The Wizarding world lived in a shadow that was Lord Voldemort. The Order of the Phoenix members who did survive and refused, still, to join him, were living hopelessly at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The fate of the world rested on their shoulders.
Once Professor Dumbledore had been killed, Lord Voldemort turned all his efforts and force upon finding and murdering Harry Potter. It was only after Voldemort had attacked Hogwarts, searching for Harry and leaving hundreds of students and many professors dead, that the Order and the Ministry of Magic, took this threat seriously. The Order made Harry Potter, along with Hermione Granger, go into hiding to protect them both. Neither Harry nor Hermione were very pleased with or understood this decision. However, the Order found it to be the most sensible decision and did not give either a choice in the matter, since Voldemort wanted Harry dead and Hermione either dead or a Death Eater, because after the death of Dumbledore and her private lessons with Orders members, she had become not only the brightest witch 'of her age', yet the brightest and most powerful witch that was living.
Harry and Hermione had been in hiding now for eight months. The Order had them both secretly transported to their hiding place through a port key, so that neither knew the absolute location in which they were. The Order was worried that if the two of them knew, they would definitely not stay there, yet would be back out on the battlefields, since both were such active Order members. However, the Order placed such hope in the two of them, with the prophecy about Harry and the power that Hermione possessed, that they wanted to ensure their safety. As Professor McGonagall had put it to them, "You will be brought back to us when we have more control over Voldemort and he is not so strong." However, as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months, they were beginning to wonder if they would ever be brought back or if they would be left to perish wherever they were.
It had been nearly a year since that fateful night, when Severus Snape, a trusted Order member, had murdered the most powerful and greatest wizard that had ever lived. Since that night, Harry Potter had not been the same. Much like the death of Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, a part of Harry died along with Dumbledore. Dumbledore had always been the hope that lived in Harry's heart, and when that hope had been taken away from him, he changed. He could not depend on anyone else any longer. The wizarding world now looked to 'The boy who lived' to save them now. There was such a weight on his shoulders being in hiding while everyone else was fighting the war, let alone the war itself, that had caused him to lose the passion to even care anymore. He secretly wanted to kill himself and be done with the pressures and burdens that came along with being everyone's saving grace.
Hermione Granger had long ago noticed the effects that the death of Dumbledore, the being in hiding, and the war were taking on Harry. He had lost the glistening in his eye and the enthusiasm to even want to win the war. She loved Harry with a love that only the two of them had, and could not bear seeing him that way. However, she, herself, was beginning to lose the same passion Harry had lost, for the same reasons, and knew that there was nothing she could ever do or say to obtain the Harry she once knew. Even if Voldemort was killed and the world was changed, the pain and turmoil they both suffered would never leave them. She secretly wondered what it would be like to join Voldemort in order to actually win for once and if that was the reason her ex boyfriend, Ron Weasley, had chosen that dark path.
It had been four weeks since Harry and Hermione had heard from the Order and they were beginning to be troubled. It was not like the Order to go so long without informing the two of the current actions of Voldemort. "Perhaps, Voldemort killed all them and now no one knows where we are and we will never get out of here." Harry kept saying to Hermione, with a heavy heart.
"Harry, I highly doubt that the whole Order is dead. Maybe, they have just been too busy right now. They know we are safe, so what's the point of them checking in on us every week?" Hermione sighed, trying to convince Harry, but knew she probably wasn't considering she could barely convince herself.
"Hermione, please. Just stop. Please." Harry loved and trusted Hermione more than anyone he knew, but at this moment the last thing he needed was her trying to make him feel better. He knew deep in his heart, that something was wrong.
"Hermione, I'm sorry, I just…"
"I know." She said, interrupting him.
Hermione went back to reading one of he many books the Order had provided to help the two "pass the time", as Professor McGonagall had put it when she brought the reading material. Harry just continued glaring out the only, tiny, window in the room they were trapped in.
A Death Eaters tasks include doing battle against the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix, and reducing the resistance by those who oppose Voldemort by threatening, kidnapping, killing, blackmailing or physically harming their families, particularly the children. After joining, Death Eaters are required to exhibit loyalty and obedience until death. Failure to do so results in punishment, often in the form of torture…
"Hermione!''
Hermione looked up at Harry to see his eyes wide and sheer panic across his face. "They are here!"
"It's about time," said Hermione, standing up, not understanding the full extent of the situation.
"Not the Order, Hermione, Death Eaters. There are Death Eaters here."
"What?!" She screamed. "How did they find us? McGonagall said that's why they put us here, because they'd never be able to find us!"
"Well apparently she was wrong!" Hermione had never seen Harry so panicked. He was searching through his belongings looking for his wand. He had hidden it from himself three months ago, in an attempt to not kill himself.
"Harry, what are we going to do? There must be fifty of them. We cannot take on that many Death Eaters!"
At that very moment Professor McGonagall apparated into the room.
"Harry, Hermione, thank heavens." Professor McGonagall, not to mention Harry and Hermione, looked clearly relived. With that said, she took hold of them both and apparated out of the room moments before the Death Eaters broke in.
Harry and Hermione found themselves in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, along with Professor McGonagall.
"Professor, what the hell just happened back—where ever we were?!" Shouted a clearly upset Harry.
"Harry, calm down, please. I just received this moments ago." She said handing Harry a piece of parchment. "I came to you two as soon as I read it." She said, as she acknowledged Hermione, who had been silent since arriving in the Great Hall.
Harry held the parchment in his hand. He stared at the parchment so long, Hermione thought that if he didn't stop, he'd burn a hole right through it.
Harry finally spoke up, his voice breaking. "Who sent this?"
"Lord Voldemort, would be my thought." She said nervously.
"But how would he know whe…" Harry was interrupted by Hermione, who he had forgotten was standing beside him.
"What does it say?" She said pulling the parchment out of his hand. She looked down at the small piece of parchment which contained, to her, a dreadful message.
They WILL be mine or they will be dead. Tonight.
Hermione finally stopped staring at the parchment, herself, and barely found her words once again. "What the hell?"
"Hermione, it will be okay…." Professor McGonagall was interrupted by Hermione, who was now crying.
"Okay?! How is this okay?" She said holding the parchment up shaking it. "It's not okay! It never will be okay! As long as Harry and I continue to—fight…" She hesitated on saying fight, since she and Harry had been locked up somewhere for the past eight months, doing anything but. "…against Voldemort things will never be okay. I am not going to live what could be the rest of my life locked up in some room in fear! I am sick of this! It's not okay!" By now, she had Professor McGonagall in tears.
"Hermione, I am so sorry. And you too, Harry." She walked up to Harry and Hermione and gathered them in a hug. "It shouldn't be like this for you two. You shouldn't have to worry about evil this immense. You should not be living away from the world in attempt to hide from death." She pulled away from the two, in order to wipe her tear filled eyes. "Trust me, it will all be over very soon."
"How?! Is Voldemort weakening? Do we have more members in the Order? When will the war be over??" For the first time in eight months, Hermione noticed an enthusiasm in Harry's voice as he asked this of Professor McGonagall, excitedly awaiting her answer.
"No, Harry, I am afraid not. I suspect the war will not be over for some time."
"Then how will it be over soon?!" Harry was beginning to grow angry once again.
"I have talked to the other head Order members. Lord Voldemort will never stop hunting the two of you down. Not until you are either as evil as him or dead, as proven by the words in that piece of parchment." She pointed at the parchment now crumpled in Hermione's hand. "As long as you are where you can be found, he will never stop searching. You two were hiding in the most secure place we thought we had and he still found you. You will never be safe." She broke into more tears.
Harry and Hermione looked sullenly at each other. If this was Professor McGonagall's way of trying to make them feel like killing each other, then she was doing an excellent job. At the beginning of their conversation she had told them "it will be over very soon", however, she ended with "you will never be safe." She had put a momentary piece of hope in each of their hearts, only to rip it out moments later.
Harry hated seeing the people he cared for hurt, much like Professor McGonagall was right now, and decided it was finally time to speak. "Professor, it's okay. Hermione and I will help fight. We are both tired of sitting and waiting for something to happen. We want to help bring him down. We will not go into hiding anymore no matter what you say."
Professor McGonagall looked at them. "I am afraid you two have no choice. You will be no help to us dead."
"We are no help to you looked up somewhere!" Harry was very agitated at Professor McGonagall for even thinking that he would be willing to sit in some room waiting for another eight months.
"Harry—I have talked to the other head Order members. We have already decided where you two will be hiding. It is an infallible plan and a highly secure location. Voldemort will never know where you are."
"I don't mean to be disrespectful", said Hermione, "but that is what you told us last time you sent us away, and, well, if memory serves me correctly, and I think it does-- Voldemort found us."
Professor McGonagall did not expect Harry or Hermione to go without an argument, but she did not think she would actually lose it. "Correct you are, dear, but I assure you, you will not be found this time."
Hermione could not believe what she was hearing. The Order wanted to send them away—again. Hermione did not understand why the Order was treating their two most powerful members like criminals. It was not fair. All she wanted to do was kill Voldemort and end this war, and although the Order said this is what they wanted to do also, it seemed that if that were true, they would allow her and Harry the chance to do so, instead of keeping them locked up away from the war. According to the prophecy she had heard about, Harry should be out there killing Voldemort rather than rotting away in a room somewhere. And she—she was so powerful, but sitting around day after day doing nothing, was too much to bear. She wondered why the Order didn't just kill her. She would be doing to same thing dead as she has been alive—nothing.
Harry could not believe what he was hearing. The Order wanted to send them away—again. Harry began to wonder if the Order knew something he did not, however, that was the last thing he wanted to worry about right now. He did not want to hide while everyone else fought the war—his war. It was not fair. He was supposed to be the one to defeat Voldemort, so why was the Order keeping him away from even having the chance to do so. And Hermione—she was so powerful. She had already taken on Voldemort once before and he was the one that could barely walk away. Harry understood that the Order wanted to keep them both alive for the Order's sake, but what good were they doing sitting day after day staring at walls? And what were Harry and Hermione supposed to do when the Death Eaters found them again? He wanted terribly to trust Professor McGonagall when she told him that being found was impossible, but she had been wrong before, so his heart was full of doubt at her words. He began to get angry at the idea. He could barely control the anger in his voice when he spoke.
"Might I ask you what we are to do the next time your 'infallible' plan becomes penetrated? What if Voldemort doesn't tell you he's coming for us like he did tonight? How are we going to get away if we don't even know where we are? If you don't remember, you blocked our ability to apparate with the wards that you placed around where we were! And I wouldn't dare ask you where you want us to hide this time after the fit you through last time I asked you!"
Professor McGonagall did not see any reason for not telling the two where they would be hiding since they'd find out when they got there, so she finally interrupted Harry, with a place that made Harry and Hermione speechless. "You will be hiding in the past."