Disclaimer; everything belongs to JK Rowling.
Prologue
What if harry had ignored Dumbledore's advice and had tried to help the pathetic, whimpering bundle in the train station? What would happen if the last horcrux was not destroyed? If it came back with him? Hermione's POV
It's funny how quickly things can go downhill. The castle was under siege, people were dying yes, but they were taking down some of their enemies with them. The battle was evenly matched for most of the night. Hermione and Ron had gotten rid of Hufflepuff's cup with the use of fangs they had ripped from the basilisk's corpse in the chamber of secrets. Harry had taken care of Ravenclaws diadem, or rather, the fiendfire in the room of requirement had. All that was left was the snake. If Nagini was killed then they would have a fighting chance.
Then the ultimatum came. Voldemort was going to join the fray if Harry wasn't handed over to him within an hour. To her horror, but not her surprise, Harry went to him in the forbidden forest. How could this be happening? Hadn't he suffered enough? Hermione remembered the snitch Dumbledore left Harry in his will. I open at the close. She dared to hope. Was there a chance, even a sliver of a chance, that whatever was in that snitch would help him in some way? Information, a weapon of some sort, Or maybe even a source of comfort to help him through what was to come
It wasn't until she saw her best friends limp body being carried towards the castle by a distraught and battered Rubeus Hagrid that she lost all hope. She wanted to fall to her knees as the despair washed over her. But something inside her very soul told her not to give in. never to give in. she would not be broken by this. If it was her destiny to die that night she would do it with as much dignity as she could muster, though her heart was breaking to pieces. Beside her, holding her hand, Ron straightened his posture. Though he was in as much physical pain and emotional anguish as she was, the only give away of this was the single tear making a salty track down his dirt and blood streaked cheek.
She squeezed his hand, lending him comfort. He reciprocated and with the memory of their first kiss, barely an hour before, fresh in her mind, she mustered the courage to look straight ahead at the bone white monster in front of them. She was in love with the man beside her. Their friendship had always been rocky; they had both been closer to Harry than with each other for years. That all changed within the last few years. She had begun to see him in a new light gradually, beginning with the time they had spent in number twelve Grimmauld place when they were unable to share what was going on around them with harry, and had spent hours together cleaning. She found that the reason she was more friendly with harry than Ron was because she and Ron were never meant to be just friends. They had always been meant to be so much more than that. The tension that had always existed between them, the awkwardness she sometimes felt around him when they were on their own together finally made sense. They had finally made their feelings known to each other, had kissed for the first time, and it was all going to be over before it had a chance to begin.
Harry was on the grass now. She wondered if he had felt any pain. She wished with all of her heart that he had felt nothing. Voldemort was giving a speech about how life was going to be so much better for the wizarding community now that he was prepared to take charge. He spoke of wizards being on top and muggles in their rightful place. It was funny how similar he sounded to Hitler. Hitler with a wand…a very scary thought indeed. He was a terrifying thing to behold in person. His skin was snowy white and he was so thin that his bones protruded. His eyes shone crimson and the slits where a nose should be were dilating as he made his point; join him, or die.
Neville ran towards him, he didn't stand a chance. Hermione felt bile rise in her throat as the sorting hat was set on fire while it covered his face. She pushed it down with difficulty and forced herself to watch. Too many lives were being lost in such a short space of time. The next few seconds were a blur that ended with the snake, Nagini, being killed by Neville and Harry jumping up from where he had lain prone and apparently dead for the past few minutes. She could not believe what she was seeing. Adrenaline and hope crashed through her veins all at once and she couldn't help but yell out. All was not yet lost it seemed. She pulled Ron down to her and kissed him with as much passion as she had in the entrance hall. They hugged fiercely before turning back to the scene before them. Harry and Voldemort were circling each other now. The dark lord could not have looked more shocked. Harry began to tell him what had happened, to fill in the blanks.
Then she saw it. There was something wrong with Harry. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but he was different somehow. His eyes widened in shock and he gasped almost imperceptibly. The crowd had closed in a circle around the pair. Every face was anxious. So many lives counted on this one duel. Hermione's eyes were glued to Harrys face. Beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead and he squeezed his eyes shut in concentration and shook his head, his hands were balled into fists at his side. When he opened his eyes again she could have sworn that they had flickered red before being once more their usual green. Voldemort, of course did not fail to notice this. He was staring at his marked enemy with a look of dawning comprehension upon his evil visage.
Harry gripped the wand he had taken from Draco Malfoy tighter and wiped his brow. He finished his tale and they were circling each other in silence. At the same moment, the two wizards shouted their incantations. The spells met in the space between their casters and the battle of wills commenced. It was mere seconds before there was a winner though it seemed much longer. Voldemort crumpled, his skeletal form collapsing to the ground. A stunned silence followed. Harry fell to his knees, panting heavily. His glasses slipped to the ground and he bent his head, exhausted. Ron was the first to react. He let go of her hand and rushed to his best friend. Hermione followed her pace much slower. Ron picked Harrys glasses from the ground and repaired them with a spell he had seen Hermione use on them more than once, before cleaning them on his jumper and bending down to where his friend kneeled in the sparse grass. He did not see the almost transparent vapour that rose from the corpse of the fallen enemy mere feet away. So when it rushed across the distance and into harry, bowling him over, he did not have time to react.
Ron Weasley was the first to die. Harry stood up, or rather what was once Harry stood up. His eyes were crimson, his expression full of triumph. He pointed his wand right over Ron's heart. "Avada Kedavra" he shouted. A jet of green light shot out of the wand and into his victim's chest. Ron never had a chance to defend himself. All was chaos. Harry/Voldemort shot killing curses into the crowd, no longer seeming to care if anyone chose to join him or not. An arm grabbed Hermione as she tried to reach Rons body. Her wand was ripped out of her hand. She looked up into the face of Scabior. "We meet again my pretty" he whispered in her ear and she shuddered. Desperately, she kicked out at him and her foot connected with his shin. As he cringed, she managed to tear her arm from his grasp.
She ran towards the forest. Without a wand she was helpless. She made it to the protection of the trees and kept moving. She was sure to be followed. She didn't know where she was going, but she dared not stop until she was no longer able to run. Thankfully she had no injuries apart from the deep scratches on her arm from scabiors nails. She was on the verge of some sort of clearing. There was some dense cover to one side behind which she hid. Hermione tried to catch her breath. She could not stop for long. What was she going to do? Where would she go without a wand or money? The full force of what had just happened hi her then. Ron was dead. Harry was as good as dead. Remus, Tonks, Fred, and probably the rest of the Weasley's. She was just about to let out a sob when she heard something. The sharp snap of a twig. Moments later she heard voices. "Come out come out my pretty. No sense in hiding, we only want to talk don't we Fenrir?" it was Scabior, he had obviously followed her. The mere mention of the name Fenrir made her heart thump with fear. She had heard so many awful things about him. She was terrified. "If you come out now you can die quickly…well quick enough. We might have some fun first. If you don't you will die very slowly my pretty"
She could see them now, through the trees. Greyback looked as scary as he had the last time she had seen him. His hair hung limp and dirty around his face and his nails, which were long and looked very sharp, were clotted with blood. She had to cover her mouth so as not to whimper. "She's close" Greyback growled to his partner. "I can smell her filthy blood." Hermione cursed silently the scratches that ran the length of her arm. Her heart was thumping so hard and so fast in her chest that she was sure they were going to hear it.
"What is going on here?" she knew that voice. She was royally fucked. "None of your business Malfoy" came the reply from Scabior in his cockney twang. "If I were you I wouldn't be so impertinent" Lucius Malfoys voice was as pompous as always. "And if I were you id be the dark lords bitch" replied Scabior with a snort. "you aint so big and mighty no more Lucy. Got knocked right off that pedestal long ago." It was Lucius turn to snort. "My pedestal, as you put it, has been restored to me with interest" through the trees Hermione could see that he held his wand up to scabiors face. "Now what are you doing here?" a hand came over Hermione's mouth at the same time as another grabbed her around the waist. She had been so enraptured by the conversation before her that she hadn't paid attention to anything else.
She couldn't even scream as she was dragged up and towards the rowing men. "Ah there she is. We'll be going on our way now that we got what we came for" Scabior looked relieved at the thought of leaving. He reached out for her but whoever was holding her pulled back. "Father" her captor began, addressing Mr Malfoy. So that's who it was. Her eyes widened in realisation. It was Draco, the bastard. She struggled in vain to get away but he held her too tightly. "I want to keep the mudblood." Lucius looked pensive. "Why would yo-"he was cut off by Scabior "no! We followed her all the way out here. She's ours fair and square." Greyback nodded as Scabior spoke, he looked furious. Lucius didn't lower his wand. "Why do you want to keep it Draco? He asked." Hermione struggled again. She knew she had no chance of getting away even if she did escape Draco's clutches. She was exhausted and wandless, but that didn't mean she was just going to give up.
"She's a bitch and a prude who needs to learn her place. I want to be the one to show her." to the utter horror Lucius nodded as though this were a completely satisfactory reason for keeping a human being against her will. "I dare say the dark lord will encourage it. One can never have too many servants." With that he disapparated. Draco did the same, taking Hermione with him and leaving Scabior and Greyback looking murderous. Cheated out of their intended prey, the two headed back towards the castle to look for more victims.
I don't know if this will go anywhere or not. I'm currently working on another project as well so it might be a while before this takes off. I hope to get that finished within the next few weeks. I hope you liked this prologue and I look forward to reading what you thought. Reviews are welcome good or bad.