Disclaimer:  I don't own any Harry Potter characters, or anything from Harry Potter.  I only own the unnamed girl (she'll eventually get a name) and any other future characters I decide to add.

   The summer before their 6th year at Hogwarts was one of the most memorable the trio had ever experienced.  Being in the muggle world, and underage, it was quite hard for Harry to defend himself if there was a surprise attack by Voldermort or his Death Eaters.  So in order to limit the time Voldermort had to attack, Dumbledore allowed the Weasley's to take Harry home with them a week into the holidays.  Soon after Harry's arrival, Hermoine departed her parents and went to join Harry and the Weasley's.

   With a sense of Voldermort lurking around every corner, emotions we're running high, and the littlest action could set off a human time bomb.  There were times when a comment was taken wrong and the house became engaged in a fight, and no one would speak to each other for days.

   During these times you could find Hermoine in her and Ginny's room reading a book, and Ginny writing letters to her new boyfriend, Neville.  Harry was found flipping through a Quidditch catalogue and Ron would be attempting to play a game of Exploding Snap or Wizard's Chess by himself.  The rest of the Weasley family was dispersed throughout the house, including Percy, who with much reluctance, apologized to Mr. Weasley.

   Aside from these rough times though, there were happy, spirit lifting times such as Harry's birthday.  July 31st had come with little notice, as minds were always wandering elsewhere.

   After Harry had cleaned up and dressed, he made his way to the kitchen for breakfast.  Before he had even made it halfway down the hall, he was tackled to the ground by an immense bear hug, the owner being none other then Hermoine.

   "Happy Birthday Harry!"  Hermoine delightfully squeaked with a huge grin spread across her face.

   "Thanks Hermoine, but do you think you could maybe get off of me.  I think your crushing my kidney."

   Hermoine got off of Harry feeling quite embarrassed and going red in the face.

   "Sorry," she whispered.  "You'll never guess what I got you.  But you'll have to wait to find out.  Let's go eat, the smell is making me hungry."

   When the two emerged from the staircase, they couldn't help but notice the whole bottom floor of the house covered from head to toe in decorations. There were signs reading Happy Birthday Harry, and balloons and streamers red and gold in color.  To add to the excitement, there were magical fireworks going off in every direction.

   Harry was greeted with a loud Happy Birthday from the Weasley family upon entering the kitchen.  The table was set with the most delectable breakfast consisting of ham, eggs, pancakes, waffles, toast, muffins, and anything you imagine for breakfast.

   After breakfast was eaten and the dishes cleared, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley make their way to the living room while everyone else went outside.

   "I say a nice friendly fame of Quidditch," Fred suggested.

   "I seconded that," replied George.

   "I don't know," Harry replied hesitantly.  "There's nine of us, it wouldn't be even.  Besides Hermoine doesn't like to fly."

   "It's okay Harry, I'll be the referee."

   "You sure?"

   "Positive.  Why don't you get your brooms and I'll get the balls."

   Two minutes late everyone had rejoined and teams were being made with Fred and Harry as captains.  After much disagreement the teams were made, Fred, George, Charlie, and Ginny on one team, and Harry, Ron, Bill, and Percy on another.  Hermoine let the balls go and took a seat on a bench in the Weasley's garden.

   About an hour and a half later the game was full fledged, and Hermoine was having a great time watching the boys try to fly.  Ginny herself was quite an exceptional flier.  She was so into the game, that she didn't notice a young girl about her age, 16, walking toward her bent over with her arm across her stomach and a hand against the house for support.  If you looked closely, you could see that she had a slight limp.

   As soon as she reached the bench Hermoine was sitting on, she collapsed with a sickening crack coming from her leg. The noise caught Hermoine's attention and she looked at the girl, startled that someone was there.

   "Help me," the girl croaked out through a dry mouth before blacking out.

   Hermoine panicked not sure of what to do.  She got up, and raced through the house screaming for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.  They darted out from a room in the far corner of the house, asking what all the fuss was about.

   "There's a girl, beaten up.  I didn't see how badly.  She passed out in the backyard.  I don't know what to do," Hermoine explained frantically.

   "Lead the way," Mr. Weasley said in an ushered voice.

   She led them through the house and out the back door to where the girl was left.  Upon looking at the girl, she noticed a man fully clothed in black and masked, standing over her.

   "Stupify!"  She heard Mr. Weasley shout as the man became stunned and landed on his back.

   The trio rushed over to the girl.  Hermoine started noticing how badly beaten she actually was as Mr. Weasley checked for a pulse.

  She was wearing a white spaghetti strap top and a pair of blue jeans with Sketchers sneakers and a locket around her neck.  Her clothes were dirty, ripped, and bloody in spots.  She had cuts and bruises, some of which were shaped like hands, all over her body.  Her nose was bleeding profusely along with a cut lip.  A large gash below her left eye and on her right eyebrow added to her bloodied, beaten appearance.  She already had a black eye forming around her left eye.

   Tears welled in Hermoine's eyes as she thought of all the pain she must have been in and is going through.  She kept thinking that these are only the injuries she could see; there could be internal and mental injuries also.  She must have suffered so much.

   Hermoine came out of her trance and noticed that Harry and the gang had joined them on the ground.  Harry had his arms around her shoulders in a loving embrace.  She couldn't hold it in any longer.  She planted her head in Harry's shoulder and arms around his neck and started to cry.

  After what seemed like hours, Mrs. Weasley announced that that was the best she could do without being a Mediwitch, and said that they would have to wait until she woke to take her to the hospital.  As Mr. Weasley moved the girl inside to the couch, Harry and Hermoine stayed back a little to chat.

   "I can't believe someone would do that!  That poor girl really took a beating," said Hermoine.  "I can only imagine what pain she must be in."

   "As long as she's safe now, it's the best we can hope for.  I wonder what Voldermort wanted from her."

   "What?"  Asked Hermoine confused.

   "The death eater.  Her came for her.  She must have information they need."

   Realization hit Hermoine.  "The death eater…"

   But it was too late.  The death eater stood behind Harry and bashed him over the head knocking him unconscious.  Everyone had been so worried about the girl that they forgot about the death eater.  He approached Hermoine with his wand raised.

   "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into little girl.  Now you must pay, the Dark Lord won't want you thwarting his plans anymore then you already have," he threatened as Hermoine's back hit the side of the house.

   "Stupify!"  The twins yelled in unison.  But the death eater was too fast and dodged the spells.  He backed up a bit, waving his wand around.  He took one last looked at Hermoine.

   "I'll be back for you and your new friend.  You just better watch your back, never know where we'll meet again."  With that the death eater disapparated leaving a feeling of uncertainty with Hermoine.

   She helped Harry up from the ground.  He was holding his hand from the pain.

   "Why couldn't it have been a pillow?"

   Hermoine forced a laugh but could not suppress the look of fear that crossed her face as she thought about the death eaters warning, and the mysterious girl in the Weasley's house.

   A/N:  This is my second fic.  My first one's a work in project and wasn't getting reviews, maybe because it's bad, I'm not sure, but I'm still updating it but I decided to give the fanfic thing another shot.  Feel free to review, criticize, compliment, anything.  Thank you.  If you feel like reading my other fanfic it's called A Friend In Need.  Again, thank you for reading this.