Authors Note: This is my first ever Fan Fiction. Please, go easy on me. However, I can handle criticism as long as it's expressed in a polite manner. Feel free to express your opinions. I'd love some feedback on my work both good and bad. I'm going to try and keep everyone in character as much as I can. Of course with this fiction there is going to be times when the characters aren't exactly like they are in the books. The reason for that is because we all relate to the characters differently and I feel like sometimes there is more depth and struggles with certain characters than what has already been told.

Also, I'm new to reading Harry Potter. I've been a fan of the movies from the start but have only read them recently so I'm not an HP Scholar yet. So if I slip up with something please don't nit-pick. Like if I describe the castle or the rooms wrong. I'm doing my best. The story will take place between the 6th and 7th books. There will be certain scenes taken from the books but with a different flair. The kids are starting their 6th year and all three already know about the Horcruxes. Though, it will all end differently I assure you. I think I'm going to shut up now.

Like I said before I'm new to this and I just hope that I do it the right way when it comes to posting and such. Yeah, so enjoy and please comment.

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the characters only the plot. I make no money from this. I write simply for fun.

Chapter One

Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever

Hermione, Ron and Harry trudged along the familiar halls of Hogwarts. They, along with a handful of other students were on their way into the Great Hall for breakfast. They'd been back at school for about three weeks and things were hardly normal. Parents didn't feel that their children were safe at Hogwarts with the return of You-Know-Who, especially since it was no secret that he sought after Hogwarts very own, Harry Potter. Therefore, half of Hogwarts' students didn't show up for the new term. The number of first years had dramatically declined while the fifth, sixth and seventh years only took a minor hit. Still, the students that had returned to Hogwarts seemed downtrodden. The welcoming feast wasn't nearly as "welcoming" as normal. It was all very frustrating. Now was not the time to be losing hope.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," Hermione affirmed as she slammed her book down on the table once they'd reached their seats.

"Bloody Hell, 'Mione," Ron shouted as her very heavy book landed on the spot of table that his hand happened to be resting on.

"Sorry," she said as her cheeks tinged pink. "This is just extremely frustrating." She said as she sat down in her respective seat. She looked around the great hall at all the glum faces. "Just look at them. They are all behaving like a bunch of depressed zombies. Hogwarts is supposed to be a cheerful place of learning."

"Only you would find learning cheerful." Ron said before stuffing his face with the fork full of eggs he'd gathered.

"Shut it, Ronald." She said, letting out a big sigh. "You know what I mean, don't you Harry?" She questioned, looking across the table at her dark haired friend.

"Oh, um... yeah," he said nodding his head quickly, paying more attention to the professors at the head of the House tables. "Of course," Harry then looked down at his plate and started on his bread and butter. Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounds like 'boys'.

Ginny Weasley, along with a few more students from Gryffindor joined the table shortly after they'd arrived. As the meal continued, there was a bit of light conversation going on, but nothing Hermione found very interesting. She was pretty much zoned out, lost in her own mind. She noted how strange it was that the Great Hall seemed so quiet now due to the significant number of students that were missing. It was all You-Know-Who's fault. These were supposed to be the best years of their lives, years meant to be spent deciding their career and becoming the witches and wizards that would create the future foundation of their society, and now everything seemed so jumbled and cluttered all because of the power hungry, evil dark wizard.

As her mind started to drift off of Voldemort, she began thinking about Horcruxes. Professor Dumbledore allowed Harry to tell her and Ron about the mission to destroy them. As much as she tried to seem calm about the war that was brewing, it constantly plagued her mind. She knew it would only be a matter of time before everything ruptured. Then there would be no turning back. They'd been working extensively since the end of summer trying to figure out where the other Horcruxes could be. As the reminder of the war sprang in mind, she decided she'd better use the rest of her time wisely and try doing more research. She sighed dramatically and stood up.

"Well, I think I'm going to go to…"

"The library," Harry, Ron and Ginny finished for her. "Yes, the library," she said smiling. She stood up from the table and turned around. As soon as she did, she bumped into someone hard and fell backwards landing on the floor.

Hermione screeched and huffed as her bottom hit the floor. She blew a strand of her hair out of her face and looked up. She scowled when she saw who it was that she'd run into. No, she didn't run into him. She refused to be at fault here. He'd run into her and probably knocked her down on purpose.

"Ah, look what we have here. Two weasels, an orphan, and a mudblood. How touching," he said with a sneer.

"Mind your tongue, Malfoy," Harry spat at him.

"Or what? You're godfather will put me in my place? Oh wait, that's right, you're godfather's dead. Just like your filthy, foolish parents, Potter," he said, turning his attention back to Hermione who was still on the floor. He had an amused look on his face.

"How dare you talk about my parents!" Harry was up and over the table with his wand pointed directly at Draco's chest faster than you could say 'Quidditch.' Harry had hundreds of hexes speeding through his mind. Before Harry had the chance to choose a hex for Draco, Ginny laid her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Harry, no. You're better than this. You're better than him." Ginny tried to soothe Harry.

Harry begrudgingly began to lower his wand and continued to his seat, Draco sneering once more.

"You need to leave, now." Hermione said to the tall pale blonde standing before her.

He chuckled and bent down slightly to get closer to her. "Hey Granger, would you care to shine my shoes while you're down there?" Draco stood back up with a satisfied smile on his face.

Draco began to walk by Hermione as a sudden and brilliant plan started to take shape in her mind. She smirked to herself and stuck her foot out, tripping him at the last moment. He hit the ground about a foot from her, causing an eruption of laughter from the Gryffindor table and the rest of the tables for that matter. She quickly stood up and straightened out and dusted off her robes. She bent down in front of him smirking the entire time.

"Hey Malfoy, would you care to shine my shoes while you're down there?" she retorted in a mocking tone.

"You revolting, filthy mudblood!" he retorted.

Hermione knew she should be used to the offensive word by now, but it still stung every time he said it. She quickly wiped the hurt off of her face before anyone had time to notice. She scowled back at him with malice in every word. "You greasy ferret," she said hotly.

"Completely mental know-it-all!" he exclaimed loudly as he stood up and regained his footing.

"Daddy's boy," she said, smirking up at him. They were now nose to nose. He glared at her, but couldn't come up with a comeback. She gave him one final smirk, turned on her heel, and stalked off with pride.

Draco Malfoy was still seething from his earlier encounter with Granger. He could hardly believe the way Hermione had spoken to him, not to mention the fact that she'd tripped him and made him look like a fool. Actually, he could believe it. She had always been the witty one out of the trio and always had the quickest retorts.

However, it still frustrated him more than anything. He had rolled his shirtsleeves up and was pacing around the Slytherin common room thinking about their earlier verbal exchange. He smirked to himself as he thought about how her face slightly reddened and her eyes narrowed at him. He was satisfied knowing that he could push her buttons like that. His smile faded though when he realized that she was probably equally as satisfied knowing that she could press his buttons as well.

His mind raced back to the moment she stalked out of the Great Hall. Granger almost looked kind of attractive with that self satisfying smirk she'd had right before she turned on her heel and left him there at a loss for words. She was a mudblood, though. He couldn't think she was attractive! She was beneath him and against everything his family stood for.

"Hermione Granger is nothing but a filthy mudblood," he said out loud.

He had to make sure that important fact was very clear. The last thing he needed to do was to get a harebrained idea about her being hot in his mind. He suddenly felt a throb in his arm and looked down at the Dark Mark he'd received at the end of the summer. It was almost as if it were trying to remind him where his loyalties lie. Yes, he'd finally fulfilled his father's wish and joined the tumultuous Death Eaters. He looked down at the imperishable mark again, disgusted with it.

As a boy growing up hearing his father talk about such things, he'd assumed it be something grand. He'd almost looked forward to when he was younger. However, since he'd become a Death Eater it had been less than divine. He'd seen Voldemort kill a few people and it made his stomach churn. He really didn't understand how his father had put up with it for so many years or how someone could be so corrupt.

Then again, Draco did know why, for he saw fear in his father's eyes in the presence of the Dark Lord. Draco sympathized with his father, but at the same time detested him for ultimately getting their family involved.

Draco put his finger to his temples. He didn't feel like thinking about such things anymore. He rolled his sleeves back down and buttoned his cuffs.

After all, it would probably be best not to flaunt around the Dark Mark at Hogwarts.

Hermione was sitting studiously in the library with books scattered and covering the entire table in front of her. She'd been through about a dozen books and still had close a dozen more to go through. Some of them she'd already searched through, but it was of the utmost importance that she didn't miss a lick of useful information. She was so intent on finding something that she even read straight through lunch hour. She was focused and reading furiously when she felt someone standing over her. She looked up and turned around to find Harry and Ron. They both had sullen looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" She asked knowing something was wrong immediately.

"Hermione," Harry began and then sat down at the chair across from her. Ron stood awkwardly beside him. "Professor Dumbledore has a lead on where he thinks we may find the next item we've been looking for. " He said, trying to be vague. Hermione of course caught on right away.

Hermione beamed at him. "That's absolutely wonderful! Why aren't you two smiling? That's good news. That's great news. Right?" she asked looking from Harry to Ron and then back to Harry.

"Dumbledore wants us to leave immediately. The more….items we destroy before…" Harry paused again, trying to chose his words carefully "...he finds out that we know his secret, the better." He was talking quietly as there were a few students scattered about the library.

Hermione chuckled softly. "Okay, but I still don't understand why you've got such miserable looks on your faces. I know that I'm going to be the only one upset to miss classes," she chuckled again and quirked her eyebrow waiting on a response.

Harry looked down at his hands for a minute. He felt really guilty. He hated having to be the one to tell her that she wasn't to come along with them. He didn't understand why she wasn't permitted to come, but Professor Dumbledore had insisted that it just be he and Ron. "Well, you see Profess..."

Hermione cut him off before he could even finish his statement. "By us, you me you and Ron," Hermione said as realization sunk in. She slumped back in her chair. Harry was once again looking down at his hands.

"We're really sorry 'Mione, but you know there is no persuading or arguing with Dumbledore," this coming from Ron.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and sat straight up again. "Of course not. I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason for wanting you two to leave me behind." Hermione couldn't help but to have a bit of venom and resentment in her voice. She was sad, hurt and angry all at the same time. She'd never felt a rush of emotion like this before. She had to get out of there before she let the emotions overtake her.

When she stood up, Ron grabbed her arm. "Hermione," he said and there was a bit of pleading in his tone.

"Ronald," she said looking down at his hand on her arm. She looked back up and he let her arm go. She stalked off and before she even made it out of the door, tears sprang from her eyes.

Hermione was extremely quiet throughout dinner. She knew she was being stubborn, that if she was meant to stay that's just how it had to be. However, this year was hard enough already. She didn't know how she'd make it through with both Ron and Harry gone for Merlin only knows how long. She was also immensely worried for them. What if they didn't come back?

At the thought of that she had to brush a few stray tears from her eyes. There was so much she wanted to say yet she remained silent.

"We are getting ready to leave. We just have to speak with Dumbledore once more. We hope that you'll see us off." Harry said breaking the silence. She didn't have time to reply before both he and Ron were up making their way to the staff table.

Hermione looked over at Ginny and sighed, "Let's wait in the corridor."

The red head smiled. She was glad that Hermione had come around.

The two girls walked outside of the doors of the Great Hall and waited for the boys. Hermione was grateful for Ginny. With Ginny here that meant she wouldn't be utterly alone.

When the boys came out, Harry approached Hermione first as Ron approached his little sister. Hermione looked up at Harry, trying to hold back her tears. Harry noticed them right away and leaned his head to the side, putting one of his hands on each of her arms.

"Hey, we are going to be back in a few weeks tops and hopefully we will be one step closer to our final goal." She simply nodded her head at him and brushed at her eyes. "And I'm sure by the time we get back you will have already found another one for us to go after."

Hermione gave a slight laugh at his confidence in her. She plunged forward and hugged him tightly. He put his arms around her and squeezed her back.

"I'm going to miss you, Harry. Be safe." She said before she kissed his cheek.

"I'm going to miss you too," he said softly back to her as he gave her one last squeeze.

Ron then approached her and she immediately gave him a big hug. She didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to either one of her boys. "Please Ronald, don't do anything stupid." She said pulling back from their hug.

"Blimey 'Mione, don't you have any faith in me?" he questioned, faking a pained look on his face. She pushed his shoulder and he smiled at her.

The four of them finished their goodbyes and by the end of them both Hermione and Ginny had tear-stained cheeks. Right before the boys disappeared; Harry turned and looked over his shoulder, giving them one last smile.

"Don't worry, goodbye doesn't mean forever," he said giving the girls one last smile before disappearing.

Malfoy had been exiting the Great Hall when he saw the four of them exchanging what looked like goodbyes. He ducked into a dark corner and watched them as they hugged one another. He wondered where Potter and Weasley were off to, but at the same time he really didn't care that much. He wasn't a spy by any means. Plus, if they were gone that was better for him. However, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy as he watched how upset Hermione and even the other weasel were about their departure. Their friendships overwhelmed him.

Of course, Malfoy had friends. He was popular and handsome, but it was nothing like what they shared. Part of him longed for true friendship, maybe even companionship. He wanted friends that didn't like him for his money or his family's status in the pureblood society. It really irked him that Potter had of all that and he didn't. He was supposed to be above Potter in every way.

Maybe he could have it, though. Maybe if he just tried harder and wasn't so arrogant. He sat there pondering a bit as he continued to watch.

The boys already disappeared and Ginny left shortly after. Hermione, however, lingered for a few moments. He wondered if she thought that they would come back for her. The thought almost made him laugh. Surely, if they intended to come back for her, they wouldn't have left her in the first place. And she was supposed to be the bright one. He saw that she was still somewhat crying and he had an urge to try and comfort her somehow.

Wait, comfort her? Why in the bloody hell would he want to do that?

He didn't understand, but he felt sorry for her. Standing there in the empty corridor she looked so alone. Alone, he repeated in his head. That's exactly what he felt right now, alone. He stepped out of the shadows and moved towards her. He really wasn't good at this kind of thing, but he figured he'd give it a shot.

"Upset your boyfriend left, Granger?" he said, smirking at her.

She turned and glared at him sharply. "Bugger off, Malfoy," she said as she pushed past him hard. She almost knocked him to the floor again for the second time that day.

His mouth was agape as he held on to the spot she pushed on his chest. That really didn't come out like he meant it to. All he managed to do was piss her off even more. He shrugged his shoulders and headed off to his dorms. Why should he care anyway!?