A/N: Everything belongs to JKR…and uh…Greek Mythology dudes?

Tell me what you think, yeah?

Enjoy!

The man was meditating, as he had been doing for centuries and centuries on end.

He listened to the sound of the world growing around him, leaving him behind.

He listened to life being put out like candles and others lighting up to bonfires.

Suddenly his serene silence was interrupted by the pounding of feet upon cold wet earth.

This was the first person to ever enter his cave besides himself, and the reason had to be a good one.

"Master!" the man panted, sweat glistening on his shaved head as he bowed down infront of the man who was floating in the air in a lotus position.

The Master opened his eyes and the other man flinched but continued to tell the other what he was sent to tell him.

"Master" he repeated "The demon has escaped!" he said in a terrified whisper, as if the demon he spoke of would leap out of the shadows and kill him if he spoke of it to loud.

The old man suddenly sprang into action, landing on the floor without a sound and focused his eyes on the other man.

"Send out every soldier we have. We must find it before it bonds with a host!" he bellowed.

--

Several countries away in number twelve, Grimmauld place all of the residents were sleeping.

In the room that she shared with Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger was having a nightmare.

She was standing in a pentagon of blood, the smell of magic thick in the air.

She didn't know how she got there, but she knew that she had to get out now.

The cave was dark and damp but in the light of the tall candles around her she could see the men gathered around her.

There were many of them, hundreds, thousands of them, all with shaved heads and an odd looking symbol on their temples. They were standing in circles around her, outside of the edge of the pentagon. Their dark green capes were open, showing their bare chests, all with a cut over the heart, with blood staining their skin.

Her panic intensified as they started chanting as one and her terror rose to deadly heights as she recognised the purpose of their actions.

Blood of the heart… her eyes flicked towards their bleeding wounds on their chests and she paled.

No, no…they couldn't possibly…

They were going to lock her up, like her poor brothers and sisters, lock her up in a tiny box and hide her away from the world.

She tried to push out of the pentagon but the circle of magic pushed her back like a hard brick wall and tears escaped her eyes.

It was over, they had fooled her…

The chant grew louder and more powerful as an ear shattering scream tore from her throat and she fell to the ground in the middle of the bloodied pentagram.

Hermione leaped up from the bed, hands clutched to her throat to stop a scream from escaping her dry lips.

She was panting in fear and cold sweat covered her body, her magic was running rampant with emotions and you could taste it in the air.

Her curly head swivelled around to search for the bald men, but when she only found a sleeping red head in the bed next to hers reality set in and the fear abated.

"Just a nightmare" she mumbled and rose from the bed and walked to the window, closing it so the cold night breeze couldn't touch her with its long grabby fingers.

A glance at the clock told her that it was too early to get up so she cast a silent Scourgify at her sweat dampened sheets before climbing into the bed and pulled the covers to her chin.

As she curled into a foetal position and her eyes started to droop the shadows under her bed seemed to move around, and as her breaths turned heavier and sleep embraced her, a sheer mist crept out of the dark confines under her bed.

The mist settled into a cloud over her face and as her lungs inhaled the mist followed inside, filling her to the brim.

--

The sound of laughter woke her up and she stretched out on the bed, the memories of last night forgotten as the sun shone through the window and warmed her face.

Soon the smell of bacon, eggs, coffee, tea and toast floated through the door and her stomach grumbled loudly.

She danced out of the bed a smile on her face as she opened the window and was greeted with birds chirping from the trees around Grimmauld place and a warm breeze that caressed her sleep chaotic chocolate curls.

As she glanced towards the bed next to hers, her smile faltered a little as she realized that her roommate had left her to sleep, probably to able to spend more time with Hermione's best friends without her.

She shook the though from her head with a flick of her curls and picked a book from one of her piles before descending the stairs to the kitchen.

She entered the kitchen and her mood dampened a little more as Harry and Ron didn't even notice her enter the room, Harry was to busy ogling Ginny, hanging onto every word that left her glossed lips and Ron was stuffing his face with food.

Her face fell but she ignored it and walked towards the kitchen table and opened her book, intent on drowning herself in knowledge, as she always did. As she began to read she filled a plate with eggs, ham and toast, also filling a goblet with pumpkin juice.

The kitchen was filled with people, some running through, grabbing food on the way as they clothed themselves at the same time, some staying to chat with Molly Weasley who stood at the stove.

A gentle voice interrupted her reading "Hello, Hermione" Remus greeted and seated himself next to her, a cup of steaming tea in his hands.

She nodded at him in greeting, still put out by her friends' blatant disregard of her presence and returned to her book.

When adding the moonstone powder, you must at the same time add drops of dragon blood, if you want the explosion to be less lethal. The more dragons blood you add, the lesser explosion, but one must remember that the dragon blood also neutralises the other ingredients as well, and if you add to much dragon blood, the potion will be rendered useless, another ingredient to use if dragon's blood is hard to obtain is…

Her reading was interrupted by a girlish giggle from the youngest Weasley and barks of laughter from Harry and Ron.

Her brow furrowed as she tried to immerse herself in the text again.

the juice of moonflower petals, picked at the full moon…

"Oh, you're so funny, Harry!" Ginny giggled and Hermione raised her head fast enough to notice the red head put her freckled long nailed hand on The-Boy-Who-Lived's arm and lean closer, her breath ghosting over his quickly heating face.

Hermione gave another try to focus on the text, her teeth biting hard into her full lower lip as her amber eyes burnt holes in the paper.

One must remember to burn the pollen at the tip of the moonflower petals, since if one consumes the pollen, the consumer would go 'moon crazy' which…

Her readings were interrupted once more but by the sound of Ron who, with his mouth full asked out in the room "Hey, anyone seen Mione?"

Silence filled the kitchen, as the adults realized that Hermione had been unnoticed by her own best friends for a good hour, and nobody had thought anything of it.

Hermione's shoulders tensed and suddenly she decided that she'd had enough.

She slammed the book shut, the sound echoed through the room and the adolescents at the other side of the room focused their eyes on her.

Two of them turned an embarrassing shade of red, as their faces filled with guilt, but another smirked in malicious glee and her eyes danced with silent laughter.

Hermione ignored them and rose from her seat, her book clutched tightly to her chest, as if shielding her from the pain of humiliation.

She turned her head to Mrs. Weasley who was looking on at the scene with an angry expression on her face, feeling sorry for the book-worm.

"Thank you, for breakfast, Mrs. Weasley" Hermione said her voice slightly hoarse with anger as she walked out of the kitchen, head held high and book clutched tightly in pale hands.

As she left, Molly Weasley wasn't the only one who noticed that the food on Hermione's plate hadn't been touched.

--

The night she realized that she was in love with her best friend had been during fourth year, when he had kissed her on the cheek and told her that he was fine with her dating Viktor and that she shouldn't mind Ron, that he didn't see it as "fraternising with the enemy".

That was the day that she fell, when her emerald eyed best friend and stated that he was happy as long as she was.

The same night she had broken up with Viktor, telling him that she thought that they were better as friends and that she hoped that he would send her letters. He did.

The year after that, her heart shattered as she remembered that she had forgotten her bag in the room of requirement after a DA meeting and snuck back in…to be faced with Harry and Cho snogging like there was no tomorrow.

When Harry returned to tell her and Ron about his snogging adventure, she had to control herself so she wouldn't cry in front of him, and instead made a joke on Ron's behalf and laughed with her friends.

During sixth year she decided to pursue Ron instead of Harry, as the red head had shown that he had some sort of feeling for her. Her pride was once again shattered as the only boy she thought was interested with her was found snogging the slag Lavender Brown in the common room.

Now was the beginning of her seventh year, and the smart witch had noticed that Harry was very interested in one red head, and that Ginny was feeling the same.

Hermione stared out of the window, her warm amber eyes focused on a chirping blue bird on a branch next to the closed window.

What right had that bird to sing with such happiness as she was tearing up inside with humiliation and heartbreak?

There was nobody who wanted her, not even her parents, who were more than happy to send her off to the Wizarding world, so they could have some 'alone time'.

Her anger rose, covering her like a chilling blanket as her eyes turned a cold hard grey and her hair seemed to have a life of it's own as magic crackled in the air.

Her hand clenched into a fist and she rammed it into the wall, feeling blood trickling from her knuckles and as fast as her anger had risen it vanished.

Hermione was slightly scared by her violent action, as she had been a very calm and peaceful girl her entire life.

She shook her head, thinking that it was probably hormones and the stress of homework and flicked her wand over the bleeding wounds on her hand.

The wounds healed quickly and not even a scar was shown and she frowned, confused.

She had never managed the spell that well before, the wounds always turned into scars that she couldn't heal properly.

She shrugged, practice did make perfect.

She pushed all conflicting thoughts out of her head and sat herself on the bed and begun to read the book again, this time wonderfully void of interruption.

Outside of her window the bird stopped chirping as it fell from the branch, its entire body turned into stone, a muffled crash was heard as the stone bird fell to the ground and shattered into tiny pieces.

--

"We found it, Master!" a young soldier hollered as he ran into the Great Chamber of Space.

His voice echoed in the room and bounced against the planets, stars and constellations that floated in the air.

He immediately silenced, his entire being filled with awe as he drank in what he was seeing.

In the middle of the room the Master was staring intently at a planet that rested in his hands, and around him all other planets circled him, like he was the centre of the entire universe.

The soldier bowed down and pressed his shaved head against the cool black marble and waited for the Master to speak.

"Come forward, young soldier" the Master commanded, his voice like a thin mist swirling in the Space Chamber, not disturbing the planets like the young man's voice had.

The young man obeyed and walked towards the man floating in the air, eyes still focused on the orb in his lap.

His aged fingers caressed the surface of the planet, as if searching for something to grab on to.

"Did you find it?" he asked.

The soldier nodded and gave him the coordinates.

The Master nodded and spun the globe around before pressing his finger upon a green piece of land and asked "Here?"

The other man nodded again, realizing that the orb in the Masters hand was a replica of the earth itself.

"England…" the Master wheezed out in the darkness.

--

She had forgiven them in the end. Like she always did…

When Harry had focused those green eyes of his on her, she could deny him nothing and forgiveness for neglecting her seemed like such a simple thing to give him.

She was sitting on her bed, reading and simply enjoying the silence when her peace was interrupted by the sound of her door being banged open.

The screeches of Mrs. Black echoed through the house, but were quickly muffled by her door shutting with a silent click.

Ginny had arrived, hair in disarray, face flushed and a brilliant smile on her lips as she practically danced inside their shared room towards the mirror in the middle of the room.

Hermione's curiosity was piqued, as the emotionally spoiled redhead rarely looked as happy, but was certain that she was to hear the reason soon enough. Ginny could never keep her mouth shut.

As the redhead started brushing her shining copper strands, Hermione returned to her book, patiently waiting for the outburst that was sure to come.

Her patience was rewarded mere minutes later as Ginny's emotions bubbled to the surface.

"He kissed me!"

Hermione had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.

Most of the males there were Ginny's brothers and she doubted that any of them kissing her would cause a similar reactions. The others were Order members old enough to be Ginny's father and none of them had gained any interest from the redhead.

So that only left one.

Harry James Potter.

Hermione pushed her raging emotions into a deep box within her and closed the lid, locking it until she was alone and ready to feel them.

She sent Ginny a warm smile and forced out an "Oh, congratulations"

Ginny preened at the words and took several dancing steps, twirling around the brunette's broken heart.

"Oh, I knew that you had a thing for Harry, but you know it would never last…you're just not meant to be!" Ginny smiled, sugar coating the insult before making one last twirl and dancing out of the room, the door shutting once again with a silent click.

Hermione sat stunned on the bed, book forgotten in her lap as she gazed forward.

He kissed her.

She pushed the covers aside, rising from the bed and approaching the mirror which Ginny had looked into mere seconds ago.

When she looked inside she saw a girl wearing a pair of jeans and a baggy sweat shirt that covered the ample curves that had developed during the summer.

The girl infront of her had a head filled with untameable, curly, chocolate hair, wide amber coloured doe eyes and full lips.

Her sun tanned skin was only marred by the occasional blemishes and a few birthmarks on her body.

Her amber eyes filled with tears as she noted the absence of sparkling blue eyes the colour of the sky, porcelain like skin flecked with delicate freckles, a fairy like body and shiny copper hair to the elbows.

If she was to stand alone in a white room, she would be considered pretty, if added furniture and paintings, she would be deemed average…but if standing next to Ginevra Weasley, it would be like comparing an ogre to a fairy princess.

And Hermione Granger sure as hell wasn't the fairy princess.

She wiped her tears away angrily, glaring at herself at the mirror, wishing to look more like the fairy princess than the ogre.

As she turned from the mirror, she thought she saw sparkling gray eyes, a sinister smirk with elongated eye teeth and dark green hair that writhed like snakes in the corner of her eye.

She turned around, eyes wide, but was only met with the sight of an Unkissed Bookworm Hermione.

--

"Hurry along, now, or you'll be late!" Molly Weasley worried as she drew a hand over Harry's hair, trying to flatten it, while at the same time pushing her brood of children along the path towards Platform ¾.

An echo of "Yes, Mrs. Weasley" and "Yes, Mum" was answered to her unnecessary mothering as the adolescents quickened their step towards the platform, hoping to get away from the Weasley matriarch.

Hermione shoved her cart ahead of the group, hoping to get a head start so she wouldn't have to hear Ron's moaning about not getting a Head Boy badge along with his Hogwarts letter, as Hermione's Head Girl badge had arrived with the school owl, the badge proudly fastened on her robes, next to the Gryffindor crest.

As she plunged through the barrier, the sound of Molly Weasley coddling the others was swallowed up by the sound of the Hogwarts Express's whistle and the surprised "Oomph!" that accompanied her colliding with another cart, and it's driver.

"Oh, Circe!" She cursed and ran to the boy she had hit with her cart, who had fallen flat on his arse.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized and extended her hand to the boy, whose pale blond hair had fallen into his face, obscuring the view.

She noted a shining Head Boy badge on his chest, before her extended hand was clasped by his warm, sending shivers up and down her spine.

"It's alright, no harm done" he drawled, flicking his hair away from her face, causing her mouth to pop open.

"Malfoy?"

His smirk sent a new attack of shivers over her skin and she noted that he still hadn't let go of her hand, even though he was up on two legs and no longer needed her assistance.

"Granger"

"Hermione?" a voice cut through their name exchange, the voice breaking with an adolescent howl in the middle, causing a mocking sneer to mar Malfoy's handsome face.

"What are you doing?!" Ron said, voice breaking again in panic at seeing the girl he –not so secretly- fancied holding the hand of his arch nemesis.

Only then did Hermione snatch her hand away from his, ignoring his amused smirk at the faint blush spreading over her skin.

"Weasley" Malfoy greeted the fuming redhead before turning to her, giving a polite nod before saying "Until later, Granger"

Something in her told her to play his game, and she obeyed without thinking.

"Until later, Malfoy"

He smirked, leaving her to deal with a hysterical Ronald and later the others who arrived to be filled in on how she had been standing, 'practically snogging the ferret!'