Disclaimer: All rights and characters belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros™. Nothing is mine but the creativity and storyline.

A/N: Hello again! Wow, so I'm not dead. Sorry I haven't updated anything in so long, I'll try my best! . I just had to write this story down though; it'll play on my mind forever if I don't. I actually got this idea off a YouTube video I made (I'll put the link at the end of the chapter, if you don't want to ruin the storyline then don't watch), so I hope you enjoy it. Here we go.

Obliviate – Prologue

To onlookers, it was a mystery why the two figures were running. Where they running away from something? Towards something? For the fun of it? Who knew? The onlookers certainly didn't. That's probably why no one questioned them as they darted around the halls, weaving in and out of tapestries and pillars and dashing around corners; their whole forms a blur. But if someone took a moment to closely look at their faces as they flitted past, they would see a darker reason for their running. If someone took the moment to study their clothes, they'd wonder why one of them had blood over their shawl, and why one had a large rip in his dressy, expensive-looking jacket.

But no one looked. And those that did only saw what they wanted to see. It seemed as though the two figures had nothing, and no one, to turn to in their obvious hour of need. Well, it would have been obvious to anyone looking closely enough.

But no one did.

The two only stopped running when they reached their destination. It only took them one apparation, a long road, a skip over a wall, eighteen hallways, two courtyards and four flights of stairs. Only. But after all that, they were evidently relieved to both have reached where they wanted to be, and to have stopped running. They had been running non-stop for quite a while. They stayed strong, for some unapparent reason; perhaps they knew this wasn't actually the end? Perhaps just the beginning?

They both stood on the Astronomy tower, the very place where everything began, their legs shaking from the stress of it all, their faces flushed and shiny with sweat, their feet aching and their chests sore with their battered lungs. The blood pounded in their ears, their hearts slamming against their ribcages, their heavy, uneven breaths the only thing except the harsh winter air to cut the silence between them. Neither said anything, just stood trying to catch their breath.

The tallest of them was the first to act. He strode over, hurriedly, to the railing at the side of the tower, and frantically examined the ground below. His brunette companion found nothing strange in his behaviour. In fact, she did the same on the railing adjacent to his. Both of them were so preoccupied, they hadn't noticed the light dusting of snow on the rail that had now melted on their hands to join the cold water on the bottom of the blonde's trousers, and the female's dress. Even if they had noticed, neither would have cared.

Still, there was silence between them. No words were exchanged. It was as if they didn't need them – communication was beneath the situation at the moment.

Once the blonde was confident that there was nothing left on the ground to scan for, he looked up at the setting sun and the pink-tinged snow clouds forming around it. It made the snow on the ground glisten beautifully. But when he looked over to the brunette and found her looking at him anxiously, he saw how the orange glow of the sunlight made her face blaze radiantly, accentuating her soft, full lips and her large chocolate brown eyes. Her eyelashes were short and spiky, still wet with the tears she'd shed earlier that evening – as were her cheeks. They were flawed by faded black trails down her face, which flowed over a bright red, glowing hand-mark that was visible even with her post-running flush. It flared up the anger within him another time that night.

"Hermione," he sighed, his tone laced with concern, "Hermione, are you alright?" Stepping towards her, he reached out his hand to touch her damaged cheek. She flinched away from him, never taking her eyes off his face. He watched as they glazed over again, as if another set of tears was waiting to leak through. He stopped himself, his hand hovering in dead air for a second, before Hermione bolted towards him, her arms suddenly wrapped tightly around his torso and her face buried into his shoulder. The boy returned this desperate, firm embrace almost immediately, holding onto her just as tightly as she held onto him. He felt her shake within his arms, her sobs racking down to her very core. He buried his face in her mane of curls and squeezed his eyes tight to stop the tears that he felt coming, as well.

They didn't know how long they'd just stood there like that, holding one another, but eventually Hermione managed to contain her bawling and calmed down considerably. It pained him to let go of her, especially in her fragile state, but he had to make sure she was safe. Her safety was above all else to him.

He released her from their hug, only to quickly revert his touch to her arm, and as he gently turned it over his stomach churned with anger once more. Anger and disgust, this time. And guilt, yes; immense guilt. This was all his fault.

Abruptly, he tore himself away from the girl in question, ending up a few feet away with his head to the floor and his back to her, giving her a perfect display of some of the blood she had accidently left on him, and the large rip in the shoulder of his jacket. It was a wonder his sleeve had staged attached, there were only a few threads holding the garment together.

Hermione felt her heart drop into her stomach, and another single, silent tear rolled down her cheek, tracing the black lines perfectly. She looked down at the arm the blonde boy had just touched, and saw the one word that had haunted her her whole life carved into her arm – mudblood. Blood had trailed down her arm until her whole hand was crimson, and occasionally droplets fell from her wrist and onto the floor. Little did she know that one day she would go back up to the Astronomy Tower only to see the blood stains in the stone and wonder how they got there.

She moistened her dry, split lips and used her throat for something besides screaming for the first time in what felt like an eternity. "Draco?"

Draco physically flinched at the use of his name, and remained with his back to her. He shuddered slightly, and Hermione wandered if he was crying. She stepped towards him just once and blinked her tears away. "D-Draco, please–,"

One of Draco's racked, distressed sobs cut her off, and Hermione felt her heart twinge again in her chest. It was still pounding.

The former turned around sharply and faced the former. Hermione gasped, before silence fell upon them once more.

In Draco's hand, he held his wand. And he was pointing it at Hermione.

The air was thick around them, musty with the confusion and trauma of that night's events. Both were pained, emotionally and physically, yet neither could comfort the other without the situation that led them to these particular turn of events growing worse. But these two wizards were clever. Hermione knew what Draco planned to do the minute she saw his wand – and Draco had known what had to be done for a while now. There was no avoiding it.

This was it. It was over.

Hermione watched Draco's hand shake violently. So violently, in fact, it roused worry within her for the boy; rather than worry for herself. She wasn't worried for herself at all, to be quite frank. But then again, she knew that whatever came next couldn't hurt her. Well, not the easy part of it anyway.

Getting ripped away from Draco would hurt a lot.

And then her next thought caused her tears to jerk into motion again. Sure, it wouldn't hurt her, not one bit. But the pain that she knew would reside within Draco was devastating to her. Her heart hurt, and it was heavy in her chest. It still beat frantically, but not from breathlessness anymore.

Draco's tear ducts mimicked Hermione's. This only infuriated him, if not defeat him slightly, and he wavered slightly, before pointing his wand at her with an even more determined expression than before. His hand had stopped shaking now, but his face said more than anything else ever could.

Hermione wanted to comfort him in their last moments together.

"Draco," She whispered her voice coarse and watery, "I... love you."

Draco nodded just once, his bottom lip curling up and trembling and his tears free-flowing now, "I love you too, Hermione." He whispered, in such a way that it pained him to say it.

Without warning, he spoke the one spell that would effectively ruin his life in a mere matter of seconds.

"Obliviate."

A/N: So! There's my prologue! Mwahahaha! Hope you liked it! And here is the link for the YouTube video this story is based on (again, if you don't want to know the storyline, don't watch it, but feel free to if you wish):

y o ut u be .com [forward slash] watch?v=zRokr7n5b1A

Kelly xxx