Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters, places, etc. do not belong to me. I wish they did, but no, they belong to J.K. and co.

Author's Note: Each chapter is based off of an Evanescence song from the CD "Fallen." Seeing as how we are not allowed to post song lyrics, the chapter titles are the names of songs.

Prologue

Draco Malfoy allowed his body to go numb as Severus Snape pulled him away from Hogwart's. While Snape took action, he was stunned into silence. How could that happen? He wanted to prove himself to the Dark Lord, but he could never have done the deed himself as he had thought earlier in the year.

And what about Snape? Wasn't he on Dumbledore's side? Draco's head ached from frustration and exhaustion. "When are we gonna stop?" he whined.

Snape ignored him and continued at his fast, confident stride, firmly gripping the boy's wrist.

Draco stopped defiantly in his tracks. "I will not go on until you tell me where we're going and when we're getting there!"

Snape shook his head in dismay. "If you could please do me a favor and stop that incessant whining, you sound like a bloody banshee." He pulled Draco along faster and more forcefully.

"Where are we going?"

"We're getting your thick, head away from the Dark Lord, that's where we're going."

"Can't we stop to rest?"

"No."

"Why?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

Draco stuck his tongue out at the back of Snape's head as they pressed on. What a rebel he thought he was!

Draco blinked awake. Memories of that one fateful night always haunted his dreams. He must've fallen asleep, surprisingly enough. After that night, Draco had never returned home. Never once had he crawled into the warm confines of his comfortable, silky, expensive bed. Instead he was forced to live a life of fear. Never staying in one place for any significant amount of time. It was his second night staying on the wretched bank underneath an ominous stone bridge.

He sighed dramatically. "What a life is this that I'm afraid of my own shadow." Rustling in a nearby bush interrupted his personal monologue, which slightly annoyed him. If he was going to be dramatic he'd appreciate his life to let him. Draco brought out his wand, cautiously pointing it towards the shrubbery. Prepared for the worst, he slumped back relieved to find a Muggle digging for trash.

"Woah there sonny," slurred the husky voiced homeless man. "Don't be gettin' all loony on (hiccup) me! I migh' just take tha' (hiccup) little poin'y stick of yurs!" Draco covered his mouth, afraid he was going to hurl from the overwhelming stench of alcohol emitting from the man. "Hey buddy, you (hiccup) wanna sip?" He smiled a near toothless grin as he waved a beer bottle in Draco's face.

Draco pushed the bottle out of his line of vision. He found beer to be the foulest and most detestable Muggle icreation. Now wine on the other hand was fit for a wizard and he loved it, but he would not go overboard. Never again.

The bartender looked up. "Another one?"

Draco nodded, his eyes tired and red. He needed just one more bottle to escape the pain. Just one more to finally evade the Dark Lord's grip. He took another swig of that sweet, sweet wine as the Muggle party roared on behind him.

A particularly rowdy drunkard turned to one of his fellow partygoers, laughing loudly while pointing at Draco. The two walked (staggered) over to him and immediately started taunting him. "Hey don't you think you're a bit young for this?"

Draco glared as he took another sip.

The second man took the bottle from his grasp and completely emptied it over Draco's head.

Draco clenched his jaw and gripped his wand. This was the last straw. He was going to live by his own rules, not go where sniveling Severus told him. Not wait while the greasy-haired bastard had all the fun. He was getting out. He dropped a handful of pounds on the bar as he grabbed his black cloak, stumbling a bit on his own feet.

"Oh, he thinks he's so high and mighty with his fancy clothes!"

"He's barely a teenager!"

The two men came up to him and started shoving him. "Wanna go, wanna go, wanna-?" they repeated again and again until that was all Draco heard. His breaking point came all too quickly as the room spun around him.

"Cructeeeeeohh!" he bellowed, his voice heavy with drunkeness.

The men only laughed louder. "Hey look over here!" shouted the first one. "He's a regular nutter!"

"Go to hell," garbled Draco and he punched the man square in the nose. Unfortunately he was quite soft (being a mama's boy) so he yelped in pain.

The raucous became unbearable as a full-out brawl started. Draco slipped out quick as he could but not without receiving a bloody nose and a broken hand. "How do Muggles ever get anything done without magic?" he questioned himself as he mended his nose and hand.

Draco turned away from the homeless man and towards the woods. It was going to be another tough night.

* * *

Hermione sat in the corner of apartment 4B as she always did before she went to sleep. It hadn't been safe for her to return to her Muggle home. All it would've done is put her parents in danger. Thus she was placed in one of many Muggle apartments rented for the eldest Hogwart's students with Harry and Ron, the only coed room for Harry's protection. It was exactly two and a half months after Dumbledore's funeral and the first time her and Ron had admitted being in love with each other.

Every night she would sit in the corner chair, holding her picture of Ron, twirling a ring around on her left ring finger. She would stare at both for hours until she finally slipped into sleep, using his school robe as a pillow. Although, before she slept, Ron's items always brought back memories. The ring most of all.

Ron brushed a hair out of Hermione's face. "I love you."

"I love you too, but is this the time?" Hermione looked around at everybody sitting in the meeting hall.

"Of course." He gazed straight into her brown eyes as his own began to sting with tears. "There's something I need to ask you, before I leave."

"Ron, what's wrong?" She searched his face feverishly looking for answers in his green, watering eyes. "Where are you going?" She gripped his hand tighter in terror. "Don't leave me now!" A tear dripped from her own eyes. Ron brought her head to his chest to embrace and comfort her. She held on with all her might. "Don't leave me."

"Hermione, I have to." He paused to wipe away his salty tears. "The Order's sending another team to find Harry."

"Why haven't they asked me?" She pulled back to look once again at Ron's shining eyes. "Why can't I come with you?"

"Don't be ridiculous, look around. With so many people leaving they need you here."

"I don't want to be here, not without you!" she bawled. "I need you too much to let go!"

"But Harry needs me more."

Hermione dropped her head. She knew this, but she couldn't help being selfish. Harry had been missing for a month now. It seemed so normal that he was gone. Like he was on summer vacation. She didn't want that to happen with Ron. "I don't want to lose you too."

"You won't. I'll always be with you, no matter what." He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head as he bent to one knee. "Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

Hermione's eyes welled up with a fresh set of tears. "Oh of course!" She wrapped her arms around him joyfully, even though grief threatened to tear down this blissful event.

Both smiled, but it never reached their eyes. The eyes that were filled with rampant, unending tears.

That was just over a month ago, recalled Hermione. Two days later, her fiancé departed with Fred and George. It was the third team to be sent to Harry's rescue. All others were missing in action.

The photo of Ron in the Order's official uniform with its gold robe and red phoenix emblem brought another memory.

A knock came at apartment 4B and then a man spoke. "The willow whispered to the river." It was the Order's code.

Hermione completed with "And the river said 'farewell'," and let Neville in, garbed in his official robes. He gave a low, sorrowful bow.

"Neville? Are you all right?"

He came up from his bow and silently unrolled a gold-colored piece of parchment. She had seen one like it before. "Miss Hermione Granger, I regret to inform you that your fiancé, Mr. Ronald Weasley, has been declared missing in action as of 0600 hours this morning." A single silent tear found a path down Neville's face, and his voice began to waiver. "On behalf of the Order of the Phoenix, I offer you my condolences." He bit his lip and blinked away a second tear before continuing. "And as a friend."

Hermione's world went silent for what seemed like forever, yet all too quickly the sound of the street, of the clock upon the mantle place, and Neville's choked sobs flooded her ears with such ferocity that it took all her strength to keep from shrieking that instant.

She snatched the paper violently from Neville, hoping it was some sort of prank, even though she knew it wasn't. After rereading it several times she tore it up in aggravation, and weeping she fell to her knees unable to control the newborn beast of fear and loss now roaring from within her. "Why?" She screamed to the ceiling as Neville rushed to calm her. "WHY?"

That was only a week ago, and so there sleeps Hermione, holding her memories close to her. She curled closer to the robe, the ever-present reminder that she would have to face her final year at Hogwart's without the scent of Ron. Without Ron's smiling face. Without him.