DISCLAIMER: I don't own either the characters or anything related to Harry Potter. Well, except this fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it! Please leave reviews down below, I appreciate it!

This is my first fanfiction published here and the first one about Harry Potter... So, it'd be cool of you to be nice :) It halso hasn't been edited by any other person than me, so... yeah. Enjoy!

PROLOGUE

Around her was only dark, but Hermione didn't need light to know where she had to go. The feeling of Ron's lips on hers still lingered there but it wasn't as nice a feeling as she had hoped it to be. They were best friends and simply that, she didn't need to make it more complicated. The kiss had felt right at the moment but it simply had been a reaction to the fact that they destroyed the Horcrux. Nothing more, or at least she told herself that. Hermione shook her head to get the thought of the kiss out of her mind. There were others in the castle that may still need her help! So, she climbed out of the Chamber of Secrets with Ron right behind her, both not saying a word. When they finally came out of the tunnel and stood in the bathroom again, she turned to her best friend. "I'm… going to search for someone who needs help." Her voice wasn't nearly as stable as she had hoped, but the Weasley simply nodded. "I'm searching for Harry." And with that, he went out of the bathroom and turned to the right, leaving Hermione's sight.

With a sigh, she turned in the opposite direction and after a few steps could already hear the still ongoing battle. Streaks of lightning flashed and the witch turned directly back into her surviving mode. With a few protecting spells and hexes she made her way up the staircases, feeling that someone up there might need her help. It was a gut feeling she couldn't really explain but that always had been right. Hermione turned around a corner just in time to see one still masked Deatheater disarming one of the Weasley twins. Hot anger flushed through her. The Weasleys had always been her second family, ever since she met Ron. Ginny was her best friend and there was no way she would let one of them get hurt! Her wand was already raised and before the Deatheater could even react, she had already spoken: "Expelliarmus!" The wand flew high through the air and out of the window next to Fred. The Deatheater growled at the witch, but that didn't leave the slightest impression on her. The anger inside of her was growing by the second and needed to burst out, otherwise it would eat her up. "Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted next and the man simply fell onto the ground with a great thud.

Panting, Hermione got down next to Fred and turned his head towards her. "Are you alright? We need to get back downstairs, to the others." She muttered while inspecting the twin who simply produced a small smile, but with visible difficulty. "You know, I was perfectly fine on my own here. No need to rescue me like a prince on a horse." He mumbled and tried to get up. His arms were shaking and his left leg seemed to be broken. Hermione managed a little chuckle as he sat down on the ground again. "Come on, let me help you. I've always wanted to see you as a damsel in distress."

Fred groaned as he got up with Hermione's support under his arms. She glanced slightly and realised that it probably wasn't just the leg that was broken. There was a gashing wound on his right and some of his fingers didn't seem to be in a very normal position. "Erm, Fred? Would you mind trying to walk on your good leg? Your weight is kinda crushing me." She managed to say as they reached the first staircase on their way back down to the Great Hall. He was considerably taller than her and from all the years of Quidditch training, his body was way more muscular than Hermione's. "Oh, right. Sorry, Mione." His teeth were gritted thanks to the pain and tried to shift his weight onto the leg that wasn't broken. "You know, for such a small witch you are pretty strong. Bet you've been boxing the last year, considering you were stuck with ickle Ronniekins and Wonder Boy." Hermione was close to tears from carrying the twin but still grinned broadly. Leave it to Fred Weasley to make jokes while there was a Battle going on around him. For a split second, she imagined what it had been like if she hadn't reached him in time.

She had always liked the stupid jokes and pranks the twins had pulled on everyone else even though she always pretended not to. It had been her duty to not allow them to try their stuff on first years - but that was it. Hermione adored the level of magic they were able to produce as it was higher than their O.W.L. oder N.E.W.T. levels. It came from their creativity and not from books as her magic. But Hermione would never let the twins in on that secret, they would mock her until her death.