Author's Note: So this is a story that has been on my mind for quite some time. I think I started writing it over a year ago now. I'm done with Part One of the story which is 13 chapters. So basically everything in the books is the same until the battle begins in DH. This story will deal with some dark themes and sensitive subjects ( I'll have this warning in every chapter but just a heads up.) Also the romance side of the story is light and won't come into play until later chapter and even then it isn't the main focus of the story so you've been warned. This is an M rated story, I'm going to play it safe and say that rating applies to every chapter. The story will follow Hermione through the *spoiler* years of war post Battle of Hogwarts. Some characters may seem slightly OOC but there is a reasoning for every character change and hopefully that will come across through the writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the Harry Potter characters, or any place within the Harry Potter Universe. I am not making any money off this story and it's only meant to be fun. Nor do I own any of the quotes being used at the beginning of chapters.

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." -Ernest Hemingway.

May 2nd, 1998

"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die." Herbert Hoover

Hermione leaned to her left as she tried to walk down the hallway. Her wand had snapped during her last fight and the only thing she could think of was getting out of the castle. She wondered if she could get away with hobbling through the castle without fear of a battle. She was unrecognizable after so many fights with Death Eaters. There was a chance no one would even realize she was a No. 1 Desirable.

Her hair was matted down with her own blood; the only sign of her trademark bush was around her shoulders where her hair ended. The open wound at the top of her head was still oozing blood down the right side of her face. Her left eye was swollen shut and nearly doubled in size. There were several noticeable gashes across her body. Her right ankle seemed to be twisted, or possibly broken. The only reason she could still walk had to be the sheer need to get out, there was no other explanation.

The Death Eater she had just fought lay dead on the ground behind her as she walked away from the scene. Hermione couldn't feel proud of herself for surviving and she couldn't even manage to feel disgusted to have killed a man with her bare hands. It seemed as if the moment her wand snapped all her emotions had frozen. She went through the motions of trying to get close enough to fight or far enough to run away. When she finally took a moment to look around at the situation the man she had pinned to the ground was taking his last breath, which she had rung from his body.

Her tennis shoes stuck to the ground with each step as the blood became sticky beneath her feet. Her head was pounding and her ears were ringing. She hadn't heard any noise since she went numb and panic started to set in that she might be deaf. But as she limped away her thoughts rang out loud and clear in her head.

"Not so brave without a wand are you, mudblood?"

Hermione had dodged a spell, rolling over on her ankle. She gasped for air as a pain shot through her body. Her first fear was that she had been hit with a curse but as she kept rolling she realized it was her ankle screaming at her. She managed to find cover but only just before the Death Eater blew the wall to pieces.

"Come out and play, mudblood. We can play the dirty way, the way your savages were raised. Think you can beat me without your wand?"

Hermione still refused to move. She didn't want to fight him, didn't want to die. But the moment he caught up to her hiding place he turned to look at her a crazed look in his eye. She noticed his wand wasn't in his hand and thought to herself that perhaps that was what he meant by fighting the dirty way. As if it was an instinct her hand balled into a fist and swung out hitting him in the throat with all the power she could.

Hermione couldn't be sure what had happened after that, only the fact that she had gotten banged up and a Death Eater had the life strangled out of him. Limping through the halls she prayed, willing God to send her some relief and make her come across a friend. Making her way through the castle injured would take a great deal of time she wasn't sure if she had. She could only manage to limp, her vision was impaired by her swollen eye, her right eye was a struggle to open as blood caused her eyelashes to stick together, and she had no wand. She was certain that if she met an enemy she would be doomed.

She wasn't even certain where she was within the castle. The place she had once considered a home seemed completely unfamiliar to her. It was dark and dank, blood occupied a vast majority of the floors and walls, but above all else Hogwarts had now seen real death. Hermione didn't want to discount Myrtle or Dumbledore in anyway, but the deaths that had occupied since she, Harry, and Ron stepped foot into the castle that night had been horrendous.

When she finally managed to find her way to the staircases they were frozen in place. She had read once in Hogwarts, A History that the stairs controlled themselves and picked by their own choice when to move. She couldn't help but think the stairs knew a battle was no time to play games. Hermione leaned her left arm on the rail as she tried to take a step. Each small movement down the stairs was killing her body.

She sighed thankfully when she realized she had only been on the second floor. Remembering slowly that she had been separated from Harry and Ron during their run to the common grounds Hermione made outside her destination. The Grand Entry which had once impressed her beyond all means now felt dark and cruel, she knew just outside the doors her classmates were dying.

The grounds were loud with the cries of battle. While Hermione was devastated as she assessed the fields she couldn't help but be grateful that she could hear. Everyone around her seemed to be in their own world, paired up good versus evil in fights. It was only when someone fell to the ground that the victor looked for a new opponent. Hermione did her best to avoid the fighting, knowing that in such an open area she stood no chance without her wand.

Her goal was to find Harry, to find Ron, and get the hell out of Hogwarts. After being beaten up by a Death Eater she was not afraid to admit that they were not ready. She couldn't even call running away cowardly, it was merely the smartest strategy. If the three of them could regroup they would have a fighting chance. They only needed to kill the snake and then kill Voldemort but they had thrown themselves into battle without clear heads or any preparation.

A spell just barely missed her head as she tried walking through the crowd. Part of her wanted to stand tall and attempt fighting but her rational side made her keep moving. She dodged her way through groups trying to hide herself from whoever had attempted attacking her.

A flash of red passed her and her eye lit up, assuming it was Ronald running by. She couldn't help but feel disappointed when she saw it was Ginny. Young innocent Ginny, fighting a battle that was far too difficult for her to deal with, it was far too hard for Hermione to deal with. They were only children, young kids pretending to be grown ups in order to stop the bad guys.

"Expelliarmus!" she heard the cry of her best friend.

She turned her head as quickly as she could manage to find the source of the yell. She knew in her heart it had to be Harry. He was the only person who would be using a disarming spell in the middle of war. Though it was better than dodging and running, she thought to herself with a small pang in her heart. When she turned to her right she saw him, back to back with Ron fighting off Death Eaters left and right. They looked like they were in their element; the former misfits had found their place on the battlefield.

Harry stunned his opponent and Hermione used the opportunity to approach. Maneuvering through the crowds of fighters she managed to catch his attention. His wand went up to meet her; Hermione raised her arms weakly trying not to pass out from the pain and wooziness. Harry seemed to realize his mistake quickly and lowered his wand as he ran towards her not bothering to look around him.

"Hermione, what happened to you?" he asked worrying laced in every word.

"'ost my 'and" Hermione tried to speak but found forming the words to be difficult.

Harry's eyes widened in fear as he realized his best friend was in the middle of a battlefield completely defenseless. Each second another Death Eater was winning a fight, or a stunned Death Eater was overpowering the stun, every moment they became less safe. Her wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and tried to steady her as she leaned against him.

Hermione wanted to chastise him about focusing on his own safety but didn't want to waste the energy. Every moment that passed by she felt woozier and found it harder to keep her eyes open. Harry seemed to realize how much she was struggling as he made his way back to Ron, who had just barely won his fight as he stunned the Death Eater in front of him.

Hermione reached out for Ron, letting go of Harry's embrace. Both of her hands clutched onto his shirt, which was dirtied and ripped. She knew if she could she would cry, but tears were physically impossible. Instead she moaned a heartbreaking sound as she pulled at his shirt.

"Go, we gotta go." She wished she could form real sentences, wished she could make her argument but speaking was hard enough.

"Mione, are you nuts we can't leave everyone here. My family is here fighting, I can't just run away. You can do it Hermione, just be strong and fight."

"Ron, look at her she can hardly stand!" Harry bellowed over the noise around them. "Do what she says, we need to get her to safety."

"Lose, gotta win." Hermione tried to get her point across.

She knew that if they stayed much longer everyone would be killed. They needed to stay alive to have even a shred of hope for winning the war in the long run. The three of them were the figureheads for the good side, if they were killed in this battle because they weren't prepared there would be no one.

Hermione was trying to open her eye as much as possible but as she spoke the world around her seemed to be growing darker. Her eye slid closed, as if to match her swollen one. She could feel her weight dropping. It was as if she no longer had control.

"I've got you." She heard Harry say as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Hermione could barely move as she started to wake up. It was less of a physical impairment and more the overwhelming dread of where she might be. When she had last been aware her comrades were falling all around her, she had seen little hope for them to win the battle. Passing out in the middle of losing a war could never end well.

She tried not to groan as she shifted slightly on the hard ground but the sound won. She felt a hand take hers squeezing it as if life depending on holding her hand.

"Hermione, are you awake?" it was Harry's voice.

She groaned in response, not sure if she could open her mouth to respond. He squeezed her hand tighter at her response. Hermione could hear him choking back tears. Though his attempts to hold back his emotions cleared failed when she felt a small drop of water hit her arm.

"Ron, she's waking up!" Hermione could hear something in the background, a movement or a grumble, "Ron, I'm serious move your ass."

There was more silence as Hermione carefully listened to the movement that seemed far away. She assumed she was listening to Ron walk over to where Harry was sitting over her body. She could hear the snap of twigs and the rustle of leaves as he moved closer to them.

Hermione did her best to open her eyes and was surprised when very little effort was needed. Her first assumption was that Harry must have healed her wounds but when she went to move her body and felt pain overtake her she knew that assumption was wrong.

"Careful, you're pretty banged up. Your face is looking better though, besides the gash." Harry smiled half heartedly.

Hermione wasn't sure if she was supposed to be grateful for not being as bad as she had been while fighting. She couldn't understand why Harry hadn't restored her. Ron wasn't handy enough with a wand to do healing spells, and she was grateful he didn't use her as a test dummy but she knew Harry had the skill.

"Why?" she gasped. Her voice was hoarse but it was easier to talk than before.

"Hermione, take it slow." Harry said helping her ease back into a lying position.

Hermione could still see him and Ron as she tried to avoid staring up at the sky. Ignoring the fact that they were outside made it easier to imagine that she was still some normal kid who wasn't hiding away in woods.

"How long?"

It was the first time she realized she had no clue how long it had been since she passed out. The night sky was dark, but she couldn't remember how light it had been before she slipped into sleep.

"It's been nearly a week, Hermione."

"We've been hiding out since you pulled us away from the battle."

"Ron!" Harry chastised.

Hermione looked at Ron cautiously. He was clearly annoyed with the idea of being on the run again. Hermione couldn't help but feel guilty, there could have been a chance that they would have won if they had just stuck it out. But she felt certain that they were far too gone to have pulled a win out of their back pocket. Ron seemed to think differently, he was clearly holding resentment to being pulled away from the field.

"It's okay Hermione, when you passed out my arm was too injured to help you. Ron carried you and I led us away. We were nearly caught I barely managed to disarm the Death Eaters that were after us before we made it off the grounds. Ron and I, we just kept moving until we found a little muggle town."

"It was in pretty bad shape.' Ron interrupted.

Harry glared at him, as if Ron had said something inappropriate.

"Don't say it like that! The town, the town had been raided. It was all blood and shambles, there wasn't a person alive, Hermione. It was a small town but still, every single person. We hid out there for a day or two before we moved on. I don't know what this woods is but it's small, I just wanted somewhere to rest till you had a chance to really heal up."

Hermione didn't know what to say. She couldn't help but feel grateful that she hadn't been aware of the dead town they had occupied. She knew the Death Eaters did raids but she didn't know they had grown to the extent of killing entire villages. Her heart cried for all the poor people who had died, they died because Voldemort was still alive, because the Golden Trio hadn't managed to off the mass murderer in time. Guilt poured through her body just thinking about it.

"Why didn't you heal me?" she asked, feeling slightly selfish.

"Really Mione, that's what you care about right now?" Ron laughed out his voice dripping with bitterness.

"Ron, shut up. We couldn't heal you, Hermione. We both snapped our wands back in the town, left the pieces there just to be safe."

Hermione wanted to scream but she didn't think she had the energy. She had never known them to do something so stupid before, and she had witnessed a lot of stupidity on their parts.

"Why?"

Harry and Ron took a moment. Harry seemed to be silently asking Ron for guidance on what to do but the red head seemed uninterested. Harry opened his mouth and shut it again without a word, he repeated the process multiple times. Hermione was almost becoming annoyed when he uttered words that made her blood run cold.

"Hermione the Order fell. You-Know-Who is in control."

Author's Note: So there is the first chapter. Please review, I live off of reviews and I welcome constructive criticisms :)