Chapter 1

The girl scrambled her way through the undergrowth, sniffing the air and tilting her head as she watched the horde of creatures moving their way slowly towards the trees. She looked at her companion, a wolf the size of a small horse, and whined to him. He stared into her eyes, concern for her evident in his features.

"Silver-Flank," she whispered. "What is that?"

Of course, her tongue was not that which you and I might understand, it was that of wolves, for Flametamer had been raised amongst them, and knew little of anything else. She did not know of humans, only that they were a people to be feared. As she had begun to grow, many in her pack had feared her, and said that she should be cast out lest she betray them all. Once they had realised she was no threat to them, they had thought of making her a communication link between wolf and human, their secret weapon. Since Flametamer could not speak one word of human, that plan was forgotten.

"I do not know, sister…This disturbs me greatly. We shall go to the Leaders, and tell them of this."

The 'this' in question was a great white light, that was slowly surrounding them. Silver-Flank bared his teeth menacingly.

"Fight it, sister, lest it swarm us like the summer bees."

The light had by now encircled them, and was closing in.

"There is no fighting light, Silver-Flank…"

"No, accept it with grace."

The light grew lighter and lighter, and then turned black. Flametamer was under the distinct impression she was falling, but was not able to voice this to Silver-Flank. Down she fell, wondering if she had fallen through the bottom of the world and was hurtling through space.

She was half right.

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Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were laughing as they made their way down to Hagrid's Hut. They attended Hogwarts- School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or, at least, they had. Graduation was tomorrow, and the Golden Trio were on their way to say goodbye. Voldemort had been defeated the previous summer- making all 3 realise how precious love truly was.

Harry was slightly depressed. Hogwarts was his home, and now it was time to leave. Worse, still, he'd pushed Ginny too far away and she wasn't coming back to him any time soon. He still held onto the hope though, that the two of them would be romantically linked once again, for he did love her.

He had nowhere to go after Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione had offered to let him live with them, but with their marriage in a month's time he couldn't imagine anything more awkward.

He'd said yes though.

"I can't believe that this will be the last time we'll open this door…" Hermione said, holding Ron's hand for comfort. Harry's stomach turned over, at both her action and her words. It was the little things that made it so obvious, a kiss on his cheek in the morning, holding his hand as they walked along. It made it obvious that Harry was the third wheel. Two's company, three's a crowd, and Harry had never liked crowds.

"Are you going to open the door then?" He said, hearing the anger in his voice and willing it away. Hermione looked at him strangely, and let go of Ron's hand to touch the handle. As her fingers made contact, she froze, eyes widening, and collapsed.

"Hermione!" Ron's cry echoed in Harry's mind as his best friend crouched on the floor, cradling his fiancé in his arms and trying in vain to find a pulse.

"Harry!" He moaned suddenly, tears spilling down his face. "What are you doing? I…I…She's not waking up Harry! She's not waking up...And…" Ron's voice changed at once, from sadness to anger, "And you're just standing there! What are you doing?"

Harry thought quickly, feeling bad. " I was trying to figure out what made her collapse like that…." It suddenly hit him that Hermione might be dead, and he gasped.

"Finally hit you, has it?" Ron said sarcastically. He climbed to his feet, and came over to where the Boy Who Lived stood. "What have you found?"

"Nothing…" Harry said, shrugging. "There's absolutely nothing here…Maybe it was her. She might've had heart problems or something…"

Simultaneously, the two young men turned around to look at where Hermione lay.

At least, they tried to. The catch was, she wasn't there. There was just…

"Her hairclip…" Ron murmured, pocketing the small flower-shaped accessory. "It was her favourite one..."

"It's okay. Ron…" Harry tried to say.

"Who took her Harry? We're the only ones around. I didn't hear a thing! Did you?"

"No…But I promise, we'll find her, mate, we will."

"Do you know what my biggest fear is Harry?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway…"

"Hermione used to say that…" Ron blew his nose on his sleeve.

"Go on then, what is it? Spiders?" Harry thought he had a good idea of what it was, but decided to lighten the atmosphere.

"It's losing her Harry…You don't know what love's like!"

Harry felt anger boiling up within him at that…I can love…I can defeat Voldemort!

"Thanks for that, Ron…Thanks for reminding me how pathetic and lonely I am!"

Ron appeared not to have noticed what Harry said. Instead he balled his fist, and Harry swore he saw flames dance in his eyes.

"I'll find her Harry…Even if it kills me, I'll find her!"

Harry smiled weakly. "I'll help you…"

Ron smiled, and stood up. Then, he lifted a hand and pointed.

"H-H-Harry?"

Harry was confused. "What is it Ron?"

"What is that?"

"What is what?"

"THAT!"

Harry turned around to see a giant ball of light hurtle from the sky and impale itself in Ron's stomach, winding the redhead.

"RON! Are you okay?"

"H…."

Harry sighed, at least he was conscious…But….he was blurry? And fading…And so was Hagrid's Hut…It was disappearing…all disappearing…and Ron had finally finished croaking his cry for help.

"H…Hermione!"

With a thud as his best friend hit the ground, and apparently fell through it, Harry shut his eyes and opened them again.

Opening them had no effect. He was in utter darkness.