Just hours had past by since they bid farewell to their beloved friend and mentor. But they had to put it behind them, they had a mission to complete. They must find and destroy the remaining horcruxes. Little did they know that Hermione's mission would be the biggest, most important of them all.

Hermione was a mess. The tears spilling from her eyes made shiny tracks down her cheeks and her brain was scrambled to pieces. She couldn't think straight. 'I have to find the books' she repeated the sentence in her head like a mantra. She had tried to look for them the muggle way, she didn't know why. It just felt wrong using magic for what was probably her last task at Hogwarts. But she soon became frustrated and resolved to using her exceptional magic. 'Accio Horcrux books!' The books came hurtling towards her and landed on the desk with a soft thump. As she leafed through the withered pages of the first book – small, battered with a brown leather cover - she noticed something. A symbol, in the corner of the page. A heart ripped into seven ragged pieces, pencilled onto the yellowing parchment. The page was completely defaced, dotted lines, fractions, squiggles, marks, sums, ideas, paragraphs circled, sentences underlined. And right at the bottom was a series of letters that shocked Hermione. She could barely believe her eyes. In a neat, manly scrawl, the name Tom Marvolo Riddle stood out against the tattered parchment like inky, black pools of evil. Underneath, the same letters, rearranged to form different words.

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
LORD TO

I AM LORD DOMO

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

'Voldemort. This was the book he took from the Restricted Section during his years at Hogwarts. Voldemort, the evil, twisted creep who massacred hundreds for their parentage. Something they can't help. It seems quite wrong that he was educated at Hogwarts. That he spent seven years of his life sleeping under the same roof as the people he would come to kill. And Merlin knows when they change the furniture in the castle. The Slytherins could be sleeping in the same bed as he did 50 years ago. And he was Head Boy. He had everyone wrapped around his little finger, of course he was Head Boy. He even had an award for special services to the school. As if killing a teenage girl and framing a completely harmless student is a special service. It's just evil. And that got him the Head Boy position. Me and Draco have been offered the Head positions for next year. If I wasn't going with Harry and Ron, me and Draco would share the common room that Voldemort and the Head Girl shared. Draco might sleep in the same bed as Voldemort did.'

As the unwelcome thoughts crammed themselves in the corners of Hermione's expansive mind, she failed to notice the faint glowing coming from the pages of the book in front of her. The glow became brighter and brighter during the following minutes and it wasn't until it reached Hermione's delicate hands that she stopped drumming on the desk absent-mindedly and stared at the book in shock and wonder. Unable to move, Hermione watched the light grow rapidly until it engulfed the remainder of Hermione's slim form. For a few seconds, Hermione was blinded by the light absorbing her before everything was plunged into darkness. She felt as if she was falling when immense pain took over her body as she hit something very, very solid.