A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I really appreciated the positive feedback and it was really encouraging, so thanks again.
And Then - One Month Earlier
Hermione laughed along with the rest of the group. "Oh please, Jake," she teased the boy next to her. "There is no way you were that stupid." She pretended to think for a moment before adding, "No, scratch that."
Her friends laughed along with the group and Hermione was relishing in the normality of it. She was currently spending time with a few of her muggle friends who she had been exceptionally close to before Hogwarts. Hermione had not seen some of them for over a year and it was a wonderful reunion.
They said good bye a few hours later and all of them promised that they would get together again soon, which probably meant sometime in the next week.
Hermione smiled as she walked toward the ally way. She stepped in and quickly looked around. Seeing that there was no one in sight, Hermione apparated back into her room.
Hermione was about to yell down to her parents to let them know that she was there when she heard noises. There was the sounds of things breaking and someone sobbing. That was not...no, it was. A shriek joined the group of noises, followed by malicious laughter.
Hermione, having prepared for something like this with the Order of the Phoenix, knew that a surprise attack would be her best option. From the sounds of it, there were multiple people down there, Hermione would be greatly outnumbered. She would need all the advantages that she could get.
Hermione pulled her wand from her pocket and slowly opened the door and headed downstairs, careful to avoid the stairs that creaked. She saw that no one was in the hallway and silently snuck over to where the noises were coming from. She poked her head around the wall and pulled back in a second.
Death eaters.
Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat and took a moment to collect herself. Not only were they death eaters, but they had her parents. In Hermione's brief glance, she had seen her father on the floor, presumably dead, and her mother sobbing at wand-point.
Still remaining as silent as possible, Hermione faced the room and cast a non-verbal charm. The death eater nearest her went down, alerting his comrades to her presence. Hermione did not waste anytime worrying about the numerous wands that had been pointed at her. Her legendary mind was straining, trying to think of how she was supposed to defeat them. There was no way that she could take them out simply by using curses. She was too vastly outnumbered, it would be a strategic battle.
Hermione started using spells that effected two or more people at once and simultaneously cast numerous protective shields around herself. She kept fighting, making sure to take each death eater down with as few spell as possible and never letting anyone get behind her. All the while, Hermione was slowly moving closer to her parents.
The fear in their eyes only fueled her on. She needed to rescue them, and she would.
Then the death eaters changed their battle tactics and started attacking her at the same time. Spells were coming at every angle and Hermione knew that a good strategy would not be enough to save her. The odds were too strong against her but she kept fighting.
Hermione knew that she would fight until she was dead, captured or victorious. Whatever came first. She was able to make it through the first wave of spells, ignoring the pain that it brought. She was unprepared for the second one though and five different spells hit her simultaneously.
Hermione gasped out and felt her legs give out from beneath her. There was pain all around, she could not escape from it. She clutched her head, trying to somehow make it stop, dropping her wand in the action. The pain only intensified and a part of her, the section of her brain that knew everything, identified the curse easily. Crucio. Nothing else could be so unbearable.
The rest of her could only focus on the pain. Make it stop, Hermione screamed in her head. Her mouth could not open though. She would not scream, something that infuriated the death eaters.
The spell ended and Hermione was grabbed by both arms, a death eater standing ominously over her on either side. Hermione glared and started struggling against them. Hermione never would give up, so when everything was against her and possibly about to die, Hermione tried her hardest to pull herself free from the death eaters. Then she would keep battling them.
The death eater in front of her took out his wand and pointed it at her sinisterly. Hermione imagined that he was smiling behind the terrifying mask he war and responded by struggling harder.
Hermione felt as if her body was being pulled apart and clenched her jaw, a feeble attempt to somehow distract herself. She started shaking violently, the pain only getting worse and worse.
Suddenly, Hermione heard someone whisper in her ear. "Play dead." The voice was strained and raspy, yet somehow gentle and sorrowful.
Hermione was furious at herself, it was so simple. Play dead.
Hermione immediately made her body go limp. And as she predicted, the death eater ended the spell.
"I'm almost disappointed," she heard a voice say. It sounded as if it came from the man who was cursing her. "The fun ended so soon."
A chuckle went around the room as he said this and Hermione fought against the urge to hex them all on the spot. No, she could not do that. She would have to wait for the perfect moment.
Stay calm, she told herself. Hermione continued to lay limp as the death eaters talked.
"She is weak," said a voice venomously. "She is unworthy of being singled out."
"Silence, Avery. You know as well as I do that the Dark Lord has his own reasons for needing the girl. He does not need to share them with us."
"Just as well, she is filthy. The mudblood and her parents, filthy scum. No one will miss them now that they're dead."
Hermione almost cried out. Dead?
The death eaters all agreed, oblivious to the tensing Hermione.
"The girl should have been paying more attention. I don't even think she noticed when we killed her mother."
Hermione's heart sank. It was true. She had not even noticed that her mother had been killed while she was fighting? Hermione wanted to hit herself, but refrained. The problem with playing dead, was that there were no distractions from her thoughts. A voice prickled at the back of her mind. It's your fault. It was you they were after, but now your parents are dead. And you didn't even care enough to notice that your mother was killed right before you.
Hermione managed to tear herself away from the thoughts and listened to the death eaters' conversation.
They were all laughing at a joke, most likely at her expense, and she heard that same strained voice say, "Now," as he pushed her wand into her hand. The urgency in his voice made Hermione jump up quickly.
She took one glance at the death eater who had helped her, trying to convey in that one instant how grateful she was. And then she apparated away. Hermione could have sworn that she saw him nod slightly before she found herself in a different atmosphere altogether.
She was suddenly in the Wesley's kitchen. The entire family, and Harry, were sitting around the table and froze when they saw her. Hermione realized what she must have looked like, blood everywhere. In a flurry of activity, everyone got up and chaos erupted.
Hermione vaguely remembered falling to the ground, in a state between full awareness and unconsciousness. She remembered hearing someone call for Dumbledore, being carried up to a room and being placed on a bed.
And then her world disappeared forever.
A/N: I hope that explains a lot. Don't worry, you'll find out more about the death eater who helped Hermione, although it is painfully obvious who he is, and you'll see more about the war. And of course some romance.
review?
