DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

((Thank- you to you lovely reviewers, you help get chapters out, as opposed to those who don't review.. You know who you are. Just kidding, but thank you, I've written a response to all 5 of you at the bottom of the page))

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"Closing your eyes to disappear

you pray your dreams will leave you here

but still you wake and know the truth

no one's there" -Evanescence

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Hermione did not stay with her parents that night. Instead she used floo powder to return to her flat. She felt tired, sore and ready to collapse. Her eyes were blood shot and stung every time she blinked. She felt as though she might vomit as her stomach was continuously lurching in a painful and distressing way. The flat was completely dark when she entered and she could here the stereo system playing some music playing quietly. She looked about in the darkness; feeling confused and suddenly felt a cold chill drift across her skin, giving her goose bumps. She looked to the source of the breeze and realized that Chrome had a window open and was sitting on the window sill looking out onto the starry night.

"For Gods sake Chrome, close the window, you'll freeze to death!"

"I'm not cold. I'm just getting some fresh air." He said, his voice sounding distant.

"That's ridiculous. Is there something wrong?" She asked, growing concerned by his odd behavior.

"No, I just can't sleep" he answered with a heavy sigh. "We got a message from the Order."

"What?!" She exclaimed. "What'd it say?"

"There's a meeting at five O'clock tomorrow morning. They wanted to have it as soon as possible because the Weasley family just got a message from Voldemort telling them to let Dumbledore know his time is up." Chrome took in a deep breathe and swallowed a swig of Fire Whiskey straight from the bottle. "Seems that Voldemort is setting out on his next stage of whatever plan the maniac has schemed up."

Hermione sat on the couch and rested her head down into her hands. "Why does this all have to happen so soon?"

"It'll come as it comes" Chrome responded hazily, jumping down from the sill and closing the window.

"Do you know what the next phase of Voldemort's plan is?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking a bit. "Prison camps, that's what. Prison camps for Muggles and Muggle born witches and wizards. The mission- it's purpose was to stop Voldemort before this sort of thing could happen. He'll undoubtedly go for the attack on Hogwarts first. If he succeeds then there is really nothing to stop him from taking over whatever he wants."

Chrome sat down next to Hermione on the couch. He held the bottle of fire whiskey up to her, and she snatched it from his and took a sip.

"Awk" she sputtered "that's horrible! How can you stand that stuff?!"

"Years of experience" he laughed, and fell back into the cushions of the couch as he downed another gulp.

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The sun had not yet risen and the night covered them like a heavy blanket as they wove their way towards the great Hogwarts castle. Hermione pulled her jacket tightly around her, and she tried to readjust her memories to better times. Riding the boat across the Hogwarts lake as a first year- everything was so incredible and filled with a nearly tangible magic that rendered her of nearly every thought but those of indescribable bliss. Now she looked up at the school, the windows dark from the sleeping students and the grounds cold and frozen. Dead, it was all dead. "Winter has killed everything" she thought. "Absolutely everything."

The order meeting proceeded with a rigid tension that felt only as stable as ice a centimeter thick. Words and memories sat like ticking bombs and every heart as Dumbledore murmured frightening words of darkness to come, his eyes and voice lacking the alighting features which had one provided comfort and an assurance of wisdom.

As the meeting concluded, Hermione reached down to a black bag by her side, and lifted it into her hands. She avoided the passing Order members to find her way to Chrome. "You might as well head back, I need to talk to. someone" she said in a very enigmatic fashion.

Chrome raised a confused eyebrow and answered, "how about I just wait in the hall for a while?"

She nodded, not really caring what he did, and made her way to see the most important possible person she could talk to. Albus Dumbledore.

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Ron stumbled down the hallway looking drunk, though in truth he was only disconcerted. Struggling to come to terms with losses and emotions, he wasn't sure what he wanted from life anymore.

He nearly fell over, but was quickly up righted by a stranger. He looked again to see that the stranger was in fact Chrome Granger, and he murmured a thanks.

"You seem drunk" Chrome forwardly mentioned.

"Not yet" Ron smirked with only half a will to his jest.

"Maybe this can help" Chrome told him, pulling a flask from his jacket pocket.

Ron took a greedy pull from the flask and returned it to its owner.

"Don't put that away!" A distinctly female voice called, and Ron groaned as his sister came up from behind them.

"Honestly Ginny, why don't you save the drink for people who can hold their liquor?" He grumbled.

"I am!" She said with a meaningful look at Ron. "The way I see it, there's only two people here who can, and one owns the flask. I may as well help him keep it away from you." She took at drink and recapped the flask before passing it over a sputtering Ron to a laughing Chrome.

"You- you- better just go back to the common room and study or something!" Ron yelled in a not so convincing manner.

"Now you just sound like Percy" Ginny scowled.

Ron was about to protest to her insult when a high pitch whistling noise pierced the stillness of early morning. The three turned quickly towards the direction of the noise, and a sudden flash of light filled the night sky in a vibrant purple and white, pieces of shrapnel barely seen flying in various directions. The quake that followed the eruption shook the trees in the dark forest, sent a deep ripple across the lake and threw Ginny and Ron to the ground, Chrome hitting the wall instead.

"What the bloody hell was that?!"

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"So when in doubt just call my name

Just before you go insane

If I ever leave this world

Hey I may never leave this world

But if I ever leave this world alive

She says I'm okay; I'm alright,

Though you have gone from my life

You said that it would,

Now everything should be all right." -Flogging Molly

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Hermione shook was a fading resolve as she headed to the office of her ex- headmaster, a journey which had come naturally to her in the past. She clutched the black bag in her hands, trying to keep her mind from straying from the task at hand. It had occurred to her in a bought of insomnia the previous night that she had to go see Dumbledore. She had seen her parents, she had spoken many times with Ron, but she still had numerous untied and indeed painful ends to tie with her beloved idol and father like figure.

She knocked on his door upon arriving, and she heard him tell her to enter in a weak voice.

He looked up at her, surprise apparent in his eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore.I." She found her voice was failing her.

"Please, call me Albus if you will." He said, and for a split second she thought she almost saw a glistening in his eye, but excused it to a natural tear that cures dryness.

"Well.um. Albus," she felt odd calling him this, and quickly told him so.

"I thought you may" he said with a little laugh, which despite its dryness, made her relax a bit.

"I wanted to apologize. I never meant a word I said professor. I was just hurt, and confused, and truth is, I still am. But you became the receptor of my pain, you were the only one I could think to blame. But now I know there is only one person to blame - if you can even call him- it- a person. It's not you professor. And I'm so sorry.I'm just." She was unable to carry on for she was suddenly engulfed in a destroying sorrow that she felt she was drowning in. The self pity born from her mistakes, loses and confusion seemed to over take her body and soul, and she felt unable to breathe, as though she were drowning in a cold black water of despair.

She suddenly felt Dumbledore's hand patting her own. "There there now. We mustn't break. We must go on. You see- there is still hope. It may be just the distant glimmer of some cold little star, but even that glimmer can guide us. This sorrow and anguish may consume us, or it may feed us. If we can triumph through times like these, we can emerge the victors over our demons- both those within and those without."

Hermione looked into the eyes of Dumbledore, and she felt as though she were looking into the skies during a dark storm, and watching the dark burdensome clouds pass to reveal the clear blue sky that she so admired. The wise old man was finally hearing his own words, and suddenly a glimmer sparkled in the depths of his eyes, and she saw her glimmer of hope.

"It may be just the distant glimmer of some cold little star, but even that glimmer can guide us" he had said, and now she saw it. She reached into her bag, and pulled out the picture she had gotten from Fred and George for Christmas.

"Professor, do you recognize this?" She asked.

He pushed his spectacles to the edge of his nose and peered down at the picture for some time before admitting that he did not.

"But I believe I know someone who will" Dumbledore told her with a nod of certainty. He arose to his feet, only to be knocked back into his chair by a sudden tremble on the castle floors.

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Chrome helped the two Weasleys to their feet and then began to run off towards the direction of the explosion.

"Hey you there! Stop!" Ron yelled as he brushed off his clothes. "Trust me, you don't want to be in that forest!"

Ginny was already following Chrome however, and Ron sighed heavily as he followed in suit.

It was still very dark as the sun had barely risen enough to turn the sky grey from its previous darkness. He jumped over a few roots and stumps as he charged into the Dark Forest, trying to get to the source of the explosion as quickly as he could.

He could hear Ron and Ginny following in the distance as Ron cursed every time he tripped on stubbed a toe.

Chrome was in full sprint when a piece of metal caught his eye. He stopped short and walked over to the scrap that was partially lodged in the ground. Dislodging it, he studied it for a moment as Ron and Ginny caught up.

"What've you got there?" Ron panted, rubbing a cold sweat from his forehead.

"A piece of shrapnel. Seems that that explosion was caused by a regular Muggle missile." Chrome answered, throwing the hot metal back down as he began to feel its warmth through his gloves.

"A Muggle what?" Ron asked, looking utterly baffled.

"Oh honestly Ron, why didn't you take Muggle Studies?! A missile is a Muggle weapon that flies through the air and can explodes upon contact!" Ginny sighed. "But who would use Muggle weaponry on Hogwarts?"

Chrome shrugged to show that he didn't have the faintest clue.

"No damage was done, the shields around the castle must've stopped it" Ron said, looking around and seeming every nervous. Ginny noticed his hands were shaking slightly, and she realized she needed to get him back to the castle.

"Come on, let's go back to the castle and see what Dumbledore can make of it all" Ginny urged, grabbing Ron's arm and heading back in the same direction they had previously run from.

Chrome didn't move for a moment, instead pulling a gun from the inside pocket of his jacket, and looking about slowly as through he was expecting something.

"I'm not sure weather the fact that you carry a gun on your person at all times is reassuring or just frightening" Ron said with a little frown.

"It'd be more frightening if you were on the receiving end" Chrome said with a smug look that made Ron twitch. Ginny shot Chrome a nasty glare.

Ginny pulled on Ron's arm again and they headed back for the castle, Chrome a few steps behind.

The barely rising sun had begun to cast shadows in the eerie forest, and Ginny didn't release Ron's arm as she walked. She could still tell that he was trembling, and she became deeply concerned. Ron wasn't exactly the rough and tough sort, but he had always been brave. He had faced missions she feared to even imagine. But something had changed. The last mission had left him in a poor state, and the paranoia he was suffering was obvious to even the densest of people. "Except for Chrome perhaps" she mused, feeling relieved as they stepped onto Hogwarts grounds.

She could see Hermione running towards them in the distance, a look of panic etched across her face.

"Thank gods you're okay!" Hermione gasped, hugging Ron and then Ginny. Chrome emerged from the forest, returning his gun to his jacket pocket.

"You didn't shoot anyone did you?" Hermione asked him, looking quite sure that he had just in fact shot one if not several people.

Chrome raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head, retreating back into the edge of the forest where he slumped up against a tree.

"He didn't shoot anyone" Ginny answered for him, looking up to see that Dumbledore had just approached.

"Might I enquire as to what just occurred?" Dumbledore asked, his face looking pensive.

"It was a Muggle missile" Chrome called out from the shadows of the forest where they could not see him but only hear him.

"Seemed to have exploded against the magic shields" Ginny added, nodding her head back towards the direction they had come from.

Dumbledore's face dropped and he took half a step foreword, as though peering off into the forest for something. "Than I suppose it is about to begin."

((I hope you liked Hermione's make up w/ Dumbledore, I think it was much needed. The following are in thanks to my 5 reviewers. That's right ONLY FIVE REVIEWED! If you want the chapters quicker, review, and I will personally thank you next chapter. I need to know what's going thru your minds with all this "post war drama". Thanks.))

Mabelmione: I'm glad you're optimistic about the story, I hope it will be good too. With any luck it will also have a more detailed plot line.

Siriuslyobsessed: Yep, there's some good old angst for you. Your approval is very important to me as your always a well rounded critic. As for all you questions.. Don't worry, they all have answers.

Gryffindor260: Thanks for all the reviews I've been getting from you. Glad you thought the chapter was deep, I aim to cover the emotions experienced by characters after the traumas they've experienced.

HAZZAGRIFF: I appreciate your constant reviews, sorry if this update wasn't quick enough for ya. If people review more I'll be sure to speed the process up because I'll be better motivated.

Wildcat: Wow, great review. Good work speculating, whether you're right or not is for me to know and you to find out. You seem to have a lot of logic and thinking behind your deductions though. You must be reading the fic very well, and it pleases me to know my points are getting across.