Attention: This story is now being written for the Harry Potter Fanfiction Festival,
in the best angst story category, it has given me the motivation to finish this
which I have wanted to for ages but never had the time. So yeah!
You can find the link below for more details... Remember to remove the space
surrounding 'fanfiction' otherwise it won't work.

http:/forum. fanfiction .net/topic/44309/59591723/1/

Chapter Two

Darkness come Again

THE boy's hand was rough, callous and dry. She knew it was from potion ingredients and too much time with a wand in his hand. But it had never matter to her, his hands were perfect to her as they gently made the path down her jaw. Her eyes were closed just relishing the presence of the boy – no man – before her. The musty scent of wood oak and something else she could never distinguish. But completely him, no one else smelled like he did. It had been too long; they had been separated for too long. Opening her eyes she could see everything she felt reflected back at her in his face. He hid nothing from her, she could see it all even in the dark forgotten room at 12 Grim Place as he liked to call it. Always with his jokes. Just thinking of all the times he had made her laugh his eyes sparkling with mirth just at seeing her smile made her heart want to burst.

She raised her hand to capture his, pulling it down to lay a soft kiss on the back of his palm. She opened her mouth to say goodbye, but like always he already knew what she was going to say and shook his head, placing a finger to her lips. Now was not the time for goodbyes. They would see each other again, some how they would. She didn't want him to leave but he wasn't supposed to be there, this wasn't his part of the fight. He had to get back to family. He had to protect them for she couldn't bare the thought of any of them being hurt, they had become her family and she prayed one day that it would not just be in her heart. Closing her eyes again, she wrapped her arms around his slender shoulders pulling him close against her, feeling his chest move with each breath he took. She loved him, she knew it with every fibre of her being, she loved this man with all his faults and adorable quirks. Every inch of him she loved. As she pressed her face into her neck, her arms growing tighter around him, she tried to think of how she could express this to him, how to show him that he had become her world. She had to make him understand that once her job was done, once she had helped Harry defeat the mad-man she would never leave his side. That she was his completely body, soul, mind, heart, being, every little hair on her body was his, if he would have her.

As she search for the words, he pulled back gazing down into her eyes reading her like a book. He smiled at her, it was soft and gentle on his face. His deep voice broke the silence that had surrounded them like a cocoon. It vibrated through her like it always did but the message was clear. He knew how she felt, he knew because he felt it too. Again she opened her mouth to say goodbye but not for long and again he stopped her, this time place a chaste kiss to her lips and then he was gone.

Her arms hung stiff in the air surrounded where he had once stood. She would see him again, she had to.

HERMIONEfelt herself wake up, it was a weird feeling she had never experienced it before. She imagined it was akin to that of people in a coma, aware but not being in control of their bodies. She lay there limp in an unknown bed listening to the sounds of the world around her. It didn't take her long to realise she was at the Burrow. She was safe.

She could hear Ron's voice downstairs talking with Harry and Ginny. They seemed so different that what she remembered, a little lighter, not as clipped. Her mind was a fog and she knew she was forgetting something but it never came. Hermione tried to move her arms but they didn't budge, as though the mechanics that made them work were busted. She tried for something else and managed to open her eyes. She was in Ginny's room and sitting in a lone chair by the window was Charlie Weasley, she thought it odd at first that it would be him but gave it no extra thought as she tried to get up. She groaned from the effort but nothing she did would compel her body to move. After a while Charlie began to stir, Hermione coughed trying to find her voice until finally she managed to call out his name. Charlie jumped up with a start looking around dazed before his eyes landed on her. His face relaxed and he ran to the door shouting out to everyone, he spun around on his heel wand in hand muttering as he waved it over her body. A yellow shimmering light floated above her for mere seconds and then it felt as though gravity slammed itself down on her body. She let out all the air in her body and slumped back into the bed.

Ron barged through to her bedside grabbing her hand in tow of his staring down into her eyes, his face smiling broadly at her. "Hermione, you're ok."

Harry stood behind Ron smiling at her also, he looked relieved as well. "Gave us quite a scare." He added.

Hermione tried to smile back but everything ached, her head throbbing against the pillow. It was then that she realised that she had moved her arm, she stared at in wonder and then tried pulling herself up into a sitting position. With a little help from Ron she finally managed it.

"We had to paralyse you, you were flaying constantly and screaming for days before Charlie placed the spell on you." Ron explained.

Hermione just nodded in understanding. How long had she been asleep, she felt like it had only been a couple of hours, but as she looked on at the others her active mind realised it had to have been longer. She knew her friends and knew that they would not be in such good shape after such short amount of time.

"How—how long?" She choked out.

Harry stepped forward this time, taking a sit on the bed besides her legs. He gave them a reassuring pat before looking over at her. "You withdrew within yourself after. We tried everything we could think of to get you to snap out of it, but nothing worked. Eventually we figured you'd just come out in your own time when you were ready. It's been three weeks." Harry whispered the last part; Hermione could hear what he was not saying in his voice. He had been worried, scared even. Scared that she may never have woken up. She moved her hand over his and smiled at him.

"I'm fine now." She managed; her throat felt like it was on fire every word causing blisters to burst deep within her throat. She coughed until Mrs. Weasley came in stopping in her tracks at seeing Hermione awake. She quickly ushered everyone out and gave her something for her throat and told her to rest.

Hermione thought she would never sleep again, but her body still felt exhausted after having been trapped in what ever state she had been in for three weeks and before she could stop it she was enclosed in darkness again.

HERMIONEopened her eyes for the second time that day; at least she hoped it was the same day. The room was dark and she groped her face checking to see if her eyes were indeed open. They were, it was just dark in the room, night time. It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but eventually she could make out the shadowy lines of Ginny's dresser, the mirror that stood by the door and the curtain that hung down covering the moon from bathing its light in the room. She nearly missed the sleeping form in the chair by the window until she heard the soft intake of breath. She pushed her body to its limit and sat bold up trying to see who it was. To her it had only been a day since she had been fighting for her life covered in rumble and blood, her body and mind was still wired for danger.

Managing a sitting position with her feet touching the cold wooden floors, she angled her face to see the stranger in the moonlight. Red hair sat just above a set of slender shoulders, sea blue eyes stared straight at her, unblinking, cold and distant. But she could see as she squinted in the light that there was softness to the man's expression. She could see without any doubt that there was pain trapped beneath those eyes but it was his pain, and his alone. He pushed himself forward soaking his face into the light.

She felt her soul scream for him, as she tumbled from the bed and into his arms. She was so consumed with her need to be close to him that she needed notice straight away that his touch was different, it wasn't familiar it wasn't home. She pushed her face in his hair breathing in; it was then that she froze. She couldn't remember how to move, her limbs separated from her some how this time without the aid of magic.

"Hermione." The deep voice was the same, but she could hear the subtle difference and it tore her heart in to. The roll of the r was clipped, the i slightly sharper. He had said her name so many times it was ingrained in her subconscious.

She pulled back falling backwards until they were no longer touching. The man before her made no move to catch her, no move to help her to her feet. He just watched as she took in his features. His hair was richer, brassier. There were freckles she had never caressed on the bridge of his nose. A soft curve in the corner of his mouth. A scar above his left eyebrow. A missing ear. A tingle of green in his blue eyes.

He watched as the realisation hit her and her pain flashed in front of his face. He understood it, better than anyone else ever could, for he felt it also.

She shook her head trying to rid her mind of the errors her eyes saw. It was all wrong, all wrong. But it had to be him, she couldn't have lost him. But as she continued to look at him she knew, she knew completely body, soul, mind, heart, being, every little hair on her body knew that this was not the man she loved.
His deep voice filled her ears once more and she tried to shut it out. She didn't want to hear it, not if it wasn't his, but she heard and his message got a across all the same. He knew.

"You are the only person who could tell us apart. Not even our own mother could. For that I know you loved him just as much as I."