A/N: I'm back again! I didn't realise that I will be writing the next chapter this quickly, but I've been getting ideas left and right and I couldn't help but write it down. Of course, I may possibly be neglecting uni work, but what the hey! You only live once, right? I also know that I am going to be very irregular with updates, but I am going to try my hardest to make sure I update at least weekly or biweekly.

I had to re-read parts of the Half Blood Prince before writing this – not that I am complaining, and I feel as though I have most of this correct, but if there are any plot errors or anything, please let me know!

I probably should mention also, that Sirius was never killed at the Ministry. I don't know how people feel when authors don't stick to that canon, but I think it's kind of important for this story. And no one really feels as though Sirius needed to die, right? I certainly don't...

For the prologue I got one review, one follow, and two favourites so thank you so much to you readers! It doesn't seem like much to most, but it is for me! I appreciate each hit! Hopefully you will enjoy this.

Now without further ado, here is chapter one! Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own no characters, settings or ideas from the Harry Potter series, and I am making no money from this. I am simply writing this for the enjoyment.

...ooOoo...

Chapter One: Felix Felicis

Hermione had known about the effects of Felix Felicis through both Harry's description and some light reading, but she could have never known how great it actually felt after taking it. She looked at both Ron and Ginny, and could tell from both of their expressions that they were thinking the exact same thing. They could all feel that tonight they were going to survive, and that tonight wouldn't end as badly as they had originally thought. She didn't think that Harry was right when he said that Death Eaters would be infiltrating the castle tonight, but Hermione had held her word and made sure to keep an eye on the map. Sure enough, she saw Draco Malfoy's footprints vanish from the map where the Room of Requirement dwelled, and no more than five minutes later did dozens more pairs of dots appear. Hermione had recognised some of the names to be Death Eaters.

She took no time at all getting Ron and Ginny together to take the Liquid Luck. Hermione immediately felt guilty for doubting Harry at all. Thanks to his suspicions, members of the DA were out there preparing to fight.

"Bloody hell, this stuff is good!" It was such a typical Ron thing to say.

"Never mind that now, Ronald," Hermione responded. "We need to let the Professors know what's happening."

It was at that moment that a boom and a crash was heard. Clearly there was no need to warn any of the teachers. Hermione could hear footsteps from the younger students in the dormitories above, and there were murmurs as students began asking each other what the sound could have been. A couple of them had even come down the stairs hoping to find an answer.

Hermione, who would have usually not really known what to do in this situation, walked up to a third year girl wearing a matching pyjama set and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to go back upstairs and tell everybody to stay in their dormitories, no matter what happens. Hopefully a teacher will come to talk to you. Then you are to let all the boys in their dormitories know too. Do you understand?" The girl nodded, a confused expression still masking her face. "Make sure you do that for me, okay? Now go!"

The girl nodded once and turned around to run back up the stairs. Hermione waited to hear her voice before she turned around to Ginny and Ron. "I suppose we should go then."

When they left the common room, Hermione saw that there wasn't much happening at all. At least not on the seventh floor anyway. If the Death Eaters had come through the Room of Requirement they couldn't have gone too far just yet. She looked down at the map which she still clutched in her hand. Most of the dots were still hanging around the third and fourth floors. She tried not to focus on the smaller proportion of dots that were from the DA. Hermione's heart lifted when she saw a swarm of miniature footprints on the on the ground floor though, recognising most of the name's as members of the Order. One of the teachers must have tipped them off – most likely McGonagall or Snape. Hermione stuffed the map into one of her cloak pockets, pulled out her wand and started running. Ron and Ginny staying close behind her.

She didn't know where she was going, letting her legs do all the work. With the help of Liquid Luck, Hermione knew that she wouldn't have to do much thinking. The only thing that worried her was that the potion wouldn't provide protection against the unavoidable spells with a higher calibre of magic. Hopefully she wouldn't have to face that reality tonight.

Her lungs were already beginning to strain themselves after doing down the first couple of stair cases, but when she finally saw hooded figures and flashes of light, all of that was forgotten. All she felt was the need to join the fight, fitness levels put aside. She heard Ron grunt from next to her and run ahead. She followed him.

Not once was she hit by a spell or a hex. Hermione's brain seemed to tell her which way to move and her body reacted almost instantly without her realising. It was a while before she could get used to the feeling and use it to her advantage. She had fallen into a quick pattern – she shot several hexes randomly at any Death Eater she could, and whenever she got into a one on one, she made sure to protect herself before she could spot a weakness. That was when she would strike. It was an effective strategy and it wasn't long before Hermione had stunned several Death Eaters.

She spun around after stunning a particularly vicious blonde witch, looking for her next target. She spotted Sirius Black in the middle of a duel. He seemed to be holding his own as he had in the battle in the Department of Mysteries, quickly shooting a non verbal spell which ripped open the sleeve of the Death Eater's robe, blood gushing out and dripping to the floor. The Death Eater dropped to his knees as Sirius turned around. He stopped when Hermione caught his eye.

It was as though she had been cast under the Muffliato spell. She could still register everything that was happening around her, but she could only hear a dull buzzing. They were the only two that mattered. Sirius, who's slightly greying hair was sticking to his face with sweat and eyes filled with determination, and herself. She was sure that she was sweating also with her hair frizzing much more than usual. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

Then as quickly as the moment began, Sirius gave her a small smile and ran off, ending the moment.

But Hermione didn't have time to dwell. She needed to get back to work and bring down as many Death Eaters as she possibly could. She didn't know why, but she felt as though that she needed to make Harry proud. He had trusted both herself and Ron to keep the castle safe.

Ron. Hermione hoped with all her heart that he was okay. She didn't know what she would be able to do without him. They had constantly fought through their school years, sure, but if he died tonight – or even if he simply got injured for that matter – she had no idea what to do.

I need to go to fifth floor corridor. No one will be there. Why she needed to go to the fifth floor, Hermione had no idea, but it felt so absolutely right. She knew then that this was the Felix Felicis talking so she let her body react straight away to this train of though, and she found herself running towards the stair case. Her body automatically reacted to the smallest things – jumping over injured bodies, dodging hexes and curses, righting herself whenever she slipped on blood. Her ears were ringing, and her eyes stinging. Dust particles were floating around from blasted concrete, some of it making her need to cough. Ahead of her was a Death Eater who had been caught by the trick step. His leg had fallen through the step, but it didn't stop him. He was firing hexes and Unforgivables at whoever he could. Hermione simply jumped over him, narrowly missing everything he sent her way.

She had been right. There was nobody in the fifth floor corridor. She could still hear the noise of battle through the lower floors, but this floor seemed incredibly eerie. She would have thought that there was at least someone here. Maybe one of the younger students who hadn't stayed in their dormitories. Any other time, Hermione would have turned back, but instead she had slowed down to a walk, looking around as she walked through the corridor. It looked the same as it usually did, but darker. The torches had been distinguished, leaving shadows to be cast across the carpeted floors and along the tapestries. It gave Hermione goosebumps, and she shivered. The Liquid Luck must have been wrong or something, Hermione thought. Or maybe it had simply begun to fade away.

There was a rustle from behind, and Hermione spun around, raising her wand with a hex sitting at the tip of her tongue. Before she could utter a word, though, there was a harsh white light that grew and grew before she couldn't see a thing. She tried to scream, but she felt dizzy.

And then there was only black.

...ooOoo...

She was awoken by the warmth of the sun hitting her cheek. Hermione sat up, raising a hand to her forehead which was pounding. Looking out the window, she saw that the sun was only just beginning to rise. It was a beautiful sight really, the way the sky, although cloudy, was tinted a faint shade of pink. It brought peace over Hermione.

Then the panic started to set in when she remembered the reason she was laying in the middle of the fifth floor corridor in the first place. The Death Eaters had infiltrated Hogwarts, and the DA and the order were fighting them – all of them – while Dumbledore and Harry had left the castle. She had clearly been knocked out, but why was she still in the middle of the corridor of all places? Surely someone would have stumbled upon her and taken her to the hospital wing after the battle had finished...

She took her time getting up, her muscles stiff and tight, picked up her fallen wand and headed towards the staircase. She needed to know what in the name of Merlin was going on. Did the Order and DA members manage to fend off the Death Eaters? Did Voldemort come to the castle? Are Harry and Ron still alive? All of these were running through her head as she made her way down the stairs. Looking around, Hermione saw that there was nothing out of the ordinary. No blood, bodies, chunks of wall missing. It all seemed so wrong. Something was out of place.

That was when Hermione began running, as fast as her legs could carry her and ignoring the pain that wracked her muscles. She debated whether to go upstairs to the Gryffindor Tower or towards the Headmasters office. She quickly decided on the latter, knowing full well that the Headmaster knew what would be going on. It would probably be best to hear it from him anyway. What if he wasn't even there, though? Maybe the castle had been forced to completely be evacuated, leaving Hermione on her own. No, she thought, that wouldn't explain why the castle was in perfect condition.

By the time Hermione had reached the Gargoyle, she could barely breathe, though she still managed to puff out the password she had been given as a prefect. The gargoyle shook its head and stayed in it's spot.

"You have got to be.." She trailed off and started listing different candies in the hope that at least one of them would work. Each were rejected and she was beginning to panic a little. Hermione began to pace backwards and forwards, giving up on the password. So maybe going to Professor Dumbledore isn't the best answer, Hermione thought. "Alright, I'll just have to go up to the Gryffindor Tower, and hope that Ron and Harry are there."

As she was about to turn, a girl's voice interrupted her. "Are you okay there?"

Hermione spun around to see a tall girl with darker hair, wearing Ravenclaw robes. She could see a badge pinned to her robes that read HEAD GIRL. This is strange, Hermione thought. I thought a Hufflepuff was Head Girl. Actually thinking about it, Hermione had never seen this girl before in her life! She couldn't even think. There were so many thoughts going through her head at the moment. All that she knew as a definite was that she needed to see Professor Dumbledore immediately. She needed to know what on Earth was going on.

"I'm sorry, miss?"

Hermione mentally shook herself. "Erm... sorry, no. I'm not okay. I need to see Professor Dumbledore for an urgent matter, but I seem to have forgotten the password.

The girl smiled. She seemed to be a genuinely nice person, and a beautiful one at that. Her hair was black and lay loosely down past her shoulders in soft curls. Her eyes were a dark brown and seemed to twinkle. "Good thing I was just going to see the Headmaster myself, then. The password is 'fudge flies'."

With that the gargoyle jumped aside, and Hermione simply stood there awkwardly, not really sure what to do. After all, this girl was going to be seeing the Headmaster herself for whatever reason. When neither of them made a move, the girl spoke.

"I think you should go up and see him first. It looks like your query is a little more important." She looked Hermione up and down.

It was only then Hermione realised that she looked a mess. She looked down what she was wearing – jeans, sneakers and a plain t-shirt – and saw that they looked horrendous. The tee was covered in filth, and she saw that there were a few small cuts across her arms. "Oh... um... thank you very much... er...?"

"Dorcas Meadows."

The name was ringing a bell, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where she had heard the name before. "Well, Dorcas, I'm Hermione. Sorry to be such a hindrance to you."

Dorcas waved the apology off with a well manicured hand. "No hindrance at all. I'll come back later. Good luck with whatever it is you need, though."

"Thanks."

With that, Dorcas turned away with a wave and walked back down the corridor, and Hermione turned to the gargoyle which had moved aside. She stepped onto the staircase and made her way up to the door. Hermione's heart rate had picked up. It had been the most confusing few minutes of her life. Nothing seemed right at all. She was just hoping that Dumbledore could tell her.

With that last thought, she gripped the brass knocker and knocked on the great oak doors. Relieved to hear his voice as he invited her in, she opened the doors and looked around, realising that she had never been in the Headmaster's office before. Several knick knacks and silver instruments stood atop several tables randomly positioned around the room, bookshelves lined the wall and the thing that caught her attention almost immediately was the grand bird that was perched upon the Headmaster's desk. She recognised it immediately as a pheonix. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"And what, my dear, am I able to help you with on this fine morning?"

Hermione's gaze shifted over to Dumbledore at the desk, but no words were able to come from her mouth. The old man looked exactly the same. He still wore his half-moon spectacles, the same white hair and beard, the same twinkle in his eye. If anything, there were less worry lines etched into his face, and his beard was a bit shorter. It was small, but it was a difference all the same.

And it all hit her at once. The flash of bright light, the fact that was still in the castle when it was in pristine condition and empty at that, the changed password, Dumbledore looking different.

"Oh..."

...ooOoo...

So what did everybody think? This chapter was a lot longer than I had expected it to be, but I think it's a good thing. Everything I have attempted to write previously had a lot shorter chapters, so I really think this is an improvement for me!

What did you like? What did you hate? Was it what you expected? Is there anything that I can improve on? Any mistakes?

Please let me know! I love to hear feedback. It's the only way that anybody can improve.

Until next time.

Nae x