It had been weeks spent in the outdoors, traveling to different unknown places and living out of a tent. Hermione was growing weak and frustrated. Since they had escaped from the ministry with the locket, morale had slipped greatly. Ron's injury from getting splinched was nearly recovered, but his attitude was getting less and less tolerable. If he wasn't complaining about the lack of food, he was complaining about Harry. Ron was starting to lose faith in Harry's quest, and would not stop voicing his concerns to Hermione. Meanwhile, Hermione was getting more and more tired of her two best friends. All they did lately was fight, and neither of them seemed to care of her opinion on the matters they were fighting about. It reminded her of their fourth year when they were bickering and would use her to let out all their issues. She hated being in the middle, but mostly she hated having to choose a side.

Hermione lit her wand to check the time on her watch, it was nearly 2AM. Ron and Harry had been quiet for the last couple of hours, meaning they were FINALLY asleep and done bickering. Hermione found that she actually liked her shifts out on watch, it was her time to herself, her time to sort through her many thoughts.

Hermione was able to do a lot of horcrux research during this alone time. She also spent much of it trying to figure out their next destination. the horcrux research, however, was proving fruitless with the literature she had available to her. She simply couldn't find any book with details pertaining to horcruxes. She could ALWAYS find information in a book, but nothing about these dark pieces of magic.

"Help! Please!" Hermione heard a distant voice screaming, a girl it seemed. She snuck her head into the tent and saw that the sneakoscope was sitting completely still. Perhaps not an enemy, but she was determined to be absolutely certain first.

Hermione made her way to the edge of where she knew her enchantments reached. The darkness was blinding, but she could still make out the shapes of the different tall and narrow trees in the distance.

She couldn't see a human shape, but she could still hear the frightened and ragged breathing that seemed to be coming from somewhere in the distance.

"Is anyone there? Help please?!" The host of the frightened voice slowly limped her way into Hermione's line of vision. She was still quite some distance away, but Hermione could see how much blood the girl was covered in. The girl was holding a hand to her head where blood seemed to be pouring from at a rapid pace. Her hair was so drenched in the deep red fluid that it was hard to tell just precisely what color her hair truly was. What disturbed Hermione most though, was the state of dress on this poor girl. Her jeans had multiple long and gruesome rips, highlighted by the blood stains soaking into them. Her top was merely just a shred of fabric reveling her equally torn bra with many more gruesome cuts all along her chest and stomach.

Hermione swallowed down a panicked scream that had been about to slip past her lips. Whoever or whatever attacked this girl was not something she wanted to deal with.

Hermione quickly ran back to the tent to retrieve Harry's invisibility cloak. She contemplated waking Harry and Ron to have them help her, but didn't think that poor girl would have enough time before she was able to get her best friends on board to help her. Plus she really couldn't risk Harry's safety, he would want to be the hero like always. His life was more important than hers at this moment.

With the cloak and her bottle of dittany in hand, Hermione rushed back to the edge of where her enchantments were and searched once more for the girl. She could no longer hear the girl's voice or heavy breathing. Squinting hard to see further in the distance, Hermione saw what appeared to be someone lying on the ground unconscious.

Oh no, what if I'm too late?

Hermione shook the terrible thought out of her brain and slipped the cloak over her, covering every inch.

Raising her wand, Hermione slipped out from the safe haven of her enchantments, memorizing the ground at her feet so that she knew where to re-enter. As quietly as she could, Hermione made her way over to the shape passed out on the ground. The closer she got, the easier it was to see that it was in fact the girl who had been screaming out for help.

Once Hermione was just a foot away, she could finally see well enough to know that the girl was still breathing.

She must have passed out from all the blood loss.

Hermione glanced around for any sign of movement before stepping forward and covering the girl under the invisibility cloak with her.

Hermione made sure every inch of the girl was covered before bending over and inspecting her head wound. She looked firstly where the girl was holding her head, digging through her thick hair to try and find the wound. She had searched a large portion of the girl's head without seeing any sign of trauma.

That's funny, I could have sworn this was the side she was holding onto.

Hermione's breath caught as she realized something she hadn't even noticed; there was no longer any blood seeping from the girl as there was before. Not on her head or anywhere else for that matter.

It was a trap, someone had tricked her into aiding this girl. Perhaps the girl herself had lured Hermione.

They may not even realize I'm here under the invisibility cloak.

Trying to stay as calm as possible, Hermione slowly stood up, glancing around her again just to make sure she couldn't see any form of movement. She then backed up slowly and carefully, trying to not make any noise. The girl, still unconscious, was slowly starting to be revealed from under the invisibility cloak. Once only Hermione was left under the cloak she slowly turned around to make her way back to the tent.

Before she could even take a step, she felt a sudden jolt enter her being. Her body stiffened and her eyes stretched wide to take in her surroundings. She had been hit with a body-binding curse, and if her instincts were correct, she was hit in the back, right between her shoulder blades.

Her bound body tipped backwards until she fell rather roughly onto her back atop the unconscious girl, who made absolutely no sound at being crushed by another body.

The invisibility cloak still covered Hermione, but she knew whoever had cursed her must have known about the cloak, or at least guessed. She could hear footsteps from behind her getting closer. She wanted to be able to see who was coming, but her angle only allowed her to peer up into the night sky.

"I'm truly sorry to do this Granger, but I have no choice."

I know that voice, how do I know that voice?

The invisibility cloak was suddenly pulled off of Hermione's form, but she still couldn't see who the voice came from.

Her attacker slowly made his way around Hermione until he was standing at her feet, his back towards her. He was wearing a full-length black robe with the hood up, revealing not a single feature about him.

"I will explain everything to you at a later time where I know we can't be overheard, but until then.."

Finally, he turned around to face Hermione, revealing his beautifully pale skin and striking blond hair.

"... I need to make sure you see nothing." And with that he cast another curse upon Hermione, sending her into a deep and dreamless sleep.