Chapter 2 - A Moment of Carelessness
When we had decided to go and hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes, after all that had already happened I had still been innocent enough to believe we were going on an adventure, we would be strong and would fight evil and be heroes. Instead I remember sleepless nights, cold and hunger. I was so afraid, I know we all were. Ron had never been fearless, and it made me smile to see he had still ultimately stayed with us, a proof of his loyalty and fighting spirit. I could easily have gone to Ravenclaw and Harry had told me, one dark night, that he was to go to Slytherin before he had begged the Sorting Hat to please please please sort him into Gryffindor, but Ron, he was a Gryffindor from head to toes. From time to time he would put his sleeping bag next to mine and hold me when the cold and the fear would overwhelm me (and I suspect that he, too, would feel its chilly breath in his neck). Harry would occasionally shoot us a glance or two, but he never questioned me, maybe knowing that I was confused enough as it was and probably also a bit lost in his own world, as we all were.
After our visit at 'Lovegood Manor' we'd all been a bit lost in thought. Between learning about the Deathly Hallows and our discussions whether we should focus on them or the Horcruxes to getting used to the fact that, inevitably, friends would die, families would break apart, people would betray each other to survive (and in the end, who could blame them? Xenophilius had tried to save Luna, as would any father, and now they were both missing), we got carried away. And it should have been clear, when we were listening to Potterwatch and I felt so happy seeing Harry smile, for the first time in so long, that there would be a price to pay for every moment of bliss, of carelessness, of innocence. Whatever Lupin had said about the "triumph of good" and the "power of innocence", the truth was that none of us could afford being innocent any more.
We had gone back to our endless discussion regarding the Deathly Hallows, Harry stubbornly sustaining that Voldemort was looking for the Elder Wand abroad.
"Harry-" I tried to say, tired of going over the same thing every second day, but Harry had this determined look in this eyes that should have warned me. He'd had the same look in our first year, and half an hour later I had found myself surrounded by enough Devil's Snare to last me a lifetime. He'd had this look in second year, which is still kind of blurry, by the way, because I spent a good part of it petrified and I imagine Ron would have a word to say about babysitting a dangerous and later demented wizard just around the corner of the Chamber of Secrets.
"Come on, Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol-"
"HARRY, NO!" I screamed, too late-
"-demort's after the Elder Wand!"
for a split second, we looked at each other, as I felt the blood draining out of my face and saw my friends turn just as white, saw their eyes widen as quickly as mine. Then everything went downhill so fast and I know my heart was beating so loudly that I barely heard anything else. "Get out with your hands up!" THUMP – I managed to hex Harry, hoping it would be enough, but never really believing it – THUMP THUMP - "Get up, vermin," THUMP "-you know what, little girly? This picture looks a hell of a lot like you." THUMP THUMP-
And then Greyback's despicable, raspy voice: "We've caught Potter!"
And my heart stopped.
