"I'll get him to rally," He said quietly, nodding at Lupin. "Can you manage Mr. Weasley?" I nodded, though wasn't sure that was completely true.

I crept across the wooden floor, acutely aware of every noise I made. Upon reaching his still form I realized he wasn't actually sleeping. He was curled up on his right side, facing the wall, eyes open but unseeing, his face wet with tears. My heart ached for him immediately, but I knew I needed to push through and get him up.

"Ronald. There's someone outside." I whispered. He blinked but otherwise didn't move.

"Ron," I tried again. "It might be Death Eaters. We need to move." Again he ignored me.

"Now." A voice said in a dangerous voice behind me. Turning, I realized that Severus and a somewhat more aware looking Lupin were standing a few feet away. Ron finally looked over his shoulder at them and slowly uncurled and stood beside me. I put my hand in his and squeezed encouragingly.

"We are going to split and go opposite directions to circle the cottage. Hermione, go with Lupin. We'll meet at the far side and go from there." I nodded and followed the older men as they approached the door.

Severus opened the door slowly and peered out, watching and listening for any immediate signs of danger. In the wee hours of morning, there was a dim light spreading across the sky, fog settling in all around us. I heard his small sigh of frustration and without thinking, I reached out and squeezed his arm. He flinched and looked back at me so I gave him a small nod of encouragement. A strange look crossed his face.

"Go now." Lupin whispered, suddenly in battle mode with his wand at the ready. Severus dragged his eyes away from mine and beckoned Ron to follow him to the right. Then I followed Lupin to the left, hugging the magically transformed outer walls of the structure. I couldn't see anything, but noticed Lupin's eyes moving quickly, a perk of being a werewolf - enhanced eyesight. But we kept moving, meeting Severus and Ron at the far corner. Ron seemed more alert now, thankfully. Severus nodded forward towards the right. Lupin nodded back at him and with a brief glance back at us, he led us off. We moved quickly but silently through the trees.

I glanced back after a few minutes, but could no longer see the cottage. I wasn't sure if we had just traveled that far, or if the fog was thick enough to hide it. I didn't have long to ponder it, however. As I was still looking over my shoulder, something exploded next to my left ear. Someone knocked me over from the side, landing next to me and covering me.

"On the left!" Ron shouted from beside me. He twisted my face up towards him and looked me over.

"All right?" He asked. I nodded quickly and he helped me up into a crouching position. Lupin was now the furthest away – I wasn't sure how Severus had gotten so close so quickly but he was about a yard ahead of me, firing off spells from behind a large boulder.

A twig snapped to my right and I turned just in time to fire off a strong stupefy, knocking the masked attacker into a tree and watched with satisfaction as he slid down the tree trunk and crumpled unconscious onto the forest floor.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted, a blast of light shone from behind me. Ron had just disarmed another Death Eater who immediately flew off in a whirl of black smoke. I glanced over to the area where Severus and Lupin were focusing on. I couldn't see anything, but blasts of light were coming from three different places. Severus thrust his wand forward and a loud grunt indicated his hex had found it's target.

"Ugh!" This grunt came from Ron. I whirled around in time to see him fall to the ground. A quick grasp of his wrist told me he was still alive, just knocked out. This gave me time to move closer to the fight and take out whomever had hit Ron.

There was a slight disturbance in the foggy air to the right and without hesitation Lupin jumped up and ran in that direction. Severus hissed in frustration but he knew as well as I that we couldn't let one of them run lest they call reinforcements. I crawled from behind my tree trunk to squeeze in beside Severus.

"Have they seen you?" I asked quickly.

"I don't think so." Severus said as he shook his head. I sighed in relief.

From the general direction that Lupin had disappeared off to, there was a series of thumps and crashes, a few jets of light and then silence. I waited and watched with baited breath for Lupin to emerge from the mist, but he didn't come. A jet of green light bounced off the boulder Severus was hiding behind and hit the tree in front of me, causing me to dive out of the way. I flung a spell forward where I saw just a hint of a robe blowing in the cool morning breeze. Three quick blasts hit the ground between Severus and I, one of them narrowly missing Ron who had regained consciousness now and was crawling behind a thick bush.

Finally, Lupin emerged from the mist behind us.

"Got a few more tailing me." He said breathlessly. I craned my neck to see three masked faces appear. The two others we were fighting in the opposite direction were just barely visible. Severus stood and brandished his wand spectacularly - a large white blast radiated outwards, sending the Death Eaters flying backwards out of sight and causing myself, Ron and Lupin to fall to the ground. The sudden silence was deafening, my ears rang as I hastily scanned our surroundings, checking for another attacker. No one appeared. I slowly rose to my feet, turning towards Severus.

"I think it's ov –" I froze in my tracks as I saw movement. Severus had seen it first. His eyes had narrowed immediately, then opened wide in disbelief. His jaw dropped, exhaling loudly. There, emerging from the mist blanketing the woods, was a beautiful woman in dirty, torn robes. Her face was full of emotion as she stared directly at Severus. Vibrant amongst the fog was her long red hair.

I felt my own jaw drop open. It was Lily Potter. I watched in shock as Severus's chest caved inward sharply before he dropped to his knees, a sob escaping his lips. As Lily approached him, a small, sad smile graced her lips. She reached out a pale hand towards his cheek. Severus looked as though he were looking at an angel. Perhaps he was. Could we have died? My eyes passed from his face to hers.

Suddenly my hair stood on end. Something was wrong. She couldn't possibly be alive - it had to be a trap. I drew my wand as fast as I could, yelling "Severus, no!" All at once the creature turned toward me, it's brilliant green eyes narrowing coldly at me. Her own wand lifted and I saw in the split second that passed that it was, in fact, Bellatrix's wand.

The moment I had finished screaming my spell, a huge explosion shot me backwards into a tree trunk and everything went black.