The sky was gloomy as dark clouds lingered with heavy with rain and fear of he-who-must-not-be-named. Tanner and Hermione were taking a stroll outside on the grounds, hands intertwined, talking of anything just to keep their minds off of what lies outside Hogwarts. They took a seat on a bench near the lake and sat in silence staring at the giant squid as he briefly broke the surface of the water.

"Everything's changing," Hermione said as she played with her hands in her lap. She sat there, focusing on her hands, wondering about the bad things happening outside. Tanner hesitated, soaking in her words before saying anything; He didn't have to question her, he knew exactly what she meant.

"Yeah... Yeah it really is." he responded, thunder rumbling in the distance. He put his arm around Hermione, pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head. "We'll be alright, as long as we're here we'll be safe." Silence fell between them, but more thunder rumbled louder this time.

"C'mon, let's head back to the school before the storm comes." Tanner stood up, Hermione followed slowly. "It'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you." He pulled her in close and hugged her tightly as rain droplets fell from the sky. They walked back to the castle through the drizzle; Tanner with his hands in his pockets and Hermione with her arm linked through his. As they walked into the castle they ran into Professor McGonagal.

"Ah Ms. Granger, I need you to give this to Mr. Potter. It's an urgent message from Professor Dumbledore." Hermione took the paper and stuck it in her sweatshirt pocket. McGonagal walked away and Tanner turned to Hermione.

"Any idea what that's about?" he questioned out of curiosity.

"Yeah." she answered.

"Oh, well what is it then?" he questioned again.

She looked at him with a strong expression, but spoke with emotion in her voice, "I'm really sorry, but I can't say anything to you. It's not my place to tell."

"But it's your place to know?" Tanner retorted sharply.

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she glared at him, her look was response enough because Tanner dropped the subject.

"Where has Harry been anyways? I haven't seen much of him these days, other than at Quidditch matches."

"He's been around. Just dealing with some stuff, that's all. Look I have to go find him and give this to him," she turned around to face Tanner, "I'll see you later okay?"

Tanner didn't want her to leave, he hesitated before he spoke sourly, "Yeah, sure okay." she leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek before running down the hall in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled as she ran into the common room. Harry was sitting in front of the fire place with Neville, both of whom were now staring at Hermione. She pulled the parchment out of her pocket and lunged her arm towards Harry.

"It's from Dumbledore." Harry shot up out of his seat and moved quickly towards the roll of parchment. He rattled it open and read its contents.

"He's found it, he knows where it is." he spoke with an excited tone. "I'm heading to his office." Harry made an effort to leave the dormitory, but Hermione stopped him and hugged him.

"Harry," she pleaded, "be careful... and good luck."

"Hermione," he retorted, "I'll be with Dumbledore. I won't need any luck." He left the room with a sly smile, and Hermione was left there as silence fell over her and Neville.

"Something's not right." spoke Neville.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked with a puzzled gaze.

"Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it." he answered gazing into the fireplace.

Hermione stood rooted to the spot, she felt it too; Something bad was going happen, but the question was when, and what would it be? She made her way out of the portrait hole and down to the great hall. Upon entering the hall she say Tanner sitting at the Ravenclaw table with his friends, their eyes met and Hermione motioned her head for Tanner to follow her over to the Gryffindor table. She sat down next to Ron and Tanner went across.

"Something doesn't feel right..." she whispered. Both Ron and Tanner gave her bewildered look.

When neither of the boys answered she spoke again, "I feel like something is going to happen. Neville thinks so too."

"Neville's always been paranoid." Ron said bitterly.

"I think he might be right about this, something has been off all day. I have this pit in my stomach and it doesn't feel right."

"Well what should we do? We can't exactly do anything if we don't know what's going to happen."

"I guess just stay on guard. Be ready for anything."

Tanner was laying on the couch alone in the common room when he heard people yelling and spells being cast. He jumped up and ran out towards the noise; the further down the tower he went the louder it became, he followed the racket all the way to the staircase of the astronomy tower. Death eaters and students were dueling all over the corridor: Neville, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione. As Tanner went to pull out his wand he heard footsteps approaching fast behind him. He drew his wand and saw that it was Luna with Jason and Killian following behind. He turned back around towards the battle and fired spells at the nearest death eater.

The one he hit turned towards him and started a duel. The two fired spells back and forth; red, blue, and green lights flew all over the corridor. There was a flash of red and the death eater was on the ground. He looked around to see Neville had missed the one he aimed for and hit the other death eater. To Tanners right a death eater grabbed a hold of Ginny, Tanner turned, "Stupefy!" he screamed and the death eater collapsed.

"Thanks," Ginny panted. Tanner went to help her up when a flash of white light was shot towards him. He was thrown back into the wall, a shattering pain took over in his shoulder then he smashed into the floor. Tanner groaned in pain, it was surely broken. He got up slowly, being careful not to put pressure one his shoulder. As he stood he saw a dark tainted figure making its way towards him. A distorted, devilish smile lay across this face as messy black hair fell over the eyes.

"I guess I should've killed you when I had the chance." Tanner said. His father stood across from him, that evil smile still wide on his face. A flash of green light shot from his wand, but Tanner deflected it. They shot spells back and forth neither showing any sign of defeat. His father was clearly stronger but Tanner refused to back down, he fought and fought until his body became weak. He collapsed on the ground feeling dizzy from the pain, and his father walked towards him. He noticed Tanners deformed shoulder, and with his wicked smile placed his foot on Tanners body and stepped down on his shoulder. Tanner screamed in pain, thousands of knives seemed to be coursing through the left side of his body; he thought the pain would never end.

Then, a shrill voice came through the corridor. "It's done! We must go!"

'Bellatrix', he thought. His father bent down and gripped Tanners hair with his hand. He yanked Tanners head upwards forcing their eyes to meet.

"Pity you didn't get to kill me," he said with a mocking laugh. Tanner glared into his fathers ugly, mud brown eyes. "Tell your mother I say hello." Dolohov stood up and stomped on Tanners shoulder once more, then left as he laughed menacingly.