An actual chapter that's not a filler chapter! Hooray! You'll be happy to know the the end is nigh, and the torture you guys have experienced in the wait for updates will soon be over. I'm so sorry. This is a long one compared to my usual standards, but I felt like it needed to be done (somewhat) properly y'know? I'm rambling.

See you soon... hopefully.

~BH

PS: If you're into Jily, I've started a new project called the Wand Fic. The good news is it's more of a series of One Shots so the waits between chapters won't be as tedious. The bad news is it's distracting me from UWMA. I'm sorting out my priorities, don't you worry. I will finish this before I add anymore chapters to that one, regardless of which I finish first. I owe you guys big time.

The Vision

Hermione didn't know what time it was. Neither did she know where she was, or how she got here. What she did know was that she couldn't see, there was something shoved in her mouth and that she was probably captured somewhere. Her brain instantly recalled the incident in Malfoy Manor and if she wasn't bound to what felt like a chair, she would have recoiled into herself. She didn't feel any pain other than an ache in her wrists and shins, so she assumed she'd only just got here.

Almost as if they were on cue, she heard footsteps echo towards her. She clenched her fists on instinct, feeling more and more exposed as the footsteps got louder. The door opened, and she heard two people enter the room. Neither of them made a move to close the door and Hermione flinched as it slammed shut. She was tired. She didn't feel like fighting. She didn't feel like there was any purpose, for it seemed that the only purpose was herself. Without Fred, the person that she'd been waiting for, she felt like a chunk of her was missing. Not only out of love, but because she had invested so much time into his survival. She wondered if George felt how she did. Then again, Fred didn't seem to be as angry at George. Part of her didn't want to die, because the last image she had of Fred was one of complete and utter disgust. The rest of her no longer cared if she lived or died.

"Is this her? The real Hermione Granger?" a voice floated around the room. Hermione deliriously imagined it as a small fairy, gliding around the room. For what seemed to be her captor, she thought the voice sounded quite soft and gentle for a voice that was evidently, in her view, a man.

"The real deal." Replied a second voice, which was considerably harsher. Hermione wondered what they looked like. She felt someone yank up her sleeve and turn her chair around by pulling her arm. She knew his grip would bruise her. She felt more exposed as fingers traced the scar on her arm. Mudblood.

"What do we do with her?" asked one of her captors, Hermione didn't care who it was. Their voiced blended into one as her foggy brain tried to retain a grip on the situation.

"I thought we were delivering her to The Dark Lord?"

"The Dark Lord's dead, Adam."

"Dead?!" The one voice yelled to no one in particular. "That's your fault isn't it?"

That was when the abuse began.

Her brain barely registered the pain when she felt a rough palm slap her in the face, sending the chair sideways. Her head and arm came into contact with the floor and she blinked behind her blindfold, almost dazed. She felt herself be pulled upright by her hair, and a few sharp tugs as some loose hairs were yanked out.

"Maybe we can carve something into her other arm?" suggested what could have sounded like anyone to Hermione.

"What good would that do? We can't even take her to Voldemort to show it off!" The other voice demanded. She could vaguely hear what sounded like pacing around her chair, although it sounded like it was miles away.

"We can take her to Marigold though. Maybe have fun with some curses first." A voice suggested in a tone that dictated that it was definitely more of an order.

She heard the gulping of water, and suddenly she felt incredibly thirsty.

"Crucio!"

She felt her insides twist agonisingly against her will. She felt like she was simultaneously being stretched and squashed into herself at the same time. Being tortured before didn't make it any less painful.

"Calm down!" One of the voices filtered through her even more frazzled head. She felt dizzy and sick. "We can't kill her yet, what if she turns out to be useful!"

"Oh, sorry" her torturer muttered, leaving her to sway precariously in the chair. "Shall we go and get Marigold, she really should have made some sort of dark mark it would make our lives so much easier?" He started to ramble, shoving Hermione back on the floor as he walked away from her. The other side of her head slammed against the ground, but she was too groggy to care. There was no part of her that wasn't in pain. She felt a trickle of blood slide down her face, almost like a tear from her eye. She had learned a long time ago not to cry in the face of danger, or even death.

She heard the door slam again as she ungracefully fell into the pit of unconsciousness.

George heard her scream. Fred was drifting back into consciousness, and Luna was tending to him. Neville also jerked his head up, recognising the high pitched yell of someone being subjected to the cruciatus curse.

"Am I being paranoid, or did that scream sound like Hermione?" Neville broke the silence that followed. Luna cocked her head in thought, although whether she was thinking of the noise or something else was debatable. Fred also snapped out of his daze at the mention of her name, the guilt taking another stab into his stomach. He let her go.

"How would she get captured here?! What's going on?!" Fred demanded with a surprising force. He sat up, swaying slightly as his body wasn't prepared for this burst of energy. Luna put an arm around him and he leaned into her, not wanting to show he was unstable but he was grateful for everything Luna and Neville had done for him. He didn't want to push anymore people away that didn't deserve it. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of anger at George, but he knew if Hermione was truly in danger he wouldn't be able to save her without him.

"There has been a group of people wandering around pulling quite dark pranks on some of the muggles lately." Neville said, looking at Luna for confirmation, who nodded.

"I would have thought the government would have done something by now if it was serious" Luna commented, still keeping Fred upright. Her arm couldn't quite reach around him due to his broad shoulders, but he seemed to be holding his own so she let him go. She saw him glance at her briefly before focusing his attention on Neville.

"The Minister here is the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister" He informed Fred and George. "Remember our fifth year though? If something has actually happened I bet they're avoiding the truth. Shame Harry isn't here to fight back though." He looked out of the window, there weren't really any signs of a skirmish, or anyone for that matter. What was normally a busy road for this quiet area was empty. Would they have taken her in the middle of the day though? Thought Neville. This makes no sense.

"Are you okay Fred?" Luna suddenly asked, as Fred's eyes suddenly rolled back into his head. Fred's mind had suddenly fogged over: he could hear voices filtering into his brain, voices that weren't in the room. What is going on?

"MARIGOLD." The voice echoed in his brain and he strained to hear it. If it was making him feel groggy and faint he thought he might as well find out what's going on. Was Marigold the girl he kept seeing in his visions?

"What's going on?" Fred heard a voice, almost as if it was coming from him. She seemed far too relaxed for someone who was apparently a Death suddenly felt a sense of calm, like he had everything in control, but a small part of him was panicking, as if someone was trying to pull his arm off. Trying to resist what seemed to be the irrational side of him, he continued to observe as he moved across the room towards two men dressed in dark clothes.

"We've got a girl. Hermione Granger." The man on the left said. Fred panicked more, trying to pull himself out of the vision, but the rest of his mind resisted. Where was she?

"Where is she?" He felt himself say. He heard voices that were even more distant, but he ignored them. He needed to know.

"She's in the building." The second voice said, eager to contribute. Fred suddenly had an image of a dilapidated building in an area that was vaguely familiar to him. Were their minds connected? He was reminded of Harry's connection to Voldemort, and continued to shut down his emotions, as if he was hiding in what he thought was Marigold's mind. He wondered if she was aware of any connection they may have.

"Okay, let's go. I'm not sure what we can do since The Dark Lord is dead, but we could have some fun. It would be funny to see her go back on everything she's said ever and really confuse the wizarding population!" The mere fact that those words appeared to leave his mouth made him feel sick to his stomach.

"You should be the new Dark Lord" The second voice said, his voice dripping with a sadistic sense of admiration that made Fred's blood boil. It was taking all of his willpower to not break out, but he feared that would definitely result in alarm bells for Marigold, and he wanted it to use it to his advantage.

He watched as he felt himself and the two accomplices leave the room, and he felt like he was falling as he was jerked back into reality.

He saw a pair of eyes identical to his as he focused on his twin. Neville and Luna were also looking at him with concern, Luna's arm supporting him once again as he shakily sat up again.

"I'm fine. I know where Hermione is." He felt Luna's arm release him as he tried to get up too quickly, and gripped George's shoulders as he righted himself. He could feel the weight of what must be his curse trying to knock him unconscious, but for the first time he didn't let it overwhelm him. He had to save Hermione.

"We need to find her now." They said together, as if they were in a cheesy cartoon, but neither of them were smiling. They looked back at Neville and Luna who were already set to go, wands in hands, faces set, like there was a certain battle face that they had on default. Fred guessed they'd been involved in enough conflicts now to feel this way. They left the house, prepared for the worst.

George, Luna and Neville were following Fred, who was following the fading memory in his own mind. As he was no longer immersed in her mind, the vision was hazy and disjointed. He clung onto the fragments of thought as he stumbled forward, trying to move faster than his body was capable of. George was as close to him as was physically possible, ready to catch him if he fell, all thoughts and opinions from their previous argument forgotten. It had spiralled completely out of their control, a spanner had been thrown into the works that they were struggling to catch.

After what felt like hours and more missed turns than Fred cared to admit, they arrived at the dilapidated building Fred saw in Marigold's mind. Luna immediately pulled them behind a wall, thinking they could arrive at any moment. She was right, they watched as they approached the building, and Neville, to all of their surprise, raised his wand without hesitation and stunned them in the back, starting with Marigold and then the associates, who looked at each other in panic, too dumb to react instantly.

"Good tactics" George looked at Neville with a almost rejuvenated sense of admiration. Luna squeezed Neville's hand and he grinned at her sheepishly, an expression she adored over the years. The four of the silently moved from their hiding place, hoping they would stay unconscious for a while.

"Hopefully they'll stay unconscious for long enough." Neville said quietly, glancing back at them as they approached the door. "I don't think they took Hermione for any particular reason, they just got lucky when they happened to cross paths."

"They won't be lucky when I'm through with them." Fred said to no one in particular as he was the first to cross the threshold into the building.

They found her easily. They were confused as to why no one had bothered to lock any doors, which gave them even more reason to think that Marigold wasn't involved until they went to get her. Fred's heart almost broke when he saw her: she was facing away from him, strapped to a chair. If he hadn't been so angry with her she wouldn't have left. He caused this. Fred was shaking when he dashed clumsily towards her, almost collapsing to the floor as he gently laid her head in her lap. With George's help, he lifted the chair so she was now sat upright, and he held her head in his hands as it fell to one side in her unconsciousness. Neville produced a bottle of Dittany which George applied to Hermione's wounds. Fred continued to cup her face in both of his hands, willing her to wake up. Luna worked her way around Hermione, breaking apart the ropes that confined her.

"I'm so sorry" Fred kept repeating, wiping away the blood from her face with his sleeve. "Please don't leave me. I can't take it. It hurts too much."

"I can't deal with Fred being a soppy mess." said George, smoothing Hermione's hair away from her face, away from the wounds on her face. They watched as the cuts faded, as if they were already a few days old. Nobody commented when Fred shakily lifted Hermione from the chair and into his lap, and continued to hold her in his arms as she lay almost motionless.

The minutes dragged by before Hermione's eyes flickered open, and she found herself in Fred's arms. She silently sobbed into his chest, and Fred clung to her, almost crying himself, unspoken apologies floating between them. He kissed her forehead, her hair, her cheeks, her nose, and then Hermione, with great instability, tilted her head up so he could kiss her lips.

"What a charming scene" a familiar voice to Fred commented.