"And you're sure you didn't see anything else?" Harry was saying. Hermione almost fell over herself in joy to hear his voice. As she concentrated on the sound, a hazy scene sprung up around her: both her friends, standing with one another in the tent, back in the woods where she had disappeared from.

"No, I told you, just darkness. I tried following the Deluminator light over and over but it kept going out. I tried all night, Harry. It's like the light is trying to take me to Hermione, but can't," Ron said. He looked exhausted.

Hermione tried crying out to them. But she was stuck in a dream, and nothing came out of her – no sound, not even a hoarse whisper. She was muted. She tried waving her hands around in their faces, but the boys couldn't see her.

"It's pointless." Harry buried his face in his hands.

"Don't say that, mate." Ron reached out and held his friend's shoulder firmly. "She'll come back. She wouldn't leave us. Maybe she accidentally disapparated, or-"

"Why would she disapparate at a time like that?" Harry asked wearily, raising his head. "She'd splinch herself."

"The whole thing was weird, I agree."

Hermione, frustrated, tried to scream out at them. She was right here! Just turn around and look!

As she thought this, the wind picked up outside the tent.

Ron whipped his head round. "What was that? Did you hear something?"

Encouraged, Hermione tried to call out again. Nothing happened.

"It's just the weather," Harry said. After a minute of two of nothing, Ron nodded.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

No, Hermione thought, almost sobbing. I'm right here, and I can see you.

Hermione's vision slowly faded… Swirling mist swallowed the boys and the tent.

"Take me back!" She screamed. "Take me back! Take me ba-"

Hermione found herself sitting bolt upright in her bed, panting, with all the other seventh-year girls staring at her. Their faces held a mixture of irritation, confusion and fear.

"Do you mind shutting-the-fuck-up, Freak?" Said Rhonda, her hair bound tightly in rollers.

"Yes, do you mind?" Another girl said, throwing a pillow in Hermione's direction. "If you're going to scream at this time every night, you can sleep in the common room."

"I'm s-sorry," stammered Hermione. With a few more annoyed murmurs, the girls returned to their slumber.

The full moon outside shone brightly all the way until dawn.