Life is too short.

Enjoy it before it is too late.

Because life can change in the blink of an eye.

Right before your eyes.

- - -

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked Ron, she was finally able to see him a few days after his surgery. She hadn't wanted to intrude on his family and she most certainly did not want to have to face Ginny and Harry.

"Could be better," He murmured. His eyes were barely open and she could tell he was in pain despite the heavy medication and numbing spells. She heard from others that when he woke and finally realized his legs were gone he was devastated, a mixture of rage and despair roared out of him. Luna had told her that the sound was horrible and that even the nargles in a nearby area quickly vacated the room.

"How did we get here," He breathed out, his eyes were no longer trained on her and she assumed he was reminiscing. "How did we become so lost?"

"I think we both know the answer." She murmured, brushing some hair out from his eyes. She gave a small smile as the two locked eyes. "Here, I wanted to give you back this."

She took the small vile out from her pocket and handed it back to him. She already knew what it contained; it was his memories. She assumed the important ones, ones for her to show his family or maybe it was just memories for her and her alone.

"No." He firmly stated, he weakly lifted his hand and pushed the vile back towards her. His eyes contained a sense of fear and determination as he asked her to come closer to him. "You have no idea what is going on Hermione, no idea. No one has any clue and it's not safe for me to tell you, it's not safe for me to tell anyone."

She blinked at him confused and stared at the vile.

"What is in this Ron?"

"Memories, important memories. Something is coming Hermione, I don't know what, but it was no coincidence that we were tasked with going blindly into that deadly battle." He claimed sternly. "There is so much more at stake here than you know. We were wrong 'mione, we were so wrong." He murmured to her in tears, his hand lifted to her face as she stared at him intensely.

"We should have listened."

- - -

"Hermione! I wanted to talk to you!"

"Neville. . . I wanted to talk to you as well."

"I assumed as much, you mind if we go somewhere private?"

Hermione motioned him to lead the way, she was just heading back to her quarters from visiting Ron. His words of there being something much bigger than them at play rattled her but didn't surprise her as she thought about it. The missions they were assigned, though they did prove to have a danger factor to them as some died and others were injured, were never truly deadly. It was as if they were given missions to keep the children busy, make them feel a part of something.

"I know what you think you saw," he began as they rounded a corner to a less-trafficked area.

"I know what I saw."

He hesitated briefly before beginning again, the two finally ending up in an old supply room that had run dry once their supplies began to become scarce.

"I mean, yeah of course you do," Neville began again, his hand running along with the hair on the back of his neck. He might have changed outwardly, might have become more confident, but he will never change from being the same Neville they all knew from school. Some things always remained the same and it was clear that his nervous habits were one.

"Look Neville, I already talked to Ginny, and to say I'm pissed would be too kind. But I want to talk about more important things, I spoke with Ron and he said—"

She was cut short, a loud boom coming from the other side of the building along with faint screams. The room shook and dust filled the air as the two momentarily stared at one another confused. More screams came along with the faint shuffles of people running.

The two sprinted to where everyone was running away from, entering a cloud of thick dust. Hermione took out her wand and cast Lumos in an attempt to see what was around her. The lights were knocked out and the smoke filtering from room to room from what looked like a fire up ahead was making it almost impossible to see what was in front of her.

"You think something exploded?"

"The question is just what exploded. Perhaps someone was meddling with a potion," she suggested, feeling a pang in her heart as she briefly let herself think of Seamus.

"Possibly, but that area is restricted."

Hermione shrugged, she didn't know what exactly to expect as the two steadily guided themselves towards the site. Worry filled her as they were getting closer and closer to the infirmary. Neville and she exchanged glances as the two heard shouting up ahead.

"Ready?" He questioned her as it was beginning to appear that the explosion was not an accident.

It had been a long time since she had dueled anyone, she was no longer invited to the training sessions Dumbledore's army once held. A nervousness ran through her but she knew that this was no time to wait. She gave him a firm nod before the two heard a cackling that left them cold in their tracks.

Bellatrix Lestrange infiltrated the building.

Death Eaters were in the building.

"I killed another Weasley!" She sang out with joy. "I killed another Weasley!"

Hermione just barely grabbed ahold of Neville's collar before he blindly ran into the battle. She could tell that fear and rage were coursing through his mind, there was no telling which Weasley she killed and Hermione knew that Bellatrix was just seconds away from killing Ginny in the past.

"Let me go!" He harshly whispered shoving her back, her grip barely hanging on.

"Neville stop being so hard-headed! How many bloody Weasleys are there in this base alone? And I can hardly think you condone just blindly marching into battle when it's obvious your head is clouded with unknown possibilities!"

"Hermione, you don't know who the fuck you're talking to." He hissed. "All we do is blindly go, we have never had any true clue as to what was going on, Ron even admitted that all he does is make up fake plans to give hope and he is the best of us. So get your hands the fuck off me and let me go and try to save the woman I love." He shoved her off of him and left, leaving her alone in the darkness.

She slowly walked further into the darkness, the laughter and shouting becoming more clearer with each step she took. As the smoke became thicker she got down on the ground, finding where more oxygen was and doing her best to remain concealed as the area got brighter with flames.

"Get ahold of yourself dear aunt, " a voice gruffly claimed in front of her as she hid herself begin some boxes. "The Dark Lord asked for a quick mission, do your best to remain as sane as you can. I would love to report a successful mission rather than another failed one because of you."

"Oh, Draco! Never know how to have fun! Be more like Cissy, she's learned to have fun! Look, there she goes no, " the woman roared with laugher.

Hermione was just able to see Draco's mother, her hair was unkempt, nothing like what she remembered of the Malfoy mother. The once regal and refined woman was now left rabid looking and feral. Her usually neatly kept robes were torn to bits from the bottom up, her once nicely kept pearls were broken and strewn about the room. The mirror image of his mother cackled in front of them as she found a young child to torment, a child who was inching away desperately for help.

"Oh yes, the image of sanity and refinement." The man murmured from behind a mask. "Quickly, you know what to do."

The woman momentarily poured before racing in the opposite direction, the mirror of Narcissa Malfoy running closely behind.

"Always were quite the peeping Tom weren't you Mudblood." The man spat in distaste, kicking the boxes aside and training a wand on her.

The two eyes met his ice-cold blue ones radiating into hers with hardly any emotion. She shook as she scrambled away and onto her feet, training her wand on him. Severus said that the sole heir of Malfoy was now Voldemort's right hand; the Viceroy Supreme, this now proved it.

"You don't want to do this Malfoy," she called out in what she hoped mimicked a warning.

The two-eyed one another as they begin to walk a circle, their wands never moved from the other. The fact he hadn't obliterated her upon sight brought some comfort, it meant the scared boy on the astronomy tower could still be there.

"Oh yes, there goes your savior complex Granger, never can quite see the bad in someone. Always want to be the hero in someone's life, always think you can help change someone."

Hermione hesitated at his words, voicing out the answers to the thoughts in her head. She had once read about very rare individuals being able to read others' minds, only those gifted and skilled with legilimency were able to do so. Yet, she had also read and heard from Harry's accounts with Severus that it was quite painful, like a migraine but instead of radiating in one spot it shifted and poked around in your brain. Severus was one of the most skilled Legilimens she knew, so why was his so different?

"Severus Snape is weak and has the Dark Lord wrapped around his finger. His practice is faulted due to his nearsightedness, although his knowledge did aid me a great deal." The man hummed with amusement. "I would say it is a shame would never be able to unlock his full potential, but it's not."

"What do you want Malfoy?" She called out again.

"Well. . . I can tell you are truly twisting my arm, " he smirked, it was obvious enough she would never win against one of the highest-ranking generals in Voldemorts army, he was taunting her for his amusement.

"I want you, Hermione Granger."