This is a non-canon story. Different couples, different situations, etc. I am changing a lot from the book and doing it my own way. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. If you do like it, then please, leave me some reviews because I love reading about what people think of my stories.

Disclaimer – I own nothing except my own ideas. Everything else belongs to Rowling.

Chapter 11

Hermione ran as fast as she could through the Forbidden Forest and back up to the castle. She was only a few seconds behind Harry's heels, but she could tell that he was a faster runner. She made a quick mental note to start jogging on a regular basis because she was almost out of breath and she knew that being a practised runner would clearly come in handy for the future. Harry had stopped glancing back at her and was focused solely on returning to the castle. It was obvious that his mind was revolving around rescuing Sirius.

They began to run faster as they spotted the bridge, but suddenly stopped as they noticed their friends running across the bridge towards them.

"What happened!?" Harry fired, looking at Ron. "How'd you get away."

"Tricked those two idiots." Ron smirked as he handed Harry his wand back. "Crabbe and Goyle really are thicke."

"Not to mention, Draco's a little pussy." Neville added. "He just turned and ran away after Crabbe and Goyle fell unconscious."

Ginny moved over to Hermione and returned her wand. Hermione gave Ginny a grateful smile before looking around for a pair of grey eyes.

"Ok, I've got to go get Sirius." Harry stated as he started to walk away.

"You still don't get it, do you." Ron snapped. "We're coming with you. You're not alone here, Harry. Besides, haven't we been training all year for this?"

"Where's Umbridge?" Luna's fairy-like voice sounded among them.

"We got attacked by centaurs, and they took her." Hermione answered the light blond girl. "And, Ron's right Harry...we're coming with you. Always."

"How do we even get to the ministry though?" Ron wondered.

"We fly, of course." Luna pointed towards the forest. "Thestrals."

"Yes, Luna!" Harry beamed before turning around and running back to the forest.

"I hate flying…" Hermione murmured to herself as everyone ran past her towards the forest.

She looked around once more before sighing softly and following the path the other's had begun to take. As they ran deeper into the forest, darkness began to surround them.

"Up there!" Harry called out as he lead them all towards the pack of Thestrals.

Hermione, still not having been able to see the skeletal creatures, began to follow everyone before she felt his presence. She waited until everyone had run far enough out of earshot before spinning around and staring into the loving pair of grey eyes she'd been longing to see.

Before she could say his name, or anything, he moved swiftly from behind his hiding place and pulled her hard against his chest, wrapping his arms protectively around her.

"I thought she…" Draco tried to say.

"I'm fine." Hermione reassured him.

They released each other as someone called Hermione's name in the distance.

"It's Sirius...I have to go with him." Hermione said.

"I know." Draco frowned. "He's going to be there...Voldemort I mean...and my father...and...and...me…"

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked up at Draco sharply. Draco grabbed her shoulders harshly and stared deeply into her eyes.

"I will protect you." Draco promised. "They won't know it's me...but I will be protecting you."

"Draco…" Hermione felt tears forming in her eyes. "You need to be...careful...and I...I-"

"I know...I love you." he slammed his lips down upon hers, causing all the words she wanted to say to temporarily disappear.

"I love you too." Hermione breathed out as he pulled away.

"Go...I'll see you there." Draco reached up and stroked her cheek lovingly before turning around and running back, in the direction of the castle's entrance.

Hermione stared after Draco a bit too long because Ron appeared at her side, frowning down at her.

"What's the matter, m'ione?" Ron inquired.

"Nothing." Hermione answered too quickly.

Ron glanced around at the darkness, looking for what...he didn't even know.

"Hermione, come on." he said a bit too harshly. "They're all waiting for you."

"I hate flying." Hermione muttered as she turned around and followed Ron towards the thestrals.

"Hey." Ron sighed softly and reached out to clasp her hand between his. "I'll fly right next to you, so if anything happens, I'll be there to catch you."

Hermione glanced down at their entwined hands, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. She lifted her eyes to meet Harry's curious green orbs and immediately pulled away from Ron.

"Let's go." she said firmly as Luna brought the invisible thestral over to her.

Nothing further was said as everyone mounted the creatures that only Luna and Harry could see. Hermione gripped onto her theatral as they flew over the castle and towards London. She kept her eyes closed as they flew over a very busy London. It took them some time, but before they knew it, they were inside the empty ministry and running down to the Department of Mysteries. Everyone placed their trust in Harry as he pulled open a large door and entered a dimly lit room.

The room itself was filled with never ending shelves. Each row on the shelves held hundreds of white glowing balls, each a different size. Attached to each ball was a tag with a name or place on it.

"Harry...what are we looking for, exactly?" Hermione wondered.

"Sirius." Harry answered simply. "He's supposed to be here...somewhere."

"Uh...guys...this has Harry's name on it." Neville said in a whisper.

Harry, Ron and Hermione turned simultaneously towards the ball Neville was pointing at. Hermione took a deep breath then because she knew that it was a trap all along. She had had her suspicions, like they all did, but now it was confirmed.

"Don't…" Hermione said softly as Harry reached up for the glowing ball.

"Why not?" Harry glanced at Hermione. "It has my name on it."

"It's sitting in this room here for a reason." Hermione pointed out. "I really don't think it's meant for you to take. Or maybe, this is what Voldemort was trying to get you to get for him!"

"It has my name on it, Hermione." Harry reiterated as he grabbed the ball.

"Very good, Miss Granger." A deep voice boomed behind them.

Everyone turned and stared at the pair of wizards slowly walking towards them with death eater masks covering their faces. Hermione instantly noticed the long flowing white blonde hair from the one who had spoken and knew that it was Lucius Malfoy. Her eyes instantly darted around as she spotted more death eaters coming after them from their left and right.

"Now, why don't you hand me that prophecy Mr. Potter." Lucius said as he outstretched his hand towards Harry.

"Like hell." Harry snapped.

A loud cackling laugh exploded around them as the death eater next to Lucius took a step forward. The laugh was distinctive of belonging to the insane witch, Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione would never admit this to anyone, but the sheer madness that erupted from within Bellatrix terrified her immensely.

"Bellatrix Lestrange…" Neville breathed out as he moved closer to Harry's side.

"Neville Longbottom, right?" Bellatrix pulled off her mask as gave him a smirk. "How's mom and dad?"

Neville instantly raised his wand and pointed it at Bellatrix, signalling the chain of events. Everyone raised their wands at the same time, pointing it at the various death eaters whom had suddenly appeared around them, which caused each death eater to raise their wands in retaliation.

"Now now...let's not jump to violence." Lucius said in a calming tone. "The answer here is simple, Potter. Give me the prophecy and you and your friends can leave unharmed. I highly doubt you want to fight 12 death eaters. It'll be two to one in that case."

"I'd rather die than give anything to Voldemort." Harry spat out. "Now!"

Luna and Ginny raised their wands and screamed "Reducto!", causing multiple prophecies to fall off the shelves, effectively distracting the other death eaters. Using this time wisely, the group turned and ran down the only free aisle. They ran as fast as they could while shooting spells at the trailing death eaters.

"We need to get out of here!" Hermione yelled above all the chaos as the group began to split up.

"We need to find a way out first, don't you think!?" Ron shouted back with a hint of fear in his voice.

As Hermione turned to her right to run down another aisle, her eyes roamed over a death eater with short white blonde hair. Her heart leapt into her throat as Draco pointed towards another aisle. She didn't acknowledge him, out of fear that someone might notice her reaction to him, but instead took his hidden advice and ran down the selected aisle.

"This way!" she yelled out as she shot a stunning spell in the face of a death eater who was closing in her on her.

The death eater screamed out as he flew back from her. She gave a quick glance behind her and noticed that everyone had returned to the original group. Harry gave her a quick nod as they ran towards the door at the end of the aisle. They slammed into the door together and instantly began screaming as they began free falling down a seemingly neverending hole.

Suddenly they were jolted to a stop few inches above the ground before finally landing on the cold hard surface. Everyone stood up slowly, and began checking each other over for injuries.

"Everyone ok?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Yes." Luna replied, even though she had a bloody lip.

Ron looked around confused for a second before coming to a feeling of clarity. He had been hit by a confundus charm, but seemed fine either way. Ginny and Neville were both unharmed, as was Harry. Hermione was perfectly fine, but she suspected that was probably because of Draco.

They finally looked around the new room they were in, noticing that the only thing in the room was a tall, mirror-like structure that was situated in the middle of the room. Hermione's eyes wandered around for an exit.

"Over there!" she pointed towards another door across the room. "Let's go."

"Wait...do you hear that?" Harry asked as he moved closer to the mirror. "There's voices coming from inside this...thing…"

"I can hear it too." Luna piped up, but she didn't move towards it.

"Harry...we should go." Hermione warned as a bad feeling landed in her gut.

A series of black apparitions encased the room, blocking everyone from seeing anything and before they knew it each of them were being held prisoner by a death eater, staring up at Harry, who was now in the middle of the room, facing Lucius.

"Enough now." Lucius growled out. "Give me the damn prophecy, Potter, if you truly value your friends lives!"

"Don't do it Harry!" Neville shouted, from Bellatrix's side.

Hermione turned her head slightly, avoiding the horrid breath of Rabastan Lestrange. She looked around and noticed that Draco was standing off to the side in the shadows with a few other death eaters. Her eyes returned to Harry and Lucius, as Harry began to hand over the prophecy.

A flash of white light appeared as the figure of Sirius Black formed behind Lucius. Harry's eyes widened in both relief and shock, causing Lucius to frown and slowly turn towards Sirius.

"Get the fuck away from my godson." Sirius breathed out angrily before punching a surprised Lucius in the face.

Lucius crumpled to the floor, dropping the valuable prophecy, which shattered instantly, as multiple flashes of white light appeared in the dark room. The death eaters released their hostages and began to fight the aurors head on.

Hermione wanted to run over to Harry and Sirius, but they were busy battling both Lucius and Bellatrix, in a rather formidable fashion. Tonks appeared at Hermione's side with the other teens, protecting them all as she tried to usher them towards the exit.

Hermione blindly followed her group, but her eyes were glued to Harry and Sirius. She gasped in horror as Bellatrix Lestrange threw the killing curse at an unsuspecting Sirius. But a shield formed around Sirius, protecting him completely. Hermione looked around quickly and spotted Draco lowering his wand from the direction of the shield. No one else seemed to have noticed as Draco glanced over to her, making sure she was safe with Tonks before disappearing from the room with his father.

Bellatrix, now realising that she was outnumbered, threw a cruciatus curse at Sirius, causing him to drop to the ground in pain before running away, cackling crazily. Hermione broke away from the group to rush over to Harry and Sirius, but Harry, too enraged to be stopped, took off after Bellatrix. Lupin gave Hermione a firm nod as he hovered over Sirius. She nodded back before running after Harry. She skidded to a halt as she watched Harry attempt the cruciatus curse on Bellatrix in the middle of the Ministry for Magic's lobby, but it wasn't very effective. She hid behind a pillar and watched the scene unfold.

Voldemort's voice erupted in the lobby, urging Harry to work harder at his curse on Bellatrix, but the second Voldemort's physical form appeared, Harry pulled away. Bellatrix, using the distraction effectively, ran towards the closest apparition point and disappeared. Hermione wanted to run over to Harry, knowing that he was going to fight Voldemort, but the appearance of Professor Dumbledore stilled her movements.

She watched as Harry was pushed aside by Dumbledore and kept immobile as both Dumbledore and Voldemort battled each other. Hermione stared in awe at the level of magic these two opponents were using on each other, but there was never any doubt that Dumbledore was the better of the two.

Seeing this battle between the two enemies made her even more determined to learn as much magic as she could. She watched as Voldemort, realising that there was no way he could defeat Dumbledore, disappeared. He entered Harry's mind and it took everything Hermione had in her to not rush to Harry's side while Harry fought off Voldemort's mind intrusion. She glanced at her side as she felt the others walk over to her. Ron reached over and grabbed her hand, making her feel uncomfortable again as they all watched Harry writhe in pain. They knew that this was something he needed to do on his own, but it still hurt them all to watch.

Her eyes noticed a slight movement to the right of her and she glanced over just in time to see Draco's hidden figure. She beamed at him before noticing the look of pain on his face. She frowned slightly and moved her eyes to the direction of Draco's...only to realise that he was staring at Ron's hand clasped tightly around hers. Hermione, knowing that she was causing Draco pain, quickly pulled her hand away from Ron, but it was too late. Draco had already disappeared.

A/N

I'm so sorry for the long delay, but the Holidays were very busy for me and my family. Here's a new update though! Longest chapter so far! :)

Also, as you guys can tell now, this is when things will differ from the original story. I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts! :)