The Summer Of Death

Hermione stared out the window blankly, as the rolling hills of the Yorkshire countryside whisked past. She was going home. She hadn't slept all night, a hideous feeling in her stomach that something was wrong. She curled herself up into a ball on the velvet seat, and reached for her well read copy of 'Wuthering Heights'*. She had to stop her mind from straying into the unknown horror that had been her previous night at Hogwarts.

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Instead of keeping the rest of her dorm up, she had tiptoed out and down the spiral staircase to the Common room. Glancing at the clock hovering above the mantelpiece, she decided to tuck herself into her favourite armchair and catch up on some light reading. It was 1 in the morning, she'd have to be up in 6 hours, and she had no interest in just staring blankly out the window, at the mist like rain that shimmered down from the heavens. The howling breeze whipped the rain into a frenzy, it looked almost like a full scale blizzard. As she glanced at the dim embers in the fire, she wished she could lie upon them to warm her frozen body. Although the Gryffindor Common room was typically a warm and inviting environment, that particular night, as the wind howled against the old stone walls, there might as well have been a bunch of dementors holding a funeral in it. She grabbed a blanket from the chair alongside the one she occupied, snuggled herself down and opened her book.

"Miss Granger dear? ... Miss Granger? ... Oh for heavens sakes, HERMIONE!"

Hermione bolted out her cosy armchair so fast she nearly head-butt Professor McGonagall. She glanced around quickly trying to work out where the danger was coming from, for there had to be one for the professor to wake her up in such a manner. Come to think of it, when had she fallen asleep?

"In any other circumstance I would ask why you decided to sleep in the Common room and not in your own perfectly comfortable bed, but, alas there are far more important things to be done. Can you go and wake up the rest of the girls in their dormitories please and ask them to all come down to the great hall. They needn't get changed, just tell them to throw a cloak or nightgown or something on over their pyjamas." McGonagall started to head towards the boys dorms in a brisk business-like fashion, which left Hermione feeling completely perplexed.

"I don't understand professor, what's going on?" she quickly glanced at the clock and couldn't believe that it was only 4am, surely the clock must have stopped? But then again, it was magic not muggle and didn't need batteries. Glancing back up at the professor's tired face, she decided not to press her lack of understanding, and just do as she was told. She had never been one to question a direct instruction from her professors, and she could tell that now wasn't the time to break that trend.

She dashed up the spiral staircase two at a time, banging on doors as she reached each mini landing. On the few occasions that the occupants of a dorm weren't immediately startled awake by her noisy knocking, she decided to swing open the door with such force that it bounced of the wall and slammed closed again. That certainly woke up those in a deep sleep. She didn't see the point in having to repeat herself over and over, so she touched her wand to her throat, muttered an incantation and then her booming voice could be heard all the way through the Gryffindor Tower.

"Professor McGonagall has given me direct instructions to wake you ladies up! Do not go back to sleep, you are to put on your dressing gowns or cloaks and make your way down the Great Hall immediately. Any stragglers will receive my boot up their backside!" Hermione felt a twisted thread of glee at the tiny handful of power McGonagall had given her. She had never considered herself hungry for power or control, and yet it felt incredibly good to her. She pushed the errant feelings away, feeling slightly unnerved, and made her way back down to her own dorm to grab her black and gold Kimono.

It was her prize possession, aside from her wand and books. Her mother had given it to her for Christmas the previous year. It was made from gorgeously soft black satin, with a gold silk sash and golden embroidery in an oriental pattern. She felt like a geisha when she wore it. It was mid-thigh length and went perfectly with the plain black silk pyjamas her father had given her the same Christmas. That Christmas had been one of the best in her life, but also one of the saddest. There had been a fire at her parents Dental Practice, which meant money was short that year. The only reason any of the luxuries could be afforded, was because of the small windfall that came their way through the death of Hermione's aunt Lydia. Hermione hadn't know her that well, they'd only met twice as far as she was aware, as Lydia had lived in South Africa working as a keeper in Johannesburg Zoo. But she was still her mother's sister, so it had been a tough Christmas knowing she wasn't wandering round somewhere, several thousand miles away, with a baby Red Bellied Lemur attached to her arm. Hermione cherished these precious items even more so because they connected her to her mysterious aunt who had been accidently crushed in the Pygmy Hippo enclosure during a routine check up by the vets. The sheer luxuriousness of the Kimono made it her favourite.

With her Kimono on and her feet pushed into her snug boot-like slippers, she made her way down to the Great Hall to find out what all the drama was about. As she marched past painting after painting on her trek down the ever changing staircase, she began to notice that they all looked odd, like something wasn't quite right. The problem was far less obvious in the scenic paintings, but it was in the portraits that the problem became all too clear. There were no people! How peculiar she thought to herself, pondering over it until before she knew it she was at the bottom of the stairs. She strode over to the open doors and stopped at the peculiar sight before her eyes. Almost every single teacher was sitting in his or her respective chair at the head table, in their pyjamas. All in fact except Professor Snape, who appeared to be fully dressed, including his boots and cloak. If that hadn't been enough to have her trying to stifle a few giggles, seeing the rest of the student body in their pyjamas and cloaks or dressing gown, certainly did it.

There was only one other person, aside from Snape, who happened to be in clothing: Harry. This made him stand out particularly badly, which was made worse by the fact that he was currently sat in Professor McGonagall's chair at the head table and not at the Gryffindor table. The fact that Harry wasn't sitting with Ron, quickly sobered her up. She threw Ron a quizzical look, as she wandered over to where he was sat between Ginny and Luna Lovegood. He hadn't noticed her arrival until she was stood right next time him, and only then noticed the look she was giving him. He just shrugged and budged up closer to Ginny to make space for her next to him. It was only as she sat down, that she noticed the dirty glares being thrown in her direction from almost every single female member of the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson however was too busy deep in conversation with Blaise Zabini to even look in her direction. This only confused Hermione more, what on earth could she have done to incur the wrath of every single female of the Slytherin house bar one?!

As the last few stragglers wandered over to their tables, looking particularly like zombies, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly, causing an oppressive silence to fall over the entire room. As Hermione looked up at her she noticed that behind the professor sat one single empty chair in the middle of the head table. Where was the headmaster?

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've summoned you down here at this most unpleasant hour. However making this announcement here as opposed to having to address each house in turn seemed a far more sensible manner of doing things. You are to return to your dormitories and get changed, immediately start packing all of your belongings into your trunks, your owls will be waiting for you there. Once everything is packed and you are dressed you are to return back down here. I would ask that no student walk alone, you are to stay in groups of at least three. Hogwarts is no longer safe."

At this last comment the Hall erupted into squeaks and squeals of shock, followed by an incredibly loud bombardment of questions aimed at McGonagall.

"WOULD YOU BE QUIET!" Her loud voice boomed around the hall, startling everyone back into silence. "I take no pleasure in informing you that you are all to be returning home first thing in the morning, once the train arrives back here. Your heads of house will lead you down to the carriages and ensure everyone gets onto the train. It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have to inform you; Professor Dumbledore has passed away..."

The silence that had fallen over the room increased even further as every student found they could no longer breath, shock set in so swiftly, that several first years fainted and had to be revived by their fellow housemates.

"As I am sure many of you have come to the conclusion already, you must all know that although this wasn't at the direct hands of He-who-must-not-be-named, it was several of his followers that breached the castle and killed him. Therefore Hogwarts is no longer safe and you are all to return home to your families. They have already been informed. You have two hours to be dressed, packed and back here. House elves have been sent to your dormitories to assist you. We don't know when, but you will all be notified when the funeral for Albus will be, you will all naturally be asked to attend. I know I speak for all of us when I say he will be sorely missed and forever cherished in our hearts" A single tear slowly trickled down her cheek, as each and every student reached for their wands, lifted them high above their heads, and in an eerie unison muttered 'Lumos'. Behind McGonagall, each and every professor followed suit. As McGonagall turned round she gasped to see her fellow teachers united with the pupils, and another tear rolled down her cheek. She reached deep into the pocket of her night gown and withdrew her own wand, raising it high above her head, the tip glowed with a peculiar purple light, and in the dead silence her voice could be heard by every single student.

"Goodbye Albus.."

They stayed that way for 2 minutes, each thinking about their own memories of Dumbledore. It shook Hermione to the core to see everyone so emotional. Even the Slytherins looked forlorn and sad. McGonagall lowered her wand and everyone followed suit.

"Go on now, go pack, you only have two hours to be back down here!" There was an emptiness in her words that matched the hollow and distant look in her eyes.

Hogwarts hadn't just lost their headmaster that night, she had lost her best friend. With that, she turned to her fellow professors, nodded once, then strode to her private chambers to pack her belonging too. She would leave with her students.

As Hermione wandered back up the stairs to the Common room, joined by Ron and Ginny, she found her mind was blank, her eyes unable to focus, and her heart heavy. The depth of her despair left her a hollow shell of her former self. Surely this was the darkest day of her life, both past present and future... Little did she know that there was worse yet to come.

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Hermione woke up with a start, as Ron shook her shoulder gently. She looked up at him with empty eyes, and he sighed. He perched himself down on the seat next to her and dragged her into his arms. She sobbed and sobbed until her eyes ran dry and she felt even more cold than she had that night in the Common room.

"We're almost there 'Mione, look." As her eyes glanced up to where Ron was pointing out the window, she realised that the Countryside of Yorkshire had since changed into the outskirts of London. Hermione sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes hard, anything to bring her back down to earth from this nightmare she was sure she would wake up from, if she only knew how. Realising it was futile and that this really was happening, she stood up quickly and stretched her sore and cramping legs.

"Where's Harry? I never saw him get on the train?" Ron looked up at Hermione's worried expression and just shrugged.

"I don't know, he's probably with the Professors, he never came to bed last night. I think he was there... you know... when Dumbledore died. He's probably being bombarded with questions of what actually happened." Ron paused, deep in thought, then followed up with "Do you want to go look for him? I'm sure he's fine, but if it will help put your mind at ease". He looked up at her with a hopeful look in his eyes. It was evident from his expression that he too was worried and that he was desperate to go and find his best friend too. But his loyalty to Hermione had kept him here, watching over her as she had slept. When had she fallen asleep? And why did this keep happening, she had no recollection of Ron even being in the carriage when she started reading. And where on earth was her book? She glanced down to find it wedged between the seat cushions, and she snatched it up, straightening out the crumpled pages.

"Yes, let's go see if we can find him, I'm sure he'll be fine, but even so maybe he could do with some company of his own age."

She grabbed Ron's arm and practically frog marched him down to the front of the train, where she knew the professors had decided to sit. It was odd to have the teachers on the train, usually they would apparate just outside of the school grounds and walk through the open gates that were awaiting the students return. But given the seriousness of the previous night they had decided to travel with their students, just in case anymore dangers appeared.

By the time they reached the professors and Harry, he was already asleep, so Hermione and Ron chose to sit either side of his curled up body, and simply wait for him to sleep away his exhaustion. Little did they know that Harry wouldn't return to the land of the living until the train pulled into the station, and by that point all three of them would be snoozing gently.

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A/N Not massive changes in this chapter either, just a few lines here and there.

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