Hermione wondered if she had been in a stampede of Hippogriffs, the pounding of her head told her that it was a high possibility. Maybe Luna had another explanation of some imaginary creature or another she could borrow, the blonde witch always had some creature as a cause of wracking havoc. Her head rolled as she lay against something warm and comfortable, it was like laying on her mum's lap.

Eyes snapped open as they looked around her. The scene was peaceful, filled with greenery, trees, and flowers that would make Professor Sprout envious. Wait! Wasn't she in the Astronomy Tower? She was going to jump, to free herself from the misery that surrounded her. The lightning storm that was present in the sky was so beautiful and peaceful to her tortured soul. She just wanted her mum and dad. She wanted to not feel the itching sensation that was present since Dumbledore asked for an Unbreakable Vow to keep Harry from knowing that her parents had been murdered by Death Eaters.

'He would be so broken if he knew the truth, Miss Granger. He barely contained his sorrow after poor Cedric Diggory. Think of how he would be if he learned about his best friend's parents. He would blame himself.'

His words that night after he portrayed himself as a worried grandfather to the Muggle law enforcement, whisking her away to 12 Grimmauld Place. She should have known something was amiss with the way Crookshanks was behaving before the Headmaster had requested her to make the vow.

Feeling movement below her she turned her head up only to be met with the most beautiful jade eyes she had ever seen.

"Hello little love," the sweet melody of the voice filled the young witch with ease.

"Morgan?" Hermione's voice cracked as her eyes widened with shock.

The woman on who she realized her head was lying laughed lightly. "I'm afraid not little love." Her hands began to run through Hermione's bushy hair with ease.

"Where am I? Am I dead?"

"You are not dead little love, not yet at least." The jade eyes didn't lose their kindness but sorrow began to fill them.

"Can I…can I go see my mum and dad?" tears began to well up in Hermione's own eyes. The pressure of holding everything together to not cry over the past three months ready to let loose. "Please, I just want to see them again." The flood broke the damn as she began to sob into the woman's lap.

"Oh, little love," she crooned over Hermione leaning her body over into an embrace, the one that only a mother could provide. "If you wish to see them you must submit to death," she explained.

Did she want to submit to death? She wanted to see her parents again, she wanted to be free again but what about Harry? He hadn't been well since the end of the Triwizard Tournament and then the Dementors attack on him and his cousin and the faux trial under Fudge. What would happen to Harry? Could Ronald pull the weight? He was intelligent and those two were two peas in a pod. Surely they wouldn't die without her there. Right?

Looking past the woman she noticed a gnarly, black tree. It screamed pain and tourture. All thoughts of Harry ceased and took a drastic turn. Perhaps she had died and was in Hell despite the Elysian Fields scenery. Hermione felt her blood pressure drop quickly.

"Shh, you aren't not dead little love," hands continued to run though her hair.

"The tree,"

"My husband," the jade eyed woman sighed lightly catching Hermione's eyes as she cut her off. "My family placed a curse on him after we married. Perhaps it is the gods way of letting him heal in peace after his death."

"That's terrible," a new form of sadness filled Hermione's soul. How horrible it would be to be in love only to have the person you love cursed.

"He was a muggle and my family viewed me as a blood traitor," the woman continued. "For my treason and breaking a marriage arrangement I didn't want they cursed the love of my life. He turned into a beast I suppose. He was still a man but he was a monster."

"Is that why you stay here?" Hermione's voice was slight like a child hanging on every word of a fairytale her father used to tell her before bed.

The woman smiled, it was beautiful, like the sun. "I stay because I love my husband." Tears began to form in her eyes confusing the younger witch. "I ended the curse by killing him and then I took my own life so that he wouldn't be alone. It was the only way to end his suffering my family caused him but that meant I would have…" she stopped not wanting to finish what she was going to say. Perhaps Hermione wasn't privy to that kind of information.

How horrible but terribly beautiful it was.

Hermione's eyes widened as a thought hit her. What if she wasn't there, Dumbeldore would be able to move Harry and Ronald in any way he needed them. Ron was amazing at strategy but they both trusted the Headmaster so blindly.

"I need to go back," her voice cracked and her eyes looked up to jade. "I need to protect my brothers." Her resolve became absolute, like hardened steel.

The woman only nodded, perhaps in approval or perhaps just in acknowledgement.

The wind blew as it carried sweet scents of the flowers around them. It whispered sweetly in Hermione's ear to close her eyes. She did just that.