A/N: Hello everyone! I'm finally back!! This is intended as a partial-sequel to Hermione's Big Day, but for new readers, all you need to know is that Harry and Hermione are together in their sixth year. K? ;) I know it took me a long time to get this up, but I have loads of excuses and would be happy to send a list to anyone who asks. The first couple pages are a bit cheesy, but it gets better! I promise! ANYWAYS, enjoy! -CM

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Lystra adjusted the bangles on her ears and smiled at herself in the mirror. She was beautiful, as all of Voldemort's creations were, in that strange twist of fortune. Voldemort was evil to the core, yet he still had a strange sort of twisted artistic sense that prompted him to create in the image of beauty.

Lystra's own face was a perfect image. Her skin was smooth and unblemished, her eyes bright turquoise and framed with long black eyelashes, and her lips were full and perfectly curved. Her hair, long and black, fell to her back in a silky sheet. She had a figure and took full advantage of it; she would need it for this assignment.

This assignment: the ultimate one. Lystra could not hide the grin of glee on her face. Out of all his creations, out of all his loyal subjects, he had chosen her: proving her the most loyal, the most talented. Oh, when she accomplished this, she was going to be the most famous Death Angel of them all! Voldemort would take her as his queen, and she would finally get to see how the great Dark Lord kissed his most loyal subjects...

She got dreamy-eyed just thinking about it. Voldemort, the most perfect creation, needed her in his moment of glory. She had the ultimate mission.

To kill Harry Potter.

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Harry grinned gleefully as they neared the station. Finally! The Christmas break was over! Dumbledore had insisted he go back and visit the Dursleys over the winter holidays, in light of the recent tangle he and Hermione had had with the Dark Lord.

Hermione ... he had missed her over the holidays very much. A misty look fell over his face as he pictured her at the station, waiting for him .. a smile on her face, her arms outstretched ..

He laughed at himself and pushed the image away. Hermione was the independent type, the kind he'd always feared he'd fall in love with. One of those can-do females that were indignantly insulted when you offered to help her out of the car. He grinned at the image. Still, Hermione was a special kind of girl ..

He had first wondered nervously how Ron would take their newfound relationship. But when he and Hermione had come back from their encounter with Voldemort in the past, Ron had grinned at them from Lavender's arms. It was apparent that the cozy little three-person relationship was slowly falling apart, giving way to a new phase, when couples began to form. It wasn't destroying their friendship, it was making it stronger, in a strange way.

Uncle Vernon's car screeched to a halt outside King's Cross. "Get out, boy," he snarled, having been in a bad mood since Harry's last incident with magic .. which had ended up with shampoo bubbling out of Dudley's ears for a week. "I'll not be coddling you. I think you can make it to that platform without me."

Harry pulled his trunk and Hedwig's cage out of the car, started to say, "Thank-"

But Uncle Vernon had already driven off.

Harry shrugged, grinned, and headed inside to Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

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Hermione gave each of her parents a kiss on the cheek as they escorted her to the Hogwarts Express's station. Her mom grinned at her. "Can't wait to meet this Harry," she whispered to Hermione, winking.

Hermione blushed and grinned right back at her mother. "You'll love him to death, Mom. He's the greatest boy."

"So was your father .. till I discovered that nasty habit of his leaving underwear on the floor."

Her father frowned playfully at her mother as he handed Hermione her bags. "You were wonderful too, dear," he said, "that is, until I discovered you had this thing about underwear on the floor .. my college roommates never minded!"

Her mother and father both broke into laughter and kissed each other. Hermione listened with a smile on her face, loving the sound of their mirth... it was so wonderful to have a family ..

Then, of course, Harry appeared at her elbow, reminding her of how it was to be family-deficient. He laid a hand on her arm, his face full of happiness. "Hi, Hermione," he whispered, in a voice that gave her happy chills, and kissed her lightly on the nose.

"Harry," Hermione said in a loud voice, "I'd like to introduce you to my parents."

Harry smiled winningly and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. You've done a great job raising Hermione -- your daughter's a great kisser."

Hermione blushed. Harry squeezed her with a mischievous grin. Her father winked.

"It's almost time to go," said a new voice. Ron was there, Lavender on his arm.

"Love is in the air," said Hermione's father.

"What?"

"Never mind." Hermione's father and mother took turns hugging her, then stepped back as Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Lavender climbed into the scarlet train.

"Bye, Mom!" Hermione called, dashing into a compartment and waving furiously out the window.

"Bye, Hermione!" her parents called in unison, as the Hogwarts Express whistled loudly and began to slowly chug away from the station.

Harry and Hermione settled down in the compartment as the train slipped into the familiar rumble that meant the engine was working. Lavender and Ron, with a wink, left to find their own compartment.

Harry helped Hermione heave their trunks into the overhead compartment and together they sat down. At first, Harry talked a little, but she could see he was tired, so eventually she let him rest his head on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Hermione," he whispered half-asleep before he dropped off, and Hermione was suddenly struck by how different he looked. Before he left for the holidays, he had looked better.

It was probably those awful Dursleys, she thought. Let him have a few days on Hogwarts food and care and he'll be fine .. but she couldn't help thinking it was something different. Why was he so tired?

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Harry was embarrassed to have appeared so exhausted that he couldn't stay awake to talk to Hermione, but the tiredness was overwhelming, and it was so nice to fall asleep on someone who cared about him .. it was an entirely new experience.

It wasn't the Dursleys that had been taking it out of him (though they certainly hadn't helped); it was the nightmares that had been overtaking him since he had had his last Voldemort encounter. Time and time again he re-lived the weirdness of waking up out of a trance and finding Hermione there, saving his butt yet again.

But the dreams were worse; instead, they showed him what might have happened if Hermione's yells hadn't "woken" him - her death, his death, and the destruction of himself as a baby - undoing all the good that had been done since then. It troubled him. He knew he was a target, had heard Dumbledore's warnings, but yet he still had that creeping feeling that if Hermione had been captured, that he would have destroyed himself rather than see her hurt.

It was a staggering feeling.

But he found that he had less dreams when he fell asleep surrounded by people he loved. It was especially strong with Hermione; it was like she had a sort of defiance and bravery that shielded him from the bad dreams.

"I love you, Hermione," he said, the words out of his mouth unconsciously, as his head dropped onto her shoulder and he drifted into blessed dreamless sleep.

I really do love her, he thought. I'm in danger .. so is she ..

But at the moment, they were together, and he couldn't ask any more of life.

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Hermione smiled down at the sleeping Harry. She had always loved it when he fell asleep by her .. some kind of maternal feeling that made her fond of him when he slept. She smoothed his hair gently, and he smiled in his sleep. That made her smile too.

Suddenly, the compartment door flew open, and a girl stood in the doorway. She was their age, and looked rather angry. Her face cleared as she looked down at the pair.

Harry woke with a start, and Hermione felt a stab of anger towards the girl for waking him. He'd been sleeping so nicely, and needed it so much too.

"Wha?" Harry said, sitting up and straightening his glasses. "Who're you?" he said, staring at the girl in the doorway.

She was beautiful, Hermione suddenly thought. She had long black hair gathered up into an artfully artless bun, with long-lashed turquoise eyes and perfect skin. She was dressed in a very low-cut turquoise top and a long black skirt that showed off very well her perfect figure.

"Uh, hi," said the girl, in a smooth seductive voice, "I'm sorry. It's just, all the other compartments are taken, and-"

"That's OK," said Hermione, though she didn't mean it. "You can sit with us, if you want. I haven't seen you before. What's your name?"

"I'm Lystra," said the girl. "I'm a transfer from Durmstrang. I'm supposed to be a sixth year here." With a flash of long legs she settled herself, to Hermione's annoyance, between Harry and Hermione.

"That means you're with us!" Harry said, looking oddly at her.

"Sixth years too? Oh, how delightful," Lystra said, batting her eyelashes at Harry. Hermione decided she didn't like the girl.

"You speak very well," Hermione said coolly. "I had a friend who came from Durmstrang, and he had a very heavy accent. You don't seem to have one at all."

"Oh, me? No. I'm a native here. My parents live here, they just sent me to Durmstrang. Until the new headmaster came, and they didn't like him. So they sent me here."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Who was the new headmaster?" she asked carefully. "I understand Karkaroff quit. Who did they replace him with?"

Lystra never faltered. "I actually don't know. My parents wouldn't tell me, they just withdrew me as soon as they heard."

"Oh." Hermione leaned back against the seat, unable to think of anything else to drill her with.

"So who are you?" asked the girl.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry spoke up, "and this is Hermione Granger."

"Harry Potter, eh?" Lystra said with interest, ignoring Hermione. "Mind if I see your scar?"

"Uh, sure."

Lystra leaned into Harry as he lifted his bangs. "I see," she said, taking an unusual amount of time to examine it. "Yes, I suppose you're him!" She leaned back, and Harry dropped his bangs. "Interesting, very interesting."

Hermione said nothing. She was disliking this girl more and more with every moment.

And so they spent the rest of the train ride, listening to Lystra. By the end, Hermione was quite sick of her, and rather hurt that Harry hadn't made any attempt to curb her flirting with him. He wasn't quite encouraging her, but he wasn't quite discouraging her, either.

Ron and Lavender appeared at their compartment, looking refreshed and giddy. Hermione got up quickly, and Harry followed suit. Lystra was the last to get up, arranging herself so that not too much skin showed.

"Ron, Lavender, I'd like to introduce you to Lystra," Hermione said, as the pair shot her a quizzical look. "She's a transfer student here from Durmstrang."

Ron looked her up and down, and managed to keep from whistling. Lavender tightened her hand on his arm, and Hermione knew exactly how she felt.

"Let's go," Ron managed at last, in a rather dry voice. "They'll be waiting for us.."

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Lystra could not avoid a quick grin of glee as she climbed into the rickety carriages, taking care to use the chance to flash her long legs. It was all a game, and she was winning the first round.

That Hermione, the one with the brown hair, was the one she had to separate from Potter. It was, according to Voldemort, their bond that had let them get away last time.

Shouldn't be too hard, she thought, looking hard at Hermione. She is pretty, but I'm betting she doesn't know it, or else she'd have done something with her hair. They're pretty deep in love, but there's no couple that can survive me .. She grinned evilly, and no one caught the glint in her eyes as she looked at Potter and Granger, and planned their demise.



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I know it's awful and cheesy and boring, but at least review and say so! And for anyone who actually wants to know what happens next, reviews WILL make the next part come faster!! Be kind, rewind -- er um, review! -CM