Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with him. JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter empire. This is all complete fiction.

A/N: I'm not sure if I like this chapter. I don't think it's my best one, but I felt it necessary in a way. Let me know if you think it's okay, or if it totally sucks. I love reviews!

Chapter Six:  Confusion

".....will be fine....."

"...don't know how...

"...very lucky..."

I was shrouded in some sort of a foggy mist, surrounded by darkness on all sides. A dull aching drummed through my body, so I safely assumed I was still alive. My hearing was fading in and out though, so I only heard snippets of the conversations around me.  My mind gave  a sudden jolt, and I felt myself being pulled somewhere. Looking around, I realized I could see!

Large stone walls stared back at me, while a torch blazed brightly above my head. Wrinkling my forehead in confusion, I turned around to further inspect my surroundings. What I saw made my heart skip several beats. There, chained to the far wall, hung a bleeding Harry Potter.

"Oh Harry," I whispered, stepping closer to him.

"Hermione?" He rasped, trying to lift his head to look at me. I reached out and touched his face, which was smeared with dirt and blood. His hands and feet lay incased in metal chains clamped firmly to the wall. Blood, dirt and sweat covered his entire body. His shirt had been torn in several places, and his face was deeply scratched.

"Harry, Harry, what happened?" I asked, my heart racing as I searched myself for my wand.  I almost panicked as I realized it wasn't with me, wherever we were. I walked over to where his wrists were chained to the wall and tried to pry them loose, but to no avail.

"You got distracted in the fight. I tried to hold them off, but I couldn't do it by myself. You let me down Hermione. You failed me when I needed you the most. Because of you, we're both going to die," Harry gasped out, his green eyes looking at me with pain and disappointment. I backed away from him slowly, covering my mouth with my hands. No, it couldn't be true. How could this happen?

Frantically I began to look around. The room had no windows, and only one huge door that was made of heavy iron. It was barred, and even if I could have gotten the bar off, I would need the key to open the door. I tried to lift the bar, but it was way too heavy; it wouldn't even budge.

I walked back over to Harry, and put my hand on his arm, trying to pry the shackles open. Like the door, they too required a key. Harry flinched when I brushed up against his side. I pulled his shirt up past his waist to see a huge gaping wound across his stomach. I don't know how I didn't notice it before. I fell to my knees as I realized he would die from these wounds unless I could help him in someway. That posed a problem, because I didn't know what to do.

 'Why can't I concentrate? Why can't I find of a way out of this?'  I thought, falling to my knees.

 BANG!

The heavy door swung open, and there stood Voldemort himself, looking at me in disgust.

"Ah, the ever clever Miss Granger. Not so clever now, are you? Couldn't even save your best friend from death, could you? Worthless little mudblood. I do believe it's time to watch your precious Harry Potter join his parents and godfather. Then I think I'll torture you for a while. Of course if you're lucky, I might just go ahead and kill you.  Murdering one's nemesis does tend to put one in a good mood," He hissed, his hideous face contorting in an evil smile. I stood up in front of Harry and faced the dark lord.

"If you want to kill him, you'll have to go through me first," I declared. The dark lord strode forward and stood in front of me.

"I don't think so little witch. Because then your love for him might save him, just like his mother's did all those years ago. No, Potter won't beat me again. Lucius, Bellatrix, seize her!" He ordered. Two death eaters in white masks grabbed me by my arms, dragging me away.  I kicked and punched, trying to get away from them. Lucius managed to stop me by calling out, "Incarcerous!"

Thick brown ropes wrapped themselves around my body, causing me to fall to the floor. Try as I might I couldn't get out of them. I looked back at Voldemort just in time to see him raise his wand and point it at Harry, who took one last gasping breath.

"Avada Kedavra!" The dark lord cried out. Harry screamed in pain as the killing curse hit him full in the chest. For one moment his eyes opened wide. The next second his face went slack and his entire body slumped over.

Tears poured down my face even faster as I called out, ' NO! Harry!  No, no......Harry....wake up! Harry wake up, please wake up, Harry....'

My heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest as I closed my eyes in grief.

"Please, Hermione, wake up.... Hermione.... please wake up..."

My eyes snapped open at the sound of my name. That sounded like Harry calling me. But he couldn't be...could he?

'Hermione, come on.... wake up.... Hermione...'

The room around me began to blur and I felt myself spinning around and around. I closed my eyes tightly and felt that sudden jolt again. The spinning stopped, and I took a deep breath before opening my eyes.

"Hermione! You're awake! Thank goodness, I was starting to get seriously scared there," Harry told me. I just stared at him. No scratches, no blood, no disappointed look in his eyes...

"Harry!" I exclaimed, leaping forward and grabbing him, hugging him with all my might.

"Harry, thank goodness you're alright. I thought he killed you, I saw him curse you and I thought you were dead and you told me it was all my fault and I was scared and I couldn't help you, and..." I rambled on, clutching him to me tightly. He had jumped in surprise when I first grabbed him, but as I talked he pulled me closer to him and rubbed my back soothingly.

"Hermione, it's alright. You must have been dreaming. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell in your aunt's living room. I'm all right, I promise. None of what you dreamed took place, it's okay," He told me softly.  I glanced around for a second, realizing that I was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts.

"Uh-umm..."

We jumped apart, and I for one blushed terribly as I saw my mum, dad, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey standing there.

"Mum, dad, are you okay? Is Aunt Jamie alright? Where is she? What's going on?" I asked, giving them concerned looks. My parents looked at each other before turning back to me.

"Well dear, we were not hurt in the attack. This is in part to you, screaming at us as you did to get behind the sofa. We've had your Aunt's memory obliviated so as not to cause her further worry and stress. Her house has been fixed back to normal, and she remembers nothing of the incident. You, however, we are worried about," My father told me, coming to sit beside me on the bed.

"I really don't feel that Miss Granger is up to all of this talk straight away. I believe it would be in her better interest if she were to rest for the remainder of the evening. Explanations can be given tomorrow morning, if you wish," Madame Pomfrey announced. I gave her an unhappy look, and glanced at Professor Dumbledore for help. He just chuckled and nodded at me.

"I believe Poppy is correct in this situation Miss Granger. You were hit with a very powerful curse, and you must rest. We cannot have you getting worked up so soon after the attack. From what I understand you also had a rather uneasy sleep, so I must insist that you eat some chocolate and stay calm for the rest of the night. We will talk and explain everything tomorrow," Professor Dumbledore said, patting my hand.

"Alright, I get the message. I suppose I can wait until tomorrow," I replied, accepting the chocolate bar Madame Pomfrey gave me.

"I'll also give you a dreamless sleeping potion in a bit so that you won't have any more nightmares," She informed me. I nodded my head and ate a piece of chocolate.

"Well dear, your father and I are were very worried about you. However, it has been a very exhausting experience and I would like to retire to the room the Headmaster has provided for us. We will be staying here for a few days at least. If you need us, we are right down the hall, okay sweetie?" My mom asked me. I nodded my head in understanding. She and my father kissed my forehead, before following Professor Dumbledore out of the Wing.

Just seconds later Madame Pomfrey handed me a dark purple potion in a glass. I wrinkled my nose and swallowed it down, making a face afterwards.

"You have fifteen minutes Mr. Potter," The nurse warned, before going into her office. I looked up at Harry from my place on the small bed.

"I have something for you," Harry said, reaching down beside the bed. I raised an eyebrow, curious to what he was talking about. A huge smile broke out on my face when I saw P.J., my stuffed animal from the amusement park. I reached out and took him from Harry, hugging the stuffed animal to me.

"Where did you get it?" I asked him. He just smiled at me and replied, "That's my little secret."

Rolling my eyes, I set P.J. on the floor leaning up against the night stand by my bed. I looked back up at Harry, noting the concerned look in his green eyes. Slowly I reached up and touched the side of his forehead, where a dark brown bandage had been placed.

"How is your head?" I asked, worried about his injury. He took my outstretched hand in his and held it gently.

"It's fine. Madame Pomfrey gave me some potion to stop the pain. It'll be okay in a few days. Meanwhile, I'm more worried about you. You really scared me when you wouldn't wake up, 'Mione," He informed me. I looked down at our joined hands, then back up at him.

"Yes, well I was very frightened by the dream I had of you. I thought you were dead Harry, I was so scared..." I trailed off, tears filling my eyes at the memory.

"Hey," Harry whispered, bringing a hand up to smooth my hair back from my face. " We're going to be friends forever, remember?  I'm not going to leave you, Hermione. I promise you that."

I nodded and looked back down at our joined hands. Slowly his thumb began to stroke the back of my hand in gentle circles. I could feel my eyelids start to drift close. I tried to fight the sleepiness, but the potion was too strong. It wasn't long before I fell asleep, wondering if Harry would be able to keep his promise.

A/N: Hopefully the next chapter will be up in the next day or two. Let me know what you think of this one! Hope it wasn't too confusing. And I hope "someone" is glad that PJ is back. I sort of forgot about him, sorry!