"Did you just see that?"
"See what?"
"That flash over there."
"No, I didn't."
"I think it came from the forbidden forest."
"Your seeing things."
"This is nuts. Lumos," Harry said and light appeared at the end of his wand illuminating his and Ron's face.
"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked glancing around. A moment later Hermione's face appeared in the light.
"What are you to doing? Hurry up," Hermione said and once again disappeared into the darkness. Harry could still hear her footsteps on the wet grass of Hogwarts grounds.
Ron turned and followed Hermione with Harry following him.
"Over here," Hermione said and as Harry came up light shone down on what Hermione was looking at. It was a mask. A full-face mask molded to have a good fit on anyone's face and white.
"God," Harry said and glanced around in the darkness.
"Let's bring this to Dumbledore quick," Ron said his face pale underneath his freckles.
"You know what this is?" Hermione asked them.
"Yeah, a death eater's mask," Harry said his voice serious.'
"Let's go," Ron said again his voice more urgent, "There still could be some around."
"Not yet," Harry said, "What was that you said before, about a flash?"
"Nothing, just thought I saw a flash of light," Ron said carelessly obviously wanting to get back to the castle.
"Huh," Harry said.
"Ron's right, let's get back," Hermione said and picked up the mask.
"Don't touch it!" Ron yelped, "It'll get your fingerprints on it."
Hermione shrugged but pulled her sleeves down so that she was holding the mask through the cloth of her robes.
"Let's go then," Hermione said and disappeared into the darkness.
"Stop doing that," Harry said and followed Hermione through the darkness as best he could with out losing sight of her. Ron tagged along behind.
"Shouldn't we have reached the castle by now?" Ron asked in a worried voice after 10 minutes or so.
"I'm not sure," Hermione said, "You kind of lose track of where you are when its night."
"Yeah, especially on cloudy pitch black nights," Harry added.
"Trees," Ron said suddenly looking ahead. Harry pointed his wand towards where Ron was looking and did indeed see tall dark ominous trees.
"The Forbidden Forest," Hermione said her face whitening.
"How'd we get all the way over here?" Ron asked eyes wide.
"Not sure," Hermione said then pulled out her wand as well, "Lumos."
"What was that?" Harry asked suddenly.
"What?" Ron asked looking around.
"I heard a footstep, I think," Harry said and glanced away from the forest, "In that direction."
"Let's just find our way back to the castle," Hermione said trying to steady her voice.
Suddenly a flash of yellow light shot past them and hit one of the trees behind them.
"Run," Hermione said, but she needn't have said anything Harry and Ron were already sprinting in the opposite direction from where the light had come from, which happened to be the forest itself.
Hermione sprinted after the two bobbing lights coming from their wands. Finally after running straight into the forest for at least 10 minutes of stumbling over roots and running into stray branches they came to a stop.
"I don't think they're following us," Harry whispered.
"Neither do I," Ron agreed, "We've got to get back to the castle. Hermione?"
There was silence; Harry spoke up, "Hermione?"
More silence.
"She was right behind us wasn't she?" Ron asked looking around wildly.
"I thought so," Harry said worriedly.
Suddenly a scream broke the silence.
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron said at the same time and ran in the direction of the scream both of them gripping their wands tightly.
Suddenly Harry and Ron found themselves running right towards a small crowd of black robed figures. They were walking right for Harry and Ron.
"Quick, duck!" Harry said and shoved himself and Ron behind a rock, and not a moment to soon, the robed people wore white masks very similar to the one they'd found.
"Death eaters," Ron whispered horrified.
At the end of the procession two death eaters walked dragging a limp form. Hermione.
Ron tensed and raised his wand getting ready to stand back up. Then Harry grabbed his robe and pulled him back down.
"Are you crazy? They'll see you? Do you want us both killed?" Harry whispered fiercely.
"But Hermione," Ron argued.
"She'd want us to get away," Harry retorted.
Ron lowered his gaze.
"Come on then," Harry said and the stole away in the opposite direction soon coming out onto the Hogwarts grounds where the quickly reached the main entrance and headed inside straight for Dumbledore's office. A moment later there was a flash of green and the dark mark rose up into the sky as Harry and Ron glanced out a window.
"You don't think?" Ron asked staring at the mark.
"No, she's not dead," Harry said, "We'd know it if she were."
Ron didn't look satisfied but Harry gave him a shove and they hurried up to Dumbledore's office.
A/N: This story is so much fun to write. Most of my stories are humor stories; well the later ones, and its nice to write a non-humor one. Third Chapter comes up with 10 reviews, so tell you Harry Potter fan friends to read this.