Hermione was walking down the dark corridor.
"Lumos." She said holding her wand in front of her. All her senses were on alert mode. Where is everyone? She thought.
Even the paintings that were usually hanging on the walls disappeared.
"Hermione!"
She jumped. "Who's there?" she asked, her voice shaking.
"Help me! Please!" The voice shouted and then the air was filled with a piercing scream.
Hermione ran the full length of the corridor until she reached to a door that was ajar. She slowly pushed the door open and looked around the dark room.
She held up her wand in front of her and saw shadows in the background.
"W-who's there?"
The person screamed again.
Suddenly, she recognized the voice…Ron! It was Ron!
"Ah…Miss Granger, you're right in time." A low voice said, "Allumos!"
Most of the room was suddenly filled with light, except for the corners.
Hermione felt her stomach turn. A few feet in front of her Ron was strapped into a chair, he was struggling to try free himself.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed running to him, but then she was stopped by someone pulling her from the back of her robes.
She turned her head and saw Parvati, "Leave him be." She instructed as she now gripped Hermione's arm tightly.
"No!" She tried kicking and pushing Parvati away but she just wouldn't budge. It was as if she was made of rock or something of that sort.
"Go ahead." Parvati motioned to someone in the corner.
Hermione watched in horror as a man dressed in a black cloak with a handkerchief covering most of his face except for the eyes stepped from the shadows and stood right next to Ron. He pulled out a small bottle from the inside of his cloak, he started to taunt Ron by making the bottle dance in mid air in front of his face.
"You were too late Hermione…just too late." Parvati said in a mock sad tone.
Ron's face was filled with fright, his eyes widened as the man unscrewed the cap on the bottle, "Hermione! Help!" He looked at her.
Hermione's heart was racing, "Let-me-go!" she screamed using all her strength to pull away from Parvati's grip.
The man let out a short laugh, "If you open your mouth any wider I would have a reason to put this whole bottle in your mouth."
Ron shut his mouth immediately.
Tears started forming in Hermione's eyes as she watched the man force open Ron's mouth.
"This is ridiculous. Abbriviloso!" Sparks flew from the man's wand and hit Ron in the mouth.
Ron let out a painful scream.
"Stop! Please!" Hermione begged.
Ron's mouth slowly opened wider and wider. It looked as if two screws were attached to each side of his jaw, and that the screws kept turning to forcefully open his mouth.
The man poured the liquid into Ron's mouth and stood back watching.
"There is nothing more you can do." Parvati said letting go of Hermione.
Hermione raced to Ron. "Anstrap!" She pointed her wand at the ropes that were holding Ron in his seat. As the ropes loosened and fell to the ground Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's neck.
"Ron…" She hit him lightly on his cheek, but his head just lolled on the side.
Parvati laughed evilly, "You silly girl. There is nothing you can do to revive him."
Hermione started crying harder, "There has to be something!"
"You're too late."
Hermione watched in shock as Ron slowly started to disappear right in front of her eyes. "What did you do to him?" She commanded looking at the man. That's when she realized his eyes…those horrible red eyes.
She screamed.
--
Hermione felt a splash of water hit her face. She opened her eyes and saw…Parvati standing over her.
She screamed and sat up in her bed.
"Hermione! What's wrong with you?" Parvati asked, she looked a bit annoyed.
Hermione looked around the room; she looked at the clock and saw that it was 3am.
Ashlee Crowbed, her other room mate rushed into the room talking to someone who was behind her, but she stopped suddenly when she saw Hermione awake, "She was screaming…and oh I don't know…she kept saying Ron's name over and-"
Ginny rushed to Hermione's side at once, "Are you okay?" she asked looking concerned, "What were you dreaming about? Ashlee was telling me that you were saying Ron's name in your sleep."
"Not here." Hermione said softly, she looked in Parvati and Lavender's direction where they were talking quietly with each other.
Ginny got the hint, "Alright, let's go in the Common Room."
They both sat on the couch facing each other as Hermione gave her details of the dream.
"That's horrible." Ginny replied afterwards. As if she suddenly remembered something, she said, "Where were you the whole day? Everyone was so worried about you!"
Suddenly, Hermione heard footsteps coming from the corridor of the Boys' Dormitory. She turned and saw Ron and Harry.
"Ginny, what're you-" Ron stopped in mid sentence as his eyes fell on Hermione.
"Hermione! You're all right!" Harry rushed to her and gave her a big hug.
Hermione hugged him back; she looked at Ron who was looking at her warily.
"We were so worried. Every other hour we would come out of our dormitory and check the Common Room to see if you came back." Harry said; smiling relieved. He hugged her again.
Hermione smiled in spite of herself.
"So, what happened to you? What did Flitwick say?" Harry asked sitting down next to her on the couch.
Hermione hesitated, "Um, nothing much." She didn't look at any of them.
She heard someone grunt she looked up and saw that it was Ron. His face was completely red, "That's all you're going to say? Nothing much?"
Hermione was lost for words, "I-um…"
Ron walked across the room in long, quick strides. He pointed his finger at her to emphasize his point, "Next time you wander off with some other boy can you at least tell us so that we wouldn't be worrying our heads off? Bloody hell!"
Hermione's lips started quivering, as she tried to hold back her tears. Why did it always feel ten times worse when the person who you like gets mad at you?
"Yeah, that's right. Start crying." Ron said glaring at her.
Ginny gasped, "Ron!" She exclaimed putting her arms around Hermione's shoulders and hugged her.
Harry looked at Ron with a surprised look on his face; his mouth was hanging open. He looked as if he was about to say something, but then Ron interrupted.
"Or maybe you were in the Owlry sending a million posts to Viktor. Next time I won't waste any of my precious time worrying about-oh never mind!" He threw his hands up in frustration and bolted from the Common Room.
Harry gave Hermione an apologetic smile before running after Ron.
He doesn't even know what really happened, Hermione thought feeling as if her whole world was crumbling.