Disclaimer: All characters are the property of J K Rowling who I greatly admire.

My first effort – feedback greatly appreciated.

Harry, Ron and Hermione crept through the undergrowth. The forest was pitch black but ahead, in a clearing, they could make out lights and they could hear chanting. Gradually, they drew near and their worst fears were confirmed. A group of about twenty wizards, wearing black robes with their hoods pulled tightly down, were stood in a circle. As they chanted a luminous green skull began to form itself in the air above them.

"They're Death Eaters alright," said Harry.

Ron pointed to the tall wizard with his arms raised who appeared to be leading the chanting.

"Is that…" he stammered.

"Yes," said Harry, grimly. "It's Voldemort."

Ron let out a yelp.

"Quiet, "hissed Hermione. "Harry, what do we do?"

"I think we just get out of here and report this to Dumbledore."

The giant skull was now fully formed and it's green light was flooding the entire area.

"Good idea," agreed Ron. "Let's go."

But then they froze. The chanting had suddenly stopped. They turned to see that Voldemort now had a wand in his hand. Even though they were sure that they were well concealed the wand appeared to be pointing directly at them.

"Shiftius!" shouted Voldemort, in a loud, commanding voice.

What happened next was both curious and horrifying. Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves frozen in the same crouching position while the forest around them shifted and moved. They could see the forest clearing moving towards them and in an instance they were in the centre of the Death Eaters.

"Oh, no," shouted Ron, terrified.

Then he noticed that Harry and Hermione already had their wands out and, after a brief struggle, he managed to draw his too. But it was too late.

"Expelliarmus!" the Death Eaters chanted in unison, their wands pointing to the group in the centre of their circle. Harry's, Hermione's and Ron's wands flew out of their hands and landed about forty feet away.

"Now," cried Voldemort, "the time has finally come. This is your end, Potter!"

He pointed his wand at Harry and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

A red streak of light shot from the end of his wand and hit Harry in the chest. He fell to the ground. Hermione, hardly able to believe what she was witnessing, let out a scream.

Harry Potter was dead.

The Death Eaters let out an almighty cheer. Eventually, the noise died down. Hermione and Ron turned to Voldemort who was raising his wand again. Ron sank to his knees, closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. Then there was silence and darkness.

Ron opened his eyes. The Death Eaters and the giant skull had completely vanished. He could make out the shape of Harry's body lying on the ground a few feet away from him and he could hear footsteps moving around the clearing. The footsteps came towards him and he recognised the outline of Hermione.

"I've found your wand and mine," she said. "But I haven't found Harry's yet. Help me look for it."

"But, Hermione," he protested.

"We have to find Harry's wand," she interrupted.

"But Harry's dead," moaned Ron.

"I know he's dead," said Hermione curtly. "Look, we can't take his body back without his wand. Help me look for it."

"She's quite right," said a voice behind them. "We do need to find the wand."

Ron and Hermione span round. Hermione raised her wand and illuminated it to give them some light to see the speaker although they had both instantly recognised the voice.

It was Dumbledore.

A short while later Ron and Hermione were sat in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore had brought them back to Hogwarts using a Portkey. He had left Ron and Hermione in his office while he found a suitable place to store Harry's body. Now that Hermione had successfully searched for and located Harry's wand she no longer had anything to occupy her mind and the full realisation of what had happened began to sink in. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. Ron stared ahead of himself, numb with shock.

"Hermione?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why…why didn't he kill us?"

"I don't know. Probably because we're not important enough. It was always Harry that he wanted. Perhaps he wanted witnesses to report his death."

"He needed witnesses," said Dumbledore entering the room.

"What do you mean, 'needed'?" asked Hermione.

"Never mind that now, said Dumbledore, sitting down behind his desk. "I would like to know just what the three of you were doing out there tonight."

"It's all my fault, professor," said Ron, still staring ahead of himself.

"You're fault?" asked Dumbledore.

"It was the dreams," said Ron.

Dumbledore's questioning expression was answered by Hermione.

"Ron was having a recurring dream, " she explained, "about Death Eaters holding meetings in the Dark Forest. We weren't sure if they were just dreams or if Voldemort, sorry Ron, was getting inside Ron's head like he was inside Harry's head last year. We just decided to check it out for ourselves. We didn't think it was important enough to tell anyone."

"You should have told someone, " said Dumbledore, gently. "It was a trap."

"I know," said Ron, beginning to sob. "I know."

"It's not your fault, Ron," said Hermione, putting an arm around her friend. "We were all taken in."

"Listen to me carefully, you two," said Dumbledore. "I know you're grieving for Harry but you have got a lot of work to do and there isn't much time."

"Much time for what?" asked Hermione.

"Why, "answered Dumbledore, " to bring Harry Potter back to life, of course."

Ron and Hermione stared at him in amazement.