AN: Okay… this is NOT COOL, people… there are 80 HITS for this story… count 'em, EIGHTY! And how many reviews are there? 11. Only eleven stinking reviews. Now, I understand that some of those hits may be people that are re-visiting the story, and some of the hits might have been people who didn't read it, but COME ON! I know that all of the hits aren't people who didn't read it, because I got reviews for chapters 1 and 2, but only one for chapter 3. (Quick thanks to CrazyPoet -smile-) I know you guys are out there, so PLEASE, for the sake of all that is good, REVIEW! Okay, I'm done now. No wait, not quite yet. I think that you all may be reviewing me after this chapter because you'll be rather angry with me… but please… no flames. Life does go on in the story.

Chapter 4: Flashbacks

Harry got tired of staring at the beautiful landscape and not really seeing anything, so he flopped down onto his back and stared at the clear, blue sky for a moment before sighing and closing his eyes. Maybe if he just fell asleep, he would wake up to find that this whole day had been a dream, and he was still lying in the dormitory, worried about exams. He had actually started dozing off when he heard a faint roaring. He tried to ignore it, but it got slowly and steadily louder. Annoyed, he opened his eyes and sat up. He turned around and squinted in the direction of the noise. He didn't see anything on the grounds, but when he looked up, he noticed two tiny dots in the distance, getting larger each moment. A split second later he realized what they were, and his stomach disappeared. He dashed toward the forest as fast as his legs could carry him.

Hermione was lazily leaning back on the trunk of the Whomping Willow, which was remaining perfectly still. She was gazing absent-mindedly into the sky, and it was a few seconds before she realized that there was something there that wasn't clouds or birds. A closer look told Hermione all she needed to know. Her eyes widened and she leapt off of the tree root, and the tree promptly began moving again. She stood there, frozen with shock, and a long branch from the Willow whacked her directly in the stomach. She fell backwards, the wind knocked out of her, but her senses knocked back into her. She promptly leapt up again and dodged as many branches as she could while running full speed toward the lake - behind which grew the Dark Forest, where she was headed. She still got scratched and bruised by some of the smaller branches, but at least didn't get knocked over again. By the time she made it near the lake, the roaring was deafening...it was right over top of her. She managed to tumble into the forest just as they passed over the lake. To her misfortune, she ran right into none other than Harry. She had barely started glaring at him when his face turned white.

"Oh God, Hermione, GET DOWN!" he said all of a sudden. He then pushed her to the ground and he followed. Lying flat on their stomachs, they both raised their heads a little bit to see an explosion in the distance, and then felt blazing heat much closer at hand. They looked over to the castle in time to see it engulfed in flames and then... simply a mountain of rubble. Bits of stone and wood flew in every direction, including toward the forest. They both put their faces to the ground and covered their heads as they felt small pebbles raining on their backs. When it subsided, Hermione dared to lift her head up, and what she saw made her put it right back down into the ground again. Where a majestic castle had stood only minutes before was now just a mass of stone and rubble.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was no more.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

-

Hermione felt Harry sit up next to her, heard his gasp of shock, surprise, and horror.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that—no? Well, if you're sure, better be GRYFFINDOR!"

-

Hermione was too busy sobbing to care about Harry.

"I was lucky once, wasn't I?" sad Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Hermione!"

"Harry, you're a great wizard, you know."

"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.

A small mud puddle had formed under Hermione's face, putting splotches of dirt on her cheeks, but right now she could care less. Hogwarts Castle—her second home—was destroyed. The two students simply sat there for what seemed like hours, although it was only fifteen minutes, until finally, Hermione sat up and timidly spoke.

"Why?" was all she said, but it said enough. Why did this have to happen? she thought. Why did Hogwarts have to be destroyed? Why do we have to face the fact that everyone we know and love is now... she couldn't even finish the thought. There were so many things that "why" could stand for. Harry spoke next.

"Muggles...they did it," he said, in a voice that sounded like he was in such a state of shock that he couldn't feel emotion.

Quietly, Harry tried to say something in Parseltongue. The words wouldn't come. It seemed he had to be face to face with a snake to do it.

But I'm in Gryffindor, Harry thought. The sorting hat wouldn't have put me here if I had Slytherin blood…

Ah, said a nasty little voice inside his brain, but the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin, don't you remember?

Harry turned over. He'd see Justin the next day in Herbology and he's explain that he'd been calling the snake off, not egging it on, which (he thought angrily, pummeling his pillow) any fool should have realized.

"Muggles in combat...war planes...bombs..." Hermione added.

"What did you do?" she said fiercely. "You said you were only going to keep a lookout!"

"I just saved all our lives…" said Harry. "Get behind here—behind this bush—I'll explain."

Hermione listened to what had just happened with her mouth open yet again.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Yes, haven't you been listening?" said Harry. "I saw me but I thought I was my dad! It's okay!"

"Harry, I can't believe it…. You conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those dementors! That's very, very advanced magic…."

-

They weren't exactly speaking to each other.

"Great," said Harry bitterly. "Really great. You tell him from me that I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it…. People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go…."

"I'm not telling him anything," said Hermione shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe me once I've got my neck broken or—"

"That's not funny," said Hermione quietly. "That's not funny at all."

-

They were voicing their thoughts, saying them to the air. The other person was just there to hear them, and silently agree with the thoughts said aloud.

"Okay Harry?" said Hermione, turning to him. "Ready to tell the public the truth?"

"I suppose," said Harry, watching Rita balancing the Quick-Quotes-Quill at the ready on the parchment between them.

"Fire away then, Rita," said Hermione serenely, fishing a cherry out of the bottom of her glass.

AN: DON'T KILL ME! I told you that you'd probably be angry with me, as I'm sure you are. But PLEASE, don't flame this chapter, as I said before, the rest of the story isn't… quite… as sad… and besides which, this HAD to be in there for the whole plot of the story to work. Now, I'm positive there will be some smart aleck that will review and say, "This couldn't possibly happen because there are bound to be all sort of protective spells around the castle preventing it." So, to the person (or people) that I just KNOW are waiting to say that: I realize this. But as I said, it HAD to happen for the sake of the story. Please don't try and correct me on something I already know. This is the fanfiction world where anything can happen. Be thankful that this particular event isn't as crazy as some of the others I've seen….