Disclaimer: i do not own these characters they all belong to JK Rowling.

Author's Note: t i'm only writing one disclaimer for the whole thing so please, don't report me. i know this idea has been used before, but this is my own spin on the whole thing.

please read and reveiw, i wish to know if i should continue with it.

Chapter I - A Homecoming and a Revalation

Hermione Granger, sixth year gryffindor prefect, stomped furiously back into her compartment. Her best friends, Ron, Harry and Ginny trailing after her, each of them looked rather scared, something that was not really a rare thing.

But shall i start from the begining?

After completing their sixth year at hogwarts, Hermione Granger, Ronald and Virginia Weasley and Harry potter were on the school train, otherwise known as the Hogwarts Express, on their way back to king's cross station back in london. Hermione was upset because not three minutes earlier she had a run-in with a one, Draco Malfoy, not one of her closest compnions to say the very least. In truth, the two hated each other with a passion, but let me get on with the story...

"Ignore him, Hermione, he's just a git." Ginny said trying to get Hermione to calm down, it was not working.

Hermione grit her teeth and nodded, Ginny was right, Malfoy was a git she had been dealing with him for six years, by now a couple of half hearted 'mudblood' taunts should do nothing to miff her, but it wasn't the 'mudblood' taunts the pissed her off this time. It was the sudden lofty look that malfoy had in his eyes, like she was not good enough for him to even insult her... okay, that was pathetic, he was baiting her and here she was taking his bait, getting angry at him this time because he was not torturing her enough.

What was wrong with her?

"Yeah, Hermione." Ron agreed. "He's just jealous bacause your smarter than he'll ever be plus," He grinned widely. "You got higher than he did in transfiguration."

Hermione smiled slightly.

Harry nodded in agreement.

"He's just Malfoy, Hermione, don't let him get to you." he said loyaly. "Now let's stop talking about the insufferable git and play a game of Exploding Snap, what do you say? maybe I'll even let you beat me a couple of times."

Hermione smacked him in the arm.

Ginny grinned, knowing the doubt of her abilities and Hermione's own competetive nature was enough to make her forget about the whole fiasco.

"You obvisouly don't have to try very hard, Harry." she said.

They all laughed at that. Hermione was so glad she had her friends, and that she would always have her friends. The rest of the trip went very much in the like, continuous games of Exploding Snap and wizarding chess after that when ron had complained that he was no good at explouding snap. That was until the Candy Cart came around and as was the usual, Harry and Hermione bought more than enough for even the four of them.

King's Cross station came to soon, then it was the usual banter, harry's grumbling of having to stay another summer with the Dursley's and Ron's offer for him and Hermione to stay at the burrow, which Hermione politely declined, at least for a while, she and her parents were probably going to take their annual trip to France, all in all she was looking forward to completely normal summer.

They each entered the muggle part of King's Cross in inconspicous groups of twos and threes, as soon as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny crossed over Mrs. Weasley was there grinning at them. She gave each of them a big motherly hug.

"Hello there, dears." she greeted cheerfully. "I hope we shall be seeing you over the summer?"

Hermione grinned in turn, mrs. Weasley was just like that, a mother to all of them, she had already practically adopted Harry. Hermione loved her in the way that one would love an old, batty aunt, who loved nothing more than to fuss over you. In a way, that was exactly what Mrs.Weasley was.

"Maybe later in the summer, Mrs. Weasley." she replied politely.

Harry nodded.

"Dumbledore told me to stay with the Dursley's for at least a couple of weeks." he said. "But you can count on me being there."

Mrs. Weasley beamed.

There was a rather abrupt cough, the group turned around to see Vernon Dursley in the flesh-and what a lot of it he had. he brushed his large mustace and gestured to Harry.

"Let's get going, boy." He said gruffly.

Harry nodded, somewhat reluctantly but followed after him.

"Bye, Harry!!!" Hermione called. "See you soon!"

"Good luck, mate!" Ron added.

Harry turned around and waved before disapearing into the Dursley's new car. Right behind it was a car the Hermione knew all too well.

She turned to the weasley's.

"Bye!" she said. She gave ginny, Ron and Mrs.Weasley one last hug. "I'll owl you about coming later in the summer."

"Bye, Hermione!!!!" Ginny called out.

Hermione waved before climbing into her dad's old car as he put her school trunk into the boot.

"Hi, Daddy." she greeted.

"Hello, Hermione," Mr. Granger replied. "Glad to be home?"

Hermione sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"More than you know."

She was running thru a forest, she was not running from anything exactly, nor was she running to anything. She was just running, trees and thick foliage whizzing right passed her. Then somehow, the foliage changed, she was still in the forest and yet it just seemed clearer....

"Hello??" She called out. "Hello?"

Five hooded figured appeared before her, they seemed to have emerge from the foliage. Two of them, they must be the women Herminone thought, held out little bundles to another figure, one who was at least a head talled than the two women, he waved his wand above the bundles.

Hermione heard no spell, no words were uttered as the last two figured pulled parchment from their robes and handed it to the one who had waved his wand at them and he signed the document.

They're being betrothed. Hermione realized.

The silence was absolute, not even normal forrest sounds could be heard, Hermione was afraid to even breath for fear of being heard by the party so far away.

How odd... Hermione thought.

The silence was suddenly shattered by a woman's peircing scream. Hermione realized that it was coming from one of the women in the clearing.

The figure who had performed the ritual stepped in front of her as the figure by her side, her husband Hermione thought, ran to challenge what had made the woman scream. He did not come back.

The woman sunk to the ground.

The tall one took the bundle from her hands and fled into the night.

Hermione found herself following him. She did not look back at the other figures in the clearing.

"Hermione!" She thought she heard one of them call.

She stopped and turned around, there was a peice of cloth hainging on one of the trees. She hurriedly ripped the sheet from the tree and studied it. She was filled with a sudden urgency, as if her whole existence depended on what was written on that peice of cloth.

"Hermione!!!"

"Hermione Granger!"

Hermione jerked awake, she was relieived to see the walls of her room. She had been having that dream very often over the last month or so, ever since she had come back from hogwarts, but this time she had finally gotten to see what was on the peice of cloth.

"Hermione!"

It was her mother calling her.

"Coming, Mum!!" she called back.

Swinging her feet of her bed and into her slippers she stretched sleepily. She pulled on her dressing gown over her pyjamas and made her way downstairs. By the time she had reached the bottom of the stairs her thoughts had already driven her re-occuring dream to the back of her mind.

Her father and mother were already downstairs in the Granger's spacious kitchen starting on their breakfast.

Hermione smiled at the normalcy of it. Her father was reading the newspaper and her mother was pouring the coffee, her completely normal parents.

"Good morning, Hermione, dear." Georgina Granger greeted her daughter.

"Morning, Mum." Hermione said crossing the room to kiss her mother on the cheek.

There was a small caough from the table.

Hermione's grin widened.

"Good morning, Daddy!" she said giving him a kiss on the cheek as well.

"Its about time you come down, Hermione," Thomas Granger chastised mildly. "Your mother has been calling for you to come down for half an hour. And how is my little head girl?"

Hermione blushed slightly, she had already received her letter annoucing her position as head girl. Her father had not let her forget it.

"Fine, Daddy, sorry, Mum." she said. "Why did you want me to wake up?"

"I was thinking of going into the city today, dear." her mother replied, "We could ride with your father when he goes of to work"

Hermione nodded as she joined her father at the breakfast table and started on the toast her mother had already laid out for her.

"Start getting ready after you've finished your bearkfast" her mother continued. "We have to leave soon."

Hermione crammed the last few bites into her mouth and drank half a glass of orange juice in a minute. Then she dissapeared upstairs to get ready.

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione was no fashion obssesed girly-girl she never took longer than fifteen minutes to get ready, but she felt like looking a little nicer today. she was sitting at her mother's vanity looking for a pair of earings.

"Mum!" she called out. "May i borrow a pair of earings?"

"Sure, Honey!" her mother called out.

Hermione went on with her quest to find the perfect earings when she stumbled across something she had never seen before.

It was a locket, silver or white gold, it looked very expensive, but that was not what bothered hermione, after all how many expensive peices of jewelry did her mother recieve from her father on anniversaries?

No, what bothered Hermione about the necklace was the locket was that it was exacly what she saw in her dream, the dream that she had forgotten until now. She took the necklace and made her way downstairs.

"Mum?" she asked. "Where did you get this?"

The happy smile that was on her Georgina's face fell. Even Thomas looked up to see what was wrong and when he saw what his daughter was holding in her hands he looked immdiately worried.

"I'd better phone in." he said after a minute of silence. "I don't think i can go to work today."

Georgina looked at him appreciatively. then turned back to her daughter facing her demanding look bravely.

"Hermione, dear," she said. "Come on, lets take a little trip shall we?"