Author's Note: Hey! I am so sorry all of you for the four month wait! I have felt so guilty since the third week I haven't updated. But, I made it a goal to get this stupid chapter done with by today. OK, so it isn't a stupid chapter, but it sent me on a writer's block. Now, I present to you the next chapter of A Silent Wish. Merry Christmas!

A Silent Wish

Memories

It was late by the time Hermione had arrived home at the house and, not to Hermione's surprise; everyone else had retired for the night.

Lazily, Hermione tossed her jacket on to the chair closest to the counter. As she walked over to the kitchen, she noticed a note taped to the refrigerator. She walked over and read it:

Hermione,

There is a bowl of food on the bottom shelf for you. Put it on the stove for a few minutes and it should be done.

Love,

Ginny

"She is more an more like her mother everyday…" Hermione told herself. She opened the door and grabbed the food. She opened the foil on top curiously and instantly regretted it. It looked like spoiled meat and looked like something she couldn't define. "Or not…"

After cooking whatever it was that she was about to eat, Hermione walked back over toward the table. However, on her way, she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. The little screen on the messaging machine blinking silently at her.

Quietly, Hermione set her meal on the table and went back over to attend to her curiosity. A simple "1" blinked back at her. She pressed the blue button next to the screen and waited for the message.

"Hey Hermione, this is Derek," -Must have come in after everyone else went to sleep, Ron would have probably erased it- "I must have missed you. If you get this message anytime soon, it's almost ten o' clock now, then just call me. Thanks!"

By the time the message had finished, Hermione's face had brightened. This was probably the best thing that happened to her all day. Quickly, she checked the clock.

"It's only 10:15, not too late for a summer night," Hermione told herself and picked up the phone. She dialed the number that she had come to memorize and waited. Her hope began to diminish, however, when the third and fourth rings went by. Just when she was about to hang up, she heard an out-of-breath voice say, "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Hermione," she said.

"Oh, yes, of course! How are you?" He asked in a more cheery voice.

"I'm fine, how about you?" Hermione said in a relived voice.

"Great. So, are you doing anything this Friday?"

"Well, I don't have anything that I know of…" Hermione said thinking back.

"Good, because I have two tickets for the Oklahoma play," he said with enthusiasm.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? I love that play!"

"I know, you told me. I was hoping you would like to go with me," he said in a hoping voice.

"Well, of course. I would love to go with you."

"It's this Friday at eight o' clock. Can I pick you up at seven thirty?"

"You better make it seven," Hermione responded.

"Seven it is then. I'm sorry, but I have to be going, I have work in the morning," he said with a bit of sorrow in his voice.

"Oh, of course, I understand. Still working for your parents?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but I plan on getting away soon. I just have a few things to… work out first," Derek said with a deep sigh.

"Yes, well, good night then," Hermione said beating down a yawn.

"Night, 'Mione," Derek said and hung up. Hermione hung up, but with a big smile on her face. He had called her " 'Mione", something no one had ever called her before. It felt nice to have him call her something else besides what everyone else called her.

After finishing her meal, Hermione headed off for bed. She brushed her teeth, changed into her nightclothes, and got into bed. As she turned off the lights and pulled the covers up to her head, her mind filled with the images of Derek. A smile formed on her face and she slipped into a pleasant slumber.

He watched as her body relaxed and her breath became calm and deep. He filled with jealousy as he saw her smile about a man who had lied to her on so many levels. The woman he had always thought was clever, smart, and not easily trick was now being manipulated by a boy not much older then herself.

Taking one last look at her peaceful form, he disappeared with a silent pop.

Hermione was just finishing her eye make-up when the doorbell rang. She looked over at the clock; seven o' clock exactly. He sure is punctual, she thought to herself as she took one last look in the mirror before heading toward the door.

When she got to the door, however, Ron was already there, talking to Derek in a hush voice.

"Hello, Derek," Hermione said coming up behind Ron. He stopped talking in mid sentence and looked back at her. He whipped around and glared at Derek for a moment before stepping away from the door. Hermione stared at Ron for a moment, trying to get him to look her in the eye, but gave up and brightly smiled at Derek.

"Hello, Hermione," Derek said with his charming smile. He looked at her dressed and gaped, "My, Hermione, you look marvelous." She couldn't help but blush, no one had ever spoken to her like that.

"Well, thank you, you look handsome yourself," she responded.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Of course," Hermione said as he began to walk toward the car and she made to follow him, but a strong hand kept her back. When she whipped around, she was looking into the face of Ronald Weasley.

"What?" Hermione asked with concern.

He sighed before speaking, "I don't like him."

"Well, that doesn't matter, does it? He's not your boyfriend," Hermione said and began to step away again only to be pulled back again.

"Will you let me go?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"Hermione, I don't trust him," Ron said taking a quick glance behind her.

"Ron, I don't-" Hermione began to protest, but Ron cut her off.

"I don't think he's a Muggle Hermione," Ron said looking her straight in the eyes with a stern tone.

Hermione looked back into his eyes for a moment before saying, "Ron! Can't you just leave me alone! We were never together and we never will be! Now stop acting like I am your girlfriend because I'm not!" she said looking him straight in the eye. "I have to go." And she walked out the door.

"What was wrong with that Ron guy?" Derek asked, taking a quick concerned look at Hermione with his green eyes before looking at the road again.

"Oh, don't mind him," Hermione said with a wave of her hand, "He's still a little bitter, that's all."

"Why is he bitter?" Looking at her curiously.

"Oh, he has kind of had a crush on me back in school… and he kind of still does," Hermione said, but regretted it. "But don't worry, there is nothing going on between us. It's just a school crush he'll get over sooner or later."

"I don't know why he would want to. I wouldn't," Derek told her with a warm and sweet smile.

She blushed and looked away. "You really are too good for me."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken," he looked at her straight in the eyes and said, "You're too good for me." Hermione looked back at him and her heart grew a little more.

"Well, here it is," Derek said as they pulled into the parking lot. Hermione looked up in awe as the car came to a halt. He stepped out and came around to her side to open her door. She stepped out and was speechless. The top of the building didn't seem to end and the letters on the building were at least thirty feet tall. However, as beautiful as it was, she felt a sting of sorrow, but she didn't know why.

"The La Liberté Pour Aimer. It means "Freedom to love" in French," Derek said as they walked up toward the theater.

When they finally got into their seats, almost all of the other seats were filled. They waited about ten more minutes before the lights went down and the curtains were drawn back. As the opening scene began, Hermione felt another hand grab hers. She looked down to find his hand in hers and she looked up at him. He smiled warmly at her and squeezed her hand.

It was then that she realized something; she had only been to a theater with her parents and the memory of that fateful day came rushing back to her.

The afternoon sunlight beats warmly down on Hermione and her parents as they sit contently by the ponds edge. Her parents have the week off for vacation and an afternoon at the park sounded like a good idea.

Hermione and her mom silently threw tiny pieces of bread onto the pond's water and watch the ducks peck hungrily at them. Hermione's dad, Robert Granger, sits watching his favorite two women in the world: his wife and daughter. It was the first time in a long while that the three of them were about to sit back and enjoy each other's company. Hermione was to going to go back to school for her final year in a few weeks and would be off on a job soon after that .

"I wish this would never end," Robert says to himself as he sighs deeply.

It was then that he hears the sound. It wasn't the sound of a child laughing or the sound a duck quacking. No, it was a familiar sound that seems strangely out of place, the sound a ruffle between the trees.

He moves his head toward the trees the line the park's eastern edge. He sees a shade move in between the trees and his curiosity sparks. Looking over at his wife and daughter to make sure they are safe and aren't looking in his direction, he quietly gest to his feet and heads over toward the trees.

He strains to hear a noise as he comes to the edge to the forest, but he hears nothing. However, his curiosity is too strong and he walks in anyway.

The trees are far apart at first, but as Robert begins to walk farther into the forest, the trees begin to close in around him. The tree branches seemed to reach out to him, and tear at his skin with their claws and he has to cover his face with his arms.

How am I going to explain this Hermione and Doris? Robert asks himself as yet another thorn nicks his forearm.

After about a fourth of a mile into the woods, when Robert has nearly lost interest, he hears another noise. However, this time, it is not a simple ruffle of trees, but the sound of a voice. This voice is not speaking English, strangely. It is not a language he recognizes.

More carefully and more quietly, he moves toward the voice. It is saying something similar to a ritual chant. The voice is deep and smooth, hypnotizing even.

It is now that Robert found an opening in the trees. Slowly and cautiously, he steps into gap. However, as he steps in, the chanting voice stops and he is in the middle of a trap of silence.

"Listen, Mom, I really do appreciate you offering me such a wonderful and well paid job, but I don't want a job as a dentist. I want to work to the Ministry and with the magical world. Plus, they need me," Hermione tries to explain to her mother as they continue to throw pieces of bread into the pond.

"Yes, but until you get that job, you can come home and work back at the dentist office," Doris Granger struggles desperately to convince her daughter.

"No, mother, I plan on having a job as soon as I get out of school."

Doris sighs and says, "OK, I can't make you do something you don't want to do, but, if for some strange reason you get stuck without a job, I will have a position open for you."

Hermione looks up at her mother and smiles. "Thank you mom, I appreciate it, but don't-" she begins to say, but stops mid sentence.

Doris looks at Hermione and asks, "What is it darling?"

Hermione slowly looks around the park with a worried look on her face until she comes to the spot where her father was supposed to be sitting. "Oh no…"

"What is it honey?" Mrs. Granger asks her daughter and follows her eyes to where Hermione is looking. "Oh, he probably just went across the street to get something from the house."

"Maybe, but I have this gut feeling that something bad has happened," Hermione says in concerned tone and her dead drifts over to the edge of the woods. "Oh, no. Mom, come with me."

"Hello, Mr. Granger," a voice says behind him. Robert spins around to come face to face with what seems to be a Halloween outfit and the popular movie "Scream." A form draped in a long black cloak that covers every inch of his body with the exception of his face. His face is covered with a white mask that resembles a skull.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Robert asks, stepping away from the figure.

"Your extra large front two teeth was an obvious give away," a deep, smooth voice chuckles from behind the deathly mask. Robert subconsciously touches his front two teeth with his fingertips and closes his mouth when he realizes what he's done.

"What do you want with me?" Robert asks as calmly as he can without sounding threatening or frightened.

The man sighs deeply and says, "Hasn't Hermione told you?"

Robert looks inquisitively at the hooded figure and says, "No, what was she supposed to tell me?"

The man laughs and says, "Hermione is not very well liked among us Death Eaters," he says and points to himself, "and she needs to be dealt with." Robert had heard that name before and he knew they weren't good. Death Eaters were the followers of Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard in all of history.

"Don't you even dare touch her," he says in a defiant tone and steps closer to the man to get a better look into his eyes.

"Is that a threat?" the cloaked man says and takes a step closer to Robert.

Robert doesn't say anything at first, but finally says, "Yes."

"Well, I'm afraid you won't be alive to go through on that threat," the man says. Robert looks at him and finally finds his eyes in the depths of the mask. They are a mint green that could go with a warm and sweet smile, but he was afraid that the smile the man had on at the moment wasn't a warm and sweet smile.

Robert was going to have to come up with a plan and quick. "And why would that be?" he asks curiously, keeping the man distracted.

"Do you really think that is going to work? Keeping me talking won't change your fate," the man says with a bored voice.

With a new round of bravery, Robert dashed for it. He doesn't know where he is going to go, but he runs.

He gets about five yards when a figure very similar to the first man blocks his path. He skids to a stop and runs back in the other direction. Again, about five yards later, he is blocked by another figure, identical to the first two. He runs around, desperately trying to get out of reach of these terrifying creatures, but soon they all circle him and he is trapped.

"There is no escape for you now, Mr. Granger. You shall die here today and let Hermione know that we are not taking this so lightly," the original figure says to him. He can feel the anger and amusement coming from the seven creatures as they come closer in, surrounding him.

"Now, I will give you the option of a quick and easy death, or a slow and painful one," the leader says and Robert was sure he was smiling.

Robert didn't say anything; he wasn't going to admit to death, not yet, not without a little more of a fight.

The man sighs and says, "Fine, slow and painful it will be," and advances towards him, whipping out his long and well-polished wand. Robert backs up and runs into two other Death Eaters. They grasp his upper arms laugh in his ears. He struggles to get free, but they are too strong for him.

His life flashes before his eyes. His first Christmas he can't even remember having, his high school years, when he first met Doris, when he saw his only daughter for the first time, and finally the image of Hermione not moments ago with her mother, smiling and simply happy.

And, despite the horrible truth of the situation, he smiles. He feels content as the image of his favorite two women continue to smile and he couldn't think of a better picture to be looking at that moment. He can see a brilliantly gorgeous white light that outlines the two women and it comforts him as the Death Eaters slowly gather around him.

He continues to look at the light with unblinking eyes until the bodies block the beautiful light and the horrific feeling of death comes rushing back to him. He sees seven uniquely different wands pointing at him uninvitingly when he notices one of the wands. The wand is a beautiful cheery oak with a pure ebony handle. Hermione would love to see that, Robert thinks to himself, too bad I won't have the chance to tell her about it… and his world flashes with a bright green light before going black.

The slow walk into the forest is awful. The trees are closer together then Hermione has ever remembered and the trees silently grab at the both of them, tearing at their skin.

"Hermione, darling, are you sure your father came in here? Are you sure he isn't at the house?" Doris asks and barely avoids a tree branch that seems to have appeared out of thin air.

"I'm not positive, but I have a strong feeling. We're almost there, I can feel it," Hermione says and walks a little faster.

A few moments later and they come to an opening. It would have been a relief had it not had an eerie and unsafe feeling in the air.

"Woo, can we rest here, darling? My feet are starting to hurt," Doris says slowly sitting down on a rock.

"Sure, but only for a minute," Hermione says without looking at her mother, but rather around at the strange area.

The shadows in between the trees seem too dark and cold and the air that hung around them is too stale and used. And as Hermione looks in between the trees, she sees a pair of yellow glowing eyes. Cautiously, she walks toward them, not breaking eye contact. She walks closer, slowly reaching for her back pocket where her wand is. As she gets within a reasonable distance, she grabs her wand and points it directly at the eyes of the beast, threatening to attack. However, as soon as she pulled out her wand, the pair of eyes came flying at her and she was about to utter a spell when the creatures came into view. It was only a vampire bat.

Hermione releases a deep sigh and puts her wand back in her pocket. You really are getting too paranoid Hermione, she thinks to herself and shakes her head. She turns around and stops dead in her tracks.

There, in front of her, is her mother being held in a deathly grip by a Death Eater. She had had plenty of experiences with Death Eaters and none of them had ended well. They were vile, dissolute creatures of the underworld that deserved nothing more then to burn in Hell.

"Hello, Miss Granger, what a nice surprise," the Death Eaters says pointing his wand firmly on her mother's temple.

"Let her go! This is not about her," Hermione says threw gritted teeth.

"Oh, but it is. You see, she is the mother of a Muggleborn witch that has made all of us on the Dark Lords side very mad," the Death Eater says putting more pressure on the temple of his victim. Hermione fills with rage as she sees the pain on her mother's face.

"Let her go," Hermione says calmly as she slowly moves her arm back toward her back pocket.

"You are so naïve, Mudblood. I don't obey anyone, but one, the Dark Lord," he says with an amusing smile on his face.

"I'm only going to ask you one more time, let her go," Hermione says more firmly now.

The Death Eater simply ignores her thought and laughs. It is no ordinary laugh; it is a laugh of pure evil. "No, Mudblood I don't think I'll do that. No, your mother can join your father in death," the Death Eater says with another evil laugh and grin. Then there was a cry. It comes from her mother and the emotional pain that crosses her face is almost unbearable. And then she went limp, loosing all chance of hope; she has lost the will to live. "Say good-bye, Mudblood!" he says and repositions his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

Time seems to slow as the green light flashes for a slit second and her mother's eyes go cold and dark. Hermione's mouth drops open in momentary shock. Her mother… her father… the family was gone… and all of it is because of the blind hate of impure blood by a bunch of insensitive, pathetic excuses for human beings.

The rage boiled over and Hermione grabs her wand and screams, "Avada Kedavra!" The Death Eater must know it is coming because he ducks out of the way just in time and the spell crashes into the tree behind him. She follows him with her eyes and sends another killing spell in his way, but he avoids it again and hides behind a bush.

"Come the bloody hell out you bloody git!" Hermione says and points her wand in the direction of the bush. He didn't answer her, but instead, a red light flashes out from behind the bush and Hermione's wand goes flying through the air and behind her ten feet away. Naturally, she dashes for it; it was her only protection from these kinds of guys.

Unfortunately for her, two arms wrap around her waist and she is jerked back just as she is about grasp her fingers around her wand.

"No, no, no, Mudblood. No wand for you," the Death Eater says and brings her close into him. He puts his wand tip on her temple and chuckles in her ear. "Oh, you have no idea how much I would love to kill you and leave your body here to rot until the Muggle authorities find. They would be baffled as to how you died exactly, just like the Muggle authorities that found the Riddles were. You would only have to bruises on your arms and abdomen and that distant look in your eyes. Regrettably for you, the Dark Lord gave me specific orders to take you back to him, alive and… unspoiled."

A shiver goes down Hermione's back and she wants to desperately to break free of his arms, to get her parent's bodies and run as far away as she could. But the little strength she has left in her body is barely enough to keep her standing. She thinks desperately for what she can to do get away when she feels her stomach tighten in hunger. Eyes wide, an idea comes to mind. Taking all the strength and motivation she has left, she thrusts her elbow back and it collides dramatically with his ribs.

"Ah!" he screams and naturally releases his grip from her to grab at his chest. Then Hermione does all she knows she can do; she runs. She grabs her wand from the ground and runs. As she ran, she could sense the presence of others following her. She glances behind her quickly to find at least half a dozen other Death Eaters are on her trail sending all different kinds of curses in her direction. It isn't until she hears, "No!" that they all disappear.

"Let her go, I'll deal with her later," the Death Eater that had threatened her says as he gets up from the ground.

"The Dark Lord wants her tonight, he wants her dead as soon as possible!" Another Death Eaters yells at him with his cool eyes.

"What makes you think he wants her dead?" The Death Eater asks quizzically.

The other Death Eater looks at him before saying, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, what if he wants her for other purposes…" he suggests, but doesn't get a response, "I mean, you can't blame him, she might be a Mudblood, but she has a lot to offer."

The other Death looks at him before saying, "Is the new comer developing a crush on a pathetic Mudblood?" he asks with a smirk.

"No! I'm just saying…"

"Well, don't say anymore."

"Fine. But I need to bring her to him myself, not any of you bunch of hooligans!" the Death Eater says to the others. "I'll get her and bring him to her… and she will come willingly."

She continued to stare numb into Derek's mint eyes with her glossy ones as the sequence of events rolled through her head like a movie.

"Hermione? Is there something wrong?" Derek asked with concern.

She couldn't say anything to him. The one thing she had tried so hard to get out of her head, to avoid at all cost, had come speeding back at her.

"I… I have to go, I'm sorry," Hermione said grabbing her purse and walking down the aisle, apologizing as she went.

Derek only sighed, he couldn't do anything to bring her back, it wouldn't go as he had planned, and he knew that. It would just have to wait another day.