Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever claim to own Harry Potter or any rights regarding him and the other characters (though I wouldn't mind owning Draco ;) and rights to him) lol, j/k.

Well, this is yet another Jade-Snake fanfiction; I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it! Please review! (I'm not going to post the next chapter till I get at least five. Sorry, but that's the deal.) At the beginning Hermione is going to sound like a Mary-Sue, but that's the point, keep reading though, that quickly changes! And just an FYI – I started writing this before Half Blood Prince so any of the events that transpired are not going to be spoiled in this story. Well, enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Hell's Fury

Hermione Granger had the perfect life . . . perfect grades, perfect student, perfect personality, perfect teeth, perfect looks, and now the perfect boyfriend. She was of course dating Harry Potter.

Hermione came back to school in sixth year as prefect, as was to be expected of her. Her hair was down to her waist and had tamed down considerably by the extra weight of it. Her body, which was considered unfeminine all the way through her fifth year, was finally filling out, though no one would know it as she always wore baggy clothes and her school robes to cover it up.

She'd gotten 'Outstanding' on everyone of her O.W.L.s and finally fell out of her know-it-all stage. Then, at the end of summer, Harry asked her to be his girlfriend. Life couldn't be any better as the summer of sixth year was fast approaching.

Finally, the day came when Hermione Granger's life as she knew it, would be forever changed. The day that her perfect world was shattered . . .

"Has anyone seen my Hogwarts, a History?" called Hermione who was finished packing except for her myriad of books.

"It's in here where you left it Mione!" called Harry from the common room of the Gryffindor tower.

Hermione poked her head out to scan the room for her favorite book. Harry held it up and Hermione skipped down the stairs and grabbed her prized book.

She placed a light kiss on Harry's cheek and said, "Thanks Harry."

Then she raced back up the stairs to put her book away. Five minutes later, she came back down the stairs and plopped down in between Harry (who put his arm around her shoulder) and Ron. "I'm finally done!" she declared.

"Great because the house elves are about to come and grab all the stuff and take it to Hogsmeade," said Harry who leaned in and kissed her cheek quickly.

"Get a room you two!" said Ron in exasperation. "It's bad enough you two are all lovey-dovey, but you can at least spare me from having to watch it every bloody time you two are together."

Hermione laughed good-naturedly, "Sorry Ron, we'll try to avoid any lurid displays of affection whilst you are present."

"I'm not even sure what you just said exactly, but I'm guessing it's good," Ron said.

"Yes Ron, it's good for you," said Harry sighing and removing his arm from Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione looked at her watch, "Oh, it's time to go down to the carriages already!"

They made their way down to the front lawns casting a look back at the school before getting into one of the carriage drawn by 'thestrals'.

The next few hours went by mostly in silence since . . . what could you say to your friends when you knew Voldemort was on the rise, the ministry wasn't much help, and the wizarding world was on the brink of war?

Harry held Hermione's hand and stared absently out the window of the carriage, and the same went for the train ride home.

Ron borrowed a deck of muggle cards from Hermione and played a game known as Solitaire, which she had taught to him back at the burrow at the end of fifth year.

Harry pulled Hermione to him and just held her there, resting his chin on the crown of her head.

Hermione would occasionally mention any moves he could make when he was stuck and frustrated. This went on for the whole train ride for the most part.

The train whistle blew and they all got up and got all of there belongings.

Hermione had gotten her driver's license during the winter holiday so her car was there and her parents were standing by to help with the luggage.

Hermione had volunteered to take Harry home near the end of school and arranged it with his aunt and uncle so he'd have as long as possible until he had to see them again.

"Just be careful Mione, you haven't driven for a while and I don't want to hear of any accidents when I get home."

"I know how to drive mum! We'll be fine. Thanks for driving my car here, I'll see you when I get home," Hermione snapped at her mother's over-protectiveness.

"I'll see you then, your father is waiting in the car . . . he'd probably would like to going now. Bye Mione, bye Harry, "she said awkwardly as she turned and walked away.

"Bye Mrs. Granger!" Harry called after her. "Okay, let's go Mione."

So about forty-five minutes later, Hermione pulled into the Dursley's driveway. Harry grabbed all of his belongings, dragged them inside, and put them away (with Hermione's help,) then kissed Hermione's cheek. And fifteen minutes later Hermione was getting ready to make her way home.

"See you later then Mione, don't forget to write and visit!" called Harry after her as she stepped into her car.

Hermione smiled and called back, "Bye Harry! I won't forget!" She shut the door and began the drive to her home, which coincidentally was only about a fifteen minute drive from Number four, Privet Drive.

When she pulled into the driveway of her split-level house fifteen minutes later, something looked wrong. Not only was there a black jaguar car that she didn't recognize in the driveway, the telly wasn't on in the living room, and she was used to seeing the telly on from the top right window. She brushed it off as company, maybe relatives or friends of the family came up for a visit. She shrugged and went inside only to be greeted by a deadly sounding silence.

She had the distinct feeling that she should not be the one to break that silence either. She walked slowly and noiselessly to her parents' room as though drawn there by a mysterious magnetic force.

She peered through the crack of light coming from the door, which was left slightly ajar.

What she saw inside then, she would never forget so long as she lived . . . her parents cowered in the corner and a man keeping them there only by gun point and their sheer determination not to set him off.

Hermione didn't wait any longer before she tiptoed down the hallway and grabbed her dad's cellular phone off of the kitchen counter. She quickly hid in the food storage closet in the kitchen, and only just in time, as two other men walked up the stairs and down the hall to her parents' room, each carrying a bag full of things, which she could only assume was possessions of theirs.

Hermione hurriedly dialed the police and held the phone to her ear shakily, watching the stairs and the hall all the while.

"Hello, this is the Surrey Police Station, please state your emergency."

Hermione said as loudly as she dared, "I think my house is being robbed. My parents are being held at gunpoint and there are three men that I've seen so far, but there could be more. Please help me, I'm really frightened."

"What is your location ma'am?" asked the female voice on the other end.

"Number 7, Ridgeway Drive."

"Okay, someone will be with you immediately, just hold on. And make sure that you stay out of sight and don't make any noise."

"Please hurry!" Hermione said very quietly, but frantically.

Fortunately for Hermione, the police station was nearby, about five minutes away. Unfortunately though, one of the men there chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. Hermione hadn't noticed him when she was on the phone, but judging the way that he was looking around the kitchen, either he had heard something, or someone else had and sent him to look.

Even more unfortunately, something in the closet fell at that precise moment, which caused the man to yank the door open. Without a second to spare, he grabbed Hermione's wrist and pulled her into her parents' bedroom.

"Boss, lookie what I have here . . . caught this chit hidin' out in the closet . . . with this." He roughly pulled her hand up to reveal the cellular phone she held fast to.

"You haven't called the police by any chance have you girly?" he asked her, still pointing the gun at her parents.

"No . . . No - I mean no. . . I . . . I didn't," Hermione stammered out in fear as she lied to the man who held their lives in his hands.

"You wouldn't be lying would you? Because I don't like liars, especially if you're lying to me. And if you are, I'll kill the three of you . . . starting with them," he nodded sharply towards her parents then looked her directly in the eyes.

Hermione looked at her mum and dad, then to the man with the gun. "No, I'm not lying. I swear I'm not; I didn't call the police," she said firmly.

"Good. You know what? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll believe you," he said lowering his gun, and doing something that, to Hermione, looked like it had something to do with the safety lock. She gave a silent sigh of relief at this motion and then something happened that she didn't expect in that momentary lapse when she let her guard down.

She heard the gun being cocked, and then the sound of a bullet, tearing through the air and hitting her father in the chest. "NO!" she screamed as the resounding pierce of the bullet filled the air. She watched in horror as her father slumped to the floor in pain.

"Hermione, Anna, I love you," he said quietly as death was coming over him and another bullet was shot at him, directly into his heart this time causing he and his wife to be covered in his blood.

Hermione felt as though there was fire coursing through her blood as he fired another shot at her mother, who fell on her husband with a dull thud, and their blood spilled onto the floor like an ominous pool of coppery-crimson water.

Hermione ran to her parents and, not caring about how dirty she would get from the blood, fell onto them and held them tightly as she began to yell frantically, "MUM, DAD! PLEASE DON'T DIE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE LIKE THIS! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE COME BACK!" Tears of sorrow laced with tears of anger mingled with spots of blood on her cheeks in shiny streams as she confirmed that Anna and John Granger were indeed dead.

She held them for a second longer and then let go and stood to face the man with the gun square on. She attempted to tackle him in her rage, but he threw her easily to the ground and she heard a sickening snap in her wrist as she landed on top of it. She yelped from the pain of the breaking of a bone in her wrist, but she quickly stood up again as he held his gun and readied himself to fire again, this time at her.

A wave of fury swept over her and suddenly she felt herself levitating and a wave of scorching heat emanated from her and caused the men to scream in agony as the heat tore at their skin and burnt their flesh. "YOU SODDING BASTARDS!" she cried as another wave of heat, almost five times stronger this time, spread throughout the room and the three men in the room fell to the floor crying out in pain as their skin blistered from the immense amount of heat. Each feeling as though his flesh were literally on fire, and could almost probably very accurately describe being burned alive.

Time seemed to slow momentarily as Hermione saw a haunting sight, she was surrounded by fire, and her hair was fanned out around her like a crown of silky brown flames, but the most unusual thing was her eyes; her eyes glowed red, yellow, and orange like raging fire when she chanced a look into the full length mirror on the wall across the room. She felt a sense of fear, indifference, and peace wash over her as she looked into the eyes of her reflection, which looked nothing like the quiet little bookworm that everyone knew and loved, and instantly felt the power draining from her.

She felt suddenly very cold, almost like she was slowly being frozen to death. She felt as though everything in the world had suddenly just sped up and went back into normal time.

The next thing that she knew, she fell in a heap to the floor from pain and exhaustion, and the wave of heat subsiding, making the room feel like an arctic chill in a scorching desert, and everything went black as she saw the man with the gun stand and aim for her . . .