Flames

I looked to the left and then the right, I looked behind, but the flames were all around me. I couldn't escape, couldn't run from the flames that would eventually engulf me. I was beginning to choke on the smoke.

'Maybe I'll die from smoke inhalation before I get burnt to death…' I thought, grimly choking harder on the smoke that was slowly smothering me. Everything was becoming blurry, my desperate crying only helping to choke me more. 'Oh god, I'm gonna die, gonna die, no…there has to be an opening a...a gap' I turned around slowly, desperately searching with my eyes 'no, there…has…to be someone that can hear me.'

"SOMEONE…..help… HELP…HELP …..ME" I managed to cough out through my smoke-filled lungs. I could hear the battle going on around me.

'No one's going to be able to hear me through this, oh god…'

It was the final battle, light against dark, all those years of preparation had led up to this fateful day. The day where either the world would be plunged into depression or be pulled into sunlight forever. And here I was, the powerful, perfect, Hermione Granger, standing in the middle of a roaring fire and not able to help anyone fight the death eaters. Ironic really, the one true important day of our lives had come and I wasn't about to die fighting a good fight with a death eater, like I imagined, oh no I was about to die from smoke inhalation. And to make matters worse (though they are as bad as they get), my wand was out there somewhere, either broken or whole, but still out of reach. Outside this ring of fire, out of my reach, out of my grasp, out of… well the point is I really couldn't put out a fire without my wand, now could I?

People say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. I always wondered if that was true. Now I can honestly say that it is. I can still remember all those times….

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The portrait swung open and in he came. With that stupid smirk on his face as always.

"Mudblood" he said smirking his stupidly sexy smirk. I didn't even bother replying, what was the point?

"Not going to answer? Good. I wouldn't be able to stand your stupid whiny voice right now anyway." He plopped onto the green sofa opposite me "Oh yes, what was it that Dumbledore told me to tell you?" He glanced at me quickly to see if I had reacted to this sentence, seeing that I had instantly stiffened and frozen, he looked back at the fire with a satisfied nod.

"Well? What did Dumbledore want you to tell me?"

"Sorry, I've forgotten… All I remember is that it was something important…hmmm…" He glanced at me sideways, his smirk bigger and more prominent than I had ever seen it before. "Maybe I'll remember if you do something for me…" He said it so bloody lightly, like he was talking about how nice the weather was today.

Everyone in the school knew that any one of these days the death eaters and Voldemort may just turn up on the doorstep. Our classes now were based more on what to do in the war. In charms, we learnt how to kill people instantaneously, without a thought and without mercy. We learnt how to brew poisons in Potions, as well as major healing potions and blood restoring potions. In Defence against the Dark Arts we learnt how to create shielding charms that would turn most of the spells (didn't help with Avada Kedavra though, but it did help against the cruciatous curse and the imperius curse but it only lessened their effects a bit) that anyone casted onto themselves, but these required absolute concentration and it wasn't likely that we would be able to hold these for longer than a few seconds in the battle, Professor Lupin had said. Most the other classes were like this as well, divination was taken off our timetables (much to the annoyance of Professor Trelawney and to the utter joy of Harry) to make room for the more important subjects. These things were only taught to the year 5's and up though, it was much too hard and harsh for the people below grade 5. I was actually wishing that we were grade 4 after our first gruelling charms lesson. Being a grade 7 was so hard, especially since I was head girl and had to share headquarters with him.

I sighed, suspicious "What do you want me to do? This doesn't mean I'm saying yes, I just want to know what you want me to do…"

"Just want you to run a few…… errands for me" Stupid bloody smirk, wanted to just slap it off of his face, but unfortunately he wouldn't tell me what Dumbledore had to say if I did.

"What kind of errands?"

"Small ones"

"Yes, but what kind?"

"Like I said, small ones."

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to wait til Dumbledore tells me in person." God, that was such a dumb thing to say. Now I was never going to find out dammit….

"Fine"

"Fine"

'I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that. Argh now I'm going to have to beg. Oh man…'

"………………Mal-…..Malfoy, I'll do what you want ok? Just tell me."

"Not until you finish your …… errands" I really wasn't liking the way he was leaving that silent gap before he said errand.

"Well? What are these errands?"

And that was when all hell broke loose…