A/N: Good evening ladies and gents! I'm finally back to the story after a few weeks delay (you know how it is, with school and…well, that's pretty much all I do. ha-ha). Didn't get any reviews yet, but here's hoping! Enjoy.

II

Still n her cell, the girl knows as Hermione to all but herself sat facing the door. Her dreams hadn't given her back any other clues to who she was but she at least remembered the name Ron. She held onto it, cherished it with all she had, and wished he could help her.

"Oh please Ron, please find me, I need you," she whispered into the dark.

• • •

Hermione wasn't the only one with dreams of the past. Ron dreamed about Hogwarts together with his two best friends. Tonight he relived that Halloween in first year when Quirrel let the troll into the school and they fought it in the girl's loo. He was so frightened it would hurt her; he didn't realize before that he liked her like that. She was a bit of a know-it-all, but being that smart she had a right to, he supposed.

She was so intelligent, talented, beautiful… He could see her in his mind, how she looked at the ball, so stunning… and when she smiled it lit a fire in his heart that he couldn't control if he wanted to.

Ron turned over in his sleep and sighed. He needed to tell her, tell her he was so sorry he wasn't there, wanted to comfort her in his arms and tell her he loved her with every fibre of his being.

He half-woke, glancing at the clock. 3:30am… I wonder if she's ok? he thought. The scenarios he was trying not to think of came at him with full force:

Hermione under the Crucitatious curse, screaming in agony.

Hermione, dead in a pool of her blood, eyes staring blankly.

Hermione being raped by a Death Eater while other Death Eaters egged him on as she struggled and screamed. Her scream pierced his heart in two, an unending scream of terror and pain.

"Oh Hermione…" Ron whispered, "I'll find you, I promise. Sleep well, love."

• • •

Harry couldn't sleep that night. He sat up in his bed in Percy's old room and remembered that horrible night it all went wrong.

They were looking for the Horcruxes so they could destroy Voldemort when they walked into a trap. It was just the three of them breaking into Borgin and Burkes to try and find the real locket when they set off a ward and 4 Death Eaters came barrelling down the stairs. They can't have been much older than the three Gryffindors, and it appeared that Harry and co. had won the fight… except Ron didn't put up a Shield Charm in time to avoid the Petrificus Totalus one of the Death Eaters shot at him. While Harry was distracted by Ron falling over, a Death Eater hit him on the head and he blacked out. When he regained consciousness a few minutes later, Ron was still cursed on the floor but Hermione was gone!

When Harry undid the curse Ron jumped to his feet swaying and said, "They took her Harry! Where did they go? I couldn't see where they went mate."

When Harry told her he'd been knocked out, Ron swore a string of words his mother would be shocked to hear. Harry waited for Hermione to smack Ron for having such a foul mouth but she wasn't there. He felt rather nauseated.

Harry missed Hermione a lot. There were some things he just couldn't talk to Ron about, like Ginny. She was at Luna Lovegood's, and had been since that morning without Hermione. They'd only been away for 2 and a half weeks looking for the Horcruxes, and Ginny had been upset they'd gone without her. When she found out Hermione was missing, she left too.

Harry realized with a start that it was his birthday, and had been for over 3 hours. He was now 17, no longer a child. He wondered if Ginny would forgive him for breaking up with her.

She understands why though…right? he thought. It's too dangerous for us to be together, she could get hurt or used by Voldemort, since he knows I'll do anything for the people I love. That lesson was a hard one for Harry, since it was Sirius that Voldemort used last time. That memory was still raw; Sirius was the closest thing to a parent Harry had ever had, and he lost him in the Department of Mysteries.

Harry knew he still loved Ginny, not like Ron would ever think about talking to him about how he could get back together with her after the war was over. Harry drifted uneasily to sleep, and didn't notice Hedwig return with an envelope, drop it on him, then head out to hunt.

Read and review people! Thank you! If you have any suggestions about where the story should go, don't hesitate to tell me.