A tall figure stood on a grassy hill just outside of London. For miles around the sprawling metropolis of houses, buildings and roads was spread out before her. She watched for an hour or so as the night time fell on the city, bringing with it millions of tiny pinpricks of artificial light from the buildings and cars. Eventually she spoke.

"Now it's time." she hissed quietly into the emptiness, and from behind her a group of horrific creatures appeared. Orcs, goblins, skeletal creatures of all sizes were gathered behind her in the gloom. "You know your orders. Now remember: mortals only. Be patient. And above all, do not be seen. Now go!"

The creatures hissed and jeered loudly before rushing down the hill and into the night. The woman sat down on the hill and waited. Not long after she heard screams echoing from a nearby estate. A smile played across her cruel lips, her red eyes burning with excitement. "And so it begins…"

……………………………

Hermione could hear people talking about it as they passed the hospital wing. The…murder of her husband. The death of at least thirty-eight muggles last night alone. The disappearance of the muggle prime minister - presumed dead. And no one knew why. Except Hermione. It was that creature. The one who had been haunting her. Ruining her life. She wanted to leave, but she wasn't allowed. It was only a few days after the trouble at the library, and Dumbledore had told Hermione that he didn't want her going anywhere at the moment. Madam Pomfrey also said she wanted to make sure that Hermione's head wounds were fully healed before letting her go. Hermione suspected it was to keep an eye on her, emotionally speaking, after what happened with Ron. The funny thing was, she didn't really feel all that much at all. She had done all the crying when Ron had left her. Now she only had a strange hollow feeling inside, accompanied by a small twinge of pain and something else that she believed to be called guilt.

Hermione didn't understand why she was feeling guilty. She couldn't think of a reason why. Perhaps it was because she never got to say a proper goodbye to Ron. They had been friends for so long. But any part of him that had been the old Ron had died years ago, so she didn't think that was the reason. She didn't understand. Hermione then thought about what Severus would say if he could see her dilemma. 'Feeling guilty over Ron Weasley are we?' he would sneer. 'Surely not?'. She smiled as she tried to picture his expression. He would have that annoying smirk on his face, like he knew something that she didn't. He always knew how to wind her up. Yet he'd also been there for her when no one else had. Now he was stuck somewhere all alone and she wasn't even allowed to go and…then it hit her. He was the reason why she felt guilty. It was nothing to do with Ron. Nothing whatsoever. Hermione started to laugh. She could help it. The situation was so ridiculous, yet absolutely true. And so she decided that she would try and help him, no matter what the cost. But how would she find him?

That night Hermione lay in her bed, twisting and turning, not able to sleep. Eventually she fell into troubled dreams…

The library. The circle. Symbols. Runes. A wasteland. A tower, surrounded by fire. A cavern. The Throne of Blood. Demons chanting. A prison. Images flashed through her mind, one after the other, each one darker than the next. A woman's face appeared in the gloom. Here skin was pale and transparent. It swirled and danced in a pattern too complicated to understand. Her eyes were gray and her hair silver. He voice was soft yet urgent.

'You must find him at the mountain.' she called over and over. Then she was interrupted by that harsh laughing. It was followed by darkness.

That morning she knew how she would find Severus. Now she only had find a way to get there.

…………………………….

Severus groaned as he felt a feeble ray of light falling onto his face. He opened his eyes fully and looked around, trying to figure out where the light was coming from. The source of the sunlight was from what Severus could only presume was called a window, as it was about the size of a letterbox and situated at the very top of the wall opposite him. Never the less he was very glad of the little sunlight that it allowed through. 'It must be morning,' he thought to himself wearily, looking around and trying to take in his surroundings once more. He noted that there was a small wooden door in the corner, but it looked far too thick to broken open by force. Severus had no idea where his wand had gone but suspected he wouldn't be seeing it any time soon. He decided to try and move himself. He felt a shooting pain in his neck again, but it wasn't as blinding as it had been the night before. Eventually he managed to manoeuvre himself so that he was leaning against the wall in a sitting position rather than on the floor. Only now did he realise just how hungry he was. How long since his last meal? Several days presumably. He was thirsty too. Incredibly thirsty. He then started to think about how he could get a message to the outside world, but each idea he thought of became more and more ridiculous. However he preferred it to the nightmares that were haunting him whenever he fell asleep.

Severus had no real concept of time in the tiny cell but after what felt like several hours he found his thoughts returning to somewhere he had been avoiding thus far: Hermione. He didn't want to think about her because it was far too painful. He hadn't realised just how much he had fallen in love with her. Back at Hogwarts it seemed like he had had all the time in the world to sort out the problems between the two. Back there he could avoid admitting to himself the truth about the situation, he could tell himself that he had time yet to make a decision on how he felt about her. Now he realised quite how stupid he had been. Memories started to come back and one in particular stood out. It was of one time when he had bumped in to her at the library, not long before she had been attacked. It was one of those rare times when she actually appeared to be interested in what he had to say. They stood and exchanged comments for at least five minutes and he could distinctly remember her finding something he had said rather amusing. She had looked at him and smiled, and just for that one moment the haunted look that he had seen in her for so long had gone from her eyes. He so wished he could see her like that again, instead of the crying wreck she had been the last time he had laid eyes on her.

A noise at the door brought him back to the harsh reality. There was a jangling of keys followed by a creaking sound as the heavy door was swung open. In the doorway stood a small, goblin-like creature which could have been no more than four foot high. It was a brown, scaly looking thing with small darting eyes that despite its appearance gave the impression that it was rather intelligent. It walked into the room with a noticeable limp and set down a small plate with a bit of bread and a slice of something that looked like meat. Beside it he placed a small pitcher of water. The creature proceeded to bend down beside Severus and untie the ropes that still bound his hands. The smell of the creature that was so close to him made his eyes water, but he was too weak to move away. It then stood up and glanced at him coldly.

"Eat." it hissed menacingly, before tuning and limping back out the room. Severus watched and listened dejectedly as the door was closed and locked again. If only he had been strong enough to move! He managed to reach for the bread, but he paused before putting it in his mouth. Was it safe to eat? He had no way of telling, but decided that as he was so hungry he would have to take the risk sooner rather than later. It was edible and he wolfed down straight away, but decided not to touch the meat-ling thing beside it. Finally, he turned to the pitcher of water, and after tasting it he decided that it too was also safe enough to consume. Now, fed and watered, his thoughts turned back to Hermione once more.

…………………..

It was strange, being back at this place. Where Ron had died. She tried to ignore any emotion she felt, She knew that she had to focus now. Hermione was currently standing at the circle in the centre of the library, after sneaking out of the hospital wing and apparating to the cave from outside the front gates of the school. Walking around the circumference of the circle she started to translate the inscriptions around the edges. The story that they told amazed her. The runes described a demon of great power that existed long ago. She was extremely powerful and after a bitter feud between the wizards of that age she was banished to an alternative plane along with her minions and followers. The only access to this plane was a portal that was sealed by order of the Old One, only to be opened by a descendant of the Healers. Hermione was sure this was the same creature that had been haunting her and Severus and she was also sure that this was were Severus was. Next she had to find a way to open the portal.

Pointing her wand at the centre of the circle she muttered a simple opening spell. As she suspected it didn't work. Hermione then tried various other spells, but had no success. The idea of searching the library crossed her mind, but she dismissed this idea as she did not think the key to opening the library would just be left lying about nearby.

Suddenly there was a flash of white light and Hermione jumped back in shock as the very same woman from her dream last night appeared in front of her.

"I will open the portal for you, but you must hurry!" the woman said quickly. She waved her hand and at once the circle burst into flames.

"But who are you?" Hermione said, confused.

"There is no time, you must go into the flames now!"

"But-"

"GO!" the woman shouted.

Hermione looked back at the woman before taking a step into the roaring flames. They instantly engulfed her. Before she even had time to be frightened however they died down again, but now she wasn't in the library. A cold wind blew against her face as she found herself at the edge of a sparse forest. It was near the base of a huge stone tower that was carved out of a enormous rock face. she recognised it from her dreams. Dark clouds swirled ominously in the sky above and Hermione had a strong urge to run away. Far away.