A/N: Things start to go a bit faster now.

The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness. -Norman Cousins

Opened eyes revealed a vast nothingness at first then focus brought in a line of trees that protected another line of trees against nature's icy fury.

With chattering teeth, she turned around and gasped upon seeing the Burrow.

What?

Whispering.

She whirled around and her heart stopped once more.

There were at least a hundred of them, if not more.

Death Eaters.

They approached from the forest, creeping in the snow as they moved up to the Burrow like death. The snow covered their tracks as they moved past her, regarding her presence as the wind around them. She tried to call a warning, but no sound came and she watched in horror as they entered the house and screams exited along with the souls of those inside.

Falling to her knees, she closed her eyes and tried to scream.

Ginny awoke screaming. She sat up from the bed she was laying in, gripping the sheets tightly to her naked body.

Ginny took a couple of shaky breaths before looking around.

"Something bad is going to happen…"

Hermione woke up, aware that someone was watching her.

"Why do you come in here?" she asked softly, her voice still a little raspy from waking up.

Ron grinned and leaned down kissing her neck as she tried to sit up. She swatted him away, looking up at him with a stern look.

"Seriously, Ron. It was fine the first two nights, but I really don't think you're mum is comfortable with you sleeping here," she told him, lacing her fingers with his as he looked down at her.

"Come on, 'Mione. You know we don't do anything," he whined, leaning in to kiss her neck again.

"Yeah, but your mum doesn't."

Ron sighed and pulled away slightly, but still had her trapped under the weight of his body leaning over hers. "Speaking of mum, she went to Diagon Ally to get our wands checked. Make sure nothing's wrong with them."

Hermione frowned. "You mean we don't have our wands?"

Ron shook his head. "Don't worry. Fleur's coming over in an hour and a half and Fred and George are stopping by during lunch, so we'll be fine. It's not like Death Eaters are going to attack," he muttered, kissing her brow before getting up and leaving the room.

Thirty minutes later, Hermione found herself sitting besides Luna in Ron's room with Seamus, Dean, Harry, Neville and Ron on the floor talking Quiddich. Luna and Hermione just went through magazines they had found in the kitchen.

"Look, Ron. I don't care if you hate the guy, Victor Krum is still one of the best players in the league," Dean defended, attracting Hermione's attention from the page on clothes.

"What about Victor?" she asked.

Ron shot her a strange look which she chose to ignore and after a hesitated silence, Harry cleared his throat.

"Dean's trying to tell Ron that Victor is a great player."

"He's an arse," Ron muttered, flipping through a Quiddich Magazine.

Hermione rolled her eyes, still amazed that even after they were together, Ron still held a grudge against the first guy who actually realized that she was a girl. Sighing, she turned to Dean.

"Ron's being stupid. Victor's a terrific Quiddich player so don't listen to him," she said before going back to her magazine, totally ignoring the look Ron was giving her from the ground.

Hermione sighed and got up from the bed, needing to get one of her books from her trunk in Ginny's room. As she walked down the stairs, someone grabbed her arm.

"Ron! You scared me, don't do that," she scolded, removing her hand from his. "What's wrong?"

"Why did you say I was being stupid?" he asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ron… Victor was three years ago and you still hate him. I'm with you now, so forget about Victor the guy who took me to the Yule Ball and just think about Victor the man who happens to play Quiddich. I hate seeing you get all angry every time his name gets brought up," she told him before moving down the stairs.

"Does he still write you?" he asked.

Hermione looked up at him and nodded. "Sometimes. He says he's happy that you finally kissed me," she whispered before disappearing into Ginny's room.

Dean and Neville entered Percy's old room that faced the backyard and looked around for the box Ron had told them about. Dean pointed over towards the far wall.

"Why don't you check the boxes near that window and I'll look over here," he suggested to Neville.

Neville nodded and went over to the window, looking through several boxes for the old chess set.

As he looked, he glanced out the window from time to time, smiling to himself as snow began to fall.

"There the tracks from the fight," he told Dean, motioning to the window.

Dean stopped what he was doing and looked out the window, a smile on his face as well. They had all just come in from a snowball fight and were back in Ron's room, waiting for Dean and Neville to retrieve the extra chess set Ron had sent them for.

Dean was about to go back to looking when Neville grabbed his arm tightly, his body stiff as he stared intensely out the window. Dean frowned.

"What?"

Neville motioned Dean back and pointed to an area just a few meters from the front door.

"You see that?" Neville asked.

At first Dean didn't know what Neville was talking about, but he looked anyway, staring intently at the area Neville had pointed out.

"Neville, I don't see-"

His body seized suddenly when he saw the flash of black appear in two places, moving towards the Burrow before disappearing.

"Oh no," he muttered and the two scrambled towards the door and up the stairs to Ron's room.

"Death Eaters!" Neville exclaimed, barging into the room.

"What?" Harry asked, looking away from the chessboard.

"Death Eaters," Dean said breathlessly. "There are Death Eaters outside," he told Ron.

Instantly everyone ran to the window and looked out.

"Oh my God," Seamus whispered.

There were at least a hundred of them in the back yard and going around to the front. Black Death moving across the snow to the Burrow, obviously from the woods.

"What were you saying, Ron?" Hermione asked, her hands starting to shake. Ron glanced over at her and noticed that she had gone completely pale as she saw them approach quickly.

"Why would they show themselves?" Luna asked for some strange reason.

There was a crash downstairs and they all whirled around to the door.

"That's why," Harry muttered.

Ron shushed them and leaned out the door, looking down the stairs. He didn't see anything, but his heart was racing madly.

"Do you have a fireplace up here?" Seamus asked.

Ron glanced back at him.

"This isn't the Malfoy Manor, Finnegan. The only fireplace is downstairs," he whispered, watching the downstairs carefully.

Crack!

"Ron! Ron, where are you?" came the beautiful voice of Fleur.

Ron's heart stopped and he was about to go down the stairs when Harry and Dean grabbed him and dragged him back just as Fleur screamed and a flash of green light filtered out from the kitchen.

Greyback shed his cloak and turned to Flint.

"You will stay out here with the others while I go in," he ordered.

Flint shook his head. "No way. We're going in as well. No one said anything about us staying outside," he growled.

There was a flash of green light and Flint's body dropped to the ground, lifeless and cold. Greyback bared his fangs and glared at the others who were standing around.

"Who's next?"

When no one answered, he turned and went to the door. He smashed a window and opened the door, not bothering to use his wand. He wanted them to be afraid.

Entering the kitchen he looked around and went over to the counter, sniffing the surface.

Crack!

"Ron! Ron, where are you?"

Greyback raised his wand and waited until the pretty little thing saw him. She screamed and he smiled. Her body hit the ground and Greyback heard someone scream upstairs.

"You can't hide forever," he called, moving around the kitchen, not bothering to go upstairs just yet.

A scream filled her ears and she could feel her heart race as the footsteps drew near.

Tick, tock. Tick tock.

The ticking and tocking went to slow for her frightful heart and to fast for her frozen mind. The beating drum that came from the foundations shook the house and forced her further up the stairs as the steps drew ever closer. Never stopping but never reaching their destination.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

A countdown perhaps?

A death toll?

A scare tactic?

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Once again, the drum pounded and lightening lit up the house as it cracked. Rain poured, drowning her in her own fear. Her own cowardice.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

The deepened voice called to her, its tone dripping with seduction and murder.

As she made her way up the stairs, she could see the fire. The fire that mocked her and licked at her toes and moaned for her skin.

She slipped and turned around as the fire surged for her. It glinted off her skin and matched her hair in color as it surrounded her and consumed her.

Tick, tock. Tick, to-

There was a scream and everything stopped along with her heart. She slipped into a bedroom and slammed the door, the clicking of the lock not calming her in the least. She pressed her back to the wall and slid down the wall, letting the rain fall on her as the steps continued their journey to her, seeking her with a vengeance. Her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe, her red hair plastered to her face as she felt cold beads of sweat make their way down her brow.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The drum continued, shaking the house and delivering an atmosphere of chaos as the door began to jerk, the outside longing to be in and the inside longing to be dead.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

She inched to the corner of the stormy room and her eyes grew when the outside charged in, brown eyes seeking her out.

Getting off the floor, her mind stopped upon seeing her father, glaring at her.

"You left me. You left me!"

No… that couldn't be!

She would never abandon him. She begged and pleaded for him to understand, but he still approached, hell on his heals and Satan on his shoulder, whispering to him.

Screams.

Boom. Boom. Boo-

Ginny held her head, trying to stop the images that flooded her brain. She looked up again with tears running down her face.

"No…"

A/N: This part of the story is probably my favorite and least favorite at the same time. In the first story I didn't kill anybody significant and now...

TheOnlyHarryPotterQueen: I am actually almost done with this whole thing/series. I just can't find a good way to kill off certain people. :-)

NairobiDawn: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy my work.

Rachelle: Don't worry. I update quite quickly.

blooh2: I was going to, but then I forgot. Thanks for reminding me. I'll do one for this.

Romione: Hogwarts is fine for now (If I can say that), but I can't say the same for Ginny. She's in a big mess.

OzDust: Please remember that second question. I'm not going to give you an answer though. Just remember it. Well, Draco hates Hermione for what she did to his face and obviously, the whole Death Eater community loathes Harry. Draco hates Ron as well, but for a completely different reason which will not be revealed until the third installment, so don't stress yourself over it.

smarty350: Thank you.

Wesker888: I liked the new chapter. I heard the movie was good.

chocolate'slover: Thank you. As for H/G, I don't think that will happen in this story and maybe not even the next story, if I'm evil enough, which some of my reviewers think I am, which I resent. I'm not that evil... am I? ;-) BTW, love your name! I ADORE chocolate!

On to the next Chapter!