Chapter 1

Hermione woke with a start. Her alarm had just gone off. She searched for the sound of the clock for her head was pounding with the constant ringing of the alarm. She found it and closed her eyes again.

Today she was going to the Burrow to meet with her best friends Ron and Harry. She missed them terribly. She knew Harry was going to go his own way after the death of their Headmaster, Dumbledore, and she made it her mission to start putting some sense into his head. She and Ron had already talked about their meeting with Harry and how they were going to go about persuading him to go back to Hogwarts.

She sighed. Poor Harry, she thought. No loved one was safe from Voldemort's wrath.

Her thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a sudden pressure near the foot of her bed. Crookshanks had just joined her. Hermione smiled as she scratched the back of her cat's ear.

"Well, I guess I should start getting dressed now," she finally said.

Minutes later she went downstairs for breakfast.

"Mornin' Mum and Dad," she greeted her parents.

"Mornin' sweetheart" said her mother. Her dad was so engrossed in his newspaper, he only grunted.

She ate breakfast silently except for the small talk made with her parents.

They didn't exactly know what had been going on in the wizarding world. Hermione had conveniently left most of that information out when talking about her year at Hogwarts. She knew they would go through the roof if they knew her best friend was going to drop out of school in search of the most powerful wizard known to mankind and that she had been involved in an unbelievably dangerous battle with wizards twice her age at the end of the year. She mentioned fighting, the death of her headmaster, and Death Eaters at her school, but she left out a lot.

She finished her breakfast and went upstairs to finish packing.

By the time she was done, it was already time for lunch. After eating a sandwich, she sent out an owl to the Weasleys letting them know she was going to get there soon.

She kissed her mom and dad goodbye and with Crookshanks and her trunk in hand, she screamed, "The Burrow!" into the fireplace and disappeared into the flames.

Miles away, a pop could be heard in Malfoy Manor. Lucius Malfoy had just apparated into his living room.

"Good evening Master," said Hinky, the Malfoy's house elf. After the incident in Draco's second year where Dobby was set free, Lucius had to get a new house elf. Hinky wasn't as old as Dobby but Lucius kept a very close eye on her and had his other two house elves keep an eye on her too. The Malfoys each had a house elf, which would have made Hermione cringe.

Lucius raised an eyebrow at Hinky. "Bring Draco to me," he said.

He had news about the Dark Lord to discuss with him.

Earlier in the evening he had felt the familiar burning of the Dark Mark. He had immediately apparated to the Dark Lord's side. There, he had bowed down and held his head down as he waited for further instruction.

Voldemort then proceeded to tell him of his son's newest mission: To get close to Harry Potter. He had the choice of being "friendly" or just getting Harry to him when he requested it.

Lucius had been surprised at the fact that the Dark Lord had even given his son a choice, but he didn't complain.

"Yes, father," Draco interrupted his thoughts.

"Draco," Lucius said. "I have news about the Dark Lord."

Draco's heart sank. His face slightly paled, but he quickly recovered.

He forced a smirk. "What does He want, father?"

"Let's go to my den first," Lucius said.

Hermione was greeted by flashes of red hair coming to hug her.

"Hermione!" screamed Ginny. "How are you?"

"Shtugglin to beeth," muffled Hermione.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she laughed. "I'm just so happy to see you."

"I know, it's ok!" said Hermione. "I'm happy to see you too."

"Hey 'Mione," Ron said a little shyly.

"I've missed you Ron," she said while hugging him. He stiffened a little but hugged her back. She saw that coming, though. Everyone and their parents knew Ron fancied her. She, on the other hand, had outgrown his mixed signals and shyness. She had decided to move on.

While she was at home, she had become very close to her neighbor, Thomas. He was sweet and they had spent lots of time together. They had even shared a kiss.

After that encounter, things got a bit awkward between them and they would spend less time together because he always wanted to kiss her. She felt like some sort of object. It made her feel dirty.

She snapped out of her daze. Ginny helped her with her trunk and they headed to her room.

The little crowded room was girly and small. Hermione had to squeeze to get from one end of the room to the other, but it had a homely feel. The whole house was easily the most comfortable place in the world.

"Harry hasn't gotten here yet, has he?" asked Hermione.

"Oh no, I think he's going to be here by suppertime," answered Ginny. "I think he owled earlier, but I don't remember. You should ask Mum or Ron, they'd know for sure."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to ask Ron. I should probably go say hi while I'm at it," said Hermione. "I'll be back."

"Mmk"

Hermione was walking toward Ron's room when she heard a sudden noise. She turned around grabbing the handle of the wand that was in her pocket.

"Boo!"

"Aaaaaaaaah!" screamed Hermione.

"Fred, George!"

"Mum, calm down," said Fred.

"Hermione, calm down," said George.

"Calm down? You two almost gave me a heart attack!" said Hermione.

"Stop being"

"So dramatic," they responded.

She gave them a stern look and said "Well, hello to you too," before she headed to Ron's room.

She knocked on the door before entering his room.

"Hey Ron."

"Oh hey," said Ron.

"Have you talked to Harry?"

"Nah," he said. "He's supposed to be here soon, though. I think he said he was going to see us off to Hogwarts, if we decide to go..."

"Does he really think we'd miss our most important year?!" she asked incredulously.

"Of course not, it's a crazy thought," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing"

"Anyway, it's our most important year! We can't possibly miss it. I miss Dumbledore too, and I also want to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes, but we still have learning to do. We could learn something that could help us in destroying him. And we have to build a future for afterward too. I don't know how he can just decide to miss all that."

"Hermione, that's just not as important to him as it is to you. You-Know-Who has been after Harry since he was a baby and he's been running away from him since his first year. And you know how Harry is about money. He's got all that gold at Gringott's, he doesn't need a future."

"Ron! That's crazy. He needs to plan this out and he needs our help to do it," said Hermione as she looked determinately at Ron.

"Ok, son," said Lucius. "The Dark Lord has decided to put a lot of faith into you and this plan. You cannot, I repeat, cannot mess this up."

"What's the plan father?" Draco tried to look excited, but was having a lot of trouble doing it. He just couldn't go along with another one of the Dark Lord's stupid plans. It was with a magnificent stroke of luck that he pulled the other plan off, and he didn't even want Dumbledore to die. Sure, he despised the old man for his virtuous nature, but he never wished for his death to happen. It was horrible to even think it. He was the only one the Dark Lord ever feared. Now, the wizarding world as they all knew it would be doomed.

"Well, the Dark Lord, as you already know, is very pleased with how the death of Dumbledore turned out. Everything went according to planned."

Except I wasn't the one who killed Dumbledore, thought Draco. "I had to comply with his orders," he answered instead.

"I never thought I'd be proud of you but you have definitely honored our name," said Lucius. "But enough of that. I came to tell you about your latest task. You are to befriend the infamous Harry Potter."

"What?!?" said Draco. Even the Dark Lord couldn't be stupid enough to think that was even possible. They had despised each other ever since Harry had decided to turn his invitation for friendship down. Everyone knew it. To try and change all that now was as impossible as trying to give a dragon a pedicure.

"It's the only way Draco," said Lucius firmly. "If you are to bring the Potter boy to the Dark Lord, there is no other alternative."

Draco started thinking quickly. How was he supposed to manage that?

"What if I can think of another way?" said Draco finally.

"By all means, do enlighten me." said Lucius looking slightly amused.

"I'm just saying... If I can think of some other way of getting Potter to Him, can I do it?"

"As long as you don't mess it up. I'm warning you Draco, it's your head on the line."

And with that, he walked off, leaving Draco alone with his own thoughts.

A knock was suddenly heard, startling both Ron and Hermione. They were both so engrossed in their conversation, they didn't hear footsteps coming toward them.

"Hey guys," said a tired looking Harry.

Hermione ran up to give him a hug. Ron just smiled at him.

"How was you summer Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Dreadful." he said simply.

"Oh," she said looking deflated.

"You look dreadful mate," said Ron chuckling.

"Haha... you'd look dreadful too if you had thought about Voldemort, Horcruxes, and death your whole summer."

"Hey, we've been thinking about that too," said Ron.

"Yeah, we have. And we've also been thinking about how to get you to decide to go back to Hogwarts as well," said Hermione a little cautiously. She knew that wasn't how she should have welcomed him, but the truth was, she had to squash the idea of dropping out of school as soon as possible.

"I guess I couldn't run away from that forever..." said Harry, his anger starting to bubble.

"Harry, I'm only saying this because I care. Ron and I both agree that staying at Hogwarts is the best idea. Where are you going to live if you don't go back?"

"I dunno. I've got plenty of gold to keep me alright for a good amount of time!" Harry was starting to get angry. Did they really think he hadn't already thought about all this? It was all he could think about!

"We know that, Harry. But Hogwarts is the safest place to be. Half the Order is there. And how can you be sure that there aren't any Horcruxes there? It's well known that Voldemort loved Hogwarts. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of them were there." Hermione was having a harder time trying to convince Harry than she thought. Her emotions were taking the best of her.

"Look, I've already thought about all this, ok? I know there could be Horcruxes there, that's what you guys are for." said Harry finally. He saw Ron and Hermione exchange looks. "I'm going to be going other places to look for them, while you guys are at Hogwarts looking as well. That way, we have everything covered."

"Harry, we can't do it without you." surprisingly, it was Ron who said this.

"Ron is right. You're the one with all the luck. Me and Ron would fail miserably if we tried to do it ourselves."

"I'm sure we'd do fine!" defended Ron. "But it would be better with you around, of course," he said to Harry.

"Look, I'm glad you guys are trying to help, but this is my battle. I've got to do this on my own."

"Dumbledore wouldn't want you to do it alone, Harry," said Hermione. And with that she left the room.

A/N: Well this will have to be it for now. I'm really on a roll though, and I like how this story is turning out. I'll try not to make it so cliched. I know that always annoys me. lol. And I'll try to update as soon as possible, too.

Toodles,

-Miss Lost in Time-