Terribly, terribly sorry about the wait! I've just had no motivation to write AT ALL. Which is just awful. There's no excuse for my laziness!

But please enjoy this chapter, although it might be a little scattered...

Allie

Hermione trudged through the next weeks as if swimming through pudding. The days dragged on even as they grew shorter and shorter with the approaching winter.

But the nights were the worst. Still haunted by the screams and blood of her friends Hermione had taken to preventing herself from sleeping at night at all. She worked on the Room of Requirement, or she read. She dozed in classes, although thanks to her sleepless nights, she had caught up on all of her homework.

Ginny had noticed, and was doing all she could to keep Hermione healthy. Forcing her to eat, taking most of her Head Girl duties on so Hermione could rest.

Still, Ginny wasn't the only one who had noticed. Luna and Neville, who had several classes with Hermione, saw how she sat in a daze during lectures, her quill still when it normally was flying. And if they had noticed, who else had?

They did all they could without creating scenes. Hermione assured them that she was perfectly alright when they subtly expressed their concern.

I am alright. I just have to work harder. When she worked to the point of exhaustion in the day, it was easier to sleep at night.

She fell into a sort of dysfunctional routine. Every morning she would lift the silencing charms laid on her bed hangings, find her way out of the Head's dorm and down to the Great Hall for breakfast without seeing Malfoy. Then it was classes all day, lunch, and during her free time she was in the library or the Room of Requirement, where she worked until she was barely upright.

The days passed, and the air began to get colder and colder.

"Hermione, Mcgonagall wants to see us in her office. Everyone's already up there. She's got information about Macnair, we think." Harry had come up behind her as she nibbled on some toast at breakfast.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, then got up and followed him out of the hall.

They slipped in as Mcgonagall was debriefing the rest of the group. Hermione stared at her friends standing around in various positions of the office that was once filled with all sorts of trinkets and fantastic magical knick-knacks. She glanced up at the portraits hanging on the wall, Dumbledore gazed down at her sadly though his half-moon spectacles.

Letting her eyes wander, they stopped to rest on the back of a white-blonde shock of hair that she had been so successful in avoiding lately. As if he could feel the weight of her stare, he turned and caught her eyes in his own. She looked away quickly, put off by the guarded coolness she saw there.

She continued her survey of the room; the usual crowd had answered the summons. Ginny had sidled in next to Harry. Ron was over with Neville and Luna. Malfoy was leaning against a table, scowling.

McGonagall sat in her stiff-backed chair, "Now that everyone's here, Mcnair has been spotted in a small town outside of Moscow." She looked at Harry, "Your team will be in charge of apprehending him, and transporting him back to the Ministry for trial." She handed him the parchment that held all the details of their travel plans and where they would be staying at the Ministry in Moscow's Headquarters.

Harry glanced at it and handed it straight to Hermione, who took it without hesitation. She would read through it thoroughly to make sure she knew all the facts.

"Ginny, I would make a request that you and Neville stay behind, to assume Head Boy and Girl duties." McGonagall, ever practical, never left the school with a weak link while the Golden Trio was off on assignment.

Looking like she wanted to argue, Ginny nodded reluctantly. Harry grabbed her hand in his and squeezed.

"That's settled then, you'll leave right away, make sure you've packed warmly." She dismissed them with a nod.

They each went their separate ways to gather the usual supplies for assignments.

Hermione went down to the kitchens to gather food and other supplies to put in her magical bag.

Harry went to gather the Invisibility Cloak.

Ron went to try and find some clean socks.

Malfoy went to the Slytherin common room to inform Blaise Zabini, his second-in-command, about his leaving. And grab his fur-lined cloak, as an almost afterthought.

Luna was the first to report to the giant doors, she always was the lightest packer. Hermione was next, followed closely by Harry. They were always half-way packed. Ron crashed down the stairs next, dragging his trunk behind him. Malfoy glided down after him, "Honestly Weasel, I know you can't do much with that twig you call a wand, but I would think levitation would be even in your range."

"Piss off, Malfoy!" Ron seemed to spend most of his time perpetually angry nowadays.

"Oh, stop it you two. If you start bickering now, this will be a very long trip." Luna said, and Hermione silently agreed with her.

Harry looked around then met Hermione's eyes. They nodded at each other, and Hermione produced the portkey that would take them to the Ministry's headquarters' in Moscow. From there they would take a train out of the city, posing as English students on holiday. Any wizard who didn't live under a rock would know instantly who they were, but the muggles wouldn't.

"On the count of three, one… two… three!"

They landed back in the foyer of the castle exactly three weeks later, frozen mostly solid and some worse for the wear.

Hermione and Harry supported Luna between them, she was conscious, but fading fast. Madame Pomfrey had been alerted beforehand and whisked her up to the hospital wing without a moment to spare.

Ron immediately stalked off towards his dormitory. Harry had had to reprimand him for almost getting Luna killed in the field. He had let his temper get the better of him and rushed ahead, following the decoy and leaving his partner defenseless. He's going to have to answer to Neville for that later, Hermione thought darkly.

Harry stood there; shoulders slumped, looking well beyond his years. Hermione reached out her hand to give some comfort, after all, Luna would be fine with Madame Pomfrey's expertise, and some thanks Malfoy's incredible quick thinking in the field. Harry looked up at her and gave her a bleak smile but drew away, on his own way, probably to reconnect with Ginny.

Hermione sighed. This had been a rough assignment. The team was imploding; Ron and Malfoy had been at each other's throats the entire time, prompting Ron to try and outdo Malfoy.

Malfoy cleared his throat delicately, startling Hermione. "Shall we report to McGonagall?" He said quietly. She hesitated a moment, then conceded, they could do it without Harry, he deserved some time with Ginny.

She followed him up the stairs, watching his slender form seem to glide over each step. Stood as he spoke the password, listened to his deep voice that seemed to come directly from his chest; and only when McGonagall asked for the full report did she come back to reality. She handed over her written report and added the few details she hadn't had a chance to write down since getting back to the castle.

McGonagall sighed, "So the mission was successful overall, well then we'll chalk this up as a small victory then, yes? Dismissed, please try and get some rest, I'll see you at dinner."

They started back towards the Head's dorm, but Malfoy broke off to run down to the Slytherin's common room for a full report while he had been away. He still was Slytherin's Prince, after all, he had to know what was happening below him.

Hermione dropped immediately onto her bed, and was asleep almost instantly.

The routine was reestablished, with a few extras thrown in. Hermione visited Luna in the hospital wing daily, usually with Neville or Harry. Malfoy had accompanied her once, and had only stayed to exchange a few cordial words with Luna on her well-being. When he had left, Luna had looked at Hermione curiously for several minutes, glancing between her and the door Malfoy had exited through not five minutes before. Curious. Very curious.

It is quite common for a patronus to change shape during one's lifetime. It responds to happiness in the memories, and when those memories are centered around a certain person, they make take the shape that resembles that person. It is not uncommon for a patronus to change shape more than once, either. It is connected to the heart of the magic inside, and therefore when that heart is affected, so is the patronus.

For example, when someone suffers a great loss of the heart…

Once again, Hermione found herself reading that cursed book on the squishy chair in front of the fire. No matter how many times she read the chapter on shifting patroneses, it remained the same.

The words stretched and faded before her closing eyes. No…

Her nightmares lately had been manageable, almost normal even. Some weren't even that bad. So it seems she was overdue for a rather terrible one.

This one opened in the woods. Snow blanketed the ground and fell lightly as she raised her face towards the sky. She looked around for the usual people that starred in her dreams, but this time, she was alone.

She wandered through the trees, nothing was happening. There were no screams of pain, no blood spattering the ground, no purple lights of fatal hexes being flung. Nothing.

She walked this way and that, aimlessly. After walking for an indeterminable amount of time, she happened upon a lake.

Kneeling down, she gently touched the surface, the water was neither freezing nor scalding. Dipping her whole hand in, she watched as the ripples grew and stretched across the previously calm water.

This is a dream, why not? Hermione thought as she waded into the water, still fully clothed. The water gently lapped against her as she went farther and farther out, until she couldn't touch the murky bottom anymore. She had always been a capable swimmer, but this water seemed thicker than normal, or her limbs felt heavier. She just attributed it to the dream. She swum out to the middle of the lake and floated on her back for some time.

Some way away a wolf began to howl.

The howling drew closer and closer. Hermione ignored it until she heard the splash of a body entering the water.

She hadn't even realized her eyes were closed until she had to struggle to open them. She was several inches below the surface of the lake and sinking. Her limbs were lead, they wouldn't obey her instructions to move towards the surface.

Ah, well. It's only a dream; it isn't the first time I've died in a dream, after all.

Suddenly there were jaws clamped down on her robes, they pulled her above the surface and started slowly tugging her towards the shoreline. She was still on her back, so she didn't catch a glimpse of her rescuer until it deposited her unceremoniously onto the rocky shore of the lake.

She lay very still, unable to control her extremities yet. A pure white wolf appeared in her line of sight and whined. It licked her nose gently, and whined again. Black spots danced before her eyes.

The last thing she thought as she spiraled down into oblivion was about whether or not she could lose consciousness if it was only a dream.