Chapter 1

Snow flurries passed in front of the dark window. The Gryffindor common room was empty except for a sleeping female figure on the maroon couch in front of the roaring fire. But the sleeping figure was not resting gently. She tossed and turned as if in pain.

Suddenly she woke with a start and sat up. Her face was pale and frightened. The dream had not been a pleasant one.

For a moment, Hermione sat there breathing deeply, trying to push the still lingering visions from her mind.

"Why do I still dream of those days? It's been almost three months." She said exasperated as she leaned against the back of the couch, hugging her knees. "I wish they would stop."

No matter what she tried, visions of the war still filled her dreams. She couldn't sleep, afraid of what she would have to relive. She couldn't let her mind wander, afraid of what she would remember. Everyday things she encountered flickered on a memory of the war. A person, a subject in a book, a spell, the missing professors and students would all cause her to remember.

She hated it. She had tried everything to make the dreams go away. She stayed up until the early hours of the morning. She read book after book. She did homework and extra credit until she had completed every assignment until Valentine's day. Nothing helped.

Now that the holiday's were here and all but a handful of students had returned home and classes were stopped, she had nothing to keep the dreams at bay. And so she tried to endure them in a quiet and lonely silence, keeping them to herself. Even if she had wanted to share them with someone else, she couldn't. No one would understand how much they terrorized her.

And that was why she was staying at school over the holidays. Her parents didn't understand her overwhelming pain and all that she had endured. They had tried and she was grateful that they had, but they hadn't been there. They didn't know what it was like. Her friends had been there but everyone was recovering differently. Harry was doing fine and Ginny was great because she had Harry. Ron had turned quiet and got angry at the slightest thing. They were all coping in their own way. She would just have to find a way of her own to cope. A way to make the visions stop.

AN: Chapter edited 5-31-07