Hermione, Ron and Harry resided at Grimmauld Place, their school life lost in the past. When they were not out on a mission with the Order, Hermione would close herself in the Library. Pouring over any book she could get her hands on, with each death she became more and more reclusive. Her fiery bravado attitude was still evident, it pushed from her core in every battle, creating a whirlwind of danger that every Death Eater had come to fear. Ron and Harry were not far behind, but their wand work was not at the same level and more often than not found themselves with one or more injuries from each battle than Hermione.

It was on this afternoon that Hermione was again curled up on a couch in the Library pouring over another book. Her hand was unwashed and splayed around her face in a crazy frizz, only her forehead was visible behind the large tome labelled 'Magicke for the Dark and Daring'. Her mission over the past year was quite ambitious. Fighting fire with fire.

She had spent so long arguing that there was hope for Death Eaters, that they could use simple stunning and body binding curses and lock them up, they might change sides and see the wrong in the world. She fought for justice not for brutality. But the death toll rose, and in the midst of one particular battle, Dolohov; who she had stunned only moments before awoke and killed Dean Thomas. She couldn't save him. That memory would remain forever more clear as though it was just yesterday.

A jet of purple light left Dolohov's wand, she saw it travel towards Dean from the corner of her eye. "Dean! Look out!" She screamed. He didn't hear in time, he turned and looked at her just as the curse struck. He fell, dark stains spreading fast across his torso.

Hermione felt herself shake with rage, she turned towards Dolohov, but he had already moved on. She ran to Dean's body and held his head in her hands. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" She cried. Her tears splashing his face, creating little splotches on his grimy, blood encrusted cheeks. "I-I'll fix it, don't worry. You will be fine" She whimpered.

She ripped off what was left of his shirt, his torso was unrecognizable. Blood pooled in the gashes, they were deep and dark. His organs could be seen in the large gash across his stomach. Hermione screamed in agony, she couldn't fix this, he would die in a matter of seconds. She lifted his head delicately and placed it in her lap, his eyes were open looking up at her, his breath was coming in short shallow puffs. "You are so brave Dean, so brave" she whispered to him.

It was a miracle she hadn't been hit in these moments, she had completely forgotten about the battle around them. She didn't care anymore. Dean gurgled, blood was leaking out his mouth staining his teeth red. He attempted to say something to her, but it was futile. He couldn't breathe through the blood. Slowly his eyes lost focus on her, his breathing slowed and stopped and his body went limp in her arms.

Hermione let out a howl, at the same time a curse grazed her arm spreading a fire through her body. But she didn't want to get up, she didn't want to leave him. This was her fault.

"Hermione get up!" Harry screamed running towards her. Behind him a group of Death Eaters were approaching, sending curses every which way towards the scattered Order members. Their masks glowed in the light of the curses. They didn't have a care in the world.

Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her up, she stumbled. Her vision still blurry from crying. They ran as fast as they could, avoiding the oncoming curses.

"It's time to go" Harry yelled at her. He was cut badly, blood flowed from his forehead and down his face.

"We can't leave them!" She screamed back.

"We have to or we will die" He yelled back, his eyes pleaded with her. Next to her two more Order members collapsed, their chests bearing full impact of the curses. They got to the nearest apparition point, Hermione looked back towards Dean. But he was lost somewhere in the sea of Death Eaters.

Would anyone retrieve his body? What were we going to tell Seamus?

She let out a strangled sob, and with a crack the two of them left.

That was nine months ago. The guilt had wracked her constantly. She hadn't woken up a single day without her first thought being the stupidity of her actions. However, she was a fighter. Deans' death would mean nothing, have no impact if she spent the rest of her life in a depressive guilt. A month after he passed, she got up one morning, went straight to the library and began to learn.

She spent hours and hours, going through tomes. Learning incantations and practicing them in an empty room upstairs. Her determination spread through the house, eventually Harry, Ron and a few other members joined in her practice sessions. Their strength was growing, their knowledge gaining. Within a few months, Hermione had become a walking dark arts spell book.

She had rules to her sorcery. Dark magic was only used against those who inflicted dark magic on them. Which wasn't too hard to follow when in a battle against Death Eaters; and death was a last resort. She hated using dark magic. But it was the price you had to pay in war, the rules she imposed on herself were some of the only things keeping her sane.

Hermione jumped as a knock rang loud and clear.

"Come in" She called out.

"It's just me" Harry peered around the door "may I join?" he asked coming further into the room.

"Of course, you don't have to ask" She gave him a small smile and moved down the couch.

Harry closed the door behind him and walked over to the couch, they sat at each end in silence. It was a peaceful silence, sometimes words did not need to be exchanged to understand the importance one is to another.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked. She put her book down and turned towards him, she brought her knees up to her chest and leant her head on them. Harry had been deployed last night to a particularly nasty raid, there were a number of deaths on both sides and the downstairs lounge room was again filled with the wounded.

"It was, tiring- I guess" He sighed "Moody kept us going until every Death Eater was dead or had fled. So it went on for hours. A particularly nasty curse broke a few of my fingers" He held his hand up and showed her the bruises. "But one of the Medi-Witches down stairs fixed it quickly. Trust me, my injuries weren't as bad as some of the guys downstairs. One Order member, one of the new guys… I can't remember his name, anyway he practically got disemboweled. He's been stitched up and is comatose but trying to apparate him back with guts hanging out of his stomach was a difficult task."

Harry yawned and leant back on the couch, he was staring off in the distance, reliving the memories of the night before. His eyes were puffy and red. He must have cried sometime in the night. He would never admit it; but being the Chosen One took a toll on him. He constantly had to remain strong, for the sake of the Order. They all saw him as their leader, the one to lift their spirits and convince them that they would prevail; and he was brave. Hermione knew that if she were in the same position she would have surely broken by now.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked, stifling a yawn.

"I'm not sure, I think he's still asleep" He mumbled. On top of the nightly battles, when they had the chance to sleep they were plagued by nightmares. It had been a long time since any of them had even had eight hours sleep straight. Hermione moved around, crossed her legs and put the pillow on her lap.

"Come here" She said beckoning him to lay down.

"No I'm okay, I better go down and check in with Lupin and Moody. He's developing new strategies-"

"Harry. You haven't slept. You won't be any help if you're delirious"

He looked at her, mentally arguing with himself until he gave in. He laid down on the pillow and closed his eyes. Hermione removed his glasses and picked up her book to continue reading. Within minutes he was out and quietly snoring. She looked down at his face, the constant frown had gone and he looked peaceful. He looked more his age when asleep and Hermione felt a tinge of adoration for the young man. They had known each other eight years, they were like siblings and cared for each other just as deeply. For a short moment, she felt peace. This library was their escape, their dark paradise.

She picked up her book and continued on, she would let him sleep as long as he could. He obviously needed it and the Order was not going to fall apart if he was out for the day, or so she hoped.

"Again!" Voldemort snarled. He was pacing back and forth behind Draco, his magic crackled around him in anger.

Draco was covered in sweat. His brow furrowed in concentration and he lifted his wand again. The man on the floor was covered in blood and trembling. They had been there for hours.

"Abscindo Magicae!" He roared. He held his wand high as the spell hit the man.

It took a lot of energy to remove someone's magic. Voldemort had made it seem so effortless. Draco, however was having a lot more trouble and had lost consciousness twice himself. After the sixth failed attempt Voldemort was clearly getting irritated. He had thrown Draco out of the way, his body hitting the wall and sliding down in a heap as he heard Voldemort snarl 'Crucio'. The man's screams echoed through the dungeon and made Draco's already sore head throb harder.

The man's back arched and his screams pierced the air, this time they were wispy and slightly croaked. His vocal cords were tearing apart as Draco continued to break his core. Eventually his body began to glow, Draco was on the verge of passing out.

"Not… This… Time" He grunted, he grabbed his wand with both hands, pushing all the power he physically had into the spell. Finally, the man's magic left his body and floated out of his mouth. It was like the Dementors kiss, both the kiss and this spell removed everything a person had: their soul, and their magic.

"Good, Draco, it will get easier the more times you perform the spell. Now collect the magic and meet me upstairs" Voldemort stated calmly and left the cell.

As soon as he had left Draco collapsed, his entire body ached. It felt like the spell had tried to remove his magic as well as the man in front of him. The man remained unconscious and Draco left him. He pocketed the vial of magic and made his way upstairs, taking a side trip to his room to down some pepper up potion.

Voldemort was sitting in a plush chair in the dining room, Nagini was asleep on his lap. Draco bowed and entered the room.

"You did well today Draco, I think we will have another session tomorrow before I deploy you to one of the camps"

"Thank you my Lord" Draco replied, his posture was slouched and he looked at the floor.

"Would you like to see one of the camps?"

"My Lord?"

"I will show you our biggest camp so far, it opened last month and we have slowly been building numbers. Come here" Voldemort stood, Nagini hissed and took place in the middle of the chair.

"Nagini stay, we will be back soon."

Draco walked over to Voldemort and took his arm. They apparated and arrived out the front of a large warehouse. It was rusting and was surrounded by a high fence. Like the house they visited in the meeting this warehouse was not out of the ordinary. It was located in the middle of an industrial estate and from the outside one would not have guessed what was inside.

Voldemort lifted his wand and the gates opened. Two Death Eaters were on the other side keeping guard, they bowed low and gushed a quick "My Lord" as he passed. The yard was bare, every few metres a Death Eater was positioned taking guard. They arrived at the doors leading into the warehouse where another two Death Eaters were waiting.

"Good evening My Lord," Rabastan bowed, "Draco" he acknowledged. His appearance was akin to his brother Roldophus, tall and broad. He grinned down at Draco, his smiled was tainted with black and yellow stained teeth. The other man opened the doors for Voldemort and Draco and they entered.

For a short moment his jaw dropped, but he closed it before Voldemort noticed. He put up his impassive demeanor, his mind was racing. The inside was a lot larger than the outside. The room was separated, each side was split into two large cages: The old, Men, Women and Children. Bruised and dirty faces cowered as Voldemort passed. A few children clutched onto the wire barricade looking up at Draco with large scared eyes, their small fingers curling over the individual wires. Their nails were caked in dirt and blood, they had no beds. Just a few blankets and the clothes they arrived in. He looked away quickly and for the rest of the walk he kept his gaze on the staircase at the end.

The ascended to the loft above, there was a small office space and at the end two private rooms. The office area was occupied with a few more Death Eaters. Roldolphus was at the desk writing in a large log book. He looked up upon their arrival.

"My Lord" He bowed "Hello my Nephew, how are you?"

"I'm fine" Draco replied shortly.

"He has been in training all day" Voldemort added.

"Ah, I see" Roldolphus smiled at Draco "It gets better after a while."

Voldemort walked over to the edge of the loft and looked down at the cages, he twirled his wand in his fingers.

"How many do we hold?" He enquired.

"As of today, we have 150 inferiors" Roldolphus replied. The document he was working on was a log of everyone in the camp. It detailed their names, age, and blood status. A few were highlighted in red, the beginnings of the regime.

"Draco" Voldemort began. Draco looked up from the log at Voldemort. "This is the camp where you will be deployed. In a few days once you've trained some more you will be working here removing the inferiors' magic. See those rooms at the back." He pointed towards the two private rooms. "This is where the extraction takes place, they have permanent silencing charms placed upon them. We don't want to alert the inferiors of what we are doing, lest one of them escapes and tells the Order. The inferiors without magic are then shipped to another camp where they will begin work."

Draco nodded in understanding, he held on to his wand in his pocket. It comforted him slightly. Reminding him of the power he had.

"No doubt you have been involved in and/or heard of the recent raids across the country" Voldemort prompted.

"Yes Sir" Draco answered

"A lot of our raids have been successful as you can see below. However the Order are holding strong. My quest for Harry Potter, whilst imperative is not on the forefront of my follower's orders, he is still to be left to me. He is the chosen one, however, his wand work is lacking. We must focus on taking down the other members."

"Of course" Draco smiled in agreement.

"To take down Potter we need to take down his immediate allies."

Draco suddenly looked up at Voldemort. His eyes widened in realization.

"You know of whom I speak"

Draco gulped.

"I want the Mudblood."

I just want to get straight to the middle of the story. But no we must slowly build it up like a classical compostition. Enjoy