The only fault in Hermione's plan was that Fred's death was not directly caused by a human being. Fred died in an explosion, cast by a human, true, but he had not been murdered directly by one. This meant that… well… there was no saying whether her plan would work or not.

But of course, her plan might not have ever worked anyway. The spell she had created, or was going to create… it might not work, or it might just show another shadow of life. It might just… well… who knows. And that was if she ever did create it... Spells are more than a mumbling of words. She would also have to think of the way to wave the wand… of the feelings that might be needed to motivate the spell.

Hermione found herself staring into space. Her mind was nothing but a great muddle of thoughts, of problems, of ideas… all her own, but then again, not her own. This was not normal Hermione, breaking rules, trying to break the laws of nature... no… this was… someone else. Who says that even if she did succeed in bringing Fred back, if he would still like her? This new, reckless Hermione…

Said Hermione put her head on the table. She had been awake for so long, and she was so tired. And she knew she would have to go home before she set out on this… quest… or whatever it is she was doing. And she would need someone to test this spell on. And she would need to find out who to blame for Fred's killing; the explosion causer? Or perhaps the man who distracted Fred, who in his own way caused Fred's death… Percy…

No.

"Hermione you're going insane," she whispered to herself. "You need… rest…"

She stood up. She was going home. She had made her decision. She would go home, get rest, stop the world from worrying about her and then she would begin her quest. Then she would save Fred.

She looked around slowly before grabbing the book of runes hurriedly and shoving it into her bag.

"And where do you think you're going with that," a sudden husk voice said.

Hermione turned to see the toothless man, the supposed Librarian, staring her down. He suddenly seemed bigger, edgier, standing over her so that his body practically surrounded her.

"Oh!" Hermione squeaked, "Sorry," she said, shaking, but trying to make herself appear normal, as if she did things like this all the time. She slowly found the book in her bag and clutched it tightly, wand in the same hand as the book, her fingers moving around quietly to accompany her needs.

"I a – always forget to –" she cleared her throat – "Always forget to take out books. I'm so thrilled by them, I usually just throw them in my bag! Thanks for reminding me… err… can I take it out?"

A small, dangerous smile played on the man's lips.

"No," he said, snatching the book out of her hand as she finally raised it out of the bag.

He smugly placed it on a shelf too high for her to reach and stared down upon her, his features screaming what he refused to say – "what are you gunna do about it?"

But Hermione calmly composed herself and said, "Fine," before heading towards the door. She grasped the handle to finally relieve herself of this musk place, but felt a hand on her shoulder. She flinched back, staring once again into the face of the horrifying Librarian.

He smelled the air, then bent in, too close to her hair and neck for her comfort and took another sniff.

"There's Dark Magic around you," he whispered, manically crawling to the floor and circling her body.

He got up from his hands and knees and stood tall, once again dangerous and imposing.

"What're you trying to steal?" he snarled.

"S – steal?" Hermione whispered, but her stutter had been enough to give away that she did indeed have something.

As the man reached for his pocket, no doubt containing a wand, Hermione grabbed hers and pointed at him, her hand shaking. The man laughed and pulled out his own, forcing her into a body bind before she could do anything, and then lifting her stiff body into the air.

"Now, let's do a check," he whispered.

With a few waves of his wand, all of Hermione had been revealed, and to her horror, she could do nothing but widen her eyes and plead in her mind for him to stop. And when he did not find anything, he did stop. He unbound her from the hex and let her limp body fall to the ground. She felt horrified and exposed as she watched him, now paying no attention to her at all, search through her bag. Still, he found no cover on any book she was carrying that was remotely like a book that would belong in this library. He shoved her belongings back in her bag and handed it over.

"Just a little security check, Missus," he whispered, bringing his disgusting body close to Hermione's. His nose was hardly a millimeter away from hers as he breathed, "Goodbye. And don't come back," his warm, reeking breath settling on her face.

Hermione closed her eyes, begging in her mind for the whole situation to just disappear, and when she opened them, she found just that; she appeared to be alone again. She quietly and quickly made her way to the door, and left, thankful to be out of that place and away from that man.

But, just as she exited the door, the wailing like that of which when she entered went off again, and the Librarian swung the door open and tried to grab her.

She let out a scream as his nails scraped her back as she ran, not looking back, hearing the toothless figure screaming, "So you did take something!"

She knew the Dark Magic leaving the building had set off the alarm. And she glanced back, seeing the man grab his wand, when she remembered that she was a witch, and could do magic too. And just as she saw his mouth begin to mutter an Unforgivable Curse, she Apparated away, hearing his scream of frustration as she did so.

She found herself, shaking and shivering on the street right outside her and Ron's cozy little home. On her way down the street, although bustling with magic folk, not a wizard or witch stopped her, and many even fled when she walked by them. Maybe it was because of the stench of that man's breath was still lingering in her skin, or maybe it was because of a certain book, its cover switched carefully with another cover, a book retching Dark Magic wherever she walked, giving off a feeling that told all to stay away. Yes, where a book devoted to raising children once stood was now a heavy book bearing Runes, and nothing but the cover of the book that used to occupy it's spot remained.

Hermione smiled quietly to herself as she thought of the cruel Librarian taking the book that he thought was about Horcruxes off the shelf he had placed it on, and opening to find merry pictures about how to feed and put small children to sleep. And she smiled even more widely knowing that the book she now owned might possess the power, or the knowledge, to give her what she needed most. The answers to bring back her lover. To bring back Fred.