Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and therefore own no rights to these characters.

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger was still the cleverest witch in her grade. Only now her grade consisted of all the healers in St. Mungo's Hospital. After witnessing the destruction of Hogwarts and the death of so many of her loved ones, Hermione decided to take matter into her own hands. She learned how to be a healer and received her degree in record time (a time only previously held by a certain Hogwarts nurse). Her job was fulfilling but exhausting and Hermione found herself closing the door to her office with a long sigh after an even longer night. Two young wizards came in with their parents after their noses were spurting milk for two hours. An older witch had gotten confused and kept apparating and disapparating in and out of the robe changing area at Madame Malkins until she accidentally spliced her legs clean off.

Hermione reflected back on the evening and she walked down the long corridor to the elevator at the end of the hall. Her tennis shoes made no sound as she passed the nurses station with a small wave at Beatrice and Gemma and touched the down arrow button. She was looking forward to a long bath and a good book when the elevator doors opened and Hermione looked up into the green eyes of Harry Potter.

"Hermione," Harry said and promptly started to fall forward. The two wizards on either side of Harry supported his weight as they walked awkwardly out of the elevator. One of the wizards was fellow Auror Neville Longbottom and the other was a man Hermione simply knew as Pitfellow.

"Neville, what happened," Hermione asked as she motioned to the nurses for a gurney.

"He took a curse for me, Hermione. He pushed me out of the way. It was meant for me. It was…" Neville looked down at Harry and Hermione's eyes followed. Besides s thing layer of dirt, Harry looked as normal as ever until she looked down at his legs. On Harry's right thigh, there was a scorched black gash stretching from his hip across his thigh and down to the inside of his knee. The gash was oozing a black, sludge like liquid. When Hermione touched his leg, Harry screamed in pain.

"We have to move, now!" Hermione screamed as she moved the gurney towards the emergency room. "Neville, walk with me. Beatrice, call Dr. Lovegood. Harry," she looked up at him while moving down the hall as quickly as possible, "I need you to stay with me." And to Neville, "What curse hit him?" She had never seen anything like this before, didn't even know where to begin.

Neville looked overwhelemed. "I don't know, Hermione, I swear. It all happened so far, they seemed to come from everywhere. It should have been me I-"

"NEVILLE, FOCUS," Hermione shouted. Panic mode seemed to kick in for the first time. Harry, broken, on her operating table. Harry, her best friend, her one person…

"Refrigesco," Harry said in a soft voice. Hermione took his hand and leaned closer to his mouth.

"Refrigesco? Harry, are you sure?" The panic started to recede as Harry nodded weakly and fought to keep down another pained scream.

"Refrigesco means 'chill' or 'dead' in latin," Hermione explained to Neville as she and Beatrice pushed the gurney towards the double doors of the operating room. "I am not an expert in dark magic but it seems the curse froze this gash in your leg. Neville, go to the waiting room. I will keep you updated." Without a backward glance, Hermione Granger wheeled her best friend Harry Potter into the operating room in the hopes of saving his life.

Harry was on the run with Hermione. Ron had left them both, believing that their quest was pointless and that Harry would fail. As Hermione set the wards around their new campsite, Harry started to gather wood for a fire. As he stood up to stretch, Harry cast a glance over at Hermione. The sun was setting and it reflected off her face, casting half of it in shadow. Her hair shown golden as her hand deftly flicked her wand through the air. In that moment, Harry realized that he was in love with the most intelligent and beautiful with he would ever know. She finished casting the wards and looked over at him at the exact moment that he imaged himself to be ogling at her. She gave him a curious look as she walked towards him.

"All right, Harry?" There was a lock of hair falling down in front of her face and Harry half lifted his hand to brush it away. She noticed his actions and seemed to register something. Her face registered pain as she took a step back and Harry instantly regretted his actions.

"Hermione, I just think you should know," Harry started to say.

"Harry, this isn't a good idea," she said. "There is so much at stake. And Ron, I mean…" Hermione looked uncomfortable mentioning his name and Harry realized what she was trying to say.

"It's him you fancy, not me." Harry turned away from her. "I'm sorry Hermione. I will never make this mistake again." Hermione let him walk away. Harry swore to himself that he would never jeopardize their friendship by making any advances again, she was too important to him. Harry crawled into bed and was akoned some hours later by the smell of her hair and a small shake.

"Harry, wake up." But he couldn't face her after what he said. Not yet. The pain was still too raw and he needed time to compose his feelings.

"Harry, wake up!"