"Harry, Ron, what are you doing?" Hermione walked in to find Harry and Ron loading up their backpacks. She frowned in confusion as they took the dwindling pile of supplies and divided it three ways.

"I'm leaving, Hermione. I'm sick and tired of listening to THAT!" Harry pointed at the radio. "Talking about me like I'm the best thing since sliced bread! 'Harry Potter will save us! He's our hero! He's the savior of the wizarding world!' I'm tired of being the one everyone depends on! Why do I have to be THE ONE?!" He yelled angrily. Ron stood quietly behind him, nodding in agreement.

"But, w-where are you going? Why didn't you say anything to me? Are you and Ron just leaving me here?" Her voice trembled as she tried to hide the hurt inside. 'Why were they leaving her?'

Harry's eyes softened for only a moment as he laid his hands on her shoulders. Ron picked up the backpacks as Harry led her outside. He seemed to position her right outside the tent. Then he and Ron hugged her wordlessly. They moved away as Harry looked back at her. "I love you, Hermione, we both do. But I have to be free. Please understand that this is nothing personal. You don't know where I'm going and that's the important thing. They're not after you. They won't do anything to you. At the most, they'll send you back to the muggle world, but you've been wanting to go back anyway. It's me they're after, it's always been me. As long as you don't know anything about me or my whereabouts, there's nothing they can do to you." He smiled at her sadly. Ron had his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry took a deep breath, raised his wand, and said one fateful word. "Voldemort." Then he Disapparated, taking Ron with him.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear as she hurried to draw her wand. It was too late. Less than a minute later, she was surrounded by Snatchers. The dirty faced leader grabbed her arm roughly. "Well, lookie here, boys. Looks like we found a pretty little Mudblood." He tipped his head as he looked her up and down. "I think we've been working entirely too much lately. What say we take us a little bit of a break. We have the perfect entertainment right here." He jerked her closer as Hermione tried her best to get away from him. The men all cheered as he dragged the struggling girl back into the tent. They all quickly followed him.

Shortly afterwards, the screaming began. For the first hour, she begged them to leave her alone, quit hurting her, to no use. They got tired of her pleading and crying so they made sure to keep her mouth full. They took her in every way possible and as often as possible. They took her alone, in pairs and sometimes as many as four at a time. Their job was completely forgotten in the thrill of having a mudblood all to themselves. The leader was actually planning to kill her and dump her body as soon as they were bored with her. For the next two weeks, Hermione was in hell. By the time she was rescued by the most unlikely of rescuers, her body, mind and spirit were all broken. She wanted nothing more than to lay down and die.