She just couldn't believe she had got her belly button done. Pierced. Her belly button! It was just so unlike her.

Hermione had, through the summer, went through a brief bout of rebellion. Nothing drastic, of course. She still was Hermione Granger. But for about two weeks, she didn't do any homework, she finally gave into her mother's attempts for Hermione to get something done with her hair and she got her belly button pierced.

Maybe it was because of all the chaos at the end of fifth year. Sirius's death effected them all, she supposed, in different ways. For her, anyway, it made her think deeply about life. So, just for two small weeks, she had let her heart rule her head.

"Those boyfriends of yours will drop down dead when they see you," her mother doted.

Her mother had become increasingly annoying since Hermione's rebellion. Her mother had always hoped for a daughter who she could shop with, and buy girlie dresses and matching handbags for and Hermione, with her frizzy hair and love of books, had always been a bit of a disappointment.

Now her mother seemed extremely keen to convert her into a Pansy Parkinson, not that her mother knew who Pansy Parkinson was.

Hermione stopped to correct her mom. "Boy," She paused, "Friends. Two separate words, mom."

"Hmm, whatever you say, Honey. You'd want to get packing," her mother's eyes had glazed over, refusing to believe her daughter. Hermione hated when she did that.

Hermione shook her head, refusing to get into one of her frustrated moods, and began packing. She was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow.

''''''''''''

The platform had the same cosy feeling as it always did. Hermione felt the same anxious and excited feelings sweep through her as she looked at the train that was going to lead her to her school.

She was sad that she was leaving her parents of course. But not that sad. Hermione knew she belonged in the Wizarding world. She was a witch after all.

She looked around for her friends, worrying that maybe they were already on the train or perhaps they were going to miss the train and she'd have to go on her own and then they'd turn up in some flying object, maybe an elephant, like in second year and get expelled and she'd have to spend her whole school years alone and hang out with uneducated people on her spare time.

Hermione was a compulsive worrier.

She didn't see them so much as hear them.

"Harry! Ahh!" A shout of bewilderment and fear could be easily traced back to Ron Weasley.

"Ron, are you okay?" Harry's concerned voice made Hermione smile.

She leaned across to see what had happened. Ron had tripped over his robes that were miles too long for him and had flocks of underpants around him from a bag he had dropped.

"It's these robes. They're Percy's old ones. They're way too big for me!"

Hermione walked to the two boys and lifted up a pair of underpants. "Maybe these shouldn't be left out for public show, Ron."

Ron looked up at her with squinting eyes. Harry caught her in a bear hug then backed away. "Wait! You look totally different."

Ron was going red. "You look, er," Ron's voice trailed off.

They both stared at her with wide eyes.

"Ron," Hermione hissed. When she felt nervous, she got bossy. "Get up off the ground. Harry, let's help get these underwear into a bag."

"It's still her all right," Ron said with a grin only a Weasley could pull.

"Let's get a carriage," said Harry, still looking at her with a stupefied expression.

They all sat down. Harry and Ron sat opposite her and stared.

"Would you two stop? I felt good before I met up with you. What's wrong?"

"It's, er, you look so, uh, nice," Harry tried to explain and failed.

"So different," Ron imputed.

Hermione smiled, "Well, that was the point."

Now that she was sitting down, she looked at them both. They hadn't really changed at all. Ron and Harry were both a lot taller than her but what was new? Harry's hair badly needed a cut and Ron needed to wash his face.

Hermione grinned at them. "I missed you two so much!"

"Yeah," Harry said. "So did I. Dumbledore wouldn't let me send owls or receive any in case Voldemort found out where I was. Of course he already knows. I really missed you, guys. So, tell me about your summer."

Ron sighed. "I tried sending a couple of letters but my stupid owl," Ron rattled the cage at this point, "wouldn't go anywhere. He circled around the house a couple of times and that was it. I had to do loads of chores for mom. She wouldn't leave me out at all because of You-Know-Who being back."

Hermione thought about this for a bit. "Are you scared," she asked, mainly to Harry. "because he's back?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not going to think about it, really. When's Dumbledore's around, we'll be okay."

Hermione shrugged away her feelings of unease. Ron asked her about her summer.

"I really just hanged around with Phil," she said and instantly stopped. She hadn't told them about Phil yet.

"Phil?" Ron replied. Two red dots appeared on his cheeks.

"Um, my muggle boyfriend," Hermione said and grinned sheepishly.

The two boys looked out their windows. Ron made a noise that sounded distantly like, "Oh."

Hermione leaned back in her sit and took out a book. Her mind drifted and the words on the thick page wavered.

She didn't even know she had fallen asleep until she jolted awake.

"Hi Harry! Hi Ron! Hi Hermione!" Neville Longbottom's excited voice boomed through the carriage.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, looking at her. "You look nice!"

"Thanks." She looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Neville looked embarrassed. "Oh, it's just Malfoy at me again. I'm not even going to look at him this year."

"Come on," Ron said while Harry lifted up his wand like a sword. "He's not going to get away with it this time."

Hermione nodded. Neville made some complaints which, Hermione noted, nobody paid much attention to.

''''''''''''

Hermione had to admit, although Malfoy was an ignorant snob, he was a good-looking ignorant snob. Platinum blonde hair and a compact body. And a nasty smile that could make girls go weak at the knees. Yeah, he looked good.

He looked up at them as they entered his carriage.

"Oh look, Longbottom's gone told on me to Scarface. Weasley's going to sort me out with that wand of his, I suppose," he sneered. "Want to do that slug curse again? It worked a treat the last time."

He turned to look at Hermione last. She met his eyes with a cold glare.

"And then there's the know-it-all Mudblood," he said after a moments pause and turned his back on her. "Everyone watch out. They might hurt me." His voice was smothered in sarcasm.

Harry raised his wand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Malfoy said.

"And why's that?"

"Because Goyle and Crabbe are right behind you," Malfoy sneered.

Ron and Harry glanced briefly behind them to see the two gorilla-like boys. "What's wrong, Malfoy? Can't defend yourself? Need them to protect you?"

"Hardly," Malfoy sneered.

Then the carriage started to shake from side to side violently.

"It's You-Know-Who!" A terrified scream came from somewhere in the train but everyone heard it. "He's attacking the train."

Nobody moved. Everyone was still.

Malfoy's cold voice broke through the silence. "Don't be stupid. The Dark Lord's not here. If it's anyone, it's some supporters."

"Why would they want to attack the train?" Seamus asked, Irish accent heavy in his voice along with fear.

"Why else? Because Harry Potter is here."

Malfoy grinned as everyone scrambled away from Harry except for his two best friends.

"I want to be around when they come get you," Malfoy started but was cut off when a large thud sounded.

Even Malfoy had the decency to look alert now. Everyone did. Hermione could hear her blood rushing in her ears.

The train was stopping, Hermione realised. She hadn't noticed it had been slowing down but it had been and now the train was barely moving.

"Harry, mate!" Ron turned to his best friend with a terrified expression, "Run!"

Harry hesitated for just an instant but it was too late.

Dark hooded people appeared from both doors of the carriage.

They were surrounded.

Every student scrambled out of their ways, pushing themselves into the carriage's walls, trying to become invisible.

Hermione couldn't move but she felt Ron knock her back.

And Harry stood, on his own, in the middle of the carriage, facing the Dark hooded people.

He pulled out his wand suddenly and tried to say something. It was a desperate move, completely useless.

Two of them grabbed him by the arms. He tried to kick them but he couldn't do anything. Two others stayed behind while one lead the way out of the carriage door and into the outside. Harry didn't shout or scream anymore. Hermione met his green eyes and instantly understood.

He'd given up. He knew there was no point.

And his eyes were saying Goodbye.

He was looking at Ron as well. A silent farewell.

Her voice caught in her throat. Ron's grip on her wrist was painful. Tears were in her eyes as the hooded men passed by them and into the outside.

Nobody moved. Nobody talked. But everybody knew that Harry was being taken to Lord Voldemort where he would be tortured and then killed.

She finally got out of her state of shock and screamed after him. "Harry! Harry!"

She fell, unable to support herself and then Ron had hold of her and she was crying into his shoulder. She didn't know what was happening or what to do. All she knew was that she was gasping on Ron's hard shoulder, choking on her tears and Ron was whimpering too, and everybody was watching them in silence.

''''''''''''''

TWO DAYS LATER

Hermione was walking like a zombie. Ron was behind her, unusually silent. Things hadn't been the same since two days ago. Harry was gone and there was nothing anybody could do about it.

"Why isn't Dumbledore doing anything?" Hermione whirled around to Ron. "He's just sitting there, doing nothing!"

"What can he do?" Ron offered weakly.

"Something! Anything! It's Harry we're talking about! We have to save Harry!"

"How? What can we do?" Ron said, his voice soft. "For all we know, he could be…" Ron didn't finish.

"That's bull! Voldemort will keep him alive for ages! He'll torture him and then…"

Hermione broke off as a new set of tears threatened to spill. Then she stepped into her room. "Anyway, thanks for walking me back. Be careful. Bye." She slammed the door in his face.

"Hermione…" Ron looked at the door that had just been closed and shut his eyes. What was he supposed to do? He was useless. He didn't know what to say to her. Because the truth was they were probably never going to see Harry again.

God… Never see Harry again.

After being friends for five years, it was impossible to believe. But, even if Ron did know where the hell that Harry was, what could he do then? Who could face Voldemort?

Harry, that's who. Harry would be able to beat him. He's done it already.

But Ron didn't believe that now. Things were different. Voldemort was back and he was powerful. Just as powerful as he had been before.

Ron couldn't think about it anymore. It hurt his head too much.

''''''''''

Hermione wasn't prepared for what happened next. She'd gone straight to her bathroom and prepared a bath for herself. She poured in some nice smelling stuff and relaxed for a couple of minutes, trying to forget everything. She washed her hair and dried herself off, feeling a bit better after her wash.

A bath always helps, she thought, and draped her warm bathrobe around herself, putting her hair up in a towel.

And then she went into her room and stopped in the doorframe suddenly.

Malfoy was lying on his back with his hands under his head on her bed.

"Hello Granger."

"What are you doing here?" she shouted. "Get out!"

Everything about his sneering face reminded her of what had happened on the train.

"No," he said, looking completely comfortable. "I think I'll stick around here for a while."

"Malfoy! Get out!"

"Not until I talk to you," he said with a smirk.

"What do you want to talk about? I'm really not in the mood for a fight!" She felt like she was about to fall. This was so strange…

"Oh yes, you're not in the mood. Such a shame what happened to Harry, isn't it?" His voice was patronising.

"Why, you evil…" Then she stopped, and looked at his proud face. Her tone changed. "You knew, didn't you? That they were coming? That they were going to get Harry?"

"Of course. My father was in charge of it. I know everything." he stopped and smirked into her totally shocked face. "Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that."

"You know everything? Do you know where Harry is?" She wasn't shouting anymore.

"Yes."

"We got to tell Dumbledore," she said, suddenly frantic.

"Now, we don't," he said, obviously amused.

"But," she said and looked at him, totally confused. She had nothing else to say. Weakly, she tried to understand. "Malfoy?"

"I'm not telling Dumbledore," he said in the same amused tone.

"But what about Harry?" she pleaded hopelessly.

"I don't give a damn about Harry," he said nonchalantly and without shame.

"Why are you here? What do you want to do? Okay, you know. You're not telling anyone."

"I'll tell you," he said, eyes glinting oddly in the light.

She froze in mid-tantrum. "You'll tell me?"

"I'll tell you everything I know. But you'll have to do a couple of things for me first."

"I… please tell me everything, Malfoy."

"I will. But firstly, do we have a deal?"

"Whatever. I'd do anything for Harry."

"Good," he grinned. "Then, we have a deal."

Hermione's heart sank. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed so readily.

''''''''''