Author's note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for choosing to read my fan fic. I know the whole Ginny and Hermione thing is a bit cliché but it's my first ever fan fic and I really do think they make a cute couple ^.^ I also in no way own anything in regards to Harry Potter. I just enjoy the books and the movies very much. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger was running down a long, dark hall and looking wildly around her as she ran. "Dad!" she called through the darkness. Her father was sick…very sick…and lost. He had wondered off into a cruel world full of people who would never understand what was wrong with him. No one could possibly understand the words coming out of his mouth or the thoughts running through his head. Most of the time Hermione doubted even he could comprehend the thoughts running through his mind.

Alzheimer's was a dreadful disease and for her father to have been diagnosed with it at the young age of 55 was truly heartbreaking for the Grangers. Hermione was only 26 years old, married, and pregnant with her first child when she heard the news. It crushed her even more than the rest of her family it seemed. Of course taking into account that being pregnant Hermione was just full of those warm and fuzzy hormones as well as the fact that her mother rarely showed such strong emotions unless she was alone or with her husband.

Within the first year of Mr. Granger's diagnosis Hermione was trying to balance not only her father's illness and her mother's suppressed emotions, but a new baby in the house, work, and her husband as well. All of this was piled onto Hermione's shoulders like a giant boulder. When eventually the boulder got too heavy, Hermione snapped and had a complete mental breakdown. Needless to say that her mother and her father and her husband Ron begged her to see a psychiatrist for the sake of her baby girl if nothing else. Hermione finally caved and as a result she was diagnosed with clinical depression. She decided to tell no one of this, thinking her family had enough stress to deal with as it was. Every morning after Ron would go to work, Hermione would secretly take antidepressants that were prescribed for her. Everyone thought that therapy alone was all she needed.

All the while Mr. Granger was feeling and immense amount of guilt for his daughter's breakdown. He always blamed himself for putting the most stress on the family. Hermione was never told this but she could always tell how guilty her father felt by the way he looked at her (or didn't look at her) or by the way he talked to her (or didn't talk to her). All of that stress was helping the disease to progress even more rapidly. But eventually he stopped being guilty when he reached the point when most days he couldn't even remember that he had a daughter.

And now he's all alone somewhere…lost and confused. Hermione just kept running. She was also lost but she didn't care in the least. She just wanted to find her father and bring him home safe. As she ran, her gasps for breath became desperate sobs.

Finally she stopped running and looked around her hopelessly. She was now in a dark, circular room. It was just light enough, however, for Hermione to be able to see a dark figure in the center of the room. The room was too dark to determine what (or who) the figure was.

"Lumos!" she whispered and the tip of her wand lit up. Hermione lifted a trembling hand so the light of her wand would fall on the figure. It was indeed a man with his back towards Hermione. Her heart pounded in her chest. The room was as silent as a graveyard and it frightened the witch terribly.

"Dad?" she tried to call to the man but she could not find her voice in the deep silence of the room. Hermione knew it was her father standing there even though it seemed to be just the back of a bent, old man. She tried to move but her feet were held fast to the floor. Whether it was from fear or from some outside force, she could not tell. Hermione looked around her trying to see if the room looked at all familiar. Oh yes….It looked familiar all right. It was in this very room that Hermione and all her friends made a stand at the Ministry of Magic fifteen years ago.

The walls and the floor were made of a very dark grey stone, almost black. In the center of the room, Mr. Granger stood in place of the phantom veil where Sirius Black disappeared fifteen years prior. How did she get in here? And more importantly, how was she going to get out?

Hermione was finally able to move her feet and she slowly approached the man. "D-Dad?" she called and came around to face him. She gasped, stumbled back a few paces, and screamed. As she screamed she dropped her wand and the light went out. But the image she saw was already engraved into her mind. What she saw was and incredibly old version of her father. His face was chalky and white and his eyes were clouded over. The white hair that hung about his shoulders was long and incredibly thin. The only sign of life coming from the man was the slow, occasional blink every few seconds. He didn't seem to notice Hermione at all and he didn't even seem to be breathing.

As soon as Hermione started to scream, the old man disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Hermione backed against the wall, watching the smoke swirl around the room in horror. It gathered in the middle of the room and swirled like a miniature tornado. The smoke was spinning faster and faster until it transformed into a pedestal. Upon the pedestal was a golden cup. Even though it was gold, the cup let off an illuminating red glow.

As Hermione slowly approached the cup, she saw many runes engraved on the side. When she reached the cup, the red glow was reflecting off of her face. With her heart hammering in her chest Hermione looked more closely at the mysterious cup. On the side of the cup she could make out the word "Triwizard." It was the Triwizard cup! A sound of faint whispering could be heard coming from the cup. She couldn't figure out what the voices were saying but Hermione figured it was the same exact whispering that Harry and Luna had heard coming from the veil in their fifth year at Hogwarts.

A strange urge came over Hermione to touch the cup. She knew that all the common sense in the world would strongly advise against it but she couldn't help being drawn to it. Something would definitely happen if she touched the cup. Hermione had no doubt in her mind about that. But could she resist the urge? No. She could not. The witch clutched one of the cup's handles with a still trembling hand.

At first nothing happened and Hermione let out a small sigh of relief. But then the whispers slurred together to make a sound much like a harsh and gusting wind. After that the wind turned into a loud scream. Hermione winced but didn't let go of the cup. She couldn't. Her hand was stuck. The cup's evil red glow brightened and the scream came to an abrupt halt. Then the whispering began again. The witch's eyes were wide with fear. She didn't know what to expect.

Suddenly Hermione felt a rather forceful pressure coming from what seemed to be the inside of her stomach. Beads of sweat broke out on Hermione's brow and she let out a groan of utter displeasure. The whispers were starting to get louder but she still couldn't make out what they were saying. To Hermione, it felt like she was being punched from the inside of her abdomen.

Hermione was so distracted by the forceful pressure coming from inside her and the whispering that she didn't realize she was slowly leaning towards the cup. When she did realize it her breath caught in her throat and everything stopped. The pressure and the whispers both stopped and not a single sound could be heard. Only about two seconds had gone by like this when everything came back in full force and Hermione was sucked into the cup. At least that's what it felt like.

The sounds of the whispering as well as the sound of her own heartbeat filled Hermione's ears. Her heartbeat was beating like the drums of doom in her ears. All of a sudden pictures began to flash before Hermione's eyes like so many streaks of lightning in a storm.

She didn't see all of the pictures flashing before her eyes, but a select few stuck in her memory. Her father walking a busy street in a clueless fog. Harry and Ginny's wedding day. Ron scarlet with fury causing destruction. Her mother giving her a cold look before turning her back on her. Ginny sitting on her bed in her old room at the Burrow, looking down at her tear filled hands. Her precious daughter, Rose, holding on to her mother for dear life. The last picture made Hermione's stomach clench. Ginny and-

"Hermione!"