A/N – I just want to make it clear from the beginning of this story that it is a dark Hermione story. I know some people don't like stories like these, so I wanted to warn people before they read it. For those who like a dark Hermione, I hope you enjoy the story.

I also want to say that I've already wrote the whole story so updates should be fairly regularly, like with most of my stories.

There are slight differences with events that happened throughout the years, but they will be explained in the first few chapters.

Up and down The Hogwarts Express groups of students chatted noisily as they celebrated the end of yet another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In one of the last compartments of the train sat four Gryffindor's who had just completed their sixth year and a Ravenclaw and Gryffindor that had just finished their fifth.

Sitting beside the window were the two fifth year girls, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. Ginny and Luna were currently reading the latest addition of Luna's father's publication, The Quibbler. Luna was currently trying to convince Ginny that Crumple-Horned Snorkack's really existed, something the redheaded girl was extremely sceptical about.

Sitting opposite the two girls were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. The three Gryffindor boys were playing exploding snap as a way to take their minds off the on-going war. Ever since Voldemort returned to full strength two years ago he had been gathering his army and launching regular attacks on those who opposed him. All three of the boys had loved ones involved in The Order of the Phoenix, so they all knew how serious the situation was becoming.

Also sitting in the compartment, quietly reading a book and sitting nearest to the door, was Hermione Granger. Hermione was a muggleborn and best friend's with Harry and Ron, she was easily the brightest person in their year at school. Hermione was also heavily involved with the Order as she spent so much time with her two best friends.

Throughout the journey all mention of the war had been banned, the group of friends had agreed that they would have to face the reality of the situation over summer so they should spend one final day not worrying what was happening outside of their compartment. The ban had worked splendidly and for most of the journey no-one had mentioned the trouble facing the wizarding world.

The train was just over an hour outside of London when suddenly it came to a screeching halt. Both Luna and Neville were thrown off-balance by the sudden stoppage and the pair of them ended up on the floor.

"Bloody hell." Ron exclaimed, narrowly avoiding the same fate as Luna and Neville. "Why've we stopped?"

"Maybe there's something on the line." Ginny suggested, pressing her face against the window as she peered out into the late afternoon sunlight.

Ginny had barely finished speaking when the sunlight disappeared and the train was cast into shadows. Along with the darkness came a chilling feeling of foreboding.

"Shit, it can't be happening again." Harry cried, looking worried.

Harry was referring to the incident that had occurred as they were heading for their third year when Dementors had entered The Hogwarts Express in search of the escaped prisoner Sirius Black. Harry in particular had found the episode distressing and as such had developed a fear of the guards of Azkaban prison.

"I think it is." Hermione said, shivering slightly as the temperature had dropped dramatically. "We know Voldemort has control of the Dementors and has used them several times over the last year or so."

"Maybe they won't enter the train." Ron said optimistically.

Ron's optimism was shattered seconds later when the train doors opened and several cloaked figures floated onto the train. When the train doors had opened all the compartment doors had also opened and Harry and Ron immediately rushed over and tried to close them again. Harry and Ron barely had time to battle with the doors before they were forced back into the compartment by two Dementors.

As the Dementors entered the compartment all the light suddenly disappeared. Up and down the train shouts and scream could be heard as the entire train lost its light. In his compartment Harry had fallen back onto the chair but as the Dementors moved closer he was unable to shout as they began feeding on his pain. Harry was vaguely aware of the shouts and calls of his friends as he fell into oblivion.

A few minutes after losing consciousness Harry was awakened by Ron roughly shaking him. Slowly opening his eyes Harry found it was perfectly light once again and the train was starting to move, continuing on its journey home.

"Uh, I hate those things." Harry groaned, sitting up and holding his head in his hands. "Is everyone alright?"

Ron and Neville quickly reassured Harry they were fine as did Luna and Ginny.

"Hermione?" Harry questioned, looking up and finding his friend's seat empty. "Where's Hermione?"

At Harry's question everyone had turned to where Hermione had been sitting seconds before. There was no sign of the brunette witch, even her book had disappeared.

"She was here a second ago." Ron said, shaking his head in the hope that Hermione wouldn't really be gone.

"Maybe she's in the corridor." Neville suggested.

Ron quickly hurried over to the open door and looked into the corridor. While it was crowded with people checking their friends were okay there was no sign of Hermione. Turning back to his friends Ron shook his head, indicating that Hermione wasn't just outside the compartment.

"This is impossible, she can't just have disappeared." Harry muttered, trying to think of a logical explanation as Ron returned to sit next to him.

"Lost something, Potter?" An amused voice called from the doorway.

Harry's head shot up and he found himself staring at his hated schoolmate, Draco Malfoy. Draco was a Slytherin and right from day one he had made it clear that he thought he was superior as he was a pureblood. His father, Lucius, was one of Voldemort's most loyal supporters and Harry was in no doubt that Draco was planning on following in his father's footsteps.

"Get lost, Malfoy." Ron snarled as Harry stood up and approached the blond.

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

"I asked if you'd lost something." Draco repeated with a smirk. "Or should I say, have you lost someone?"

"You bastard." Harry cried, whipping out his wand and pointing it at the unflinching Slytherin. "Where's Hermione?"

"How should I know where Granger is?" Draco asked innocently. The dark glint in his eyes told a different story and Harry was convinced that the blond knew exactly what had happened to their friend.

Harry glared at Draco, knowing full well the blond boy was lying to him. "Stupefy." He called suddenly, a flash of light leaving his wand.

As Harry cast his spell Draco barely blinked as he lazily deflected the stunning spell. "Be careful Potter you've already misplaced Granger, you don't want to end up in a duel and misplace a limb."

Harry gulped nervously and backed off slightly. A few years ago Harry wouldn't have thought twice about taking Draco on but as he grew older there was a dangerous air about the blond Slytherin. In Defence against the Dark Arts this past year Harry had witnessed how little effort it took for Draco to deflect spells and cast his own. Harry was also convinced that in a duel the Slytherin wouldn't think twice about using a dark spell that could seriously hurt him.

"Wise decision, Potter." Draco smirked as Harry backed off. There was nothing Draco liked more than intimidating people, something he was getting better at as he grew up. "It's been nice chatting to you but it's really time for me to leave now. We're nearly home and I have a busy summer ahead of me. See you around, Potter."

With a final smirk at the shell-shocked group of friends, Draco turned on his heel and strode purposefully away from the compartment. Once he had left the group seemed to find their voices, Ginny and Luna started fretting over their friend's whereabouts, Neville wondered if they should stop the train while Ron suggested they chase the blond Slytherin and gang up on him until he told them what he had done with Hermione.

"Be quiet!" Harry yelled as his friends all spoke at the same time. "We need to think logically, what would Hermione do?"

"Hex Malfoy until he admitted what he knew." Ron spat, angry that the Slytherin was involved in Hermione's disappearance.

"I don't think that would work." Ginny shook her head. While she liked the idea of hexing the blond Slytherin she was confident he wouldn't reveal what he knew.

"Maybe we need to search the train." Neville suggested. "If Malfoy's the one that has done something to her, she has to be on the train somewhere."

"Neville has a point." Harry said. "Before we start a major panic we need to establish if Hermione is still on the train."

"What if she's not?" Ginny whispered, voicing the question no-one wanted to know the answer to.

"Then we're going to need help." Harry sighed. "If she's not on the train she was either thrown off when we weren't moving or she was taken."

The group silently contemplated the two options briefly before splitting into two groups and heading off in search of their friend. Neville, Ginny and Luna stuck together while Harry and Ron also teamed up.

"You think she's been kidnapped don't you." Ron said to Harry once the others were out of the way.

"Yes, I think the Dementor attack was a ruse." Harry said.

"Why would they want Hermione?" Ron asked. "I could understand them taking you, you are The Boy Who Lived after all, but taking Hermione makes no sense."

"Maybe it wasn't Hermione they specifically targeted." Harry suggested. "Maybe they just wanted one of my friends to draw me into the open. The Order have been worrying something like this might happen since their botched attempt to lure me to the Ministry after Sirius last year."

"So Hermione was just unlucky to be the one sitting by the door." Ron said, wishing the brunette had been sitting over the other side of the compartment.

"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "Maybe we're wrong and Hermione is still on the train. Maybe Malfoy just took advantage of the situation and used it as an opportunity to curse her."

"Well they are always fighting." Ron agreed. While he and Harry had a pretty bad relationship with the Slytherin it was tame compared to the hate that radiated between Draco and Hermione, they always had an abundance of insults to throw at each other and weren't afraid of throwing hexes at each other.

As the search continued Harry tried to convince himself that they would find Hermione, his gut however was telling him otherwise. The second Draco had mentioned Hermione being missing Harry had known the blond Slytherin knew exactly what was happening. He'd also immediately known that whatever had happened had been more serious than Draco managing to hex the brunette witch that he detested so much.

By the time the group had conducted a thorough search of the train and had reunited, The Hogwarts Express had nearly reached King's Cross Station. Still having found no trace of Hermione the group grabbed their belongings so they could be amongst the first to leave the train. They knew the quicker the Order were informed the quicker they could board the train and begin their own investigation into Hermione's disappearance.

The train had barely stopped moving before the group jumped off the train and ran to the small group of adults that were waiting for them. Ron and Ginny's parents, Molly and Arthur, were at the head of the group that also included Luna's father and Neville's Gran. Also with the group were two other members of the Order, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

"What's going on?" Remus asked at the teenagers sprinted over to them with worried looks on their faces. "Why do all look so serious?"

"Hermione's gone." Ron panted, slightly out of breath from running while he was dragging his large trunk.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Molly questioned. "She was supposed to be staying with us until her parents return tomorrow."

Mr and Mrs Granger were at a conference on the south coast so Molly had happily agreed to let Hermione spend the night with them.

"We mean she disappeared about an hour ago." Harry said, hurriedly explaining what had happened with the Dementors.

Once Harry had finished explaining what had happened Remus, Arthur and Tonks boarded the train while the others prepared to head home. Once they were safely home Molly would inform the rest of the Order and a full scale search would begin.

Neville's gran grabbed hold of her grandson and before they left she promised they would be at Order headquarters as soon as they had dropped Neville's belongings off at home. Luna's father took both Luna and Ginny home as the Lovegood's lived relatively close to the Weasley's, he also vowed to be at headquarters as soon as possible. Once everyone had safely apparated home Molly grabbed onto Harry and Ron and prepared to take them home.

Just before Molly apparated home Harry felt someone watching him. Turning his head he found Draco Malfoy standing with his mother, looking firmly in their direction. The moment Draco spotted Harry watching him his face broke into an evil smirk and he winked at the Gryffindor moments before Molly whisked them away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

As soon as they arrived at the Weasley house, The Burrow, Molly made the boys put their trunk away in Ron's room while she started contacting the Order. Harry and Ron miserably trudged up to Ron's room and left their trunks at the bottom of Ron's bed, by the time they returned downstairs Ginny had arrived home and was anxiously watching Molly using the floo network to contact as many people as possible.

Spotting the three teenagers behind her Molly stopped make calls and turned around. "I want you three to head to Grimmauld Place. Tell Sirius what's happening, I'll be there as quickly as possible."

Grimmauld Place was the residence of Sirius Black, Harry's godfather and the headquarters for The Order of the Phoenix. For the last three years Harry had lived there with Sirius, although he spent almost as much time at The Burrow as he did at his godfather's.

Harry stepped into the green flames first as he headed home. Ron and Ginny followed closely behind Harry and the three teenagers explained to Sirius what was happening. They had barely finished explaining the situation when the Order started to arrive, all eager to help find the muggleborn witch that was part of their group.

Amongst the first people to arrive were Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape. Once the Professor's got an explanation on what was happening they all disappeared to the scene of the crime. Harry, Ron and Ginny all wanted to help but Dumbledore insisted they stayed safely at Grimmauld Place. He also encouraged them to think hard about the incident on the train and asked them all to make notes on what they remembered, he stressed that any little detail that may seem insignificant could be the key to finding Hermione.

Harry, Ron and Ginny reluctantly did as Dumbledore asked, they settled in the kitchen and wrote down all they remembered. The trio were soon joined by Neville and Luna, who also made notes for Dumbledore. When they were finished the five friends sat discussing Hermione and the search effort that was currently underway.

Over the course of the night the house grew more crowded as more people were arriving and those that had been around earlier returned. By nine o'clock the whole Order, minus Hermione, were present and Dumbledore rose to speak.

"As we all know a terrible tragedy occurred this afternoon. While returning from school Hermione Granger was snatched from The Hogwarts Express." Dumbledore announced to the sombre room. "From the information we've got we're fairly confident she was snatched by Death Eaters as the Dementors boarded the train as a distraction. Our main priority now is getting Hermione back where she belongs, and we will get her back."

Dumbledore directed the last of his speech to Harry, Ron and their friends, reassuring the teenagers that Hermione wouldn't be abandoned and they would rescue her.