PROLOGUE

As easy might I from myself depart

As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie

That is my home of love.

William Shakespeare, 'Sonnet 109'

"Hermione?" a voice floated toward her. "Can you hear me?"

"Please, wake up." A voice and also a face, one she was familiar with but could not put her finger on. A voice and a face in her dream, a dream she was not even certain she having: an unsettling dream – a nightmare – in which she was running and all around her were mangled and unmoving bodies and parts of bodies, battle cries and everything in ruins.

The air smelled of blood and burnt flesh. This made her sick and she fought hard not to vomit.

Hermione felt tired: her muscles were screaming in pain, her body in exhaustion. She wanted to close her burning eyes, to have her filthy body cleaned and rested, her bruises and cuts healed.

But now isn't the right moment. She needed to find her two best friends. Were they safe? Were they okay? Will this war ever end? Will they even make it?

For Hermione, she didn't know. Maybe, nobody would ever know. To be honest, she's afraid that they might not win this war, afraid that this is how her life would end; but she would rather fight from down to her very last breath to save her loved ones than watch them die in the hands of evil.

She may never know how, she may never know if she can. But she would, and she would never lay her armors down. Not now, not tomorrow, not soon. Not ever.

She was so lost in her own thought that she was not aware to where she was heading until she tripped over a rock outcropping from the ground. She landed face first on the ground, staring straightly at Ginny's unseeing eyes. She choked back a sob and swallowed the lump on her throat. "Oh, Ginny."

Slowly, she crawled to her first girl best friend and held her prone frame to her lap. "Why?" By now, salty tears were freely falling down her face. And she just let them go. Ginny, the girl she had grown to love as the sister she never had was dead.

Harry would be devastated. He would blame himself over and over again. And she couldn't bear seeing him like that. Sirius' death was enough - Harry! Where was he? Is he safe? It had been an hour or two since they lost each other. Where could he have been?

Sniffing, she brushed her tears away carelessly and carefully laid Ginny on the ground, closing the younger witch's lifeless brown eyes as she did.

She stood up and took a long and deep breath. "Goodbye, Gin. I love you, remember that. So does Harry, and Ron and your family. Rest in peace."

She bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Then she took off, her mind set on finding her best friend. She ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her. Wand in hand, hazel eyes alert.

Behind her, an eerie laugh echoed, sending chills down her spine. An odd twist settled on her stomach. A shout, terrified and helpless, followed, almost making her want to look back. To see who it was. To whom it belonged.

"Harry Potter," a cold voice declared, making her turn to the direction it came from. Voldemort stood there, just in front of the castle's entrance, an unpleasant grin painted on his snake-like face.

Hermione felt fear clenching violenty in her stomach.

"Is dead!"

The said boy laid by the Dark Lord's feet, his messy hair matted with blood, his face dirty, his wand rested on his limp hands and his green eyes void of life.

"No." The tears she shed earlier for Ginny came back. But this time, it was more painful.

Then a pandemonium erupted. There were streams of spells and curses from everywhere, filling the air with dread.

She began to run toward him, though she knew it was a hopeless case. But her mind is set on reaching him. To cradle him against her chest. Her best friend; her brother in all but blood. "Harry."

Without a warning, a slicing hex grazed her right foot, making her fall on her knees, panting and sweating and weak.

"Ooh, does the little mudblood need any help? Too bad you don't have any friends left to do so!" the black-haired witch let out a maniacal laugh, an evil glint reflecting in her dark eyes.

Hermione sneered at her, suppressing a wince when she made an attempt to stand up. "Lestrange."

"Ah, so the mudblood speaks!" she cackled. "It's a shame that would be your last word."

It happened so fast that she could only catch sight of a green light headed for her before darkness lulled her in its arms. Her last thoughts were of her friends.

Everything was silent for a while. So silent it was deafening, so deadly that she could hear the most distant pleas of the helpless, the softest whisper of the wind or a pin drop. She was aware of the soft grass beneath her; it reminded her of the smell of her home.

She tried remembering what brought her here. But all that she could pull from her mind was the sound of tires slipping off the road, the ear-splitting clatter of metal against metal, the loud shattering of glass, the smell of fire, and the blood that flowed from her forehead to her face.

And then she was falling in a deep, dark hole. She tried calling for help, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. She tried reaching for something she could hold unto, but her hands were only met by cold air.

There were no walls, or ceilings, all she knew is that she's tumbling in somewhere dark – an endless black space of nothingness, a great sea of uncertainty.

Was she dead? If so, was this what being dead felt like? Like floating, and drifting, and flying in a tangible darkness. And all she could do was wait for something to happen, though she was without the slightest ideas if there would be so.

But before:

"Hermione," the voice said. It seemed to reach her from across an impossible distance. A continent. An ocean. It seemed to come from the stars.

"Hermione…"

Then she knew no more.

So I am finally posting this. I have adopted this story from AliceEnchated so you may have already come across this before. The first four chapters are written by Alice and the credits go to her. I'll be posting the next chapter in 4 days. This chapter is wholly unedited and am posting it as it was.

Take care,

Rainbow