Extended Summary: Hogwarts is a safe haven, right? Wrong. It's under full attack, and sometimes you have to run in order to live. But you can't run from the past, and you certainly can't run too far without getting caught. Or so you think. Several students ran away and started their own secret society, called The Blaze. But in order for it to remain strong and secret, you have to have rules, limits, and regulations. And everyone must get along for it work. Can certain students stop being haunted by the past and look to the future? Is the future even worth waiting for? And above all, trust is more important than ever. Sometimes you have to trust people you'd really rather stay away from. But for the good of the cause, you'll have to pull through. But can they? That's the real question.

Keep In Mind: This fic is in different character's point of views. It'll say the name of the person before the story starts. Also, anything that happens in the 6th book will not affect anything in this fic, which takes place in the 7th year. That may change, though, but for now nothing in that book matters when you read this.

That's All

Hermione Granger

In our beds that night, Ginny Weasley told a particularly amusing story about Ron. Who knew he was obsessed with Nathan Yoland from the Chuddly Cannons? I couldn't wait to torture him about his closet shrine!

We all laughed some more and finally drifted off to sleep. Several hours later, I awoke to a world that was burning down. "Hermione! Get up!" Lavender screamed.

I sat up and saw the fire. Everything was covered in flames. "Where's Harry and Ron?" I yelled in a panic.

"We'll find them later, Hermione, come on!" Ginny pulled my arm out the door.

We ran together, passing hysterical student after hysterical student. Everyone was crying… no one knew what was going on. That's when I saw the death eaters. Men in cloaks terrorized us… killing anyone in site. Teachers fought hard, but I passed some professors in a crumpled heap on the floor. That's what made me lose it.

Tears poured out of my eyes and I was more afraid than ever. If these people could kill a teacher—someone who was supposed to protect us students—they were certainly capable of killing my friends and me.

All of a sudden, a beam of light shot towards Lavender, Ginny, and me. We screamed and ran in separate directions. I turned around to see Lavender on the ground—dead. I gave a hysterical cry and ran towards her. "No, Hermione, don't!" Ginny said through her tears. "Just let's get out of here, okay?"

I nodded and followed after her. I saw a death eater come close to us, and that was the last thing I saw.

To everyone that saw me on the ground, they probably thought I was dead. But somehow, I managed to end up in a very dark cave. I tried to sit up but realized I was far too injured. I groaned in pain and landed back on the ground with a thud.

"You're awake?" I heard from the darkness.

"Who's there?" I demanded, my eyes not used to the darkness yet. I reached for my wand. "Lumos…"

"No! Granger, turn that off!" The voice hissed. No one called me 'Granger' except….

"Malfoy?" I asked with slight fear.

"Turn that light off, Granger, or someone will see it!" He warned.

I tried to get to my feet, but remembered the pain I was in.

"You're too weak to move, Granger." Malfoy said slowly.

"What did you do to me?" I asked hysterically. "What does Voldermort want with me?" I hissed.

"Why are you bringing you-know-who into this?" He asked with slight suspicion.

"Because you're a death eater, of course, and—"

Malfoy interrupted with laughter. "You think I'm a death eater?" He seemed amused.

"I know you're a death eater! I saw your dark mark in the sixth year, and I…"

"I got that taken off," he said softly. He rolled up the sleeve of his once-white shirt and showed me a muscular arm with a huge scar on it. I had never seen skin so mutilated.

"How did you…?" I asked, not sure what to say.

"I did it myself," he said bluntly. "I tried every spell known to man. Nothing works on this mark. So I tried a muggle tattoo remover, but that bloody git didn't do anything. Then I got really desperate and used knives to cut out that section of skin. It grew back with the mark. Then I tried lighting my arm on fire, but that didn't work either. Do I need to elaborate?" He spat out the last sentence.

I shook my head. "Why am I here?" I whispered, still recovering after hearing his painful story.

"Because I saved you from untimely death. Now, what death eater do you know that would save a mudblood's life?" He asked with annoyance.

"I like how you insult me after saving my life," I muttered.

"Yeah, well, I can't be expected to save your life and be nice to you. It's a bit much, Granger."

I sighed, noticing the immense pain in my stomach for the first time. "What… what happened to me?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if I truly wanted to know.

"A death eater hit you with a curse. It's supposed to kill you, but I don't think you got the full blast of it," he explained nonchalantly.

"And…?" I prompted.

"And then I tripped over you," he said calmly.

"You WHAT?" I yelled, sitting up, but regretting it when I felt my stomach bend in half.

"I was running and I didn't see you and I tripped over you," he continued. "I landed right on my face, too! And then I thought you were dead, so I bent down to check and saw that you were alive."

"That's bloody brilliant," I muttered sarcastically. "Can you get to the part about me getting in here with you?" I asked impatiently.

"Then," he continued through clenched teeth. "I couldn't just leave you there, half dead and all. So I picked you up and ran the hell away from there."

"You carried me in here?" I asked with shock. "You actually touched my mudblood body?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh, please," he murmured. It was dark, but I bet he rolled his eyes.

"So where are we, anyway?" I asked before he could say another rude comment.

"In some cave in the Forbidden Forest. I don't know exactly… all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there," he explained.

There. I was so far from Hogwarts and I couldn't tell if everyone I cared about was alright. "Did you, um…" I didn't know how to say it. "Did you see anyone else? Injured, I mean?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head slowly. "I couldn't really tell."

"What about Harry?" I asked worriedly. "Did you see Harry?"

"Why is it always about Potter?" He asked with anger.

"Look, he's my best friend and I just—"

"He's fine," Malfoy interrupted bitterly. "I saw him with his wand, charging at people. Voldermort won't kill him, anyway. He's saving him for last."

I cringed. "That wasn't exactly comforting, you know."

"Oh, I know. But I can't be too nice to you, can I?" He asked. "I don't need you getting any ideas that I'm a changed person."

"Don't worry," I said, "I don't think you've changed at all. Though I do appreciate you saving my life." I added as an afterthought.

"I just didn't need your death on my conscience, Granger." He said nonchalantly. "That's all."

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm sure that no one will really read this, since the 6th book comes out tomorrow! But I'll get my reviews eventually, I'm sure. Speaking of reviews, I like them… they motivate me and make me want to update more. And speaking of updates, I'm very good with them. I usually update every 1-3 days. Usually, though, it's only two days! I hope you liked this… please review and tell me what you thought. All the other chapters are a little longer, but this is only the beginning and I didn't want to overwhelm anyone.