Wow, it's kind of hard to believe I'm back. I started writing on here when I was in sixth grade and now I'm in my second year of college and somehow I'm back. I've been rereading through my old story and, well, it's pretty awful. So, I'm rewriting it. No, I'm not giving the link to the old one. It's that bad.

Just enjoy the new one. Reviews would be lovely.

It was cold. The sun had gone down what seemed like days ago and the pervasive night swarmed throughout the grounds of Hogwarts. It was almost summer, Harry thought. And it was cold.

Cold was an understatement. The air was not crisp, or chilly - it was void of anything. Harry blinked and lifted his head a little. Hogwarts grounds had always been so warm and full of life, even in the middle of December when so many students went home to their families. Now, even with the fire that was eating away at the forest and Hagrid's hut and the crowds of cloaked figures screaming and cursing, the grounds felt empty. His head felt empty, and yet the thoughts - his thoughts? someone else's? - buzzed in circles and tangled themselves. Harry groaned and shook his head trying to jog them apart.

Harry shakily propped himself on his elbows as a thunderous explosion shook the ground. He felt the ground, searching for something - what was it? His head hurt, his thoughts weren't cohesive. His hand touched something thin and metal - his glasses. Did he need glasses?

A spell whizzed past his head, singeing the tips of his hair. Where had that come from? What was it?

"Harry!" Something hard but warm slammed against Harry, pushing him flat to the ground. Another explosion.

The glasses were forced over his face hastily - did he need glasses? - and the frantic voice came again.

"What's wrong? Where does it hurt?" The brown haze asked. "Harry? Harry!"

Harry groaned, the voice would not stop and he did not know the answers. He didn't know if anything hurt. He didn't know what was wrong.

"Harry!" It insisted again. Harry pushed the blur away.

"I don't know," Harry mumbled as he tried to focus his eyes on the brown thing - or anything.

"Do you know who I am, Harry? Do you know where you are?" Harry groaned at the questions.

"Are you really confused?"

"Yes!" Harry blurted out. The blur moved away, making Harry shiver slightly. He missed the warmth. The ground was so cold.

"Clarus!" Hermione swam into view. She lowered her wand and crouched back down next to him. "Harry, are you ok?"

"Yeah," Harry took her hand and the two stood up. Everything came rushing back. The vision, the attack, the war occurring before him. He was on the edge of the Forbidden Forest behind a particularly thick tree. He couldn't remember how he got there. Hermione handed him back his wand.

"Someone must have gotten you with a Confundus Charm," Hermione held her glowing wand close to Harry's face, examining his eyes. "I don't know how long you were down for but it must have been a stray spell because no one seemed to have seen you go down. Everyone's been looking for you."

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked. Hermione just shook her head.

"The last time I saw anyone was when Sirius ran up and asked if I had seen you. I told him I'd come out here, he's still in the castle I think." Harry sighed. He slowly glanced from behind the tree. Flashes were evident across the grounds, back and forth in all directions. He looked back at Hermione who reached down and grasped his hand firmly. The gold engagement ring dug into his hand. Harry flinched.

"I'm sure everyone is ok, Har." She offered. He simply nodded, looking back across the lake lit by the barrage of fatal colors. He let go.

"Is he here?" Harry asked, the words catching in his throat.

"No one's seen him." Hermione answered quietly.

"Ok. Let's move back towards the castle and find the others. They might know something we don't." Hermione nodded and lifted her wand. Together, the two began feeling around the edge of the forest. Most of the fighting was closer to the castle, so at their distance they were fairly safe. It would be more of a problem getting back in than moving near the woods, but they kept behind the trees just in case. A loud crack rattled the air, causing the two to jump and freeze. They watched as a stream of black smoke poured from the sky and hit the ground. Cackling echoed.

"Never mind, Hermione." Harry muttered, gripping his wand a little tighter. "I think we've found him." Hermione swallowed hard. Carefully but quickly the two began to feel there way along the forest's edge again.

"Morsmordre!" They whipped their heads back at the all too familiar curse. A green, glowing cloud sculpted itself smoothly into a skull, a fierce snake wrapping itself around and through it. The cloud hissed and cracked.

"Find him!" Voldemort shouted. "Search everywhere!" The small fights continued but it was evident that many Deatheaters were abandoning their original duels in favor of finding Harry.

"C'mon, Hermione, move!" Harry pushed his friend forward as they took off into a sprint through the woods. They were getting close to the castle, it would only take a few more strides before there was a clear path straight to one of the heavy wooden doors.

"Wait," Harry called reaching out and stopping Hermione. "You go in alone, go find Sirius. Make sure he knows what's going on-"

"Harry I don't think we should split up-"

"I'm going to check out here and make sure Ron or anyone else isn't still outside, we don't want to leave anyone behind if Dumbledore decides we need to leave." Harry continued. Hermione shook her head.

"Don't argue Hermione," Harry said firmly, pushing away his emotions in hopes that bravery would replace them. "Please." She paused before nodding.

"Promise you'll come back." Hermione looked at him, her eyes fixed on his. "Promise you won't do something foolish. Promise you will meet us all back inside the castle, in Dumbledore's office. Promise."

"I will." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. "Make sure you don't break those promises either. I expect to see you there too." She nodded, tears building up in the corners of her eyes. Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. Harry stiffened. She let go and slowly backed away before twisting around and continuing towards the castle.

Harry watched as she stopped at the edge of the forest and then bolted towards the castle and through the doors. At least she was inside, though for all Harry knew it could be even worse in there than it was out in the open. He looked around the grounds at the fire and flashes of light. He wasn't prepared for this.

Harry began walking backwards into the woods still in deep thought and straight into something. Or someone.

He leaped backwards and drew in a sharp breath.

"I knew I'd find you, Harry." Voldemort grinned, revealing yellow teeth from between thin lips.

Harry stood frozen for a second and then jumped to his right behind a tree, shouting "Expelliarmus!". Voldemort blocked the spell with ease.

"There's no point in hiding, Harry." Voldemort continued to sneer. "No point at all." Harry held his breath as his mind raced.

"You know, I've been learning some new tricks recently, Harry." He heard Voldemort call. "Some interesting new spells. I know you seem to keep escaping the conventional killing curse, but I thought maybe you wouldn't be so lucky with something no one else has ever faced before..." Harry's heart began to beat faster, his eyes widened and darted from left to right searching for some kind of path to safely escape or at least give him some leverage.

"So..." Voldemort drawled. He sounded a few meters away but suddenly the next words sounded like they were being whispered straight into his ear: "Let's try it out then shall we?"

Harry leapt away from the trunk and ran as fast as he could.

"Aliasadfontes!" A beam of green light slammed into Harry's back, sending him crashing forward into the rough dirt. He could hear Voldemort cackling, but he could not open his eyes or move at all. Suddenly, he heard Voldemort's voice echoing through the grounds:

"It's over, Dumbledore. Your hero is gone." Harry tried to move, to curse the evil man or at least prove to everyone that it wasn't over, but he felt like his body had become fused solid rock. The wind began to pick up around him, he heard whistling in his ears. Through his eyelids Harry saw the green light again. Was he dead?

He felt the world disappear from beneath his body. He tumbled through the air before abruptly slamming against the ground and losing consciousness.

Well there it is. First time writing something in ages. Let me know how good or awful this sounds?