"Oh, Harry!" Ginny could hardly contain her voice as she rushed through the heavily packed stockroom. Her arms wrapped tight around Harry's neck as she pressed herself as tight as she possibly could. Though he held her back she could feel fatigue weighing him down.

"It's so good to see you." Harry pressed his face into her neck breathing in her scent deeply. How he missed her hugs, her smell, her smile. It was so comforting to have someone hold him close, "How've you been getting on?"

"It's been okay..." Ginny stepped back with a fading smile.

"Stay strong..." Harry gave her hand a squeeze before lowering his eyes, "I've something to tell you-"

"Me too!" Suddenly reminded, Ginny perked up. Turning away from his darkening face, she reached into her back pocket, "I found this. Hermione is absolutely brilliant. I bet she's out there right now helping you."

"Ginny."

"I mean it's really a miracle any of us have made it this far. This war would probably be over if we could just find where she's gone. I mean no offense Harry but she's basically your brain." Ginny continued her ramblings as she flipped through the journal unaware of the pain growing on Harry's face.

"Ginny." Harry didn't raise his voice but the pain turned his tone sharp causing the redhead to pause in her search for the proper page. Her eyes turned down to the folded paper that was being offered out to her.

"What's this...?" Ginny had a small idea of its origin based on the quality of the paper but didn't know why he'd have a paper like that in his possession.

Harry couldn't find the words, instead, he motioned for her to open it. The pained noise that left Ginny's throat made his heart shatter into tiny pieces. It hurt so much that it felt like he was receiving the news for the very first time all over again.

Ginny could find nothing to say. Her heart pulsed as her eyes traced every single letter in the name on the paper. Her brain could hardly comprehend the meaning. The very idea that Hermione wasn't just off away somewhere, that she wasn't reading a book in some safe house or fighting her way through snatchers to get back to them, simply impossible to understand. The idea that she would never see her bright smile, hear her kind words of encouragement or smell the odd combination of her strawberry body wash and old paper when they'd study together in the common room—inconcievable.

oOOo

The sound of feet pounding the hard pavement, the searing heat of the summer sun, the smell of freshly cut lawns. The bright afternoon sun lighting up hidden dangers lurking around every corner.

Hermione skidded to a stop, her wand out. Her eyes were wide and her heart pounding out of her chest as dark humanoid figures approached from all sides. What had she done? She had to go back. She couldn't leave them behind. A sharp explosion to her right sent her down the side yard of a nearby house. Mr. Walkins house. A kind elderly man who made them gingerbread cookies every Christmas.

She pushed hard through the gate, the ground spiraling as though it was on a turn wheel as she took a sharp left, barely ducking a stunning spell that exploded a gnome in the back garden. She scrambled onto a stone bench vaulting herself over the old wooden fence. Two dark shadowed figures appeared before her, faceless, barely human. Her own spells passed her lips felling them instantly. Her feet kicked off and she jumped, using their collapsed bodies to pull herself up over the next fence. Just one more yard.

As soon as her feet hit the ground her life began flashing before her eyes. Every memory, every happy moment, every sad moment running by around her. The sounds and colors mixing with rushing force. Her legs pushed, her body moving through as though moving through a visual timeline. From her first steps to her last visual memory.

Her body slipped and her world turned red. Warmth seeped into her clothes, staining her skin. When her eyes came into focus her heart ground to a stop. Her mother's face looked back at her. Eyes wide and glassy. Fear and pain etched into her still features. Hermione tried to scream, call out to her but nothing came. The next moment there was a loud roar and everything went black.

"Miss Granger?" Severus pressed harder over her chest. Moving in slow massaging circles to try and get her lungs rising again.

He'd just finished putting a small eyepatch over the eye he'd cut open and applied the new potion when he'd noticed her starting to come around. Her apology before he'd put her under had weighed heavily on his hands. It wasn't the words themselves but how she'd said them that had struck a chord inside him. Pushing away all thoughts of ending her life with two simple—usually meaningless—words.

It had been—by all accounts, a very impressive surgical procedure especially given that he'd never done anything like it before. His skill with cutting ingredients had definitely come in handy though he was sure his practice with animal eyes over the course of the past two weeks had ensured his success. Though he wouldn't know the full extent of his prowess until that evening when he'd remove the patch for the second dose of potion.

"Mum...mu-m?" Hermione's mouth felt thick, her tongue heavy. A voice just beginning to come through the heaviness that had taken over her entire body. A deep voice that wasn't her own. Her brain told her that she knew this voice, knew their name. Though as her nightmare began to fade so did their name.

Severus pulled back when the girl took in a deep breath, her body growing tense as her face scrunched lightly. A slow breath left his lips as her hands came up from the bed, clumsy and obviously heavy. To try and assure her that she was safe, his hand came down to lightly graze over her cool cheek.

Hermione pressed her heavy head into the hand that touched her. The confusion settling in her brain mixing with the feeling of time lost taking all her focus. It felt as though she lived inside two worlds. The world she knew and the world she had come to know. It was like trying to put together a puzzle when all she had were the edge pieces.

Severus slipped his hand down under her head as it became clear she was starting to come around. A small adjustment and he had her resting on a pillow that he'd removed before working on her eye. A few more diagnostic spells confirmed that the antidote to the Draught was doing its job and his touch had calmed her.

With nothing more to do than to let her come completely around. He pulled back to retrieve their lunch. It was a bit late but with the amount of focus he'd put into her, he was starving.

Hermione groaned softly, the adjustment made her head pulse. Her eye felt as though she'd run it full force into a door handle. The pain was dull but all-encompassing. She could hear someone moving about but didn't have the capacity nor the coordination to do much about it. Her entire body felt like a solid mass was weighing down on her as though she was waking from a deep sleep. Her mind was foggy with small snippets of memories trying to push through the darkness. None of it made sense.

Her instincts and her natural personality felt as though they'd been switched into the opposite position. Her normal fight to flight response felt like it was tilted, warped. Like someone had damaged it. Her present wont to be submissive churned against an undertone of power, of strength. Words, memorized, repeated over and over struck hard like a bell tolling. The more she tried to orient her mind the more difficult it became. Only one question stuck out above so many others. Where was she?

Severus returned to find the girl increasingly more agitated. Soft groans, possible attempts at speech filled the room and his extrasensory perception told him that she was well working her way towards a total regression. Her mind was teetering on the edge of coming back into its own or possibly being lost forever. He didn't know why it was happening only that it was.

Hands came from somewhere to her left, large, warm and rough. Her body wanted to feel them but her logic was begging to know to whom they belonged. When they took her raised wrists and brought them down away from her face she could smell something that she couldn't explain but it eased her heart. When they left she felt the tell-tale feel of a wand tip into her temple and everything in her mind went quiet.

"You are safe. Relax, you've just woken from Draught of Living Death, give it some time to get out of your system." Severus slipped his wand back into his sleeve before summoning over a chair from beside the fireplace. Their lunch sat on the bedside table waiting for her to be coherent again. As he relaxed into the chair, he kept his eyes trained on the girl. He'd cast a small calming charm over her but he was curious to see what she would do next.

Minutes ticked by like hours, watching, waiting. The soft noises of confusion and half-formed words had slowly come to a stop, leaving her laying silent. Her hands had moved to her stomach, slipping under her shirt exploring the growing cavern. When her head turned towards him he leaned forward just enough to make the leather in the chair creak.

"Where... where's... where's my... mum?"

"I don't know." Severus had his theories but he wasn't about to crush any hope the girl had, "Are you hungry?"

"What...what did you do...to my eye?" Hermione was trying to find enough coordination to sit herself up in the bed her body, however, was not so accommodating. What was helpful were the two hands that came under her arms to help pull her up and the rise of the pillows at her back. When she was settled, she brought her hand up to gingerly touch the round gauze before it was pulled away again.

"I hopefully made it better. Does it hurt?"

"Not unbearably..." Hermione was trying to equate the soft deep voice with a face in her mind but every time she thought she was getting close the memory slipped away into the darkness. A name, however, came forward though it provided no answers. Who, was the Medicine Man?

"Do you want a potion for it?"

"No...I'll manage..." Hermione sniffed the air just as her stomach let out a low growl, she could feel a heat growing over her cheeks but she didn't hide her embarrassment. The man with her now had certainly seen her in worse states.

"Then let's eat. I'll be able to take the patch off this evening if you leave it alone to heal." Severus made his warning clear, glancing at her through the side of his eye as she raised her hand up again. It was most likely a natural reaction but it was dangerous nonetheless. He'd have to keep an eye on her to make sure she left it alone until it was time to take it off or she'd risk infection.

"Tomato soup first, small sips."

"Thank you..."

Severus nodded even though she couldn't see. He took care in setting the tray over her lap before guiding one of her hands to the spoon set beside the bowl. He knew she could feed herself but his mind was turning over her sudden acuity. It was like a light bulb had finally gone off, the only problem was, what would his answers to her questions yield? Was he ready for a full force Hermione Granger?

oOo

"I'll get you the sword Harry...I can get it. I won't let you down." Ginny could hardly get the words through her tightened throat. Hermione, dead. The words kept swirling around in her mind over and over. There had been no news for months. No sign, other than what the order had found at her house. It hadn't looked good then but there had been no bodies. Just blood. Blood didn't mean you were dead. Blood meant you either fought and won or got away.

"This map...does it work on everyone?"

"Everyone in the castle. Just...tap it and well you know..."

"Yeah..." Ginny took a slow breath pulling Harry in for one more hug. Their talk had been slow but succinct. All information on all sides given.

Harry had the journal and his next steps towards getting the next Horcrux as well as plans to destroy the one he currently possessed. Ginny gave him a two-way parchment so that they could stay in contact but made it self-destructive with one key phrase so that if they were ever caught it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. Ginny now had the Mauraders map to help her navigate the increasingly more dangerous halls at Hogwarts. Something she was sure to need with her new mission. Get the sword of Gryffindor out of the headmaster's office and into Harry's hands.

They hadn't yet decided on where to make the trade-off but they didn't worry too much as there was no telling how long it would take to get the sword out safely. They both agreed that tensions were running very high on both sides and that any moves they made would have to be exceptionally careful. They knew what they had to do but neither one of them felt as though they were alone.

"Next time."

"Next time." Harry pulled Ginny in close, placing a chaste kiss on her cheek before hiding his face into her neck to take in her scent one more time before he made his way back to the woods. It was going to be a long few nights but he and Ron both needed to rest. Breaking the news about Hermione to Ginny had just brought all the feelings he'd managed to push down right back to the surface and he was sure he wasn't going to be good for anything at present time.

"I love you." Ginny sniffled softly running her hands over his face, her thumbs lightly running over his thinned darkened cheeks, "I just...thought you should know..."

"I love you, too." Harry gave her a soft smile, his eyes falling deeply into her own. The unspoken meaning of the sudden confession not lost on either of them. Life was short, and it was getting shorter by the day.

Ginny pulled away as slowly as she could before turning towards the door leading out into the shop. She waited until Harry was safely back under his cloak before opening the door. With a skittish glance towards Amycus, who had come to chaperone the trip, she slipped her way behind one of the larger standees before making a beeline for the door.

She was set to meet up with Neville and Luna at the Hogshead to share any information she gathered. They had all agreed to stay separate as they had already roused the suspicion of the twins when they'd worked together to get Luna to the hospital wing. Now it felt as though one of them were always watching them.

The air outside the shop had grown cold, though it was still fall, a darkness seemed to be growing over the small town. More and more shops had been closed since the start of term leaving the street vacant and depressing. The few that remained were hardly worth visiting though the students who had gone found comfort in the warmth they provided. It was just something to do to try and shake off the weight that had fallen over Hogwarts though with present conditions, only seemed to compound it.

Ginny wrapped her coat tighter around herself as she walked down towards the pub. The streets held a quiet murmur from the students moving about. Ginny kept her head down but her ears open. One couldn't be too careful with Death Eaters as chaperones.

Thankfully, the long walk was without incident. Pushing through the old wooden door Ginny raised her head towards the back corner. A small booth perfectly nestled away. With a small charm, it was almost invisible. She could just barely see Luna's long hair from beside the partition and wondered briefly if Neville had made it yet though when she rounded the corner her broken heart softened.

Neville had Luna tucked under his arm, her head resting over his heart. She looked to be asleep, something she sorely needed these days. With a silent wave and a soft smile from Neville, Ginny took her seat on the other side.

"How is she?"

"Tired." Neville ran his fingers down her hair, gently moving a stray piece that wafted by her slightly parted lips. "Seems like she only really sleeps when she's with me."

"She feels safe." Ginny smiled softly before looking down at her fingers.

"What did Harry have to say? Have they found Hermione?" Neville kept his voice low, Ginny's comment about Luna feeling safe warmed his heart but his mind worried why such a normally calm and peaceful girl would need that sort of comfort. Not that he wasn't willing to provide.

Ginny's face pinched as she curled her lips in to keep from crying all over again. She was sure her face was still splotchy even though she'd cast a small charm. A thick swallow turned her eyes up as she willed her tears not to fall.

"She's dead..." Luna's voice was soft, morose. She could feel both sets of eyes turning down to her face though she hadn't yet opened her own.

"Ho...how did you know?" It wasn't an accusation, merely a curiosity.

"Because..." Luna slowly pulled herself from under Neville's arm, her normally brightly shining eyes deeply shadowed as she stared indiscriminately at the table top, "I watched her die..."