There was a clear bubble outside the grounds of Hogwarts: it stretched out with a silver glow, touching the furthest ends of the Forbidden Forest with the faintest show of light. The bubble, strangely beautiful, contained all sorts of protecting spells that kept anything unwanted out. It was majestic, the amount of magic living every second to protect them, but it was also equally as depressing. Hogwarts really didn't feel like a home away from home now. It was prison away from another prison. Nothing was safe. 

"Come on, Lav!" However, through the gloom that filled the atmosphere, there was still a handful of people that went along with their lives the way they always had; teenage hormones and misfortunes continued to run on automatic. "This is getting out of hand, don't you think?"

Aiming her furious glare away from a target ahead, Lavender Brown flashed it to her best friend. "Nothing's getting out of hand," her blue eyes were narrowed, her voice shrill and firm, "I'm just protecting what is mine."

Parvati Patil looked unconvinced, her face showing it perfectly. "You're not even sure if they're dating, Lavender," she sighed. "Besides, don't you think that, you know, stalking him might not earn you any points?"

"I'm not stalking him," Lavender  informed. "I'm just..." She paused as she returned her attention to the telescope she bought in the summer from Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.

Parvati's expression suggested that she thought her best friend was insane (well, that it was showing more than ever now). "Hermione," she muttered, looking for backup, "can you please help me out here?"

Looking up from a thick book she checked out from the library — that she'd been thoroughly enjoying until Gryffindor's two famous gossiping witches decided to join her at the bench outside in the grounds — Hermione stared skeptically at her house-mate.

Leaning a little closer to Hermione, Parvati added, "Just tell her she's being pathetic, will you? You know how she was when she was with Ron. Do you want to inflict that on some other innocent boy?"

Watching a little annoyed as Lavender had her right eye glued to the telescope again, Hermione huffed in defeat. She closed her book, clearing her throat awkwardly. "Lavender?"

"Granger," Lavender responded casually, adjusting the settings of her telescope.

"I know that this is none of my business—"

"Then stay out of it,"

"—but I agree with Parvati," Hermione completed, ignoring the blonde's previous snide remark. "You're handling this all wrong. Stalking him is not the answer. He's just going to feel cornered. Besides, Luna shouldn't be dragged into this. She's not bewitching Dean into be friends with her, you know."

Lavender lowered her weapon of observing, her blue eyes narrowing at Hermione. "We don't know that. She's always on and on about her Nargles and other rubbish creatures. Maybe they're all code names for powerful love potions or her using the Imperius Curse. It's Loony Lovegood, what other reason can there be for Dean spending so much time with her?"

Hermione looked past her house-mate's head; In the distance, sitting beneath a grand, willowy tree, Dean and Luna talked animatedly, their books and notes on their laps ignored. Hermione could see why the scene was odd to other, considering that not many people sat down to have a chat with Luna, but Hermione was not an outsider; she saw the link that tied the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor together. And a bond like that came from sharing something indescribable—like being the only shred of sanity in a dark place when death threatens to come for you.

Glancing back towards her fellow Gryffindors, Hermione frowned. "Luna is a very sweet—"

"Oh, forget it!" Lavender interjected, standing from the bench. "I don't need lectures about this. I'm a mature and coherent girl. after all. But mind my words: all is fair in love and war." She pocketed her telescope after it shrunk to a miniature size, continuing her frowning at the brunette as Parvati rolled her eyes behind her. "And this is a whole lot of both, Granger. I'm not going to let another girl steal my man. Not after what happened with you."

Hermione scowled at the accusation.

"She'll get over that someday," Parvati said to Hermione hurriedly as she gathered her schoolbag. "Sorry for—" But her apology was cut short when Lavender walked back to the bench and pulled her by the arm to drag her away.

With furrowed brows, Hermione's gaze followed Lavender and Parvati back to the entrance of the castle. For one thing, she would have liked to say that she equally disliked Lavender Brown as much as the latter disliked her, but somehow Hermione appreciated the normality of teenage jealousy. Even if for a fleeting moment, it made her feel like a regular girl — it made her forget that she was destined and intertwined with the path that would end the war they were in.

Yeah, Hermione appreciated Lavender in an odd way. Especially when she noticed Ron's ex-girlfriend elbow Blaise Zabini roughly in the ribs when the Slytherin accidentally bumped into Parvarti. Lavender might be deranged, but she thrived in being who she always was. It showed as she defended her friend and acted upon her erratic characteristics.

Before blinking back to her book, Hermione spotted a flash of illuminating white not far from her. It had been Aphrodite Venus, the Ministry Official observing Hogwarts for the Ministry. But the moment Hermione's eyes blinked again, the woman was gone.

There's something about that woman, Hermione thought to herself. She just couldn't shake off the sensation that the woman had more power than what she was leading to believe. It was like some sort of magical essence, a greatness that she used to sense from afar when Dumbledore was still alive.

Ignoring that thought, she reopened her book to continue her reading, but once again the bit of solitaire time she wanted was destroyed by a few more Gryffindors appearing before her.

"I told you she'd be here."

Glancing up, hiding her irritation, Hermione let a smile appear on her face as Ron, Ginny, and Harry stood before her. Each had the same worried glaze to their eyes that never left her.

"You're avoiding us, 'Mione," Ginny said with a tone that was a mix of annoyance and curiosity. "I suggest, then, if you are, that you find a new hiding place. This was a piss poor attempt. We know you love to read here."

Hermione feigned an airy giggle. "I'm not avoiding you, I promise. I just found a new book to read and I couldn't start with all the noise in the common room."

The three Gryffindors in front of her glanced at one another, knowing a little better than that. They knew well enough she was avoiding them.

"Anyway," Harry spoke before a silence pierced the air, "we bumped into Hagrid earlier, he had news about the Order."

As the last word slipped from his lips, the Weasley siblings pulled on a mournful expression. Their  brown eyes appeared thoroughly upset, angry, and saddened. This, like everything else, didn't go unnoticed by Hermione. Her chest tightened a little, knowing that bad news was about to come her way  — just like she'd been expecting every second they spent in Hogwarts pretending like they needed to be there.

"The Order was on a mission to capture Greyback," Harry went to explain. "They heard he was stationed in a town in England, where the Ministry got word that muggles were found dead, allegedly killed by a wild animal."

 "Why would the Death Eaters put Greyback in a muggle town? His victims would just be dead. They wouldn't be able to transform into werewolves since there's no magic in their blood. It's pointless. Isn't the reason for recruiting Greyback that he create more werewolves for the Dark Lord's army?" ranted Hermione.

"It was a town in Surrey," Harry added, giving her more of what Hagrid had told them. "It's not far from Privet Drive. The Death Eaters were doing what the Order expected them to do, go after the Dursleys. "

Hermione paled for her friend. "And did they? Did they get to them?"

Harry shook his head, relief behind his spectacles. "The Order made the choice to send a few members to remove the Dursleys from their home and others to handle Greyback. They put Remus, who my aunt remembered from my parents' wedding, in charge of convincing them to leave. The operation was going smoothly, Hagrid said. They had already managed to get the Dursleys out of Privet Drive, but the decoys in charge to distract Greyback were attacked."

"They were outnumbered," Ginny interrupted, grabbing Harry's hand sympathetically as it became blatantly obvious it was difficult for him to continue explaining; Harry's anger and clear grief was face prominent on his face. "Mundungus gave them the wrong count of how many Death Eaters would be in that muggle town and, well...George lost an ear, courtesy of Snape. And...Mad-Eye died."

Instantly, Hermione placed a hand over her mouth at the same moment tears pooled in her eyes. There was that emotion again, that sick sensation of not being able to handle everything on her shoulders. She couldn't breathe again. She felt all sanity escape her. She felt like vomiting again, like everything inside her head was spinning and spinning.

Death was cunning, wasn't it? They were trapped in Hogwarts because the Order suggested they'd be safe there for the time being, but that didn't mean that Death wasn't able to remind them it was waiting for them out in the world. It took and took from them, no matter how much they pretended it didn't exist.

Hermione didn't let her body submerge with weakness. She stood with anger and determination invading her system. "This is insane!" she hissed, startling them by her tone and rage. "Death Eaters are taking over the world, and we are here worrying about N.E.W.T's? The Order is being attacked, we are losing people, and we are just sitting here! We should have never agreed with McGonagall to come back, Harry!"

"I don't like it as much as you do, Hermione, but we have no choice. We promised the Order we'd come back to Hogwarts."

Hermione snorted at Harry's remark. "We spent all summer tracking down Horcruxes," she stopped her shouting, noticing more students emerging out to the grounds from the castle (most of them with their eyes locked on the Golden Trio as it was accustomed). "We destroyed four. Somewhere out there, somewhere we should be right this instant, there are two more. We need to leave."

"I agree with Granger, Potter." Coming from behind the bench and the pathway where the four Gryffindors were talking, a very familiar blonde stuck his pale, pointed face from the middle of his  group of Slytherins. As it was the norm, the group of silver and emerald sneered at those with ruby and gold. "If you all left none of us would be suffering imprisonment."

To the goody-two-shoes in front of him, Draco Malfoy knew his words would be triggering a fight. Although most of him did want to smash all their teeth in, specifically Weasley and that disgusting scowl of his, Malfoy assumed his words were solid enough to be said. They carried the weight of truth. After all, it wasn't hard to understand that all the forms of protection around the school were mainly for Saint Potter and his little crew of sidekicks.

"If you gave yourself over to the Dark Lord, Potter, we all would live a much happier life." And beside him loyally, Pansy Parkinson spoke in what she thought was assistance. "You're the reason why everyone is miserable."

At the nasty suggestion the Slytherin witch aimed at Harry, Ginny released his hand to take a step closer to the Slytherins. Ginny pulled her wand out and directed it at Parkinson's face. "You know who'd be skipping over a rainbow if you left, Parkinson? Me. Most of the school, too. You're not particularly liked, now, are you?" She held her grip tighter, noticing Parkinson's fingers twitc to her own wand.

Pansy narrowed her eyes, trying to find some courage and art to keep her face solemn. After all, as much as she loathed the damn Blood Traitor, she was well aware of the paralyzing effects her hexes had on people.

"Let it go, Ginny," Hermione marched to the middle of the girls, putting her fingers around the her friend's raised wrist. "She's not worth it. None of them are."

At the Brightest Witch of the Age's comment, some Slytherins around Malfoy and Parkinson chuckled maliciously. Before Hermione could turn Ginny around, before she could be the stable ground beneath her fellow Gryffindors feet, the Slytherin Prince himself decided to speak again.

"Come on now, Granger. You're the smart one. Grab your stuff, fold Weasley and Potter's knickers, and get on out of here. Go find a place to hide before they kill you. You don't want to end up in the exact place like all your friends, do you?"

With the news about Mad Eye's death still fresh in her brain, knowing no one was safe, more of that anger seeped into Hermione's skin. "And where would that be, Malfoy?" She turned to face him, her brown eyes digging into his silver ones like if she was hoping they would kill him. "In the cellar of your home? That's mostly where everyone is being killed, is it not?"

Shutting him up, his jaw locking at the memory and the knowledge that damn witch had on the doings that happened at Malfoy Manor, Draco took a step towards her; his hatred for her and everything she was and loved burning in his stare. "Where else would you keep trash, Granger?"

The rest happened in slow motion.

Ginny pulled Hermione a step back, shoving her onto Ron as she pointed her wand towards Malfoy and shouted a spell in his direction;  he barely managed to dodge a jet of red light as he threw himself against the grass. Soon after Ginny cast the first hex, the rest of the Slytherins were fast on pulling out their own wands and casting a few of their own.

At the clearly outnumbered Gryffindors, members of the D.A appeared out of nowhere; all of them attacked back and stood their ground. Their loyalties were all with Golden Trio, their hope and faith in them shining in their eyes as they fought for them, as they shoved and attacked the Slytherins that were a symbol to the imprisonment that ignorance was.

During the battle that was going on between a huddled group of students, some teachers running to break up the fight between Slytherin and Gryffindor, Aphrodite Venus watched from a secure distance. There was a notepad on one of her hands and a golden pen on the other; the pen barely touched the sheet of paper as she narrowed her eyes at the shove Draco Malfoy gave to Hermione Granger.

As the girl was quick on her feet, aiming a stunning spell that graced Draco Malfoy's side, Aphrodite marked a clear sentence on the notepad — a reminder that their indefinite hatred was going to transform into something else. She'd make sure of it.