Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot, anything you recognise belongs to JK. Rowling.
Timeline: Takes place during the summer holidays before Harrys 7th year at Hogwarts, though the ending of OoTP is completely disregarded (Sirius is alive) and Harry has not so much as glanced at Ginny in THAT way.
Pairings: Harry/Hermione
Warnings: This story will contain strong language, violence and mature scenes - a well earned M, in my book =]
Song: Breathe Today, by Flyleaf
Prologue: Die Tonight, Live Forever
Harry couldn't breathe.
Mostly due to the fact that someone was holding him five inches up from the ground by his neck. The man detaining him slammed him into the damp wall of the alley across from the park in Little Whinning. He was laughing.
"You're struggling is futile, Potter. You can't best me."
All he could do was choke on the little air that was getting through. He tried to reach down to pull his wand from his pocket but the man squeezed harder, and then threw him to the ground. There was a crack off to the right as his glasses flew off his nose and smashed on the floor.
Harry coughed, and gasped, taking in large gulps of air. He tried to move, desperately pushing his hands into the concrete to get back to his feet but he felt so unbelievably weak that just the prospect of blacking out didn't seem so bad right then. "Who are you?" he rasped.
The man swaggered forward, with all the grace of a cat stalking his prey. "What does it matter? I was sent to kill you Potter, because even the Dark Lord knows when to admit that he needs help. Apparently magic can't stop you... but I'm sure this will."
Harry's eyes weren't quick enough to follow the movement of the man lunging down upon him, but he heard his own scream well before he was aware it had even passed his lips.
The Beautiful People
Chapter One: It's In The Paper
Hermione Granger wasn't happy.
Her best friend had vanished out of sight, off the radar the day before his 17th birthday, and no one had any idea where he was. He'd been gone for nearly six months now, and it was nearing Christmas. She was terrified that he was hurt, or out there on his own without anyone to look after him.
Ron had long since accepted that there was a very good chance that he could be dead, and so had everybody else. But not Hermione. She'd been searching for him everywhere and anywhere she thought he may be, researching ideas on what the Order did know long into the night, even at the expense of her grades.
But to no avail. All this time and he hadn't so much as wrote a note to say he was okay...
Hermione bit her bottom lip, swallowing the lump in her throat as she tried to fight the tears welling up in her eyes. Ron gave her a worried glance. "Alright, Hermione?"
"Yes." She said sharply. Her voice wavered. "Have you finished with that paper?" she asked shakily.
He nodded, handing it to her. She quickly opened it up at the middle and stared blankly at the pages, holding it up so no one could see her face as she took a few deep breaths to calm down.
Stop it, Hermione; you need to keep a clear head. For Harry, She thought desperately.
She shook her head, and tried to gain some sense of normality, scanning the page she was on for any interesting news. She hadn't really been paying attention, reading an article on the new developments on the laws against trolls in the workplace when she saw her name. Just out of the corner of her eye for a fraction of a second.
Searching for it recovered nothing at first, until she noticed the correlation of the letters starting each sentence of the columns on the page over. H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E... Hermione... folding the paper in half, she flattened it out on the table.
Hermione, M-E-E...
"Ron, have you got a quill?" she asked frantically.
He snorted into his chicken. "What the hell are you asking me for, it's Saturday, and I'm me. Why would I have a quill?"
She looked at the Gryffindors across from her. "Have any of you got anything I can write with?"
They shook their heads, but Lavender, seeing her urgency, rummaged through her bag. "I have eyeliner, if you're really desperate."
"Please." she said politely, taking the black pencil and quickly circling the lines until the end of the article.
Hermione. Meet me at the bridge. Midnight - H P
Her hands shook as she dropped the makeshift pen to the table. It even had a dash before his initials. Could it really be him? Or was it someone playing a cruel joke?
But then how would they know about the bridge?
She looked at the date on the paper. It was today's, which meant he'd be expecting her in... four hours. She grabbed the paper up from the table and ran. She'd wait at the bridge for him to show up, too impatient to try and waste time in the school.
The cold winter air stung at her skin through her jumper, but she didn't regret the lack of cloak as she ran straight across the grounds and around the lake to the forest. Keeping close to the lakeside as the entered the thick mass of trees, she continued wading her way through the dark forest for another forty minutes until she hit the curb that lead out to the hill that they used to sunbathe on in the years previous.
She'd help him with his potions essays and he'd try and explain the ins and outs of Quidditch matches they'd witnessed on the pitch between rivaling houses.
The trees grew back as she neared the hill itself, and she was faced with the now startlingly black outer reaches of the school grounds. Wrapping her arms around herself, she trudged around the hill to where a river running off of the lake connected with another round of trees. The wooden bridge stood tall against the slight wind, almost glowing in the moonlight.
Shuddering, she made her way up the few steps to the wide bridge, only looking up when she heard a low masculine voice calling out to her from the middle of the structure.
"I knew you wouldn't be able to wait!"
He was laughing at her, standing with his arms by his sides and a huge grin on his face. He looked different. Older, maybe.... she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Not that she could care to think on it just yet.
"Harry!" She threw herself into his arms, and refused to let go. She couldn't shake the odd feeling of the heat radiating off of him as he wrapped his arms around her, banishing the cold of the night.
A/N: This one's only short, but the next will be longer, promise =] The second chapter will be posted sometime this week, and, for anyone who's read 'Dirty Little Secret' that'll be updated tomorrow.