Amidst the Ruins

~A/N~ Ok, so this is my very first fanfic, ever. I\'m actually an artist and not a writer but I had to have the story for one of my pictures actually written out, so please excuse the amature writing. This is a link to the picture I drew that goes with this story:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/xXShadowFoxXx/Art/IMG_0203resize.jpg

If I actually get some reviews on this story and people like it I will post up the next couple of chapters I have and finish this story off. I hope you like it. =)

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Chapter I

It was Hermione’s 7th year at Hogwarts and there was only one week left until the Halloween Ball. The grounds at Hogwarts had turned from the beautiful lush green of summer to the orange and reds of autumn. Hermione looked out her window and thought about all the fun they were going to have at the ball this year with the theme that Dumbledore had picked. He had decided to have a costume ball in the old fashioned muggle way.
Hermione had decided on a costume the first day they had made the announcement. She knew her costume was very unlike her, but that’s what Halloween was for, to become someone you are not. She already had the first part of her costume which was a tight, black, vinyl corset which had boning up the front and was laced down the back. She’d had it for a year but was just now able to completely fill it out. The rest of her outfit was a little harder to get but she finally found all the pieces and was ready for the long awaited night.
The massive doors to the great hall stood open with streamers fluttering from the top of the doorframes. The ceiling in the great hall was enchanted to look like the night sky, with the stars twinkling brighter than ever. There were jack ‘o lanterns, bats, and candles hanging in mid air and fog billowing across the floor. On the walls hung dancing skeletons and hovering amongst the crowd were the house ghosts, creating the perfect atmosphere for a Halloween party.
Harry and Ron stood near the entrance glancing around to see if Hermione had shown up yet. She had refused to tell them what she was coming as and they had yet to make a correct guess.

“I bet she’s coming as an auror.” Ron said with a little chuckle.

“No, I bet she’s coming as a librarian!” Harry said with a grin.

They both laughed at that one and continued looking around for her. Just then Ron poked Harry in the ribs and pointed in the direction of the door. Harry turned to Ron who was standing with his mouth wide open with a look of sheer amazement. When Harry looked in the direction Ron was pointing he understood why. There stood Hermione in a silky, black pair of skin-tight, short shorts and a black, vinyl corset. To accessorize she wore fishnet stockings, black, knee-high vinyl boots with spiked heels, and a black vinyl choker. To top it all off she wore black kitty ears and a long black tail.
Hermione stopped in the doorway and began to worry. Everyone was staring at her. She began to think she had gone overboard and picked her costume poorly. She smacked herself mentally. She knew she should have picked something less conspicuous. No one would want to see her in this getup. Just as she was about to leave she spotted Harry and Ron and noticed their look of astonishment. Maybe she had picked right.

“That’s awesome, Hermione! It really suits you.” Ron exclaimed.

Harry shook his head in complete agreement.

“Well, I’m happy someone thinks so.” Hermione said with doubt in her voice.

“This will be great! Every guy here will wish they were us.” Ron said to Harry as he nudged him in the ribs and grinned.

“Do you really think so?” Hermione said with some hope in her voice.

“Of course Hermione, we know so.” Harry said as he patted her back.

“Let’s go dance.”

An hour into the party and Hermione had already been asked to dance by several different guys. She decided to stop for a break seeing as she was extrmely thirsty, she hadn’t had anything to drink the entire time she had been there. As she was walking to the refreshments table she noticed that several students had begun to act oddly. They were standing in one place with blank stares on their faces. Was this just her imagination? Maybe, people were starting to get bored, but all at once? She turned in the direction they were all staring at and saw a hooded figure standing in the middle of the staff table at the head of the great hall. One hand was raised with a wand in it that was spewing green sparks from the tip, at the end of each side of the table were two dementors hovering inches from the floor.
Hermione had one glimpse of this and it didn’t take long to decide she had to do something and it had to be done now. She began to push through the zombie crowd looking for Harry and Ron, and to her dismay they seem to have suddenly dissappeared. Her mind began to race, they must have seen the Death Eater and the dementors before her and left to find a place to make a plan of attack, she then remembered how well Moaning Murtle’s bathroom worked for occasions such as these. She was at thr very back of the Great Hall and almost out the door when she slammed right into someone’s chest. As her eyes slowly raked upwords, there to her horror stood Harry with Ron right beside him in the same state as everyone else. This was not good! Hermione turned and squinted up at the head table trying to make things clearer in the dim light, as she strained hers eyes to see she got a very sick feeling in her stomache as she realized that, seated at the table behind the Death Eater were the teachers, each and every one of them in the same trance like state.
Hermione didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t take on the dark wizard and the two demetors by her self and more than likely there were more wizards lurking in the castle halls. Where would she go? Just then a thought occurred to her. Professor Snape hated these functions and avoided them at all costs, and with any luck... Finally! Something was going right! Just as she had hoped, he was not seated at the table. Hermione turned and dodged the last few students and was out of the great hall in moments.
As Hermione rushed through the dark, narrow corridors toward the dungeons she began to feel cold as if the world were closing in around her and all joy was being sucked from her life. She looked over her shoulder and to her to distress she saw a dementor turn the corner into the corridor she was in. The dementor reached out its long cloaked arm and pointed it’s boney, decaying finger in her direction. She let out a small squeak, stumbled and almost fell to the cold, stone floor. Barely catching herself, she quickly jerked around and turned the first corner she came to then the one after that. She was getting so close to the one person that could help her.
Hermione could see his door at the very end of the corridor. This was the first time she was actually happy to see that door. She began to run as fast as she could, each stride bringing her closer and closer to freedom and then she heard them. It was unmistakable, two Death Eaters were lumbering towards her down the corridor just in front and to the left of her. Quickly backing up two steps to the large tapestry of Morgan LeFay she pulled it back and crawled behind it into the tiny niche she had found while patroling the halls one night. \"Thank God, for the hormone driven 6th and 7th years\".As she huddled into the small space she held her breathe and hoped they would continue walking right past her.

“She has to be in one of these halls, they just saw her.” A woman’s raspy voice growled.

“You go down this corridor and I’ll take this one.” It was a male’s voice and it seemed oddly familiar to her.

As the footsteps faded Hermione let out a huge sigh of relief. She carefully peaked around the corner of the tapestry and saw nothing but an empty suit of armor. She quickly took off from her hiding space and ran to Snape’s door and knocked as loudly as her shaking fist would permit.

\"Please, he has to be awake.\" She thought silently to herself.