The day after Christmas became weak and cold. The presence of the sun's warmth was extremely essential, yet the glacial wind swept over the Hogwarts grounds. The night was peculiarly solemn and unwelcoming. Hermione closed the lamp from her bedside table and went to sleep.
Everything was suspiciously calm and collected when a stench of depravity revealed itself from the stillness. The moonlight was illuminating every corner of the girl's room just outside her window. Seconds flew hesitatingly and as if like a dream, the hands of the clock came to a halt.
An enormously long spider-like hand hitched around Hermione's face. She was awakened instantly by the gesture. The cold hand from her mouth tightened when the assailant felt that she was awake. All she wanted to do was scream but no sound came out and she felt that there was nothing she can do. She couldn't see her intruder's face at first, but her eyes soon adjusted to the darkness of the room.
The faint light of the moon ignited his red, fiery eyes. He forcibly pulled her out of the bed without even making any noise. He wrapped his long arms around her, making sure she can never escape.
Her body started to shake with both fear and rage as a tear slipped from her right eye. Droplets of sweat formed on her forehead but she didn't notice it for she was too busy trying to figure out who the intruder was.
He spoke in a mirthless tone which made her realize who it was.
"Mudblood" he called her.
His voice was toxic to her ears as his breath roughly touched her neck. Tears left her eyes unforced and natural when he whispered the words she wouldn't want to hear in her entire life. He looked at her, face to face, ready to destroy her as he imagined himself uttering the spell that will claim her life.
He pointed his wand to her face and seconds after, a rough, blinding flash of green light erupted from the tip of his wand which made everything stone-blind when it came to her.
Hermione's ghostly, brown eyes shot unclosed. Her body was still shaking tremendously. Her head was spinning, almost mimicking the speed of light. The only thing she wanted to do was to get out of her dorm and find Harry Potter.
"Harry, Harry" she whispered.
Her mind was preoccupied with finding her best friend that she didn't even ask herself that after receiving the worst spell of the Unforgivable Curses, she was still moving; alive.
For a split second, she remembered herself being killed by the man who murdered Harry's parents.
She couldn't believe it. She was dead. She was DEAD! She touched herself to check if she was still there. Her tears were trailing a long path from her eyes down to her face because she didn't know what to feel about the thing she was about to find out.
She was totally disappointed when she knew what she had become. She had turned into a ghost! But that doesn't matter anymore. She has to see him. To warn him. To warn them. She knew she had to tell them what happened to her for it was her responsibility. Death and mourning can wait.
"He's here... He's here... Quick" Her voice was merely a whisper for she couldn't provide the scream she vowed to make. She was still breathless.
Her feet has no proper direction but she continued to walk hoping she could give caution to everyone about him. He killed her.
She was almost convinced she was already a ghost when she felt a tall, black figure blocking her.
Her remaining energy went completely zero and like a scene from a movie, the whole place was cut to black.
Hermione never felt fear about the idea of dying. Especially when she herself underwent that inescapable phase of life minutes ago, although her heart stirred with bravery, she can't stop herself to feel trepidation towards the others who will soon meet their finality.
She felt a twinge of pain in her back as she tried to get up. Her eyes were heavy and still painful due to the torturous crying earlier. Everything was indeed queer when a realization popped into her head.
Her eyes grew wide only to see where she slept last night.
Eerie shadows, cobwebbed ceilings, calm surroundings?
She was... she was in the... Dungeons!
"It would be more prudent if you'd explain everything that has occurred tonight, Miss Granger."
She would remember that voice anywhere, even in death. She looked in his direction and was met by cold, black, staring eyes.
"It was a dream, not a nightmare. But it can't be. It felt so real. So real" she chewed her words in a manner which irritated Snape.
"Murmuring exhibits a lack of respect for the person you're speaking with."
His tone was bored and nefarious as usual, but Hermione felt comfort and happiness because she was still able to face his exaggerated and unessential grudge towards her.
After seeing his freakish expression, she felt sorrowful. How insensitive of him not to notice that she was in no good shape at that moment. But still, she answered him politely by narrating last night's events.
"If your words are regretfully accurate, I daresay the dream you had is not just any dream. The Dark Lord did come to you tonight." Snape said; his analysis was gravely terrible but his voice remained calm.
"But, how? He can't just possibly sneak into Hogwarts. Especially when Professor Dumbledore's around" Hermione contradicted.
"You underestimate the powers of the Dark Lord, Miss Granger," He began. "To what I see, he did come to you and he killed you tonight."
"Whaaat?"