Born The Day You Kissed Me

Chapter One:

It was windy and cold, probably one of the coldest nights of winter so far this year. Hermione's brown hair flew loosely around her shoulders, falling slowly out of the loose ponytail she had put it in earlier that day. She sat on her porch, her jeans growing damp from the wet ground beneath her. She inhaled deeply, thinking about Hogwarts, and about Harry, and Ron. She missed them, even though she left them only a few hours ago.

Hermione had decided to come home for the Christmas holidays, so that she could spend time with her parents. She had spent the evening putting up a few lights in her yard, since her mother insisted on it, and her head was dizzy from going in circles around all the trees. Her yard was huge; she had her own little forest right by her house, which held many memories from her childhood.

She stood up and stretched while walking down her front porch steps, her face glowing from the Christmas lights around her as she strolled towards her tree house. Her dad had made it for her when she was 5 years old, and it was starting to fall apart. The wood was deteriorating, and the paint was chipping on all four sides. Yes, it was a tree house, but since she was afraid of heights when she was little, it was situated on the ground between two enormous oak trees. She walked towards it and opened the little door, laughing at the coincidence of the colors she chose to paint it 10 years ago...red and gold. It looked quite small from the outside, but it was surprisingly big on the inside. She walked in and sat on a stuffy red couch, which reminded her of her beloved armchair in the Gryffindor common room. She smiled at this, and her thoughts wandered back to school and her friends as she closed her eyes and sunk into the depths of the warm couch. Her eyes popped back opened, only after she felt a cold gush of wind whip through the door. She sighed, and turned around to trudge back to her house through all of the fallen leaves.

"NO! We will not go through this again! I am staying here, I wouldn't dream of doing that to Hermione! Ever!" Hermione heard her mother's voice shout as she walked up to her house.

"Honey, think about it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity! How can we pass an offer like this? We could retire in 5 years if we went, and we would be able to send Hermione through college without having to borrow money," her dad said calmly. Hermione quietly walked up the porch and though the front doors trying not to be seen. But of course, her mother saw her since she, like all mothers, has 'eyes on the back of her head.'

"Oh! There you are Hermione, we were just about to go look for you!" Hermione walked closer to them, and sat down at a high stool in the kitchen, childishly swinging her legs nervously back and forth.

"What were you two arguing about?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing sweetie. Are you hungry? We were going to go and get a bite to eat," her mother said, walking to her and giving her a small hug.

"No, I am really not hungry. The train ride made me tired, I think I'll go to bed in a while," Hermione said, faking a small smile. She knew her parents were arguing about her, something they had been doing more frequently.

"Okay, we'll be back later than, honey. There is food in the fridge, in case you get hungry," her mother said, kissing the top of her head. "Bye, I love you!"

"I love you too, night," Hermione said quietly. Her parents grabbed their coats, and left without another word.

Hermione wandered around her house, feeling lonely. She watched some television, but found that she had no interest in anything that was on. It was getting late, and her parents had been gone for almost three hours. She began to wonder where they were, when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she said.

Silence.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked again. There was another short pause and then there was a loud crackling noise. She hung up the phone, but the crackling noise didn't go away. It sounded like it was coming from outside....

She threw on a heavy coat, and timidly stepped outside. It was drizzling a little, and she tugged her coat tighter around her. The noise was now gone, and it was quiet outside, almost too quiet.

That's when she saw something fall out of the corner of her eye. She cautiously walked towards the woods, to see what it was that had caught her attention.

On the ground, beneath a tree, she saw a jumble of black robes, and could hear the faint sound of someone breathing. Hermione kneeled down; picking up a muscular hand that lay limply in the mud, and examined it. It was bleeding sanguine blood, and it was deathly cold. She felt her way up the arm of the body, still holding on to the hand, and looked through the mass of black robes to try and find the person's head.

Hermione shrieked, and jumped back when she saw an all too familiar face staring back at her.