Butterfly Wings

She thought it would be fun. Especially since the Muggle boy had never talked to her before.

Hermione was sitting on her eloquent wrap-around porch doing what Grangers did best: Read. This book just happened to be the updated version of Hogwarts: A History.

So she was obliviously lost in its golden pages when a deep voice interrupted her.

    "Excuse me?"

Hermione looked up pulling down a pair of reading glasses to lay eyes upon -by far- the handsomest boy ever. His hair was dishwater blond with sandy highlights. The eyes were set back in his face making their blue depths look even more mysterious. And how lucky this boy just happened to be her next door neighbor Elliot.

    "Elliot! May I help you?"

He smiled. How absolutely breathtaking. Hermione, with her unbounded interest piqued, book marked her page before standing to greet him.

    "I couldn't help but notice you sitting over here. My friends and I were going to a party in Conrad. I was wondering if perhaps you would to join us."

His voice was like silk and had a slight French accent. Hermione smiled. She usually wasn't so confident. Especially around the Muggle boy. But something in his tone made her more thoughtful. She looked past him to the car where two other Muggles were waiting: a girl and a boy.

    "I would love to. Let me go get ready and tell my mum."

Would she have left with them if she would have known the consequences? Most likely not. But Hermione did....

    "Elliot are you alright?"

Elliot and his friends were hanging to each other laughing and talking with slurred words. A beer bottle half empty sloshed around in his loose grip.

    "Of course! We're going for a drive. Wanna come?"

Hermione had nothing to drink. She had politely declined and settled for a simple soda. Not many others had made the wise decision she had. Elliot was one of them.

    "Elliot are you sure you should be driving?"

    "Of course! I'm fine!"

She knew she should have taken the keys away. She knew. Why didn't she? The car started and lurched forward. Maniacal giggles filled the small space of the car as Hermione got in the backseat. She could have gotten a ride from someone who had not been drinking. But she didn't...

The smell of alcohol made her stomach flip over in her body. It invaded her senses and gagged her of fresh oxygen. The girl next to her, known as Fran, was shoving a bottle of Jack Daniels in her face spilling some of the contents on her new blue blouse.

    "COME ON, MIONE DARLING! TAKE A DRINK!"

She quietly said now and pushed herself up against the car door. She was sitting in the front seat next to Elliot who was laughing and not watching the road.

    "Elliot, maybe you should watch where you're going."

He turned a vehement glare on her. Taking a hand off the wheel he began to jab a finger in the air at her.

    "Now, Mione. I know how to drive. My driving is fine. Right, Fran? Isn't that right, Ted?"

Mumbled answers came from the two who were busy snogging each other in the backseat.

    "But you've-"

    "Been drinking? That ain't nothin! I-"

Sirens appeared in the rearview mirror. Hermione's stomach lurched along with the car's speed. No! Not now! What would her parent's say when they found out she had been in the car with a bunch of teenage drunks?

    "Maybe you should pull over."

    "Maybe you should shut up, Mione!"

The police car kept following them speeding up to match the car's speed. Hermione watched as the scenery charged by. Deep, deep down she knew something...something was going to happen...

The curve was there. Elliot never saw it as he was too busy looking behind him at the pursuer. Hermione saw it. She saw it looming ahead of her and she began to pray.

    'Please God. Please forgive me for not being more forceful...please....please...I don't want to die...'

The car, a small economical car, broke through the guard rail. It sailed over the ground before landing nose first on the steep incline. Hermione hadn't been wearing her seat belt and flew from the car window on the first impact. She landed unconscious on the rocky ground while the car fell directly over her. She was lucky...

The hood came crashing down upon her legs mangling them and tearing the bones inside apart. Blood began to coat the ground while staining her white skirt and the brand new blouse. Beside her lay the bottle of Jack Daniels broken. The alcohol was mingling with the redness on the soil. Together they carved a path in the dirt to the flaming heap of metal, rubber, and human flesh still tumbling down the hill.

    The officer parked the car quickly and leapt from the vehicle. The trusty flashlight at his belt was handy and held close by his head for better visibility. He passed the form of a girl on the ground but quickly recoiled and checked her pulse.

    It was barely there. By the look of her legs the car had come down on them. She was lucky the vehicle had not come down on her.

    While he hurried down the incline he radioed for immediate assistance. The car in front of him was on his roof. The wheels were still turning on their axels. Blood was running in rivers out of the car. Tangled bodies - or rather body parts - were laying on the roof of the car. The flesh was red stained by the owner's own veins.

    Mrs. Granger watched happily as Hermione trotted off to the car. Elliot Sanders was such a nice boy. It was about time Hermione got up the confidence to agree to a date with him.

    The woman watched the car drive off. Then she turned back into the house. It was empty seeing how Darrel was still at work.

    Now, only a few hours later, she was rushing off to the hospital clutching a rosary in her fist as if it were the only sign of life. Her entire body was shaking as she mumbled prayers over and over.

    Darrel had called her not the hospital. They had called him first at his office. He was able to get there faster.

    Tina watched the road with blurred vision.

        'Oh...Hermione....please don't die...'