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"Honestly, leave it to Ronald to talk an hour to fetch some water from the river." Hermione grumbled.

She was pacing back and forth inside of the tent besides the wooden table that they did all of their research and eating off of. Harry was sitting at the table attempting to not get sick while he ate Hermione's mushroom soup while he watched her pace.

"You know how Ron is. He probably got a little lost." He said as he swallowed another spoonful of soup, making a look of disgust but quickly hid it when the bushy haired witch turned to glare at him.

"Now isn't the time to be getting lost in the forest!" Hermione snapped. "Oooh. I knew I should've gone instead. What was I thinking in letting him leave?"

Since Hermione's wand was sticking out of her pocket, Harry stayed silent while she continued to rant and kept eating his soup in fear that her anger may escalate and he did not want to be at the end of her anger. Especially when it came down to Ron.

Hermione was still sore with the ginger-haired part of the trio. It had only been a week since he had returned with Harry with the locket destroyed and Godric's Gryffindor's sword. Despite that he had saved Harry's life and destroyed a horcrux, Ron was still barely forgiven for running out on them all of those weeks ago. He did spend most of his time trying to suck up to Hermione by agreeing with everything she said, offered to do things for her, and even went as far as complimenting on her dreadful cooking. All of it had nudge her in the right direction of forgiving him, but earlier in the evening when she was prepared to leave to retrieve water from the river, he suggested that he went instead.

That had sent Hermione back into her foul mood that she was in the first couple of days after he returned.

Even if she wasn't admitting it, it was plainly obvious that in the back of her mind she was in fear that he would leave and not return like before.

And Ron being gone for over an hour wasn't helping her mood.

Hermione didn't harvest any romantic feelings for the ginger like she used too back in school. Spending so many months camping and staying in the same tent as him had crushed all of those feelings. Because like a saying goes, you don't know someone until you've lived with them. Hermione still cared for him in a brotherly way as she did for Harry though. Whether if Ron harbored feelings for Hermione or not was unknown to her still.

"Maybe I should go look for hi-"

"NO!" Hermione shouted, interrupting Harry. Noticing that she reacted a little too loudly, she made an apologetic look and sat across the table from him. "It's too dangerous for you to leave the wards Harry, especially without your cloak." Which Ron was in current possession of. "We'll give him a half an hour longer and if he isn't back yet then I'll go look for him."

When Hermione was about to say more, she noticed Harry's eyes leave hers and look at something behind her. "No need too." He smiled and then nodded his head in the direction behind her.

Turning herself towards the direction Harry pointed out for her, she saw Ron stumble through the opening of the tent with the Invisibility cloak hooked on an arm that was bearing his wand, and his other hand was the bucket they used to keep their water. It was empty.

Hermione pushed back her relief and glowered at Ron as she marched towards him with Harry right behind her. "Did you forget what you left to go do Ronald?"

Ron jerked his head up, as if just now realizing that he was with his friends and not with someone else. And that's when both Hermione and Harry noticed that their friend was breathing heavily and a trickle of blood was flowing down the side of his face from his scalp, and parts of his clothing were singed.

"What happened?" Harry asked alarmed, grabbing the cloak and empty bucket from Ron while Hermione moved him to go sit over at the table.

"Ran into…" Ron raised a hand to signal them to wait for him to catch his breath. After a minute passed, he took in a final breath and sat upright with the same goofy smile that he always plastered on his face. "Ran into a snatcher on my way back."

"Just one?" Harry questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I think there are some in the area and this one probably split up from the rest of them to cover more ground I suppose." Ron answered.

"How did he see you? Didn't you have the cloak on? How did you lose the snatcher?" Harry blurted out a couple of more questions. It was evident that he was excitedly curious about his friend's event with a snatcher. Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing that he was missing the most important question to be asked. "Did he follow you here?" She asked.

Ron looked anxiously between the two of them, not sure which questions he wanted to ask first. Knowing Hermione's temper of course, he looked at her. "No. I lost him a ways back but I still kept running to make sure I lost him in case he got back up."

"Wha-" Hermione began but her ginger-haired friend already looked back at Harry and began to tell his tale with eagerness.

"Well," The youngest Weasley boy began. "I was down at the river getting the water but I took off your cloak because I didn't want to get it wet."

"What?" Hermione butted him before he could continue. "A simple drying spell would've worked, you shouldn't take it off when you're-"

"I know! I know!" Ron waved his arms around, shushing her. "I didn't think about it. But after I filled up the bucket and left the river, I forgot to put back on the cloak and I'm not used to thinking about wearing it when walking around places, and then I heard something." He looked between Harry and Hermione to see that they were both anxiously waiting for him to continue. "I looked behind me and saw this guy standing there and I saw the red ribbon tied around his arm, which labels him as a snatcher; so I took off running. The bloody snatcher was firing curses left and right at me and he was fast too! I dropped the bucket and left it behind because it was slowing me down." Ron nodded over at the bucket that had a black scorch mark on one side of it.

"I didn't want to lead him back here and have him signal to the rest of his gang that I wasn't alone. I kept running in circles and over the place, almost getting myself lost. After he was getting closer and his curses were getting more dangerous, I turned on him - which he didn't expect - and I fired off a curse at him! You should've seen the look and his face when he saw me fire one at him!"

"Brilliant mate." Harry agreed and patted Ron on his arm. "What did you use on him?"

"Well…it was a spell that you used before." Ron's ear were turning red and looked down to floor at his feet. "It was the first thing that came into my head that I knew would stop him from chasing me."

"What spell did you use Ron?" Hermione's face turned serious. Why did she have a bad feeling that he had used an Unforgivable Curse on the snatcher?

"The spell Harry used on Malfoy last year in school." Ron kept his gaze on the floor. "S-Sectumsempra."

Harry didn't say anything, not sure if he should congratulate his friend for stopping a snatcher by using powerful magic, or to scorn him for using such a dark spell.

Hermione decided for him and choose the later.

"Sectumsempra!" Hermione rose from her sitting position next to Ron and glared down at him. "That's an awful spell to use Ronald, even on a snatcher! What if you killed him?"

"I panicked! It was the first thing that went off in my head." Ron defended. "It's not like I thought 'Hmm. I haven't used any dark spells lately. Let me try this one!' Besides, he's a snatcher that's willing to sell any of us for gold, it's best off if he's probably dead anyhow."

Before Hermione could snap back at him, Harry cut him between them. "It's alright Ron, I know you didn't mean to use it."

Ron's gaze went from Hermione and to his other friend and his lips twitched upwards slightly. "Thanks mate." He cleared his throat and his eyes watched his fingers fumbled against each other nervously. "I took a little longer in getting back here because when I was almost back, I forgot the bucket and I went to go get it."

Hermione didn't say anything more to Ron as he went back into his previous mood and exaggerated to Harry every other detail about his run in with the snatcher, and Harry was enjoying listening to the tale from the looks of it. She couldn't believe that they were completely ignoring the idea of the man's health. It didn't matter that he was a friend or foe, he was probably out somewhere in the woods bleeding to death! It was one thing to accidentally cast a curse on someone, but to leave them behind without a second thought for their well-being? They were supposed to be stopping people that were like that. Not becoming them.

Maybe if I can find him, I might be able to save him. She thought. Most people would think she was stupid for going out of her way, risking her own safety, to go save an enemy. But she wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that that there was someone nearby injured badly, and she just sat there and did nothing.

Putting on a blank mask to hide the lie she was about to announce, she moved away from the table to pick up the Invisibility cloak and the empty bucket that was still useable.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked in alarm. "You're not going out there are you?"

Hermione sighed and wrapped the cloak around her, but left the hood down so her head was still visible. "We still need water Ronald."

"But it's dangerous out there!" He argued.

"Not anymore since you took care of that snatcher there isn't." She pointed out to him. When he didn't say anything, as he was most likely trying to think of another reason to come up with, she pulled the hood over her head and slipped out of the tent, completely invisible.

"Fuck!" Scabior snarled.

He was such an idiot for allowing himself to be so caught up in chasing after the boy, that he didn't think to realize that the ginger would turn and fire a spell back at him. He had been unprepared for retaliation. Most people that he chased never bothered to look back much less cast spells at him. They were too busy trying to outrun him.

Now he was laying in the middle of the forest, bleeding to death. It's what he deserved after being so negligent.

He couldn't even heal himself. His wand was discarded somewhere nearby, but not in his view. It had flown from his hand after he was hit.

Scabior managed to lean himself up against a tree that was had only been a mere foot away after the curse had struck him. But even the slightest movement had pained him greatly. Whatever the curse was, did serious damage to him. Cuts and slices, both deep and shallow, were laced all over his body. The deeper cuts were on his abdomen and chest, while the lighter ones were on the rest of his body. It was a brilliant curse. Strike hardest were his organs were.

Thinking about it, Scabior was silently racking his mind to try and remember the curse that the boy had used. It was something that he had never heard of, and yet some boy that looked to be young enough to still be in school knew something as powerful and as dark as what was now causing him to slowly drain him of his blood. What was that word the ginger had used? He thought. Sistersimpa? No, no. Sectumsempra? That's it! If I see that boy again I'm going to fucking Sectumsempra his ass to hell and back and see how he likes it!

He physically felt a sting of pain race through him as he realized that he wouldn't get the chance to see him again. He'd be dead soon.

Ignoring the stings of pain, he moved his head to get a better view of the scenery around him. Snow was on the ground, but he had already known that. There had been snow in these mountains for the past few months. His blood had formed a large pool of crimson that stained that beautiful white snow around that was growing ever so painfully by the minute. Scabior tried to keep his mind from thinking about it as he surveyed the flakes of snow that was falling through from tree branches high above him. All of the snow fell gracefully onto the ground around him as well as far as he could see into the darkened woods that barely allowed a few patches of moonlight to shine through here and there.

Scabior felt so out of place in the world around him.

Snap!

Scabior whipped his head to his left side and flinched, regretting his reflexes.

As he looked ahead of him, he didn't see anything. Not even an outline of an animal or a person. It couldn't have been his imagination. He had heard the sound of a snapping twig as plain as it was night. Yet, he couldn't see not a single sign that there was any around besides him. "I'm becoming delusional." Scabior murmured bitterly.

Scabior closed his eyes and silently hoped that it wouldn't be too much longer until he finally drifted into a never ending sleep. He didn't want to start losing his mind before he let unconsciousness could take him over.

Then, his ears twitched at the sound of footsteps crunching against the snowy ground. His eyes opened halfway only to once again meet with nothing. Except this time the noise didn't stop. If anything, it was growing louder by the second. Someone was coming and he couldn't see, even though he was staring right in the direction the sound of the footsteps was coming from!

Was this a trick of his mind? Or was someone under the disillusionment charm?

The idea of not knowing was making his heart pound his chest. He was experiencing fear.

"Quit playing will you? Show yourself already!" He called out but nobody answered him. Scabior clicked his tongue angrily. If only he had his wand.

Suddenly, he felt the warm sensation of a small, soft hand touching his right cheek. He moved his head to his right but couldn't see anyone, but his cheek was still warm, the hand was still there. His eyes searched for something harder and harder, but found nothing but air before him. Don't act like a scared school girl Scabior, use your skills, focus! A voice snapped at him. It was right. Just because he was in his current predicament didn't mean that he still wasn't the leader of the snatchers. His heart hadn't stopped beating yet.

Taking in his subconscious's advice, he closed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath and stopped halfway through inhaling. There was a scent that wasn't there before. A scent he had smelled before…

Vanilla.

Scabior's eyes blinked open again to see nothing yet again. Which was the problem. There was nothing. Not a person, not an animal, not even falling snow. Yet if he looked around, he could see that the snow was still falling everywhere, just not in front of him.

His eyes traveled upwards a couple feet to see that snow was still falling in that location, but was stopping just some feet above the ground. The whiteness was covering over something, taking in the shape of the top of a person's head and down there back. Judging by the shape, it was most likely a woman.

No. It was a woman.

Whoever it was, was indeed a woman. Wearing the same, innocent smelling fragrance. The same fragrance that he had smelt a few months ago.

Scabior smirked. "I knew I wasn't imagining you before."

For a second, he thought that he was going to be answered with silence. Instead, the warmth of the hand on his cheek jerked itself away and a tiny gasp was let out in the blank space before him, causing his smirk to widen.

"Why don't you show me that face of yours sweetheart?"

If his arms weren't numb with freezing pain, he would try to remove whatever was masking the unknown woman away from him. He had hardly gone once without being able to see this woman; he wanted, no, needed to see her now.

The woman was muttering something, but it wasn't anything he recognized to start a conversation. It was a spell being muttered.

Fear prickled him for a split second, wondering what the female was doing until he began to feel all of his pain gently drift away.

She was healing him.

If the woman wasn't muttering a spell, he would've believed that she was an angel sent from heaven. Perhaps, she was still an angel in some way or another. He couldn't think of a reason why, but someone 'up there' wanted to keep him alive still.

Scabior decided to not fight the growing sensation of relief nor question it and relaxed against the tree as he listened to what he believed was an angelic voice taking away all of his anguish.

Now that he noticed, the woman's voice didn't sound like a woman after all. Not like a woman around his age or older, but younger. This was a girl, but definitely of age by the sound of it. So she wasn't too young. Scabior grinned at the idea. He wouldn't dare indulge himself on an underage girl, but if she was of age by Wizarding Law, then it was all fair game.

If only he knew what she looked like.

Another minute passed by and he no longer felt even a smidge of pain. Perfect. Scabior meant to quickly snatch his hand up to grab a hold of the unknown girl, but it was stiff and immobile to his side. Just like his other hand was, and his legs, and the rest of his body.

The bitch had petrified him!

He couldn't even move his lips to ask her what the hell her problem was. Heal him just to make him unable to move.

"I'm sorry!" She whispered and placed her hand against his cheek once more and he felt her thumb rake over his skin a couple of times. "It'll pass in about ten minutes and I casted a warming charm so that you won't catch hypothermia." The hand left his cheek once again and he could sense that she rose from her position next to him, and the next thing he knew he could hear the sound of her running footsteps fading away until all he could hear was the wind moving against the trees.

I let her slip away again. His thoughts echoed grudgingly. I knew she was there this time and she's gone again.

Despite how upset he was about not knowing her identity still, he knew that he would know who she was soon. It was just a matter of time. The girl knew about him, she had gone against better judgment and came to heal him. She wasn't on the Dark Lord's side of the war. No, definitely not. If she was, she wouldn't have shielded herself. And on top of that, no one on the Dark Lord's side would take their time out of their lives to heal someone like him.

If he wasn't determined to find her as he was before when he first inhaled her scent months ago, he certainly was now.

Hermione was a far enough away from the wards that hid away her and her friends camp, she looked out to the darkened forest before her. If Harry and Ron knew what she was about to do, Merlin only knew what they would say or do. They certainly wouldn't condone it.

But she had to at least go take a look to see if the snatcher was alive still or not. Or else she'd never be able to forgive herself if she didn't at least try.

Thinking about it, Hermione wasn't exactly sure where the snatcher was at now. Ron hadn't mentioned the whereabouts exactly, and she didn't have all night to wonder around the forest to look for a man that may already be dead. Luckily for her, she knew a spell.

Pulling out her wand and holding it in the palm of her hand she whispered, "Point me."

The vine wand twirled in her palm clockwise a few times before it finally locked in the direction that the snatcher was in. As long as she kept in the direction, she would soon come to find the man that Ron cursed.

As she began to walk in the direction her wand pointed her in, her thoughts wondered to what lay ahead of her. Was it really smart of her to be doing what she was about to do? Would it jeopardize her and her friends mission to find all of the horcruxs or was there a chance she would be able to make it back to the campsite? There was a possibility that the snatcher was still alive, but what if he had his wand and attacked her after she healed him? She'd be taken to the Ministry immediately and then who knew what would happen to her or the others afterwards.

Hermione was aware of the risks, and yet she still ventured to find this man. If her younger self could see her now, she'd be hearing a mouthful of words about consequences and such. But something in her was telling her that she had to keep going, to find the snatcher and help him if it wasn't too late. It was the right thing to do.

The temperature was dropping, and a good twenty minutes had flown by and it was getting to the point that she was actually doubting her spell's capabilities in finding what she was searching for. Since she didn't even know the man identity.

Just she was about to put her wand away and head back to the campsite, she heard a very low voice from the distant. She wasn't positive, but it sounded like someone had muttered a not too very intelligent word. Deciding that there was no harm and walking a little further, she passed by a dozen of trees and stopped suddenly as soon as a man laying against a tree came into view. He was about twenty feet away.

She was close enough to take in his appearance and knew exactly who he was.

It was the snatcher that she had seen months ago. It was their first night camping in the woods when she had heard something and had gone as far as to stand at the very border of her magical wards when she first laid eyes upon him.

There were several snatchers along with him, as well as the werewolf Fenrir Greyback that she recognized from wanted posters last year. The werewolf and another snatcher were carrying a person each. Hermione remembered feeling sorrow for the captured wizard and witch. She wished desperately that she could do something for them, but knew in the end it was hopeless. All she could hope was that they would find and destroy each horcrux so that Harry could defeat Voldemort and then they would truly be able to help everyone.

She hadn't paid attention to him particularly when he walked past her until he had paused in his walking to ask a question that appeared to be more to himself than the other members of the gang. Fear had stricken her. Had there been a flaw in her wards and he could see something he shouldn't have been able too? He then retraced his steps until he was standing exactly right in front of her and all Hermione could think of was to stay still and not let out even a breathe of air. The snatcher had then made it clear that he could smell something, her perfume. That was the flaw in her wards. Scent was able to pass through. Why hadn't she thought about it?

Hermione took in his appearance then. The man was a little over a foot taller than her and had the most strikingly bright blue eyes that she had ever seen. If he hadn't been an enemy, she would've complimented him. He had fairly colored skin and a little bit of facial hair beginning to grow on his face and had long, tangled looking brown hair with a red streak down the right side and was tied back into an attempt to braid. The snatcher probably wasn't interested in his hair's appearance, just wanted it out of the way. He wore a pair of dark green plaid pants with black boots, a matching studded belt, a black leather jacket, and a green vest underneath. Also, he wore the red ribbon that tied itself around his left forearm to signify his identity as a snatcher.

A thought in the back of her mind realized that the snatcher was rather on the handsome side.

Luckily for her at the time, one of the snatchers that was carrying an unconscious person had dropped the captive and distracted the handsome snatcher from his thoughts, which soon caused him to forget about her perfume and left with the rest of the group.

And here he was again, laying not to far away from her, bleeding to death into the white sheet around him. Hermione couldn't go heal him. She couldn't. Not the man that had almost discovered her before!

Yet, as if something had possessed her, she took a step forward and regretted it as soon as her foot stepped on a twig; causing it to snap under her weight.

The snatcher whipped his head in her direction, but she knew he couldn't see her. Even though it felt like he was staring right though her. Which he probably was.

This was a bad idea. Her subconscious whispered.

But hearing him mutter, "I'm becoming delusional." kept her there. Her determination to help him set back in. There was no way that she could turn back now. Hermione sucked in a breath of air, pushed back her fear, and walked directly to him. Not bothering to slow her pace even when she heard him call out with fear hidden deep within his words. "Quit playing will you? Show yourself already!"

Hermione didn't find it humorous at all to think that he was feeling a little fearful. He was in a vulnerable state. She couldn't blame him.

In attempt to sooth him, she crouched down beside him and placed her hand on his cheek. It shocked her for a second to feel how dangerously cold his skin felt beneath hers. His prickly facial hairs rubbing against her palm felt funny against her palm. She assumed that if she moved her hand back and forth, it may even begin to tickle. Now wasn't the time though.

Hermione was lost in his appearance to remember exactly why she was there. He was still just as handsome as the night she had last seen him, except for the loss of color in his skin and the oozing blood that came from the cuts that were all over his body. She noticed him closing his blue eyes - which Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that she couldn't look at those beautiful eyes - and watched as he breathed in air through his nose.

His eyes re-opened and her lips twitched at the sight of them. Her eyes watched his move around her a little, not really paying attention to what exactly he was looking at until she saw him smirk.

"I knew I wasn't imagining you before."

Hermione snapped out of her trance and let out a barely inaudible gasp before as she jerked her hand away from his face as if he'd burned her. The snatcher remembered her.

Actually, he remembered her perfume.

His smirk had widened by her reaction. "Why don't you show me that face of yours sweetheart?" He asked with slight raise to his eyebrows. Hermione resisted the urge to answer him and gripped her wand in her hand, remembering why she was hear in the first place. She needed to heal him before he lost anymore blood.

Without delay, Hermione began to mutter the complicated spell that would reverse the curse, causing his blood to flow back into his body and his wounds to heal.

She noticed his breath hitched slightly at the new feeling, or from the sound of spells coming from her mouth, but he relaxed after realizing that she was healing him.

Just as the last drop of blood circulated back into the snatchers body and all of his wounds had healed, she took advantage of him not yet realizing that he was fully healed and wordlessly casted Petrificus Totalus on him followed by a warming charm so that he wouldn't get any chance of freezing while he remained petrified. That way he wouldn't be able to do anything to her before she could get away. Hermione still needed to think of her safety and even if she healed him, she didn't know what he would do once his strength returned.

As if he read her mind, or tried to move and realized he couldn't, his unmoving eyes staring right through her, literally. Hermione couldn't help but feel a little guilty but quickly pushed it aside.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione whispered and placed her hand back on his cheek and felt something that she couldn't quit pin down as she could feel the heat under his skin from his returned blood. "It'll pass in about ten minutes and I casted a warming so that you won't catch hypothermia."

Knowing that some time had already passed since she had left her friends and the sooner she left the temporarily paralyzed snatcher, it would be better to get as much distance away as she could now. With that, she rubbed her thumb across his cheek in a silent goodbye and then took off in a sprint away from him. Not feeling guilty in the slightest knowing that it wouldn't be ten minutes and he would be able to move again.

Hermione was thankful for the rapid snowfall. The snatcher wouldn't be able to track her through her footprints in the snow.

After what seemed to be about ten minutes, she could tell from the familiar marking on a nearby tree that she was just outside of the magical wards that she had placed around their campsite.

But before she stepped through the wards, she remembered what she had told the boys what she had left to do and picked up the empty bucket that was laying on the ground, covered in a thing layer of snow. Quickly casting 'Aquamenti', a rush of water rushed into the bucket so quickly that the water was already overflowing out of the bucket. Which was a partial reason why they usually preferred the river than the spell. The spell made too much of a mess that wasn't desired in such chilling weather, and each of them needed an excuse to leave the tent for a brief period to get away to be alone for just a little bit. The three of them loved each other dearly, but if they didn't get their occasional breaks, heads would eventually begin to roll.

Hermione poured a little bit of water out of the bucket and stepped through the wards after making sure that there wasn't anyone behind her. As sure as she was that the snatcher hadn't followed her, she knew that right now he was no longer petrified.

And for some reason unknown, she couldn't help but feel relief yet anxious about that fact.

A/N: Hooray! Scabior's Horcrux is writing another Scabmione fic! Haha. I'm sorry for not being around lately. For over a month and a half I didn't even have my laptop because of problems and not having any money to fix them up until a week ago. So I couldn't write or anything! Dx It was very depressing for me. But while being away from my laptop I did write drabbles, notes, and ideas in my notebooks while being away from my precious.

I'm already about finished with chapter two of this fic. So I'll try to have it up sometime within the week. Now with Hesitate, I'm still stuck on chapter eight. I've written a good five pages to it so far but I'm just stuck. I'm trying to get muse up for it but I'm hoping that my block for the fic will fade soon because I am going to keep writing it. I will not stop. So don't fret my loves!

Anywho, what did you think of this first chapter? Do you like it? This fic is pretty much taking place during the Deathly Hallows but I'm doing my own little tampering. But hey, that's what us fanfic writers do. Don't like it? LUMP IT. Haha. Kidding, I love ya'll. As I was saying though, this fic is going to be your typical fic about Scabior and Hermione's relationship throughout Deathly Hallows. But several obstacles will come in the way! So it's not going to be like the other fics. It's original and all. So I hope you're ready! ;)