Stumbling through the alleyway, she clutched her purse tighter and ran as fast as she could with her heels on, holding back sobs as she heard the footsteps pursuing her grow quicker and louder with each passing second. There was no way she was going to be able to outrun this man who was so bent on hunting her down.

Dennis Creevy, the young Gryffindor who was once an awestruck little boy who trailed after Harry Potter, along with his brother, Colin, was driven mad by the aftereffects of the war against Voldemort. Convinced that it was Harry's fault that his brother had died in the battle, he had put it into his head to seek revenge against him and his friends. What better target to shake Harry than an attack against one of his closest friends, Hermione Granger?

For months, he had sat there and planned, day after day, how he would slowly break the smartest, most strong-headed witch in the century, which in turn would crush everyone else's sense of security and safety. It was no petty feat, outsmarting Hermione. True, she was a sensible witch, quick on her feet. No mere spell or curse could ever startle her in the least.

But what about in the muggle sense of things? She was a witch, yes, but she was also a very attractive young woman. Women like her attract the sort of dangerous people, intent on inflicting harm. Every woman, whether she is a muggle, a Squib or a witch, is wary of that kind of danger that was so common in the muggle world. It was impossible to pull any stunt like that in the Wizarding world, for there were many protective spells and charms that almost every witch knew of, and would not hesitate to cast in the slightest hint of danger. But out in the muggle world, women were more vulnerable to that kind of threat.

It was the perfect opportunity.

Since Hermione resided in an apartment in the muggle world, she was an easier target. He began stalking her, following her in a sinister manner. Soon, he started leaving threatening messages in her mailbox, cleverly leaving no trait of any magical or muggle background. He watched in satisfaction for a few weeks as he slowly planted the seed of fear in her mind. The most risky stunt he had ever pulled was when he had broken into her apartment in the middle of the night shortly after he had spied Ron getting down on one knee, offering something to her. Furious, he trashed the place. After he was finished, he pulled out his wand and burned the word Mudblood on the ceiling of her bedroom. He could have so easily harmed the slumbering woman, lying so defenselessly in her bed; but he wanted to first harm her mentally. He wanted to truly shake her, and the fact that someone was able to break into her home so easily and intrude on her without her knowledge was frightening enough.

Finally, he decided to pull out all the stops and physically harm her. He wanted to hear her shrieks and screams as he'd cause her pain. He wanted to see the look of fear flicker across her face, the look of being completely defenseless and powerless in the face of her tormentor. A few weeks later, he saw his chance and took it.

Hermione was invited to a banquet to honor her winning the St. Mungo's Top Healer Award in the country. Dennis waited until she had left the party early, insisting to Ron that she had forgotten to put out Crookshanks' food out and had to go back to her apartment. As soon as she stepped out, he took his place as her shadow, following her until she was far away enough from the banquet so that no wizard or witch could come to her aid.

Hermione felt someone tracing her steps. She was not a stupid witch and was on alert, especially after recent events. Pretending not to notice the soft footsteps behind her, she drew her wand and slid it up the sleeve of her robes. Suddenly, she stopped walking, freezing abruptly in her spot. Dennis, too consumed by suspense and excitement, could not stop walking in time, and bumped into her. Hermione, ready with her wand, spun and pointed the tip to his neck.

"What do you want?" she spat, her eyes flashing.

Dennis grinned, lifting his head to reveal his face. Hermione, seeing that it was only Dennis Creevy, lowered her wand, her harsh expression softening.

"Oh, hello there, Dennis," she said, beginning to apologize for nearly attacking him. "I assumed you were-"

She was cut off when Dennis waved his arm suddenly, knocking her wand from her hand. It bounced off the concrete of the road and rolled somewhere in the shadows, lost. He smirked with satisfaction when he saw the confusion on Hermione's face morph into disbelief at his rather odd behavior, and then horror as she realized that he was the one who had been harassing her all this time. She froze, not knowing what to do.

"Dennis?" she began. He looked at her, his hand moving to the inside of his jacket. Her eyes darted to where his hand was now fiercely clenched around something. She knew what was going to happen next. Her heart pumping adrenaline in her system, she did the only thing that seemed logical to do at the time. She ran.

Now dashing into a narrow alleyway, she could feel her legs begin to tire out. She needed to think fast. She threw her purse to the floor, its contents spewing about everywhere. Hermione almost smiled with satisfaction when she heard a loud thump behind her, indicating that he had probably tripped and fell on something that had spilled out of her purse. She looked back while running to make sure that he had fallen down. Unfortunately, she did not see the compact mirror that had flew out into her path. Catching her heel on it, she stumbled once more, falling into a mud patch by the dumpster nearby.

Hermione looked up from her fall, glaring angrily as she saw Dennis walk slowly up to her, clearly unharmed. Wandless, knowing that she did not have much time left, and not knowing what his intentions were, she made a last attempt to save herself. She fumbled under her robes, drawing out a Galleon that was tied around a thin, gold chain. Rubbing it quickly with her thumb, she hoped that any member from the D.A. still carried their Galleon around.

"It's all Harry's fault," Dennis suddenly said. Hermione pretended not to hear him, and pulled herself off the ground. "My brother is gone, and it's his fault. My brother will never get the chance to grow up, have a family…" he trailed off. Catching a glimpse of silver glinting in the faint moonlight, he grabbed her hand and pulled it roughly towards him, eyeing the engagement ring on her finger. "My brother was robbed of his chance to start anything with anyone, to one day present to the woman he loved a ring like this," he spat, roughly snatching the ring off of her finger and throwing it to the ground in disgust. "You don't deserve that chance either."

He stopped talking abruptly, and put a hand into his pocket, retrieving a glowing gold coin. Hermione realized in horror that Dennis was one of the members that had a D.A. coin with him.

"One desperate call for help?" he sneered. She remained silent, not missing the sudden flash of fear in his eyes as he realized that others must have felt the burn of the coin as well. He was about to say something else when they both heard the unmistakable loud crack of apparation, followed by quick footsteps approaching the alleyway.

"Blimey Harry, I knew I shouldn't have let her go alone," Hermione heard Ron's frantic voice somewhere ahead. She glanced at Dennis, certain that he had heard his voice too. A bright light washed up on the two in the alleyway, and Hermione almost cried in relief. Ron had come for her. She was going to be saved.

A shot rang out, followed by a loud thud. Hermione fell to the floor once more, blood blossoming through her robes, blending with the deep burgundy that she wore. Dennis had pulled out a gun from under his coat and shot at her ribcage, puncturing her lung. Her breath caught as blood began to bubble in her airway.

"Oh Merlin," she heard Harry exclaim. He certainly knew what a gunshot sounded like. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes were Ron's tattered shoes running towards her, and heard a hex being shouted, followed by a bright light aimed towards Dennis. She heard him fall beside her in a crumpled heap. Her eyes fluttered back open as adrenaline shot through her as fear settled in her mind. Scrambling, she pushed herself up on her elbows and gestured to Ron to help her stand up. Just as Ron wrapped his strong hands around her arms, helping her gain some balance, she felt a cold barrel being pressed into her back.

"Ron," Hermione gasped, trying to tell him. Ron looked at Dennis, seeing the mad expression on his face as his finger was about to pull the trigger.

"NO!" Ron's roar was followed by a loud, bloodcurdling scream as another shot rang out.