Harry Potter 1. Trains and Letters

"Honestly Ron, you're being over dramatic."

"Hermione! You are going to sharing a dorm with god knows who wanting to do god knows what, for the entire year!"

"Ron, he'll be head boy, it's not going to be just anyone. It's not like it will be Malfoy or someone as equally repulsive." The group had just received their school letter and within Hermione's envelope was the news of her achieving the role of head girl. Everyone was witting around the table in the Burrow enjoying breakfast. The only sounds left after the argument between Ron and Hermione were the sounds of silverware on dishes, and the occasional rumpling of parchment.

No one seemed to talk much anymore, if you don't count the increasing number of pointless arguments. With Voldemort back rapidly gaining power things were changing everywhere. Harry and Hermione spent the majority of the summer at the Burrow because of the ministry protects. Mr. Weasley spent more time at the office than ever before, and summer couldn't end fast enough for everyone. The normally usual trip to Diagon Ally would be much different as well, originally only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to collect everyone's books and supplies, that was until it was realized almost everyone need new robes as well. For the first time, no one truly was looking forward to the trip and the look on Molly's face she was terrified of it.

"Stay together everyone, and remember to hold hands!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, as she hurried along the shops of Diagon Ally. "Do we have everything?" she questioned the group; she received several nods in response. "Good, off to the station then," she said as the group rounded a corner where a watering can was placed atop a pile of old Prophet. Everyone was quickly gathered around and simultaneously placed a hand on it and the familiar feeling pulled at them all as they were transported to King's Cross station.

Moments later, and after several goodbyes and tears from Mrs. Weasley the trio were making their way through the corridors of the train trying to locate an empty compartment.

"Seriously Ron, you can't still be upset over this whole thing!" Hermione said angrily after Ron had ignored three requests to pass her the book she left on the seat beside him. He had barely even acknowledged her since she opened the letter. "Can you please talk some sense into him Harry?"

"I have already tried but he won't listen to a word I say. Every time I even try to bring up the subject he either runs away or pretends to be sleeping. He even dropped to the floor in the middle of packing the other day." Hermione almost laughed as the image of Ron dropping to the floor entered her mind. Her and Harry continued to talk while Ron stared out the window, until a tawny owl appeared at the window nearly scaring the pants off Ron. Leaning across Ron, Hermione opened the window and let the owl in instantly untying the letter attached to its foot. It was addressed to Hermione in the familiar writing of Professor McGonagall.

_Dear Miss Granger, _

_Please forgive the tardiness of this letter, was intended to be sent along with you school letter. As part of the head girl duties you will be required to meet with the prefects and explain some of their duties to them. You and the head boy have both been prefects and already know and executed the duties well. Needs to meet in the first compartment, the others should have already received their letters. _

_Professor McGonagall_

After reading the letter Hermione handed it to Harry and started to rummage through her trunk finding her robes. Slipping them on over her clothes she turned to leave before something came to her. "Harry, do you suppose that with Dumbledore gone that McGonagall is the headmaster? Or would they have found someone else?" No one had really thought of that before. Everyone had tried to contain the thoughts of Dumbledore no longer being a part of Hogwarts anymore.

" I don't know, seems logical, but knowing the ministry and their crazy minds anything is possible." He handed her back the letter and Hermione pocketed it as she left the compartment.

The walk was much easier than earlier when the corridors were flooding with students trying to find a place to sit. As she walked to the front of the train Hermione thought about who could have been made head boy. No one that came to mind really seemed to fit the part. "well well, Granger out for a strole? Potty and Weasel not good enough company?" the sneering voice called from behind her.

"Piss off Malfoy." Somehow she managed to forget about him over the summer. She was genuinely surprised he was back to school after what happened last year. Hermione kept walking ignoring the continuing insults coming for the blondes mouth. Finally reaching the first compartment she could hear voices coming from inside, opening the doors she was shocked at the face staring back at her.


	2. Predicaments

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the idea...so far at least.

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Hermione and the head boy stared at each other as memories flooded Hermione's mind. In the fifth year when everyone thought that Harry had been lying about Voldemorts return, he spoke loudly and publicly in Harry and Dumbledore's support. Even when in their second year he believed Harry to be the Heir of Slytherin, Hermione had always known that his heart and loyalties were in the right place when he took the lead among the Hufflepuffs of his year in attempting to protect Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Should have known that they would make you head girl, Hermione," the stout boy stated without emotion.

"Why is it that everyone keeps saying that?" Hermione asked herself under her breath, but apparently not quiet enough because she had gotten an answer from the boy standing opposite her.

"Do you really have to ask, you're the brightest girl in our year, not to mention you're friends with Potter, so that probably gives you some privileges doesn't it?" Hermione was about to give the boy a piece of her mind when a silver cat with spectacle markings appeared in the middle of the room. Hermione instantly recognised it as Professor McGonagall's patronus.

"There is a stack of parchment in the overhead rack of this compartment, one for each of you. For the prefects, written upon it is a list of the tasks each of you are responsible for, as for the Heads, there is the information needed for you duties and how to get to your dormitory, do not leave it lying around. Keep the parchment with you, for the information is due to change when immediate actions are needed. Be cautious and keep everyone safe." With that the patronus disappeared. Someone had located the stack of parchment while the silver cat was still relaying its message and was passing them around the compartment. Hermione opened hers and started to read, by the time she was finished she looked up to see only one other person still in the compartment.

"Can you really believe that he is really gone? I mean things are going to be so different now." The Head boy was wearing a completely different expression than moments ago when she had stepped into the compartment.

"I know what you mean; I spent the whole summer trying to think about everything, but him. It seems like everything has changed, and yet everything still seems like nothing has happened. Anyways, I need to get back, promised Harry I would not be long. See you when we get to school I suppose." With that Hermione waved and walked out of the compartment and back down the corridor to where Harry and Ron were.

"Oh come on Harry, just let me have it!" Hermione stopped before sliding the door to the compartment open. "You could care less about the cards; you regularly make fun of me for collecting them."

"Ron, you are getting more worked up over a trading card than you were over the head girl thing." A loud thump sounded from inside the room, "Bloody hell, I barely said anything and you are still trying to pull this sleeping nonsense." Hermione stifled a giggle at the boys' pointless argument. "Okay fine then, guess the card can go for a fly out the window…"

"NO!" Harry burst into laughter as Ron practically tackled him when the window was not even open.

The boys were stuffing their faces with sweets when Harry opened a chocolate frog and Ron caught a glimpse at the trading card inside. The smiling face was owned by a wizard Harry didn't recognise but Ron was astonished and vibrating with excitement over it. Out of the thousands of cards in his collection, this was one of the few Ron did not have.

"Please can I just have it Harry? I'll stop being a git to Hermione, I'll even apologise." Knowing that it usually takes a life altering event for Ron to apologise to anyone, let alone Hermione, Harry handed the card to an eager Ron. Hermione took this opportunity to enter the compartment.

Ron was still grinning like a little kid on Christmas morning when Hermione walked in. When he saw her he jumped in surprise and nearly dropped the card to the floor. "Hermione! How long have you been out there?"

"Only as long as it took me to open the door," she explained sitting down beside the window. "Are you actually acknowledging my existence again?" Harry was looking at Hermione and could tell by the way she asked the question that she had been outside the compartment listening – therefore she was expecting an apology from Ron.

"I…uh…ow!" Ron shot a nasty look at Harry before continuing. "I'm sorry Hermione," He mumbled. "What was that?" "I said, I'm sorry Hermione, I was being a real jerk before."

"See, now was that really so hard?" Watching the scene unfold, Harry leaned against the window as Ron and Hermione once again worked through their pointless argument and continued with a normal conversation. He couldn't help but shake his head at how stubborn they both could be sometimes. At that moment Harry remembered that she still had not revealed who the Head boy was.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?' She giggled facing with her back to the window to talk to both boys.

"Hate to break up your mini reunion here, but you still haven't told us who the head boy is."

"Oh right! I rather forgot all about it. You will never guess - Malfoy?"

"Malfoy!?" The two boys yelled in unison.

"No no, he's standing behind you." It was then that they noticed she was looking in their direction, but not at them, a look of pure hated etched into her face. "What do you want Malfoy."

"The same thing Potty and Weasel here, to know who has to live so appallingly close to an annoying mudblood for an entire year." Hermione started to reach inside her robes for her wand, but Ron was surprisingly quicker and already had his wand pointed in Malfoy's face. "You really want to do that Weasel?" As if on cue Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and a few other Slytherins stood behind him.

"Back off Malfoy!"Harry warned, stepping forward and pushing Ron's wand to point downwards.

"You really that scared Potter?" Malfoy sneered in reply. "But you're supposed to be wonderboy, the-boy-who-lived, the chosen one, and all that shit. Why would you not protect her like your pathetic friend here? Maybe you're sleeping with her and if you do protect her everyone will somehow figure it out." The next few moments were nothing more than a blur for everyone. Harry brought his wand to Malfoy's pale throat, Hermione jumped forward to stop him, but she was stopped when a strong set of arms grabbed her around the waist.

"Let go of me Zabini, or i swear!" Hermione screamed, as she struggled to escape from his bruising hold. Malfoy only laughed and took the opportunity to stun Harry and Ron as they were distracted by Hermione's screams.

"You know, I wouldn't blame Potter if her was banging her," Blaise stated as he ran a rough finger down the side of her face. "I think she is hiding more than we think under these robes." Her struggles were renewed at this comment, and he strained to keep her steady.

"For crying out loud Blaise, she's a disgusting mudblood." Malfoy retorted with a sour look on his face. "Bloody hell, we're almost in Hogsmade already - well Granger," Draco spoke calmly as he moved close to her. The look in his cold, grey eyes sent a shiver of fear down her spine and she stopped her struggle with Zabini instantly. "I hope you keep your losers in line next time, or you might find youself in quite a predicament." To make his point he slapped her across the cheek, at the same instant Blaise released his grasp on her and she collapsed on the floor. Clutching her burning cheek, she watched the feet of the Slytherins stalked down the corridor as it rapidly filled with people readying to depart from the train.

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Sorry that it is once again so short everyone, and that it took me so long to get this up. I was kinda stuck for a while, then it came to me at 3 this morning on how to write the end. Please please please please let me know what you think, and not just the good stuff, i can't improve my writing without knowing what needs to be changed!! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as this one did to get written, i have stated it already.

--Haley

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	3. Worlds Shattered

This chapter has not been betaed, so please let me know if there are any major mistakes!!

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The clatter of dishes over raised voices filled the great hall. Jammed around the four house tables, students enjoyed the always fabulous feast, and caught up on the details of each others summers. Nothing really seemed to have changed from the previous years.

_How could Malfoy be let back into the school? Maybe his father paid of someone at the ministry to let him back in, but that couldn't work because his father was in Azkaban. Well maybe he has connections and has someone blackmailing others to get back in, there aren't any teachers in the school that would respond to blackmail though. There just has to be some way! Oh, maybe someone used an unforgivable spell to get him back in somehow, no that wouldn't work either. _In the midst of Hermione's thoughts she could feel eyes on her, when she looked up her eyes met with Ron and Harry's.

"Harry, Ron I really wish that you two would stop staring at me like that," Hermione stated, glancing up from her dinner, to see both boys sitting with plates heaping with food, however, neither had hardly been touched, since the two had just been watching her the entire meal. Ron had a clenched fist around his fork; without asking, Hermione knew the thoughts of revenge and pure hatred that were going through his mind.

"How can you say that?! Look at what they did to you; why haven't you covered it up yet?" Ron's voice cracked with emotion; as he tried to keep it low enough that the entire Great Hall would not hear.

Earlier, Ron and Harry were outraged at having becoming conscious to find their friend on the floor of the train compartment, in tears. Only a few moments passed before Hermione was broken away from her pain; forcing a mask to her show upon her face, clearing the emotion and tears. She looked around and noticed that Neville and Luna were standing in the doorway of the compartment with wands drawn. Harry and Ron picked themselves off the floor before each offering a hand to help up Hermione. At the time, there was nothing more than a red mark on her cheek, but the time before dinner it had gradually grown to a purple bruise and became swollen.

"I can't remember the spell exactly, and I am not trying something that I am not sure about on my face. I'll look it up as soon as we get upstairs." Giving them both a look that meant that was the end of the conversation, Hermione went back to her dinner. What the boys did not know was that she remembered the spell perfectly, memorizing it in their second year. However, she would never tell them that, because then she would have to explain that she could not find her wand anywhere. That meant that someone else had it, or it vanished into thin air, she quickly glared at the Slytherin table to find Draco glaring just as intently in her direction. The look in his eyes gave her goosebumps and she quickly turned her attention back to eating. It was then that Hermione noticed that she didn't really have an appetite, and by the looks of Harry and Ron's plates, neither did they.

A few minutes passed painfully slow, but soon the trio heard the voices of the crowd within the Great Hall begin to die down. Looking up at the front of the hall, Ron saw Professor McGonagall standing at the podium, the same podium Dumbledor made his regular beginning of term speech. Low murmurs began to rumble throughout the student body, as they discussed what seemed to be the obvious new Head of the school. It was Hermione who noticed that something was off. McGonagall looked as though she was waiting for something, or possibly someone. Scanning the row of teachers she saw no one amiss, other than Professor Snape, but that was to be expected given the events of the year before.

Clearing her throat the murmurs died off, "I would like to welcome everyone to another year. I hope this year will bee as enjoyable as those that have passed. But be warned, many things have changed; the same rules from the previous years are till in effect, along with some additions. There will be absolutely no tolerance for students being out of their dorms after hours, as well as the curfew being at an earlier hour. To reinforce these rules, we welcome our new Head Boy and Girl, Miss Hermione Granger," at her name being called Hermione stood slightly to make herself seen. "Along with Mr. Ernie Macmillan." As he stood much in the same fashion as Hermione, Ron opened his mouth to comment, but before any vibrations from his vocal chords began the doors to the Great Hall slammed open with a deafening echo. All eyes shifted to the doorway where the tall figure draped in billowing black robes that was easily recognizable as Professor Snape standing in the doorway. Not a breath was heard as Snape stalked to the front of the Great Hall, his robes trailing behind him. When he reached where Professor McGonagall was standing Harry noticed the look of victory Snape shot in her direction before she stepped back.

"As new Headmaster of Hogwarts things will be changing, it's the start of year, a new age, an age of darkness." Looking over at the Slytherin table Hermione spotted Malfoy with an all knowing smirk on his face. She knew that there had to be a reason as to how he was let back into the school this year, Snape being headmaster explained that perfectly. "One of the first things to change is attendance to this school. From this very moment it has become mandatory, by wizarding law, for all underage witches or wizards to attend Hogwarts. Any witch or wizard choosing to defy this law will be found and will face consequences for such an act."

Looking around there hall Ron could not see a any other expression than shock or fear, even the Slytherins seemed to share those expressions. Looking at Hermione he felt a pang in his chest wondering what was going to happen to those who are muggle-born in the school.

Snapes speech continued on for several minutes, as he was finishing the dishes and food on the tables disappeared, but when they were are normally replaced with colourful, heavenly smelling deserts, nothing appeared. Not knowing what to do, many of the students, including all the Prefects, looked to Hermione and Ernie for guidance. Seeing the answers to their question upon their faces, slowly the students in the great hall began to rise from their seats and make their way to their respected Houses, with the Prefects leading the lost and terrified first years.

Hermione had never heard the passages and staircases so quiet; even when there were only a few students around, with the entire student body filling these areas it was a true representation of the fear gripping each student. Hermione felt absolutely naked and useless without her wand, throughout the bustle she tried to find the blond head of the Slytherin she suspected was currently in possession of it. Giving up, guessing that he was down in the dungeons already, she pushed along a few crying Hufflepuff first years.

The students found their way in record time, Hermione, being one of the last students in the halls, she made her way to the head dormitories on the fourth floor. The hair on the back of her neck seemed to be standing on end the entire time. Taking caution when she came across dark alcoves and corners, she was only a few feet away when a figured appeared from the shadows.

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Thats right everyone! An update!! I know it has been like forever and a day, I have had alot of stuff going on, and alot of problems with keeping my ideas going for this fic, i know the chapter still kinda sucks and im worry, but i am already started on the next one and hopefully it will be finished soon!! Please let me know what you think!! Good and bad


	4. In The Dark

A tall body leaned against the stone wall, with arms crossed and the right leg bent at the knee, foot resting flat against the wall. Even in the dark, she could see the head with dark hair was not facing her; their head was bent down and seemed to be looking at the floor. Paralyzed with fear, Hermione tried to think, but knowing that she did not have her wand she began to panic. Maybe she had not been noticed yet, and she could go back the direction she came, she had not made much noise walking down the corridor.

She took a few steps backward, not taking her eyes off the figure, her heart beating so loudly that she thought it was nearly impossible for the other person not to hear it. Just as she was about to turn the corner the figure spoke, "You know, Mudblood, you really should be more careful walking around deserted corridors from now on." The voice echoed throughout the corridor and Hermione was once again frozen, she screamed at her brain to allow her limbs to move, for her to scream, anything, but nothing happened.

Using his foot to push himself casually off the wall, Blaise stalked towards the frozen Hermione, "I thought only a curse would keep you that still, not to mention that quiet!" He laughed evilly as the battle between Hermione's brain and body still fought.

When he was only a few feet away from Hermione — her body finally won the battle, she took off in a run around the corner, and back down the corridor, from which she had originally come. She only got a few meters; before a strong arm grabbed her around the waist and slammed her into the cold stone wall. Pushing against Blaise's strong, solid, body with every ounce of strength she could muster did nothing but give him cause to laugh. As she was about to scream out in fear and frustration, a large, but amazing soft, hand clamped over her mouth and muffled the noise. This only caused Hermione's panic to rise and the adrenaline coursing through her body helped her in her struggle against him, she quickly bit into the hand preventing her from screaming. This caused Blaise to curse loudly, giving Hermione the chance to slip from his grasp, if only for a mere second before she found his hard body on top of hers as he tackled her to the ground.

"Just think of this little moment as a welcome back gift," Blaise smirked when the small body paused in her struggle beneath him. "There are going to be many things you will need to get used to this year, and having some respect for Purebloods will be one of them!" The anger rose in his voice, as he spoke the last bit.

"What do you want Zabini?" Hermione's nerves finally calming slightly, as her thoughts started to rationalize again. "Do you think that you are not going to pay for this later on? What if someone were to walk around that corner right now, or a teacher?" Seeing his eyes dart up to the corner she spoke of, she knew that she had hit a nerve. Losing his concentration briefly gave Hermione the chance to grab into his robes for his wand, but in a way that she hoped he would not notice, giving him the impression that it was her own wand, that she held.

When she brought the wand to his throat, she heard his breath catch and his body stiffen. "Let me up Blaise and I won't stun you." Blaise seemed as though he was going to comply, but that only lasted a moment before a smirk made its way back onto his face.

"You think that you can stun me with my own wand, Mudblood? Wouldn't it be easier to do it with a wand that you know will work properly for you? But you don't know where yours is do you?" Snatching his wand from her small hand and moving his face frighteningly close to hers, so that his mouth was right at her ear. "You know Granger, that bruise looks good on you," roughly grabbing her face, he ran his thumb over the swollen purple bruise on her cheek from earlier that night, bringing tears to her eyes. "Threaten me again Mudblood and you will be getting more than a simple bruise."

She watched as he walked back down the corridor towards the staircases. Hermione waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps before sitting up and bringing her knees to her chest, letting the tears fall freely now. She stayed in that position for what seemed like eternity, before getting up and walking slowly towards the portrait that lead to the Heads common room.

Pausing before entering, she wiped the tears from her face and tried to straighten her robes, but it was a lost cause. Taking a deep breath, she climbed though the hole with hopes that Ernie had already gone to sleep. To her dismay, he sat at the chair by the fireplace with a book in his hands. He looked up from his book at the noise of her entrance, and in an instant, he was next to her. "Merlin Hermione! What happened to you? Are you alright? Who did this?" As the questions flowed from his mouth he led her over to the chair he had just been occupying.

Looking her up and down, taking in her torn robes and scraped arms, he could only imagine what had happened to her. When he looked back into her face it was like stone, no emotion was showing through the mask she has once again drawn over her face. "I am fine Ernie, I promise, may I please use you wand? I gave mine to Ron earlier tonight, and forgot to get it back from him when we parted ways." Not really believing her, he handed his wand over anyways. She did a few simple charms to mend her robes and then walked to her room where she had a mirror to begin the charms to conceal the scrapes and bruises on her body, as well as the bruise on her face. When she was satisfied with her work, she walked back to the fire where Ernie was still standing and handed his wand back.

With a muttered thank you and good night, Hermione made her way back to her room and closed the door softly behind her. It was not until she had changed and was curled up in her bed that the tears began to fall again.

What did Blaise want in the first place? He had barely spoken to her the entire time they had been in school together. Why had she been so stupid to lose her wand? Why on earth could she not defend herself, even though her life depended on it? The questions filled her mind as she drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Down in the dungeons, in the Slytherin common room, Blaise was entering twirling his wand around his finger with a triumphant smirk plastered on his face. His smirk was not unlike that of Draco's, but the warmer, tanned tone in Blaise's skin and the dark shade of his hair made the smirk have an entirely different effect. "Where the bloody hell were you Blaise?" Draco asked in an almost bored tone, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Just having a little back to school fun, why do you care anyway?" Blaise flopped down on one of the chairs close to the crackling fire, draping his legs over the arm to face the blond haired boy.

"You know our orders Zabini; we can't cause her any irreversible harm, not yet at least. Everything we do has to stay fairly low key. Otherwise, those bone head friends of hers will get too suspicious and we will have a lot harder of a time carrying out the plan." Draco looked Blaise directly in the eye as he said these words, making sure they sunk in.

Blaise was known for losing his temper, and losing control of a situation due to giving into raw emotions. For that reason, Draco had to keep an eye on him, and did not like him causing trouble when there was no one around to supervise, and pull him out when it was needed.

"By the way, I think that it will be a little obvious if the Mudblood shows up to classes tomorrow without a wand." Nodding to Blaise in agreement, Draco pulled out the vine wood wand from his robes. Sighing, he got up and walked towards the portrait to make his way to the owlery, he did not feel like being killed when he gave it back to her. Chuckling at Draco's whistling as he walked, Blaise made his way to bed.

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Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed this story this far. I am really happy that this is my second update within a month!! woot woot.

I am not really a fan of this chapter, it didnt really seem to have a point, but it had to be there... If you guys could please review and let me know how i am doing, or if you have anything suggestions, or anything you wanna see in the story. I looove hearing from you guys, it makes writing so much more enjoyable.

At the moment I am considering dropping the story, so please let me know if you want me to keep going with it!!

This is becoming longer than the chapter!! woopsy, now go review!! :P


	5. Nightmares

Hermione awoke in the middle of the night to the annoying sound of something tapping on her window. Grumbling she opened one eye and rolled over, looking at her window she saw an eagle owl, in its talons was her wand. Jumping out of bed she ran to the window to let the owl in. Instead of the owl flying into her room through the open window like most owls would, it merely dropped her wand just inside the window and flew off into the night.

Leaning down, Hermione picked up her wand and walked back to her queen sized bed. Her room was not overly elegant, but it was more than what she was used to in the girls dormitory in Gryffindor tower. It was decorated in her red and gold with a four poster bed, and a fireplace with only a small chair in front of it. The best part about the whole room was that it was hers and hers alone, that pleased Hermione to no end.

Hermione sat on the edge of her bed looking at her wand for several minutes, she couldn't quite figure out why he had given it back to her without a fight. She knew the owl was Malfoy's, she had seen it many times before. Maybe he had cursed her wand somehow, she thought to herself, turning it over in her small hands. Making a decision she walked to the door on the other side of her room that led to the bathroom.

Looking at herself in the mirror she lightly touch the bruise that was still darkening on her cheek, however, even that smallest touch caused her to wince. Taking her wand she recited the healing incantation that she had claimed to have forgotten earlier that night at dinner. Instantly the bruise vanished. She touched the spot where it had just been but still winced as a sharp pain shot through her cheek, well at least the physical evidence is gone she sighed to herself as she turned back to the door to return to the warmth of her bed.

Tossing and turning Hermione fell into a fitful sleep. Not long and her mind began recreating images behind her moving eyes.

_Walking to potions Hermione struggles to keep her books balanced in her arms. She had decided to skip lunch and go to the library to study, but she left track of time and didn't have the time to before class started to bring her books back up to her dormitory. Just as she turned a corner, a second year Slytherin barreled into her, knocking her and all her books to the ground. He however remained on his feet and continued on his way down the corridor. Grumbling Hermione began to collect her books from the floor. Noticing a classroom a little ways down the corridor and idea occurred to her, she decides to leave her books there until the end of her potions class. The class room she knew would be empty, just as it was every other afternoon during potions. But when she opened the large wooden door the room was not empty. Hearing voices she paused in the doorway, but she loses her footing after the sudden stop and hits the door which bangs into the wall. _

_Before it disappeared Hermione saw the face of Bellatrix Lestrange in the fireplace across the room. Draco spun on his heal and the look in his eye told Hermione that she should get out of that room and fast. Turning to leave she drops her books, but she is not fast enough. Draco was already in front of her and slammed the door shut. With him standing between her and her escape she began to slowly backup. _

"_What are you doing here Mudblood?"_

"_I was looking for a temporary place to keep my books, Malfoy. Now, will you please move so that I can get to class, a class that you are also going to be late for." _

_Advancing forward Draco could see the fear beginning to appear in her honey coloured eyes. He was not his usual self, she could see the real anger in the way he moved and even in the way he spoke, he was genuinely angry, and that scared her. Moving quickly around one of the desks she tries to go around him to the door but fails, his strong arm clasps around her stomach..._

Hermione sat bolt upright in her bed, sweating from head to toe and gasping for air; she was shaking as she wrapped her quilt tightly around herself. Why would she dream about something that had happened a year ago? Did it have something to do with what happened with Blaise last night? Looking out her window she could see the sun rising, instead of going back to sleep she decided to get up and shower. Walking across her room to her trunk she pulled out her robes and uniform and grabbed her bag with her shower things and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

At breakfast Hermione remained uncharacteristically quiet; if Ron and Harry noticed, they never said a work about it. Moving food around her plate she could feel someone looking at her, she looked over to the Slytherin table, but no one was looking even close to her direction. Still feeling the stare she looked over to the Hufflepuff table and met the gaze of Ernie. He had a funny look in his eye, like he knew something but felt bad the he knew. Ignoring this Hermione turned back to her breakfast and the Daily Prophet.

The night before when Hermione had entered the Common Room, Ernie had been sitting by the fire reading. She looked completely shaken, despite her best efforts to appear as though nothing was wrong. He had noticed how her robes were slightly askew and that her hair was messier than it had been during dinner. Stories started spinning off in his head as to what must have happened, but he did not even think that she had noticed him sitting there, so he never bothered to ask her if she was alright.

Near dawn he had heard her cry out as she woke up from a nightmare, with her door to the bathroom opened, he could hear almost every ragged breath and movement as she calmed herself. He knew that she normally woke up early, but not very early, so when he heard the shower at five o'clock in the morning Ernie knew something had to be wrong. Being too much of a chicken he didn't pry, but couldn't keep his eyes from trailing towards her all through breakfast; trying to read the troubled look on her face.

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I am really sorry that it has taken me so long to update.... again.... lol It was not really betaed, juts a little bit as I was writing it. Let me know what you think and like always I want the good and the bad.


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