Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even an effing pair of decent nickers! Good lord! This stupid disclaimer is making me depressed…..*sigh*….

It was a normal day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Ron and Harry discussing Quidditch, as Hermione did their homework, as well as her own. It was close to a foot of parchment for Bin's Boring History, yet Hermione seemed to enjoy it.

"There's no possible way you could agree with Cho on this one Harry!" growled Ron, in an almost "How-Could-You!?" sort of tone.

"Well, I don't know. The Tornados just seem to be doing better than the Canons," Harry saw the look on Ron's glowing red face of utter confusion mixed with disgust. It was steadily getting brighter. "Well, don't get me wrong," he said quickly, " the Canons are excellent. But they're not the best at Quidditch," said Harry. After the purplish color that Ron's face had turned, Harry realized what a mistake it was saying it.

"Fine, you know what?" said Ron angrily, his face now resembling an egg plant. Ron picked up the parcel of unfinished homework from Hermione, realized she was in the middle of writing a new paragraph, in - obviously - the smallest writing she could conger, and he slammed it back down in front of her. "I'm going to bed! G' night Hermione." Ron stormed up the stairs.

Hermione sighed, "You two never learn. If you only just listened--"

"--I cant listen to Ron when he's so… so…" Harry had trouble thinking of a word to describe Ron and Quidditch, "So close-minded!" he finished heatedly. Hermione looked at him, obviously insulted that he had not let her finish what she was going to say.

"Not Ron! I mean, come on. No one can listen to him when he's yelling! Trust me," said Hermione, looking at the steps to the boys dormitory, as if she was worried that he would suddenly appear, and have heard every word she had just said.

"Then who?" asked Harry. Hermione never answered. "Hermione, who should I listen to?" he said urgently. Harry knew something was up. Hermione , Harry's fluffy haired friend, had been acting strangely for the past week. He thought it might have been Christmas Break that had gotten to her, but he wasn't sure why that would have done anything strange.

"Hermione, tell me. I cant listen to them if I don't know who you're talking about," he said, leaning over to attempt to see beneath her hair, which was falling in every direction over her face.

Hermione curled her toes in her shoes, and bit her lip nervously. She tilted her head up from the piece of unevenly cut parchment, and closed her eyes, as if listening hard for something in the distance.

"No one, never mind," she said, after a few seconds of no movement. Harry looked at her, almost afraid.

She would tell me if something was up, thought Harry. she's a smart girl. She knows a bad sign when she sees…well…hears one.

Hermione tilted her head back to the parchment on her lap. Harry stood almost so slowly that it was painful in his thighs, as if he was hoping she would suddenly snap and spill her guts out to him about what was going on.

By the time he was standing straight up, she had said nothing, and had stopped flipping hastily through the very thick book that had been on her lap, giving her quill support as she wrote.

"Well, I'll just…I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." said Harry, as he patted her on the shoulder. She didn't move. It seemed to Harry as though Hermione didn't know he had even moved out of his chair. Her eyes where fixed thoughtfully on the tip of the parchment on her lap.

Harry reached the stone steps that lead to the boys dormitory, and took a quick look back to Hermione, alone in the Common Room. She looked up from her lap as though she heard Harry calling her name.

"Oh, where are you going?" said Hermione with a baffled look on her face. Harry stared at her. He pointed to the boy's dormitory.

"I just told you. I'm going to bed…" Harry didn't move. He couldn't. He just had to wait for a reply.

"Oh, er--I must have-- er-- dozed off," she said quickly. Harry realized he was still pointing to the dormitory- his arm began to hurt -and dropped it back to his side. Harry turned and walked up the stone steps.

As he walked the stone, almost icy steps, he heard Hermione mumble something close to "Clans," but Harry had just closed the dormitory door, and decided it would have been awkward to open it again.

The room was dark and cold. Ron wasn't snoring, so Harry thought it safe to assume that he was just lying awake in bed.

"Ron, did you hear what Hermione just said?" asked Harry, into the darkness of the room. He tried to aim his whispering voice to the general direction that he assumed Ron's bed was in. Harry had forgotten the entire reason why Ron was up in bed early in the first place.

"Er… No, why?" said Ron, sounding a mixture of a bit woozy, and a bit angry. Apparently he had not forgotten.

"Because I asked her about why she was acting a bit…out of it.. And as I was waking up, I think I heard her say something like 'Clan,' but I didn't really hear, I guess," he said, looking at the blackness of where the floor would be. Not even the moon was out that night. Harry expected rainfall by morning.

"You mean, you think Hermione's a part of some kind of Cult? Or weird group that messes her brain up, Harry? Is that what you're telling me?" Ron sounded offended.

"I don't know what I'm trying to tell you, Ron. I don't know, I mean, it is a possibility, right? I don't doubt there's one here in Hogwarts," he said, as he slipped into bed, cloths still on.

"But Harry, this is Hermione we're talking about! Not Parvati or Lavender! Hermione's too smart to get mixed up in all that." Ron seemed pretty certain. Harry never answered. He stared up, not sure what to think.

A/N: Will write more if I get good reviews! PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks! J