A/N: HEY GUYS. FIRST CHAPTER MIGHT SEEM A BIT WEIRD TO YOU BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL TO THE DRAMATIC ENDING OF MY STORY SO BEAR WITH ME, YOU WON'T REGRET IT :D ENJOY X

Chapter 1: Late Night Wander

Hermione glanced around the stuffy Gryffindor common room and had no trouble in spotting various couples sharing 'romantic moments' in the corners of the room and realised she was one of the only girls without a boyfriend. She suddenly felt a surge of jealousy as she nestled her eyes on Ron and Lavender giggling and kissing by the roaring fire.

"Hey, Hermione!" Came the voice of Harry, just behind the armchair on which she was sitting.

"Hiya Harry." Hermione replied wearily. It was getting late but Hermione still had homework to complete.

Harry was just about to open his mouth to ask Hermione a question when she butted in saying:

"Yes, I will check over your charms essay if you wish."

"How did you know I was going to ask you to do that?" Harry scoffed.

"Well..." Hermione replied, "It's become a bit of a routine hasn't it. All you want to do is go off with Ginny and let me do all the work." Hermione laughed, she didn't really mind for Harry was one of her best friends but still, she would much rather get on with her own homework or even better, find a certain someone to spend some time with.

Harry gratefully handed over his unfinished essay into Hermione's outstretched hands but before he could even utter a word of thanks, Ginny entered the room swiftly, skipped along to Harry, took hold of his arm and guided him to an empty armchair. Harry and Ginny frequently visited that armchair and Hermione and Parvati had got into the habit of calling it 'The Armchair of Love'.

Hermione reached into her robe pocket and fished out her neatly-folded time table. She scanned down the list of lessons for the following day and realised that she and Harry didn't even have Charms that day.

"Oh well, this essay can be left until tomorrow." Hermione thought gladly. She rose from her comfortable armchair and made her way to the 6th year girl's dormitories for a well earned rest.

However, Hermione did not get the rest she thoroughly needed.

It was around three o'clock in the morning when she first heard the noise. Hermione weakly opened her sleepy eyes and nearly jumped out of her skin in fright of the tiny house elf that was huddled against the dormitory door, weeping into her dirty rags and clutching her left arm.

"Excuse me?" Hermione whispered.

No reply came.

Again, Hermione spoke to the elf, this time, raising her voice slightly higher.

"Excuse me? Are you okay?"

"Misses, did Tupsy wake you up?" The elf whined, her eyes wide with fear.

"No! No, don't worry about that... Tupsy." Hermione replied calmly. "I was awake anyway."

"Tupsy don't mean to make noise Misses but she has hurted herself a bit but she does not want to make a big fuss about it." The elf whimpered.

Tupsy tried her hardest to hoist herself up onto the fluffy carpet but Hermione was sympathetic towards the elf and reassured her that it would be no trouble at all if she stayed in the room and discussed her problem.

"Are you hurt?" Asked Hermione quietly, trying to keep her voice down as not to wake up any of her class mates.

"Yes Misses. Tupsy's arm is broken I fink." Replied the elf, obviously trying to suppress a scream of pain.

"Would you like me to take you to the hospital wing so Madam Pomfrey can mend your arm?" Enquired Hermione.

"Tupsy will not be allowed to enter such a place!" Moaned Tupsy.

"Why not? That's disgraceful!" Hermione said, flabbergasted.

"We house elves are treated like dirt! We have to tend to our injuries ourselves. It is a rule for house elf enslavement that humans must never help an elf as it is considered as human slavery. If such a rule is broken, we will have to be given clothes!" Tupsy sounded very serious and frightened.

"So, I can't even help you then?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"No you cannot Misses." Said the elf sadly.

"How long will it take for your arm to get better then?"

"Only a week or so, I must use say a spell everyday but after that my arm will be fine."

And with that, Tupsy got up and ambled out of the room.

I need to do something about this. Thought Hermione to herself.

She leapt out of bead and ran over to her chest of drawers. She looked inside every single drawer but could not find what she was looking for.

Then she remembered.

"It's at Hagrid's!"

Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 4:10.

OH WELL, HAGRID SHOULD FORGIVE ME !

And without thinking twice, the young witch left the Gryffindor common room, ran down the steps leading to the exit of the castle, making sure she stayed hidden in the shadows in case Filch or Mrs Norris spotted her.

She gently grabbed hold of the oak door, pulled it open and placed her feet on the cold slate surrounding Hogwarts.

After a five minute walk, Hermione came to a halt outside Hagrid's enormous, wooden hut. The chimney was still billowing out smoke so there was a slight chance that Hagrid was awake.

She knocked on the door.

"WHA' THE BLAZIN' 'ELL DO YOU WANT AT THIS TIME EH?" Was the reaction of Hagrid as he saw Hermione standing in front of him after he had forcefully swung open his heavy door.

"Hagrid, I am so sorry! I came to ask you a favour and I need it done now!"

"You better come on in then." Hagrid replied gruffly.

Hermione explained to Hagrid about the thing she had lost and after a tiring half hour of searching, Hermione left the cabin holding just the thing she needed.

Without any trouble at all, she re-entered the common room, but instead of going back up to bed, Hermione sat down on a chair near a table and placed her box of badges down on the cold wood.

She fiddled with a badge then sighed to herself and said:

"I never thought I would go back to spew."