Hi, this is my first fic and I'm a little out of practice at the moment. All reviews welcome!

Hermione's POV

I looked up from Hogwarts: A History to check the time. Instead of seeing the familiar aged face of the dusty grandfather clock near the entrance to the Griffindor common room, my eyes met with the rather disturbing image of Lavender snogging Ron. If it could be called snogging. What they were doing looked more like a face battle to me. I looked back at my book, trying to ignore what atrocities were going on right next to me.

As soon as I was fully buried in my reading I felt at home. All ill feelings seemed to melt away, like eating hot soup when you have a cold. People always stared at me when I read, whispering to their friends about my seemingly weird habit. The truth is, reading was more than a habit to me. It was an escape. Every page held some new information for me to read and tuck away into my head. It didn't feel like a hinderence, it was a help. It made me stronger, gave me weapons to fight with. Knowledge was and is my weapon.

"Hey 'Mione" I recognised Ron's voice, I'd know it anywhere. It sounded quiet.

"Hey." I replied stiffly without looking up. There was a pause, an empty silence between us.

"Look, I wanted you to know that umm, Lavender and me..."

"Lavender and I" I corrected him. Glancing up to his blue-grey eyes and instantly regretting it as a dull ache settled in my chest. I looked back down as soon as I could without looking like my neck had snapped.

Yes, yes...Lavender and I. Well we don't want.. well, Lavender doesn't want us to really...He trailed off.

"Excuse me?"

"Lavender doesn't want me to be around other girls anymore so.."

"You're kidding me, Lavender is asking you to tell me that she doesn't want us to be friends anymore. Ron that's absolutely ridiculous." I slammed Hogwarts: A History shut with a dull thud, a puff of dust filling the air. I stood up from the red and gold armchair I'd been sat in, to look Ron in the eye, only to find out that after a considerable growth spurt he was now a good head taller than me. "Ron, tell me, tell me what you want. Not what she's telling you to want."

"Well, I want us to..." He paused.

"Won-Won" I heared Lavender whine from across the common room. She dashed over and shortly kissed Ron on the mouth. "Have you told her yet?" She asked, looking directly and Ron and ignoring my presence.

"Look Lavender, I think Ron can speak for his own mind and he hasn't said that he doesn't want me around."

"What is that supposed to mean?"Lavender turned to look at me.

"I get the feeling that Ron is getting forced into saying this."

"By whom?" Lavender's voice went up an octave, her eyebrows disappeared into her blonde hairline.

"By you of course. Who else would force Ron into saying something so stupid." I regretted saying that as soon as it slipped from my lips. I wanted to avoid conflict at all costs and the comment sounded petty and childish.

"How dare you say such a.. a..." Lavender trailed off. She took two large strides toward me and drew her wand on me, pointing it directly at my chest. The whole common room turned around to watch the big showdown. I smiled in Lavender's face. I knew that not retaliating would drive her nuts.

"Put the wand down Lavender, you'll hurt yourself" I tried not to sound angry, but I couldn't help having a stern tone to my voice.

The pause that haunted the common room was deafening. "Well, even though this conversation was so...interesting, I have work that needs doing so I'll just go finish it in the Library." I started towards the arch that was the portrait of the fat lady. However before I could get there, I heard Lavender shout,

"You're just jealous, mudblood."

The whole room erupted with calls of 'woah Lavender calm down' and 'too far, girl' . I turned around to face her, my anger bubbling to the surface. I reached for my wand in my right Jean pocket only to find that it wasn't there, I'd left it on the arm of the chair I was just sat on. I tried to calm down, but to no avail.

The whole room suddenly went quiet. The common room seemed to be acting of it's own accord. The fire had gone out, the radio had lost signal and the bookshelves were shaking. I noticed none of this because all of my focus was on how much I wanted to hurt Lavender. The whole of my brain seemed to have focused on one particular emotion: hate. A book whizzed off of one of the shelves and flew across the room, hitting Lavender's head. Blood splattered the members of the audience that had gathered and were stood next to Lavender as her head flew to the side. She passed out a few moments later. I snapped out of my hatred, realizing what had just happened.

All of a sudden I felt so tired. My eyes began to droop. I felt as if my blood had turned to sand. I, too, collapsed onto the common room floor.

.

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Preview of Chapter 2: Of Mirrors and Nightmares.

' I stood facing myself in a large arched mirror. All seemed normal apart from my reflection's school clothes were stained and ripped. There was a menacing glint in her eyes, but none of that worried me. What worried me most was when I looked down at my reflection's feet, I saw that she was standing on a pile of bodies.