This is my first HP FanFic, so please be gentle. :)

Everything belongs to JK Rowling.

"No! NO! STOP! NOOO!.."

"Hermione! Hermione wake up!" Ginny Weasley cried as she shook Hermione awake for the fourth time that week.

Hermione Granger jolted upright in bed momentarily confused as to where she was and who was shaking her. "Ginny?" she said as she focused on the source of the shaking "What are you doing?"

"Hermione. You were screaming again." Ginny whispered not exactly looking at Hermione.

"Oh." Hermione mumbled also looking away "Thanks for waking me."

"Hermione? Are you sure you're ok?" Ginny asked her, finally looking directly into her face. She was shocked at what she saw. There were huge bags under Hermione's eyes, she was very pale, and her eyes were dead and lifeless.

"Ginny. For the last time. I am fine. Please. Stop asking, and if you don't mind I need to get ready for breakfast." Hermione said shortly pushing past a worried Ginny.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley waited impatiently in the Gryffindor common room for Hermione. They were grumbling something about how long girls take to get ready when Hermione came stumbling down stairs. They both looked up, annoyed, when she walked in until they got a good look at her. She looked downright ill.

"Blimey, Hermione. You look like death." Ron said with his usual tact.

"Gee, Ron. Please. Don't hold your opinions back." Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to go to breakfast." And with that, she stalked off and out of the portrait.

Ron and Harry looked at one another, shrugged, followed her out of the common room.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, there were four people observing her at breakfast that morning.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny were watching her discreetly with concern as she pushed her food around on her plate with her hand in her head, as though she couldn't hold it up by itself.

Up at the teachers table Severus Snape was also watching Hermione, curious. Normally at breakfast, that silly Granger girl had her head in a book, or was having an animated conversation with Weasley about something or other. However, this morning she appeared to not even be able to stay awake. "Curious." He thought.

Hermione heard Harry and Ron whispering about her as they made their way to potions that morning, but, she was too tired to care.

She slid into a table at the front of the class so that she could escape the Ron and Harry, and so that she could be by herself. Snape noticed this action, and was once again mildly curious as to what was wrong with Granger.

He set them brewing a Dreamless Sleep potion and swept back up to his desk at the front of the class, which was also directly in front of Hermione's table. He watched her inconspicuously throughout the class. She looked like she was about to drop on the spot. "Stupid girl." He thought to himself. "She was probably up all night reading book after book so that she could continue being the obnoxious know-it-all that she is."

Snape's thoughts were interrupted as a loud bang echoed around the classroom. His head whipped up expecting to see a singed and terrified looking Neville Longbottom staring back at him. Instead, it was Granger's cauldron that had blown up. She was staring into its depth as though she didn't understand what had just happened.

"10 points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, and a zero for the day, I think. " He sneered. "Everyone who has managed to not blow up their assignment bottle it, and bring it to the front." He snapped at everyone else.

Hermione couldn't believe what had just happened. Never had she ever done anything that stupid before. However, even now she was having trouble concentrating on what was going on around her. The hustle and bustle of everyone trying to turn in their potion and cleanup was starting to grow fuzzy. "Oh no. Not now." She thought as she felt the blackness consume her and everything went dark…

Snape was waiting for everyone to clear out when he heard someone shout "Hermione!"

He looked around in time to see Hermione Granger fall to the ground, unconscious...

Please, review, be nice, and tell me what you think. :)