Hermione woke abruptly. She pushed back the hangings of her four poster bed and peered at the clock.

6:24

Might as well get up, she thought. She wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway. Brushing her tangled hair out of her eyes, she reached over to grab her wand. Hermione whispered, "Lumos," and started reading a Muggle book about twins. Ron would certainly tease her if she found out she was reading it, so she saved it for reading in the dorm.

6:53

Hermione smoothed the collar down of her shirt. She paused from reorganizing her bag

to survey the room. Lavender and Parvati were starting to stir. Ginny had pushed her hangings open and was brushing her hair sleepily while sitting cross legged on the bed. Khloe propped up a book on the dresser and was reading while pulling her hair up. Morgan and Moniciah had gotten dressed as fast as possible and rushed out the door, whispering angrily.

Hermione sighed. If they wanted to be that way.

She continued to organize her bag, making sure she had enough quills. Finally, when

Ginny was dressed she asked, "Ready?"

Ginny said, "Yeah. Khloe, coming?"

"Yeah, one sec."

Hermione didn't want Khloe to come to breakfast with her. It was always awkward if she

tried to sit with Morgan or Moniciah. But today, she probably wouldn't anyway. Grabbing their bags, Hermione, Ginny, and Khloe left Lavender and Parvati, promising to meet them in the Great Hall.

Breakfast was quite uneventful. Morgan or Moniciah didn't turn up, so Lavender was

gossiping to Ginny about where they could be.

"No, they can't have left breakfast already. We only got here five minutes after they did!

Lavender said animatedly.

Hermione shrugged and flipped the page of her book. "Maybe they ate fast." She glanced up at Harry and Ron a few yards down the table. They were arguing lightheartedly. Probably about Quidditch, Hermione sighed.

When they had finished their cereal, all five of them sprinted back up to Gryffindor Tower to brush their teeth.

First class was a History of Magic for Hermione. Ginny and Khloe had different classes so Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender all departed for the fourth floor.

"Khloe just told me that Moniciah was talking to Professor McGonagall," Parvati opened the gossip conversation.

"Oh, gosh– wait. Why Moniciah? She had no part in this!" Lavender exclaimed.

Hermione added, "No, she really didn't. Moniciah wasn't even there for most of the drama."

"That's not fair. It's like two against one! Morgan and Moniciah against Khloe. Whose side are you on?" Lavender asked pointedly to Hermione.

"I don't know…" she answered thoughtfully.

"Well, are you on Morgan's side?"

"No, she was extremely rude."

"So you're on Khloe's side."

"I don't know."

Obviously annoyed with Hermione's lack of an opinion, Lavender and Parvati continued to gossip about Moniciah.

Moniciah didn't show up for all of History of Magic, but Hermione didn't let that disrupt her focus. In fact, she was able to participate a lot more with Moniciah's loudness absent.

They all managed to see each other at lunch, however. Hermione asked Moniciah where she was and she just shrugged and said she had a meeting. Hermione found it highly unlikely that a teacher would schedule a meeting during such an important class, but she didn't pursue the subject further.

Khloe and Parvati made arrangements to meet in the library to study.

Just then, Morgan asked loudly to Moniciah, "What are you doing at lunch?"

"I have a Gobstone's team photo," she replied, shoving rice in her mouth.

Glaring at Khloe with obvious passive aggression she said loudly, "Oh, okay, I guess I'll have to find another corner to practice Transfiguration in then…"

Her comment got swallowed by most of the commotion as Hermione and Lavender sprung up to leave the table to study for Potions.

In Potions class, Hermione received top 5 in her class for each quiz and scored full marks on the test. She retreated to the common room where Ron and Harry were poring over books in Quidditch Through the Ages and arguing about which moves were better.

She smiled in the inside and shook her head. "Boys," she muttered.

Harry's head snapped up. "Oh, hey, Hermione! Nice to see you, too!"

Hermione felt her cheeks go red. "Honestly, you're always reading that book. Haven't you memorized it already?"

Ron stared at her. Then looked at Harry. "Mental, that one is."

They nodded and returned to the book.

"Think you can pull off the Wronski Feint, Harry?" Ron said.

"Nah… Oh, look! The Scandinavian Dodge looks easy."

Suddenly it was clear to Hermione that they must had have a Quidditch match the next day. She walked over and dropped into the armchair next to theirs. Hermione closed her eyes and tried not to think of the gossip, tried to focus on her homework and she organized a list of homework she would do that night in her head.

"Alright, Hermione?" asked Ron, glancing at her briefly.

"Yeah… Just tired. Think I'll go off to bed now." She hauled her backpack on and traipsed up the stairs. Hermione wasn't tired at all. She just didn't want to be around Harry and Ron– they were sure to notice something was going on.

She plopped onto the bed and pulled out her binders and started doing half-hearted homework. At 9 o'clock, Hermione slowly went through her night routine.

She checked over her homework, making sure everything was completed that had to be. Hermione knew she didn't have school tomorrow, but she preferred to do as much homework as possible on the first day, and then do extra credit work, reading, studying, or researching on the other days.

Next, she tidied up her space. Just then, Lavender barged in through the dormitory door.

"Oh, hey!" she said.

"Hi," Hermione said warily. She wasn't sure who was mad at her at the moment. "What are you doing?"

Lavender looked up from digging in her drawers to say, "Khloe, Parvati, Ginny, and I are playing a game. Well, not really Khloe– she's reading. Do you want to join us?"

"Oh, no, thanks. I think I'll go to bed early tonight."

"Okay, do you have any parchment? I can't find any."

"Yes…" she rifled through her binder for a few spare sheets and handed them to Lavender.

"Thanks! See you later then."

"See ya!"

Sighing once Lavender exited, Hermione got off her bed and laid out an outfit for the next day on the trunk resting at the foot of her bed.

She chose a random T-shirt, jeans, a jumper, and sneakers.

Then, she gathered her sleep clothes from the dresser and walked to the dormitory's bathroom. She showered quickly, scrubbing her skin with mango scented scrub, and washed and conditioned her hair. When she got out, she wrapped herself in a towel, brushed her teeth, flossed, and pulled pajamas on. Hermione applied a few potions to her face and dry skin, and then crawled into bed. She started reading a fantasy tale ato drown out the thoughts of Harry. Why do I keep thinking of him? She screamed in her mind. He clearly didn't like her. She should just give up…