The Half Blood Prince

Vs

The Know-all Queen

The calm before the storm

The curse was lifted. Finally, after 43 years of death, confusion, possession, use of the Imperious curse and, on one occasion, an Inferi under the Imperious, I, Hermione Granger have held the Defence against the Dark Arts for my second year running, starting tomorrow!

I am so excited I can't sleep, even though after the fall of Voldemort just over 5 years ago, I never expected it to last anyway. Oh, who am I trying to fool? I'm always this excited before the start of the school year: 'Hmmm, I wonder what kind of students I'm going to get, I need to start planning lessons and I need to plan what to wear' until, I remind myself, 'how hard can it be to co-ordinate with five identical black teaching robes? Does it really matter what I wear underneath?"

"Winky!" I call, forcing my self to make some sort of progress, since I'm already awake at this ungodly hour. A large crack followed and a split second after that so did Winky, the house elf. Winky was abandoned a few years ago by Barty Crouch, and subsequently was taken in by Hogwarts. Although I don't like the idea of house elves, I've decided that Winky did need a home and she was (as nicely as I can put it) 'a few sandwiches short of a full picnic' if you get the drift.

"Yes, Miss." Winky bowed low.

"Winky, I was wondering, would you be able to take my clothes to the laundry room for tomorrow? Oh, and if you could send up Dobby with a few chocolate biscuits, please. Don't forget to take one for yourself, ok?" I smile.

"Oh, I couldn't, Miss," she said offended but at the same time grateful. "But Winky thanks you for thinkin' of her, Miss." Another large crack tells me Winky has left me in blissful isolation.

I glance at the clock: 5:00am. Maybe I could take a nice relaxing bath with some essential oils like nutmeg and ginger to ease my tiredness. Oh, and some lemon to make it smell all yummy. I lay back on the couch whilst contemplating the best blend of essential oils, when the walls of my room make the subtle change from lilac to a delicate shade of violet. I must say my décor is quite fantastic; if I do say so myself, I rock. My quarters in Hogwarts were decorated by me, using the word decorated lightly. I have, in fact, used magic to please the eyes of the viewer, for example, I see lilac, silver and deep purple, while Harry and Ron always saw red, gold, and yellows and so on.

I check my notice board again. Being the marvellous contraption that it is, the notice board in the living room automatically reminds me of what I need to do, then prioritises everything into numerical order. For example, top of the list is the word milk, now in large font, bright red and with little flashing lights around the edge. It has been like that for 4 days now. Every time Ginny has been round for tea and a talk about why the Gods put men on this earth, I always,always offer tea, ironically remember that I have once again forgotten the milk and settle for orange juice, rather than admitting to the fact that S.P.E.W. is through.

CRACK! I jump so violently at the proclamation of the house elf, I almost fall over.

"Bloody Hell, Dobby, you frightened the life right out of me!" I shout.

"Sorry, Miss Friend of Harry Potter! Dobby will be ironing his ears for that, Miss," cried the elf, smashing his head against the large stone fireplace with a dull thwacking noise.

"No, Dobby, stop, please! It was just a joke! You see? I'm fine, no need to iron any of your… (I wave my arms about whilst thinking)...extremities." The thwacking thankfully stopped. 'Ok, Hermione, deep breath and…'

"Er… thank you, Dobby, for the biscuits," I add, dismissing him, when I hear a large sound suddenly being emitted from the notice board, not unlike an air raid alarm.

"AND MAY I HAVE SOME MILK PLEASE?!" I attempt to shout over the din. Thus the second disturbing sound stopped for the night.

"Yes, Miss. Right away, Miss." Dobby said head bobbing furiously.

"Bath time," I sigh. And with the hot water running, numbers 1 and 2 are simultaneously removed from the notice board.

It's now 6:00 am and I try as gracefully as possible to step out of the bath (always slip) and walk into the living room by the fire. I take one bite out of the yummy chocolate biscuit, and then suddenly the face of Ginny Weasley pops into the flames.

"Hermione! Take your feet out of my face!" she exclaims.

"Sorry, Ginny, how've you been?" I say picking myself up after falling off the recliner chair.

"All right, I suppose. Can I come over for a while? I wanted to see how you were before the new term sets in." she asks

"Sure," I reply. "I have milk!" I say, like its some sort of bloody achievement.

I hope you enjoyed it, please read on for more fun and games... loves and hugs x x x x