Author's Note

A huge thank you to my little sister Rowanne. She not only edited this story for me she has been my muse all the way through and is one of the bravest people I know. And this story is dedicated to her.

CHAPTER ONE

The sun streamed in through the large arched windows of Hermione's manor house, into the open room bathing it in a sofa golden glow. Hermione was sprawled out elegantly on the pale pink vintage chaise longue, with hand crafted gold detailing, sipping a non-fat-latte with extra foam. She kicked her gold satin 'Lance' Jimmy Choos off and rang a bell for someone to pick them up. A harried young women, no older than thirty, in a crisp, white apron came in and picked up her shoes.

"Mail." said Hermione in a bored voice, not even looking up. The young women nodded and hurried off, bringing a huge stack of mail back in with her. She placed the solid sliver tray on the highly polished coffee table and went to leave.

"Wait." called Hermione. She put her half empty cup down on the table next to her mail, spilling a fair bit of the contents in the process. "I have my beauty team coming around at three. Make sure the pink room is ready for their arrival. And clear up that mess." She said, waving her hand at the spilt cup as if someone else had spilt it just to upset her. The young women bobbed a curtsy and left the room. Hermione grabbed the first letter in the pile and slit it open in one clean movement with a diamanté letter opener. Her eyes gazed lazily over the letter, not really interested.

"Dear Ms Granger,

Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah Blah,

We would be delighted to invite you to the opening of the new primary school for extra gifted children in Mayspark.

Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah Blah.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Professor Mildred Posslworth

"Oh well that'll be fun." Hermione said sarcastically as she crumpled up the invite and dumped it in the direction of the rubbish bin.

Hermione spent the rest of her morning sifting through the pile of fan mail and invites, ringing out for fresh drinks every hour and a half. As the young women from earlier brought her another iced water with mint, Hermione looked up from the latest letter.

"What's your name again? Sally? Sasha?" Hermione asked with a wave of a disinterested hand.

"Sarah." Replied the young women, shifting uncomfortably.

"Sarah, whatever. Who do I have sorting my mail at the moment?"

"Umm I think his name is Jake Whiting." Said Sarah nervously.

"Right, fire him for me." Said Hermione casually before going back to the letter

"What?" gasped Sarah

"Sally, do you really think that someone as important and busy as I am has time to sift through pointless fan mail and invites to some stupid school opening? I employ him to deal with all this. In what world is a memorial to Hogwarts students worthy of my time? Now do as your told or you can leave as well." Hermione dismissed her angrily. Sarah left the room quickly wondering what she was meant to do. Thinking back to the Hogwarts Memorial, Hermione started to tremble.

'Pull yourself together girl' She whispered harshly to herself and flicked on the TV.

An advert came on showing a group of school kids telling the world that being open about your feelings was a good thing.

"Good advice," Hermione muttered sarcastically and switched the TV off. She stood up quickly leaving her with a slight head rush that made the world spin and went to get ready to go out for lunch. She strode up to her bedroom and striped off her clothes, leaving them haphazardly on the floor for someone else to clean up later.

She walked into her wardrobe and pulled out a designer day dress. It was bright red with a long slit up the thigh and a low cut neckline. She paired it with five inch Louboutin's and strode out the house without another thought. Hermione Disapperated into her favourite five star wizarding restaurant, located at the centre of Burdocks Square. It's large French windows let in the light, as well allowed people to watch her as she ate. The matrade showed her to her normal table right in the middle but slightly raised so she could be seen from the windows and brought over a bottle of wine, Dal Forno valpolicella. Hermione poured herself a large glass and, after taking a large sip, asked the matrade to send over the hansom looking man who'd just walked in. The guy swaggered over and almost tripped over his own feet when he saw that it was Hermione Granger that had asked for him.

"Sit down." Purred Hermione seductively. She pursed her lips, her flawless red lipstick glinting in the bright lights, and stretched her legs out so they were touching.

Hermione flirted and giggled the meal away, picking at her food every once in a while. After she'd finished she stood and kissed the man, who's name she'd found out was Eric, and waltzed out the restaurant telling the matrade to put the100 galleon bill from the meal on her tab without a second thought, her funds could easily cover 100 times that not. Hermione didn't want to go home just yet, so took a walk down Diagon Ally.

It was a bit of a dump by her standards. She wondered how she had ever enjoyed spending time there, but she loved the crowed all staring at her and whispering excitedly to see her out and about. Every once in a while some excited face would run up and ask for her autograph or to take her picture. Hermione smiled for every picture, and signed every bit of paper with a flourish.

By the time Hermione got back to her house it was evening, and found a rather annoyed note left from her make-up team on her dresser. Hermione handed the note to someone and told them to rebook it for tomorrow morning as the ball wasn't until the evening anyway.

Hermione muttered to herself as she nibbled on a salad someone had bought up for her; leaving most of it untouched. She flicked through the TV for a bit and picked out some outfits for a new photo shoot before heading towards the pearl bathroom, where a large bubble bath stood waiting for her.

She unzipped her dress and let it pool around her feet as she stepped in front of the mirror, her head tilting to the side. She could see all her ribs and her hip bones sticking out at unnatural angles, her cheeks hollow and her skin stretched across her cheek bones. Hermione smiled, pleased she looked even less like the pathetic girl who had once wondered the Hogwarts corridors, books in arms and friends by her side. She turned away from the mirror and slipped into the deep bubbles. She raised a hand out of the water and watched her skin glisten with the water.

Her head swam with the letters from today, unwanted faces from school flashed into her mind, covered in blood. Hermione took a deep breath and let herself slip under the water. She opened her eyes, watching the ceiling move, distorted by the water and the bubble bath that was stinging her eyes. Her lungs began to burn for air and darkness started to creep in around the edges of her vision.

She waited for the last second, as everything started to slip away before pulling on the edges of the bath and bringing her head above the waterline. She took a deep breath and watched as the water splashed over the edges and ran across the tiled bathroom floor.

She felt in control. They couldn't make her remember. They would never have know.