Welcome to my new fic! I hope you like it, and please review and tell me what you think! I accept critique and will try and improve my writing based on it, but I will not accept flames. If you don't have anything nice or helpful to say, I would rather you didn't say anything.

I apologise for the...feminine aspect of this chapter, but it IS important to the plot, so bear with me. Anyway ENJOY!

- I have corrected a plot issue with this chapter :) So it's all good now!

Hermione sat up carefully in her bed, being very mindful of the pains shooting through her abdomen and down into her legs. Though she knew Lavender and Parvati would not be angry at her if she woke them, not for this anyway, she did not want them to wake; it had been a point of discussion between the two of when Hermione would get her period, and she really didn't want to wake them up and hear the excited squeals that would surely accompany the knowledge that she had finally gotten it. So she tiptoed around her bed in the moonlight from the window, and exited the room quietly; on her way to the bathroom, she listened to see if the First Year girls were in bed yet or not. The silence at their door told her to keep moving.

Feeling slightly disappointed that she didn't have a reason to scold them, she moved silently into one of the bathroom stalls to quickly deal with her oncoming period. Instead of going straight back to her bed like she would normally do after waking for any reason, she found herself drifting aimlessly down to the common room. There were no couples passionately snogging on the sofa, for which she was very glad, so she sunk down into the plush cushions and got comfortable.

From the stillness around her and the rather oppressing darkness outside Hermione figured it must have been around one o'clock in the morning. No wonder there were no couples to be found. With a start, she realised that it was technically her birthday now, even though it would still be several hours before anyone was awake enough to acknowledge it. She was born at twelve minutes past two, she knew because her parents had filmed her birth and there was a time stamp, so she watched the clock on the wall and counted down in her mind until the moment she would be exactly fifteen years old.

With merely a moment to spare, Hermione fell asleep. The clock hand moved into position just as her head hit the couch, and the momentary white glow that surrounded her, well, no one was around to see it.

Harry often had trouble sleeping; really it was no surprise considering what he had been through in his short life. Hermione had said once when he had brought it up, that she would be worried if he didn't have nightmares, because that would be when the horrible things he had seen no longer bothered him. Shuddering, Harry hoped that he would be having nightmares for the rest of his life; not that he enjoyed them, he just didn't want to become the sort of person who wasn't fazed by things like murder, dark lords and being killed.

On this particular night Harry had in fact gotten several hours of uninterrupted sleep, for which he was very grateful, but it did not last. Just after midnight his rather pleasant dream of passing all of his O.W.L.S between something dark and twisted, that he wished he didn't remember but of course he did. An hour he had lain in bed, twisting and turning in silent agony as he was forced to watch all those he held dear to him be killed before him. He had woken up covered in a cold sweat and sticking to his blankets. After spending Merlin knows how long trying to untwist the sheets from around his legs, he had scrambled out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom. There he indulged himself in a few seconds under the cold spray of water before jumping back out and dressing again.

Lying in bed again, he just couldn't get back to sleep. Finally, after nearly half an hour staring up at his ceiling he gave up on sleep and tip toed down the stairs to the common room. Walking over to the sofa that he preferred, he noticed someone lying on it. He paused, though the person wasn't moving so he figured they were asleep. He had better wake them up. When he moved closer though, he recognised the hair; it was Hermione. He covered a grin with his hand, as even asleep he doubted she would appreciate being the object of his amusement; especially when the source of amusement was her hair.

He sank into the armchair across from the sofa and noticed instantly that the way she was laying was odd. He had seen Hermione lay down on the sofa before; she would cradle her head in one of her arms and curl into herself in an effort to not take up all the room. This time though, she had her legs still hanging over the edge as though she had been sitting up and simply fallen to the side; her arms were haphazardly thrown about, one of them across her chest and the other hanging off the sofa. It was very clear to Harry that she hadn't meant to fall asleep, so he leant over to her and gently shook her awake.

"Hermione…Mione wake up." He kept his voice soft, even though he was trying to wake her. He didn't want to wake anyone else at the same time after all.

She moved her head slightly.

"..arry?" He laughed quietly at the soft, almost whining tone to her voice. She was clearly tired.

"Yeah Mione, it's me. Why are you asleep in the common room?" Harry pulled his head back just in time to not be hit in the forehead by Hermione as she shot up off the sofa. As she looked around Harry manoeuvred around until he was sitting next to her of the sofa.

"You alright Hermione?"

"Yeah…I just don't remember falling asleep."

"Well, most people don't you know." Harry tried to keep his amusement out of his voice, he really did, but she had always been able to tell with him. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"Yeah well, I do." Harry put his hands up in mock surrender, allowing her to win the small disagreement; even though Hermione was rarely angry, it was always easier for her to get riled up when tired.

"You better get up to your dorm Mione, I only came down here cause I couldn't sleep, but I think I'll be able to now. It is seriously late and we have classes in the morning." Hermione smirked at him.

"What class do you have Harry?" Harry groaned.

"I honestly have no idea. I just know we have classes." With a laugh, though a quiet one, she stood up. Holding a hand out to him, he took it and she pulled him up.

"You have Transfiguration Harry." She laughed at his wide eyed expression. "I hope you finished you're essay." Harry felt a small flare of panic before realising that he had finished it, last night in fact.

"I did. Just forgot it was due today is all." Laughing at him again Hermione nodded, rather condescendingly in Harry's opinion, and moved towards the stairs to her dorm.

"Goodnight Harry thanks for waking me up."

"No problem Mione, what are friends for? Night." Harry stood by the fire for a few moments after she had disappeared. Wondering why she had been down here in the first place. Hermione didn't usually come back down to the common room; especially in the middle of the night. Figuring he would ask her later, he turned around and trudged back to bed.

It was only when he was staring at his ceiling again when he finally realised what Hermione had been wearing the whole time; a nighty. Bloody hell.

The next day Hermione felt…off. Her mouth hurt, the feeling reminded her of when she was younger and she had teeth growing in to replace her old ones, but as no new teeth were growing it didn't make any sense. Her abdomen was hurting, though she had chalked that up to her having her period, and her head was pounding awfully. At breakfast she sat next to Harry instead of opposite him, and leant on his shoulder as she ate her breakfast.

"Mione? You okay?"

Hermione was barely able to lift her head, so merely nodded into his shoulder. Of course Harry just snorted at her.

"No you aren't, tell me what's wrong."

Hermione debated telling him. She had decided that it was just her period being particularly bothersome, and she wasn't sure if Harry could handle the 'girl' problem she was having. She decided to try it out though.

"Just…girl issues Harry…" Oh how she hoped that would be enough for him to understand.

Harry's eyes widened in understanding though Ron, who was sitting across from them and had heard the conversation, didn't catch on quite as quickly.

"What you mean? Girl issues? Being a girl ain't that hard Mione." He then continued stuffing his face with bacon, sausages and eggs. Hermione scowled.

"Yes Ronald, girl issues, as in I am bleeding from a certain place!"

Ron went bright red, and actually dropped the piece of sausage he had been about to eat. Harry covered his mouth with his hand to stifle the laugh that was bubbling up at his best mate's expense, and Hermione just glared. Swallowing his laugh, Harry stood up.

"Come on Hermione, I'll help you to the Hospital Wing; Madame Pompfrey should have something to help you yeah?"

Hermione just nodded, rather speechless as he helped her stand up and then allowed her to use him as a support as he led her out of the Great Hall. Of course she should have known that Harry wouldn't be fazed by this; he had never backed down from helping her before, he wasn't Ron after all.

They got several 'looks' on the way to the Hospital Wing; after all it was usually Harry that needed help through the halls, not Hermione.

Harry had kept his arm secured around Hermione's waist, allowing her to rest most of her weight on him; she was very thankful for this as her legs had turned into jelly since they had left the Hall. The infirmary came into view faster than Hermione had expected, clearly she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, and Harry guided her onto one of the beds and then went to find Madame Pompfrey.

Madame Pompfrey came bustling into view, a potion already in her hands. Hermione blushed when she realised that Harry must have told her what was wrong with her.

"Cramps dear?" Hermione nodded shyly, her eyes still darting to Harry every few seconds. The nurse smiled.

"You have a very loyal friend here Miss Granger; didn't even blush when he told me why you were here. And helped you from the Great Hall" She gave Harry an approving look, "Most boys don't want to be anywhere near this process."

Harry shrugged.

"She's my best friend; I wasn't going to let her come alone when she felt so bad." He looked sheepish, but the approving look of Madame Pompfrey and the grateful one he was getting from Hermione had him smiling.

"Uh...Madame Pompfrey, I was wondering if you could check me over?" Hermione hesitated, once again looking at Harry before shaking herself and continuing, "This is uh, my first period and I was wondering if it's supposed to hurt this much?"

The woman gave her a confused look.

"How old are you? 14?"

"15 Madame." The woman nodded, looking at her contemplatively.

"Most witches get their first period during their 13th year, not all of them need potions as some are easier than others. What are you symptoms dear? How much does it hurt? Where does it hurt?" She picked up her wand and waited for Hermione's reply.

"My head is throbbing, I don't think I have ever had such a terrible headache before in my life, and my mouth feels really sensitive. My abdomen feels like I am being stabbed repeatedly and the pain is spreading down my legs and up into my back." Pompfrey nodded, but Harry looked absolutely horrified.

He carefully sat on the bed next to Hermione, looking at her as though she was glass.

"Honestly Harry, I am not going to break on you!"

With that, he bundled her into his arms, his larger frame practically swallowing her. She found that she really didn't mind, though she was surprised as he didn't usually initiate physical contact. The reason for that had anger simmering in her stomach.

She sunk gratefully into his warmth, the heat actually helping to ease the pain in her abdomen a little bit. Madame Pompfrey smiled and cleared her throat.

"Has anything strange happened in the last few hours Miss Granger?" Hermione shook her head.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Wait. She fell asleep in the common room this morning; really early. I found her a little while after 2, she was in a strange position and she didn't remember falling asleep." The nurse frowned and resumed waving her wand over Hermione.

Hermione scowled at Harry.

"Falling asleep isn't something strange Harry, especially at that hour." Harry looked at her, and the concern she saw in his eyes had her glare softening. She couldn't be mad at him when he was only trying to look out for her.

"Miss Granger." The interruption shook Hermione's attention from Harry, "I have found something…odd. It would appear as though you have come into some type of Inheritance in the last few hours; in fact it most likely occurred at around 2 o'clock this morning."

"Today is her birthday." Hermione jolted as she realised that it was in fact her birthday; she had been thinking about it last night, but it had slipped her mind when she had woken up feeling so terrible. Madame Pompfrey nodded.

"Most Inheritances take place on a birthday. Which birthday changes depending on the Inheritance, though the most common is 16; I don't know of any that take place on the 15th birthday." She stared at the wall for a moment before shaking herself. "I will bring this to the attention of the Headmaster, I'm sure he will know something."

The two teenagers nodded.

In the mean time Miss Granger, please take extra special notice of what is happening to your body. If anything strange begins to occur, whether physically, mentally or emotionally please come here immediately."

Hermione nodded.

"Of course Madame."

"I'll make sure she comes straight here Madame Pompfrey." Looking between them she nodded.

"Yes, I think you will Mr Potter."

As the two left the Hospital Wing, Madame Pompfrey watched them curiously. She really needed to talk to the Headmaster, if she was right things were about to get very interesting indeed.