Chapter 2: Sweet Dreams
"Hey, Hermione! Do you want to help me with my potions essay? I'm really lost." Harry snickers "Yeah, right, Ron. You haven't even looked at that essay! You just want her to do it for you." Ron turns to Harry and frowns "You haven't started yours either, mate!"
They both look back to Hermione and Harry starts to ask her "Hey, Hermione, could you help me with my-" He stops, shocked by her tear-filled and glaring eyes "Hermione? Are you ok?"
She sniffs and glares down at them, an impressive feat since both boys are quite a few inches taller than her. The boys are instantly reminded of Professor McGonagall as she tightens her lips in a frown.
"No. Ron, Harry, you two can do your own essays. You left it until this late so you can face the consequences of handing in shoddy, last-minute essays to Professor Snape." The boys' jaws drop to the floor. "Hermione! We're your friends! You can't just betray us like this." Ron gasps incredulously as Harry stands shocked.
Hermione becomes livid "Betrayal?! You call me refusing to do your homework a betrayal?! Look at you Ron! If you don't know what a betrayal is, why don't you look at how you treat your supposed friends!"
She starts to stomp off when she hears Ron mutter "What got her knickers into a twist?" and Harry responds "Buggered if I know." Tears start silently making their way down her cheeks and a small gasp of pain escapes her lips.
Suddenly she hears a window open and the graceful sound of robes swishing on the floor. Harry and Ron hear it too, apparently, because they turn to the sound and grab their wands. "Hello Ferret." Harry growls. Hermione spins around to see the three boys, wands out, shaking with rage.
Draco's cool voice fills the corridor "You two are so dull it makes my house elves sound like Oxford graduates. Do you really not know?" Hermione frowns at the house elf comment and tilts her head in confusion at the mention of Oxford; a very esteemed muggle college.
Harry and Ron glare at the Slytherin "We happen to know a lot more than you do, Ferret, but go ahead, enlighten us. What don't we know?" He smirks at them without letting the hate leave his eyes.
"You two buffoons don't know that the way you treat her hurts her more than any spell, jinx or curse could. You use her and abuse her and it is slowly killing her spirit." The two Gryffindor boys splutter furiously "You!- liar!" "What would you know about friendship?" "Like you would notice-"
Draco just shrugs the comments off and climbs back out the window. The boys look back at Hermione with a mix of disbelief and wonder. "Do we really do that Hermione?" "We don't use you, do we?"
When she doesn't answer they walk towards her and she turns her back on them "We can talk about this in the morning, ok boys? I just really need to be alone for a little bit…" They mumble agreements and shuffle in the direction of the common rooms.
"We'll never get our essays done now, Harry." Hermione sees them pass around the corner and hears one last mutter before they're out of hearing range "Bloody Malfoy." She sighs and walks over to look out the window.
Leaning out into the open air, the breeze dries the last of her tears. "Thank you." She whispers, knowing he probably can't hear her anyway but as she closes the window she swears she hears a voice on the wind.
"If your Guardian Angel doesn't look out for you, who will?" a chuckle "Goodnight and sweet dreams."
