Disclaimer: Not mine, not yours, but JK Rowling's.

Summary: Hermione freaks out.

A/N: I got three reviews! does happy dance That is like, oh I dunno, three more reviews than I expected. So to you three reviewers, I love you! That being said, as this story still has less than 60 hits, I doubt I'll get too many more. On a sad note about how overlooked rare pairings are, my Pansy-Hermione story was released almost at the same time as this, and it already has like 1560 hits. So doubly thank you to my reviewers. You literally may have been the only people to read this story. Anyway, I know this chapter is short, but I'll write more--I promise. Please read and review, and I hope you enjoy!


"Hey 'Mione, we're going to run some new formations for Quidditch this afternoon," Harry was saying. Their last class of the day, Herbology, had just ended. "You wanna come watch?"

Hermione's mind was obviously elsewhere. She continued walking, oblivious to the question.

"Hermione?"

"Hey, Hermione?" Ron had joined in.

"HERMIONE!"

That got her attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you asking?"

"Do you want to come to our Quidditch practice today?" Harry smiled. He could guess the answer.

"Uhh, well," Hermione's mind raced, "I think uhh, umm I promised Ginny that I would help her with some Charms homework, so, you know, I need to do that."

Ron grinned. He and Harry were going to stretch this out as long as possible.

"What are you talking about? Ginny's going to be on the Quidditch pitch with us!"

"Oh, right. Did I say Ginny? I meant…um, I meant," Hermione closed her eyes briefly to think. "Neville! Yeah, Neville."

"Oh? I thought Neville wasn't taking Charms this year," Harry replied.

"Yeah, he told me he was taking Occlumency instead," Ron piped in.

Hermione stared at them, furiously trying to think of way to dig out the hole she had dug herself.

"I don't feel well," she finally announced. "I think I'm going to lay down for a bit." She started down the hallway.

"Hermione?"

Hermione stopped and turned around.

"Our dorm is that way," Harry pointed in the opposite direction. "The way you're going leads to the Dining Hall," he paused, "…and the library."

"Oh," she replied, trying to seem unfazed. "I must have gotten confused." She turned around and quickly strode down the hall. At the end of the hallway, she turned left, though the dorm was to her right.

"Did she just go left?" Ron stood next to Harry.

"Yeah, she's going to cut through the courtyard and go in the library through the south entrance, I bet." Harry was smiling.

"You realize she's going to be completely insane until she beats Padma, right?"

"As if she wasn't already?" Harry chuckled.

Ron laughed.

"This is going to be a very interesting year."


As soon as Hermione entered the library, she made a beeline for the Potions section. Her head was still flush with the indignity of finishing second (second!) to someone. It just wasn't acceptable. And it wasn't ever going to happen again.

The library felt so much stranger during the day, largely because the sunshine through the rose windows gave it an eerie glow. Hermione had stopped coming to the library during the day after her first year, when she had slightly relaxed her study habits. 'Well,' Hermione thought to herself, 'looks like I'm back to the first year routine.'

She placed her book bag on the table and took out her Potions test. She was going to figure out what she had done wrong for the questions she missed. She glanced at the first question. It was about invisibility potions. She went off amongst the bookshelves to find the appropriate book.

When she finally found a copy of Invisibility Spells for the Common Mage, she headed back to her desk. As she returned, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was now someone sitting at the table across from her, and from where she was standing, it could only be one of two people.

'Please be Parvati, please be Parvati,' Hermione thought to herself as she approached, cursing herself when she finally saw the Ravenclaw tie on her new library neighbor. Padma. She'd rather it be anyone else.

Hearing Hermione's footsteps, Padma looked up and saw who it was. "Hermione!" she greeted her enthusiastically, faking her surprise. "I didn't know you studied in the library during the day!"

Hermione forced a smile in reply. "Err, well umm, I'm supposed to be meeting someone here, but they never showed up…" she trailed off unconvincingly before saving herself and stating confidently, almost shouting, "I was supposed to be tutoring Neville in Charms, but he just never showed up!" She shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated gesture.

Padma scrunched her face up. "Neville's taking Charms? But I thought…oh nevermind." In her mind, she could barely avoid breaking out in laughter. Hermione was such a bad liar.

Faced with an uncomfortable pause and cursing herself for using the same bad lie twice, Hermione sought to fill the silence.

"Congrats on your test, by the way." Her voice cracked slightly. "You deserved it."

She held out her hand for a handshake, but quickly realized how awkward her gesture was and pulled it back.

Seeing Hermione lose her composure in front of her was endlessly satisfying to the dark-haired Ravenclaw. But not wanting to humiliate Hermione to the point of actual emotional trauma, she spoke up.

"Oh yeah, the test. Well, you know, it happens. Everyone gets lucky every now and then." Padma marveled at how convincing her lie sounded, especially in contrast to the nervous Gryffindor in front of her.

Seeing Hermione's test on her desk, she asked, "Are you going over the questions right now? Would you like to see my answers? It'd save you loads of time."

Hermione's forehead got hot. Her, Hermione Granger, looking at someone else's answers to help pinpoint her mistakes? Oh god, what would her parents say? How far had she fallen?

"No thank you," she squeaked out, "It's better to figure out my mistakes by myself."

Her curious eyes glanced at Padma's table and recognized the book she was reading.

"Is that Shrinking Potions Explained?" she had to ask. "I thought we weren't studying shrinking potions until week nine."

Padma marveled at how perfectly this conversation was going. "Yeah, that's right, but I like to study ahead." She let the unsaid implication sink in, as Hermione realized what she meant.

"But…so…so that means you've studied all the way up to Week Nine?" Hermione was almost incredulous. That was impossible! She felt the bile rise up in her throat.

"Yep, I wrote a letter to Slughorn during the summer, asking for the syllabus. And then I just spent the summer studying ahead…for all my classes actually." She smiled simply, as if to indicate that such diligence was perfectly normal, and then further twisted the dagger in Hermione's heart. "Why? Didn't you?"

Hermione's lungs were spasming, and she felt short of breath and dizzy. This was a panic attack.

"I…I…uhh, I mean…I did…over the summer…uhh," she mumbled incoherently, as her brain overloaded with panic. Padma had spent all summer studying ahead! Nine weeks ahead! Oh my god, how could she possibly catch up with her…it was impossible…it was too much.

With her last shred of coherent thought, she announced, again almost shouting, "I'm not feeling well, I'm going to the restroom." Without waiting for a reply, she stumbled off, absent-mindedly smashing her hip into her chair.

Padma watched a dazed Hermione limp off and almost cried tears of happiness. This was just too perfect. Parvati had never suspected it, but Padma had other motives besides grades for studying so hard...