In the midst of their first potion lesson, where Hermione was allowed to work on a potion Snape exclusively gave her alone- much to Draco's petulant whining and pouting about being better than her- the Weasely twins, as cheery as ever, entered with a request to take Hermione to professor Dumbledore. It was infinitely strange that Snape didn't even sneer or take points off but instead nodded at her in farewell. Suspicious, she placed the finishing touches on her potion and hopped off her stool, schoolbag in hand while dubiously eyeing the too-jovial red heads.

She walked between the two after bidding the professor good bye with small smile and a wave she extended to Daphne, Harry and Ron sitting towards the middle of the class. Thoughts, curious about the reason for her summoning, were probably running through all of their heads. It was halfway through that Hermione realized two things; first, this wasn't the path to Dumbledore's office, and second, they weren't alone.

"Fred, George… what's going on…?" The grins they wore now sent chills down the brunette's spine and alerted her so much she didn't realize her wand was already summoned in her hand.

Before she knew it, a petrifying spell came out of nowhere and would have nicked her, had she not conjured a Protego within the millisecond, following the spell with a repulsion that pushed the twins several feet away from her. Wasting no time, her eyes darted around the corridor and spotted the exit to her right.

'Run now, Questions later!'

"Hermione, there's no point in running from it…"

"Just let us take you there and you'll be done in a week!" George finished his brother's sentence while both approached her slowly again, as if attempting to corner a wild and feral animal.

"Oh no… I know what this is about…" She herself inched backwards to the door, sweat trickling down her forehead and blood pulsing with adrenalin. She was tempted to cast something stronger to shake them off but wanted as little harm as possible to descend the well meaning jokesters. Who knew how McGonagall bribed them to get her into this predicament.

Speak of the devil, the tartan clothed transfiguration teacher appeared from the shadows and morphed back into a human, holding a snarling and displeased Natsu by the scruff of her neck.

'Gahh Natsu! My only ally!'

'I can't believe it… outsmarted by a tabby cat… oh the disgrace!' The Bombay cat mewled pitifully while Minerva rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines of 'drama queen' before she shot the brunette a pointed look, lips thinning dangerously, prepared to deliver her Gryffindor cub a right scolding.

"Since you clearly know what this is about, why, pray tell, aren't you recovering at madame Pomfrey's?" Her foot tapping, she bore her intimidating look into the sheepish but stubborn Gryffindor.

"I don't want to." She ground out with gritted teeth, brain working in overdrive to figure out how to get out of this mess. She was rudely interrupted when one of the twins was sly enough to nab her wand from her sweaty grasp while the other made a grab at her. She thoughtlessly repulsed him wandlessly and was rewarded with Minerva's shocked gasp and twins' gaping.

She rushed at the other twin blocking her way and pushed him aside in the same manner, sprinting back to the potions' room.

"Bloody Hell! Did you see that Fred?"

"I felt it George!"

"Tiny Mione can"

"Do wandless magic!"

"Quit talking and get after her!" An exasperated McGonagall interrupted the excited pair before sending out her own Patronus after the slippery girl.

Said girl was sprinting with careless abandon and ignored the surprised yelps from students she almost bumped into.

Even the ethereal blue glow shaped like a tabby chasing her failed to slow her down- but it did peak a curiosity she would seek to satisfy at a later time; all her focus was currently poured on getting back to Snape's class scot-free. Surprisingly, she managed to do so and grinned in relief at the sight of the bat-like professor still giving out potion instructions.

'Thank Merlin I made it…' No sooner did Snape spot her than he sighed, disgruntled. Swiftly, he threw a small vial at her she thought would help her escape, so she caught it eagerly and deftly. She mostly definitely didn't expect feeling her navel being sucked into itself and feeling all her sides squeezed in a vaccum medium before finding herself in the room she most dreaded. Said relieved smile morphed into a horrified grimace, along with a terrified squeak when doors behind her shut tightly, a very irritated nurse Pomfrey grinning as if the cat finally stumbled upon the canary.

'Damn it- It was portkey!'

"Miss Granger, how pleasant of you to drop by!'

All she could do is curse Snape's name before struggling against the first dose of medicine nurse Pomfrey was trying to get her to swallow.

"Why did I trust Snape!" She moaned before succumbing to her fate.

"Oh quit making such a fuss." Hermione replied with a mature raspberry and headed off to change.


"It's boring without Hermione…" Daphne sighed desolately while Pansy beside her rolled her eyes.

"You sound like a love sick fool. Just visit her in the hospital wing after classes."

"It's not the same."

"Then again, this yellow loving fool makes everything boring… he didn't even know how to trap those pixies back in their cage…" Pansy stopped listening to the strawberry blonde at this point and had gone off on a rant of her own, much to Daphne's amusement. In this case, she couldn't agree more with the tan Slytherin.

It was unsurprising to say that following a week at most, Pansy had lifted the veil from her eyes and was met with the harsh reality that their 'charming' Defense professor was worse than a squib; Hermione and Draco couldn't have been prouder of her at that moment.

"True, he is a bit of an idiot. Cho did manage to stop them with immobulus at least."

"And he had the nerve to leave us in here. Alone! Draco ought to tell his father about this…" She hissed while glaring daggers at the teacher currently acting out his latest book while harshly carving random lines on her desk. Daphne would have felt sorry for the furniture if she wasn't giggling at her marvelously caustic house mate.

"Honestly all those 'Claw, Puff, and Gryffindork girls staring at the man like the sun shines out of his arse disgust me. She rolled her eyes with a glare at Suzan Bones who just sighed amorously at the blond git, until Daphne lightly jabbed her side.

"I think something useful is finally coming out of its mouth." She whispered with a sardonic grin, Pansy skeptically looking up with crossed arms.

"Now class, as so many of my lectures may overwhelm you and for our need to properly exercise our youth, I'll be starting up a dueling club and exclusively tutoring you in the fine art of dueling, starting next week."

"Finally some action, Hermione will get to attend those at least."

"I just hope he doesn't turn it into another one of his ridiculous playwrights- though I'd pay to see Potter pretend to roar like that again." She snorted at the memory of the poor boy being forced to participate in the instructor's farce.

"At least he's a decent actor" Daphne quipped to the amused girl with alabaster skin and sharp tongue.

"Still I envy Granger, she didn't have to suffer through his ridiculousness or History class's dull lectures." Daphne shrugged in reply with a light grimace.

"I don't. With all the medication and treatments she has to take I'd rather be here." Pansy raised an eyebrow curiously but refrained from talking. Their lesson was over anyway.


With the seconds dully ticking by during her dreary hospital stay, Hermione found it loads easier to cope with her trusty violin, as well as grooming the ever present Natsu, whenever her friends couldn't stop by. She was surprised that asides from Harry, Daphne and Cho, even the strangely distracted Ginny- she ought to keep a better eye on her-, the twins, her own roommates and some scattered students from other houses made their appearances. One notable appearance was that of Pansy once she made sure the infirmary was empty and no one would know she came, since she, Hermione quotes: 'wouldn't be caught dead playing nice with Gryffindorks. But I'll make an exception, since you should've been a Slytherin anyway.' She always chuckled at the caustic Slytherin's behavior- still, how she managed to unglue herself from Draco's side is a mystery.

Her mood was greatly uplifted by a visit from Luna, the ever esoteric blonde girl- blue suited both her appearance and personality well. Her aura was a constant alternation between sky blue and crystal white Hermione would always be entranced with. And bless the girl- she brought her flute with her in case they ever wanted to play together once more.

From what the younger girl's been telling her, she's doing quite well in classes and is eager to know more, especially when it comes to the knowledge of her esoteric creatures. She skimmed over her other housemates with barely a word or two about them, even Cho.

"Why are you wearing odd socks?" She asked with an amused smirk; she didn't expect her aura to flicker to a darker blue before brightening again.

'Weird…'

"Oh the nargles are hiding my stuff again." She grinned while Hermione nodded uncertainly. Something felt fishy, but she shook it off and placed the violin under her neck, signaling for the blonde to start yet another jolly tune.

During their light jigs, Madame Pomfrey discretely opened the windows so that their quaint mixes of Irish and Celtic tunes seeped to the outside world and animated the courtyard filled with resting students and busy birds. Unconsciously, more students began to huddle outside just to lend an ear to the music while chatting with friends, reading or simply even napping.

It was a good afternoon for most, that day.


"I'm done! Freedom!" She cheered once finally dressed back in her school uniform and nearly skipped all the way to the infirmary's exit had it not been for Madame Pomfrey's parting words.

"Until the next year, dear, unless you decide to visit earlier after another one of your misadventures." She grinned slyly while Hermione threw a glare at the nurse with laughter in her eyes.

With that, she sighed and shuffled to the great hall with Natsu peacefully sleeping in her satchel- in fact, she was the only thing in her bag, asides from her wand. "No need for pencils and copybooks" Her friends said, many telling her today's defense lesson would be a special one held in the great hall.

'Anything's better than listening to that garrulous fool…' She thought, feeling half the class would agree with her. Still distracted with her own thoughts and slightly sluggish, she failed to notice, much less dodge, an anxious red head barreling into her, and ended up with a bunch of tangled limbs on the cool marble floor.

'It hasn't even been a minute… I can't see Nurse Pomfrey again!'

Hermione groaned in light pain, her muscles still sore from the injections, while whoever was sitting on her leg squeaked an apology and shakily helped her up with one hand, the other clutching a familiar eerie black book.

"G-ginny? What are you doing here?" She smiled in greeting at the girl, the latter returning it shakily. Upon throwing a second glance, Hermione noticed a few details besides her weakened and shifting aura; she was paler than usual, while her eyes sported light but noticeable dark circles. She also seemed to fidget a lot, as if she were electrocuted. One wouldn't notice right away, but being observant to hide her own signs of mistreatment years ago, she had become good at it. Just in case, she ought to ask Parvati about these little quirks- the Indian girl was terrifyingly astute with details.

"O-oh, H-hermione! I was just going to the school grounds to get s-some fresh air!" Her speech was rushed and smile was forced. Hermione quirked an eyebrow and nodded slowly- she stopped abruptly when that item in the red head's hands flickered- she swore she saw a dark cloud appear around it before it was gone the very same minute.

Was her medication giving her visual hallucinations or did she just see that book project an aura?

She shook her head and grinned at the red head.

"If I didn't have classes I might have joined you, but enjoy it anyway" The red head smiled genuinely for once, even though it was a tired smile, and resumed her hurried sprint to the courtyard; the way she was going, she'd be rather close to Hagrid's hut. Maybe Ron introduced her to the gentle giant on one of their visits with Harry, she mused along the way.

The minute she entered the great hall, she was greeted with a podium raised to her height with the pompous professor, as mustardy as ever in his fancy dueling robes, standing there and lecturing them while his opponent, Snape who contrasted Lockhart down to his very outfit of pitch black and subtle movements, crossed his arms and wait with his usual mask of disdain.

She was tempted to glare at the man herself after betraying her to the nurse but decided against it- she'd rather not have an angry potions professor on her head.

Casting a glance across the room, she found her friends and discretely headed to their side, greeting them with a minute wave they returned eagerly- merlin knows how bored they were with their instructor's exaggerated drawls, judging by how Ron had just woken up from his nap and lethargically wiped some saliva from his chin, much to Daphne's vocalized disgust.

"Now I shall demonstrate a duel with my trusty assistant Professor Snape. No worries, your professor will still be in one piece once we're done." He grinned charmingly, causing some of the girls to sigh and swoon, Hermione and co to snort and Snape to raise an eyebrow as if asking 'Oh really?'

They stepped back from each other, wands at the ready, and upon Gilderoy's signal, turned to face each other and start the duel. Whoever blinked at the beginning probably missed the entire duel, as professor Snape ended it with a single expelliarmus that sent the blond tosser flying across the podium like a rag doll. He quickly got up, frazzled and dusting himself off before slipping a shaky smile.

"As you can see, I've allowed professor Snape to…"

The rest of the conversation went ignored by the quartet, including Ronald who had dosed off again, much to Hermione's amusement.

"When do you think we can leave?"

"Shouldn't we get to duel?"

"I'm sleepy…" Harry yawned while Cho slumped on the wall, watching Daphne pace back and forth impatiently. The brunette had already made herself comfortable and slid to the floor, shutting her eyes for a much needed respite.

Her nap was interrupted by Lockhart zoning in on her.

'Damn… I knew I should've used a notice me not charm…' She grumbled to herself, forcing herself to stand up.

"How about Miss Granger and Harry duel against two students of your choosing? Come now Hermione now is not the time to dose off!" He grinned heartily while Hermione forced herself not to step on his foot.

Harry nodded, glad he'll finally get to duel properly and not pretend to be a werewolf getting choked by Lockhart. He took out his wand and stood at the ready by Hermione's side, both with proper dueling postures that made those looking up at them regard them differently than just a bunch of foolish second years.

"Blaize, Draco, come up." Draco stood up smugly while Blaize followed, regarding both cautiously with his own readied stance.

"Hermione and Draco should begin."

"Wha—I wanted a challenge!" Draco exclaimed petulantly while sneering at the brunette who smirked. She was planning to take it easy on him, but perhaps she ought to knock some sense into him.

She scoffed at him before taking her position, struggling not to grin widely.

"Begin!"

The signal was all Draco needed to blast a repulso loudly at her, the brunette ducking under it and swiftly turning around to cast her own silent spell in retaliation he barely managed to trip away from, sneering in frustration.

Instead of ending it, she patiently crossed her arms and waited for the arrogant boy to jump back on his feet, quickly set off by the sweet smile she was giving him. Snape snorted in amusement, interested with how the little prodigy was going to wipe the floor with his Godson.

He yelled out a weak incendio that flew straight towards the brunette's face, making many of the students gasp. The latter effortlessly grasped the flaming projectile with a sphere of energy formed at the tip of her wand before shooting it back at the blond with twofold power and speed. Draco yelped startled before quickly dropping to the floor and staring up at his infuriatingly calm opponent once more. That was the last straw, he thought, livid the whole of Hogwarts was watching him make a fool of himself.

He staggered upright and snarled another repulse she twisted around, but he expected that and so shot another spell right where she ended up: Sectumsempra.

And with his enthusiastic shout, a snake Hermione's height, with pitch black gleaming skin, materialized hissing at the brunette, whose eyes widened for a moment before narrowing curiously. That's a pretty nifty spell Draco learned, but it looked like he had some trouble controlling the creature. Both girl and snake locked into a stare down, chocolate brown boring into sickly yellow and black slits, with the entire hall shocked into silence, watching the scene with baited breath.

And then, without warning, said serpent shot towards the brunette, mouth open so wide her head would fit inside, fangs bearing venom so copious rivulets already leaked to the floor. Many of the second years screamed in terror for Hermione, who, still silent as a mouse, deftly leapt back and crouched, wand quickly lifted at the creature and freezing it mid-air. It looked like she stopped time for the snake who still bore its mouth widely open while Hermione gave a small satisfied grin and a relieved sigh.

After all her training, Wingerdium leviosa still remained her specialty. Casting a glance at the now terrified Malfoy, she flicked her wand, sending the snake toppling aside, unfortunately landing by Harry's side before instantly blasting a silent expelliarmus spell which hit Draco square in the chest and blasted the blond so far across the podium he nearly slid off of it.

Within moments of the duel's end, Snape swiftly banished the serpent that had its sight set on Harry, the boy strangely unaffected by it, and instead looking as if he were having a conversation with the reptile!

Hermione noticed this and subtly shook her head at the black haired boy to stop- students wouldn't take talking to snakes lightly, with all that was going on nowadays, like Misses Norris being petrified and a supposed heir coming to slaughter all her sort. Part of her thought of Draco, who vilified her kind so proudly day after day and was practically waiting to throw in his jibe during the incident, but it never came.

Across the hall, lit eerily by the flickering torches, she saw Pansy with a hand on his shoulder gently shaking her head at him while he rolled his eyes.

She was thankful the girl was there to keep the blond ponce in check; with her at his side, there may be hope left for him yet. She grinned at the hissy fit Draco had thrown, glad now that she had knocked him off his high horse. Caustic parents or not, the boy ought to understand they were all equals here. She'd gladly beat that lesson in to him if the guidelines of the duel hadn't hindered her.

Speaking of duels, Hermione mechanically walked to Harry's spot while the thoughtful boy took hers, now dueling the ever cunning Blaize. Despite both not having a large array of spells, (but with Harry's still quite large for a second year thanks to Hermione's help), they fought with a level head, the spectacled boy more on the offense while the Slytherin depended on sneak tactics and dodging.

Eventually Harry won after managing to shoot three expelliarmus spells in quick succession, his wording brief but powerful. He then headed towards the Slytherin and handed him the wand back before lending a hand, Zabini graciously accepting it and sparing him with a small polite grin, harry reciprocating it more earnestly.

After the brief fights and humiliation of the 'prince of Slytherin' at the hands of the tiny cub, many other students were encouraged enough to go up and try their own hand at the art of dueling, glad Gilderoy was only standing at the sidelines and 'graciously allowed' Snape and the newly arrived Filius- former dueling champion- Flitwick to coach them.

The brunette stood at the sidelines watching the practice pensively while a curious Harry was stuck in a lengthy conversation with Natsu and later, her owner.

After that day, Hermione had two ideas, one that involved dragging the boy-who-lived to the library, and the other usurping a teacher's club position.


Hello again, dear readers, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter :)

First off I'd like to thank you all for being patient with me and my delayed updates, as university is making me rather busy :P Until I get more free time, i'll update once every two weeks

Second, I also want to take time and work out the changes in the storyline to match the ending I have in mind, but would like to consult your opinions on an issue:

At the beginning of their third year, I'll be bringing the quartet's animagus forms into play, but I want to start integrating their animal traits from now on (some of you astute readers may have noticed I've done so with Hermione on some occasions). And so, I'd like to know what you guys think Harry Cho and Daphne should have as animal forms. (For Hermione I've already decided, and will let you know when the time comes. A hint if you feel like guessing: it's based off an internet browser :P)

(a little explanation to get why they'd be that animal would be pretty helpful too)

On a side note, I managed to stumble upon the music room in an eerily similar fashion to how my story's Hermione did (except I used a key to open the room, not my thoughts :P) and even befriended a cellist and pianist(s) (all I was missing was a violist :P) so music is definitely going swell with me, therefore expect musical parts during the coming chapters. (part of me feels like whatever I'm typing into this story is happening in real life) (I must be a seer)

I wish you all a good night/day!

Until the next chapter,

Ramela