white demoness – I never really liked Hermione being a year older than everyone else so I just ignored that fact completely, and as for the Sons, I made them only 16 in the first story so they should be 18 right now, but I'm making it where Reid's birthday is in October so technically in the first story he was still only 15 and was turning 16. In this story he'll be 18 in the next month. This is only 2 years later so they should be 18, and Hermione is almost 16 in a couple of weeks. Don't they ascend on their 18th birthday? Or was it their 17th? –that's one thing I can never really remember. I mentioned in the first story that I was going to be mixing up Covenant and Angel facts just a little bit so that I could make it work in with this story. I'm glad you like my story though(:

Books Aren't The Only Things That Cheat

Classes had only been going on for one week, but the professors were working them like crazy; expecting them to be able to do non-verbal spells in all of their classes. Hermione was annoyed because on top of trying to save Harry's life behind his back, she had to deal with her ex-boyfriend being a Death Eater and trying to kill her, plus Harry had to add to her stress and start following orders from some book. It just wasn't her week. With the workloads that the professors had been giving them, along with all the secret work that Hermione was doing, she had to ask Professor McGonagall to repeat most of what she saying more than once, and to add insult to her intelligence Harry had to be a git and get higher marks than her in Potions. It was only because of the stupid Half-Blood Prince – whoever the prat was.

This morning things decided to be even worse on her. Ignoring the eyes from the Slytherin table – it's been one week since she had to actually speak to any of them – Hermione looked up at the staff table and sighed. Hagrid was missing again, and they haven't seen him yet. "We've got to go and explain," she told Harry and Ron.

"We've got Quidditch tryouts," Ron argued. "Plus, we're supposed to be practicing that aguamenti charm from Flitwick," after a moment's pause, he bravely added, "Besides, how are we going to explain that we dropped his class because we hated his stupid subject?"

"Ron!" Hermione gasped then leaned over and slapped his head. "We didn't hate it."

Ron scoffed, "Speak for yourself, I haven't forgotten the skrewts."

Ron was annoying Hermione. Hagrid was their friend; one of the people who hadn't let them down, and she missed talking to him. "I hate not talking to him," she sighed.

It seemed like Harry had the same thoughts though because he said, "We'll go down after Quidditch," he tried to assure her, "But it might take all morning; a lot of people have applied. I don't know why the team is so popular all of a sudden."

Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Harry, it's obvious isn't it?" Harry shook his head and Hermione rolled her eyes again, impatiently, "Well, you're the captain this year and they all want to see you. You're more popular this year than ever before because a lot of them still feel guilty for doubting you last year about Voldemort returning and they want to be around you all the time now."

Ron started to choke on his kippers and Harry was beginning to look all clammy like, "What?"

"It could also be because you stood up to the Ministry and refused to back down when they made you look unstable and out to be a liar. Plus you've still got that scar on the back of your hand from when that horrid toad made you write lines with your own blood-"

"I've still got the scars from when the brains attacked me in the Ministry last year," Ron spoke up, pushing back the sleeves of his robes.

"And it doesn't hurt that you've grown at least an entire foot over the summer," Hermione finished, ignoring Ron.

"I'm tall," Ron added, looking hurt.

Harry didn't have to bother making up some sort of excuse while the owls began to all swoop down and deliver letters. Hermione pitied Harry, knowing that he wouldn't be getting any letters for a while seeing as how the only one who wrote to him was now dead, and Remus was away on a mission for Dumbledore. Remus told Hermione that he was trying to persuade werewolves to join their side, but that Dumbledore didn't want Harry knowing anything. After Hermione learned the truth while spending her summer in LA, Remus and Sirius began to trust her with everything that Dumbledore told them to keep hushed up, and vice-versa. They knew things that even Dumbledore himself didn't know. She still needed to let Remus know that Ginny and Luna were in the loop as well now. Smiling as she saw Hedwig flying towards a very surprised Harry, Hermione fed Faith's owl and accepted the letter. It had been only three days since her last letter. Reid and Spike hadn't replied back to her, but she ignored it to them being stupid.

"Hullo RG," Hermione cooed, petting the owl's beak.

"RG?" Ron quirked an eyebrow.

"It's an inside thing," Hermione giggled. RG stood for Reid Garwin, because Faith thought it would be funny to name her owl after him.

Doll Face,

Don't worry about Spike and Reid not writing back to you. I was on the phone with Reid all night and he told me that he's only worried about you. Spike isn't responding because he's stupid and he's plotting ways to kill his mini me. Connor said his first word today, 'bloody' –Angel and Spike both insisted that Darla would be proud, but Cordy threw a huge fit over it and Spike is now forbidden anywhere near the little tyke. I wonder what Cordy would say if she knew I was trying to teach him to throw a dagger?

Hermione began to choke on her orange juice and started to laugh all over her letter. That sounded like something Faith would do – only she would think to teach an eight month old baby to throw a dagger.

What do you want for your birthday? I'm thinking of sending you a little friend for Destiny, but apparently it's not appropriate or whatever Angel said – I wasn't listening. Reid told me that they're sending their gifts to you the day before your birthday so that when you wake up it'll be there already, but I'm thinking of sending it before then. How are your classes going? How's Harry holding up? I know Reid took Sirius's death hard. I'm thinking of visiting him. Did you know that Sirius left hiding last year to go and see Reid? Reid was telling me that last night. I can only imagine what Harry's feeling. How about you and Ron? Are you guys alright? Well… I'm getting sappy now. I'm starting to feel like Spike – ugh, I need a shower now. Remember what I always say, Doll Face – keep your head up.

Love,

Faith

Five by five, Doll Face, five by five

"HA!" Harry's sudden outburst tore Hermione away from her letter just as she was about to laugh again.

"Oh good," Hermione sighed with relief when she saw the new copy of Advanced Potion-Making, "You can give back that blasted book now."

"What?" Harry gasped. "Are you mental? Why would I do that?" taking out the old and battered version that he had been using all this time, Harry grinned and tapped both books with his wand, saying, "Diffindo!" Hermione dropped her jaw as Harry then switched the covers then tapped them once more and said, "Reparo!"

Hermione pressed her lips together before she could say something that these friends of hers had never heard her say before, and she silently thanked Merlin when another owl flew in and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of her. "Anyone we know, dead?" Ron asked the same question he's been asking for about a year now.

"No," Hermione shook her head, "But there have been more Dementor attacks, and one arrest."

The excitement in Harry's eyes showed that he was thinking of Bellatrix Lestrange as he straightened his back. "Perfect! Who is it?"

"Stan Shunpike."

"What?" Harry was definitely not expecting that answer.

Hermione began to read the article, "Stanly Shunpike, conductor on the popular Wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Mr. Shunpike, 21, was taken into custody late last night after a raid on his Clapham home…"

"No way!" Harry shook his head, "There's no way that he's a Death Eater. If he's a Death Eater then Neville's a Death Eater."

"Oi!"

"Sorry Neville," Harry blushed as their awkward friend looked up from his scrambled eggs to stare at him. "I'm just saying… I met Stan Shunpike; he's not a Death Eater."

Ron nodded his head as he considered it then said, "He could be under the Imperius Curse, you can never tell right away."

"I don't think so," Hermione frowned, still reading the paper. "It says right here that he was arrested after being overheard talking about the Death Eaters secret plans in a pub," with a troubled look on her face, she looked up from the paper, "If he was under the Imperius Curse, I hardly doubt that he would stand around, gossiping about their plans."

Ron shook his head, "It sounds to me like he was trying to sound all cool. No real Death Eater is stupid enough to talk about things like that where they could be overheard. Besides, wasn't he the one who claimed he was in line to become the next Minister of Magic when he was trying to impress those Veelas at the World Cup?"

Frowning as she thought back to that night – the first time that she noticed Draco was trying to protect her – Hermione stood up, "Well come on then, we wouldn't want you two to be late for tryouts now would we?"

Explaining that Parvati and Padma Patil's parents were considering on pulling them out of Hogwarts because of Professor Dumbledore's constant disappearances and the fear that Voldemort was going to attack them at Hogwarts, Hermione wasn't all that shocked to see Lavender and Parvati looking depressed as they passed them on their way out of the Great Hall. She did, however, manage to hold in a giggle when she saw Parvati look up and nudge Lavender who then looked up and flashed a wide smile at Ron; it seemed almost shy like. Catching Harry's eyes, the two of them began to laugh as Ron looked uncertain then blinked and smiled back while walking with a limp in his step. Hermione laughed even harder as she thought back to Caleb walking like that when they passed by a group of school girls in short uniforms back in LA. She missed her American friends.

Reaching the Quidditch pitch, Hermione wished her two best friends luck and walked up to the bleachers to find somewhere to sit. It was starting to drizzle a little and she pulled up the hood of her robe while placing a drying spell on her things to make sure they didn't become wet. Finding a seat that secluded her from everyone else who was watching the rehearsals, Hermione pressed her lips together when she saw Harry point towards her, sending a rather large looking boy with wiry hair to where she was sitting. He gave her a wink and a smug smirk, and Hermione cringed.

Soon enough, Harry broke everyone off into groups to see who could fly properly and who had skills to be on the team. Remembering the boy as Cormac McLaggen, someone else from Professor Slughorn's Slug Club thing, Hermione cringed again. Unless the male was Draco, Reid, or Spike, they looked stupid when they smirked. Even Angel looked stupid when he smirked. Who the hell did Cormac think he was smirking at her? He isn't her boyfriend. Hermione sighed – no he wasn't her boyfriend… her boyfriend was a Death Eater and possibly planning her death in this very moment. Pinching her thigh to make her thoughts disappear, Hermione heard Harry shout for everyone who wasn't in Gryffindor to get off the field, and she sighed. This was going to be a long practice.

Digging through her bag, Hermione pulled out a quill and a blank parchment then started to write back to Faith.

Faith,

I don't blame William for ignoring me. I tried writing back to him a couple of nights ago, but he's just being a baby because I didn't tell him about how Draco and I broke up and he had to find out from you and Reid. I'm glad to hear that Connor is speaking now, and don't tell Cordy, but I think it's funny that William influenced his first word. And only you would be teaching an eight month old baby how to throw a dagger. Is he any good? You'll be proud of me – I've been practicing and I'm better at it now! Harry is holding up better than he did this summer. I think he's having nightmares again though, and he went on his first mission thing with Professor Dumbledore, but it's been hectic around here and he didn't tell us what they did. We haven't seen Professor Dumbledore since that day either. Ron doesn't mention Sirius, but I know he still thinks about it. And I'm fine – I miss him like crazy, but Harry doesn't understand how close we really were and I don't want him to become too suspicious of why I'm possibly taking his godfather's death harder than he is. Classes are ridiculous; even I'm going mad with everything they expect us to do.

And I'm glad that you're talking to Reid. Tell him I'm here for him, will you? I expected William to be a baby and ignore me, but I didn't expect that from Reid. I tried writing back to him to ask him how he's doing, but he ignored me too. Tyler wrote back and told me that Reid's fine. Tell him he's a prat from me? Not Tyler, Reid. So what's going on with you two? I seem to remember you telling me that the day you date Reid is the day that I convince Draco it's alright to love me back – it happened for six months. So does this mean you guys are together now? Does Reid know what you signed him up for? Is you going to 'visit' him code for you finally shagging him? You can tell me now – I'm not thirteen anymore!

Looking up from the letter she was laughing at while writing, Hermione thought back to when Faith them would try their hardest to not talk about sex around her because they were too scared to corrupt her. It didn't work though – in the end she still became corrupted; she turned out like each of them in a way that they wouldn't have thought possible. It excited her. She teased Reid and Faith about liking each other, but they both denied it then turned red and quickly changed the subject, but lately she's been noticing Faith mentioning a lot of Reid in her letters, and before Reid started ignoring her, Hermione noticed Faith's name in his letters a couple of times as well. Hermione smiled at the thought of Faith with Reid. They were both sexy and dangerous people; to throw them together would be disastrous, but that's why she liked them together even more – it was a stupidly cute idea.

Hermione saw Ron move forward as it was now his turn to try out for Keeper, and she opened her mouth. "Good luck!" shutting her mouth again, Hermione turned to the direction that the luck came from and saw Lavender turning a bright red shade as she quickly dropped her face into her hands. Rolling her eyes, Hermione saw Harry watching them then frowned. Ron was looking like a fool out there. Turning to make sure that no one was paying her any attention, Hermione muttered a quick spell then turned back to her letter.

I need to go now. I just snuck a spell to make sure that Ron got the Keeper position on the team. We're at the tryouts right now.

Love,

The already corrupted Doll Face

Ps. I don't want anything for my birthday – just a letter from Reid and William. Make them feel guilty until I get it!

Sending off the letter with RG who was sitting close to her, Hermione gathered up all of her things then ran down when she saw Harry arguing with Cormac. Lavender shot her a nasty look and she matched her expression then shrugged it off. Laughing as she reached her two best friends, Hermione flew her arms around Ron and grinned, "You did brilliantly, Ron!"

Harry saw Lavender still glaring at Hermione, along with Parvati, but it was Ginny who saw the hurt expression on Draco's face as he stopped in front of the Slytherin locker rooms. Ignoring Harry as he went over their training schedules with the team, Ginny watched Draco. He was staring at Hermione and Ron with a clenched fist while gritting his teeth. Blaise walked over to him and placed an arm on his shoulder then shot Ginny an apologetic look. Ginny shrugged her shoulders to show that she was confused, and Blaise only shook his head back at her. Sighing, Ginny nodded her head at him then watched as he led a still hurt looking Draco into the locker rooms.

"I thought I was going to miss that fourth penalty," Ron sighed, proud that he instead caught all five. "That was a tricky shot from Demelza, did you see that? It had a bit of a spin on it-"

Hermione was looking amused; Ron had never been so happy before, "Yes, yes," she told him, "You were magnificent."

Blushing, but puffing out his chest in a proud way, Ron continued, "I was better than McLaggen at least," he laughed. "It looked like he was Confounded-"

Hermione adverted her eyes when she saw Harry staring at her, and she knew her cheeks were red. Damn Ron – why did he have to say that? Why couldn't he just think that he made the team due to his own skills? Reaching Hagrid's cabin, they all saw Buckbeak tied up and Harry grinned while Hermione slowly walked around him. When Sirius died, Harry got everything from him; including Buckbeak – who was really now called Witherwings as to not raise suspicion because he was supposed to have been executed – but Harry gave him to Hagrid. There was no way he could take care of the hippogriff while he was in school, and Hagrid loved the beautiful creature more than Harry did.

"Oh dear," Hermione said nervously, "He's still a bit scary isn't he?"

"Oh come off it," Ron rolled his eyes. "You rode him before haven't you?"

Stepping in front of the creature, Harry bowed low without looking away or blinking. Once Witherwings reacted in the same way, Harry smiled then walked over to him. "How are you?" he asked in a low voice while petting his beak. "Missing Sirius, eh… but that's alright, you have Hagrid to love you now."

"Oi!" shouted Hagrid, while turning around the bend. He was wearing a flowery apron and carrying a sack of potatoes. "Get away from him; he'll have yer fingers-" he stopped shouting when he saw the golden trio, "Oh, it's you lot."

Fang jumped on Hermione and began to lick her face to show her how much he missed her while Hagrid stared at all of them for a couple of seconds. Fang moved on to Ron's ears and Hagrid strode into his cabin then slammed the door behind him. "Oh dear," Hermione sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Harry looked grim as he stalked over to the door and began pounding on it. "Hagrid! Open up, we want to talk to you!"

Hagrid made no sound in response, and Hermione moved to the door now, "Hagrid? Hagrid? Please let us in."

"If you don't open this door, we'll blast it open," Harry shouted, directing his wand on the door.

"Harry," Hermione gasped, "You can't-"

"Yeah," Harry nodded his head, "Yeah, I can. Stand back Hermione-"

Just then the door opened up and Hagrid looked furious. "I am a professor!" he shouted. "How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door, Potter."

"Sorry, Professor," Harry said bitterly, returning his wand to his robes pocket.

"Since when have yeh called me 'Professor'?"

"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"

Hagrid growled at Harry's reply and Hermione chewed on her bottom lip. "Very clever," Hagrid snarled, "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ' come in then, yeh ungrateful little…" continuing to mutter beneath his breath, Hagrid stepped aside and allowed them inside.

Then the pleading started. Hagrid accused them of feeling sorry for him, and Harry said how they missed him, but it wasn't until Hermione began to explain that they had too many classes this year and that they couldn't add his class into their already tight schedules, that he accepted their apologies. Hermione started to peel the potatoes for Hagrid then soon enough everyone else joined in and helped her out. Hagrid snorted and his bogeys flew onto some of the potatoes – making Hermione extremely glad that they weren't staying for dinner. Hearing an odd squelching sound, they all turned around and saw a barrel filled with fat white little maggots.

Ron asked why he had them then Hagrid broke down and started to cry. Zoning out as Hagrid began to explain that his old friend Aragog – the giant spider that once tried to kill Harry and Ron – was dying, they tried to comfort him, but Hermione wasn't even paying attention as she patted his back and told him that everything would be alright. Her mind was on Draco, Reid, and the letter. The letter was missing. In the beginning she thought that it was in one of her books. But now she was beginning to panic. What if it got in the wrong hands? What if someone found it? What if it was a Slytherin that found it? What if a Slytherin read the letter and learned that Draco had secretly been dating Hermione? Reid didn't put too much into it, but he did mention that she needed to stop trying to save him and that-

"Shit!"

Hagrid stopped blubbering and they all turned to her with wide eyes. "Hermione!" Ron gasped.

Grabbing all her things, Hermione muttered a quick, "Your duck will be fine, Hagrid," then she ran out of the cabin, not even realizing that she just called a giant murderous spider a duck.

She was so bloody stupid! It was obvious enough that a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw didn't find the letter because Draco would have been arrested if they did. But a Slytherin finding it wouldn't be any better. They would have known that Draco had dated her for a while and they could give it to Voldemort. Draco would be killed if any of the Death Eaters found out about him dating Hermione. Feeling tears that she hadn't felt in two nights, Hermione ran through the corridor. She was such an idiot. Of course he broke up with her – if any of the other Death Eaters found out that he was dating the main person they wanted to kill, he would have been killed. They would either kill him or they would use him to get closer to her. Cursing her stupidity as she continued to run, Hermione bumped into a hard body.

"Oomph!" she grunted as she hit the ground.

"Granger?"

Looking up, Hermione weakly smiled. "Hullo Zabini."

Looking around to make sure that they were alone, Blaise bent over and helped her up. "Sorry Hermione, are you alright?"

"Yeah," she nodded her head, "I wasn't paying attention. I'm in a rush – see I lost-"

"A letter?"

Gasping, Hermione shook her head, "Please tell me that he didn't-"

"Find it?" Blaise nodded his head. "We all followed you out that night to make sure you were alright, and he saw it on the floor. He's scared as hell right now. Who sent you that letter?"

Shaking her head again, Hermione licked her lips. Relieved that it was only Draco who found it, Hermione relaxed a bit; at least nobody would find out the truth about Draco, but now she had another problem – Draco knew she knew. "I can't tell you."

"Please," Blaise dropped his voice. "You don't get it Hermione. You know that Draco would never hurt you. He broke up with you-"

"To protect me," Hermione stated, "I know Blaise, it literally just dawned on me, but he's still a git and I still hate him for how he did it, but I can't tell you who sent me that letter."

"Draco would never hurt you," Blaise repeated himself. "You can't trust whatever Death Eater it is that's trying to plot you against him."

"What?"

"The letter," Blaise whispered, "Whoever wrote it only wants you to stay away from Draco, so that he can kill you himself. Please, Hermione-"

Hermione started laughing and she shook her head. "Oh Merlin, is that what you guys think?" seeing Blaise's confusion, she laughed even more. "Don't worry about it Blaise. He isn't a Death Eater-"

"But he knows the ritual to get a mark…"

"Because he's familiar with it," Hermione nodded her head with wide eyes. "And don't worry about it. I wrote back to him; he's not coming here. It's more dangerous for him than it is for me."

"But you-"

"Are wanted for dead?" Hermione asked. Then smirking, she shrugged her shoulders. "What they'll do to me is nothing compared to what they'll do to him. Besides, I don't think Malfoy would appreciate him being here either."

"What?" Blaise was more confused now than he had ever been in his life. And he had to hear the birds and bees speech from his mum when he was only ten years old… that was pretty confusing. "He called you Sweetheart…"

"He always did," Hermione smiled. Was Draco jealous? Is that why Blaise is being all paranoid? "He's called me Sweetheart from the moment we met – he's sees me as a little sister."

Blaise shook his head and scratched his chin. "I don't get it."

"Sweetheart is a nickname for his little sister," Hermione said simply. "He isn't a Death Eater, but he knows them personally. He won't hurt me. He honestly thinks Malfoy wants to kill me. He won't come here anymore because Malfoy's sixteen now and he would be killed. I trust him more than I trust Harry and Ron."

Blaise heard everything that Hermione just told him, but through it all he only heard her calling Draco by his surname. "You're calling him Malfoy."

"Well seeing as how his blood is pure, I can hardly call him a Mudblood, now can I?"

"Herm-"

"I get it," Hermione cut Blaise off with a sigh, "But his words and actions still hurt me. So in my mind the break up is real and he's a git. You can tell him I said that. And you can also tell him that the next time he calls me a slag, I'm going to punch him. I'm not going to slap him this time; I'm going to bloody punch him! Have a nice day, Blaise."

Harry and Ron caught up with Hermione as she was making her way down the corridor to reach the Great Hall in time for dinner, and they all stopped to watch as Cormac walked into the wall instead of the doorway. Ron laughed about it and Hermione felt a tinge of guilt eat through her; she didn't mean for the spell to last this long. Ron walked into the Great Hall, but Harry caught Hermione's arm, keeping her back, and with a quick glance over at the Slytherin table –Hermione saw Draco push his plate away from him. He looked paler.

"What?"

"McLaggen looks like he was Confounded this morning," Harry said accusingly. Hermione opened her mouth to deny it, but then he said, "And he just so happened to be standing right in front of where you were sitting."

"Fine," Hermione didn't bother to deny anything. There is no point in even trying to lie when Harry already knew the truth, "But he creeped me out, and you should have heard the things he was saying about Ron and Ginny. And he's got a nasty temper; you wouldn't want someone like him on the team anyway."

Laughing, Harry shook his head, "No, I suppose I wouldn't, but wasn't that dishonest, Hermione? I mean you are a prefect after all. How is you cheating for this any different from my helpful Potions book?"

"Oh shut up," Hermione snapped at him.

Ron approached them then gave them both a suspicious look over, "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing," Harry and Hermione both replied.

Declining Professor Slughorn's offer for only Hermione and Harry to join the rest of the Slug Club in a quiet supper party, the trio ate their dinner in peace. Hermione was now good at ignoring the piercing gaze from across the hall. She had no doubt that Blaise was now telling Draco of their little conversation, and it made her a little woozy. Reaching the common room, they found a free table and Hermione scanned through the Daily Prophet.

"Anything good in there?" Harry asked her.

"Mr. Weasley's in here-" seeing Ron's reaction, Hermione quickly added, "He's alright; it just says that he's been to the Malfoys' home," frowning, Hermione thought back to when she saw Draco. He seemed to be in a foul mood when she saw him at dinner. At first she thought that it was because Harry grabbed her, but it could be because of this, and he did look paler than he usually was, and he did push his plate away. Has he been eating at all since school started back up?

"Erm…" Harry cleared his throat, "Hermione?"

"Hmm?" looking up from the paper, Hermione saw the two of them watching her and she quickly looked back down at the paper. "Right, hold on… This second search of the Death Eater's residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a confidential tip-off."

Hermione winced at the thought of Lucius Malfoy being caught clean, but he was still in Azkaban and she was a bit relieved. Because of the fact that Lucius is in Azkaban, if anything had been found, Draco would have been the one who was arrested. "Yeah, mine!" Harry broke into her thoughts. "I told him at Kings Cross about when we saw Malfoy in Borgin's trying to fix something. Whatever it is, he must have brought it with him to Hogwarts then."

"Oh honestly," Hermione rolled her eyes. It was hard to have to keep arguing with Harry and try to convince him that Draco wasn't a Death Eater when she knew he actually was. "How could he have done that? We were all searched once we entered the castle, remember?"

"What?" Harry fixed his glassed which were sliding off his nose, "No," he shook his head, "I was late because Malfoy broke my nose and hid my body on the train with my own invisibility cloak," he spat out bitterly. "Of course I don't expect you to remember that though, Hermione, because you were too busy having a mental breakdown."

"Mate," Ron gasped.

Clenching her teeth together, Hermione threw the newspaper down and stood up. Didn't Harry understand that she was saving his life? Didn't he understand that the only reason he's alive right now is because of her? If it weren't for her then he would have been killed already. "I'm just trying to think logically," Hermione hissed at Harry in a low tone. "If you want to continue being obsessed over Malfoy then go for it, if you decide you need me, I'll be having another one of my mental breakdowns."

Reid,

Hermione tried to wipe away the tears that were falling, but the parchment was already stained. She didn't want Reid to know that she was crying, but she needed to write to him.

It's good that you're being a prat and ignoring me seeing as how Draco found your first letter. I know I don't need to tell you not to reply to this because you weren't going to anyway. The point of this is not to tell you how much of a git you are, but to tell you that you don't have anything to worry about. Draco broke up with me because he's a DE now; if we were found out, he would have been used to get closer to me so he's protecting me. Everything is just bloody perfect in the world now.

-Hermione

Re-reading the letter, Hermione realized that she sounded a bit harsh but she didn't care anymore. She just got into another useless argument with her best friend because of something that she didn't want him to know for his own sanity and safety, and the person that she loved was treating her like dirt just so people wouldn't know he loved her. Her world was falling apart and she had the right to be harsh to people who ignored her because of silly little tantrums. Deciding that she needed Lindsey's help, Hermione wrote another letter.

LM,

I hate your initials! Thanks for the warning, but he broke up with me before I received it – a couple of hours before. I don't know why they waited until a week before school started either, and we aren't on the best of terms for me to find out. He knows that I know because he found the warning that Reid sent to me the morning after your letter. I'm glad to hear you got your hand back. I wish I could talk more, but I need a favor and there isn't much time.

Malfoy Manor was raided but they found nothing. I know you told me that Lucius won't be released from Azkaban, but if they did find anything, Draco would have been arrested. I know that you all want that, and in a way I do as well, but something isn't right. Harry and I saw Draco questioning Borgin about an item inside his shop – something that needs to be repaired. I know you're in hiding, but is there anything that you can think of? Do you have any idea of what they would need to be repaired and where it could possibly be if not at the Manor? I'm trying to convince Harry that Draco isn't a Death Eater, but he's not stupid – he saw Draco showing two of his friends the mark on the train ride back to school, and even though I claim that I didn't see anything in the shop, he won't give up his argument. I need something – anything, please?

-Darling

"Take Reid his letter first," Hermione told the owl, "Then Lindsey. Wait for Lindsey to reply."

I hope you guys don't mind all the letters for now… it's only for a couple more chapters then there will be no more need for letters. Well sort of… but for now it's the only way Hermione can communicate with everyone(: