Hermoine woke up bright and early the next morning before anyone else. She was hoping to get a head start on her day as to forget about the previous night. During the night, Hermoine had woken up countless times, each time with the same feeling of someone watching her, but shook it off each time. She really hoped that Harry and Ron wouldn't question her more about their conversations from last night. It's enough to have to worry about school and prefect duties. She doesn't want to have to worry about them finding out before she wants them to know.

Hermoine dressed in her robes and headed off for her favorite chair near the now extinguished fire. She had just made herself comfortable when she heard a noise come from the staircase. Startled she got up and walked toward the noise. Ron stumbled down the staircase, catching Hermoine's robes just before falling flat on his face, pulling Hermoine down with him.

"Oy, good thing you were there to help me Hermoine. I could of fallen, oh wait, I did fall," Ron said sarcastically.

"It's not my fault you fell. Maybe you should learn how to walk."

"I was just kidding Hermoine, geez. How come you're up so early? The sun has barely risen."

"Just wanted to get a head start on the day. You know, first day of classes and all. By the way, what are you doing up? You never get up early, you rather just sleep right through classes."

"True. I just couldn't sleep. I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"Like what?"

"Nothing," Ron murmured. "What book you reading now?" He questioned pointing out the book Hermoine had placed on the table next to her chair.

"Nothing much, just a bit of light reading on transfiguration. From the Greatest Witches and Wizards Collection, real stories of transformations gone wrong. Quite interesting actually. One wizard permanently turned himself into a snail when trying to turn his frog into a tadpole."

The conversation went on for almost an hour until Harry groggily stumbled down the stairs. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."

The trio went down to breakfast where Hermoine and Ron passed out schedules to the Gryffindors and compared their own. Harry and Ron ended up in quite a lot of the same classes because of their dream to both become Aurors. Hermoine shared about half of their classes, but had a handful on her own. The day went by pretty well considering it was the first day of classes. The trio got off with 2 essays a piece, a 2-foot parchment for Snape and a 10-inch parchment for McGonagall, and a monthly star chart for September for Astronomy. Along with this, Hermoine also had a decoding assignment for Ancient Runes. Half way through dinner, Hermoine ducked out to go to the library to work on her Ancient Runes assignment.

When Hermoine entered the library, she found it completely deserted except for herself and her Muggle Studies professor putting books away. "At least it'll be quiet. I can really get some work done now," thought Hermoine.

She quickly found the aisle with books on ancient decoding methods. She pulled numerous books from the shelf and made herself comfortable at a table.

Hermoine was distracted halfway through her analysis of an ancient tomb when she heard a low murmur coming from a few aisles away. Deciding to investigate, Hermoine crept to the end of the aisle the talking was coming from, hiding behind a stack of books.

"If we're doing this, we better act fast," one voice said. "Who knows how long it'll take to break him."

"True, but not to worry, muggles always fall fast. We can have our fun with him after we have the information we need. Doctor Matthew Granger won't know what hit him."

At the sound of her uncle's name, Hermoine became alarmed. She had to warn her uncle, and fast. She had no choice but to send him an owl, hopefully he wouldn't mind. She had to hurry though, leave unnoticed. She quietly crept to her table and shoved all her things in her bag. She made her way to the doors and once out of the library bolted up to the Owlery.

She grabbed a small bit of parchment from her bag and scribbled a note to her uncle, writing:

Uncle Matt,

I was just in the library and overheard some people. You are in grave danger. You haveto watch yourself, they're coming to get you. Be careful, I love you.

Your favorite niece,

Hermoine

She choose a barn owl, tied her note to its leg, and sent it on its way. She stood at the window with a spare piece of parchment in her hand, hoping the owl would reach him in time. Her mind started drifting off to her uncle when all of a sudden a hand out of nowhere grabbed her arm, and another covered her mouth. Her back was slammed against the wall and the figure's invisibility cloak slipped off, revealing a tall robed figure with a black hood covering their face. Hermoine's struggling and squirming did no good, she was being held too tightly. The hooded figure bent low to her face, coming within 2 inches of her.

"You thing you're going to warn your uncle. Too bad I caught you. It's not like I didn't sense you listening into my conversation," an icy voice whispered to Hermoine. "It's not polite to eavesdrop. Maybe I should teach you what happens to children who don't have any manners."

Hermoine tried to scream, but the hand clamped around her mouth tightened even more. She had nowhere to move, he was so close to her. She couldn't get away even if she tried. She was practically pinned to the wall. Then, out of nowhere, a knee slammed into her stomach. She would've doubled over in pain if not for the strong hands holding her up.

A leg swung behind her legs, taking them out from under her and landing Hermoine flat on her back. A foot connected with her side as the hand left her mouth.

"Don't you dare say a word or you'll really get it."

Hermoine crumpled up in a ball holding her stomach and side as immense pain shot through her body.

"Look at me," the voice demanded. "I said look at me!" He yelled and hit her so hard across the face that her lip began to bleed. He held her face close to his.

"You say a word of this or anything you heard to anyone, you'll have more then just your uncle's life to worry about, you'll have to worry about yours and your friend's. You got me?" Hermoine shook her head yes, afraid of anymore pain. "I'll be watching you."

The figure stood up, picked up his invisibility cloak, draped it over his shoulders and disappeared, leaving Hermoine whimpering on the floor from all the pain. One good thought raced through her mind; at least she had sent the letter before being caught. Before she knew it, she was unconscious on the floor of the Owlery.

A/N: I know I haven't updated in a long time for those of you that are reading this, but I hope you enjoy this chapter and feel like reviewing.