A/N: Hey guys, SO sorry it's taken so long to update! Labor Day weekend was this weekend for those of us in the U.S. and I just am so busy! But I will update again on Saturday, and then I'll be going on vacation for a week.

Please PLEASE review this chapter and let me know what you think so far! I didn't get any reviews on my last chapter and it kinda bummed me out. Anyways, enjoy!


CHAPTER TWO

Professor McGonogall led them to an unused classroom. It was covered in filth, like it had not been cleaned since the Medieval Ages; which was very likely.

"You two will be c leaning this room by hand. Meaning no magic." McGonogall stressed. "It is going to be used for a class next term and will need some sprucing up. " She gestured towards the middle of the room. "Brooms, mops, and rags have been made available for you to use. You can leave in three hours." With that, she left.

Hermione stared after her for a second before turning to Malfoy. "Well, I guess I'll start sweeping, if you will dust the windows."

Draco scoffed. "Me, do a house-elf's work? I don't think so." He took a rag and spread it out on a chair before sitting on it.

Hermione just stood there in disbelief before she grabbed a rag and threw it at him, at wit's end. "I can't believe you Malfoy! It's your fault we're even here in the first place; the least you could do is help me out a little!" She screamed at him.

Malfoy, who had jumped up when the rag hit him, looked at her in rage. "Don't you ever throw anything at me again! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this stupid detention!" He shouted.

"How do you figure that Malfoy?" Scoffed Hermione. "You were throwing things at me in Potions first, and you were the one pointing your wand at me in the hallway! How does that work out to being my fault?"

"Because, if you had never come to this school in the first place, you wouldn't be getting me in trouble, you filthy Mudblood! You don't deserve to be here." Draco sneered.

"You are so ridiculous Malfoy." Hermione said quietly. "I'll be over there, doing what I'm supposed to be, before I get in more trouble."

Draco settled down onto his chair again, closing his eyes. "Yes, run along little Mudblood. And if you have time, clean my shoes, will you? They're looking a bit rough." He wiggled a foot at her.

Hermione turned away and stalked over to the nearest broom, snatched it up, and went to the corner that was farthest from Malfoy. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. "I do deserve to be here," she thought, "I'm just as good as the rest of the, better even!"

She kept her mind to her task ,and by the end of the three hours she had finished sweeping one fourth of the room. She found a dust pan and swept the heaps of dust in it and walked to the trash bin to dump it.

Wiping her hands, she picked up her robes off a desk, where she had laid them when she got too hot. Looking over at Malfoy, she noticed he had fallen asleep. "Lazy git," she thought, "I'm not even going to wake him up. He deserves it."

Hermione walked out and went up the stairs to the seventh floor, told the portrait the password, and climbed inside.

Ron and Harry were inside playing Wizard's Chess, looking exhausted.

"Why are you two still up?" She asked. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

They looked up at her. "We were waiting up for you to see how it went." Ron explained while stretching.

"Yeah, how was working with Malfoy?" Harry asked.

Hermione threw her hands up in the air, and plopped down in the chair beside them. "If he had done any work, I would know how it was! He insulted me, blamed me for having to be there, and then fell asleep!"

Harry and Ron looked outraged. "The nerve of him," said Harry. "I mean, McGonogall really can't turn a blind eye to this, can she?"

"No, guys don't say anything." Hermione pleaded. "I really don't want to make it worse."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione, come on! Do you really think you can get Malfoy to do anything? I say we tell McGonogall what's going on."

Hermione stood up, hands on her hips. "You two will do nothing! I can, and I will handle this!" With that, she started up to her dormitory.

Once there, she threw herself on the bed and shoved her face in the pillow and screamed as loud as she could. When she ran out of air, she sat up. What a horrible night! First, detention with the ferret, and then her own friends thinking she wasn't capable of defending herself! Well, she would show them just what she was capable of!

Having decided that, she got up and changed into her pajamas and went to bed.


Hermione was still determined in the morning to show the boys she didn't need them. After getting dressed, she went down to the Great Hall. She saw Harry and Ron gesture to her like always, but this time,she ignored them and went further along the table, sitting with Ginny, Lavender, and the Patil twins.

"Hey Hermione." They all greeted her.

"Why aren't you over with Harry and Ron?" Ginny asked.

Hermione sighed and looked down the table at them; both had their heads close together, shooting her furtive looks every once in a while. "Because, they're being…idiots." She tried to explain.

The other four girls nodded. "Completely understandable." They said.

Later, Hermione and Ginny were walking to their classes when Hermione turned to Ginny and asked, "You think I'm capable of standing up for myself, don't you Ginny?"

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Ginny asked, looking at her. "Of course you are! You're4 the last person I would want to mess with! Those boys are just being chauvinistic gits!"

Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thanks Gin. I feel kind of silly now."

Ginny smiled at her. "Don't feel silly! Just ignore Ron and Harry. They're the ones being silly."

Hermione smiled. "Sounds like good advice." She said, stopping by a staircase. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Ginny said, giving a wave as she walked off.

Hermione was dreading going to Potions. She was sure the torment from Draco would be unbearable today.

When she got to the classroom, she eased in the door, hoping not to be noticed. Unfortunately, this did not work. As soon as she started walking down the aisle to her work table, the Slytherins to her left started throwing insults at her.

"Stupid Mudblood," Draco whispered to Blaise. "That gap-toothed wench has completely ruined everything."

Blaise whispered something to Draco, causing him to burst into laughter, looking over at Hermione.

Hermione blushed, her cheeks burning. "I'll show him!" She thought to herself. "I'm not the one who ruined everything!"

As expected, Potions was a nightmare. Name calling was being thrown back and forth between Draco and Hermione.

They were finishing the Voice Strangling Potion they had started their first day of class.

Hermione pushed her hair out of her face. It always got so damn hot in this room! Of course, it didn't help that Snape didn't have any windows to open up. Hermione glared at him, blaming him for all of her recent troubles. More like all of her troubles since first year.

"Snarky git," Hermione thought to herself, crushing some beet roots with her knife to get the juice out.

Unfortunately, her efforts were ruined when she was dripping the juice in her cauldron too fast and some of her potion splashed into her eye.

"Aahhh!" She screamed, dropping the rest of her beet root juice into her cauldron and rubbing her eyes. "It hurts, it hurts!"

Snape walked down the aisle to her. "Calm down Miss Granger, I'm sure it's not that bad." He said.

Hermione took her hand away from her eye. Her right eye was swelling and a red rash was forming around it. Tears were streaming down her face.

Draco snorted when he saw it. "Anything for an improvement, eh, Granger?"

"Shut it Malfoy!" Hermione cried, covering her eye with her robe.

"Miss Granger, I suggest you keep your comments to yourself." Snape drawled. "Go to the Hospital Wing and get that thing fixed."

He turned around and walked back to his desk. "The rest of you had better finish your potions!" The other students hurriedly went back to their cauldrons.

Hermione grabbed her bag, and covering her eye with her hand, she walked out of class. Yet she still managed to hear Draco's comment, "No need to cover that up Granger, I think it's an improvement at least!" He said smirking.

She fled the room at that and ran up the stairs to the Hospital Wing. Her eye was beginning to burn and she could feel her eye swelling shut.

Finally reaching her destination, she went inside. Madam Pomfrey let out a gasp when she saw her. "Oh dear, what happened?"

Hermione sat down on the edge of a bed and started explaining. "I was in Potions class, and I was trying to ignore Malfoy's stupidity, and I ended up splashing my potion in my eye."

Madam Pomfrey came over with a tonic and a bandage with white goop on it. "That's all right dear," she said, "Put this on your eye and drink this tonic. The tonic will help with the swelling, and the bandage will help with the rash. But you must keep it on the rest of the day for it to completely work."

Hermione groaned. This, on top of everything else. Perfect. Not only would Malfoy make fun of her, the whole school would too! She laid back on the bed, closing her other eye, holding the bandage on the other.

"No, no, no, dear. Can't stay here I'm afraid." Pomfrey came back, making shooing motions. "Got to get up and go to class."

Hermione took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She could do this. She was Hermione Granger, top student. She wouldn't let this embarrassing eye patch get her down.

She got up and grabbed her book bag. There wasn't enough time left to go to her Ancient Runes class, so she decided to head down to the Great Hall and wait for Harry and Ron. Maybe on the way she could find a bag to put over her head.

She made it down there and sat down in her usual spot. Taking out her Ancient Runes book, she decided to review what she had missed in class.

Other kids began filing in and sitting down at their respective seats. Hermione bent her head down, but at the shout of her name, she looked up. Big mistake. Ron and Harry were walking in right in front of Draco and his friends. He took one look at her and burst out laughing, nearly falling over the person next to him in the process.

Ron and Harry, having seen this, turned to Malfoy.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Ron yelled.

"Yeah, this is probably your fault anyways!" Harry said.

Draco stepped up to them, towering a good three inches above Ron. "Yeah? Ask your little Mudblood what happened."

Hermione rubbed her forehead with her hand. This is exactly what she didn't want.

Ron and harry came to sit down across from her.

"What happened Hermione?" Asked Harry.

"I got a bit of potion splashed on me." Hermione explained, giving the short version. She looked over at the Slytherin table and noticed Draco re-enacting her mishap. She rolled her eyes.

Ron looked confused. "So it really wasn't Malfoy's fault then?"

Hermione threw up her hands, exasperated and ready to be done with the day. "I am allowed to make mistakes you know! You guys are giving me a headache!"

Harry and Ron just sat there, silent. Hermione just kept her eyes on her plate, eating.

Finally Harry spoke up. "We're sorry Hermione. We didn't mean to make a big deal out of it."

"It's fine," Hermione said. "I shouldn't have yelled."

They spent the rest of lunch catching up on what else was going on in their classes. Then it was time for their next classes; Arithmancy for Hermione and Care of Magical Creatures for Harry and Ron.

They split up in the Entrance Hall, the boys going outside to Hagrid's hut, and Hermione going upstairs to the fifth floor.

Once there, Hermione couldn't even concentrate on what the professor was talking about. She was just thinking of the torture she would go through tonight during detention with Malfoy.

Why did it have to be her going through this? It was so unfair! This was his entire fault! Hermione was scratching notes so furiously that she snapped her quill in half. Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. "Just icing on top of the cake," she thought, as she searched for a new quill.

The afternoon passed slowly for Hermione, as her mind wouldn't quit thinking and trying to pay attention to her professors.

Finally it was dinnertime. Hermione made her way to the Great Hall. The day had been too long in her opinion. She had been getting looks and remarks all day from people about her eye patch. She wasn't yet able to take it off, not for a few more hours according to Madam Pomfrey. Of course, the looks weren't stopping. Hadn't anyone seen someone hurt before, for Merlin's sake?

She sat down across from Harry and Ron and let out a huge sigh.

"Life is so…unfair." Hermione said as she dug her fork into her food. "First, I'm subjected to a whole month of detention with Malfoy! And then, because the Fates were in a playful mood or something, I've got this ridiculous thing on my eye!" Hermione ranted, waving her fork around in the air.

Ron looked at her warily, looking ready to fend her off with his own fork. "It'll be okay Hermione." He said. "Your patch comes off tonight, and I bet this month with that git will fly by." He reached over and put his hand on top of Hermione's, rubbing it.

Hermione relaxed, and held his hand, smiling at him. "Thanks Ron. Your support helps right now." She looked at Harry. "Yours too."

Harry smiled at her. "It's no problem Hermione. We're always here for you." He had noticed the look that had passed between Ron and Hermione, and was secretly pleased.

After that, Hermione wasn't filled with dread after dinner as she and Ron walked to her detention.

"Thanks for walking me Ron. It means a lot to me." Hermione said, giving him a hug.

"Well, how sweet." Draco said, coming up behind them in the hallway.

"Nobody asked you Malfoy." Hermione spat out.

Draco just glared at them and walked inside the classroom.

Ron turned to Hermione and hugged her again. "Good luck," He whispered. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but after glancing back at Draco, he changed his mind and left.

Hermione headed inside and stopped by the chair Draco had parked himself in. "Were you planning on doing any work tonight Malfoy?" She asked sarcastically.

Draco pretended to yawn. "Oh who knows, Granger. You might actually need some help with that stupid looking eye patch on. You might work your way in circles."

Hermione snorted. "Don't be ridiculous. I can walk in a straight line, I'm not going to suddenly start walking in circles."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Prove it then."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't have to prove anything to you! Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get some work done, so I don't have to be stuck here any longer than I have to." With that, Hermione went to walk past him, when she suddenly fell to the floor.

She stood up and whirled around. "You tripped me!"

Draco scoffed and pointed at himself. "Who, me?" He asked sarcastically.

Hermione drew her wand out. "This is twice now Malfoy! It won't happen a third!" She shouted.

Draco's face became serious and he drew out his wand as well. "You don't stand a chance Granger. I know spells you've never heard of."

Hermione raised her wand in a dueling position. "Try me Malfoy." She said in a low tone.

Draco copied Hermione's position, his arm raised. "Bring it on then."

Hermione shouted out an offensive spell, with Draco immediately blocking it. From then on, it was nothing but shouting, cursing, and spells flying everywhere.

Ten minutes later, and Hermione was exhausted. It was the most intense duel she had ever been in.

She ducked down behind a desk, pushing the chair in front of her to block the spell, causing it to shatter.

"Had enough Mudblood? I'm bigger, stronger, and better than you. You'll never win." Draco's voice sounded from the other side of the room.

Hermione was fuming. This was pathetic of her! Here she was cowering behind a desk in the middle of a duel.

She stood up, ready to shout a spell, when a red light came shooting at her, Draco's voice yelling, "Frendo Truncus!"

Hermione dropped her wand, unable to breathe. It felt like a giant hand was around her stomach and chest, squeezing until there was nothing left of her.

She clawed at her stomach and looked at Malfoy desperately. Blue and purple spots started to dot her vision. The edges of the room were turning black, and still the invisible hand kept squeezing.

Hermione's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she dropped to the ground.

Draco finally lowered his wand and walked over to where Hermione lay.

Looking down on her with contempt, he said, "I told you I'm better than you, Mudblood."

He pocketed his wand, leaving Hermione alone on the floor.