Hermione awoke the next morning and dressed for breakfast. On the floor by the door was a folded piece of old parchment paper. She immediately recognized it as the Marauder's map. Picking it up, she checked to see where Snape was and saw his dot standing still in his private rooms. Hoping he would sleep in, she stuffed the map in her bag and made her way to the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, and Ginny were already halfway through a plate of pancakes each when she reached them.
"Here, Hermione. I saved you a seat" Ginny said, patting the empty space on the bench next to her. Hermione quickly glanced up at the staff table before settling herself down next Ginny.
"I heard you had a bad night. Are you okay?" Ginny asked her friend sympathetically.
Hermione shot a nasty look across the table at Harry and Ron. "I'm fine."
"Harry said you had been crying."
"I don't want to talk about it" Hermione said as she swiped some sausages and bacon from the large platter in front of her.
"Well, if you want to talk, I'm here." Ginny said and patted her friend on the back.
As breakfast came to a close, there was still no sign of Snape. "Good" thought Hermione. "Maybe the monster will stay in his cave for the morning." She gathered her belongings and took off for her first class.
Ancient runes came and went as did Arithmancy. As lunch neared however, time seemed to move much more slowly. Right after lunch Hermione would have to make her way down to the dungeons of doom and face the man who had manhandled her the night before. Hermione felt tears welling up in her eyes as she unconsciously rubbed her wrists. "Why did he do that to me?" she muttered under her breath.
Making her way to the Great Hall, Hermione heard someone calling her name.
"Hermione! Wait up!"
Turning, she saw her fellow housemate, Parvati Patil running toward her.
"Hi, Parvati. How are you?" Hermione forced a smile.
"I'm doing great, actually. I've been waiting for a week, but Dumbledore finally approved my wizard's chess club. Busy man, he is. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to join. Our first meeting is today during free time right after our afternoon class."
"Um, I don't know…"
"Oh, come on, Hermione! It'll be fun! We barely get to see each other with our busy schedules and we have an odd number of people. We need at least one more to even out the numbers."
Hermione thought for a moment. She still hated wizard's chess, but it would give her an excuse to leave immediately after Snape's class in case he tried to stop her. Of course, then she'd have to suffer through an hour of the most barbaric game she'd ever heard of.
"Okay. I'll do it. I'll come."
Parvati wrapped Hermione in a tight hug. "Thank you so much! I'll see you after class!"
Parvati took off down the hall toward the Great Hall and Hermione followed her at a much slower pace. When she arrived, Ginny, Ron, and Harry were nowhere to be found. Figuring they'd be along soon, she took a seat and started in on a turkey sandwich and a glass of pumpkin juice. A half hour and another sandwich later, the trio had still not arrived and it was time to head to potions class.
Hermione groaned as she stood from the bench and slung her bag over her shoulder. Forcing her body to move, she dragged her feet toward the dungeons. She was so lost in her worries that she didn't even notice the fifth year Slytherin boys trailing her down the stairs. One of them grabbed her bag from her shoulder and tossed it to his two buddies. Hermione turned on the spot and glared at them.
"Give me my bag back. Now." She demanded.
The first boy chuckled. "Make me, mudblood."
Hermione flushed from anger. "Didn't the war teach you anything?! Even the Malfoys don't talk like that anymore! Give me my bag and get out of here!" She took a step toward the duo that was playing hot potato with her bag and launched herself at them. She was in no mood to play games. The moment she jumped at them the boys tossed her bag on the floor and scattered in three different directions. Hermione uncharacteristically swore under her breath as she picked up all the books and papers that had fallen out of her bag. She gathered her belongings as quickly as she could, jammed them into her bag, and took off at a near jog to the potions classroom. She got there just as class was starting. Hermione crossed her fingers as she tiptoed across the classroom, praying that Snape wouldn't turn around from writing on the board.
"Late, Miss Granger. See me after class."
Hermione sulked and sat down. "Great" she thought. Taking out her quill and parchment she took down the notes that were on the board.
When class finished and the room had cleared, Hermione stayed in her seat and stared at the table. A couple minutes passed with no words spoken between the professor and his student. After what seemed like an hour, Snape spoke.
"Come here" he said without looking up from the parchment he was writing on.
Hermione tried to obey but her legs felt like Jell-o. Holding onto the tables for support, she made her way to the front of the room and to her professor's desk. He looked up at her from his writing.
"We need to talk" he said in a low, grumbling voice.
"I don't think we have anything to talk about" Hermione said in a dismissive tone.
"You don't?" he gestured toward her. "Then why are you rubbing your wrists?" Hermione hadn't realized she had started doing that again. Throwing her hands to her sides, Hermione turned to walk out of the room.
"I have somewhere to be. Unless you're writing me up for being late, I'm leaving". And with that, she strolled out the door leaving her professor behind.