Hermione hadn't seen Draco since the Quidditch game-other than in Care for Magical Creatures-and she was perfectly fine with that. Actually, she got the feeling that he'd been avoiding her; Draco would always leave the room if she was in it, and he even managed to get out of Potions class, most likely pretending to be sick.

That was what Hermione wanted, though, and she was glad that he understood. She never came out and told him to leave her alone, but she did infer it; good thing Draco was smart.

Harry and the Weasley twins earned a severe punishment for attacking Draco-not that he hadn't deserved it. When the three finally came back to Gryffindor Tower, they all yelled and stampeded around about how vile and inhuman Umbridge was, until Dean Thomas finally asked them what happened. The entire room had been in shock once Fred announced that the trio had been banned from Quidditch for the rest of their lives.

Angelina was fumed, but still managed to throw together a new team; with Ginny Weasley as the seeker. Ginny wasn't horrible at it; actually she was quite good, but no-one could surpass Harry's seeking skills for the game. Some other Gryffindor's that Hermione barely knew replaced the twins as beaters. They weren't as talented as Ginny, who used to practice late at night with her brother's broom.

"So, tell me, Granger," said a voice from behind her.

Hermione swerved around, meeting a sixth year face-to-face. There was an array of freckles covering his cheeks, that looked more like dirt to Hermione; she felt the need to wipe it off with her thumb, but refrained from doing so since they were merely freckles. The boy reminded her of Ron, they had the same build and posture, but his hair was dusty blonde instead of red.

Hermione asked him, "Tell you what, Leyon?"

"Is it true that your lips are the same color as your nipples?"

As soon as it had registered to Hermione what Leyon said to her, he was already walking back to his friends with an arrogant laugh escaping from him.

That was very peculiar, Hermione thought to herself.

She had never thought someone would ask her that; it must've been some sort of joke, a game of sorts. Whatever that had been about, it was odd. Why would he care to know what color her nipples were-which weren't the same hue as her lips, no, those were far too red-and why had he worded it as if someone told him that? Hermione had never showed anyone her nude body.

As she continued to walk through the halls, Hermione could hear people whispering around her acting like she couldn't hear them.

"It's her."

"You think she wanted him to take it?"

"Glad to know that she'll never steal my boyfriend."

"Wasn't she just messing around with Malfoy? I saw her kiss him at the game."

"I bet she's shagging them both."

"Probably Ron and Harry, too."

Hermione wanted out. She needed to get out of the hallways as soon as she could, the gossiping was driving her mad and she didn't even know what it was about. So, with her arms crossed over her chest, Hermione quickly brushed pass everyone into the Great Hall.

It was over, everyone in there had been eating and talking among themselves about stupid things, and not about Hermione. She relaxed as soon as Harry and Ron began waving at her, coaxing Hermione to sit with them at their usual spot at the table. Perhaps they would know what was going on.

Hermione took a seat beside Harry, who scooted over a bit for her. As she slowly ate off her plate, Hermione listened to her boys' conversation about Quidditch Practice with the new team.

"-and she was so furious, but gotta give the girl props for refraining from hitting Angelina," said Ron.

"Speaking of fighting," began Harry, "Malfoy hasn't said anything to me since."

Ron laughed and said, "Good, that little twat needs to be put in-."

"Guys, do you know why everyone has been whispering about me?" Hermione suddenly interrupted.

Ron and Harry shared a look before fighting about which one would have to tell her the truth. What could be so bad that her friends didn't want to say it? Harry threatened to tell Molly that Ron was the one who had eaten her slice of cake (even though he hadn't known it was hers) and Ron finally caved in.

"Well you see, Hermione," he said quietly. "There's a rumor going around-of you."

"What rumor?" she asked him.

Ron hesitated, but still told her, "Everyone thinks you shagged some sixth year."

Hermione shook her head and said, "That's stupid, I'm only fifteen and you know I would never do that."

She watched Ron let out a breath of relief before saying, "We never thought you would."

"The stories I've heard from people are really far-fetched," Harry mentioned with a fit of laughter. "Someone told me that you were sleeping with Malfoy, too. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, I heard that you were full on snogging him after the Quidditch match! You-and-Malfoy? Ha!" Ron said before joining Harry along for a good chuckle.

Hermione blushed a bit once she heard the last part. It was understandable why everyone had gotten the idea of her and Draco being together; even if it was just a peck below his ear-that wasn't even real. She was just messing with his mind, letting him know to back off. To other people, it must've looked like they cared for one another. How it turned into them making-out on the field was beyond her.

"I have a confession."

Harry and Ron's laughter died down, but their smiles still stayed in place. She wasn't sure how they would react about what had really happened on that field; it could either upset them or they'd begin laughing again and pat her on the back for getting at Malfoy.

"A bit of that last talk is actually kind of true," she told them, "but everyone told it from their perspective."

The grind were wiped off of the boys' faces and instead replaced with frowns.

Harry grabbed Hermione by the shoulder and yelled, "Are you saying that you snogged Malfoy?"

She yanked Harry's hand away and said, "Of course not; I have never-and will never-kiss Draco on the lips. However, I did do to him as he had done to me in the library."

"Ew."

"Just listen, would you?" Hermione snapped. "After you and George left, I pulled Draco up from the ground. I though about yelling and hexing him, but there were teachers everywhere and I was not about to get detention. Instead, I hugged him and whispered into his ear how upset I was at him for bullying you guys and that I wasn't ever going to friends with someone like him. That was when I kissed him on his neck; it was a threat that only he understood. Everyone else seen it as an act of love."

"Did you really have to kiss him, though?" Ron groaned out.

Hermione firmly nodded her head and replied, "I think it got the point across better."

The trio continued eating their food and talking quietly to themselves. The subject before was put in the past-mostly due to the fact that Hermione and Draco wasn't a desirable topic-and replaced with murmurs about Umbridge.

The horrible Ministry woman had been putting Harry and detention several times a week, for the most ignorant of things. Harry usual came back late at night with bloody bandages wrapped around his hand and pleas from Hermione to inform Dumbledore. He never would.

That topic was quickly interrupted, Pansy Parkinson had walked over to them with twi other Slytherin girls, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Pansy had a photograph in her hand and threw it onto the table.

Ron snatched it up and stared at the photo with wide eyes while Harry and Hermione tried to lean across the table to get a peak. Ron kept flicking his eyes at Hermione before Harry grabbed it from him. The look Harry gave her made Hermione's stomach turn queasy. She felt like she was going to puke.

It was a photo taken of Hermione; a horrible one at that. Her usually frizzy hair was soaking wet and falling into her closed eyes; she'd just gotten out of the bubbly prefects bath. While some of her hair had been in her face, the rest was being dried out with a towel. The shiny water was still dripping off of her naked skin. Hermione didn't care about that, though; no, the worse part was the visibility of her breasts and nude figure. Hermione had no clothes on yet, and apparently someone had taken advantage of that. Luckily, Hermione was standing in an odd angle, so the photographer had been unable to catch her lady bits.

Hermione could feel her heart in her throat, beating fast enough to win a marathon. How had she never noticed the person? Whoever it was passing around these pictures must have told everyone that Hermione had let them take it; that would explain the rumor of her sleeping around with someone.

"Who would've thought little Miss Mud-blood here would be so naughty, acting like a witch from Play-Wizard?" Pansy cackled loudly with her pug-nose crinkling up. "Poor Draco is going to be so hurt when he finds out you've been playing him."

Hermione wanted to tell Pansy that her and Draco couldn't stand each other, but nothing came out. Well, not words. Instead, everything Hermione had just eaten splattered onto the floor in front of her and all over Pansy's shoes.

Hermione let out a squeak before turning on her heel to run out of the Great Hall with Pansy screeching behind her and everyone's eyes following the scene.

Harry was shocked.

That photo was something completely unknown to him; no-one said anything about it, so how was he supposed to have warned Hermione about it previously? None of this was his fault, but Harry still wanted to fix it. Hermione was so good to him.

He turned around and grabbed a flailing Pansy by her collar.

"Where did you get that?" Harry yelled with anger.

Pansy replied, "Some girl showed me it; I didn't even know who she was!"

Harry pushed Parkinson away from him-who continued to freak out about Hermione's puke-and grabbed Ron by the arm.

"C'mon, let's find her," he muttered to Ron.

Before the two left, Harry grabbed the photo, pulled out his wand, and used the Incendio Charm on it. Burning up in flames, the picture soon turned into ashes that littered the floor.

Harry stepped out of the Great Room and caught a group of students talking quietly to their selves. After getting their attention, Harry asked if they saw which way Hermione had gone, in which one of them pointed further into castle. All of the students they passed were questioned of Hermione's whereabouts until they were finally directed to a very familiar hall.

One of the doors was something that the three of them became very acquainted with during their second year at Hogwarts. It was large and brown; the knob was a bit hard to turn since it had rusted from never being used. That didn't stop the two from barging in there.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Moaning Myrtle was now standing in front of Harry and Ron, looking angry as ever. She started to shoo them away with her hands, but they only passed through the boys, making them shiver from the dead coldness of her.

"Stop it, Myrtle," Harry commanded. "We're her friends."

"Right..." Myrtle mumbled before sitting on top of one of the stalls. "I haven't seen you in a while, Harry Potter? Thought you were gonna come visit me some."

"Er... I've been busy Myrtle. I'm sorry."

Myrtle then said, "Doesn't matter much, some other girl likes to come visit me. Though, she doesn't stay long."

One of the doors opened and Hermione popped out in front of them. Harry wasn't going to tell her this, but Hermione looked horrid; her eyes were bloodshot and puffy while a load of tears had dried on her cheeks. The bangs of her hair clung to the wet spots and Harry resisted from pulling the strands off of her skin.

Never had Harry really dealt with upset girls; Aunt Petunia never cried in front of him, nor had any of his friends. The closest Harry had been to someone in that much distress was when Hermione stayed in the girls' bathroom after Ron had insulted her in first year. Not even then were they there to comfort her (they did happen to make it in time to save her from a troll, though).

Harry never had time to notice Hermione step over to him; however he did feel her wrap her arms around him and place her head in the crook of his neck. Harry was tense, but he just embraced her shaking body. Though, the hem of his shirt grew damp, Harry made no effort to address it.

Ron stood awkwardly in the corner, playing with his feet until he said, "Parkinson is just jealous 'cause she thinks you and (Ron fake gagged) Malfoy are an item."

"I couldn't care less about Pansy, right now," Hermione sniffed. "What I do care about is the fact that my breasts are going around the school."

"Well, maybe you should tell Professor McGonagall or-"

"No!" Hermione cut in. "That would be so embarrassing. 'Hey Miss McGonagall, would you care to look at this picture of me naked and then go find the culprit? Thanks.' Oh Merlin, no."

Harry said, "Okay fine, that wasn't my best idea ever."

"Yeah, you're one to talk, Harry. You won't even tell Dumbledore about your hand," Ron told him.

Harry rolled his eyes and replied, "I get it, Ron; you're upset about it, but I'm still not going to let that witch win."

The three of them remained in that bathroom until dinner-thankful that it was a Saturday. Hermione had stopped sniffling about the incident long before nighttime, though they enjoyed their time together just talking about the fun memories made together or about their school work; none of them brought up anything stressful.

The next day had been no better for Hermione; the whispers continued along with snide remarks and catcalls. Someone was either gossiping behind her, insulting her, or hitting on her. Everyone thought she was easy, now. Hermione knew she wasn't, and so did her true friends, so Hermione chose to ignore her peers.

One boy had been brave enough to smack her bottom as his friends cheered him on in a wave of hooting and hollering. The guys soon stopped talking once Hermione had the brave one dangling in the air by his feet with a charm she'd read in a book.

The day went by slowly for Hermione after decided to spend most of it in the library studying. That was the best way to avoid everyone; Hermione hardly ever got distracted in the library by one of the students, that was, unless they enjoyed reading, too. The type that liked education were also very intelligent and minded their own business. That meant Hermione was bound to have peace.

Two multi-chaptered books later about the effects of calming ingredients, the sky outside had grown dark, which reminded Hermione that it was time for dinner. Her growling stomach thanked her for leaving.

On her way to the Great Hall, Hermione once again passed a group of students whispering; the only difference between them and the rest was that these were huddled together in a circle instead of staring at Hermione.

"-would shag her, she's hot. Bet, she'd let me, too; I mean, she slept with those two guys and I bet they are nothing compared to me."

Hermione coughed very loudly, and silently reprehended herself for acting like Umbridge. None of them even flinched.

"Excuse me," Hermione said loudly, finally gaining their attention, "As good as I am sure you are in bed, I'm going to have to decline (most of the boys cackled as their friend turned red and grumbled to himself). Now, where did you get this?"

Hermione yanked the photo away from one of the boys and examined it; that was exactly what she'd assumed it had been. They began to protest at her for taking it, but soon stopped once she raised her wand up at the group, who slowly backed away from her.

"Answer me," she demanded.

A blonde one raised his hands up in the air and said, "Okay, fine. Hendren Fillock is selling them to anyone with five galleons."

Hermione knew who Hendren was. The sixth years were disgraced with the presence of Fillock's greasy brown head; he was not a very popular person, perverted, but not popular. Her and Hendren met once, in which his eyes had never actually looked at her face.

"Thank you."

Hermione turned around and used the same charm Harry had told her about, burning away any nudity that could have been seen by anyone else. Groaning was heard behind her as the group of friends realized they had just wasted five galleons.

Harry and Ron met up with her outside of the Great Hall and they took their seats with some other Gryffindors such as Neville and Ron's siblings; Ginny, Fred, and George. None of them made any moves to judge her about the recent misfortune, and Hermione was thankful for friends like them.

Luna Lovegood eventually made her way over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Neville. The two had been rather chummy lately, Hermione noticed; she suspected Luna and Neville had feelings for the other. Hermione felt herself smile as they talked to each other.

Hermione took this time to announce the conversation she had just before finding them. There were some words in agreement about how creepy Fillock was, and brought up various topics about him. Fred mentioned that he once asked Carrey Bulgons to perform some dirty acts with him-in which the girl rejected immediately.

"Looks like you're in luck, Hermione," said George. "Fillock seems to be chatting up some Hufflepuffs."

"Hey, Fillock!" the other twin yelled.

Hendren turned around and searched for the source of his name. His eyes finally landed on the Weasley twins and he smiled at them, then rose to his feet and walked over to see what they wanted.

"Hey there, our good ole buddy!" George patted him on the back.

Fred pulled Hendren down between them, saying, "Sit with us for minute, why don't 'chu?"

Hermione watched the display in front of her, anxious to find out what was about to happen; Hendren still hadn't spotted her, so she knew he must have been just as curious as she.

"So, what'd you want?"

"May I borrow this?" asked Fred as he held Hendren's camera that was tied to a string around his neck.

Fillock nodded in response.

Fred yanked the camera away and pointed his wand at it, so, George told Fillock, "Give me them."

"Give you what?"

"The photos," responded George.

Hendren through his head back in laughter and said, "Do you really think I keep them on me? Idiots."

"Then where are they? Surely, I have a right to know," Hermione finally interjected.

Hendren whipped his head around, eyes as large as Hagrid. Hermione smirked at his attempt in trying to stand up, only to have the twins drag him back down in a swift shove on his shoulders; good thing that Fillock was a scrawny boy.

"Don't make me repeat myself; I said-"

"I heard you the first time, Hermione," Fillock snapped. "And I'm not going to tell you, either."

Hermione took out her wand and pointed the tip at Hendren, in which he just smacked it away from her hand.

"None of you are going to do anything; not with Umbridge sitting right up there."

No matter how much Hermione hated it, Fillock was right; there was no way she could threaten him without getting detention-or worse, expelled. Putting her wand back into the pocket of her, Hermione waved Hendren off, but the twins stopped him once more.

"Y'know, we aren't really afraid of Umbridge, are we, Fred?"

"Right you are, George."

Not a moment later, George yelled down the table, "Hey, Jordan!"

Lee Jordan turned to look at his friends, but was distracted by the camera flying at his face. Luckily, Jordan caught the object before silently questioning the twins; they simply gestured for him to toss it to someone else, in which Jordan nodded and threw it further down the table. Various Gryffindors tossed it around-Fillock was yelling loudly, clambering onto the table trying to catch his camera-until one of them slipped and dropped the camera, which broke into several pieces.

Professor McGonagall told the Gryffindor table to stop being so ridiculous and helped Hendren pick up what was left of his camera. The two left the Great Hall quickly.

"Sorry!" the twins yelled in unison, while Fillock just looked over his shoulder to glare at them.