Hermione woke up with a gasp in an unfamiliar setting. Her eyes adjusted to the light in the empty Hospital Wing. She took the water from her side table appreciatively and downed the entire glass. It felt like she hadn't had liquid lubricating her throat in days. Memories of the afternoon debacle flowed into her brain and she closed her eyes in remembrance as she placed the glass back with a thump.

"You're awake!" Madam Pomfrey shuffled to Hermione's bed, worried eyes laying on the younger witch. Hermione was still taking a moment to herself as she opened her eyes slowly. She felt groggy and lost in time as the nurse took vitals. "You've been out for a day, young lady. I had to knock you out just to get you to lay down so I could fix your hip bone. I reckon your body needed the extra rest so you slept like a baby. You're a very stubborn girl but I'm sure you already know that." Hermione leaned back into the bed with a sigh as Madam Pomfrey continued to check over her.

"Where's Katie?" Hermione finally felt the words escape her mouth. Madam Pomfrey shook her head as stopped her movements. Hermione eyed her before leaning forward again. "What happened to her?" Hermione demanded, trying to keep her tone under control.

"The mediwizards from St. Mungo's couldn't wake her up. When they did a check on her it seemed like she had fallen into a coma but had a shell of dark magic around her," Hermione put her face in her hands. "They couldn't get close enough with their wands to administer the correct spells to check her heart or anything really. It's a guessing game at the moment. They say she will be there for at last three months…Poor girl."

The emotions rushing through her were hard to differentiate. She felt shame for not protecting Katie from a danger she knew was coming. She knew something was going to happen and she still couldn't stop it. She felt weak for not outsmarting Draco fucking Malfoy and his little dipshit minions. She felt anger for how many steps back the failure caused. Most importantly, she felt a fire build inside of her and she never wanted to feel this way again.

"Are you alright, dear?"

"When can I leave?" Hermione ignored the question and moved to get up from the bed. "Thank you for taking care of me but I need to see the Headmaster."

"You need to stay at least until dinner," Madam Pomfrey stated and began to walk away.

"I need to see Dumbledore. I don't think you understand," the severity in Hermione's voice must have made the point clear to Madam Pomfrey who nodded, begrudgingly.

"I want you back here for a check-up after dinner," the nurse didn't wait for Hermione to object and turned away as Hermione pulled the curtain so she could get dressed. She got dressed as quickly as she could despite her incredibly sore body. Now that she was standing she noticed the small box of chocolates on her bed side table from Harry and Ron. They both knew she wasn't a fan of sweets but the effort on short notice was what counted. With a grin she placed it in her pocket before opening the curtains. As she walked out of the Hospital Wing she realized she would absolutely need to come back to the Hospital Wing after dinner to get a pain reducing potion but for now she had only one destination in mind.


The door to Dumbledore's office was already open when Hermione arrived. "Miss Granger, are you feeling better?" his voice reached her from his spot in the back of his office. Hermione stepped in and sat down as quickly as possible to alleviate the dull ache in her side.

"My body will recover but Katie…" she looked down at her feet with a shake of her head. "Everything went wrong, sir."

"Hermione, you tried your hardest. I will never doubt that. Please tell me what happened from the beginning."

Hermione let out a huff of air before retracing the story to Dumbledore. "We arrived at The Three Broomsticks with no issues. Katie and I were ordering more drinks when I saw Goyle at the back of the bar, as expected. I told him to stay away and warned him that I wouldn't let anything happen to Katie. But when I turned back…Katie was gone." Hermione gripped the arm of the wooden chair in frustration. She should have never let Katie out of her sight but that was not worth saying out loud. "I ran into the bathroom to find Madam Rosmerta pointing her wand at Katie. I disarmed Madam Rosmerta but then she tried to strangle me. When I finally pushed her away and handled her to the best of my ability… Katie was gone. When I caught up with her she was determined to bring the package…the necklace, into the castle for someone…" she trailed off and looked at him, remembering now what had happened.

"Did she say who that someone was?"

"You."

Dumbledore sat down in his seat and seemed deep in thought almost immediately. "Me…" he bought a hand up to his chin contemplatively. "No one can know this information, Miss Granger. Do you understand?" Hermione nodded in response but still had questions to throw at him.

"Is he trying to get to you? Is that what this is about?" she asked him plainly, her hands gripping the arms on her chair. "Sir?" she called his attention as Dumbledore examined the necklace sitting on the desk.

"I don't know, Miss Granger. I think he is trying to weaken the defenses of this school and I am the first person that came to mind."

Hermione stared at him wearingly, too tired to argue with him. She wanted to believe him but knowing Dumbledore she could only assume he was telling her half-truths. "There's more…" she pulled a coin from her pocket and ran her index finger over the carvings. "I found this on Madam Rosmerta. It's a protean charm. When I first found it there were words on it but at the moment it's blank. Draco is resourceful, I can admit that." Hermione stood up with a wince to hand the coin to Dumbledore.

"This is rather clever of him," Dumbledore rubbed the charmed coin between his fingers. Hermione fidgeted in her seat and eyed the coin.

"He stole the idea from me actually." Dumbledore looked at her quickly with an inquisitive glint in his eyes. "He was involved with Umbridge's patrol last year and got his hands on one of the protean charmed coins I used for the D.A," she explained. Sneaky bastard. Before she even knew she was helping him, Draco had been stealing ideas from her for his own benefit. It annoyed her to no end but maybe it was for the best now that she was well informed on the charm. However, she was more concerned on the part Dumbledore was failing to discuss.

"Sir…he used an Unforgivable on Madam Rosmerta." Dumbledore seemed to let her comment play around in his mind before looking up with a sad smile.

"I fear more students than just Draco are going to grow accustomed to use Unforgivables in the future. We must look past how faulted Draco is at this moment and work to prevent him from doing further damage."

Hermione was taken aback by his response and refused to give Draco a free pass. "Don't you think he's gone too far already? He almost killed Katie!" she nearly shouted and Dumbledore finally looked at her straight on.

"I feel absolutely dreadful for what happened to Katie. I wish I could have helped her but we must move forward."

"He's out of control! If I could just make it clear to him he has eyes on him –"

"That's not a possibility. He is determined to do whatever he has planned regardless of morality. We must show him in a different way."

"But don't you see what's happening here?" she shot up from her chair, her voice raising slightly. "He's lost to us. I can't help him!" she leaned back on the chair arm, pain surging through her side.

"You are closer than you think. Keep him accountable for his actions and he will see the light."

Hermione groaned and finally sat down, unable to stand the pain. She was sick of Dumbledore's vague guidance. "You need to help me. This is out of my reach." She hated admitting she didn't have the aptitude to handle Draco Malfoy but she was determined to stop him from causing more chaos.

"I will find a way. I cannot reveal my involvement but you have my support… you should get some rest, you have been through an ordeal."

"Katie has been through far worse thanks to me." Hermione stood up and limped to the door in silence.

"It's not your fault Miss Granger…" she heard Dumbledore tell her from his desk. She looked back with a sad smile before closing the door behind her.


"You're off your rocker!" Draco shouted and stood up from his seat in Snape's office.

"You're childish, disrespectful, and ungrateful but you don't hear me shouting about it," Snape stood from his own seat and stepped around it, grabbing the collar of the younger wizard. "How dare you talk to me like that…you will do what I say or else you will be under heavy scrutiny. You want that, hmm?" he asked, letting his go roughly. Draco stepped back and ran a hand through his hair.

"You will have a tutor for Transfiguration and Charms. I don't know who they are assigning you to but you will attend the sessions without running your month. Do not blame me for your insolence. You cannot skip class and assignments without it going unpunished."

Draco snorted with a shake of his head. "All of this is laughable. Who cares about my grade in fucking Transfiguration? No one even understands what is going to happen. I pity them."

Snape took a moment to examine the boy in front of him and would have been deeply saddened by the downward spiral Draco was taking. But his own heart and soul had taken its hits and was no longer capable of feeling empathy towards him. Instead those feelings fostered into anger. "You have made no progress in your mission from the Dark Lord. Stop acting so damn cocky in front of me. Enough with this façade. If you would let me help you there may be a chance."

Draco looked at him, his eyes betraying him by showing how hurt he was. "You don't believe I can do this."

Snape rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. "This is not about you, boy. It is about satisfying the Dark Lord and you must learn to accept help when it is given –"

"- But you're undermining my efforts and intelligence by saying that there may be a chance. I will complete this mission. I must. I most ccertainly don't need your help." Draco grabbed his bag from the floor and turned away.

"Draco…You are not alone in this." Draco stopped moving as his hand reached for the door handle. Snape had always been more of a father to him that the one assigned to him by blood. He looked up to the Potions Professor for his strength and superior ability with magic. But now more than ever Draco admired him for persistently wanting to help despite his nasty attitude. Draco wanted to accept the appreciated aid from Snape but he worried that when the Dark Lord realized most of the effort came from Snape, he would be punished. And in turn; his mother.

"I'll be at the tutor sessions," he stated simply and left the room without a glance back.


Hermione's hand moved quickly across the chalkboard in the empty Charms classroom, notes for her afternoon drifting along the black surface. She loved the smell of chalk. It was one of the few things she could find that connected the Muggle and Wizarding world together. Nowadays, there weren't that many similarities between the worlds in her mind. The Wizarding world was distraught with the threat of Lord Voldemort and the Muggle world was blissfully unaware. Hermione often contemplated dropping everything Hogwarts had to offer and hiding away in the Muggle world. It would be cowardly and difficult but if it meant keeping her life…would she do it? Probably not but daydreaming about a life of no worries was a seductive pastime. She imagined leaving the country and falling in love with a handsome Muggle with an accent while attending University. Maybe she would go to France or Australia. Her parent's always mentioned wanting to go to Australia…

The door opened behind her and shook her from her thoughts. She finished writing on the board and examined the information spread across it. "Please just take a seat," she told the stranger and ran a hand through her hair.

"Granger?" an angry, familiar voice filled the room and the witch stilled. Turning around slowly Hermione laid eyes on Draco Malfoy…her newest tutee. This was not her idea of help from Dumbledore.


Authors Note: There are a few things going on but it's all there for a reason. I wanted to kind of bring Draco and Hermione's stores together so showing hat their both up to is important. I really like where the story is going and hopefully now that we're about to get into the angsty stuff, it won't seem too cliche! Also, thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites (: I appreciate the love! See you soon!