Four equal parts of an apple sat on one side of Hermione's plate. The other side held the apple's peel and core. Hermione inspected her breakfast. She wasn't the only one watching, though. Ginny couldn't seem to decide between watching the food in case something happened, or Hermione. Her eyes flicked between the two but Hermione ignored her, and, once satisfied that the slices were definitely equal, she picked up one piece and started nibbling on it.
"Why do you do that, Hermione?"
She looked up at Ginny, who was sitting across from her, still casting glances at the food.
"Do what?"
Harry and Ron stopped shovelling bacon and eggs into their mouths to watch.
Ginny sighed. "The thing, with the apple- oh, never mind."
Ron looked at Hermione, who shrugged back innocently.
Ron and Harry went back to their breakfasts and discussing their latest quidditch tactics. Hermione tuned out, as she knew no one was going to need her advice on the sport.
As she finished her second apple slice, the sound of hundreds of owls filled the Great Hall and a school owl crashed into Hermione's untouched water goblet. Her name was printed on the envelope, so she took it from the grey owl who flew away after a running start, knocking over goblets as it left.
"Bloody hell," muttered Ron, who was now dripping with pumpkin juice.
"Hermione!" Ginny shrieked. "That's a howler!"
Hermione whipped her head around to see that the letter she was holding was indeed a howler. It started to smoke at the corners. She dropped it in her water, hoping that it would drown out the noise but it was just as loud as usual. A distorted voice yelled from the envelope.
"' I feel like I'm falling further and further into an endless hole. Everyone else is at the top, not realising that there is a huge, gaping hope right near them. I wonder when they'll see it. Sometimes I don't want them to notice. I'll just fall quietly. Other times I want to scream, tell them they can still catch me. I haven't gone that far.'"
The Great Hall was silent. Hermione stared at the burning howler, a look of pure shock and embarrassment covering her face.
"Who was that?" Ron's distant voice crept into her ears.
Those words, thought Hermione, they're so familiar. They-
"Oh, crap!" Hermione exclaimed, jumping up from the table.
By the time she had reached the doors, Ginny, Ron and Harry had caught up with her and they were all running through the halls and up the stairs.
"Where are we going?" Ron panted, trying to take in deep breaths.
"Common room," she said shortly. Hermione put on a burst of speed then slid to a stop outside the portrait hole. "Wait here."
"But-" Ginny started to say.
"No, just wait. If Malfoy's inside, this won't go too smoothly. I'll just be a minute."
Without waiting for a reply, she bounded into the common room and up the stairs to her room. She pulled her journal out from underneath her pillow and opened it. White, lined pages that seemed to be from an exercise book filled the journal. Hermione fell onto her bed. The covers had been switched. Who knew who had her journal! Hundreds of pages of secrets were now in the hands of a stranger.
The portrait slammed shut downstairs.
Maybe it wasn't a stranger.
Hermione stormed out of her room, journal in hand. She stopped on the stairs, directly in front of Malfoy and shoved the book into his face, showing him the pages.
"What did you do?" she half yelled.
Confusion was the only expression to register on his face.
"What do you mean?" His eyes were wide, looking about as innocent as the puppy that just ripped up all the toilet paper and pretended it wasn't him.
"Oh, so you're just going to pretend you don't know? Right, well, let me spell it out for you. See these pages?" She flipped the book open again. "They were filled with writing. Nearly this entire journal was filled with words. My words. And now, they're gone. And surely you heard what happened down in the Hall.
"Wha- You think I did that? Yeah right, Granger. I'm not going to that much effort to bother you. It's just a waste of time."
He made to go around her but she blocked him.
"No, I don't believe that. Not the 'too much effort' bit. If you honestly think that I can trust you when you say you didn't do it, then you can't be thinking properly. So tell me, what did you do with my real journal?"
"Look, Granger. I didn't do this. I don't go around stealing people's journals and sending anonymous howlers to them. Think about it. It's a bit girly, isn't it? A bit catty, bitchy, whatever. I didn't do it."
Hermione kept eye contact with him, watching for the slightest hint that he may be lying. She let out a sigh.
"Fine, Malfoy. That does make more sense anyway. Bye."
"Oh, Granger," Malfoy called when he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Be sure to send my love to whoever did it," he said with a smirk.
"Sod off, Malfoy," she said, death glaring him.
Hermione climbed out of the portrait hole into a deserted corridor. Assuming that her friends had been told off by a teacher to go to class, she felt free to let a tear dribble down her check from the humiliation of the incident. She took a deep breath and made her way down to the bottom floor. It wasn't until she was out the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom that she remembered that she had no books with her other than her broken journal. She turned away from the classroom, careful not to be spotted and headed outside.
After a short walk, she ended up on Hagrid's doorstep. She knocked on the door, hoping that he'd be home.
The door opened a bit to reveal a large, hairy head.
"Hermione! What 'er you doing here? Shouldn't yeh be in class?"
She shook her head. "Can I stay here for a bit?"
Hagrid looked around. "Sure. Just don't go getting into trouble."
He opened the door wider to let her in, shut it behind her and poured them both some tea. Hermione sank into a chair and pulled her legs up. Hagrid set a drink in front of her and fell into the seat opposite.
"Where's Fang?" she asked, realising why it was so quiet.
Hagrid shrugged. "Outside somewhere. He was itchin' to get some air."
Hermione nodded. "Oh," and they fell back into silence.
"Is somethin' wrong, Hermione? The Hermione I know wouldn't miss out on class unless it was unavoidable An' even then she'd manage to make t' class."
Hermione let out a short laugh then took a deep breath and sat her mug down on the table. "I don't know, Hagrid." She said it so quietly it was a surprise anyone could have heard her. "I have to go. Thanks for the tea." She smiled weakly then stood up and left before she could be stopped.
She climbed back up to the castle just as the bell for the end of the first lesson went off. Harry walked around a corner, closely followed by Ron who had his arm wrapped around a content looking Hannah Abbot. Hermione ducked behind a pillar to avoid being spotted and interrogated, then, the moment they were out of sight, she sprinted back up to the common room.
Safe behind closed doors, she let out a sigh and sat on the couch. Tears streamed down her face. She threw the not-a-journal across the room and landed next to the fire. Suddenly, she stood up.
"That stupid, bloody, foul, brainless git!" She picked up an antique vase and threw it at the wall, where it shattered and ripped a painting of a lake. "When I figure out who did this-" She broke off and grabbed an empty candelabra and chucked it in the fire.
"Granger, what-" He broke off as he saw the destroyed décor. "What the hell are you doing?"
Hermione spun around and marched over to Malfoy. "You! I know you had something to do with this!"
"What? I didn't do any of this? Wait, are you still talking about this morning?" He paused. "I already told you that it wasn't me. Can't you believe me? Can't you trust me, just once?"
Her breathing slowed and she broke down in tears once again. "I'm sorry, Malfoy. I know I'm being horrible. I just- I'm hurt. And I'm scared." She sagged against the wall.
Malfoy awkwardly patted her shoulder and turned to leave but Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Will you help me get my journal back?" If Malfoy had been shocked before, it was nothing to how he looked now. "Please. All my secrets are in there. The reason I lied to my friends about you not doing any work, that's in there. I'll tell you what it is. Just please help me."
Malfoy paused to consider her offer. "It's a deal. You tell me the secret and I will help you."
Hermione's brow furrowed. "No, help me first, then I will tell you. How do I know you won't go and tell everyone and before I know it, I'll get another howler."
"You don't trust me." It wasn't a question.
"Give me a reason to trust you."
Malfoy looked at her. "Okay, fine. Journal first, and then secret. Where do we start?"