A/N: I know! It's been forever and a day ago that I've written a new chapter, but I got seriously sick, like hospital sick; but I'm back and ready for your reviews! And please bear with me that it's probably going to take a little bit for Hermione's and Draco's relationship to hit off because I don't really like rushing into things all that much. Thanks!
Hermione's P.O.V.
Getting up from her spot at the table, Hermione thought that she was through pretending that day. She has been through too much to even fake being hungry.
Walking out of the double doors, she missed the looks that almost every pair of eyes in the Great Hall gave her.
Eyes cast downward, she wasn't paying attention to where she was heading, when out of nowhere she was sent plummeting to the ground.
Bracing herself for the fall, her hands shot out in front of her, saving her face from further damaging herself.
As she curled up in a ball on the floor, she heard the roaring laughter of three girls standing in front of her.
"Watch where you're going Granger… Wouldn't want something to happen to you now would we?" The loud voice of Pansy Parkinson screeching in front of her.
Looking up from her spot on the floor, Hermione regarded the three girls with a curious look. "What do you and your clones want Parkinson?"
"Oh nothing Granger… We just want you to be careful. Wouldn't want something happening to your pretty little face now would we?" She said with a sneer.
"Is that a threat Parkinson?" Hermione asked, getting up from her spot on the cold hard floor.
She didn't like that place.. Being on the floor in front of Pansy… It made her feel inferior, and that was something that Hermione Granger didn't like.
"Not a threat Granger… But if you don't watch out… It will soon turn into a promise that something will happen to your face." With a snarl and a screeching laugh, Pansy and her two clones walked into the Great Hall shaking their hips all the way.
Dusting off her hands, Hermione bit her lip and walked down to the dungeons awaiting the rest of her class for Potions to start.
About fifteen minutes into her wait, the sound of voices woke her from her stupor and she looked up seeing the rest of the Gryffindor seventh years and the Slytherins coming down and filing inside.
Deciding to follow them she walked inside and looked around at the available tables.
Instead of taking her usual table at the front of the class with her friends, she opted for an available seat in the back of the room, hoping to go unnoticed.
Feeling eyes on her, she started looking around wildly thinking that her dad had found a way inside Hogwarts, but upon looking around, she stumbled upon the culprit that was watching her.
Draco's P.O.V…..
Walking into the Potions room, Draco took his usual seat at the back of the room with Blaise. Looking around the rest of the room, he noticed Granger come in last and take a seat in the back of the room.
Frowning, he thought this an odd thing for her to do.
No it was not unusual for anyone to sit in the back of the room, but it was odd in a sense that it was Granger, sitting in the back of the room.
Trying to figure out what was wrong with her was wearing him out. She wasn't talking to anybody, so he couldn't even eavesdrop to figure out what was wrong with her.
Draco hadn't heard a single word from Granger, since she kicked him and Blaise out of the Hospital Wing, and it was very disconcerting.
Her keeping everything bottled up like that wasn't going to help her any. She needed to talk to someone, even if it was her own enemy.
He stopped when he realized the direction his thoughts were taking him, and he frowned.
I decided to give up on her… Where are these thoughts coming from?
His frown deepened trying to figure things out, when a tap on his shoulder distracted him from his thoughts.
He looked over to Blaise to see the other boy frowning at him. "What Blaise?" Blaise just nodded his head in the direction that Hermione was sitting, and Draco's frown just deepened more.
It was the first time that he noticed that Granger was looking at him. Perhaps she noticed that he was staring at her.
He looked at her again, and sent her a scowl and a sneer, turning his nose up at her.
Just then Professor Snape walked into the room, his black robes billowing behind him.
"Alright settle down you worthless sods," he said in his quiet voice, his black eyes sweeping around the room.
"Ah… And what do we have here? Ms. Granger? Sitting in the back of the room alone… How very interesting."
Hermione's P.O.V….
Looking up and hearing Snape's voice directed at her, she stared at her professor with black dead eyes, not responding to his trying to get a rise out of her.
Looking back down at the table she just completely ignored her professor, hoping that for once he would just leave her alone… No such luck.
"What Granger? No Know-It-All response this time? No witty comeback? Hmm… What a pity, alright turn to page three hundred and ninety two, and begin reading about truth potions."
Hermione quickly and quietly turned to the page, and began reading.
Her thoughts would not leave her so easily, trying to get rid of them by getting into the book.
Usually by having a book of some sort in front of her, she would be able to get other thoughts out of her head by just disappearing into the book, but it just wasn't happening these days.
Trying to turn her thoughts off was something that came very hard for her now. She thought back to this morning, back to Parkinson and her two clones.
What else could they do to her to make her life anymore worse than it already was?
Nobody anyone ever did to her anymore would make her life even worse.
Well except for exposing her secret… But even Pansy wasn't evil enough for that… And anyways, Pansy doesn't even know her secret.
No one does… So she should be safe right?
She finally finished the book when Professor Snape called the class to attention again.
"Now that you have all finished reading… I want you to copy down the instructions on the board.. Do exactly as they say.. And. Don't. Mess. Up. Your. Potion. Or it could have serious consequences. Get to work!" He barked.
At once the room sprang to life, with everybody scrambling to get to the cupboards.
Hermione slowly got up from her seat and walked to the cupboard, grabbing all of the ingredients she needed.
She walked right past Malfoy and Blaise, looked at them briefly and then walked quickly to her seat.
Sitting down and biting her lip, she quickly went to work on her potion making sure that it was precise and trying not to mess it up, with all the mess going on inside of her head.
Once her potion was finished, it was a yellow gold color, exactly like it was supposed to be.
Once Snape walked by to inspect the potions, he just looked down his hooked nose at Hermione's and walked away without saying a comments, which meant the he could find nothing to criticize.
As soon as he was done inspecting all of the potions he walked up to the front to address the class once more.
"Well not that all of you have finished your… Potions… And in some cases… Your problems… You can all put them in a glass jar." He said looking around as all of the students put their potions into jars.
"Now next time when we meet.. You will all be testing your potions out on each other, I will pair you up with someone in this class and you will each ask each other questions to see if your potions work."
Upon hearing that, Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers.
No no no no no… This can NOT be happening. There is no way that Snape can be that cruel.
But she soon realized that he was that cruel…
He dismissed them and as she gathered her belongings, she was trying to gather her thoughts.
What if someone found out her secret, and used that to hurt her… What if they told the whole school? She was starting to hyperventilate from her thoughts as she was walking.
Things cannot possibly get any worse.
But as she was walking, she bumped into someone that sent them both flying towards the ground.
She looked up at the person she bumped into, and her eyes narrowed.
Looking at the pug face of Pansy Parkinson she thought: Yes. Things have just gotten a lot worse.