Thank you to MlleHibou, tfobmv18, smantaadfgh, Carlie and a HUUUGE Thanks to StarKiss666 who has helped me add an additional piece that will be included in a later chapter of this fic! I am so excited to continue writing with the knowledge of what will be soon to come!

I would just like to say that I do believe that I mentioned several times (in the bolded print above my fic) that this was MY fic and I determine who does what and that I realize that there are things that do not match up with the the world of Harry Potter that was created by JK Rowling. If you are looking for a story that perfectly follows what what the author imagined, I suggest you continue to read her novels rather than pick apart my intentional 'mistakes' (key word being intentional because I INTENDED them to be there). In mixing up some components, I hoped to create more of a foundation that I could build on that I, myself would find interesting. I am new to writing on this site so I have not even considered a beta yet (I don't know how they work anyway but gosh, thanks for the suggestion...).In addition, Hermione in my fic is sixteen. And seeing as you easily pointed out the other flaws in my fic, I am sure that you did not fail to miss that one. I am not going to apologize or change anything, because this is MY fantasy that I am creating. The Harry Potter Series is merely what I am using to tangent off of. As for "If you are going to write a canon, write it correctly', Hows about -if you are going to read a canon, how about reading one that YOU enjoy. If my 'mistakes' are that 'distracting', I am not forcing you to read it... I am human just like you are and I apologize that what I wrote is not necessarily up to your standards. Thanks again for your opinion, I appreciate the review.

Anyways, on with the fic...

Hermione made her way down to her first class alone. Harry and Ron surely would not let her behavior slide this time. Hermione rolled her eyes. What could she possibly say when they questioned her? She knew perfectly well that Harry didn't buy her excuse of needing to retrieve her books so early. Her moment of weakness when she saw Him was much to difficult to cope with. What lie could she use to dodge the avalanche of questions chasing her this time?

Perhaps she would subtly imply that her behavior was due to her period. Her 'time of the month' had always been a tabooed subject, one that they had always been avoided once she had grown breasts, and learned that she was a female. That would be slightly embarrassing for her, but she knew that it would quell the subject, at least for the time being. It was for the best.

"Hey Hermione!" greeted Neville as he noticed her approaching the greenhouse.

"Good morning Neville! How do you do?" Hermione replied politely.

"I'm alright, great actually! I talked to Professor Sprout today. She told me that she was going to begin the year with a lesson on Alihotsy. It kind of makes me nervous, but I am looking forward to seeing the Glumbumbles that will be used after!" Hermione nodded knowingly.

Alihotsy leaves, Hermione read during the summer, were magical plants that produced leaves that, if eaten, would induce hysteria. Neville, clearly was looking forward to seeing the effects that the treacle produced by the Glumbumble reduce the effects of the leaves.

"That should be interesting," agreed Hermione. Normally Hermione would be just as excited, if not more so than Neville at such a surely educationally enriching lesson, but her mind, she already knew, would not be able to grasp anything that her professor planned to say. Derrick was ever present in her thoughts. Finding interest in her class today would be hopeless.

A short time later, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors began to fill up the greenhouse with pointless chatter. She noticed Ron and Harry enter with Seamus over the shoulder of Neville, who continued to chatter on excitedly about his discussions with Professor Sprout regarding their future lessons. They did not alter their course, so evidently they did not yet see her. She exhaled in relief. Relief which quickly morphed into panic as Ron nudged Harry and pointed in her direction.

Dropping her gaze, she studied the tile, the grout engrained with bits of dark soil. She was sure the boys would be attempting to catch her eye so she did not look up. It was evident that Ronald had finally gotten over his obvious momentary dislike of Harry interrupting their...breakfast date...

She was thankful when Professor Sprout finally arrived, two small cages containing about four Glumbumble's each. The caged directed the boy's scrutiny away from her. For now.

The students immediately turned their attention to the grey furry insects fluttering around in the cages as she set them down on the long dest in front of her. Professor Sprout, the kind woman she was, waited smiling until the last of the students' chatter had finally dwindled to nothing.

"Good morning class, and welcome to your first class of fourth year Herbology," she began. The speech that followed was very much the same that she had said in third year, second year, and even first year. After a good half an hour, she was finally able to commence the lesson.

"Can anyone tell me who these fellows might be?" Professor Sprout gestured to her furry friends (which of course the class had been preoccupied with for the magority of her speech) and regarded her class expectantly.

Hermione's hand shot into the air. A reflexive habit that happened so regularly, the class did not bother to groan anymore.

"Those there are Glumbubles Professor. They are able to produce the antidote to Alihotsy leaves that, if eaten, cause hysteria." Hermione answered confidently.

"Right you are Mrs. Granger. Thankfully Hagrid was able to catch us eight of them this year for our class. I wont tell you too much about the creatures themselves as I am sure Hagrid will do in the near future, but rather I would like to help you all to understand the use of the treacle."

The professor had them split into pairs of two. One partner would experience the feelings of hysteria that would overcome them should they eat the leaves, while their partner stood ready with the antidote. Hermione was thankfully able to avoid Harry and Ron by pairing up with Neville.

After consuming the leaves, Hermione's feelings of panic from first seeing her cousin intensified. She immediately began to pace the back corner of the greenhouse and ring her hands, willing herself not to scream with discomfort. Her mind was plagued with a frenzy of unpleasant thoughts circled through her mind. They became all the worse with the prospect of his appearance reacting with her schedule.

Much of the class was undergoing what she was currently experiencing, a few even letting out frantic screams, or tearing up. Their partners watched on helplessly as Professor Sprout examined her watch.

Neville stood regarding her with the antidote shaking in his left hand, clearly uncomfortable with seeing his usually level headed friend so out of control.

"You may give them the antidote!" Professor shouted over the worried whimpers of her students.

Hermione all but pounced on poor Neville, desperately grasping for the glass vial and downing the viscous content. Much of her panic disappeared, but to Hermione's dismay, much of it remained.

...

"Where do you think Hermione was off to so quickly?" Harry asked Ron.

"I don't know mate. I expected her to wait for us so we could catch up during break, but she just ran off."

"I guess we will just have to wait until next class to see what was up."

"It was probably something to do with being a prefect or something, after all, when Percy was prefect, he always seemed busy," Ron noted.

"Yeah, because he made himself busy," Harry replied smartly. "But I also am a prefect. And unless I have missed something, what ever Hermione is doing is not related to that."

"I really don't know then Harry." Ron replied. Harry ran his fingers through his messy hair, only causing it to become more disheveled.

"What do we have next again? I misplaced my schedule" Ron said sheepishly.

"Already? We have had one class and a break and you have already managed to lose your schedule?"

"I didn't lose it, I misplaced it," Ron countered. Harry rolled his eyes, pulling out his schedule from his bag and skimmed down the Monday column.

"Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid," he replied. As he did, his face turned slightly sour.

"Whats got your wand in a knot? Having a class with Hagrid will be great!" Ron said, his face lighting up.

"That's not what I am upset about who we are splitting the class with," he replied dully.

"As long as you are not referring to the Slyth-"

"Well if it isn't the all mighty Boy-who-will-not-die!" came a malicious voice from inside the cover of the trees running along the border of Hogwarts.

"Sod off Malfoy!" Ron growled, grasping Harry's robes and pulling him along towards Hagrid's hut.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle emerged from the trees, their sheer size startling the two Gryffindors. Crabbe and Goyle had always been large, but it was Malfoy's size that surprised them.

The previous year, the blonde had barely reached the shoulders of his two body guards, similar in size to Harry. Over the summer however, Malfoy experienced a growth spirt that now put him a few inches taller than Ron, a good half a head taller than Harry.

"But where's the fun in that Weasel?" Malfoy shrugged. "Where's your girl friend by the way? Is she off ironing the pages in her textbook or something? Or did the Mudblood finally come to her senses and chose to go screw someone else other than the likes of you?" Malfoy spat acidly. Ron took a step towards him, a fire blazing in his eyes.

Beside him, Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles. The blonde smirked at the red haired boy. "It seems I have hit a nerve there Weasley!" He irked. Malfoy's gaze shifted over the freckled boy's shoulder to rest on a figure coming down the path in the distance. His face lit up with malice. "And speaking of the scum, look who has decided to show up!"

Hermione continued to walk unsuspectingly down the sloping hill towards her next class. It was not until Malfoy called out to her that she noted their existence.

...

"Hey Granger! What's the hurry? Why don't you come over to clean my shoes while we wait for class to begin!" Hermione glared in his direction.

"Aren't we a bit old for insults?" Hermione replied narrowing her eyes. Evidently they were not.

"I wasn't insulting you Granger, as easy as it is. I was merely reminding you of your place." Draco replied simply, lifting his eyebrows slightly.

Hermione was much to exhausted from the fits of hysteria she had experienced in her previous class to even care what insults the Slytherin threw at her today. She was in no mood to supply an intelligent rebuttal. Frankly, she didn't care anyway. They now seemed to be so inconsequential in comparison to recent events. Hermione merely shrugged lazily and continued down to the hut.

Draco watched as the Gryffindor girl shrugged, turned her back to him and walked away. Not a tear? Not a fiery rebuttal? Granger had lost her touch. It pissed him off to be frank. Why it pissed him off, he did not know.

"Go to hell Malfoy!" Ron spat. Harry bared his teeth at the boy and the two rushed quickly after Hermione.

...

"Hermione!" the two called after her. Hermione slowed her pace and reluctantly allowed them to catch up. She wanted to be alone. She just wanted to be alone. To think, to do anything. Questions, questions! That was all they seemed to be doing is asking questions. Hermione sighed. Her bottled up feelings were unhealthy to keep inside, but she knew it would only be safer for her friends if they did not know the pain that she was currently experiencing.

"Just ignore him Mione," Harry said, touching her shoulder. He was breathing hard from the effort that it took them to catch up to her fast pace.

"Where did you disappear to after breakfast? And then again after Herbology, we couldn't find a trace of you! We wanted to talk to you!" Ron asked, also spent from his jog. Looks like the boys would need a lot of training before Quidditch season this year.

Little did they know, she had returned to Gryffindor tower twice. They did not need to know that she had raced back to the common room to seal the wounds that had begun to leek red fluid, re-wrapping them in clean gauze. The spells she used worked only for a short time before she had to repeat them. It was a strenuous process, but it had to be done. Her lower blood levels did not prohibit her from performing her everyday activities, however it made it so that she often felt fatigued and lightheaded, even after tasks that she normally would not have found strenuous. She knew that she could not survive this way forever. She planned to go to Dumbledore the moment Voldemort fell.

"I had some stuff to do," Hermione said simply, readjusting her stack of books in her arms. Ron, noticing her struggles took the pile from her and added it to his own, much smaller one. Hermione looked up at him graciously.

"What kind of stuff? Why didn't you ask us to come along?" Ron asked, suddenly hurt.

"Girl stuff Ronald," Hermione sighed. Harry's eyes dropped to the gravel path that they were currently walking along, and Ron turned a deep shade of maroon. Hermione felt bad for lying to her friends, but she knew it was for the better.

Ron made a sound between a choke and a cough. Hermione took this opportunity to change the subject.

"So. Are you looking forward to care for magical creatures?" Hermione asked. The boys took the bait. The trio talked easily until they reached the hut.

...

The class went by smoothly. For the most part. As smoothly as it could do with a half a class of Slytherins.

"An this is what ya use ter remove the crustaceans from the body," Hagrid lifted a small skinning knife from the wide stump that was displaying a wide array of tools. Hagrid would lift a tool, explain its function and application, something he did at the beginning of every single year, regardless if the class had heard his lecture already. "Ya got ta make sure that ya guild the blade from the rear so that ya don't cut yerself by mistake!" Hagrid walked over to another stump where he proceeded to implement the the knife.

Hermione craned her head over the sea of students so she could see the demonstration. As she did, a flash of blonde hair caught her eye. He was looking at her, his face void of emotion. Quickly, she moved her eyes away. Her face did not portray the great amount of confusion muddled in her brain. This was not the first time during the class that he had been starring at her. His piercing gaze made her feel uncomfortable. It felt as though he could see through each carefully placed layer of clothing to see the lines that had been carved into her skin by a "professor" currently teaching at Hogwarts.

She chanced a look back at the Slytherin, and of course, he continued to stair at her. She lifted her chin and returned his gaze, hoping he would notice that she had caught him staring at her, and perhaps he would turn away just as she had moments before.

One side of his mouth slowly began to curl up when he knew he had caught her full attention.

She didn't his miss gaze as it shifted to the knife held firmly in Hagrid's right hand, then back to her eyes. She narrowed her own and was appalled when he twisted his left wrist, showing her the pale skin of his forearm, his other hand grasping an imaginary knife.

The sunlight filtering through the dense cover of leaves above bounced off his white gold hair as he looked from her down to his wrist. This couldn't be good.

He pretended to cut several slits into the clean skin before looking up at her, his eyes full of hatred and contempt.

At that moment, Hermione wanted nothing more than to take the knife from Hagrid and run it though his throat. He thought that she was physically causing herself pain! That the primary reason for her late night excursion to the prefect bathroom was to slit her writs! How dare he!

Hermione fumed beside her friends. Harry, upon noticing her change in demeanor, placed a comforting arm, his emerald eyes full of questions. She looked up at her dark haired friend and shook her head. Though it was horrid that he had come to such an incorrect, vulgar conclusion, she realized that was a better alternative than him gaining knowledge of the truth.

Harry looked over Hermione's head looking for Malfoy, who now had his back to the pair.

Malfoy did not have another chance to even give Hermione a glance as Pansy spent the remainder of the class hanging off his arm. This left his two goons to stand stupidly beside him, incapable of constructing and distributing insults as Malfoy always had.

She was pleased for this fact. Malfoy's action had cut her deeper than a knife ever could. How else could you possibly wound an individual? She had been wounded far too many times - Physiologically, physically, internally, externally, but it was the wounds on the inside that leave the deepest, most excruciating scars. It didn't matter that she expected Malfoy malicious behavior. But she didn't expect it to wound her that deeply. He had knowingly hit a sensitive nerve, and began to grind upon it.

She would need to thicken her skin a lot more if she intended to survive this year.

...

Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be up shortly.

(Sorry for lack of event. - I think that you are probably waiting for a little more happenings between Draco and Hermione. And let me say, that they will be coming, just be patient :D )

x

Hermione's heart hammered. Did he know? Had Dumbledore acquired a piece of information through which he was able to view Derrick's true colors?