WARNING! This message goes out to all the original readers of this story. This will be the last recognisable chapter that I post. The rest, starting from Chapter 15, will be completely new, and unread by all! Okay? Good! Just so you know! lol :P

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 14

Hermione looked on, amused at the sight she was greeted with.

Minnie was standing nervously outside Hermione's bed, that still had their curtains drawn, and seemed to be trying to decide whether or not to try and wake her up again this morning. Hermione, however, had gotten plenty of sleep that night and had woken up at her usual 6:30. Hermione didn't have a clue, but that was always the time when she got up. Yesterday morning was a one off. Obviously, because Minnie didn't know her any better, she must of got the impression that Hermione Granger is a late sleeper.

Hermione stifled her laughter as she saw Minnie straighten herself up and take a deep breath and reached forward to open the curtains. She even had her wand out!

Hermione decided that now would probably be a good time to let herself be known. She tutted loudly. "Are you sure you weren't sorted into Hufflepuff and just got lost on your first night?"

Ouch. Talk about hitting at her pride Hermione!

Minnie spun round to face Hermione. She looked surprised at first, but then she went into defensive mode. Hermione might have to give Minnie a slight lesson on decent retorts later on. "And are you sure you didn't bewitch the hat, when you clearly belong in Slytherin?" She said smugly.

Okay. A very long lesson. But hey! Hermione can't blame the girl for trying.

"What can I say? I'm a girl of many traits." Hermione shrugged. She then grinned when Minnie stuck her tongue out at her. "So are we heading down to get some breakfast or what?"

"Wouldn't you much rather go down to the kitchens?"

It was Hermione's turn to stick her tongue out. Hermione may trust Minnie, but she had yet to tell her about the whole Tom Riddle and Chocolate Cake ordeal. All she said was that professor Slughorn had walked in on her when she was making her way out of the kitchens and had decided to give her an official greeting to the school. Thankfully, she bought it. Along with her apology for shocking her that morning.

"So what class do you have first this morning, anyways?" Hermione asked as they entered the common room and made their way towards the entrance.

"Charms.......you?"

"Same." Hermione stated as she held the door open for Minnie to walk through first.

"So, whats the charms teacher like here then?" Hermione asked conversationally as they waited outside the classroom door, ten minutes before it was due to even start.

"Her name's Professor Eileen.... she's a real cow to be honest." Hermione nodded as she listened to Minnie telling her about the Charms professor. By the sounds of things, she really. Did. Not. Like. Her.

Hermione eyes widened slightly when she saw the classroom door open and half of said profesor's body stood out, arms folded and eyebrows arched looking at Minnie's back.

"She's pure evil, I mean, even say something she doesn't agree with and you'll find yourself with hardly any house points left-"

"Eh, Minnie. I think you should-"

"And she's got this ridiculous hat that she wears all the time," She continued as if she hadn't even heard Hermione. "Honestly, Hermione, you're going to hate her. You'll wind up regretting that you took this subject. I do! If I didn't need it, trust me, I would of dropped it by now because of her."

Hermione had tried many times to interrupt her friend, but was failing miserably.

"All in all, she's a complete and utter bi-"

"MINNIE!"

"What!?"

Hermione shook her head as she gripped her friend's shoulders and forcefully spun her round. Hermione didn't need to see, to know that Minnie's face had paled.

As for Professor Eileen, she had remained indifferent to the whole thing, Hermione had a feeling that she was the only one to actually notice the burning rage implanted in the profesor's eyes.

"It's very nice to know you think so highly of me, Miss McGonagall." She said icily. Some of the slytherins, that had gathered by now, snickered, while the Gryffindors cringed or even glared at Minnie. "40 points from Gryffindor. Five for every negative comment you had been able to say in the space of just two minutes."

From there she turned back into the classroom. Everyone else took it as the signal to enter as well.

Once everyone was seated, Professor Eileen stood up on the small stand she had at the front of the class and readied herself for the class. Hermione found herself eyeing the very ridiculous - as Minnie had described it earlier - looking hat on top of her head. It was a mixture of rainbow colours and swirls with gold a silver stars imprinted on it. Hermione couldn't help but realise that only Dumbledore would be able to pull something like that off.

"Today class, I thought we would start off with a bit of a challenge. I will not bore myself with a review. If you want to do well, then you should have studied yourselves, I will not waste such valuable time with such O.W.L. class things." She waved her wand, and writing began to appear. "How many of you are familiar with the Patronus Charm?"

Some gasps were heard in the classroom. Hermione just looked confused. Wasn't that seventh year stuff?

Hermione didn't realise that she had said it out loud, when the Professor turned to her sharply.

"Five points from Gryffindor, for speaking out of tongue. Your quite right, Miss Granger. But in case you didn't realise, this is advanced Charms. If you are incapable of such a level, then maybe you should speak to your head of house about your time table." Then she added, "Welcome to Charms."

Hermione fought to compose herself and her breathing. She was totally out of line! Some of the Slytherins had smirks on their faces, as she looked around, she even noticed that Tom looked at her with his eyebrows raised.

Hermione's anger soon left her, however. This professor, obviously, didn't know a thing about the pupil she was dealing with. Maybe Hermione could enjoy today's class after all.

"Alright everyone." The professor started again. She gestured for everyone to stand up. Once everyone was standing, she used her wand to push all the desks towards the the room's walls. "Everyone get in a line. I want it to be Slytherin, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Gryffindor, got it? Good."

Groaning, everyone got into line. Hermoine noticed that Tom was now standing behind her. "Enjoying the class?" Tom asked. Hermione could just sense the smugness.

"Why yes, it's positively delightful." Hermione rolled her eyes.

Tom chuckled behind her, but then she felt him leaning forward slightly. Bringing his mouth closer to her right ear. "We need to talk later. See me in the library after class."

Hermione did good in hiding the shudder she felt running down her neck. She turned, raising one of her eye brows. She nodded her her head slightly. She was definitely curious as to why, and what he wanted to talk to her about. She would just have to wait and see.

Hermione stood and watched for about twenty minutes as people kept taking shots at the charm. No one had been able to do it so far. Minnie had gotten the furthest and managed to produce a small, silver, swirl of mist. She earned Gryffindor a point.

Now it was Hermione's turn. Hermione stepped forward and stood next to Eileen.

"So you're going to give it a try after all, Miss Granger?" She mocked.

Minnie was right. She is a bitch.

Hermione thought up the same memory she had used the first time she had successfully made her patronus. She could see the entire troll scene play out in her head. The first time he had made herself any true friends.

Harry and Ron.

The small smile dropped from her face just as it began. Her eyes shut.

She couldn't stop the new images from attacking her head.

Hermione watched devastated as Ron fell to the floor in front of Ginny, he had taken the killing curse for his sister.

"RON!!" Ginny and Hermione screamed in unison before Ginny was hit with another crucio and Hermione battled with Bellatrix.

Another one...

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed as she ran towards the fallen body of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

She ignored the curses that where flung at her. She was running so fast they missed her by only millimetres.

Once she reached Harry's body, almost all of the bloody great hall was practically dancing the salsa. "No, please Harry, not you." Hermione sobbed into Harry hair as she cradled his body in her arms.

Anger, instead, took over Hermione as she struggled to find a happy memory that didn't lead to something that made her want to blast something to hell and back or cause her to break down on the spot.

"Today, Miss Granger." the professor drawled.

Hermione's eyes snapped open. She had just about enough of Eileen. Everyone in the room gasped as they saw the obvious anger in Hermione's eyes. Tears streamed down her cheaks.

But it wasn't the anger or tears that had them all gazing. No. It was the fact that Hermione's eyes had changed from their warm chocolate brown, to a light amber and if you looked close enough you could almost see strikingly blue sparks there. Everyone in the room had moved to a different angle in the room, wanting to see the show.

They didn't deserve to die..... some of them were only sixteen! They hadn't done anything to deserve it! No one had! Not Harry, not Ron, not Neville, Luna, Sirius, Cedric, NOBODY! I love you guys so much! I always will.

With her love, anger and her friend's love all mixed in her, Hermione raised her wand and then belted out, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Everyone watched in awe and amazement. Even Hermione wasn't expecting this, and was also shocked.

Instead of a silver otter. A large, great Tiger leaped out of her wand growling.

And it wasn't even a usual Tiger, let alone a usual Patronus. It wasn't silver, the mist surrounding the animal was blue. The Tiger itself was actually silver, with deep blue stripes for fur.

Tom was speechless. Never in his life had he seen something like this. He had read plenty on Patronus', but there had never been anything on this.

He had to admit, that he loved the look on the professor's face when she saw Hermione's tiger. The look was priceless. He had a feeling that she would be leaving Hermione alone for quite some time now.

He continued to watch amazed, as Hermione dropped her wand. Her patronus disappeared. He even noticed that her eye colour had finally gone back to it's chocolate brown. Her eyes hadn't lifted it's gaze from the spot the Tiger had been.

He wasn't able to ponder the thought of her patronus for very long though.

As soon as he saw her eyes roll back, he was by her side in time for her to faint right into his arms.

Hermione groaned as she heard people talking around her. Slowly she opened her eyes, but found herself shutting them again tightly. It was way too bright. She could already feel the starting of a head ache coming along.

Whoever was there must of noticed, because she soon heard someone asking for the lights to be dimmed.

Hermione opened her eyes again and was now able to keep them open. The first thing she noticed was all the white around her.

Great. Trust me to wind up in the hospital not even a week into term.

Next she noticed that Dippet, Dumbledore, Madame Lara, and Eileen were seated around her. She could see Tom standing against the wall in the background. Madame Lara stood up and handed her a vile with a pink liquid in it, before starting to bustle around her and check her temperature.

Hermione downed the potion, feeling her head ache disappear.

All Hermione did was sit there. Why was she here exactly? Had she fainted? All she could currently remember was standing in front of Professor Eileen, about to do her patronus.

"Nice to see you looking so well, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling like mad.

Hermione looked at him strangely. "Eh, thank you, Professor." Hermione replied slowly. "Forgive me.... but why am I here? Did something happen when I was in charms?"

"Yes, something most definitely did!" Eileen stated loudly. "You di-"

"Now, now, Fiorra. There's no need to go into a rage about it all." Dippet interrupted.

Hermione was getting annoyed now. "Could someone please just tell me whats going on?" She didn't fail in sounding annoyed.

"Well, my dear." Dumbledore started, "When you were in charms, just before you were about to do your charm...."

From there on, Hermione listened intently to what Dumbledore was telling her. By the end of it, Hermione was completely shocked. How on earth had she managed that?

"Profesor, I-I-" Hermione sighed. "Sir, I haven't a clue as to how I managed that."

Eileen looked at Hermione as if she didn't believe her. Dippet's eyes furrowed. Madame Lara looked confused.

And surprise, surprise. When Hermione looks at Dumbledore, his eyes are twinkling.

That can't be healthy.....

Madame Lara thought it necessary to interrupt the growing silence. "Well, if you three are done here, I think it would be best if you let Miss Granger get some sleep and she'll be back in class tomorrow. So be out with you."

As Hermione watched the headmaster and profesors leave she sent a silent 'thank you' towards Lara, who winked back at Hermione in reply, making her smile.

When Tom saw Madame Lara make her way back to her office he decided that now would be a good opportunity to talk with Hermione. Something he had - admittedly - been dreading all day now.

"Granger?"

He watched as Hermione's head snapped to his direction. "Granger? Gee, nice to see you too, Riddle." she rolled her eyes.

Tom inwardly winced. Not the best way to start things. "Yeah, well..... Remember I asked you to meet me in the library, after lunch, to talk?"

She gave a small nod in the affirmative. Tom continued, "Slughorn had a chat with me earlier yesterday...." He got slightly irritated when he saw her expression turn to mirth. "Its not funny. I basically got the same talk as you did, only with.... a bit more."

"A bit more?" Hermione leaned forward from her sitting position, curious as a cat. "What else could he possibly add?"

Tom coughed. He thought that by asking her this way, she would be able to figure it out for herself and there would be no reason for her to be angry with him. "Well, firstly, Slughorn requested that we made some more Chocolate Cake for his party."

Hermione snorted.

"And lastly..... Hermione. Would you like to go to Slughorn's party with me?"

He watched anxiously as Hermione gaped at him. Eyes wide, and her cheeks turning a small shade deeper.

It didn't take long.

Immediately, her face contorted in anger. "Oh no he didn't....."

He watched in half amusement and half worry, as Hermione got up from her bed. At first it looked as if she was about to charge right at him, but he was relieved when she stormed off right past him and out the infirmary.

Well that went well.

He turned and strolled out of the Hospital Wing. It didn't take a master mind to guess where she was off to. Hell, maybe even Malfoy could guess.... well, maybe on his third guess.

Not in any rush, Tom made his way down in the direction of the dungeons.

R&R