A/N: This has been done a while but I had more to add but I need to update it. I'm a nurse. I work in a hospital. I don't know when exactly I will have time to update anything. I love to write but coming home from work lately just leaves me exhausted and depressed. Keep my family in thoughts, prayers I don't care what…I'm a nurse and my gf is a cop. We are both essential and I have no idea how long our girls will be staying with their grandparents.

I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
– E.E. Hale, American writer

She survived Bellatrix's class, she did so by practically ignoring everything about it in favor of gazing out the window and pretending to take notes. In fact she enchanted her quill to simply copy everything the woman said and spent her time trying her best to keep her shields up and not fall back into the memory of laying broken on cold marble floors. For the most part it worked, even if she was too nauseated to eat properly until the next morning.

It was a little easier the next time and the time after…and the week after that. In fact everything was, even the boredom dissipated after Minerva helped her find more challenging subjects to study, subjects that could help her in a career path should she choose to take the advanced courses. Classes were still a breeze though she had fallen back into her habit of trying to answer every question, only maybe not as eagerly as before.

That was….in every class except Black's, which she spent in a quiet haze with her enchanted quill and simply glanced down at it's last sentence should Bellatrix call on her for an answer.

It seemed to anger the woman, not only had Hermione blatantly refused to join the dueling club but rumors were going around about her intelligence, other teachers were talking about how advanced she was in class, her unique opinions and her debates in some of the studies.

Bellatrix could say nothing because the girl spent her entire class subdued and it irritated her beyond means that she did not know why. That Minerva was always so cryptic and Hermione's shields was the equivalent of a high security vault at Gringotts.

If she was anyone else Hermione would have felt guilty at the irritation she brought on the woman. But she wasn't. And Hermione couldn't change how she acted in the class without becoming involved in it. If she became involved she couldn't pretend she was anywhere else. Her walls were still fragile, they were barely holding her together and it didn't help that the woman dogged her every step trying to get her to at least sit in on the dueling class. Or at least demonstrate why she was so good she needed a teacher to duel her.

Minerva had reigned her in. Or at least it had seemed that way. After the first week the woman had stopped badgering her about it, although Hermione still caught her staring at her as if she were puzzle the dark woman was determined to figure out. She didn't mind the stares, not when she had finally seemed to give up forcing Hermione to duel….at least she had thought the woman had given up….until she arrived to class one day only to discover the damn woman had made it a dueling class.

She smirked at Hermione as the girl took her seat and read over the board. Minerva had no say in what Bellatrix taught. And she couldn't very well force Bellatrix to excuse Hermione without giving her a pretty damn good reason. Dueling was a part of defensive magic and sixth years were a good year to start….in fact it had been on Bellatrix's planner for ages already, even before the girl had mysteriously shown up.

Hermione glared at her, her anger at the woman so blatantly forcing her hand giving her enough courage to look her in the eyes, something she had begun to avoid like the plague, although not because they reminded her of Lestrange but more because they didn't. She wasn't ready to let go of her fear and anger yet.

"Take a seat Granger." She smiled sweetly. "And no notes today so don't bother getting out that blasted quill." That caused Hermione's lips to turn up at the corners. She hadn't known for sure but she had been fairly confident Bellatrix had gone to Minerva about Hermione's self taking quill. Luckily Minerva realized it's significance and the Assistant head had informed her there were no rules against it. It pleased her a little to know it was just another annoyance in a long list of things that bothered Bellatrix when it concerned her. Merlin knew the woman had annoyed her enough with her incessant dueling clubs.

When the last student took their seat and the class finally quieted she waved her wand over them. Hermione tensed for a second until the golden light shimmered once around them all, molding itself to their bodies before disappearing. It felt warm and hard, even though she couldn't physically touch whatever the witch had done to them she could definitely feel the magic.

"Shield charms. They should be sufficient enough at your level of magic to keep you from passing out or being injured during this mock duel. With every hit you take your shields will glow gold again so it'll be up to you to keep tally." She flashed a wide smile. "Pair up. Granger you've got Ginny."

Hermione noticed the others letting out a relieved sigh. Apparently no one had wanted the redhead as a partner and if Ginny was even a tenth as talented as she was in her world she could understand why. Still….she had no intention of honestly dueling her friend.

"I promise to go easy on you." Ginny told her softly as Bellatrix banished all the furniture to make space for the students to pair off.

"No unapproved spells!" Bellatrix called out before waving for them to begin.

Ginny waited a beat to see what Hermione was going to do before she shot the first spell. Expelliarmus. Hermione easily deflected it. Just because she didn't want to show off any skill didn't mean she wanted to be taken out so easily. Bellatrix would never accept that. And though the dark witch was walking around giving out criticism Hermione knew she was paying special attention to her.

She blocked a few more of Ginny's spells before she lost a bit of her concentration when Bellatrix scolded another for using an unapproved. When Ginny fired her next spell rather than block it Hermione instinctively dived out of its way. The red head frowned slightly and waited for the brunet to get back into dueling stance before she continued, a little more cautiously than before despite Hermione staying on the defensive.

"This isn't your first duel?" She asked curiously.

Hermione fought her natural reaction to avoid the next hex and let it hit it's mark, a simple stinging hex. She hissed in pain and finally fired her own, which Ginny easily deflected.

"Dueling for me was more chaotic." Hermione admitted, not sure if she was giving away too much by the small admission. If she was giving Ginny a hint that most of the time she had been dueling for her life and not marks in a classroom.

"Chaotic?"

She ducked another hex and waved aside another volley.

"Enough, Granger, Weasley. Class dismissed!" Hermione let her wand fall and sucked in a deep breath. It hadn't been hard to pretend to take dueling seriously. Not with Ginny. But she didn't like the familiar buzz of adrenaline forcing it's way through her blood.

"Wait, not you two." Bellatrix pointed her wand toward the two girls and moved around the class back toward her desk. She waited until the room cleared and the two made their way up to her before she glared their way.

"That was the most pathetic attempt at dueling I have ever seen. Ginny I know you can do better, the way Granger here was going about it you should have had her wand in ten seconds. Instead you spent twenty minutes twirling around each other like a bloody crush." Ginny blushed furiously and glared at the dark headed teacher.

"She blocked all my spells, Professor."

Bellatrix hummed and turned her dark gaze on Hermione. "Not all of them. Except you let that one through didn't you, love. Why I wonder?"

Ginny shot her a curious glance and tugged hera aa bag tighter against herself. "Did you? Your shield charms were ridiculously strong, I was wondering how you missed that one."

Hermione shook her head. She didn't want them knowing all this. "Ginny is just too talented, if she hadn't been going easy on me I would have lost quickly. She had me on the defensive from the get-go."

"You only shot out one spell of your own, Granger."

Bellatrix didn't believe her, Hermione could see it in her eyes. She silently pleaded with the witch to let it go. To drop it just this once. She knew the entire class had been situated just so Black could see what her skills were, see why McGonagall was so against her dueling. She knew Black was disappointed the girl hadn't shown any amazing skills. In fact Hermione had purposefully been subpar.

"Fine, fine. Maybe I'll get more entertainment when you lot face the boggart in a few weeks." Hermione paled, deathly white, something that did not go unnoticed by the dark teacher. She hadn't meant for her comment to strike such fear. In fact, just like this class, she hadn't arranged that lesson with the new student in mind, it had been on her syllabus since she had started teaching. In fact it was her favorite lesson. "Are you alright?"

Hermione shook her head and Ginny placed a comforting hand on her arm. "Hermione?"

The brunette pulled away, choked out something akin to McGonagall and nearly ran from the room, leaving the two remaining occupants confused and worried.