Hermione knew that they laughed at her obsession over how well everyone did in their exams. But that was ok, she didn't mind. It was her way of doing a mental health check on everyone and help them decompress after the year. Before Hogwarts and friends, her mum used to do it for her at the end of every lonely year at school and it really helped her. So, she helped out all her friends the same way, not that they realised it.

Given the way their first two years have gone, she was surprised that the school hadn't provided counselling for the traumatized students, but she guessed things must be different in the magical community. Possessed teachers, troll attacks, petrifications, and of course huge monsters living under castle may just be normal in the magical world.

So, she went through the train carriages and asked all her friends how they went in their exams, listened to their "witty" remarks, gave them a chance to get anything off their chest that they needed to.

If they rolled their eyes at her and gave her a hard time about how they were only in second year etc she laughed with them, traded witticisms, and moved on to the next one.


She sat down next to Neville. Neville had managed to stay out of trouble all year and developed a reputation of being "adequate" in potions, which coming from Snape and for a non-Slytherin student was high praise indeed. In herbology he was untouchable, but anything with a wand he had started to over power. Hermione could see plenty of "control" lessons for Neville at the upcoming boot camp.

"So, Neville. How do you think you went in the exams?" she asked.

"Pretty good to be honest" Neville replied. He looked to Hannah for confirmation. Hannah nodded enthusiastically. "Despite all the drama with the petrifications, another hopeless DADA professor, the duelling competition, and" he dropped his voice to a whisper and took a quick glance at Harry and Daphne before he continued "and the dramas between those two. I know it was acting, but it seemed very real at the time."

Dependable Neville, Hermione thought. A very loyal and solid friend. Harry's best friend aside from Daphne. If only he would stop blasting everything to pieces.

"I got to stop blasting everything" Neville said as if reading Hermione's mind "It's just that the power is so addictive"

"Yes, it is starting to affect your class work" Hermione told him honestly.

Neville sat up straighter on the seat "I am taking a leaf out of Millicent's book. Hannah is going to tutor me over the holidays in charms" he smiled at Hannah who smiled back at him.

"Well, you couldn't have a better tutor" Hermione admitted "She has a level of finesse one rarely sees at such a young age. I think it would benefit you greatly."

"And you Hannah, how did your exams go?" Hermione switched her gaze to the quiet girl sitting beside Neville. He had taken her hand in his! Hermione just about gasped out loud. Obviously she was aware of them sort of being a couple, but this was the first time she had seen Neville initiate contact in public.

"I did well, Hermione. Good results in everything." Hannah answered with a small smile. "Thank you for asking. If you see Susan on your rounds, can you let her know I am going to sit here for a while" she looked down at her hand in Neville's "Just enjoy a bit of peace and quiet"

Just then Tracey burst through the door. "Lockhart's quit" she exclaimed excitedly

So much for the peace and quiet, Hermione thought as she slipped out the door.


Hermione started her rounds, seeking out Susan and the others. There were a few empty compartments as some parents had insisted their children be flooed home, despite the basilisk being slain and any danger gone. Most of the kids however wanted the fun of the end of year train trip home which always got pretty rowdy.

Looking through a compartment window she saw Lavender, Parvati, and Dean. They were sitting in a compartment with Ron Weasley and Sheamus Finnigan, all laughing at something Dean had just said. She invited herself in and sat down next to the girls with the three boys opposite.

"What do you want Granger? Come to brag about how well you went in your exams? Nobody likes a know it all" Weasley asked with a snarl.

"Seriously mate" Dean looked at him in amazement "do you ever stop to think about what you are going to say before you open that big fat gob of yours?"

Ron gave him a blank look. Then he slowly looked at the three girls sitting opposite him. Why were they glaring at him "What?" he said.

Seamus being the smarter of the two, saw the looks on the girls' faces and wisely decided to get out of there. He grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him towards the door. "Come on, let's see if the food trolley is out yet"

Ron looked at him. "Food? Great idea" and let himself be dragged out of the compartment.

Hermione just shook her head in wonder at the stupidity of the boy before launching into her usual "How do you think you went in your exams" routine.

"I did pretty well" Dean said with a shrug "but I am not up to the level of you guys yet. I have a significant weakness in potions. It is not easy to learn when Ron and Seamus are blowing up cauldrons and Snape is yelling at them. And I could improve in the other subjects, if those two weren't so distracting."

"You don't have to sit with them you know" Hermione said.

"Actually, he doesn't sit with them so much as they sit with him." Lavender said "He has to share a dorm with them as well. They give him a hard time for hanging out with us, but they need Dean around in all subjects so they get a passing grade. It drags his performance down, the poor boy" She got up and went to sit beside Dean, putting an arm around him.

"Whilst he could make them sit elsewhere, he is too nice a guy, after all they were his first friends at Hogwarts, so he helps them out." Parvati went and sat on Dean's other side, looking sad for her friend. She also put an arm around him.

"You could probably get resorted into a different house if you like" Hermione said, she had read about other instances in the past where that had happened.

"No, Gryffindor suits my personality" said Dean "I am quite happy where I am"

Hermione looked at Dean squashed between Lavender and Parvati. "I can see that. Well Daphne said you can spend as much time as you like on any subject at the boot camp, so you could practice your potions in relative peace, that should help lift your grade."

"And Lavender, how did you go in your exams?" Hermione asked.

"EPE. Exceeds Parents' Expectations" so they will be happy" Lavender replied.

"Better than Padma" Parvati replied before Hermione asked her "That is really going to upset her"

Hermione agreed, Padma hated being beaten by her twin. Padma thought she was the 'smart' twin because she was the one sorted into Ravenclaw. What she didn't realise is that all that meant was her main traits were hard working and studious habits, but was no guarantee of results.

"Well, best I get on" Hermione said standing up and making for the door.

"Check in on Theo" Dean called after her "I saw him in a compartment with a bunch of junior death eaters in the next carriage"

Hermione nodded her agreement and smiled.


Walking through the next carriage Hermione saw Draco sitting with Pansy in an otherwise empty carriage. Hermione looked through the window of the door. Draco caught the movement in the corner of his eye and turned his head, their eyes locked for a few seconds before Draco turned his head away.

Hermione turned away herself and continued walking.


Hermione found Theo in the next compartment with the same group of death eater children that Draco had tried to use to take over Slytherin just after Christmas.

Hermione knocked lightly on the door. They all stopped talking and as one turned to look at her.

Hermione pointed to Theo and gestured for him to come outside. She wasn't sure what Theo told them, but by the amount of wolf whistles and lewd comments, she could guess. He led her to an empty compartment towards the end of the carriage, they picked up Susan along the way, she was sitting with a bunch of prefects swapping stories. They were looking pretty serious.

As they settled in Hermione asked "How did you go in your exams"

"No troll this year, so that was a plus." Susan said "No Blaise either." She frowned. She had resigned herself to Blaise not returning to Hogwarts. In the last letter from him he said that his mum was marrying some Count in Italy, and they were staying there permanently. She sighed "Our group sessions were all over the place this year as well. I must say that I am looking forward to the boot camp, 3 weeks of focused practice is just what I need."

Hermione watched Susan closely, of all of them she was the one Hermione was most worried about.

The incident with the troll in first year, Blaise being taken out of school, and two disrupted school years. Hermione knew that Susan needed order in her life, being raised by Amelia Bones would do that to you. And her best friend Hannah would probably be spending more time with Neville in the near future. Yes, Hermione would keep a close eye on Susan.

"Yes, I am looking forward to that too." Theo said "With the idiocy in Slytherin house this year, my studies suffered greatly. And all that triple agent spying thing was exhausting"

"So where do you sit on that now?" Hermione asked, the curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well my father is still on the side of evil, so he still wants me to continue pretending to be Harry's friend. But there is no longer leadership of their group from Malfoy, meaning there is no real push for action." Theo replied, he had no problems talking about this amongst his friends, after the year he had there would be no more secrets if he could help it. "He does believe that Voldemort can rise again, but with Harry being a parselmouth, opening the chamber of secrets, and slaying Slytherin's monster, he is not sure if Harry will rise as some opposing dark lord when he gets older." Theo shook his head at the notion. "But on the plus side, I am allowed to attend the boot camp without Toby having to persuade Dutton again. Although I get the feeling that Toby rather enjoyed that. For all his polished veneer of civility, Toby is ruthless in a fight"

"Yes, you never did tell us what went on in the forest between Toby and Dutton" Susan said.

"I wouldn't dare, Toby swore me to secrecy. And trust me, you never want to cross Toby" Theo said. Truthfully, he was not sure they would believe him. Seeing that house elf fight is something he would never forget.

"But despite the chaos, better than I expected in my exams" Theo answered Hermione's original question "But could do better"

Hermione looked at them making her mental notes. "Well I will leave you to get back to it then. I didn't want to take up too much of your time" Hermione said holding the door open for them.


She found the last of the group by following the noise. There were shouts, there was swearing, there was laughter, and there was a loud high-pitched screeching that turned out to be Trixie.

Looking through the window, that was almost covered in what appeared to be splotches of paint, she saw the reason for the noise.

It appeared to be some sort of a game. Millicent, Luna, Ginny, and Colin were each sitting in a corner of the compartment. They were firing paint balls at Trixie who was flying around, dodging the paintballs, pulling their hair, grabbing their ears, tweaking their noses, and generally making a nuisance of herself. Of course, as she was flying so close to them, whoever her target was at the time got hit by paint balls from the other three. They were all covered in different coloured paint splotches, Trixie seemed to be the only one unaffected. They were having so much fun that Hermione just turned around and headed back to her compartment. Obviously, they had no need of her services, she just hoped that one of them knew how to cast scourgify.

On her way along the train she did another quick visual check on everyone, blushing as she walked past Theo's compartment as the wolf whistles started again. She made a mental note to admonish Theo for encouraging such behaviour. Susan was back in serious conversation with one of the prefects again. This worried Hermione.


As Hermione entered the next carriage, she ran straight into Cedric Diggory who stumbled into her path.

"Wotcha, Hermione" Cedric said catching her before she fell to the ground.

"Tonks, you realise Cedric doesn't use expressions like 'wotcha' don't you" Hermione said.

"Yeah, well you caught me by surprise, running into me like that. You should watch where you are walking. What were you looking for?" Tonks replied.

"I was just heading back to my compartment, my mind was a million miles away. Just a bit worried about Susan." Hermione asked.

Tonks took a quick look around and then morphed into a very good copy of Susan.

Hermione laughed "Don't let Madame Bones see you do that, I imagine she would not be impressed. Especially after the things you got up to whilst being Cedric"

"Ahh, you know about that. What am I saying, of course you know. No secrets from you lot." Tonks sighed as she quickly changed back to being Cedric "I would appreciate if you didn't tell Amelia."

"Wouldn't dream of it, she scares the hell out of me" Hermione admitted. She had only had one official conversation with Madame Bones, that was after the troll incident. Even though they had saved Susan from the troll, Hermione felt like she had to justify her every action to the stern Head of the DMLE.

"So how did you go on your exam?" Hermione asked Tonks.

Cedric/Tonks looked surprised. "Actually, quite well, thank you for asking. Even though the resitting of the exam was just a ruse to have me based at Hogwarts for the year in case of trouble, I have to say it was nice to get some study done. Not usually my strong suit despite my good grades."

It was now Hermione's turn to look surprised causing Tonks to laugh. "Yes, that was the actual reason for me going back. Yes, Amelia did take notice of the warning from that house elf, Doby?"

"Dobby. His name is Dobby" Hermione corrected.

"Yes, that's it, Dobby. Well as I was saying, Amelia thought that it was credible threat but not enough to take action against Lucius Malfoy. So, placing me at Hogwarts was the best she could get away with. Being an ex-Hufflepuff herself, everyone just thought she was trying to help the house win the duelling championship. Then of course everything went to hell with the attacks and all and it turned out to be a smart move on her part."

"And yet it was up to a bunch of kids to figure it out and go and save the day" Hermione pointed out "Again"

"Yes, Harry and the basilisk. Oh, I would love to see that memory." Tonks got a dreamy look on Cedric's face.

"But also, I got to say I was very impressed with the way you took down that troll. It was incredibly brave." Tonks said. "Amelia showed me Susan's memory of it as part of the mission pre briefing. At first I laughed when she said that I could look to you lot for help if I needed it, then she showed me that memory, and a few others. You do realise that you lot are only twelve?"

"Some of us are thirteen, thank you very much" Hermione corrected to cover her embarrassment at Tonks' praise.

"Well, I was going to escort you to your destination to keep you out of trouble" Tonks said "But as you are thirteen, off you go on your own. Can't have you being seen chatting up Cedric in the corridors, people will talk" Tonks laughed at Hermione's spluttered denial as she wandered off to finish her patrol.


Hermione had just about made it back to her compartment when she saw Professor Lockhart exiting a compartment with a flash smile and a jaunty wave to the occupants.

"Hello Professor" she said "I didn't know you were on the train"

"Just signing some last-minute autographs. Never miss an opportunity to keep my fans happy." He said "Especially with a new book coming out over summer."

"Your first one about someone else" Hermione pointed out "Do you feel nervous about that?"

He looked around quickly. "Can I let you into a secret, miss Granger" he leaned conspiratorially towards her.

Hermione nodded.

Lockhart opened the door of an empty compartment and motioned her to follow. Closing the door and the blinds, he turned to her and whispered "They are all about someone else." He clamped his hand across his mouth as if he had let slip the secrets of the universe.

"I never intended them to be that way" he quickly explained seeing the look on Hermione's face. "I have an extraordinary memory you see. I can recall every last detail of events I witness. The light, the colours, the smells, what everyone looked like, what they wore. But sadly, unlike you I couldn't apply my remarkable memory to my studies. So instead I applied it to my one passion, writing stories. I was a shy boy growing up, didn't have many friends or much confidence so I lived my childhood through the stories I wrote."

"When I wrote my stories, I wanted the hero to be larger than life, brave and charming. Everything I wasn't. So, in a fit of vanity, I made me the hero of the stories. I wrote about things that were happening in the village of my youth, things that happened whilst I was at Hogwarts, and the things I saw travelling around the country and abroad after Hogwarts"

"I would write stories about the great deeds of others, but using myself as the main character. I also may have exaggerated some of the stories a bit."

"Eventually one of my stories made it into the hands of a publisher, and they offered to buy it. I was ecstatic. Up to this point I was writing for my own enjoyment and travelling on my meagre savings or jobs I picked up along the way. I never imagined anyone else would want to read them, let alone pay me for them."

"But there it was, the offer in writing and a bag of galleons. Of course, I told them all about it not being me who did all these extraordinary things. They didn't seem to care."

"But then my memory worked against me, the story that they published was so real the readers did not believe the story was fiction. They thought it was about me and the things I had done. People were congratulating me on my heroic deeds. It got crazy, there was even talk at the time about giving me an Order of Merlin for my actions."

"But couldn't your publisher set them straight? Tell them the truth?" Hermione asked intrigued by his tale. Lockhart was a skilled story teller with a quite the hypnotic voice, and she was getting drawn more and more into his story.

"I tried, but by then the book was a best seller so they had no interest in changing reader's perceptions. When I confronted them and told them that I would go public and expose the book for what it was, a work of fiction, they just laughed at me and told me to read my contract"

"Ahh the contract, the bane of my life. Just a little tip for you Miss Granger, never sign a contract without getting a lawyer to check it first. The contract required me to do everything in my power to ensure the books were a success. That meant promotion tours, book signings, photo shoots, magazine interviews, and keeping quiet about who did the deeds."

"To be honest, I didn't mind all the adoring fans. It became quite addictive. The more promotion I did, the more famous I got, the more the book sold."

"But as with any success, there was a dark side. One day I was approached by the wizard who had actually done some of the things I wrote about. He wanted a stack of galleons to make him forget all about it. I was trapped, what could I do? To my shame I removed his memories of the event. It was the first time I obliviated anyone."

Hermione gasped "but, but..."

"I know miss Granger, not very heroic, or legal for that matter. But he was blackmailing me, I had no choice. I wasn't very good at the spell, but he did forget about who had done what. I got better at the spell with practice over the years. Since then I have been working off my contract. Writing books and doing public appearances."

"Then, in the middle of last year, the contract expired. I was finally free, but despite the years of success I was broke. The position of DADA professor came up just at the right time. By assigning my books for all years of DADA, I made enough in royalties to tide me over until I could write and publish my own book. And the position at Hogwarts would provide me with some fresh ideas for the book. The contract non-compete clause meant I wasn't able to write stories with me as the main character, but then I came up with a new idea, You."

"Me?" Hermione was astonished.

"Well not just you, your little group. Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis, you, and the two boys, Mister Longbottom, and of course Mister Potter. With an older, wiser mentor showing you the way. Me. 'The Famous Five' Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"

"I mean the first book had already written itself after your run in with the troll in first year. 'Tango with Trolls'. See what I did there?"

"But then this year. The attacks, the petrifications, and of course the chamber of secrets and the basilisk. Oh my" Lockhart rubbed his hands together with glee.

"But why are you telling me all this?" Hermione asked, it had been a long day already and with the gentle swaying of the carriage combined with Lockhart's soft and insistent voice, she was feeling quite sleepy. For once she wasn't sure her brain would be able to process everything that she had heard.

"But that's what you do Miss Granger, isn't it? I have watched you going around checking on all your friends on the train, letting them talk through whatever is worrying them, letting them get it of their chest so to speak. And I must say you are very good at it. I feel great finally having the chance to tell someone all my miss deeds and secrets. I have been wanting to do this for years."

"But aren't you worried about the truth getting out about you? You must know that I will tell someone" Hermione shook her head trying clear the fuzziness.

"Oh, that doesn't concern me miss Granger." Lockhart told her.

"OBLIVIATE"

Lockhart had secretly drawn his wand on the distracted Hermione and cast his favourite spell, the only one that he was any good at.

As the spell raced towards Hermione, she saw it coming but her brain didn't seem to be able to process it. Acting purely on instinct, her wand flew into her hand from the wand holster on her wrist, the one that Harry had got for her in first year. A shield appeared instantly and the spell was batted back at Lockhart before either of them had time to blink.

The spell lost none of its power and slammed into Lockhart's face at full speed. The force of the spell causing him to fall to the floor of the carriage.

Hermione spun to face the door as it flew open. Tonks raced into the compartment having seen a glimpse of spell fire flash along the edge of the compartment blinds as she was coming down the passageway. In her haste she had reverted back to her normal form, except she had neon pink hair.

"Are you alright there Hermione?" Tonks asked, quickly checking Hermione over, covering Lockhart with her wand in case he tried anything else.

"I am fine, but I think Professor Lockhart hit his head." She replied.

"What was the spell he tried to hit you with? nice reflexes by the way." Tonks said before turning towards Lockhart who was trying to stand up.

"He tried to obliviate me" Hermione said with shock in her voice.

"Hello there" Lockhart had regained his feet and flashed his award-winning smile at Tonks. He was a bit unsteady on his feet in the moving carriage. "You're a pretty one aren't you."

"What's your name?" he asked as he straightened his robes and flicked back his hair.

"Ummm, Tonks" Tonks replied giving him a curious look.

"That is a pretty name" Lockhart said.

"And, ahh, what is my name?" he asked.