Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and none of these characters are mine.

Hermione Granger was not sure how she got a reputation as someone who loved rules.

Certainly Hermione saw the need to abide by the common sense restrictions put in place by the teachers of Hogwarts on most issues. She had come infto Hogwarts a naïve muggleborn girl who could not conceive of a world where adults were not all knowing, all benevolent figures. She trusted in them and their rules because she craved the order they provided, and because she believed in her heart that they would never lead her or her fellow students astray. But that illusion had eroded away as the year went on, and finally shattered all together when she found herself following Harry Potter and Ron Weasley down the trap door after the philosopher's stone.

The next year saw her brewing Polyjuice potion in an abandoned bathroom just feet from the abode of a deadly basilisk (though they didn't know that at the time). By the time third year came around using time travel to help an ex-con escape from soul sucking dementors while attempting to capture her friend's parent's rat betrayer, all while evading a rampaging werewolf - seemed natural.

Admittedly, maybe she had gone too far in the past. Trapping Rita Skeeter in her animagus form and keeping her in a jar all summer had been fun and got her point across, but it had been highly illegal and probably a moral grey area as well. But drastic times called for drastic measures. Now that Voldemort had returned, undoubtedly the grey areas were about to become more grey as those on the light side were forced to make hard decisions in order to keep the wizarding world from falling into his clutches. Hermione knew that very soon they would all have to make terrible choices in order to keep the wizarding world free and to keep those that they loved alive and safe. And aside from her parents, there was no one that Hermione Granger loved more than her two best friends, Ron and Harry.

"Harry," Hermione thought grimly to herself as she bent over her cauldron. Harry Potter was the wizarding world's best bet against the oncoming storm. Harry, who had now fought Voldemort and won four times. Harry, who was the symbol of the Light, the boy-who-lived, their best hope against tyranny and genocide.

Harry, who couldn't sleep through the night, who awoke screaming Cedric's name, shuddering against the memory of blinding green lights and robed monsters who wore the faces of men. Harry, who grew more irritable every day, who flinched at loud noises and yelled at his friends, refusing to let them share in his pain. Clearly Harry was suffering from some form of PTSD, but Hermione was appalled to find that the wizarding world was far behind its muggle counterpart in the area of counseling and pastoral care. They didn't even have an equivalent of a psychiatrist that she could have urged Harry to go see, and none of the adults at school or in the Order seemed to be willing or able to get through to him.

In any other situation, Hermione may have left Harry alone. But the ministry was looking for any excuse to cart Harry off to the loony bin in order to discredit his claims that Voldemort had returned. And Harry himself seemed incapable of holding his temper, arguing with Umbridge in class and alienating fellow students who may have been able to be turned to their way of thinking if not for Harry's fury. If Harry didn't begin to deal with his pain soon, Voldemort and his death eaters wouldn't have to kill him, Umbridge would do it for them. And that Hermione could not allow.

Whatever else was true of Hermione Granger, she loved her friends.

And it was that love that drove her to research deeper magics, to go looking for any way to help her friend deal with his trauma before it consumed him alive. The spell she had found was tricky one, part-charm and part-potion. The hardest part would be dosing Harry with it, but if she was able to get past that then they would be in the clear. She had no doubt that Harry would be furious with her once he realized what she had done. It would all be worth it though, if this potion helped Harry process through the rage and despair that had taken up residence in his heart. The rage and despair that, lets be honest, had been born 14 years ago that fateful Halloween night and had grown in the garden of abuse and neglect that had been Number 4 Privet Dr.

Hermione looked out into the black night as she gently stirred her cauldron one last time. The brew bubbled for a moment, turned a vibrant blue color, and then settled. She took out her wand, tapped the edge of the cauldron twice, and the potion turned an unassuming clear color. Her breath caught in throat as she stared into the cauldron – she had done it. The potion was ready.

All that was left was to somehow get the potion to Harry. Harry might not display the constant vigilance that Moody was always harping on about, but he was no fool either. He knew that he would be a target for many people both inside and outside of Hogwarts, and he wasn't likely to eat or drink anything that didn't come directly from the Hogwarts kitchens.

Hermione grimaced. That would make things harder for her. She would have to dose him during mealtimes, which meant the potential for witnesses would be higher. It would probably be impossible to keep what she had done from the staff if she was successful, but she would rather keep the other students out of it. That meant that she would have to slip him the potion and cast the spell quickly and quietly, and then activate the charm in a private place where she could explain to him what was happening.

The common room wouldn't work, nor would any of the classrooms in the surrounding area. Hermione stood up and looked around the potions lab that she was brewing in. Dobby had told her that it was something called "the room of requirement" and that it would become any room that she needed it too be. It was ideal, not just for explaining the charm to Harry (and lets face it - Ron, who would probably be impossible to keep out of this even if she was sure she wanted to) but also as a safe place for him to be after the spell was cast. The problem would be getting two irritated boys to come up several flights of stairs with her without them demanding that she stop and explain to them what had just happened. How would she get them up here so she could activate the charm?

She looked around and then spoke hesitantly into the darkness. "Dobby?"

With a CRACK the little knobbly elf appeared in front of her, covered in numerous hats and gloves and all manner of socks so that his whole body appeared almost to be a mass of wool and linen. She had gotten to know Dobby through her SPEW work, out of all of the Hogwarts elves Dobby was the only one that would speak to her about elvish suffrage. He smiled broadly and gave a little squeak of excitement. "Miss. Harry Potter's friend is calling Dobby! Is Harry Potter's Mione liking the come-and-go room like Dobby said?"

Hermione smiled kindly at the little elf. "Yes, thank you Dobby it's exactly what I needed. I wanted to ask you a question. Our second year, you tried to keep Harry from returning to Hogwarts, didn't you?"

Dobby's brow furrowed as he acknowledged her question. "Dobby did, Harry Potter's Mione, but it did not work. Harry Potter is a great wizard and managed to get here even though Dobby was trying his hardest to protect him from his bad master."

Hermione considered the little elf for a moment. "You tried to get him expelled. You shut down the barrier so he couldn't get through. And you sent a bludger to break his arm during a quidditch game."

Dobby let out a squeaky distressed noise. "Dobby was not meaning to hurt Harry Potter! Dobby only wanted to protect Harry potter from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

"I know that," Hermione said soothingly. "Dobby, would you help Harry Potter again, to keep him safe, even if it was something that didn't make him happy?"

Dobby considered her carefully. "Dobby would do anything to keep Harry Potter safe."

Hermione smiled and knelt down so that she was eye level with the little elf. "Would you help me Dobby?" She leaned over and quickly whispered her plan into Dobby's bat-like ears.

Dobby's already giant eyes grew round as saucers as he listened to her speak. She pulled back and looked helplessly into Dobby's wary gaze. "Will you help me Dobby? Will you help me keep Harry Potter safe? Will you help me save him from all the people who have hurt him? Will you help me save him from himself?"

Dobby nodded slowly as Hermione stood up again. "Dobby will come when Miss. Mione calls. He will help her keep Harry Potter safe."

"Thank you Dobby!" Hermione sighed in relief. Dobby nodded his giant head again and with a CRACK he was gone.

Hermione went over to cauldron and bottled up the contents with a sweep of her wand. Tomorrow she would put her plan into practice. She yawned and looked at her watch. It was quarter to three, she needed to head to bed soon if she wanted to get any sleep. For a moment she stood there, weighing the consequences of what she was about to do. Harry would probably never speak to her again. Ron would likely follow suit. But sacrifices would have to be made in order to save her friend from himself. And two things that would always be true were this: Hermione Granger loved her friends.

And there was nothing she wouldn't do for the greater good.