I've noticed that this story has deep ties to my childhood. For some reason I draw inspiration from the movies, tv shows and books I read as a child. That in itself is not too bad, but somehow with this chapter I tapped into the darker parts of my childhood.

Now I've only been bullied at school so my story is much lighter than some you come across, especially online. Nevertheless I wanted to give a fair warning that this story has taken a darker turn now and might continue to go in that direction. So if you do not want to continue reading this story that contains bullying and violence, just remember, I gave it an M rating to warn of some people, and it is never to late to stop reading.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews (I'm looking at you; ShadowPrincess1621 and AliceEnchanted!) and everyone who started following or favorited the story, I just officially hit 50 followers in this story and decided to celebrate by giving you all a new chapter!

enjoy! Xx

Quiet Before the Storm

Her bedroom was a dream, the castle was surreal and Hermione was a ghost.

That's what she felt like at least, they would ignore her the entire day, except when she walked outside, then she was stalked by the son of the house, watching over her. Then at dinner time they would gather around the table, Hermione being ignored completely, and the son of the house only engaged in polite conversation. Apparently the adults were deemed to be in a much higher standing than the two teenagers.

Sometimes she would hear other voices, all three of them having visitors. Hermione felt more lonely here in a house that always seemed to be filled with voices of strangers. At least back home she had Noddy who would keep her company somewhat, the house elves here were never even seen.

It was a lot like Hogwarts in that regard, but somehow being shut out so completely made her desperately want to be included. She wanted that closeness and company that the other had so willingly.

It took her a while to find the bedroom of her peer, the one she still hadn't learned the name of.

She stood in the doorway, finding him in the company of two other vaguely familiar faces. None of them seemed to notice her presence, she tried clearing her throat, but only got a high laugh and an eye roll that she missed.

"Hey."

The son grumbled and turned around "What do you want?"

She shifted nervously "I uh-" what exactly did she want? "I was wondering if I could join you?"

One of the other guys scoffed.

"Now the Ice Princess wants company?" the son answered.

The lanky one started twirling his wand in his fingers. "Who would have thought?"

All three of them sniggered at her, and returned to ignoring her. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door, trying to think of what to do now. They clearly didn't want her around, but she wasn't going back to her room and hearing the echo of voices fill the silence of her loneliness without having given the other option a serious go.

"What are you guys doing?" she tried.

"Ignoring you." The broad shouldered ugly one answered. The other two laughed, the son giving him a congratulatory clap on his back.

"Why?"

"Doesn't feel so great when it's you on the receiving end does it?" The son looked up at her and she noticed his bright blue eyes, and how cold they became when they landed on her. It seemed like they had just been filled with laughter and mischief, but she had taken that from them, from him.

"You ignore us all year and now you're suddenly all chummy?" the lanky one asked.

"I didn't-"

"You did." The son said, and their eyes met in a silent battle, the other two afraid to break it lest she win. Hermione finally knew what they were talking about, these were here three main body guards. The ones she would hex and curse and avoid, these boys that were supposed to take care of her, even though they only wanted to be boys and have fun.

"It's summer now, we have time off from following the spawn of Hell around." Lanky guy said, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Why don't we do to her what she did to us?" Shoulders said.

"I like the way you think Mulciber." The son said, and with that they all rose and started walking towards her. She gulped and some deep primal instinct in her was triggered when she saw the faces of the three boys before her. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her palms were slick, and her only thought was 'run'.

When they were about 5 meters away from her, she turned and ran down the hallway. She wanted to wring her clothes off to let her chest stop constricting around her, to cage her in and make her gasp for breath as the boys laughed and took after her.

Come on Hermione, you have avoided them on numerous occasions, times when your safety wasn't on the line.

But they had the home field advantage, and they used it as she soon discovered when one of the boys suddenly sprang out in front of her from a secret passageway and blocked her escape.

She shrieked loudly, trying to turn around, but found the two others behind her, caging her in. She started backing up, walking until her back hit the wall, and the boys were in front of her.

"BO!" lanky, the guy that had popped up in front of her said, and she turned towards him, and Shoulders grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her. She was struggling to breath, this was too much like the guys in the alley, the ones that wanted to kill her.

Her thoughts were so far gone she never noticed what the boys said, she only knew they fell silent when she shrieked "LET ME GO!" and tears started falling down her cheeks.

They laughed at her again "What's the matter Princess? I thought you wanted to play with us?" The Son was standing in front of her, while Lanky was to his side, eying her in a disgusting way.

She tried to calm down, but it was getting harder to breathe, all she could do was think about the older guys in the dark alley, and that there would be no bodyguard around to rescue her. These three boys before her were the ones that were supposed to be looking after her, and here they stood laughing at her misery.

"Let's play." Lanky said as he ran his wand down her throat, she turned away, trying to think of everything but the wand, and what could possibly happen to her.

"Petrificus totalus!" was all he said, and she was both relieved that nothing more had happened, and apprehensive about what could possibly happen next.

"Let's put her in there." Shoulders said, pointing to the secret passageway.

"Good idea." Sonny boy said, and they all dragged her frozen body into the dark secret in the wall, Hermione panicking even more. The last thing she saw before she was left to a cold and drafty corridor in a deserted part of the castle was the mocking faces of her three supposed protectors.