Chapter 2

Hermione arrived to the Gryffindor tower heaving and panting. She had practically sprinted back to the common rooms and refused to stop until she was safely inside.

The common room was still crowded, and it was louder than she expected at this hour. It was getting close to 1 in the morning, but a good number of her classmates were sprawled around enjoying themselves, drinking what she could only presume were alcoholic beverages, music playing softly in the background. It seemed the "Welcome Back" party was just starting to wind down.

Harry and Ron sat on the floor near the fireplace playing a card game. Ginny in a chair above them, observing.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron shouted. Ginny gave her a once over and stared intensely, her eyes silently questioning her. Hermione could only imagine what she looked like. Out of breath, cheeks flushed, pupils dilated. Ginny probably thought she had been attacked. Ginny made to get out of her chair to go to Hermione, but Hermione stopped her with a smile. She shook her head from left to right discreetly, it was almost imperceptible, but Ginny saw it. She gave her a concerned look but sat down and stayed quiet anyways.

"Hermione!" The remaining Gryffindors shouted in unison. Hermione waved politely at the crowd and walked towards the trio.

"Are you two drunk?" She said flatly, narrowing her eyes at them but there was no bite behind it.

"Ah! Come on 'Mione." Ron started, "It's the first weekend back. We jus' celebrating is all." He finished, his words starting to bleed into each other.

Harry at least had the decency to look somewhat apologetic, he smiled sheepishly at Hermione and raised his glass at her before taking a sip.

Hermione rolled her eyes but made to sit next to Ginny. The warmth of the common room already working its magic on her, soothing her nerves and calming her breaths.

"Hey?" Hermione turned to Ginny, she meant to sound 'carefree and jovial' but it came out more like a 'sheepish question.'

Ginny was about to open her mouth to respond when she noticed Cormac McLaggen approaching the group. He had two drinks in his hand and made to offer one to Hermione. "You look like you could use a drink." He said in a lightly teasing manner. Ginny scoffed silently. Cormac had had his eyes set on Hermione since 4th year's Yule Ball and he was not shy with his advances.

Cormac was tall and broad. His blonde hair framed his face handsomely. His face had strong features and his smile could be blinding. If Hermione had been anyone else she might have felt flustered by his attentions, but she knew Cormac. He was like a severely-watered down version of Malfoy. Despite herself, images of Malfoy thrusting into Pancy's mind rushed through Hermione's head causing her to blush. Stop it Hermione! She chastised herself. Worse, Cormac had seen the sudden rush of heat to her cheeks and he mistook it as only someone with a quite healthy dose of cockiness could. He smirked at Hermione.

Hermione gave Ginny a look and sighed. Despite Cormac begin somewhat of a pushy, arrogant, self-righteous git who would probably read into this more than he should, in small, very small, doses, he was...tolerable. She was about to stretch out her hand to accept his offer but was stopped abruptly.

"Come off it mate. You know 'Mione doesn't drink." Ron's voice slurred. Hermione's rational side knew Ron was trying to be a good friend in his own moronic way, but she was tired of being rational. She had just experienced the most insane night patrol ever and she could very well benefit from a drink or ten to erase the image of Pansy on her knees sucking… Stop. What did I say! You can't go there. Hermione closed her eyes breifly, she was agitated and snapped.

"You can't possibly know what I do or do not do Ronald." She said coldly, her annoyance of this whole week, this whole summer, starting to boil, and no one was a better target for her ire than the red-headed boy sitting at her feet. "And I'd appreciate if you did not speak on my behalf, especially when you cannot seem to formulate articulate thoughts on your best day, let alone completely sloshed." Ron looked at her shell-shocked. Although he was used to Hermione's admonishments, she had yet to have sounded so frigid. The air around the five Gryffindors felt thick. If Ginny had looked concerned before, Hermione was positive she looked downright worried now.

"Hermione, you know Ron…" Harry began, trying to ease the tension. Harry had fallen into the role of peacemaker over the summer. He was not as stubborn as Ron and seemed to be adept at seeing both sides of a situation. He had mended quite a few arguments between Ron and Hermione over the summer. Hermione turned to face Ron. He looked up at her cautiously. A guilty wave hit her. She shouldn't have snapped at him. Or at least not so harshly. Yes, Ron was being annoying but well, when wasn't he. It wasn't his fault she was all riled up.

Hermione took a deep breath.

"I know. I'm sorry Ron." She said with her eyes still closed, "It's just been a long week." She opened her eyes and looked at everyone in a way that she hoped looked tired but calm. Hermione opened her eyes to see Ron giving her a wary smile.

"It really has been exhausting, hasn't it." Ginny sighed.

"Sure has." Cormac said as he sat down at the arm of the chair she was currently occupying. Hermione shifted slightly away. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she also did not want to encourage him. Ron and Harry mumbled in agreement, still slightly on edge by Hermione's outburst.

"All the more reason to drink!" Ginny said loudly, lifting her glass to encourage the remaining Gryffindors in the common room to join them.

Hermione turned to Ginny in relief. Her friend was trying to cut the tension and change the subject on her behalf. Only Hermione could see the tightness around her eyes. Ginny was waiting Hermione out. Unlike her older brother, Ginny was quite adept at buying her time for the most effective results.

She's going to pounce on me as soon as we are alone, I just know it. Hermione groaned.

"Cormac, you going to hand Hermione one of those drinks or are you just going to keep babysitting." Ginny teased him. Neville, Dean, and Parvati, who were sitting close by, erupted in laughter. Hermione didn't think it was that funny but she presumed that to an intoxicated mind, most things would be. Cormac smiled at the girls, "Of course." He extended a drink and Hermione took it, their fingertips brushing against each other briefly. Cormac beamed at her. I absolutely knew he was going to read way to much into this.

"Thanks." She mumbled, and attempted to smile at him but she felt it may have come out as more of a grimace. She really needed to get herself together. She turned to Ron and Harry on the floor. These were her best friends. They had been through hell the last five years and she'd be damned if she was going to begin her sixth year fighting with both of them. She gave them a genuine and warm smile.

"To a great school year," she said raising her glass, "without any near-death experiences for anyone."

A chorus of laughter and "Here! Here!" erupted from around the common room. Harry and Ron raised their glasses at her and cheered as well. They all took a long sip of their drink.

Oh God! Hermione tried not to cough. Does this drink have anything other than firewhisky. She could feel Cormac staring intently at her, like if he was waiting for an affirmation. She thanked him for the drink and smiled in what she hoped expressed a polite "now please leave me alone."

"So how was your patrol?" Ginny asked, grabbing Hermione's hand and tugging her so that she faced Ginny and effectively gave her back to Cormac. Cormac was many things but stupid was not one of them. He took the hint and walked away with a simple, "Enjoy ladies." Annoyance dripped in his voice but nonetheless he left them alone.

"It was…" Hermione started, images of Malfoy, panting and moaning, hands grasping Pancy's hair, infiltrated her mind in rapid succession, and she could feel the blood rise to her cheeks. "Harry switch drinks with me." She said abruptly. Harry extended his cup and Hermione took it, putting hers in his hand. Ginny gave her a confused look.

"It was uneventful." Hermione finished, turning to Ginny, who had gone from "confused" to "I don't believe a damn word you are saying."

"Eww! Ugh!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. Harry looked at his drink like it was about to attack him, meanwhile Ron started cackling at Harry's face.

"This tastes disgusting Hermione." He said looking at her.

"Well I didn't make it!" Hermione said, she could feel the tension of the last couple of hours, weeks, begin to dissipate. She giggled and took a sip of what used to be Harry's drink. "Much better!" She said beaming a smile at Harry while Harry glared at her. Ginny and Ron started laughing.

"You tricked me!" Harry exclaimed.

"It's not my fault you're so trusting." Hermione goaded him, her eyes twinkled. Harry glared, while the three friends laughed.

After that, the four friends started winding down, talking about the upcoming school year, sipping on their very illegal drinks. Hermione let the warmth of the fire whiskey and her friends wrap around her. The thrill of doing something unexpected like underage drinking made her beam with excitement. The events of the corridor were practically forgotten as her and Ginny downed their third and final drink and began saying their "goodnights" to go off to bed.

It was almost four in the morning, but Hermione wasn't worried. Tomorrow was Saturday and she might even attempt to sleep in.

By the time she tucked herself into Parvati's bed, because her own bed was currently occupied by said girl, probably a little too intoxicated to tell the difference, all she could think about was how amazing this school year was going to be and how she definitely was going to succeed at this "having fun and relaxing" part.

That is, until she closed her eyes and started dreaming of a certain platinum-blonde ferret.