Here it is… chapter four! Hope you like it, everyone. To those of you that reviewed…

Gary Skinner: Don't worry, I will give it a happy ending… and I plan to make the road PLENTY bumpy. :D

Agawa: I tried to make them as in-character as I could, thanks!

Egon-Starcollector: *Grin* Mwaha… Don't worry; you'll be brave enough someday. *Patpat* Then again, revenge would be so much sweeter if all of us conniving females had wands in our hands, wouldn't it?

Angelwenh: Well, you'll just have to wait and find out, won't you? *Evil grin*

And thanks to Bunny Lee, anon, Megz, renee, Nabeeha, AMB3R, and DS for reviewing! :D You reviewers are the guys that make people like me want to keep writing.

Chapter Four

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Hermione held her bookbag at her side as she climbed nimbly down the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor common room. There Ron and Harry stood, waiting for her. Hermione couldn't help but think that they probably still felt guilty about the whole train compartment extravaganza, and she was glad that they were trying to make up for it. She sent them what she hoped was a dazzling smile (in truth, it hurt her mouth a bit) and walked over to where they stood. "Come on guys, let's go. I can't wait to get to start on classes! Oh, I'm so looking forward to Arithmancy, I missed learning everything so much! Except potions of course, I mean, really…" The two boys looked over Hermione's head at each other and breathed a simultaneous, silent sigh of relief. Thankfully Hermione wasn't holding any grudges—God knew they'd be in trouble if she did. The truth was, though, Hermione was much too nervous about her plan's results and getting caught to care about anything else.

Steering the boys to the Great Hall, Hermione chattered aimlessly until, to the boys' great relief, she was too busy eating to be able to use her mouth to speak. "So, Harry, what d'you reckon we've got first?" asked Ron, as he gulped down his third waffle. Pulling out his schedule, Harry winced.

"Beautiful. Double potions with the Slytherins—just what I need to kick off another great school year, eh?" he replied with a sort of moan. Silently, Hermione celebrated. What other place was better to humiliate everyone's two favorite—at least until potions—flirts? Hermione could only imagine what Parvati and Lavender would look like when they walked through the doors. Smiling despite herself, she earned a strange look from Ron.

"Hermione, are you all right? Harry just informed us that we have double potions with our least favorite house, and you're smiling. You look a little… out of it." Startled, she informed him that she was just fine. She'd just had a rough night sleeping since she'd been so excited about classes starting, that was all, she explained. She couldn't have the boys finding out about what she'd done—that would definitely NOT be pleasant. Once they'd stuffed themselves silly—they'd need all of the strength they could get for the day before them—the three young Gryffindors made their way to the dungeons. As much as they didn't want to rush to certain hell with Snape, they also knew that it would not be a good idea to be late on the first day of lessons, especially to potions. Stepping into the dark chambers, they took their seats together in cold chairs that apparently hadn't been dusted or, indeed, moved all summer long. A sneering Malfoy sat with his cronies in the second row. Malfoy, no doubt, was going to seize every single chance to take points off Gryffindor he could possibly get his slimy hands on. Hermione felt a pang of guilt as she thought of the amount of points that Gryffindor house would suffer from Lavender and Parvati's appearances, and on the first day, too. As she attempted to sweep that thought to the back of her mind, the greasy-haired professor himself entered the classroom.

"Well, well," Snape whispered in a voice that rather strongly reminded Hermione of snakes slithering across dark, damp floors, "I would say welcome back, except that not all of us…"—his slits of eyes rested for a moment on Harry, Hermione and Ron—"are welcome." This promptly triggered an oily chuckle from the Slytherin's side of the dungeon. Ron had turned beet red and looked as if he were about to jump Malfoy, and the blond boy's fists were clenched and he looked ready to fight. However, before anything could start, there came a high-pitched scream from the doorway.

Standing them were the two funniest sights that most of the people in the classroom had ever laid eyes on. Lavender and Parvati had attempted to enter class late, and when Parvati had tried to walk through the cobweb- ridden doorway, her leaning tower of gel/hair had gotten caught to a nail that was protruding from the doorframe. The entire class exploded into shocked laughter as the blonde girl fought to pull her way into class. With a mighty tug, she finally was freed, only to plunge head-first into Lavender. Small yellow spikes hung from the nail and Parvati and Lavender were lying in a tangled heap on the floor. As Parvati stood up and opened up her mouth to speak, the entire dungeon got a good look at her mouth—and the teeth inside of it.

"Fell, faren't foo foing to felp fuss?" She yelled, attempting to speak through her beaver's teeth. Lavender stood up, her tears making black roads that trickled down her face and left black spots on her robe and clothing. Guilt raced through Hermione's body, making her shake and for a moment she thought that she might vomit. Standing up quickly, she ran over to the girls' sides and rook both of their hands in hers. Patting Parvati's spiky tower and Lavender's purple mess, she spoke reassuringly.

Snape had finally come to his senses enough to sputter, "Outrageous—disrupting class—25 points Gryffindor—EACH—disgrace…" Before Hermione called out in a far more confident tone than she felt, "Please, professor, allow me to take these two girls to the hospital wing—get cleaned up—I'm a prefect, don't worry…" and rushed out of the dungeon door with Lavender and Parvati's hands in hers. Behind her she could hear the class's stunned silence following them and roaring in her ears, and Hermione felt like screaming and crying with guilt. Bringing the two girls to Madame Promfrey, she dazedly asked the nurse if she could help clean up the two Gryffindors. As she sat in her chair, she mulled over what she had done.

Ron had been right, she was "out of it." She wasn't herself, last year Hermione never would have dreamed of doing anything of this sort. She told herself that she would never, ever do anything like this again. She would be good, responsible, know-it-all Hermione who never got in trouble and at least could be counted on to do the right thing. Sure, she didn't really LIKE being predictable, but at least people could count on you for something.

Lost in her thoughts, she only half-heard the knock on the infirmary door. When it came a second, louder time, the door creaked open slightly and the white-haired headmaster slipped through and looked at her, sitting in a visitor's chair. "Hermione," he said, startling her as she looked up at him, "Professor Snape told me I'd find you up here. He seemed in an exceptionally good mood—found some more points to take off Gryffindor, no doubt." Dumbledore's eyes crinkled into a faint smile at this statement. "Hermione," he continued, "Please come with me. There is something that we need to discuss in my office."

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As she was lead up marble stairs, it was all that Hermione could do to stop herself from crying. Dumbledore knew she'd done it. As if she didn't feel horrible enough, now she'd get points taken from her house and her prefect badge would be taken away, she just knew it! She'd read about prefects who had gotten their badges taken away in Hogwarts: A History, but she'd never thought it would happen to her! Imagine the disgrace, she, Hermione Granger, top of the class, never-break-a-rule Hermione, having her prefect badge taken away because of some stupid prank that she'd pulled on two poor girls who hadn't known who they were messing with. Hermione didn't even know who they were messing with—she'd never felt that sort of need for revenge, that anger that she had last night. It was if a different person had inhabited her body, someone else was making these stupid decisions and now she had to pay the price. Gryffindor would lose a hundred points probably, her prefect badge would be gone—and worst of all, she knew that she deserved it.

They stopped for a moment in front of two large doors. A stone, rather stubborn-looking gargoyle blocked any way of entering, giving Hermione a moment to catch her breath. "Gumdrop," said Dumbledore, and the gargoyle's head raised as it leapt out of the way. If Hermione hadn't been so sure that she was about to disgrace the whole of Gryffindor, she would have had to sit down in awe of Dumbledore's office. It was by far the most beautiful teacher's office that Hermione had ever seen, and what with her continuous extra credit, she'd seen quite a few. Sitting behind her was a large, red phoenix called Fawkes who she remembered very well for assisting Harry in the Chamber of Secrets in their second year.

Turning to face Dumbledore, she made the mistake of looking directly into his blue eyes. She would not, could not lie to this man who had helped her and her friends numerous times in the past. Dumbledore had always told the truth to anyone, and she knew that he knew what she'd done. She knew that she had to tell him now, if she let him accuse her it would be far worse than if she turned herself in. She couldn't help the tears that began rolling down her cheeks as she began to spill out her story.

"Headmaster—I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, really, I, I, I didn't! I was late for the train, and—Harry and Ron, they were in the compartment—Lavender, Parvati too, Parvati was saying—me, ugly, buc—buck-toothed, big teeth—useless, she said, I was—flirting, they didn't even notice me gone, didn't care—ordered makeup from Prophet, spent money, I did it, I'm sorry, I did it… I know, it's all my fault—I know—punished, horrible person—so sorry…" She ran out of breath, choking on her sobs and sniffling. Carefully she reached down to the front of her robe, took off her prefect badge, stood up, and placed it carefully on Dumbledore's desk.

He looked at her, somber-eyed. "Hermione," he began, "thank you for telling me this. I have but one thing to ask of you now. You were able to do what many people dream of—you got revenge, and it worked. You made people sorry that they ever insulted you. Now that you've done it, tell me one thing. Does it feel good, Hermione? Are you happy?"

She shook her head, staring at the floor. "No, headmaster. Maybe when I was doing it—I'm disgusted to say it now, but it did feel kind of good while I as actually doing it, but now… Now I feel horrible. I feel like a rotten person, and I know that what I did was wrong."

He looked at her, and she saw the familiar half-crinkling of his eyes that meant that he was smiling, though his mouth showed no movement. "Well then, Hermione, that's all cleared up, I think. As long as you learned from this experience—and I am sure that you did—you have punished yourself far more than anyone else could. I have heard about this serenade with Miss Patil and Miss Brown, they have been cleaned up and sent back to class. Now, the reason I sent for you. Would you please round up your house and inform them to meet in the Great Hall for an announcement. That is your responsibility, as a prefect." His eyes crinkled once again as he handed her back her badge. "Hurry along now, Hermione, we have spent too much time speaking and not enough time doing. Go along," and he shooed a rather dazed Hermione out of the room.







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Well, there you are! Like it, hate it, tell me when you REVIEW! And I really do mean it, please review… it helps me a lot. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, and the rest of you KEEP ON REVIEWING! *Wink*