"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground, Malfoy…" Hermione heard Harry Potter saying. There three people between her and Harry, but if she turned her head so that her ear was towards them and the person next to her wasn't in the way, she could hear them perfectly. It was mealtime, and the Great Hall was filled with delicious smells, except the ones that seemed to be emanating from Malfoy's large friends.
"I'd take you anytime on my own" Malfoy retorted. "Tonight, wizard's duel…" Hermione mentally pleaded with Harry not to accept, but Ron Weasley set it all up for him, and Malfoy left. 'Typical,' Hermione thought, 'They've gotten themselves into something really stupid.' She stood up and headed towards them.
"Excuse me," she said.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron said.
Hermione ignored him as best she could. She told Harry that it was really stupid and selfish to go breaking rules for something as trivial as a wizard's dual.
"It's really none of your business," said Harry Potter.
Hermione stared into his bright green eyes; she was in disbelief that someone could be so rude.
"Good-bye," Ron said, and Hermione left. She walked towards the common room, her thoughts racing. She entered the portrait hole, and saw Percy Weasley there, studying. She almost sat down and told him what was going on, but stopped herself. She wasn't going to be a tattletale about this. She could handle this like a grown-up, she thought to herself, and went up to her room.
When Lavender and Parvati drifted to sleep, Hermione put on her bathrobe, went to the common room and sat in the chair closest to the portrait hole. She wasn't positive what time they agreed on 'meeting' Malfoy, so she just sat.
It was about an hour before she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Hermione was disappointed.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," she said. Ron was most displeased to see her. "I almost told your brother, the prefect" she said, trying to shut him up. They tried to ignore Hermione, but she wasn't going to let them act like fools that easily. She followed them out, trying to convince them that they weren't helping Gryffindor beat Slytherin, an argument that she was sure would work, but didn't.
'Fine!' she thought, 'I've done all I could, and they're quite set on making fools of themselves.' She turned to go back through the portrait hole, but the fat lady was gone.
Hermione's heart was racing, she didn't mean to follow them out, and now she was stuck! If she was caught… she didn't even want to think about what would happen. She watched Ron and Harry walk towards the end of the corridor. If she WAS caught, at least she could be caught doing something decent, like trying to stop the boys from breaking rules.
"I'm coming with you," she said. "If I'm going to get caught, I'd rather be found trying to stop you two…"
"You've got some nerve…" Ron interrupted.
"Shut up, I heard something," Harry whispered. Hermione strained her ears for the faint tap of Mrs. Norris' paws, or the soft sucking sound of a ghost floating through a wall…
It was Neville, who, like Hermione, was stuck without anywhere to go. Hermione wanted him to come along, because at least she liked Neville.
"If either of you get us caught, I'll find out how to perform the Curse of the Bogies and use it on the both of you."
"Be quiet!" Harry hissed, and they all walked down the corridor. They were headed toward the trophy room, where Malfoy told arranged the meeting… Hermione was very suspicious. She knew that they would get in a lot of trouble if they were caught, and she bet Malfoy knew that too. 'Of course!' she thought, 'He's probably told a teacher we're going to be in the trophy room…'
Just then, they heard Filch's raspy voice talking to Mrs. Norris. They quietly tried to get away, but Neville crashed into a suit of armor making so much noise, the giant squid could probably hear it. They ran down a dark corridor and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
Ron moaned helplessly as Hermione tried to get past him.
"Move over!" she shoved him out of the way. She whipped out her wand. "Alohomora!" The spell worked, and the lock clicked open. They all rushed in and slammed the door, gasping for breath. Hermione turned and gasped. An enormous three-headed dog, about as tall as the ceiling, was looking at them curiously. The four of them had obviously surprised it. A glint of light caught Hermione's eye at the dog's feet. It was a handle… to a trapdoor?
Harry and Ron turned to see the monster, and were speechless with fear. They opened the door, and ran out, with Neville and Hermione following. They ran all the way to the Fat Lady, who had thankfully returned.
"Pig snout!" Harry supplied the password, and they all scrambled into the room.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a dog like that locked up in a school…" Ron was saying. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It's not just locked up! Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"Standing on!? I was a bit preoccupied with its heads!"
"It was on a trapdoor! It's guarding something." There was a long silence. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
'What would they do without me?' Hermione thought, engulfed by the curtains of her four-poster. She drifted off to sleep, a difficult task, considering she was just face to face with a three-headed dog…
As the weeks passed, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were becoming more and more rude to Hermione. She regretted ever talking to them on the train, and especially helping Harry catch the Remberall. He'd been invited to play on the house team because of that little stunt.
Hermione sat in the library, practicing wand motions when the scene replayed in her head. It was because of HER that Harry Potter was on the quidditch team, she thought angrily as she waved her wand. A dozen books on the shelf in front of her plummeted to the floor.
Hermione, quite thoroughly embarrassed, picked up the heavy volumes and placed them back on the shelf. She couldn't keep losing control like that. She had been messing up a lot lately in classes; spelling things wrong while taking notes, and she couldn't even remember what newts' eyes were used for during Potions.
There were a lot of people watching her pick up the books. 'Why aren't they helping me?' she thought. She looked around and saw Justin Finch-Flechley, the Hufflepuff boy she met (or fell into) on the first day. He was looking right at her. She gave him a small smile, but he just laughed and whispered something into his friend's ear. Hermione looked away so that he wouldn't see her. Perhaps if she didn't see people talking about her, it wasn't really happening...
She sighed as she returned the last book to its place and glanced at her watch. Charms was going to start soon, so Hermione gathered up her books and wand and made her way to Professor Flitwick's room.
The corridors smelled of baking pumpkin, a special treat during meals since it was Halloween. Hermione was the first to arrive in Charms class (as usual) and took her seat. She absentmindedly handled the feather sitting on her desk.
As students began to file into class, Hermione replaced the feather and opened her book. She didn't want to look Harry Potter or Ron Weasley in the eye if she could help it, her day was bad enough already.
"Before you take your seats," tiny Professor Flitwick said, "I will pair you up so we can begin to apply our lessons on Levitation." Hermoine thought it best if she was placed with Neville (he couldn't even remember what 'levitation' was) but Professor Flitwick paired her up with Ron Weasley.
Hermione was very upset. She had resolved, ever since last talking to Harry about being on the quidditch team, not to talk to either of them. Ron didn't seem too thrilled to be her partner either, but Hermione decided to try and make the best of it.
"Okay, Ron, you try it first," she prompted him. He rolled up his sleeves, bellowed "Wingardium Leviosa!" and began waving his wand like a muggle musical conductor.
Hermione dropped her head into her hands. Had he been sleeping all week? He wasn't doing the right wand movement, he wasn't saying the words right... Hermione sighed; it was going to be a long class.
"You're still saying it wrong, you need to accentuate the 'o' in Leviosa." Hermione explained (for the third time).
"I haven't seen you try it at all!" Ron said defiantly. "YOU do it if you're so clever."
Hermione swished and flicked, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather came to life and began to float over the desk. Hermione couldn't help herself and gave Ron her best 'I-told-you-so' look. Ron began to pout like a 5 year old, Hermione couldn't believe how immature he was.
As they filed out of class, Ron and Harry were right in front of her. The corridors were unusually crowded, so she was a lot closer to them then she would have liked.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," she heard Ron telling Harry. She wished she wasn't hearing this... "She's a nightmare, honestly!"
It was too much. Not only did these boys seem to go out of their way to make her feel unwelcome, they didn't even bother to wait until she was out of earshot to insult her. She felt a hot tear run down her cheek. Her hand shot up to whisk it away, but more started pouring down. She put her face in her hands, and started running into the crowd, pushing people out of the way.
She made it to the girl's bathroom, and threw her books down. Hermione looked at her face in the mirror. Her eyes were red, and her eyelashes were sticking together because of her tears. She wished she was at home; Hermione missed her parents terribly.
She opened a stall door, and took out some toilet paper. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, trying to make herself presentable for her next class. Hermione was about to leave for Transfiguration, when the tears turned on again. She went to the corner and sat down on the cold tile, drawing her knees up to her chest.
Hermione simply skipped her next class. It was quite unlike her, and she knew someone would be coming to look for her soon. She hid in one of the stalls and sat on the toilet.
Parvati came in. "Hermione? Are you in here?"
Hermione tried to stay quiet, but she sniffed involuntarily.
"Hermione what's wrong?" Parvati tried to open the stall, but it was locked. "You can't stay in there forever."
Hermione knew that was true, but still wished it weren't.
"The Halloween feast is starting soon, don't you want some baked pumpkin?" Hermione was getting hungry, but couldn't stand seeing Harry or Ron again.
"I'm not hungry," she lied. Parvati left, letting Hermione come back out of the stall. She sat back down in her corner, and rummaged around her bag for a snack or something to eat.
She found a melted chocolate frog at the bottom, and scooped the chocolate out with her fingers. It was nice not having anybody around, Hermione thought as she threw the chocolate frog box away. She was still very hungry, and could smell the delicious food from the corridor. She inhaled deeply through her nose to try and imagine what foods were down there...
"Bleah!" Hermione coughed. The smell that met her nose was not of pumpkin or potatoes, but something that smelled faintly like sewage. 'Great,' Hermione thought, 'one of the toilets is backed up.' She began to gather her things from the corner, when she felt the floor tremble slightly. She heard loud breathing coming from the doorway.
Hermione turned around to see what was there. Her eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. She rubbed them with her hands, making sure that what she was seeing was real, and not some terrible nightmare.
It was a troll! A full-grown mountain troll, and it was in the girl's bathroom! Hermione backed into the corner, watched helplessly as the troll stuck its nose toward the garbage can.
'Oh no!' Hermione thought, 'The chocolate!" She looked at her fingers in dismay. They were covered with sticky chocolate. The troll must have smelled her, because he made his way further into the bathroom, right towards Hermione.
He was almost blocking the doorway completely, but there was a chance that Hermione could run past him and out the door. She knew that they were awfully slow, so she held her breath, and tensed up her legs, ready to sprint.
Just then, the door to the bathroom slammed shut, and Hermione heard the lock click over the raspy breathing of the troll.
'NO!' Hermione's thoughts screamed. The troll advanced on her slowly. 'I'm locked in a bathroom with a troll... I mustn't panic,' Hermione tried to rationalize, and did the thing that seemed most logical at the time... she screamed at the top of her lungs. There was nothing she could do. The monster carried a club bigger than Hermione herself, and he used it to destroy one of the porcelain sinks.
Hermione felt all her blood sink into her legs. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe. This troll was extremely strong, and she was just a young girl...
Just then, the door clicked open. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter dashed into the room and began to throw things at the back of the troll's head. The troll turned from Hermione and made towards Ron. Harry ran behind it and grabbed Hermione.
"Come on, run, RUN!" He said. Hermione tried to run, but she couldn't feel her legs anymore. Her vision became blurred. All she could feel was the cold wall behind her, which seemed to be sucking the warmth from her body.
She watched in horror as Harry jumped onto the troll's neck. She couldn't see what was going on very well, but she heard the troll's agonizing howl of pain, and felt cold air rush by as the club nearly came in contact with her head.
Hermione sunk to the floor and closed her eyes, minimizing the chance of her getting hit with the club.
"Wingardium Leviosa!!!" she heard echo through the bathroom.
It was Ron who said those words, and Hermione could only hope that they had worked. She heard a bone-chilling CRACK and a loud thump. It became very quiet, other than the soft spray of water expelling from the broken sinks. She opened her eyes and saw the troll sprawled on the ground, with a slender piece of wood up its nose.
"Is it... dead?" Hermione heard herself ask. She was in a daze.
"Urgh! Troll boogers!" Harry said as he took his wand out of the troll's nose.
A stampede of footsteps outside the doorway made the three of them look up. Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell entered.
"What on earth!?" Professor McGonagall began, "Explain yourselves!"
Against her better judgment, Hermione stood up and walked forward with shaking legs. "It was my fault, Professor McGonagall" she said.
"I went looking for the troll, because I've read all about them," Hermione lied, but couldn't look Professor McGonagall in the eyes.
"Miss Granger, you foolish girl," she heard, "How could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own!?"
Hermione desperately wanted to say it wasn't her... but remembered what Harry and Ron had done for her. She hung her head guiltily, and took the reprimand from Professor McGonagall until she was dismissed.
As she made her way to the dormitory, Hermione thought of the events that just took place. Harry and Ron had risked their lives... for her. No one had ever done that before. Perhaps Ron Weasley and Harry Potter weren't as bad as she thought they were...
"I'd take you anytime on my own" Malfoy retorted. "Tonight, wizard's duel…" Hermione mentally pleaded with Harry not to accept, but Ron Weasley set it all up for him, and Malfoy left. 'Typical,' Hermione thought, 'They've gotten themselves into something really stupid.' She stood up and headed towards them.
"Excuse me," she said.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron said.
Hermione ignored him as best she could. She told Harry that it was really stupid and selfish to go breaking rules for something as trivial as a wizard's dual.
"It's really none of your business," said Harry Potter.
Hermione stared into his bright green eyes; she was in disbelief that someone could be so rude.
"Good-bye," Ron said, and Hermione left. She walked towards the common room, her thoughts racing. She entered the portrait hole, and saw Percy Weasley there, studying. She almost sat down and told him what was going on, but stopped herself. She wasn't going to be a tattletale about this. She could handle this like a grown-up, she thought to herself, and went up to her room.
When Lavender and Parvati drifted to sleep, Hermione put on her bathrobe, went to the common room and sat in the chair closest to the portrait hole. She wasn't positive what time they agreed on 'meeting' Malfoy, so she just sat.
It was about an hour before she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Hermione was disappointed.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry," she said. Ron was most displeased to see her. "I almost told your brother, the prefect" she said, trying to shut him up. They tried to ignore Hermione, but she wasn't going to let them act like fools that easily. She followed them out, trying to convince them that they weren't helping Gryffindor beat Slytherin, an argument that she was sure would work, but didn't.
'Fine!' she thought, 'I've done all I could, and they're quite set on making fools of themselves.' She turned to go back through the portrait hole, but the fat lady was gone.
Hermione's heart was racing, she didn't mean to follow them out, and now she was stuck! If she was caught… she didn't even want to think about what would happen. She watched Ron and Harry walk towards the end of the corridor. If she WAS caught, at least she could be caught doing something decent, like trying to stop the boys from breaking rules.
"I'm coming with you," she said. "If I'm going to get caught, I'd rather be found trying to stop you two…"
"You've got some nerve…" Ron interrupted.
"Shut up, I heard something," Harry whispered. Hermione strained her ears for the faint tap of Mrs. Norris' paws, or the soft sucking sound of a ghost floating through a wall…
It was Neville, who, like Hermione, was stuck without anywhere to go. Hermione wanted him to come along, because at least she liked Neville.
"If either of you get us caught, I'll find out how to perform the Curse of the Bogies and use it on the both of you."
"Be quiet!" Harry hissed, and they all walked down the corridor. They were headed toward the trophy room, where Malfoy told arranged the meeting… Hermione was very suspicious. She knew that they would get in a lot of trouble if they were caught, and she bet Malfoy knew that too. 'Of course!' she thought, 'He's probably told a teacher we're going to be in the trophy room…'
Just then, they heard Filch's raspy voice talking to Mrs. Norris. They quietly tried to get away, but Neville crashed into a suit of armor making so much noise, the giant squid could probably hear it. They ran down a dark corridor and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
Ron moaned helplessly as Hermione tried to get past him.
"Move over!" she shoved him out of the way. She whipped out her wand. "Alohomora!" The spell worked, and the lock clicked open. They all rushed in and slammed the door, gasping for breath. Hermione turned and gasped. An enormous three-headed dog, about as tall as the ceiling, was looking at them curiously. The four of them had obviously surprised it. A glint of light caught Hermione's eye at the dog's feet. It was a handle… to a trapdoor?
Harry and Ron turned to see the monster, and were speechless with fear. They opened the door, and ran out, with Neville and Hermione following. They ran all the way to the Fat Lady, who had thankfully returned.
"Pig snout!" Harry supplied the password, and they all scrambled into the room.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a dog like that locked up in a school…" Ron was saying. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It's not just locked up! Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"Standing on!? I was a bit preoccupied with its heads!"
"It was on a trapdoor! It's guarding something." There was a long silence. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
'What would they do without me?' Hermione thought, engulfed by the curtains of her four-poster. She drifted off to sleep, a difficult task, considering she was just face to face with a three-headed dog…
As the weeks passed, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were becoming more and more rude to Hermione. She regretted ever talking to them on the train, and especially helping Harry catch the Remberall. He'd been invited to play on the house team because of that little stunt.
Hermione sat in the library, practicing wand motions when the scene replayed in her head. It was because of HER that Harry Potter was on the quidditch team, she thought angrily as she waved her wand. A dozen books on the shelf in front of her plummeted to the floor.
Hermione, quite thoroughly embarrassed, picked up the heavy volumes and placed them back on the shelf. She couldn't keep losing control like that. She had been messing up a lot lately in classes; spelling things wrong while taking notes, and she couldn't even remember what newts' eyes were used for during Potions.
There were a lot of people watching her pick up the books. 'Why aren't they helping me?' she thought. She looked around and saw Justin Finch-Flechley, the Hufflepuff boy she met (or fell into) on the first day. He was looking right at her. She gave him a small smile, but he just laughed and whispered something into his friend's ear. Hermione looked away so that he wouldn't see her. Perhaps if she didn't see people talking about her, it wasn't really happening...
She sighed as she returned the last book to its place and glanced at her watch. Charms was going to start soon, so Hermione gathered up her books and wand and made her way to Professor Flitwick's room.
The corridors smelled of baking pumpkin, a special treat during meals since it was Halloween. Hermione was the first to arrive in Charms class (as usual) and took her seat. She absentmindedly handled the feather sitting on her desk.
As students began to file into class, Hermione replaced the feather and opened her book. She didn't want to look Harry Potter or Ron Weasley in the eye if she could help it, her day was bad enough already.
"Before you take your seats," tiny Professor Flitwick said, "I will pair you up so we can begin to apply our lessons on Levitation." Hermoine thought it best if she was placed with Neville (he couldn't even remember what 'levitation' was) but Professor Flitwick paired her up with Ron Weasley.
Hermione was very upset. She had resolved, ever since last talking to Harry about being on the quidditch team, not to talk to either of them. Ron didn't seem too thrilled to be her partner either, but Hermione decided to try and make the best of it.
"Okay, Ron, you try it first," she prompted him. He rolled up his sleeves, bellowed "Wingardium Leviosa!" and began waving his wand like a muggle musical conductor.
Hermione dropped her head into her hands. Had he been sleeping all week? He wasn't doing the right wand movement, he wasn't saying the words right... Hermione sighed; it was going to be a long class.
"You're still saying it wrong, you need to accentuate the 'o' in Leviosa." Hermione explained (for the third time).
"I haven't seen you try it at all!" Ron said defiantly. "YOU do it if you're so clever."
Hermione swished and flicked, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather came to life and began to float over the desk. Hermione couldn't help herself and gave Ron her best 'I-told-you-so' look. Ron began to pout like a 5 year old, Hermione couldn't believe how immature he was.
As they filed out of class, Ron and Harry were right in front of her. The corridors were unusually crowded, so she was a lot closer to them then she would have liked.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," she heard Ron telling Harry. She wished she wasn't hearing this... "She's a nightmare, honestly!"
It was too much. Not only did these boys seem to go out of their way to make her feel unwelcome, they didn't even bother to wait until she was out of earshot to insult her. She felt a hot tear run down her cheek. Her hand shot up to whisk it away, but more started pouring down. She put her face in her hands, and started running into the crowd, pushing people out of the way.
She made it to the girl's bathroom, and threw her books down. Hermione looked at her face in the mirror. Her eyes were red, and her eyelashes were sticking together because of her tears. She wished she was at home; Hermione missed her parents terribly.
She opened a stall door, and took out some toilet paper. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, trying to make herself presentable for her next class. Hermione was about to leave for Transfiguration, when the tears turned on again. She went to the corner and sat down on the cold tile, drawing her knees up to her chest.
Hermione simply skipped her next class. It was quite unlike her, and she knew someone would be coming to look for her soon. She hid in one of the stalls and sat on the toilet.
Parvati came in. "Hermione? Are you in here?"
Hermione tried to stay quiet, but she sniffed involuntarily.
"Hermione what's wrong?" Parvati tried to open the stall, but it was locked. "You can't stay in there forever."
Hermione knew that was true, but still wished it weren't.
"The Halloween feast is starting soon, don't you want some baked pumpkin?" Hermione was getting hungry, but couldn't stand seeing Harry or Ron again.
"I'm not hungry," she lied. Parvati left, letting Hermione come back out of the stall. She sat back down in her corner, and rummaged around her bag for a snack or something to eat.
She found a melted chocolate frog at the bottom, and scooped the chocolate out with her fingers. It was nice not having anybody around, Hermione thought as she threw the chocolate frog box away. She was still very hungry, and could smell the delicious food from the corridor. She inhaled deeply through her nose to try and imagine what foods were down there...
"Bleah!" Hermione coughed. The smell that met her nose was not of pumpkin or potatoes, but something that smelled faintly like sewage. 'Great,' Hermione thought, 'one of the toilets is backed up.' She began to gather her things from the corner, when she felt the floor tremble slightly. She heard loud breathing coming from the doorway.
Hermione turned around to see what was there. Her eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. She rubbed them with her hands, making sure that what she was seeing was real, and not some terrible nightmare.
It was a troll! A full-grown mountain troll, and it was in the girl's bathroom! Hermione backed into the corner, watched helplessly as the troll stuck its nose toward the garbage can.
'Oh no!' Hermione thought, 'The chocolate!" She looked at her fingers in dismay. They were covered with sticky chocolate. The troll must have smelled her, because he made his way further into the bathroom, right towards Hermione.
He was almost blocking the doorway completely, but there was a chance that Hermione could run past him and out the door. She knew that they were awfully slow, so she held her breath, and tensed up her legs, ready to sprint.
Just then, the door to the bathroom slammed shut, and Hermione heard the lock click over the raspy breathing of the troll.
'NO!' Hermione's thoughts screamed. The troll advanced on her slowly. 'I'm locked in a bathroom with a troll... I mustn't panic,' Hermione tried to rationalize, and did the thing that seemed most logical at the time... she screamed at the top of her lungs. There was nothing she could do. The monster carried a club bigger than Hermione herself, and he used it to destroy one of the porcelain sinks.
Hermione felt all her blood sink into her legs. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe. This troll was extremely strong, and she was just a young girl...
Just then, the door clicked open. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter dashed into the room and began to throw things at the back of the troll's head. The troll turned from Hermione and made towards Ron. Harry ran behind it and grabbed Hermione.
"Come on, run, RUN!" He said. Hermione tried to run, but she couldn't feel her legs anymore. Her vision became blurred. All she could feel was the cold wall behind her, which seemed to be sucking the warmth from her body.
She watched in horror as Harry jumped onto the troll's neck. She couldn't see what was going on very well, but she heard the troll's agonizing howl of pain, and felt cold air rush by as the club nearly came in contact with her head.
Hermione sunk to the floor and closed her eyes, minimizing the chance of her getting hit with the club.
"Wingardium Leviosa!!!" she heard echo through the bathroom.
It was Ron who said those words, and Hermione could only hope that they had worked. She heard a bone-chilling CRACK and a loud thump. It became very quiet, other than the soft spray of water expelling from the broken sinks. She opened her eyes and saw the troll sprawled on the ground, with a slender piece of wood up its nose.
"Is it... dead?" Hermione heard herself ask. She was in a daze.
"Urgh! Troll boogers!" Harry said as he took his wand out of the troll's nose.
A stampede of footsteps outside the doorway made the three of them look up. Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell entered.
"What on earth!?" Professor McGonagall began, "Explain yourselves!"
Against her better judgment, Hermione stood up and walked forward with shaking legs. "It was my fault, Professor McGonagall" she said.
"I went looking for the troll, because I've read all about them," Hermione lied, but couldn't look Professor McGonagall in the eyes.
"Miss Granger, you foolish girl," she heard, "How could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own!?"
Hermione desperately wanted to say it wasn't her... but remembered what Harry and Ron had done for her. She hung her head guiltily, and took the reprimand from Professor McGonagall until she was dismissed.
As she made her way to the dormitory, Hermione thought of the events that just took place. Harry and Ron had risked their lives... for her. No one had ever done that before. Perhaps Ron Weasley and Harry Potter weren't as bad as she thought they were...