CHAPTER 2
As all of the students filed into the school to take their places at the table they realized that instead of the beautifull decorations their usually were, everything was draped in black, and all of the teachers looked very somber. No one made any noise, and the sorting of the students was a very quiet event, with a bit of sparse clapping here and there. The sorting hat did not even sing a new song, but sang the one from the year before. Once everyone had taken their places Dumbledore stood, and for probaly the first time in all his years at Hogwarts did not have to tell the students to be quiet.
"For the first time ever in Hogwarts there are huge empty spaces at all of the tables. These spaces once belonged to students, friends, relatives, and overall great people. So many died a month ago, and the only survivior was Harry Potter." He paused and looked at Harry over his glasses. This time, people were not amazed he had lived, they did not think it was such an great thing. Hermione could see what people were thinking; Why should he still be alive when he is always there and so many other people have died? But there was one other survivor, one no one knew of, and hopefully, thought Hermione they would never know. She looked up from the table as Dumbledore continued his speech, "I would like to welcome all of you new students, and hope that you to will help us in the fight against Voldemort. A shudder went around the room at the sound of the name, and even, Hermione noticed, Harry cringed at the sound. "Although this is a very somber time, I hope that all of you do enjoy your year at Hogwarts.and I sincerely hope that there will be no more casualties." With that he sat down and mountains of food appeared on the tables.
Almost at once the new students broke into chatter, but the older ones were quiet. The empty spaces held deep meaning and great sorrow for all of them. It was with immense pain that Hermione noted the empty spots of Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, and Parvarti Patil. She did not bother to see who else was gone, there were to many people, to many people dead. A small tear trickled unseen down her cheek. Glancing over at the Slytherin table she saw that there were not as many empty spaces, not as many people gone. She cringed at the sight of Malfoy, and did not notice that he seemed hollow and not there. He was very quiet and there were deep shadows under his eyes.
* * *
The next day a silent group of Gryffindors met up with a quiet group of Slytherins as they made their way down to the dungeons for their first class of potions. This time no one was insulting eachother, no one was even looking at eachother. Although not many Slytherins had died some did and that had affected them. Hermione kept glancing at Malfoy and her hands clenched tightly, leaving little half moons on her palms from her nails.
In class she could not concentrate with Malfoy sitting so near her and she kept slipping away from the real world back into her nightmares. "Hermione! Are you paying attention to me? I asked you a question.twice." Snape leered at Hermione, a cold glint in his eye. Hermione looked up to him, her eyes so cold and emotionless she could have sworn that Snape had fliched but he quickly regained his composure. "Miss Granger are you going to answer me?" She just kept looking blanckly at him and maybe it was because of the lack of response that he left her alone. He turned away from her and went to pick on other helpless students. She gulped as she realized that never again would Snape turn away to pick on Neville, never again would she get in trouble for helping him. But she did not cry, she had already cried enough, there was no point anymore. Suddenly she was to overwhelmed by a mixture of unnamed feelings that she thought she might be sick. All she knew was that she could not stay sitting in the same room as Malfoy.
Hermione began to raise to her hand, hesitated, then she put it up all the way. She was shaking slightly, but doubted that anyone else could notice it. Snape swoped back over to her desk and glared down at her, "Yes, Miss Granger? Do you finally have something to say?"
Deep down she was shaking, but pushing her feelings of unease away she said in a steady voice, "Yes Proffessor. May I go to the infirmary. I'm afraid that I do not feel very well." It wasn't a complete lie, she truly didn't feel well, but she was not going to go to the infirmary. Snape glared at her for a moment then waved his hand towards the door. He walked over to his desk looking thoughtfull then pulled out a big stack of papers and started to read through them. Taking this as leave to go she packed up her bag and stood up to leave when she felt a hand grab her arm. She looked down and saw Harry peering up at her. Other then Malfoy he was probably the one other person she couldn't stand at the moment.
"You all right 'Mione?" He inguired looking worried. She puled her hand away sharply then glared at him. Without a word she slung her bag over her shoulder, spun around and stalked out of the potions class. Everyone looked at Harry then looked at towards the doorwat Hermione had just exited and looked shocked. Snape looked more thoughtfull then ever.
Hermione felt bad about doing that to Harry, she just couldn't stand to be around him at the moment. It isn't his fault she reasoned, he did not choose to be born famous, and it is not his fault that everyone thinks he is more important then other people. Yes, she wasn't mad at him, but she was still hurt by his presence. Instead of heading down to the infirmary she turned right and headed up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room. She thought of Malfoy and found it odd that he had been so quiet during class. She thought that he would have been gloating with the advancements that the Death Eaters had made over the summer. He should have been glad that his father had not been caught with the other Death Eaters, but he seemed lost and distant. As if something had happened to him to make him cold, something bad enough to chabge him from who he was.
Or maybe the mask he has always worn has finaly just disappeared.
Shivering hermione gave up on trying to foguring what was going on, she wasn't sure where that thought had come from, but it rang true.
Looking up she realized her feet had carried her to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Tinkle Winkle," she muttered then stepped through the hole and smiled when she saw that luckily the commom room was empty. She glanced at the giant arm chairs and longed to curl up in one and just let herself cry but instead she forced herself to go up the staicase to the girls dormitory.
Sge swayed and clutched the doorway as a wave of nausea hit her. She was sick, but it was just from the memories of the past month, nothing that Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal. It had already been two weeks but the mamories were still fresh in her mind and she didn't think she would be able to forget. Standing in front of her mirror she roughly pulled up her sleep and stared at her underarm. The Skull mark of the death eaters stared back at her. There was no way she was going to be able to forget, not anymore. Walking over to her desk she grabbed the bottle of pills sitting on the corner. She pulled a glass of water out of the air with her wand and swished two of the little white pills down. She walked over to her bed, pulled the curtains around her and fell down into a dream free sleep.
As all of the students filed into the school to take their places at the table they realized that instead of the beautifull decorations their usually were, everything was draped in black, and all of the teachers looked very somber. No one made any noise, and the sorting of the students was a very quiet event, with a bit of sparse clapping here and there. The sorting hat did not even sing a new song, but sang the one from the year before. Once everyone had taken their places Dumbledore stood, and for probaly the first time in all his years at Hogwarts did not have to tell the students to be quiet.
"For the first time ever in Hogwarts there are huge empty spaces at all of the tables. These spaces once belonged to students, friends, relatives, and overall great people. So many died a month ago, and the only survivior was Harry Potter." He paused and looked at Harry over his glasses. This time, people were not amazed he had lived, they did not think it was such an great thing. Hermione could see what people were thinking; Why should he still be alive when he is always there and so many other people have died? But there was one other survivor, one no one knew of, and hopefully, thought Hermione they would never know. She looked up from the table as Dumbledore continued his speech, "I would like to welcome all of you new students, and hope that you to will help us in the fight against Voldemort. A shudder went around the room at the sound of the name, and even, Hermione noticed, Harry cringed at the sound. "Although this is a very somber time, I hope that all of you do enjoy your year at Hogwarts.and I sincerely hope that there will be no more casualties." With that he sat down and mountains of food appeared on the tables.
Almost at once the new students broke into chatter, but the older ones were quiet. The empty spaces held deep meaning and great sorrow for all of them. It was with immense pain that Hermione noted the empty spots of Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, and Parvarti Patil. She did not bother to see who else was gone, there were to many people, to many people dead. A small tear trickled unseen down her cheek. Glancing over at the Slytherin table she saw that there were not as many empty spaces, not as many people gone. She cringed at the sight of Malfoy, and did not notice that he seemed hollow and not there. He was very quiet and there were deep shadows under his eyes.
* * *
The next day a silent group of Gryffindors met up with a quiet group of Slytherins as they made their way down to the dungeons for their first class of potions. This time no one was insulting eachother, no one was even looking at eachother. Although not many Slytherins had died some did and that had affected them. Hermione kept glancing at Malfoy and her hands clenched tightly, leaving little half moons on her palms from her nails.
In class she could not concentrate with Malfoy sitting so near her and she kept slipping away from the real world back into her nightmares. "Hermione! Are you paying attention to me? I asked you a question.twice." Snape leered at Hermione, a cold glint in his eye. Hermione looked up to him, her eyes so cold and emotionless she could have sworn that Snape had fliched but he quickly regained his composure. "Miss Granger are you going to answer me?" She just kept looking blanckly at him and maybe it was because of the lack of response that he left her alone. He turned away from her and went to pick on other helpless students. She gulped as she realized that never again would Snape turn away to pick on Neville, never again would she get in trouble for helping him. But she did not cry, she had already cried enough, there was no point anymore. Suddenly she was to overwhelmed by a mixture of unnamed feelings that she thought she might be sick. All she knew was that she could not stay sitting in the same room as Malfoy.
Hermione began to raise to her hand, hesitated, then she put it up all the way. She was shaking slightly, but doubted that anyone else could notice it. Snape swoped back over to her desk and glared down at her, "Yes, Miss Granger? Do you finally have something to say?"
Deep down she was shaking, but pushing her feelings of unease away she said in a steady voice, "Yes Proffessor. May I go to the infirmary. I'm afraid that I do not feel very well." It wasn't a complete lie, she truly didn't feel well, but she was not going to go to the infirmary. Snape glared at her for a moment then waved his hand towards the door. He walked over to his desk looking thoughtfull then pulled out a big stack of papers and started to read through them. Taking this as leave to go she packed up her bag and stood up to leave when she felt a hand grab her arm. She looked down and saw Harry peering up at her. Other then Malfoy he was probably the one other person she couldn't stand at the moment.
"You all right 'Mione?" He inguired looking worried. She puled her hand away sharply then glared at him. Without a word she slung her bag over her shoulder, spun around and stalked out of the potions class. Everyone looked at Harry then looked at towards the doorwat Hermione had just exited and looked shocked. Snape looked more thoughtfull then ever.
Hermione felt bad about doing that to Harry, she just couldn't stand to be around him at the moment. It isn't his fault she reasoned, he did not choose to be born famous, and it is not his fault that everyone thinks he is more important then other people. Yes, she wasn't mad at him, but she was still hurt by his presence. Instead of heading down to the infirmary she turned right and headed up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room. She thought of Malfoy and found it odd that he had been so quiet during class. She thought that he would have been gloating with the advancements that the Death Eaters had made over the summer. He should have been glad that his father had not been caught with the other Death Eaters, but he seemed lost and distant. As if something had happened to him to make him cold, something bad enough to chabge him from who he was.
Or maybe the mask he has always worn has finaly just disappeared.
Shivering hermione gave up on trying to foguring what was going on, she wasn't sure where that thought had come from, but it rang true.
Looking up she realized her feet had carried her to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Tinkle Winkle," she muttered then stepped through the hole and smiled when she saw that luckily the commom room was empty. She glanced at the giant arm chairs and longed to curl up in one and just let herself cry but instead she forced herself to go up the staicase to the girls dormitory.
Sge swayed and clutched the doorway as a wave of nausea hit her. She was sick, but it was just from the memories of the past month, nothing that Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal. It had already been two weeks but the mamories were still fresh in her mind and she didn't think she would be able to forget. Standing in front of her mirror she roughly pulled up her sleep and stared at her underarm. The Skull mark of the death eaters stared back at her. There was no way she was going to be able to forget, not anymore. Walking over to her desk she grabbed the bottle of pills sitting on the corner. She pulled a glass of water out of the air with her wand and swished two of the little white pills down. She walked over to her bed, pulled the curtains around her and fell down into a dream free sleep.
