OK Chap 3 and I have hardly any reviews ( please review, it does help me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters or anything except the plot, ok?

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*Hermione's POV*

She awoke to find herself half naked on the muddy bank of the lake. There was a red tinge in the early morning sky, a bird singing somewhere in the outskirts of the forest, and a there was calming atmosphere. She felt relaxed, and groaned as her wound opened up again when she sat up. A chill wind numbed her skin. It was then that she realized that she felt calm and relaxed. She felt calm and relaxed. And then it all flooded back to her. The night before, her brush with death itself, something that she had wanted the comfort of for so long but when the time came, she felt relieved she was still here, curled up in the mud. She felt relieved.

It was amazing to feel such small things, but for them to be such big steps. Having felt nothing for the past god knows how long, the tiniest emotion sparked off a whole array of others, sorrow, pain, love, happiness. Happiness. A sensation sweeter than any she had ever felt. For the lack of feeling for so long, the return filled her with emotion. Swirling around her head, so many different things, a smile broke out across her face. The first smile in so long.

After a while, it struck Hermione that she did not know how the hell she had got there. Last thing she knew, her world was being swallowed up around her as she sunk slowly into what should be her watery grave. Her vision had blacked, her mind emptied of all thoughts and she could have sworn that she died. But yet here she was, quite sure she was still living as the cold penetrated her skin. After many thoughts, she decided someone must have come across her and saved her, because the squid was not that sort of animal and the only creatures in the forest that she knew of capable of saving her would be centaurs. And they would not bother themselves with anything human anymore. It can't have been a student; they would need amazing magical powers. But surely a teacher would have taken her straight to the hospital wing . . . so it must have been a student. She suddenly sat bolt upright. "Harry" she whispered, "no other student.." She leapt to her feet and winced at the pain of her cuts as she hobbled through the dark shadows towards the castle, constantly thanking Harry, God, Merlin and everyone for saving her. She could go straight to the common room and see him and Ginny and . . . then it came back to her. She remembered why she was numb in the 1st place. She remembered just how much pain she had been going through and it tore its way into her heart once more. Stopping dead in her tracks, she shivered. Tears prickled in here eyes as she remembered Harry's words, Ginny's eyes as she walked away, everything. Slumping down in a corner she let the salty tears drop onto her tattered, muddy clothes. Drifting off to sleep she knew that someone was bound to see her curled up there, but at that moment in time she didn't care. She drifted off into what started as a blissful sleep, but soon turned into a nightmare. Reliving those moments again and again . . .

*POV Switch*

Once again I found myself unable to sleep, but this was not from pain but from thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about last night. I had not, and still do not know her motives, for I had been distant from the goings-on at Hogwarts for quite some time now, but I needed to. I couldn't tell her it was me. I had left no sign so I should be safe, but I have to find out about her. Father always said never to associate wit mudbloods (how I detest that phrase) so Merlin only knows what he would say if he found out I saved one's life. He thinks they all deserve to die. Just because of the fact that their parents are muggles. It really is pathetic. I despise my father.

Walking along, I come across Hermione, slumped in a corner of the dungeon passageway. Crouching down I take the time to for once look at the young woman properly. Her busy hair matted and clumped, eyelids fluttering gently but by her jerks I assume her dreams are not pleasant. I have to move her, I cannot let any student see her in this state, it will arouse to many questions. I pick her up (with magic, of course) and take her into a classroom, where I lay her on a desk and try as hard as I can to vaguely dignify her. Put her in school robes and wipe the dried dirt off her face and limbs. I feel ashamed at not letting her know who her rescuer is. So I decide to leave her something. I wrote her a small note, carefully so as not to reveal myself by my trademark writing, and left it tucked neatly into her pocket. As I sat her down on a window ledge on the ground floor she began to stir and moan as she woke up, I tiptoed away as fast as I possibly could, as waiting around the corner I heard her mutter something and then footsteps echoed off into the distant corridors. I smiled to myself and sauntered back to the common room, it was about time I got back.

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So there we have it, another chapter, probably rubbish, but I don't know. Please R&R, but I warn you; I am not in the mood for flames.