Sirius Black11: Sorry I wasn't so clear. Hermione got upset because she thought that everyone was making fun of her (after all, Draco did call her ugly… and insulted her bloodline…. Plus he's a git) And she wants to show Ron that he can't be so over protective of her all the time. She wanted to show him he wasn't weak. I was gonna put it in this chapter, but I guess people would get confused. And thanks for the review. =D

A/N: 2 reviews. Hooray for me. And no flames. I'm so happy I've decided to update right now…. Obviously. Now for the story!

Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter, no really, I do…if anyone believes that then I feel sorry for you.

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 Hermione sat on her bed and started into her little looking glass, the curtains on her four-poster closed. She muttered to herself, complaining that the mirror was to dirty. She rubbed it with her uniform shirt, but alas, she couldn't get the blur effect off of it.

"Hermione?" Ron was calling her. "Can you hear me?"

"In a minute!" she called back sighing. She had been in her room since Saturday afternoon. It was now Monday morning. She didn't know how she managed to stay in there without being hungry. 'Must be the nerves of people's reactions' was her only explanation.

She glanced at the small mirror she held again. She regretted trying to "take action." After all, she was Hermione… quiet boring Hermione. Not anymore. She studied herself once again. She could hear Ron give an impatient sigh from the other side of the door. Saying that what Hermione did was drastic was the understatement of the year.

Her once bushy waist length hair was now just above her shoulders and straight. Also, she was so upset that in her rage she mixed up a spell and made her hair black instead of relaxing it. Of course, she tried to fix it, but it didn't work very well.

And that's where she was now. Just think about it… the Hermione Granger had died her hair black and messed up a spell. Hell has frozen over. She had to admit, she quite liked it.

Ron had been calling her without her even noticing. She pulled back her four-poster curtains and waited for her eyes to adjust to the bright light streaming in through her window. Ron started knocking again.

"I'm coming," she said quite irritably. The knocking stopped. Nervous, Hermione opened the door.

"Oh, thank goodness, Hermione. I thought tha-," he stopped in mid rant once he saw her hair.

"Ron?" asked Hermione in a small voice. His face was turning red. "What?" she said, pretending to be oblivious.

"What did you do," he cried. Over-protectiveness.

"Listen, Ron, it was an accident I swear!"

"Accident? This," he took a piece of her hair between two fingers, "is not an accident. Come on." He said, grabbing her arm and dragging her into the common room, out of the portrait and down to the Great Hall.

'I don't understand why he's like this,' Hermione thought. 'He needs to understand that I can do what I want without him breathing down my neck.'

They entered the Great Hall, Ron's grip still tight on her wrist. Ron soon spotted Harry and made there way over. They took a seat on either side of him. Ron waited a moment, but when Harry didn't say anything Ron spoke up.

"Harry," he stated calmly, but judging by his face he wasn't.

"Yeah?" Harry was to busy eating his toast to look at either of his friends. Once he was done chewing he took a sip from his goblet. Before he could gulp it down Ron gently nudged Harry's head towards Hermione. Seeing her, his eyes widened and he turned and spit his juice all over a first year boy in front of him. The three ignored the boy, who was now crying.

"Hi, Harry," Hermione said, looking down. She prepared herself for the giant lecture.

"Uh…. I like it?" He sounded unsure. He faced forward again and then went back to filling up his goblet.

"What?" cried his two best friends, one astonished, one angry.

"It could be worse," Harry stated. He glanced at Ron. "Calm down." That was all that needed to be said. Ron was still mad and resulted to sulking saying how it was just a plot against him.

There was a slightly awkward silence. Hermione glanced around for something she could talk about. Nothing. The silence was broken by the little boy, named Eugene, who took this time to make a noise like a dying malnourished baby cow and yell, "He spit on me," over and over again. Due to all the other kids in the hall, no one really took any notice.

Eugene picked up his spoon dunked it in his still steaming porridge and flung it at Harry. He ducked, and it hit a Ravenclaw girl in the back of her head. Thinking it was Harry, who was laughing quite hysterically she threw a pancake at his face. Someone yelled out food fight, but it was too late for that, since the hall was already filled with flying food. Before Hermione could get hit she rushed out of the Great Hall and headed towards her first class: double potions.

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'Stupid mudblood,' Draco thought to himself for the seventh time that day. 'She obviously doesn't know who she's dealing with.' He crossed his arms over his chest.

Draco was very cross. Not only did stupid Granger make a fool of him, but she had also gotten the last word.

"Draco," Pansy said, her annoying voice disturbing him. "What's wrong?"

            "Nothing," he spat, glaring at the pug-faced girl next to him.

            "Are you sure?" She said in her sickly sweet voice. She scooted over and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

            "Get away from me, you cow," he exclaimed, disgusted. "Bugger off!" He barley glanced at her as she moved away from him and pouted at Blaise, who tried to push her away.

            'Whore,' he thought. He was interrupted by a semi-loud crying sound coming from the Gryffindor table. His head snapped up and away from his food, towards the distraction. A little boy was screaming and pointing at Potter.

            'Probably just wants his autograph,' Draco thought, unable to hear what the first year actually said. His eyes strayed for a moment and fell on Hermione. He would have gasped, but that is very un-Malfoyish.

            He studied her head for a moment before he concluded that it didn't look like a growth. 'At least it's better now,' he contemplated a moment before retracting that statement. He was once again disrupted. This time it was Potter. He was laughing at some girl with porridge in her hair. He watched the affair go on a bit longer, then decided he didn't want food on his oh-so-perfect self. He got up, making sure to glare at anyone even thinking about throwing food at him. Once out of the hall (and still perfectly clean) he spotted Granger making her way onto the dungeons.

            'Hmm,' he thought, a smirk coming to his lips, 'this could be fun.'
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            Hermione let out a sigh of relief as she realized she had made it out of the hall with only a little bit of porridge on her face. She wiped it off, and continued walking to potions.

            "It's cold down here." She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to offer some warmth to her body. As she continued walking she felt another presence behind her. Her heart was racing, but she didn't know why.

            'Calm down, Hermione, it's just a student… or a teacher.' She sped up her steps. 'Then why are you running?'  the other part of her brain argued.

            She stopped. So did the footsteps. She knew that someone was defiantly following her. Pausing to think, all she heard was her shallow breathing.

            'Crookshanks,' her mind was calling to her. She saw a flash of rustling bushes obscure her eyes.

            'OK, Hermione,' she said to herself, 'that was weird.'

            She continued to walk at a fast pace, all the while aware of the footsteps attempting to match her every move. She could see the potions door now. She practically ran to it, thankful that she finally made it to her destination.  She reached for the handle and jingled it a little. Locked. She cursed to herself a bit, desperately trying to open the door. Even spells wouldn't work. She was beyond scared, but she felt no reason to be.

            She looked down the hallway. About twenty feet away was a boy. She saw everything accept his face, which was totally obscured in darkness. Hermione was confused. She could see everything from his perfectly shined shoes to the Slytherin emblem on his robes, but it was so dark. There was barley any lit torches in the corridor. The boy took a step forward. Hermione felt panic rise as the scene before her faded, replaced by a flashback of the night she was in the woods.

            Hermione saw the creature lunging at her, and biting her neck, sending a horrible pain through her body as she collapsed on the floor. She felt it's sharp nails dig into her flesh as it pinned her down. Even though it was so close to her she could not see its face.

She let out a blood-curdling scream as the beast bit her again. She saw more of them advance passed her and toward her house. She heard a scream, not her own but her mother's.

            Hermione's dream faded, and she realized she was on the floor, crying and thrashing around. She looked up and saw Draco screaming at her, though she heard nothing besides her mother's scream. She saw his eyes widen as she felt another shock of pain go through her body. He drew his wand. More pain and her own scream, both in the past and present. The screams faded, the pain stopped and everything went black.

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A/N: Confused? If you are then you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see it from Draco's point of view. Believe me, alone it won't make sense, (unless your me and know what's going on) but both sides of the story make it perfectly understandable…. Almost…. I hope. Well anyway, I only want one review this time, just to know that someone actually reads this. Compliments, suggestions, questions? Anything? Go ahead… click the button…. You know you want to.