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Chapter 2

Hermione was furious. She stalked down the halls of Hogwarts, not caring where she was going as long as it was away from the insufferable git she called her friend. In the very back recesses of her mind she realized that she might be over reacting just slightly. But at the moment she really didn't care. Ron had announced that he had decided to switch one of his classes around so that he could take another divinations class, like the subject was so great.

"Ron, that class is a joke. It's our last year; you should be taking classes that will be useful."

"It's not a joke," Ron was immediately defensive and Hermione briefly wondered if it had something to do with the bits of left over awkwardness between the two of them. "Just because you don't know something doesn't mean it's worthless!"

She gawked at him, it was completely worthless! "Divinations is nothing more than a children's make believe game."

"You're just jealous," he responded with a huff, "You can't stand the idea that I understand something you don't."

"You don't even know what you're doing in that class, you make everything up!"

They had glared at each other until Harry came into the common room and asked what was going on. Ron had said something about her being jealous and not knowing a subject better than a professor. She had been too angry to hear all of it and she thought she might have stalked out in the middle of it.

Her thoughts turned to Harry in an effort to calm herself down. He hadn't seemed much better than he was at The Burrow. He was constantly falling quiet during conversations, responding with nothing more than a few grunts. His behavior was similar to the one he had after Sirius' death.

She hadn't seen him much that summer but she knew it had been hard on him, when they had returned to Hogwarts he had been different, quieter and more reserved. As the year went on she had slowly began to see hints of the old Harry. Now, though, it was as if he were right back where he had been last year. She knew his godfather's death still haunted him but there was more to his mood than that. His sudden paranoia of Voldemort was more than he was letting on, of that she was sure. She wished her friend would trust her enough to tell her what it was.

She turned the corner and crashed into something hard. She wondered for a fleeting second if maybe she had turned too soon, but as she stepped back she saw that it was not a wall she had run into but Draco Malfoy. Perfect, she thought sarcastically. This was all she needed to make her night ten times better.

"Watch where you're going Mudblood," the blonde snapped at her.

The anger she had been feeling moments before was back in full force and focused on the Slytherin in front of her. The rational part of her brain told her to just walk away but the anger rushing through her veins caused it to be too quiet for her to care. Without giving herself time to calm down and talk herself out of it she swung blindly. There was a sickening crack as her fist connected with his jaw. "Bloody hell!" he yelled from where he was on the floor, his hand nursing his injured jaw.

She was leaning over him before he could make a move to get up, holding a fistful of his robes. She yanked him closer so they were nose to nose, "Don't ever call me that again," she told him with a quiet intensity. "The only different between our blood Malfoy, is that yours is a filthy Death Eaters'," she spat out disgustedly. Her grip on his robe loosened and she shoved him back to the floor.

She was halfway around the corner when a bruising grip yanked her back. There was a dull thud as Draco slammed her against the wall, his face inches from hers once again. "You don't know anything about my family." The threat was clear as his steely eyes flashed with rage.

If she hadn't been just as angry Hermione might have been afraid of the enraged sneer etched onto his features. His look only made her anger grow though. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she gave a sneer of her own. "Hermione!" she heard Ron's voice call from down the hall. Neither Draco nor she made a move as two pairs of footsteps raced toward them. Eye contact was only broken briefly as Draco was ripped away from her by both Harry and Ron. They instantly went back to glaring, neither willing to back down.

Hermione finally yanked her gaze away when she caught Ron pulling his wand out, "Ron, no," she shot another glare at Malfoy, "he's not worth it." She grabbed Harry's shoulder and pulled him off the blonde. "Let's go," she told them, shooting him one last glare before the three of them disappeared around the corner.

Harry ignored the book in front of him and stared out the window toward the darkened forest, the place where his recurring dreams had been taking place. A part of him was tempted to venture out there, but then he remembered how every dream ended. His gaze traveled briefly to Hermione who was reading near the fire. She will be the first, when you least expect it. He knew he had no logical reason to believe she was in any kind of danger, butthe intense feelings that accompanied the dreams and the sight of her falling lifelessly to the ground were enough to cause concern.

A flash of light out the window caught his eye; he snapped his gaze back to the window and gazed out at the forest intently. The flash happened again and the tension that had built up in his shoulders eased up as he realized it was a reflection on the glass from something inside. He sighed and wondered how he was going to make it through the year.

"Harry?" Ginny's soft voice pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up and found her standing behind him with a concerned expression, "Are you alright?"

Harry gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Just tired." She wondered if he knew she could tell he was lying. She smiled and gave his shoulder a squeeze before going to sit back down.

It was obvious something had been bothering Harry since he had arrived at The Burrow. She had asked him a couple times what it was but he always said he didn't want to talk about it. When were her brother and his friends going to realize she wasn't in her first year anymore? She was only a year younger than them for Merlin's sake. While part of her appreciated that they cared enough to be so overprotective; she could take care of herself.

She noticed Ron crossing the room with an odd look on his face. Her gaze followed him until he sat down beside Hermione. Ginny rolled her eyes, when was her brother going to come to his senses and ask Hermione out?

A smile touched her face as she remembered what had happened when the three of them came back to the common room. "Hermione punched Malfoy!" Her brother's announcement had been received with cheers throughout the room. Ginny was glad Malfoy had finally got what he deserved. She was shocked—but impressed—that Hermione had been the one to give it to him.

Hermione stared at the book before her, not actually processing the words on the page. Her thoughts were on what had happened in the hall. A part of her felt almost guilty for punching Malfoy. Not because he didn't deserve it, but because she was Head Girl. She shouldn't have let him get to her. The couch sagged as someone sat down beside her; she looked up and found Ron staring back at her. "Are you still mad at me?" he asked with a pitiful expression.

She did her best to keep her face neutral and he increased his pout; allowing the laugh to escape she shook her head. "No, I'm not still mad at you."

Ron relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. After seeing the darkening bruise on Malfoy's face Ron had been reminded of why he never wanted to get on Hermione's bad side. A grin began to emerge on his face as he tried to imagine Malfoy getting punched; he wished he could have been there to see it. Sure, he had seen Hermione slap the git but that had been years ago and he was sure seeing him get punched would be ten times better.

And she tells us to ignore him, Ron thought with a chuckle. He couldn't suppress the idiotic grin that spread across his face at the mental image of Malfoy being knocked to the floor.

AH! Finally done! I had a tad bit of writer's block with this chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be easier lol. Thanks to all those who have reviewed so far, I'm glad y'all are enjoying it!