~CHAPTER EIGHT~

Hermione screamed as she accidentally dropped her wand on the floor.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Damien asked her. "Here let me help you." He said.
Damien got down on the floor, like Hermione, to search for her wand. Luckily, it didn't take Hermione long to find it.
"Get away from me!" She shouted at him.
"What? Hermione I…." The Head boy started as he walked towards her.
"I said get away from me!" Hermione shouted again, pointing her wand at her. Her hands were trembling, she was now totally panicking.
"Miss Granger, what's going on here?" A voice behind her asked. Hermione turned around to see professor Snape standing behind her.
"I…..I…I..." She started.
"What are YOU doing here?" Snape asked Damien.
"I was just…" he started.

"50 points from Ravenclaw and a week detention with Filch." Snape spat at him. Without saying a word Damien returned to his dormitory.

Snape looked at Hermione; she was now sitting on the floor with her head buried in her hands.
"Miss Granger, stand up." He ordered Hermione. She didn't hear him. He had to ask her four times before she finally could hear him.
Slowly she got up, still shaking and covering her eyes with her hands. "Are you alright, Miss Granger?" He asked carefully.

When he didn't get a reply after the third time he asked her, he guided her towards the potions classroom.
It was obvious that he didn't know what to do in a situation like this.

Hermione sat down, realizing what had happened. She just made a complete fool out of herself. She started to cry uncontrollably.
Now Snape didn't knew what to do at all. It wasn't the first time that a student was crying in his classroom, but usually it was because he had been a complete git. He left the room, leaving a crying Hermione behind.

A few minutes later he returned with professor Harper.
"Harper, can you take care of that for me?" He asked her in a cold voice.
Professor Harper immediately walked over to Hermione and started to comfort her.
Ten minutes later Hermione had stopped crying, her eyes were red and puffy.
"I'm sorry." Was the first thing she said when she realized what had happened.
"It's ok. Are you alright?" Harper asked gently. Hermione nodded, she quickly glanced at Snape, afraid of his reaction.
He was standing with his hands crossed looking angry.
"What happened?" Professor Harper asked carefully, afraid that Hermione might start crying again.
"I….He…" She started, but soon she stopped.

Surely she couldn't tell two of her teacher that she panicked because she saw a boy who happened to have blonde hair.
"Nothing, sorry." She said quickly. "I'll just go back to my dormitory now."

Hermione stood up "Miss Granger, I still want a word with you." Snape said calm.

"Can't you do that another time?" Professor Harper hissed at him.
"No, I would like a word with Miss Granger. In private." He snapped at his colleague.

Harper opened her mouth to speak but changed her mind. Without talking she left the classroom.

"Miss Ganger, sit down." Snape told her as soon as Harper had left. Hermione sat down carefully, bracing herself for what was about to come.
"I'm going to ask you one time." He started, "What happened?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "I….I…..I…" She was lost for words.
"I'm waiting." He hissed at her after a long silence.
"He told me that he had been looking for me because he wanted to ask me something. And then I noticed that he had blonde hair." Hermione finally said.
"I know that I overreacted and I'm sorry." She added quickly, staring at the floor.
"Is there any way that Mr. Daniels could know your password?" Snape asked.

"No, he couldn't." Hermione said. "I just overreacted and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
Snape nodded and told her to leave. Hermione was glad when she finally was in her new bedroom, with Crookshanks next to her.

The week flew by. By the end of the week all of the students had forgotten about the incident with the painting. Hermione had also apologized to Damien.
She explained that she had been under a lot of stress lately and he believed her story. He also promised not to mention what had happened to the other students, this was something Hermione was grateful for. The only one who still was insulting Hermione, was Malfoy. But over the years, Hermione got used to his threats.

On Monday Hermione had Care of magical creatures again. She was curious what kind of creature Hagrid had for them today. People were still talking about Ninfa, mostly about the fact that she gave Neville a hug. But unfortunately, they had to observe the behavior of the noran.
The noran was a creature that was round and had a green color. At first sight they looked like a green ball of fur, but when Hermione, Harry and Ron approached the noran they found out that it had very sharp teeth.

Hermione looked forward to Tuesday; they had Defense against the dark arts again. She had already missed one lesson; the Head girl just hoped that she hadn't missed too much information. Although Harry and Ron assured her that she didn't, she would rather hear it from professor Harper.

The professor entered the classroom with a big wooden box. All the students were curious what was in it.
"Now, I want you all to pay attention to what I'm about to explain before I set it loose." Harper warned the students.

She started to explain that there was an orgrato in the box. It was creature that lived in dark places, such as castles.
The students panicked a little, Hogwarts was a castle too.
"What does it do?" Neville asked carefully.
"Orgrato's feed on babies and very young children." Harper explained. The students gasped.
"You don't have to be worried. Here at Hogwarts there are no Orgrato's, except this one right here." The professor gestured at the box.

"When it's set loose it's probably going to try to protect itself. I must warn you that his teeth are very sharp."
Before the creature was let out of his box, the students learned a special stunning spell that made the orgrato loose his consciousness for about an hour.

"Use it quickly and don't hesitate to use it. They are very fast, so I suggest that you don't wait to long." Was the final warning that the professor gave her students.

Professor Harper opened the box. There was a small ugly creature inside. The orgrato was almost the size of a house elf.
It was brown and furry. His fur was dirty and there was an unpleasant odor coming from the little creature.

The orgrato looked around; when he saw all the students he tried to attack Dean Thomas.

Dean wasn't fast enough to stun the orgrato. The brown creature jumped towards Dean's arm and sunk its teeth in it.

"He bit me!" Dean exclaimed. Professor Harper quickly stunned the orgrato and locked it in his box, while Dean sat down at his desk.
His arm started to bleed heavily. After just a few seconds his desk was covered with blood.
"Mr. Potter, take Mr. Thomas to Madam Pomfrey as quickly as you can." Professor Harper ordered.
Harry and Dean both left the classroom, leaving a trail of blood behind.

Hermione suddenly noticed the odd look on the professor's face. Harper was staring at the desk covered in blood.
Maybe she's one of those people who can't stand to look at blood, Hermione thought.
"Is everyone else ok?" Their professor asked faintly.

The students nodded carefully. "You may go now." She said quickly. All of the students, except Hermione, left the classroom as quickly as possible.

"Professor Harper, are you alright?" She asked worriedly.
Harper nodded, rubbing her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She told the Head girl, looking paler then ever.
"I just have to uhm…..cleaned the desk." She continued, gesturing at Dean's desk that was still covered with blood.
The professor tried not to look at it. "Let me help." Hermione offered, and with a quick Evanesco the blood was gone.
"Thank you, Miss Granger." The professor said relieved. "10 points to Gryffindor for your help."

When Hermione left the office she headed for the library to start her homework.

She opened her bag and searched for her D.A.D.A. book. But it wasn't there. The Gryffindor groaned, she had left it on her desk back in the classroom.

Hermione rushed back towards the dungeons. She knocked on the classroom door. No answer.
"Professor?" She asked. But there was still no answer.

She probably won't mind it if I take my book back, Hermione thought. Slowly, she opened the door. She could see her book lying on the desk.
When she had taken it something caught her attention. There was something on the floor. It was blue and it looked like some kind of fabric.
When Hermione walked towards it, she saw that it were robes. Professor Harper was lying unconscious on the floor.

Hermione tried to wake the professor. Suddenly she noticed that her teacher wasn't breathing. Hermione felt her pulse. There was none.
Hermione jumped up, realizing she should get help. As fast as she could she ran out of the classroom. Running right into the potions room.
Professor Snape, who was teaching a class of first years, looked furious when Hermione stormed into the room.
"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" He spat at her.
"It's Professor Harper. She's unconscious and…and..." She said as fast as she could.
"The first one to move or speak will have detention until Christmas." Snape barked at the students, interrupting Hermione.
He raced towards the other classroom, Hermione followed him.
"There's no pulse." Hermione told him just before they entered the room.
"Miss Granger, get Dumbledore immediately." The potions master ordered her once he checked Harpers state.

As fast as her legs could go, Hermione ran towards Dumbledore's office.

She ran into the Headmaster in one of the many hallways.
"Miss Granger, what's the problem?" Dumbledore asked when he saw Hermione's face.
She explained what happened and he followed her towards the dungeons.

"Miss Granger, would you please keep an eye on professor Snape's class?" the Headmaster asked her before he entered the classroom.
"Yes, sir." Hermione said and she walked over to room where the first years were still sitting in their seats, afraid to move.

The students looked suspiciously at Hermione. Hermione, who wasn't sure what she should do with the class, walked to the front of the class.
"So what kind of potion are you making today?" Hermione asked them.
"An anti-wrinkle potion." Said one of the girls that were sitting in front of the class.
Hermione could see that they wore Hufflepuf and Ravenclaw robes, and was grateful that it wasn't a class of Slytherins.

"Do you like it here at Hogwarts?" She asked her eyes fixed on the door, hoping to see something.
The students nodded, still afraid that Snape actually would give them detention until Christmas, Hermione didn't blame them.

Suddenly she heard a bell ring. That meant that they had to perform the next step in order to complete the potion.
"What was the last thing you did before you had to wait?" Hermione asked the students.
"We had to add the eagle quills." A boy in the back said.
"Ok, that means that you have to stir the potion for five minutes, clockwise." Hermione said, who remembered the potion.
"Then you have to add the newt's toes."

While the students followed her 'orders', Hermione kept glancing at the door.
The student had added the newt's toes when professor Snape walked in, clutching his arm.
"Miss Granger, a word please." He said in his usual cold voice. She followed him outside.

"Professor Harper has recovered, thanks to your quick reaction." Snape said to her.
"Therefore, Professor Dumbledore has ordered me to reward 50 points to Gryffindor." He continued with a look of disgust on his face.
Hermione was relieved to hear that professor Harper was fine.
"I will see you after dinner for detention." Snape said before opening the door to the classroom.
"And one more thing, you are not allowed to mention this incident to any of the other students.
Not even to Potter or Weasley." He hissed at her, soft enough so that the first years couldn't hear him. Hermione nodded and left the dungeons.