Harry Potter & Co. are the sole property of the brilliant J.K. Rowling. I've just borrowed them for a bit of a lark…. Mwahahahahahahaaaaaa……

The Cure 11.12.04

By: Aelfswythe

CHAPTER ONE

Hermione suddenly leapt from her seat at the table and sped from the great hall without a word, hair streaming out behind her.

"There she goes again!" Ron shook his head in disapproval, studying the chessboard.

"I know." Harry looked after her, slightly concerned.

"We've been here six weeks and all she can do is hole herself in her room or the library," Ron said glumly. "She's no fun. Your move."

Harry studied the Wizard's Chessboard half-heartedly. He was going to lose. He just knew it. "Do you think there's anything we can do about it?"

"We could put a spell on her to make her do what we tell her and then make her go play quidditch or something."

Harry poked his rook out a few spaces. Ron swooped down on it with his queen and laughed triumphantly.

"You're not talking about the Imperius curse are you? That's forbidden you know." Harry frowned at his friend.

"I know that!" Ron looked shocked at the suggestion. "For goodness sakes, Harry, you're not the only one that's studying to be an Auror. We'll think of something though. She's got to get some fresh air."

"Yeah…" Harry frowned suddenly. "Speaking of studying - "

Ron rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me! We have that huge quiz tomorrow, don't we?"

"Maybe we should take a lesson from Hermione's example, Ron. We're seventh years after all. If we want to be Aurors we should really be hitting the books. I, for once in my life, actually care about failing even one quiz or exam this year."

"All right, all right! Do you concede then?" Ron grinned at him wickedly.

"Fine. You win this game. Now, let's go find Hermione and see if she'll help us study."

"Fat chance," Ron grunted as they walked out of the great hall.

They found Hermione sprawled on the floor of the deserted Gryffindor common room, parchments spread around her. Her nose was in a large dusty book, which she was trying to read by the light of the fireplace.

"Can't you study at a table like a normal, decent, sane person?" Ron burst out upon entering.

Hermione started violently, snapping her book shut. "What? Oh! Hi." She sat up and scrambled to gather up her parchments. The boys gave her an odd look.

"Do you have a top secret project or something?" Harry asked coming out of his room with a pile of books. "You've been gone a lot lately."

"No." It was obvious she was lying. There was no hiding the dark circles underneath her eyes and her disheveled hair which, somehow, Harry had missed earlier.

"Are you okay, Hermione? You don't look yourself. You really need to get outside and breathe some fresh air. Why don't you play a round of quidditch with us after we do some studying?"

Hermione stared at Harry uncomprehending. Ron sank into the chair at the table with a sigh, resigning himself to the fact that there was no more avoiding the impending test and that he was going to have to cram.

Suddenly, Hermione shook her head as though to clear it. "Did you say study?" She avoided Harry's questions. "You two are actually going to study?"

Harry smiled brightly. "Yeah! Can you believe it?"

"Well, it's about time!" Hermione snapped, clearly angry about something. "I can't believe you two! We're in our last year of Hogwarts, our careers looming on the horizon, dependant upon our studies here, and you just NOW sit down to study?!" Her voice rose. "I thought I made it clear last year that I would never help you again! You two are good-for-nothing, lazy, procrastinating boys! It's a wonder I actually put up with you!" She took a deep breath, her face crimson.

Harry gazed at her sadly. "You haven't heard from Krum in ages have you?" he asked delicately.

Hermione's eyes bulged. "Oh my GOSH! Are blind and stupid? Don't you remember me telling you two years ago that he got married?! This isn't about Krum!"

"Then what is your problem?" Harry shouted back. "Here you are yelling at us when we should be studying! You've been really secretive lately, and if you can't even tell your own friends what your problems are then you have nobusiness taking it out on us!" He slammed the stack of books onto the table to further punctuate his point. Ron jumped, startled out of a light snooze.

Hermione was trembling from rage. She gathered up her book and parchments and clutched them to her chest. "If you had paid a speck of attention to anything besides yourself this term, you would have figured it out by now." With that she swept up to her room.

Harry massaged his forehead in consternation. That girl was beyond frustrating! His fingers found the lightening-bolt scar on his forehead and he was reminded of all the times Hermione had helped him. With a deep jab of guilt he realized that he had almost never come out of his selfishness all these years enough to really notice what was going on in her life. He vowed to himself that he would pay more attention. His heart ached for her and what she was doing to herself. If only he could help her for a change somehow!

With a sigh he opened Curses and Countercurses and began reading aloud.