Hermione awoke the next morning feeling tired from her late night. She got out of bed and padded over to the bathroom she shared her one room-mate, Ginny Weasley. 6th and 7th years only had to share with one other person, giving them more peace and quiet to study if they needed it.
Ginny was already in there and was busily brushing her teeth.
Twinges of guilt started to burn in her belly again as she saw Ginny, the memory of the night before still lingering. The memory had to be real, or was it? Somehow it seemed far away like it had been a dream. Had she fallen asleep, tired from her reading, while Harry and Ron had left her alone?
She turned on the shower still trying to make sense of what she was feeling. Ginny finished brushing her teeth and looked over to Hermione who was still lost in thought.
"Morning! Where were you last night? Off on some jaunt with Harry and Ron I suppose. Why don't you ever tell me what you are doing, I could help too you know!" Ginny said indignantly
"Oh, I..we were just looking at something in the Restricted Section of the Library," she paused to yawn "It was just something for school" Hermione said thinking quickly for this time in the morning
"Why didn't you do it in the day then?" Ginny asked suspiciously
"We forgot" Hermione shrugged and turning her back, slipped off her nightshirt and stepped into the shower. Thankfully Ginny seemed to accept this explanation and left the bathroom.
After showering and getting dressed Hermione walked down to the common room, to find Ron and Harry waiting there.
"What took you so long! You're normally ready before us!" Ron said in surprise, "and we've had to put up with a roasting from Ginny as to why she wasn't included, we've had to let her in on it now! I just hope no-one else finds out or we're stuffed!" he continued
"Oh, I was just tired from last night that was all" She answered absently, it was partly true, she had been tired but it had been more to do with the fact that she had been lost in thought and hadn't been watching the time.
They all made their way down to the Great Hall, Ron had his arm around her on one side and Harry strode along on the other. She felt suddenly uncomfortable and stiffened up making Ron drop his arm. They had been going out only since the summer of the previous year and had their and still argued a lot, but in the main had been quite happy together. They had even managed to have sex, due in most part, to Ron's persistence on the matter. Hermione had put it off as long as she could saying that she hadn't wanted to rush into things. Ron had said that a 6 month wait was hardly rushing into things, so she had given in, finding it not as bad as she had thought.
Now guilt was creeping over her again, she bit her lip as thoughts raced round her head,"had the experience been real? If it had, how come she had enjoyed it so much, with him of all people! Even if it had been a dream, it was still bad that she had even thought about it!"
Hermione tried to carry on as normal, as if nothing had happened, which as the day wore on got a little easier. Ron and Harry kept talking excitedly about the experiment they were about to do, in trying to resurrect the 'ancient creature' that would supposedly do their bidding. Hermione had suddenly lost enthusiasm for this project, not least because she had other things on her mind and also because after reading about it thoroughly, it may not even be possible to do.
For rest of the week she carried on as normal, well normal for her if she was in a bad mood, which she did often get into. Ron hadn't seemed to have noticed anything was wrong, which annoyed her even more. He just said "Women! One minute they're happy as anything, next they're crying their eyes out! It's their hormones you know!" A statement, which usually got him a book in the side of the head from Hermione.
At the end of the week Hermione was filled with a sense of dread and trepidation, she had Potions on Friday afternoons, with Professor Snape of course. After dinner that day her belly was churning with nerves as she made her way down to the Potions classroom.
It was only Harry and Hermione for Potions, as Ron had managed to get out of doing it, as his OWL results were not good enough. They entered the classroom, took up their usual seats and started to set up the ingredients they had been told to bring the previous week, for the potion of the day. It was a medicinal one that was supposed to scarify scars, lesions and cuts, very useful for an Auror who wanted a quick fix. It was also very difficult to get right, as were all the potions that Professor Snape made everyone do, probably just so he could criticize more.
Suddenly he burst into the classroom, striding up to the front, then stopped abruptly at his desk, turning round ready to start. The first part of the lesson was about the potion they were about to make; it's uses and properties. He also told them that in large quantities it could be dangerous and could burn the skin very badly. So everyone had to be extra careful with it once they had completed it.
Hermione was trying very hard not to be nervous, but it was very difficult. Her hands were shaking, making putting precise drops of ingredients into her cauldron doubly hard. She was also getting very hot and kept wiping her brow and sweaty palms on her robe. Professor Snape passed her a few times on his patrol of the class, but he did not stop or look at her.
"It must have been a dream, or else why isn't he looking nervous at my presence or even a slight bit uncomfortable. But it seemed so real!" Hermione thought to herself
When finished, the potion was supposed to be a sheeny golden colour, Hermione's was yellowy gold and Harry's was the colour of mustard. He peered into it pulling a face, then looking at Hermione – shrugged, as if to say that it was near enough. But Hermione, who hated anything less than perfection, racked her brains trying to work out what was wrong. It suddenly dawned on her, she'd missed out the 'lutum' essence, she'd unusually, forgotton to bring her's but spotted that the boy in front of her had some. She went as to tap him on the back to ask if she could borrow some but in her haste and nervous state, knocked several vials off her desk. They landed with a "plop, plop" into her full cauldron. Hermione clamped her hand over her mouth in horror, she had no idea what effect this would have on the potion, but she soon found out. The mixture changed from smooth and glossy, to thick and gloopy and started to bubble up like a volcanic mud pool, splashing everywhere. Hermione desperately tried to stop it, pointing her wand at it and muttering a cleaning spell, but to no avail. The liquid bubbled over the top and splashed all over her, making her squeal in fright. Several other students were now, sensibly moving out of the way of the explosive looking mixture, including Harry who looked quite amused, much to her annoyance.
Snape, who had been at the front of the classroom helping a Slytherin boy with his potion, was suddenly alerted by all the noise. He strode quickly down the classroom and scowled at Hermione, who smiled weakly back, in apology.
He looked her up and down, seeing the potion now covering her robe and uniform.
"Go down to my office at once and remove those clothes! Quickly! Before the potion burns through to your skin!" Hermione didn't move, looking at him unbelievingly, "Now!" he shouted. Hermione blanched and made for the door, "wait! Here, let me have your wand!" Hermione held up her wand wincing as she could already feel the potion starting to sting her skin. He tapped her wand with his, telling her that it would now open the door to his locked office.
She ran as fast as she could and after rushing inside and slamming the door shut, stripped off to her underwear. She watched in horror as what was once her school uniform disintegrated into a black sludge on the stone floor. Looking down at herself, she saw red patches on her skin, where the potion had started to burn through. Then a realisation hit her; she was in Snapes office with hardly any clothes on and lessons were about to end for the day, what was she supposed to do now! She hadn't got the power to magic up more clothes, that was a difficult and advanced spell and couldn't call any from her room as she would have to do them one at a time, be very specific and anyway it would take far to long.
Looking desperately round Snapes dingy office, she spotted a wardrobe and hoped it had robes in it; luckily, it did. They were a little musty, but Hermione was grateful just for something to cover her self with. Pulling the robe around her she sat on the edge of his desk, waiting for the bell to go for the end of school, which it soon did. After waiting a little while longer, giving everyone time to get out of the corridors and back to their common rooms, she slipped out of Snapes office and made her way back to the potions classroom. She sincerely hoped he would also be gone, then she could collect her things, go up to the common room and change, hoping that not too many people found out about her rather embarrasing accident.