Chapter 6

Hermione was running across the grounds of Hogwarts. A great, big, fanged snake was chasing her. She came to Hagrid's hut and banged on the door. Nobody was home. She ran as far as she could into the Forbidden Forest, not stopping to see if the snake was still behind her. Suddenly, she stopped, as if she couldn't help it. She was in a clearing with glittering lanterns surrounding it on the ground. She looked around, taking it in, and suddenly she felt a trap door give way beneath her. She was in a small cave with the snake. It lunged for her...

She sat straight up in bed without even opening her eyes. She checked her body and realized it was just a dream, and she laid back down. Try as she may, she could not get back to sleep, even though it was four o'clock in the morning, so she put on her robe and went out into the common room.

In the two weeks they had been at Hogwarts, Hermione had barely made a dent in the library in the common room. She had finished three entire shelves, but there were rows and rows of books that seemed to go on forever. She was in paradise. Tonight, however, she felt compelled to try out a whole new section. She had been learning about Transfiguration, but she wandered towards the back of the rows. She lit her wand and ran her finger along the row of books. A thin gold book with no title stood out. She slid it off the shelf and brought it back over to the couches surrounding the fireplace. To keep the dying flames alive, she prodded the logs with her wand, and sat down on a couch.

She opened the book. There were no words; no pictures. Hermione sighed and laid out on the couch, staring into the flames. It was so warm in that room, and so comfortable...

"Granger, get up!" came a sharp voice.

Hermione rolled over, shoving her face into the couch cushions. "Go away, Malfoy." It was so warm in that room.

"Granger, you idiot, it's time for breakfast."

Hermione's eyes snapped open. "Fine." She heard Malfoy's footsteps fade into the distance. As soon as he was gone through the tapestry, Hermione heaved herself off the couch. She realized she was still holding the gold book, and decided to take it up to her room and keep it there. She quickly put her hair into a ponytail, changed into her robes, and hurried down the stairs. She bolted down her breakfast and nearly ran to potions. Completely out of breath, she reached her seat and sat down next to Malfoy a full two minutes after the bell rang.

"It's about damn time," he said, pushing a plate of ginger roots towards her. "Slice these."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I don't see you doing anything."

Malfoy pushed a bowl of powder towards her. "I already did it because I was on time."

Hermione sighed angrily and pulled the roots in front of her. She sliced them as thin as possible and pushed them back towards Malfoy, who added the slices one at a time to their cauldron. Hermione turned away and found herself looking at Harry and Ron, who were whispering excitedly to each other. She ignored this determinedly. Her best friends had something going on, but she had decided not to care. Not that she didn't want to know anyways.

The rest of potions went without incident for Hermione, as did the rest of the day. By dinnertime, Hermione had finished all of her homework for the night. She changed into comfortable clothes and dragged herself down to the Great Hall for dinner.

She sat next to Harry, since Ron wasn't there yet, and began piling mashed potatoes on her plate. Harry looked at her concernedly. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

Hermione yawned, plopping the last spoonful of food on her plate. "Nothing, I'm just tired." Harry seemed to take this as a valid answer and continued eating his treacle.

Just as Hermione dug into her first bite, Ron came and plopped himself down next to her. "Heya, 'Mione!"

Hermione swallowed lethargically. "Evening, Ron."

"What's wrong?" asked Ron, just as Harry had done.

Hermione shoveled another bite of food into her mouth. Harry leaned behind her. "She's tired."

"Oh, sorry, Hermione," said Ron. "Maybe you should go to sleep early tonight."

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, maybe." The truth was that she wasn't tired, and she sure wasn't listening to anything Harry or Ron had to say. She was focusing on the platinum blonde head across the room from her. He was sitting at the Slytherin table, with Pansy Parkinson clinging onto his arm like a toddler trying to get its mother's attention. Hermione's vision slid out of focus. She blinked to fix it, and found Draco Malfoy looking back at her. She quickly looked back at her now unappetizing plate of food and pushed it away.

"Hey, I'm going to go to bed," said Hermione. "I'm way tired."

"G'night," said Ron and Harry.

Hermione flipped her legs over the bench and walked back out the door to the Entrance Hall. She took a deep breath. She wasn't tired at all, but she began walking back to her common room anyways. When she was halfway up the stairs, Professor McGonagall stopped her.

"Are you quite alright, Miss Granger? You look sick."

"Oh, I'm fine," said Hermione. "Just a little bit tired."

"In that case, make sure you get enough sleep. There's a big Transfigurations test tomorrow."

Hermione forced a smile. "I will." She began to climb the rest of the stairs.

"Oh, wait!" said McGonagall. "I was just heading downstairs to inform you and Mister Malfoy that the Halloween feast is coming up and you need to be prepared with decorations."

"Alright, thank you, Professor."

"And you can use your special Hogsmeade privileges to visit it anytime to gather anything necessary."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Good night, Miss Granger."

"Good night, Professor." Hermione shuffled up the rest of the stairs. "Phoenix tears." The tapestry swept aside and Hermione stepped through. She rubbed her eyes and decided that there was nothing for her to do. She ran up the stairs to her room and sat down on her bed. Her eyes landed on a crisp white sitting on her desk.

"Wonder who that's from," she said to herself, hopping off the bed. On the front of the envelope was a note. "'Your friend left this with us so we could send it to you. Please write us more often, we miss you. Mum and Dad.' Aww, I miss them too!" Hermione ripped open the envelope to reveal a sheet of pink paper. "Kelly," she muttered.

HERMIONE!!

I'm so sad you're off at boarding school. I have so much to tell you, but you're not here. So I wrote this out and gave it to your parents, hoping they'd give it to you, and if they have, then you're reading it. And if this is Mrs. or Mr. Granger, please disregard anything this letter says to your dearest Hermione that you find offensive in any way.

Ok, so I brought before and after pictures of you to school with me, since I can't help but show off my work. I'm sorry. I'm just too awesome! Just kidding. (Hermione laughed) Anyways, there's this total hottie that I'd do if I didn't have a boyfriend (just kidding...but not). And he asked if I could hook you guys up! So I told him I'd write to you and ask, and that I suspected you'd be home for Christmas vacation...or at least part of it anyway. What do you think?

And remember how I mentioned my boyfriend? Well, he's just so awesome. Not that you care. But everything has to end eventually, so do you want to return my favor and find someone to hook me up with at your school? Just kidding. A little. Not kidding if he's hot.

Anyways, I love you, Herms, and you need to write me back asap! Because I miss you ever-so-much! Mwah!

Kell-ay, Kellzums, Kells, Kelly.

Hermione grinned. She missed her energetic friend. She reread the second paragraph, raising an eyebrow, and then she pulled a green pen and sheet of notebook paper out of her desk drawer. Thank goodness for remembering to bring muggle office items.

KELLY!!

You are the greatest. This has been the weirdest week and I've totally needed you really bad. But you aren't here because I'm stuck at boarding school. Mum and Dad, if you're reading this right now, kindly keep your noses out of your daughter's business. You'll have your own letter.

Anyways, there's lots of drama at my co-ed boarding school. Drama galore. So I'm Head Girl, which means I share a common room and bathroom Head Boy. Who just so happens to be a complete and total asshole. Who keeps on staring at me like he's going to kill me. And then, Harry (I told you about Harry this summer...I've known him forever) asked me out and I'm so excited! So you can claim that hottie for your own pleasure.

And my new goal in life between homework and classes and hot dates with Harry (wink) is to find you a hottie here. There aren't too many. You'd never survive here.

Anyways, I wrote back asap, and I'll try to get my parents to give this to you. I miss you so very much!

Hermione

Hermione folded up the letter and sealed it, sighing in an accomplished sort of way. She scribbled a short note to her parents, folded up that letter, sealed it, and put it on her desk so she could remember to send it the next morning. Suddenly, she felt very tired.

As soon as she pulled the sheets over her head, her eyes drooped closed and she drifted off into a restless sleep.