-Know nothing, own nothing, blah blah. Reviews would be nice. Props to Amy Lee for the lyrics.-

Chapter Two: Difficult

Hermiones head shot up for only a second before John swept her up in his arms and quickly apparated them out of the area. Unfortunately, she only got a quick glance at the stranger.

'Damn, my Rolex!' John gritted his teeth, amazed at his own stupidity, he'd get it back when next he visited.

They appeared in front of the Granger residences front door, both breathing heavily as John unwrapped his arms from around the lithe body of his 'baby sister.' "Who was that?" asked Hermione.

"I have no fricken' clue, he knew who you were, we'll have to be more careful."

Hermione nodded and looked down and her steel toed boots, "That voice.. It sounded so familiar, but I just cannot seem to place my finger on it," her thin brown eyebrows drew together in frustration.

"Just forget about it, did you get the money kiddo?" he asked, still pissed at himself for his forgetfulness, but not wanting to seem angry.

"You know it," she told him, a grin playing across her lips as she reached her hand down the front of her tank top and pulled out a large amount of money.

"Christ, I should have known your tits weren't that big," joked john, earning a quick slap on the arm from his sister.

Platform 9 ¾ really hadn't changed at all from the first year she attended Hogwarts. There were still semi-confused muggle parents milling around, trying to figure out where the train was and getting nowhere. Hermione chuckled to herself as she showed one set of muggles and their first year child the secret of platform 9 ¾.

Immediately when Hermione appeared onto the platform, she spotted her two best friends, whom of which had both gone through growth spurts, looming at her educated guess of 6'1". The girls are going to be crawling all over them this year, she noted.

Hermione let herself take in their full appearances before making her way over to them.

Harry was first, his black hair was still just as messy, but that was always sexy. The 'I just woke up look' was the in thing for guys and he didn't even have to try at it. To stand out against his raven black hair, his emerald eyes glinted through his black frame glasses, scanning only with the watchful ability a seeker could manage.

She caught herself as she noticed she was checking out her best friend and liking what she saw. 'Look at those muscles..' He was still lean, but his muscles complimented his form very well. She would no doubt love running her hand down his abs.

'Cut it out Hermione' she demanded of herself.

Her honey blonde eyes drifted next to Harry, to his partner in crime, Ronald Weasley.

She couldn't deny that she loved playing with his shock of red hair, through the years she'd known him, which was currently spiked up. He didn't appeal to her as Harry had, but his build was exactly the same as his and his best attribute in her opinion, was the slow, lazy smile he rewarded the few girls he admired, Hermione being on this list received the smile often.

Satisfied with her once over on the boys, twice over in Harry's case, she made her way past her fellow students and stood idly next to Ron, waiting to see if they would recognize her.

"Oi Ron, shouldn't Hermione be here by now?" Harry asked, seeming worried as he ruffled his hair, a nervous gesture since childhood, unknowingly.

"Knowing her she's already in a compartment, nose in the book mate."

Harry let out a hearty laugh that was silenced by a pinch at his arm.

"Not funny Ronald," Hermione replied to his play at a joke heatedly.

"Hermione?" both boys questioned at the same time.

She rolled her eyes, "Who else would it be? Does anyone else go around pinching 'The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

At mention of the pinch he earlier received, Harry scowled and rubbed at his arm. "Last I knew, our Mione didn't come with a bajillion of piercings."

"Don't be ridiculous Harry, 'bajillion' isn't even a word."

The Hogwarts Express blew its whistle, a sign to all that they would have only a few minutes to finish boarding. Hermione, Ron, and Harry gathered their things and started to board, Harry and Ron lagging behind a bit, enjoying the sway of Hermiones hips.

They gave each other pointed looks when they caught the other viewing Hermiones newly grown assets. 'This might be a long year' Harry sighed heavily as he watched Ron watching Hermione.

"Why didn't she tell us she was head girl?" Ron asked Harry, who had just seen the gold glint of her badge as she boarded the train.

"Couldn't tell you mate."

The trio had found a compartment and discussed their summers. Hermione was mostly silent during this discussion, opting to stare blankly out the window and make up random lies about how great everything was at home.

As the group settled into a comfortable silence, Hermione took out her muggle CD player, earning an odd look from Ron and a grin from Harry, who followed suit.

She hit the play button, drowning out Rons questions at the device.

The opening to Tourniquet by Evanescence blasted into her headphones after the 10 second almost silence of the very beginning.

I tried to kill the pain,

But only brought more..

So much more.

:Flashback:

When Hermione had found out about the money issues, her parents had first wanted to put her on the streets, selling her body.

After a few weeks of whoring herself around, her elder brother couldn't stand to see Hermione walking around lifeless, broken of pride. Their parents seemed not to notice, or just not care. Unknown to them, Hermione stored half her profit's away and developed an unhealthy addiction. Oxycontin.

Am I too lost to be saved?

John was quick to notice this and suggested to their parents a new idea, they would lure ignorant muggles into thinking they would be able to lay with Hermione and when the job came to be done, Hermione would somehow render the male, or female, unconscious and steal their money.

Their parents deemed that idea more profitable and informed Hermione of how things were to be. However, they chose a time when Hermione was heavily under the influence of the addictive painkiller. Luckily she hadn't been taking the pills for more than a few days.

My god,

My tourniquet.

Return to me salvation.

Things returned to normal, if you could call it that, after a week or so. For the rest of the summer John and his baby sister Hermione would visit clubs around the U.S. so as not to be recognized in England, and lure rich and stupid men into her clutches.

In all actuality, John wasn't her brother at all, but they were related in a way she would later find out. Their parents and Hermione had no idea, due to heavy use of memory charms. Truth be told, he had only been living with them for a few years. After all, what are the odds two muggle parents would turn out two magical children?

John knew Hermione was suffering here, he would do anything for her if he could, but at the moment it just wasn't an option.

Meanwhile Hermione longed for the shelter of Oxycontin. Longed for the numbness.

Am I too lost to be saved?

Am I too lost?

She knew that when school ended, she would only be forced to come back and continue that life. There seemed to be no escape.

I long to die.

:End Flashback:

Tears brimmed her eyes when the song came to a close, she lowered them and stared at her CD play for the rest of the train ride, not really listening to the music, but not thinking. She was in a whole different place.

When Hermione snapped the large headphones over her ears, Harry was bombarded with questions from Ron, almost laughing at his innocent ignorance at muggle devices.

"It's a CD player."

"What the world? What's a SeeDee Player?"

Harry took his Slayer CD out of the Portable player. "This is a disc."

He looked to Ron for any hint of understanding, Ron only motioned for him to continue the explanation, clearly fascinated.

"What's it do Hare?" he asked eagerly.

"Well, see you place the disc into the player and close the lid," Harry demonstrated, "then you hit this arrow shaped button and music plays."

"Wicked!" exclaimed Ron.

"You can try it if you'd like."

Harry handed over the headphones and player to Ron, who had immediately followed Hermiones example and snapped them over his ears. Harry hit play and searched for a certain song, his favorite.

Ron's eyes turned to saucers as the intro to 'Bloodline' by Slayer came onto the headphones, Harry could clearly hear the guitar even if he was a foot away from Ron.

'Must be hell on his ears' Harry grinned as this thought crossed his mind.

Ron pulled the headphones down to his neck and looked over to Harry, excited as though it were to be his first time having sex. "Can you get me a SeeDee player Harry? Mate? Buddy-O-Mine?"

Harry's grin only spread across his face as he shook his head in wonder "Sure Ron, I'll see what I can do.

End of Chapter

So what do you think boys and girls? Bet you hated that I didn't write a confrontation between Hermione and the mystery person. ;)