Disclaimer: Harry Potter dances away from my belongings... In other words, most of it dances towards JK Rowling... Oh the humiliation! #cries#

Please feel free to review (hint, hint) Constructive criticism is welcome, if however, you choose to flame me… I will come and hunt you down and hit you round the head with a large, random flying antelope.

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Hey everyone,

I am SO sorry for the long delay. I thought that I'd get this chapter up as a treat for you because I am going on holiday. Yay!

All the way to sunny Ibiza. But no fear, while I am getting a lovely tan I shall put special effort into writing new chapters.

God, don't you just hate writers block! It sucks; I've been completely out of ideas for ALL of my stories.

PassionFlower.

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Cause it's me against the world
(Oh what a stupid day)
Yeah, it's me against the world
(Just stay out of my way)
And incase you haven't noticed
And incase you haven't heard
It's just me against the world
And the world is winning

Me Vs. The World – Halo Friendlies

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Hermione Granger was officially having the worst day of her life. Her alarm hadn't gone off so she had woken up with only five minutes to get up, get washed, get dressed and get to her first lesson: Potions.

Both Parvati and Lavender were in the hospital wing because they had 'the painters in' AGAIN. How many periods could you have in a month?

And what a coincidence that they always had menstrual cramps just before potions.

She was shattered. Parvati and Lavender had kept her awake half the night trying to persuade her to skip lessons with them.

FLASHBACK

"Oh come on Hermione." Begged Lavender. "It's fun. All we do is sit around with hot drinks and a years supply of teen magazines."

"Yeah. And don't forget the food." Added Parvati. "The chocolate and the sweets… and the ice cream…"

Sighing in contentment, the both stared into space with dreamy expressions on their faces.

"Oh go on." Said Parvati, snapping out of her daze. "Just go to Madame Pomphrey and tell her you have cramps."

Hermione shook her head. "No way. I have NEVER missed a class. Well except that time in second year, but that couldn't be helped… but that is beside the point! I won't do it. Education is too important to me. I'm putting my foot down and no is my final answer."

"Jeez." Said Lavender. "Calm down. Don't have a nervy-b"

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Anyway." Said Parvati as she grabbed Lavenders arm. "We're off to the hospital wing. Toodles."

And with that they skipped out of the room.

END FLASHBACK

"Crap. Crap. Crap." She chanted to herself as she hurried out her dormitory.

If there was one class you didn't want to be late to, it was Potions. The professor who taught the subject was Professor Severus Snape, who, as Head of Slytherin hated all Gryffindors. He looked for the slightest reason to deduct points from Gryffindor, and any attempt made by a student to defend his or her position was futile. Angering Snape was the last thing anyone wanted to do.

As she ran down to the dungeons, where Potions class was held, the temperature dropped about twenty degrees. She could swear that Snape enjoyed having class down there in the dungeons, treating the students more like prisoners than pupils. How they'd survived years of potions was miraculous, but what was more miraculous was that Neville Longbottom (Hermione's potions partner) hadn't been blown up yet.

"Why, this is a funny sight. Miss know-it-all Granger is late for her lessons." Called the silky voice of Professor Snape.

She turned and saw her potions professor stormed down the corridor towards her. Even when the man was in a hurry, he managed to walk with elegance, his robes billowing out behind him.

"I think you're mistaken sir, a lesson doesn't officially start until the teacher is present."

"Ten points from Gryffindor." He barked. "Now get inside the classroom."

She nodded mutely and scurried into the dungeon.

"Where were you?" mouthed Neville as she slid into her seat.

"Late night." She whispered before turning to the front of the room.

"Today," began Snape his silky voice in a very mild-sounding tone, "we will be brewing potions meant to ease headaches and other minor aches and pains. Madam Pomfrey has insisted I teach you dunderheads a thing or two about how to properly deal with such minor ailments. If I were you, I wouldn't waste another moment of my precious time, now!" he suddenly shouted.

Jumping at the sudden change in volume, the class immediately went to fetch the necessary ingredients.

"Were we supposed to read about this?" asked Ron to Harry, "'Cause I didn't."

Harry gulped. "Me neither."

"What was that I heard?" asked Snape, his head right between the two boys. They could feel his cold breath on their necks, making the tiny hairs there stand up.

"Um, nothing, Professor." Ron lied. His skin had paled considerably making his freckles stand out starkly.

"And why are you two not preparing your potion?"

"Well sir, maybe if you would mind your own business, we would get some work done." Harry said between clenched teeth.

"Potter, if you knew what was good for you, you would learn to shut that mouth of yours. You'll be wishing you would have brewed that pathetic potion that could have remedied the soon-to-be headache you and Weasley will be experiencing in detention at seven o'clock this evening!"

"Is that a threat?" he asked furiously.

"No Potter. It's called a detention."

All the while, Hermione kept glancing at Harry and Ron as Snape continued tormenting the two trouble-makers, or so he called them. It was times like these she wished she were still talking to Harry and Ron. No matter how much she pretended not to, she actually enjoyed listening to their rants about Snape.

Neville was actually not giving her too much of a problem today, so she continued to work on the potion, carefully dropping the ingredients into the cauldron in the proper order. Everything was going fine until Neville reached over to the smouldering cauldron with something foreign to the recipe in his chubby hand.

"No Neville. What are you doing?"

Neville shrugged apologetically before stepping backwards so Hermione could rescue her hard work. It was then that she felt something warm and wet between her legs. Fearing the worst, she looked down and sure enough, there was a small red stain on her skirt.

Oh no… she panicked. What do I do? What if Snape notices and –

"Playing saviour again Granger? Anyone would think you were aspiring to be Potter."

He smirked at his own joke. "Longbottom. What have you got on your hands?"

Hermione didn't care what was going on between Snape and Neville, though. She cursed herself silently for forgetting to pack the necessary feminine products for her unwanted monthly visitor, and she knew that Snape never excused a student to use to lavatory to relieve themselves, let alone deal with the curse females were forced to live with for a large majority of their lives.

Swallowing, Hermione put her hand up in the air. Snape was still eyeing Neville up and down, glaring at the poor boy with utter contempt. Hermione wiggled her arm back and forth in the air several times, trying to gain Snape's attention, but it was of no use. She knew she would have to say something.

"Umm… Professor?" she asked timidly. "I have a question to ask."

Snape turned and glared at her. "Well Granger. What is it?"

"It's…umm… kind of personal." She mumbled

"Excuse me? Maybe you ought to use your mouth and annunciate the words when you speak to me, Miss Granger. If you can't even speak properly, kindly stop wasting my time."

"I said sir, that it is a personal question."

He was slightly taken-aback. He had expected her to ask him about the potion or the ingredients, not a personal question. His nose wrinkled at the thought.

"Please, Professor Snape, it's important," she pleaded. "I can't ask you in front of everyone."

He didn't give her any reason to continue, but she did when she realised he wasn't going to respond.

"I need to go to the girls toilets sir." She said as confidently as she could.

"I don't allow students to leave my lesson during class. It can wait till the end."

And with that he turned to leave. But Hermione, unable to control her reflexes, reached out and grabbed his arm. By now many students had turned to watch and they gasped in unison at this act.

"Miss Granger." He said between gritted teeth, "Let go of my arm unless you want to spend you last years at Hogwarts scrubbing the castle from top to bottom with a toothbrush!"

"Not but sir. I had an accident. It's my…err… 'Time of the month'."

A few Slytherin girls nearby giggled nastily, knowing exactly what Hermione was talking about. However, most of the boys, Professor Snape included, looked confused.

His face soon hardened and he roughly pulled his arm away from her. "What are you talking about, child? You're talking nonsense."

"I know exactly what I am talking about. You have no right to insult young woman who's-" she looked slightly flustered, but continued. "Who's having her bloody period!"

The amount of discomfort that last statement caused him was unbelievable. He squirmed slightly. Never, NEVER, in all his years of teaching had he been caught off guard. And now he had, all because of a blasted girls period!

"Fine you may go." He said regaining his composure. "But I must insist that next time you come better prepared."

"Thank you sir."

He glared at her retreating back before shouting. "Oh and Granger? Ten points from Gryffindor for making a scene."

Sighing, she broke into a run towards her dormitory. She was very surprised to find Parvati and Lavender in there.

"Hermione!" they screeched, launching themselves at her.

"Umm… girls, you need to let me go." She said, feeling more of the warm liquid drip down her legs. "I need to fetch my tampons."

They giggled but moved away.

A few minutes later she came out of the toilet and sat down next to her friends.

"Funny isn't it. Me and Lavender fake our period and you actually get yours!"

"It's no funny." She yelped. "I had to explain to Professor Snape (in front of the whole class!) Why I had to use the toilet!"

They collapsed into a fit of laughter. "What did he say?"

Hermione laughed at the thought. "He looked so surprised and confused. Then he kind of looked angry because I made him feel uncomfortable in front of the whole class"

"Bloody potions." Giggled Parvati.

"Yes, bloody potions indeed." Grumbled Hermione.

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