Chapter3: Excuses, Excuses

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter.

A/N: I think this is the second last chapter because I know this story is kinda depressing and not as many people like depressing as Happy Fluffiness so I'm starting some new ones, which are much better. But anyway you're here to read this story so here we go.

She caught the hair with her hand and brushed out the knots. She smoothed out the sides with some more water and replaced the band. There that wasn't so hard. She would just have to make sure her hair always stayed in a ponytail. She had vowed to herself that she would never look angry and then she had an after thought. She had cried all her tears in the past week so she promised herself that she would never show how upset she was either, that would lead to too many questions that she didn't want to answer. She would appear deliriously happy at all times at all costs. So, with another deep breath she plastered what she hoped was a realistic looking smile and headed for her first class.

By the end of the day Hermione was exhausted. So many people had come up to her and asked her where she'd been, what had happened, was she OK and where had the scar on her face come from? While she appreciated all the concern she was running out of excuses. Most people were content with the story that she had been very seriously ill and had a horrible nightmare, waking up by banging her head on the bedpost. However she didn't think Harry or Ron were convinced. She desperately wanted to tell them, spill her guts in the hope of finding some kind of comfort, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. They had problems of their own to worry about. It would be selfish of her to waste their time complaining.

"And Besides," she thought trying to comfort herself "I don't want anything to change." Hermione was afraid of what her friends would say, how they would react and how they would treat her knowing that she was somehow spoiled now. But most of all she didn't want them to feel sorry for her. She hated it when people pitied her, it was an even worse feeling than not knowing something and that was pretty bad. Now that she came to think about it though Hermione had unfortunately been experiencing that feeling a lot lately. While she thought she had been doing a pretty good job of keeping her life normal, one thing had changed. Hermione had always been the smartest kid in the class; Even in Pre-school and Kindergarten at the Muggle School she had attended before Hogwarts she had always been way ahead of the other students.

But now, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't concentrate on her schoolwork. In every class she had tried to focus and take notes and bank the information, but in the dreary silence of the classroom she found she had too much time to think and her mind wandered. All the things she was trying so hard to forget were coming back to her and crowding her brain. She had lost her ability to see the funny sine of life and just couldn't bring herself to laugh at jokes or pranks or mistakes. She knew the other kids thought she was weird and stupid and her grades were dropping rapidly but it she also knew that these inconveniences were far better that the alternative of everybody knowing what had happened to her.

A/N: So there you go please tell me what you thought even if you think it was the worst story you've ever read. PLZ!