Hermione closed her eyes, and let her mind drift over the past 24 hours. She'd had her eye blackened, and her lip cut. She'd been faced with the She'd had her memories sifted through by the one person in Hogwarts she most respected, and who least liked her. She'd found out she wasn't crazy, that this wasn't all her fault. She'd had to make a decision on who was going to invade her mind daily, the Potions Master who loved to hate her, or the Headmaster who was the epitome of goodness. She'd had her hopes raised, only to be deflated a little over an hour later, as none of the counter charms worked. Then she'd had to accept that she'd be moving into the dungeons next to the Potions Master, who was going to be dosing her with various antidotes as soon as they would be prepared. And then she'd had to explain it all to Harry and Ron.

All in all, not the best day she'd had. But it could have been worse. They could have not found the spell. They could have not taken her memories as the truth. She could be facing a stay in St. Mungo's while Ron was prosecuted for beating her up. And she could have broken more bones.

It just wasn't fair. She'd worked so hard, only to have everything taken away for some unknown reason. Hermione stared up at the ceilling, letting the tears run down her face. She'd been ripped from one world, just as she was figuring it out, and thrust into another, a world that looked down on her because of her upbringing and parentage. She'd had to prove them all wrong, prove that she was just as good as they were. Hermione couldn't even count on Harry for support, because he was so badly treated by his muggle relatives, that he couldn't concieve of missing anything Muggle. But Hermione did. She missed her parents. She missed her bedroom, with its silent mirror. She missed her school, where the stairs didn't change every other hour, and walls didn't become doorways, and vice versa. She missed the noise, which in its everpresent loudness, provided a background melody to her life. She missed many things about the Muggle world.

But oh how she loved the Wizardling world, with its possibilities. Nothing was impossible if you had enough power. She loved the feel of magic working, as it rushed out of her wand and was shaped to her will. The feeling of getting lost in Arithmancy had never before or since been equaled. She loved being able to swish and flick her way through life, remaking the world around her into one she could live in. She'd never felt so alive then when she was practicing one of her varied magical interests.

But then the night would come, and she would be alone in her bed, alone in her thoughts. And memories would come back to her, reminding her of all she had given up to be a Witch. There were times she wondered whether it was worth it. But as her mother always said, "Nothing easy is worth working for.", so she'd blink back the tears, and close her eyes, and try and sleep. Sometimes sleep came easy on those nights, but usually it was a battle. Like tonight. The Hospital Wing was quiet, Hermione was currently the only occupant, she didn't even have the noises of others sleeping to distract her from her maudlin thoughts.

And tomorrow, she'd again be starting a new life, one that was not in her control. Hermione didn't know how she would go on, but then she couldn't have gone on much longer like she was. It was time to be strong. To show her courage in tackling this situation, in making the best of things. It was time to be a Gryffindor through and through, to stand steadfast against the obstacles that were thrown her way, and make her way through to the other side. She would defeat this. The person who cast the spell would be caught and punished. Hermione wouldn't let anything else happen, if she had anything to say about it.

-------------------

Of course. They had figured out it was a spell. Any threat against Little Miss Perfect must be counteracted immediately! Had anyone been awake, they would have heard a snort of derision at that thought. Hermione Granger. Muggleborn. Darling of the staff. Harry Potter's best friend. She got all the breaks. She got all the chances. There were others who would have shone just as brightly if they had the chances that were gifted on that bushy-haired, buck-toothed prat of a girl. There was just one problem.

The spell needed to be refreshed. It would be done the next time it was possible. All that was needed was 3 seconds of wand work, a whispered incantation, and it would done. Originally used as a form of punishment to let the criminals live what their victims had gone through, it had been twisted. And I did the twisting. Not her. Another snort of derision. She couldn't even figure out what the original spell was, much less how it had been changed. And they thought she was so smart. So dedicated. Any half decent researcher would have found it. This time a snicker. But she wasn't a half decent researcher anymore, now was she. What with her falling down all the time, she could barely get books off the shelves. Watching her try to hide what was going on with her had been delicious. It more than made up for what I went through. But the lesson wasn't over, not by any means. Not until Miss Hermione Granger was completely stripped of all ability to act, and had to depend on someone else to save her. And if things happened as expected, I will be able to provide the clue to save Little Miss Perfect. And then we'll see who is considered "the brightest young Witch" of our generation. Her or me.

--------------------

Severus was finally alone. For the first time in hours, he could relax. Albus, Flitwick, and Minerva had finally left after going over the wards and safety charms for what felt like the millionth time. A room had been added off the potions classroom. They had originally wanted to install the little know-it-all in his guest suite, but Severus had put his foot down. He may be dedicating the next several months to figuring out the girls problem, but he drew the line at having to baby-sit her 24/7. And there was no way he'd allow any other student visitors to his rooms, so he used that reason to convince the reluctant trio. A simple sneering suggestion that surely Miss Granger would need the support of her friends was all that it took to convince them. Having her rooms off the classrom provided all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of the original plan. She was still within screaming distance, but his privacy had been maintained.

And now that he was ensconsed in his favorite wingback chair, a snifter of brandy on the table next to him, the fire crackling merrily in the fire place (thankfully not green at the moment), he could admire the work that had been done tonight. Cushioning charms on all hard surfaces. Repellant wards on the floor. Anti slip wards in the bathing suite. Anti-drowning ward on the tub, as a shower was just too dangerous at the moment, which would safegaurd her should she be knocked unconsious while bathing. A simple trapping charm around the bed, which required no word to enter, but a password to leave. Charms to keep her books on the desk. Charms to keep her from falling out of the chair. Wards which would activate when she entered the room, and would sound an alarm if she fell unconcious anywhere in the suite. Of the non magical safeguards, there were no wooden chairs, only those fully upholstered, thanks to Minerva's skill at transfiguration. The suite floor was not the hard stone found in the rest of the castle, but instead a soft springy Muggle substance known as "foam rubber" which would cushion the girl when she fell down. The bed and the desk were both masterpieces of transfigurations and charms. They looked like the solid oak furniture found in the rest of the castle, but were actually balsa wood. They were held together by charms, but if all the safeguards failed, and Miss Granger were to fall against them, they would break apart, rendering her no harm.

There was also a new set of spelled schools supplies. A dicto-quill, but one quite unlike the one Rita Skeeter carried. This dicto-quill was just for immediate transcribing of the spoken word, keyed to Miss Granger's voice. The parchment in her room was anti-flammable. The "candles" in her room, were nothing more than illusions over magical light sources. That one took the combined power of all four to set up, in order to set them up for enough light to study by, as well as to give them enough energy to run for 30 days. For every thirty days, all the protections would have to be recast.

Even though Severus had made noises of disgust about the fact that if he had anything to say about it, she'd be out of there in 3 days, not 30, he knew in his heart of hearts that it would most likely take longer than that. With the shortlist acquired tonight, he would most likely have to run through his entire repertoire of antidote potions before he hit on one that worked. If they found one that worked. There was a distinct possibility they wouldn't. Their best recourse was to find the person or persons responsible.

Severus let himself go over the names that were presented tonight, and try to sort them into some sort of order. Most likely, in his opinion were the Ravenclaw boy, Terry Boote, and Draco Malfoy. Both were significant scholastic competitors of the Know-It-All. They both had the power and knowledge. Next, a pair of girls and a boy from Gryffindor, second most likely. Seamus Finnegan had a known proficiency in charms, and the uncanny ability to stumble across new incantations. There was the distinct possibility that this was accident, even if malice intent had been shown. If Seamus had been in an uncharitable mood and had one of his discoveries, he may have cast this spell on Miss Granger without knowing it. Hannah Abbot and Ginny Weasley, while not nearly of the level of Miss Granger, were definitely better than average Witches. While no one could see a Hufflepuff or a Weasley as a likely candidate at first, amazingly it was Minerva who brought up what he had been thinking, that students were only sorted once, at age eleven, and everyone automatically expected them to retain their same basic personality through the teenage years. Several blank looks were given at first, until the staff realized that there are some completely personality changing life-events, and for all they knew Miss Abbot and/or Miss Weasley had undergone something over one of the breaks that changed them. Severus chose to refrain mentioning Miss Weasley's first year in the staff meeting, but had made sure he reminded Albus of it privately. Albus nodded and looked grave, thanking Severus for his tact. An emotion not many would believe he had. He just didn't exercise it as often as he could. And finally Neville Longbottom and Pansy Parkinson. The only reason they were staying on the shortlist, was because Miss Parkinson had access to Merlin only knew what texts at home, and while Neville didn't necessarily have the power, the lack of a potion element actually worked to his detriment. Everyone knew if he was going to do something like this, he would be incapable of using a potion. And Severus had actually thought of several potions that could be modified to produce the same effects. So Neville's name stayed.

All of the staff agreed to keep their eyes on the seven students. And so the meeting was ended. Uncharacteristically, Severus had remained behind, as he was struck with a rather painful thought during the meeting. What if it wasn't a student, what if it was a Professor? After reminding Albus of Miss Weasley's disasterous first year, he brought that little idea into the open. Severus had been expecting an arguement, but suprisingly, he didn't get one. Albus had revealed to him that he and Minerva had thought of that possibility, and all staff wands were now being monitored. Severus had nodded, it was one more invasion of his privacy, but it was necessary. He had then walked with Albus down to the dungeons, met Flitwick and Minerva, and got the rooms prepared.

A long day. A very long day at the end of a very long week, near the end of a very long year in a very long decade for Severus Snape. Tomorrow his life would change again, and he had no control over it.

---------

A/N: I know this was a bit dry, action-wise, but the next few chapters should be interesting, as Hermione settles into her new life.