Author's Note: SORRY! I know, I've been a bad author, and haven't updated in a very long while. But, in my defence I was in Spain for a week, so I had no access to a computer, but I'm back now with anther chapter (which in my opinion, this chapter sucks, but I'm just the author, so feel free to ignore my opinion, ; ) ). So, enjoy, and read away...

CHAPTER TWO

I don't know how long I was sitting there, but by the time I got up my back was in a considerable amount of pain from my hunching over. I slowly made my way over to the bed, where, upon getting there, I promptly laid down and tried for the sleep that had constantly been eluding me.

I hadn't been pretending to sleep for more than ten minutes before I heard a soft knocking at my door. I stayed in bed for a few more minutes hoping that who ever it was would go away.

Knock. Knock.

"Damnit," I growled, making my way towards the door. I grasped the knob as the knocking came again.

"Bloody hell, don't you have any patience," I said as I ripped the door open, only to be faced with a very tired looking Remus Lupin.

"You weren't at dinner," he said without preamble.

"So I wasn't," I said tonelessly.

"May I come in?" he inquired softly. I guess he thought loud voices would offend me or something.

I stepped back and sighed, "I highly doubt I have any choice in the matter anyway. Let me guess, Dumbledore sent you?"

"Dumbledore didn't send me...I came, at his inquiry," he finished lamely.

"Same thing."

Once he was fully in the room, I shut the door and gestured vaguely to one of the many chairs in the room. I continued standing as he slowly lowered himself into one of the more cushioned chairs.

"So, Dumbledore sent you because I didn't show up at dinner?"

"He was worried..." he trailed off.

"Whatever."

"Hermione, you need to eat. You need to take care of yourself, and quite frankly skipping meals isn't helping."

"Foregoing one meal isn't a bloody crime," I snapped.

"Hermione..."

"Professor, you're just wasting your time," I said tiredly, growing weary of the conversation already.

"You punched Draco Malfoy in the face," he said after a minute.

I rolled my eyes, I knew someone would have said something about that sooner or later, I just didn't realize it would have been this soon.

"He deserved it," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"For what?"

"For...well...his father and him...they-"

"Draco didn't do anything!" Remus said firmly, interrupting me.

"But...his father, he had to of...of known. I mean...he's a Malfoy..." I trailed off. I could have hit myself with my inability to not speak in full and coherent sentences. Where had the smart girl, with the large vocabulary, gone?

"Hermione, I can't say much in the way of Mr. Malfoy's...situation, but what I can say is that he had absolutely nothing, and no knowledge of, your parents' murder. Do I make myself clear?" I had never heard Lupin talk like that before, with so much for and...anger?

"Malfoy's situation? What is he in the witness protection program or something?"

"The what?"

"Nothing. Muggle reference, you wouldn't get it."

"Program aside, if Mr. Malfoy decides he wants you to know why he is here, rest assured he will tell you. Dumbledore would not have brought him here without a reason."

"Dumbledore can kiss my-"

"Miss Granger, I understand that you are mad, but you would do well not to finish that sentence."

I just shrugged in response, then cocked my head to one side, "You don't know much about why Malfoy's here, do you?"

"Nope, can't say I do," he said with a smile and a laugh.

The way he said it, so light and carefree, made me almost want to smile in kind.

Almost.

I sighed, suddenly feeling very weary, "Are you nearly finished Professor?"

"Yes, Hermione, I'm quite done...for now. I trust that I will see you at breakfast tomorrow morning."

I just gave a noncommittal shrug in response, not prepared to give any type of promise.

Remus just sighed, stood up, and made his way to the door.

"Goodnight Hermione, try to get some rest," he bid me, as he left my room.

I turned around and eyed my bed for a minute. I felt so tired that maybe, for once, I would be able to get to sleep.

I woke up the next morning, not at all feeling rested. For even though I did sleep the night before, the source of my feeling of exhaust were the dreams that I had endured during the night. None of them being at all pleasant. I now had a renewed feeling that everything that I had endured up until my time so far at Hogwarts, was my fault.

Completely.

If I had only been home, I could have...

My train of thought trailed off as someone knocked on my door. As soon as I opened said door, I was soon regretting ever doing so. For the person on the other side was not one that I was looking forward to seeing ever again. Ever since my talk with Remus the night before, I had started to feel a little guilt about socking Malfoy in the face. I mean, Dumbledore brought me here for a reason (I cringe at even the thought of Dumbledore), so maybe Malfoy had a reason for being here too.

A really good reason.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" I asked, wasting no time.

"I was sent here to escort you to breakfast," he said a bit apprehensively. He was probably afraid that I was going to curse him or something.

I sighed, "I suppose I have no choice, now do I?"

He shook his head, "Professor Lupin was very adamant that you go to breakfast."

"Professor Lupin? I would have thought that Dumbledore would have been the one to send you."

"Well, he certainly didn't disagree. So, if you could not curse me, can you get dressed so that we can go. I'm starved."

At the mention of getting dressed, I glanced down to see what I was wearing. I was currently wearing a form fitting white tank top and blue pajama pants with Garfield imprinted all over them.

I held up a finger and said, "Hold on."

I shut the door and went to look for something to wear for the day. Not that I cared at all what others thought. I decided on an old pair of jeans and a semi-clingy black t-shirt. I also chose to forego the robe, mostly because I didn't feel like lugging it around later.

I opened the door again, stepped out, and face Malfoy. In the back of my mind I was secretly hoping that he would have gone ahead to breakfast without me, and that I could have slipped back into to bed.

"Let's go," I said curtly, and waited for him to lead the way.

He took the hint and started walking. I followed him, and we entertained a few minutes of strained silence until he spoke up, "Thanks."

I nearly stopped short, "Excuse me?!"

Did Malfoy just thank me?

"Thank you for not hexing me into oblivion when you saw me at your door," he finished almost sheepishly.

"I...um...your welcome I guess. But you really should be thanking Professor Lupin. We talked last night, and I guess he somehow convinced me that you had nothing to do with...you know." How lame was I? Not even being able to say it, but I covered up for it by saying, "You know, I'm quite shocked. I was under the impression that Malfoy's didn't thank people, for anything."

I looked over at him, and saw an array of emotions play out across his face, but in the end he just shrugged and said, "I'm not your normal run of the mill Malfoy."

I guess not, I thought to myself, as we finally made it to the Great Hall. Upon entering it, I noticed that it was mostly empty, devoid of anyone except for three people at a round table in the center of the room.

Remus Lupin.

Albus Dumbledore.

Severus Snape.

Upon seeing the last I nearly groaned. Can anything ever go right? If things weren't bad enough, now I'm stuck in the castle with the one teacher that hates me for no good reason.

I walked over to the table and slid into the seat next to Lupin, Draco taking the one next to Snape, which also happened to be next to me.

"So, Hermione, have a good nights rest?" Lupin asked from beside me.

I looked over at him, and debating telling him the truth. That no, I did not have a good nights rest, in fact I had a terrible one, one that I knew I was just going to repeat again this evening. But I knew I couldn't say that, it would only make everyone worry, so I just said, "Yes, I slept very well."

He looked at me for a moment, then responded, "Right, very good."

For the next fifteen minutes or so, we all enjoyed a very quiet breakfast. Or in my case, I spent fifteen painstakingly slow minutes pushing food around my plate in an attempt to make it seem like I was, in fact, eating. I, however, reached my limit of exposure for the day, so, I slid back my chair stood up and said in the nicest voice I could muster, "If you'll excuse me, I'm quite finished. I'll be in my room if you need anything."

Please don't need anything, I silently begged.

Unfortunately to gods were not favoring me, because Dumbledore looked up at me and said, "Miss Granger, if you could come by my office in a hours time, I would very much appreciate it."

Crap.