Disclaimer: I do not in any way own nor did I invent Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's ideas. All of my credit is given to J.K. Rowling and her publishers.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall; with Harry and Ron in the lead, Hermione sleepily dragged her feet to the Gryffindor table. Nicely groomed (though she had not had time to perform the relaxing charm to her hair from Cosmetic Charms for the Teenage Witch), Hermione still felt incredibly tired. Her nightmare and superfluous late-night/early-morning studying had exhausted her, not to mention the fact she had barely eaten all the day before.
As Ron and Harry choked down a bit of eggs and toast while chattering nonsense, Hermione gave an occasional nod every minute or two. She was, in fact, too tired to eat or participate in the conversation, though neither Harry nor Ron acknowledged this. They assumed that a full night of studying had worn her down, so they changed their conversation to classes.
"A killer day today, mate," he said to Harry, "Divination with Trelawney, Double-Potions, and Transfiguration."
In reply, " Yeah, how's that for a Monday?"
Hermione, now paying attention, "I still do not see why you two continue Divination…nor do I see HOW you do. I mean, you both failed your Divination owl!"
"Like Trelawney cares, the old dingbat!" Ron exclaimed, though Harry was silent to this, creating an awkward moment in the conversation. He know knew that as much as a crackpot Professor Trelawney was the majority of the time, she had made one prophecy, the prophecy that involved him and Voldemort, the prophecy he had still neglected to mention to Hermione and Ron.
Breaking the silence, Hermione prodded, "Well, you two best be off to Divination. I have Arithmancy. See you in potions." The three got up and went their separate ways to the classes.
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Hermione sleepily walked through the corridor towards the Arithmancy classroom; she was surprisingly glad to be away from Ron and Harry for once, their noisy chatter wore her down, and she did not wish for them to notice her new eating habits (or lack thereof).
When class began, she paid her undivided attention to Professor Vector. After all, if she slept in class, she might miss important information that would be on the final, and Hermione was always a student first.
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Meanwhile….
Glittering in a silky skirt and blouse, Professor Sybil Trelawney entered the room with her usual air of superiority and flightiness. Her hair was wrapped extravagantly in a silk, violet turban, and she smelled heavily of perfume.
"Good Morning, my dears," Trelawney said in her misty voice. Parvati and Lavender, always enchanted with Divination (especially Trelawney's Divination), sat attentively in their seat. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan dueled each other with one of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' fake wands, constantly being interrupted by one or the other transfiguring itself into a rubber mouse. Neville frantically searched through his book bag (he had misplaced his copy of Unfogging the Future). Harry and Ron sniggered loudly as Professor Trelawney started again, "Now, settle down or less you cloud my Inner Eye. We will now continue the interpretation of dreams. Work in pairs."
Harry and Ron, naturally, were partners. Starting, Ron asked jokingly, " So, mate, do you dream in color or black and white?" Harry laughed, and then began to invent a dream for Ron to analyze.
He tried," Let's see…I dreamed that…erm, I dreamed that Snape gave me detention for knocking over Neville's potion?"
"Dismal! Come on Harry…you can do better than that! Be sporting, and throw in a death omen!" Ron joked.
And, thus, the class continued until being dismissed by Professor Trelawney for lunch. Harry and Ron packed their things and hurried out of the stuffy classroom to meet Hermione in the Great Hall.
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After what seemed like an eternity to Hermione (which was quiet unusual for the studious girl), Professor Vector dismissed the class. Fortunately, for Hermione, the class had homework to practice the lesson's concept. Hermione had found it very difficult to concentrate when she was so exhausted but figured she could make it up as homework after a long nap. To make things worse, her stomach growled with hunger, as she had not eaten since breakfast the morning before. Feeling faint, she made her way to the Great Hall.
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Harry and Ron found Hermione, stumbling with her overly packed book bag, on the way to the Great Hall. Hermione seemed pale and listless to Harry, and he planned to ask her later (in private) if she was alright. He and Ron both knew that Hermione had a tendency to overwork herself, and Hermione seemed, if possible, even more ambitious her Sixth Year than her previous years.
Now ravenous, Hermione ate everything in sight for lunch. She engorged herself with lightly battered cod, chips, chocolate éclairs , fruit pastries, and even peppermint humbugs, all of which she washed down her system with a pint of pumpkin juice.
Ron was amazed and quite proud of Hermione's accomplishment in out-eating him after the seven minutes it took for her to work through her pile of food, "Wicked, Hermione! That was bloody brilliant!"
Harry was astounded. He clapped when she was done. However, instead of being pleased with this recognition by her two best friends, Hermione turned a shade of scarlet and ran from the Great Hall, while Harry and Ron stared at her with looks of absolute bewilderment.
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Hermione sprinted down the corridors and through many flights of stairs until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Breathlessly, she muttered the most recent password ("Carmina Burana") and without hesitation continued through the Common Room, up the stairs, and into her dormitory.
She threw herself onto her bed, facedown. Hermione felt terrible, absolutely horrid at her blunder. She felt overweight, disgusting, and bloated. She did not have the heart to even face the mirror on the far side of the room. Then, an idea popped into her mind: she remembered when she was in muggle school the periodic seminars the school nurse would give to warn the children about the dangers of eating disorders. The nurse had described the harmful consequences of purging your food after eating, the most notable symptom of a bulimic individual. Hermione thought nothing of the harmful ramifications of purging. Besides, she thought, I will not have an eating disorder if I do this just once. Therefore, she reached onto her bedside table where a vase of blooming Tudor roses stood. She removed the roses carefully onto her bed; then, she stuck her index finger far down her throat to cause herself to gag. Her eyes welled with tears and became red and irritated, an uncontrollable reflex. Her lunch, suddenly, lay in the now tainted vase. Still crying, now from shame, she emptied the vase with a quick wave of her wand and muttered, "Evanesco".
With that, she gave into exhaustion. Her tearing eyes closed, and she fell into a dreamless sleep. Her last conscious thought was the sensation of being utterly out of control, and it was known that Hermione Granger could NEVER be out of control.
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Author's note: Finally a more lengthy chapter, though I worry it may not be as well written. I just hope it is not filled to the brim with typos. If any of you wish to be my editor, email me at Yodaballerina@aol.com Thank you to all of my faithful reviewers. I took your advice and spent more time on this chapter. Please review! As you know, I am open to any critiques or compliments you may have. Also, I will probably not have a chance to update on Thursday or Friday, because I will be out of town. Sorry! I will update as soon as I can, though I will begin to take more time so I may give you longer chapters like this one. Enjoy!
A Serious Note: This is an extremely serious topic, and I am going to start going a bit deeper into the plot. I am not trying to glamorize anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. I do not want to be the cause of any more eating disorders. Please do not get any ideas you will regret later from reading this story. At the completion of this story, I will be posting a postlude article about the dangers of eating disorders. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you continue reading this fanfic! I am having a wonderful time writing this for all of you.