CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Unfair Punishment

Remus Lupin could tell early on that Harry's head – and more importantly his heart – just weren't on Occlumency. It was without a doubt Harry had come a long way since the beginning of the school year, but they weren't making any progress on that night, and Lupin had a feeling they weren't going to.

"I think we should call it a night," said Lupin, helping Harry up off his feet for the fourth time since they had started. He wasn't upset with Harry's lack of concentration, it was entirely understandable.

"I'm sorry," Harry apologized, dusting off his robes. "I have been practicing since our last lesson."

"I know, Harry. But a lot has happened these past few days, so it's quite understandable why you're having difficulty focusing," said Lupin. "One of your best friends just lost her mother and up until a few days ago no one knew if her father would make a full recovery."

Harry leaned back against one of the desks pushed back against the wall for their lesson. "It's not that, at least not entirely," he said, his voice weary. "I mean, I should be thinking about how to help Hermione through this but most of the time I keep thinking about Sirius and my own mum and dad," he said, sounding ashamed.

"It's not uncommon to think about the loved ones you've lost, when someone you know has lost someone important to them. There's nothing wrong with that, Harry. Because of everything you've dealt with, you can probably understand what she's going through better than most people."

"Losing your godfather isn't the same as losing your mother."

"You lost a mother too, Harry."

"There's a big difference, Professor. I didn't even really know mine. Hermione's had a whole life with hers. I can't even begin to comprehend what she's feeling."

"But you have a good idea because you've been there yourself. Everyone handles death in a different way, but don't ever think that certain deaths are less important then others. Everyone is allowed to grieve for how ever long they need to."

Harry took his professor's words in stride, and although he knew Lupin was right, he still didn't feel any more qualified then the next person to talk about death. He may have been surrounded by it his whole life, but that didn't make him an expert on it.

"Before you go, Harry, there's something else I'd like to speak with you about," said Lupin, suddenly looking as worn and old as he did in the days before a full moon. "You and I haven't had a chance to talk about Sirius, and that's largely my fault. I didn't want to talk about it even when I knew you needed to. I wasn't ready to accept that I was the only one left of my childhood friends. I know I'm not alone but it still feels like that sometimes. The point is, Harry, I should have been there for you in the summer, but I wasn't and I'm sorry for that. I'm here now, and when you feel you're ready to talk, I'm here to listen."

Harry didn't know what to say, but then he didn't think Lupin was expecting an answer from him – at least not yet. It sounded like Lupin was ready to talk about Sirius, but he wasn't. He just couldn't deal with that yet, even when he knew there was only so long he could hide from his godfather's death before it finally caught up with him.

With the Christmas holidays starting the day after tomorrow, Hermione found herself buried with more work than ever before. A lot of that could be attributed to the special project she had recently undertaken. That was the reason why she was skipping meals in order to spend as much time in the library as possible doing research. She had not told Harry or Ron what she was up to because they would undoubtedly try to talk her out of it. It was obvious they were already concerned for her, so she probably wasn't helping matters by spending almost every waking moment – and occasionally the hours when she should have been sleeping – working. But she knew that if she kept at it a solution or some sort of breakthrough was bound to present itself. There was too much riding on this for her not to succeed.

At the sound of a chair scraping on the floor, Hermione hurriedly closed one of the books she had been looking through and opened another. It was rather noticeable to the person sitting across from her what she had just done.

"So you're skipping meals now to come here – and do what, homework?" Ron said, raising a curious eyebrow.

"I wasn't hungry so I decided to finish my Transfiguration essay."

Ron gave her a look of utter disbelief. "But it's not due 'til after we come back."

"I wanted Professor McGonagall to look it over before we leave. Then I can fix it up over the holidays."

"What are you working on now?" He asked, trying to sneak a peek at the book she had closed before he had sat down, but the print on the binding was too small for him to read.

"Ancient Runes," she lied.

"That doesn't look like Ancient Runes to me," he said.

"And how would you know? It's not like you have the class," she snapped, closing the book in front of her. She picked up a quill and parchment and started writing.

Ron had to take a deep breath to keep himself from snapping back. She seemed to be working extra hard lately to push his buttons, as if she were purposely trying to provoke him into a fight. For the most part he had been able to keep his temper in check, sometimes only just barely. He had to keep reminding himself that she needed to be angry with someone and it was easiest to pick a fight with him. He had refrained from commenting on her obsession with schoolwork – which was saying something because Hermione always did so much work, but now she seemed to be doing everything she could to make more for herself. He thought it would disappear after her dad had woken up a week earlier, with no lasting injuries, but it only seemed to have intensified it. He could no longer go on saying nothing about it anymore and pretending everything was fine – even if it was going to make her angry with him. She was going to make herself sick if she didn't slow down. "Hermione, you need to stop."

"I'm almost finished," she responded without looking up.

"Not just with this – but with everything. You're wearing yourself out."

"I feel fine."

Fed up, he grabbed the paper she had been writing on and snatched it out from under her quill. "Would you stop writing for two seconds and talk to me?"

"What do you want, Ron?" She said irritably. He had been great through everything, and she doubted she would have made it through the last two weeks without him, but now he was really starting to get on her nerves.

There was no point in backing down now. "You're burnt out, can't you see that? You keep this up and you're going to be sharing a room with your dad at St. Mungo's." That probably hadn't been the best thing to say since it only seemed to irritate her further.

"I know what this is about," she said, fuming more by the second. "You just can't stand that I haven't fallen apart yet and really needed you."

"Dammit, Hermione, that's not it."

"I'm sorry if I bruised your fragile male ego, but if you're really that desperate for someone to cry on your shoulder maybe you should start looking elsewhere." She grabbed the parchment he had stolen from her and collected the two books she had been using under her arm. Without so much as another look at Ron, she stomped angrily out of the library.

"Can't it just wait until we get back?" Ron complained, while he walked with Harry on their way to Moody's class.

"We haven't had a practice all week because everyone was too busy with midterms. If Katie waits to have one until after the holidays we'll be seriously out of practice," Harry reasoned.

"Harry, tomorrow is the last day of classes."

"All the more reason to have one, since any homework given out won't be due for two weeks."

Ron scowled visibly but gave up any further attempts at protesting. Harry had been the one to convince Katie to hold one more practice before the end of term – not that Katie needed all that much convincing to begin with. Any other time he would love to practice, but the workload had been so intense the last month of school he was looking forward to going home and doing nothing. But in similar fashion to Katie, Harry had become just unrelenting about team conditioning and practices. Somewhere along the lines he wondered when Harry had become more obsessed with Quidditch then him. He was becoming the same as Hermione was with her schoolwork. Together, they were going to drive him over the edge if they kept this up. Maybe Harry would mellow out slightly over the break, since he was going to have his first real family Christmas. He would be spending it at Grimmauld Place with Ron's family, Hermione, Lupin, and the other members of The Order that came and went daily.

They had come out of Transfiguration, and while he and Harry argued over the idea of practice, Hermione walked right passed them. It was easy to tell she was still angry with him, but it wasn't like he had set out to upset her on purpose – unlike so many times in the past. It didn't seem like he could say anything these days without her biting his head off. She had been slightly friendlier towards Harry, but even he was backing off to give her some space. Perhaps he should think about doing the same.

Harry had suddenly grown quiet and it didn't take long for Ron to figure out why. They were walking by a classroom where seventh year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were filing out of. One of the Ravenclaws noticed Harry and looked his way.

"Forget about her, mate," Ron said to him. "You're better off without her."

Harry made no response. Though he agreed with him, he would rather not talk about Cho at all. He much rather preferred pretending she didn't exist. It was only fair since she was doing the same to him since she had gone running to Michael, making it seem like he had coerced her into a relationship. If she had told Michael the truth about what they had done together, there wasn't a chance they would still be a couple.

His reaction was one of beyond surprise when he saw her break away from her friends and head towards them.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered under his breath. "What's she coming over here for?"

She was no more than a foot away when a loud and easily recognizable voice could be heard saying, "I honestly don't know how she even has the nerve to approach him."

Harry and Ron's jaws dropped in astonishment as Hermione came to stand beside them, hands firmly planted on her hips as she glared at Cho.

Cho matched her icy glare. "Whatever I have to say to Harry really isn't any of your business, so why don't you back off?"

"I know for a fact he has nothing to say to you. So I guess you'll just have to make something up when you go running back to Michael, just like last time. Or did you actually tell him the truth about you and Harry?"

"You're one to talk, Hermione. I'm not the one supposedly dating one of my best friends and then caught snogging the other one in Hogsmeade."

"Er, shouldn't we do something?" Harry muttered out of the side of his mouth to Ron.

Ron forcefully shook his head. He didn't bother saying he thought Hermione needed something like this. She had been so busy trying to repress all emotions – except when it came to irritating him – that she needed to let out some of the grief and frustration she was feeling before it consumed her.

Hermione looked un-phased by the Ravenclaw's last remark. "I'm not the slag here," she said coolly.

Harry and Ron gaped openly at her. Never did they think they would hear the word 'slag' come out of Hermione Granger's mouth, let alone be directed at another girl. Cho hadn't taken kindly to the remark either. She lunged at Hermione, who was caught unprepared for the attack.

Limbs and hair flew wildly until the girls were pried apart by an invisible force.

"Granger! Chang! My office now!" A sour voice barked. Snape was seething and still had his wand drawn. "The rest of you to your classes. Any one I catch lingering will have nightly detentions with me all of next term!"

The crowd thinned out remarkably fast. No one was willing to see if Snape would make good on his threat. That is, everyone except Harry and Ron. The Potions Master turned his steeliest gaze on them.

"Unless you both are deaf or just obnoxiously stupid, the latter being more likely, I suggest you get to class. Now."

Ron stepped forward, ignoring Hermione who was frantically shaking her head at him. "Sir, I saw everything. As a prefect, it's my duty to make sure what happened is reported."

Snape smiled coldly at Ron. "Not this time, Weasley. There are no witnesses to this incident aside from myself, since you will undoubtedly say whatever it takes to keep Miss Granger out of trouble. As for Potter, well, no one can ever be sure that what comes out of his mouth hasn't been influenced by the Dark Lord somehow."

Ron was fuming. "That's a load of shit – "

"One more word out of you Mr. Weasley and I will be well within my rights to give you a term's worth of detentions. Perhaps then Professor McGonagall will see she should have taken your badge away long before now.

Right now Ron could care less about losing his Prefect status. He wasn't going to let that git manipulate things to make it look like this was Hermione's fault. He opened his mouth but Hermione beat him to it.

"Ron, don't say anything!" Her eyes were fierce, but her look was pleading. She had gotten herself into this mess, and she wasn't about to let Ron get dragged down with her.

"For once, I suggest you follow Granger's advice," Snape leered. He hooked a finger at Cho and then Hermione before walking away. Both girls had no choice but to follow. Hermione was careful not to look back at Ron and Harry as she did. There was no point in all three of them getting in trouble because that would have been giving Snape exactly what he wanted. No, she would face whatever punishment he had planned for her alone.

Hermione had only been in Snape's office once before. In second year, she had needed some rather potent ingredients to brew the poly juice potion – ingredients that could only be found inside the Potion Master's private cupboard. While a diversion had been going off in class, she had snuck down there and taken exactly what they would need. To this day, Snape still suspected it was Harry who had stole from his private supply.

Snape's office had not changed one bit in four years. There were still the jars full of foul looking creatures floating on shelves behind his desk, and the room had a damp, almost mildew smell to it from being down in the dungeons.

He slammed the heavy wooden door shut, causing his dozens of specimens to shake unnaturally up and down. He walked behind his desk and sat down. The spiteful look he gave her was similar to the one he would give her whenever she participated in class. She matched his glare. She was not going to be intimidated by him.

She did not even think Snape was capable of being this unfair, but he had managed to sink to an all-new low. He had escorted Cho to her next class, telling her she had detention with him the following night. Hermione thought he was going to do the same for her, but he began leading her down to the dungeons. Her punishment was going to be far worse.

"I have never seen such an outrageous display of behaviour by a prefect in this school. What do you have to say for yourself, Granger?"

Hermione bit her tongue. There was really no point in telling him Cho had attacked her first because he wouldn't believe her anyways.

"I see you get your silence from Potter. But unlike hero boy," he said, leaning over his desk, "you do not have free reign over this school to do whatever you want and know that the Headmaster or someone else will keep you out of any real trouble."

"With all due respect, sir, it should be Professor McGonagall who decides my punishment. She is my head of house and in charge of the prefects after all."

"Nice try, Granger, but since I am the only reliable witness to the incident, I believe it is my duty to hand out the appropriate punishment," he leered.

Her perfect school record would already be ruined, she knew that much. She also knew she might as well make the most of it. "Sir, I would hardly call yourself a reliable witness. You are publicly known for being biased towards your own house and frequently go out of your way to ensure Gryffindor, and especially Harry, are humiliated at every opportunity. I would have to say Mrs. Norris would be a much more reliable source then you, seeing as she has equal prejudice towards every student in this school." She watched as Snape's eyes seemed to bulge with rage and his entire body became as rigid as ice.

Snape stood up and walked around to where Hermione stood, towering over her. "On top of being an insufferable know-it-all, you think it funny to insult and disrespect a teacher. That alone, is worth at least a month of detentions clearing out the storage cupboards in all my classrooms. As for attacking Miss Chang in the hallway – "

"I did not attack her!" She shouted.

"Do not speak unless I give you permission to do so!" He shouted back at her.

Hermione willed herself to calm down, before she lost her head completely. Since when had she turned in to Ron?

"As for attacking Miss Chang," he repeated, "you have set a horrible example for the students of this school and created an unbecoming image of the other prefects. While I could give you another month's worth of detentions, I do not think that would be sufficient for someone of your mentality. I think a much more effective way for you to learn from this would be for you to give up your prefect status."

He was watching her carefully, looking for signs of out cry and disbelief and it worked. No teacher was supposed to have the right to take away a prefect badge except the Head of House, no matter what the circumstances. She knew he was waiting for her to protest exactly that. She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

She ripped the Prefect badge from her robes and slammed it down on his desk. She threw a final loathing look before turning on her heel and storming out of there.

Despite the protests and complaints of much of the Gryffindor team, Katie held the last Gryffindor practice of the semester on the night before they were all scheduled to go home for the holidays. Once they were on the pitch going through drills and scrimmages, not one person seemed to mind anymore, even with the freezing temperature and the snow.

To everyone's amazement Katie actually ended things a little over an hour in. For Harry and Ron, the end could not have come soon enough. Harry, who had been looking forward to one last practice, had spent the entirety of it, wishing it would end. Hermione had not made an appearance during their last class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she had been absent from dinner. They had seen Cho at the Ravenclaw table and had started to worry. But with Katie ordering them all to the pitch straight from dinner, they didn't get a chance to look for her.

Now, he and Ron trudged back to the castle ahead of every one else, until of all people, Dean Thomas fell into step beside him.

"I guess you could say I've been a little unfair to you," Dean said when they were almost to the castle's main door. He missed the nasty look Ron shot his way.

Harry gave a small shrug but didn't say anything. He had gotten so used to not speaking to Dean that he really didn't know what he was supposed to say to him.

"I should probably thank you for hitting me," he went on. "Mind you, I was as mad as hell at you for weeks."

"I didn't mean to hit you," said Harry. "I can't even remember why I lost my temper."

"It probably all happened for the best. I wasn't really sorry for what I had done to Ginny because I didn't think it was wrong. I know better now, and Ginny and I are going to give it another go."

"Really?" Harry said, doing a good job at masking his surprise. He saw Ron's back go rigid in front of him, but he said nothing.

Dean nodded. "We talked a lot and decided that maybe not seeing each other at all over the summer months was part of the problem, so we've made plans to see each other during the holidays."

"That's great, Dean."

Dean was grinning, and when he saw Ginny about to walk passed them, he said to Harry. "I'll talk to you later."

Without waiting for a reply from Harry, he went over to Ginny and started talking to her. Ginny gave him a quick glance before turning her attention to Dean.

"So the bloke's finally talking to you?" Ron said, beside him.

"Looks that way," said Harry in return.

Once they were inside and walking up the marble staircase, Ron spoke in an outraged voice. "I can't believe she's going out with him again!"

Harry said nothing, he just listened to Ron vent about Dean and Ginny for about another five minutes until they reached the fat lady.

"Queen's knight," Ron grumbled and the portrait obediently moved aside.

He scanned the common room for Hermione, but she wasn't there. He did spot Lavender and Pavarti sitting at the table closest to the fireplace. If anyone knew where Hermione might be it was those two. They made it their business to know everyone else's business.

He approached them, saying, "have you seen Hermione?"

"She left awhile ago, and Merlin, she was in a right mood," Lavender told them.

"Is it true she took on Cho Chang?" Pavarti asked. "Do you think she'd let us do an interview with her?"

Ron was already walking away, heading back to the portrait hole. He wasn't going to waste more time answering their questions. He needed to find Hermione.

"Where do you think she is?" Harry asked when they were both out in the hall.

"I have a pretty good idea where she would go," he answered.

The night before the final day of classes for the term, there were barely enough people in the library to fill up a single table. It was easy enough for Ron to pick out Hermione, who was sitting alone at one of the farthest tables.

He and Harry each pulled up a chair beside her. "You really need to find a new place to hide," he said to her.

"I'm not hiding," she informed him. "I just couldn't get any peace in the common room and this seemed the most logical place for me to go."

"What happened with Snape?" Harry asked her first.

"Not much," she said, dropping her gaze back down to her book.

"That's bullocks," said Ron. "Tell us what happened."

Trying to look as though she was immersed in her book, she mumbled, "he took my prefect badge."

"He what?!" Ron roared, noticing for the first time the empty spot on her robe where her prefect badge should have been. That outburst earned him a threatening look from Madame Pince, which he didn't really understand since there wasn't really anyone for him to disturb. "He can't do that," he raged on, but lowering his voice this time. "Only McGonagall can. I've done loads worse and I haven't lost my badge yet. Your record is spotless. That slimy git had–"

"Ron, it's done. There's nothing I can do," she said calmly.

Ron's eyes widened in disbelief. "I can't believe you just said that. Being a prefect means everything to you. You have to talk to McGonagall. She's going to be as mad as hell at Snape."

"I did sort of start things with Cho," she admitted, somewhat embarrassed. "Then I started fighting with her. What kind of example was I setting for the rest of the school?"

"Who cares?" Ron said in exasperation. "She started the fight. You were only defending yourself."

"Then I sort of lost my temper in Snape's office," she said sheepishly. She launched into an explanation of how she had said Mrs. Norris would be a more reliable witness then her potions professor.

Ron wasn't sure whether or not he should laugh. He knew he couldn't look at Harry because for sure the two of them would burst out laughing. It was almost inconceivable that she had insulted Snape right to his face. When she glanced at him, looking mortified at what she had done, he could no longer keep the grin off his face.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that – wow… I can't believe you said that. But he deserved it." He took it as a good sign that she didn't appear angry with his statement.

"He only did that because of me," said Harry, his voice full of regret. "He never would have taken your badge otherwise. I'm sorry, Hermione."

"Harry, it's not your fault," she said instantly. "You know how he goes out of his way to punish Gryffindor. This time wasn't any different."

"I know exactly how Snape is," said Harry, darkly. "And if he thinks he can – "

"No," she said with such force that Ron could swear it was his mother talking. "You are not going to do anything that will give Snape an opportunity to chuck you out of his class for good and stop you from becoming an Auror. You're not going to do anything either, Ron," she said, turning her gaze on him. He was frowning visibly now. "I'm going to serve my detentions – "

"You got detention out of this too? I could kill that bastard – "

" – and not give him one ounce of satisfaction by complaining or protesting about the unfairness of it," she plunged on, cutting Ron off.

"You should still talk to McGonagall," Harry said to her.

She shook her head. "That's what he wants me to do. And the last thing I want is for Professor McGonagall to show any favourtism towards me because that will just prove Snape is right about Gryffindors getting special treatment."

"Blimey, Hermione," said Ron in a weary voice, but knew there was no way he could talk her out of it. She had a stubborn streak in her that rivaled his own.

"I'll be fine," she assured them both. Underneath the table, She put Ron's hand on her leg and held it in her own. "He's already taken away my badge, so there's not really a lot more he can do," she said, trying to look on the bright side.

Ron looked at Harry and could read his friend's expression clearly. From experience, both he and Harry knew exactly what detentions with Snape could be like, and contrary to Hermione's belief there was still a lot he could do to make her life as miserable as possible.