DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters used hereafter.

CHAPTER 7: CONFRONTATION

"Come on Hermione! You have to get up now! "

Hermione rolled over and groaned. It was Monday already, and that meant classes. Usually she would be the first up and eagerly waiting for them to begin, but somehow the thought of seeing all these people she knew from the future who were deatheaters, dead or just so worn out by the war that they were practically dead didn't appeal to her.

"Come on lazy!" called Lily again as she pulled back the curtain around the bed to find a drowsy looking Hermione pulling the pillow over her head. "You've got to get up."

She laughed as she wrestled the covers from Hermione's vice like grip. Hermione grumbled loudly and stubbornly kept her eyes closed.

"Really now, is this anyway to start off at a new school?" grinned Lily.

"It's not new!" huffed Hermione.

Lily was a bit taken aback by this. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, "You've only been here a short while."

"Of course I haven't silly, I've been here for the last…" Hermione sat straight up in bed, a look of horror on her face.

'Oh crap' she thought before leaping up and running into the bathroom.

"See! I'm up!" she yelled through the locked door at Lily.

All Lily could do was stand and stare at the closed door. What had Hermione meant by that? Lily shook her head and tried to put it out of her mind. 'It must have been a dream she had or something' she rationalized with herself but somehow she couldn't forget about it and she continued to think about it until Hermione emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and ready to go to breakfast.

"Something wrong?" asked Hermione innocently silently hoping that Lily had forgotten about earlier.

When Lily didn't respond but just sat there Hermione got even more worried.

"Em… Lily?" she said again, "You okay?"

Lily's head shot up and an obviously forced smile appeared on her face. "I'm fine, you ready to go?"

Hermione felt slightly uneasy at Lily's odd behaviour. 'I've got to be more careful' she scolded herself before smiling and moving towards the door.

The boys were already waiting for them by the time they reached the common room.

"What took you two lovely ladies so long?" yelled Sirius loudly across the room at them.

"Sleeping beauty here didn't want to get up." Smiled Lily as they reached the waiting boys.

Hermione blushed, "I had a late night last night." She muttered.

"A late night? Well, well, I didn't think you were that kind of girl." Grinned Sirius cheekily.

"Oh shut up Sirius." Said James, "What were you doing up so late though?" he added.

"Oh, I was in the library." Said Hermione shortly not wanting to expand too much.

"Why were you in the library? You don't have any homework yet." Squeaked Peter.

"Em… yeah. I just wanted to find out some information on personal stuff." Said Hermione glancing nervously at Remus.

He caught her eyes with his own for a brief moment before she turned away and headed to the portrait hole, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation. The others shrugged and followed her. Remus stared after them for a moment before following them.

As they walked down to the great hall Hermione was completely lost in her own thoughts. She had been going to the library a lot. She wanted to find out as much as she could about her fits before she resorted to going to Madam Pomfrey of Dumbledore. She hadn't made much progress so far, but she was sure she could find something that would help her. Remus bothered her a lot though. He seemed to be keeping a close eye on her. She often felt his eyes on her while she poured over book after book. He knew perfectly well what she was up to as well. She knew he still wanted her to go to the hospital wing but she was stubborn. She wouldn't go. Not just yet anyway.

The group finally reached the great hall and sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table together. Hermione didn't have much of an appetite and instead spent most of the time staring around the great hall. She'd be in class soon and she'd have to be near some of these people. She didn't want to be anywhere near to some of them. It would just be too hard for her, but she'd have to do it. They'd get suspicious otherwise.

Sighing she stood up deciding that she should go and get her bag. That and compose herself.

"Where are you going?" asked Lily, "You haven't eaten a single bite. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine replied Hermione dismissively, her mind still not fully concentrating.

"You shouldn't go without breakfast you know." Said Remus shortly, "It's not good for your health and you haven't exactly been the best in the last while."

Hermione turned to face him. She stared into his grey eyes and he stared right back, his face set.

"I'm not hungry." She replied and walked away and into the entrance hall.

As she reached the bottom of the staircase she felt her breath catch in her chest. 'Not now' she thought. She reached out and grabbed the banister, steadying herself. Squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her jaw she waited for the fit to pass. It wasn't as bad as the other ones, but it was still painful. Behind her she heard footsteps. She was afraid to open her eyes in case it was someone she didn't want to see. The person stopped right beside her and she could feel whoever it was watching her before she felt herself being lifted and carried up the stairs. She felt herself being laid on a soft couch and the fit begin to pass.

Gasping in a large welcome breath of oxygen her eyes snapped open to see Remus crouching over her.

"You really need to do something about this." He whispered looking down on her.

"I know." She croaked, "I'm working on it."

"IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO JUST READ A FEW BOOKS ON IT! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT DOESN'T PASS AND YOU STOP BREATHING FOR TOO LONG! YOU'LL GET BRAIN DAMAGE, OR WORSE, YOU'LL DIE!"

Hermione was taken aback by Remus' outburst.

"I… It's not…" but she couldn't think of anything to say. He was right.

"I'm sorry." He said, clearly trying to control his emotions. "It's just that, well, I hate to see people suffer. Especially people I care about." He turned away.

Hermione sat up straighter. "How can you care about me when you've only known me for such a short time?" she asked reaching a hand out and placing it on his shoulder. He moved away sharply at her touch.

"I don't know." He said. "I just feel that way."

Hermione was slightly shocked by this and she stood turning him to face her.

"Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you for caring. You hardly know me yet you're willing to be there for me."

"You have no one else anyway, and you need support after everything that's happened to you. I don't even know the half of it." He said this almost willing her to tell him everything.

Hermione was definitely tempted to, but she knew she couldn't. Not just yet anyway.

"I'm sorry, I really would like to tell you everything, but I just can't. There's too much to tell and you'd probably be too shocked by it all." She said

He nodded to show her understood.

"I promise to tell you more about me though. Some things will have to be left out, but I feel I owe it to you that you know more about me."

Remus smiled at her, obviously glad that she was willing to open up more. "Thank you. We should get to class now though or we'll be late."

"You're right. What do we have first?"

"Potions with the Slytherins." He replied cringing.

The two grabbed their bags and left for the dungeons. Downstairs they met up with the others and went the rest of the way down to the dungeons.

Hermione noticed that the attitude of Slytherins and Gryffindors was exactly the same as in her time. Both groups stood far apart, neither conversing with the other. It was almost laughable.

The teacher arrived shortly after they did and all the students followed him into the classroom. He was a short man with shoulder length brown hair and almost black eyes. When he spoke his voice was deathly quiet.

"I am Professor Duncton. This is your final and most important year at this school. If any of you plan on actually doing something decent with your lives, I suggest you pay attention to what I teach you. Today we will not be brewing any potions and will instead be taking notes on this years course so please take out some parchment and a quill and get ready to begin."

"Oh joy, he's just like Snape," muttered Hermione under her breath.

"Did you say something?" asked Lily looking at her.

"Oh," said Hermione startled, "No, well yes. I was just saying that Professor Duncton's just like my old potions teacher."

Lily looked at her strangely but then nodded seriously, "Yeah, he's a real git at times but he's a good teacher. Get's the work done."

Hermione nodded too. "Yeah."

They spent the rest of the class taking notes on the year's course. At the end of the class there was a scuffle as everyone gathered their belongings together and put them into their bags.

Hermione was just about to pack away all of her notes and quills when someone passing her desk knocked over her ink bottle smashing it all over her notes and ruining them.

"Hey!" she said loudly causing all the Marauders and Lily to turn around.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident." Sneered a voice that clearly wasn't sorry. Hermione who had been staring at her ruined notes recognised the voice and froze. She snapped her head up, her eyes making contact with a silvery-grey pair. The eyes of Lucius Malfoy. Hermione felt her blood boiling and she took a step towards him menacingly.

"You!" she hissed menacingly, "Of all the people, it would be you!"

Lucius took a step back clearly confused by how she knew him but quickly recovered.

"You presume to know me Gryffindor scum?" he said loudly, "I don't think you're the sort that I'd associate with."

And turning sharply he strolled off followed by a mob of Slytherins all giving Hermione a glare as they passed. Hermione stared after them, still enraged by having seen the person who did this to her. She would get revenge. Grabbing her belongings and slinging her bag over her shoulder she stalked out of the classroom clearly not in the mood for answering questions. The others all followed her slightly confused and curious.

A/N: A thousand million apologies to you all. I have been extremely busy recently and also I didn't seem to be able to log in for a while to update. School is completely over now though so I will be updating more often. I swear. I was quite happy with this chapter, more so than some of the other ones anyway. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my friend Paul (the author known as PaulC) who is leaving me all alone to go to the Institute for the next 2 years (yes, he is crazy but it's not that kind of institute). This is for you Paul!

amrawo: All will become apparent eventually. I'm glad you liked it. I will miss getting your reviews for a while but there should be plenty for you to read when you get back. Enjoy whatever it is you will be doing!

Remmy's Gurl: You are way to good at guessing stuff. I might have to 'take care of you' if you're not careful ;). There will be more on Peter soon; I really don't like him so it won't be nice. Your review is appreciated as always!

need-courage-to-write: thanks for the review, it is appreciated. Thank you for pointing out the typo, it was very helpful. Don't worry about James and Lily, you'll see some hatred soon ;)

PaulC: I cried when I read you review… cried with happiness of course. No actually I didn't, but still that is the most awesome thing anyone has ever said about my writing! Thank you so much. This chapter is for you, I hope you like it and I'll miss you loads!