It was early the next morning when the obvious anger Hermione had came to a head. They were walking down to class when Blaise accidentally nudged her shoulder, it seemed to be on accident too, he was walking with Pansy in the opposite direction when he made some comment that caused her too push him lightly just as he passed the angry brown-haired girl. Their shoulders contacted her eyes lit with fury.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME ZABINI! 100 points from Slytherin for attacking a prefect!" The whole crowd looked stunned, from Blaise, Pansy, Millicent and Theodore Nott to the Gryffindors with Hermione. Seamus, Dean, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Padma and the Creevy brothers all turned to look at her with shock.

"What are you talking about Granger?" Blaise asked, his eyes trailed over the group behind her, either sizing them up for a fight and weighing his options or looking for support.

"You hit me!" She screamed, her finger jabbed in his direction accusingly.

"When?" Pansy asked, frowning.

"Just now!" She growled, flinging her arm to the space she'd been seconds before.

"Look, Granger, I didn't hit you or didn't mean to, sorry," Blaise decided to try and drop the subject.

"Another 50 points for disregarding my authority and a month of detention." Hermione said, she stopped shouting but now adopted a look of superiority.

"What!" the Slytherins whirled around and Blaise looked mightily peeved.

"You're being completely biased, these accusations are without ground and you have not right to dish out this sort of crap, especially not to me."

"Is that a challenge of my authority?" Hermione asked, sounding rather cruel.

"No, it's a challenge of your punishment and ethics in dealing with other students." Blaise corrected her, he sneered in the way only a Slytherin could. Harry saw Ron's eyelids flutter as Zabini did this and he didn't know why. Ron stepped up and took Hermione's shoulder. "Lay off 'Mione, you're not making any sense."

"RON! As my fellow prefect I think you'd support me of anyone here." Hermione rounded on him. "Not when you're being a wicked bitch." Ron said, shaking his head. Hermione let out a scream and slapped him.

"Don't you dare touch him." Blaise stamped his foot.

"What are you going to do about it, you little Slytherin shit?"

Blaise's face contorted in anger and he walked up, right into Hermione's face, he was only a few inches taller than her and he slapped her.

She gasped and turned purple with anger, reminding Harry very much of his uncle. "You can't hit me, I'm a girl!"

"You're a wretched little wench is what you are. I'm more of a lady than you are Granger, so shut up and deal with getting hit back. Don't expect that having a vagina makes me think twice about slapping you again." Blaise sneered and grabbed Ron's wrist and began walking away. Ron looked a little relived to be taken away from the mess and Harry fleetingly wondered why he wasn't beating the Slytherin away with a stick.

Is there something there? Harry questioned silently.

"You!" Hermione rounded on him. Harry was taken aback and stepped away from her.

"What?"

"Why didn't you support me, defend me?"

"You were in the wrong Hermione," Harry said, slightly nervous with their close range.

"No I was not!" She screamed and looked ready to slap him.

"Yeah you were." Seamus spoke up. A sound of agreement spread through the crowd. Pansy was glancing between where Blaise disappeared to and the Gryffindor group. Theo and the other Slytherins were beginning to leave, wanting no part in Granger's next fit.

"Hey, Potter," Pansy called to him.

Hermione whirled around to scream at Pansy but stopped when she saw her standing with her wand out.

"Yeah?"

"You and the gang are going to be late, I'm a prefect, I'll take care of her for you." Pansy motioned to Hermione.

"Uhm, thanks," Harry nodded and led the group quickly down the hall.

Harry sat at Lunch not having seen Hermione that whole day and picked at his chicken, he was a little worried for her but mostly thought she deserved it. He looked up as the door entered to see Draco walk in with Blaise, they were talking about something and seemed very caught up in their conversation.

He sat there, talking to Neville when he remembered there was a Quidditch game the next day, Saturday, between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He smiled and discussed possible outcomes with the other Sixth Year boys until Ron showed up, slightly disgruntled looking and a little roughed up.

"Ron? What happened to you, mate?" Harry moved up to make room for his friend.

"Nothing, I," he paused, "I just fell down some stairs."

"Oh." Harry gave him a look requesting he be informed later and Ron nodded his consent.

There was a strange scream and Hermione ran into the Great Hall, she looked wild and outraged, her eyes narrowed dangerously and trained on Pansy, then Draco. She huffed, quelling her rage and stalked over to the Gryffindor table, a section of which was immediately vacated for her private use. Harry could smell the Forbidden Forest on her from where she sat a few empty spots down.

What had Parkinson done?

"So, how have you been?" Ron asked Harry.

"Fine, we just had History of Magic, which you weren't there for might I add. So I got my nap in for the day." Ron laughed and a sudden tension settled on them. They turned and saw Hermione glaring at them dangerously.

"I think I'll be going to the library," she announced since she had their attention, she got up and left immediately, watched by most of the school. Harry didn't notice the Blaise and Draco had left just a moment earlier. Ron had though.

"I have to go too." Ron jumped up and Harry went after him.

"What's going on Ron?"

"Malfoy and Zabini left just before Hermione."

A deep sense of protectiveness settled in Harry's stomach and he followed the girl and Ron towards the library. He saw Draco's blonde head disappear behind a book case and saw Hermione walking carefully towards that area, then she drew her wand.

"GRANGER!" Harry ran into the open.

She spun around and fired a stunning spell at him. "Sorry Harry, but I have to teach the Slytherins to respect me." She sounded like petite little Hermione just trying to make things right. Harry dodged the spell and drew his own wand. She turned around the corner and pointed her wand at the people down the aisle.

Ron pulled out his wand and fired at her but she moved behind the case. She opened her mouth and shouted a spell to make them green and hideous. Harry felt a surge of magic come from him and race the spell to Draco, like a shield around the blonde it ricocheted off and hit Hermione square in the chest. Harry raced over her twitching form to Draco and lifted the panting and witless boy off the ground.

"I thought she was going to kill us, Harry," Draco said quietly, he sighed and curled his finger into a fist against Harry's chest where he was being held. Ron ran down the aisle and picked Blaise up of the floor and hugged him close. Draco looked shocked at Blaise and Ron and Harry exchanged kind of sheepish looks of surprise.

"What's happened here?" Dumbledore looked between the boys and Hermione.

"Uhm…"

Okay, I have over 200 reviews and it's incredibly gratifying because they're mostly happy reviews. I'm really excited and I'm glad you like the story, this is going somewhere I swear! HAHA!

I love you mak mak! throws candy to reviewers Happy Spring Break!

XOXO! -FireStorm