Thank you to my reviewers -- it is indeed nice to find reviews in my mail. As to 'will this be buffy-centric -- um, no. I'm not overly fond of Buffy, but she and the scoobies will show up later on completely AU, mind you. Anyway, ditto on my disclaimer, etc. if only. . . but here's the next chapter.

When One Dies, The Next Is Called. . .

Hermione Granger was suddenly awake. She immediately found what had woken her. She had

fallen out of her four poster bed and was lying on the cold wood floor. Shaking her head, she

climbed back into bed, happy she had not woken her roommates. She had been having the

strangest dream, of a girl a little older than her, fighting a strange creature. It had reminded her of

strongly of evil. The girl had taken heavy wounds but had killed it. In the end, the girl fell from

the cliff. That was when Hermione awoke. It was only dawn, but she was wasn't tired. No one

else was up yet, so she quietly dressed and went down the common room. She felt strangely full

of energy. She sat down with a book and read until she heard people coming down the stairs

from the boy's dormitories.

"Good morning, Harry. Morning, Ron." she said as the two walked into the room, rubbing sleep

from their eyes.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry replied, but Ron shook his head.

"What are you doing, Hermione? It may be only a week into term, but no one has the right to

look as chipper in the morning as you do right now."

Hermione shrugged. "Forgive me for being so well-rested, Ron. I had no idea it was offensive."

She put her book in her bag and the three of them headed to breakfast. In the Great Hall, they

had the misfortune to enter at the same time as Draco Malfoy was leaving. Ron walked straight

into him, knocking his books out of his arms.

"You stupid git! How dare you walk into me, you sorry excuse for a wizard." Malfoy cried.

"Leave him alone, Malfoy, it wasn't his fault." Hermione sighed.

"Stay out of this, mudblood." Draco sneered at her. She suddenly went from laconic to boiling

mad.

"How dare you!" she breathed, taking a step toward him. Malfoy smirked, motioning to Goyle,

who raised a clenched fist. Harry reached for his wand, but Hermione beat him. Knocking

Goyle's fist aside, she punched him in the gut. He fell back over Crabbe, who fell, and still

skidded seven feet into the Hall on his arse. The volume level in that room dropped as everyone

stopped to stare at whoever had just toppled the two biggest menaces in the school. In was with

no greater surprise when Hermione stuck her head in. She paused once over them, then walked

silently to the Gryffindor table. Harry and Ron followed her, looking incredulous.

As they sat down to breakfast, the eyes of the school on them, Harry asked quietly,

"Um, Hermione, how did you, I mean, did you just really, ah, are you feeling yourself today?"

Hermione calmly buttered her toast. "I just felt that they deserved it. I'm just feeling very good

today. He just didn't expect me, so he was off guard. Nothing special."

Ron and Harry looked at each other, sharing the knowledge that it would take something akin to

a bulldozer to push Goyle back.

People avoided Hermione all morning, through Potions, herbology, and Care of Magical

Creatures. Their last class of the day was transfiguration. Professor McGonagal gave

instructions, demonstrated, and then watched the class practice.

Hermione happily took out her wand. They had not done anything with them all day. Pointing it

at the pincushion on her desk, she performed the proper wave and clearly intoned the spell. As

expected, it became a swan, made of ice.

"Well done, Hermione," McGonagal began, but suddenly, the ice sculpture burst into flame.

Nearly instantly, it melted to a steaming puddle. Hermione watched it drip off the desk in shock.

McGonagal raised her eyebrows, "Perhaps a little bit less force? This is a delicate

tranformation."

Hermione nodded as Ron handed her a new pincushion. Confused, she murmured to herself,

"But I hardly tried at all."

The lesson continued, the students still wary of there model student, who was behaving very

oddly. She incinerated ten more pincushions until she achieve an ice dragon that sat on her desk,

hissing steam. Near the close of the class, a large owl swooped through one of the tall windows

and dropped a letter in the professor's hands. Scowling, she unrolled it. Her lips thinned. Over

the top of the page, she discreetly stared at Hermione, who sat staring dejectedly at her work.

Silently, she wrote shortly on a piece of paper and tied in to the owl. It rose and left as abruptly

as it had come. The lesson ended, and the students stood to leave.

"Hermione, would you stay for a moment, please?" the girl's eyes widened in fear. Harry and

Ron patted her shoulder and whispered that they'd be outside the door waiting.

When everyone was gone, Hermione began, "I'm sorry about today, Professor McGonagal, I

guess I'm just a little off. I'll try harder next time."

The witch nodded, "Come with me. We're going to see the headmaster.

"Professor?" Hermione squeaked, trailing her teacher out into the corridor, flashing a worried

look at her friends as she hurried past. They stared after her, curious.

When Hermione was seated in a squashy chair before Dumbledore, with McGonagal standing

between them, her heart was beating a mile a minute.

"What's this about, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Headmaster. I have just been informed by my other employers. Addenya Hildisson is dead. A

new slayer has been called. The letter said that it has been indicated that the new Slayer is here,

but that they cannot identify her due to the school's protective charms."

"You have written back with her name, I presume.' Dumbledore asked.

McGonagal nodded. "I have been appointed her Watcher."

The two adults seemed to have forgotten about Hermione. She spoke. "Professor Dumbledore?

Professor McGonagal? What does this have to do with me?"

The two looked at her. Then McGonagal addressed her. "Hermione Granger, you have been

called as the next Vampire Slayer."

Hermione thought back to a book she'd read the year before. "The Slayer? I think I've heard of

her. . ."

Dumbledore quoted, "One girl in all the world to stand against the vampires and demons and

stem the tide of evil in the world. When one slayer dies the next is called, as it is and always has

been, since the first."

Hermione was beginning to be afraid again. "I think there must be some mistake. I don't think

I'd can be a slayer. . ." she thought back to the morning's incident with Goyle. "Or maybe I

am?"

McGonagal nodded, "I am very sure of it, Hermione. The last slayer's watcher, Daniel Nilson, is

coming here. Apparently, the last Slayer had something she wanted to say to you."

"What do I do?" Hermione asked.

Mcgonagal smiled smally. "To begin, you train."

Hermione did not make it back to the dorm until late that night. When she crawled through the

portrait hole, she found Harry and Ron waiting for her.

"So? What happened, Hermione?" Ron demanded.

Hermione had been told she couldn't tell anyone about her calling. "McGonagal just took me to

see Dumbledore. She thought he might know what was up with my magic."

They waited. Ron prompted, "And?"

Hermione just shrugged. "He just suggested that I try to use less force. Good night, Harry.

Night, Ron." She climbed up the stairs to her room and disappeared from sight.

Harry and Ron started up to there room. "Do you get the feeling she's not telling us something?"

Harry nodded. "Definitely. But what?"