They all sat down at the Gryffindor table just a second before the first years entered for the sorting process. It went by without any problems, but the big problem came after. The tables filled up with food, one tray more fat-filled than the other. Hermione panicked.

"I said I was keeping myself hungry for this," she thought, "so I can hardly claim I'm not hungry." Her stomach just wanted to throw the "wanting to be thin-thing" out the window and indulge in all the goodies. Hermione was very hungry.

"No!" She thought furiously, "I have to get out of here before I loose control!" She got an idea. She clamped her hand over her mouth as if she was gonna barf and ran out. Instead of going to the toilets though, she ran towards the dormitories. But when she got there, she realised she didn't know the new password. She slid down at the wall. She was up for a long wait.

A few days had passed and people had started to notice Hermione's eating habits. She wouldn't eat at mealtimes, and if she did, she went straight to the toilet after. Harry and Ron tried to talk to her about it but she would just snap at them and turn her back. They started spending less and less time with her. One day, she confronted them about it.

"Look," Harry said, "Er…Well…"

"You've been weird lately, and you're not the Hermione we were friends with," Ron said.

"So we thought…maybe we should take a break…" Harry added.

"You don't want to be friends anymore," Hermione said, trying to stop her lip from trembling.

"Of course we do!" Harry assured her. "We just…well…we're feeling really confused at how you've changed and…er…if we're not always together it would be easier to get used to it."

"Fine!" Hermione said with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to be friends with you anyway!" And she stormed off.

The next day Hermione didn't go to class. She couldn't stand seeing them sitting there, talking together, and not being a part of it. She said to Ginny that she was sick, and Ginny just nodded and went off to see her new boyfriend. Hermione tried to see the good side of things. If she had no friends, she had no one to nag her about eating. She spent all day in bed, reading her books. (She didn't want to get behind in class). At least it kept her mind off things.

At dinnertime, the door opened. Hermione looked up to see who it was, and was astounded at seeing professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" she stuttered, sitting herself up. McGonagall sat down on the side of the bed.

"Hermione, it would be very good if you could come down to dinner." She thought frantically on how to avoid it.

"Um…no I don't think so…bad stomach!" Hermione was sure she saw a flash of pain in her teacher's eyes as she nodded.

"All right Hermione…but…don't take it too far." And with that she left.

The next day Hermione had to go to class. The first class that day was potions. Perfect!

When she entered the classroom she had no idea where to sit. Harry and Ron were laughing quietly together. She looked around. Great – the only free spot was next to Malfoy. With a heavy heart she sat down next to him. Normally, her, Harry and Ron sat close together, but today, Neville was next to them. Malfoy glared at her. Suddenly, her stomach made a rumbling noise. Malfoy grinned and whispered something to Goyle who laughed out loud.

"Yeah! Fatso's hungry again!"

"Silence!" Snape said, but with a smirk on his face. "Miss Granger, maybe you could manage without eating until the end of the class?" Hermione's face went beat red. She hadn't eaten for over a day, that's why her belly was rumbling. But now everyone was going to think she was a greedy slob. She looked over at Harry and Ron to stop them from saying anything, it would only make things worse. It felt like a stab in her heart when she saw them still talking together, not paying any attention to her humiliation. Hermione felt like crying.

After what felt like the longest class ever Hermione ran out. Malfoy caught up with her and shouted;

"Hey! Mudblood!" she stopped. "I know what you're doing, you know," he said. "And I think it's hilarious. Fatso." Hermione saw Harry and Ron walk past and looked at them with pleading eyes. They met her gaze, but walked away. Hermione wanted to die. She was all alone.