This is the second chapter. I hope you like!

Chapter Two-Finding Strength

Hermione ran to the Fat Lady, trying to wipe the evidence of her tears off of her face. She was strong, she could handle this.

"Unicorn hair," she said in a raspy voice. Her throat was raw from crying and screaming at Professor Snape. Thinking back to that, she thought about the things she had screamed at him. She was really going to regret it in the near future, but what did she care?

The Fat Lady gave her a look of pity, seeing the sadness in her face, but let her admittance.

As she walked into the common room, she saw the three people she dreaded to see momentarily: Ron, Ginny and Harry. They were sitting around the fireplace. Ron was in one of the big cozy red armchairs and Ginny was next to Harry on the matching sofa. They seen that Hermione was back and waved her over.

Hermione took a deep breath and walked over to where her boyfriend and best friends were sitting. She didn't want to tell them at the moment, but it as good a time as any.

Ron pulled her onto his lap. She successfully held back the tears that threatened to come.

"So, what all did McGonagall want?"

Hermione remembered that she had told them that it was probably something to do with Head Girl duties. It was time to tell them. She knew that they would comfort her. She only wondered if she'd break down before she could get the whole story out. She took another deep breath and began.

"Th-there was another Deatheater a-attack," she began, tears filling in her eyes.

The three all looked at her curiously.

Ron put a strand of stray hair behind her ear.

Hermione closed her eyes and continued. "My parents were apart of the attack." With this last sentence, she broke down again.

There was a stunned silence and then Harry broke it.

"Hermione, I am so sorry."

Ron pulled her to his chest and began to rock her back and forth. Ginny and Harry looked at each other before getting up to hug their hurt friend. With this Hermione cried harder. She was glad she had such good friends. She would make it through this with their help.

And that's the way they stayed for minutes. Finally, they all broke away, besides Ron who had his head on her head and was still rocking her.

"Don't worry 'Mione," Harry said sitting at the end of the couch, "we'll get you through this." He offered her a small smile.

Ginny, who hadn't spoken yet, agreed with him.

Hermione cried until she fell asleep in Ron's arms. After he was sure that she was asleep, he picked her up and carried her to the Head Girl's quarters and laid Hermione in her bed.

After softly closing the door behind him, he went where his best friend and sister were and sat back down into the armchair. From there, they began to talk about how they could help their friend cope with the loss of her parents.

Severus Snape sat in his quarters thinking about the girl, no woman, as she was now an adult, that he had just seen. He had never seen her so upset, not even when he had insulted her intelligence in class. Yes, in her fourth year when he insulted her about her teeth after the duel between Potter and Malfoy she had been upset, but not as upset as she had been in the Astronomy Tower.

He went to his cupboard and pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey and took a big gulp. After making a face from the strong whiskey, he walked into his bathroom and took a shower. Contrary to popular belief, he did shower and was much of a clean freak. His oily hair came from the amount of time he spent bent over cauldrons and it didn't help that he dried his hair with magic. It only made the matter worse.

After drying off and putting on his silky black pajamas, Severus went back to his sitting room and took another gulp of fire whiskey. Once again, his thoughts drifted to the Gyrffindor. Although she was a show-off, he did respect her intellect and her keen interest in learning. He wouldn't tell any one of this though. He thought that her choice in friends was terrible and she would always be an insufferable know-it-all in his eyes. Still, he wondered why she was so upset.

After finishing his bottle of fire whiskey, he headed to his bedroom and fell to the bed in a drunken state. Severus then fell into a restless sleep plagued by nightmares of Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione awoke early the next morning and glanced at her clock: five o' clock. She didn't remember going into her quarters the previous night. Ron must have carried her in there she decided.

Her quarters were large with her own bathroom and large canopy bed. Of course, the walls were scarlet with gold trimming. Her bed was draped with a large scarlet comforter and gold linen sheets. The curtains around the bed were also scarlet.

Hermione went to her closet and pulled out a pair of flared jeans, fresh undergarments and a baggy navy blue T-shirt. She then proceeded to the bathroom which was on the left from her bed. It was huge, not as huge as the prefect bathroom, but close. She turned on the tap with the small purple bubbles that had the scent of lavender and waited for the tub to fill up. The bathroom was unlike the bedroom. It had white walls with the Gryffindor crest on the one by the bath and had as many as twenty different taps on the sides.

Hermione got undressed and slid into the bath. It felt good, although she still felt terrible about the news she had received the previous evening.

Deep in her mind, she felt it was her fault that her parents were attacked. She tried to tell herself that it was just another random Deatheater attack, but something told her otherwise. She also wondered why she wasn't crying. Sure she had cried her heart out the night before, but now she just felt . . . numb.

After ten minutes of soaking, she put shampoo in her hands and massaged it into her hair. Her thoughts wandered to Snape. How would he treat her in class this afternoon? After the episode last night in the Astronomy Tower, she dreaded going to Potions tomorrow afternoon. She just knew that tomorrow was going to be a terrible day.

'Well, Hermione, your parents were just murdered and you cussed out a Professor, not to mention the most dreaded Professor of Hogwarts.'

After rinsing her hair and washing, she sighed and got out of the bath.

When she was dressed and had her hair pulled into a ponytail, she noted it was 5:30 and no one was going to be up at this hour on a Sunday. She then decided that she would take a walk in the gardens that were beside the castle. They had been her secret place since her fourth year. She always went there when she was upset.

Grabbing her black jacket and slipping on her white Nike trainers, she walked out of her dormitory, leaving a quick note to her friends telling them where she was in case they freaked out when they found her gone.

The stairway to the girls dormitories started by the door to the Head Girl's dormitory. Hermione glanced around. As she thought, she was the only person that seemed to be awake. She then proceeded to the gardens. What she didn't know was that she was about to run into the last person she wanted to see.

The End

Just Kidding

BowlingStar-yes, very bad Hermione, but she told him!

Dark Whisperss-I am glad you like it! Here's a quick update, but they all won't be this quick, I just have a free day.