Gah! Sorry about my lack of updating, but with a combination of pneumonia and ideas for original stories, my fanfictions became third priority. Sorry about that! Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews. This will be extra-long!

Harry eyed the bookshelves, sweat dripping off of his forehead. He wiped a damp hand across his face and sighed, cursing the early September evening heat. It was so hot, and he couldn't pull up his sleeves. If he did, he would reveal the tattoos.

Oh, he doubted anyone would care that he had tattoos. Everyone Muggle-born had tattoos and piercings, it was the new thing. It was what was on the tattoos that would rack people off. He was not going to roll up his sleeves. He refused it.

He noticed Hermione sitting at one of the library tables with some textbooks and grinned. Maybe she could help him study.

He sidled over and sat down next to her. "Hi, Hermione. I was wondering if you could help…if you could…" He noticed her face and blinked.

Hermione, who was usually so cool and collected, emotionless unless something big happened, was red-faced. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, eyes reddened, lips bitten bloody.

"Whoa. What happened to you?"

She broke into a round of almost-quiet tears, attempting to completely silence them by rubbing her eyes and nose.

Harry trawled through Bad Things That Could Happen To Hermione: Bad test grade (not an option here, as it was only two days into the semester), Slytherins Being Evil (probably not; they didn't have fodder yet), Ron being stupid (but Ron had been up in the dorms all evening), PMS (he did not want to go there), family problems…

"Hermione," he repeated kindly, rubbing her back and smiling nervously, "what's wrong?"

"I…can't tell you," she hiccupped, pulling away from him slightly.

"Why not? You tell me everything." Except for Lupin being a werewolf, which caused a bit of a problem, he thought.

"Because you'll hate me."

"What?" Harry was startled. He started adding onto the list of Bad Things That Could Happen To Hermione: She's actually a boy, she's pregnant, she accidentally killed someone over summer break, she's been raped, she was dating Malfoy… "I won't hate you."

"Yes you will."

"Hermione. I guarantee that whatever it is that's bothering you, I will not hate you. Unless, of course, you are dating Draco Malfoy, in which case I will hate you until you break up with him and bring me one of his testicles as proof."

She smiled briefly at that, but her face quickly returned to the unhappy, salt-streaked shadow that it was before. "You'll hate me. I know you will. Ginny hates me."

Harry blinked. "Why does Ginny hate you?"

"Because I don't hate her."

Harry prodded this phrase, dissected it thoroughly in his mind, and still had absolutely no idea what it meant. "What?"

Hermione muttered something along the lines of "typical male" and started to hum.

Harry knew the tune—he had bought the bootleg CD used at RadWorld and had endured a lot of taunting from Dudley for it, though later he had caught Dudley jamming around to a remix of Track 2. It was the Russian version of t.A.t.U's All The Things She Said.

"Oh, okay. You're an L word. Is that it?" He undid the buttons on his sleeves and rolled them up so Hermione could get a good look at his tattoos.

Hermione blinked at them. "Er…is that Ron there?"

Harry blushed. "Um…Yes."

"Is…is that what I think it is?"

He checked where she was staring. "Probably not."

"Good Lord." She tried to hold in a snort of laughter.

"Right. I don't hate you because of that. Now. Why are you crying?" He buttoned his sleeves back up and got ready for some juicy details.

Hermione's face immediately darkened. She glared down at the tabletop. "Sanaz."

"Sanaz? That weirdo American? I like her. Bit odd, but—umm…" Harry was silenced by a fresh round of tears. "Um…Did something happen?"

"Let me put it this way. If she was male and Ginny hadn't come in, I'd be pregnant," Hermione said savagely, staring angrily at the table as if the wood personally offended her.

"What? She—good GOD! Tell someone, for Chrissakes!" Harry was horrified. He mentally ticked off Rape on his Bad Things That Could Have Happened to Hermione List. He also added Attack By Strange Student and ticked that one off too.

"I can't tell someone! You don't say that a girl sexually assaulted you if you're a girl! It'll spread around school like wildfire and everyone will just say you'd been having hot sex with her, and for god's sake Sanaz will encourage the damn rumor!" Hermione was shout-whispering, this being a library, but she looked angry as all hell.

"Jeesusss…" Harry wiped his forehead, and then remembered something. "Where does Ginny come into this?"

"Well…" Hermione munched her lips, causing more blood. "Um. I. I um. I'm. I…"

"Yes, yes, I got that part, but…how does she get in between you and Sanaz?"

"I'm an artist," she confessed tinnily. "Sanaz saw me drawing a…a…a, well, naked picture of her this morning, so after dinner she went after me and told me that she would be much bettor for me than Ginny, because she was already a lesbian, and attacked me. And then the portrait hole opened, Sanaz pretended that she was just studying with me, Ginny picked up my sketchbook and freaked out, I ran down here and then you found me. And. And. And now I don't know what to do, because now Ginny hates me and Sanaz is a scary manipulative bitch and…oh god…" She started to sob.

Harry hugged her until the sobs subsided into sniffles.

"It's all right," he said quietly, looking at her and smiling gently. "I'll be here for you. I don't care what anyone else says, I'll always be here for you. It'll be all right."

He checked the clock. Nine-thirty. They had half an hour to get to the dorm.

"Come on, let's go to bed," he said, helping her up. "We can deal with this in the morning. I'll help you with anything you need help with. Except for Potions."

Hermione sighed. "I guess you're right." She picked up her books and began, with Harry, the long walk up to the dormitories.

Eight o' clock the next morning, Ginny and Sanaz were nowhere in sight.

Ron was talking to Seamus about something as Hermione slid into her seat and stared at her sausage and crepes.

Harry hadn't shown up yet, which was to be expected. The Quidditch team had an early practice today. Mentally she reviewed her schedule. All advanced classes until lunch, which meant she would be with Sanaz until lunch, and then she would be doing doubles with the rest of the Gryffindors. Oh god. Sanaz all day. She feverently hoped that the girl was sick, or would stay away, or something goddamned tactful.

Mail owls swooped into the hall. Hermione ignored all but the two that dropped notes onto her plate.

Wait.

Two?

Ignoring the usual lavender envelope from her mother, Hermione grabbed the crude Spellotape-and-parchment packet and delicately peeled it open.

Two thin sheets fell out.

hermione. i was so stupid to act like that. forgive me.

The second sheet made her gape.

It was the picture she had drawn of Ginny, except reproduced crudely and messily with pencils and quill. Instead of Ginny's face and short, straight, blood red hair, there were her own back-length hazel waves. To make clear any confusion between the two, there was an arrow and hermione.

Written under the picture was a time (noon) and the words closed wing of north tower.

Hermione immediately jumped up and ran towards the Quidditch pitch.

"Great practice, guys! The only thing I have to fault us with is our harmonics! Other than that, we're all terrific! Showers!"

Harry blew the whistle for the last time and watched the team dissipate. He was just about to follow them when he was hit in the back by one hundred and three pounds of sixteen-year-old lesbian.

"HARRY! HARRY! HARRY! LOOK!" Hermione squealed, waving the notes in his face and squirming with delight.

"I'd love to…if you'd just GET OFFF OF ME!" Harry panted, trying to peel Hermione off. She obliged and handed him her triumph. He examined the papers and his eyes shot up.

"Um. Lunchtime lesbian sex in the old divination place?"

"Yep! Isn't it great?" Hermione was so unbelievably happy. She felt euphoric. If she jumped, she would probably float and fly.

"Is this the picture you were talking about yesterday?"

"Mm-hmm. Ginny took it."

Harry shrugged. "Guess she doesn't hate you." He grinned suddenly. "Congratulations, Hermione. Hope you get lucky."

"Wanna watch?"

"Um. EW. Tattoos?"

"Right."

Hermione grinned, hugged him one last time, and jogged happily back to the castle.

Harry sighed and tried not to wish for Ron.

Intense makeup. Hair loose. Also loose robes, but sexy lingerie. And nice lipstick that washes off very fast.

Hermione grinned and checked her hair one last time. Smooth and wavy and brown. Nothing difficult. Pretty.

It was 11:55. Quietly, she glanced around and climbed up the ladder to the tower.

The close, dark, atmosphere made her wary at first, but then she started to breathe the incense left over from Div and relaxed. Mmm.

She appraised the walls. They were free of stupid Div posters…beautiful when the stained-glass windows washed over them.

A sound made her turn around.

Her mind went blank.

Sanaz grinned at her.

For the first time Hermione noticed her fangs.

"Hello, darling," she said sweetly, and leapt.