Chapter Eleven

Hermione tried to bury her head deeper into the pillow when she realized the lights had been turned on and people were up and talking. She sat bolt upright. People were awake before her. This had never happened to Hermione, she always had things to do, after all, if she wanted to be Head Girl and get good grades she needed all the hours in the day she could possibly use. Oh my goodness, what am I doing here, I have to go home and study, right now. With urgency she got up and began to shake Madi. "Madi, we have to go. Wake up." Madi mumbled in her sleep. "Up, now!" said Hermione loudly. When this had no effect on the sleeping girl she went to extreme measures. Grabbing the ends of Madi's sleeping bag she pulled, hard. The yellow sleeping bag came off with one tug and Madi quickly curled into the fetal position.

"It's so cold," she muttered groggily. Opening in her eyes she realized she was no longer in her sleeping bag. "Hermione, where's my sleeping bag?" she asked in a scratchy voice.

"I needed to wake you up, so I took it. This is an emergency. We have to go home now," Hermione told her in strained tones.

At the word emergency Madi eyes focused and she asked Hermione in a concerned voice, "What happened, is anyone hurt?"

"No, I just have to go home. I am behind on my studying, days behind. Plus if you look at the fact that we are not in classes right now, I am almost a week behind because I should be studying then."

Madi didn't completely agree with Hermione but she knew how important grades were to her friend. "It's okay," she said soothingly, trying to erase the panicked expression on Hermione's face. "I'll go get the boys, phone your dad to pick us up."

Hermione swiftly walked to the Church office to use the phone while Madi headed down to the basement. It took her a while but eventually the boys were shuffling up the stairs towards the front foyer.

Hermione bit her lip apologetically when her four friends came into sight. "I am sorry about this. Just when it comes to school sometimes I get panicked."

Ron and Scott were staring at her. Their jaws were dropped. Hermione noticed and self-consciously fingered her hair. Then she realized what they were looking at. She had forgotten to renew her straightening charm before they left school and it had worn off. Her hair, as brown and bushy as ever, had the added appeal of bed head. It stuck out at odd angles; some parts half curls, some parts frizzy; all of it was a mess.

"What did you do to your hair?" Scott asked incredulously.

"This is my hair."

"I liked it better before, you should put it straight."

Ron noticed the hurt Hermione was trying to keep from appearing on her face. He walked up to her and tugged on a curl. "I like it like this. It's who you are."

Hermione smiled appreciatively. She loved how Ron always tried to make her feel beautiful and loved, even if she wasn't that pretty. She reached out to squeeze his hand so that he would know his gesture hadn't been missed.

Ron could not believe Scott had said Hermione should change her hair. If he had known her for so long he should have known that the one thing Hermione was sensitive about was her hair, and her grades of course.

"WHY ARE YOU HOLDING MY DAUGHTER'S HAND?" a voice roared from behind them.

Ron quickly dropped Hermione's hand and took a step back. "I, uh, ummm," he stuttered, trying to get the right words out.

"Oh Daddy, don't be silly," Hermione said while reaching up to kiss on him on the cheek. "You'll always be my favourite. Now come, we have to get home, I do have to study you know."

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Authors Notes - I think this is the first time I've ever updated two days in a row. Hurrah! And nine reviews all in one day. I'm sorry to all those people who I made feel guilty, but hey, I'll use it again if it makes you review.I felt Hermione was getting slightly out of character in the previous chapters so I thought this chapter would bring her back. Tell me what you think. Is this something Hermione would do or should I have left her the way she was? I know this chapter was short but it was really supposed to be a part of chapter 10 but I felt you'd like two short chapters better because I could get 10 out quicker. Actually I only updated so fast because I was in a good mood. I got the highest mark in my entire English class takes a bow sorry to brag but I was so excited.

Shout Outs To Reviewers You guys rock and make me smile and give me a reason to leave my MSN on constantly even though it makes that annoying beeping noise.
Whisperkey - The end of the chapter went back to the beginning. Alexis is a ho and I needed to get rid of her so now the guys don't like her and I don't think she will be appearing again in the story.
dancerrdw - did you see how fast this update was??? smile!
Madizon - hot guys always smell good. It COULD be that they exude sexiness or, this is my theory, that they have to smell good in order to be hot. After all, even if someone is good looking and they're smelly, you don't label them as being hot. Like shaggy hair, smelling nice is a necessary part of gorgeousity
fatsobunny - I don't blame you or your computer. Thanks for taking the time to review, wasn't trying to make you feel guilty. Ron will not get horrid things, Alexis is GONE for good.
hpchick13 - well thank you for taking the time to review and being so nice about my story. If you feel so inclined you could leave another review, lol. Whatever you feel like
Grint'sBestGal - First off I love your name. Secondly, out of all the apologies for not reviewing I have to say yours was the best. I accept it and offer you my forgiveness. jks. I updated soon! This is very unlike me though so don't get used to it.
Timorous - HErmione hasn't quite figured out she likes Ron yet. They still have the whole platonic thing going. If you ever fall for a guy friend you might understand. You think you like him but you're friends so you don't know if you actually do and when you decide that you do you don't know if you want to act on it... etc. 23 more chapters is a lot. This story was originally supposed to be a one-shot but that one-shot became the last chapter of my story. I made an outline. It was eleven chapters. Currently I have just finished chapter 4. So look forward to at least 7 more chapters. maybe a few more
Mara342 - I totally understand the highschool. I'm assuming you're in the middle of exams right now too. I DESPISE accounting, but I love English. If you find reviewing repetitive try to tell me what specific thingsyou like about each chapter and what parts you didn't like or didn't think fit.Ifyou feel like just telling me happy thoughts though I don't mind, honestly. Constructive criticism pssht who needs it when you have nice reviewers? lol I probably need it badly
sakura1221- short and sweet. I like to think slow and steady wins the race. this update I ran like the rabbit though

Look for an update next week sometime. I figured I should try to update at least once a week and finishe the story in two or three months. Please press the pretty review button. Gives readers puppy dog eyes