Disclaimer: I am not J.K.Rowling, and everything you recognize in this story is NOT mine.

A/N: Hello again! Welcome to the sequel of "That's just the way things work." I hope you all enjoyed the sixth book, but for now I won't put any spoilers in here. You know, just in case somebody hasn't read it yet. I hope you all enjoy this and look for upcoming chapters!

A/N: To all who reviewed on the last chapter, I'll put your "thank-yous" next chapter okay? I haven't forgotten about you!

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Hermione had a splitting headache. Grabbing a towel she decided to lie back down on the bed and put the washcloth to her forehead. 'What an awful way to start the morning' she thought.

It was the first week back of school for them, and up until now it was going perfectly. The teachers had assigned huge amounts of homework in every class for Hermione, Ron and Harry (much to the latter two's disappointment), there had been no adventures where she could possibly harm herself, but most of all, she decided, the best thing about this year so far was that she was in love. Naturally, it was with Ron.

After the "thing we do not talk about", according to the trio, Ron and Hermione's relationship sky rocketed, and they had been together since then. Of course there were trouble spots in the relationship, but that was bound to happen. The worst one was when Ron decided to blame Hermione of liking Draco…again.

But, as always, they apologized to one other and made up. This, now that Hermione thought of it, was probably the reason why she had a headache this morning.

They had been fighting about some odd thing, and it really wasn't important, but it turned into a downright huge row. There was screaming, tears, and pillows being thrown roughly. Thankfully, Ron decided to apologize, 'which is good,' thought Hermione, 'because I wasn't about to.' They spent the rest of the night walking around the lake and laughing loudly at stupid things in the trees, and by the water. Having such a good time, Hermione started to run around playfully and poking Ron every time she came near him. Putting in her keen scent of being off-balance, it really shouldn't have been a surprise when she slipped on a wet patch of grass and hit her head on a rock. She was fine of course, but surely, this was the reason for her huge headache.

Just thinking about it made Hermione's head hurt even more and she groaned as she put a pillow on top of her head.

"Hermione, come down, now! We're going to be late for breakfast," Ron's voice echoed into her room and she could hear the struggle between her boyfriend and the stairway. "Damn it!" he yelled, "Those stupid stairs won't let me come up, will you please come down?"

Getting up fast, Hermione ran to the door and threw it open, "Yes Ron, I'm coming, just…oh don't do that, you know you can't come up here." She smiled to herself as she watched Ron try to conquer the stairs to get to her. Shutting the door she got ready for the perfect Saturday they were going to have. It was a surprise, Ron told her, and she would find out soon.

She heard the door open and Ginny walked in, "Hermione, my stupid lump of a brother is having a heart attack down there. He requested that I come have you hurry up," she said with an annoyed mimicked voice, "although, I put it in a less hurried fashion than he did. Oh yeah, is your head better Hermione?"

"Yeah…it still hurts, and I bet a got a bruise…"

Ginny interrupted, "You don't."

"Oh, well I don't have a bruise, but it sure hurts like I do." They both turned their heads to a loud thump in the common room, "All right all right! Go tell your big lump of a brother that I'm ready and I'll be down in a couple minutes."

She laughed as Ginny opened the door with a big "Ron!" Hurrying up, Hermione left her room soon and went downstairs where Ron was being scolded by Ginny as Harry just watched with an amused face that clearly said, "I'm glad that's not me."

"All right I'm ready Ron, let's go." Hermione interrupted the fight, much to the pleasure of Ron, and walked down with him to the Great Hall.

"So have you heard about Dean?" Ron asked as they passed a portrait who stuckhis tongue out at them. He replied in the same way and took Hermione's hand.

"No, what happened to him?" Hermione looked at Ron and waited for an answer.

"Well," Ron started, "He and Seamus were playing Quidditch…."

'There's a surprise,' thought Hermione.

"…and all of a sudden on the sharp turn they were taking he ran straight into one of the poles! I mean, obviously he's not super great, since he's not on the house team or anything, but still…you would think he would know how to fly a broom after all these years."

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed at Ron's ignorance, "Ron first off, just because he's not on the house team doesn't mean he's not 'super great', and second off, is he okay?"

Ron scoffed at her reply, "Well…yeah, but who cares."

They sat down at the table in the Great Hall and grabbed some toast, talking actively among the Gryffindor table, Hermione, not Ron, noticing that Dean wasn't there.

The rest of the day went well and Hermione was glad that she hurried up. Ron took her for a picnic at lunch by the lake and playing Quidditch with Harry and Ginny. Even though she's not great, she kept telling herself, she was bound to have a good time.

"Ron, Harry….wait up!"

Hermione looked to see where the noise was coming from and found Seamus running at them, robes flying everywhere. Ron and Harry got off their brooms and walked towards the clearly stressed out Seamus.

"Seamus what's wrong?" Harry asked as Ron looked concerned.

"It's Dean, he's really hurt you guys…I mean, and he's not deathly ill…but…" Seamus broke off and looked embarrassed. "He was coughing something terrible and Madam Pomfrey wanted me to get out quickly…is that normal?"

Hermione walked closer and looked at Seamus's face, where there was a long scratch down his cheek.

"Seamus what happened?" Hermione asked as she examined the scratch, "Where did you get that?"

Seamus looked uncomfortable and replied softly, "I went to go visit Dean this afternoon and bring him some lunch like Madam Pomfrey told me to do, and he just jumped at me. He knocked over the tray and everything, and I guess…he must have scratched me in the process. It's like he's deranged Hermione."

Harry looked at Ron, who asked, "Do you have any idea what might be making him act like that? Did he eat too much or something…ouch!" Hermione hit him on the arm.

Glaring slightly at Ron's comment, Seamus just shook his head, "I have no clue. He's been acting slightly weird for awhile now…but ever since hitting that pole…"

Ginny looked apprehensive at Seamus, "Did Dean…say anything at all?" She asked, "I mean to give you any clue of what's wrong?" Seamus looked uneasy at the question and shifted in his place before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small object.

"Well," he said, "Before Pomfrey walked in, he kind of leaned at the foot of the bed and was whispering something…his eyes were huge Ginny. Actually," he said, "he looked really scary, like he wasn't himself. And he said something to me before handing me this." He held out his fist covering the object, "He said, "you have to get rid of this Seamus, you have to."" Seamus looked at Hermione, "Would you have any clue as to what this is?"

Hermione looked at the object in Seamus's hand. She picked it up and could feel that it was slightly hot. She wasn't sure if it was warm because it was evil…or because it was in Seamus's hand and pocket for so long.

"A rock?" Ron said incredibly, "Dean is going crazy because of a rock. You must be kidding right? I mean….right? What, did he get it stuck somewhere when he fell into the sand pit after hitting the pole?"

Hermione glared at Ron, as did Harry and Seamus, who got into Ron's face and started yelling, "Listen you, it's not just a rock okay? You think Dean's stupid enough to get over-excited about a rock?"

"Ok guys," Hermione said breaking off the fight, "Seamus I think you're right in thinking this is something more than a rock. And Ron, shut up." Ron looked hurt at this comment, but decided against talking back.

Hermione held the rock in her hand and examined it once more. It was a slight purple color with little white flakes in it. Besides being abnormally pretty, it looked like a normal rock. 'But if it's normal,' she thought, 'then why is it still hot?'

"Seamus," she said in a little voice, hinting that she wanted something, "Can you show me where Dean fell off please? I would really like to see if there's something else."

Seamus nodded and led the way to the sand pit, which wasn't very far from where the other four were flying. The entire way Ron was complaining.

"I don't see why we have to go back to the damn spot we were before. It's just a rock, Harry believe me. It's not our fault that Dean couldn't fly and got a rock shoved up his…"

Harry hit Ron and Hermione could hear Ginny scolding him. "Listen Lump, isn't it clear there's something more here? Can't you just shut up for a second and help out a friend?"

"Here it is," Seamus said pointing to the sand, which still had sad that looked like someone fell in it. Hermione knelt down and started pawing the sand with her fingers, slightly digging at the chance that they would find something.

She sighed as she was finishing up, "Well, it looks like there's nothing…." She felt something hard underneath her fingers and rapidly started to dig at the spot. When she could grab the hard object, she lifted out a book. It was a dark purple color just like the rock, and was locked by a golden picture on the top. On the front was a picture of the rock and some strange writing that she couldn't decipher. She got up and the rest looked at the book over her shoulder.

"What is that?" Asked Ron.

"Stupid," said Ginny, "It's obviously a book."

"No Ginny," said Hermione, "it's more than just a book…but I think I know what we need to do." They all looked at her like she was nuts before Hermione smiled slightly and looked at Ron.

"We need to go find Draco."

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A/N: There we go the end of the first chapter. I hope you all liked it! I'll see your reviews!