Sorry, my internet was down. On the plus side, I wrote a lot more:D

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It's been days since the incident in the great hall and Draco has not let anyone forget about it—boasting to anyone about his successful spell to anyone who would listen.

Harry frowned with concern since he had not seen Hermione outside of class. Ron was in a bad mood since that day and Harry didn't dare to approach him about it, lest Ron would burst out about how many ways he could kill Draco.

During a free period, Harry ran as fast as he could to the Gryffindor common room to see if Hermione was there.

"Password?" the portrait asked him.

"Flavor beans," Harry answered and the door had swung open. Harry peered in and noticed Hermione getting up to go to her room. "Hermione!"

She froze and reluctantly turned to face him. Harry sucked in his breath as he saw his best friend who… at the same time wasn't his best friend. Because of the dim in the classrooms, he never really noticed how bad Hermione looked. She had a large bruise from her neck that probably traveled down further but was covered with her robes. She looked pale and sick.

"Hermione!" he cried again, taking another step towards her.

All of the feelings of loneliness crept away from her as she ran to hug her best friend. "Harry, I don't know what's going on," she whispered tearfully.

"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey?" Harry suggested.

She said nothing and only looked down. She sat in the closest armchair and reached up from her robes. There was a cloth wrapped around her leg—the one that was bleeding—and she started to unwrap it. Harry watched this all fearfully and concernedly. When she was done unwrapping the bandage, his eyes widened—it was still bleeding.

"But, wasn't that days ago?" Harry asked, confused.

Hermione nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Hermione, you really should go to Madam Pomfrey. She'll figure out what's up," he gave her a reassuring smile. Hermione nodded and smiled, thankful that her best friend knew what to do. They got up and walked to the door when Hermione froze, putting her hand on his arm tightly.

"Where's Ron?" she asked.

"I think he's in the great hall, why?" he wondered.

"Oh." Hermione replied back weakly and fainted.