The rest of the week was very tiring. Most nights she was up in the Ravenclaw common room catching up on school work. The Ravenclaw's were civil with her but she could tell they didn't really like her. It was hard to make friends with anyone as everyone already had their own group of friends and no one really wanted to let her in. Susan was still avoiding her and she was trying to stay away from Tom as much as possible. Her question answering in class was finally having an effect on him as every time the professors called out her name one of his hands would be clenched into a tight fist. The professors had immediately taken a liking to her. Although Tom didn't show it, she knew he was feeling threatened by it as he worked extra hard to impress them. After all the pain he had caused her she was glad to be making his life a misery in some way. As soon as she had a decent plan figured out she would get rid of him.

She put down her quill and stared at her finished essay feeling happy. This had been her last assignment and she had completed all the extra background reading for all her subjects. It was early in the morning on a Sunday and she would have the whole day free to do anything she wanted. First she decided to catch up on sleep and popped into her bed and slept till lunchtime. After lunch she went to see Madam Whittaker since she was the only person that she could really talk to. Madam Whittaker had been delighted to see her and she had helped her re-stock the shelves with various potion bottles. They had talked about a lot of things until late into the afternoon. Then she decided to take a walk outside to get some fresh air and sat next to the lake. Hermione removed a chocolate bar from her pocket and started to unwrap it. Madam Whittaker insisted she had one after mentioning she was far too thin for her age. She normally didn't indulge in things like chocolate but today she decided to make an exception. She was about to take a bite when it flew out of her hands. She jumped to her feet and found two large male Slytherin students and one of them was levitating her chocolate bar with a grin.

"Hey give it back" she said drawing her wand.

"No" he said waving the bar in her face.

"Yeah what are you gonna do about it" the other boy said. She had just had a very bad week and when things were getting good these Slytherins had to turn up and ruin everything. They did look familiar and suddenly where she had seen them before came to her. These boys were in Abraxas Malfoy's group and according to Susan the group was famous for their bullying.

"Give it back right now" she shouted. These boys were nothing compared to the death eaters she had fought before. She could defeat them in a second but she wasn't in a fighting mood but her patience was running out. The boy took a chunk out of her bar and Hermione lost it.

"Cena inflammare" she shouted flicking her wand and the chocolate bar burst into flames. The boy dropped it screaming and the other boy tried to attack her but she disarmed him effortlessly. He stared up at her with fear etched on his face while the sound of the other boy's cries filled the air as he clutched his burnt hand.

"Well well what do we have here" a familiar voice drawled out. She turned around to find Abraxas Malfoy pointing his wand at her. His voice sounded so badly like Lucius it was uncanny.

"Get lost Malfoy" she said pointing her wand at him.

"I don't believe we have met but I see my reputation precedes me" he said giving her the famous Malfoy smirk.

"Malfoy, Crabbe's hurt" the chubby boy said standing behind Malfoy.

"Goyle take him to the hospital wing, I'll take care of this" he said icily. She couldn't believe it, those boys were the ancestors of Vincent Carbbe and Gregory Goyle. She should have guessed from their size and their need to steal food.

"Ah where are my manners. I believe an introduction is in order. Abraxas Malfoy, Slytherin house" he smiled and held out a hand towards her.

"Maya Granger, Ravenclaw house" she said but she didn't shake his hand. He immediately withdrew it and the smile from his face vanished. "Well now that we've introduced ourselves lets settle the scores" he said.

"Scores" she said furiously.

"You attacked my friend and I can't let you get away with it. That wouldn't be good for the group's reputation"

"He tried to steal my chocolate bar"

"Who cares, the point is my group can't appear weak Mudblood" he said sneering at her. "With a surname like Granger you couldn't be anything else and it would do you good to learn your place"

"I'll put you in your place" she hissed raising her wand. How dare he call her Mudblood? Some things never changed about Malfoy's.

"Petrificus totalus"

"Protego" she shouted deflecting his spell.

"Conjivicitus inflammare" a blue light shot towards her and she blocked it in time. That was a dangerous spell that could have blinded her. If he wanted to play with dark magic so could she. She shouted one dark curse after another and they speed towards him like rain. He was very skilled and hard to take down. She shot a couple of non-verbals towards him but he turned out just as good at using those.

"Such dark spells, not so innocent are you" he shouted dogging a spell.

"Evil gits like you deserve everything they get" she shouted out breathlessly throwing another non-verbal at him. He appeared distracted for a second and she saw her chance. "Ignis derma" she shouted remembering the spell from the library. Orange light shot at his hand. Malfoy screamed and dropped his wand. Smell of burning flesh filled the air and the skin from his hand started to peel of.

"Petrificus totalus" a voice suddenly said making her go rigid and drop to the floor.

"Malfoy are you okay" a black haired boy said stepping into view.

"Lestrange do I look okay, the mudblood----my hand" Malfoy cried out.

"What should I do to her?"

"Forget the mudblood and take me to the hospital wing" he shouted clutching his hand.

"But the mublood----"

"Throw her into the lake for all I care" Malfoy cried out. Lestrange levitated her into the air. Then she felt herself being immersed in water and her vision turned watery. She heard Malfoy shout but what he said was drowned out by the rushing water in her ears. A couple of seconds later she felt herself being pulled out and dropped onto the ground.

"Are you crazy Lestrange" Malfoy shouted. "I didn't mean actually drown her. We could have been sent to Azkaban for murder" Malfoy dropped to the floor in pain. "Take me to the hospital wing you thick idiot"

Lestrange levitated a wailing Malfoy into the air and carried him into the castle. Stiff, wet and cold Hermione lay on the grassy ground starring up at the darkening sky. She wondered how long it would take for the spell to wear of. Only if someone would find her and undo the spell but no one was coming along. After sometime she could move a little and as the spell began to gradually wear of she started to lift herself of the ground. Her joints were stiff and she felt like a tin robot that needed oiling. It seemed to take an hour for her to bend down and pocket her wand. She couldn't yet do the wand movements required to undo the spell. Very slowly she dragged her feet forward and walked towards the castle. After what seemed like an eternity she stepped through the castle doors.

Most of the wet strands of her hair covered her eyes and she walked into the corridor dripping water everywhere. It was very uncomfortable. Her clothes were sticking to her and she was freezing. If she could make it to the Ravenclaw common room she could surely find someone to undo it. Someone suddenly stepped into view from the shadows and Hermione's eyes widened in fear when she saw it was Tom Riddle. This wasn't good, she was all alone in the corridor with the dark lord and she could hardly move. His face was unreadable but she was sure he was feeling murderous.

"What happened to you?" he said eyeing her curiously. She attempted to move past him but her stiff joints seriously slowed her down. "Someone must really hate you" he said suddenly understanding what had happened to her.

"Stuff it Riddle" she said with clenched teeth finding that she couldn't move her jaw properly.

"Poor Granger half petrified and wet" he said mockingly. His lips curled to give her half a smile and he drew closer making her pulse quicken. His half smile suddenly turned into a nasty smirk and she momentarily stopped breathing. From the way he was smirking at her he was definitely planning to do her some damage and Hermione tried to move but she didn't get very far. He suddenly drew his wand and her heart jumped violently. "Petrificus totalus" he said refreshing the spell. She went completely rigid and dropped to the floor. "Surely you didn't think I would undo it did you Granger" he said sinking to her level and Hermione stared at him with hate filled eyes.

He was probably going to leave her frozen on the floor and that was better than all the other horrible things she had been imagining. Feeling relieved she stared at the ceiling and waited for him to leave. But her relief was short lived as she suddenly felt his wand poking into her cheek. All her previous fears returned and her heart beat speed up once more. "You can't even move, this would be the perfect opportunity to teach you a lesson" he said lightly tracing the wand across her cheek and her fear increased tenfold at his words. He levitated her into the air and coldly smiled at her. Hermione tried to scream but she couldn't move. "The corridors aren't such a good place for these things, let's go somewhere more private" he whispered making her turn pale. She was so scared she found she couldn't breath and the horrific memories of Voldemort torturing people resurfaced in her mind.

Looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching he levitated her down the corridor and threw open the door of an empty classroom. He floated her inside and sealed the door with a locking charm then he set her down. She had made this week a living hell for him and now the dark lord had her locked up in an empty classroom. What the hell was he going to do to her? She was sure if she wasn't frozen she would have been shivering in fear. He locked eyes with her briefly and her heart thudded away violently as she stared into his blank face. He turned around and walked towards the window leaving her puzzled by his action. For a while he just stared out the window and she desperately tried to move. As the spells hold loosened over time she found she could stiffly move again. She forced her hand to remove her wand and she held it up shakily, maybe she could knock him out while his back was still turned. As if sensing the pointed wand he suddenly turned to look at her but he didn't attempt to disarm her, instead he watched her with an amused expression. Her grip was so bad that it fell to the floor with a clatter.

He let out a cold high pitched laughter making her hair stand. "I was wondering how long it would take before it dropped" he easily summoned it with a lazy flick of his wand and pocketed it. Her wand, the only chance of her escape was gone and she moved back an inch but she knew it was hopeless. He walked closer with an expressionless face but she noticed the predatory gleam in his eyes. With a wave of his wand he levitated her back into the air and she struggled trying to break free. He placed her on a table and made her lie down flat on her back. "Petrificus totalus" he made her go completely rigid again. "No moving until I'm finished with you" What did he mean by that? What was he planning to do?

Her heat was beating so violently it felt like she was going to have a heart attack. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her. For a while he just stared at her and she suddenly became very conscious of the fact that her clothes were wet and sticking to her body. But then she noticed his eyes were glued to her face and she found comfort in the fact that the dark lord didn't desire women like that. Using his wand he carefully brushed away the tendrils of wet hair sticking to her face. She felt a strange sensation go through her and she would have shivered if she could. "Listen to me very carefully Granger" he said into her ear. "I don't like people disobeying me and the next time I tell you to do something. You do it" he said in a low threatening tone and goose bumps appeared on her arms.

He placed the tip of his wand between her eyebrows and her breath quickened in fright. "This is going to hurt Granger, you can try screaming but I don't think you'll be able to" he let out a cold high pitched laughter and her heart started to beat faster against her ribs. Was he going to Crucio her? It had been living hell when Bellatrix had used it on her. It was the sort of pain that made you wish for death and she was praying he wouldn't use it but being the dark lord he obviously would. Tears formed in her eyes as she waited for him to shout Crucio but he didn't say anything. The tip of his wand suddenly glowed purple and both her eyes felt like they were on fire. Hermione would have screamed but she couldn't move a muscle. Her vision blurred and tears streamed down her eyes. The pain was bad but a lot better than Crucio. He pressed the wand in deeper making the pain more worse. It felt like someone was ripping her eye balls out. She wished he would stop but he carried on and after a long time of agonizing pain he suddenly stopped. "Next time you do something wrong the consequences will be more severe" he shouted standing up. Tears continued to leak down her cheeks as the pain became replaced by stinging. "You won't be able to see anything for a while" he said removing the petrifying spell and the sound of crying filled the room. She jumped up and blindly ran into a wall. This had probably been a warm up exercise, he was probably going to use the Cruciatus curse next and she had to get away from him while she could move.

"Don't move" he said tapping her on the shoulder with his wand.

"Leave me alone" she said tearfully, finally finding she could speak. She ran her hands over the walls trying to find the door.

"Don't move. I'll drop you back outside" She heard his voice sound really close to her.

"Get away from me" She shouted hitting her knee into a table.

"Don't move you'll hurt yourself" he snapped poking his wand into her shoulder.

"As if you care Riddle" She said stumbling backwards.

"Don't push your luck I can do much worse" he suddenly shouted making her freeze. She knew he wasn't lying after all he had murdered moaning myrtle in his fifth year. "That's better Granger, now stop crying so loudly or I'll silence you" she held her breath trying to reduce the sound but she couldn't stop herself from crying. It was like her body was on automatic. Every time her eyes stung she couldn't help but cry in response. She couldn't see anything but grey clouds and her eye balls felt like they had been smeared with chilli sauce. He tightly held onto the sleeve of her robe and she flinched. She heard him say the incantation to remove the sealing charm and her breathing steadied knowing the torture session was truly over. He opened the door and guided her outside. He tugged on her sleeve and led her down the corridor. She wondered why he hadn't used the Cruciatus curse on her but she was grateful he hadn't. Crying softly, she shivered as she followed him and after a while he paused. "Petrificus totalus" he said petrifying her again and she fell to the floor once more.

She suddenly felt a spark of anger, why did he have to petrify her again? Wasn't leaving her temporarily blind enough for him? She suddenly felt his hot breath on her neck and a strong wave of fear went through her. "Don't even think about repeating this to anyone" he said into her ear. "I expect no problems with potions in the morning" he said poking the wand into her cheek and he placed her wand inside her pocket. "Goodbye Granger and try not to die of hypothermia" He stood up and letting out a cold high pitch laughter he walked away. Wet and frozen on the stone floor she tried to move but it was no use. She stopped crying as the stinging disappeared and her vision became blurry. It was starting to get really cold and she wished someone would find her. After some time she could clearly see again but she still couldn't move. It was getting more colder by the second and she waited a long time but no one was coming along. She desperately tired to move but she couldn't move an inch. She stared at the ceiling and thought of Tom's words. What if she actually died of hypothermia because no one found her in time?

I've got exams next week so I won't be updating as fast as your used to. Now readers, leave me a review and put a smile on my face.