Chapter Three: Hermione's State Of Mind

Draco changed into a pair of dark jeans, and a black short sleevedshirt that showed off his six-pack. Draco ran, as fast as he could,downstairs, with his school trunk,and out onto the street in front of the Malfoy Manor, he then drew his wand and stuck it out, there was a loud BANG, and the purple, triple decker bus, called the Night Bus,appeared before him. He stepped on and Stan greeted him.

"'Ello, where to?" Stan asked, as he helped Draco with his trunk.

"The Leaky Cauldron." Draco answered.

Stan nodded, and with that, the bus was off with another BANG!

"Here we are," Stan annouced as he stepped off the bus, and to the side, while gesturing to the pub they had pulled in front of.

Draco jumped off, grabbed his things, and, without a word to Stan, walked into the Leaky Cauldron.

Just as Draco entered, he heard his name being yelled. He scanned the crowd, expecting to see one of his friends, like Blaise, Crabbe, or Goyle. What Draco wasn't expectingwas to find out the shout had come from a group of red-heads and a brown haired boy.

Draco stared at the group, why the hell would they call my name? It doesn't even look like they know I'm hear...yet.

Draco smirked as he stepped toward the group, but, suddenly, he stopped as he picked up a few words of what they were saying.

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Hermione walked into the LeakyCauldron, and looked around.

"Hermione!"

Hermione turned this way, and that, to locate thevoice she had heard, but the Leaky Cauldron was fairly crowded today.

"Hermione, Hermione, over here!"

Hermione was quick thistime, and was able to turn in time tosee a flash ofbright red hair be swollowed up by a groupof teenagers, Hermione realized were all fromHogwarts.

Hermione approached the crowd, and squeezed her way in to the crowd, once she reached the middle, she saw her three of her best wizard friends, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Ron's little sister,Ginny Weasley. Around them was a bunch of their friends from Hogwarts, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Figgington, and Dean Thomas.

"Hermione! Hey, how are you?"Ron asked, then added,"These guys all came here cause Harry invited them for a 'back to school party'."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but she suddenly realized, she had no voice. She couldn't speak, she stared at Harry, and Ron, and she realized that she had tears in her eyes. Harry, Ginny, and Ron, both had a mask of extreme concern on their faces, and so did everyone else in the group.

"Hermione? Are you okay? Hermione?" Harry asked, stepping forward a fraction.

My friends, I don't know whatI would be ableto do without them, Hermione thought, wonderingwhy that thought was upsetting her so much. Suddenly, Hermione realized what it was, Elizabeth, how on earth did she survive this long without anyone really helping her through it?

"Hermione?" Harry asked, once again, taking another step forward.

Hermione couldn't take it anymore, she rushed forward and flung her arms around harry's shoulder's and broke down crying.

"Hermione? What's wrong?"Ginny asked, coming up beside Harry looking at Hermione in concerned amazement.

Hermione just continued to sob into Harry's shoulder.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger,who had been talking to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,hurried over when they saw Hermione crying, so did Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Ron looked at his mom, for some kind of answer, but she decretly shook her head, and gestured to the fairly large group that had formed around Harry, and Hermione.

"OKAY, SHOWS OVER! GET THE BLOODY HELL OUT OF HERE!" Ron shouted, and the group quickly retired to their rooms.

Mrs. Weasley gave her son a disapproving look, but didn't do anything.

"Hermione," Mrs. Granger said in a soft voice, kneeling next to her duaghter, "How about we go get a room for you, and you can stay here for the rest of summer vacation, with you friends. How does that sound?"

Hermione continued to sob, but nodded, also. Mrs. Granger nodded, too, and gently eased Hermione off Harry and lead her upstairs, Mr. Granger followed, after giving Mrs. Weasley a small nod, and a gesture toward the kids.

"Mom, what's wrong with Hermione?" Ginny asked frightfully.

"Mrs. Granger just told me," Mrs. Weasley explain, "It seems that over the summer, one of Hermiuone's best muggle friends committed suicide."

"Suicide?" Ron and Ginny asked in unison, as Harry, understanding what it meant, said, "Poor, Hermione. No wonder she's so upset!"

Ron, and Ginny, both looked at Harry, and asked, "What's suicide?"

"It means that they killed themselves." Harry explained quickly, not wanting to stay on the subject for to long.

"What? Are you serious, Harry?" Ron asked in disbelief, as Ginny covered her mouth in shock of the meaning.

"Yes, I'm serious, Ron." Harry admitted.

"Now, look," Mrs. Weasley said, and Ron, Harry, and Ginny, all looked up at her, "Hermione is going to be needing some support for you. Try to keep her mind off her friend, all right?"

The three all nodded in agreement, and Mrs. Weasley said, "Thank you, now, Mrs. Granger said that she'll try and talk Hermione into staying, so she can be around her friends, but she isn't sure Hermione will be up to it."

"Hey," Ron said, turning to face his mother, "How should we keep, Hermione's mind off her friend?"

"Well," Mrs. Weasley said, "How about congradulating her on becoming Head Girl?"

"Hermione's Head Girl?" Harry asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes."

"Well, that's out of the blue!" Harry said sarcastically.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ron said in the same sarcastic tone.

"Yay! That's the prefect way to keep her mind off things!" Ginny said, being the only one not to make a joke about Hermione's chance at becoming Head Girl.

"I don't think that'll work." A voice said from behind Mrs. Weasley, who turned and saw Fred and George Weasley standing there.

"Fred, George,what are you two doing here?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"We heard about Hermione, and wanted to make sure she was okay."

"How did you hear about that?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Neville told us."

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes slightl, then asked, "So what did you mean when you said 'I don't think that'll work'?"

"Well, you see," Fred started.

"We heard something else from Neville as well." George finished Fred's sentence.

"What's that?" Their mother asked.

"The Head Boy, it's..." Fred and george began in unison.

"Who? Who is it?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Malfoy!" Fred and George answered.

Everyone in the group took on a shocked expression when they heard the name.

"Your kidding, he's going to make everything a hundred times worst then it already is!" Harry shouted.

"Yeah, I know." Fred agreed, nodding his head slowly.

"How could Dumbledore do this to Hermione?" Ginny cried, "Doesn't he know what happened to Hermione over her summer?"

"Oh, I'm sure he's aware of what happened over Hermione's summer," Mr. Weasley said, walking up to the group, "Especially, with the fact that it's so trumatic."

"Then why would he make Malfoy Head Boy?" Ginny cried out in anger.

"That's what Hermione's parents want to know." George informed the group.

"Well, there's nothing we can do," Mrs. Weasley pointed out, knowing what her sons were capable of coming up with, "Just try and comfort Hermione the best you can."

"Yeah, okay."

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Draco stood rooted to the spot, thinking, Whatthe hell happened over Granger's summer that was so terrible? Why would she need comforting?

Draco looked at the group, but he didn't step another foot towards them, instead he turned swiftly on his heels, and, leaving his stuff with Tom, and headed out the back door, and into Diagon Ally. Little did Draco know that a certain brown haried girl had seen him from her window.

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Harry sat a table thinking of how he could cheer Hermione up, but he couldn't see any happy spot in her life right now. Harry was thinking so hard that he didn't even notice Hermione come running down the stairs,andhead out the back door.

Hermione ran down Diagon Ally her head going in every direction, trying to spot the blonde she had seen go into Diagon Ally.

Why am I looking for him? Why am I so intrigued by him, by his presence? Maybe because it was his voice that you heard calling out your name.

She slowed down in front of Flourish and Blotts as she ran out of breath, and sat down on the beach out side the shop.

Hermione placed her elbows on her knees, and her head in her hands, and sighed deeply, I'm not in the right state of mind to be handling this.

"Granger?"

Hermione stood up, her eyes shut in frustration, and, out of nowhere her voice emerged in a shout, "And there's his stupid voice calling my name, again!"

"Oh, now that was harsh Granger, my voice isn't that stupid, is it?"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked to her left, right into a pair of steel-blue eyes.

"Umm," Hermione tried to explain her outburst.

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Draco walked through Diagon Ally and stop in front of Flourish and Blotts, I guess I should get my new school books.

Draco walked into the shop, and roamed the book shelves, damn where are these books! Okay, this is offically, boring me out of my mind.

Draco turned, giving up on trying to find the books he needed, and started out the door, when he saw a familiar looking bush of brown hair slowing down the street in front of the shop. He watch as the new Head Girl of Hogwarts sat down on the bench that was there, and rest her head in her hands.

Slowly,Draco walked out the door, and turned towards the girl, "Granger?"

Hermione stood up, her eyes shut in frustration, and shouted, "And there's his stupid voice calling my name, again!"

"Oh, now that was harsh Granger, my voice isn't that stupid, is it?" Draco said, whiling wondering, again? Has she been hearing my voice, like I've been hearing hers?

Hermione turned towards him, and looked straight into his eyes, and he looked straight back into hers.

"Umm," Hermione tried to explain.

"'Umm' is right." Draco said with a smirk.