The room was empty except for a singular sofa facing a black wall and a clock. Hermione thought it resembled the type of wall present in interrogation rooms in muggle police stations. She imagined the room's setting would be rather cozy than intimidating.

She walked over to the sofa and plopped down, putting her book bag to her side and grasped onto a pillow for comfort. She always did that in uncomfortable situations to make her feel more at ease. To her right was a clock, and she checked to see that there was a minute left for the session to start.

The second the clock hit two, she heard the door slam from the opposite side of the wall and heard her 'partner' take a seat. Hermione did not know if she should initiate a conversation or wait for her 'partner' to do so, so she waited for a bit.

She tried to occupy herself by fixing her nails and placing her books in order, from heaviest to lightest, but it wasn't needed since she already had cast a spell that made her bag as heavy as a feather. Five minutes had gone by and Hermione understood that she had to do the first move.

A couple of years ago, her pride would have never given in, and she would stubbornly wait, even if it took twenty sessions, for her 'partner' to strike up a conversation first. But, after everything she had been through she couldn't care less about pride or ego. She had witnessed too much of it during the war, especially with Voldemort's ego, and realized that it was all a waste of time and energy, and she had limited of both of them.

" Hi," her voice interrupted the long-lasting silence between them. No 'hi' back. She supposed they had not heard her, so she repeated herself, "Hi.."

No response.

Hermione grew frustrated and said it once more, but only once, she promised herself, "Hi!" so loud that even the people next room would've heard them. She quickly felt a bit embarrassed for being as loud and quickly sunk her frame on the sofa. She didn't even know why she did that, it was as if the person opposite the wall could see her.

She waited a bit for a response but nothing again. More than annoying her, it disappointed her. Ever since the Headmistress informed them about the sessions, she thought that she would finally be able to open herself up rather than gate keep her emotions to herself all of the time and not worry about her 'partner' knowing what she had told them because of it being anonymous. She felt like this person would be her form of release from being trapped in her mind 24/7. But, once again, this showed that she should never expect anything and depend on anyone because people are unpredictable. However, this made her a hypocrite since she was not even able to predict herself and her actions anymore.

There were fifteen minutes left, so she took a notebook from her bag and focused on sketching a hummingbird. Once the remaining time was up, she heard her 'partner' get up and leave, and she did the same. Even though she knew that the person's actions did nothing to do with something she had or hadn't done, it still felt challenging to not take it personally.

…

"What's wrong?" asked Ginny, when she came back to her dorm. Even though Hermione tried to hide her disappointment, she was never able to fool Ginny. The witch had a special talent for analyzing human behavior and knowing what type of emotion someone was feeling or trying to hide. Hermione could be laughing, even though she felt terrible from the inside, and Ginny would still know that something was wrong.

"Nothing," she said, just to test her, even though she knew that Ginny would get it out of her.

"Hermione Jean Granger! Spill it now or I won't leave you alone until you do so," the red-haired witch crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. She looked exactly like her mother. Hermione didn't have it in her to protest, "I know you won't." Ginny still stood in the same position until she spoke.

Hermione lay on her bed and sighed, "I just had my therapy session, and my 'partner' didn't talk to me at all. I said 'Hi' three times but I never got a reply back."

Ginny sighed back, "Is this what our 'Golden Girl' is annoyed at? It's probably some dumb Slytherin that thought it was funny or something," as she observed her physique in the mirror.

"Even though it might be a joke, it's still so childish. McGonagall arranged this so we could actually share our traumatic experiences or just have someone to talk to, and I hate that they are taking it as a joke," she confessed, placing her clasped hands on her stomach whilst staring at the wall.

"You have me to talk to," Ginny said optimistically and lay beside her. Hermione quickly tried to scooch to the side but tried to make it not obvious since she didn't like anyone in such proximity to her. Hugs were okay but when people were so close to her for presumably a longer time than what a hug would take it made her feel unsafe as if she had to protect herself from harm.

However, Ginny seemed to have caught on, but she didn't say anything and repositioned herself by sitting beside her. " It's not that simple Gin," she admitted.

"I know, but know that I'm always here for you if you need to speak with someone. I know that you keep a lot to yourself, and I would have wished that you were more open with me, that's all," she gave a half-smile.

Hermione felt awful, she didn't want to make her feel bad, but she couldn't seem to do anything to change it, "I know, and I'm trying," deep down she knew she wasn't. It's not that she didn't trust Ginny, it's that it felt like her feelings were the only thing sacred to her. After the war, a lot of unwanted attention had been brought to her, and many dug deep into her past and learned everything about her. By gatekeeping her emotions, it also felt like she was keeping the only shred of privacy she had.

"I know you are, and I appreciate it," Ginny caressed her shoulder.

…

Dinner time had rolled around and Hermione wasn't feeling very hungry so she decided to take a nap instead. Noticing this, Ginny let her sleep for a bit, but woke her up half an hour before dinner ended. She had noticed her best friend's physique shrink immensely after the war, but she didn't want to point it out and making skipping dinner a routine wasn't going to ameliorate her situation.

"What happened?" Hermione turned around barely even able to open her eyes. It was one of those naps that made her feel like she woke up from a coma even though she had only passed out for not even half an hour.

"Dinner's going to end soon Hermi and you need to eat" said Ginny, while slowly pulling her duvet off of her.

Hermione, annoyed, lunged forward with her eyes closed to reach for it but Ginny had thrown her duvet off to her own bed, "Ginny! Give it back! I'm not hungry. And don't call me Hermi, you know how much I hate that nickname."

"I know, that's the whole point," she smirked, "Come on Hermi, just come with me and you don't have to take more than two bites of whatever you're eating. But you need to eat something, or I'll tell you every different position I've tried out with Harry."

Hermione, disgusted, "Ew! Ew. No!"

"After missionary-"

"Stop!" Hermione exclaimed, "I'll come with you! But please stop.."

Ginny, looking amused, went to look at her reflection and straightened her hair with her wand.

"I look like a mess," said Hermione from across the room. Ginny turned to look at her and huffed, "You look completely fine Hermi," she rolled her eyes.

Hermione reciprocated the eye roll, charmed her hair for it to look somewhat presentable and they went to dinner.

There weren't many people present at the Great Hall since dinner was going to end soon. There wasn't any food in particular that peaked her interest, apart from a sausage roll. She didn't feel hungry at all but took a bite for Ginny's sake.

She knew Ginny wanted the best for her but she hated the fact that she was still looking at her and if she was eating her meal. She knew Ginny was calculating her bites which frustrated her, so she shoved the whole thing up her mouth. The redhead witch looked surprised but didn't say anything.

"So have you had your therapy session yet?" Hermione asked.

"Yup, it was this morning before class."

Hermione didn't know if it was a nice thing to have a therapy session first thing in the morning. She usually felt more at ease talking about her feelings later on in the day and preferably at night time. Something about the darkness and chilly air soothed her and made her more open to talking about her feelings. She was at least grateful that hers was in the afternoon. "How did it go? I hope you're 'partner' at least talked unlike mine."

"It went pretty good. We talked about Quidditch the whole time. They also want to play for a national team after graduation and they mentioned that some teams were already interested in recruiting them. I think I might be able to figure out who it is. That's why in my next session I'm going to ask more strategic questions that will helpfully reveal their identity," she answered and took a bite of her steak.

"But aren't these sessions meant to talk about more emotional matters and talk about your mental health?" Ginny knew an answer like this was coming, it was a very Hermioniesque question.

"Yeah it is, but you don't necessarily have to. Besides you know that I don't like talking about the past and rather erase my past traumas. That's the only way it seems to work out for me or I'll more likely go insane," admitted Ginny.

Hermione had not been waiting for this honest of an answer from her, "I guess you're right and I appreciate you being so open with me."

"Of course I'm going to be open with you. You're my best friend, I mean who else am I going to talk to about this stuff? Ron?" Both witches started laughing.

…

The last class of the day before the weekend was Potions and the class was divided amongst Gryffindors and Slytherins. None of her friends except Harry was with her. The second they had sat down on the second row, Slughorn demanded everyone to get up because he was arranging groups for a research project on alchemical bindings in potions that would take up half the semester.

"Pucey, Finnigan, Zabini, Potter you will research alchemical bindings in the Draught of Living Death," announced Slughorn and Harry gave Hermione a half smile and went over to his teammates.

"Parkinson, Morton, Thomas, Kirke you will research it in Hiccoughing Potion."

Hermione looked around for who was left and she wasn't surprised at her luck, "Finally, Granger, Nott, Johnson, Malfoy you will research it in Wolfsbane potion. You are dismissed and can go to the library to research. We will not have any classes in person except for once a week to test your findings, the remaining four class hours you will be in the library."

Hermione waited for her new teammates to come to her but only Angelina came and Nott and Malfoy stayed in their corner. She wasn't going to go to them so she departed towards the library.

"Aren't you going to tell them to come with us?" Angelina asked, running up to her side. Hermione turned to look at her, "They'll come if they want. I don't need them."

"But this is a group project, so we have to do it together," Angelina pointed out.

Before Hermione could answer, Nott called them from behind, "What's the rush ladies?" he smirked while catching up to them.

"We're not in a rush. You're just too slow." Hermione reacted and smiled internally. She had recently started being more blunt and she liked it. She felt more powerful. She didn't care if she was mean or not. Well she might have cared a bit, but she tried not to dwell on it, since it would break the facade she was currently trying to put up.

"Unphased Golden Girl, I like it," Nott's smirk only grew wider, but Malfoy seemed unamused by the situation. He looked anywhere besides at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes and spun her heel in the direction of the library and they followed. She could hear Nott saying something to Malfoy but she couldn't make up the words clearly.

Once they arrived, she plopped her stuff on the first table she could find. Nott and Angelina did the same, but Malfoy walked past them.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked gazing at him curiously. The platinum blond didn't turn around to face her and continued walking, "There's a better place to sit at. It's more quiet," he disappeared. She didn't understand why it mattered, since there was barely anyone in the library on a Friday afternoon. It was practically one of the only times in the whole week where there was nearly no one, which Hermione had concluded from being at Hogwarts for nearly half her life. It was actually her favorite time to come to the library during fifth year to study for her OWL's.

Angelina and Nott followed him and she frustratedly picked her stuff back up and did the same. She looked at what book section the table was facing and she wasn't surprised that it was the Dragon section. How predictable. She had to admit it was quieter, but she knew a better place and if he was going to play this game so was she. "It is quieter, but I know a better place," she stuck up her nose.
Malfoy, who was seated with his back against a window, looked up at her for the first time that day and scoffed, "Oh do you now?"

"Yes, I do," she confirmed, still clutching tightly on her books and refusing to put them on the table.

"Hermione I don't think it's that important-" Angelina remarked, but it was one of those days where her stubbornness got the best of her and she wouldn't back down.

Hermione cut her off, "I think it is," she started making her way to the quieter place that was behind the restricted section. She had discovered it in second grade and it wasn't even on the Marauder's Map. She also came here whenever she felt sad and didn't want to be found by Harry or Ron. She realised it was a bit stupid to bring her teammates to one of her many hiding spots, but she was going to prove her point.

"So?," she asked when everyone was seated, but it was clear that it was directed to Malfoy. He was glaring at his notebook "I think the place I showed was quieter," he stared into her eyes intimidatingly.

"Yeah right," she let out a scoff and started emptying her bookbag.

"I'm going to quickly fetch some popcorn. Do you want any Johnson?" Nott asked whilst acting as if he was getting up from his chair. No one laughed, but Nott didn't care, he loved being entertained and seeing this new side of Granger. Johnson rolled her eyes at him and addressed all of them, "Guys it's really not that important. Let's just start the project already," she got up from her chair, "I'm going to look around to find books on Wolfsbane. Is anyone coming?"

"I'll join" Hermione and Nott said at the same time, but Malfoy remained quiet.

"Okay then" Angelina said and they started roaming around differnt sections of the library. Malfoy on the other hand decided to focus on finding books about alchemy, since it wasn't a topic he was super familiar with.

About half an hour later, the trio had found around fifteen books that looked interesting and related to their topic. Although there was nothing on alchemical bindings, Hermione was sure she would find at least a couple useful materials to help them with their research. They all started skimming the books, when Malfoy returned with a singular book around ten minutes later.

"You only found one?" Hermione asked, feeling superior because she found more than him. She knew it was very childish of her, but she was at least grateful that she was even able to feel childish emotions. It meant that the war didn't take every innocent part in her.

"Yeah, the only one we need," he answered proudly.

"That's a big statement," she noted.

"Read the title," it was almost as if he commanded her to and she didn't like it one bit. He levitated the book towards her.

Hermione read the title out loud, "Alchemical bindings in Wolfsbane."