Chapter 41: Exhausted and Frustrated

Over the next few weeks, I spent all my time in class, doing my homework, studying, eating, and sleeping. With all my extra courses, I barely had time for anything else. The only time I got to spend with Harry and Ron anymore was when they were doing their homework with me.

Sometimes I had so much to do, I would spend a couple of hours studying in the library then use the time turner to repeat those hours in the common room. Occasionally, someone would comment that they had just seen me elsewhere, but I was able to divert their attention from my mysterious whereabouts by changing the subject or complimenting their hair.

Unfortunately, I still wasn't getting enough sleep. The best I could do was to stay up as late as I could and then go back in time and sleep through the whole night. The problem was that even ten hours of sleep each night wasn't enough when I had been awake for almost thirty hours and would be awake for another thirty hours the next day.

The few hours that Professor McGonagall would cure me of at the end of each week helped, but I needed more. I'd asked if she could cure me of some extra time to make up for when I went back in time do to homework, but she politely explained that the spell she used to erase the tiredness effects of my class hours had its limitations and that she was already doing the maximum amount she could.

I couldn't repeat those hours of sleep either, because my past self would already be in my bed, and it was too risky to try sleeping down in the common room while I was simultaneously sleeping up in my dormitory. People would be bound to notice that something wasn't quite right there.

I was becoming more and more irritable too. I got especially angry whenever Harry came in from Quidditch practice complaining about his exhaustion. With the pitiful amount of homework he and Ron were assigned, and the even more pitiful amount they actually did, combined with the fact that they napped through almost every class, he really had no idea what it meant to be so tired.

I finally snapped on September 19th. It was my birthday. I had just turned fourteen. I already knew I wasn't going to be getting any owls from my parents, so it wasn't a big surprise when nothing arrived at breakfast. I was however, quite disappointed when the whole day passed by and neither Harry nor Ron mentioned anything.

By seven o'clock, I was sitting in the common room with Ron. We were working on our latest potions essay for Professor Snape about the necessity of each of the ingredients used to brew a confusing concoction while Harry was out at quidditch practice. I still had arithmancy, ancient runes, transfiguration, charms and herbology to do, and I had no idea how I was going to get everything finished.

"Hermione," Ron said suddenly, "can you read over my essay?"

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. I didn't even have time for this conversation, let alone to re-write an entire essay, which I knew is what Ron really wanted.

"No, I can't," I said as calmly as I could, returning to my own essay.

"Come on," Ron prodded, "it's not that big a deal, just read it over and tell me what to fix. You always help me out."

"I really don't have the time," I said, a little too loudly. I could feel anger and frustration bubbling up and, in an effort to control it, I wavered a bit on the end of my sentence.

"What's the big deal, Hermione?" Ron whined. "It's just one essay."

I exploded. "No, Ron. It isn't just one essay. It's a good ten to fifteen minutes of reading and then another hour or so of crossing things out and re-writing paragraphs for you, because for some unknown reason, you seem to be incapable of writing a decent essay. And then that is an hour of my life that I don't get to spend on my own homework, which means I will get even less sleep than I already get. Do you even know how much homework I have to do? I haven't even started translating my runes, and that's probably going to take me at least five hours."

"I am so capable of writing a decent essay!" Ron shouted back at me in indignation.

"Then prove it, write one," I challenged him.

"I did, I need you to read it," Ron replied, shoving the essay at me.

"I told you, I don't have the time," I cried, exasperated.

"You're not fooling anybody," Ron shouted. "Lavender tells me you're always in bed by ten o'clock!"

"I am taking way more subjects than you. Do you have any idea how much work arithmancy and ancient runes are? Let alone the weekly essays I have to write for muggle studies that all have to be at least four feet long!" I cried.

"How are you possibly taking that many subjects? We're in all of our classes together! When do you manage to go to these other classes?" Ron asked, confused.

"That's none of your business," I cried, reaching hysteria.

"None of my business? I thought we were friends?" Ron said angrily.

"Yeah, I thought so too, but friends don't forget each other's birthdays!" I yelled back, gathering up my things and throwing them into my bag. While Ron sat there gaping like a fish out of water, I furiously finished packing away my stuff and stalked out of the common room.

I was headed to the library, until I remembered that I was already in the library doing my muggle studies essay. I abruptly stopped in the middle of the corridor and pondered where I could go. I couldn't go to the library because I would run into myself. I couldn't go back to the common room because Ron was there. Finally, I decided to go to the empty transfiguration classroom, which was nearby. At least I was positive I wouldn't be seen by anyone by accident in there.

When I arrived, I spread out my things and started working on ancient runes. I was so absorbed in my work, that I didn't hear Professor McGonagall enter. In fact, her presence didn't even register until she cleared her throat.

"Ms. Granger, may I ask why you are using my classroom at such a late hour?" she questioned.

"Sorry Professor," I said, jumping up out of my seat. "It's just that I can't study in the library or my common room because I'm already there. Rather, my past selves are there. I had to come back in time to get all my work done. I thought this would be the best place to work because nobody would see me and ask questions." I decided to leave out the part about arguing with Ron being the reason I couldn't go to the common room. I didn't think Professor McGonagall would particularly like that excuse.

"You've gone back in time to repeat this hour twice?" she asked, her eyes going wide.

"Yes," I lied, since I had really only gone back once. It didn't feel much like a lie, though, because there had been times when I had gone back twice anyway.

"Ms. Granger, are you sure you can handle taking this many classes?" Professor McGonagall asked me, concern etched across her face. "Are you getting enough sleep?"

"I'm fine," I lied again. I wasn't about to tell her how utterly worn out I was or she might force me to drop some of my courses.

"Very well. I will give you special permission to use my classroom after hours due to your unique situation, but please try not to go back in time so much. Only use the time turner when it is absolutely necessary. Time is a very dangerous thing to meddle with," Professor McGonagall warned me.

"Of course, Professor, I understand," I said. When Professor McGonagall nodded, satisfied, I returned to my work and she returned to her office.

"Just make sure you're back in your common room before curfew," she said before closing the door.

It was another few weeks before anything of consequence happened again. I had spent most of my time away from Ron, working in the library and in Professor McGonagall's classroom to avoid getting angry again, but I couldn't just ignore my friends completely.

Ron and I were completing star charts for Professor Sinistra when Professor McGonagall came into the common room, posted a notice on the bulletin board, and left. Ron got up immediately to check the notice, while I stayed behind to continue working on my star chart.

"Hermione, it's the first Hogsmeade weekend! It's on Halloween!" Ron exclaimed when he returned.

"Oh, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go..." I said sadly, looking down at all my work. Halloween wasn't for another few weeks, but I was sure I would still have plenty of work to do that would mean I wouldn't have time for Hogsmeade.

"Oh, come on, Hermione, you can afford to take one day off to go to Hogsmeade. You work too much," Ron said.

I bit back the retort that came to mind, not wanting to start another fight with Ron. I thought about it for a moment, and decided that I really could use the break, even if it would mean less sleep later. I needed to take some time for myself that didn't involve school work.

"Alright, I'll go," I said finally, causing Ron to smile and a warm feeling run through me. I wasn't sure what it was, so instead of pondering it, I busied myself with astronomy. I didn't even notice Harry entering the common room until he started talking.

It was too bad that Harry wouldn't be able to join us in Hogsmeade. It was no surprise that his aunt and uncle hadn't signed his permission form though. And it was probably better anyway, with Black out and about, looking for Harry, that he stay in the protection of the castle.

Crookshanks came and joined me as I continued to work on my astronomy homework and I petted him as he sat in my lap. Harry began to copy Ron's homework, and I would have chastised them for cheating, but I just didn't have the time or the energy anymore.

Suddenly, Crookshanks lunged at Ron's bag and Ron cried out, jumping out of his chair and trying to rip Crookshanks away. Panicking, I yelled at Ron to be careful with Crookshanks. I knew he didn't like my cat, but it was no reason to hurt the poor thing. He threw Crookshanks across the room and I went running after him, scooping him up in my arms protectively as Ron grabbed Scabbers, who Crookshanks appeared to have been chasing.

I tried to explain to Ron that it wasn't Crookshanks' fault. He was a cat and Scabbers was a rat. It was in his nature to want to chase rats. But Ron was convinced that Crookshanks had it out for his pet and he stalked off to his dormitory in a rage, leaving Harry and I in the common room.

I hoped that the next day everything would be forgotten, but Ron remained mad at me. I tried inquiring about Scabbers' wellbeing, but this seemed only to anger Ron further, so I let it go and moved away to give him some space.

Later, while we were waiting to be let into Professor McGonagall's class, Lavender revealed that her rabbit had been killed by a fox. She was very upset and then told the class that Professor Trelawney had predicted this.

I couldn't see how Professor Trelawney could have made a correct prediction, and tried to explain that to Lavender, but then Ron loudly interrupted me, saying that I didn't care about other people's pets and that Lavender should ignore me.

I felt my throat constrict and tears pricked at my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of the whole class, so I channelled some of the anger I had been pushing away for over a month and glared at Ron for the whole period instead.

When classes were over for the day, I ran up to my dormitory and locked the door to make sure I was alone. I didn't care about the mountain of homework waiting for me in my bag. I didn't care that I was wasting valuable time holing up in here. I curled up in a ball on my bed and let everything out; my frustration, my exhaustion, my anger, but mostly, my misery that my friendship with Ron seemed to be coming to an end.