Hermione arrived at the train station about an hour before the train was to depart. She wanted to avoid seeing the Weasley family on the platform. After 7 children, Mrs. Weasley had amazing instincts as to when something was wrong with a loved one – and Hermione wanted to avoid those instincts at all costs.

She entered the cabin closest to the door near the front of the train, sat down, and waited for the chaos which would begin soon. Luckily Cedric was not going to be on board. The Hufflepuff quiddich team needed all the help they could get, and they all agreed to return to Hogwarts 2 days before break ended in order to get in as much practice as possible.

It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice call her name that Hermione realized that she had been nodding off. She looked up and saw Ron and Harry stow their belongings overhead and sit on the seat across from her.

"What happened Hermione?" Ron asked.

A lump settled in her throat at the question, "What do you mean?" she replied, trying to keep her voice from wavering.

"You were supposed to come to our house yesterday so we could all go to the station together."

"Oh yeah," Hermione replied – relieved, "Things were going quite well with my dad, and he asked if I would stay last night so he could bring me to the station this morning."

"That's excellent!" said Harry, "I've been so worried about how you too have been getting on, I was hoping that this holiday would help mend your relationship."

"Yeah, me too." Said Hermione – as she looked out the window into the distance.

Ron and Harry exchanged a puzzled look – something did not seem quite right with Hermione, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it. "You ok 'mione?" Ron asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, just tired – I caught a pretty bad cold over the holiday and I don't think I'm quite over it yet, if you guys don't mind – I think I'm going to lay down for awhile."

"No worries, we'll try to be quiet" said Harry "I had a cold a few days ago as well, it wore me out – get some rest."

Hermione stretched herself out along the seat with her back facing the boys who were now talking quietly to each other. Hermione knew there was no way she was going to be able to sleep, but she wanted to avoid interaction as much as possible – and the excuse of having a cold seemed the most plausible for her distant and quiet behavior.

A couple of hours went by as Hermione stared at the back of the seat, deep in thought – until she heard Ron gasp – "Hermione, you're bleeding!" Fear washed over Hermione as she sat up. "What?" she asked – "Your back!" Ron replied, there is blood coming through your shirt, what happened?"

"Oh that" Hermione tried to sound nonchalant, "Crookshanks was laying on my back last night when I was in bed, and she accidentally scratched me when she leapt off." She hoped that excuse would pass – she never lied to her friends like that before, and was surprised at herself by how easy it was to do, and how quickly the lie formed in her brain. She prepared herself for giving false explanations if she had to, but she didn't expect for this to happen – yet the lie rolled right off her tongue as though it were the truth. Hermione was able to glamour her cuts and bruises away, but all bets were off it one decided to start bleeding again – she wasn't able to heal the wounds on her back as easily as the others.

"You had better see Madame Pomfrey when we get to Hogwarts." Harry suggested. "Yeah" replied Hermione. "I think I'm going to go the restroom now though". Hermione grabbed her "purse" – which actually held ALL of her belongings – including her trunk (thanks to an expansion and weightlessness charm) and left their cabin for the restroom. Harry and Ron were silent as she left, exchanging another uncomfortable look.

Luckily for Hermione, they were only about 15 minutes from Hogwarts – so she hid in one of the restrooms for the rest of the ride. When they arrived in Hogsmead, Hermione remained in the restroom until the last possible moment before the train would depart back to London. She didn't want to ride in the carriages with everyone, and she didn't plan on attending the feast. All she wanted to do was go straight to her dormitory, reapply her glamours, and go to sleep. When Hermione felt it was safe to exit the train, she stuck her head cautiously out the door and looked around to see if anyone was still around – hoping that Ron and Harry weren't waiting for her. As it turned out, they assumed that she got on one of the carriages that left before they were able to get off the train.

None of the carriages or students were in sight, so Hermione made her way up the hill – leaving Hogsmead behind, and moving forward to her home. The walk usually takes about 10-15 minutes, however – Hermione was still in a great deal of pain and was limping – she made it there in a half hour. By the time she reached the gate, Professor Flitwick looked quite annoyed with her.

Before she could give him a chance to say anything, Hermione said "I'm so sorry professor, I had to make an emergency trip to the restroom, and by the time I left Hog's Head, all the carriages were gone!" Professor Flitwick read into her statement of "emergency trip to the bathroom" as "female troubles", (which is what Hermione hoped he would think, and with an embarrassed blush he said "It's quite alright Ms. Granger, you'd better head up to the castle before the feast." Hermione felt proud of herself in one way, that she was able to avoid having to explain herself, but she also felt disturbed at how easily the lying was coming to her now. How far was this all going to go, she wondered? How long would she be able to keep it up? Her most daunting task of deception was yet to come – she still had to fool Cedric, her other friends, and the rest of the professors, including her mentor Professor McGonnagall – which made her downright sick to even think about. Hermione pushed the thought out of her head as she made her way up to the castle. She knew the feast would already be underway when she got there, so she made her way up to Gryffindor tower, where she unpacked her things, and locked herself in the bathroom to once again inspect her damage.

After reapplying the glamours, Hermione climbed into her pajamas and crawled into bed – she was not in the mood to greet anyone right now – especially her fellow Gryffindor friends.

Ginny crept into the room after the feast, hoping to find Hermione there – she did, but noticed she was fast asleep (or so Hermione was trying to make it appear). Not wanting to wake her, Ginny figured she would talk to her in the morning, and got herself ready for bed. Hermione at one point actually fell asleep (or passed out from sheer exhaustion) – but she was soon awakened by a horrific nightmare. Hermione sat straight up in bed – hoping she didn't cry out. When she saw that no one else in the room had stirred, she laid back down on her side and hugged her pillow – feeling tears run down the bridge of her nose and into the fabric.

Hermione knew that everyone usually stirred around 6am, so she made sure to get up before 5. She knew at some point she was going to have to speak to people, but she was still trying to orient herself with being home again, and trying to come up with a game plan in order to make it through the day. Hermione didn't have the energy to clean herself up, all she did was reapply the glamours, get dressed in her robes, and quietly make her way down to the great hall. Breakfast was always in the Great Hall at 5:30 (and always constantly being magically replenished), so Hermione snuck in as soon as it appeared on the tables and grabbed a piece of plain toast. That was about all she was able to force herself to eat – and she knew that if she didn't, she would run the risk of fainting at some point – which would cause questions she was trying to avoid.

While Hermione was making herself scarce, her friends began noticing just how scarce she was. She was absent in the bedroom, absent from the common room, and now she was absent from breakfast. Ginny, Harry and Ron were discussing this exact topic.

"Where is she? We didn't see her at the station, didn't see her at the feast, and where is she now? She should be here going on and on about how excited she is for class and homework, this is really strange." Ron said.

"Well she DID get off the train, she was in bed sleeping when I got back to the common room last night – but I didn't want to wake her." Ginny replied.

"She was acting strange on the train – I sort of got the impression that she the visit with her father didn't go so well – but I thought she was going to come stay at the Burrow if things were going badly" Harry added.

"Well," Ginny said thoughtfully as she munched on some toast, "it WAS her first Christmas without her mother – so THAT had to be difficult."

"All the same though, you know how her father has been acting" Ron said, "he blames Hermione for the accident, and has been drinking a lot too – apparently he's a pretty mean drunk – pile that on top of him actually saying that he resents and hates her, I imagine that it's a lot more difficult than just the first Christmas without her mum."

The three thought about this silently, everyone coming up with their own "well maybe..." scenarios – each speculating what could have happened to make their usually predictable friend act so, well…unpredictable. Right before Ginny was about to speak up again, she noticed Cedric walk into the Great Hall and rush right for them.

"Hi Cedric, have a good holiday?" Harry asked.

"It was alright, listen – I don't mean to cut you off, but have you seen Hermione ANYWHERE? I haven't seen her since you all arrived, and she didn't reply to any of my owls over break. I got so worried that I even used a muggle telephone over break to call, but I didn't get an answer at her home."

The three at the table exchanged concerned looks – each realizing that Hermione never replied to any of their owls either, which was not like her at ALL. Usually Hermione was the one who was sending an owl a day to each of them whenever they were all apart – but the fact that even CEDRIC did not hear from her changed their concern over to intense worry. They told Cedric about her being on the train and being in bed, but also told him about how abnormal she was acting.

"I know she was really worried about going home – I had to do some pretty hard convincing to get her to go. I'm really worried, I hope something didn't happen. I'm going to go look around for her – we don't have a class together until after lunch, hopefully I can find her before then." And with that, Cedric turned and quickly hurried out of the hall.

From her seat at the main table, Professor McGonnagall saw Cedric's fast exit out of the hall, and noticed Hermione was not at his side like usual. They are typically inseparable, but as she scanned the Gryffindor table – she noticed that her place with Harry, Ron and Ginny was also vacant. "Albus," she began, "Miss Granger was not at the feast last night, was she?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then said "Come to think of it, I did not see her. She typically greets you upon return from a break, does she not?"

"She does…" McGonnagall replied slowly, "Where could she be? I know she had some concerns spending break at home, I hope it did not go as badly as she was anticipating. Well luckily she is in my first class of the morning, maybe I should ask her to stay after to ask how it went."

"I think that is a good idea Minerva, with the loss of her mother and the difficulty she is having with her father, she could use all the support we can give her." Albus said. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help."

While this was all going on, Hermione was hiding out in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom until the last possible moment before class.

Professor McGonnagall looked at her watch, then to the empty seat in the center of the front row of her classroom. Hermione has NEVER been less than 15 minutes early to her class since her very first day at Hogwarts over 5 years ago. She looked back to her watch – it was exactly 7am and time to start class. Just as she was about to greet everyone, she saw Hermione sneak into the room and sit in the last row – in the seat which was closest to the door. A disheveled Hermione pulled her books out quietly without looking up at her, or at anyone else. A wave of anxiety settled itself in the pit of Minerva McGonnagall's stomach as she stared at her favorite student – her "star" pupil, with confusion and concern. She didn't know how much time went by as she looked at her mentee silently, (as though she was trying to will Hermione to look up at her) but when she noticed a few other students turn around to see what her gaze was fixed on, Minerva refocused her attention to beginning class.

As she was teaching, she frequently stole glances at Hermione. Not once during the entire class did Hermione ask questions, offer answers, raise her hand…or even look up. In fact, it looked as though Hermione was paying no attention whatsoever – she seemed completely unfocused, and almost dazed. She also noticed Harry and Ron sneaking glances back at Hermione as well with concern in their eyes. This worried McGonnagall even more, but class would end soon and she would speak with Hermione then. This proved a more difficult task than anticipated because the very second class ended, Hermione scooped up her belongings and left the room so quickly it bordered on running. She left before Minerva even had a chance to open her mouth in order to ask her to stay. She was about to question Ron and Harry about Hermione's peculiar behavior, but they hurried after her.

Minerva had never seen Hermione sit anywhere but the front of the room. She was always dead center, always paying attention, contributing to the class through questions and answers, all the while taking feverish notes – hanging on Minerva's ever word. Minerva thought on this for a moment. Not only did Hermione appear to be in another world altogether, but she sat alone in the back of the class, speaking to no one, looking at no one – not even Minerva herself. Hermione's behavior was not just out of the ordinary for her, but it was downright bizarre – and Minerva was deeply concerned. It wasn't just that Hermione wasn't acting like herself, it was as though she was a completely different person altogether. Minerva didn't see Hermione as merely her favorite student and star pupil, but she looked upon her with affection over the years, and felt a motherly love for her – especially after her mother died. She of course did not outwardly show this affection (as is typical of Minerva McGonnagall), but it hurt on the inside to see that Hermione was obviously suffering over something. She did not want to see Hermione in pain, but Hermione was obviously attempting to avoid contact with ANYONE.

Minerva was not just Hermione's mentor, but she was her confidant as well. Hermione always felt comfortable talking with her, whether it was about school or general chat – Minerva was always the one professor Hermione would bring her concerns to. Right now there was obviously SOMETHING going on with Hermione, and judging by the state she saw her in, Minerva didn't think that "something" was anything good. She worried that it was something so bad that Hermione didn't feel as though she COULD confide. She was making such an obvious effort to avoid verbal and nonverbal contact with not just Minerva, but her friends as well.

She did not know what happened over break to cause such a drastic transformation in her favorite student, but Minerva vowed that she was most certainly going to find out. Minerva didn't know why, but after class this morning, she feared for Hermione. She didn't know if it was part of her animagus instinct, or just intuition – but Minerva felt that something was deeply wrong. She felt it not only in her gut, but in her very soul that for Hermione's sake, she was going to have to get to the bottom of this – and she had to do it fast.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment! Any suggestions on what you might LIKE to see in future chapters? More to come soon!