A/N- Okay, so I'm really happy with this chapter, and I hope you feel the same way! Enjoy, and please review!
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Hermione emerged from Snape's detention covered head-to-toe in slimy goop. The former Potions Master had temporarily reclaimed his old classroom and had her elbow-deep in frogspawn for the past hour and a half, and she'd been so caught up with catching up on her homework that she hadn't had time to get any rest, and so was dead on her feet and she dragged herself up a staircase in the general direction of the Gryffindor Common Room.
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Hermione woke to the curtain on her four-poster snapping open, sending a shaft of sunlight across her face. She squinted against the bright rays, attempting to identify the offender. All she could make out was a head of fiery red hair. She squinted harder.
"Wha-?"
"Come on, get up," said the figure sharply. As Hermione's eyes adjusted, her gaze sharpened to reveal Ginny Weasley frowning expectantly down at her.
"Ginny? What…?"
"Harry said you had detention with Snape last night, Ginny explained, "figured you'd be exhausted," she paused to grab Hermione's arm and drag her out of bed, "looks like he was right," she grinned.
Hermione mumbled her thanks and groped around for her watch, holding it up close to her face, vision still slightly fuzzy with exhaustion. Once she managed to focus her gaze on the watch, her eyes widened, all taxes of exhaustion gone in an instant.
"Shit," she hissed, turning to paw through her trunk, resurfacing a moment later with the remainder of the bottle of Sleekeazy's she'd decimated the previous day and a bottle of shampoo, sprinting for the bathroom.
In the doorway, she wheeled around to thank Ginny one more time. The redhead smiled warmly, periwinkle eyes sparkling, before turning herself and heading out a door at the opposite end of the room from the one through which Hermione had just disappeared.
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Fifteen minutes later, an extremely disgruntled Hermione emerged from the bathroom. About half of her hair was completely dry, the other half sopping wet and all of it pulled into a lopsided ponytail. Her wrinkled robes were askew; she'd forgotten to grab another set, and she didn't have time to change. She tossed the shampoo and now-nearly-empty bottle of potion back into her trunk and slung her book bag over her shoulder, before hurrying from the girls' dormitories without a backward glance.
Hermione motored through the mostly-empty Common Room, disappearing swiftly through the portrait hole. Once in the corridor, she broke into a run, tightly clutching her bag as it swung, ramming rather painfully against her side.
As she rounded the corner toward the Great Hall, she glanced down at her watch mid stride and slammed into a lanky figure emerging from breakfast.
"Sorry," she mumbled, bending to retrieve her bag, which she'd dropped. The figure, whom she hadn't bothered to identify, dove for it just as she grasped the strap, forcing a neatly folded square of parchment into her palm. Her eyes widened and she straightened hastily as the figure rounded the corner, whirling as he did so to meet her amber-brown eyes with his dove gray ones before rounding the corner, a glimpse of messy, white-blond hair the last she saw of him.
Hermione blinked slowly, eyes wide with bewilderment as she slowly began to process what had just happened. Of course, she'd known she would have to run into Draco Malfoy eventually, she just hadn't counted on it happening so soon. Tears threatened, and she bit her lip until the metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue. Once she'd regained control of her emotions, she remembered the square of parchment in her palm. She unfolded it warily, hands shaking, and slowly began to read:
Hermione Granger,
I just want you to know that I'm sorry. About what happened. That I left like that. That I can't tell you why. You wouldn't understand anyway. I know you probably won't believe this. I know you probably hate me. You should hate me. You have every right to. But I really am sorry.
Yours,
Draco Malfoy
The tears returned, unbidden, as Hermione read the note a second time. This time she let them come. They slipped silently down her cheeks before falling to stain the creamy parchment. She allowed herself a moment to reread the note once more, before tucking it into the pocket of her robes and waving her wand, making a tissue appear out of thin air. She dried her cheeks and blew her nose, before vanishing it with another wave of her wand. She slung her bag back over her shoulder and headed for class, one hand pawing through the bag in search of the muggle granola bar she always kept there just in case, as there was no way she'd have time for a proper breakfast now.
Hermione was early to her class, and she rested her back against the wall by the door. She vanished her granola bar wrapper and pulled out the note one more time, one final tear slipping down her cheek as she read it.
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A/N- So I hope you enjoyed, and please review!
~hermionegrangerandarocketship