Hermione felt a burning ache across her forehead ,as she woke up and almost instantly hoped that she hadn't. She was about to roll over and burying her head in the pillows ,when she realised that something warm and wet was on her forehead. Scrunching her forehead up, she tried to discern what it was. A cloth. A damp cloth. It was then that she heard voices above her.

'He's what?'

'He broke out of Azkaban and not just him but others too. Only his name is mentioned though'

'A week ago ,as well. Apparently the ministry was hushing it up all this time

'Well, at least Rita Skeeter did something good for a change'

'As if. Probably got money to do it'

'Doubt it'

'The ministry wouldn't want that in the paper'

'Who cares about that? They're probably after Hermione'

'How would they know about the prophecy?'

Hermione scrunched her eyelids up at that point ,getting rid of all the stiffness in them before slowly opening them. She had to blink a few time before she could actually see and smiled fondly at the sight before her. Draco was sitting on a seat on her direct right ,his elbow on the hospital bed. His face was turned though ,as he was looking at the newspaper in Ginny's lap. Theo was standing behind Ginny with his elbow leaning on her chair nonchalantly.

'What's that?' Hermione asked ,alerting the others to her presence ,as she tried to sit up in the hospital bed.

'You're awake!' Draco cried ,placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to keep her lying down.

'What happened?' Hermione asked.

'We have no idea' Ginny cried ,running around to the other side of her bed and giving her a massive hug.

'We couldn't find you this morning ,so we went looking for you and then Ginny found you collapsed near the common rooms' Theo explained briefly. 'If anything, we should be asking you what happened'

'I remember nothing other than a piercing sharp pain in the back of my head' Hermione said ,looking scared. 'It's still there'

'What were you doing down there anyway?' Ginny asked ,placing a hand on her forehead before resoling the damp cloth using a bucket of water on the bedside table.

Hermione looked down at her hands ,unsure what to say.

'She was talking to me' Draco said. Hermione looked up at him ,surprised.

'Why?'

'You were the one who told me to confront him' Hermione pointed an accusing finger at Ginny.

'Not at night' Ginny argued ,holding her hands in a gesture that spoke clearly 'Isn't that obvious'.

'Well, it's not my fault that it was the only time I had enough courage' Hermione crossed her arms with a small huff.

It was only when Madam Pomfrey's head appeared through the hangings around Hermione's bed, did they realise the amount if commotion they'd been making.

'Ah, you're awake Miss Granger' she clapped her hands delightedly. 'How are you feeling?'

'Alright ,but I've got a really bad headache' Hermione admitted.

'I don't think that's good' she pursed her lips thoughtfully before heading towards her office 'I'll call the headmaster down to see what he says'

'Dumbledore?' Hermione asked ,as the matron turned towards her office.

'He was notified immediately ,seeing as we found you in your female state' Draco told her. Hermione looked down at her body and only then realised that she was back in her own body. She curled one finger around her brown locks before realising what it meant.

At that exact moment, Blaise and Pansy appeared through the hangings ,carrying at least six platefuls of food and depositing them on the bed.

He then found a box of croissants and began passing them around.

'Thanks ,mate. I'm starving' Theo said ,accepting a croissant and munching on it greedily.

'Manners' Ginny reminded ,taking a croissant herself.

The plate of croissants came round to Hermione last and when Blaise came up to her ,sh looked up guiltily at him.

'You know who I am don't you?' She asked ,warily ,almost shielding her eyes from the small smile that he gave her.

'You're Hermione Granger' he said.

'I mean, who I've been since the start of this year?' she reiterated ,scared of his answer.

'Yeah, I know' he nodded 'and I forgive you. For everything'

'But I've been so mean to you' Hermione whined.

'Do you want me to hate you?' He asked ,joking merrily.

Hermione shook her head fervently.

'Then what's the fuss?' Pansy asked ,smiling as well and standing next to Theo.

'You forgive me too?' Hermione asked ,almost too happy to believe that it was true.

'I do' Pansy nodded ,beaming at her 'We all do'

Hermione looked from Theo and then to Draco who gave her a small nod ,which caused her to squeal with delight and pull them all into some kind of awkward and rather unusual group hug.

'Okay, my back hurts now' Theo complained.

'Awww, are you getting old?' Ginny teased ,causing Theo to go slightly red.

'Old? Who are you calling old? I play Quidditch' He defended himself.

'You don't need to prove it' Hermione said ,pretending to shield her eyes from him.

'Oh, this is so amazing!' Pansy squealed 'You're a girl!"

'I am' Hermione nodded ,confused at where this was going 'I thought you knew-'

'This means that we can team up against the boys' she squealed 'I have at last got someone intelligent to talk to'

Hermione smiled fondly at her.

'And not one but two!' Pansy continued ,placing her arms around Ginny and Hermione at the same time ;What do you two say? After Hermes here is out of the hospital, we can have a proper girls night'

'Of course'

'Any time'

Pansy squealed again excitedly and the three boys simply looked at each other absolutely nonplussed at her abnormally girly behaviour.

'Now that that's sorted out, can I know what exactly happened? How did you faint?' Blaise asked.

'I have no idea' Hermione scrunched up her forehead in thought 'One minute I was standing there and the next minute there was a piercing pain right through my forehead' She rubbed her forehead 'and my knees had hit the floor as everything went blank'

'As I thought so' Dumbledore mused ,stepping through the hangings and alerting the students to his presence. They all started in their seats ,Hermione especially. She was feeling rather jumpy after the incident.

'Did someone attack her?' Draco asked 'Was it my aunt? She's still on the loose. Apparently, she's the one who freed those prisoners in the paper' Draco didn't trust Dumbledore. There was something fishy about the fact that the breakout was able to be hidden for so long.

'Your aunt?' Hermione asked. She had gone deathly pale and instantly clutched her right arm (A/N: Tell me if I got this fact wrong. I'm not sure which arm Hermione has the word 'Mudblood' carved into) instinctively to her chest. Draco looked at her worriedly ,but she failed to make eye contact. It was Ginny who ,after a pause, gently pulled upon her arm ,revealing the long scar that ran across it.

'How did you get that?' Draco asked. Hermione just shook her head silently ,staring at the scar with a look of horror on her face ,as if reliving the moments of when it had happened. Closing her eyes ,trying to shut the memory out, it only seemed to get stronger.

'What were you doing sneaking around?' a shrill, harsh, female voice filled her head 'How did you get past the security? Did that goblin help you?'

'Nothing...nothing' Hermione heard herself plead as another bout of sharp, imaginary and incessant needles attacked her body. 'Please...stop'

'Tell me! You filthy, little mudblood, tell me!' the shrill voice spoke again. Hermione felt herself being shaken. It happened once. Then again and again.

It was then that she realised the woman's shrieks had died down and the shakes were gentle and friendly. She opened her eyes. She was still sitting up in bed and in the exactly same position. It seemed that just her mind had wandered. She had not fainted then.

'Are you alright?' Theo asked. Hermione nodded ,blinking rapidly to clear her eyes off unshed tears.

'No you're not' Pansy shook her head ,glaring softly at Theo for even suggesting such a thing. 'But what happened?'

'Miss Granger ,as you might know, was leading a number of rebellions against the Death Eaters in France during the second wizarding war' Dumbledore explained. No hint of recognition was visible on any of the student's faces ,so Dumbledore continued 'and no rebellion was ever fought without lasting trauma. Miss Granger went into a temporary state of lapsed consciousness because you ,Mr Malfoy, mentioned Bellatrix Lestrange' Hermione shivered noticeably at the name before looking down at her hands ,as if ashamed 'It is nothing to be ashamed of ,Miss Granger' Dumbledore reassured her 'You have a right to be scared of her after what she did to you'

'She did that?' Blaise gasped. Draco was unusually quiet ,staring at the scar, with an unrecognisable myriad of emotions dancing in his eyes.

There was a second of silence before Hermione spoke ,eager to take the attention away from her encounter with Bellatrix Lestrange.

'Did I hear rightly? A breakout?' Hermione asked.

'It happened a week ago' Ginny explained ,shoving a newspaper onto Hermione's lap ',but the ministry were trying to hush it up. Rita Skeeter found out though'

Hermione saw the two faces of Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov screaming at her madly from the paper.

'Dolohov is the only known escaped Death Eater ,but there are rumours of others as well' Theo added.

'You think they're after me?' Hermione looked up. 'Does this have anything to do with what happened last night?'

'I think that last night was a test to see whether their plan was working. I don't think it was even meant to happen ,as it held no meaning if my theory is correct.' Dumbledore mused 'That scar that you've got there' Dumbledore pointed to Hermione's forearm 'has a direct connection to Lestrange. I think that she ,and whoever else, is using this connection to-' he paused for a minute as if searching for the right word 'damage you'

There was a deathly silence.

'What exactly do you think they are trying to do?' Draco asked ,suspicion laced in his voice.

'This is a rather unique scar ,so the information about it is minimal. I'm not even sure what it might do to Miss Granger' Dumbledore explained. He was talking in circles and Draco was sure he knew something that he wasn't giving away.

A/N: Woah! That took ages. The story has really moved on. Blaise and Pansy simply forgave Hermione ,which I did simply because there is no point waiting around. Anyway, the attacks have started ,so at this point an internal fight would be ver y interruptive. Please review and tell me how you like it. This is French Hermione remember ,but I still wanted her to have some sort of war-filled past like the official Hermione Granger would've had.

What do you think about the Dumbledore business? What is the old headmaster hiding? What do you think?

Please review with ideas about her life and your opinions on the text. I'm waiting...