The next day, Hermione ,beaming spectacularly, sauntered down to the Great Hall after Ancient Runes ,her lighter-than-usual bag slung over her shoulder casually. It hadn't even been an entire day since their reconciliation, but she already felt like the past few days had never happened.

Nothing could spoil her mood. Nothing.

Merlin seemed to be giving it a shot though ,Hermione thought ,as Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter came into her line of vision ,identical sneers on their faces ,as they barred her way into the Great Hall.

'Move' Hermione demanded ,her hand clutching tightly on the wand in her right pocket ,hoping that she didn't have to use it. Losing house points would certainly put a dampner on her mood.

'Talking again ,are we ,Orion?' Harry taunted ,moving so that he and Ron formed a small arc around her. A gaggle of Hufflepuff's shuffled passed ,trying not to pay them any attention.

'We were never not talking' Hermione clarified 'It was I who wasn't talking to you'

'And why was that?' Ron asked. 'Scared of Harry here? Thought he was going to ask for a rematch ,so you just backed away'

Hermione scrunched her forehead in disbelief. How full of themselves were they?

'If you even think I'm agreeing to a rematch, you're mistaken' she scoffed ,trying to cover up her fear. Yes, she was scared ,but not of them. She was scared of collapsing again ,scared of Bellatrix assaulting her mind at another unfortunate time ,not scared of a scar-headed school boy.

'So you are scared?' Harry smirked satisfactorily. Hermione didn't say a thing. This was getting too much. She had a Charm's essay due next week and she really wanted to get it done today.

Sighing, she raised her wand, her head cocked casually to the side, 'Are you going to move or should I make you?' Her voice was in a small whisper and fear flickered over the Gryffindors' faces ,recalling her aptitude in spells.

'We await your response' Ron sneered ,allowing her to pass through into the hall and Hermione took the chance gratefully ,sitting at the Slytherin table and digging into her chicken.

She only realised too late that something was wrong: no one was talking. She looked up and looked to see that the places where her friends' usually sat were empty. Where were they? They hadn't told her they were skipping dinner. Frowning, Hermione glanced at the Gryffindor table. Ginny wasn't there either.

Returning to her dinner, Hermione tried to swat away the growing dread. She was slightly late. Maybe they'd already eaten. It was possible ,but unlikely ,especially considering that she was hardly five minutes late and not even Crabbe or Goyle could eat that quickly.

Gulping her food down, Hermione headed to the Common Room. They were probably waiting for her there. Maybe they'd sneaked food from the kitchens to snack on. But when Hermione stepped inside the Slytherin dungeons ,panting slightly after the long walk, disappointment and a pinprick of suspicion ate at her insides. Dumping her bag unceremoniously in her dormitory, Hermione headed up to the library ,taking a smaller shoulder bag for her Charms homework. Even if her friends weren't there, at least she'd have something to do.

It was lucky for her ,however, when the moment she stepped inside the warm, comforting atmosphere of the library that a young, second-year Slytherin girl hurried up to her and shoved a piece of parchment in her hands.

'Draco Malfoy told me to give it to you' she explained shortly before disappearing elsewhere.

Almost ripping the parchment in her haste to find out what was written, Hermione smiled with relief at the familiar handwriting.

We're sitting outside on the grounds under the tall beech tree.

Come quick ,these couples are absolutely boring.

~D.M.

Grinning fondly, Hermione pocketed the parchment and headed out to the grounds. She knew that her friends wouldn't et her down ,not like she had even considered it ,anyway.

At the sight of Hermione, Draco grinned. Even though she looked like a boy, he always seemed to notice a certain feminine air woven in the way she walked, talked and looked. With her short, brown hair blowing faintly in the wind, he considered how pretty she'd have looked right now ,if she only lifted her disguise.

'You weren't at breakfast' Hermione said accusatorially.

'Thought we'd dumped you?' he asked cheekily. Hermione blushed and looked at the ground ,not answering.

Instead she asked, 'What are all these books for?' Strewn on the ground, all around the five friends were tomes upon tomes of dated, tatty and rustic-looking books. 'I thought we'd already discovered what Bellatrix is doing.

'We still don't know why though' Pansy answered ,looking up from a

'Or what Dumbledore is hiding ,exactly' Blaise added.

'We have an idea ,though' Ginny said ,causing everyone to look up from their books.

'Oooh, what is it?' Hermione asked ,excited ,they hadn't exactly talked about the prophecy or Bellatrix since the day before's confession.

'You might not like it' Draco warned.

'You know the prophecy?' he asked ,almost immediately after 'Do you know the exact wordings of it? Like ,what it says or how it endangers you?'

No, she hadn't known. Not once had Dumbledore ever recited the prophecy to her or explained how she was in danger. She had simply taken his word for it and did as he told.

She shook her head ,dumbly. 'I can't believe...' she started ,but trailed off ,not really knowing how to put it into words.

'We thought so' Theo nodded gravely ,sharing a look with Draco.

'That isn't all ,though' Draco continued 'During the incident, one of your visions included your parents right? The one where they claimed that you were adopted.' Hermione nodded ,not believing her ears. 'We thought that maybe...'

'No' Hermione said resolutely 'It can't be true. My parents...they would...they would never. I would know by now...probably' The more Hermione thought, she more her resolution died away.

She had to admit that there was a possibility.

'It is only a thought. If it is wrong, we'll admit it valiantly ,but we have to try ,right?' Ginny said nervously.

'Maybe you could send a letter or something...' Blaise trailed off. He wasn't very good at handling these situations.

'I'll send it tomorrow ,then' Hermione said eventually 'A nice, long letter'

'Good ,now that that's sorted' Blaise said ,relieved that the tension was over. Hermione chuckled fondly 'About these books, we were researching on illegitimate children or secret children of the Sacred Twenty-four'

'Aren't you all part of it?' Hermione asked. They nodded.

'Think about it, if you are also, then we can be the Sacred six' Pansy said eagerly ,causing an outbreak of mumbles and hurried 'No's breaking out among the boys.

'I think it's a splendid idea' Hermione beamed ,much to the aggravation of Draco ,who buried his head in his hands ,wondering what the world had come to.

'Sounds cute ,especially the French number six' Ginny agreed before turning to Hermione 'Are all your numbers that posh sounding?'

'Kind of' Hermione shrugged 'But it's what makes French, French. I can teach you the basics one day ,if you like'

'Oh ,yes please' Ginny squealed.

'Me too'

'And me'

'I already know the basics' Draco boasted.

'Really?' Hermione challenged 'Où avez-vous appris?'

'Ma mère a embauché un professionnel pour me tuteur, quand j'avais sept ans' Draco replied ,smirking at Hermione's expression.

'Vous êtes doué'

'je suis génial' he replied ,causing Hermione to roll her eyes before turning to the other ,who were looking rather shocked in their direction.

'I need to learn that' Blaise said ,still shocked 'First thing tomorrow?'

'We'll start this Saturday' Hermione said ,chuckling at his cutely downhearted expression.

'How is it?' Hermione asked Ginny ,chewing her lip in anticipation.

'Good' Ginny nodded ,'Just change the first line to something less...how do I say it? Agressive. It sounds like you're forcing them to reason with you. Be calm'

'I'm not calm!' Hermione cried ,ripping a small tuft of hair from her skull in agony 'Can't you see?'

'I'm afraid I can' Ginny nodded ,prising Hermione's hands from her scalp and placing them on the piece of parchment and watching as Hermione waved her wand to erase said line befre replacing it with another set of carefully chosen words.

'How is it now?' Hermione asked.

'Perfect' Ginny beamed ,but Hermione still didn't seem to believe in it ,staring down the paper before scribbling another word at the end of a paragraph.

Ginny sighed. They'd been at it for about an hour at least and she herself hadn't written more than a small paragraph on her Potions assignment.

'I'm sure it's fine now' she said exasperatedly ,snatching the page from under Hermione's arm ,just as she had been about to cross another word out.

Scrunching her face up ,as if in agony, it took Hermione a whole second to agree with Ginny and let the red-head roll it up tightly with a red ribbon and a small Hogwart's seal.

'You sure-' Hermione began ,but Ginny cut her off with a sharp stare ,letting the school barn owl they'd chosen for the flight to take off with the letter tied around his leg.

Hermione watched it forlornly as it flew off and could only hope it would come back with kind words of love and comfort. If only...

A/N: Let me be honest with you, I haven't planned the next turn of events at all ,so i am now appealing to you all for ideas -any kind. What would you like to happen? I know that we're all travelling back to primary school where we were asked to continue a story ,but here you don't have to write it ,only give suggestions.

Please PM me with ideas. I want my inbox full with them when I return to my profile page.