"Hey Hermione, are you alright?" Ron said to Hermine, concern could easily be seen on his face, "You look like you haven't slept at all..."
"I'm fine Ron, honestly how many times do I have to tell you that?" Hermione said.
"Well it's sort of worrying," Harry said, "You've been kind of out of it for the past few days..."
"You too Harry? look I'm telling you two- I'm fine you don't have to keep worrying about me."
"Well-"
"Shh!" Their homeroom teacher, Ms. McGonagall glared at them from her seat behind their row, and the three of them fell silent. The three of them sat in the backrow in the school's auditorium, the other students who had been quietly chatting to their friends fell silent after the reprimand from McGonagall. Today, the principal, Lucius Malfoy, had decided to gather everyone in the auditorium to talk about the death of Quirrell, which she found slightly annoying when they were wasting class time to talk about a...less than admirable man.
Eventually, the vice principal strutted his way onto the stage, and Hermione noted that he'd gotten another expensive watch. He'd obviously groomed his hair as well, and brushed his teeth so he could perfect his fake smile, along with wearing an expensive suit which showed no signs of wrinkles. He then began to speak into the microphone,
"Good morning students," He began, "I know that you're all just itching to get back to class, but I wanted to make an important announcement."
He cleared his throat, "You see one of our former professors has been violently murdered in his own home," he said.
"A coward who snuffed the light of a promising young man..."
Hermione couldn't help but snort at this, such a promising young man Quirrell was that he ended up in affair with a student, really he was a paragon of virtue. She ignored the looks Harry and Ron gave her and focused on the rest of the vice president's speech.
"I know some of you may despise him, but remember there was no proof of his supposed wrongdoings..." the vice principal continued, "Only allegations from a proven liar, should we really trust the words of someone like that?"
The students in the auditorium muttered to themselves as the vice principal continued his speech
"I also want to inform you about the press who will be showing up on this campus, and I want to set some ground rules."
"1, you will not talk to them about Quirell, anyone who does will have their scholarship revoked and will be expelled."
"2, you will not talk about the student who was allegedly," The vice principal frowned as the crowed muttered to themselves again, "allegedly, in a relationship with Quirell."
"3, you will not talk about the murder, if they ask tell them you haven't heard about it."
"And 4, you will not talk negatively about this campus, it's staff, the principal, or me."
The vice principal finished his speech with a smile, "Anyone who breaks these rules will be expelled, their scholarship will be revoked, and I will make sure to take your futures away."
"Alright then, you can all get back to your classes."
.
.
.
"Can you believe him?!" Hermione shouted as she, Harry, and Ron walked down the halls to their classes. "He just made us waste our time because he wants us to make him look good."
Ron sighed, "Well you know that's always how he and the principal have been," he said. " 'Remember, lying is bad, unless it makes the school looks good,' that's basically boiled down to."
Harry sighed as well, "Yeah, the school really has changed since Dumbledore left," he said wistfully, "I'd doubt he'd try to pull half the stuff Malfoy and Fudge do."
"Anyway, are you okay Hermione?" Hermione stopped walking and turned to face Harry.
"You asked me that earlier I already told you I'm-"
"I mean about the stuff Malfoy said," Harry interrupted her, "Didn't it bother you?"
"It did, but it's Malfoy, he doesn't know what he's talking about half the time." Hermione said.
"Yeah, but he's calling her a li-"
"Oh, we've reached my class," Hermione interrupted Harry and avoided his and Ron's looks at her, "Well I'll see you two later."
She quickly entered the classroom and got into her usual seat. A few students slowly filtered into the room and began to talk among themselves, she sighed and reached into her bags for her notebook. Then she went to get her penci-
She stopped as she looked at the silver object that was far from being a pen. In her hands she held a silver knife that had been polished until the surface shined, causing her to see her own reflection. She paused for a moment and then placed the knife back in her bag and got a pencil from her case as the teacher walked into the room. She then began to take notes as the professor began his lecture, as if nothing was wrong.
