Hermione sighed as the final bells rang, signaling it was time to go home. She couldn't concentrate today, ever since she found the knife in her bag. She'd taken to sitting at the back of most of her classes, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. She felt as though someone had punched her in the gut, and now it took most of her willpower to fight the urge to vomit. She hadn't eaten lunch either, the very thought of food made her feel ill, so she had decided to hang out in the library until lunch was over. Now that school had ended, she planned to make one last stop before she went home for the day.
"Hello Granger."
Hermione sighed again, as she heard someone she didn't like call out her name. She turned around to see Draco Malfoy standing a few feet away with his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, by his side.
"That was an interesting meeting this morning, wasn't it?" Draco said as he sauntered up to her. "A former professor found dead after having an alleged affair with a student."
Hermione felt a headache coming on as she frowned at Malfoy, "What do you want Draco?" she asked.
"I just wanted to chat with the class perfect," Draco said, a smile forming on his face, "It's not every day when someone you know gets murdered."
"Yes, it was a shocking tragedy, so could you leave me alone now?"
"Oh my, you don't sound very sad for our late professor."
"..." Hermione stayed silent as Malfoy continued,
"I'm willing to bet you're quite pleased that he's gone," Draco drawled on, "What a shame that he didn't die sooner, I'm sure she might have been happy if it had happened."
"..."
"Well not that it would have mattered, after all she isn't anyone impor-"
For a second Hermione was a bit confused, all she could see was red for a brief period, and then it suddenly cleared up. Her arms were yanked behind her back, and she was sure she must have torn her uniform at some point. Ron and Harry had shown up at one point and were yelling something, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Then she saw that Draco was on the floor, his lip was busted, and blood dripped from his broken nose. His right eye rapidly began to swell until it shined in a purple hue, his uniform was torn near his shoulder and blood had began to seep through shallow scratch marks. Draco's mouth moved up and down, and Hermione strained to hear what he was saying.
"...tal." Draco said. "Absolutely mental!"
He scrambled to his feet, "When my father hears about this he'll-"
"He'll what?" Hermione's mouth moved on its own volition, "Be ashamed that his son got his ass kicked by a girl?"
Hermione shook the arms that were holding her back off her and approached Malfoy who took a few steps back.
"Seriously Draco, would you want to prove to him that you're even more pathetic than he thought?"
"Like I'd listen to someone who's a psychopath!" Draco shouted at Hermione. "Do you know how hard you hit me?!"
"Aw, little Draco can't take a punch or three," Hermione mocked, "Be a man for once and toughen up, I'm sure someone else will beat the shit out of you one day."
"Why you-!"
"Andddd I'm already bored, hey guys are you ready to go now?"
Harry and Ron blinked in surprise,
"Wait Hermione I think-" Harry started to say but Hermione couldn't hear the rest of it as her body grabbed Ron and Harry's hands and ran away as the teachers began to show up.
.
.
"...mione."
"...mione."
"Hermione!" Hermione jolted awake as Ron shook her awake. She blinked in surprise to find herself sleeping on a green park bench, Harry and Ron looked down at her in worry.
"Hey, are you okay Hermione?" Ron asked, "You suddenly fell asleep after you ran out of the school."
"Ugh...yeah I'm fine." Hermione said as she tried to lean up "I...ow!"
Suddenly a sharp pain filled her head and she laid back down on the bench.
"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend moving, you hit the ground pretty hard."
"Well that explains why I'm in pain right now..." Hermione trailed off.
Harry cleared his throat, "So what happened back there Hermione?" he asked, "It was almost like you were a different person when you were beating up Malfoy."
"It's just...Malfoy said something I didn't agree with and I got angry." Hermione said. "That's all that happened."
"I've seen you get angry before, but I've never seen you like the way you were today," Ron said. "I'm going to guess, but was he saying something about...her?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
The three of them stayed silent for a while, apparently, they had run out of things to say to each other.
"Well Hermione do you need to go to the hospital or something?" Ron asked. "Actually, I think we should've done that first instead of bringing you here..."
"No, I'm fine." Hermione pushed herself up and leapt off the seat, "Mom and dad are probably waiting for me, see you guys later!"
Hermione walked off as fast as she could, after all she still had someone she had to see...
