Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply

~*~ Ch.5 ~*~

The weeks following the explanation to Professor McGonagall the newly formed trio became inseparable when not in shared classes. During meal times Hermione haunted the badgers' table and enjoyed her time spent there. After classes they would explore the castle and its grounds or do their homework until curfew.

Personally Hermione loved exploring with them. With their bending abilities they could see through the illusions that her eyes could not. It seemed to her that almost every day they discovering new (or old, pending on your out look on this) hallways, long forgotten rooms, or sometimes a secret passage way. Though as of a week ago they called off their exploration of the third floor corridor.

~*~ Flashback ~*~

Three students where walking through one of the many corridors in the castle. Mind you they where only somewhat lost. There was one boy flanked by two girls, all strolling peacefully when the girl on the left spoke up.

"Do either of you know where we are?"

After a moment the girl on the right answered in a semi-board tone, "Well Hermione it feels like we're somewhere on the third floor."

Before Hermione could say anything Hadrian sensed something behind one of the doors and being the curious he is walked towards it. Pressing against the door and finding it to be locked he did the only logical thing for an earthbender to do in a castle made of stone. He touched the wall next to the door and shifted his fingers a bit which opened a hole large enough to walk into.

"Hadrian, what do you think you are doing? This floor is forbidden, the Headmaster said so himself at the beginning of the year."

Hadrian turned towards Hermione and smirked, "Well then, if that's the case, we should go check it out. I mean saying that is like sitting someone in front of a red button and telling them not to push it, then leaving that person there with nothing to do but stare at it. Eventually they are going to push it and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Plus Toph and I weren't here at the start of term." With that said him and Toph walked threw the hole and having nothing better to do Hermione followed just a step behind.

Once they got inside the group stayed close to the walls at first, taking their time to explore the giant sleeping mass in the center. They determined that by the detentions that the room was big enough for some large animal to roam around in comfortably and with the food and water dishes in one corner and the chew toys in another Hadrian was willing to bet it was some type of dog.

Moving closer towards the center Toph and Hadrian got a a better feel of the hole in the floor. It appeared to lead down a ways and then into a liner passage way that was sectioned off into rooms most of which had something in them. Just as they where about to jump down to inspect further the mass in the center woke up and charged after them.

Being the brightest witch of her age for a reason Hermione grabbed both of them by the back of their shirts and pulled them backwards just as one of the massive heads snapped its jaws millimeters from where they where standing just moments before. And after a short deliberation they decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this case and ran for it stopping only to close the hole they made. All the while the dog howling.

Once they got far enough away they fell against each other completely winded.

"You two are completely crazy, we could have been killed. We could have been eaten by that thing, or worse we could have been caught and expelled." Hermione yelled and after a moment of nothing but panting she fixed them with a glare that would of made Professor Snape proud and then huffed remembering that they couldn't see it. "Well? What do you two have to say for yourselves?" She all but growled.

"We got to push the button and see what would happen. I say we do it again." Toph said with a smirk and a playful look to her cotton eyes. And despite the gravity of the situation they where just in Hermione broke down laughing like a loon. Toph and Hadrian joining a moment later. Through the tears rolling down her face and the laughing fits Hermione somehow managed to choke out "you two are mad."

~*~ End Flashback ~*~

As of now though Hermione was in her last class of the semester, Potions. And it seemed that they where trying a new arrangement as it was a Gryffindor & Hufflepuff class as opposed to with the Slytherins and with that being so she didn't have to worry about stuff being thrown into her cauldron. Maybe they where trying to see if this would be more manageable; maybe if this worked then they would make it permanent.

The tables where made to seat four, two on either side, so she took a seat across from Toph and Hadrian. While they where setting everything up Hermione couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for them to make a potion, considering their lack of sight it should be next to impossible for them to know what step they where on. So she watched them as they started, while everyone else started adding things to their base they precut a lot of things and put them off to the side for later use. The things that they couldn't precut for fear of them loosing their potency she watched them prepare with expert efficiency when the time came for them.

At one point it looked as if Toph was going to add an ingredient way to early and was circumvented by a soft "wait" from Hadrian, followed shortly thereafter by an equally quiet "ok" and that seemed all it took to stop a near disaster from happening. When Professor Snape came over she thought for sure that he was going to dock points from them for talking or something.

"Good Catch Mr. Bei Fong. Five points to Hufflepuff. Snape said softly and then added "Miss Bei Fong, your improving, keep it up." Then walked away.

Poor Hermione was in shock. Since when did Professor Snape award points to another house? It was mind boggling to her, and by the looks of her fellow gryffindors she wasn't alone. A soft "Hermione your potion" was enough to snap her out of her shock and back to work though, stopping yet another disaster.

After class was over Hermione found her self walking with Toph and Hadrian threw yet another hallway she didn't recognize. She was about to ask when Toph said it was a passage way into the library. Nodding Hermione stayed silent on the way to their study group. Hermione still found hard to believe that she had friends and that she would be accepted completely without question. Especially after being a social outcast for so long.

Coming out of the opening right next to their normal table the trio dropped their bags and sat down to wait for the last of the their group. As it turned out they didn't have to wait long at all. Neville plopped down in his chair right as they where reaching for their books and Blaise and Terry where rounding the corner of bookshelves.

Reclining in his chair Blaise propped his feet up on the table while asking "So, whose doing what for the winter holls'?"

"I'm stuck here. Gran has important business she has to attend to." Neville said in his normal shy tone.

"Ah, don't worry Nev Hadrian and I will be here to keep ya company" Toph replied with her trademark smirk.

"Heading to France with my Mother, it's her Christmas with me this year." Terry said in a lazy sort of way.

"I'm heading home to see my parents." Hermione said.

"Ohh, really? Can you bring me back some of those gummy bears you let me try? Please?" Blaise asked needfully.

"My, my Blaise are you begging?" Hermione asked Laughter evident in her voice.

Blaise sniffed indignantly, "Slytherins don't beg" he whined and then smirked as everyone started snickering.

After taking a moment to compose herself Hermione replied with "I'll see what I can do Blaise. Anyway I found a book I like for you guys to read. I made copies for everyone, I think you all will like this one." Pulling six books out she handed them out, with Hadrian getting the original.

Hadrian pulled out his wand and ran it over the cover and spine of the book. When he pulled the tip away, a soft feminine voice read off the title. "'The Beast Within Us: The Everything You Need to Know Guide to Becoming an Animagus' Brought to you by: Mooney, Padfoot, Prongs, and Silverclaw." The voice tapered off after that.

"I think," Toph started, "that we're really gonna like this book." Nods of agreement followed that statement.

Later that evening, after packing most of her belongings Hermione fell asleep with a small smile on her face. She couldn't wait to get home and tell her parents about her new friends.