Disclaimer: Millions await her last installment; few know who I am. JKR and I are not of the same entity.

Picture Perfect

Chapter IV:
Hermione and the Impossible Homework Assignment

Hermione sighed a deep, satisfied sigh as she dotted, with great flourish, the final period of her two and one third feet long essay discussing her stand on centaur magical rights, quite content that her History of Magic homework was finally complete. As she stretched and yawned, she gazed around the room to find that it was mostly deserted save a select few who were hurriedly finishing forgotten homework. She smiled a smug smile.

The portrait hole opened, admitting seven extremely exhausted but equally content Quidditch players, returning to the tower after an evening of rigorous training.

"Aw," Ginny groaned through a wide yawn, "I can't believe all the homework I still have left to do."

"Serves you right for laughing at me and Harry last year," Ron replied airily. "I told you fifth year was going to be brutal."

"No one asked you," she grumbled as she made her way across the room to the girls' dormitory, too tired to muster up enough energy to argue with her brother. Harry, who looked the most depleted of all, mumbled an indistinct goodnight before dragging himself in the direction of the boys' dormitory.

"How was practice?" Hermione asked.

"McLaggen," Ron whispered simply. Hermione winced in sympathy, watching Harry struggle up the stairs, the arrogant young man badgering him with Quidditch strategies along the way.

Instead of tackling the sticky McLaggen situation, Hermione decided to start on smaller issues; "Ron, you need to be nicer to Ginny," she said, her expression morphing from sympathetic to disapproving as she directed her attention at him. "Anyway, she's doing much better than you and Harry faired last year. I mean, even the homework planner didn't help."

"Speaking of homework planners," Ron said pointedly, not wanting to venture down that trail of memory lane, "I was wondering if I could check yours to see what the homework was."

"And where's yours?"

"Upstairs," he motioned nonchalantly at the staircase. "C'mon, I just need to make sure I've got everything."

She sighed before reluctantly sliding the planner across the table. He quickly flipped through up until he came upon the day's date.

"Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, Herbology, Potions…" he read aloud. "Yep, that's everything."

"Potions?" she shot forward, snatching the book from his hands. "But…I finished the work today; I shouldn't have anything for Potions."

"Well, I guess you weren't aware that you didn't need to write it down."

"But it's right here," she murmured, reading the essay that had been assigned.

"Oh, well, I'm going to bed now," Ron said as he crossed the room.

"Aren't you going to do some work?" she said, looking after him in desperation.

He yawned. "Already done."

She stared at him in disbelief. It was unprecedented; Ron Weasley was done with his work but she wasn't. This was a nightmare.

"Yes, a nightmare," she murmured, sitting down at the table again. "This is just a nightmare."

Ginny reentered the Common Room, this time dressed in more casual clothes. "Why are you still here?" she asked, taken aback by the presence of the other girl.

"Work," Hermione answered darkly.

Ginny didn't even ask. The pair took their places, preparing for a night dedicated to schoolwork.

Ginny groaned. The room was filled with the sound of frenzied scratching. She couldn't help but notice how dark the room had gotten. Then it struck her. It struck her right between the eyes.

"Ow!" she cried, her eyes flew open to find that a sheet of crumpled up parchment had hit her square between the eyes. She also started to cry inwardly with the realization that she had somehow managed to fall asleep between the hours of two and three, smearing the last few lines of her essay on goblin uprisings with her arm and forehead.

An aggravated groan. The sound of the tip of a quill striking through thick parchment.

Ginny finally directed her attention from the essay beneath her nose to the source of the commotion.

The rustles of paper as notes were checked.

"Hermione?" Ginny croaked. "Why are you up so late?"

"I…forgot…essay…Potions," she wailed jerkily.

"That…doesn't sound like you," Ginny finally straightened up, rubbing her bleary eyes with her ink-stained hands.

"I've…I've lost it! I can't…I can't remember…!" Hermione continued to scribble furiously as she tugged at her already messy bushy hair.

"Why...what d'you mean?"

"I always remember!" she paused as the notes that had been strewn across and around the table were rearranged. "But…this…I…"

Ginny was completely taken aback with Hermione's inability to form complete—or at least coherent—sentences. She had never seen her in such a frenzy. Also knowing that it was completely against the girl's nature to forget to do her homework, Ginny decided to retrace the trail to better understand her friend's situation.

"Where did this all start?" she asked in what she hoped to be a calming tone.

"Ron. There," Hermione jabbed the tip of her quill at her homework planner without pausing from looking up the ingredients to some obscure potion or another.

Ginny looked in the planner that was opened. She quietly read the list. She looked at Hermione. She looked at the planner. She knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Hermione?" she said slowly, hoping against hope that the crazed girl would not completely lose the last of her sanity. "This is…last year's homework."

Hermione froze. The small fire of desperation blew out and was replaced by a glint of absolute fury. She shot to her feet. Ginny blinked. Hermione was already making her way up the stone staircase, smoke wafting from her dark aura. Ginny winced; this definitely wasn't going to be pretty. She shot to her feet too, quickly pursuing the other girl in hopes of deferring rash actions that would possibly take place when the irate girl caught sight of the slow witted brother.

"Hermione? Hermione, calm down. Don't do anything rash—I mean, I completely understand how you must be feeling right now, but I don't think you should murder someone because he's a tactless dolt. Why don't we go down to the kitchens and get you a nice cup of cocoa?"

The door shot open and Hermione's wand was at the ready. Ginny wasn't sure what she did, but the next instant, Ron's human lump had reduced significantly and was replaced by a yelping puppy-like lump.

Flash of light.

"I told you she was going to figure it out," Harry said wearily as he set down the camera as the small terrier bounded out of his bed and attempted to snatch the camera off the bedside table.

"Goodnight." Hermione snarled forcefully.

Ginny shrank back as the other girl stalked by, her dark aura whipping around her, creating a small cyclone of terror.

"You totally deserved that, you know that, right?" Ginny pointed out to Ron the terrier. It whined and barked as it ran after the irate girl, knowing full and well that she was the only person who could change him back before breakfast.

Hahha, I have a feeling that my friends and I are going to be channeling a lot of irate Hermione next year!!

This was definitely one of those chapters where I totally goof up the canon timeline just a bit in order to get my little plot in it!!

Did you like it? Hate it? Or are you feelings somewhere in the middle? Drop a little message in the form of a review to let me know what you think of Dark Hermione!!

Patiently waiting for DH,
Chikin Wang