(a/n) Yeah, it's been like a week, oops. I've been busy. I have so many ideas, I just need to find time to write them. This chapter is, I'm sorry, excruciatingly short. It's mostly a filler chapter that will play into effect later in the story. Like… the next two chapters, ha. It's short, but most of the details are important so, yeah. Don't expect another update until I get…. 22 reviews. I have 17 now… so that means I need 5 reviews this chapter!! Okay, so here's the chapter

Head Duties and Escapes

Hermione's petite figure made its way across the Gryffindor common room. She hummed quietly to herself as she made her way to the portrait hole: it was time for her duties as Head Girl. As she exited she heard giggling from around the corner. All the sudden something in her switched from fun, innocent, Hermione to strict, ball-busting, Head Girl. She turned the corner but all she caught was a robe turning the corner, muffled giggles and quick steps. She rolled her eyes and made her way back in the other direction.

As she arrived on the fourth floor she heard two clinks on the ground a group of people chattering. She turned the corner into the noise and saw a circle of people. They were all tall, so probably sixth and seventh years, she concluded.

As she walked up closer, she peeked into the crowd. On the floor were playing cards and two die: they were playing a gambling game.

Hermione cleared her throat trying to get the groups attention but no one turned so look at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes: boys were so oblivious. She poked the shoulder of the boy closest to her but he didn't even budge or acknowledge the contact. She stood on one of the boys' foot and he just said 'ouch' and kept talking. By this point she was extremely infuriated. No one will ignore her. She was Head Girl for Christ's sake!

She sighed once more and stepped out of the ring of boys. She looked around the hallway and concluded that desperate times call for desperate measures, and this, this was a desperate time. She couldn't allow these miscreants to gamble out in the open in the halls of Hogwarts. Not to mention it was after curfew too!

She pushed her robe off her slender body revealing the honey-haired girl in just a white tank top and a pair of dark skinny jeans. She bit her bottom lip and pulled the hair tie from her head, letting her curly, but tamed, hair fall to the center of her back. Then Gryffindor then sighed once more, rubber her face, and walked back into the circle.

As she went in she was still ignored this infuriated her so badly that she made her way right to the center of the circle. Right in between the two currently gambling away, what appeared to be, a LARGE sum of money. Now that she was, literally, the center of attention, Hermione felt a little more at ease. Until they just started playing again, that is. This move, this blatant disregard to her authority and the authority of the school in general really flipped a switch in Hermione. She didn't really know how it happened, but somehow Hermione ended up sitting on the floor watching the game take place.

She sat there taking in the rules, taking in the strategies, the bluffs, the possibilities. Something about the way these boys gambled out in the open without a care in the world made her… happy.

She sat there for at least a half of an hour before anyone said a single word to her. She had been sitting Indian-style with her elbows propped on her knees and her chin propped on her hands when one of the two boys that were playing now turned to her.

"Do you want to play, or are you just watching?" Hermione was shocked and, at first, didn't even realize he was talking to her. She looked at him and shook her head.

"I was just watching…"

"That's not what I asked though, is it?" He said, although the words sounded harsh, his tone was very friendly.

"Um, well, I mean…. I guess I could…. Yeah, I'll play." She responded. The boy then scooted over, making room for Hermione.

"I'm Andrew," he said extended his hand to her.

Hermione took his hand and shook it. She looked at him. He wasn't wearing robes. He was in street clothes: a pair of khaki's and a light blue, long-sleeved, button up shirt. His hair was blonde, dyed no doubt, but didn't look fake. He was cute…she guessed.

"Hermione. What house are you in?" She asked after taking her hand back. A couple people around her laughed, including Andrew. She was stumped. "You do go here, don't you?"

"Well, in a way…" he said leaning away from her so that he was rested on the palms of his behind him. "I actually… My name is Andrew Havlock…" A wave of shock came over Hermione.

"OH!!" She accidentally shouted. Several hands came flying toward her mouth; they couldn't be too loud, it was illegal for this to be occurring. "You're the new professor…." She said once the hands were removed from her face.

"Professor Havlock, the new Transfiguration Professor, ha, yes." He said laughing.

"But you're so young!" Hermione added. She never would have guess this… man… in front of her were a professor.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm 24 actually."

Hermione didn't say anything but instead picked up her dice and rolled them. She then flipped her top card and looked smugly at her opponent. The opposed looked at her with shock and said that he couldn't match; she had won on their first draft.

She felt a rush of adrenaline pumping. "So, Professor, you're 24, a teacher at Hogwarts, and… gamble with students on your spare time?" She said as she turned back to Andrew.

"Andrew. But, yeah, I guess you could say that," he gave a hearty laugh. Hermione felt like she had just been mocked and she didn't know why. "We play every night. I mean, this is only the sixth time we've played, I haven't had many seventh year classes just yet for some reason, but yeah, you're welcome to come anytime. Tomorrow we'll be in th-" He clipped his words and all went silent when footsteps were heard around the corner. Everyone just sat there, frozen with fast beating hearts.

Hermione stood but Andrew pulled on her arm so she came back to the floor.

Suddenly Draco strolled around the corner, coming face-to-face with the group of gamblers.

"HEY! You aren't supposed to be A.) out past curfew, B.) gathering in large groups in classroom hallways, or C.)" he said as he stepped closer to the action, "Gambling." Suddenly Hermione felt Andrew sneak away behind the group. She understood why, he couldn't be caught up in this.

Draco took several steps closer until he stopped. He was looking directly at Hermione. "Oh, Granger already caught you, eh?" His spirit seemed to have deflated a bit. Until, stupidly, one of the boys present shook his head.

"She was playing," he had said.

Draco smirked and turned back to the Gryffindor. "So, Granger goody-two-shoes was doing something against the rules? What a shame it will be when I turn her in…" He said, tutting his tongue. Hermione opened her mouth to speak when she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

"Hey! What are you guys doing out of bed!" It was Andrew. He must have run to his office and grabbed his robes because now he was fully clothed and looked like a professor. Draco froze and tried to explain himself.

"See Professor, I just came down this hall here and-"

"Save it!" Andrew cut him off. "Just all of you, back to bed now and I won't turn anyone in! No word of this to anyone or we will all be in trouble!" Before she turned, Hermione swore she saw him wink at her. She mouthed goodbye and turned away.