Chapter 7

"Hermione, where have you been the last few days?" Pansy asked, tensely, as Hermione dropped down in her usual seat, which had been habitually empty the latest several meals. Eleven, if Hermione was counting—which she wasn't, not that anyone would dare to ask. She hadn't taken a meal in the Great Hall since Thursday. On Friday, she simply hadn't been able to stomach any food. She didn't understand why anyone would drink alcohol if the daylong nausea and headache were the consequences. She'd barely been able to tolerate sitting in her classes, choosing a seat by the door for a quick exit. However, by the end of the day, she found herself back at the Three Broomsticks.

Saturday morning she was faring better, as she had stolen a Hangover Potion out of Professor Snape's potion stores. Still trying to avoid explaining what had happened at detention, she woke up early, grabbing some breakfast from the kitchens. She then hid out in the library all day, skipping lunch and dinner. Hermione only left the library once to sneak back into Professor Snape's stores and nick half a dozen Hangover Potions. As was becoming the routine, she was at the Three Broomsticks before midnight, though that night she had just stuck with butterbeer.

Sunday had started off all right; she had been in the library for only a few hours when Viktor and his friends had came up to sit with her. She had rather enjoyed their company, and had almost made the decision to not go to the Three Broomsticks, but then Moody walked into the library. Hermione barely muttered a goodbye before darting out a side door. Coward, she had told herself, as she sped walk down the hall, casting glances behind her. You are a coward. She drank Firewhiskey after Firewhiskey, not returning home until the early hours in the morning.

The Hangover Potion only partially cured her pounding head that morning, so she had skipped breakfast and all of her morning classes. It had just been History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures, so she knew her presence wouldn't be missed. However, she knew she couldn't avoid her friends forever, just like she couldn't avoid Professor Moody. They had Defense Against the Dark right after lunch, after all.

Hermione glanced around the table at the food options, carefully calculating what was least likely to make her nauseous. She only replied to Pansy after she had taken a long gulp of water.

"What do you mean? I've been around."

"Drop the act," Draco said, "we haven't seen you since classes on Friday, and you were completely avoiding us."

"What Draco means to say is that we're worried that something really bad happened at your detention with Professor Snape."

"Is he loyal to Dumbledore? Is that what happened? And you're afraid to tell us and face the reality of what will happen to him?" Blaise asked.

"No," she snapped, rubbing her head to soothe the headache that her friends' questions were causing her.

"Well," Pansy started, digging through her bag, "You got a letter from the Dark Lord at breakfast this morning."

Hermione grabbed at it, but Pansy pulled back, with a smile full of derision.

"I'll give you it when you tell us what happened."

Sighing, Hermione looked at Draco and Blaise. They looked as though they agreed with Pansy, and would be no help in getting the letter back without detailing her failure.

"Fine," she said, "It was bad, like everything else I've done this year. Moody walked in right as I was casting the spell. Professor Snape practically ran out of the room—whether to go to Dumbledore, or straight to the Dark Lord, we'll never know."

Her friends were silent for a few moments, and it was Pansy who spoke first.

"There'll be other chances. I don't know why you're being so hard on yourself."

Shrugging, Hermione took another sip of her water. She glanced at the food on her plate, before shoving it away, nauseous again.

"Hermione, you have to eat," Draco coaxed, pushing the plate back toward her.

"I have been eating," she snapped, "I've just been going to the kitchens."

"What about sleeping, have you been doing any of that?" Pansy asked, "Because I've heard you come in around dawn the last few nights, stumbling around like a drunk."

Hermione averted her eyes, knowing that Pansy was only using the comparison, not actually thinking that she was drinking.

"I'm fine," Hermione said, shortly, standing up quickly and plucking her letter out of Pansy's hand as she strode out of the Hall. She had barely closed the doors behind her before her stomach heaved and she rushed to an alcove to throw up.

"That doesn't sound good."

Hermione turned around slowly, lifting her head to see Potter standing there with a smug smirk.

"Potter, you're really the last person I want to deal with right now." Hermione told him, wiping a hand across her mouth, and subtlety put the Dark Lord's letter into her bag.

"I noticed you weren't in Care of Magical Creatures this morning," he walked closer to her, "Stress already getting to you?"

The emphasis on the word 'stress' was not lost on Hermione; he certainly wasn't talking about schoolwork.

"Not at all," she replied, smoothly, "Just feeling a bit under the weather."

Potter took a deep breath, and his smirk transformed into an amused grin.

"You smell like whiskey," he whispered, before walking away, laughing quietly.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione turned to Scourgify the mess on the floor, then headed outside. As everyone was at lunch, it was easy to find a private place to open her letter. She settled under a tree by the lake and broke open the Dark Lord's seal to read his inevitable displeasure.

Hermione,

An old friend has finally stopped by. I was most surprised that I hadn't heard from you beforehand. I expect something must have come up on your end, and look forward to hearing the explanation. Respond within the week.

It was in code and unsigned, for obvious reasons. The Dark Lord didn't trust that Moody and Dumbledore wouldn't intercept her letters. She growled in frustration—the last thing she wanted to do was figure out how to write an encoded response. Professor Snape had come to Him, and she wanted to know everything. After rifling through her bag for supplies, she begun her response,

Yes, so far this school year has been extremely taxing, and I find that nothing is going my way. I suppose that's expected for my fourth year—OWLs are next year, after all, assuming I make it that long. I would love to hear how your visit went, as I know very little about your friend.

If that didn't get the message across to the Dark Lord that she'd failed and was at serious risk of Moody finding out everything, she didn't know what would. She sighed, knowing that she should head back up to the castle. Lunch would be over soon enough, and she shouldn't risk being late to Moody's class. Only we're practicing with the Imperius Curse again, she thought, dreading the lesson. Lesson on the Imperius Curse, vs. detention—she weighed the options, easily realizing that one-on-one time with Professor Moody was far worse than a classroom setting. She groaned and pulled herself to her feet.

When Hermione entered the classroom, she saw Draco, Blaise and Pansy huddled around a parchment. She sunk down into the seat next to Draco.

"We know how to get Moody sacked," he whispered to her.

"Glad someone can do something right," she replied, "what's the plan?"

"Well, he's put this practically right into our hands. The fact he thinks he can teach us illegal curses and perform them in a classroom? If the Ministry got wind of that…"

"So I suppose you're going to help them along to gain that information."

"Seems like that right thing to do," Draco replied, with a grin.

The room went silent as Moody's office door opened. Hermione's heart all but stopped when she made eye contact with the former Auror. Coward, she told herself, weak, little coward. She forced a smirk onto her face, trying to act confident, though she knew it looked brittle. Draco grabbed her hand under the table, giving it a squeeze,

"Relax," he whispered, "it'll be fine."

Hermione didn't like the person she was quickly turning into. Moody was bringing out an anxiety and fear in her that she had never had before. However, she didn't know how to get past it. She could only hope that her friends' plan worked quickly and would have Moody out of a job.

Moody left Hermione's second round with the Imperius for last. The lesson would be over in five minutes, but that certainly was long enough for Hermione to be mentally tortured by her professor. She walked unsteadily to the front of the room, hoping she was portraying more poise than she felt. Hermione could only think of one way to get out of this unscathed, but it was risky. Professor Moody had started off with a legitimate command last time—to jump up and down. If she let the curse take over and did whatever he ordered to do right away, he would have to move onto the next person. Of course, this was assuming that he started off as he had before.

"Let's see if Miss Granger can show her impressive strength with the Imperius Curse again—perhaps it was just a stroke of luck before."

Hermione closed her eyes, as Moody raised his wand.

"Imperio."

As the floating sensation began to take over her body, she heard a calming voice—how did the Dark Lord come back?

There's a reason I shouldn't be answering that, she thought, blissfully, but I can't think of what that could be.

"We found out about his—"

She didn't see Draco's wand pointed at her under the desk, didn't hear his whispered words,

"Somnus."

She felt her eyes flutter closed once—then twice, before she began to fall.

Draco got to his feet right after Hermione hit the ground. That must have hurt, he thought, grimacing, but there was nothing he could have done. It would have looked suspicious if he had gotten up too soon.

"Sorry, Professor Moody," he said, smoothly, "she hasn't been feeling well recently. I told her to go see Madam Pomfrey after lunch, but she insisted on coming to class. I'll take her to the Hospital Wing now."

He didn't wait for his professor's reply before reaching down to pick Hermione up. Draco glanced at Pansy as he passed her, pushing lightly into her mind, meet us in the common room after class. She nodded imperceptibly.

He knew he could have just lifted the charm and had Hermione walk back herself, but she really did seem to need the sleep. What Pansy had joked about at lunch was true, he had seen it in her eyes—she had been drinking every night. Draco had first suspected it Friday morning, but he was sure of it now. Hermione was spiraling fast, due to Moody's increased focus on her. However much he disliked Moody, Draco had to give credit where credit was due; the former Auror knew how to push people. He was surprised that Moody had chosen Hermione to go after—because as much as Draco respected Pansy, she seemed like the most obvious choice. But apparently, Moody saw something in Hermione, as he was obviously breaking her down. Draco didn't know why Moody was only persecuting Hermione, but he did know what he had to do about it. He had to give Moody something else to focus on, or rather, someone else.

Author's Note: Draco to the rescue! I hope you enjoy this chapter, please review and tell me what you think!

Thanks to zombiekins5948, Santana Starr, Little Miss Fiendfyre, AmayaBlack, aeireis, cleotheo, not really sane fairy, Aghaliam, Midnight Little One, Bobbie1776, hoshiakari7, Chester99, Pank98, and two guests for reviewing.