A/N Its much longer! As promised! Hope it's enjoyed!

Hermione didn't notice the book when it fell from her weakening grasp and slammed onto the floor in an awkward fashion. Her head fell foreword as exhaustion overcame her, and slowly reality drifted away from her. Time slipped by, leaving her unaware and left behind. In her mind, she didn't dream, but faces flashed through her mind. Faster and faster the reel of images went around in her head, repeating themselves. Some faces seemed to be stuck and would stay in her line of vision for longer than others, and flicker on and off. Unconsciously her mind changed certain details, giving a man shorter hair, or a woman a different skin tone. And soon all the faces had been altered, ranging from different features to different colors, black and white, and all color of the rainbow.

When her eyes opened, she looked around, the dream had left her completely terrified. Her breathing became shadowed as she started to hyperventilate, and sweat dripped down her face and neck. Feeling lost, scared, and completely alone, she got to her feet. But her body betrayed her, and dropped out from under her. She let out a petrified scream and lunged to her feet. Blinded by her terror, she threw herself around the room, tearing books of of shelves, and leaping back when they hit the floor in front of there, as if the books were trying to attack her.

A book flew at her an d she threw her body weight backwards to avoid it. But she tripped over a large spell book and fell heavily. She landed and for a moment all her thoughts ceased as a simple, very familiar sensation came over her. Pain. It shot through her shoulder, and suddenly everything made sense to her.

Well, not everything.

But as she lay on the floor, full of pain, reality rush back to her and her perspective changed. The things that she didn't understand were going to be okay. The smooth stone beneath her felt right, and the mass volumes of books around her comforted her. She allowed herself to remain unmoving, on the floor with pain washing through her small body and she marveled at how the atmosphere had the power to somehow make her feel alive, and very real. She closed her eyes and let her mind go, and a thoughtless calm helped her to regain her breath, and it dulled the pain.

Then after what seemed like and endless span of time, the pangs of hunger cried out, and forced her to to come back to the real world. She took back control of her mind, and with that came the unbelievable pain of her shoulder. She gave voice to it, crying out to relive the waves of pure torture that were flooding her senses. Her body, thin and slowly wasting away, writhed on the floor, unintentionally causing the flaming pain to increase.

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A goblet shattered across the floor of the Great Hall, finally silencing the screaming match at the Ravenclaw table. Surrounding students waited a moment before breathing a sigh of relief and taking their hands away from their ears. The two girls that had been screaming, a slight Hufflepuff girl with blonde hair and a pinched expression and a larger, but finely boned redhead with tears running down her face slowly stepped apart from where they had been- screaming in each others faces.

The redhead, Ellen Denver, couldn't control her emotions, and grabbed her shoulder bag. She strode out of the giant room and into the halls. The blonde smirked and threw her comrades a triumphant look. She took her seat next to her equally nasty looking girlfriends, and smiled at the onlookers with what could only be taken as a conniving glare.

"Great going Marcia, you really let Denver have it this time," came a high pitched, forced sounding voice.

Marcia flipped her hair casually, basking in the attention that was all on her. "That little bitch wont be messing with Owen again, not without thinking about what I said at least." Then she chatted easily about Owen Riddle, her boyfriend of two days. Technically they weren't even going out, but after Marcia Davis had convinced him to accompany her to Hogsmeade over the weekend, she was spreading the rumor of their relationship the only way she knew how. By screaming it at someone in the middle of a crowded room, where everyone could hear her.

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Ellen sobbed as she walked through the empty halls, after giving up on trying to conceal her feelings. She let herself wander, but inside she knew that it was pointless, she couldn't possibly end up anywhere that would make her feel any better. In her Fifth Year of Hogwarts, and still nothing seemed right to her. After her friend, Tabathia was killed in the war by Death Eaters while she was on vacation in Second Year, she was completely alone. And she had never been the type of person to flourish in solitude. She loved to be around people, and had always been very social.

But after Tabathia's death, Ellen had gone into shock, cutting off ties from her old friends. Not intentionally, but suddenly it seemed that peoples pity would smother her, and that was something that she just couldn't deal with. She hated the look on peoples faces when they would catch her crying in the halls, her dorm, or in an unused classroom. Her classmates couldn't understand how much time she truly needed to get over the giant loss she had suffered.

But all of this was in the past, and she knew better than to dig it all up again. There really was no point in doing that. What she should deal with was the fact that she was just starting to become herself again, and made, for the first time in almost three years, a few close friends. A Hufflepuff prefect had made himself known to her, and he was the closest so far. She had met Owen in her Advanced Potions class, and they had been made partners. At first, being partnered with a Sixth Year boy was awkward, but after she had gotten to know him, her extreme talent with Potions had been the perfect match to his utter lack of concentration. They were nothing alike, she was quiet and studious, and he was a social butterfly that always had a joke up his sleeve, but they had clicked.

But Owen was brilliant in a different way that Ellen. He was smart outside of the classroom, and knew how to deal with people and tough situations. When he had first talked to Ellen, pity did not cloud his eyes. Instead, he looked upon her with respect. He never dodged certain topics while talking to her, and always went with the flow of things. He was fun loving, and had a way about him that allowed him to get along with everyone.

And now, thanks to that horrible Marcia, Ellen could no longer talk freely with her newly found friend. She wasn't exactly afraid of Marcia, but just knew it wasn't worth it to go against the other girls wishes. It just wouldn't be important enough in the long run.

As she slowly stopped her crying, she received a painful headache, a nasty after effect of the screaming match and the heavy tears. She paused briefly, and then decided against going to the nurse. All she needed was a little peace and quiet. She noted her location, at the bottom of the staircase in the second wing of the third floor, and backtracked down the hall, to the left, and down another flight of stairs. When on the second floor, she walked briskly in the direction of the library.

When she was about to push open the grand doors that led to the main study section of the library, she heard cries that the huge doors had muffled. They where thick, to prevent the sounds of the students in the halls from drifting into the study area and distracting its inhabitants, but Ellen had never realized that they also muffled the sounds of the people within the library also.

When she heard the cries, Ellen heaved open the doors and ignored them as they shut with a bang. Unsure of where the sound was coming from, she took out her want and held it at the ready. She was sure the person would do her no harm, but she could never be too careful. She walked carefully into the back of the library, where books stood in endless rows, and she looked down each in turn. When she grew closer, at least, she assumed it was closer by the growing volume of the cries, she noticed a few books lying scattered on the floor. She shook her head slightly in an attempt to clear it, and to understand.

The librarian , Professor Granger, was a very troubled woman. This was common knowledge around the school, but she was also extremely tidy, constantly shelving books and double-checking to make sure they were always put back in the correct spots. That was the best thing about the library, it was neat, quiet, clean, and everything could be found easily.

But something wasn't right, and that thought haunted Ellen as she slowly drew closer to the wails, and had to catch herself when she stumbled over a thick dictionary. It was a muggle book that Professor Granger always kept copes of for student use, and she herself had found to be quite helpful. She neared a towering bookcase, and summoning her courage, she flinched as a cry rang out, startling her. She stepped around the fallen dictionary, and then let out a gasp of shock when her eyes took in the scene before her.

Professor Granger lay sprawled out on the floor, her back twisted in an unnatural position, and her face pace, breathing shallow. Not only was her face pale, but strained, trying to force back the pain she must be feeling from her back. Her eyes were open with pain, and her lips dry and parted, taking in small gasps. Her gaze darted back and forth but looking through Ellen not really seeing her. She had bitten her cheek, or lip, or tongue, and it had bled out of her mouth and dried on her chin. Ellen averted her gaze as she noticed the teacher wearing only nightclothes, and partially on at that.

Ellen stood in shock, unsure of what she should do. Her teacher was injured and panicking, and if she had been any other adult in the school, Ellen would not have hesitated to kneel next to her and try to do something. But Professor Granger was not well. She had trouble remembering small things, and had to have others keep an eye on her to see that she kept out of trouble. But she hadn't been watched lately, because of promising behavior.

Ellen quickly decided on a plan. She rummaged through her shoulder bag for a spare bit of parchment, and scribbled on it with a pen. Then she charmed it to fly to the nearest person in the school for assistance.

Then she started pacing back and forth, her headache pounding mercilessly as Professor Granger continued to moan from her spot on the floor. Adrenaline pulsed through her body, and Ellen started shivering even though the castle was quite warm for November. Five minutes passed, and then ten. Her pacing increased and then she heard the old doors creak open and strange man rushed in. He ran to her location without hesitation, and looked at Ellen strangely when he saw her.

"What happened to her?" Worry laced his words, and fear lined his smooth face.

Wordlessly Ellen pointed at the librarian, and moved aside as the man flung himself at her side. He wiped the blood off her chin, and Ellen watched as he lifted her gently into his arms. She took in his quiet, catlike grace and strength, and his medium length white blonde hair that swept across his forehead. She looked into his eyes as he turned to face her, and marveled at how consumed he was with Professor Granger. She even detected what was simple hero worship mixed with a reluctant hint of love in his eyes.

Draco pulled Hermiones scantily clad body against him, ignoring both her resistance and the teenaged girl that was staring at him dumbfoundedly. He suddenly looked at the girl, with her school robes on and her face covered with drying tears.

"Follow me Miss, your teacher needs to see the nurse immediately." And with that, Draco led the way out of the library and through the empty halls.

Ellen followed, a few steps behind the tall blond man, worried about Professor Granger, but absolutely terrified as the idea that she could be blamed for her accident and injury came down on her. The man carrying her looked very intimidating, even though he was obviously very careful with the woman in his arms. He walked with quick hurried steps, but smoothly so he wouldn't jostle the injured woman's back. Their footsteps echoed in the halls, and Ellen silently said thanks for the fact that breakfast was still in session in the Great Hall.