A/N: I'm SOOOOOOOO sorry for not updating sooner….!

Oh well, here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it:-)

It would seem that the tracker jacker venom wasn't done with Hermione yet. After she had blacked out, the nightmares took their turn in tormenting her. She was dressed in a periwinkle blue dress dancing with Viktor at the Yule ball. But when she opened her eyes, it wasn't Viktor she was dancing with—it was Malfoy. He was way too close to her and he was genuinely smiling which was kind of creepy to Hermione. Many times she saw Harry and Ron's lifeless bodies; usually a Death Eater or two towering above them were laughing. She kept seeing the horrors that would happen when Voldemort finally rises. Taking her new fears into account, she saw Cato driving a spear through her body and Clove cutting her up in tiny pieces. Whenever she woke up from a nightmare, she would only find herself facing a new terror. It seemed like it would never end until she saw Professor McGonagall waving a report card in front of her face and telling her that she failed everything and was therefore expelled that she jolted into consciousness.

All she could do with the strength she had left was to open her eyes. Her body was immobilized by pain from her muscles, wounds, and bruises. As she was lying on the ground, she took in her surroundings. It was clearly afternoon now and the ground around her was littered with dead leaves and broken branches. The air was dry and there was no wind. She enclosed her hand around her wand; just to make sure it was there. As she sat up, she saw Katniss beginning to stir at the corner of her eye. Hermione went closer to her and noticed the bow in Katniss' hand. Guess that wasn't a part of her hallucination.

"You okay?" she was surprised at the hoarseness of her voice. Had she been screaming? Hopefully not. She turned her attention back to the girl lying in a shallow hole in front of her. Katniss had already begun to sit up.

"Okay enough. How many days have passed? Who else survived?" Katniss asked.

"I don't know—I just woke up as well. But I think Glimmer died from the tracker jacker stings."

"Yeah, it would be impossible for her to survive from that."

No one spoke for a while.

"Katniss, it has just occurred to me. What Glimmer told me—was it true?"

She inclined her head in curiosity and slight confusion. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me that you were telling people horrible things about me."

Katniss looked confused. "I never said anything like that."

"Then wh…" Hermione stopped as realization hit her. She felt naïve and stupid all of a sudden. "I can't believe I'd actually believe in anything Glimmer said."

"Comprehension dawned of Katniss. "Oh… So that's what you were talking about during training. I thought you were just one of those tributes that go crazy because of the Games. They start seeing danger in everything."

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "I still can't believe I actually believed her!"

"I don't blame you. It's kind of hard to know whom to trust in these Games… Hey, what is that thing?" Katniss pointed to Hermione's wand.

"Oh, this? I-i-it's n-nothing… " Hermione stuttered and was suddenly interested in a leaf lying next to her.

"Oh, come on. Everyone saw what happened at the Cornucopia. You can't possibly think you can fool me. How'd you get it in?" Katniss looked at her curiously.

Hermione pondered for a moment then smiled. "It's called acting," she whispered so the audience won't hear. "It wasn't really that hard. I just made up a story about a family heirloom." We both laughed.

"That's interesting. But how does it do… what it does?"

Hermione pretended not to hear her. "Passing thought. Do you know what this place was called before Panem existed?"

Noting the sudden change in subject, Katniss replied, "It was called…" she had to think hard. It was taught in history class at their school but she never thought it important enough to be remembered. "North America… I think."

That confirmed Hermione's suspicion.

"Where did you get those burns anyway?" she said, diverting the attention from herself.

"Oh. Sometimes the Capitol messes with nature in these Games. They have full control of the arena so I guess they wanted to lure me closer to another tribute since I was wandering too far. So they sent the fire."

A thought suddenly hit Hermione. After her encounter with Cato and Clove, before the tracker jacker incident, many strange, unnatural things happened. It was as if the forest suddenly awakened and started attacking her. There were landslides, fire, strange creatures coming out of nowhere and attacking her, falling trees, quick sand… she couldn't even remember half of it. She always had no choice but to use her wand. Maybe the Gamemakers wanted to know the capabilities of her "weapon". Since her "performances" had been broadcasted all over Panem, why hadn't the other wizards have found her out yet and arrested her for using magic in front of muggles? Could the wizards possibly have gone extinct? That isn't possible right?

While within her thoughts, Katniss noticed a boot sticking out from the trees. "Rue!" she said in a friendly voice.

The small girl slowly appeared through the trees. She walked hesitantly toward them.

"Thanks for telling us about the tracker jackers," Katniss said trying to remove the tension.

"Yeah. Thanks," Hermione followed suit.

Rue looked at both of them—pondering whether she should trust them or run away before they got to their feet.

"Why don't you sit down?" Katniss invited. She turned to Hermione. "What do you think of an alliance of three?"

Hermione smiled. "Sounds good to me."

"You want me as your ally?" Rue sounded surprised.

"Sure, why not? You're real light on your feet," Katniss said.

"And your senses are sharp," Hermione said. The tension around them dropped. It was a little windy now and there was a little rustling of leaves on the bushes beside them.

Rue smiled and sat down next to them. "I know how to fix those tracker jacker stings."

Hermione almost forgot about the stings. "Really? How?"

"Using these leaves." Rue brought out a handful of leaves out of her pocket.

"Oh yeah. My mother has some of those," Katniss said. "She crushes them and applies the stuff to some of her patients."

To both of the older girls' surprise, Rue put the leaves in her mouth and started chewing. Then she spit on Hermione's stings and later, Katniss'. The leaves felt relieving and pretty soon, Katniss offered Rue some burn ointment. It's nice to finally have some company, Hermione thought. After some time, Katniss got up to go hunting and Rue went to gather berries. Hermione volunteered to gather some berries as well at another part of the forest. Pretty soon she found herself walking among the trees all alone again.

As she knelt beside a bush and started filling a jar, she heard a twig snap behind her, followed by some scuffling and a voice. She immediately turned around and armed herself. However, there was no one there. The ground before her was bare—there was no way the person could have hidden that fast. Slowly, she picked up her jar half-filled with berries and went the opposite direction. She couldn't help but think that the voice sounded way too familiar.

A/N: So review and tell me what you think:-)