A/N: 2nd Chapter! Originally, I was going to call this chapter, "First Day of Term," but it didn't really go with what I was doing for the Chapter names.

My honest opinion of how this went, it seems a little...all over the place. I dunno. I added a bit of humour in it (at least my attempt at humour).

Definitely longer than the first few. I should say that too.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling, the song "Savin' Me" is by Nickelback. All I own is the (ADDED) plot.

Savin' Me

...***...

Chapter 2

"And say it for me,

Say it to me,

And I'll leave this life behind me,

Say it if it's worth savin' me..."

-Savin' Me, Nickelback

Hermione slept well, being the first one up in all of Gryffindor house.

She got out of her bed and began to clean herself up, taking a quick shower and getting into her robes. She sat on the couch in the common room, finding Ginny already there, and waited for Harry. Ron wouldn't be coming down – he was in the Heads Common Room with Brenna. Hermione shivered. There was something so...strange about her...

Harry came down and Hermione found herself getting up fast enough for the boy to jump a few feet in the air. A few seconds went by. Once he was able to compose himself from the initial shock, Harry laughed.

"I see you had a good sleep," he said. Hermione smiled and nodded. "Hey, have you seen my Invisibility Cloak? I can't find it."

"Have you checked everywhere in your trunk?"

"I dunno. I think I did..."

"Don't worry, Harry," reassured Hermione, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It'll turn up eventually. If I see it, I'll make sure to tell you."

They left the common room to breakfast, which went by quite fast. Hermione couldn't help but look over at the other tables. There was Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, smiling and talking amongst themselves. It looked peaceful.

As she glanced over at the Slytherins, however, she saw scowling faces, most turning over to the other houses, then either laughing or staring in disgust. She couldn't hear any of their conversations, but she knew they were probably speaking of nasty things, adding an obscurity here and there in most things they said.

There was also a group that didn't look at the other houses at all. They laughed, peeking over at Malfoy. He seemed to be doing a pretty good job at ignoring them. He took a bite of his apple – green apple to be precise – seeming deep in thought. He made quick eye contact with Hermione and she turned away.

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

When Harry, Hermione and Ginny got to their DADA class, no one was in. Harry and Ginny sat around the middle of the classroom, Hermione in the desk beside them. The three began to chat about anything that came to their minds.

The classroom soon filled up, Ron and Brenna coming to sit in the desks behind Harry and Ginny. They two were talking amongst themselves. Hermione had to admit, this somewhat annoyed her, but she didn't say anything.

The last person to walk into the classroom was Malfoy, Hermione noticed. He had a blank expression on his face as he sat in the farthest desk from the front, nearest the door beside Zabini. There were a few sniggers and rude comments coming from mostly Slytherins, which made Hermione a little uneasy. She knew she shouldn't be feeling like that, for him of all people. But she was, naturally, a very caring person. No matter who it was, she didn't want harm like that to come to them (unless it were, for example, Bellatrix Lestrange or something. She shuddered at the thought. Happy thoughts, Hermione. Happy thoughts...)

"Good morning!" spoke Professor Morrigan, standing at the front of the classroom. When did he get there? wondered Hermione, suspiciously. Half of the class jumped. He simply laughed. "Funny. Seems I have once again, predicted correctly. Nevertheless, you are here to learn!" He took out his wand and twirled it in his fingers. "Now, either you are going to fail this test, or pass. I am serious: Either you get an O or a T." He flicked his wand at each of the windows, shutting them. In between closing each one, he spoke. "This class...is known...as Defence...Against the Dark Arts..." He stopped shutting them, as one final one was left open. "You may think me as crazy as I do this, however, I must say that I am completely, utterly, and extravagantly – insane." There was a great smile plastered on his face. "But this will help, I assure you. Answer my question quickly and efficiently. Do not take out your wands, as it could create a great mess. Now..." He shut the last shutter, and the room was completely dark.

"...let us begin."

The room was quiet. They could hear a short knocking across on each of the desks, making students jump and some scream. And then-

"Mr. Weasley!" Morrigan was leaning over Ron, who had nearly fallen off his seat from the surprise. He had used Lumos and was now shining it straight at Ron. The redhead looked terrified. What didn't seem to help much was the speed that Morrigan was speaking in, and it was almost too difficult to understand him.

"A dark wizard points their wand at you and speaks the incantation, Stupefy. What incantation do you use?"

"Err...Protego."

"Excellent." The light on the Professor's wand vanished.

There was more rustling in the classroom. By now there were a couple of laughs. Hermione could tell most of the Slytherins were finding this amusing.

"Mr. Zabini! You have a secret, yes?" The wand flashed in Zabini's eyes and the boy began to squint.

"Um..."

"A truly dark secret that you don't want anyone to find out?"

"Err..." He seemed extremely uncomfortable. His eyes were shifting anywhere but at the Professor. Maybe he does have a secret, thought Hermione.

"There must be. You're afraid, now that I've mentioned that you have one. Someone's going to find out!"

Zabini gasped, and it sounded...quite genuine. Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes. How daft can you be? That probably one of the oldest tricks in the book...

"If you were to hide the secret, what charm would you use?" Zabini hesitated a second too long. "Stunned!" The light flickered off.

"You need to be quick...you need to know...thinking will be lethal in this test..." spoke the Professor's voice in the dark. "Ms. Granger! Do you have what it takes to save Zabini from his impending fate?"

"Fidelius!" she said. During his hesitation, she'd been putting much thought into the answer, just in case he went to her with the same question.

"You saved his life! I believe he owes you! Five points taken from Slytherin and given to Gryffindor!" The light flickered off and there were a couple of silent curses and cheers coming from around the room.

"Mr. Finnigan!" Seamus was taken completely off-guard from his sudden appearance. "Someone casts Incendio, your spell is...?"

"Uh..."

"Stunned!"

"But-"

"Stunned!" The light turned off. "In real life, Mr. Finnigan, you will not have any time to say 'but' or even... 'uh'." There were a couple laughs from the class, which all died down when he jumped at the next student. "Ms. Patil!" He was pointing it at Padma, Hermione realized. Wonder if he knows there's another one... "Can you save his life?"

"Aguamenti?"

"Bravo! As well, he owes you. Minus five from Gryffindor, plus five for Ravenclaw!" Once again the light turned out.

"Mr. Longbottom! My dear boy, a boggart has taken the form of your worst fear!" Neville gasped slightly, probably thinking of his worst fear right then and there. "What spell do you use...?"

"Err...Riddikulus."

"Excellent! Well done!" The light flickered off.

This little game lasted a long time, until...

"Ms. Foster! Someone points their wand at you-"

"Expelliarmus!" she said, without him even finishing.

"Wow. Never thought of that. Then again, I told you all thinking would be lethal in this test!" He chuckled slightly. "I guess I'll be dead soon. Har, har." The light flickered off, and there was silence for a very long time. A few minutes. When you're in the dark for a couple minutes, no sound or anything, but knowing that there are other people in the room, things can start to become a little awkward. There were now whispers, asking what he was doing, or maybe, what was he going to do.

"Mr. Malfoy!" The blond's eyes shifted upwards, but his head didn't move. "A Dementor comes up to you, the spell of your choice?" Hermione was sure he'd answer correctly. He was the second smartest in the class (behind her, of course). But he simply shook his head, as if refusing to answer. "Stunned." stated Morrigan slowly, a slight note of disappointment in his voice. The light turned off and was suddenly shown at Harry.

"Mr. Potter. Care to save Mr. Malfoy's life?" Morrigan was speaking slowly, every word emphasized. Harry paused a minute, as if debating his answer. There seemed to be a knowing look in Morrigan's eyes as he watched Harry. As if he knew that the boy knew the answer.

"Expecto Patronum," he said after a minute.

The Professor continued to speak slowly and carefully. He seemed to be tilting his head ever so slightly as well. Hermione noted he sounded a little like Professor Snape as he said, "Good. Minus five from Slytherin, plus five to Gryffindor. Dismissed."

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

"Bloody Hell! What kind of a class was that?" demanded Ron. "We didn't use any magic."

"Yes, but didn't you see? He was just teaching it to us in a different way. Remember when he asked Goyle what he'd do if someone used the Killing curse on him? It's obvious that Morrigan wouldn't actually use the curse on Goyle and see what he would do," spoke Brenna, matter-of-factly.

"Of course," said Hermione, trying to match Brenna's tone. "I mean, it's Goyle. It's obvious he didn't know you couldn't block the Killing Curse."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah. Got a few extra points from him for that!" The group jumped in and laughed as well. As they neared the staircases, Ginny, Ron and Harry had to leave Brenna and Hermione. Hermione was a little disappointed to find out that the three had Charms while her and Brenna had Potions. She silently groaned as she followed Brenna to the dungeons.

"Look here! It's Potter's little Mudblood and...wow," said a voice behind the two. Hermione cursed under her breath as they turned to see Nott with Parkinson and Goyle behind him. Hermione noted that it looked rather odd to be seeing the group without Malfoy. Not that she wanted Malfoy to be in their little group, however.

"...another Mudblood," finished Nott.

"Back off, Nott," said Brenna, venom dripping from her voice. Goyle seemed to jump a little, much to Hermione's surprise. Something also flashed in Parkinson's eyes. Nott smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Be seeing you two later," he said, the three pushing past them and walking into the Potions classroom. Hermione and Brenna both turned and followed, scowling in their direction.

Just as they walked in, they found Professor Morrigan speaking with Professor Snape. How did he get here so fast? Hermione shook the disturbing thought away as her and Brenna took their seats. Unconsciously, Hermione caught a few words from their conversation.

"What are you saying?" demanded Snape, a little louder than he needed to be.

"I am saying it would be best if you...reviewed it, Professor." Snape seemed a little wary, as if debating whether or not he thought it a good idea...whatever it was.

"Albus showed you, Severus," continued Morrigan, quieter and faster, but Hermione was still able to hear. "You know why I'm talking about this. Besides, it's only a...beginners thing. It shouldn't be that much of a big deal." Snape looked long and hard at the Professor before speaking again.

"Very well. Now get out of my class." Morrigan showed no emotion as turned on his heel and left the classroom. Hermione noticed he tapped on Malfoy's shoulder and whispered something to him. Draco nodded in response.

Professor Snape stood from his seat at the front and seemed to be staring at nothing. After a minute he finally looked up at the class and spoke. "The Wiggenweld potion." Everyone turned to their books but he put his hand up. "Without looking in your books," he eyed a few students carefully. "Who can tell me the ingredients, as well as the amount you will need to make one?"

No one put their hand up. Hermione would have, but she was too occupied on what the two Professors were speaking of just a few minutes before. How did Professor Morrigan get there so fast? He couldn't have...no, he couldn't, I mean-

"Ms. Granger?" said Snape, interrupting her thoughts. "We all know you would like to answer my question." There were sniggers and giggles coming from many of the Slytherins in the room. Hermione hesitated for a minute. It was the...Wiggenweld potion...wasn't it?

"Right..." she started. "Um...one pint of Horklump juice...two drops of Flobberworm Mucus..." she thought for a second. "Seven Chizpurfle fangs, Billywig sting slime, a sprig of mint...Boom Berry juice, one stewed Mandrake...drops of Honeywater, Sloth brain Mucus..." Many of the students by now were looking around, either wide-eyed at her for remembering it all, or relieved that Professor Snape didn't call on them. "...Moondew drops, Powdered root of...asphodel...Shredded dittany, Wiggentree bark, of course...Moly petals, Salamander blood...ten Lionfish spines, Wolfsbane..." Hermione froze. She forgot something. She knew she forgot something, because there weren't seventeen ingredients to a Wiggenweld potion, there were eighteen. "Um..." Oh Merlin...what did I possibly miss? I got the Lionfish spines, the Moly petals, the Chizpurfle fangs, Billywig sting—

"Yes?" asked Professor Snape, expectantly.

As if on cue, Neville turned to look at Hermione and tipped his cauldron over (that, for some reason that Hermione wasn't quite able to figure out, was already filled with ingredients) in the process. All eyes turned to him and the rest of the class began to laugh. Even after being one of the many war heroes, he's still pretty clumsy in Potions class.

"Mr. Longbottom," hissed Professor Snape, turning in his direction. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Clean it up. We're waiting." Neville fell to the floor and began picking things up, conjuring a towel as well.

Hermione looked sympathetic at him, but just as she was about to try and remember the ingredient she missed, a crumpled piece of parchment was thrown cleanly on her desk. But it wasn't just any piece of parchment, not a joke or type of bullying method – it was a note. She turned to look at Snape, and to her relief, he had turned and began supervising Neville clean up his cauldron.

She opened the letter and stared wide-eyed.

I never thought I'd see the day when you missed something as obvious as Unicorn Horn in your potion.

Before Hermione could turn around to see who sent the note, Snape turned back to her and snatched it up from her hand. Hermione cringed as he looked at it, but he threw it back down. She looked at it and the writing was gone. Quickly, without thinking on whether or not the note was correct, she simply said, "And Unicorn Horn, sir."

Snape paused for a minute. "Of course," he spoke. He turned and went back up to the front. Hermione turned around at everyone. Only a few students looked at her, shocked that she remembered all of the ingredients. But none of them showed any evidence that they sent the letter.

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

"Bloody Hell, Hermione," began Ron, at lunch. "Someone sent you a note during Potions?"

"Yeah," she replied, poking at her food. "There wasn't a name. It just said they were surprised that I forgot about Unicorn Horn in a Wiggenweld Potion."

"I don't blame you," said Seamus, jumping into the conversation. "He told us we couldn't open our books. How does Snape expect us to memorize all the ingredients to a Wiggenweld potion? That's First Year stuff! You know, the things we forget after the Finals...and have you seen how many ingredients there are? I lost her at 'one'."

"Alright guys, let's not dwell on it too long," said Hermione. She didn't like the fact that she forgot something. And she was reviewing all of her books all summer! How did she forget something as obvious as a Unicorn Horn?

"Hi guys," said Harry, coming up to sit beside Ginny. "How'd Potions go?"

"Well," stated Hermione, not looking up. "We did a review on the Wiggenweld potion."

"Great," said Harry, not sounding like he was really listening at all. "Did you make one?"

"Of course," she replied, as if it were obvious. "Why wouldn't we?" She put her fork down. "Though, it was strange. He didn't ask that we gave it in. He told us to keep it. Isn't that, well..."

"Un-Snape like?" asked someone coming up behind them. Brenna sat down beside Ron. Hermione's fists subconsciously began to ball up underneath the table. There was something about her that made Hermione uneasy. "Of course. Don't know why..."

"The Ravenclaw table is over there," said Hermione, bitterly. Brenna pretended not to notice.

"The Ravenclaw table is – I admit – boring. You try wearing blue robes and sitting there. All they talk about is their schoolwork." There was a great amount of attitude in her voice. It was Hermione's turn to pretend she didn't notice.

Harry, seeing the growing tension between the two girls, decided to jump in before things got ugly. "Ginny and I have Divination next. Hermione, I hear you have Arithmancy?"

"Aw, now?" asked Ginny, whimpering. Harry laughed. "Yes, Ginny. Now." He made a small gesture toward Hermione and Brenna, and the redhead understood immediately. "Of course!"

The three stood up and left Ron and Brenna to socialize.

...***...! #$%^&*()_+...***...

Ginny and Harry said their goodbyes to Hermione as they walked over to their Divination class. Harry found it rather odd not to have Hermione – as well as Ron – in as many classes as him, but at least Ginny was there.

When they got there, they saw Professor Trelawney, happy to be back at her post. As they went to go sit down, more students were filing in, and Harry noticed that there weren't as many Slytherins in this class, much to his relief.

Just as the class was about to begin, there was a tapping at the entrance to the classroom. Everyone looked over, and Professor Trelawney was the first to speak. "Yes?"

"Good day," sounded a very familiar voice. Harry looked over as Professor Morrigan seemed to be finding his way to the front of the classroom. He looked around at everyone, making small gestures to the many he knew already. Then he turned to Trelawney. "I need to borrow a...an orb. If you don't mind of course..."

Trelawney seemed to look closer at his face, then she jumped back. "Of course! Of course! Take it!" She went over to her table at the front and with a shaky hand, attempted to pick her crystal ball up. Morrigan lunged forward and took the ball before she had a chance to touch it.

"No worries, Professor," he reassured. "Thank you." He quickly left the room.

"What was that about?" whispered Ginny to her boyfriend. Harry shrugged.

"No clue."

A/N: Why'd Hermione not raise her hand during that test? She probably knew that no one could see her while the lights were off. Either that, or the author forgot that was one of her favourite things in the world. Ha ha...whoops...

The 3rd Chapter is called "You and Me" (by Lifehouse) and the song quote is :

"'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do,

Nothing to lose,

And it's you and me and all other people,

And I don't know why,

I can't keep my eyes off of you..."