AN: Reviews, please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! This fic is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents (not being works of JKR) are the product of my imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. D

Chapter 3: Tay

If Hermione had woken up too late the day before, than today she was surely up to early. She glanced at her watch and sighed. It was only six am; nobody would be up for another hour or so, when she usually got up.

She got dressed and made up her face and hair, and decided to take a stroll around the grounds before it got too hot. By the time Hermione reached the beech tree, there was hardly a depressing thought in her head. Sure, she still remembered dear old Sevvy's words to her, and yet they didn't seem to matter as much to her as they had before. She had shoved them to the back of her mind where she could forget about them and leave them to rot like leftovers at the back of the fridge.

The sun beat against her neck, warm enough to be inviting, but not yet hot enough to make her sweat. She sat down under the tree, watching the giant squid lounge about on the surface of the lake.

Hermione was envious of the giant squid. All day every day he got to chose what he wanted to do. "I bet you don't even know what conflict means, do you, Squiddy?" She asked him, obviously not expecting him to reply.

This was why she jumped when a nearby voice answered, "Conflict is war. It's the clash of ideas. Divergence…"

Hermione looked up to find the owner of the voice, and spotted a girl around her age, with dark brown hair that she held up in a messy bun. She wore little makeup, just enough to emphasize the copper flecks in her cinnamon eyes. Her cheeks had a natural rosy look to them, and her pale pink lips were smiling.

"I'm Taylor! Taylor Green. And you are…?"

"Hermione Granger, Gryffindor 7th year! I'd say you're a Ravenclaw- am I correct?" Hermione smiled back and stood up so that she wouldn't have to look up to see Taylor. She now saw that Taylor was the same height as her.

Taylor smirked. "How'd you guess?"

"I think memorizing bits of the dictionary qualifies you as a Ravenclaw." Hermione said jokingly.

Taylor laughed. "I'm a 7th year too! Why haven't I ever seen you around school?"

Hermione shrugged. "Ravenclaws and Gryffindors are hardly ever in the same classes…"

"Yeah… I guess it is sort of difficult to run into one person when there are hundreds of other around you… roaming seven floors worth of corridors and classrooms!"

The conversation was interrupted by the growl of Hermione's stomach. She blushed slightly. "Erm… apparently it's breakfast time…" She muttered.

Taylor smiled sympathetically. "I feel your pain. I haven't eaten in nearly an hour!"

Hermione chuckled, and started towards the castle beside Taylor.

…

The next day, Hermione was brooding over her breakfast when plop a folded piece of parchment fell in her porridge. She picked up the soggy paper and dried it with a wave of her wand. Unfolding the note, she saw that it was from Taylor. She hadn't known the girl long, but bold letters at the head of the page read "To Hermione, From Taylor"

She proceeded to look at the rest of the note. It read,

Hello Hermy,

How has your morning been so far? Full of males, I can see. That Ron Weasley talks to you almost constantly. And when he's not talking to you, he's looking! Drinking it all in, it looks like! Poor bloke… you'd be better off with him than the other person staring at you, though. A Mr. Severus Snape had better keep his hands off you or he'll have hell to pay with the school bored. You may be of age, but after the disaster of Dumbledore's death, he won't get much trust- no matter what was said at the hearing!

Much sugary sweet syrup,

Tay

Hermione turned around in her seat to find "Tay" in the seat behind hers at Ravenclaw table. Tay felt her gaze and turned around to Hermione.

"Hermy?" Hermione/ Hermy asked.

"Well you can't very well expect my to call you 'Hermione' all the day long! I don't even use my full name and it's only two syllables long!" Tay exclaimed with a sarcastically frustrated grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled back, if not somewhat weakly. Her eyes flickered for a moment to the staff table, where sure enough, she locked eyes with Snape. Before she could register the look he gave her, she looked back at Tay, not wanting to see that cruel look of superiority.

A thought jumped to the front of her mind as she thought of the note again. "Say… what do you know about Sevvy here and his trial?"

"Not much… I know that he was questioned under veritasurem and confessed that Dumbledore had told him earlier that if a situation like that arose, Snape was to kill him and continue playing spy for the light side… He's under loads of protection just being here!"

"Then why is he here? Oh… the supposed curse on the DADA position! I guess it would look good for the school, if a professor taught DADA two years in a row… and I bet no one else would do it!" Hermione said in a whisper.

Tay nodded, and then motioned that Snape was still watching them. Hermione turned to her now cold porridge, only to be tapped on the shoulder. "What is it NOW?" She hissed, turning around in her seat. A frightened second year handed her a folded piece of parchment roughly the size of the one given to her by Tay.

The boy stared at her, frightened into silence, until he turned around and ran away before she could ask him anything. Hermione unfolded the paper and groaned audibly, hoping that Snape had heard.

"What is it?" Ron asked. He pulled the note closer to him, and read aloud, "'Granger, meet me in my office Friday, 7pm. Don't be late, Professor Snape?' What? Is it a detention?"

"I don't think so. I think it's a meeting to discuss my punishment." She said grimly.

"Punishment? For what?" Harry asked, obviously ready to rant about Snape.

"For embarrassing him I suppose. I stood up for him and I'm only just of age! And then I ran out of his class, which I guess could count as ditching. And I arrived late in the first place. He'll find something to punish me for, no matter what the circumstances are…"

"But you stood up for him! You stopped people from insulting him like he deserves. You ran out of his class because he was cruel and offensive. And you weren't late." Ron demanded.

Hermione smirked. "Thanks for the support, but I think I'll be okay." Inside, her head was screaming, "Don't let him near you! He'll hurt you again!"

There was little to be done, though, as Friday night came around.