A/N: Oh boy, a big, huge thanks to ella262 for the warning about making this a very cliché story. I tend to waft over into doing that when I write since apparently I am influenced by the things that I read. I am somewhat confused however as to what a Marry Sue story is so if someone could explain that it would be greatly appreciated. I'm sorry; I have no idea what some of the jargon that I find around here means. I could probably make it less this way if I knew what it was.

Little-sunandstars- Thanks for the review, it means a lot to me to get feedback from people. Talk to you soon.

Weezie- Thanks for the enthusiasm.

C-h-l-o-e- thanks for reviewing once again.

Everyone, if you like my stuff to any degree then try Little-sunandstars. She's been writing her own stuff more, but her singular fan fic is good in my opinion. We have similar writing styles so if you like mine then you will definitely like hers.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this short little chapter. Kestrel

Chapter 4: What to do when you are neither here nor there

The din of hundreds of students letting off steam after a long day was nearly deafening. Hermione sat staring across a few tables at a boy with sandy blond hair a smile that could blind. He was gorgeous, but definitely out of her league, not that she considered herself to have a league, but still, she had to tell herself something. Kelly was eating so swiftly that her fork was a blur as it made its journey from the meat and rice on her plate to her mouth.

Harry was trying to get her to talk, but it had been a long day and all Hermione wanted to do at that moment was veg and eat her dinner. Eventually they did stop trying to get her out of her state of rested wakefulness. Dinner ended and the large pack of Griffindor seventh years trooped upstairs to their common room. Hermione was in no mood to talk so instead she studied. Nothing unusual there. Kelly had come over and looked over her shoulder at her Ancient Runes essay and then gone away shaking her head in disbelief at Hermione's studious ways.

As the rest of Griffindor house made their way into the common room the noise level increased. Finally, Hermione gave up and stuffed her books into her bag to retreat down to the library. Ah, the solitude of books. The tall shelves with their many dusty volumes offered her an escape from the world. Though she was never truly alone in the library, she could feel that she was. As Hermione selected a book there was a voice from the other side of the shelf met her ears.

"Good evening, Malfoy," she said as his face appeared where the book had been.

"Granger," he replied with a curt nod of his head. That was the whole conversation. Now how two greetings constituted a whole conversation, no one may ever know, but it was enough to satisfy their needs to talk.

Hermione walked back up to the tower in the hopes that some people had gone to bed and the volume level had decreased. The Pink Lady smile drowsily at her before swinging open to reveal the red and gold decorated room. She flopped down upon a cushion of one of the couches near the fire and dove into her book. She was reading quite contentedly about the uses of knarl skin. The warmth from the fire was running up and down her body in waves and she felt somewhat drowsy as the last few people in the common room left for bed. There was a tap on her shoulder as the cushion beside her dipped to hold the weight of the boy who had come to sit next to her,

"Evening, Ron. Need help with homework?" she said, smiling art him.

"Nah, I got it pretty much in hand I think. What are you up to?"

"Reading. Trying to escape the monotonous rhythm of the day by diving into a tome filled with information that will expand my mind beyond its natural bounds. The usual."

"Ah, I wish I knew what you were talking about, but I'm not sure that I do so I will just smile and nod my head so it looks like I do."

"Okay, if you say so. Well, what do you need, anyway?"

"Oh nothing important. I was just wondering if you were going with Harry and me to the to the library to tomorrow night to study," Ron said innocently enough.

"I do believe that hell has frozen over. You two are studying? Of course I'll come. This may be my last chance to teach you two good study skills."

"You do understand that I will probably come away from this experience with nothing, right?" he asked her.

"Yes, but I will never sop trying to cram into your thick skulls the many different dates and other such things that you will need to pass your exams," she said with a smile planted firmly on her face.

"You do know that it is useless, correct?"

"Yes, but a girl can dream, can't she?" Hermione smiled at him. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night, Ron. See you in the morning."

"Night Hermione, hope you sleep well."

With a wave she walked up the stairs and to her room where Kelly and the others were waiting for her, sitting on her bed with three neatly stacked piles of things sitting in front of them. Innocent looking people are never safe to have on one's bed, no matter who they are.

A/N:

Sorry for the extremely long wait, but I have not had much time lately and not I am on a week long break and have hurriedly finished this chapter. I have had it written for over a month now, but I couldn't figure out how to end it and I apologize if it is a little bit of an abrupt place to stop. It is 1:30 in the morning and at this moment I really don't care if there are mistakes anywhere or if it's too short. Sorry for the boring chapter too. I promise that the next one will be a bit more interesting if you catch my drift. 'Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, knowing glance' Tell me when you reviews if you read the author's notes. I want to know if I am wasting my time writing them.

Later, Kess