Truemythewise: *clears throat* *pulls out a roll of parchment*

"Dear Readers, I'd first like to thank you so much for taking time to read this Fanfiction of a Fanfiction. Watching the graphs on my page has caused me no end of joy. Also, thank you for adding Dark Lord Material to your favorites and alerts, it shows that you do indeed like this fic. And, do forgive me for asking this but the situation is dire. For you see, there is someone here in desperate need of your attention. Her name is REVIEWBOX, and she is currently starving. You can help this neglected wretch by simply clicking the Review button at the end of this chapter and type a hopeful message to her. She appreciates any and all messages for every word brings her one step out of starvation.

And now, without further ado, please enjoy this fanfiction of a fanfiction."

Note: I posted the above when there were 0 review, so rest assured REVEWBOX is no long starving and is very appreciative to LauralHilll, and ajuc.

Thank you.

Chapter Seven

Kicking up Dust

He trudged through the upper levels of Hogwarts. His heart had fallen right out of his stomach and was now trailing behind him on the floor, only connected to his body by the veins and arteries that kept his muscles moving and brain running. Professor Quirrell was right. He was a killer. He tried to argue himself out of it, saying they were just pests, animals that had no cognitive concept of death, at least not a full sentient understanding. Harry wouldn't have done that to a person. He couldn't even picture it. And he had thought that was what Professor Quirrell was asking of him. If he didn't think that's what the Defense Professor wanted him to do, he would not have done it.

You shouldn't have done it anyway! Screamed Hufflepuff. You hardly considered what you were doing. You just went and did it because that's what was expected of you.

This is just like Azkaban all over again. You didn't bother to think of the consequences of that either. Quipped Gryffindor.

Hey now everyone it's not as horrible as you think, we learned something new! Said Ravenclaw.

Oh yes, how wonderful it is that we now know how to coolly and efficiently kill someone, said Hufflepuff dryly.

It could come in handy. Sytherin put in.

Harry still wasn't sure what he'd done to land him in Professor Quirrell's detention in the first place. At the moment, Harry couldn't bring himself to care. It was past four in the morning and he smelt of smoke and charred animal. He felt disgusting, oily, and in more than just the physical sense. He wanted to lay in a tub of boiling water till of the grit secreted out of his pores and his skin shriveled up.

The portrait chattered a riddle at him, which took not even a tenth of his attention to answer. Harry was brooding so deeply about the night's events that he tripped over a lump just outside the portrait hole. He hit the floor with a groan, and he wasn't the only one in pain.

"Oomph, ah, god."

Harry twisted on the floor and looked down at his feet. He could make out Hermione's bushy head from the top of a sleeping bag. He was past the point of being surprised. He just blinked stupidly at her for a few minutes as she crawled out of the sleeping bag.

She threw her hair from her face and looked at Harry. Her nose wrinkled. "You smell horrible," she said.

"What were you doing?" Harry muttered, getting to his feet.

"Isn't it obvious, I was waiting for you," Hermione said collecting her sleeping bag. "I don't think Professor Quirrell is allowed to keep you so late."

Harry blinked at her again. "You were waiting for me? Why?"

Hermione hesitate, but she fixed Harry with a determined look and he suddenly knew what this was about.

"Please," Harry said before she could start on him. "Not now."

Her expression softened. "Okay," she said quietly and after a brief paused asked, "What were you doing?"

"You don't want to know," Harry sighed and started trudging to the boy's dormitory.

"Um, yeah I do," Hermione said following behind him.

"Trust me, Hermione, you don't."

"I—alright. I can see that you've had a rough night. But, Harry, I really do need to talk to you," Hermione said, not unkindly.

Harry nodded, hardly aware of what he was agreeing to. She left him then.

The following morning Harry looked like death, and Hermione said as much at the Ravenclaw table. He hadn't slept as much as he needed to, even with the use of his time turner. Today wasn't going to be a pleasant day for Harry, nor would it be for anyone forced to put up with him.

"There really has to be something in the school rule book about keeping children out of their dorms after hours," Hermione said.

"I don't think there is a school rule book, and if there was one Dumbledore would have confiscated it years ago," Harry muttered.

Rather than arguing that the Headmaster would never destroy a piece of Hogwarts literature, Hermione simply nodded, which was a surprise. "Still, it's worth it just to look."

Harry sighed. "It's fine, Hermione, even if there was a rule book, and there was something in there about keeping kids out of bed late at night, I doubt the Headmaster would listen to a word of it, not if he didn't want Professor McGonagall to chop his head off. Professor Quirrell is untouchable, remember? Besides, it wasn't his fault I was up so late…" his voice trailed off.

Hermione didn't seem to notice anything significant. She simply snorted and said, "It was his detention you were attending, wasn't it? And I don't care what McGonagall does to Dumbledore, you shouldn't be sleep deprived on a school day. It interferes with your education and ultimately your future. And if Quirrell cared about that he would not have kept you so late."

Harry stared at her. Just what had gotten into Hermione? Not only was she disregarding a professor's declaration, but wasn't even referring to her teachers by their honorary title. Something had indeed changed in Hermione, and Harry didn't have to think hard to guess what had caused it.

"Listen," Harry began, hoping to halt a disaster in its tracks. "It really wasn't Professor Quirrell's fault I was up so late. It was my own doing, so don't go blaming-"

"You shouldn't be in detention in the first place!" Hermione snapped. "He had no good reason to punish you and if you didn't like Quirrell so much you would not have gone along with it. I bet if you tried you could make Dumbledore make Quirrell get you out, but you didn't and you won't and so it's up to me to make sure you get your sleep!" and with that, Hermione threw herself from the table and stormed out of the great hall, leaving a half-eaten breakfast behind her.

Harry gapped openly after her. And he had thought he was in a bad mood…

It was thirty minutes before classes started and the Sunshine General had called an emergency S.P. H. E.W. meeting. Padma, Lavender, Parvati, Susan, Hannah, Tracy, and Daphne now sat in a circle around the General's desk. Hermione had considered leaving Tracy out. The girl might alert Harry to any plan's Hermione had in store, and he would no doubt try and stop them. But if she pitched her suggestion right, she'd earn Tracy's undying loyalty. I've been hanging around Slytherins too long…

The girls looked to each other wearily, Susan the weariest of them all. The girl gazed at Hermione as if the General had lost sight of her senses, and perhaps she had, but that didn't matter.

"Alright," Hermione began. "We are gathered-"

"General," Susan broke in, unable to contain herself. "Please, I don't want to do anything that will get you expelled or into any more trouble. And I really don't think it's a good idea to be fighting bullies right now. Lord Malfoy is here and he is close with almost all of the bullies parents. He's probably devoting extra effort into teaching them the killing curse, and I know some of them are cunning enough to make it look like an accident."

Hermione waited for the girl to finish before patiently going on. "We aren't going to be fighting bullies," she said and Susan visibly relaxed. "We are here to pay off a debt we owe to Harry Potter."

Tracy perked up. She held herself aloft, as if she were listening for the future Dark Lord's benefit. Susan's weariness returned.

"Last night, Harry returned from detention after four in the morning, smelling like charred road kill and looking like death. And we all know that Quirrell's teaching methods are far from ordinary, and if he had to punish someone I doubt there would be any lengths that that man would not go to, to see his victim properly demoralized. Knowing Harry, those lengths had to have been quite extreme and nothing within any teacher's power," Hermione paused here partly to let what she was implying sink in and partly to marvel at her own speech. She had actually stopped for a moment to think and plan what she was going to say to the girls.

Hannah's brows drew together, but Hermione had not expected her to get it right off the bat.

"What, exactly are you suggesting we do?" Daphne asked slowly. She was the first to comprehend what the Sunshine General was implying.

Susan's mouth parted slightly, but she didn't say anything.

"Ladies," Hermione went on. "We cannot depend on the teachers of Hogwarts to do the right thing. We can't depend on Dumbledore to put a stop to whatever Quirrell has in store for Harry, and nor can we trust Harry to pull himself out of whatever unpleasantness the so called 'Defense Professor' has planned in those detention periods. It is up to us, the Heroines of Hogwarts, to put a stop to Quirrell's uncontrolled plotting!"

"Hear! Hear!" shouted Tracy.

"But, didn't Professor Quirrell help us?" Hannah asked. Her round face gazed innocently up at Hermione. "Wasn't he the one who gave back all those points?"

Hermione shook her head. "He did me no favors, for now our enemies do not see us as fully crushed so they will try harder to end us. But our quarrel with the bullies is on halt for now. We need to focus our attentions on Quirrell," Hermione blinked. She could not believe she just said that out loud with a straight face.

The other girls didn't seem to notice, or if they had they showed no sign of it.

"What's your plan?" asked Tracy, the only one at this point that seemed to be all for it.

"Wait, a minute," Parvati said. "We haven't agreed to anything yet."

"We owe Lord Potter a debt!" Tracy snapped. She sneered evilly and for some reason Hermione remembered that that girl had come closer to casting Avada Kedavra than any of them.

"Lord Potter?" Daphne blinked.

"Of course, he is of a Noble and Most Ancient House," Tracy said. Daphne opened her mouth, but was cut off.

"Alright, who here is in favor of helping Harry," Hermione broke in, putting a stop to the tangential argument. She thrust her hand into the air, and Tracy's eagerly followed. Hannah's was next, followed by Padma and Lavender. The remaining three girls shared a look.

"I am for helping Harry," Susan said. "But I'd like to know just what it is exactly you think you can do to stop Professor Quirrell." The other two girls nodded.

"So we are in agreement to help Harry?" Hermione said, ignoring the other question for now. The girls nodded. "Alright," at least they'd gotten that settled. Now for the hard part…

"We need a name for this," Lavender said abruptly.

Hermione blinked. "Name for what?" If she was about to suggest renaming S. P. H. E. W, to stand for 'Super Potter's House of Evil Witches,' Hermione was going to throw her out a very high window.

"This operation," Lavender said, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "How about 'Operation Save Harry!'"

"That makes him sound like a damsel in distress," Tracy said. "Why not, 'Operation aid future Dark Lord?'"

"Harry is not the next Dark Lord!" Hermione snapped. "If he was, we wouldn't be doing this."

"Isn't this more about stopping Quirrell?" Parvati put in. "It should be, 'Operation get Potter out of Professor Quirrel's detentions!'"

"That's too much of a mouthful." Padma said. "We should just say, 'Operation get Potter out of Detention.'"

"That doesn't sound very impressive," Lavender noted. "Why not just, 'Operation stop Professor Quirrell!"

"No!" Tracy said leaping to her feet, a chaos grin stretching across her face. "It will be called, 'Operation Destroy Professor Quirrell!' He's doomed anyway."

"Yeah, that sounds awesome!" Lavender cheered.

"All in favor?" Tracy said throwing her hand into the air and glancing about the room. The majority of hands went up.

Before Hermione could put stop to it, or even suggest another name the bell went off and the girls shot out of the room and dispersed. Hermione heaved an internal sigh as she ran for the Green House. Operation Destroy Quirrell… that hadn't been her first intention, but she had to admit it did have a nice ring to it.