Morning came along again and today was her going to start her second day at Hogwarts. Hermione was truly happy to be back, although she missed her parent while she was gone, she loved being at Hogwarts. She walk into The Great Hall, for some reason her eyes scanned the Slytherin table but noticed a certain blonde missing. Then shrugged it off and walked towards her friends then noticed Lavender was fawning over Ron again. "And there goes my appetite." She mumbled, as she turned right around and walked off towards the grounds.

"Oy Malfoy!" Hermione noticed Malfoy and a group of Slytherin's farther ahead of her towards the lake. The group consisted of Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Pansy and

"Let's just leave him alone." Pansy stated, while grabbing Blaise's arm but he just yanked her away from him.

"Then you leave." Blaise spat at her, she just frowned and stood at more of a distance staring off in Draco's direction. "Malfoy, I always knew your blood raised cowards."

Malfoy chuckled, "What are you all going to do to me? Avada me then throw my body into the river? Great, have a jolly time in Azkaban. You'll just be doing me a favor on both accounts."

"Would you like us to weep for you, Malfoy? You've made your lives a living hell for that bobble head stunt you pulled."

Malfoy showed no emotion, "Tell me. Why are you getting involved in the Dark lords business? Got something to prove to daddy?"

"At least mine isn't the dark lords bitch!" Blaise scoffed. Draco just walked closer to Blaise, his face looked scary as hell from Hermione's opinion.

"You are a fool. The Dark Lord, Voldemort, is not some guy who will reward you with all the jewels in the world if you follow him. Voldemort has nothing; you're blindly following him. But for what Blaise? Why? Tell me?" His voice stayed netural and he started at Blaise waiting for a reply.

"For my life. For my family. You are the fool, Malfoy." Blaise spat at him, "Let's go guys, and leave this pathetic piece of shit to himself." Then left, but Hermione was too stunned to try to hide herself. "What the hell are you doing here, mud blood?" As they passed her. She just ignored them and walked toward the Blonde haired boy who now stood with his eyes closed as if he was trying to control himself from killing them all now.

"Draco." Hermione called out.

Malfoy chucked, "Can you believe that, Granger?" He opened his eyes and stared at her. "Can you believe how Voldemort brainwashes all these powerful wizards into thinking he can decide whether they live or die?"

Hermione looked at him, "Its about good or evil."

He laughed a bit at her response, "No, Granger. It's about survival."

Hermione sat at the great hall during this Saturday quiet afternoon just staring at the gruesome site in front of her. Lavender had her tonsils in Ronald Weasley's mouth, and Hermione's appetite just disappeared. She hated the fact that she felt this way about Ron, when he obviously doesn't even notice her. "My goodness, Ron, breathe. Poor Hermione has to see this monstrosity." Ginny looked disgusted.

Ron separated from Lavender, turning a bit red. "Erm, sorry Hermione."

Lavender huffed, "Let's just go Ronnykins and find somewhere a bit more," she paused to look at Hermione, "private."

"That's fine, you can go." Ron said looking away.

"But Ron!"

Ron grunted, "Lets just go" he got up ahead of her and walked away. Lavender just skipped behind her.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione noticed his absence.

Ginny shrugged, "I don't know, last I heard was Dumbledore wanted to see him but that was last night."

"He's probably just sleeping in." Hermione said, she didn't know why but she suddenly looked towards the Slytherin table and noticed that yet again Malfoy was not sitting anywhere among his peers. Then she noticed Harry walking down The Great Hall to where they were seated, he looked dazed and horrified.

"Harry! What's wrong?" Ginny said as he sat down next to her. She instantly put an arm around him for comfort.

"We need to talk, in private. Hermione can we head to your common room."

"I think Malfoy may be lurking there. Lets head to the Room of Requirement." They all got up and headed towards the Room of Requirement. Once they got in, it turned into a nice sitting room with a fireplace and a comfortable couch and two sofa seats on the sides. Harry and Ginny sat on the couch as Hermione sat on one of the sofa seats and looked at Harry concerned.

"Voldemort," he whispered, "he can die. Dumbledore figured out how but its almost impossible." Harry closed his eyes.

"How Harry?" Hermione sat in attention.

"Hermione have you ever heard of a horcrux?"

"No."

"Horcrux is when one splits ones soul. To preserve their life longer." Harry recited.

"Did he split it more than once?" Ginny asked.

"Seven times," Harry said, "he split his soul seven times." Hermione gasped, she figured she'd have to go the library to find out more about horcrux's. How can a person split their soul seven times? Wouldn't that make anyone unstable?

"Don't worry Harry, we'll figure this out." Hermione said.

That night, Hermione sneaked into the restricted section and tried to find anything she can about horcrux's and copied the information down using a simple spell. She didn't find much but she did learn that for Voldemort to split his soul seven times, he had to have kill seven people. It made her think about Harry's scar and how part of Voldemort was in him. Harry couldn't be a horcrux, he is a living being. The thought of Harry being a horcrux terrified her but she pushed that thought in the back of her mind hoping it isn't true. She brought the new found information with her back to the common room.

Since it was 3 in the morning she figured she sit at the common room to go over the information she found. She knew she should go to bed because of classes in the morning but she was eager to find out about what a horcrux is.

"Granger," Draco stepped into the common room.

"Malfoy? What were you doing out so late?" Hermione said startled.

"That isn't any of your business!" He smiled a bit, but she has never seen him smile. It was a nice smile, the kind that makes you have no choice but to smile back. She noticed his slow steps and dazed look. Malfoy was pissed drunk.

"You were drinking..." Hermione stated while watching the happy drunk make his way next to Hermione.

"Yes madam, nothing does ever get pass you. Do you know why men drink, Granger?" He asked as he sat back, fully relaxing on the couch. Hermione was very conscious of how close he sat to her, his full leg was against hers.

"To forget about their problems?" She answered subconsciously inching away from him.

He laughed loudly, "I bet you haven't drank a day in your life," that's correct but now she wasn't sure if she ever wanted to. He looked at what she was studying, "Horcrux's. Interesting topic, I see the old bat finally told Potter about Voldie's dirty little secret." He snorted.

She looked at him shocked, "You knew?"

"Of course, just a piece of information I found out along the way. My deluded father actually thinks I would follow that mindless maniac."

"You told Dumbledore?"

"The old man would have figured it out for himself." Draco snorted.