CHAPTER TWO

Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.

Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.

AN

Trigger Warning! Although nothing is described in detail, sexual and physical abuse and attempted rape is mentioned and implied, at least for the next couple of chapters.

Page count: 15

Hogwarts - Sunday 3rd December 1995

"Morning, Granger," the twins chimed as they took the seats available on either side of her at the empty Gryffindor table.

"Morning Fred, George," she said looking at each of them with a slight nod of the head as she said their names.

"Actually, I'm Fred and he's George," George said, his pointer finger swivelling between his twin and himself.

"Nice try, Fred's on the left and George is on the right," she replied, not bothering to play into their game.

"Nope, you're wrong"

"No, I'm not, so stop being an idiot," she said rolling her eyes and Fred smirked at George, giving him an 'I told you so' look.

"Do you want to give us another lesson today?" Fred asked.

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

"No," they replied instantly.

"Nothing's better than spending the morning with a beautiful and scarily smart brunette witch."

Hermione blushed and stood from the bench and made her way out of the hall. Fred and George chuckled, grabbed some food to go and followed after her.

"You're going the wrong way," George said from his place walking on her right. He turned around so he was walking backwards and slightly ahead of her.

"No, I'm not; I know this castle like the back of my hand."

"We've been sneaking around since first year," George pointed out.

"So have I and I didn't have a magical map to help me," Hermione argued.

"She's got you there," Fred said chuckling.

"And I found the same room in the library you did and I didn't have Peeves show me it was there."

"She's right George; she knows this place just as well as we do, if not better."

Hermione walked into the library and the twins followed her curiously. As she walked past the stacks she flicked her wand and several books began floating behind them. When she reached the portrait she ran her finger down the spine of the third book and opened the door. She entered and when the twins followed her she closed the door when the books had finished passing through the entrance and they set themselves down onto the table.

She sat at the table and the twins followed her actions. It was warm in the room so Hermione removed her hooded jumper and chucked it to the end of the table. She stood up from the table to get a book from the bookshelf and the twins' eyes rounded on her and their mouths dropped.

She was wearing a Gryffindor red cashmere v-neck jumper, with black skinny jeans and a pair of black knee length boots. They had noticed sometime between their fifth and sixth year, but they had no idea the kind of figure she was hiding under her clothes. She had tanned skin that seemed to glow in the light of the candles that lit the room. Long legs that seemed to never end, a beautiful hour glass figure, perfectly round breasts which they guessed to be at least a c-cup, maybe bigger, and shiny thick mahogany ringlets that fell down to the middle of her back. They felt their mouths go dry and they looked at each other with the same thought. 'Fucking hell Granger, warn a guy would ya?'

Every guy had their own idea of a perfect woman, and whilst some may not agree with them or they may not see Hermione the way they did, the twins didn't care. To them she was perfect.

They snapped out of their stupor when she sat down at the table. She scribbled something down on some parchment and ripped it in half and gave a half each to Fred and George. She then separated the books she had collected and gave half to Fred and half to George.

"Where did you get that parchment from?" Fred asked.

"I keep some in here, along with muggle pens. Madam Pince is the only other person to know about this room and she allows me to use it whenever I want and she doesn't bother me. I give her a list of books at the beginning of every term and she fills the shelves with the books I want in here for that term, so I don't have to go through the stacks in the library. I can come straight here and everything I need is already here. It's my own personal study room," she shrugged and they stared in surprise. "Anyway, the books, read them, I've already given you the page numbers."

"You're making us read?" George said disbelievingly. "I thought we'd be practicing today. You had us doing those weird exercises yesterday."

"Yes, reading," Hermione said defensively and glaring at George.

Fred hit himself in the head. One difference between him and his brother was that George was always the first one to put his foot in his mouth. As proved the day before when he revealed they knew about her secret.

"I made you do those breathing exercises yesterday because they help you to clear your mind. They help you to focus and control your magic. When you are focusing you can sense your magic within your blood flowing through you. I wanted to see if you were ready but you weren't."

"Ready for what?" Fred asked but she ignored him.

"And today you are reading because I want you to be able to understand the theory behind the patronus. If you understand the theory, it will be easier for you to do the practical aspect and conjure a patronus. How do you think I learned to cast a patronus? Harry didn't teach me. Why do you think I am so advanced in lessons? It's because I understand the theory because I actually study. What do you know about the Patronus Charm?" she asked George and Fred sniggered when he saw the look of shock on his twin's face.

"It's used to fight dementors," George answered.

"And?"

"And? And what? That's all it's used for. Well apart from sending messages to others of course."

"That's why you need to read the book."

"What else is it used for?" Fred asked intrigued, she turned to look at him.

"It isn't just used to fight off dementors and communication. It's also used as a form of protection against others, they can't do any serious damage but they can be used as a distraction. It's also used as a defence against lethifolds..."

"What's a lethifold?" Fred asked confused.

"It's an extremely dark magical creature, like a dementor. It has a Ministry rating of five and it's a carnivorous beast that prefers the taste of human flesh. They have an appearance that resembles a black cloak, however, it gets thicker when it's recently eaten a victim. They find their victims at night when they're sleeping and they suffocate and digest their victims whilst they're still in their beds."

"Lovely," George said sarcastically and Fred smothered a laugh.

"Luckily lethifolds are a very rare species and are only found in the tropics."

"Awesome," George said and once more Fred smothered a laugh.

She glared at him. "Some people use their patronus as a form of comfort in times of loneliness and grief. The patronus is a part of who you are. It's a part of your soul and magic. You also can't become an Animagus unless you can conjure a patronus. Once you have conjured a patronus you have a sense of self because you know what animal relates to you. The patronus is also one of the purest forms of good magic there is and that's why it's so difficult for people to cast that they don't even attempt to. It's the equivalent to a unicorn's horn or a jar that contains a ray of light from a blue moon. Those that practice dark magic religiously are not able to conjure a patronus. Any dark witch or wizard that attempts to cast a patronus will instead conjure maggots that will devour the spell caster. This is why it's required that you be able to cast a patronus before you join The Order. It ensures there are no dark magic practitioners within The Order and people are more likely to be trustworthy. Once someone learns what your patronus is, they have a better understanding of your character traits and personality."

"Wow," Fred said looking at her in awe.

"How do you know that? That it's a requirement to join The Order?" George asked.

"I asked Sirius and he confirmed it."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because after this year, I'm joining," she shrugged.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Granger, but you have to be seventeen to join," George said.

"Actually, I am seventeen."

"What?" they both said confused.

"I'm seventeen, not sixteen. I'm of age and I can do magic out of school, but The Ministry doesn't know," she shrugged.

"How?" they asked quickly.

"I used a time turner my third year because I was taking twelve classes, it was thirteen but I dropped divination and that stick insect of a Professor is useless," she snorted. "It's going to rain... yeah, thanks for that Professor, if there weren't windows in this room I wouldn't have noticed. You will die... really? Magnificent prediction Professor; thank you for telling me that. I had forgotten that I'm human and that everyone dies. Again, I didn't need you to point out the obvious, but well done. You'll have the grim following you. Actually, it's a large black dog in Animagus form, but marvellous prediction. O for effort. You almost got one right there." Fred and George burst out laughing.

"You really don't like divination or Trelawney do you?" Fred said through laughter.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" she asked with a serious look on her face, which only made them laugh harder and they slumped over in their chairs gripping their sides.

She watched them amused and it took them a few minutes to calm down.

"So you're of age?" Fred asked.

"Yes, I'm probably older than you, but I can't be bothered to do the math." They gawked at her. "Right, now, read the books I gave you." They stared at her as she picked up the book she had retrieved for herself.

She kicked off her boots, pushed the chair away from the table and lifted her legs and crossed them on the chair and she placed the book in the crook of her crossed legs. She leaned over and grabbed some parchment and a muggle pen which she slipped behind her ear and she rested the parchment against the open page and she began reading. She had her left arm resting against the arm rest and her head was supported by her hand.

The twins watched her as she seemed peaceful and then turned to their own books. Every now and then the twins would look up at Hermione to see her chewing on her lip or the end of the pen subconsciously. Although they knew it was an innocent habit of hers, they couldn't help but notice how arousing it looked.

An hour later Hermione put her book, parchment filled with notes and pen down on the floor and stood up. She stretched and then did a little jig and shook out her hands to get the blood flowing back to her numb limbs and then she walked back over to one of the books shelves and browsed its contents.

"How's it going boys?" she asked whilst she walked along the length of the book shelves.

"Did you know there's two forms of the patronus? Non-corporeal and corporeal. The non-corporeal patronus is that of a white ball of light that doesn't take shape and it can be used to slow down a dementor but not defend against it. The corporeal patronus is the most difficult to cast and it takes on the form of an animal and it acts as a shield and it will attack the dementors," George spoke and Hermione turned around and leaned against the book shelf and she smirked at the excitement on his face.

"It's rare for a patronus to take on the form of a magical creature, but it does happen. For example, Andros the Invincible was said to have conjured a patronus the size of a giant, so his patronus was presumably a giant. And everyone knows Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix. Charlie's is a dragon and Bill's is a griffin. It's even rarer for a patronus to take on the form of an extinct animal. This happened in the case of Hedley Fleetwood and his corporeal patronus form was a woolly mammoth," Fred spoke looking as equally excited.

"In order to conjure a patronus you must be in the right mind set, believe in your ability to cast the charm and have a strong enough memory," George said.

"Yeah, and a conjured patronus can remain active as long as the caster is focusing on them. If they're not given a task, they are said to revert to their natural behaviour and follow the caster around until given an order or the caster loses concentration," Fred spoke.

"You enjoyed learning about the patronus charm, didn't you?" she asked smirking.

"No," they said quickly and she laughed and headed back to the table and she sat down in her chair.

"Do you boys think you understand the theory behind the Patronus Charm?"

They nodded.

"Yeah, I think we've got it, it makes it seem a lot easier than it is."

"That's a good thing. And that's why I made you read those books." She grabbed her jumper and pulled out a bag from the pocket and she removed a strawberry pencil and took a bite before offering one to Fred and George. They took one and took a bite.

"What are these? I've never had one before," George asked.

"They're really good," Fred commented.

"Strawberry pencils, they're a muggle candy," she informed them.

"Where did you get a muggle candy from?" George asked.

"The Muggle World," she replied slowly and Fred chuckled.

"When were you in the Muggle World? You've been here since September and the only time you left Grimmauld was for the trial and Diagon Alley."

Hermione froze.

"Well would you look at the time, I best be going, I have a lot of things to do. Busy, busy, busy, lesson's over for the day." She put on her shoes, grabbed her jumper, flicked her wand sending all the books back to their correct places and her notes to her room and ran out of the library.

Fred and George looked at each other with raised eyebrows and then they ran after her. She beat them back to Gryffindor Tower and ran to her room.

Due to the situation regarding her parents, McGonagall had given Hermione her own room at the top of the girl's dormitory floors. They didn't want Hermione waking anyone up with her nightmares or accidently hurting anyone if they startled her. Plus, she was able to study and read whenever she wanted without people complaining.

In her room she had a queen sized bed with white bedding and a Gryffindor red blanket with a gold lion printed in the centre. She had two windows on either side of her bed and a dark wooden bedside table. She had a desk against the left wall that was piled high with books, as well as a dark wooden wardrobe and a bookcase on the wall opposite the bed. The door to the bathroom was on the left wall, as was the dark wooden chest of drawers and she had a rug under the bed, and a fireplace with a white rug in front of it against the right wall.

She flopped down on the bed and sighed.

"Got to be careful with what you say Hermione, they can't know. If they do you lose your advantage," she said to herself before she sighed and got up.

She changed into a pair of comfortable grey tracksuit bottoms, well worn white trainers and a white spaghetti strap top and she put on the matching grey hooded tracksuit jacket. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun, put her wand in the waist band of her tracksuit bottoms and checked the time. She had twenty minutes.

She quickly headed down to the empty common room and left out of the portrait and she made her way to the Room of Requirement. Unknown to her, two red headed twins had seen her leave and dressed differently than before, so they followed her. They had lost her after leaving the east wing of the castle so they looked around for an hour, before hitting themselves in the head realising that she was probably somewhere people wouldn't be able to find her.

They headed to the Room of Requirement and asked for the door that led to Hermione. When they entered they pulled their wands and were about to rush forward when they saw something they definitely weren't expecting.

There was a man dressed in a white t-shirt, grey tracksuit bottoms and white trainers. He was six-foot-one, had blonde hair, green eyes, tanned skin and it was easy to see he was muscled and very handsome. His and Hermione's jackets were tossed to the side on the floor.

The man had Hermione pinned to his chest, her back to him and her arms were pinned down by her sides. Suddenly Hermione lifted her foot and stomped down on the man's foot. It caused him to grunt in pain and he stumbled back slightly. Hermione then flung her head back and head butted him and he quickly let go of her. She grabbed his arm and then promptly flipped him over and he landed on his back.

The twins stared in shock at what they'd just witnessed. Compared to the man, Hermione was seven inches smaller and a good five stone lighter; and she'd kicked his arse!

"Sorry, Jason," Hermione panted and she helped him stand up.

"Don't be, it's my job to teach you how to defend yourself and you're perfect at it now. I get paid to allow you to injure me," he chuckled. "Besides, there's no blood and nothing's broken, I'm fine."

"You think I've improved?"

"From your first lesson? Massively. You can easily defend yourself wherever you are now. You could probably teach everything you've learned to other women. If I was teaching you Karate and not self defence, I would say you'd be a blue belt by now."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Blue belt, isn't that the fifth belt out of the nine you are awarded?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"But from what I've read, it takes two years to achieve that belt."

"Not necessarily. It can take anywhere between ten months and two years. It depends on how often you have lessons and how often you train. We've been having lessons six days a week, you'd easily be a blue belt," he shrugged. "Now break's over; we have another hour before the lesson's over and I have to head back into the Mugglesville."

She shook her head at him. "Mugglesville? Come up with that on your own did you?" she teased.

"Hey, not everyone can be The Brightest Witch," he protested.

"Not everyone can be The Brightest Witch," she mimicked him in a whiney tone and he narrowed his eyes at her.

He lunged forward but Hermione ducked and rolled out of the way. He went to grab her but she grabbed his wrist, pulled him closer, lifted her leg and kicked him in the side of the knee and it caused him to fall to the ground. She let go of his wrist and did a spinning kick, kicking him in the face and he fell completely to the ground.

"Fucking hell!" The twins whispered, turning to look at each other with identical looks of shock.

Jason looked up at her in surprise and she grinned.

"I never taught you to do that."

"Sirius bought me some books on muggle martial arts and I've been studying them and working on some of the simpler moves in my room." He laughed at her and got back up onto his feet. "You teach Karate, how did you not see that one coming?" she asked amused.

"You took me by surprise, I wasn't expecting you to have that move in your repertoire, especially since I hadn't taught you it and you didn't have any training before I became your teacher," he said and she chuckled at him.

Hermione saw he was bleeding and found her wand on the floor and quickly healed the cut on his face.

"Okay, let's go again. I want to see what else you've been practicing that I didn't teach you."

"I don't want to hurt you," she teased.

"Oh, don't worry; I've got my guard well and truly up after that."

They circled each other and he lunged at her, Hermione expecting it ducked down and slid through his open legs and stood up. He turned around looking confused and then he laughed at her pleased expression. He stepped forward and she stepped back. He grabbed her wrist and she bent her elbow until her forearm touched his and he was forced to let go because his hand couldn't bend the way she was forcing it to. She then grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward and he bent over slightly. She lifted her leg and kneed him in the chest, before hitting him in the back with both hands clasped together and she stepped away and he fell to the floor and coughed.

"Merlin, you're quicker than you look. Stronger too." He stood up after getting his breath back.

"Are you letting me win?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why would you think that?"

"You've been doing Karate for twenty years and you have your own school. You're holding back because you don't want to hurt me."

"You're right; I don't want to hurt you."

"I've been hit with a belt, a baseball bat and I've had a hammer thrown at me," she said seriously. "There's nothing you can do to hurt me as badly as that."

He frowned. "Maybe you're right; I imagine you have conditioned yourself to have a high pain threshold."

She nodded. "I can't learn if you hold back."

"Fine, I won't hold back too much."

They circled each other and he lunged towards her, but she jumped back and did a back hand spring, followed by a back flip and landing perfectly on her feet. He stared at her before laughing and the twins were still stood in front of where the door used to be, with their jaws practically hitting the floor and their eyes wide. They realised that Hermione Granger was full of bloody surprises.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"Sirius hired a gymnastics instructor to teach me, he said something about speed and flexibility improving my chances of defending myself if I were to lose my wand in a duel."

He laughed at her amazed. "Well that's another reason not to hold back too much."

He turned around and did a spinning kick except Hermione stepped out of the way so he didn't hit her in the face and she blocked him with her hands, catching his foot. She pulled on his foot and he lost balance and fell over.

"Okay, I'm getting sick of you knocking me on my arse."

She laughed at him.

Suddenly he swiped her leg out from under her and she stopped laughing as she let out a little squeak and fell to the floor landing on her back; luckily the floor had been padded so it didn't hurt too much.

"Okay, I can see why you don't like it," Hermione said with a groan, sprawled out on her back on the floor. They both got up.

Jason pulled Hermione to his chest so her back was to his front and he had a hold tight hold on her. The twins watched and they felt a wave of jealousy hit them at how close he was to Hermione and with her held tightly to him.

Hermione thought for a moment; in classes with Jason she wasn't supposed to use the same defensive manoeuvre more than once since he liked to know that she could remember everything he'd taught her. So she thought of something he hadn't seen from her before.

She brought her hands up and gripped his forearms, she pulled them away from her body as far as she could and then she slipped down through his arms into the splits, she moved her leg and swept it around and she caught his leg and he fell to the ground and onto his back.

"I'm guessing that was payback," he said amused and then he got back up off the floor.

He pulled Hermione to him and once more had her trapped against his chest, his front to her back. The grip he had on her was far tighter than the last time, he had a strong stance so stomping on his foot wouldn't work and she couldn't head butt him because he moved his head to the side.

"What do you do?" he asked her.

She quickly thought of a solution to get out of his hold. She leaned forward as far and fast as she could, forcing him to bend with her. She then stood up quickly and kicked her feet off the floor. Jason had no choice but to lift her from the ground to keep balance and when he did, she kicked her legs and flipped them over his shoulder. His arms twisted and his knees buckled to the ground and she got out of his hold and landed on her feet behind him.

"I think it's safe to say, Hermione, that this was our last lesson."

"I don't think..."

"No, Hermione. You don't need any more lessons. Between your gymnastic lessons, your self defence lessons and the martial arts you've been studying yourself, you are more than ready. Once you learn these things you never forget, it'll be your reflex reaction now. I feel sorry for the poor bugger that creeps up behind you," he chuckled.

He picked up his jacket from the floor and slipped it on and picked up his wand.

"I'll let Sirius know that you no longer require lessons. I bet you twenty galleons that he can't wait to see what you've learned. He'll ask you to demonstrate on someone."

She laughed at him, knowing he was right.

"Yeah, he will, probably Moody or Snape."

"If you need anything just send me an owl." Hermione nodded and smiled. "I'll see you later, Hermione."

"Be careful out there, Jason," she said. Hermione turned to face the wall and Jason made his way to the door.

He noticed Fred and George and he froze and stared at them both before he shook his head chuckling and he walked past them and out the door that reappeared.

They waited for the door to disappear before they stepped forward.

"Bloody hell, Granger," George said and she jumped and turned around with wide eyes trained on the twins who were smirking.

"You're bloody dangerous with a wand and now you're dangerous without one too!" Fred looked amused. "You don't do things in halves do you?" he chuckled.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"Since you head butted that poor sod," George spoke amused, tipping his head in the direction of the door Jason had just left out of.

Hermione sighed and then three arm chairs appeared, set up the same as the day before and she sat down. Fred and George followed her actions and each sat down.

"Something you want to tell us?" Fred asked.

She groaned. "Only if you don't tell anyone." They nodded their agreement. "I was sick and tired of flinching every time someone touched me. I was tired of being scared and weak," she could see that Fred was about to protest. "No, Fred, I'm weak, without my wand I'm useless and defenceless. I couldn't fight off my Father because I wasn't strong enough or fast enough. I told Sirius and we talked for a while. We came up with the idea of me possibly learning a martial art, the only problem being they are taught by muggles. The Wizarding World may have heard of them, but there is no one who teaches them. So instead Sirius hired Jason, he's a Half-blood and he grew up in the Muggle World. He's twenty-four and has been doing Karate for twenty years. He has his own school in the Muggle World, but he lives in Wizarding London."

"He's been teaching me self defence. My lessons with him started one week after the trial. Every night Sirius and I would leave the house when everyone was in bed and we'd meet up with Jason at his school in the Muggle World. I've been having lessons with him six days a week and between four to five hours a session. Dumbledore gave permission for Jason to come into Hogwarts once I started back at school so I could continue with my lessons. He comes here four times a week and we train for about two to three hours. The other days I train by myself."

"About a week after I started my lessons with Jason, Sirius hired a Muggleborn gymnastics instructor for me. He said I was doing well in classes with Jason, but if I had more flexibility and speed I would be better. So Sirius and I met with Sally in the Muggle World five days a week after my lessons with Jason and we'd train for three hours. She comes here three times a week for four hours, but Thursday was her last lesson with me. She said I'm better than most of her students she's had for years and I don't need any more supervision. I just have to keep practicing and if I need anything all I have to do is owl her. Sirius also bought me some books on martial arts and I've been teaching myself the basics."

They stared at her.

"More reason to be terrified of you," George said seriously and she snorted at him.

"Just don't ever sneak up on me, I almost punched Ron in the face for doing that the other day, I barely stopped myself in time."

"Shame you did."

"I know," she sighed in agreement and they laughed at her. "But then we'd have a whining Ron on the loose and I'm not dealing with that."

"Why haven't you told anyone about this?"

"It's an advantage. If people presume I'm weak they'll underestimate me. If I lose my wand in a duel I can still be of some use. And I wanted something for myself. Something I wouldn't have to share with others. I like doing it and my gymnastics. It allows me to focus on something else other than the war, school or Harry. After each training session I always feel accomplished and relaxed. My magic feels calm and I have complete control over it," she shrugged.

"He's right, Sirius is going to want you to demonstrate what you've learned," Fred said.

"Yeah, she can do it on Ron," George suggested and they laughed.

~000~000~000~

Later that night Hermione was doing her prefect rounds. She was once again dressed in her boots, black skinny jeans and red cashmere v-neck jumper with her grey hooded jumper over the top since it was freezing in the castle.

She hated wearing such tight and expensive clothing but Sirius had insisted, saying it would help her move on. She didn't understand how and after three days of arguments she had finally given up.

She had started on the seventh floor and made her way down. All she had left to do was the dungeons. She made her way through the dark maze and if it wasn't for her memorising the Marauder's map she would be completely lost. She knew that if she took a left, then a right, then another right and a left, followed by a right, she would find herself at the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

She heard voices and made her way towards them with her lit wand in hand. She turned the corner to see three third year Slytherins huddled together, and doing God knows what.

"Okay, boys, break it up. It's past curfew and I really don't want to have to give you detention, because honestly, I can't be arsed."

One of them sneered at her. "I'd watch the way you speak to your superiors, Mudblood!"

She raised an eyebrow. "First of all, I'm four years older than you, legally of age and an adult. Second of all, I don't take kindly to threats. Third of all, I know spells that would make you wet yourselves in fear. I was casting a patronus by the time I was your age. And lastly, you're a Half-blood, so there's no point in throwing around that blood supremacy shite. So boys, kindly leave and head back to your common room. I don't want to have to explain to Professor Snape why I gave you three detention, because as I said before, I can't be arsed."

They stared at her defiantly.

"Very well then," she sighed. She pointed her wand in their direction and they immediately ran down the corridor and towards their common room. Hermione chuckled and shook her head.

She turned around and began walking back towards the entrance to the dungeons, she was finished with her rounds and she was exhausted. She couldn't wait to get back to the privacy of her room and fall into bed.

She was almost at the entrance when she was stopped.

"Mudblood," the familiar voice of Draco Malfoy sneered, she sighed and turned around.

"Yes, my fellow prefect and follower of Professor Dumbitch." She could tell she took him by surprise with her comment and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily and she felt smugness fill her at his subconscious response.

"I hear you've been ordering about your superiors, that's a dangerous game to play," he said whilst approaching her and he stopped in front of her, so she was forced to look up at him.

'Merlin, Malfoy, when did he get so tall?' she thought.

"No, I simply asked them to return to their common room since curfew is in place and I couldn't be arsed issuing them a detention. And they are not my superiors, not only am I legally of age, I know for a fact at least one of those boys was a Half-blood. Now if you will excuse me, I'm exhausted."

She turned around and began walking away.

"What do you mean you're legally of age?" Hermione ignored him. "Don't ignore me you filthy Mudblood!" Malfoy spat.

Hermione's instincts told her to turn and cast a shield and she did, easily blocking the spell that was sent her way. Malfoy looked surprised at her reflexes before shaking his head and he continued throwing spells at her, all legal and taught within the first four years of school.

Hermione really was exhausted and she was getting bored. With that she dropped her shield and with the flick of her wand, she sent a Flipendo at him and her actions were so fast, he never saw it coming. She was incredibly grateful to Sirius for allowing her to take gymnastics and self defence during the summer term. Not only did it improve her speed and flexibility, but it improved her response time and reflexes, it helped keep her fit and healthy and it allowed her to think more creatively and it calmed her magic and made her feel in control.

Malfoy was thrown back a couple of feet and he landed on his backside. Hermione had held back with Malfoy, not wanting to hurt him and give him ammunition to use against her with Umbridge. It was a minor knock that would probably hurt a little, but wouldn't cause any serious damage, maybe a bruise at best.

"Pleasure as always, Malfoy," she bowed in a very Fred and George like manner and then turned around and waltzed out of the dungeons as she made her way to Gryffindor Tower.

Unknown to her, two read heads had heard that she was to patrol the dungeons and couldn't help feel worried. So they had disillusioned themselves, placed Silencing Charms on their feet and they proceeded to follow her, ensuring she would be kept safe. They had seen that she could take care of herself without a wand, and they had seen glimpses of what she could do in the D.A. But that didn't stop them from worrying; she would be heading into Slytherin territory and everyone knew those bastards didn't play fair.

The night had been rather uneventful; Hermione caught and cautioned four people, before they reached the dungeons. One first year Gryffindor who had gotten stuck on the moving staircase, two fourth year Hufflepuffs snogging on the second floor and a third year Ravenclaw looking for the kitchens, and after Hermione escorted the young boy to the kitchens -much to the surprise of the twins- she sent him back to the Ravenclaw common room with an arm full of beverages and snacks floating behind him, thanks to Hermione's spell work. The twins grew more anxious the closer they got to the dungeons and as a precaution they gripped their wands and continued to follow her.

When they came across the three Slytherins they wanted nothing more than to hex the little shits for speaking to their Hermione that way. Yes, they were already considering her theirs, even though she hadn't agreed to it yet. They held back and watched as Hermione dealt with the cheeky sods amusingly and then she turned to leave.

They were beyond furious when Malfoy tried to hex her, but before they could step in, Hermione was blocking his attempts, and with one flick of her wand, she had him landing on his arse. They had to smother their laughter otherwise they would've given themselves away.

They followed her back to Gryffindor Tower. She arrived well before them, when they entered they looked around and when they saw the coast was clear, they removed the charms they'd placed on themselves and then headed towards their room.

"What were you two doing out after curfew?"

They jumped at the sudden noise in the deserted common room. They slowly turned around to see Hermione sat on the arm chair with her arms folded, her left leg hooked over her right leg and her eyes narrowed on them.

'Where the hell did she come from?' they both thought.

Their faces lit up to show the perfect picture of innocence and Hermione snorted.

"You do realise that you broke school rules and as a result you must face the consequences, right?"

Fred looked like he was about to argue and explain where they'd been, so George elbowed him subtly. Fred grunted and glared at his twin, but George gave him a look that said 'shut up and let's see where this goes.'

They turned back to Hermione.

"So, you have detention, Wednesday night at seven o'clock. Meet me at the stairwell of the Astronomy Tower," Hermione spoke and then she stood up and waltzed off to the girl's staircase.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Fred hissed, once Hermione's retreating figure had disappeared from his sight and hearing.

"Do you really think explaining to Granger that we were following her because we didn't think she could look after herself would be a good idea?" George asked with a raised eyebrow. Fred glowered. "Anyway, we've got a date now."

"We've got detention," Fred corrected.

"Yes, all alone with Granger and in the Astronomy Tower too, no less."

Fred's face mirrored the grin that was on George's.

"We should sneak out after curfew more often if we get detention with her every time we do it," Fred spoke and George couldn't agree more.