The slamming of the portrait downstairs woke Hermione. Seeing that it was light outside, she rolled out of bed and tugged on her uniform, wrapping herself in her jacket. Winter was definitely on its way. She stood in front of her mirror, trying to tame her hair enough so that it'd stay in a braid, then ran downstairs, shoved a water bottle in her bag and left the dorm.
Once she was on the main floor, she noticed that the students were heading away from the Hall, as though breakfast had just finished. She spotted a bright red head and made her way over to it.
"Hermione, you're here!" Ginny let go of Harry's hand to hug Hermione. "Malfoy wouldn't let us in. He said you were sleeping and that we didn't have the right to be in there anyway, the bloody bastard." The snarl fell from her face and was replaced with a grin. "Oh, I'm so glad to have you back."
The corners of Hermione's mouth turned up slightly. "Sorry about that. I was actually sleeping. If I'd known you were there I would have let you in."
"What happened, Hermione?" Harry asked. "You never ended up telling us how you wound up in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey wouldn't say either." Hermione's insides froze at her friend's words. This conversation wasn't one that she had been looking forward to. "People have been spreading all these horrible rumours, saying that Malfoy hurt you. They're getting out of hand. One was that he sent a Death Eater to kill you, but you'd have to be pretty daft to believe that one." A sudden grin lit up Harry's face. "No Death Eater could hurt Hermione Granger. You're way too smart for that."
Hermione smiled at the boy's praise, momentarily forgetting the original question.
"Are you alright?" Ginny asked. "You can tell us anything, you know."
"I'm alright. I just- It's just dumb, what happened to me, that's all." She took a deep breath, stalling. "I'm just so clumsy, being in a room that I don't know. I woke up in the night with a head ache and I went to get a drink but instead of opening the door I kind of hit my mirror and it smashed. There was glass in my hand and on the floor but I wasn't thinking of that and I lay on the floor and more glass cut me. I passed out from blood loss." She drew in another sharp breath, hoping that her half-truth was good enough to convince her friends that she truly was fine.
The expressions of two of the people she cared about most in the world were not what she expected. Slight smirks lay across their faces, rather than those of concern.
"I told you it was stupid," she said, looking down at the ground, but unable to hold back her own smile at her quickly spun tale.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Harry said, causing Hermione to look back up. "It's just that now we know that you're conscious and back in classes, it's, well, a little funny. It's not like you at all, though, to go smashing your way through mirrors."
"I didn't do it on purpose!" She looked around, desperate for a change in conversation. "Where's Ron?"
Ginny looked at the floor and shook her head, turning her body into the side of Harry's.
Harry wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, looking over her shoulder at Hermione.
"We don't know. Besides classes and in my dorm, I rarely see him. I don't think he's coping too well with Fr-" He was cut off by a particularly violent sob from Ginny.
Hermione watched as Harry turned his head to whisper something to Ginny, who clung to him even tighter.
The bell trilled and Hermione was torn between going to class and staying to comfort her friend in her time of need.
Harry barely looked over to Hermione when he said, "Tell Flitwick that there was an emergency?"
Hermione frowned. "Flit- you mean Winston?"
This time Harry lifted his head to look directly at her.
"Hermione, we have Charms. Lunch just finished. Did you only just wake up?"
She hesitantly nodded and looked out the windows. The sun was coming through in a different angle. "Huh. Guess I shouldn't stay up so late anymore. It's kind of like having jet lag. See you later, then."
Hermione walked to Flitwick's classroom alone. Other students dawdled by, not worrying about getting to class on time. Occasionally someone would call out a 'hello' to her, or would ask her where she'd been, which she'd reply to with, 'just been a little bit ill, but I'm fine now.'
As she neared the classroom, she walked faster, eager to escape the questioning looks from her peers.
Sh collapsed into her seat to find her table nearly empty. With Harry gone, there should have been two others besides Hermione. Ron was nowhere to be seen, but Neville had turned up to his second favourite class. Before either of them had a chance to ask the other where the missing boys were, Flitwick cleared his throat and started to speak in his squeaky voice.
"Books out and answer the questions on page eleven. The quicker you do it, the sooner we can practise."
The rustle of people getting books and quills out of bags was the only noise as everyone was anxious to get out their wands.
What is the incantation when using the Vanishing Spell? Scrawling the word Evanesco, Hermione smiled. She'd used this spell constantly to get rid of food off her plate the previous year. She raced through the questions, double checked her answers and was finished before anyone had even looked up from their books. She pulled out her journal from her bag and started a new entry.
Today is Thursday. I went into the hospital wing late Monday night/early Tuesday morning and I haven't been to school until today and I managed to sleep in and miss out on it. I think the reason no one went looking for me this morning was because they didn't think I'd be back at school so soon. Everyone thought Malfoy had hurt me. It's funny because he was the one who took me to Madame Pomfrey. I have no idea how he managed to carry me the whole way there without dropping me. He says he doesn't know why he helped me and that I'm not allowed to ask, but I'll get the answers from him someday. I haven't eaten since dinner on Monday but I don't know what I might have been given when I was unconscious so I'm not counting any of the time I was in hospital as a fast. So that means I've been fasting since Wednesday morning. Not bad. I wonder if there's any scales in the bathroom. We had some in the Gryffindor bathroom so there should be some in my new dorm. Flitwick is calling us to start practising the spells we just learnt. This should be fairly easy.
She shoved the journal back in her bag and got out her wand.
"I'll expect a fifteen inch essay on the difference between chesinkta and lilypot by Monday," Professor Sprout called over the voices of the students. "And, no, Mr Thomas, the spelling does not count as an acceptable difference."
Hermione wrote the homework down on a piece of parchment, brushed the dirt off her book and made her way back to the castle. She paused in the doorway, deliberating between lying her way out of dinner or skipping it completely. After several minutes, she chose the latter and climbed the staircases to the dorm. She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and let it fall to the ground with a thud in front of the fireplace. Pulling out her books, she started on her most urgent homework. The Potions essay she had started and a report for Transfiguration were due on Friday.
She had them finished before Malfoy had gotten back so she went into the kitchen to make some food vanish so it would look like she was eating, not that he'd be watching to make sure, but it had become a habit of hers. She pulled out four pieces of bread and slathered them with peanut butter, then opened a can of soup. She vanished the food and put a clean bowl and plate under the water and then placed them in the drainer. She stepped back to take a look at her work and grinned. It really did look as though she had just finished a meal and washed her dishes.
Stepping back into the lounge room, Hermione saw Malfoy climbing through the small hole. She grabbed her bag and ran up the stairs, anxious to get into her room before he saw her.
"Granger."
She closed her eyes. Damn it. Slowly she turned to face him and opened her eyes. "What?"
"We have to organise the Hogsmeade trip. Come down here."
Hermione huffed. "Don't you dare order me around. I'm not one of your house elves so stop treating me like one." She tucked her fringe behind her ear and turned back to her room to put her books away. She waited five minutes before walking downstairs.
"Now, if you are ready to treat me like a human, we can get started."
"Hypocrite," Malfoy mumbled, just loud enough for Hermione to hear.
She sighed, realising her mistake. "I'm sorry, but your attitude is rubbing off on me. Are we going to start on this or what?"
The two sat on opposite sides of the living area.
"I think we should have it next weekend. This one is too close and we haven't asked McGonagall yet." Hermione nodded at his suggestion. "Is there anything else we need to do before we go to McGonagall?"
"No, I don't think so. After, though, we'll have to tell the Prefects, make up notices to go on the House's boards, but I think that's it. That was easy." Hermione jumped off the couch and froze. She glanced back at Malfoy, then up at her room. She'd forgotten to ask if she could change her password. "Look, I've got to see McGonagall now for something so I'll ask her about Hogsmeade. You can come if you want."
He paused for a moment, considering. Finally, he nodded and followed her out of the room. They walked down a flight of stairs and along a number of corridors before stopping at the staff room. Hermione knocked three times on the wooden door then stepped back.
"Hello, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy. Would you like to speak to someone?" Professor Sprout greeted them.
"Good evening, Professor Sprout. Could we talk to Professor McGonagall?" Hermione answered.
"Let me go and find her." Sprout shut the door and left the two in the hallway.
Hermione played with her jacket buttons, glancing up at the door every so often. The flickering light in the corridor lit up her skin in strange patterns and she breathed in sharply as she rubbed her hand where the most noticeable of her scars were. The slightly raised ridges went in all different directions on both the back of her hand and her palm. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Malfoy watching her. Ignoring him, she looked at her hand in the light, glad to see that the scars were a very light shade of pink, barely visible to those who weren't paying attention. She counted the discoloured patches on her right hand. Six long lines that would hopefully disappear before the school year finished.
The door creaked opened and McGonagall stepped out of the staff room. "Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, what is it that you would like to talk to me about?"
"We were wondering if we could plan a Hogsmeade trip for next weekend. Is that okay?" Malfoy nodded in agreement.
McGonagall pursed her lips. "I'll have to check the staff calendar, see who can go. I'll tell you tomorrow. Is that all?"
Hermione shook her head. "I need to get a new password for my room." She blushed and Malfoy looked down the hallway.
McGonagall's mouth twitched into a half smile. "I heard about that little incident. Make sure you use something less obvious, Miss Granger. Knock three times on the doorframe, just as you did your first night and say 'cheese sticks', then just think your password. It won't work again though; you'll have to get a new word from me to reset your password. Goodnight." She turned and disappeared behind the door.
Hermione and Malfoy walked back up to their dorm, silent again. They passed Ernie trying to usher a crowd of first years into their common rooms.
"Hang on." Hermione marched over to the crazed group. "Would you like me to deduct points from your house? What have we got here? Three Ravenclaws and four Hufflepuffs. So that will be-" She broke off when the group went silent. "Follow Ernie's instructions or I won't be so generous next time. Now off you go."
The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs split up and dashed to their common rooms.
"I could have done it myself, Hermione," Ernie muttered, glaring at the floor.
She shrugged. "First years are hard to deal with. Be glad I helped. I just saved you a lot of trouble." She strode back over to where Malfoy stood, obviously amused with the situation.
"Didn't think you'd threaten a bunch of eleven and twelve year olds," he said, as they continued back up the stairs.
"What? They're a pain and rarely respond to, 'Go to your room' when it's a parent telling them, so why would they if Ernie told them?"
Malfoy smirked at her defensive words.
"Oh shut up. Bloomsbury." The chipmunk climbed up the tree and the painting swung open. Hermione scrambled through and headed for her room. She did as McGonagall had instructed her and whispered, "Cheese sticks," feeling absolutely ridiculous, then thought up a new password. 'Stand in the Rain' she thought. It was the name of a song she'd heard on the radio a few times.
She went into the bathroom and turned on all the hot water taps and the tap marked coconut. She pulled off her clothes and lowered herself into the steaming tub. She'd been in the bath for over half an hour, letting the hot water relax her muscles, when a rap on the door disturbed her.
"Hurry up, Granger! You're not the only one who uses this bathroom, you know," came the agitated voice on the other side of the wall.
Hermione smiled and took her time getting out of the tub then picking up her things. Back in her room, she changed into black flannelette pyjamas with bright red cherries on them. She walked back downstairs to grab a bottle of cold water and sat on the red and silver stool at the bench. She was joined shortly by Malfoy warming up a plate of sausages and vegetables. The smell of the food wafted through the microwaves vents, making Hermione crave something, anything, to eat. She shut her eyes and swivelled on the stool, trying to ignore the voice inside of her telling her to eat. 'The start is always the hardest, Hermione. Just ignore it. Keep going.' She took a swig of water and hopped off the stool, eager to get away from the food.