She woke with a start at three, and so did the entire dormitory: Thunder crashed through heavy rain pounding against the castles windows, hitting the strong glass, only to break at the walls and join the floods pouring down the weathered stone. The storm had reached them much quicker than expected. Lavender quickly pulled up a blanket from under her mattress. She was the only one to usually cover her sheets and neatly tuck in the cloth. When she noticed her fellow students to curl in their bed, freezing from the faint and subtle coolness of their surrounding walls, Hermione cast the multiplying charm again, and handed Parvati a copy and took another for herself. The conjuration served its purpose well until sunrise, but while they dressed into uniforms and robes, they already started to dissolve. It ached Hermione to see her magic prove faulty and incomplete, yet she would have to postpone all efforts to an improvement to summer or next term.

Classes were a silent business, none of them wasted energy on coping with Snapes newly introduced abstract principles in potion making, since he would allow only those with an O into his N.E.W.T.s class, a ridiculously high standard in their opinion. Neither seemed it warranted to draw Umbriges unhealthy attention to them, quietly copying parts from the Genealogy turned out the easiest and a painless approach to sit through her lessons. When the bell rang to signal the end of another strenuous day, Hermione battled down an uneasy feeling of relief that nothing worse had happened, a standard as low as she had never expected to experience at Hogwarts.

Ron and Harry had been sitting with Seamus, discussing various strategies to ask Judy over for a visit during the upcoming holidays, so she took the most remote seat at the Gryffindor table at dinner. Above them, thin and even strings of rain dangled from the apparently non-existend ceiling, leaving them completely dry. Ginny joined her, probably spotting another opportunity for a women-only-conversation, which was completely ruined by an elated Neville filling the empty seat between her and Ron, with Luna in tow.

"... said she never expected it to work so well, but now that it does, House Cup can be hosted again next year."

Ginny had just loaded her plate, perhaps in an effort to stretch their conversation, and scowled upon Nevilles announcement to Luna, "What are you two walking about?"

"We've discovered a way to replant the pitch", he answered, breaking into a grin Hermione had rarely seen on his face.

"And it was a quite obvious solution", Luna added.

"Obvious, how?", Ginny inquired.

"Well, Fiendfyre is one of the darkest magical elements to use, isn't it? With effects lasting long after the flames have expired?", she replied, looking at Hermione, who nodded. "Then adequate counter measures must be consistent – well – of no magic at all."

"It really is obvious, once you think it through", Neville confirmed cheerfully, swinging a fork full of puddings a little too fast, landing them in his lap. "Sorry for that", he turned pink while picking them up, and placed it on the familiar empty plat, where they vanished.

"May I?", Hermione drew her wand, pointing to the dark spots of dubious position on his trousers.

"Sure."

"Lavecantar", she murmered, cleaning the cloth.

"Thanks."

"So how are you regrowing the pitch?", Ginny asked, and Hermione could not tell whether she was really interested, given her not-so-secret- ambition to play on their Houses quidditch team, or just being polite.

"We're watering them with spraybottles and cans", Neville replied, "Hagrid's kept some for school cabbages, he said, but rarely used them. It's quite a distance from the lake, if you carry two of them at once, but the rain's helping a lot."

"Gods are rewarding you for the diligence", Luna commented. The Gryffindors made an effort to avoid each others gazes.

"I like the irony", Ginny said, not as cheerfully as Neville, but visibly entertained. "Pure-blood supremacists outmaneuvered by plain and simple muggle measures. Dad would be having a blast."

"Keep it down, it's several Squad members at six o'clock", Ron threw in, revealing that he had been listening, "They don't look like they're in a mood for you to pull their legs."

"Since when are we banned from speaking our mind?", Ginny snapped, but Hermione jumped in.

"Ginny, he did not mean to -"

"What? Enforce censure?", she replied, eyes glowing remotely familiar. Distant thunder rolled through the magical ceiling. Hermione still labored on the impression of Mrs Weasley looking at her, then realized that Ginny had only put an uncomfortable development into words. Restricting their conversation to the common room truly completed the slow, subtle oppression Umbridge and her blokes had brought to Hogwarts. "He's your brother", she muttered in a voice low enough to evade Ron's ears, "He does not want you to get hurt."

Ginny, still fuming, busied herself with maliciously slicing a steak, looking up only occasionally. Halfway through the meal, her features had relaxed considerably. Hermione, full from mixed and bloating feelings the whole day, allowed herself to get distracted from eating anything at all when her friend subtly pointed to the teacher's table with her knife. "Any news on you two?"

"Don't I have other things to worry about?", Hermione replied coolly.

"I heard he took points from Malfoy for calling you a - ", heavy thunder overpowered Lunas words, "- a You-Know-What", she finished her sentence. "Zabini complained about Snape having to put up a credible pretense in front of McGonagall."

"Pretty adequate evaluation, don't you think?", Ron mused, just loud enough for Hermione. She dared not to engage in this discussion, and forced a few bites down her throat.

Ginny finished her steak, looking up a little too often for a coincidence. "I thought he was watching Bulstrode and company", she nodded to the group of Slytherins within earshot, "But might be you he's looking at, Hermione."

"I am tired of this", she sighed, dropping her fork, "He's a teacher."

"One like any other, of course."

"One who has shown an interest in my brains, heaven's sake."

"Your intellect, precisely?", Ginny probed her.

"My education", Hermione eluded an accurate answer. It was not a lie, she reminded herself, not entirely. "I've come a long way with him." That, at least, was true. "Because of him", she added, but Ginny raised her eyebrows again.

"Spill it out", Hermione commanded, much more like Ron would have, but Ginny did not comply.

"You'll manage", Ginny said evasively, casting a long glance at the teacher's table. She took the last bite of her steak and chewed it exceptionally long. The ceiling displayed heavier rain now, reaching to a magic candle here and there, extinguishing it. "Guess you got to see a different side of him over the last few weeks", Ginny whispered, without looking at her.

"... Perhaps."

"I mean, he's in the Order, always has been. He can't be the mean, sleezy git he poses to students, not through and through."

Hermione preferred to remain silent, inhaling Ginnys words like steam, hot and thick, a bit of peppermint oil added to it for scent and healing effects. The light warmth filled her chest, but it was soothing, unlike the feverish heat she had experienced at Snapes touch.

"Dumbledore trusts him", Ginny voiced her thoughts, voice still subdued.

The image of Malfoy rose in her mind, his features torn with rage, confirming Bellatrix' assessment of Snapes loyalties. You can't be trusted. Like all half-bloods. Bellatrix, who had known him from their years at Hogwarts, the age she was at now, her life torn to shreds from his interference. Bellatrix, who never trusted him, ever, through his years of service for Voldemort -

"...So he must be on or side, after all."

"I don't know whose side he's on", Hermione replied, completely honest with her friend. "His own, probably. Regardless of what others are fighting for."

"People sometimes aren't good or bad", Luna suddenly butted into their conversation, "That's what my mum always said. It's the reason Hogwarts has four houses, not two... Sometimes people are just – mostly Slytherins."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah, take Neville", Luna pointed out. "If you focus on Herbology, he's Ravenclaw, but if you go for his personality, he's more of a Hufflepuff, lack of confidence and all."

"No one's ever pictured me in your house, Luna", Neville half-laughed, half-grunted.

But then, Dumbledore himself gave him the decisive ten points at the end of our first year for a reason, Hermione added silently, and he really was brave. Getting petrified by me hardly boosted his confidence, certainly not his in us. A sudden rush of guilt swept through her. Maybe she had some atonement to make, undo some damage she might have caused long ago.

"Neville, how's your revision going?"

"Er – slowly", he answered, "I need to figure out how these Metamorphizing Spells work – Levitation is good, but I haven't quite got the hang of screwing charms -"

"We could practice tonight, if you like", Hermione offered.

His eyes lit up. "You'd do that?"

"My chart on appropriate weeding techniques and fertilizer needs completion, especially for carnivorous ivories, so we'd be even."

"Yeah, I've been over this for days!"

"Room of Requirement, then?"

"We could revise defensive spells with you", Luna suggested. "I miss the DA so much, it would be like Umbridge never taking over the castle with her Squad."

"Me too", Ginny mumbled, "And it can't hurt to practice, who knows whom they'll leave us with next year." Thunder rolled over them again, as if commenting on her statement.

They finished their meal – Hermione found it impossible to take just another bite -, and rose from their seats. Harry, Ron and Seamus were wrapped in their conversation, with Dean next to them, who carefully looked any other way than to Ginny as they passed by.

Luna led their way, steps light and jumpy in cheerfulness. Hermione caught herself thinking that this would be one of few evenings she did not spent alone or in the Forest. It did not surprise her when she headed to corridors Hermione had seldom entered before, for Ravenclaw tower was at another end of the castle, and the quickest and shortest way must include passages she just did not usually come across. In contrast to her expectations, they ended up in front of a familiar flat, innocently spare wall much quicker than she had expected. The Room seemed confident with the three of them passing by separately, each of them dearly wishing to relive times of the DA, and formed the heavy door willingly. Nevilles practical abilities improved quite quickly, Hermione discovered, when he was in company of people he experienced as supportive and encouraging. He also gained confidence to a point where she imagined his shoulders to be a bit broader when they decided to call it a night.

Faint rain and distant thunder had regrown into a full scale storm, ravaging the grounds when they exited the Room. Since curfew was in effect already, only the bright silver light of a horse and a hare lit the corridor. Though Gryffindor tower was closer through the main, broad corridor straight ahead, they decided to accompany Luna on her way to Ravenclaw tower, since none of them felt comfortable leaving her to return on her own.

Later Hermione mused that it must have been this very attitude, their display of comradeship, a refusal to leave Luna to herself, that the Slytherins had been counting upon, and rightfully so.

"Well, look who we have here." Malfoys sneer was unmistakable. "The club of loosers gone astray."

Ginnys Patronus balked up high, stood up on its rear legs and dissolved. Hermione reached into her pocket. If she had to run into him in the dark of night, she certainly had preferred Harry to be with her, but since they were probably up in the tower, joking merrily about girls and their way too complicated emotional machinery, she would have to take him out on her own. "Hiding in the dark, Malfoy?", she challenged him. "Finally acknowledged that the badge you're wearing makes you ugly?"

"Fits the green collar, don't you think?", he stepped forward, wand in one hand, flashing her the badge with the other. "Silver's always been my favorite color."

"Suits you", Luna commented, in an unsettling soft and warm voice. The hare rushed to him.

"See, even your loony friend has more taste than you, Granger", Malfoy snapped, irritated by the Patronus jumping around him, illuminating his pale and handsome features.

"If it takes a hag like Umbridge to give you a scarf pin and power over weaker students, you really are pathetic, Malfoy -", Hermione began, but the silent smile on his face, for the first time, truly frightened her.

"Oh, it's a nice sign to wear, but I don't really care for decorations", he said, "They're only superficial. It's more important -", he raised his wand, but did not break into dueling, "what's underneath the pins and robes, isn't it, Granger."

Thunder hammered against the glass windows, matched by heartbeats in her head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He grinned, but did not let out a sound, yet dark and distasteful laughter echoed in the dark behind him. That could mean only one thing: He was not alone.

She heard robes ruffle softly, as her friends drew their wands.

"It means, Granger", Malfoy took another step, and now Crabbe, slim Zabini and broad Millicent Bulstrode revealed themselves, "The important things get under your skin."

Lunas hare burst into a panicking hustle, jumping over Malfoys head toward Zabini. Fleeing into the dark behind them, it cast its bright light over Pansy Parkinson, Goyle, Nott and Miller, illuminating their grim faces and raised wands.

They were outnumbered.

"Guess no one's rushing to your side this time, mudblood", Malfoy whispered, loud enough for her to hear.

Hermione forced herself to breath steadily. They simply had no chance of fighting their way through. A distraction, some help, a teacher down here, that's what we need, she realized. Any teacher. And fast.

"Don't you use that word, Malfoy", Neville said, much cooler than Hermione had expected.

"Shhh!"

"Why're you shushing your useless friend, Granger?", Nott raised his voice. The sound painfully stirred something in her. Smells of vomit, mixed with her own blood, rose in her throat. "Have him fight honorably, like the courageous -", howling laughter among them echoed between the walls, "pure-blood he is!"

"Don't listen", Ginny whispered.

"Ahh, once a blood traitor, always a blood traitor", Pansy shouted.

"Let's teach them a lesson", Goyle grumphed, followed by whistles and cheers.

"I doubt that Hermione can learn anything from any one of you", Luna added unhelpfully. Hermione felt the conversation spiraling out of hand.

"Uhh, we'll have her watch with discipline to an extend she hasn't begun to imagine", Pansy snarled back at her.

"While I get a good look at what's under her robes", Zabini stared at Ginny, "What really matters." The obvious arousal looked ill-matched on his fine features.

"And her's", Goyle pointed at Luna, exchanging disgusting smirks with Crabbe.

"But Longbottom's the one mostly used to watch the lot of us", Theodor Nott turned his wrist of the wandless arm toward the Gryffindors. Though he had it covered with robes, Hermione got the message. "So we'll finish him last -"

"Why me?", Neville gasped.

"Oh, tradition, mostly", Millicent Bulstrode added.

"What is that -"

"Neville, don't -"

" - supposed to mean?"

"Playing dumb, huh, Longbottom?", Crabbe shouted, and got talked over by Goyle, "Is that a gift from your insane blood-traitor mother?"

"NEVILLE, NO!"

"Stupefy!", Neville shouted, aiming poorly with his stunning spell, which soared over Goyles head.

Then hell broke loose.

Crabbe and Millicent collapsed on the spot, apparently their fellow students aim was no better than Nevilles, who grabbed Luna by the hat of her robes and pulled her behind the nearest pillar. Luna, oddly relaxed despite the tugging of her robes, cast spells toward the Squad, hitting Miller, who fell over, stiff as a board, having been petrified. Hermione shouted her protective spell in front of Malfoy instead of an attack, and her shield charm turned out strong enough to make Zabinis stunning bounce back and hit Pansy, who lost consciousness instantly. Nott, however, kept a calm head and took out Neville, who had not quite managed to hide his shoulders behind the pillar. He crocked up, knees hitting the ground first, hitting the stone floor with hips, shoulders and head, and moved no more. Luna jumped over his body, dived another of Zabinis Stunning spells, then ignored the motionsless Gryffindor in remarkably cool manner, successfully aiming at Goyle, who was too slow to cast a shield. Malfoy, who had been lavishly watching the exchange, twisted his wand in a manner unknown to Hermione, and managed to hit Lunas legs, which froze to motionlessness on the spot. She screamed at the top of her voice and dropped her wand before hitting the stone floor at full length. Hammering her fists on the ground in pain, she was in no condition to fight any longer.

"Like my new powers, Granger?", Malfoy shouted, "A mudblood like you will never be allowed to study the Dark Arts!"

Hermione renewed her shield charm and rushed behind the column at the other side of the corridor, where Ginny had taken cover. The girl tightly clenched her wand, muttering "Expecto Patronum" over and over, but managed to produce only silver smoke.

"Cover me", Hermione commanded, "We need Luna -"

"No", Ginny refused over the shouted spells of Squad members, stepping forward to take over for her, "Get us help!"

Having watched Neville and Luna go down like straw figures, while the latter lay still on the floor, howling in pain, it was hard to recall positive emotions, as Harry had taught her -

"Expecto Patronum."

Silver mist appeared and vanished. She tried to picture his face, and Ron's, in the Burrow -

"Expecto Patronum", she whispered over Ginnys fierce attempt to stun any of the Slytherins, missing Malfoy by inches, "Expecto - "

Luna had managed to half-crawl, half rob up to her wand, shooting another Petrification toward Zabini, who dived it just in time. She rolled over on her back, escaping a bolt of purple light that blast a whole into the floor large enough for a quaffle to fit in.

"Periculum", Luna said, pointing her wand loosely into the darkness of the corridor, where Malfoy froze them in mid-air.

"No help for mudbloods, Granger", Malfoy commented, but his Stunning did not penetrate her shields.

"We can't let them get us, Hermione", Ginny shouted, as Malfoy, Zabini and Nott drew closer, "Stupefy! Petrificus totalus!"

They deflected her spells with ease, dialing down their attacks, since in their attempt to seek shelter, Hermione and Ginny had accidentally cornered themselves.

"Expelliarmus." Malfoys carefully aimed disarming forced the wand from Ginnys hands. It flew over their heads, clattering somewhere in the darkness, way out of reach. Luna cuaght up on the opportunity: With Malfoy distracted, she successfully petrified Zabini. Malfoy, owning his mistake, took her out with another stunning spell.

"We need to get out of here -", Hermione whimpered, casting shield charms which she knew would soon not be enough. Malfoy and Nott were too close.

"You're the genius!", Ginny screamed, "Make something up!"

The Slytherins had moved up to their hiding spot.

"I can't", Hermione sobbed.

"Then get us backup", she cried.

She saw Malfoy grinning at her, stepping back to let Nott prey on Ginny, who was wand- and powerless.

A reckless idea sprang into her mind.

Nott had already raised his wand. "I always wanted to know whether blood traitor bleed as dirty as mudbloods", he hissed, savoring the impression of Ginny's horrified face. They had stepped up tp only an arms length between them.

Their spells melted in mid-air before they hit Ginny.

"Sectusempra!" - "Geminreo!"

What happened next felt like watching a movie, played over and over again from the same point, with a battered projector just snarling the filmstrip: Ginny collapsing in pain, parting in mid-air, breaking into a perfect copy of herself, but screaming all the time. Another body then stepped up from the limp figure at Hermiones side, no hair at all, empty wholes where the eyes should have been, and rushed forward, completely blind, knocking Nott from his feet. The Slytherin tried to shove her from himself while another Ginny rose, robes torn at the chest, skin cut and bleeding from open wounds. Blind Ginny, wandless as her original, punched Nott in the face, and while she hauled off for another blow, fourth Ginny joined the screaming of her predecessor, since she bore wholes where her shoulders should have been. Hermione was the first to recover from these horrific events.

"Stupefy", she aimed at Malfoy, who did not catch up in time, he fell back and lay motionless, while blind Ginny beat Nott unconscious. "Periculum!" Red sparks parted the tip of her wand, vanishing into the dark.

She hardly managed to breathe, ice cold panic swiping her mind, which was blank as a slate. Eight Slytherins unconscious, Neville motionless, Luna just stirring feebly as she was watching.

They were all around her: Ginny, unconscious in the floor – Ginny, bleeding from her chest – Ginny, blind – Ginny, screaming from the wounds at her upper body –

Steps echoed through the corridor.

Hermione sank to her knees.

If those were Squad members again, she was doomed.

She would have to use a hovering charm to carry them to the hospital wing, Hermione thought, but felt unable to raise her wand ever again. Blind Ginny crawled onto her feet, kicked Nott, then stumbled toward the rapid breathing sounds Hermione just recognized to be hers.

"It's okay", her friend said, facing her, unseeing, "You were trying."

The steps drew closer. Hermione wondered whether someone had dimmed the lights further, despite darkness of the late hour. Cold sweat ran down her forehead. Ginny, bleeding from her chest, started to cough heavily, surrendering to projectile vomiting of even more blood. Hermione could not help but look at her. At an especially heavy cough, her intestines broke through the lower edge of the cut. Then darkness pulled her into merciful arms, and everything went blank.