A/N: I am as sick as a dog and I'm totally taking tomorrow off work to just basically feel ill but we're here today and that's okay. I adore each and every one of you - no matter how you're reading this. You are all incredible. Own that.

-0-

For the next two days, Hermione lay in the Hospital Wing; desolate and alone. She desperately wanted Madam Pomfrey to bring her more food and she desperately needed to leave the Hospital Wing so she could find Minerva, but the mediwitch would not budge. Eventually, Hermione had had enough and insisted that she was okay and she was leaving. Madam Pomfrey had huffed but seen the truth of it after she examined Hermione for about the 700th time and allowed it. Hermione had thanked her profusely, despite her frustrations and left as quickly as she could.

Since then, she'd been back in the Common Room for an hour or so of whispers and stares before she finally had the opportunity to sit down together with the others and discuss.

"Alright, what have I missed?" she practically ordered, glaring at a few around the room who could not seem to avert their eyes.

"Maybe you ought to tell us first," Harry winced. "I mean, there's a lot that's changed for you, over the last few days."

"We need somewhere to talk so that we won't be overhead," she muttered."It's too dangerous to discuss it here."

"Ok," Harry nodded. "So we'll think on that then. What happened in the Hospital Wing? I mean, what was that -"

"Again," Hermione winced. "Will have to wait. You're gonna have to fill me in over the last few days and I'll catch you up later."

"Well," Harry sighed. "I guess nothing. You guys left, and we went to bed." He shrugged. "Until you weren't here the next morning. I mean, we didn't really realise until breakfast."

"How did you find out where I was?"

"We looked at the map," Ron muttered. "And then Dumbledore stopped us on our way to Quidditch and confirmed it."

Hermione nodded.

"Anyway, once we were done, we went to the Hospital Wing but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us see you. She seemed worried."

"I don't think they knew what was happening," she muttered. "That's why Dumbledore was there. He either knew what was happening or had an idea. Minerva knows. He told her, but as Ginny saw," Hermione groaned and pulled her feet up under her. "She left."

"You alright?"

"Physically? Yeah. I'm fine. I'm confused. Annoyed. I hate not knowing what is happening. And!" She grumbled. "I'm starving. Have been since I woke up, pretty much."

"Well, let's go and get something."

The idea was so tempting, Hermione let them cajole her down to the kitchens where they were treated to a pan of lasagne, of all things. Hermione was in heaven as she ate her second plate.

"So something is definitely going on," Ginny grinned, eating the crust of the garlic bread. "I don't think I've ever seen you put that much food away."

"You're right, but we definitely need somewhere to talk. And if Draco is being shady in the Room of Requirement, then," she made a face. "Might be better to find somewhere where nobody would realise."

"Oh!" Harry said suddenly. "Oh!"

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Well," he winced. "I mean, it's gross and it's not probably where we wanna hang out until we can spruce it up a bit, but what about," he glanced at the elves busying themselves cooking lunch. "That place that Ron & I went to in our Second Year," he glanced at Ginny. "To rescue you."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Oh! That's a great idea. Can you still get in?"

"Dunno but I can try. Myrtle can keep an eye on it for us. There was that cave-in at the beginning but we know more now, don't we, we can probably shift it pretty easily."

"I think between us, or even together it won't take much time? What's it like?"

"It's a sewer," Ginny frowned.

"If you're not okay with it, we'll find somewhere else," Harry said quickly. "I mean, I know -"

"Nah," she sighed. "It's fine." She looked up at them all and blushed. "Embarrassing but okay."

"It's not embarrassing to be possessed by a dark magical object at eleven, Gin," Hermione chuckled. "It's unlucky but not embarrassing."

"Okay so, do we wanna go down there now?" Ron asked as Hermione ate the last few bites. "We don't have much else to do."

"Sure," Hermione chuckled. "I somehow don't think I'm invited to Minerva's, am I?"

Ron snorted and took the pan to the sink, thanking a few of the elves and joining them at the door.

"You're a good guy, really, aren't you," Hermione quipped.

Ginny snorted as they left and made their way to the Second Floor bathroom.

"Hey Myrtle," Harry said, hanging onto Ginny's hand.

"Why are you here?"

"We're gonna be here a lot," Ron teased. "You'd best get used to it."

The ghost harrumphed and disappeared back into the stall as Hermione locked the main door.

"See here?" Harry said, pointing to the sink. "Touch this, then -"

Hermione's eyes widened as he hissed maliciously and the floor opened up to reveal a staircase down into darkness.

"Why aren't there torches or something? Why is this world obsessed with candlelight."

Harry snorted and they set off down the steps with their wands lit. When they got to the bottom, Hermione gagged.

"Oh, that stinks."

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"You can't smell that?"

"Just smells musty. Smelled worse the first time, though."

"God, it's awful."

"Weird," Harry muttered. "Anyway. This way."

They walked a bit before they came to the cave-in he'd told them about. Hermione tried not breathe or to think of all the crunching underfoot but it was hard not to when they struggled to keep their balance.

"Alright." She spoke through her jumper that was doing a terrible job at filtering the smell. "The 1st order of business is to get rid of all this, the second is to figure out how to brace the ceiling and remove the cave-in."

"You got an engineering degree, too?" Harry quipped.

"No," Hermione teased. "But it won't take me long to get one."

"I'm really glad you're back, 'Mione," Ginny laughed.

"I'm going to need my wand back. Which means I need to see Minerva or Dumbledore. Because Moody was supposed to be going to get it and so far -" She held out her hands. "No wand. And remind me, when I go, to enquire about our knives."

"So," Harry muttered. "While we're down here. Tell us."

"I can't down here, can you seriously not smell that?"

"No," Ron frowned. "Are you alright?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged so they trudged back up to the bathroom where they sat on cushions Hermione Transfigured from bars of soap and under a silencing charm to prevent Myrtle from listening in.

She explained, with as much detail as she could, what had happened after the Order mission she could give very little details about. She explained the marks on their wrists and the hunger and how she was always warm. Ginny, in particular, looked bothered.

"You don't think you're possessed, right? Cos that was warm."

"No," she mused. "I'm not possessed. All my thoughts are mine and I've been aware of every moment of every day since waking up. Something is up though, as Minerva won't see me or even look at me. So that's as telling as anything."

"Dumbledore didn't say anything?" Harry asked.

"Not so far," she shrugged. "But I haven't seen him since that day in the Hospital Wing."

"That is weird," Ron muttered. "And you feel okay?"

"Hungry," Hermione chuckled. "Always hungry and like there's something I'm missing, that's just out of reach, but otherwise I just feel normal?"

"You look normal," Ron grinned. "No horns or anything."

She slapped him on the arm and he went flying across the floor, smashing the silencing spell they were under. They stared at him as he looked up at her in horror and she looked at her hands.

"What the hell was that?"

"Hermione," Harry muttered. "You maybe need to speak to Dumbledore sooner than later."

"Ron," she blinked as she realised what she'd done. "Oh my god, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No," he chuckled. "I'm good. Shocked me more than anything."

"Lemme see," Hermione muttered, pulling him up - carefully. She turned him around in a circle and then rubbed his arm where he'd landed on it. He cracked his neck and flexed his hands.

"That feels better already," he grinned. "Don't worry about it."

"So," she said carefully. "Something has definitely happened."

"I'll say," Ginny whispered. "Wanna try being Beater this weekend?"

Hermione laughed and the tension that was just beginning to build evaporated.

"Alright, I guess I'll teach you how to clean some of that lot up and then once I get my wand back, I'll do the rest."

She went through the motions for a fresh air spell and had Ginny perform it once she had mostly perfected it. They went down the dark stairs and thankfully, as far as Hermione was concerned, it helped a lot. She felt a lot less nauseous when they progressed to pushing all the carcasses into one section in the opposite direction and spent a long time trying to figure out whether to just banish the lot or crush it to dust and shift it out by hand but their time was cut short when Moaning Myrtle appeared.

"The dinner bell went," she sneered.

"Thanks, Myrtle," Harry grinned. "See you later then, yeah?"

They hadn't done nearly as much as Hermione had planned but it was a start. They had a path cleared underfoot and discovered a beautiful black stone walkway and she couldn't wait to see it cleaned up. She ate dinner voraciously, despite eating most of the whole pan of lasagne earlier and glanced up at the Top table. She stopped and watched as Minerva ate quietly and with an air about her that screamed for everyone to leave her alone. Hermione could read it quite well, even from where she sat but Dumbledore seemed determined not to. He spent a long between bites of food, glancing over at her before finally putting down his cutlery. He leaned over and spoke in Minerva's ear and when Minerva visibly shied away from him, he pulled away hurt. It made Hermione frown, but she was unsure why.

"Hey," Harry muttered, drawing her focus. "See what I mean?"

Hermione leaned over to him but he nodded at something with his chin in front of them and so she looked. She didn't quite gape but Draco looked terrible. His hair was unkempt and his tie was askew and he looked exhausted. She watched as he finished pushing his food around his plate and then, with a quick look around, slipped from the table and disappeared out of the hall.

"That was weird," Harry whispered.

She nodded and went back to her food, finishing it up and waiting for pudding. The hall was at a small din and rather than being annoying, she found it comforting.

"I'm going to see Dumbledore," as they were dismissed after pudding. "I'll be back when I get back." She leaned closer. "Keep an eye on the map. We'll have to figure out what we're going to do about that later."

"'Kay," Harry nodded, going with Ron and Ginny.

She turned and walked down the corridors to the Headmaster's office and found Professor Snape pacing in front of the Gargoyle.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "You are not permitted to be here, get to your Dormitory."

"I am quite sure that it is acceptable for a student to go to the Headmaster's office, sir," she muttered, completely ignoring his direction.

"You are not permitted -"

"Severus?" Dumbledore's voice echoed up the corridor. "And Miss Granger," he said carefully. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," she smiled. "Professor Snape was just telling me it's against the rules to need to see the Headmaster.

"I never said that you insolent -"

"Severus," Dumbledore clicked his tongue. "Please. What can I do for you, Miss Granger?"

"I have two questions." He nodded. "The first is, you remember those things you were looking at for me? Do we have an updated timeline yet?"

"I -" he frowned a little. "I will have them back to you by the end of the week. There is one more thing I must check but -" A look of sadness washed over his face and Hermione spent a moment thinking about how she knew he was sad. Not read in his face, knew. "Yes, the end of the week."

"Okay," Hermione smiled. "Thank you. The second question was that I was wondering if you had received that thing you were trying to track down for me."

She knew she probably could have said something clearly in front of Snape but she didn't feel the need to open what had happened afterwards in front of him. Instead, she stared at Dumbledore, trying to get him to understand what she was talking about and it took him a minute or two before he looked stricken.

"Miss Granger, I am so sorry." She chuckled as he patted his pockets and after a time, withdrew the wand and held it out. "Please forgive me."

"It's no problem, sir, thank you." She turned and glanced at Professor Snape and grinned at Professor Dumbledore as she walked away. "Can't kill many Death Eaters without it, can I?"

She heard Snape's small growl and she cackled as she turned the corner. He was undoubtedly a prick, but there was something about him that Dumbledore trusted and despite everything, Hermione trusted him to at least know what he was doing, so while she would never openly attack the man - teacher or not - she would continue to needle him where she could.

Politely, of course.

She held her wand tightly, loving the feel of it back in her hands. She placed it between her fingers and twirled it around, smiling sadly at the memories. It seemed as though her friendship with Minerva was doomed to ebb and flow. Something had spooked the woman so deeply that she'd reverted back to the way she'd been with Hermione at the very beginning of her schooling - aloof and unapproachable - and that hurt Hermione more than she knew really what to do with.

Not that she really had time to dwell on it. Instead, she would focus on continuing their work. They would clear up the Chamber of Secrets and she would have to read up on some engineering wandwork books as well. Perhaps by the time the weather warmed, they'd have somewhere to go that nobody would ever find them.