The story of the Redcap reached the ears of every Hogwarts student within minutes after the class ended. Even Professor Mcgonagall heard what had happened and seemed as uninterested as if someone had told her she was getting up there in the years.

As the three of them attempted to turn a rat into a goblet, Ron's still had fur and a tail while Harry's still squeaked when frightened. Hermione's not only was a well made goblet, but also quite shiny. Before they knew it, though, Harry and Hermione found themselves with a bit of free time while Ron went to Professor Mcgonagall to see if she could help him clear out the fur.

Hermione dropped her quill, and before they knew it, both Harry's and her lips met under the table. "The weekend can't come fast enough." She whispered and he grunted his agreement as he leaned his forehead against hers. They gave a collective sigh before rising again, making sure no one saw them. Thankfully, Transfiguration wasn't too intimate an environment with other classmates.

"I can't believe I forgot to make a new study plan for us. I really must have been exhausted last night." Hermione said before she got out her notebooks and began to open them up.

"Are you sure you're not tuckered out now?" Harry offered, making her give him the stink eye. "Maybe leave a little more breathing room for Quidditch practice this time."

"Harry, it's going to get tense as the year goes on. That's just the natural order of things. You tell Wood that your studies are more important." She wagged a finger at him and he suddenly started to wonder if this is what having a proper mother was like. She grabbed a journal from inside her bag and opened it up, delighted to see a fresh new blank book. "Alright, so, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration…"

"Did we have any plans for your birthday?" Harry asked and her writing came to an abrupt stop. She looked at him and he was smiling. Hermione went pink in the face and continued to write.

"I don't know, did we?" She asked, knowing her birthday was in a fortnight and she honestly didn't think about it, as her parents celebrated it before she left for school.

"Well, I didn't know your Birthday last year, and I thought it'd be nice to celebrate it. Seems like you gave me such a good Birthday gift this year." He said as his hand went to hers under the table and her breath caught. Her face went beet red at the smile he gave her then.

"Well, if you really must, Mr. Potter." She tried to put on a prissy tone to cope with the overwhelming shyness she was experiencing toward her boyfriend of almost a solid year.

That was when she looked down at the notebook as she continued to write. She paused, though. For a moment, it looked like the writing was moving, swaying a little bit on the page. Hermione stared at the pages for a moment before blinking and continuing to scribble down her new study plan.

"Alright, so far, we do not have any homework thanks to that Lockhart bloke's incompetence. He doesn't seem like he gives very engaging or intellectual lessons, so our homework with him should be rather simple." Hermione looked over at him to see he was trying to keep up with her lesson plan setup on his paper and she seemed rather pleased at his compliance. "Not that you've ever needed help with Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"I don't like to brag." Harry eyed her and she giggled.

"I think I got this transfiguration thing." Ron said, as he walked back and they noticed Scabbers was looking rather lustrous in his goblet form. To their surprise, he waved his wand and turned Scabbers back into a rat.

"Well done, Mr. Weasley. Improve like that more often and second year shall turn into third year before you know it." Professor Mcgonagall seemed very pleased, indeed and Hermione applauded him.

The day ended with an introductory charms class that retaught the basics, but also introduced the new cleaning charm, Scourgify. All three of them were already mastered at this charm. No matter how much dirt they put on the napkins, they were basically clean in one try. Professor Flitwick was so impressed that he asked if they could do a more complicated version. Hermione put her napkin in the dirt and made water come out of her wand with "Aguamenti". Then she lifted her napkin once again and waved her wand, "Tergeo".

Professor Flitwick was most joyous to see that they were keeping up with their studies over the summer. The truth of the matter was, however, that the events of last year made it very clear that they were going to need to be at the top of their game. Judging by the events of the past few days, they couldn't have been more right.

The rest of the week was uneventful by Hogwarts standards. Peeves came up with a new dance involving dousing students in cooking oil. Percy hollered himself hoarse at the twins for telling Ginny that he would soon become a worker bee for the rest of his life with no indication that it was a metaphor.

Hermione, thankfully did not need to put her study plans into action quite yet, as the homework they ended up getting was negligible at best. The weekend seemed to be so calm that Harry and Hermione were thinking of eating next to the lake outside of the castle. On their way out, however, they met with a familiar face.

"Luna?" Hermione said as she looked at the slightly shorter first year student. Instead of the dreamy look she normally had, Luna had a frown that was akin to losing a pet or failing a very important test.

"Everything alright, Luna?" Harry asked and she pursed her lips toward him.

"A little boy from Gryffindor keeps following me with a camera." Luna said as she looked off to the side and both Harry and Hermione looked at each other in shock.

"What? Is he peeping on you?" Hermione asked, about ready to employ her wand for more malicious purposes.

"No, he just keeps taking pictures of me while I'm walking or eating and keeps asking if I'll sit in a different pose or look more dream-like. I can only appear so dream-like." She said, the frown on her face deepening.

"Who is–" As Harry was about to ask, a huge flashing bulb caused his eyes to have a momentary lapse in visuals. He winced as he rubbed his eyes and Hermione glared toward the smaller boy that she recognized as Colin Creevy.

"Oh, wow! Do you know who that is, Luna?" Colin asked as he approached her with his camera's lightbulb still glowing a bit.

"Yes, her name is Hermione Granger and her poofy curls are very pretty." Luna said, causing Hermione's eyes to go wide and her face to turn red.

"No! That's Harry Potter! He's even got the scar! Can you sign my picture when it develops?" He asked as he walked up to Harry and wiggled his camera, as if he needed extra indication.

"No, not if you're going around stalking an innocent girl and flashing your camera at her every moment. You keep this up and I happen to know the Prefect personally. We will be having words about you." Harry's face suddenly got mean and Hermione was a little taken aback. "I'll be talking to Luna again and if she tells me you're still doing this, that's what's going to happen. Do I need to talk to him now?" He leaned into the much shorter Colin, who seemed abashed as he leaned backward.

"N-n-no, I didn't mean–" He started to say but the hardening look on Harry's face made it clear he was not there to listen to excuses. "Oh–okay I can stop."

"Good, now walk over there. Apologize to Luna and make sure you respect her space from here on." Harry lightened his tone and Hermione blinked at the sudden tension that he so easily used against Colin. He wasn't being a bully but he certainly wasn't fooling around either. Colin, ridden with shame and very pale white, did as he was told and walked away.

Luna was also quite dumbfounded at how Harry handled that whole thing. She suddenly walked up to him and grabbed his hand with both of hers and held it in front of her. "Hermione found you very attractive while you did that." With this, she gave him back his hand and whispered her thanks as she walked away.

Harry looked at Hermione, who was, indeed, pink in the face. "Only a little!" She said in her defense.

For the rest of the day, however, she did show him a bit more affection than normal. In fact, when no one was looking, she even held his hand as they walked through the hall. Their arms were masked by their robes. However, the day soon dwindled into the night and Hermione sat in front of her vanity mirror, brushing her poof curl hair. After finally getting it to a point where she could comfortably deal with the remainder in the morning, she turned back to her daily planner.

She crossed out "have picnic with Harry" for Saturday and looked to see that Sunday was free of any schedules. It may have been early to hit the library for the subjects at hand, but she could never be too careful when it came to her grades. She may have made top of the class last year, but that was never an excuse to slouch. It simply meant you needed to meet or exceed that goal next time.

"Ask Harry if he wants to study something" Hermione wrote in her book. The other girls had already turned in for the night. She had a candle lit beside her bed and her chest of drawers had one open with a picture of her and Harry, along with extra quills, her hair care products and assortment of hair clips.

But she needed to go to the bathroom, she realized all the sudden. At first, she was going to go to the girl's restroom in the tower, but then she remembered there was another one. She wanted to go to that one.

She was there. When did she get there? She looked around and saw that it was, in fact, that bathroom on the second floor. It must have been ten minutes from her dorm to there. She didn't remember even putting on her night robe. Still, she was there. Hermione should be there, that much was clear. She was scheduled to be there right then and she knew what to do.

"Open the door." She said as "Sira sahisa" audibly escaped her lips and soon, the sink began to rise, as it should have. The darkness beyond the bathroom mirror was absolute. Miles deep within the school, she felt him. She needed his help. As she gazed down into the abyss with her eyes that began to turn galleon gold with a serpent's slit and she smiled.

oooOooooOooooOO

The next day, as students made their way to the Great Hall, there was a gigantic disturbance in the second floor corridor. All of the students gathered around the portrait which was currently empty, as the occupant had fled in terror as a shadow loomed in the hallways.

As Harry and Ron made their way to the staircase on the second floor, they looked out to see this disturbance and decided to go take a look. There were screams of terror and many shoving forward to gain vantage. There must have been forty students, and the number seemed to go up by tens very quickly.

Prefects from Hufflepuff and Slytherin were trying to calm the crowd down and hold them at bay as they sent for the professors. It was hard to do when a house elf was found, stabbed straight through the heart. The elf lay on his front, his face in a pool of his own blood. As Professor Snape viewed this, his face went stoney and he analyzed the cruelty with an expression of sheer concentration.

"Who found him?" Snape asked the Hufflepuff Prefect, who seemed startled he addressed her.

"It was a first year, Colin Creevy, sir. He's in the hospital wing. It gave him a bit of a shock, sir." She was shaking a little bit as he grunted his understanding, keeping herself composed as he continued to look closer at the house elf.

"Have there been any other signs of a struggle?" Snap asked, as Harry noticed the students were giving him a very wide berth now.

"No, sir, the portraits simply say that there was a shadow crawling across the ground. They're in a fair bit of shock themselves." She remarked and he nodded. "There was one other thing, though, sir." She said, sounding a bit queasy and shying away from him a bit as he looked upon her.

She directed his attention to the ceiling, and he gave her a puzzled look before looking up.

"All hail the heir of Slytherin, for with opening the Chamber of Secrets, he has returned. Repent, Unclean and Traitors of Blood." It was written in the elf's blood. Snape's brow furrowed.

"I want all of these students vacating this corridor unless on their way to class." He looked across the crowd of them with an ever growing expression of impatience. "Immediately!" He roared suddenly.

All of the students dispersed like sheep from a wolf. Harry and Ron looked at each other with growing horror, wondering what could have possibly killed a house elf with such wanton cruelty.

"Maybe it was a vampire! Maybe You-know-who is back!" Ron said and Harry was already shaking his head.

"No, I told Hermione already. You saw his body get destroyed. It took him forever to get that one. Where do you think he found another vampire in such a rush?" Harry asked and Ron thought for a moment.

"Can't say I know where he got the first one." Ron admitted. "Still, you know they're going to go critical on security now. I already heard talk of an assassin in our school." He thought for a moment on whether the thought of an assassin was more or less bizarre than the thought of a vampire returning as Lord Voldemort.

"Whatever it was, it looks like we're going to need to pay extra close attention to Hermione." Harry said and Ron gave him a puzzled look. "She's muggle-born, Ron. You're a pure blood and I'm a half blood, so we're not the main targets." His voice was growing ever softer the longer he spoke. Ron's look of worry stretched painfully across his face. Then Harry looked around at the Gryffindor table. "Where is she, anyhow?"

"Don't know. I didn't see her in the common room." Ron thought for a moment, then they looked at each other again. After a moment of growing dread, both of them rushed off back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Seems kinda strange, going after muggle-borns but finding a house elf instead." Seamus thought out loud to Dean, who gave him an odd look.

"I suppose it's better than killing a student, but blimey. Bit cold blooded, don't you think?" Dean offered and Seamus shook his head in disgust.

"Little elf was just doing his job." Seamus said, then noticed Harry and Ron come through the portrait hole.

"Oi, Seamus, Dean, you seen Hermione?" Ron asked and both of them shook their heads.

"Ya need help finding her?" Dean offered and both of them shrugged.

"Tell her if you see her." Harry replied and they waved their compliance. He turned to Ron. "Check the library, I'll ask the girls if she's in her dorm."

"Right." Ron said and went off toward the portrait.

"Harry." He heard a voice whisper at a level just audible enough to convince him he heard it. He turned toward the voice and he saw Hermione standing there. She was pale as a ghost and looked at him with big bags under her eyes.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked and both Seamus and Dean rose up with looks of great worry on their faces.

"I don't feel so well…" He caught her as she fainted.