Hermione slowly came back to her normal self after a few days. She was still quite eager to avoid any sort of issue that would cause her to get detention again. She suspected that was the reason for detention.

Then there was the fact that they'd lost points. That alone had hurt Hermione. She worked so hard to earn points for her house that it was difficult to see them disappear in so little time. Most teachers didn't give them out in groups of more than five or ten.

She did manage to earn most of them back. But it had been like pulling teeth. And once people had heard Harry tell about how they were sneaking a dragon out of the castle, not that he mentioned it was a baby dragon, most of the anger had dissipated.

She instead focused on getting herself and her friends ready for exams. As the temperatures rose, so did some tensions. Harry and Ron didn't always appreciate her work.

Harry was mostly focused on keeping "you-know-who" from getting to the stone. His attention was largely diverted and Hermione found that it was actually easier to get him to do his work when he was distracted.

Ron was an entirely different story. He fought Hermione almost every step of the way. Hermione was rather upset that she couldn't help him. Exams were coming up and Ron wouldn't study.

She wrote to Viktor several times. And her family. Her parents told her not to worry. If he failed it would be his own fault.

Viktor was a little more blunt. Hermione wasn't sure if that was due to the language barrier, though they had both worked on that as much as they could. Especially since his parents didn't speak English. And Greek wasn't something he could use at school.

But he told her that she didn't need to concern herself with someone who clearly didn't want her help. In almost those exactly those words. But Hermione couldn't find it in her heart to let him fail.

"Would you just leave me alone?" Ron grumbled.

"Exams are coming up," she said. "They'll be here before you know it."

"But we haven't even started reviewing for them in class yet," Ron said.

"Fine," Hermione said. "If you want to fail, be my guest."

"Fine."

Ron walked off. Harry came into the common room at the same time.

"What's wrong with Ron?" Harry asked.

"He decided he didn't want to study."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Harry said. "Ron hates book work. Almost as much as Fred and George."

"You want to work?" Hermione suggested hopefully.

"Why not?" Harry shrugged. "Can't be worse than fearing death at every corner."

Later in her letter to Viktor, she told him that Harry was much easier to be around than Ron. It was strange how putting it down on paper made her feel. She couldn't explain it. But it felt like weight was lifted off her.

And then reviews finally started.

Panic ensued for most people. Ron was one of the people who panicked the most. Fred and George were surprisingly calm.

"So," one of the twins said to her while she was writing to her parents one day.

"What are you doing?" the other finished.

"Writing home," Hermione said.

"In Greek?" the twins asked in unison.

"My parents speak Greek better than English," Hermione said.

The twins looked contemplative.

"What do you think Gred?"

"Probably the same thing as you Forge."

Hermione sighed over dramatically. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

They moved away whispering quietly. Hermione turned back to her letter. She had better things to do than to speculate about what the Weasley twins were up to. Hopefully the prefects could keep it from getting too bad.

"Why are you writing in that chair?" Ron asked.

"Because I can."

"Can't you help?" he nearly pleaded.

"Ronald Weasley, if you are going to ignore my help when I offer it you can't ask for it later," she said as evenly as she could manage. She was far too frustrated with him to help him review what she considered basic concepts.

She noticed the small smile on Harry's face and felt her confidence grow. It was the sort of expression she imagined that Viktor would have shown. Though she also knew that he would have told her how proud he was when they were no longer surrounded.

Hermione mentioned it in her letter to her parents. It was a moment that she had stood up for herself. And she was almost certain they would be proud of her.