Warning: This chapter contains sexual harassment and non-descript mention of sexual abuse.

Chapter 8 - Year 2, part 2

"That party sucked, and you are idiots for dragging me along." She grumbled loudly as they made their way from the dungeons and towards the Great Hall where they would be able to hopefully stomach some real food. Just the thought of all the moldy cake made her stomach roll again.

Luckily, she had already given William his birthday present that morning, so she didn't have to carry it around - nor bring a birthday present to someone else's deathday-party. Oh, the irony.

"Do you hear that?" Harry suddenly stopped, just by the Great Hall, and looked around in clear confusion.

"Hear what?" Daniel inquired and looked around. "Is it that voice again?"

"Yes! And it's getting clearer! This way!" Harry was already running up the stair when he called for them to run along

"Harry! What voice?!" Hermione tried to ask between breaths, but he didn't answer her - Daniel did.

"The last couple of weeks, Harry's been hearing this… voice. I keep telling him that it's not normal and he should talk to Pomfrey, but he refuses to listen to me!"

"I'm not crazy!" Harry yelled over his shoulder, just as he passed Ginny Weasley at the top of the stairs. She looked to be absolutely exhausted and freezing, as she was all huddled up in a thick robe. Hermione sent the small girl a reassuring smile when she ran past her, before speeding up and hurrying along.

"Harry, calm down already!" Daniel yelled, and for some magical reason, Harry actually listened.

"I'm not insane! I swear there was a voice, but now it's gone." He said, looking wildly around.

"I believe you Harry, I really do, but that doesn't mean that it makes sense…" Hermione reasoned when she reached his side, and grabbed the sleeve of his robe to make him stop. "What does the voice say?" She was almost afraid to hear the answer to her question.

"Umm… It wants me to come to it... to kill me, in different… ways."

"AND YOU CHOOSE TO RUN TO IT?!" She had had enough of his stupid decisions. "How thick can you be to run down the halls, looking for something that wants to kill you?!"

"Ehh…. Well, I… Ehh… Umm…" Nothing intelligent was coming out of his mouth, so she turned around to walk back to the feast.

She could really go for some mash and gravy at the moment.

"Umm... Hermione? Did you…? Ehm... There's… Blood, here." Daniel stammered slowly, not looking at her, but at the floor by the entrance to the girl's bathroom.

"Shut up about my blood Daniel or I'll paint the castle in yours." She growled before turning around and facing the boys fully.

She didn't really know why, but she screamed. On the wall in front of them, was a message covering the entire wall… in blood. Beside it hung Madam Norris from a lamp. She took a step backwards in horror and noted the splashing sound of water on the floor.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED!
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE!

It was then that she heard the sound of running footsteps.

"We're screwed…" Daniel muttered beside her where he had somehow gone and grabbed her hand, and she found herself agreeing wholeheartedly by his statement.

People were quickly arriving on both sides of them, all with different sounds of horror and dread.

"Tell me what has happened, at once!" Professor Snape demanded as he and Professor McGonagall forced their way through the masses. He took one look at the writing on the wall before his own eyes widened in fear. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times, yet no sound emitted.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudblood!" Zabini shouted from where he was standing beside Professor Snape, but was quickly silenced when someone smacked him hard at the back of his head. For the shortest of seconds, she thought she saw Draco, but then he was gone and it was like it had never happened.

"Everyone, back to your dorms! Right this instance!" The voice of their head of house was booming and echoing down the hallways as she called for authority. Everyone moved at once. "Not you three." She said quietly as they made to follow along - only too pleased to get out of there.

It was then that everything really came crashing down around them.

"MY- MY CAT! MY MADAM NORRIS" A cracking sob sliced through the sounds of steps hurrying down the halls, "YOU KILLED MY CAT! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" Filch was in some state of grief induced madness when he came for Harry with outstretched hands, coming directly for his neck. McGonagall jumped right in front of Harry, with her wand outstretched towards the caretaker and a sneer on her lips.

A lioness protecting her cubs.

Professor Dumbledore arrived then and examined the cat closely, before carefully taking her into his arms. "I'm afraid we need to take this meeting somewhere else. Gilderoy, may we use your office? It is the closest, should I remember correctly." Professor Dumbledore added. For some reason, she saw Harry take a step away from where their Headmaster was standing. McGonagall looked down at him in question, when she felt him move out of her reach.

"Of course! Of course! Ah, what a shame I wasn't there! I'm sure I could have countered the curse!" Lockhart quipped from behind the headmaster, almost standing directly in the man's shadow. He spent the next couple of minutes listing different things that could have caused this - and also counter-curses that he of course could have used - and for everything that he said, the caretaker went paler and paler.

They started walking while Lockhart (because Hermione refused to acknowledge this person as a proper teacher) talked their ears off about his so-called 'related accomplishments'. When all of them arrived in the office, Professor McGonagall looked ready to rip his head off.

In the corner of the room, Hermione saw the cage with Pixies that Lockhart had them collecting the other day after he fled the room. If she never had to see another pixie, it would be too soon.

"IT WAS HIM! HE DID BECAUSE I'M A SQUIB!"

"Oh, come off it. My dad's a squib and Harry's never killed any of my pets." Hermione added, looking at the angry man.

"Yeah! I didn't do anything!" Harry added by her side, clearly agitated by the situation and the accusations.

"YOU KILLED HER!" Filch cried again, his accusing finger pointing directly at Harry, who in turn let out an exasperated sigh and turned to McGonagall like she could somehow save him from sudden doom. In this situation, Hermione highly doubted that she could.

"She isn't dead, Argus, merely petrified. And I'm afraid this isn't something you can just 'counter', Gilderoy. But do go tell Pomona to plant some more mandrakes - I'm afraid we're going to need them."

After having agreed that petrification was exactly what he had thought of, Lockhart hurried off to find Professor Sprout.

"If I may, Headmaster, I think the children could merely have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. This doesn't look like something a 2nd year student could be capable of." Snape said, before continuing; "But we must figure out what is going on. Why weren't you at the feast?" He was looking directly at the three of them now.

"Well, we were at the death-day party." Hermione said when neither Harry nor Daniel decided to talk.

"Then why not go to the feast afterwards? It is quite known that ghost's appetites are… Not exactly for the living." Professor McGonagall asked then, looking curiously at the children.

"We were going to, but then Harry heard the voice!" Daniel defended, unknowingly pulled all of the attention back to Harry.

Dumbledore was standing quietly by the table, looking at each of them as they answered and added to questions being asked.

"Voice? What voice?" McGonagall asked.

Harry then went on to tell them everything about the voice he had been hearing for some time, and how it had been calling him to the wall. How he had felt almost in some sort of trance.

"I think… It is safe to say that Messrs. Potter, Black, and Ms. Granger had nothing to do with the current events. You are free to go back to your dorms where I am sure you will each find a sandwich by your bed. Goodnight." Professor Dumbledore said dismissively and the door opened almost on its own accord, at the other end of the room.

"I want them punished!" Filch added, stepping in front of the door just as the three of them started heading for it.

"Move aside, Argus, the children have done nothing wrong. When we find whoever attacked your cat, they will be handled." Dumbledore's voice was loud and clear, and as far as Hermione believed, no one in that room was currently having any doubts about whether she, Harry and Daniel had done anything wrong.

November 14th, 1992

The rain was pouring down on them as a throng of Gryffindors were hurrying from the Quidditch stands and into the school. Among them were Harry Potter cradling a boneless arm - quite literally.

"I can't believe he did that to me! And without my consent!" Harry fumed loudly as he quickly tramped along the stone path leading to the castle, barely dodging the puddles.

"Dad'll be furious! If Dumbledore won't be alerting him and mum after what happened with that bludger at the very least, I sure will." Daniel acknowledged by his side as he pulled his cloak closer around himself...

Hermione was quickly running along, as she was trying her hardest to not be left behind by the boys who had somehow chosen the last couple of months to grow - without her body following along. "It was insane! It was like it was possessed or something." She gasped out between breaths.

"Possessed?!" Harry stuttered through his clattering teeth., looking at Daniel in clear horror. For some reason, Daniel mirrored his facial expression.

"Well, not like a body taking over it - but it was like it had its own mind."

"Dobby? Again?" Daniel asked. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Dobby… the house elf? The one that -"

They hurried inside and Hermione only felt vaguely guilty for all of the muddy footprints that they were currently leaving across the great Hall, as half of the school hurried in at the same time. Considering what he had accused Harry of a couple of weeks ago, the rest of the school could come trudging through as well, for all she cared.

She felt sorry for his cat (sort of), but not him.

"Yeah." Harry agreed once again, water flying everywhere when he and Daniel shook their heads to get rid of some of the water that had collected there.

Sometimes, Hermione wondered if maybe they could have been real brothers after all.

"But dad says there's nothing to do about it because we don't know whom he belongs to - and even then, it could get him in some serious trouble with his owners if they found out what he was doing."

"You don't think they'll…?" She couldn't finish the sentence, but it seemed, she didn't need to.

Harry thanked Daniel with a nod of his head when Daniel opened the door to the Hospital ward for him. "Give him clothes? I think they will."

"What in Merlin's name happened to you?" Madam Pomfrey's voice tore through the air like a scissor through paper, once the door clicked shut behind the trio.

"What do you say? Should we try?"

"'Should we try'? You mean 'should I try'? I mean, I'd pay an entire month's worth of allowance to see you give Lockhart puppy eyes, but I think I'd have a higher success rate than you. He seems to like the female population of the school." She whispered while carefully looking around to see if anyone was listening in on the conversation. No one seemed to pay the two of them any mind as they sat by themselves in two large armchairs by the fire.

They needed to get access to the restricted section of the library, but a student could only get that with a signature from a professor.

They needed to know more about the chamber of secrets, but no one would tell them anything but tiny bits here and there - and none of the pieces fit properly together.

They knew that Salazar Slytherin had supposedly sealed some kind of chamber that only his one true air could open, and that that someone would release a monster that would then purge the school of 'those unworthy'. Hermione was getting chills just thinking about it.

"Are you cold?" Daniel asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he leaned over and pulled his cloak over her. She instantly felt better and smiled her 'thanks' to him.

"Your idea smells kind of like bad decisions and a month worth of detention with Filch." She then said, having mulled the possibilities over in her head.

They needed to know who the heir was. At the moment it seemed like the entire school believed it to be Harry, but everyone that knew him, also knew that he could never be - even if he was a parseltongue.

That stupid dueling club.

The trio, though, believed it to be Blaise - or at least Blaise would know who it was. They just needed to get him to talk about it.

Which was why they now needed a recipe for Polyjuice Potion. It was stupid, mind-blowingly stupid, and it did really smell like bad decisions and detention - but they didn't seem to have any other options at the moment.

"Perfect! Do you want me to walk with you to his office?" He then asked. He was giving her that look again and she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"No thank you." She smiled, stood up and started to shrug the cloak off. "I just need to get the fake permission slip."

She handed him his cloak, but instead of taking it, he shook his head. "You can have it until you get back. The Castle is freezing today, and your own cloak looked pretty soaked from the match."

"Thank you." She smiled, and then she was off.

Hermione had been in Lockhart's office the past 15 minutes, sweet talking to the best of her abilities. She had tried everything, and had finally succeeded when she complimented the robes he was wearing in the painting of himself, hanging above the fireplace in his office.

She had the sneaking suspicion that he would have signed whatever she brought no matter what she had told him, but that he simply just liked having someone (anyone) brush his enormous ego.

The number of times she had turned around, faking taking in his office, to roll her eyes so hard it almost made her dizzy… Well, she had stopped counting some time ago, to be honest.

She had been in that office on multiple occasions. But fake it till you make it. Right?

"Thank you so much, Professor, I really do appreciate it!" Hermione gushed, clutching the 'autograph' close to her heart. She backed away from the table where she had been standing and went for the door to leave.

"No worries, Ms. Granger. Though, I must say that I am slightly curious about one thing…" He said, casually resting against the desk. He removed some lint or whatever from his robes, that she suspected had never been there in the first place.

"What's that, Professor?" She smiled, but inside she was screaming. Did he know? Had she missed something? Had she said the name of the book wrong?

No, she never missed the names on book-titles. It couldn't have been that.

Her alibi was watertight!

She was confident.

"I just wondered how a… Pretty, young girl like you… ends up with someone like Black and Potter?"

"What do you mean?" She was mere meters from the door, her body turning in the direction and ready to go - but she could do nothing but stare at the man in front of her, because she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Of course, she was with Black and Potter. They were her best friends. Why shouldn't she be with them?

"They just seem a little… below your level." He said and pushed away from the table, slowly walking towards her. Below her level? What? They took all the same levels and had always done that - in some ways it was she who was below them.

"I-I think you're quite mistaken, Professor." Without much thought, she took a step towards the door as Lockhart stalked closer.

"I think not. Perhaps, should you find yourself without entertainment one evening, you could come help me with my fanmail."

"Perhaps, you should talk with Lavender about that - I think she would be much more of a help. More of a writer than me." She said in a small voice, everything about this interaction felt wrong, and she was so confused.

"Oh, but I did, Hermione - can I call you Hermione? - and she was very useful, but she didn't quite… meet my standards."

Lockhart stepped forward once more and lifted his hand upwards to her face. Shocked from having him so close, so suddenly, she backed away and hit the door behind her, her hair falling into her eyes as she frantically felt around the door for the handle - grabbing it painfully hard when she found it.

Her brain was running at a thousand kilometers an hour as she thought of what to do, what to say. anything! Anything to get her out of this mess that she wasn't supposed to be in in the first place. Her breath was coming out in small puffs, her chest rising and falling quickly as her body did everything in its power to bring what little oxygen that she inhaled, around her bloodstream.

"Don't…" She whispered panicked, she would have screamed at him, but she couldn't. She couldn't form any full sentences, she couldn't breathe properly and she couldn't figure out how to get out of this. Her eyes were starting to sting, and for once in her life she didn't even have a care in the world for if they fell or not.

She simply didn't care - she only cared for her life.

She should have said yes when Daniel asked if he should accompany her. He would have been right outside the door. All she had to do was call out for him! She could feel his heavy winter-robe around her shoulders, somehow comforting her.

Her knight in shining armor. Always her knight in shining armor.

The tears fell.

"What's the matter Hermione?" He moved forward again, his hand this time brushing her tear-stained cheek as he pushed the hair out of her eyes. "I only want to spend some time with you. You want that too, right?"

She may be small and petité, but she would never be going down without a fight. If William had taught her one thing, it was to fight like a bitch when you were in a sticky situation.

"No!" She gasped out, suddenly realizing what she had to do. She rushed forward, yanked Daniel's robes aside and thrust her knee into his groin.

He swore loudly at her and groaned as he fell to his knees while cradling his manhood. Hermione had a barely-there moment where she wanted to ask if he was okay.

"COME BACK HERE!" He yelled, and grabbed out for her with one of his hands, as she was already out of reach and yanking the door open before she was full on running through the empty classroom and down the hall.

She was still clutching the autograph in her hand as she ran, tears streaming down her face and too-large-robes billowing around her and she ran.

"Hermione?"

She ran past Theo and Draco in one of the hallways, not bothering or wanting to stop. She just wanted home. She wanted away.

"Hermione! wait!" She didn't know who had called her name, and she didn't care.

She kept running.

She ran and didn't stop until she was more or less running into a group of Hufflepuffs in front of the kitchens.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" One of them asked. She didn't know who it was, and she didn't care.

"Wills… I-I need William." She sobbed, clutching the autograph and the robe closer around her. "Please-please, I need my brother. Can you get him?" She choked, the tears making it hard for her to talk.

The world had stopped spinning and she didn't know what she should do - but she knew she needed her brother.

"Get Granger." Someone said quickly and then tried to lay a hand on her shoulder, but she flinched, stepping backwards and into a pillar by the wall. She winced in pain and hugged herself.

It wasn't long before William rushed out through the portrait hole and looked around anxiously, when his eyes fell on her, they turned immediately to worry. "What's going - Hermione? Nene, what happened?!" He asked, the concern so thick in the atmosphere that she would have been able to touch had she chosen to reach out.

Instead, she threw herself into his arms, and sobbed harder than she ever had. "I don't - I - but he - and he - he…" She choked and sobbed into his chest as he hugged her closer.

"I don't understand what you're saying, Nene." He choked, and kissed the top of her messy curls. "Please breathe for me."

She tried. She really did, but she couldn't.

"I wanted to - but he wanted - he," she couldn't say it. She could get the foul words out of her mouth. She couldn't put into words what had just happened.

William shifted, and she heard something crunching under his shoe at the same time that she heard footsteps approaching.

"Do you know what happened?" William asked whoever had entered their bubble, and was surprised when she heard the steady voice of Draco answering him. She would have been comforted by suddenly hearing his voice after having heard silence for so long - but she could do nothing but hang on tight and sob, as William lowered them momentarily to pick up what he had stepped on.

"No. We just saw her running down the hallway like someone was chasing her." Draco said quickly, not wasting any time.

William shifted them and she didn't want to let go. She wanted to stay in the comfort of her brother.

Slowly but surely, he wrenched her face free of his jumper and looked deep into her eyes. His eyes were glassy but wide when he asked her: "You went to Lockhart?" She didn't mean to, but she released a gut-wrenching sob and hid her in his jumper again, where she nodded while she somehow managed to hug him tighter.

She would have to buy him a new one for Christmas.

"Fuck." Draco whispered and Theo added. "Should I… Should we get someone?"

Hermione didn't hear anyone answer, but soon enough footsteps were hurrying away.

"Did he… Fuck, did he touch you?" William whispered for her ears alone.

She nodded slowly, not trusting her voice. Because he had touched her, but only her face. He hadn't…

He lifted her face again, the tears slowly drying out on her cheeks but her emotions still as raw as ever. Those same emotions, she was sure was mirrored in William's face as she could see how heartbroken he was. "Where… Where did he… This is important, Hermione. Where did he touch you?"

"Just… here…" She whispered, and lifted her fingers to stroke where Lockhart had touched her. She felt disgusted by the mere motion of her hand following the same path as his hand had previously taken.

"Thank Merlin." He breathed out harshly and cradled her closer to his chest, as multiple sets of footsteps closed in on them.

A Short while later, Hermione found herself in Headmaster Dumbledore's office with William, Grandma, Professor McGonagall, Lockhart and the Headmaster himself.

"I want him fired." Rhea Granger's voice said steadily, her hands resting on Hermione's shoulders. "He attempted to molest my Granddaughter."

"I have done nothing wrong! The girl came onto me and then she ATTACKED me! Me! - a TEACHER of this fine institution!" He was adamant. She didn't exactly know how long they had been in this room, but it had been long enough to put both her integrity, intelligence and magic into question. Yet, he didn't seem to think that he had done anything wrong.

William was out of his seat in an instant, looking very much like he wanted to jump their professor. "Sit." Grandma directed at her brother with narrowed eyes, and he was quick to do as he was being told, but Hermione could see how much he wanted to fight her on that decision. "You should see yourself lucky that I didn't bring the Aurors." Grandma almost whispered at Lockhart, and the venom in her voice had him backtrack.

"You wouldn't. I've done nothing wrong."

Dumbledore started, and looked too sad for the situation. It was almost like he wanted to take his side, but couldn't. "Ms. Brown and her parents has already been summoned. You of all should know that I do not take the safety of my students lightly." Hermione was somehow reminded of the conversation that she and Daniel had overheard between Dumbledore and McGonagall at the end of their first year. "We'll have to wait and see what she tells us. But until then, consider this a warning."

"A warning? Albus, you're not serious?" McGonagall quipped from beside him, her eyes flashing with anger.

In the end, Lavender told everyone that she had only ever helped Professor Lockhart with his fanmail in an act of respect and that nothing had ever happened, that could hint at anything obscene having happened.

The Grangers and Professor McGonagall had left the room in anger and hurt at having been disrespected so much, and were now sitting in Professor McGonagall's office.

"I promise you, Ms. Granger, I'll keep my eyes on him. If he ever gives you detention or any unwanted attention - you come straight to me. Don't ever be alone with him." McGonagall made her promise, though it wasn't hard. She had no intention of ever being anywhere near him unless she absolutely had to - and even then it wouldn't be voluntarily.

"I'm so sorry, my love… Please tell me if there's anything I can do. Or mum and dad for that matter - they're heartbroken." Grandma tried and when Hermione looked up at her face, she could see it scrunched up in sorrow and anguish. "All of this with the writing on the wall and now this attack… I'm not so sure that this is a safe place to be anymore." Grandma turned to look at William, and then finally McGonagall.

"I know I can't tell you anything that will ease the pain - but I promise you Rhea, I'm personally doing everything that I can to find a solution."

"I know Min, I don't blame you even the slightest. I just don't understand how he can hire someone like that, and then just give him a slap on the wrist." Grandma was angry. She didn't normally raise her voice to anyone, and she had never even heard the woman yell out anything other than information through a noisy room. But grandma had yelled… and her voice was quivering as she was speaking.

"Wait… Rhea… and Min… Do you know each other?" William added from the sideline. Hermione hadn't really thought about it, but now that he mentioned it…

"Oh, I'm so sorry my darlings, I completely forgot! Yes, Minerva and I went to Hogwarts together. Different houses, mind you, but we've spent a lot of time together over the years."

"You… what? But we never knew you before Hogwarts." William thought out loud. Hermione had the same thoughts, but didn't have the mental energy to question things that she probably should.

"Well, the war put a stopper to many things…" McGonagall answered sadly, but then a small smile spread across her lips. "I've babysat both of you on many occasions. I'm sure that if you were to look through some of your parent's photo albums, you'd find me somewhere in there. I remember your father being very fond of those albums of his."

"I'm sure we can find them over Christmas." Grandma smiled at them while caressing the frown from Hermione's face.

She had so many questions.

"Now, I think it's about time for dinner. Why don't you stay here in private while I go to the Great Hall? I'll have the elves sent up some food for you." Their professor suggested.

"He did WHAT?!" Harry exclaimed with wide eyes; his eyes were screaming bloody murder.

"Please don't make me say it again…" She whispered, hugging herself closer. It was hard enough to just exist without shuddering and wanting to claw her skin off. She felt so dirty… So disgusting…

She suddenly felt herself engulfed in warmth and softness. The sudden physical contact made her wince at first, but she slowly eased up and put her arms around him. "I knew I should have gone with you…" Daniel whispered in a low voice that made her want to sob all over again - but she knew she wouldn't be able to find anymore tears.

"No… No, I told you I'd go myself. It's not your fault." She whispered back to him. She felt Harry's arm lock around her as well and felt a little better. "Anyway." She said, stepping out of their embraces. "Grandma's furious, William almost jumped him in Dumbledore's office and McGonagall's outraged by both Lockhart's behavior and Dumbledore's handling - or lack thereof."

"Why? what do you mean?" Harry questioned.

"He got a warning. A bloody slap on the wrist."

"No." Harry gasped, his eyes once again wide open and alert. "You're kidding right?"

Unfortunately, she didn't. She handed the now signed permission slip for the library to Harry. "Here, I think I'm going to vomit if I think about what I did to obtain that… Goodnight."

Luckily, the weeks went on after that without anything happening. One morning by the beginning of December she realized that she hadn't cried herself to sleep the night before.

She went to all of her classes, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, and suddenly found herself being able to stare Lockhart down from her seat without wanting to break down crying.

The fog she had been walking around since Lockhart came onto her, was finally lifting. She hadn't even been living, she knew that. She had purely existed. Just going from one class to the next, doing her homework without thinking - now that she was thinking, she didn't even know how well her work had even been in the first place, and she felt that she didn't really care about that at the moment. She was still very happy that the boys had gone and gotten the book from the library without her accompanying them, but other than that, she hadn't really cared for that many things.

She would think about the quality of her work once she had to read up for finals.

But she felt on top of things again.

She felt… free.

"Whatever you're thinking about… keep doing it." Harry whispered from beside her, and she turned to him in question. She opened her mouth to ask him, but he beat her to it. "You're smiling again - so whatever's got you smiling, please for the love of Merlin, keep doing it."

Hermione let go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and leaned in to lay her head on his shoulder. "You're my best friend, Harry."

"Back to the books, everyone! I want a foot and a half on how I managed to manipulate the Russian Hags with my brilliant smile!" Lockhart chastised with his eyes locked on Hermione who in return faked a gag while maintaining eye contact with him. "Ms. Brown! Can you share with the class what -" Hermione zoned the rest of his question out and simply stared out of the window behind his desk. She already knew what she needed to know about Hags at this point. She smiled to herself, by the thought that Lavender could have all of her damned Lockhart knowledge to herself, because Hermione sure as hell didn't want any of it.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks a lot of things happened simultaneously.

Since the boys had gotten the book, that little problem was out of the way.

Hermione had talked to Myrtle in her bathroom stall about using the space for brewing, which she had said would be okay - as long as they would come and keep her company from time to time. Hermione hadn't really thought about it, but she guessed it made sense that someone like Myrtle could get kind of lonely, when the whole school was afraid of one because of creaking pipes and ever-flooding toilets.

The trio had also each snuck extra ingredients into vials and containers each time they had potions and needed to get ingredients from the storage.

The Lacewing flies had been stewing for the full 21 days, and yesterday they added boomslang skin and the crushed bicorn horn as a part of the second-to-last stage.

Flaxweed which was needed for the second stage had been the only ingredient that they hadn't been able to get from Professor Snape's storage. Or, well, they could have gotten it from him, but they didn't know if it had been picked on a full moon as was required, and therefore the boys had chosen to get it while she had been… Elsewhere, mentally.

"Hi, Myrtle!" Harry called when the tree of them entered the large bathroom and the door clicked shut behind them - Hermione was entering as she normally would while the boys were hidden under the invisibility cloak.

"Hello," Myrtle replied as she soared through the door to a bathroom-stall. "I've been waiting for you all day." She moaned loudly like the world was going under and they had the audacity to be late for it. Thinking about it, her world had already ended… But Hermione chose not to mention it so as to not put her in one of her famous moods.

"Sorry, Myrtle. We just got out of our last class of the year – apparently, it's okay to make students stay back for an extra fifteen minutes when it's that day."

They had everything planned out. The train would be leaving tomorrow morning, and each of them had been asked to come home so they couldn't stay. What that meant was that they needed to get some answers today.

At different times, they had each acquired their hairs from whom they thought would fit in the best. They needed to get close to Zabini, so who else - but his henchmen and girl?

Harry and Daniel had had it easy since luring Crabbe and Goyle away with sweets were just too easy. They had gotten their hair weeks ago. For some reason, she considered herself lucky that her target had literally jumped her because she had lost her wand while dueling - Hermione had an angry blue bruise on her rib as proof. Bullstrode was in another weight class than she was, it would seem.

Now, though, all of their three subjects were bound, gagged and unconscious in a locked and silenced passageway near the kitchens. Hermione really did have the upper hand with curses it would seem.

She didn't have many positive things to say about that damn dueling club, except for Theo's laugh being heard across the hall every time to win over whomever he had been dueling. She had really just hoped that she would be paired up with someone that was just close to her level… Her wishes had been in vain.

Also, Harry accidentally showed that he was a parseltongue while he was asking a snake to attack a student, which hadn't been a part of the plan either. Now everyone thought that Harry was the heir. Hermione mentally facepalmed.

"I still don't understand what's going on with those roosters that Hagrid talked about this morning… Who goes around killing roosters? It doesn't make any sense." Daniel mumbled while he added the last lacewings and stirred the cauldron.

Hermione handed Harry the three glasses that she had sneaked out from lunch. "I don't know. Maybe someone hated being woken up by them? Isn't that what they're for?"

"Dunno - It's your parents who had farm animals, not mine." Daniel replied and scooped up the potion into the glasses.

In front of them Harry had laid out school uniforms that he had gotten from the elves. How? She didn't know, and she didn't need to as long as they would fit them.

She could up her set and took the glass from Harry. "Ready?" She asked and hoped that she showed just the tiniest shred of confidence, because looking at the bubbling substance in her glass, she wasn't feeling any of it.

"Bottoms up!" Daniel exclaimed and clinked his glass to hers and Harry, before each of them downed their glasses.

Hermione felt… too big. Not Herself, and too big. Looking first to her right and then to her left, she saw Crabbe and Goyle descending the stairs to the dungeons with her. At least the potion had worked right - and quick.

"What's the password?" Hermione whispered horrified and suddenly as she realized that that was something they had never discussed.

"Uhhhh…." She heard simultaneously from both sides.

"Shit." She whispered back as they neared the spot that the entrance was supposed to be.

They hadn't been standing there for too long when the passage suddenly parted and showed two Slytherins walking through.

"Maybe she's at the library?" Draco muttered as he passed around the trio without a word to them, not even acknowledging their presence.

"Maybe. She hasn't been there much since Lockhart. Maybe he cursed her to stop reading." Theo answered and was met by a harsh laugh.

It was at that moment that Hermione realized that they were talking about her… about finding her! Draco was looking for her!

"HAH! Like she would ever be able to not read." Draco answered and Hermione snorted involuntarily which resulted in Draco turning around quickly towards the noise - but she was already being pulled through the passage and out of sight by Daniel who whispered at her to hurry or he was going to carry her.

"There you are! I've been looking for you!" Zabini exclaimed as they fully entered the common room. It was large, and sort of looked like their own common room except that the Slytherins had their very own oversized windows looking directly into the Black Lake - The Giant Squid chose that exact moment to casually swim by.

"Eh… We... Eh…" Harry stuttered, before Daniel quickly came to the rescue.

"- were hungry!" Thank Merlin for his quick-thinking.

Zabini looked at them weirdly, then shrugged while muttering a low "Eh.", like he wasn't surprised at all. Hermione wasn't surprised either that that was something that could have easily happened. Zabini dropped down into a comfy-looking armchair after having thrown a prophet on the table that had been where he wanted to sit.

Hermione quickly sat down on a couch opposite him, which dragged the boys' attention away from the article on the frontpage and onto another subject - Ron's dad's possible resignation - as sad as it was - wasn't important enough at the moment.

"I'm surprised the Prophet hasn't mentioned anything about the attack yet. It's been almost two months." Hermione interjected as smoothly as humanly possible.

"Maybe that fool Dumbledore is putting a tight lid on everything." Zabini muttered and scowled. For once, it sounded like the two of them were on the same page. "I just wish whoever opened the bloody chamber would get a move on."

"Why? Do you have a deathwish or something like that?" Hermione interjected, a bit too quickly. She felt eyes zoning in on her - Zabini's included, as he took her in with a raised eyebrow and a sneer.

"Of course not! I just wish it would finish Granger off quicker - her mere existence is an insult to all purebloods."

"But she's not even -" Daniel started defensively, but Hermione stopped him with a large, fake coughing fit.

"What was that?" Zabini tried.

"I wish Dumbledore would find proper teachers for the school while he's at it." Hermione budded in, trying to steer the attention clear of what Daniel had evidently been about to spoil.

"Yeah, I can't believe they let people like Burbage teach here - and Muggle Studies?! I'd rather find the bloody heir myself than take her stupid course willingly." Zabini grumbled and stood up, facing the fire instead of them. It gave the trio the opportunity of sharing looks and head-nudges behind his back.

"So, you don't know who it is then?" Harry questioned as casually as possible, but Zabini whipped around instantly, his eyes narrowing in on Harry.

"Of course, I don't! I've told you this already! How thick are you?!" He snapped harshly.

Is that really how you talk to your friends? Hermione was seething inside and had to grab onto the couch hard, so as to not make a scene. She would have, had she not been someone entirely else. It seemed; she wasn't the only one he was acting like an idiot towards.

"What's up with you?" Zabini was apparently in quite the mood today, as it was now directed at Daniel. She looked to the side and saw him looking at her with concern. "What is up with you today? You're all acting weird!" He huffed loudly and turned around towards the fire again. He stood like in silence for a few minutes before he turned around in a huff, and dropped back down into his chair.

"Mother won't tell me anything except that it was last opened some fifty years ago in a girl's bathroom. I guess it's only a matter of time before the attacks start picking up…"

"Picking up?" Hermione questioned. As of right now there had been two attacks - The one where they had been on the scene, and then a few weeks ago when Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly-Headless Nick had both been petrified, and for whatever reason, Harry had once again been found there and had been accused of being the heir. "You think there'll be more?"

Harry had feared expulsion at that time, but Dumbledore had done nothing but show him his phoenix and offer him sweets. What a way to handle such a serious manner.

"Of course, he hopes there'll be more." A voice behind them sneered, and Hermione almost felt her neck cracking when she whipped her head around towards the voice. "You should know him by now, mates, he feeds off of other people's fear like some kind of dementor." Draco's voice was filled with venom as he sneered at his classmate. "But he's right… The last time it was opened, apparently someone died, soo…." He trailed off as he walked away with Theo, both looking uncomfortably rigid.

Looking at Zabini, him mirroring Draco's venom perfectly while staring down the blond boy. Hermione for one, didn't ever want to be on the other side of Draco's angry looks or his temper when it chose to shine through. She much preferred the sweet boy who raided the kitchens for sweets with her, or who spent days learning how to do the perfect cannon-ball from his dad.

"I know he's a pureblood and all… but I really hope the heir takes him, too. Along with Granger - they'd be the perfect fit." He sneered.

"So, we got nothing out of that?! All of that trouble - and we got nothing!" Harry thundered. The three of them were currently back in the girl's bathroom, where Harry had spent the past 15 or so minutes, fuming loudly about how shitty that had all been.

"It wasn't all for nothing, mate." Daniel reasoned, but was instantly quieted by Harry's angry death stare before he continued on his personal rant.

"Just let him… He'll be better once he's done." Hermione whispered and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She then nodded her head towards where they had been brewing, motioning for him to maybe clean that up while she focused on Harry's frustrations.

She knew that Daniel was strong enough to handle his best friend's verbal vomit, but she also knew that he would break at some point which would result in a screaming match between the two of them. Sure, they would be leaving the room as friends, but it wasn't pretty until then.

"- and we need to figure out what happened the last time! That someone died isn't enough" Harry sighed exasperated.

"We'll figure it out, Harry… Come on." She said softly, holding out her hand for him. He sighed loudly, walked right past her and to where Daniel had started cleaning up. Together, they vanished what remained of the potion and ingredients, cleaned the area around them and packed down the cauldron to bring back to the tower.

"Bye Myrtle! Happy holidays!" They called and waved to the ghost as they left the toilet.