As the weeks leading up to the climactic Gryffindor vs Slytherin matches passed, some interesting incidents occurred. After the security measures following Black's second break in were implemented, we were unable to visit Hagrid in the evenings to help him with the appeal. This meant I barely got the chance to talk to him these days, which was rather unfortunate. Harry, Ron, and Hermione however were doing all they could within their Care of Magical Creatures classes, and it was after one of those, that a side of Hermione that I'd never seen or heard about before showed itself.

In her dormitory that evening, she told Demelza, Amy and I what had happened.

"Hagrid's still a bit of an emotional wreck, sadly. We spoke to him in class today, he was still numb with shock at the verdict. He said it was all his fault, he kept dropping his notes during the trial, and that the Committee is right in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. But we're determined, we'll help him win the appeal if it's the last thing we do! Malfoy however gave me his last straw. Said he'd never seen anything so pathetic from a teacher. So I decided to slap the little twat in the face!"

There was silence for a moment, then

"You didn't Hermione!" said Demelza, though she was excited

"Yeah mate, you can't be serious!" added Amy

"I am" Hermione said, "and if you don't believe me, ask Harry and Ron"

Demelza, Amy and I glanced at each other with shock, then back to Hermione

"Mate, you do know you're bloody amazing right?" I told her "You're the best student in your year academically, you're a really good Quidditch player, and you're now giving Malfoy punishment? What's next from Hermione Granger?"

Hermione smiled

"Well, I thought it was about time someone taught him a lesson. He was well surprised, he knows not to mess with me now. Honestly, I can't wait for the Quidditch finals, we're gonna smash those Slytherins, and Malfoy will suffer even further!"

"Hear, hear!" Demelza, Amy and I said at the same time.

"Let me tell you something else. I've given up Divination. Trelawney's an old fraud, I wouldn't recommend you guys take her class next year"

"I decided that during Christmas Dinner mate" I said

"Why exactly, what's her class like?" asked Amy

"Oh it's all a load of rubbish. There's apparently so many ways to "predict the future" (she said those 3 words slowly while making quotation marks with her fingers) like tea leaves, palmistry, crystal balls etc, but none of it actually works. I've never seen anything using any of those methods, and neither have Harry and Ron, they just make it all up. Trelawney says I just have a "mundane mind" but I'm sorry, if having an exciting mind means looking into some fog in a glass ball and pretending to see death omens, then I'd definitely rather have a mundane mind! Harry and Ron even told me that she took credit for predicting my departure after I left, honestly she's a joke"

"There must be something to it though, otherwise surely Dumbledore wouldn't have hired her" said Demelza

"He hired Lockhart, and he was a useless fraud too, remember" Hermione replied

"I feel like Dumbledore did that on purpose to expose him though" I said "and need I remind you that you believed he was legit for ages?"

Hermione chewed her lip and blushed

"Yes, well, even I can be wrong sometimes" she said eventually. "I've learned my lesson, not all Professors are infallible, and therefore I'm not taking Trelawney seriously"

"Well mate, it's definitely good that you're dropping a class in any case" I replied

"So, Wimbourne Wasps then. Finally defeated this year. Pretty nice result if I do say so myself" said Hermione smugly. The Wasps had indeed suffered their first defeat of the season, to none other than Pride of Portree, so no wonder she was so pleased.

"Well of course you'd say that" said Amy, scowling.

"I say so delightedly" replied Hermione "And even more so at yet another superb performance by Eva Smacktold. I'm telling you, that Golden Quaffle has her name on it this year!"

"And I'm telling you, there will be a Wimbourne shirt with her name on it next year!" Amy shot back "She's just been auditioning for us this year, her performances have nothing to do with Portree and you know it!"

Hermione bit her lip and sighed.

"Even so" she said "I'm gonna enjoy them while I still can"

"And I'm going to enjoy Wimbourne clinching the title next week". It was true, Wimbourne only needed a draw away to bottom placed Wigtown Wanderers in their next game to secure a second successive title.

"The title might have been over for a long time, but the fight for second place is really heating up" Demelza said "Harpies, Puddlemere, Ballycastle, it's so close between those 3 at the moment, it's all to play for in that regard"

"Yeah that's gonna be really interesting to see" said Amy "only the top 3 get European Cup so one of them is going to have the heartbreak of missing out"

"God, I pray it's Puddlemere, hate those cunts" I said

"Same here mate" said Demelza

"I'm just so glad I'm not having to get tense over it" said Amy "though it would be nice if Sarah suffered that disappointment"

"Neither do I, but I wish I did, 9th is pretty deflating, despite beating the champions-elect" said Hermione

"Yeah Portree are in a bit of a no man's land at the moment" I said

"What do you mean, we're not the Harpies" replied Hermione

We all laughed

"You know that's actually a really good one" I said

"Who's surprised though, it's Hermione. Let's add "world class comedian" to her list of many talents" commented Demelza

"Think world class is a bit of a stretch" Hermione said, blushing

"Hey, take the compliment come on" said Demelza, playfully punching Hermione on the shoulder

"Thanks for chatting as always guys" Hermione said as we were leaving "I really needed it today, not been in a good mood at all"

"No problem, anytime mate, we don't need to just do this once a week, anytime you're feeling down just let us know" I told her.

It seemed like we wouldn't have the time for any more such meetings for a while though, as the third years were set huge amounts of homework over Easter in preparation for final exams. Us second years had an increase too, though it was nowhere near as bad. I was getting through my work relatively comfortably overall, although Potions and History of Magic were still difficult. Demelza let me copy her latest essay for Snape, as Potions was her best subject. I changed a few lines here and there into my own words so that it wasn't obvious. At least, we hoped it wasn't. I reciprocated, giving her my essay for McGonagall. I was quite proud of myself for how well I'd mastered the most difficult branch of magic, and I was even considering becoming an Animagus further down the line.

Hermione was usually last to leave the common room at night, first to arrive at the library next morning; she had shadows like Lupin's under her eyes, and seemed constantly close to tears. With both Gryffindor teams under daily practices now, she was being pushed to breaking point. It pained me so much to see her struggle like that, and I could only hope she'd drop more subjects sooner rather than later.

Ron and I had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When we weren't doing our own work, we were poring over enormously thick volumes with names like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality.

Oliver was also discussing tactics endlessly, which, as important as we knew it was, annoyed us to no end. Harry had to yell at him to stop him constantly reminding him to only catch the snitch if we were more than 50 points up in the game. He also kept pressuring Angelina, Katie and I to be at our best, and this was also so needless because we were performing better than ever in practice, and the three of us were confident that we would not be the ones to ruin the team's chances.

Alicia was similar with her reserve team, which led to Hermione angrily telling her to shut up in the library one evening, so she could focus on her Charms essay. The ensuing argument led them both to get kicked out by Madame Pince, and Alicia threatening to drop her for the match.

"She won't do that" Hermione told me. "She knows Mary isn't ready for a game of this magnitude"