Third Year comes to a close with some uncomfortable realizations.

I just want to say Thank you to those who have reviewed and read. I appreciate the kind words of praise...sara92 asked a great question and all I can say is that what Snape does and doesn’t know will be revealed in time...again JK owns the characters.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

The end of third year saw Professor Lupin outed as a werewolf, Sirius Black escaping the dementors and Hermione Granger packing up her trunk to head home for the summer.

Her parents had written to her a week before school ended to let her know that they would be gone for a month at a Dental Conference, and that she would be staying with a nice lady who lived in Godric’s Hollow. The woman was a Half-Blood witch who had met Richard and Helen Granger quite by accident at a farmers market near Surrey. When they had shared with the woman that their daughter was a witch, and top of her year, the witch kindly offered to take Hermione and tutor her over the summer.

Hermione was excited for the opportunity, but felt that it was one more example of her adoptive parents distancing themselves from her.

One interesting discovery had happened a week before school ended. She was up on the Seventh floor corridor just pacing around wishing that she had a place to hide, when a door miraculously opened up on the wall adjacent to where she was walking. She carefully opened the door and went inside, gasping when she saw the room filled with rows upon rows of junk. It was then she realized that she had found part of the Come and Go room, or as Hogwarts a History called it, the Room of Requirement.

It was odd, but she could almost sense the same magic emanating from the room that she felt from her ring.

Perhaps the room held another piece of her Father’s soul?

She had finally found a place to call her own, and she could start searching the room.

She couldn’t wait to come back in the fall and test out the rooms abilities.

When she was packing her trunk in her dorm room, Daphne Greengrass, one of the Pureblood girls in her year had come in to grab something she’d forgotten.

She saw Hermione walking out of the loo and gasped in shock at how thin and frail the little witch looked.

Hermione’s hair hung loosely as she was changing out of her witches robes and into her Muggle clothes when she heard the sound.

She turned around and found Daphne staring at her in shock.

Daphne knew she rarely saw Granger eating with the rest of Slytherin, but she had no idea the witch was so thin.

Daphne continued to stare at the other witch’s gaunt face—who was returning the favor with a blank, emotionless expression.

“Merlin, Granger! Are you alright? You look terrible.”

Daphne tried not to cringe at how harsh she sounded, but the little witch just looked at her impassively and didn’t say a word as she finished putting on her clothes and then shut her trunk.

When she shrunk her trunk and placed it in her jacket pocket, Daphne’s eyes widened in shock!

They hadn’t learned to do that in Charms class yet!

That was sixth year level magic!

Hermione passed by the other witch, not speaking a word and walked out of the dorm room and into the common room. She saw Malfoy and his friends all sitting by the window talking and laughing about their school year. She sighed and walked towards the common room door so she could head to the train, so she didn’t hear Daphne following her until the witch grabbed her arm to stop her.

What was it with people thinking they could grab her anytime they wanted to?

She was a mudblood to these people, so you’d think they wouldn’t want to touch her anymore than she wanted to be touched.

“Granger, wait....”. Greengrass trailed off, catching the attention of Malfoy and his friends, who all looked up in shock that someone was actually talking to the mudblood.

Hermione just stared down at Daphne’s arm passively, waiting for her to release it.

Draco, watching the scene, felt his gut clench in recognition of that look.

It was the same one Granger had given him in the library—cold and lifeless.

Daphne glanced over at her friends, not sure how to proceed.

It was clear that something was very wrong with Granger, but the girl seemed utterly indifferent.

Daphne realized she didn’t want to embarrass the other witch, but unfortunately she’d caught the attention of the other third years. Moving closer to Hermione, she whispered so only the other witch could hear when she inquired softly, “Are you alright, Granger?”

Hermione though, just stared at her in confusion, and did not reply.

She just turned around and walked out of the common room without a backwards glance.

Pansy walked up and said loudly, “What in the world were you thinking talking to the mudblood, Daphne? You know we don’t acknowledge her. She’s nothing but filth after all.”

Glaring at her other friends, they all laughed except for Draco, oddly enough. He just stared at the common room door with a frown marring his face.

So Draco had noticed that something was wrong with Granger too?

When she caught his eye, he subtly shook his head, silently letting her know they’d discuss it later.

Daphne nodded and turned to address Pansy.

“It’s none of your concern, Pansy. Don’t worry about it, it was nothing.”

Pansy scoffed like she didn’t quite believe Daphne, but didn’t say another word as the group grabbed their trunks and headed for the carriages to take them to Hogsmeade. Once they were settled on the Hogwarts Express, Draco invited Daphne to find the trolley so they could get sweets for everyone. Daphne agreed and together they left their friends in the compartment.

When they had put some distance between themselves and their friends, Draco motioned for Daphne to move into an empty compartment and closed the door.

“What was that with Granger earlier, Daphne? You seemed genuinely upset, did she say something to you?”

“First, Draco? Why do you want to know? Because if you’re just going to use the information to taunt the girl, I’d rather not say anything.”

Draco gaped at his friend in surprise.

She was clearly trying to protect Granger, a thought which Malfoy found intriguing yet oddly disturbing.

“I won’t say anything, Daphne. You have my word.”

Daphne considered her friend closely—trying to decide whether or not Draco would use what she was about to tell him to hurt Granger further.

While Daphne was a Pureblood, she felt bad for the mudblood witch.

The girl had no friends at school. She’d been alone for three years and despite the fact the the whole of Slytherin House had taunted and hurt her, she was the smartest student in their year. Probably in the entire school, if Daphne was honest. The girl never complained, never asked for help, never showed emotion. It was like she was a ghost wandering around the halls just going through the motions. Daphne realized that she’d never seen the girl smile, or laugh.

The thought made her sad.

“Fine, Draco, I will tell you, but if you use this against Hermione I will hex your balls off. Am I clear?”

Draco nodded and sat forward giving Daphne his undivided attention. Daphne then told him what she had walked in on, Granger changing out of her robes and how emaciated the little witch looked. She had obviously been wearing baggy robes to hide the fact that she was frighteningly thin.

Draco’s eyes widened in something like recognition before his mask fell firmly down in place.

He just stared at Daphne and felt sick inside. He didn’t want to be responsible for the girl wasting away. He didn’t need to live with that kind of guilt, so he told Daphne what had happened before Easter break when he’d followed Granger into the library. Daphne sat back in shock and gasped in despair at how their actions in alienating the little witch, had caused Hermione to become completely isolated and withdrawn.

“What do we do, Draco? We all have been so horrible to her, and I for one feel guilty. I never meant for this to happen. Do you know that she shrunk down her entire trunk and put it into her pocket before she walked out of our dorm room?” At this confession Draco’s gasped in surprise and awe.

“Merlin, Daph, that’s level sixth year magic!”

Daphne just nodded in agreement.

“She’s the reason we’ve won the House Cup the last two years, she knows all the answers and is always the first to master spells, yet no one gives her any credit or says a kind word to her. She’s never been mean to me and I’ve been awful to her. In fact? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say an unkind word about anyone since that altercation with Professor Snape last year, and she was only speaking the truth.”

Draco reluctantly nodded, feeling more guilty by the moment. “You know our parents would never let us associate with a mudblood. My father makes it a point to constantly remind me that I’m second in class behind her. I’m a disappointment apparently.”

“But that is no reason to take it out on Granger. I may not have been able to truly befriend her, but I can’t be cruel to her anymore, Draco. We have to make the others leave her alone.”

Draco just nodded reluctantly and the. sighed in defeat.

While his influence in Slytherin House was substantial, he knew that there were many within his house who would not stop taunting the mudblood.

He would need to think about it over the summer and figure out the best way to handle the situation.

“I’ll think about it, Daphne. It’s all I can promise for right now.”

Daphne nodded again and the two Slytherins left the compartment completely unaware that a third person was sitting in the far corner near the window under a concealment charm.

Hermione had panicked when the two Slytherins had walked into the compartment. She had perfected the concealment charm over Easter break after being accosted by Malfoy in the library. She was certain they had no idea she’d been sitting there, listening to their conversation. Daphne seemed genuinely concerned about her and even Malfoy seemed oddly human.

She had no idea he had seen her crying that day in the library.

Hermione had no intention of getting her hopes up that things would change for her, or that she would make friends. Technically she was still a mudblood in the eyes of her housemates, and she had no intention of setting the record straight.

She sat there deep in contemplation waiting for the train to reach London so she could put some distance between herself and school for a few months.

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