The Week Before Finals

The Gryffindor common room was absolutely silent the week before finals. Was it because everyone in Gryffindor was studying and couldn't tolerate noise? No, not really...unless you consider Hermione Granger everyone. Was Hermione studying? It depends on what you mean by the word "studying." Yes, she had all of her notes in front of her, but something just wasn't right. She couldn't pay attention. Her brain was working against her. This had to be stopped; she couldn't go on like this.

Just as she was about to get up, Dean and Seamus came running down the stairs, obviously to busy to care about Hermione (They'd learned to treat girls as a necessary bother, but unimportant).

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING!? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IT'S THE BLOODY WEEK BEFORE FINALS?"

They looked at each other and smiled. "Hermione," Dean said, "maybe you should go to the library, or outside...or somewhere that's not here. You're driving everyone mad. This isn't like you."

"Yeah," said Fred, "Usually you just study in your corner and just ask everyone who comes by how much they've studied. When they answer you get this annoying smirk on your face and say 'oh, well that's good' and you turn back to your books smirking."

"But it's not all smirking," said George. "You'll occasionally get up, however, and wander around. You start in the common room, going by everyone and smirking...thatsmirkissoannoying! Then you go to the library, where you'll drag someone in and, very loudly, explain to them that you've been prepared for weeks. You apologize to Madam Pince and walk out smirking, because everyone in the entire library heard you. Next you go to the great hall, where you go to the various tables and tell everyone how ready you are."

"Actually, it's not EVERYone," said Fred. "You usually avoid the Slytherins, mainly because they glare at you in a suggestive way...especially Millicent Bulstrode....I'd avoid being anywhere alone with her if I were you."

The entire time they were speaking Hermione had stood there, clenching her fists. Her face turned red first, then white. By the end of their diatribe, she had gone through several shades of red, and most of the blood had drained from her face.

"I, I, I...."

"Yes, yes, we know, you're superior, and you've been ready, and you don't REALLY do all of that, we're just dreaming."

Hermione had had enough. It was amazing how quickly she could run away. It really was.

"Fred, go see what she was reading."

As Fred flipped through the book on top of her stack, he started turning funny colors.

"I wondered where these went..."

"Where what went?" asked George.

"YOU know....the...pictures."

"Which ones, the ones that no one knows about?"

"Yes, those."

"Which ones that no one knows about? The ones of you and me, or the ones of Bill and that German roommate of his, or the ones where you were..."

"GEORGE! I think that you can shut your trap now. And none of those, because THOSE. DON'T. EXIST. I'm talking about those other ones. The ones where two particularly touchy people wouldn't want us to have...TOUCHY people George. One has a scar, and the other one looks like us."

"Oh, the ones where Harry and Ron are in Harry's four poster and they're..." Seamus interjected.

The twins turned to look at him, shocked. "How did you know about them?"

"Well, they are my roommates, and I you know, it was really cold one night...you'd be amazed what five bodies can do for warmth...amazed. And, well, we got some pictures, and then Neville told you, and you got better pictures....so I put my mini-camera next to yours."

"Oh. That's just...five bodies? How did you...? Never mind, that's not important." George couldn't think properly...why couldn't HE have a dorm room like that?

At that moment, Fred came up with a good question, "How did you get yours developed? Not many places would give you pictures like those."

"Well, I asked Hermione, and she told me how to charm them to look like they were of meadows and the sea and things like that. I had to give her copies of all of them though."

"I think we've figured out WHY she was distracted now. This isn't like her. Then again, she's a woman, and women have desires and...well...they just sit there, don't they. Come on George, let's take a shower..."

Poor Hermione. No one ran after her. It's unfortunate, too, as she ran into Millicent in the showers.

Hermione was found unconscious the next day. She was lying next to a barely recognizable Millicent. Apparently Millicent had set off some of Hermione's more severe personal defense charms. :Luckily she hadn't set off the most severe, and that's the only reason she was still breathing and had quite all of her vital organs, and quite a few of her non-essential organs. Not to say that all of her pieces were in the right places, or that her skin, if you could call it that, was the right color or shape, but she was alive.

Hermione was excused from exams that year. So were Harry and Ron. Why? Let's just say that Hermione charmed Harry and Ron, too, and Draco Malfoy offended the charms quite a lot. Draco was not excused, just disfigured.

Madam Pomfrey discovered later that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't hurt at all, but that the charms had a built in mental safety device, which gives the brain time to process what's happened.

Poor Draco, however, spent a long time in the ward in-between the male and female wards at St. Mungo's. Not many people stayed here. Those who do don't want to. Due to the wonders of regrowth potions, Draco was able to return to the male dorms at Hogwarts the next year. He showered late at night away from prying eyes. No one knows why...no one except Hermione...she did, afterall, design that particular charm...she'd had to explain why she wanted a book on targeting charms towards specific people, as she was supposed to be reading up on charms with a consent trigger...but lying was ok. She would not share with Draco Malfoy (although Dean and Seamus were ok).