Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Hermione Undaunted

Chapter 4

Snape scratched a big red spiky 'D' across the top of her latest essay and wrote "See me" underneath. Just as he had predicted he did not need help from Dumbledore in finding ways to put Granger in detention. On Weasley's essay he wrote a large 'O' across the top. It was quite obvious that Granger had done Weasley's essay for him and he decided to give him the grade she would have earned on her own if, once again, she had refrained from helping her friends cheat. In turn, he gave her the grade Weasley would have earned on his own. He could not think of anything that get her hackles up worse than seeing Weasley get an 'O' on that paper and a 'D' on hers. He would make damn sure she saw it.

Hermione rather enjoyed Herbology. She didn't quite have the love for it that Neville did, and would probably kill any number of plants left in her care for lack of attention to them, but she did enjoy learning about them and what practical purposes they had in everyday life. She particularly liked learning about their uses in potions and since her mission for the year was to use every opportunity as an opportunity to protect her and her friends from getting hurt in the war she was remaining as vigilant as ever. A small garden snake was weaving its way through the roots of her snargaluff plant and she mindlessly plucked it out.

Hermione's vigilance had waned somewhat when Ron got upset about the stupid Slug Club once again. She was about to ask him to go with her, but instead he got angry about her hooking up with McLaggen, which she just may do. In fact, she thought vehemently as she stabbed at her snargaluff pod, that is exactly what I will do. Unless of course Ron softened and went her with instead. The snake she'd plucked out earlier snuck back into her plant's pot and she had a sudden burst of inspiration.

"Harry," she said. "Do you think Voldemort still has the snake?"

Harry looked at her curiously. "I reckon so. She seemed like his familiar or something. Why?"

"No reason," Hermione murmured as she mentally added another library book she needed to find to her list.

"You have to a reason, Hermione," Ron retorted. "You can't just keep bringing stuff up and then leaving us in the dark about it."

Hermione considered his words. She did do that a lot. As they were gathering up their things to leave she explained herself.

"Well, you know how Harry is learning about Voldemort—," Ron hissed at the name, "and his past and everything, I was thinking we should be thinking of every possible avenue of protection for ourselves based on what we currently know about him. We already know he uses the snake as a weapon so-"

Ron interrupted again, "So what? We find him, take it, and kill it? Come off it, Hermione."

"No," Hermione replied in exasperation. "We prepare an antidote to the bite just in case one of us gets attacked."

"That's not likely," Ron muttered.

"Really, Ron? Care to ask your father how likely it is?" Hermione snapped. "What do you think, Harry?"

"Couldn't hurt." He shrugged.

Ron harrumphed in response. Hermione decided she would press Mr. Weasley for details about the antidote herself if she could not find enough information on her own. She was sure some of the information she needed was in the restricted section somewhere and it would be easy to get a not signed by Slughorn.

"Looks like Katie's not going to be coming back anytime soon," Harry commented when they saw her still missing from the Great Hall at lunch.

"I know. It is so sad," Hermione said.

Ron plucked his bag on the floor at his feet and started reaching for the chicken. He took a mouthful before he said, "I know. Means we're going to have somebody else be a chaser at the Quidditch match. There isn't a whole of time to train someone new."

Hermione rolled her eyes in disgust. Her appetite for lunch was thoroughly killed so she grabbed her things and left for the library. Her disgust extended from Ron to herself. What was it she saw in him again? She didn't want to like him anymore, but she just couldn't help it. He did have some redeeming qualities even if she could not think of any at the moment.

Inside the library Hermione hunted down several books on venomous creatures and their antidotes. She was particularly absorbed in a chapter on building immunities to certain venoms when she felt an ominous presence behind her. Sure enough, when she looked Professor Snape was sweeping through the library. He stopped to speak with Madam Pince near the restricted section. That man made an incredible impression on her. Briefly she thought about his smell, of violets, pepper, and cedar, and sandalwood. Wait, sandalwood? No, that was Cormac who was…

"He is a bit intimidating," Cormac said slipping into the seat next to Hermione. He reached out and twirled a bit of her hair around his finger. She leaned back just enough to pull the lock free.

Hermione shrugged and glanced at Snape again. He looked right back at her as if he had some sort of cosmic connection that allowed him to know when her eyes were on him even if it was only momentarily. "He is certainly complicated."

"I think it is all a big act, the tough guy thing. I bet underneath all that greasy hair he is just a normal bloke who got picked on as a kid so he bullies the students he has now to make up for it," Cormac said taking the lock of hair in his fingers again. Hermione was mildly impressed with how astute his evaluation of Professor Snape was because she knew for sure that some of it was actually true. Hermione looked at him again quickly. He could be quite good looking if he did something about his hair, his pallor, and maybe fixed his teeth up a little, although she had never actually seen him smile so maybe if he just looked happy he wouldn't even have to do that. She was a dentist's daughter though and happened to believe in the quality of even white teeth. There was something streamlined about his body when his robes flowed behind him, and his jaw was chiseled…

"Earth to Hermione," Cormac said waving a hand over her face. Hermione grimaced as Snape caught her looking again and quickly turned to Cormac.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" she asked.

"The Slug Club Christmas party," he repeated. "It seems only natural that we go together, don't you think?"

"Oh, of course, I mean, maybe," she stammered. "I haven't really decided on the party yet that is. Can I get back to you?"

"Naturally," Cormac replied. "I wouldn't expect a pretty girl like you to have only one person to choose from."

Hermione swallowed the guffaw in her throat. With the exception of Krum, whom she acutely missed, there wasn't anyone who'd really batted an eye except for Cormac. Was he blind, or was she? Hermione noted with irony that the table she was sitting at was the very on she had been sitting at when Krum first approached her.

Cormac left her sitting there feeling more alone than she'd felt when she got to the library. Ron was really jealous of Krum too, but he'd done nothing then either. Hermione sighed and looked at her watch. It had stopped. She performed a charm with her wand that told her the time and reset her watch. She had about twenty minutes before she had to leave for her next class, which happened to be DADA. She glanced up as she pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out of her bag so she could scribble a quick note to Viktor. This time Professor Snape was looking at her, and he was sneering. He usually reserved that look for Harry, or when she was bouncing up and down to answer questions in class. She suppressed a shiver and turned to her letter acting as if she didn't even notice him there.

Snape had seen Granger in the library before her DADA lesson studying a large tome in earnest. It was clearly not a class text, and the book looked oddly familiar. It never ceased to amaze him the things she found to do in her spare time. She reminded him a lot of himself in his school days, although she seemed to lack the creative ingenuity he had when it came to developing new uses for things, or improving upon spells and potions. Still, she never took anything for granted which was partly due to her blood status. Muggle-borns were more likely to seek rational explanations for the magical phenomena around them, and Hermione Granger was rational if she was as anything at all.

Still, the end of class could not come fast enough. He took great pleasure in handing out each and every essay he had graded and he made it to her table he made a big show of handing her the essay with the big red O on it.

"Oh, my mistake, this one is Weasley's," he said as he slipped the essay out of her hand and plopped it in front of Ron who proceeded to gape at the grade. "This one is yours."

Hermione took the paper with the D on it shakily from his hand. Her eyes widened and then narrowed in anger at she looked at the paper, and then her eyes widened again in surprise. This all happened in a matter of a few seconds before she schooled her face into neutrality and stuffed the essay in her bag.

"Hermione, did you see? I got an O," Ron said thrusting his paper in her face. "You're the best; I couldn't have done it without you."

Hermione scowled. "I think everyone knows that."

"What's that supposed to be mean?" Ron demanded.

Hermione ignored him. Harry, who had also quickly stuffed his essay back in his bag, looked at Hermione questioningly.

"Um, I have to stay after class. I will talk to you at supper." She waited until Harry had pulled Ron out the door and every other student had left before she approached Snape at the desk in the front of the room.

He didn't look up from the book he was feigning to read until Hermione spoke.

"You wanted to see me, sir," Hermione said with a calm she did not feel.

Snape slowly slid a feather quill in between the pages of his book and gently laid it down on the table.

"I think another detention, or three, should be enough to teach you this lesson, wouldn't you say?" he drawled.

"Lesson, sir?" Hermione asked.

Snape nearly growled in frustration. "Don't play innocent with me, Granger. You and I both know that you wrote more than half of Weasley's essay for him. I gave him the grade you would have received on your paper, had you not decided to do his as well. Naturally, you received the grade Weasley would have gotten had you let him do his own work."

Hermione nearly growled in frustration. She was going to kill Ron for not making the essay look more like his own.

Snape pulled two essays out of a drawer and placed them facing her on the desk. "If you need further proof that your help over the years has ensured that Weasley has learned nothing, look at these."

Hermione stepped up to the table.

"This essay is one your dear boyfriend did all by his lonesome and turned in to me last week."

Hermione skimmed it. I was the essay on the benefits of nonverbal spells that she had refused to assist him with. It was full of spelling and grammatical errors, written in very large letters, and included no useful information whatsoever. The bulk of the essay stated "spells like that are good because they don't let the enemy know you are about to curse them." It was rubbish. The other was one she had helped him with the previous year in potions. It was significantly better, on all counts. Not great, but better.

"This is a copy of his latest effort that I just handed back."

Hermione took the third proffered essay and saw that he did not even bother to change her handwriting to his own in some parts. Her face reddened with fury.

"How is anybody supposed to learn with you around?" he asked sardonically.

What really made Hermione livid was that they both knew full well that Ron in particular would not care to learn whether she was around or wasn't. She was going to get him, plain and simple. Hermione glanced at the essays one last time, but there were no notes on them, only the marks in spiky letters. She was fairly convinced of something, but she needed more proof. More handwriting samples.

"Once again Granger, what lesson do you need to learn?" Snape asked.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "I need to learn to let other people do their own work."

"I prefer the term 'cheating,'" he replied. "You seem to have a knack for it."

"But Ron cheated too!" Hermione blurted out unable to control himself.

Snape stood up quickly and stepped around the table to face her.

"Because you allow it," he snarled.

She had nothing to say to that. It was the absolute truth. There was no way to reconcile her belief that she was a good person with high integrity with her behavior without having to overhaul her entire self-ideology. She was a means-end person. The end she wanted was Ron to like her, the means was his homework. It hadn't even worked and now she was in the worst kind of trouble.

"Are you going to report me to Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked timidly.

Snape crossed his arms over his chest. "No. I will handle the problem myself. Fortunately for you there is a certain level of immunity when it comes to being one of Potter's playmates. Certainly you have noticed that none of you have been so much as suspended for any of your rule breaking over the years."

Hermione nodded and picked up her bag assuming they were done.

"Your detentions, Miss Granger will begin tonight at seven."

Hermione walked towards the door, but stopped just before leaving. She turned around slowly. He was still watching her. He raised one black eyebrow as he waited for Hermione to ask the question he'd been waiting for.

"My essay, had I not helped Ron, would have received an 'O'?" she asked.

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and gave her a longsuffering sigh. "Yes, Miss Granger. For once you had written something that followed all the directions, included outside sources, and you listed a creative and practical defensive use for what is traditionally used as only a warding spell. A use that I believe I saw demonstrated in class only a few weeks ago. You appear to be learning, Granger. Now you need to step out of the way so the rest of the students here can do the same."

"Yes, sir," Hermione said and shut the door behind her. She was a tumble of emotions. She was furious at Ron. Angry at herself for letting it get this far, and angry that she was going to miss a lesson with Hagrid to come and clean out cupboards or sort flobberworms for Snape for at least three nights. She'd never received this much detention in her life. Part of her was elated that Snape finally had something good to say about her work, but that part of her was tempered with the suspicion that he may be the Half-Blood Prince. She would have to find one of her old essays that he actually wrote comments on. He sometimes left scathing remarks on her homework, but when she began answering the comments with counter arguments he had stopped. When he posted instructions on the board he used a generic writing spell that pretty much looked the same no matter who used it. If he was the Half-Blood Prince she had loads of questions for him.

Hermione bumped into Draco near the Room of Requirement, but he did not even curse at her he like he normally would. That was odd and disappointing because in her present mood she was itching for a fight. She was reminded about Hogsmeade and thought maybe it was time she said something to someone. Hermione moved on to her dorm room and dug out one of her old essays from a collection she kept in her truck. It took some considerable digging but she was able to unearth one from early in fourth year. It had one sentence on it. "Congratulations, you know how to read a textbook." It was perfect. She was positive the mystery was as good as solved. The only question now was what to do with it. She had too much information and nobody to tell it to.

When Hermione returned to the common room she found Harry and Ron talking to Dean about Quidditch.

"What happened?" Ron asked. "Did he want to talk to you about your bad score?"

"No, Ron!" Hermione snapped. "You got the bad grade. He gave you my grade because he knows I did your work. You didn't even bother to change my handwriting in some parts! Now I have at least three detentions with Snape and he thinks I am a cheat! It is entirely your fault!"

"How is it my fault?"Ron yelled. "You offered to help!"

"You're right," she yelled back. "It is my fault for thinking I could trust you or that you appreciated anything I do. I am the idiot here."

"Blimey, Hermione," Ron said. "You don't have to lose control. Nobody called you an idiot."

"You really have three detentions with Snape?" Harry interrupted. "Do you think he is going to tell Dumbledore?"

"No," Hermione said. "And that happens to be one of the interesting parts of this whole thing."

Hermione repeated what Snape had said about the benefits of being one of Harry's friends.

"That slick git," Ron said. "He's just mad because he always hated Harry and hasn't been able to get him kicked out."

"Maybe," Harry said, but the look he exchanged with Hermione said otherwise.

None of them said anything for a few moments as they all settled in at the table to get some work done before supper. Hermione deliberately sat so she wouldn't be facing Ron. She wished she could just get up and leave, but she needed Harry's book.

Hermione made a big display of digging through her bag. "Ugh, I left my potions book in my trunk and I need it for this essay." Hermione tapped the page she was writing on with her quill. "Let me borrow yours, Harry."

Hermione reached across the table to take Harry's since it was always with him these days, but he snatched it back.

"Oh, come on," Hermione said with exaggerated annoyance. "I will give it right back; just let me copy the page I need."

Reluctantly Harry handed the book over. Hermione opened it the chapter on Felix Felicis and copied the page using a quick charm. There was spiky handwriting all over it. Satisfied she had what she needed she closed the book and tossed it back to Harry with more force than was really necessary.

"There, you have it back. Happy now?" Hermione said.

"Quite," Harry replied ignoring her temper and flipping through his book as if to make sure it was still sound.

Later that night Hermione went to her detention absolutely sure she was about to spend it with the Half-Blood Prince. She was still determined to get Professor Snape to admit it though, and she had no immediate plans of sharing the information with Harry or Ron. She was not sure how Ron would react, nor did she care, but she knew that Harry's spirit would be crushed since he had developed some sort of strange imaginary kinship with the Half-Blood Prince. She was not ready to burst that bubble, but it would be nice if she knew more of the motives behind some of the hexes and jinxes in the book.

When she arrived in the DADA dungeon classroom the room was neat and orderly. Snape was waiting already. He was sitting at his desk sipping a cup of tea. Another sat on the desk in front of him along with the special kind of quill that Umbridge used in her detentions and a fresh piece of parchment. She was horrified. Hermione had horrible visions of him forcing to drink tea laced with Veritaserum or a poison of some sort that made her think or do horrible things. She would rather do the lines with that nasty quill than take one sip. He wouldn't really put something in it, would he? Better not to take any chances.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked as soon as she'd sat down.

"No thank you," she said as politely as possible and then added, "sir."

"Why ever not," he said taking a large gulp of his. "It's good and you will be here for awhile. You might get thirsty."

Hermione could here Moody chanting in her head. Do not take drinks from people you do not trust unless you see them make them.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't want any tea," she said. "I don't particularly like it."

"Wise, Granger, not to take a drink from someone you don't trust, especially when you did not see it prepared," Snape said.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "I trust you not to poison me."

"Why? Isn't it true that I have been out to get you Gryffindors the whole time you have been here?" he said with menace.

Hermione was bound and determined to not be afraid and to keep him talking if that kept him for ordering her to do lines.

"No, sir. It would not be worth your job to do something horrible to me, like poison me. Isn't it true you have been waiting for years to get the Defense post?" Hermione asked daringly.

Snape narrowed his eyes at her and a shadow crossed over his face. He had to cause her some sort of grief so that he could take the memory to Voldemort, but she was not going to make it easy. He really, truly, did not want to hurt her, or give her reasons to hate him more. His ability to protect her depended on her trust. Unlike Potter, he had no excuses for treating her poorly. He wanted to help her, but unfortunately he was going to have to make her do some lines first.

"We are going to play a game, Miss Granger," Snape began. "I am going to ask about some of your deepest darkest secrets and either you can tell me, or you can write a line with Umbridge's quill. It was the only thing of use she left behind in her classroom. Or, you could let me into your mind to find a memory and attempt to block me, or you could write a line."

Hermione was not about to tell him anything she was not already prepared to share. She could implicate herself and a lot of other people if she did. She would rather choose the lines over letting him in her head. If only there was a better way to learn Occlumency from him, which could have been a useful punishment. She absolutely could not believe he was about to do this to her and she was literally beginning to shake with fear and rage.

Snape inwardly sighed. He was frightening her, but what he was really doing was serving a purpose. It was a mild form of interrogation that she needed to learn how to protect herself from. Also, if she allowed him in her mind it would give him an opportunity to teach her Occlumency without having to flat out say he way wanted her to learn. He was in a quandary if she did not cooperate, but he needed her to write at least a couple lines so Voldemort could see it. The fact that Dumbledore approved this detention beforehand did not set well with him either.

"We will start with something easy. What is your full name?" Snape asked.

Hermione looked at him surprised. That she was not afraid to answer. "Hermione Jean Granger."

"Where were you born?"

"Eastbourne, East Sussex, England."

Hermione fought a sigh of relief. Maybe he was simply trying to scare her.

"Let's make this a little more difficult shall we?" he asked.

"Did you really believe that you could fight a fully grown mountain troll on your own in your first year?" he asked.

This one was more difficult. Did she say yes and spare herself the embarrassment of admitting that she had been hiding out in the bathroom crying? Was it really worth a line with that painful quill?

"Times almost up, Granger, I may have to just have a peek at the answer myself," Snape drawled.

"No," Hermione said quickly. "I did not."

"Then what possessed you to go into that bathroom?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and picked up the quill. He had a personal hand in humiliating her plenty of times over the years. She was not about to let him know about the moments he was not involved with.

"What do you want me to write?" Hermione asked coolly.

Snape appeared to be considering her words. "I want you to write 'I should be afraid of the Dark Lord.'"

Hermione's eyes snapped up and met his. She was expecting something like 'cheat.' There was something else going on here. He looked at her with a barely detectable amount of pleading in his eyes, like his hand was being forced to force hers. Fortunately for him she was making it easy to get over with quickly, and over such a little thing. She was protective of her past.

Taking a deep breath Hermione brought the quill to parchment and began to write. She bit her lip as the searing pain in her non writing hand took hold. It was awful, much worse than Harry ever made it sound. The words appeared slowly in her small, but tidy scrawl and when she was finished slowly covered up again with new skin.

"Has Harry Potter stolen potions ingredients from my stores?" Snape continued without comment about the bloody line she had just written.

"No," Hermione nearly gasped. Relieved that she could be both honest and avoid a line.

"Have you?" Snape asked quickly. He had not planned on asking for her was sure Potter had been the one to steal the Polyjuice Potions ingredients and the Gillyweed.

Hermione decided to let him have this one too. "Yes. I stole some ingredients to make Polyjuice Potion in my second year. If you recall correctly I made a mistake and used a cat hair and spent time in the hospital wing recovering before I was petrified."

He did remember. "You made a mistake with the hair, but that does not mean the potion was not brewed correctly."

"It was," she replied. There was really nothing he could do about it now.

Snape wanted to talk to her more about the potions, but he had to move on. "What has Potter told you about his visits with Dumbledore?"

That she was not about to divulge. She knew that Dumbledore trusted Snape and most likely already knew what they discussed in their meetings, but if he didn't she was not about to tell him. He was a spy after all and that information could really hurt their cause if Voldemort found out. Hermione picked up the quill again.

"Same line, sir?"

"No. This time I want you to write, 'I am good at cheating, so do not trust me.'"

That hurt more than the lines. She was trustworthy and she had just proved it by being willing to write lines rather than tell a secret. Biting back a small sob she put the quill to paper again. The pain was much worse the second time as the skin reopened. When she was finished she set the quill down quickly and stared at her pink skin.

To her surprise Snape picked up the quill and the parchment. He put them both in a drawer. He walked to the store room and came back with a bowl with some plant tentacles floating in it.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Essence of murtlap," Hermione said immediately.

Snape pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dipped it in the bowl. He handed it to Hermione.

"Thank you," she whispered as the pain in her hand eased. She was impressed with Harry's tolerance to pain because that hurt.

"Granger, why did you choose the lines over my using Legilimency on you?" Snape asked with a genuine note of curiosity.

Hermione decided it was safe to start answering questions more freely. "I have studied the theory behind Occlumency and Legilimency, but have not been able to test my abilities."

"Naturally," he replied. "Potter would be of no use to you, and I doubt any of your friends from Dumbledore's Army would be any help either. It is a delicate skill."

Hermione ignored the affront to Harry and her friends. "I have always wanted to learn. I used to keep bothering Harry about closing his mind, and I would practice it too."

"It's good to know one of you took it seriously," Snape said.

Hermione was indignant. "Harry did! He really tried, but he just could not do it. Voldemort hasn't been inside his mind this year."

"That's because the Dark Lord closed the connection, you silly girl, and be careful with that name!"

"Fear of the name only makes you afraid of the thing itself," Hermione recited.

Snape sneered at Hermione. "That is one name you, of all people, should learn to fear."

"Sir, what are you trying to say? Am I in some particular danger with You-Know-Who because of my friendship with Harry or something?" Hermione barraged him.

Snape held up a hand to stop her. "You are going to learn Occlumency. Beginning now."

Before Hermione could blink Snape was in her mind. Images of her past began to soar past her mind's eye until they began to slow. Soon the images were limited to her in the library, and then they were limited to when she was in the library with Viktor Krum. Using all her might she tried to put the memories behind a black screen so he could not see them anymore. It felt like he saw every moment she shared with Krum before he was gone.

"That was a sufficient first attempt."

Hermione pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples and tried not to be angry about the sneak attack. He was going to teach her Occlumency and that was all that mattered. This detention was strange beyond imagination. She expected to have another go, but instead dismissed her until the same time and day the following week.

Before Hermione left though she decided to tell about Draco because Professor Snape was his head of house, after all, and she had to tell someone before something worse than what Katie happened if Harry's suspicions were correct.

"The day that Katie was cursed Harry accused Draco Malfoy of giving the cursed necklace to Katie Bell somehow at Hogsmeade. Professor McGonagall said that Malfoy was not even in Hogsmeade that day because he was doing detention with her, but I saw him there with my own eyes. I passed him and Katie Bell near the bathrooms at the Three Broomsticks. Katie ignored me which was really strange of her to do, and Malfoy called me a Mudblood just as he always does," Hermione confided. "I am almost positive it was really him, but if someone is stealing potions supplies from your cupboards right now, it might be worth investigating."

Snape looked at Hermione closely with an inscrutable expression. "Have you mentioned this to anyone else?"

"No, Professor."

"Not even Potter and Weasley?"

"Especially not Harry, I don't want him to jump to any wild conclusions and do something he will regret. I think this is best left up to the teachers. Harry thinks Malfoy is a Death Eater now and is on some sort of mission for Vold-, You-Know-Who." Hermione bit her lip afraid she might have said too much.

"What do you think, Miss Granger," Snape asked.

Hermione considered. "I think Harry is right about Malfoy being up to something, but I don't know if they would let him be a Death Eater, unless he was forced to do it."

"If you know that I am a spy for both sides, don't you suppose that I would already know if Malfoy is a Death Eater, or if he is up to a plot here in the castle?"

Hermione immediately felt foolish for bringing it up to him. And now she had gone and fed him information about Harry that he could use to stop Malfoy from being so careless, and then they would never be able to figure out what was going on. Why was she so stupid?

"If it makes you feel any better, Miss Granger, I did not know, and do not know what Malfoy's plans are in the castle this year." That was at least half true. He knew what Draco was supposed to do, but not how. Hopefully it would be enough information to gain her trust. He had high hopes for Hermione Granger. Draco, on the other hand, he simply hoped to keep out of trouble.

A/N: Okay, another chapter up. I will have to take a break for a couple of days because I have paper to write for school, but it has been fun. Send a review they make me feel good! Thanks to those of you who have reviewed, I will reply personally as soon as I can! Oh, and BTW, I took liberties with Hermione's birthplace. I don't recall JKR ever mentioning where she actually lived.