Chapter Summary: This introduces a new aspect of Hermione's life at Hogwarts (that I completely made up) about where she disappears off to when she needs some time alone. In addition, we get to see the battle with the troll from Hermione's point of view.
--- Begin Fic Here ---
Ever since that close encounter with the three-headed dog, Hermione had kept her promise to herself to stay away from Harry and Ron. She felt really stupid for even trying to hang around with them before. What had she been thinking? Traipsing around the castle at all hours of the night in the vain hope that she might be able to save the day and make the famous Harry Potter like her. She'd never done anything that dumb in her entire life. What was it about Harry that made her even consider it?
Whatever it was, she knew that it was probably best for her sanity to stay away from him. It had been a whole month and she still hadn't made any friends at the school. It was getting cooler and she was getting lonely. Aside from Percy, Hermione did spend a lot of time with Neville Longbottom, but it was mostly to help him with potions class. Snape had taken an immense dislike to Neville who consistently messed up every assignment. It was all Hermione could do just to keep him from failing. Neville was of course very grateful for all of Hermione's help and kindness. At least he didn't think she was a bossy know-it-all. Snape had quickly caught on to this though and had banned Hermione from partnering Neville in potions class.
However, like Percy, Neville wasn't the kind of person Hermione wanted to open up to. Maybe she was just being picky. Or maybe, deep down inside she still wanted the chance to really talk with Harry without making a fool of herself or making him mad at her.
Hermione had taken to exploring the castle on her own during her free time. She needed to do something besides going to the library with Neville, and the castle was amazing.
One particular afternoon, she had found a secret passage that led to one of the high ramparts of the castle. It was actually a stroke of luck that let her stumble upon the stairwell up to the ramparts. She was walking down a hall near Gryffindor tower entrance completely engrossed in a book she was reading. She didn't realize that she had taken a wrong turn and after a few minutes she crashed into a stone statue. When she looked up, she saw part of the wall opening up behind the statue. Something she had touched on the statue had triggered it. It was only large enough for her to crawl through at first, but after a few minutes, the passageway opened up to a huge staircase.
After a few minutes of climbing, she'd reached a trap door. This one was locked but a quick "alohomora" charm solved that problem. She pushed the door open and was met with a beautiful sight as she ascended onto the ramparts. From up here, she could see the Quidditch field, the forbidden forest, and far beyond. A cool breeze flowed through her hair as she looked all around.
She realized how perfect this place was. Hopefully no one else knew about it, and that meant she could get away from the crowd of the common room whenever she wanted and just come here to relax. She found out that the way to open the passageway was to kick the statue in the shin. After that, she went up to this secluded spot almost every day afterwards.
It was particularly nice to go up during the cool autumn evenings and watch the various house quidditch teams practicing. She was close enough to see what was going on but far enough away that nobody noticed her sitting on the castle wall. Harry was of course practicing with the Gryffindor team. He was an amazing flyer and Hermione could see that he would make a great seeker. Watching him fly was like poetry in motion… but it was still unfair. She couldn't understand why they would bend the rules just for him. She had even gone to Professor McGonagall and voiced her concern about it, but the head of Gryffindor house had her heart set on winning the Quidditch Cup and couldn't be persuaded otherwise.
A few weeks after her night adventure with Harry, Ron, and Neville, Hermione was up on the ramparts watching the Gryffindor house team practice and also reading a new book she had found in the library that dealt with alchemy. It was the night before Halloween and she was looking forward to the upcoming feast. As the last rays of sunlight began to fade, she was just about to leave when something behind her startled her.
"Enjoying the show?" Hermione whirled around. It was Fred, another one of the Weasleys, sitting on his broom. Apparently, she had been wrong about not being able to be seen from the quidditch field.
"Oh you scared me," she said nervously. "What are you doing up here?"
"I should ask you the same thing," Fred quipped. He climbed off of his broom and stood on the ramparts. "I thought you didn't break school rules. You wouldn't want one of the professor's catching you up here." Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Fred just laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your little secret. To be honest, George and I found that hidden passage behind the statue years ago. We just never used it because it didn't lead anywhere useful. Glad to see you've found a use for it though."
It seemed that every member of the Weasley family was nice except for Ron.
"I honestly didn't think anyone could see me all the way up here," Hermione admitted.
"Well to be honest, I really couldn't see you. In fact no one could, 'cept for Harry."
"Harry?"
"Yup, he's the one who pointed you out to me and George. I guess that should be expected. He's got the eyesight of a seeker, that's for sure. He asked me to come up here and see if you'd talk to him."
"What?" She knew Fred and George were renowned practical jokers and wondered if this was one of them.
But Fred just shrugged. "I dunno, I just said I'd do the relay. He said something about burying the hatchet."
"Well if he wants to talk to me, he can do it himself," Hermione said haughtily. "He's got a broom doesn't he? Tell him to fly up here."
"Sheeze, don't kill the messenger." Fred said hopping back on his broom. "I'm just doing the bloke a favor." He flew off.
Hermione sighed as she reflected on the brief conversation. Why did Harry want to talk to her? It didn't make any sense. He had plenty of opportunities to talk to her before hand and never did. What was different now? It was probably the fact that Ron wasn't around. He probably figured it'd be okay to talk to the unpopular girl if he wasn't seen by anyone he knew. Maybe, he felt guilty about the way he had been treating her. Well she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of clearing his conscience while no one was looking. If he wanted to talk to her, he could do it in front of the other Gryffindors.
Still… it was nice knowing that Harry Potter actually wanted to talk to her.
"Ugh… he treats me like dirt for weeks and I melt just at the thought of talking to him. I'm almost as lame as Parvati." She headed towards the trap door.
-----
"Ooo, he's looking over here," Lavender squealed.
Hermione had joined Lavender and Parvati at the table in the common room they were using for studying. Obviously, Hermione had already spent a great deal of time studying earlier that day on the ramparts. This was just another attempt to maintain good relationship with her roommates.
Lavender and Parvati weren't really studying though; they were reveling over Parvati's most recent attempt to get in Harry's good graces. During their last Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Parvati had shown off her knowledge of Harry's claim to fame.
Hermione mentally recalled some of the more memorable moments of Parvati's speech. "And because of the amazing and mysterious powers that Harry Potter possessed, he was able to, as a small baby, defeat the greatest dark wizard of all times." Hermione had almost gagged when she heard that and Harry had looked like he was sinking in quicksand.
"I think he was really impressed with you," Lavender was saying now. "You're so lucky."
Hermione lowered the book she was reading and looked in the direction they were pointing. Harry was indeed looking right at their table, but when they're eyes met, he turned away. What was he playing at?
"Hermione, are you listening to me?" Lavender pressed.
"Huh," Hermione said coming back to reality.
"I swear girl, you read too much. You're going to fry your brain. I was saying that you need to watch out for Ron. I overheard him telling Harry at lunch that he wished there was a way that he and Harry could get you to help them with their schoolwork."
"Fat chance," Hermione scoffed. "I'd rather hear you snore."
"What?"
Hermione caught herself. "Nothing. I'm just saying there's nothing Ron Weasley could say or do that would make me want to help them."
Lavender shrugged. "Well, I'm just saying he seemed to be cooking up some scheme."
So that's what was going on. That was why Harry suddenly decided he wanted to talk to her that evening. Be nice to the smart unpopular girl so you can get what you want. She felt like she was in a bad muggle teen movie. Well she wasn't going to fall for it. Ron and Harry would have to find some other gullible genius girl to con because it wouldn't be her, and Parvati and Lavender certainly didn't qualify… for the genius part at least. She picked up her books and marched purposely up the stairs to her dorm.
-----
Hermione didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
On the one hand, for some odd reason that she couldn't understand, Professor Flitwick the Charms teacher had paired her, class genius, with Ron, class clown, for their levitation lesson. She wondered vaguely if this was another one of Harry's tricks to get Hermione to warm up to them so she could help them with their classes. She figured if anyone could persuade a professor to do what they wanted it was the famous Harry Potter.
On the other hand, Ron's stupidity had reached an all time high in Hermione's opinion. She suppressed a grin as she watched Ron smack poke and prod the feather they were supposed to make float, shouting the magic words completely wrong.
She watched him flap his arms around a bit longer and then finally stopped him. "You're saying it wrong," she said as she tried to demonstrate the right way to do the spell.
Hermione quickly found out that Ron wasn't the teachable type. "You do it then, if you're so clever."
So she did. "Wingardium Leviosa." The feather began to float.
She turned and smiled at Ron as Professor Flitwick praised her in front of the class. "See, I told you," she said with purposeful smugness.
"You're such a know-it-all," Ron said seething.
"You'll have to do a lot better than that, you stupid git." Hermione countered. "Besides, that's not a good way to treat someone you're trying to get tutoring from."
"Tutoring, from you?" Ron scoffed. "I'd rather be dropped in the middle of the forbidden forest with ten of those three-headed dogs after me."
"You're just jealous because I'm at the top of our class and you can barely scrape bottom."
"Well if having good grades means I can't have any friends and I have to be hated by everyone, then I think I'll pass, thank you."
Hermione opened her mouth but then shut it again. Her head was swarming. She couldn't believe that he had the nerve to say that to her. What did he know? He was nothing but a stupid, worthless…
She wasn't giving up friendships for grades was she? It wasn't wrong to want to make something of herself, to be the best witch she could be, to graduate from Hogwarts in seven years with everything she needed to get a good job and… and would it all be worth it if she were miserable doing it? Was she really despised by all of her classmates?
She was so numb, she barely heard Flitwick dismissing them from class. She gathered her bags and rushed hastily from the classroom. She just needed to go somewhere and think.
Harry and Ron were just in front of her. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron was telling his friend. "She's a nightmare, honestly."
Hermione felt her eyes watering. She just couldn't take it anymore. She ran off towards the nearest bathroom before anyone could catch her crying.
A few minutes later Hermione crashed through the door of the second floor bathroom. Padma and Parvati Patil were already there. If she hadn't been so upset, she'd have wondered how the two girls got there ahead of her. Parvati was in her charm's class only a few minutes ago and who knew where Padma had been previously. The only logical explanation was that the twins had previously agreed to meet there, but Hermione didn't care about this. She quickly ran to one of the stalls and locked herself in.
She hadn't been fast enough. "Hermione?" she heard Parvati call. "Is that you? What's wrong?"
Hermione was trying not to cry but she couldn't help it. "Nothing! Nothing's wrong!"
Parvati knocked on the stall door. "Come on Hermione, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll feel better just talking about it."
"No I won't." Hermione snapped, "just leave me alone."
"Come on," she heard Padma whisper to her twin. "We should just let her have some time to herself. Besides, she won't be late to her next class, you know that."
"Oh… alright." Parvati finally agreed, and they left the bathroom.
-----
But Hermione had no intention of coming out, not for her next class, not even for the grand Halloween feast that the school was having that night. For the first time since she'd come to Hogwarts, all she wanted to do was go home. She had cried for at least an hour on and off, and she had finally come to her decision. She was going to leave school. She couldn't take it anymore. She was miserable and friendless and she didn't know what to do about it. For all her knowledge, she couldn't figure out a way to make friends.
"What's wrong with me?" she chastised herself. "Why can't I just be like everyone else? Why can't I be like Parvati or Lavender so people would like me? Why do I have to be a brainy little know-it-all who nobody can stand? Is my whole life going to be like this?"
She vaguely wondered if there was some sort of spell or potion that could permanently change her personality. Or maybe she would have to go to school in Japan; she'd read somewhere that they took education far more seriously than the rest of the world.
"This is stupid," she said getting off the toilet and opening the stall. "I'll just go to McGonagall right now and tell her I've decided to leave Hogwarts and that I would be taking the train home tomorrow… what is that smell?"
She heard the bathroom door open and something lumber inside. She peered around the stall door and saw something that almost made her heart stop. It was a troll, a massive, ugly, smelly, long-armed, fat-legged mountain troll with a giant club and it was staring straight at her, a dim look in its eyes.
Hermione gulped, but tried to keep her wits about her. If she could just make it to the door, then she'd be safe. Trolls were slow and stupid. It wouldn't be able to keep up with a student running at top speed, but then to her horror, something slammed the bathroom door shut and she heard the lock click shut. She was trapped. Her wand was still in her bag in the stall, which now seemed a thousand feet away. She knew if she made any sudden moves she was done for.
She backed up slowly until she hit the wall. The massive troll took a few steps forward, raising its heavy club. Every muscle in Hermione's body seemed to lock up, she couldn't move, she couldn't think. She couldn't do anything. It was just as it had been with the three-headed dog. She was petrified with fear. She let out a shrill scream as the troll stormed closer punching holes in the stalls and sinks as it went.
Then suddenly, someone burst into the bathroom. It was Harry and Ron. Hermione didn't know how or why they were there, but she was glad that she wasn't alone any more.
"You know, every time I'm in a life threatening situation, these two are with me. Then again, I've only been in two life threatening situations so far so I guess that's hardly a correlation. Then again, the last time this happened, it was Ron's fault. So I bet this is Ron's fault too. Maybe he's the one who locked the door, probably thought it was funny. Wait a minute; what am I saying? They're saving my life, I should be grateful. Oh geez, I'm rambling again. Why can't I move? Come on Hermione do something!"
She felt something pulling at her, and vaguely realized it was Harry. He had a desperate look on his face. He was shouting something but she couldn't hear him. It was like someone had hit the mute button on a muggle television. She tried to will herself to move, but she couldn't. Her body just wasn't taking orders from her mind anymore.
Then Harry left her side. "He's not going to just lave me here is he?" she thought to herself.
But Harry wasn't leaving; instead he jumped on the troll from behind, ramming his wand up its nose. He was trying to stop it from killing them all.
"He really is brave," Hermione thought as the troll tried to sling Harry off. It was going to kill him if someone didn't do something, but what could she do, she was a witch without a wand and to top things off, her body wouldn't even move. She was completely useless.
But then Ron pulled out his wand and pointed it at the troll. She heard him yell, "Wingardium Leviosa." He'd finally said it right and in response, the troll's club floated from its hands and came crashing down on its head. The beast dropped to the ground. It was over. Ron had done it, though by the look on his face even he was surprised.
Hermione finally got her voice back and asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Is it… dead?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. I think it's just been knocked out." He bent down to retrieve his wand, which was still in the troll's nose.
Suddenly, several more people had burst into the bathroom. McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell were there now looking at the unconscious troll and the three of them. McGonagall had a look of pure anger in her eyes, a look that Hermione had rarely seen. She knew instantly that they were all in trouble.
"I could have been killed. I'm supposed to be the best witch in my grade, but I couldn't do a thing about this troll. I mean, it's not like I haven't read about them. I know all of their weaknesses and a half dozen spells to slow them down but I couldn't do a thing because I was so afraid, so petrified. Harry and Ron don't know half as much as I do about trolls but they were brave and selfless. They risked their lives for me. Harry's bravery was more than enough to allow him to defeat a troll. I guess that's what makes him such a good wizard." Hermione realized just how wrong she had been about the famous Harry Potter and how wrong she'd been about a lot of other things.
McGonagall was still going off on Harry and Ron. She had to do something. If Harry and Ron were brave enough to put their lives on the line for her, then she should at least face McGonagall's wrath for them.
"Please Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me." She managed to stand, though her legs still felt like jelly. "I went looking for the troll because I thought I could deal with it on my own. You know, because I read all about them." That sounded like a plausible story. It was the sort of thing she probably would have done had she known there was a troll lurking about. "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now," she admitted sincerely. "Harry stuck his wand up it's nose, and Ron knocked it out with it's own club. They didn't have time come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." She knew very well that if the story had come from anyone else but her, McGonagall wouldn't have believed it.
She also knew that if it had been anyone else but her telling the story, the punishment would have been far worse. As it was though, McGonagall gave her a good scolding and took five points from Gryffindor. Then she sent Hermione back to Gryffindor tower, which she was more than glad to do. She bolted up two flights of stairs and ran down corridors until she was once again standing in front of the portrait of the fat lady.
"Pigs snout," she panted and the portrait door flew open.
She was safe inside the common room once again. All of the Gryffindors were sitting around eating the remainder of the Halloween feast but Hermione didn't move to join them. Her mind was still racing with a million thoughts. She still couldn't believe what had happened. She had been saved by Harry Potter and not because he was smarter or knew the right spells or anything like that, but because he was reckless, and brave, and relentless. If the tables had been turned and Harry was counting on her to save him, would she have been able to do it? She didn't know the answer.
Suddenly, Ron and Harry were climbing through the portrait hole. Hermione couldn't even look at them. She muttered a "thanks," and heard them say the same to her. She had no idea what they could be thanking her for except for perhaps warding off McGonagall's wrath, but how could saving someone's life be compared with keeping someone from getting a detention.
The two boys walked passed her to the common room, and she followed still numb but vaguely realizing how hungry she was. She grabbed some food and plopped down beside Lavender and Parvati.
"Are you… okay?" Parvati asked timidly.
"Uh…" Hermione barely heard the question as she ate.
She looked across the common room and saw that Harry was staring at her again. Only this time, when their eyes met, he smiled at her. She gave a weak smile back before stuffing the baked potato she was eating back into her mouth. She didn't know what Harry was thinking but she hoped that his smile was an indication that he didn't hate her as much as before. Hermione finished eating quickly, and rushed up to her dorm, once again choosing to go to bed early rather than sit awkwardly in the common room.
As she dropped down on her bed, Hermione decided that she would talk to Harry tomorrow. She'd apologize to him for all of the things she'd said and done. Maybe after this life altering experience, they really could bury the hatchet and start fresh. Or maybe, he'd never want to speak to her again. Either way, she had to try talking to him, but not now. Her stomach was doing summersaults and she couldn't think clearly. She knew that she'd say something stupid and for once she wanted to avoid that. For once she would spend a long time thinking before she spoke.