Withdrawal Symptoms

Harry's visit the day before had really left her shaken. Her reaction to him and his words had been rather violent and completely uncontrolled. Whether Hermione liked it or not, she was going to have to go to Dumbledore about her recent influx of magic. More than likely, it could be attributed to the emotional rollercoaster that she was now aboard, but it was better to find out for sure. Taking only a few small nibbles of her toast, she gulped down her tea and headed into the bath for a quick shower. Still emotionally exhausted from this weekend's happenings, Hermione merely cast a drying charm on her hair and pulled it back into a sleek ponytail. She then slipped into her uniform and pulled her school robes over them. Gathering her books, she made sure that the needed books were tucked safely away in her bag. With that, she gave the room one last lingering glance, for once wishing that Monday hadn't arrived.

Hermione made sure that her door was locked and warded behind her before she slowly made her way down the spiral staircase, which led into the Gryffindor common room. Letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of only a couple of first years huddled in a corner looking over their schedules, she knew that she'd have to deal with both Harry and Ron sooner or later. She'd rather it be later than sooner. Squaring her shoulders, she hitched up her bag a touch higher on her shoulder and stepped out into the corridor. Once she reached the ground floor, Hermione couldn't help but hold her breath as she passed the Great Hall. Thankfully, the large double doors never opened, and she was able to scurry past without incident. She swiftly made her way down into the dungeons before coming to a halt in front of the Potions' classroom door.

It was early yet, but class was due to start within fifteen to twenty minutes, so the door was thankfully unlocked and open. Silently, she headed inside and settled into her seat. More than likely, they would be brewing a base potion today; the Jobberknoll Feather assignment was due today, and that particular ingredient would probably have a starring role in today's base. Hermione carefully removed the six-inch essay from the confines of her bag and placed it atop her desk. Her eyes critically scanned the parchment to make sure that there weren't any creases, up turned corners and/or ink smudges. Satisfied that her essay was up to par, she settled in and waited for class to begin.

The sounds of chatter and the muffled scuffling of feet soon filled her ears as the students began to trickle into the room. Hermione offered Neville a small smile, causing the boy to smile in return and slip into the seat next to her. Harry and Ron soon trailed in silently after a quiet, solitary Slytherin. Both boys were forced to take seats directly behind Hermione instead of beside her, as they were occupied by Neville Longbottom and Lavender Brown, which Hermione was blessedly grateful for. It wasn't long before everyone had arrived and was seated, including Malfoy and his two bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hermione," Ron whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle poke.

Sighing silently, Hermione grit her teeth in response, hoping that silence would detour Ron from trying to communicate with her any further. However, this is was Ronald Weasley we're talking about.

"Hermione," he whispered again.

Her nostrils flared as her eyes fluttered shut; she was still bound and determined to ignore him. All the while, Harry was wisely keeping to himself. The run-in he had with her yesterday was enough to let him know that now was not the time to be attempting to open the lines of communication. Although, no matter how much he tried to tell Ron that this morning, it didn't seem to penetrate his thick skull. Rolling his eyes heavenward, Harry sent up a silent prayer to whatever deity would listen, that Hermione wouldn't kill Ron.

"Hermione."

Placing her palms flat on the desk, Hermione was about to whip around to face the youngest Weasley boy when Snape swooped into the room with a bang in a swirl of inky robes. He swiftly made his way up to the raised dais and surveyed the room with a cool detachment. 'Well, it's quite clear that the illustrious "Golden Trio" have yet to resolve their differences. Considering Miss Granger's murderous look and Potter's and Weasley's uncomfortable expressions, perhaps today's lesson might be just this side of amusing,' Severus thought to himself.

"We will be continuing our lecture from this past Friday. The probability and possibility of using birds within the art that is potions was our topic. You were given an assignment on the Jobberknoll and its feathers," Severus said, as he began to slowly make his way around the room collecting the pieces of parchment.

He collected Hermione's without comment. However, the oddity went unnoticed as he collected Harry's assignment from him, but, in turn, made a scathing comment about Ron and his detention the evening before.

"Ah, Mister Weasley, I believe I received your assignment last night. A prefect wandering the halls after hours and breaking into the library to complete an assignment that should have been completed days earlier; truly a dreadful piece of work it was at that," Severus said silkily.

"I never meant to hand in that assignment last night, and you know it! It was because I was picking those blasted plants for you that it fell out of my pocket, and you took it then and there. It wasn't fair, and you know it!" Ron exclaimed, his face beet red and his eyes blazing with a vicious fury.

Severus' already dark eyes darkened considerably and began to glitter dangerously. He pulled himself up to his full height and looked down at the boy as if he were nothing more than the mud on his shoes.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for showing disrespect for a teacher," he said crisply.

The Gryffindors couldn't help but let out a small groan of disapproval and disappointment as Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins had a good chuckle at the loss of points and the anger that was still very evident on Weasley's face.

Once all the papers were collected, Severus strode back up to the front of the room and up to the raised dais. Tossing the papers onto the top of his desk, he swiftly turned back around to face the room.

"Today, we will be working on a truth serum, and the main component, of course, is the Jobberknoll feather. Now, if you did your assignment, and you did it correctly, brewing this base potion shouldn't be a problem for you. Now, although we are creating a truth serum, it is not nearly as strong as Veritaserum, which of course you all know is used by the Ministry." With a flick of his wrist, a short list of ingredients and instructions appeared on the boards in front of them.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get moving!" Severus bit out harshly when none of the students made a move to get their areas prepped.

The class jumped in response, but was soon moving about collecting any and all the items they needed. A gentle silence settled over the room as each of the students was absorbed in preparing the different ingredients for the base. Severus began to wander slowly through the classroom, silently observing each of the student's attempts at the potion.

"During the first stages of brewing, a very light, almost opaque, azure color should be emanating from your cauldrons. This mist should contain very minute flecks of silver, if your base has been done correctly," Severus said as he moved to inspect each of the base potions.

Draco smirked with pride as Severus praised his base potion and awarded Slytherin House fifteen points for a job well done. However, he merely nodded at the results of many of the other Slytherins' attempts at the base. Coming upon the Gryffindors' in the classroom, he merely murmured under his breath before moving onto the next person. When he came upon Neville, Severus surprisingly gave the rather nervous Gryffindor a "It's close, but it could be better," before moving onto Harry and Ron. With Hermione ignoring him, and Harry not being much help in trying to help him with Hermione, Ron had forgotten to dip the feather into a water and herb mixture before dropping it into the potion. This in turn caused the base to become basically useless; the thick mist floating above his cauldron was a dull robin's egg blue with large black flecks.

"Mister Weasley, are you illiterate in some way that you cannot follow simple directions? The instructions clearly state that you are to prepare the feather before dropping it into the potion. Now, judging from the horrific color of the mist above your base, it is clear that you did nothing of the sort. This is absolutely appalling, and I will not have it my class." With a flick of his wrist, the cauldron was empty and the mist gone.

"What with your behavior last night and your performance in class today, you might want to think about taking more time out to study. Merlin knows you can use all the help you can get. In fact, I think after dinner this evening, you ought to spend the evening with me... in detention," Severus drawled before making his way back up to the front of the classroom.

"Greasy bat," Ron murmured under his breath.

Severus paused on his footsteps and swiftly turned to face the class, his robes whipping around his body before settling once more.

"I suggest you bite your tongue in the future, Mister Weasley. Twenty more points from Gryffindor and detention with me for the rest of the week. Now, Mister Weasley, you've already lost your House forty points within one lesson and detention for the rest of the week for yourself. Would you care to continue?" Severus asked, his eyes ablaze.

Ron looked as though he was about to push the Potions master even further. However, at the sight of his fellow Housemates' glares and the Slytherins' snickering, he bit back his reply and sunk down rather low into his seat. Severus eyed the Weasley boy a moment longer before turning and heading back up to the raised dais.

"Class dismissed; bottle and label your bases. I want them on my desk before you leave."

With that, the class went about the task of cleaning up their work areas and bottling and labeling their potions. Hermione quickly went about the task of cleaning up her area, putting her books away and bottling her base. She then scurried up to Severus' desk to drop off her base before she bolted out the door. There was a good chance that if she lingered, both Harry and Ron would try to talk to her once more. That was something she just wasn't ready to deal with.

Soon enough, the rest of the class began to trickle in, and before anyone could make a move to take their seats, both Harry and Ron commandeered the seats right behind Hermione and Rachel. Rachel smiled cheerily at both boys while Hermione continued to keep her eyes forward. Before either Ron or Harry could attempt to say anything to Hermione, Professor McGonagall swept into the room with a confident and regal air. The students' chatter slowly began to diminish as McGonagall waited for the class' attention.

"Good Afternoon, today we will be spending our time practicing the skill of making an animal invisible and visible once more. Now this shouldn't be too difficult for those of you who did the reading. For those of you that had trouble with it, at least attempt the spell before seeking help," McGonagall stated before a small frog appeared in front of each of the students.

With that, the class then began to make the frog disappear from sight. McGonagall observed the class with a watchful eye. It was clear, after a few minutes, that most of the class was still having trouble with this particular spell...all except Hermione Granger. The older woman allowed a small smile to touch her lips; as she watched, the young Muggle-born witch was able to have the frog shimmer from sight.

"Wonderful, Hermione, that was executed perfectly," McGonagall murmured as she began to move about the room.

Normally, Hermione would have beamed in response to the offered praise. However, she merely offered her Head of House a small smile before turning back to the project in front of her. McGonagall noticed the stiff smile right away, but after a moment, wrote it off as a bit of stress. 'Hermione always did have such high expectations for herself. She's probably just stressed about schoolwork, although she and Mister Weasley and Mister Potter seem to have had a falling-out. Perhaps that is it? Well, I'm sure they'll get themselves sorted soon enough,' she thought to herself with a small smile.

The Transfiguration professor continued to make her way slowly about the room, offering a bit of advice and helpful hints along the way. It was when she is closer to the front of the room once more that concern for a few of her students began to set in. Both Harry and Ron were having a lot more difficulty with the assignment than usual. True, both boys were intelligent in their own right. However, like most adolescent boys, they had a tendency to focus more on sports and girls than their schoolwork, which was why Hermione was a beautiful balance to the trio. In fact, it didn't even look as though she was making an attempt to help either boy. Although things like that in class were really against the rule, most professors let things like that slip by. It was Hermione's endearing nagging that really kept the boys on track academically instead of always focusing on the next Quidditch match.

Hermione's stoic face and Harry's and Ron's desperate expressions were great cause for concern. It was then that Minerva made a mental note to mention the trio's odd actions to Albus. She then turned her back to them in order to help Neville. The poor boy was having quite a time getting the entire frog to disappear; all but the poor animal's hind legs were invisible.

Now, with McGonagall's back turned, Ron took this as his opportunity to get Hermione to talk to him. Harry gave Ron a look and slowly shook his head from side to side before mouthing the word "No." Hermione had made it more than clear that she just wasn't ready to try and work things out with either of them. However, Ron was desperate to talk with Hermione again, even if it was only a flimsy attempt at getting the answers from her.

"Hermione," Ron whispered desperately.

Again, just as she did in Potions, Hermione did her best to ignore the incessant whispers and annoying pokes to her shoulder. She knew that if she turned around now, she'd probably end up exploding at him, which would only cause a scene and disrupt the class. Then there was also Rachel; though she remained silent, the poor girl had sunk down so low in her seat that it was a task just to see above the desk. Ron took notice to none of it; yes, he had hurt Hermione, but she had found out about that last week on Friday, and it was now Tuesday of the next week. Surely that should have been enough time for her to calm down enough to be willing to talk... right?

Hermione grit her teeth at the feel of the constant poking at her back. Curling her fingers into fists, she felt the beginning strains of anger flow through her fingers as a few gentle sparks began to spit and sparkle near her fingertips. Her eyes painfully fluttered shut as Ron's annoying pokes turned into a more insistent shaking of her shoulder. Hermione's eyes snapped open as she whipped around to face the annoyance.

"Ronald Weasley, why can't you just leave me alone? I've made myself unequivocally clear that I have no desire to speak to you at this moment in time. No matter how much you attempt to coerce me into working things out with you, it will not happen! It's not my fault you decided to go and sleep with that slut, now is it?" Hermione shrieked loudly, her body trembling.

A deafening silence settled over the classroom, but was soon marred by the sounds of glass shattering. Many of the glass items littering the room suddenly burst, causing numerous shards to shimmer brilliantly as they rained down onto the floor. When Ron finally got the nerve to make eye contact with Hermione, just like the rest of the class, his eyes widened in shock. Hermione's normally soft cinnamon-colored eyes now had a more luminescent quality to them and bright red and silver sparks fluttered about her fingertips.

The normally loud and boisterous magical classroom had gone deathly silent. Professor McGonagall quickly called an end to the class and ushered all but the trio out of the room. She quickly made her way over to the infamous three before settling her attention on the two boys first.

"Mister Potter, Mister Weasley, I'd like both of you to return to Gryffindor Tower now. I want you both to go straight there and do not, I repeat, do not make any detours, nor should you leave until I have come to speak with you both. Understood?" When she received dual nods in agreement, Minerva sighed and inclined her head, indicating that they both may take their leave.

The boys sullenly gathered their belongings and left, but not before giving Hermione one last lingering glance.

"Miss Granger, gather your things; I think it best you come with me," she said softly.