A/N- Hello my dears. I know it may come as a shock since its hasn't been a whole year and I'm already updating. This seems like a little bit like a filler chapter, lots of convos go on, but good stuff does happen! I promise! Oh and to all those that have sent in their suggestions for a pairing they would like to see, thank you and I am considering everything but at this point I really have no idea who she could possibly end up with. This is not a romantic story by any means so even if I do pair her up it won't be the focus. I hope you enjoy! xoxo

What do you call bad? Those who always want to put to shame.

What do you consider most humane? To spare someone shame.

—Nietzsche

That evening after all the students had been shuffled to their respected houses, all the students spent their spontaneous time off well. Most were in their common rooms playing Wizard Chess or some other silly game. Everyone but Hermione. She sat alone in her room, curtains drawn around her and her knees pressed hard against her chest. She had been like this since the minute they all entered the tower.

During the whole ordeal it was like her mind shut down completely. She couldn't remember the walk to her room at all, besides Malfoy trying to get her attention. He was the last person in the world she wanted to speak to.

After staring at the ripples in the curtain and how the sun shone through for who knows how long, she finally uncurled herself from her position, making every possible effort to think of anything else but Percy. She went into her luggage and pulled out something she was hesitant to bring with her, but now glad she did. Her baby blanket. Ever since she was a child holding onto it made everything in the world go away for awhile.

While her parents fought about the stupid things parents fight about, she would seize the blanket and pull it over her head, and like magic she was somewhere completely new. A world filled with grassy hills beyond hills and daisies popping up underneath her feet. The wind always blew just enough to make her feel like she was floating. It was her sanctuary in her own mind.

This time however, as she pulled the blanket over her head and put her head under her pillow, the images did not go away. The magic was gone, which was ironic since she was in the most magical place. She just saw him, screaming…screaming at her. No one had ever looked so scared of her, why should they? She had never been a threat to anyone in her life, never even considered it. Until now.

What changed? The only new thing was Hogwarts, and finding out she was a witch. Could this place have changed her? At first her mind denied this, of course Hogwarts didn't change you all that much. Look at Dumbledore, he was the personification o f good and pure.

She started to rock back and forth, trying to shake the memories from her brain. Shake, shake, blood. Shake, shake, screams. Shake, shake, she did this.

She shot up, making her pillow fly to the foot of the bed and her blanket scattered on the floor. Reality had hit her, this was her doing. She made that stupid potion and Percy lost his mind. She had to tell someone, maybe if they knew it was her they could fix him. They might kick her out, expel her from the magical world forever, but having hurt someone on your conscience, especially at such a young age, is a hard burden to bare. With that she jumped out of her bed with new urgency, running down the stairs not caring for anything in the world but clearing her mind.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, fingers steeped together and his glasses slowly sliding off the edge of his nose. He would hardly notice if they fell to the floor and broke into a million different pieces. His mind was in a very far away place. A place where no harm ever came to a child, no matter how foul, or how deserving they may seem. He had a mystery on his hands and for once, the old man had no idea how to go about it. He would never divulge this to anyone, but the Weasley's were one of his favorite families. They were a huge family, going back generations, but always happy. There was so much love in that family that he sometimes wished he could make them their own house in Hogwarts and place all the lonely children there. Alas, the world was not such a good place. And bad things happened to children, not just in their world, but the muggle as well.

His reverie was broken when one solid knock startled him. After the events in the tower he had asked Severus and Minerva to meet him in his office after everything had been settled. As much as he dreaded what was coming next, it was a necessary evil.

Severus walked in first, in his customary black ensemble that was wholly Severus Snape. Minerva followed after, looking a bit more confused than he liked. He had hoped Severus would fill her in on the details but from the look on his face, he wanted to deal with this just as much as he.

No words were spoken until both were seated and looking expectantly at him for at least a minute.

"Lemon Drop?" He asked while holding the bowl out in the middle for both to reach out. Normally he only offered to students, to calm their nerves while with him, only offering to teachers when something serious and potentially upsetting has occurred.

"Albus, will you please cut to the chase and inform me of what has happened? The last I saw of both of you, you were chasing down a drunken Per cy Weasley to Merlin knows where and we've had to cancel classes all day." The older witch was near shouting towards the end of her speech and Dumbledore felt for her, it was never easy to be out of the loop, even for a short amount of time.

"I am afraid my dear, that we have a most problematic situation on out hands. Mr. Weasley was not, in fact inebriated. He was cursed from what we can tell so far. Severus did Poppy have anything to say about his condition?" He was hesitant to discuss much until he knew the exactly problem they were facing.

"She did not, in fact she seemed just as baffled as you and I sir. He did hit his head before your spell caught him so that may have something to do with him not waking, but at this point no one is even sure what happened to him in the first place. He had no objects with him except for card, presumably from a Ms. Penelope Clearwater, but no spells were placed on it. If he was in fact cursed, it was from something he ate in my opinion. But at this point it is all guess work." The dark man said all this with an impassive face and not moving an inch, as was his habit.

Dumbledore saw her mouth move to start complaining about lack of knowledge once again but he held up a hand to stop the rant. "I will explain all now my dear. Are you sure you would not care for a lemon drop?" He quickly got on with it as soon as he saw her death glare that made himself want the sweet candy.

"As you see, we ourselves are not completely in the know about what has happened. After you saw us give chase, we followed him into the astronomy tower where he became even more delusional. Talking about seeing some woman outside and how it was the end for us all. Talking about blood and such. It was not pretty Minerva, not pretty at all. Then something most curious happened, it was as if he had given up, decided his fate was forfeit and fell from the window. Luckily I caught him with a spell but still, it was too close a call. Like you heard Severus, he did unfortunately hit his head about one of the statues outside but hopefully Poppy has already fixed that problem. Now we just have to deal with, who would do this, why, and most importantly, what did they do." Dumbledore sagged down quite noticeably after this, the events tiring him more than he liked to admit. He never liked to admit when age was finally catching up to him.

Minerva just sat there, swallowing all the fact for a good while before she could say anything. Nothing like this had happened at their school for quite sometime, nothing this dark. Back in darker days, when darker children walked the halls, yes, things like this sometimes happened. But they were all gone, married, in prison, or dead. Dumbledore loved all his students, but he was happy to be rid of some, not that he would ever voice this out loud.

Severus had, during Dumbledore's retelling, walked to the window that looked out onto the Great Lake. He had been there so there was little use of him listen to it again, but Albus knew better. He knew the potions master was thinking hard in that great brain of his. Thinking about every possibility that could have happened. He, unlike Dumbledore, had no love for any Weasley but he did not like the idea of someone running around cursing his students. If anything it just caused him problems on top of the mountain top of problems he already had.

"Do you have anything to add Severus?" the old man asked, knowing he wouldn't risk interrupting his mentor and was patiently waiting to be called on for his opinion once again.

"I am putting together a panel of tests as we speak to run on Mr. Weasley, or to at least recommend Poppy do it, which ever you prefer. Anything that would cause this sort of reaction. From what we have witnessed, the obvious hallucinations and paranoia, and the things he was trying to convey to us, it seems similar to the 'Drink of Despair' but obviously not one in the same. If I had to take a guess now, I was wonder if this was not a mistake."

"A mistake?" Dumbledore said, instantly interested in this possible turn of events. "I am aware of the Despair potion, though it has not been seen in many years, I agree with your assessment that it is similar. The only glaring difference is his lack of pain, we've all heard of the things that particular potion is supposed to do to the body and mind."

Severus finally turned away from the window and crossed the room back to his colleagues. Once he was settled back into this chair, this time with lemon drop in hand, he continued his theory. " He also struck me as being very confused, not as if he had lost his mind per say, but just as if he was seeing it all differently from us." The potions master instantly had both teachers attention with his speech.

"Could this possibly been a potion or spell gone awry?" Minerva asked quietly. She was desperately hoping for that to be the case. For if there were dark wizards back in Hogwarts, this did not bode well from them at all.

"Unfortunately my dear Minerva, even if this was not the casters obvious intention, it is not good news. For something like this to happen, the intent needs to be specific. Who ever did this, wanted to cause this young man harm, they might not have even known it consciously. Maybe it was supposed to be a prank, but there were dark intentions there, no doubt about that." Severus said in a rarely used kind tone. He was aware how much she loved all her little cubs and the thought of one of them trying to hurt another was unfathomable. Which is why he was loath to bring up his next suggestion in front of her.

"Forgive me for bringing this up, but it is necessary if we intend to truly find out who is behind this. Should we start questioning students, I suggest speaking with Mr. Potter." He knew it was better not to continue that thought until they both let out the anger he knew was on coming.

"Harry Potter! You must be joking Severus! He is only a first year of goodness sake." Minerva was predictably the first one to yell in outrage, the vein in her neck popping out in protest. How he hated that vein, it never meant good things for him in the future if he was the cause of it. She had to protect her cubs.

"I know he isn't your favorite person Severus, but really? Besides the fact like Minerva has said, that he is only eleven, he as struck up quite the friendship with the youngest Weasley boy. Do you really think you would do something to harm the boys family?" The headmaster knew that, yes they should consider every student as a possibility, but this was one that he just couldn't get behind.

"Sir, you know about his past, though it is of no fault of his own, he was been touch with dark magic at a very young age. We are all aware of what such things can do to a child. It taints them forever." He was trying to play devils advocate, he didn't fully believe the young boy could be behind this but it was worth a look.

No one said anything for a good while. Minerva took up Severus's spot at the window, trying to forget the predicament they were in, while the headmaster just sighed and was starting to feel twice his age. He was overcome with the desire to just place his head on the desk and be done with it all. All the dark magic and young people going awry. He didn't want to, but sometimes he felt like he was truly losing hope for the future world.

"As much as I loathe admit it, we must question everyone associated with Percy Weasley, and that includes Mr. Potter. I will deal with the interviews, this will not be treated as an interrogation until absolutely necessary. After all, for all we know he could awaken at any moment and explain everything away." Even the the old man had not the slightest idea how this could just be spirited away from their thoughts. "Minerva, I will task you with gathering the required Gryffindor students, Severus the Slyrtherin, and myself I will gather the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. As soon as I get any new developments on our patient I will let you both know immediately." Without a further word, both the professors stood up to take their leave to find their respectful students.

Draco had been sitting in his own common room for the past hour. The green glow from the lake glowing through the windows was making everyone look sickly today for some reason, so he had been avoiding looking at anyone too much. Most students were either taking impromptu naps or studying, which was just stupid to Draco. It was a free day off! It is a general rule of life that you do not even look at a book while given a spontaneous day off.

He was playing Snap cards with Goyle but his mind was somewhere else completely. Somewhere north of him with a bushy haired girl. It was the last thing he wanted to think about but it seemed inevitable now days. His mind always seemed to be on her, wondering what she was doing, what she was thinking about in that weird brain of hers. Now he found himself worrying about her, which he hated more than he liked to admit.

He realized what had happened and he wondered if she did as well. It was her potion. She might not have wanted this outcome, but he saw the look in her eyes and the way she spoke of the ginger freak. The girl had some anger in her that he didn't think she was quite ready to confront. What she had to be angry about he had no idea. Yes, Weasley had been a complete git, but the result of that potion suggested something greater than that.

Draco found himself wondering if something more had happened than what she had finally confided to him. Girls were so weird sometimes. They couldn't just come out and say what was on their mind, they had to go and bottle it all up and then make people go crazy. That's what his father said anyway.

He had a bad feeling, that if Granger did figure out what happened, she was going to crack. And there was no way that she wouldn't say his name when she was babbling out a confession he was sure. He needed to find her and make sure she kept quiet, for both their sakes. The only question was how, the whole school was on lock down in their common rooms and he was sure it would be pretty difficult to get all the way to the top of the tower unnoticed but he had to try anyway.

Andromeda Tonks was doing her usual cleaning for the day, washing dishes and putting the clothes out to dry. There seemed to be more than the usual amount of late, but she knew it was because of her daughter visiting so it didn't matter that she was cleaning easily four times more dishes than usual. It was worth it to have her Dora home.

Her husband nor her daughter were the cleanliest of sorts so it was left up to her to make sure they weren't living in some sort of pig sty.

She sometimes wished she and Ted had more children, if not for the fact that Nymphadora could have had some other children to play with when she was younger but so maybe their home wouldn't quite be so empty yet.

It was such a double edge sword she thought. Having siblings. They could be your best friends for life. Or your worst enemies. She had wondered up to the attic in her search for stray clothes and in her inner ramblings found herself in front of an old trunk she hadn't thought about in at least 20 years. Not even knowing why she kept it, but for some reason she just couldn't even fathom the idea of getting rid of them.

A small token, but just a reminder of the happy life she had once upon a time. She slowly knelt to the ground, dust instantly covering her calves and feet. She was mesmerized but what lied inside the trunk. Slowly, as if it could all crumble under her finger tips if she she applied too much pressure, she undid the locks and lifted the lid.

Inside lay four boxes, all filled with pictures and little mementos from her youth. She stared at them in amazement, as if she wasn't sure they had been quite real, if her past had been quite real. The first boxes lid easily slid off into the darker parts of the chest. The witch couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she saw a picture of herself with Narcissa, playing what looked like hide and seek. They both looked so happy and ignorant. Better times. She hesitantly reached for a handful of photographs but there was something in between the stack that was making the pictures bulge in the middle, causing a quite unflattering look on some of them.

Curiously she pried apart the old and dried pictures apart and felt a thump against her knee. But before she could investigate the odd object she stared in part horror part joy in the picture the object had been stuck to, in what appeared to be an old spell.

It was a picture of all four of them. All sitting in front of a tree with arms interlinked. They all had face splitting grins and were giggling non stop. It was as if time had frozen. Andromeda had no idea how long she had sat there, staring until she remember something had been magicked on to it. She dropped the photos back into the trunk as if they were on fire, slamming the lid shut with force that made all the dust around scatter into the corners of the attic.

Looking down the the floor in front of her she saw a necklace. It was a small thing. But it was something given to each other them on the day of their birth. Each of theirs had been different, and were supposed to stay with them for life. Andromeda had burned hers years ago in a fit of rage.

This one was a small 'A' on top of a black bloodstone. Around it was metal workings almost like a small clockwork creating beautiful swirling patterns around the edge of the stone.

Andromeda clasped it in her hand, almost breaking skin, trying to rid herself of the memories that had threaten to take her over completely. That was why all this was locked away, she reminded herself. So the grief of her lost family couldn't bare down on her everyday. Even though she had pushed away the trunk full of memories, unable to handle that, she slowly unclasped the necklace, raising it up to where the sun reflected off the stone, creating an interesting patter throughout the wooden walls. Before she could contemplate it further, she quickly reclapsed the necklace around her own neck. It wasn't just a reminder of the one sister who used to own it, but of all, of those happy summer days she would always cherish.

Somehow Malfoy hadn't run into anyone so far on his journey to a tower he wished he would never have to go near. But this was about saving his own skin, and he'd do just about anything to do that. He was walking down the corridor as fast as he dared to. Before every corner to always made sure to take a peek first, even though the teachers seemed to have their hands full with whatever they were dealing with, Filch or his blood cat were always skulking around somewhere and it wouldn't be good to be caught by him of all people. If nothing else just because he smelled horrid.

Just as he was about to turn on to the corridor that held the Headmasters office, he unfortunately had to pass it to get to his destination, he was taking his usual peek around when he caught a flash of bushy hair.

'I knew it!' the blonde fumed to himself. She was going to crack, and far soon than he had hoped. Fast as lightening he ran down the corridor, without stopping grabbing her by the arm and shoving them both in an unused class room down the hall.

"Wha-get off of me!" Hermione had been taken off guard for a split second before she started trying to get out of the surprisingly strong grasp on her arm. She couldn't see who had grabbed her until she was unceremoniously shoved into a classroom. "Draco what the bloody hell do you think your doing? You can't just yank people around like that!" the young witch protested as she tried to straighten out her clothes. Draco wasn't even listening as he was trying to perform and silencing charm to no luck.

"Oh move over, I'll do it." She spat before she shoved him aside and quickly preformed the required spell. If he was going to all this trouble to talk to her it was obviously about one thing and it did not need to be over heard.

Draco couldn't do anything but stare at the girl, she was acting strangely normal for being about to confess their misdeeds."Well…I…I had to stop you. You were about to tell the headmaster what we had done weren't you?" Draco had adopted his usual stance of arms crossed and nose in the air to try and give himself some superiority over the situation.

"I was about to tell him what I did. You didn't make that potion. This is my fault." Hermione glumly stated before shrinking down ad falling onto one of the chairs. "I didn't mean for this to happen, not like that. I just wanted him to make a fool of himself. He tried to do that to me, I just wanted to be even. But whatever happened in there, that wasn't the potion I made." She gave Draco a glance out the side of her eye, not quite wanting to completely face him. She was ashamed to even look Draco Malfoy in the eye.

Draco was at a loss of what to do. His nature dictated that he could not, and would not comfort her. She was a mudblood for Merlin's sake! But she just looked so sad and broken down. He would never ever tell her or anyone living this, but he had grown a small begrudging liking for her during their researching and scheming.

"Listen Herm- Granger. You don't even know for sure your potion was the cause. Some one could very well have hexed him on his way to the Hall. But telling Dumbledore isn't going to help at all. What will that accomplish besides getting us both expelled. And I would figure that would mean a great deal more to you than me, seeing as you would be stuck back in Muggle world." Draco gave a shudder at the last bit.

"Either way, I don't see what we did as wrong, he hurt you, and he should suffer for that. It's the way of the world Granger, get used to it."

"Of course you don't see it as wrong Malfoy! Your in Slyrtherin, all you lot like to do is make up new ways to torture everyone else in the world." Hermione snarled at him, too preoccupied with her troubles to see he was attempting to be nice for once in his life.

"Fine mudblood. Have it your way, going running to Dumbledore and bleed your dirty little heart out about all the horrible misdeeds you have done." Draco started yelling, glad she had put the charm on the room. "But leave my name out of it, or I promise you, it will be the worst thing you could have ever done." Draco was an inch away from her face, spit flying from his mouth in his anger before he stormed out of the room, no longer caring if Filch or the Bloody Baron himself caught him out.

Hermione had just sat there, taking his words in. The last words he had left her with just bounced off her mind, not soaking them in. He had been right in one thing. She did not want to go back to her parents world. It was no longer her own. This was where she belonged, forever.

And really, Percy did deserve it. She couldn't deny that while she was making the potion she had been wishing she was capable enough to make something better, more efficient.

She would wait. She didn't know the ultimate outcome of things anyway. He could be perfectly fine after all. If something more serious happened. Well she would deal with it then. Hermione exited the room with a significant more pep in her step than before. Everything seemed better suddenly. She felt good about the days events and future ones.

It was only as she got back into the common room, steps away from Harry and Ron, that things changed just as quickly as they had gotten better.

McGonagall strode into the room with purpose, stopping and taking in the activities of all the students before she cleared her throat as a sign to pay attention.

"Students, Students, if you would please allow me to interrupt you afternoon I need to speak with you all about something. As many of you are aware, your house mate Percy Weasley was the victim of some sort of hex and the Headmaster has decided the best course of action is to ask students that were in contact with him the most to please allow us to ask you some questions so we may be able to get to the bottom of all this." She was quite and somber throughout her entire speech, and turned to the Weasley twins and Ron first, assuming that they would be the first to jump up and tell all about their older brother. When none stepped forward, she glanced around the room and realized no one was moving at all.

"Don't any of you have anything to say about the boy? Who he hung out with, what he did in his spare time…any enemies…anything?" McGonagall had started to get quite upset at this point. Why was no one in the boys own house coming forward to help.

"Professor, Percy kind of kept to himself. He never hung out in the common room or anything." Fred Weasley had finally stepped forward, he looked glum and like he wished to be anywhere but there.

"Yeah, he didn't really get along with anyone, in any of the houses that I know about. All the git would talk about was his prefect duties. Or he was always reading. I don't even know if he had any friends." George stepped up next to his brother, knowing he was obviously needing the support.

The older professor huffed and threw her arms up in the air before she took her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose. If any of them had been hoping for a easy resolution to this whole debacle, that hope was just tossed out the window. "I see. Well in any case Dumbledore would still like to speak to a lot of you. We must get to the bottom of this." Before she could start calling off names, Ron stood up this time, obviously terrified to speaking to the Transfiguration professor but his curiosity taking over.

"Is Percy okay now though? He looked a right bit sick at breakfast and he hasn't been back up here all day." Ron was shuffling his feet by the end, trying to hide the fact that he did in fact care what happened to his stuffy brother.

McGonagall took on a kinder tone for the younger boy, he was worried about his brother, she couldn't hold that against him. "Your brother is currently under Madam Pomfrey's care. We do not currently know what is ailing him, but hope to find out soon, now if you please I will need you and your brothers to come with me. The rest of you, I will be back down shortly to gather a few more of you." With that she swept all three boys out of the room before they could even glance back.

Everyone else started up with whatever they had been doing the second she was out of site, Harry switching Chess partners with Dean. Hermione raced up to her room as fast as her feet would carry her. Oh how she hoped they wouldn't call her to the Headmasters office. She might be willing to not turn her self in willing, but she wasn't sure if she could lie straight to their faces and get away with it.

The young man that had been taking up a majority of people thoughts that day currently lay still as a stone in the Hospital Wing under the great care of Madam Pomfrey. She had been doing every test she could think of to determine what had happened to the boy to no avail. Severus had sent up and parchment of tests he recommended, and while the Potions master and Matron butted heads most days she was quick to take him up on the help today.

Severus Snape was smart man, and tended to look at places others had looked over, always catching little details that would mean nothing to anyone else. She was just moving her want over the boy, getting his current scans when his eyes snapped open. She didn't even notice for a good minute until she was about to check how his head was doing. She let out a startled cry and dropped her wand which landed onto his chest before rolling off to the side.

"Mr. Weasley! Thank goodness you've awoken, we were beginning to worry." Not to mention they had been worrying since the minute he was brought in. Percy didn't say a word, just silently staring back up at the Matron like she wasn't even there. His eyes were practically bulging out of his skull but he didn't seem bothered by it. In fact it seemed that even though he had opened his eyes, he was still asleep.

The Matron touched his head, checking for fever and finding it cold and clammy, while five minutes previously he had been dry as a bone. " I am going to call the Headmaster, now don't you worry I shall be right back, he is very worried about you." The old witch kindly patted his shoulder, trying to give him some kind of comfort.

When she got to her fireplace in her office she realized she had forgotten to pick back up her wand. In her excitement for the boy waking up she must have left it where ever it had fallen near the bed. As soon as Pomfrey walked back into the main room she knew something was wrong. She had specifically said absolutely no one was allowed in here at the moment but in front of her the door was slightly swinging.

She rushed over the Percy's bed and for the second time in less than five minutes she clutched her chest in bewilderment. The boy was gone, blankets haphazardly thrown to the floor. She took a quick peek under the bed and realized that yes, her wand was gone as well.