Bound

Chapter Three ~ The Stranger

The following morning, Hermione woke to the beginnings of a fitness regime scribbled in the journal. A quick tempus charm told her she had an hour until breakfast; time for a run, but nothing more. With this in mind, Hermione donned a t-shirt, loose sweat pants and trainers, then made her way quietly out of the castle.

She jogged a lap around the Black Lake, before returning hastily to the castle, wanting to shower before breakfast. She managed to reach the dorm before Lavender and the others woke, and she showered quickly, threw on her school robes, then made her way down to breakfast.

When she reached the Great Hall, she hurried to the Gryffindor table and took a seat beside Ginny.

The youngest Weasley was having a very animated 'discussion' with her brother about her relationship with Dean Thomas. Ron was told, in no uncertain terms, that, "My love life is none of your business and you'll keep your nose out of it unless you want to lose the big, ugly thing!"

The Weasley boy's face turned a very unbecoming shade of puce and he grumbled a reply, before stuffing his mouth with sausages and scrambled eggs. This, too, earned him a reprimand, this time from Hermione, for eating like a pig.

After she'd eaten, Hermione rushed back to her dorm to get her books and record what she had eaten, then hurried off to her first class – Ancient Runes.

At the beginning of term, Professor Babbling had given the tiny class of four access to a series of books kept in the restricted section of the library. Their task since had been to translate and analyse the texts in relation to each other and the snippets in their textbooks. Hermione usually worked with the two Ravenclaws in the class – Lisa Turpin and Oliver Rivers – while Draco almost always worked alone. His notetaking, however, was impeccable and Professor Babbling would always collect and duplicate everyone's notes at the end of class so that everybody would have the same information.

Hermione's evening was spent helping the boys with their homework and doing her own. By the time they were done, it was almost curfew. Nonetheless, Hermione hurried down to the Room of Requirement, which provided her with a spacious room containing some basic workout equipment and a magical display to track her heart rate and record the intensity of her workout.

After a short, rather intense workout, she disillusioned herself and crept back to Gryffindor tower for a shower before bed.

She was fortunate enough to reach the tower without encountering Filch – or his dreaded cat – and removed the disillusionment charm before rounding the corner and giving the password to a somewhat begrudging Fat Lady.

Her nosy roommates were already well and truly asleep when she reached their dorm and she was able to shower and go to bed without being nagged over her whereabouts and dishevelment.

Over the next few days, she organised her fitness regime to fit around her classes and homework, as well as adding more activities.

Hermione was surprised to find that, in just the few days since she started exercising, her body shape had already begun to change, albeit minutely; the little bit of pudge on her tummy rapidly disappeared and her breasts seemed to swell slightly, becoming fuller, firmer and rounder. She also noticed that her hips had rounded off nicely and her thighs, while they would never have a gap between them – not that she particularly wanted one – were becoming less wobbly.

She seemed to have both lost and gained weight all over her body and was thankful for her robes and oversized uniform, which easily concealed the changes from any would-be observers.

Her next trip to Fiendfyres' was scheduled immediately after lunch the following Sunday. It was on that same morning that Marian had left a note informing her that she would be undergoing a medical examination to check her physical condition – flexibility, strength, nutrition and overall health.