YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO • PANSMIONE

( SEVEN ! )

Hermione was tired. And not just the kind of tired that translated into yawns the next day, and a desire to put her head down on the desk, but a tiredness that ached in her bones, and gouged deep dark circles around her eyes, and meant her essays were messy and jumbled and the words meant nothing. The endless, endless essays caused the tiredness, and tiredness meant she took longer and longer to complete the essays...it was a vicious cycle she was caught in and could not escape. And when she was finally able to go to bed, she couldn't sleep for the night terrors that haunted her, that waited in the corners of her vision and outside the locked dormitory door.

She had been struggling to juggle all her subjects for a month now, with few free periods in which to catch up on homework. November was approaching (only days away now), and she had to work harder, faster, more efficiently, because she had exams in the summer, exams which meant everything and nothing to her, and yet her brain refused to function. How was she going to cope?

One evening she was scribbling away (again), and Ginny came up behind her, frowning. "Hermione, you aren't still working?"

"Yes, Ginny, I am," she gritted out, marking down a sentence on a new . The uses of the summoning charm, simple though it may be to cast, are wide and varied. And then she couldn't think of anything else to say. She wanted to cry. She was supposed to be doing this without her notes, and she couldn't even get past the first sentence.

"Hermione, you have to stop. You can't study all the time. You have to do something else." Ginny tried to lead her away, but she pulled back sharply.

"Stop."

"Hermione-"

"Ginny, I said stop!" She slammed her hand down on the table. "I have to do this. I have to. It's due tomorrow and I just can't -"

Ginny snatched away her work. "I don't care. You're killing yourself slowly. I know you don't sleep, like, ever."

"I do sleep," Hermione growled.

"No, you don't!"

"Do!"

"Don't!'

"Do!"

Ginny crossed her arms, and they scowled at each other. "Look, this doesn't matter. Can you hear me, Hermione? This doesn't matter. It's just exams."

Hermione laughed. "Just exams? Ginny when has it ever been just exams for me?"

"Never," Ginny said, "but it needs to be."

They were both silent. Hermione had suddenly lost all her fire. She just wanted to lay down and sleep forever. Preferably with someone holding her so she was safe, and could close her eyes.

But she had to finish this charms essay first.

"Please give it back," she whispered. Ginny shook her head emphatically.

"I can't, Hermione. I want you to be okay."

"I am okay, I promise."

Ginny shook her head sadly. "You're not." She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "I'm going to kill Pansy Parkinson."

Hermione slumped into an armchair by the fire, rubbing her eyes wearily. "Oh, Ginny, I'm just so tired."

"I know," Ginny said consolingly, pulling Hermione to her feet and leading her towards the stairs. She stumbled up them and into the dormitory, and was asleep before her face even hit the pillow.

---

Hermione just about made it to her first class the next day, rubbing her eyes and yawning, despite the long sleep she had had. But it was certainly an improvement from the day before, and she was even feeling a little invigorated as she sank down behind her desk and pulled out her quill.