"Thank you for telling me." Hermione spoke gently to the painting of a woman in a wedding dress; she was smiling with a beautiful bouquet held in one hand. "No worries my dear. Him and his cat are far gone." Hermione was thankful for the tip about Filch. It was at times when she was walking late around Hogwarts' grounds, she terribly missed Harry's invisibility cloak, even tempted to borrow James' from time to time.

With a promise to visit as her last words, Hermione turned the corner and felt her blood run cold at the sight of green ties and cruel faces. Only one provided a slight comfort, and she knew she couldn't depend on him.

Quickly, she debated about turning tail and running before discarding that option- they had quickly strode towards her, wands withdrawn, closing the gap between them.

Reluctant, Hermione gripped her own wand and brandished it at Mulciber who stepped forwards.

He grinned, "Look who finally arrived."

"Were you looking for me?" She inquired; voice tight but gentle, she didn't want to aggravate him as her eyes scanned over his companions, assessing the situation with her confidence slowly sinking inch by inch.

There was a pang in her heart at seeing Regulus and Severus beside them. He's my potions teacher, she thought bleakly. But he barely blinked at her, face just as cold and sharp as she remembered him. "We wanted to have some fun." Avery announced, chuckling. It sent a tremble down her spine, but she returned it with a smile of faux poise. "Like a game? I think I'd win."

"You're out numbered Mudblood." Snape spat and Hermione's eyes narrowed, zeroing in on him with an icy look. Sternly, she bit back her retort and turned her attention back to Avery and Mulciber, deciding to ignore Snape entirely.

"Long way from Gryffindor tower." Avery sneered, taking a step closer. Hermione rose her wand, hexes and jinxes running through her mind in the background, waiting to be fired off.

Regulus held his silence and a steady hand on his wand. I warned her, he thought bitterly, cursing Hermione in his head for not taking better precautions. He had to fight the urge to run or jump to her defence- now isn't the time to play a hero, or a coward.

"Take another step and you won't like what happens." Advised Hermione.

Avery scoffed and loomed over her. Instead of retaliating or going into a blind rage like she predicted, he laughed. The taunting sound made Hermione jittery.

"You? Talking to me like that? It's hilarious."

He looked back at his friends, noticing Regulus' blank expression in comparison to the chuckles of Mulciber and Snape. "Reg." He announced, and Hermione fought to remain silent.

"Tell her what she is." Avery ordered.

To the untrained eyes, Regulus looked calm and composed as he stood his ground, but Hermione recognized his nervous ticks- they were just like Sirius'. His grip kept changing on his wand ever so slightly as he smirked, "She's, she's a Mud-"

"Mudblood?" Hermione cut him off, sensing his apprehension to say the slur. He met her eyes and found them to be some of the warmest he had ever seen as he mentally thanked her for the intervention. Regulus knew the word wouldn't have passed his lips with the amount of hate he needed to satisfy his fellow Slytherins. "Why do you even care?"

Mulciber practically growled. "We care about putting Mudbloods in their place-"

Hermione's mind was suddenly whirling. "No."

Regulus' eyes focused on her, out of curiosity more than anything.

"If it were just that you could have picked another Muggleborn. One who would be easier to manipulate. So why choose me?" She inquired, taking in deep breaths- who told them to come after me? Voldemort? How would he even know about me?

Avery gritted his teeth; his face became dark as he fired a hex. Hermione deflected it, unsurprised.

************

Within moments, Hermione was facing off against the group of four, deflecting and casting her own spells with varying degrees of violence.

Avery had bats escaping from his nose and Snape had growing teeth- Hermione smirked when she had hurled that hex at him, satisfaction filling her up for a moment. Mulciber scowled and aimed his wand at Hermione as Regulus stood behind him, panting; briefly, Hermione wondered what the duel would have been like if Regulus' spells had been more vicious like the others.

"This has gone on long enough. Crucio."

Hermione stood still, expecting a wave of agony to take hold of her.

But none came.

Mulciber practically screamed as he aimed again, but nothing happened. Regulus let out a silent breath of relief. Avery snatched his wand from the floor where it had rolled away from him and threw the curse at Hermione's back with more anger than Mulciber's spell had possessed.

Regulus' body jolted as the Gryffindor shrieked and fell to the floor on her knees.

The effects didn't last long, only a few seconds due to Mulciber's lack of experience with the curse, but Hermione felt as though it had gone on for minutes of sheer agony.

Regulus could hardly tear his eyes away as Hermione panted, unknown tears wetting her cheeks. A part of him wanted to put an end to it all and just help her. Why did I have to be a part of this? He wondered grimly. For barely a moment, Hermione met his eyes. He froze under her stare, expecting hatred or disdain- there was just understanding and forgiveness.

"Let's go." Muttered Avery, slowly backing away from Hermione who stayed hunched on the floor. Mulciber, who had fixed Snape's enlarged teeth nodded and the group slowly filtered away- Regulus being the last to leave.

Hermione didn't acknowledge his gaze as she allowed her body to slump against the wall, grimacing at the constant pounding of pain within her skull.