A Harry Potter Fan Fiction; Hogwarts University

Chapter 32

A/N; Hello everyone! Thanks to all my friends (Shannon, Jo etc) as always. I had a mini heart attack earlier when I couldn't get in here with my Facebook account. Thanks to Maria for that one. If she hadn't told me to use her other email adres I wouldn't have clicked Join Now which brought me back to my account.

Hermione

I think everyone except Ron and Ginny hates me now. They all hate me becuase they think I've killed Cho. Which I haven't, of course. And being a muggle-born dosen't really help my situation either. Everyone uses this as another excuse to whisper about me in lessons. It gives them yet another reason to hate me in general. But only pure-bloods think about the "Mudblood" part. Blood traitors, fellow muggle-borns and half-bloods just hate me becuase of the first one.

The day after the incedent, Ron and I sat on one side of the Potions room whilst Ginny and Harry sat on the other. It's not like Ginny wanted to be on the other side of the room to me, or that she believed any of the nonsense everyone was spreading about me. She simply wanted to sit with Harry. Harry, however, wanted to be as far away from both me and Ron as possible.

During the lesson, Slughorn asked a question. I knew the answer, so I raised my hand to answer it. When he told me I was right, the murmering started.

I even heard some of the people I counted as my friends muttering horrible things about me to one another.

Embarrassed and upset, I look down at the table.

I could feel Ron getting tense beside me, seeming to get angrier everytime he heard someone accuse me of "Cho's murder". When he heard some pureblood call me a Mudblood, he finally exploded.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, jumping up from his seat. "SHE DIDN'T DO IT! SHE WOULDN'T! YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW HER WELL ENOUGH BY NOW TO KNOW THAT SHE ISN'T EVEN ABLE TO CONSIDER THE THINGS YOU'RE ACCUSING HER OF!"

"EVERYONE WAS WRONG ABOUT HER, THEN, WEREN'T THEY?" Harry screamed.

"DON'T SAY THAT AGAIN. YOU KNOW HOW MAD YOU MADE ME WHEN YOU FIRST SAID IT!"

I looked up from my hands for a minuite to look around at the faces of the people who now believe that I am a murderer. I am met with looks of hatred and distrust, but one expression terrifies me more than anything. Harry glared at me his face stony and angry, some kind of new emotion creeping on as he saw me. My vision blurred, and I looked down again, allowing a curtain of hair to hide my face.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ADMIT THE FACT THAT YOU WERE..." Harry began.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SAYING IT! Do you really all belive him? Do you all really belive that Hermione capable of murder?" Ron asked, evedently adressing the whole class now.

Before anyone could answer, Professor Slughorn jumped in. "Weasley, would you care to expain what's going on?"

"Everyone's saying that Hermione killed Cho Chang, just becuase she was in the same roon as the body."

"Surely Miss Granger wouldn't..."

"I've tried telling them that, Sir. No one will listen."

Ron

I'm amazed I got away with that without a detention. Normally, stopping a lesson like I just did was worth at least a week's worth of detention. I guess it's becuase Hermione's a good student. Slughorn probably didn't mind me sticking up for her.

I'm so mad at Harry. He's got everyone believing him about Hermione killing Cho. No one will listen to me when I tell them that she couldn't kill anyone if it saved her own life. No one listens as I tell them that she's never even considered the idea of killing someone, even someone she hates. Harry keeps telling them that she was the only other one in the room, and everyone follows the Boy Who Lived. Everyone thinks that Hermione could actually kill someone.

Of course, she couldn't. They know she couldn't.

And I'm not going to let Harry tell me that I was wrong about her again.