Disclaimer: I DO NOT own these characters, nor do I claim to. They are the property of JKR. I'm just using them for my own hysterical fantasy world. (well I own ALL of Fiona :)

Chapter 17 - Caught in the Act

Just before she finished placing the silencing charm outside the bathroom door, Fiona whispered through the cracks.

"You know I didn't have to do this. You could have just met me like I asked you. Instead you spent all of your time with him."

Hermione sobbed behind the door, but was suddenly silenced as the charm took it's hold.

Fiona realized she needn't be in any particular hurry. This was, of course, her room now. She strolled over to Hermione's tall wardrobe and flung it open. She dragged her fingertip across the row of carefully hung robes. Such details, she thought to herself. Her entire life seems to be spent on such stupid little details. She selected a particularly boring set of robes and threw them onto a nearby chair, closed the wardrobe doors...and then on second thought, swung them back open. There was no sense in being super tidy. It's not like Hermione had any visitors. Boys are not allowed into the girls dormitory, and as far as Fiona knew, Hermione's only friends were that insufferable Potter boy and his equally ridiculous sidekick Weasely. Fiona wondered if Hermione had any real female friends at all. What a pitiful existence she lead for such a brilliant witch. The thoughts only infuriated Fiona further. If she had just a small inkling of Hermione's power, she would have done much more with it. Such talent...wasted...but then, not anymore.

She removed the old robes she was wearing, also Hermione's, that she had put on before the girl arrived back to Gryffindor Tower. They were splattered with little specks of blood from Hermione's mouth smacking the floor. Blood of any sort on her robes was bound to draw too many questions, so it was best to change them. She carefully slid into the set of robes she threw onto the chair earlier. Catching a glimpse of herself in the antique claw-foot mirror, she smoothed the robes carefully over herself, trying to the resemble the absolute perfection Hermione always endowed before entering a room. Again she thought, such details...pitiful, pitiful details. In the distance, Fiona saw the glow of orange and pink, signaling that moment when the sun would rise above the castle. It was almost dawn. It was nearly showtime.

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The Great Hall clamored with the sounds of various Hogwarts students preparing themselves for breakfast. Fiona spotted two familiar faces and set off to start her new game. The boy with the glasses didn't see her at first, but the red-head spotted her immediately.

"Where were you this morning 'Mione? We waited for you in the Gryffindor common room for nearly 10 minutes?" Ron gaped at her.

"Oh, sorry. I just was a little distracted this morning. I must have forgotten." She thought for a moment,trying her best to sound convincing. "But no matter, we're all here together now! Let's eat!"

"Well I say it's Snape that's got you distracted." Ron grumbled. "Stupid git has you in detention too much. I have half a mine to hex that greasy bastard."

Harry pat Ron on the back. "C'mon mate, I say we just forget about it for now and get something to eat." With a sideways glance Harry winked at 'Hermione'.

Fiona bristled a bit when he winked at her. What did it mean? He couldn't possibly...well of course not. How could he? It must have meant something entirely different. Only Merlin knows what.

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They finished breakfast without incident. She noticed that they pretty much paid her no mind as it was. The boys mostly just talked about quidditch and discussing ridiculously boring strategies for their next game. This fitting in business was going to be much easier than she originally thought.

Fiona reached into Hermione's knapsack and fished out the neatly written daily schedule. She decided that it would probably best to stick it, so that no one would wonder about Hermione's whereabouts. Damn! There was no Potions class on today's schedule. Hermione clearly has some sort of an in with Snape, and Fiona needed to find out why. Her mission was clear, but Snape was getting in the way. Irritated, she stuffed the scheduled back into the satchel.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Ron piped up.

"Oh. It's a...it's nothing. I just realized I have a lot to do today and just not enough time is all." She slung the heavy bag over her shoulder and headed off toward her first mundane task of the day.

"I swear that girl is mental sometimes," Ron muttered under his breath as she glided out of view.

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Fiona was nearly bored to tears when her academic day came to an end. She couldn't understand how anyone could possibly sit through an entire day of Runes, Arithmancy, and History of Magic without losing their minds. She was clearly going to have to get to the bottom of things before she died of shear boredom. To top things off, her feet were killing her. This ruddy schedule had her moving very quickly from one side of the tower to the other multiple times. This Granger, must be some sort of marathon runner. She could feel the polyjuice potion beginning to wear thin. She looked down at her hands and saw Hermione's long slender fingers begin to shrink and resemble her own short hands. She pulled a strand of her hair into view, and saw the mousy brown start to bleed red. Panic filled her. What if someone saw?

Fiona quickly fell to her knees and began digging through her bag. She located the small bottle and without hesitation, pressed it to her lips, draining it. She watched has her hands began to lengthen again and her hair faded back to brown. She tossed the empty bottle back into the bag and headed toward the dungeons. She was going to need more ingredients for polyjuice potion, since she had just downed the last portion of it. She sincerely hoped the classroom was re-stocked with boomslang skin. The small bit she nicked last week was already used up. Dinner had already begun in the Great Hall, so she was pretty sure there would be little of chance of running into someone down here.

She crept around the corner to the Potions classroom and peered inside. Empty. Fabulous! Fiona ran to the storage cabinet and climb up the ladder to other top shelf. Ah, there it is. She wrapped her hand around the glass jar and pulled it from the top shelf. Before dismounting the ladder, she realized it wasn't nearly enough. There was only about a quarter of it left. Damn! Damn! Damn! She cursed silently to herself. She was going to have to look elsewhere. She jumped down off the ladder. Snape's office. She thought to herself. Surely there must be some in Snape's office. She quickly fled down the hall leading to the Professor's office. It was dark, which was a good sign that he was not currently occupying it. She hurried to his desk and rummaged through the drawers. C'mon, c'mon! It's got to be in here somewhere!! But there was nothing. She whirled around on her toes and spotted it. At the very top of his bookshelf there was a shiny new jar of boomslang skin. She spied the area carefully, looking for a chair, a stool, something! Why did it ave to be so dark? She decided just to climb the ruddy shelf herself. She could climb trees, so as shelf shouldn't be so hard, right? The ancient bookshelf creaked beneath her weight as she scaled its height one section at a time.

Creak...

She froze...surely it was just the shelf groaning...but it sounded as if...well...like...

"Looking for something?" A voice behind her drawled.

Fiona looked up, frozen. She had been caught.

blah blah blaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! YES I know, I KNOW. I took forever. Sorry. I will try not to next. Actually, I'm happy to admit, the story finally is taking shape again. Fiona was reallly beginning to piss me off. I think I know what to do with her now, however. And it won't be pretty. So. I'm watching HP: CoS right now on Disney Channel and I'm all plot bunnies and sunshine! Thanks for reading, and remember, review...review...review! It's the only payment I receive! Respectfully Yours, TelevisionDiva.