The door slammed, echoing across the small classroom with a resounding thud. Harry Potter looked up from his Potions book and offered a wry smile at an obviously perturbed Hermione Granger.
"Well you seem to be in a good mood," he offered sardonically, raising his eyebrows.
"Humph" was the only reply he received as his friend plopped herself down next to him. "Let's get this finished, I have loads of studying to do," Hermione all but snapped.
"Hermione, you were the one who insisted that you help me study for NEWTS, I don't want to distract you from getting your 57 NEWTS or however many you need for that internship at the ministry," Harry replied, a bit defensively.
"Oh come on", Hermione declared angrily, "I'm really getting sick of your childish jokes about my studies. I'm simply aiming to make the most of my education and, really, you should be doing the same. I'm not in the mood however to coerce you into studying, and I don't have time for your jocularity. If you don't mind, I think I'll excuse myself to do something productive with my time." Following her rant Hermione stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind her with a thump even more formidable than the one that had introduced her.
Harry stared at the door for several seconds, wondering what, exactly had just happened. Hermione was always a bit testy around exam time, but Harry could tell that her bad mood extended far beyond nervousness over the upcoming exams. Trying to forget his friend's odd behavior, Harry returned to reading his book. Contrary to what Hermione had implied, Harry did care about his exam results. Though after his recent defeat of Voldemort, he doubted anyone would challenge his credentials to be an auror, Harry still needed to get excellent exam scores to even be considered in the auror training program. He resolved to try to get to the bottom of the Hermione matter at breakfast the next morning.
Hermione trudged down the empty corridor, a considerable amount of the urgency with which she had left her bewildered friend now gone. She was completely exhausted; the cumulative effect of all her commitments was beginning to take a toll on her. All she wanted to do was go home and go to sleep, but she had one more stop to make. As she had every night for the past few months, she made her way up two flights of stairs and down the fourth floor corridor to a door that had become quite familiar to her over the years. As she carefully pushed open the door (not even having the energy to vigorously slam the door as she had done previously) she opened her book-bag and began to fish inside it for something. Her search was interrupted by a whiney voice.
"You better not have squished it this time," the voice said, in a tone that almost certainly was meant to incite Hermione's ire. Hermione, however, ignored the provocation and continued her search. "You know," the speaker continued, "last night when I went to the bathroom I ran into a third year. She recognized me, but I managed to convince her I was a ghost" he chortled. Unperturbed by the fact that Hermione was ignoring him; he continued to ramble on about the encounter. Finally, she victoriously pulled out of her book-bag the packet of food she had smuggled out of the Great Hall after dinner. She tossed it carelessly in the direction of the voice and turned to leave the room.
"What, no sarcastic remark?" inquired the recipient, who had been expecting the usual mocking banter he had become accustomed to engaging in. Hermione simply sent him a withering stare and exited the room wordlessly. Draco Malfoy simply shrugged his shoulders and unwrapped his dinner, thinking that as far as ambiance went, the Room of Requirement was as good a restaurant as any.