A/N: There is one thing that Luna can do better than Hermione: solve Rubik's cubes. AU. RxR. FxF. I do not own Harry Potter.
Submission for:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments): Muggle Studies Assignment #5 - Write about Hermione Granger. Word count: 978.
"What are these?" Ron asked as he reached into a box of multi-colored cubes.
"Rubik's cubes," Hermione said as she walked up behind Ron.
"You know how to use these?" He asked, eyeing the toy warily and holding it out between two fingers.
Hermione giggled and took it from him. "Yes, I used to solve them all the time when I was a kid. I think I'll buy one."
Ron followed Hermione to the till muttering something about silly muggle toys.
When they gotten back to the castle, Hermione tried to the explain the intricacies of the cube to her friends. Ron and Harry hardly understood what she was saying but she gave them each a try. Ron just randomly turned sides while Harry at least tried to do something and managed to get 5 of one colour on the same side.
"So how do you know when you've won?" Ron asked as Harry handed back the cube in defeat.
"When all the sides have all the tiny cubes' faces the same color," Hermione said as she tried to reverse what Harry had done.
"Well are you close?" Ron asked as he watched Hermione's hands move.
Hermione blushed before saying, "Not really. These things take a while. They're very difficult."
Ron and Harry then left Hermione with her boring little toy on the couch as they struck up a more exciting game of wizarding chess.
The next morning, the three friends walked down to breakfast. Hermione's hands moved furiously about the cube, twisting and turning the blocks but not appearing to get any closer to solving it.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Harry asked as he noticed the bags under the girl's eyes and the paleness of her skin.
Hermione said, "Not really. I've been trying to solve this thing all night. I just can't get it. I don't think I took this long when I was younger."
Harry said, "I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe you're just out of practice. You'll solve it in no time."
They reached the Gryffindor table and Hermione put the cube down beside her as she spread grape jelly on her toast.
They were chatting and enjoying their breakfast when a soft voice said, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just wanted to ask you guys if you'd like to join me, Ginny and Neville by the lake after breakfast."
The three looked down the length of the table to see Ginny and Neville waving at them. Hermione answered, "Sure, that'd be nice."
Luna nodded and then noticed the cube next to Hermione's plate. "Is that one of Rukib squares?"
"You know what they are?" Ron asked in surprise.
Luna nodded again while picking it up. "I've never actually seen one but I've heard about them."
Luna placed her hands on the edges, ready to turn them, but Hermione screamed out, "No! I'm so close to solving it."
She tried to take it back from the blonde girl who said, "But you've already gotten off to a bad start. It'll take you hours to solve it."
Hermione snatched it back, "What are you talking about? I spent hours trying to get it this way in the first place."
Luna just smiled on Hermione's left as she began rearranging the squares once more.
Ron groaned before saying, "Luna, we finally got her to put it down. Now she won't eat anything. "
Hermione glared at his light teasing, still trying to solve the bloody cube. But after several minutes, allowing Ron and Harry to finish eating and Luna just watching, she slammed the cube down next to her uneaten plate.
This time Luna asked first, "May I?"
When Hermione didn't oppose, Luna picked up the cube and began twisting and turning. Her hands moved nimbly, undoing faces she'd already fixed to move other pieces into place. In no time at all, she handed the solved cube to Hermione.
Hermione inspected it from all sides, trying to find an error but knowing she wouldn't. "How did you do that so quickly?" she asked in wonder.
"It just followed the logic of the cube. It was no trouble at all," Luna said before she ensured they would meet her and the others after breakfast.
Hermione held the complete cube in her hand, before mixing it up again as well as she could. She would be able to get this.
It was hopeless. Hermione had brought the scrambled cube with her to the Black Lake, where Luna had unscrambled it again. She came down to dinner with the scrambled cube after 8 hours, where Luna had solved it in 5 minutes. She woke up even the next morning, having gotten zero sleep, and Luna had simply walked over and solved it about 3 minutes before handing it back to the girl.
"How do you do it?" Hermione screamed when she found Luna in the library. "I can't even get two faces completed."
Luna placed her book down quietly and held out her hand for the cube which was still miserably incomplete. "You have to think of it three-dimensionally. When you make a move, you're only thinking of moving one square on this face to another face - that's two dimensions. You have to remember there are also four other faces that are affected with every move, and every move actually changes the position of twelve squares. You have to imagine how this move will affect the entire cube and not just the square you want to see on another side."
She took the cube from Hermione and did it slowly, explaining as she went along and pointing out cues to make a different move. She placed the completed cube back in Hermione's hand after a few minutes. "Sometimes we just need to adopt a new perspective of looking at things before they fall into place."