Hermione Granger, known for her intelligence and "apparent" charm, exited her writing class with feelings of mirth and worry.
"Can you believe it Natalie, they actually believed my excuse about the printer shutting down! You'd think I would have lived up to being a witch and found a charm for fixing it," Hermione exclaimed with a mischievous grin.
Natalie was one of Hermione's better friends, sometimes mistaken for Hermione herself.
Dratted hair, Hermione thought to herself. Natalie always seems to have the wildness of my mane, with a sense that she actually washes. And me, I have to suffer sarcastic jeers from friends, even though they're just kidding.
As Natalie and Hermione walked, Natalie rolled her eyes at Hermione and started commenting on the day's events.
"I know, honestly...We can't even have muggle artifacts at Hartwarts, but somehow they believe you, while our editor Beth always bugs me about the fact that I don't even have a computer. I mean, I do have some quality possessions."
-"And what would those be exactly?" said Hermione, smirking widely.
-"Hmm. Just to mention a few, let's see...Those puffy orange sweaters I'd get for Christmas, an occasional howler, and oh! I can't forget the best gift of all time. An A on that term paper we had to do for potions. I mean, Mr. Pue is so hard to please."
-"Oh, come on it wasn't that hard! All you had to do was add snake venom to the bile mixture and wait ten seconds..."
Hermione's voice suddenly faded. A familiar presence hovered at her elbow. She turned around and smiled at the clumsy young boy. It was Neville.
"Hey Neville! How did you think you did on that test for Transfiguration. Mr Kurbe said it was going to be really hard, and I actually thought it was! That subject really isn't my thing, including divination with that crazy red-headed teacher Kerney!"
-"I thought it was great. It was so easy. What do you mean you thought it was hard? Oh, and I got a perfect paper in Herbology. I can even identify plants at school!"
Neville smiled his gap-toothed smile as he avidly pointed out a random shrub by the side of the path. As he pointed out other plants, he moved closer to Hermione. Natalie looked over at the two and raised her eyebrow but walked on, leaving the two students together in awkward silence.
Hermione pondered. Does he really like me that much. I mean, he follows me everywhere, but I'm not sure what to do about it. It's like having a mini Snuffles...Oh, note to self. I must ask Harry how Sirius is doing. Gosh, I feel really flattered, yet so confused. I'm...not sure.
She soon found a distraction from Neville's penetrating stare. Cho ran up and poked Hermione in the shoulder as she exclaimed, "great you didn't wait for me...again!"
Hermione opened up her mouth in protest, but then saw that Cho was merely kidding. Her class was in the North tower also, but instead of a writing class, Cho was part-time editor of the school gossip chronicle and full-time her best friend. Cho suddenly noticed that Neville was next to Hermione, and she awkwardly smiled as she uncomfortably attempted to hold a conversation about the weather.
Suddenly a voice was heard behind the group of three.
"Hey, wait up guys! I was let out of class late, cause some ass decided to whine and he kept the whole class up. I mean, we tried to count to ten until he shut up, but that method didn't seem to work!"
Ron grinned at his friends, and Hermione shyly smiled back. She felt uneasy as there was a sudden leap in her chest at the arrival of Ron, his red hair and infectious smile making her blush. Still, Neville stood too close to her, invading her personal space. As she continued to walk, Cho walked even faster, leaving her behind.
"Wait Cho... Wait up!"
Hermione watched in despair as Ron sped up also to catch up with Cho, and together they laughed and talked as they headed to Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Michael. As they faded out into the distance, Hermione was left with Neville, feeling empty and now knowing why...
"Hey, look at this plant!"
The day could not get any worse.