The first destination they were headed was their favourite, Honeydukes, it was always packed with people but each boy had an intimidating size that easily parted others out of their way. They trudged through the fresh snow and into the warm and inviting shop. Crabbe tapped lightly on the outside of his pocket to hear a satisfying clink as his coins clicked together.
"I want some fudge flies and pepper imps." He said grinning at the shops large array of sweets. "...and chocolate frogs too."
"What about Bertie Bott's every flavour beans?" Goyle asked "Nah, last time I got vomit flavour." Crabbe replied making a face at the thought of the revolting taste and shoved a 2nd year out of the way of the Pepper Imps. "What are you getting?"
"Jelly slugs and acid pops."
The two Slytherins wandered through the shop collecting their sweets and some extra as the spied something else they liked along the way. After their purchase they headed off in the direction of Zonko's joke shop, they weren't keen on buying anything in particular but enjoyed looking at all the fun items on display. This store was also filled with Hogwarts students giggling with their friends about how much trouble they'd be in if they used these things in school. The boys wandered around for a bit, Goyle had thought of buying some Dungbombs to through into the girls dorm but decided against it, he didn't want Professor Snape angry with him.
The cold outside was the worst it had been all week, everyone outside was hugging themselves for warmth or huddled in close with their friends as they rushed to the warmth of the stores.
"What do we do now?" Goyle asked, they had done what they wanted, there were only books, clothes and potion ingredients stores left to visit and neither boy was interested in those things.
"How about the three broomsticks? I could go for a butterbeer." Crabbe said after a moments thought. With a nod of agreement they headed off. The shrieking shack was up ahead when Goyle paused.
"Who's that?" He said squinting his eyes, a lone figure was just inside the fence on the path down to the shack, crouching as though they were looking for something.
"I dunno, who cares?" Crabbe muttered walking on ahead.
Goyle didn't move still looking at the searching person.
"What do you think they're doing?"
"I dunno mate, is cold out here, lets go." Crabbe glanced over at the crouching person again. They suddenly stood up hands flying up to the top of their head as they leaned back and let out a frustrated groan.
"ACCIO PURSE!" A feminine voice shouted, the girl pointed her wand down at the ground. The Slytherins watched on as nothing happened. Another groan left her and this time she flopped back down in the snow.
Goyle decided to go get a closer look at what she was doing. He squeezed through the fence and Crabbe followed close behind.
"I should have known that wouldn't work, anti theft charms, of course. How stupid of me." She muttered to herself, Crabbe and Goyle's heavy footsteps alerted her to their presence.
"Granger? What are you doing here?" Crabbe said confused.
"I could ask you two the same question." She replied standing up and dusting snow from her coat.
"We saw you in here sitting in the snow. Wanted to know what you were doing." Goyle said as his friend came to stand by his side.
"Urgh, Malfoy and his friends, they stole my coin purse and chucked it over the fence, it just so happens it fell in this hole here and it's too deep for my arms to reach. I can't use magic on it either, currency is specially charmed to be protected, it can be duplicated but those duplicates are utterly worthless it also unable to be summoned to prevent theft and it applies to anything that money is contained in i.e my purse. "
"Huh?" Crabbe's brow furrowed not understood what she had just said "You're speaking to fast."
She sighed and looked up at the two of them. " I said, my purse full Galleons is in that hole, my arms are too short to reach and Goblin magic means I can't accio it. I need it back for the supplies I have to buy."
"Oh..." Goyle looked down at the hole then back up at Granger, her nose and cheeks were red from being outside so long. "I'll get it." He said finally, he knelt down over the hole to see a little pink bag at the bottom. The hole wasn't as deep for him and he easily snatched up the coin purse.
Hermione's eyes were wide and her mouth was opened slightly as she looked down at the her now dirt and snow covered coin purse in the large outstretched hand of Gregory Goyle.
"Thank you, Goy- Greg, thank you very much." His cheeks burned at hearing her not only thank him but use is given name as well. Her shock was fading away slowly, maybe without Malfoy around these two were semi-decent people, Crabbe hadn't done anything for her but neither had he done anything against her, even after knowing his fellow Slytherins were the reason she was in this mess.
"How about I treat you two to some butterbeer as a thanks for helping me." She jingled her purse and smiled. "I just have to go pick up a new quill, some ink pots and parchment first."
They stared down at the small Gryffindor dumbfounded for a few seconds before grinning at each other pleased with the thought of a free butterbeer.
Hermione, now with purse in hand, rushed off to Scrivenshaft's Quill shop. Just as she reached the door, she heard the sound of huffing behind her and turned to see both Crabbe and Goyle red in the face and tiredly jogging behind her.
"Wha- you didn't need to follow me. I could have met you at the Three Broomsticks after I was done." The two tired 17 year olds didn't respond and instead lent on their knees catching their breath. "Well, you're here now, we'll walk there together ok?" Again she got no verbal response but their nodding heads told her they had heard and understood.
They followed her around like bodyguards, one on each side, she supposed this is how Malfoy felt everyday. They towered over her, if they weren't careful they might accidentally squish her between the two of them. They gave the poor store owner a bit of a fright when he saw them, but he relaxed when he looked down to see Hermione, she was a good customer of his. They'd obviously never visited this shop before by the way they looked around liked they'd never seen such a huge collection stationary, she wondered if they had even known this store was here before now.
She placed her orders on the counter and waited for them to be rung up. Crabbe had wandered off over near the ink shelves. Then came back with a pot of blue ink. She looked up at him eyebrow raise and he shrugged.
"All I've got is black and my favourite colour is blue." She nodded and turned to Goyle.
"Are you going to get anything?"
He looked around unsure of himself.
"I dunno."
"Don't you need a new quill or maybe extra parchment in case you want to write a letter back home? Maybe you'd also like your favourite coloured ink." She offered, hoping to give him some ideas. She handed the store owner the correct amount of coins then stepped away with her items allowing Crabbe to pay for his.
"Erm... I like green." He finally answered.
"Ok, come with me." She grabbed onto his coat sleeve and tugged him along to some ink pots of all different colours. He hesitated before picking up a green one he liked. "Nice choice." She said and saw his cheeks glow red at the praise. She didn't think he got many kind words which made her a little sad. With all of their items paid for and safely tucked away they headed for the Three Broomsticks.
It must of been a funny sight, Hermione Granger walking through Hogsmeade with two huge Slytherins by her side. She was a little uncomfortable with the stares but she did enjoy that she didn't need to weave her way through the crowds of people like normal. She wondered what people would say, she hoped to squash any rumours that popped up with the truth, though she doubted people may believe that.
'Oh they helped me out and I offered to shout them both some butterbeer, but not before I took them to the quill shop and they picked out some coloured ink... Yeah right.' Even she was having a bit of trouble believing that and it had happened to her.
She told them to pick out a table as she grabbed the drinks. Balancing the tray her eyes scanned the inn for where they had decided to sit. It was hard to miss them up the back by the fireplace, they had taken off their gloves and beanies and seemed to also be looking around for her. She placed the tray down in front of them letting take their mugs. She had brought another for herself, she figured since she was here she may as well give herself a treat. She was aware of the eyes on her as she returned the tray. Again she wondered what others would think, she looked like she was being a waitress for Malfoy's goons, they must be wondering why they weren't with Malfoy. Honestly she was also curious as to why they weren't with him.
She returned to the table taking off her gloves and beanie, placing them beside the others. Before she could pull back her chair it slid out from under the table startling her. Crabbe's foot fell away from the edge and she realised it was his way of 'gentlemanly' pulling out her chair for her. She thanked him but he just looked down into his beverage pretending he hadn't heard her. It was silent between the three of them for a while before a slug was shoved in her face causing her to jump back with a disgusted noise.
"Do you like Jelly Slugs?" Goyle asked still holding out the wiggling slug.
"Oh, erh, that's very kind of you but no. Ever since second year when Ron's broken wand backfired the slug eating spell on him I haven't had the stomach to eat those particular sweets." She shuddered when he put the slug into his own mouth. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out an acid pop.
"What about these?"
"Mmm? yeah I like them, you've been to Honeydukes I see, I love the Sugar Quills, Treacle Fudge, Exploding Bonbons, Glacial Snow Flakes and my favourites are Fizzing Whizzbees. It's fun to float around in the air, as long as it's at a safe height."
"Here." He said placing the sweet in front of her.
"Oh you don't have to give me anything, I'm shouting you remember?" He just shrugged in reply but left it there in front of her. "Thank you. I'll keep it for when I'm finishing off my charms essay."
She was almost disappointed when they had to go their separate ways. They weren't the most talkative of people which was a nice change from her usual company. Most Gryffindors were naturally loud and boisterous, and they kept the conversation going. It was nice to not feel obligated to join in or be left out for once, and they had been surprisingly kind to her, she hadn't expected it from them. It was one of the only times Hermione had ever felt ok with being wrong about something. They said a quick goodbye to each other with a little wave from Hermione that they hesitantly returned then turned and walked off to find their friends.
She sat with Ginny in the morning for breakfast because Harry and Ron were always late to wake up from bed. She enjoyed her toast and listened to Ginny talk about how a fourth year had accidentally set off one of Zonko's Dungbombs in the tea shop she and her friends had been sitting at. She tried not to laugh at her friends misfortune but it was difficult to conceal it. Ginny suddenly got a serious look on her face.
"Hermione, is it true? The rumours about you sitting with Crabbe and Goyle in The Three Broomsticks? Lavender's been saying she saw you guys kiss but-"
"WHAT!?"
"Hah I knew it wasn't true, Lavender is such a dirty liar." Ginny looked triumphant and turned to face Lavender making sure she was loud enough for the gossiper to hear.
"No... No I was with them at the inn, but we didn't kiss, Merlin... "
"Why?" Ginny was giving her a skeptical look now.
"Well, my coin purse was stuck in a hole and I couldn't reach it or accio it, Goyle comes along and grabs it for me. I told them I'd buy them a butterbeer as a thanks. That's all."
"...Wow. Everyone's been talking about it, it's good to know the true story, but still... It's so strange. What'd they talk about with you?"
"Erh sweets, I might have talked their ears off a bit. Told them about how I loved Fizzing Whizzbees the best."
"Hahaha typical, everything you said probably flew over their heads." Ginny laughed and was fake wiping away a tear. The topic soon switched and they finished off their breakfast. Harry and Ron had joined them at some point racing to shove as much of the food on their plates into their mouth. Then the mail came. Hundreds of owls swooped down dropping letters and the daily prophet in front of the students. An brown school owl flew low towards them and dropped a small package in her lap. She picked it up looking to see who it was from, there wasn't any name besides her own squished messily on the top, half written in blue and the other half in a green ink. She opened it quickly and pulled out a packet.
"Fizzing Whizzbees? You could of just brought those yesterday Hermione." Said Ron with a mouth full of toast.
"I didn't order them." She said looking down at the packet in her lap.
"Well someone did and sent them to you. There's a note on the inside" Harry said looking at the ripped packaging. "Think you've got a secret admirer. They seem to know your favourite treats." He smiled and Ron choked a bit on his food. Ginny's eyes widened at Hermione which she knew to mean 'it was Crabbe and Goyle!' She turned to looked over at the Slytherin table, she spied the two of them side by side and smiled when she caught their eyes. Even from the distance she saw there blush as they quickly turned to look elsewhere. There was a hint of a smile of both of there faces. She looked down at the note from inside the package.
'Sorry about the slug'
No name, but she knew who it was from. She let a small smile creep onto her face. 'Guess those things didn't just fly over their heads after all.'