For the If You Dare Challenge on the HPFC.
— Prompt & Prompt Number: Index, Prompt 210
"I can't find it."
Hermione purses her lips and tries to focus on the words in front of her. Maybe if she ignores him, he'll go away.
"Oi! Hermione!" Ron persists. "I can't find it!"
She exhales. Stay calm, she reminds herself. After all, some people just aren't used to being in the library. Some people just don't have the capacity for it. For some people, being near so many books makes them break out in hives. And some people, the spawn of the devil for example, simply do not understand the concept of being quiet in the library.
"Keep your voice down," she says through clenched teeth.
Then, because she knows he'll continue to annoy her until she helps him, she places her book on the table, and offers him her undivided attention.
She looks at him expectantly. "Well? What is it?"
"You lied," he says, still far from quiet. "You told me the properties of wolfsbane would be in here, but they're not."
"Ron, that book contains the properties of every plant known to wizardkind. I can assure you that wolfsbane is most certainly there."
"Oh yeah? You find it then!"
He slams the book close with an indignant huff and crosses his arms. Hermione rolls her eyes, reaching across the table for the book. Has he always been this childish or does being in the library bring it out of him? She flicks through the book, eventually pausing.
"Ha! You can't find it either, can you?"
"Shush!"
Hermione quickly scans down the page and then flicks through the book for a few more moments.
"Here." With a satisfied smile, she turns the book around so that the text is the right way up for Ron. "The properties of wolfsbane."
Ron gapes. "How'd you find that?"
Hermione sighs, picking up her abandoned book and readying herself to finish her note taking.
"Honestly," she says, quill tip poised above the parchment. "Did you even bother to check the index?"