002. Middles
Hermione Granger was always in the middle of something or other.
Whether it was an essay, a book, a project, saving the world with Harry, or an argument with Ron, she was always in the middle.
She often counted it as a curse. It seemed to the young witch that she never had any time to relax. There was never a dull moment in her life, certainly. But sometimes, when no one was around, she let herself wish that she wasn't always in the middle of something. That she could just come to the end and be able to sit back and admire her work. But no. Just as she thought she could finally take a break, something or someone more came up, and she was back at square one.
It was always, "Hermione, help me with this" and "Hermione, I need the answer to that", or "Hermione, would you mind doing a little bit of research for me?", or even "Hermione, since you're so gifted and intelligent, you wouldn't mind taking on even more of a workload, would you?"
"Mione?"
The feeling of an arm wrapping around her waist brought Hermione back to real life. She turned her head to the right to see the smiling, freckled face of Ron Weasley looking down at her. "You alright? You seemed a bit out of it for a moment there."
"Yeah," another voice chimed in, coupled with an arm being slung around her shoulders from the other side. Hermione turned her head to the left in order to see a pair of green eyes behind a terribly smudged pair of glasses. Harry Potter grinned back at her. "We wondered if you were still on Earth."
Hermione smiled and placed her arms around her two best friends. "Oh, yes, I still inhabit the planet." Then again, sometimes it was alright to be in the middle.