A girl named Hermione Granger: Year Three
Chapter Four: Tea Leaves and Twits
Discalimer: Still not mine...
The next morning started out aggravating. Hermione tucker her time-turner away beneath her robes, and left her room, only to discover Harry and Ron had gone down to breakfast without her. She slung her over-stuffed book bag over her shoulder and made her way down to the great hall, where she found her boys, face to face with most of the third year Slytherin's. Draco was in the midst of a feigned swooning fit when she came up beside Harry, "Ignore him." She said firmly, dragging the easily angered boy away from the entrance hall.
They sat at the table, and were greeted by Fred and George, "New third year time tables," The later said, handing Harry and Ron each a piece of parchment, "What's up with you Harry?" He asked, noticing the dark look on Harry's face. Hermione sighed and jerked her thumb towards the table across the hall, "Malfoy." Ron snarled, and his brothers looked up to see the blonde boy pretend to faint in terror again. Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling. He looked rather silly, flailing about, and she might have gotten away with laughing had he not been mocking Harry.
"That little git." George said calmly, "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were in our part of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he Fred?" "Nearly wet himself," Fred said in agreement, shooting a dirty look towards Draco. Hermione turned to face the blonde boy, so her face was blocked from her friends and rolled her eyes at his antics. He winked at her and she turned back to the table, "Forget it Harry. Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember Fred?" George seemed to be attempting to cheer Harry up now. And the conversation switched abruptly to the first Quidditch match of the season. It was going to be Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, and Hermione had no idea who to root for. Especially since she wasn't starting this year mad with her Slytherin friend.
She pulled out her timetable, and smiled, "Oooh good, we're starting some of our new subjects today." As a matter of fact she had three new classes in the next hour. She was flicking through her bag to make sure she had her first few books when her timetable was snatched out of her hand by Ron. "Hermione," he said frowning, "They've messed up your timetable. Look - they've got you down for ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time." She resisted the urge to snicker as she attempted to steal back her timetable, wondering if he'd ever realize his pun. "I'll manage; I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall." "But look," He was laughing now, holding the paper out of her reach, "see this morning? Nine o'clock Divination, and underneath that, Nine o'clock Muggle Studies, and underneath that, Nine o'clock Arithmancy."
She finally retrieved her timetable and stood up, ignoring her breakfast. "I know you're good Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?" She rolled her eyes at his erratic questioning and sat back down, deciding that if she was going to try and live two years at once, she would need to eat after all. "Don't be silly." She said shortly, picking some toast out of the basket, "Of course I won't be in three classes at once." "Well then-" "Pass the marmalade." She wished he would stop talking for once. "But-" She slammed her palms down on the table and glared at the red haired boy across from her, "Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my timetable's a bit full? I've told you, I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall." She picked up her book bag again and stormed away from the table, only to be turned back around by Hagrid as he entered the great hall.
She fell back down in her seat and sighed, "All righ'?" The gamekeeper asked cheerily, "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready. Hope its ok...me, a teacher...hones'ly..." He flashed them a broad grin and continued on his way. Thankfully, the topic of conversation had now changed, and she had time to drink a quick mug of coffee. She had the distinct impression she was going to regret much of what happened this year.
Divination was interesting, to say the least. The teacher, Professor Trelawney, struck Hermione as a bit of a fraud. She looked much like the muggle fortune-tellers on late night television. They had started their class with high expectations, and Hermione was fairly sure her room mates had been sucked into the spell of the mysterious teacher. In the first ten minutes she'd scared poor Neville out his wits, turned Parvati against Ron, predicted a flu epidemic, and hinted at someone leaving forever near Easter; and convinced Lavender to dread something horrible in October.
Of course, the young brunette couldn't help the smirk that slipped across her face as she opened her copy of Unfogging the Future and they began their lesson on reading tea leaves. As usual, the boys paired up and left her to fend for herself, and she was forced to pair with Neville for the class. She dutifully ignored the constant babble of nonsense between Harry and Ron, trying to focus on Neville as he read her tea leaves. "Um, ok, looks like you'll - er, get into a big fight. And, -er...no, that can't be right." He hunched down closer to his book, squinting at the page. "Well, what is it?" She asked impatiently, having already finished reading his cup. "It looks like, if I'm right, you'll -" "Let me see that dear," Professor Trelawney's voice cut off the pudgy boy from the next table over, "The Falcon...my dear, you have a deadly enemy." Hermione turned around to see the batty woman looking into Harry's tea cup, and snorted, "But everyone knows that."
The bug eyed Professor turned to look at her and she rolled her eyes, "Well they do. Everyone knows about Harry and you-know-who." She caught the amazed looks on her best friends' faces and smiled. They had never heard her talk back to a teacher before. Trelawney turned back to the tea cup, ignoring her, and she turned back to Neville, informing him of what she'd read from his mug, "I don't want to know what mine says." She snapped when he tried to finish reading hers.
Professor Trelawney let out a startling gasp, and began to rant and rave about something called a 'Grim'. Hermione flipped the pages in her book out of boredom as the eccentric woman went on to define the Grim to the class, although she acted as though it was painful to do so. "The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen - the worst omen - of death." Nearly the whole class gasped as though she had revealed Voldemort was hiding inside the tea cup. Hermione rolled her eyes and stood from her poufy seat, so she could peer into the tea cup over the Professor's shoulder as Harry became the center of attention. "I don't think it looks like a Grim." She said plainly, looking down at the shapeless mush. If it looked like anything, it was more like a bat.
Regardless of what it actually looked like, Hermione was satisfied to say she'd accomplished her main goal, which had been to spare Harry the pitiful stares. It wasn't long until other students snatched up the cup and began debating their opinions, and before they knew it, class was over. Hermione slipped away from her friends and hid behind a tapestry, pulling her time-turner out of her robes. She turned the tiny hourglass twice, and slipped off to Muggle Studies. To say she was surprised when she walked into the class to see Pansy and Millicent, would be an understatement. She took a seat far away from the two girls and waited impatiently for the class to start.
After the second class was done, she rushed to the girl's toilet on the second floor, and pulled out her time turner again; giving it another two full turns. She hurried off to Arithmancy, fighting a yawn that wished to escape. She was dead tired now. And it was still only morning.
When they finally made it to lunch, after Transfiguration (and Ancient Runes,) Harry and Ron watched in awe as she drank no less than four mugs of coffee. She, high on a rush of caffeine, shoved a big plate of stew towards Ron, "Oh cheer up. You heard what Professor McGonagall said." She piled food onto her own plate and began eating as the two boys remained concerned. "Harry, you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere have you?" Ron asked, not touching his food. "Yeah, I have." Harry replied, and Hermione choked on her mouthful of stew. "I saw one the night I left the Dursley's." She took a large gulp of her coffee and as soon as she could speak, said "It was probably a stray." Ron looked at her like she had lost her mind, and she sighed as he launched into a superstitious tale about his uncle, whom had seen a grim and died.
"Coincidence." She said airily, pouring some pumpkin juice for herself, now that she had drank as much coffee as she thought she could handle. "You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron shouted, his face going red with anger, "Grim's scare the living daylights out of most wizards!" She rolled her eyes and continued to work away on her lunch, "There you have it then," She said, pulling out her Arithmancy book to review the chapter she had for homework, (there would be no time to slack off, she had a week's worth of homework already,) "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well I'd better pop my clogs then!" She briefly enjoyed the enraged silence she had stuck Ron into.
"I think Divination seems very woolly," She hummed, searching the page in her book before placing a tick beside the paragraph she would need later, "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me." "There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" She could feel Harry sinking down into the bench as Ron continued to push the topic, "You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep." She said coolly, and Ron scoffed. "Professor Trelawney said you didn't have to right aura! You just don't like being rubbish at something for a change!"
She slammed her book shut angrily and stood from her seat, stuffing it back into her bag. She didn't need to be wasting time listening to Ron's rubbish when she had homework to do. "If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in clumps of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer!" She tossed her bag over her shoulder, "That lesson was rubbish compared to my Arithmancy class!" She stalked off without another word.
Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances as she walked off, "What's she going on about? She hasn't been to Arithmancy yet." Harry could only shrug as he toyed with the food on his plate, "Who knows mate." He said as Ron finally began eating. "Any way, did you hear anything over the summer from your mum and dad?" Harry asked, taking advantage of the rare moment of privacy. "Nope." Ron said through a mouthful of stew. "They seem to think maybe he just was being nice as a favour to Dumbledore." Harry sighed; they were no closer to finding out why Snape had spent so much time watching over Hermione in the hospital wing the year before. "I still think there's something funny about it." Ron said as he finished his plate of food, "Don't be ridiculous. Dumbledore knows everything that goes on here, he'd never let that happen."
Hermione joined up with Harry and Ron again on the way down to Care of Magical Creatures, but she stubbornly refused to speak to Ron, still seething over his words at lunch. She felt both relief and dread in her gut as she noticed that the class would be split with Slytherin. Draco was still re-enacting Harry's fainting on the train, and she really didn't want any of the boys to lose their tempers during Hagrid's class.
"C'mon now! Get a move on!" Hagrid's voice boomed from the edge of the forest, and even from the distance, Hermione could tell he was smiling behind his big busy beard. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, now follow me!" He led them along the edge of the forest to a paddock hidden behind his hut and Hermione decided she now fully dreaded the way the lesson would end. Biting text books and a paddock near the dark forest. Oh dear. Hagrid stopped just in front of the paddock and turned to face the class, "Everyone gather round the fence here!" He said gleefully, "That's it -" Hermione found herself standing quite close to where Hagrid was, with Harry and Ron each looking rather apprehensive beside her. "Make sure yeh can see. Now firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books -"
"How?" Draco's cold drawl drew the class' attention away from the excited teacher to the massive books struggling in their arms. Hermione traced the spellotape holding her book shut, and looked back to Hagrid as his face fell. "Eh?" "How do we open our books?" Draco repeated. "Hasn' - hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" Hagrid asked the students, looking crestfallen.
The entire class shook their heads. "Yeh've got ter stroke 'em." He plucked the book out of her hand and held it up so the whole class could see, before ripping off the spellotape and running his finger down the spine of the book. It shuddered and fell open in his hand and he handed it back to her. Harry and Ron struggled to open their books, as Draco decided the class needed further commentary. "Oh, how silly we've all been. We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess?" Hermione rolled her eyes as she flipped through the introductory for the book. "I thought they were funny." Hagrid said dejectedly as the class finally managed to get their books all open.
"Oh tremendously funny!" Draco raved on, and Hermione shot him a glare that went ignored, "Really witty, giving us a book that tries to rip our hands off." Beside her, Harry tensed, "Shut up Malfoy." He said quietly, and the blonde boy paused to sneer at him. "Righ' then. So...so yeh've got yer books an'...an' now yeh need yer magical creatures. So I'll go an' get 'em...hang on." Hagrid hurried off into the forest and Hermione resisted the urge to throw her book at her Slytherin friend as he turned to his fellow house mates and said loudly, "God this place is going to the dogs. That oaf teaching classes, my father will have a fit when I tell him -" "Shut up Malfoy," Harry said again, louder this time.
Hermione rubbed at her temples as the boys began to bicker, and was glad for the first time ever to hear Lavender squeal, when silence fell over the rest of the class. She turned to face the forest and gasped. A dozen of the most beautiful, and bizarre, creatures she had ever seen were trotting up to the fence, with Hagrid right behind them, smiling again. The creatures each had the body and hind legs of a horse, but the heads, wings and front legs of what appeared to be giant eagles. Hermione's eyes fell on a beautiful dapple grey with storm coloured feathers, and she sighed lovingly. They were definitely beautiful creatures. Each beast had a thick leather collar around its neck, with long chains which Hagrid was using as a leash.
Once he reached the fence, he tied each one of the creatures down securely, and the class backed away in fear. "Hippogriffs!" Hagrid said proudly, waving a hand to one of the dozen animals, "Aren' they beautiful?" Hermione nodded eagerly, flipping to the page the index of her book indicated for the creatures. "So, if yeh want ter get a bit closer..." No one seemed to want to get much closer, except Hermione, and she was glad to see Harry and Ron step closer with her.
"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriff's is they're proud." Hermione listened eagerly, ignoring the mocking laughter coming from where Draco was standing with his goons, "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always want to wait fer the Hippogriff to make the firs' move, it's polite, see?" Hagrid patted the beak of the creature closest to him affectionately, "Yeh walk towards him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed to touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."
"Alrigh', who wants ter go firs'?" Hermione rolled her eyes as most of the class backed away further, "No one?" Hagrid asked sadly. She nudged Harry in the ribs, he shot her a terrified look and she rolled her eyes at him. She pushed him forward slightly, and he stumbled. "I'll - I'll do it." He stuttered, as Hagrid beamed at him. The rest of the class gasped in shock, and those who were also in their divination class, whispered their concerns. "Oooh no Harry! Remember your tea leaves!" Hermione turned and shot a glare at Parvati and Lavender as Harry climbed over the fence.
She turned back in time to see Harry bow stiffly to the grey Hippogriff she had taken a liking to, whom was apparently named Buckbeak. Hagrid gently gave instructions to the dark haired boy as Buckbeak fixed a bright orange eye on him. "Ah," Hagrid said after a moment, as the Hippogriff refused to bow, "Right - back away now, Harry, easy does it." Before Harry could scurry back, the proud creature bent down onto one scaly knee and bowed in return.
Hermione watched enviously as Harry walked up to Buckbeak, and patted it on the beak. The Hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, and Hermione broke into a wide grin. How silly she'd been to worry Hagrid would bring untrained creatures. The class broke into soft applause behind her, although she noticed that Draco and his Slytherin crew seemed disappointed at the mild ending, and Hagrid clapped Harry on the back firmly. "Righ' then Harry, I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" The gamekeeper placed Harry on Buckbeak's back before the dark haired boy could protest, and in a flash the Hippogriff had taken off.
As soon as Harry landed unscathed, the rest of the class gained enough courage to step forward and try their luck. Things went along smoothly, until nearly the end of class. Hermione was lovingly patting a chestnut coloured Hippogriff, which had refused to bow to anyone else, when a pain filled shriek cut through the air. Before she could even blink, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak into his collar, and Draco was rolling on the ground, blood spurting from his arm. "Oh my - Draco!" She gasped, rushing to the fence as Hagrid scooped up the wailing blonde, who insisted he was now dying, and she opened the latch, pulling the gate open for Hagrid as he raced towards the castle. The class followed closely.
Hermione sat anxiously in the common room, "Do you think he'll be alright?" She asked shakily, remembering the blood pouring out of Draco's arm as Hagrid rushed him to the hospital wing. She wanted to go visit him, but she couldn't. Pansy had rushed off to her cousin's side, and Pansy had no idea she was still friends with Draco. "Of course he will," Harry assured her, taking the seat next to her on the couch by the fire, "Madam Pomfrey can heal cuts in an instant."
Dinner wasn't very lively, and although she had spent a few more hours thinking over the incident in Care of Magical Creatures than the boys had (she'd had two classes more,) she was still terrified about what would happen now. There was no way that Lucius Malfoy would allow this to slide, and just because he was no longer one of the school's governors, didn't mean he couldn't still get his way. Hagrid never showed up to dinner, and she found herself by the front doors of the school, looking down at Hagrid's hut longingly with Harry and Ron. "They wouldn't sack him, would they?" She asked nervously, watching the light flickering in the window of the hut in the distance. "They'd better not." Ron replied, leaning moodily against the door way, "Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back." The red head said, pushing himself upright, "If we hurried, we could go down and check on him." Harry said suddenly, and Hermione bit her lip.
"I don't know Harry..." She wasn't sure it was a good idea to traipsing about as they had for the previous two years, the school had already proven itself dangerous. "I'm allowed to walk across the grounds." Harry snapped, making his way across the grassy field. Hermione followed close behind with Ron, glancing about nervously. They reached Hagrid's hut and knocked. "C'min." A wheezy growl called out, and they opened the door to find Hagrid sitting at his massive oak table, a large pewter tankard in front of him, and Fangs head resting on his lap. It didn't take a genius to see he had been drinking heavily. His eyes were out of focus and he was swaying slightly on his chair.
"'Spect it's a record," He said thickly after he seemed to recognize them, "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who on'y lasted a day before." He took a big gulp of whatever was in the tankard, and Hermione sighed, edging closer to the table. "You haven't been sacked, Hagrid." She said calmly, "Not yet," He groaned, letting his head fall into his empty hand, "But 'sonly a matter o' time, i'n't it, after Malfoy..." They each took a seat around the table and Ron finally spoke up, "How is he? It wasn't serious was it?"
"Madam Pomfrey fixed 'im up best she can," Hagrid replied dully, "But he's sayin' it's still agony...covered in bandages...moanin'..." Harry patted Hagrid's arm and stated plainly that Malfoy was faking it. "Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all its worth." Ron quickly agreed with Harry, always eager to jump to the defense of his best friend, and Hermione bit the inside of her cheek. She knew that Draco was probably faking the injury, but she couldn't help but to be worried about the prat.
Hagrid moaned about it being all his fault, and the Governor's opinions on the matter, and Hermione found herself agreeing with Ron as he firmly told Hagrid that it was Malfoy's fault, not his. The giant man pulled the two boys into a bone crushing hug and Hermione quickly removed the tankard from his reach, "I think you've had enough to drink Hagrid." She stood and brought it outside with her, pouring the remaining contents onto the ground. "Ar, maybe she's right." He said gruffly, releasing Harry and Ron from his grip, and heaving himself unsteadily out of his chair.
He went outside and they heard a loud splash of water, "What's he done?" Harry asked nervously, as Hermione stepped back inside finally, "Just dunked his head in the barrel of water. Don't worry." She placed the tankard back on the table as Hagrid reappeared, dripping water over his door step. "Tha's better." He said, ringing some of the water out of his bushy hair, "Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an' see me, I really -" He stopped midsentence, staring at them as if he had only just realized whom he'd been speaking to.
"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" He roared, throwing his arms open wide, and Hermione was sure the boys jumped nearly a foot in surprise, "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN' YOU TWO!" He rounded on Hermione and Ron with a massive scowl, "Lettin' him!" He grabbed the three of them and pulled them out of his hut quickly, "I'm takin' yeh lot back up ter the school, now." He marched the three Gryffindor's across the front lawns, and she felt a little better knowing Hagrid would still be teaching their next class.
Hermione borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak on Wednesday night, and snuck out of the dorms. She was dead tired, but she just couldn't sleep. Draco hadn't left the hospital wing since the first day. Normally two days wouldn't have been a big deal, for her to not see him, but with the use of her time-turner, it felt as though it had been a week. She hugged the 'borrowed' cloak around herself and snuck down the halls quietly. She tugged the cloak off of herself as she reached the doors to the infirmary and quietly let herself inside. Her eyes fell on Draco, whom was picking at the bandage wrapped around his wrist in a rather bored manner. "Hey." She said quietly, taking a seat on the bed beside his.
Draco was surprised when he realized she was there, but he didn't let it show. He'd spent two days wondering if she'd find a way to come and visit or not. "Hey yourself. You look like shit." His grey eyes took in her overly tired face, and the bags forming under her eyes. She chuckled and began playing with the folded invisibility cloak in her lap. "Yeah, I haven't been sleeping; it's been a very long week for me." Her dark eyes landed on his arm and she cleared her throat, "It wasn't too bad, was it?"
The blonde boy shrugged and stiffly stretched his fingers, "It healed fairly well. But mother is making me stay here until the muscles go back to normal." As if to prove his point, only two of his fingers bent all the way, making him look like he was making air quotations with his hand. "Hagrid's a mess." She said, diverting her eyes to the window to watch the rain slide down the glass pane. "He ought to be, that oaf. It's all his fault I-" She sent a sharp glare at the blonde and he stopped mid-sentence. "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Malfoy." She snapped, using his last name in anger.
"Or what, Granger, what are you gonna do?" He hissed, returning her glare. She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, "There's nothing I can do. But you would have known, if you had been listening, that insulting a Hippogriff is as dangerous as prodding a sleeping dragon in the eye." They stared each other down, neither relenting until they heard Madam Pomfrey open the door to her office. Draco's eyes flickered to the healer as she poked her head out, and back to the bed where Hermione had been sitting, only to find the brown haired witch gone. "What the-" He looked around, but didn't see her anywhere. "What's going on out here Mister Malfoy?" The healer asked, her eyes settling on the only occupied bed.
Draco shrugged, "Must've been talking in my sleep." She went back into her office and he heard a sigh of relief beside him. He turned back to the bed next to him and saw Hermione sitting exactly as she had been before. "What the hell Hermione-" She placed her finger to her lips and shushed him, "Not so loud Draco. I need to get going, I have eight classes tomorrow. I just wanted to see if you were ok." She stood, and quickly stooped down to hug her injured friend. He wrapped his good arm around her shoulder in return and she hesitated before placing a kiss on his cheek and dashing out of the room. Draco laid awake the rest of the night, playing over the visit in his mind, his good hand occasionally reaching up to touch the place her lips had been on his cheek. He tried to ignore the feelings that bubbled up in his chest uncomfortably; he wondered why there were butterflies in his stomach as he thought about her.
End chapter four!
This chapter, at the end at least, has a little hint of Dramione, and don't worry there's a few more sweet moments like it coming up.
Also, I've noticed one itty bitty error in chapter three where Ron gets to be known as 'the Ron' for a sentence. I forget where abouts it is, but I think what hapened was I wrote 'they' and changed my mind and didn't backspace enough.
