World Enough

Chapter 8 – Hogsmeade

Part A


Everyone turned and stared at Reid, even Caleb over at the windows.

"Reid, you moron," Tyler said, throwing a dinner roll at him. "Lupin told us all about that on the plane. He's the 'You-Know-Who' guy!"

"Sorry, jeez." Reid threw the roll right back. "I was a little pre-occupied with tying to regain normal breathing."

"That was your own fault for taking a shot of whiskey!"

"Hey, man, that wasn't normal whiskey!"

"Hey," Ron interjected. "It didn't happen to be Firewhiskey, did it?"

"Um, Pogue? Sounds about right, doesn't it?" Pogue nodded.

"Damn! And you shot it straight?" It was Reid's turn to nod. Ron grinned and raised his eyebrows in Reid's general direction. "Impressive!"

Reid preened slightly and then childishly stuck his tongue out at Tyler.

Dumbledore ignored them and spoke to Harry. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, I believe that you are not busy tomorrow, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir, it is. There are no classes tomorrow, and I do have homework that I could do, but that's all."

"How would you like a trip into Hogsmeade?"

"Hogsmeade? But sir, it's not a Hogsmeade weekend." Hermione said this over Ron and Harry's loud burst of excitement.

"That's true, however our guests will need some supplies and I'm sure they would like to immerse themselves in wizarding culture before they begin classes on Monday."

"Oh, they're going to take classes? Which ones? I've taken nearly all of them, and I could help them," Hermione cut off as Ron put his hand over her mouth.

"We'd love to go to Hogsmeade," he said.


The next morning Hermione awoke at 8:35. She quickly gathered her clothes for the day and shut herself in the bathroom. As the Head Girl, she had her own quarters, but the downside was that she shared a common room and bathroom with the Head Boy.

This year, that was Draco Malfoy. Hermione hated sharing space with him. There was nothing but bad blood between them after six years of animosity. Granted, he was civil now, after the first few weeks of detentions and hexes, but it was still Malfoy. Dumbledore must've been having a senile moment to appoint him Head Boy.

Hermione turned on a few different taps and watched the deep bathtub fill with purple bubbles and rose-colored water. When it was full, she shut off the taps and stepped in. If she woke early enough, she preferred to have a bath instead of a shower. It was one of the few luxuries that she allowed herself while she was preparing for the end of year exams.

Sighing, she took a breath and slid all the way to the floor, immersing her entire self and wetting her hair. Coming back up, she reached for the shampoo bottle and twisted the top off. As she was lathering her hair, there was a knock on the door.

"Granger?" Hermione almost groaned. Malfoy was awake early. "Hey, Granger, how much longer are you gonna be in there?"

"Nearly finished," she answered. She sunk back under the water to rinse her hair and came back up to hear him speaking again.

"- and he says that you're taking him to Hogsmeade."

Hermione reached for the conditioner. "What?"

"There's some guys here and one of em says you're taking them to Hogsmeade," Malfoy said in an aggravated tone. "They're not students here, and it's not a Hogsmeade weekend. I want to know what's going on."

"Just let me finish, okay?" Malfoy huffed, and she heard him walk away. 'Great,' she thought. 'Now I have to think of something to tell him! And why are they here? We're not supposed to leave for another hour.' She ducked under the water again, and then wrung the water out of her hair. She pulled the plug from the drain and when the water was nearly gone, she stepped out of the bath and wrapped her towel around her.

It only took a minute to dress and perform a quick dry charm on her hair, and then she opened the door. She threw her pajamas and dressing gown on her bed and went to the stairs. Hermione paused at the top for a moment, then descended.

The common room that the Heads shared was fairly small and suited for studying rather than hanging out like the Gryffindor common was. It did contain a couch and two armchairs situated around the fireplace, but other wise it contained only two large desks and some bookcases. The walls were grey stone and hanging over the fireplace was yet another tapestry with the Hogwarts crest on it. On either side of the staircase hung a tapestry with the crests of Gryffindor and Slytherin, to represent the houses of the current Heads, and an oil portrait hung on the wall between the two desks.

The four Covenant boys were standing by the entryway, Caleb a little out in front. After seeing them all interact together, Hermione knew that they considered him a leader of sorts. Malfoy was eyeing them from near the fireplace. For not having had time to shower, he looked remarkably well put- together. But then, he always did. She supposed it was some sort of 'Malfoy Code of Honor' or something.

The boys noticed her and she smiled at them. "Want to leave early, I guess?"

Three of them shrugged, and then looked to Caleb. "We woke up early. Not used to the time difference, I guess. Left our room in search of food, got lost. Some girl pointed us in the direction of here."

"Well, if you'll just give me ten minutes, I'll go get my things together. Do you have the money and the lists Dumbledore gave you?" She glanced over at Malfoy, who was obviously listening in.

Caleb nodded. Hermione looked quickly at Malfoy again, and then told the boys to just wait here for her. She went back upstairs and packed a small bag with her wallet, wand, a thin jacket (just in case) and some chap stick. After making sure she had plenty of money, she gave herself a look in the mirror, deemed her appearance acceptable, and went back downstairs.

She had hoped to return before the boys started talking to Malfoy, but she heard their voices floating up the stairs.

"-from America. I guess you could say we're exchange students."

"Hogwarts has never done that before. What part of America? I have a cousin who went to California to be in the muggle movies."

"We're from Massachusetts," she heard Tyler answer, and prayed that he'd stop there. "A little town called Ipswich, near Salem." Hermione's heart sank when she heard Malfoy's sharp intake of breath. He recognized the name. Why, oh why couldn't the Head Boy have been a Hufflepuff! They never would've remembered the town!

"Ipswich? You're wizards from Ipswich? What are your names?" Malfoy had dropped the civil pretense and was all business now. Hermione entered the room to find him looking pointedly at Reid.

"Reid Garwin. And this is Tyler Sims, Pogue Parry, and our fearless leader is Caleb Danvers. Why?"

"I used to have some family in Ipswich, too. Traveled over from England and ended up founding a little colony. Then they disappeared. Funny, though. Their surname was Garwin as well."


Okay, okay, its miles and miles too short, I know. But I've been busy, and I thought that a short update was better than nothing. Last week my boyfriends great uncle died, so two days were spent at his lay out and funeral, and then I worked all day Saturday (and unfortunately not at the job where I can write). Then this week my boyfriend was switched to night shift, which means he's here during the day, and I can't get anything done!

I'll try to get some more work done, and then I'll add the rest of this chapter (and the review thank you's) as a Chapter 8, Part B. How does that sound?