Chapter 10: Not Enough Data

Hermione woke up on Sunday morning, a force pulling her from sleep.

It was the call to adventure.

Hermione rubbed her eyes and pulled the covers off, studying the strange sensation in her chest. She didn't know where the adventure would be, but she knew if she kept following the feeling, it would lead her there. She just…wasn't so sure if she wanted to go.

It took her about a full minute of sleep blurred contemplation before she realized that she was being silly. Of course she wanted to go. Her Gryffindor side absolutely loved adventures. Besides, she got the distinct impression that if she resisted the feeling for too long, it would go away on its own, and the quest would be lost to her forever. Her Ravenclaw curiosity wouldn't allow that. And as for Madam Bones…well, Hermione was just going to have to keep a secret.

As she got dressed and ready, she debated telling Harry about the quest. In spite of his protests, she thought he'd want to go. However, she didn't know if she should reward his behaviour on Saturday.

To his credit, he did seem to have learned something from the duelling incident. His first words to her, after he'd called on the Auror mirror, were exactly, "I wish to inform you of a grave error in judgment that I made, and I hope you will be able to assist me in ensuring it does not occur again." Unfortunately, he'd ruined it afterwards by vowing to incinerate Roger with Fiendfyre if he so much as smirked over Harry's punishment.

It occurred to her that she could just go on her own, tell Harry later, and watch him get jealous over it. But she knew she wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be nice.

She slipped out of the Beauxbatons dorm room, careful not to wake her classmates, and headed towards where the feeling led her. She followed it up several flights of stairs, heading into the deep recesses of the castle. Not knowing where she was going set her on edge, her steps slowing as her gaze darted everywhere. Perhaps the whole escapade was just wishful thinking, and if she went on any farther, she might get sucked into a painting or something…

And suddenly, it hit her without warning. Fleeing into the upper levels of Hogwarts, heading for sunlight, and then finding that the sunlight meant nothing as the troll roared and lunged for her…

Hermione braced herself against the wall, staring up the poorly lit stairwell. It was getting easier, over time, to come to terms with the memory of her death. She knew she could kill two trolls singlehandedly now, or at least she was fast enough to run away. Besides, well…at this point, dying an untimely death wasn't the thing that concerned her.

Even so, it took her a minute to calm down. Whether she liked to admit it or not, this was the castle where she died.

But someone saved you, a voice reassured her. And now…well, now your life is really weird, but in a good way. Now you can save people too.

I know, but…this isn't exactly a good omen for the start of my Hogwarts adventures.

As she ruminated, the gentle spirit of adventure kept nudging her onwards. Hermione sighed.

Alright, fine, I'll keep going, but if I see any ravens or headless ghosts I'm getting the heck out of here.

Hermione continued up the stairs, until she heard someone muttering an incantation.

Whelp, this was fun, time to go, said her hind brain.

She debated for a few seconds before her curiosity got the better of her, and she got up close and used her Auror mirror to peer around the corner.

When Hermione saw who it was, she had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Then, she got a wicked idea, and she couldn't resist.

Throwing the invisibility cloak over herself, she rounded the corner. Using her wand, she changed her voice, and cried, "Harry Potter!"

He jumped, and whipped around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Twenty-nine points from Ravenclaw for stealing! Fourteen points for not being sneaky enough about it!"

"Uhh…"

"And 991 points for having dirt on your robes!"

Harry looked down to inspect them, and Hermione couldn't stifle a chuckle. When he glanced back up, she grimaced, knowing she'd been found out. "Hermione? Is that you?"

"Darn it," sighed Hermione in her own voice, pulling the cloak off. "I was hoping I could keep that going for more than half a second."

He was smiling, partly in relief. "You know, I pulled that same stunt on myself once. Thirteen points for inventiveness, minus two for originality."

She raised her eyebrows. "Careful, Harry. I haven't decided yet if I'll take you."

"Take me where?"

"On the quest. I assume that's what you're here for. I'm not even going to bother asking how you knew where it was. I just assume it's more chaos nonsense."

She was sort of hoping he would tell her anyway, but he didn't. He merely shuffled his feet. "If you do decide to let me go with you," he said. "I can be your wizard guide through the first quest. I have lots of experience due to my illegal pirating of the game."

"Thanks, but I'll be okay. Figuring it out is half the fun."

She stood in front of what she felt to be the doorway, and pointed her wand.

Nothing happened.

She tried flicking it a few times. Still nothing.

After a full five minutes of trial and error had passed, she turned sheepishly to Harry. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Don't feel bad," Harry said. "It took me about an hour the first time."

Hermione really didn't want to spend an hour stuck in the hallway. "Show me."

To his credit, Harry didn't gloat over it. He just came over and guided her wand in the motion that would open the door.

She tried it, and the door opened within the stone bricks before them. "For the record, I could have figured it out eventually."

"I know," he said. "But far be it from the Sunshine General not to accept help from her Lieutenants."

She sighed. "Well, come along then, Harry. And don't cause me any trouble, or else you're going right back out that door."

Hermione would deny it if anyone ever asked, but she sort of had a crush on Harry Potter.

Of course, back when they were kids, it had been strictly platonic. For a while, she'd doubted whether she even wanted to be friends at all. It was only after she left Hogwarts, and she was crying over missing her friends, that she realized the one she wanted to talk to the most was Harry.

And while taking classes at Beauxbatons, when she tried to start rivalries with any boy she thought was cute, was when she started to be concerned.

But it was only after she'd caught herself saying, "He's alright, but he's not Harry," that she came to the horrifying realization that she was doomed.

At least it wasn't the kind of doom that left her crying at night and writing sad poetry. It was the kind that made her wistful sometimes, when she saw a boy with dark hair, and that made her examine a little too closely what he wrote in his letters. She'd hoped that at some point she'd overcome the crush, and when she hadn't been knocked over by desire when she saw him, she'd become certain it would happen eventually. She and Harry were better off as friends, anyway.

Unfortunately, Hermione was cursed to be a hopeless romantic with an active imagination. Since she was young, she'd had the persistent habit of fantasizing herself as her favourite characters. For example, when she read books with Harry in his laboratory, she couldn't help thinking about Belle and the Beast snuggling with a book by the fireside. Both the castles were haunted by moving objects, so it wasn't that far off the mark.

The most embarrassing one, however, was her near obsession with Wesley from the Princess Bride. Even before she met Harry, she used to daydream about meeting a boy who would respond to all her requests with "As you wish." This disturbed her a bit when she thought about it, but at least it was much tamer than what most of Ravenclaw fantasized about.

Still, it wasn't helping at all that they were wandering through a corridor, so dark that their wands illuminated only two feet in front of them, and so tight that he had his hand around her waist "to save room."

Why, isn't it just like the Fire Swamp—no it isn't, stop that.

"I think the exit is there," said Harry, his voice strained. "Good thing too, this is getting cramped."

"Right," said Hermione, ignoring the jolt of electricity that went through her as his arm tightened around her.

They approached a gap, and as Harry bent down a little, Hermione almost gasped in alarm. He's not going to pick me up princess style, is he?!

Instead, he shifted positions to let her through the gap first. She stepped into the open space, moving aside as Harry followed behind her.

Be cool, Hermione. Keep it together.

Hermione examined the walls of the wide antechamber, carved out of a rough, rock hewn cave. It was pitch black, save the light of their wands. As they got closer, the light glinted off several runes that arched around two doors set in the wall.

Hermione inspected the closest one to her. The runes looked to be made of amber and topaz, and they outlined the door in a haphazard fashion. She tapped her wand to them, but they didn't magically activate. If there was a quest through there, she really hoped they wouldn't have to do the entire thing in the dark.

Harry's door glowed a bright green, and Hermione whirled around to see him examining the pulsing lights, nodding with satisfaction.

She really, really shouldn't have brought him.

Hermione turned to work out the solution to her door, ignoring Harry as he approached her. She needed to solve this one herself, no matter how long it took.

She tried tapping a few stones in ascending order, just to see what would happen. There was no change. She tried in descending order. The doorway glowed a little.

So…maybe the doorway glowed when she got a few stones in the right combination? She tried going down one stone at a time, and it glowed when she tapped between the fourth and fifth stone somewhere near the midway point on the left side of the door.

Didn't the Hufflepuffs have a set of knocks as their common room password? If only she'd taken the time to memorize that, then this might be easier. It would only have taken one afternoon to figure out, but it had seemed wrong, like reading someone's diary.

Hermione tested the stones in the same way on the right hand side of the door, and they glowed when she tapped between the fourth and fifth stone going upwards.

Hermione had always liked geometry, and felt if she were going to design a door riddle, it ought to be symmetrical. On a hunch, she looked for a set of stones that seemed halfway between the top of the arch and tapped them. The stones glowed.

She tried this triplet of stone taps in various orders, and though the door glowed brightly, it still faded. She was about to start checking different combinations with vectors, but got an idea. She bent down and brushed her foot along the floor in the doorway, sweeping away the dust. There were no amber stones, but there was a line of slightly darker stones. Hermione tapped the stones in the middle, and found they glowed when she went from left to right.

She tapped all the stones in a counter clockwise circle, starting from the left side of the doorway and ending at the top. The door shone brilliantly and unlatched.

And then, to her relief, the entire room brightened as torches flared to life, as if they'd finally earned the right to see what they were doing. Hermione turned to Harry, who had stood silently beside her the entire time. Hermione had to admit, she admired his patience.

"Good," he said, with a smile. "Now, what do you think we should do next?"

Hermione glanced around the room, but saw nothing of interest besides the doors. She might go around and check, but that could wait. "An easily accessible riddle that only requires a bit of patience." She gestured towards her glowing yellow door. "That makes sense for a Hufflepuff quest. And your door leads to a Slytherin quest, I'm guessing?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"That's weird. I thought we would be getting Ravenclaw quests."

Harry shrugged. "I received those more often than Hufflepuff, but it's random."

"Hmm. Are we allowed to double back to take both quests?" asked Hermione.

"I don't think so," said Harry. "I've never been able to do that. Once you choose the path, you're set."

Hermione nodded. "Well, then I've decided. We'll sweep the cave, and then go on the Hufflepuff quest."

Harry was quiet for a moment, looking rather uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" said Hermione. "You don't want to do the Hufflepuff quest?"

"Well…" he rubbed the back of his head. "See, it's like this, Hermione. Most of the quests come in three categories. Easy, medium and hard. Hufflepuff quests, on the other hand, come in two. Annoying, and more annoying."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Why? I mean, it's not Ravenclaw, but it can't be that bad. I'm honestly more concerned about what that Slytherin quest entails."

"What? Slytherin quests are awesome."

"Hmm," she glanced at his door, with stones shaped oddly like screaming skulls. "Nope, not happening. We're doing the Hufflepuff quest."

"Well, I mean, you can, but I won't. Sorry, but I can't put myself through it again."

She sighed. "Fine, stay here or go back. We're not taking the Slytherin quest."

When he didn't answer, she realized. "The doorway out is locked isn't it?"

"You're stuck with me until we finish. Which is why I think—"

"Uggh, I can't believe you! If you're my Lieutenant, why can't you just do what I tell you to do? That's what we agreed to when I took you on this quest in the first place."

"Uhh…actually, in the Chaos army, it was more like a mutual agreement to follow orders, unless you didn't feel like it. But, I mean, I still respect you, and I think you should do what you want. I'm just going to do my quest alone. Sorry I can't be with you, but we'll meet at the end and compare quest prizes."

Hermione balled her hands into fists and squeezed. She refused to be angry about something so silly. Yet, she could hear her voice shake as she said, "You hate the Hufflepuff quests so much you'd rather go on your own than with me?"

His mouth fell open. "It's not…I mean, if it were a life and death situation I would go with you, but it's just a game. It'll be more fun for both of us this way, and both of us get what we want. I wouldn't force you to go on a Slytherin quest, so I don't understand why—"

Without another word, Hermione turned on her heel and strode through the quest door.

Stupid feelings. Stupid, stupid feelings. I wish I could just turn them off like Harry Potter does.

She walked down the corridor (brightly lit this time), contemplating her stupid feelings.

I mean, it's not like he has to spend all his free time with me. It's not like we're a couple. I don't even like him, anyway.

She arrived in a small room. It was a greenhouse, and the clear walls were translucent, filtering in the light of the noon day sun. In the middle of the room stood a cluster of potted plants in various states of wilting.

The problem, Hermione thought as she watered the plants, was unmet expectations. Hermione didn't really expect Harry to follow all her orders to the letter, but she'd assumed he would choose spending time with her over not. Even if he had to go on an "annoying" Hufflepuff quest. What was so bad about tending plants, anyway? Couldn't they have talked together while they worked, and maybe joked about the annoying parts? She wouldn't have even minded so much if he wanted to explain how to solve the puzzles.

After all, the only reason why she asked him to accompany her was because she wanted to spend time with him.

Though, if I'm being honest with myself, I know that Harry has always been rather independent. It's not necessarily a sign that he doesn't like me as a friend, or as…more than that.

As soon as her mind brought up the "Does he like me?" question, the next response was always, "I don't care, it doesn't matter, and no way am I asking him."

Simultaneously, her brain would bring up every instance of when he'd acted like he'd liked her, versus when he didn't, and calculate them using a measuring system she didn't really understand, before spitting out the answer, "Inconclusive. Needs more data."

Is that so? Well, I don't care. We're not going down this road, it only leads to hurt. Also, I'm not asking him.

She finished watering the plants, and went on to testing the soil. Probably should have started with that, but whatever. She found that two of the plants required red clay soil, so she carefully uprooted them and set them in fresh dirt. Afterwards, she moved another plant that was too big for its container. Finally, she shuffled a few plants around that needed to be out of direct sunlight, applied the appropriate pesticide charms, and waited.

Was a door supposed to…unlock or something, after she finished the quest? What if she couldn't finish? Would she be trapped for a few hours or…until Harry finished and alerted the Aurors? That would just be embarrassing.

She could try to break the glass, but she had a feeling this wasn't a real greenhouse.

Finally, she thought about what a real Hufflepuff might try to do to resolve this quest. The idea that came to her was ridiculous, but…"Umm, plants, do you like being talked to or something? I'll tell you all a story and if you like it, maybe you could brighten up a bit…okay?"

She told the plants a silly story, made up on the spot, and when she finished, the door on the far end unlocked.

"Well, alright then," said Hermione with some bewilderment, before heading to the next quest.

Harry stood, his wand lowered to his side, while the 7 foot tall troll let out a booming laugh, whacking his lit torch against his thigh.

"Listen, we both know I'm going to find a way past you," said Harry. "So it would be much appreciated if we could skip the pointless banter."

"Oh, right. I'll let you pass." There was a momentous pause. "If you lick my torch! Mwahahaha!"

Harry rolled his eyes. He didn't like trolls on principle, but forest trolls were particularly obnoxious. (Technically, it was probably something of a troll/giant/human mix, but Harry thought troll fit best). Unfortunately, he couldn't just hex him into silence, because the troll still hadn't told him the password to the exit behind him.

"Hey. Hey Harry," said the troll. "I heard your mom was a witch too."

Harry didn't say anything, and just waited.

"But she was so fat," he said, his voice rising, "She got sorted into all four houses! Mwahahaha!"

"Really original," said Harry.

"In fact, she was so big," said the troll. "Her Patronus was a cheesecake!"

The troll bellowed at his own joke a few moments, and then he said, "But, it's not all bad. There was one thing she was good at—"

"Hey," barked Harry. "How many wizards does it take to psychoanalyze a troll?"

"How many?"

"One, if he's psychic. Which, by the way, I am."

Harry wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this, but his time was limited. One of the parameters of this quest was that he could not use magic on the troll. It was a Slytherin quest, and he had to convince the troll to let him through. About a month ago he'd read about techniques that psychics used to extort money from people, and since then he'd been curious to try it out.

Worse came to worse, he would just find another way to blackmail him.

"Ha ha! Your head is full of dung," said the troll.

"You do know who I am, don't you?" said Harry, pointing to his scar. "The same one who gave me this scar, also gave me my unique abilities. I can look into your past, if you let me."

The troll adjusted his weight, leaning against his right leg and crossing his arms, as if he wasn't brushing a searing torch against his elbow. "Go on, then," he said, his voice gruff.

Harry, channelling the Trelawney vibe, brought his fingers to his temples and started humming softly. He couldn't mimic her voice, though, that was just too much.

"There was a girl in your life, someone very important to you. I sense…I sense that she was hurt somehow. It could be physical, or emotional, and it caused a rift between you."

The troll's eyes narrowed, a hurting, defensive move.

Harry wasn't actually reading the troll. He just reasoned that if the troll had lived long enough, and if he was rather stupid, there was a girl in his past who had gotten hurt. Of course, this might only be true because his mental construct of "troll" told him it should be this way, and thus, this was the troll his quest created.

"Her name…I think it starts with an M."

Most troll names, from what he remembered, had an M somewhere.

"Merideth," the troll sighed.

"Yes, Merideth. I can see her. She was full of life, though she could be shy sometimes. She had great potential, even if she couldn't see it." He saw the troll's eyes soften a bit. "She reminded you a lot of yourself."

He shook his head. "We were very different. Complete opposites."

"Yes, but she was like a mirror of who you wished you could be."

The troll let out a small "hmm" sound. Harry went on. "You miss her, and I sense that it is a burden to you."

The troll twirled the torch between his hands, a pouting expression on his face. "Of course I miss her. She was the light of my life."

Harry hadn't really expected it to work this fast. Mental construct, yada yada.

"I can tell. She misses you too, in her own way." He rubbed his temples, along his scar. "I can see her, in my mind." Harry frowned. "Oh…wait a minute."

"What? What's wrong?" asked the troll, a hitch in his voice.

"When you last saw her, was she in good health?"

He had to make sure she wasn't dead, or else his plan wouldn't work.

"Of course, sh-she's always been strong." The troll was trying and failing to hide his panic. "Is something wrong?"

"Do you have an item that belonged to her? I need it to sense her, much of my magic is blocked in here."

The troll felt around his pockets, and then handed Harry a blue handkerchief, "This is all I have."

Harry took the handkerchief, and closed his eyes for a long time. He waited until the troll started fidgeting, and finally he roared, "Tell me! Is she sick? Is she hurt?"

Harry lifted his head, a grave look on his face. "I'm so sorry to tell you this. Something bad will happen to her, and soon. The good news is, she is close. We can find her and warn her."

"I cannot go!" cried the troll. "I am trapped here, and she would not believe me anyway!" The troll clawed at his face, in a way that made Harry nervous. "Send her a message with your psychic powers! Warn her!"

Harry shook his head. "My powers are weak here. This place is warded against the use of magic. But if you allow me to pass, I can find her."

"You—you—" Some part of the troll's "guard" programming kicked in, because his eyes narrowed as he said, "How do I know you're not just trying to get free?"

Harry shrugged. "I suppose you don't. However, consider this. If you keep me here, you gain nothing. If you let me pass, you can avert disaster. But I will promise that if you set me free, I will warn her. It requires little effort from me, and I have no wish for her to come to harm."

The troll swallowed, his jaw working as his fingers gripped the torch so hard it started to make creaking noises. Harry was really happy he didn't have to fight him.

"Come!" barked the troll, and Harry trailed after him as the troll stormed to the back of the room. "Jrrriiigoolllboooopeeeee!" cried the troll, and the door opened.

The troll whirled back to Harry. "Go in, and take one fruit. One. Then, exit the door that opens on your right. Quick, go!"

Harry was shoved inside, and as he pitched forwards into the dark room, the door banged shut behind him.

Hermione was on her fourth Hufflepuff quest, and two seconds away from going completely mental.

The first quest with the plants hadn't been too bad. Relaxing, even. However, on her second quest, she'd had to feed and care for 15 unidentifiable fluffy creatures, who were the definition of pain in the neck. They constantly demanded things—food, water, cleaning, etc. If they weren't perfectly happy and satisfied, they let out a high pitched whine. And to make matters worse, they seemed to create problems for themselves by knocking their food bowl over (wahhh!) or peeing on their bed (wahhh!) and Hermione had to drop whatever she was doing to clean it up. After an hour, the game mercifully released her.

The next game was hard to figure out, but through trial and error, she realized it was mind numbingly simple. She had to keep ants on a log. If they fell off, they would go in the water and drown. That was it.

Holding the log steady and corralling the ants with her fingers wasn't difficult, except that her robe was getting soaked and the ants (and mosquitos) kept trying to bite her. The worst part, however, was that nearby water pixies kept cackling and making fun of her. Sometimes they would call her names and then buzz by her ear, laughing and throwing mud. Finally, in a fit of rage, Hermione hexed one of them and it exploded. Unfortunately, this reset the game, and she had to deal with their terrible antics all over again. She was at the point of wanting to pull her hair out when the game finally ended.

Hermione was now attempting what she hoped and prayed was the last quest. She had to climb a rock wall. Not just any rock wall, however. It was covered with disgusting pink goo that looked like chewed bubble gum. Halfway up, the goo started talking to her (because of course it was sentient) about all of its emotional problems, including crippling loneliness and an existential crisis about its purpose in the world. Hermione had to assist the goo with finding its lost ring of power (hidden in some random, tiny rock crevice) before she was finally allowed to finish climbing.

As she lifted herself over the edge of the wall, she was thinking, In what messed up version of the universe is this teaching me Hufflepuff traits? I just want to murder everything. This quest prize better be good, and I mean seriously good, or else I really will go mental.

The final quest door opened, revealing a dark room with a golden chest. Hermione unlatched it, and it creaked open.

She had thought nothing would surprise her at that point. She was wrong.

Harry was standing in front of the huge, glowing, crystal tree in the middle of the dark room.

You know, said his Slytherin side. There doesn't seem to be anyone stopping us from taking more than one.

That sounds an awful lot like something you say before you die, chimed in Slytherin 2. His other voices didn't have much to say, so Slytherin just argued with himself.

We're not going to die, said Slytherin 1. The game doesn't kill students.

The fruit hanging off the tree sparkled, clearer than diamonds. Light seemed to dance inside it. He had no idea what the fruit was, which was exactly why he needed it.

He touched the ground surrounding the tree roots. It was hard granite, as if the tree had sprung up from the bedrock itself. This meant Harry was about as likely to grow his own tree as he was to sprout green hair.

Just so you know, I need three of these, said Ravenclaw. One for me, one for my research, and one for Hermione.

Harry calculated how quickly he could grab the fruit, and divided it by how badly he wanted it.

The only proof we have that something bad will happen is that the dimwitted troll told us not to, said Slytherin 1. What's the worst that could happen?

Umm. Our fruit could disintegrate in our hands. The tree limbs could smite us. The walls could cave in. Did you learn nothing from reading books? It's the universal karma assigned to greedy adventurers.

Yes, but…

But nothing, said Slytherin 2. This is my quest, and you're listening to me. Do not break the quest rules.

Well, I'm not listening to you.

Yes, you will. Face it, this is a perfect instance of Nash's Equilibrium. You're not going to risk losing your one certain prize to the possibility of gaining three. You don't value the fruit as much as your safety, not to mention winning the game.

Oh jeez, it's not Nash's Equilibrium at all, because that requires two players with—

JUST GRAB THE FRUIT ALREADY said Harry's Inner Critic.

Grumbling, Harry plucked his one measly fruit off the tree. The wall opened to his right, the sun beginning its descent in the sky over Hogwarts.

Sometimes, the quest would drop you off where you started. Other times, it would lead to a different corridor in the castle. Occasionally, for its own inscrutable reasons, it left you outside on the school grounds. Perhaps it knew when you needed to vomit.

Nearby, he caught sight of Hermione, sitting cross-legged on a small hill and demolishing grass with her fingers.

"Hi, Hermione," said Harry, walking over to her. "How…ummm…how did it go?"

Hermione, with a hollow look in her eyes, merely shook her head. Her fingers ripped up another blade of grass.

"That bad, huh?" said Harry, taking a seat beside her. They were silent a moment, then Harry pulled his quest prize from his pouch. "Here, look at this."

Hermione took it carefully, turning it in her hands, watching the light catch. "It's beautiful." Her voice was mournful. "Better than my quest prize."

"Why? What did you get?"

Hermione stiffened, and then slowly reached for the sack beside her. She handed it to him, and then turned away.

The bag was surprisingly heavy. Releasing the drawstring, he opened it, and stared.

He had seen enough R rated TV shows to be shocked at the quantity of white powdered bricks she'd hauled out of there.

"Umm…Hermione," he said, his lips twitching.

"I don't even know, Harry," said Hermione, her voice trembling as her face flushed red. "But if this is what it looks like, then I quit."

"Well, if this is what it looks like," said Harry, keeping his voice deadpan, "then we're rich."

"Harry!" she cried, and he laughed.

"Congratulations on getting your first questionable quest item," he said, as she buried her face in her hands. He patted her on the back. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing bad."

"I don't care," she mumbled. "This day has been absolutely miserable. I hate the Hogwarts quests."

"Well, I'd recommend withholding judgment until you try the Ravenclaw quests. Those are usually pretty great. In the meantime," he said, gesturing towards the sack of suspicious white powder, "do you want me to take this off your hands? You can keep my item if you like."

Hermione sighed, then rubbed her eyes. "I don't care about the prizes. Honestly, I just wanted to relax and have fun with you. I think, if you had been with me, even the Hufflepuff quest might have been more bearable." She shrugged, and said in a tired voice. "But if you really want the quest prizes, then from now on, I'll just open the quest door for you to play instead."

"Oh," said Harry. Now he felt like a real tool. Some part of him had held on to the idea that this was just a competition for her, and she wouldn't care if he was around or not. After all, since she'd avoided him for weeks, he didn't actually believe she would miss him.

"Merlin says," said Harry.

"Huh?" asked Hermione.

"In my armies, if I said, 'Merlin says," that meant it was a real order. So, next time, if you really want me to do something, that's all you have to say."

Hermione was quiet a moment. "Anything? Even…Hufflepuff quests?"

Harry grimaced. "Well, within reason. If you are in the mood for a Hufflepuff quest, I'd like you to let me know beforehand, so I can decide not to go."

Hermione smiled, her gaze on her feet in front of her. "Merlin says, do the quest with me next time…if you want."

Harry nodded. "Alright. Done."

He fed the powder sack to his pouch, and then offered Hermione a hand up. They walked back to the castle, Hermione playing with frayed edge of her sleeve. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I just don't feel well."

Harry checked his watch. "It's almost time for dinner. Looks like we missed lunch. Hmm, maybe that's why you're feeling so queasy."

"Maybe," said Hermione softly.

Notes:

Generals Sunshine and Chaos: In their first year, Harry and Hermione were generals in Quirrell's Armies. Harry went by the name "General Chaos," and pulled a lot of crazy, inventive stunts to win games, typically strategizing alone. Hermione went by "General Sunshine," and she often relied on the support of her lieutenants to come up with plans. Harry promoted free thinking and utter chaos in his army, and Hermione promoted teamwork and fair play.

They never worked together in one army, but I imagine if they did, Hermione would have been so annoyed at Harry coming up with all the ideas, and Harry would have kept trying to take control. Probably would have crushed the competition though, lol.