Confrontations

Herwald woke up with a start, a silent scream dying in his throat, his forehead damped with sweat.

The nightmares returned as they did every year on Halloween. He didn't know why they did or what he dreamt about. It was all tremendously foggy. The only thing he could remember was the muffled voice of a woman followed by a green light that reminded him too much of the colors of the killing curse. He was no fool, patching together what the hag had told him about the night she found him, he had very little doubt that whatever it was that was haunting him on that specific night was somehow related to the event that had brought him to show up in a blast of magical energy in a forest in the middle of Germany.

Try as he might, even with the employment of Legimency and Occlumency he couldn't manage to retrieve those memories. They lingered in his subconscious taunting him, tormenting him with a sickening regularity. Unable to sleep he stood up looking at his surroundings.

The rooms in the Ravenclaw tower where made to house two students each but not surprisingly Herwald found himself without a roommate for the very same reason he usually lacked a partner in class. Padma was the only exception to his house shunning but even she had to interact with other students. There was no reason for her to become a pariah for his sake. They were friends, or so Herwald like to believe, but that was so more the reason for him to push her to socialize more with the rest of the House. Granted things weren't as bad as they could have been, thanks in no small part to his outstanding academicals results and his flawless behavior in class. Still most of his peers shunned him if not outright feared him while the older students had very little interest in him altogether.

Sitting over the covers of his bed he crossed his legs and began clearing his mind. It was part of his Occlumency training to review the day occurrences before sleeping, but the events of the past evening had cut short on his time to work on the mind art. Now that he had managed to rest a little, and with the knowledge that he could no longer fall asleep even if he tried, he began replaying the events of the day, sorting every tidbit of knowledge in its designed place, examining every little detail that he might have missed the first time around. There was something there, just beyond the borders of his conscious perception that eluded him, something that didn't look quite right. It took him a moment to find it but finally he saw it.

Quirinus Quirell. The stuttering professor of Defense against the Dark Arts. With a nudge of his mind he recalled all the memories related to the man in question and watched them over and over. The man attitude was a joke for someone that should have taught his students how to defend themselves against dangers of all kinds. The man seemed genuinely scared of his own shadow. Keyword being seemed.

Putting together the pieces Herwald finally noticed. The few time the man had bothered to show defensive or offensive spells in class, instead of writing stuff on the board or reading verbatim from a book, he showed a fluidity of movements that didn't belong with such a fearful individual. There was smoothness in his wandwork and with the way he stepped to perform a spell that spoke of long experience on the battlefield.

Herwald had seen people move like that from time to time. They were Hitwizards, the top of the top, hired to protect this or that political figure in one of those many events he had participated in. It wouldn't be worth noticing if it didn't clash with the DaDA professor outward behavior. Something didn't add up with the man, that much was clear. Furthermore there was that turban he always wore. It was an odd piece of clothing but there were odder things in the Wizarding World, yet Herwald believed that there was something more behind it. The way Quirell had fainted forward that evening was not only ridiculous, since the human body wasn't made to fall that way unless it carried a forward momentum, but it seemed extremely theatrical and more than anything else aimed to shield the back of his head from impact.

Many little pieces, seemingly unconnected dots, were beginning to form a picture which outline still eluded the boy. For the time being he resolved to keep a more attentive eye on the professor in the hope to discern the cause of his suspicious behavior. There was something going on at Hogwarts and Quirell was undoubtedly part of it.

Knowing that there was nothing else he could find inside his head on that subject, Herwald returned to other topics and reviewed what he had studied that day in class. Occlumency was a very useful thing when it came to learning faster and the months he had invested to learn the art finally begun to pay off. It was a shame that it wasn't taught to all children below school age, but he understood that no normal kid had the drive, the reason and the resolve to obtain a skill that only the most advanced wizards and witches bothered to learn late in their lives. Oh well, their losses, his gain.

Daphne Greengrass, age eleven, grew up in an environment where proper conduct was paramount. Being the eldest daughter of the Greengrass family she had a conduct and appearances to uphold. Being detached yet inquisitive of her surrounding was part of the job, and she was very good at it. There was very little doubt that she was to be sorted into Slytherin. Her analytical mind always knew how to exploit a situation to her advantage if need be, or how to run damage control when the situation was beyond recovery. To do such a thing being informed was the first priority and gossips, albeit not so reliable, was information.

The Great Hall was in an uproar when she and her friend Tracey Davis walked in. The Troll incident was on everyone lips and that included the people involved in it. The Muggleborn Granger that was missing during the feast was at her table, sitting right beside Alex Potter, the boy that the previous evening had run to her rescue along with the Grindelwald Heir.

Potter and Grindelwald. The two boys were interesting to say the least. The first was not how she thought he would be. He was humble and usually soft-spoken, certainly not the image of arrogance Malfoy kept picturing in his numerous rant about him, and certainly not as arrogant as the hailed savior of the Wizarding World could get away with. The fact that he kept giving Grindelwald all the credit for rescuing Granger, while the rest of his House insisted that he was downplaying his own role, was another point in his favor.

The second boy, Herwald Grindelwald was again another surprise. For the Scion of a family that didn't hide their Dark affiliation, and still kept the reins of a big portion of the politic and economy in Europe, he was definitely not what she would have pictured him to be. He wasn't humble in the slightest, but neither had he boasted his own accomplishments with arrogance. He was academically successful, maybe even a prodigy, followed shortly by her, the Ravenclaw's Patil and the Granger girl. With his background she would have depicted him as resentful and even verbally if not physically aggressive. He was of course nothing like that. He was reserved, graceful, and respectful to everybody regardless of Blood status or House affiliation. A true Scion of an Ancient and Noble family but nothing like he should have been for a boy that grew in a Dark and hated environment.

Furthermore there was the running gossip of how he supposedly controlled and bent the Troll to his will. Of course, two persons after the original source of the information, Alex Potter and Hermione Granger themselves, facts had already turned into tales. And dark ones at that. By the time the information travelled to the Slytherin table Grindelwald was already thought responsible of the whole incident, seeing that he could control and speak with Trolls. It was supposedly part of his plan for taking over the castle, and from there wage war to Magical Britain as a whole.

"No good deed goes unpunished," she said as she approached the raven haired boy in question, sitting by himself at the Ravenclaw table. The rift between him and his housemate had doubled in size since the previous evening, and the Patil girl that usually sat with him was not in the Great Hall in that moment.

"Hm? Oh, good morning Ms. Greengrass. I'm not sure what you are talking about," he said politely. He hadn't paid any notice to the increased distance between him and the rest of his House.

"I'm referring about the poor treatment you receive from your own housemates. There is Potter doing his best to depict you like a hero and a few meters away from him his words are twisted against you. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Not really," he answered motioning her to sit beside him. She silently complied disregarding the disdainful look the other Ravens kept shooting her. "I hardly take notice of these things. It's beneath me to worry about these sheep opinion. It's their loss if they don't want to associate with me and definitely my gain. I won't waste my time with such narrow-minded and prejudiced people. The best I could get out of it would be a minor annoyance. I was telling the same thing to Mr. Potter some time ago. A bad reputation is actually helpful to keep worthless individual at a distance."

Daphne actually had to fight the urge to smirk. "I think I can relate, but I have friends and my House to back me up when the whole 'Slytherin are Dark' venom is spat around by the other Houses. Isn't it difficult to deal with this all by yourself?"

Herwald did not fight his smirk. "I'm hardly by myself, Ms. Greengrass. I simply do not advertize my associations, seeing that doing so would only damage my friend's standing in their Houses. Your concern, however, is appreciated." Daphne didn't spoke out of concern of course, but to sate her own curiosity. She had very little doubt that Potter's version of the events was true or at least extremely close to actual facts, but she wanted to probe the other boy about it. Her very first statement was a trial itself, and much like predicted Grindelwald had neither dismissed nor acknowledge her implications about his heroism. It definitely wasn't humbleness rather a unique way not to unbalance himself. Fame and glory were feeble things and could quite easily come back and stab their owner in the back. Useless boasting was purposeless and potentially damaging, whereas feeding an aura of mystery around him kept people on their toes.

There was only thing that was clear for everyone: Herwald Grindelwald was both resourceful and skilled. All the rest was a matter of opinions. He was letting other people define themselves instead of pointlessly struggling to be acknowledged and accepted. It was a cunning and ambitious plan that required intelligence, courage and a great deal of self confidence.

Daphne had to admit it to herself. With just a few sentences in the span of a couple of months the boy had gained a decent amount of her respect, and even some her admiration. Not a small feat when it came to Daphne Greengrass. She would keep a close eye on him. There was much that could be gained by associating with him and very little to lose in terms of reputation. For a Slytherin anyway.

They ate breakfast together at the Ravenclaw table, chatting about the past two months of school and exchanging opinions on the various subjects.

That afternoon after classes Herwald went to the Hospital Wing to be examined by the School Nurse. According to Professor Flitwick there could have been something wrong with his magic behind his inability to cast proper charms.

After the routine questions about his health she proceeded to cast several charms and wrote the results on a piece of parchment.

"Oh, my," she exclaimed after cross referencing the results with a few medical tomes from her library. "This is most interesting." Herwald cocked an eyebrow at her, silently prompting her to disclose what she was finding interesting about his health. "Mr. Grindelwald you seem to be suffering from a very rare case of Magical Over-frequency."

"I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the term, Madam Pomfrey."

"Of course you aren't. It's an extremely rare disorder. Nothing to worry about I assure you," she sat on a stool beside his bed. "As very few people know outside of the medical department, a person's magic fluctuates, for a lack of better terms, at a set frequency that is the same for almost everyone. There are however few cases where a person magic has a higher or lower frequency. Extremely rare cases."

"Will that be a problem? Beside my use of charms I mean."

"No, no. Not at all. It's something that usually disappears with age and doesn't leave any damage. In fact it only noticeable trait is to give problem when casting charms."

"Why is that?" He inquired.

"You see, when you charm an object you permeate it with your magic to perform an action. Due to the higher frequency of you magic the enchanted item will, well, over-perform," the nurse explained. "You might want to tone down the amount of intent when you cast a spell."

"The amount of intent?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows. "Not the amount of magic?"

"No. Magical Over-frequency is not related to Magical Power or Magical Potential. It's strictly connected to the Will behind the spell and not the amount of magic."

"So.. I need to lay back when I'm casting. That… might be difficult."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I am a… very focused and driven individual. Holding my magic back would simply require to me to Will it to do so, tuning down my Will instead is something against my own nature."

The nurse sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "While that might be considered a wonderful attitude Mr. Grindelwald, I need to remind you that you are still a child. I'm aware that your family name his giving you a hard time, but I must distress the importance for you to engage in other activities with your schoolmates beside magic and school work."

"Meaning?"

"Go out and play, Mr. Grindelwald. Be a child. Slack off from time to time, go out for a walk, play Exploding Snaps, Wizard Chess or whatever else might cross your mind. Just engage in non-productive activities and your problem will recede by itself."

"Isn't there a potion or something I could take to…."he tried.

"No."

"A spell I could…"

"No."

"A ritual…"

"Does being a child bother you so much, Mr. Grindelwald?" she asked leaning forward

"Extremely so, Madam Pomfrey," he answered narrowing his eyes at her.

Silence fell between them. The nurse wanted to ask but didn't dare to do so. It was beyond her duty and her right to ask him to elaborate his statement. She was a healer not a counselor. Those kind of issues belonged with the boy's family and by proxy to his Head of House. She would ask Filius to talk with the boy later.

"If that is all, Madam. I believe I have something to do."

"Of course. I cannot force you to change your way of living, but you might consider this issue as a sign from your body to correct you behavior. Forcing your magic to do your bidding won't work in this case."

Herwald didn't reply and left the wing after politely thanking her. The nurse watched him go, wondering exactly what might be driving a boy so hard to the point of forgetting how to be a kid.

Herwald closed the door of the Hospital Wing behind him as he left, pondering the nurse's words in his head. He knew that she had a point. He never allowed himself to be just a kid. As far as he could remember he always struggled for survival and when he had been adopted he devoted himself to fulfill his role as Scion of Grindelwald. Games were not on his priority list and even when he was with Leda they hardly played together. In fact more often than not they passed their time either learning Pureblood etiquette or studying magic.

He knew that he had a distorted childhood compared to almost anybody else but he had no intention to rectify that. He had willingly cast away his right to be a kid when he accepted the adoption.

Still, the issue was troublesome. He accepted nothing but the best from himself, but now he apparently had to slow down in order to achieve his potential. It was kind of ironic when he thought about it that way. That just went to show that for all his talents he still was a human being, and a kid at that.

Yes, perhaps having some distraction would prove the best thing in the long run.

Not being one to waste time even when it came to taking it easy, Herwald approached his intended targets that very evening at the Gryffindor table, bravely ignoring the dirty looks the Lions shoot him as he walked there.

"Mr. Potter," he called. The boy turned in his direction.

"Grindelwald… Herwald," he corrected. "What's up?"

"I was thinking... are you up for a game of Wizard Chess after dinner?"

Taken aback by this extremely normal request by the extremely odd boy, Alex took some time to answer.

"Uh. Sure. Here in the Great Hall?"

"That would be fine thanks. You are of course invited too Ms. Granger," he nodded politely in her direction.

"Really?" Hermione asked, surprised of being involved in anything that wasn't school related. "I mean sure. Just stop calling me Miss Granger. My friends call me Hermione. If you uh… If you want to be my friend that is."

"Absolutely Hermione. Will you join me at the Ravenclaw table? I don't think my presence here would be welcome," he said looking at the Gryffindor that kept glaring at him.

"NO WAY!" Ron Weasley shot up from his seat shouting. "Are you guys crazy? Hanging around this scum? Are you out of your mind?" The rest of the Gryffindor seemed to agree with him but wisely kept silent. Alex had made very clear that he didn't like groundless slandering.

"For your information, Weasley," Hermione of all people began, "Herwald had been a better friend to me in the little time I've spent with him than you in two months. Never mind the fact that he was the one to come to help me last night when the rest of my house preferred to scurry to safety. So yes, I'm definitely going to spend my time with him."

"I always knew you were mental. Tell her Alex. He's going to do Merlin knows what as soon as she drops her guard. She's halfway there already."

Alex looked at his friend like he had grown a second head. "Ron, what are you talking about? Why would he do anything to her after saving her from a Troll?"

"Oh, no," Ron sighed. "Don't tell me you really believe the crap. Saving her from the Troll. As if."

"Mate… I was there," Alex pointed out with a tinge of annoyance.

"Yeah? So what? Can you tell me exactly what he said to the Troll? No. We only have his word about it. For all we know he can be the one who let the thing inside the castle in the first place."

Silence. No one of those who heard the exchange said anything. Not even Herwald who looked more amused than anything else. Alex on the other hand had something to say.

"That's enough Ron. There is no reason to accuse Herwald of doing that. He was here in the Hall when the Troll was found. He couldn't possibly be the one responsible for letting it inside. Apologize."

"Like hell I will," He said with a growl. "Can't you see that he's playing you all for fools? Am I the only one that sees something wrong here? A Troll loose in the castle and the only person that, oh, so conveniently knows how to speak with them is the Scion of a Dark family? Hellooo!"

"Ronald I warn you…" Alex began but was soon interrupted by Herwald.

"Alex, please. There is no reason for you to fight over this. Mr. Weasley here actually rises a few good points. I would be absolutely capable of leading a Troll inside the castle. It doesn't take a lot of convincing. The promise of food is good enough to accomplish that."

Herwald statement was welcomed with a loud chatter. Wasn't he supposed to deny the accusation?

"But you where here when…" Alex protested.

"I was. So what? Doesn't take much to make the Troll hide for a while. I could have make it sleep in an unused classroom with the use of a simply potion. It's not that difficult." The audience couldn't tell exactly tell what was going on anymore. Was Grindelwald actually admitting of being the one behind the incident? That felt more than a little counter-intuitive. Even Ron didn't know how the take that admission but finally settled for a smug smirk.

"So it was you. I knew it," he said before turning to Alex and Hermione. "Told ya so. He's the one who did it."

"No, I'm not," Herwald stated plainly.

"Wh- You just admitted it," Ron nearly shouted.

"No, I didn't. I only said that I could have done it. And how do you know that I'm only one in the school that can speak with Trolls? I'm just the only one you know about. It hardly makes me responsible for it, but I agree that it makes me a potential suspect. Please do investigate the matter. The staff is already doing so. Certainly Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of our age will not be outsmarted or deceived by a mere first year. If I was one the responsible for this incident I certainly wouldn't be this relaxed. And besides, what sort of idiot should I be to try something like this without anything to gain, under the watchful eye of the Headmaster and Chief Warlock?"

Those were very good points that couldn't be denied by anyone. Ron's brain was working overtime to find a counter to what he just said. "I…," he began weakly only to be interrupted by Herwald.

"Let me indulge you for the sake of argument. Let us stick us to what we know for the time being, shall we? Yesterday evening a Troll was loose in the castle and a student was missing and not aware of it. This fact was reported to a Prefect of her own house whose choice in the matter was to let things be as they were. This was overheard by the rest of her housemates and no one raised the slightest objection. Of course, you were all safe and sound. Why risk anything?" A minor sense of shame was spreading among the Gryffindors while Herwald pointed out the simple truth.

"It was up to me and Alex to deal with the situation. Do we all agree with those facts? Good. So, while we don't know if I'm responsible for the whole fiasco, we are sure that I've actually done something when I didn't have any obligation to do anything about it. No house affiliation, no Prefect duties, and I barely had a passing acquaintance with Miss G- Hermione before yesterday. The same couldn't be said with you. She is your housemate, one of your *SNORT* friends, and yet you have done NOTHING to help her," by that point the whole Hall was listening in, staff table included. The Slytherins were positively amused by the exchange.

"So maybe I'm a good guy, maybe I'm a bad guy. We don't know that yet. What we know though is that you all are a bunch of selfish cowards. So much for Gryffindor, the House of Lions. Perhaps it was better off as the House of Kittens. All talk and no action to back it up. It's hardly a wonder why Slytherin have been winning the House Cup for seven years straight, is it? They do speak very little, but tend to get things done." Voices of outrage from the table began rising at his insult but Herwald continued his speech unaffected.

"Next time, before any of you pathetic idiots takes the higher moral ground and judges me for the name I carry, look in the mirror and ask yourselves what you have done to consider yourselves better than me. The answer would be NOTHING and that is exactly what you all amount to. A minor, lousy, nuisance." Wands were drawn and pointed but a loud, thunder-like clap from the staff table drew everyone's attention.

"That's quite enough," Dumbledore voice spoke without a hint of his grandfatherly warmth. "Put those wands away. Mr. Weasley, yesterday incident has been investigated and nothing pointed out to Mr. Grindelwald as the culprit. Please do not spread groundless rumors."

"Yes Sir," came the weak reply of a flustered Ronald.

"Mr. Grindelwald please refrain from antagonizing and insulting other students," he said turning his attention the raven haired boy.

"I make no promises Headmaster. I call things like I see them. Unless you are asking me to lie."

"Of course not, Mr. Grindelwald, I misspoke," he answered back a tad annoyed at the fact that the boy was challenging his authority, but clearly staying within the boundaries of a respectful conversation. "I was merely asking you to keep your more caustic opinion to yourself."

"Of course Headmaster," Herwald agreed politely. "I will do so in the same measure that the rest of my schoolmates do in my regards." Which was like saying that he wouldn't at all. Still the Headmaster couldn't quite tell him to suck it up and live with the mistreatments, and reining the whole school rumor mill wasn't feasible at all. He sat down with a sigh, feeling a headache coming already. It was going to be one of those weeks.

"Very well, Mr. Grindelwald. Run along."

Herwald nodded and addressed his friends again. "My invitation still stands Hermione, Alex."

"We'll be there," Alex answered and Herwald walked back to his table after giving a nod of acceptance.

-oOo-

"Will you ever cease to impress me?" Padma asked as she joined him for dinner.

"You flatter me. I hardly did something worth of notice," he pointed out.

"I disagree. It takes a spine to turn the table in your favor like you did and insult a whole House at the same time."

"I resent that," he said in mock hurt. "I did not insult any House. They are smearing its name with their behavior. I just pointed it out."

"Still. You turned the accusers into the accused. That's quite a feat. I can swear, by the end of your speech, Weasley wanted to disappear into the ground. And I won't even mention Granger."

"You just did. What about her?"

"You didn't notice? The way she kept staring? She got the hots for you," she said with a smirk.

"Riiight. And here I thought you sister was the gossip queen."

"Hush. Gossip it's the inaccurate repetition of what once was firsthand information. I only talk about what I saw firsthand."

"And what exactly makes you think that she has any interest in me."

"Oh, I don't know. The way she looked at you as you debated you way out of that mess was quite a give away, but it wouldn't mean anything without the background story."

"Which… is?" He asked amused by the exchange.

"Oh, a young heir of a despised family takes up the mantle of the hero, rescues the damsel in distress from the clutches of a foul beast and then confronts the wannabe knights that didn't do anything. I can see the majority of the girls in this school fall for that one. Especially if that boy was the only one that didn't make fun of me for being a bookworm."

"… I don't think that being the heir of a Dark family helps in the romance department," Herwald pointed out.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. They might give you a hard time, but girls dig the mysterious, dark and potentially bad guys. It's how we work."

"What's with plural? Do you dig the bad guys as well?"

"Maybe," she replied with a hint of blush that went unnoticed on her dark skin. "But it's not me we are talking about here. It's Granger and I'm telling you she head over heels for you."

"How silly. She barely even knows me. At best it's just a passing crush that will go away with time."

"You keep telling yourself that, Herwald," she said with a knowing grin.

"Whatever. Say, do you want to join us after dinner?"

"Really? Engaging in non-productive activities now Herwald? I thought you were all about books and no fun," Padma joked, but the humor went right over his head.

"Healer's order. Apparently I need to lay back a little if I want my charms not to explode in my face."

"Seriously?" She asked stunned by his serious answer. "You've got to be the only guy I know that can improve in a school by not applying himself. Any other surprises in store for me?"

"Hm. Not that I can think about right now, but make sure to stick around though. I'm sure I can find something before the evening's over."

Like promised, around an hour later, Hermione and Alex joined Herwald and Padma at the Ravenclaw table for a couple of games of Wizard Chess. Alex was playing against Herwald while the girls chatted.

"You know," Alex began as he took yet another piece from Herwald "I didn't exactly like what you said about my House earlier."

"I didn't expect you would," Herwald answered back. "Check."

"Damn!" Alex moved his king away. "You were right though. Most of my housemates have been acting like self righteous gits for a long time now."

"Hm. Glad you see it my way too. Check."

"Not again? There!" Alex exclaimed as he moved his king away again. "Yeah. I can't believe how much most of them resemble the Slytherins they always complain about. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

"Indeed. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to do something about it at all? Oh, check."

"Damn you…" this time he placed his rook in the way of the offending piece. "What am I supposed to do? Bash some sense into their skulls?"

"Don't ask me. It's your House. Although for what I have seen so far, that might actually be the most effective way to have some semblance of result. Checkmate."

"Damm it, Herwald. This is the third time in a row you beat me. You are worse than Ron."

"Now, now. I didn't get that personal with my insults before."

"Watch it, Herwald," Alex said sounding annoyed, but the smirk at the corner of his mouth downplayed it. "He might be a git, but he's still my friend."

"He might be your friend, but he's still a git," Herwald countered.

"Right. Point taken. Let's just drop it, all right. I'm going to have a long talk with him tomorrow. Hopefully he'll understand that he can't just judge people from their Houses or their families."

"Eh," Herwald scoffed." That would be a first, but strangest things have happened. I… just won't hold my breath on it. You don't mind, do you? Your friend looks a little… thickheaded."

Alex really wanted to be angry at him, but he couldn't muster enough motivation to do that. "He isn't that bad. He's just a little stubborn, but he means well."

"I'll take your word on it. Another game?"

"Not bloody likely. I've already met my quota of crushing defeats this week." They both laughed.

"What do you know? Here's a guy that actually knows his chances. Will wonders ever cease?"

"Har, Har Herwald."

It was amazing how the two teens that barely knew each other fell into an easygoing friendship.

A few feet away from there, Padma smiled as she watched Hermione drift off from the casual conversation with her to steal glances at a laughing Herwald. With a snap of her fingers Hermione attention was jolted back to her.

"So.. you and Herwald, uh," Padma smirked at her new friend.

"Uh. What? What about Herwald and me?" She played it ignorant, but with a little too much emphasis.

"Like it wasn't obvious. Come on only someone blind or a boy wouldn't notice how you look at him."

"I… I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't. And you also have no idea why you are blushing like a tomato."

"I… I…" Hermione sputtered unintelligibly.

"Don't give yourself a stroke Herms. It's not a bad thing having a crush on a boy."

Hermione huffed and hid her face in her hands. "Am I that easy to read?"

"Nah. I'm just that good at reading people, and let's admit it, you three have been at the center of the attention in the past few hours."

"Ugh. Promise me you won't tell him anything. I barely even know him."

"Err.. it might be a little late for that," she said apologetically, "I might have accidentally told him my suspicions on your feeling for him earlier today."

It was all Hermione could do not to shriek as her head snapped up. "You told him? What did he say?"

"Oh, something along the lines of barely knowing you. Basically he dismissed it like nonsense."

"Thank goodness. I don't know what I would have done if he believed you."

"Why? Fear of being rejected?"

"What? No I… Yes I mean but not only that… Promise me you won't laugh." At Padma affirmative response she continued. "I never had any friends before coming to Hogwarts. Between being a bookworm and the occasional bout of accidental magic people kept me at arm's length, and the few that approached me either needed help with their homework or just wanted to make fun of me." She swallowed thickly before continuing. "When I found out I was a witch I thought that by coming here, where everybody else was like me, I wouldn't be alone anymore but…"

"But things haven't changed that much, have they?" Padma finished for her. Hermione confirmed with a nod.

"Herwald was… the first person to be nice to me. I mean he's courteous to everyone but he was nice to me, and yesterday night he showed that it wasn't just, you know, something that he does to be polite. He actually is nice."

"Yes, well he can be nice if he wants, but I don't get where this is going."

"I mean. He's the first person to do something for me without having anything to gain. It's not strange if I have this crush on him, isn't it? But, come on, we are eleven. I don't want to alienate my first friend just because I have a rescued damsel syndrome."

Padma blinked. "Wow, you've got this crush since what, yesterday night and you have thought about all of this stuff already? No wonder you're having such a difficult time in Gryffindor with that overactive brain of yours. Not that it doesn't make sense mind you but… just relax and go with the flow."

"I would have gone with the flow if a certain someone didn't let her mouth run wild and was a bit considerate of my feelings," Hermione said with just a hint of anger.

"Whoops. My bad" Padma apologized without any real feeling behind it.

"Sigh. It's all right. At least now I know that he isn't grossed by the idea of me crushing over him. It's a start."

"Yes that's good. Oh look the boys seem to have finished. Shall we join them?"

"Yes that would be best."

They rejoined the Alex and Herwald and played a few games of chess against each other before calling it a day and returning to their respective dorms.

"You were right," Herwald said to Padma as they walked to the Ravenclaw's Tower.

"Hm? About what?"

"Hermione. She really has a crush on me."

A cold feeling run upon Padma spine. Had her running mouth ruined Herwald and Hermione's friendship?

"Ah. Uhm. So?"

"She also doesn't seem to let it get in her way of our friendship which is good. I wouldn't know how to handle a crushing girl. Thank Merlin she's smarter than that."

"Oh. Well that's good right?" She asked with relief in her voice, a particular that didn't pass unnoticed to the raven haired teen.

"You were worried about it, weren't you? Let me guess... you confronted her on her feelings earlier right?"

"We... might have had a passing conversation about it, yes."

"Which is to say you've discussed the topic to great lengths," Herwald commented. "Has she reached any conclusion?"

"I... I shouldn't be the one to talk you about that," Padma tried to dig her way out.

"Too late. You've lost the right to neutrality when you let your mouth run off with me. Now spill."

"Sigh. Well she basically said that she doesn't want to jeopardize this new friendship and that her crush might be caused by the fact that she felt lonely and that you've rescued which is, like I said before, a major points earner in any girl's book."

A small breath of relief escaped Herwald's mouth. "That's good. She's smart like it thought she was."

"Does it bother you so much that Hermione has a thing for you? Don't you like her?"

"No, I don't. Not like that. I just barely know her. She's smart. Smarter than most anyway, which is more than enough for me to try and get to know her better, but that's it. How can an eleven years old boy even contemplate to date a girl anyway? Give me a break."

A smirk formed on Padma's lips. "Wow, Herwald. This has to be the first time in over two months that you don't know how to deal with something. I was starting to believe you aren't human."

"Well excuse me if I'm not omniscient. Besides the only girl I spent extended periods of time with his my si-cousin. I actually had thought I wouldn't have to deal with this sort of stuff until much later in life," Herwald paused for a moment at those words. "Then again I had never imagined I would have to rescue a girl from a Troll inside my school either."

"Well life's like that, Mister." Padma pointed out. "Full of surprises."

"Please tell me that these so called surprises aren't going to be either lethal creatures or crushing girls."

"Nah. That's probably a once in a lifetime thing."

"Oh good. I would seriously reconsider my chances of getting out of school alive if it wasn't," Herwald said with fake relief.

"Ah. What did you expect? To save a girl's life every year?"

"Yeah. That would be pretty ridiculous, wouldn't it?"

They both laughed, enjoying how the semi-serious conversation had turned. Yet Herwald couldn't shake off the feeling of having just walked over his own grave. Like those words had just stirred a mean streak in Fate's plans for him.

It took him a while but he finally shrugged off the ominou

Author Notes

So, here I am back from my long absence. I could give you a nice set of excuses for the late update but they would be only just that. Excuses. The actual reason for not updating anything in the last few weeks is a total lack in will to write. Simple as that.

A few note: This chapter is un-beta-ed . This is a personal choice since I don't want to wait for my beta readers to go over the chapter (it can take many days) before posting it. Every chapter will be corrected at a later time and then re-uploaded.

About this chapter:

Hermione is crushing on Herwald, which is quite normal given Hermione circumstances, but for the happiness of the H/Hr haters they will not be a couple (it's a Harry/Multi anyway) for a long time if ever. Herwald is eleven and he still has issues with what had happened in his youth. He isn't as traumatized as any other child with the same kind of abuse history, seeing that his childhood had been different from most anyway, and the Occlumency training is akin to counseling in a certain sense. However he still has some issues with physical contacts with strangers.

There shouldn't be any pairing until third/fourth year, when Herwald will have reached a greater maturity and a better balance with his past.

That's all for now. As usual I'm looking forward to your reviews. Till next time.