Chapter 24: Discretion
Even if she was passing all of her classes with high grades and great parise, Hermione was failing everything else. Most prominently: life.
After her outburst at Sirius she was the star of the everlasting rumor mill; even some portraits muttered as she passed. To go against one of the most popular guys in school simply because he gave her an overly-fair amount of attention had made her enemies to many girls. Only Lily seemed indifferent, giggling at Hermione's show of bravery.
Lupin didn't even look at her. He seemed to have figured she had discovered his monthly problem, and was determined not to bother her. Maybe he feared she would tell if he didn't mind her, but he was hurting more than helping from his distance.
Hermione had never really took care to how much they had grown on her. Sirius was similar to Ron, with his idiotic jokes and disregard for consequences. Only he was egotistically suave compared to the clumsy, lovable redhead. James was still somewhat of a clogged asshole whenever Lily wasn't around, but he still looked so much like Harry it was hard for Hermione to find fault in him. She liked not having Peter around. That was the only upside.
She had ruined it with her tiny yelling-spree. Hermione knew she was prone to outbursts when everything was stretched too thin, but this was a whole new situation. She had outwardly declared she knew that Lupin was a werewolf, something that would ostracize him from everyone, and that Sirius was an illegal Animagus. She might as well have thrown out the information that she knew James and Peter ran along.
Even though they seemed more indifferent to her than ever, she knew better. Hermione needed to fix this and stop their attention towards her.
Posted: 11.17.2011
Word Count: 300