Chapter 10
Hermione was lying on the dirty bed, staring at the ceiling. The room was dark, lit only by thin stripes of moonlight, coming in through the cracks in the boarded-up windows. She had lost track of time after the first half an hour but knew she had to be lying there for a long time since her muscles were completely relaxed. She was thinking about Madam Rosmerta, Mrs Weasley, Ron – everyone who had reacted badly to her new friendships. Of course, Ron had apologized and was now behaving really well, but she knew that not everyone would do that. Mrs Weasley had been like a mother to her every time she had visited the Burrow and yet she hadn't spoken a word to her after the incident in the Burrow. She usually mentioned her and Harry in letters she sent to Ron, but her red-headed best friend seemed to carefully avoid talking about his mother in front of Hermione, never mind tell her Mrs Weasley sent love. Madam Rosmerta had always been nice to Hermione, too, and hearing those words tonight had left Hermione devastated. She wanted to spend as much time as possible in this ruined old house but knew that her friends were probably very worried and she had to be up early tomorrow because she had promised Hagrid last week that she would visit him tomorrow after breakfast. She slowly sat up in the bed and tried to return some feeling in her limbs. She then stood up and waved her wand to check the time. She gasped when the Charm showed two o'clock. Hermione quickly grabbed her cloak she had draped over a broken chair and ran down the stairs, throwing herself headfirst into the small tunnel, leading to Hogwarts. When she reached the opening below the Whomping Willow she reached up and pressed the knot that temporarily immobilized the tree, then climbed out. Before running through the grounds she placed another Disillusionment charm on herself.
After carefully opening and closing the oak doors she ran through the Entrance Hall and up to the second floor. As quietly as possible she whispered the password and entered the Common room. Inside, she removed the Disillusionment charm and sank down on the floor, exhausted by all the running. She closed her eyes and sighed, then jumped and almost screamed when she heard a whisper somewhere close by.
"Hey, Mione."
"Ron!" she whispered back furiously after seeing him sitting a few cushions away. "You almost gave me a heart attack."
"I didn't mean to, sorry" the boy apologized at once. "I just had to wait for you. Make sure you're okay, you know. We noticed you weren't with us in the tunnel where we took off the charms. Malfoy and Ginny immediately went to look for you – we thought Rosmerta cursed you or something. But they came back and said they only saw her going inside her pub. So we came back, we knew you can do alright on your own."
"You were worried, weren't you?"
"I levitated a sleeping Malfoy upstairs fifteen minutes ago and the only reason Harry isn't here is because Ginny reminded him he has to catch up with homework tomorrow. Well – today."
"And you don't?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"I do, I just pretended to go to bed until she left" Ron grinned sheepishly, then looked at Hermione worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah" she nodded. "I just needed a little time that's all."
"I understand" Ron said. "You shouldn't care about Rosmerta though. Anyone who says you're wrong to be friends with the Slytherins is an idiot, me included."
"Your mother is one of those people, Ron" Hermione smiled sadly. "But it's OK, I know not everyone can be as forgiving as me."
"Mum's wrong" Ron said. "I told her she is and she hasn't sent me a letter back. But that's fine. We had no right to treat you like we did. She'll come around, you'll see."
"You haven't spoken to her because of defending me?" Hermione asked, shocked. "But-"
Ron put a finger to his mouth to shush her.
"That doesn't matter. You're okay now, right?"
"Yes but-"
"That's what's important" Ron interrupted her again. "Let's go up now, I really do have a lot of homework to complete in the morning."
She stood up, ready to argue more but Ron simply hugged her and said "Just know I'm here for you." He then smiled at her and disappeared up the stairs to his dormitory.
Hermione stood there for a few seconds, then smiled to herself and climbed up to her dormitory. Inside she saw Pansy pacing around the room, looking impatient. She didn't seem to have noticed the brunette yet but when she turned around, she stopped dead.
"Hermione!" she hissed half angry, half relieved. "Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded, "Ron told me what happened after I left but you shouldn't have worried, I just needed a little time on my own."
"You could have said something-you spoke to Weasley?"
"Yeah, he was waiting for me to come back."
Pansy's face changed completely – she didn't look worried and angry, or relieved anymore. In fact, Hermione couldn't exactly tell what emotions Pansy was feeling. The Slytherin seemed... sad.
"I see" the raven-haired girl whispered finally, after a minute of silence. "So you're fine, I suppose?"
"Yes..." Hermione said, confused at the sudden change in Pansy's tone.
"That's great. Well, I'll be going to bed now. I'm glad you're okay. Goodnight."
And she walked over to her bed, passing by Hermione without looking at her, lay down and drew the curtains shut with her wand. Hermione watched the curtains, getting more confused by the minute. She didn't understand why would the other girl react that way. Deciding to leave it as it was, she pulled the curtains around her own bed, changed, and lay down, trying to fall asleep. This wasn't easy, however, especially when she heard Pansy stand up and leave the room about an hour later.
The next morning Hermione woke up feeling more tired than she had when going to bed. She went down to breakfast and plopped down most ungracefully next to Ron who looked at her questioningly.
"That's usually my way of sitting down."
"Shut up and give me coffee" Hermione snapped but yawned mid-sentence.
"Here you go" Ron grinned, pouring her a cup. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"No" the redhead said quickly.
"Didn't you two have a lot of homework or something?" Ginny piped in, looking between Harry and Ron.
"Um, yes."
"Oh, a lot."
The two of them said goodbye hurriedly and left the two girls.
"Scrambled eggs, Mione?"
"You little cunning-" Hermione yawned again.
"Yes, yes. What's with all the yawning? Couldn't sleep?"
"You could say that."
"Poor you. At least you don't have to write a three-foot essay for Flitwick, go to sleep."
"I did promise Hagrid I'll go see him today. Sleep will have to wait."
After breakfast the two of them bid each other goodbye and Hermione walked out of the castle and down to Hagrid's hut. She knocked on the door and heard the usual barking and scraping from inside.
"Down, Fang. I said down!" The door opened a fraction and Hagrid's eye showed there. "I'm warnin' yeh, he's mad. Drivin' me nuts whole week after I told him yeh'd be comin'."
"That's all right" Hermione said and the half-giant beamed and opened the door wider.
"Come in then!"
She did, and the first and only thing she saw was a great black ball of fur as Fang lunged at her, almost knocking her to the ground, starting to lick her face. She managed to free herself and sit at the table, noticing Hagrid had put the kettle on the fire to make tea.
"How are yeh, Hermione, how's school?" Hagrid asked.
"It's great. Everything's going great."
"I heard yeh had an argument with Ron?" Hagrid said, taking the kettle off the fire.
"Yes, but we made up. Our friendship is too strong for things like that to end it."
"Tha's great, Hermione, it really is. I'm glad yeh're OK now. And what about Draco Malfoy and his friends? A lotta people think they're different and a lotta people seem to think you're the reason for that."
Hermione smiled.
"I just showed them it's good to be nice, for a change. Everything else is their own behavior."
"Well, good of yeh to show them the right way."
Hagrid placed a steaming mug of tea in front of her and sat down too, smiling at her.
"How have you been? And what's happening with Grawp?" Hermione asked, remembering Hagrid's enormous half-brother.
"We're both fine. Bin teachin' him how to behave now, he knows English already." Hagrid looked proudly out of the window. "Livin' in the mountains now, he is, but I've spoken to Professor McGonagall and she's agreed he can come help me from time to time. Yeh can come see him, an' Harry an' Ron if they want to."
"Of course. You just send a word when he's coming, I'm sure the boys would want to come too."
Hermione hoped she had not just told a flat lie to her friend. Harry was going to come to see his friend. Ron would probably need more persuasion but she was going to make sure he came too.
"Hermione, are you OK?" Hagrid asked suddenly. "Yeh look a little pale."
"Couldn't sleep last night" the girl said offhandedly, taking a sip of her tea. "I'll be fine, don't worry" she smiled.
"Oh, I'm sure yeh'll be" Hagrid beamed. "Yeh should just go an' get some sleep." His face fell suddenly. "Bu' I'm keepin' yeh here when yeh should be sleepin' now!"
"No, Hagrid, I did promise I'll come-" Hermione tried to say.
"I'm havin' nothing of that! Up ter the castle yeh go, an' get some rest. Yeh've got school tomorrow."
And he took her mug which was still half full and opened the front door.
"Come on, I'll walk you there" he grinned at her. "Knowing yeh, I can' just believe yeh won' go get in trouble somewhere."
"Just what kind of opinion do you have of me, Hagrid?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, mocking offense. She stood up and walked past Hagrid and out of the hut. "You don't need to come, really" she added, seeing him striding next to her.
"Nah, it wasn' exactly nice of me ter throw you out like tha'."
"You just care about me, that's all" the brunette said. "Besides, I do need sleep."
"Good to see yeh admittin' it" the half-giant said. "Here we are then."
They stopped in front of the oak front doors.
"Yeh go in, I'll go see what Grawp's up ter" Hagrid said.
"Okay. See you, Hagrid" Hermione waved and walked inside, already dreaming of her warm bed and the soft sheets.
She had just laid down when the dormitory door opened and Pansy came in, walking over to her bed.
"Oh, hey, Granger. Didn't know you're here."
"Hey Pansy" Hermione said, looking at the other girl. She seemed happier today. "Are you okay?"
"What?" the Slytherin asked, rummaging in her trunk.
"You looked a bit down last night" the brunette elaborated.
"Oh" Pansy said uncomfortably. Hermione wasn't sure if she imagined it but the other girl turned away from her slightly. "I was just worried. That's all."
"Well, I'm fine now so-"
"So I can go. Yep. Sleep tight" Pansy said and hurried out of the room. Hermione stared after her, confused and a little hurt. Pansy had never cut her off like that. She turned to the other side and tried to go to sleep but it evaded her again. Pansy's abrupt departure was replaying in her mind and she couldn't banish it. Finally, she huffed and threw the bed covers off herself. She was going to find Pansy and see what this was all about.