Chapter 15: Clearest Blue

"Happy Birthday!" The boisterous mix of her friends greeted her as she walked into the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione jumped in slight surprise. She had just returned from the library working on her latest Ancient Runes essay. Usually at this hour the common room was empty with students making their way to the Great Hall for dinner. She should had realized something was up with how the Fat Lady had greeted her with a knowing smile. The room was filled with most of the members of Dumbledore's Army. She had not expected such a fuss to be made on her behalf. Hermione had figured that Harry, Ron and she would just try to sneak off to Hagrid's for some tea and biscuits to celebrate.

"Let me get that for you." Harry quickly enveloped Hermione in a hug before he took her bag off her shoulder.

"Dobby can help Harry Potter." Dobby magicked her bag to the girl's dormitory with a satisfied grin.

"Thank you." Hermione rushed out as Ginny linked their arms together to lead her to the sofa.

"Finally, the birthday witch is here!" Ginny beamed brightly as the pair got comfortable.

"She was about to send me down to drag you up." Ron grinned down at Hermione as he leaned against the back rest.

"Happy Birthday, Mione." Ron offered her a glass of pumpkin juice.

Hermione hated how much she liked that goofy grin of his and those blue eyes. She focused on not making a fool of herself as she took the glass from him. It didn't matter how tall he looked standing behind her. She thanked him quickly before her eyes darted around the room. It was safer than staring obviously at Ron. Hermione was truly shocked at the number of things in the common room. It was clear that Dobby had gone overboard. She was convinced that a different food or drink covered each of the side tables around the room.

"Dobby, you shouldn't have." Hermione turned to thank the only house elf to ever wear her S. P. E. W. hat.

She knew that Dobby had gone out his way to spoil them on top of prepping for the dinner in the Great Hall for all the students.

"Dobby had to for Hermione Granger's birthday!" Dobby nodded frankly before he vanished to go back to work in the kitchen.

"Lá Breithe Shona dhuit!" Seamus cheered before raising his glass.

Dean quickly turned on the wizarding wireless. She really hoped someone remembered a silencing charm as the loud music filled the common room. The majority of the students who elected to celebrate with Hermione had begun to dance. The birthday girl had barely felt confident with the structure dances required for the Yule Ball. She had no desire to try to dance now.

"Excuse me, I can't let him have all the fun." Ginny smirked as she stared at her boyfriend across the room.

The ginger witch rose from the sofa and swayed with the music as she made her way over to Dean. He grinned when Ginny slowly moved her arms to rest on his shoulders much to the chagrin of Ron. Hermione had to give Ron some credit. While he complained, he didn't try to separate the two from one another. Hermione had hoped that maybe the three of them would talk about something that would distract Harry from his worry. Instead of selecting any interesting topics, Ron and Harry started babbling about quidditch. Hermione sighed unsurprised that her two closest friends had a propensity to only have brooms and snitches on their minds. At least, quidditch never failed to bring a smile to Harry's face. That fact made her unwilling to try to change the conversation to a different topic to feel included.

"Happy Birthday!" Neville took the empty spot next to Hermione.

"Thank you, Neville." Hermione felt saved from having to pretend to listen about some player's statistics.

In Neville's hands, he held a white ceramic pot of lemongrass. He offered the plant to her with a warm smile.

"It's safe for Crookshank to eat." He had left a small piece of parchment detailing the plant's care instructions.

Hermione quickly read over the information. She appreciated she wouldn't have to go to the library to search for its uses.

"Did you have to ask Professor Sprout to use the greenhouse to grow this?" Hermione placed the plant on the coffee table in a space that had been vacated from people grabbing glasses of pumpkin juice.

"Yes. I'd figure you would rather something practical and safe for Crookshank as a gift." Neville explained as he grabbed a glass for himself.

In the middle of Neville's explanation Luna effortlessly sat on the arm of the sofa next to the quietest of the Gryffindor sixth year boys. Hermione hid a smile behind her glass at the amazed look that crossed his face when he noticed how casually close Luna was to him.

"Happy Birthday Hermione. Such a bittersweet time, turning seventeen. It's the end of childhood but the beginning of the most frightening adventure." Luna wistfully declared before taking a bite of a strawberry.

Hermione knew she had a terrible poker face. Wasn't today meant to be filled with well wishes? Her confused face obviously caught Luna's attention.

"Adulthood." Luna added before she leaned over to inspect the potted lemongrass.

"You did an impeccable job keeping this plant free from any nargles, Neville." Luna praised before anyone could make a comment on the untraditional birthday wish.

"Ah—thank you… I don't think Professor Sprout would forgive me if I let any… pest run amuck in the greenhouse." Neville stuttered at the beginning of his response to Luna.

While there was a faint blush that colored his cheeks, he grew a tad more confident speaking on anything that was tied to herbology. Luna nodded listening to him as she retrieved a small, blue wrapped parcel for Hermione from a pocket of her trousers. Inside the box, there was a light grey velvet choker with a tiny white quartz crescent moon charm.

"It's beautiful, Luna! Thank you." Hermione exclaimed as she took it out to examine the jewelry.

"It is charmed to mimic the moon cycle." Luna smiled pleased that Hermione seemed to be so impressed by the gift.

"How fascinating." Hermione delicately touched the cool quartz charm.

"And practical." Luna declared before grabbing her own glass of pumpkin juice.

"I guess." Hermione pondered trying to think of a reason outside of Astronomy for the need to plot the moon phases.

Maybe a few potions benefited from that level of precision? Did it matter if she didn't need the practical use of the jewelry? Hermione could not deny it was beautiful. She scolded herself that she didn't want to sound ungrateful. Hermione moved her curls as much to the side as she could in order to put the choker on.

"People's moods are affected by the moon. Just a means to be mindful of it." Luna then took another bite of a strawberry.

"What—you think Mione gonna romance a werewolf, Luna? Guess it would be helpful to know how close it is to the worse time of the month." Ron joked as he came forward holding a few wrapped presents.

"Ron. You are terrible." Hermione glared at the dense ginger wizard.

"What? Lupin would not have been the first professor you fancied. He's the only werewolf we know." Ron grinned at her expense.

Hermione didn't take kindly to being reminded of falling for the absolute trite Lockhart peddled. She grimaced at the very thought of having feelings for Lupin. One the age gap was horrendous. Plus, it was apparent that Tonks fancied him. Hermione truly wondered how she could be hung up on Ron. How could he be so daft to suggest anyone but himself. Remus Lupin—was old enough to be her father. She couldn't stop how her body cringed at the thought.

"You are being ridiculous Ron. Lupin never played quidditch; no way he could capture Hermione's eye." Ginny's attempt to defend Hermione had missed the mark.

Hermione frowned but knew better than to argue with Ginny on this. The conversation quickly flowed back to more usual topics as she opened the many gifts from her remaining friends. She felt very spoiled from all the attention. Before she left for Hogwarts, her parents had given her of a pair of pearl earrings to mark her becoming a full adult in the wizarding world. Her mother made sure she had something to unwrapped today as well. Hermione was thankful for another bottle of her Gap Dream perfume. Mrs. Weasley made her a tin of fudge. Ginny found her a butterfly hair accessory. George treated her to some sugar quills. Ron spoiled Crookshanks with some cat nip mice. Hagrid gifted her the blend of tea she enjoyed. Harry, Victor, and Tonks had all given her books; however, these books very much ranged in genre. Only a few gifts had been embarrassing to open with the group. There had been a few whistles and jokes when Fred had given her a Patented Daydream Charm and Tonks had gifted her a paperback romance book. While most were completely unfamiliar with the muggle author, Ginny had noticed the drawing of Fabio along the spine of the book.

Fortunately, they mostly all talked about their excitement of apparition lessons which would start in the spring term as they feasted on delightful treats. Hermione was thankful for a break in the grey mood that had been Harry's burden since Sirius's death. It was a relief to see Harry crack jokes and smile instead of him remaining on edge for the next shoe to drop. She didn't blame her friend. Voldemort was back and the deaths were beginning to pile up again like the previous war.

"It is probably time for us non-Gryffindor's to head out. I really would hate to take away points while I'm on your patrol Hermione." Luna stretched as she stood up to leave.

Hermione looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was getting close to curfew. Many of the other house mates had already departed. Hermione selfishly wanted to read Insight on Drumstrag's Institute which she had received from Victor Krum. She was thankful that Luna had offered to take the patrol so she could enjoy her evening in bed.

"I can't believe Professor Dumbledore allowed a Death Eater to be a prefect." Harry sourly bit out.

"Being a prat is hardly grounds to believe he is a Death Eater." Hermione sighed in exasperation.

Since they had followed Malfoy into Knockturn Alley, Harry had been adamant on his theory that their school yard bully took the mark. She felt like a broken record with this conversation. Harry hadn't appreciated the last time she tried to remind him how he didn't like when people gossip and claimed Harry was the heir of Slytherin or lying about Voldemort's return after the Triwizard Tournament. It felt like Harry should know better than suggesting wild claims with no proof. Hermione understood that her friend was hurting and had fixated on this theory as an emotional crutch. It was a poor distraction for Harry to avoid dealing with the grief and uncertainty of his godfather falling through the Veil. Harry had claimed that Malfoy bragged about something big would happen this year on the train. How this was different from any of the other times Malfoy pompously prattled on to impress his lackeys Hermione did not know. She had spent three patrols with Malfoy. Hermione was well versed on how smug the Slytherin git was when he thought things were going his way or planning some horrible prank. The majority of their classes and patrols he was quiet and apprehensive. Lucius Malfoy was a horrendous person, but his arrest had obviously affected Malfoy. Hermione could say that it appeared that he had returned to Hogwarts changed. If she was a betting woman, then she'd risk a galleon on it being related to the aftermath of the trial. Malfoy had idolized that man and now he was locked in Azkaban. She couldn't imagine the stress that put on a family.

"He is up to something." Harry firmly countered.

"If he is, I'm not sure how well it'll turn out. He's petrified." Luna added solemnly.

Hermione pondered over Luna's words. She had been honestly trying to avoid looking too deeply into his grey eyes. She didn't want to analyze the affect Malfoy's gaze had on her. Maybe fear was the reason being caught in his observation left her feeling haunted. She knew he should not linger on her mind. Hermione blinked realizing that she missed part of the conversation as her friends looked expectantly for her answer.

"I'm sorry; I'm more tired than I realized. I really appreciate you taking my patrol. Malfoy is usually pretty quiet. He has taken the patrols seriously thus far and been mostly polite. Well, polite for him. If—" Hermione looked pointedly at Harry.

"—he starts casting dark arts spells in the passageways then Luna has her coin to let us know to go get Professor Dumbledore." Hermione's tone expressed how ridiculous she thought Harry's theory was.

Even when Umbridge was in control, the worse thing Malfoy had done was take too many points and gave out detentions without much cause. He was an immature arse but not evil incarnate. She had been beside Harry long enough to know the difference. Thankfully, Ginny's laughter from Hermione's snippy retort was enough to change the topic. Ginny offered to help carry up Hermione's presents up to the girl's dormitory. Hermione was thankful that Harry couldn't follow up. She did not want to talk about Malfoy for the rest of her night. Luna took this patrol so she didn't have to even think about the moody prat at all on her birthday. She wished her friends a good night as she made her way up to her room.

Hermione was disappointed that Crookshanks had not return from his adventures for the day. She had hoped that her cat would be back for cuddles as she read to unwind before going to bed. Ginny hopped up on Hermione's bed as the brunette witch quickly organized the presents in her trunk and on the nightstand.

"I cannot believe my brother got you a Patented Daydream Charm!" Ginny was too hyper for her own good.

"It is a little strange." Hermione's nose crinkled at the thought.

"More like a little forward!" Ginny's laughter was interrupted by telltale scratching on the door.

Hermione went over to welcome Crookshanks back for the evening.

"Hello Crookshanks! Did you have a nice day hunting rats?" Hermione watched as Crookshanks slinked into the room.

The ginger cat stretched and made his way over to his bowl of water that Hermione kept in the dormitory. She went over to her nightstand that held a charmed flask which kept the water cool for Crookshanks' bowl. Crookshanks lapped up the water before leaping up on the bed.

"Hermione, I think there something on Crookshanks I can't seem to get it." Ginny looked up from petting the cat.

Hermione sat down on the bed and pleaded with Crookshanks. It was always a guessing game to see if her cat was in the mood for being held. The ginger cat stretched and made his way over to Hermione. Crookshanks rubbed his face against her cheek. As Hermione investigated what Ginny might have seen the large feline happily purred. In the midst of all the ginger hair, there was a flash of gold that caught her eye. Hermione was very confused why something metallic other than his name tag would be there. She realized that the gold was in fact a delicate watch which had been attached to her familiar's collar. Hermione grabbed her wand but didn't detect anything amiss. She decided to unhooked the collar from her cat to examine the piece of jewelry.

"Wow! Its beautiful!" Ginny exclaimed leaning over to see the hidden treasure Crookshanks had return home with as Hermione put the collar back on her cat.

Hermione had to agree it was an absolutely stunning piece. The delicate filigree of geometric shapes on the band was like nothing Hermione had ever seen before. The face of the watch had two of the most vivid red stones gleaming in the light of the room.

"Who is it from?" Ginny asked looking to see if there had been anything else attached to the cat's collar.

"It doesn't say." Hermione stated as she flipped the watch over to see if there was anything engraved on the back of the clock's face.

"Do you have a secret admirer?" Ginny grinned expectantly at Hermione.

"Don't be silly." Hermione put the watch on her wrist. It fit perfectly like it had always meant to be hers.

"It is so sweet that someone remember to get you a watch for your seventeenth birthday!" Ginny was at awe at the antique watch.

Hermione had not been very familiar with the tradition and had to ask Ginny for an explanation on why someone would get a watch for their seventeenth birthday.

"Do you think it was Krum or…." Ginny's guessing game was cut short by Hermione.

"Whoever gave it to me has to be in the castle. So, it definitely wasn't Victor. They had to grow up in the wizarding world to even know of the custom and be liked by Crookshanks." Hermione pondered before realizing that was a very short list.

"It was probably Professor Dumbledore. He gave Harry a gift on his first Christmas. Maybe he realized that my parents wouldn't know of the significance of getting a watch for your seventeenth birthday." Hermione reasoned trying to find the most logical explanation.

"Why do you have to be practical all the time?" Ginny grumbled sourly but eventually commented it was something Dumbledore would do.

"I'm sorry to dash your hopes of a secret admirer waltzing around the castle." Hermione laughed at the ridiculous notion.

"It would have been entertaining for you to have a little romance in your life." Ginny shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I very much doubt that I have a mystery suitor." Hermione dismissed the idea as she retrieved her supplies to get ready for bed.

"Why not? You never know. Just because Ron is blind as a bat doesn't mean there isn't some devilishly handsome quidditch player who fancies you." Ginny seriously mentioned as she got up and made her way to the door.

Before Hermione had an opportunity to challenge the suggestion, Ginny continued.

"If you need a little help imagining use that Patent Daydream Charm to see if you can't create the perfect secret admire to sweep you off your feet. Maybe base it off that tall blonde Viking on that book." Ginny raised her eyebrows quickly in jest at the older witch.

"You are incorrigible!" Hermione beseeched Ginny to leave it alone and to get out of the sixth-year girls' dormitory.

Hermione Granger never really considered herself as a girl who had mystery suitors. She pondered over Ginny's wild suggestion as she ready for bed. Hermione was very sure she wasn't the type. She scrubbed at her face remembering that she had only been asked to the Yule Ball because Victor was desperate. So many of the girls devolved into groupies flocking to him. He had told her how relieved that Hermione had not been obsessed with his professional quidditch career. Yes, her life had been forever changed to be more magical than she ever imagined when she received her letter from Hogwarts. She was a witch not some embodiment of a romance heroine. Hermione glared at her appearance in her pajamas. Ron was clueless to think of her anything other than just practical Hermione. There to help with homework. It was pointless to think that someone was interested in her, Hermione thought as she climbed into bed. Lord, to think some stranger could earned the trust of Crookshanks. There were very few people in this castle that her cat even liked. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore always kept treats for him in their offices. Hermione was firmly in denial that there was another group that Crookshanks had preferred. She wasn't willing to think about the apparent loyalty her cat had to those related to the House of Black. Crookshanks had adored Sirius Black; but he was dead. Tonks already gave her a gift. Malfoy was too distant to truly count and be considered. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore had given lavish gifts to Harry before. A watch would be cheaper than a top-of-the-line broomstick for a first year or less meaningful than his invisibility cloak. That made way more sense than getting a sentimental birthday gift from Draco Malfoy.