Chapter Seven
DAY ONE – Monday
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night". Together these made up one day. — Genesis 1:1-5
*****
It was officially the first day of the Christmas break and Hermione was awoken by the sound of Lavender screaming in her ear, "Wake up, Hermione!"
Hermione didn't heed Lavender's command, and rather, decided to cover her ears and face with a spare pillow. She mumbled something incoherent as she tossed over onto her stomach and readjusted her pillows accordingly.
Lavender grabbed the pillow from Hermione's weak grasp and decided a good shaking was in order as well. "Hermione! Wake up already!"
"No, I'm tired," she muttered just clearly enough for Lavender to get the idea. But she wouldn't give up until Hermione was up and out of bed, dressed and washed.
"Get up, you've already missed breakfast you lazy...I-don't-know-what!" Lavender held onto Hermione's arm and pulled, until she had a better idea. She let go of her arm, which Hermione responded to with a mumble, and gripped the end of the blankets...and pulled.
"Ahh! Lavender! I'm freezing, give my blanket back. It's...crap." She blinked and rubbed her eyes and glanced back at the clock. It was already midday. "Oh. My. God. Lavender. How could you let me sleep in so late?"
"Me? I believe *you* let yourself sleep in, not me," she defended herself. She then pointed to the clock on Hermione's bedside table. "Besides, that wall clock had been wrong for a year. You know that. It's only eleven."
"Oh, sorry," Hermione smiled sheepishly. "So what was it that you wanted?"
Lavender paused and a sheepish look grew upon her face, "Um...I can't remember now."
"Lav—"
"No, wait, I remember now," she said in a sudden flash of brilliance. "Harry asked me to wake you up. He was *worried*." Lavender grinned with a teasing smile and quickly ran off to avoid Hermione's reaction to the insinuation that Harry meant something other than what he had said.
Hermione rubbed her blurry eyes and finally plucked up the energy to get out of bed, wash up and dress. "What the hell is wrong with everyone? Can't let weary people be lazy..." she muttered under her breath. She found herself looking proper, but tired, in the common room searching for a familiar crop of chestnut brown hair. She spotted him in the corner, twirling a pen in between writing in a small book.
"Going all 'Muggle' on us and using pens now, are you?" Hermione grinned at Harry's surprised and rather frazzled expression as he looked up at her.
"Oh! Oh...Hermione, I didn't see you there," Harry quickly tucked his little book into the back pocket of his jeans and shoved a cap on his pen. The pen was abruptly tucked casually behind his ear. "I don't really find it too convenient to drag an inkpot around wherever I go. Or a huge feathery thing for that matter."
"Well, why'd you wake me up? I was having a good dream...I think." Hermione crinkled her eyebrow in thought. She couldn't remember whether she had dreamt at all, actually.
"Didn't Lavender tell you?" Harry paused and laughed, "Mental note: never trust Lavender to carry a simple message."
Hermione didn't reply. Instead she looked expectantly at Harry, wanting to finally find out what it was she had left her cosy blankets for. She hoped it wasn't homework related or anything to do with the Yule Ball. She had gotten so sick of hearing about it that she was even considering not going. If Ron hadn't asked her, she would most likely have stayed in the common room all of that night, curled up with a good book. Now she had a reason to care about what she was going to wear, how she was going to do her hair and all those other nitpicky things she could usually ignore so well.
"Well, I just wanted your opinion on something. You see, one of the guys approached me with this dilemma and—"
"You want a girl's perspective?" Hermione finished his sentence for him.
"Well, yeah," Harry shrugged. "You phrased that so simply...I sort of want to find out how you'd react in a situation like this."
"Okay, fire away," she replied. She slipped into the chair opposite to Harry, "I don't understand why you didn't just ask someone like...Lav or Ginny, though."
"Just hear me out okay?" He sucked in a deep breath and hoped what was about to come out of his mouth wouldn't seem suspicious or untruthful. It wasn't, though it sounded slightly reminiscent of himself and Ron. "Okay, this one guy, not to name any names, likes this girl. He's liked her for ages. And this other guy, one of his best friends, has gradually realised his friendship with this girl is...well, has, turned more romantic in nature."
Hermione could only hear every second word since she had trouble concentrating on anything other than Harry's gaze, but she already knew what she was going to say. "Maybe these two guys should let the girl decide. The feelings have to go both ways for any sort of relationship to work, right?"
"They're chickens. Believe me. It's kind of hard to go up to someone and say, 'Hey, we both have the hots for you. Choose.' You know what I mean?" Harry shifted in his chair, wondering what Hermione could be thinking now. Maybe he really should've proposed the question to someone else instead. It did seem a little...suspect. Once again, damn Ernie and Justin (yes, Macmillan and Finch-Fletchley) for liking Susan Bones and asking *him*—of all people—for advice.
"Yeah, I suppose. But I think she'd rather have a say rather than waiting around for the situation to explode in all their faces..." Hermione's thoughts drifted. Her cheeks brightened as she thought of the possibility that Harry was this "other guy" and that he was referring to Ron.
"True..." He sat there, unmoving for several moments before standing up and making a few notes into his little booklet. "Thanks for the help, Mione. I think Justi—" Harry coughed to cover up the slip. "Umm, these two guys will be glad to resolve this whole fiasco."
She just sat unblinking as she felt herself get dragged out of her thoughts suddenly by not even a word, but a half-finished one. "What?" she mumbled to herself. Hermione Granger was confused. "...He called me 'Mione' again. What's up with that?"
Correction: Hermione Granger was very confused. And rightly so.
*****
"I've changed my mind Wormtail. I think I like irony a lot more than I used to now. New plan..."
"What is it, my lord?" Wormtail asked. His voice was shaking and he was trying hard not to run away while he had the chance. He knew he should've stayed in hiding and never returned to Voldemort's service again, but here he was. Being stupid.
"Patience, Wormtail. There is no need to pester me for information when I'm so willing to give it freely." A wicked grin spread upon his face. He had no doubts that the plan would work. The only problem would be overestimating the size of his servant's mouth.
