Top Secret
By ::drumroll please…:: HermioneFan
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
"I don't know but I've been told (I don't know but I've been told)
This disclaimer thing is getting old! (This disclaimer thing is getting old!)"
Author's Note: Me again! Sorry about the incredibly long delay. I realise that I haven't posted anything since about August, but you'll just have to forgive me and read the next chapter.
***
The next few days passed uneventfully (if you ignored the fact that Hannah Abbott accidentally set a Quiver Bush alight in Herbology - again - trying, unsuccessfully, to catch Ron's attention - again). On Tuesday evening, Bob and Ginny were puzzling over their History of Magic homework in the common room. Just as Ginny set light to yet another piece of parchment in frustration, Bob looked at her watch, sighed, and shut her neatly written essay inside "Hags of the Seventeenth Century".
"I'd better be going," she said.
"Where?" asked Ginny distractedly, trying to extinguish her homework.
"Detention," replied Bob, aiming a jet of water from her wand onto Ginny's essay.
"Okay, see you later," said Ginny, smoothing out a crumpled piece of parchment, ready to begin her essay anew.
"Good luck," she muttered. "All right then, Famous Hags of the 1600s…"
Bob reached the library on the dot of 8 o'clock. Madam Pince surveyed her over her spectacles with the air of a hawk sizing up a very fat bunny.
"Ah, yes," she said. "Your sister told me about you."
Bob sighed again. It wasn't as if she was an escaped felon or something.
"So, er, what should I do?" she asked.
"You can start by arranging the books on that book case into alphabetical order according to author," Madam Pince answered, indicating a shelf far to the left of the library.
Bob looked at the shelf in question. It towered nearly to the library's vaulted ceiling and its shelves were full of ancient, dusty books. She got to work. Using a simple levitation charm, Bob hovered near the top shelf and began to rearrange the books. She could, of course, have used the Ordering Charm, but she supposed that that would defeat the object of a detention somewhat.
From this vantage point, she could see the other students in the library: Alison and Juliet Clearwater, prodding a piece of parchment with their wands and having a whispered, although obviously heated, argument; a few Hufflepuffs ploughing solidly through their homework; a Slytherin third year trying to sneak into the restricted section; Emily Macmillan, browsing the Care of Magical Creatures section for books about Flobberworms and other harmless creatures; and (what a surprise!) Hermione, an entire table spread with heavy books and pieces of parchment covered with the Head Girl's small, neat handwriting.
Bob moved along the shelf, reorganising the books and wondering whether she should tell Madam Pince about the Slytherin third year. She decided against it, as the books in the restricted section were more than equipped to look after themselves. A few minutes later, she was proven correct as the howl of a wolf, a snap, and a distinct "Ow!" from the restricted section ripped through the quiet of the library. Bob watched as Hermione and Madam Pince set off toward the restricted section, wearing identical irritated scowls. As Bob started on the "B's", she saw the unfortunate Slytherin being dragged out of the restricted section by his ear by Madam Pince before Hermione started on him. The Head Girl was, of course, whispering, but Bob knew that the boy was being given the famous (or infamous) what-on-earth-did-you-think-you-were-doing-disturbing-the-quiet-of-the-library speech. Ginny had heard it so many times that she could recite it backwards, and had, in fact, done so, which was probably why Bob knew it so well. The culprit was banished from the library (for life, most probably, Bob thought) and everyone settled down to work again.
For the next two hours, Bob worked her way through the books in silence. The library gradually emptied, leaving only Bob, Hermione and a couple of Hufflepuffs. Hermione left her desk and went to look for a book, giving Bob a sudden idea.
She drifted quickly back to earth and hurried over to her sister's table. After checking that Hermione was nowhere in sight, Bob picked up her quill and, on a small scrap of parchment, as she couldn't bring herself to write in a library book, wrote just one word: "Ron", in a small, neat script very much like Hermione's. She ringed it with a heart and slipped the parchment back into the book, as though Hermione had been using it as a bookmark. Then, she made her way quickly back to the bookshelf and engrossed herself in her work once again.
***
A/N: Contrary to popular belief, this fic is actually going somewhere. Really. If you will just bear with me for a while, things will actually start happening (I hope). Please forgive me for any spelling/grammar/whatever mistakes I might have made. If there are any that are glaringly obvious and you are beginning to think that I am a totally and hopelessly stupid person, please tell me in a review or e-mail and I'll do my best to correct my errors.
Thank you so much to all my reviewers! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!
Next chapter: Hermione finds a book and a voice in her head tries to convince her that she's schizophrenic.